AN APOLOGY OF THE POWER AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD.  
OR AN EXAMINATION AND CENSURE OF THE COMMON ERROR TOUCHING NATURES PERPETVALL AND UNIVERSAL DECAY, DIVIDED INTO FOUR BOOKS: WHEREOF 

The first treats of this pretended decay in general, together with some preparatives thereunto.  
The second of the pretended decay of the Heavens and Elements, together with that of the Elementary bodies, man only excepted.  
The third of the pretended decay of mankind 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 proof of the future consummation of the World from the testimony of the Gentiles, and the uses which we are to draw from the consideration thereof.    
By G. H. D. D.  ECCLESTASTES 7. 10. Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these, for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. 
OXFORD, Printed by JOHN LICHFIELD and WILLIAM TURNER, Printers to the famous University. Anno Dom. 1627.   

TO MY VENERABLE MOTHER THE FAMOUS AND FLOURISHING UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.  
WERE I destitute of all other arguments to demonstrate the providence of God in the preservation of the World, and to prove that it doth not universally and perpetually decline, this one mightfully suffice for all, that thou, my Venerable Mother, though thou wax old in regard of years, yet in this latter age in regard of strength and beauty, waxest young again. Within the compass of this last centenary and less, thou hast brought forth such a number of worthy Sons for piety, for learning, for wisdom; and for buildings hast been so enlarged and enriched, that he who shall compare thee with thyself, will easily find, that though thou be truly accounted one of the most ancient Universities in the World yet so far art thou from withering and wrinkles, that thou art rather become fairer and fresher, and in thine issue no less happy than heretofore.  
The three last Cardinals that this Nation had were thine, if that can add any thing to thine honour. Those thine unnatural Sons, who of late days forsook thee, & fled to thine Enemy's camp, Harding, Stapleton, Saunders, Raynolds, Martin, Bristol, Campian, Parsons, even in their fight against thee, showed the fruitfulness of thy womb, and the efficacy of that milk which they drew from thy breasts. What one College ever yielded at one time and from one Country three such Divines as jewel, Raynolds, and Hooker, or two such great wits & Heroical spirits as Sir Thomas Bodley, and Sir Henry Savill. How renowned in foreign parts are thy Moor, thy Sidney, thy Cambden? what rare Lights in the Church were Humfrey's, Fox, Bilson, Field, Abbot? What pillars those five sons of thine who at one time lately possessed the five principal Sees in the Kingdom? So as if I should in this point, touching the World's pretended decay be cast by the votes of others, yet my hope is that by reflecting upon thyself, I shall be cleared and acquitted by thine.  
And in confidence hereof I have to thy censu●… submitted this ensuing Apology, which perchance to the Vulgar may seem somewhat strange, because their ears have been so long enured unto, and consequently their fancy's forestalled with the contrary opinion. But to thee I trust, who judgest not upon report, but upon trial, neither art swayed by number and loudness of voices, but by weight of argument, it will appear not only just and reasonable in that it vindicates the glory of the Creator, and a truth as large and wide as the world itself, but profitable and useful for the raising up of men's minds to an endeavour of equalling, yea and surpassing their noble and worthy Predecessors in knowledge and virtue; it being certain that the best Patterns which we have in them both, either extant at this present, or recorded in monuments of auncienter times, had never been, had they conceived that there was always an inevitable declination as well in the Arts as matter of Manners, and that it was impossible to surmount those that went before them.  
I do not believe that all Regions of the World, or all ages in the same Region afford wits always alike: but this I think, neither is it my opinion alone, but of Scaliger, Vives, Budaeus, Bodine, and other great Clerks, that the wits of these latter ages being manured by industry, directed by precepts, regulated by method, tempered by diet, refreshed by exercise, and encouraged by rewards, may be as capable of deep speculations, and produce as masculine and lasting births, as any of the ancienter times have done. But if we conceive them to be Giants, & ourselves Dwarves, if we imagine all Sciences already to have received their utmost perfection, so as we need not but translate and comment upon that which they have done, if we so admire and dote upon Antiquity as we emulate and envy, nay scorn and trample under foot whatsoever the present age affords, if we spend our best time and thoughts in climbing to honour, in gathering of riches, in following our pleasures, and in turning the edge of our wits one against another, surely there is little hope that we shall ever come near them, much less match them. The first step to enable a man to the achieving of great designs is to be persuaded that by endeavour he is able to achieve it, the next not to be persuaded that whatsoever hath not yet been done, cannot therefore be done. Not any one man, or nation, or age, but rather mankind is it which in latitude of capacity answers to the universality of things to be known. And truly had our Father's thought so reverently of their predecessors, and withal of themselves so basely, that neither any thing of moment was left for them to be done, nor in case there had been, were they qualified for the doing thereof; we had wanted many helps in learning, which by their travel we now enjoy. By means whereof I see not but we might also advance, improve and enlarge our patrimony, as they left it enlarged to us: And thereunto the Arts of Printing and Navigation, the frequency of goodly Libraries, and liberality of Benefactors, are such inducements & furtherances, that if we excel not all ages that have gone before us, it is only because we are wanting to ourselves.  
And as our helps are more & greater for knowledge & learning, so likewise for goodness & virtue, I mean, since the beams of Christian Religion displayed themselves to the World, which for the rooting out of vice & planting of virtue no Christian, I hope, will deny to be incomparably more effectual than any other Religion that ever yet was heard of in the World: Or if others should chance to make a doubt of the certainty of this truth, yet cannot you who preach it, & publish it to others. Doubtless being rightly applied without apish superstition on the one side, or peevish singularity on the other, it works upon the Conscience more forceably, & consequently hath a greater power of making men not outwardly & formally, but really & inwardly virtuous. And if we should look back into Histories, & compare time with time, we shall easily find that where this Profession spread itself, men have generally been more accomplished in all kind of moral & civil virtues then before it took place.  
It is true indeed that in process of time, thorough the ambition, covetousness, luxury, idleness, & ignorance of them who should have been lights in the Church, it too much degenerated from its Original purity, & thereupon manners (being form by it) were generally tainted, this corruption like a leprosy diffusing itself from the head into all the body: But together with the reviving of the Arts & Languages, which for sundry ages lay buried in barbarism, the rust of superstition was likewise in many places scoured off from Religion, which by degrees had crept upon it, & fretted deep into the face of it, and the Arts being thus refined, & Religion restored to its primitive brightness, manners were likewise reform even among them, at least in part & in show, who as yet admit not a full reformation in matter of Religion. A foul shame than it were for us who profess a thorough reformation in matter of doctrine, to be thought to grow worse in matter of manners, GOD forbid it should be so, I hope it is not so, I am sure it should not be so: That grace of God which hath appeared more clearly to us then to our forefathers, teaching us to adorn our profession with a gracious and virtuous conversation, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world: soberly in regard of ourselves, righteously in regard of others, and godly in regard of religious exercises.  
If then we come short of our Ancestors in knowledge, let us not cast it upon the deficiency of our wits in regard of the World's decay, but upon our own sloth; if we come short of them in virtue, let us not impute it to the declination of the World, but to the malice and faintness of our own wills; if we feel the scourges of God upon our Land by mortality, famine, unseasonable weather, or the like, let us not teach the people that they are occasioned by the World's old age, and thereby call into question the providence, or power, or wisdom, or justice, or goodness of the Maker thereof; but by their and our sins, which is doubtless both the truer & more profitable doctrine, & withal more consonant to the Sermons of Christ & his Apostles, & the Prophets of God in like cases. And withal let us freely acknowledge that Almighty God hath bestowed many blessings upon these latter ages, which to the former he denied, as in sending us virtuous and gracious Princes, and by them the maintenance of piety, & peace, & plenty, & the like. Lest thorough our ingratitude he withdraw them from us, and make us know their worth by wanting them, which by enjoying them we understood not.  
But I will not presume to advise where I should learn, only I will unfeignedly wish and heartily pray, that at leastwise your practice may still make good mine opinion, maintained in this Book, & refute the contrary & common error opposed therein, that you may still grow in knowledge and grace, and that your virtues may always rise & increase together with your buildings. These latter without the former, being but as a body without a soul.  
Yours to do you service to the utmost of his poor ability  
G. H.   

THE PREFACE.  
TRuth it is, that this ensuing Treatise was long since in my younger years begun by me for mine own private exercise and satisfaction, but afterward considering not only the rarity of the subject, and variety of the matter, but withal that it made for the redeeming of a captivated truth, the vindicating of God's glory, the advancement of learning, & the honour of the Christian & reformed Religion, by the advice and with the approbation and encouragement of such special friends, whose piety, learning, and wisdom I well know, and much reverence, I resolved (permissu superiorum and none otherwise) to make it public for the public good, and the encountering of a public error, which may in some sort be equalled, if not preferred before the quelling of some great monster. Neither do I take it to lie out of my profession, the principal mark which I aim at throughout the whole body of the Discourse, being an Apologetical defence of the power & providence of God, his wisdom, his truth, his justice, his goodness & mercy, and beside, a great part of the book itself is spent in pressing Theological reasons, in clearing doubts arising from thence, in producing frequent testimonies from Scriptures, Fathers, Schoolmen, and modern Divines, in proving that Antichrist is already come from the writings of the Romanists themselves, in confirming the article of our faith touching the World's future and total consummation by fire, and a day of final judgement from discourse of reason and the writings of the Gentiles, and lastly by concluding the whole work with a pious meditation touching the uses which we may and should make of the consideration thereof, serving for a terror to some, for comfort to others, for admonition to all And how other men may stand affected in reading, I know not, sure I am that in writing, it often lifted up my soul in admiring and praising the infinite wisdom and bounty of the Crator in maintaining and managing his own work, in the government and preservation of the Universe, which in truth is nothing else but (as the Schools speak) continuata productio, a continuated production: & often did it call to my mind those holy raptures of the Psalmist; O Lord our governor, how excellent is thy Name in all the world? Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works, & I will rejoice 
Psal. 8. 1. Psal. 92. 4. 5. 6.  in giving praise for the operations of thy hands, O Lord, how glorious are thy works, & thy thoughts are very deep. An unwise man doth not well consider this, & a fool doth not well understand it. And again, The 
111. 2. 3.  works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein, His work is worthy to be praised & had in honour, & his righteousness endureth for ever.  
And though whiles I have laboured to free the world from old age, I feel it creeping upon myself, yet if it shall so please the same great and gracious Lord, I intent by his assistance spating me life & health hereafter to write Another Apology of his power & providence in the government of his Church, which perchance by some may be thought both more proper for me, and for these times more necessary, though he that shall narrowly observe the prints of the Almighty's footsteps, traced throughout this ensuing discourse, may not unjustly from thence collect, both comfort and assurance, that as the Heavens remain unchangeable, so doth the Church triumphant in Heaven, & as all things under the cope of heaven vary and change, so doth the militant here on earth; it hath its times and turns, sometimes flowing and again ebbing with the sea, sometimes waxing, and again waning with the Moon, which great light, it seems, the Almighty therefore set the lowest in the heavens, and nearest the Earth, that it might daily put us in mind of the constancy of the one, and inconstancy of the other, herself in some sort partaking of both, though in a different manner; of the one in her substance, of the other in her visage.  
And if the Moon thus change, and all things under the Moon, why should we wonder at the change of Monarchies and Kingdoms? much less petty states and private families: they rise, and fall, and rise again, and fall again, that no man might either too confidently presume, because they are subject to continual alteration, or cast away all hope, and fall to despair, because they have their seasons and appointed times of returning again.  

Nemo confidat nimium secundis, 
Sen.   
Nemo desperet meliora, lapsus:  
Miscet haec illis, prohibetque Clotho  
Stare fortunam.   

Let him that stands take heed lest that he fall,  
Let him that's fall'n hope he may rise again;  
The providence divine that mixeth all,  
Chains joy to grief by turns, & loss to gain.   
I must confess that sometimes looking steadfastly upon the present face of things both at home and abroad, I have been often put to a stand, and staggered in mine opinion, whither I were in the right or no; and perchance the state of my body, and present condition, in regard of those fair hopes I sometimes had, served as false perspective glasses to look through, but when again I abstracted and raised my thoughts to an higher pitch, and as from a vantage ground took a larger view, comparing time with time, and thing with thing, and place with place, and considered myself as a member of the Universe, and a Citizen of the World, I found that what was lost to one part, was gained to another; and what was lost in one time, was to the same part recovered in another; and so the balance by the divine providence overruling all, kept upright. But commonly it fares with men in this case, as with one who looks only upon some libbet, or end of a piece of Arras, he happily conceives an hand or head which he sees, to be very unartificially made; but unfolding the whole, soon finds that it carries a due and just proportion to the body; so, qui de pauca resp●…cit, de facili pronuntiat (saith Aristotle) he that is so narrow eyed as he locks only to his own person or family to his own corporation or nation, or the age wherein himself lives, will peradventure quickly conceive, and as some pronounce, that all things decay and go backward, which makes men murmur and repine against Ged, under the names of Fortune and Destiny, whereas he that as a part of mankind in general, takes a view of the universal, compares person with person, family with family, corporation with corporation, nation with nation, age with age; suspends his judgement, and upon examination clearly finds, that all things work together 
Rom. 8. 28.  for the best to them that love God: and that though some members suffer, yet the whole is no way thereby indammaged at any time; and at other times those same members are again relieved, as the Sun when it sets to us, it rises to our Antipodes, and when it removes from the Northern parts of the world, it cherishes the Southern, yet stays not there, but returns again with his comfortable beams to those very parts which for a time it seemed to have forsaken: O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men! or at leastwise cry out in admiration with the Apostle, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge 
Rom. 11. 33.  of our God, how unsearchable are his paths, and his ways past finding out!  
Yet the next way, in some measure to find them out, (so far as is possible for us poor worms here crawling in a mist upon the face of the Earth) is, next the sacred Oracles of supernatutall and revealed Truth; to study the great Volume of the Creature, and the Histories not only of our own, but of foreign Countries, and those not only of the present, but more ancient times. Inquire I pray thee of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their Fathers, for we 
job. 8. 8  are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are but a shadow. If then to make my party good, and to wait upon Divinity, I have called in subsidiary aids, from Philosophers, Historiographers, Mathematicians, Grammarians, Logicians, Poets, Orators, Soldiers, Travellers, Lawyers, Physicians, and if I have in imitation of Tertullian, Cyprian, Eusebius, Augustine, Lactantius, Arnobius, Minutius, endeavoured to cut the throats of the Paynims with their own swords, and pierced them with their own quills, I hope no learned man, or lover of Learning will censure me for this. Philosophy and the Arts I must account a part of mine own profession; and for Physic and the Laws, I have therein consulted the chief, as well in this University, as out of it, of mine own acquaintance; nay in History, the Mathematics and Divinity itself, I have not only had the approbation of the public professors therein; for the main points in my book, which concern their several professions, but some pieces I must acknowledge as received from them, which I have made bold to insert into the body of my discourse; let no man think then that I maintain a paradox for ostentation of wit, or have written out of spleen, to gall any man in particular, nor yet to humour the present times; the times themselves, mine indisposition that way, and resolution to sit down content with my present fortunes; if they serve not to give others satisfaction therein, yet do they fully to clear me to myself, from any such aspersion: yet thus much, I hope, I safely may say without suspicion of flattery, that by the goodness of GOD, and our gracious Sovereign under GOD, we yet enjoy many great blessings which former ages did not, and were we thankful for these as we ought, and truly penitent for our excess in all kind of monstrous sins (which above all, threatens our ruin) I nothing doubt but upon our return to our God by humiliation and newness of life, he would soon dissolve the cloud which hangs over us, and return unto us with the comfortable beams of his favour, and make us to return each to other with mutual embracements of affection and duty, and our Armies and Fleets to return with spoil and victory, and reduce again as golden and happy times, as ever we or our forefathers saw: but if we still go on with an high hand, and a stiff neck in our profaneness, our pride, our luxury, our uncharitableness, our unnatural divisions in Church and Commonwealth, there needs no prophetical spirit to divine what will shortly become of us; Turn us; O turn us again O Lord God of hosts, show the light of thy Countenance and we shall be whole; show the light of thy Countenance and we shall be provident in counsel, successful in war, sober in peace, a terror to our enemies, and a comfort to our allies and confederates. Turn thee again thou God of hosts, look down from heaven, behold & visit this vine and the place of the vineyard that thy right hand hath planted: and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself.  
We need go no farther than the nation of the jews for a notable instance in this kind; who at times more zealous than they in the worship of God & the exercises of Religion? and who again at other times more rebellious? It is said of them in the Psalm, than believed they his words; but presently it follows in the very next verse, they soon forgot his works: & according to their obedience or rebellion, so were they either prosperous or unfortunate in the course of their affairs; during their faith & fidelity towards God, every man of them was in war as a thousand strong, & as much as a great Senate for counsel in peaceable deliberations; contrariwise, if they swerved (as often they did) their wont courage and magnanimity forsook them utterly; their soldiers and military men trembled at the sight of the naked sword; when they entered into mutual conference, and sat in counsel for their own good; that which children might have seen, their gravest Senatou●…s could not discern, their Prophets saw darkness in steed of visions, and the wise and prudent were as men bewitched.  
If then we come short of that courage and valour, which made our Ancestors so renowned by sea and land, not only in France, and Spain, and the Netherlands, but in Palaestina itself; sure it is not, because the World declines, but because our luxury increases, the most evident symptom of a declining state; for as all Empires have risen to their greatness by virtue, and specially by sobriety and frugality; so is it clear that by vice, and specially by luxury, which of necessity draws on softness and cowardice) they have all again declined and come to nothing; and out of their ashes have others sprung up, which likewise within a while (such a circulation there is in all things) have been turned into ashes again.  

As when the wind the angry Ocean moves, 
Bartas in his Colonies.   
Wave hunteth wave, and billow billow shoves:  
So do all Nations justle each the other,  
And so one people doth pursue another,  
And scarce a second hath the first unhoused,  
Before a third him thence again hath roused.   

— Sic Medus ademit 
Claudian l. 3. in laud●… S●…ilicouis   
Assyrio, Medoque tulit moderamina Perses,  
Subjecit Persen Macedo, cessurus & ipse  
Romanis.   

Thus did the Medes root out th' Assyrian race,  
The Persian quickly foiled the Medes, in place  
Of him subdued, up starts the Macedo,  
Who eftsoons yields unto the Roman foe.   
And lastly the Romans themselves as by virtue and piety, in their superstitious way they won, and mightily enlarged their Empire, so being come to the top, they lost it again by vice and irreligion: so true is that of the Comical Poet.  

Haec nisi urbe aberunt, centuplex 
Plau●…ut i●… Persa.   
Murus rebus servandis parum est.   

Unless these vices banished be,  
What ever forts you have,  
An hundred walls together put,  
Will not have power to save.   
With whom accords the Tragical  

— Vbi non est pudor, 
Seneca in Thyeste.   
Nec cura juris, sanctitas, pietas, fides,  
Instabile regnum est.   

Where is no modesty, nor equity,  
Nor sanctity, nor piety,  
No nor fidelity,  
In such a Kingdom certainly  
There can be no stability.   
Who so is wise than will ponder these things, and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.  
Again, for matter of learning and knowledge if we come short of the Ancients; we need not impute it to nature's decay; our own riot, our idleness and negligence in regard of them, will sufficiently discharge nature, and justly cast back the blame upon ourselves. Falsa est enim atque inepta illa quorundam similitudo, quam multi tanquam acutissimam atque appositissimam excipiunt, nos ad priores collatos, esse ut nanos 
L. Vives de 〈◊〉. corrupt. 〈◊〉. lib: 1.  in humeris gigantum: non est ita, nec nos sumus nani, nec illi homines gigantes, sed omnes ejusdem staturae, & quidem nos altius evecti eorum beneficio: maeneat modo in nobis, quod in illis, studium, attentio animi, vigilantia, & amor veri: quae si absint, jam non nani sumus, nec in gigantum humeris sedemus, sed homines iustae magnitudinis humi prostrati. For a false and fond similitude it is of some, which they take up as a most witty and proper one, that we being compared to the Ancients, are as Dwarves upon the shoulders of Giants: it is not so, neither are we Dwarves, nor they Giants, but we are all of one stature, save that we are lifted up somewhat higher by their means, conditionally there be found in us the same studiousness, watchfulness and love of truth, as was in them: which if they be wanting, then are we not dwarves, nor set on the shoulders of giants, but men of a competent stature grovelling on the earth.  
We wonder (as well we may) at Aristotle's wit expressed in his voluminous works, but his indefatigable pains in study, we consider not, holding in his hand when he laid him down to rest, a ball of brass, which as soon as sleep overtook him, fell into a basin of brass, purposely set under, that so being awakened with the noise thereof, he might again return to his book▪ and though he were, as witnesseth Censorinus, of so crazy a body, (that it is more strange he should live to his Climacterical year, then that he then died) yet by the invincible strength of his mind, did he wade through a world of difficulties, and hath thereby left such fruits thereof to the world, as hath deservedly won him immortal honour. Seneca a man of an admirable vivacity of spirit, writes of himself, that one day he heard 
Epist. 108.  Attalus the Philosopher in his public Lectures, commend a bed which yielded not to the body, and thereupon adds, tali utor etiam senex, in qua vestigium apparere non possit; such a one do I now use, though well stricken in years, in which my body leaves no print behind it: he likewise by the persuasion of the same Attalus abstained from Oysters, from wine, from bathe, he fed sometimes upon a crust of dry bread, sometimes upon wild fruit, taken from the hedge, and quenched his thirst with fair running water, and this he did for love of knowledge, in a most luxurious age, living in the court itself, abounding in riches and honour, and having all kinds of pleasures at command. The like doth Plinius Caec●…us in his Epistle to Marcus, write of his uncle Tutor to the Emperor Vespasian, as was Seneca to Nero: to his rare natural endowments, he added incessant watchfulness, and labour in reading and writing, his diet was sparing and thin, his sleep short and little, in so much that his Nephew Caecilius freely confesseth of himself: soleo ridere cum me quidam studiosum vocant, qui, si comparer illi, sum desidiosissimus: I am wont to smile when they term me a hard student who being compared with him, am in truth a very truant. But to come nearer home, King Alfred thought to be founder or restorer of the University of Oxford is reported to have cast the natural day, consisting of 24 hours, into three parts; whereof the one he spent in affairs of state, a second in the service of his body, and the residue in prayer, study, and writing, which spaces of time, having than none other engine for that purpose, he measured by a great wax light divided into so many parts, receiving notice by the keeper thereof, as the several hours passed in burning.  
Such examples as these of the Ancients we admire, we commend, we willingly read and recite, but follow the fashion of our own times.  
Laudamus veteres sed nostris utimur annis.  
The common complaint is, that we want time, but the truth is, Non parum habemus temporis, sed multum perdimus, we do not so much want 
Seneca. Idem.  as waste it, either malè agendo, or nihil agendo, or aliud agendo, either in doing naughtiness, or nothing, or impertinencies; we do bonas horas malè collocare, trifle out our precious hours in eating & drinking, & sleeping, and sporting, and gaming, and dressing our bodies, and then give out & persuade ourselves, that Nature forsooth is decayed, that our bodies cannot endure that study which our Predecessors did: and truly I think many justly complain of weak and crazy bodies, but withal that more have made them so, by intemperance then study, or found them so by nature; let us then lay the fault where it is, and accuse our selves, not Nature, or rather God under that name. And yet what the bodies of men even in these latter ages being throughly put to it, are able to endure, the extant works of Tostatus, Erasmus, Gesner, Calvin, Luther, Baronius, Bellarmine, and others sufficiently testify; it is to this effect a true speech of Arnoldus Clapmarus in his nobile triennium, incredibile est quantum brevissimo tempore humana possit assequi industria, it is incredible what the industry of man in a very short time may attain unto. Master Fox in his Latin Epistle to the Reader, prefixed before his Acts and Monuments, reports of himself, that having but a sickly body, in less than eighteen months space he read authors, conferred copies, searched records, gathered matters, digested it into order, revised it, etc. for that great work, and this to be true, saith he, noverunt ij qui testes adfuerunt & temporis conscij, & laboris socij, they know full well who were present as witnesses, being both privy to my time, and companions of my labo●…▪ And joseph Scaliger in the life of his father julius tells us likewise of himself, that when he began first with the Greek tongue in one & twenty days he learned over all Homer with the comment, and within four months (to use his own words) he devoured all the rest of the Greek Poets They were doubtless great matters, which Peter Ramus went through in a short time, as appears in his life; yet not so much by the quickness and strength of wit (though therein he excelled) as by his assiduity and temperance, which was such that he would drink no wine, till by his Physicians he was enjoined so to do; and from his youth to his dying day never used by his good will any other bedding then straw, and in his studies so watchful he was, that if he heard in the morning the smiths or carpenters, or other artisans at work before he were stirring, he would blame himself of negligence and slothfulness, that they should prevent him, and be more diligent in their mechanical trades, than he in the study of the liberal sciences: And (to add one more) of our rare jewel, Doctor Humphreyes' testifies, that he was, & studiosorum calcar, et studiorum norma, et indefessae diligentiae singulare specimen, a spur to students, a rule of studies, and a singular precedent of unwearied studiousness; and again, victus nimis scholasticus et simplex fuit, corpus macilentum et perimbecillum, ut mireris tot laboribus exhauriendis potuisse sufficere: his diet was very sparing, and somewhat too scholarlike, his body thin and very weak, so as a man might justly wonder, how it could endure and bring about such and so many labours.  
And certain it is (what ever our wits pretend to the contrary) that never any became excellent in any profession, or was famous for any notable work, who was not abstemious or industrious.  
Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit.  

He did both do and suffer many things.  
Both heat and cold: etc.   
And I verily think did the students in our Universities, carefully and constantly observe those hours for prayer (especially in the morning) which our wise and godly founders by their local statutes require in our several Colleges, we should soon by God's blessing find a change both in manners and learning; and thereby stop the mouths of such both at home and abroad, as cry out that we have lost our ancient reputation, and that the Jesuits by the strictness of their discipline have gotten the start of us, and won the spurs from us. Antiquitùs strictissime 
Pi●…seus Relat. Hist. tom. 1 c. 9 de Acad. Oxon.  fuit observatum ut exceptis graduatis, nemo animi, vel etiam negotij cujusquam sui causa è Collegio suo sine superioris perita et obtenta licentia, (socio etiam assignato) egredi posset; ingredi civium domos, prandium aut coenam apud eos sumere, non nisi maxima urgente causa, & quasi ex speciali indulto, cuiquam licuit: popinas autem intrare, & in hospitijs publicis convivari, vel in aedibus alicujus civis pernoctare piaculum erat, nam in his si quis deliquisset, ex Academia nisi magna aliqua ratio subfuisset cum dedecore eijciebatur. I need not English it, but wish it practised. And conclude this point with that of Quintilian, 
Orat. 2. 5.  which cannot too often be remembered; Non enim nos tarditatis natura damnavit, sed ultra nobis quod oportebat indulsimus, ita non tam ingenio nos illi superarunt, quam proposito. Nature hath not made us more uncapable than our Ancestors, but we have been too indulgent to ourselves, by which means it comes to pass that they surmount us not so much by the goodness of wits, as studiousness and endeavour.  
Now for the work itself I am well assured (as all other Books and actions) it will be diversely censu●…d as men stand diversely affected: if but three guests meet at a feast, they will hardly accord in one dish; & truly I think that as men's fancies (could they be seen) would be found to differ more than their faces; so are their judgements more different than their tastes: but this common courtesy (due by the Laws of civility and humanity) I shall crave (which I hope no ingenuous mind will deny me) that I be not condemned before I be understood.  

Ne mea dona tibi studio disposta fideli, 
Lucret. lib. 1.   
Intellecta prius quam sint, contemptarelinquas.   

Do not cast off with surly scorn  
What here I offer thee,  
Before thou understand aright  
What here is said by me.   
Legant & postea despiciant, ne videantur non ex judicio, sed ex odij praesumptione 
Hieronymus  ignorata damnare: first read, and then despise lest thou seem to condemn that which thou knowest not, rather out of malicious prejudice, then advised judgement, and if upon a serious perusal and balancing of mine arguments any shall yet vary from me, I quarrel him not, but hope we may both enjoy our opinions without any breach of faith or charity; only I say that the question is surely noble, and worthy to be discussed by a more learned pen, as being a disquisition touching the ship wherein we all sail whether it be staunch or no, and herein will be the trial, Opinionum commenta dies delet, naturae iudicia confirmat; time wears out dreams of fancy, but strengthens the dictates of Nature and Truth; as the Sun beams being imp●…isoned, as it were, for a time, work through a thick mist, though with some difficulty, but being once broken through, and the mist dispelled, they shine out and continue clear.  
I have walked (I confess) in an untrodden path, neither can I trace the prints of any footsteps that have gone before me, but only as it led them to some other way, thwarting, and upon the by, not directly: some parts belonging to this discourse, some have slightly handled, none throughly considered of the whole: which I speak not to derogate from their worth (it being puerilis jactantiae accusando 
Hieronymus.  illustres viros suo nomini famam quaerere; a childish kind of bragging to hunt after applause by contradicting famous men) but only to show that whiles they intended another thing, they might happily in this be carried away with the common stream: for surely such a sweet harmony there is between all the members of this body, such a cohaerence and mutual dependence betwixt all the links of this chain, that he who takes a view of the whole, will easily grant that he might be deceived by looking upon some parts thereof.  
Yet some perchance will conceive, I might have delivered my mind with less expense of w●…des and time, and truly I must acknowledge that in multiloquio non deerit peccatum; it cannot be but in speaking so much, somewhat should be spoken amiss. Yet withal it must be remembered, that being to grapple with such a Giantlike monster, I could not think him dead till I had his head off: and that which to some may seem superfluous or impertinent, will happ●…ly by others be thought not unprofitable or unpleasant, the pains is mine, and if it be overdone, done I am sure it is; if I have said more then enough, enough is said to serve the turn.  
And if any shall have a mind to publish any thing against that I have written, I shall desire it may be done fairly, not by sucking of the sores, and flying over the sound parts, nor by nibbling upon the twigs, and utmost branches, but by striking at the root or body of the tree, or at leastwise some of the principal limbs thereof; and in the mean season, I say with Saint Augustine, Quisquis haec legit ubi pariter certus est, pergat mecum; ubi pariter haesitat quaerat mecum; 
Lib. 1. decri. c. 3  ubi errorem suum cognoscit, redeat ad me; ubi meum, revocet me: whosoever thou art that reads this discourse, where thou art assured go on with me, where thou art in doubt, search with me; where thou dost acknowledge thine error, return to me; where thou findest mine, recall me; and conclude with Lactantius: Etiamsi nulli alij, nobis certè proderit, delectabit) se conscientia, gaudebitque mens in veritatis se luce versàri, quod est animae pabulum incredibili quâdam jucunditate perfusum: if this Treatise profit none else, yet shall it me, my conscience shall comfort itself, and my mind be refreshed in the light of Truth, which is the food of the soul, mixed with delight incredible.  
Road caper vites, tamen hic, cum stabis ad arras,  
In tua quod fundi cornua possit, erit.   

ERRATA.  
Pag. 5. lin. 13. read Psammeticus, p. 18. l. 16. r. thought. p. 26. l. 27. r. miror. p. 27. l. 3. r. words. p 31. l. 5. r. in antiquity. p. 45. l. 13. r. almost half a pound. p. 62. l 40. r. are. p. 73. l. 17. r. commenteth. p. 80. l. 42. r. mentitus. p. 81. l. 17. r. be diminished. p. 84. l. 15. r aestate p. 90. l. 41. r. speaks p. 95. l. 2. r. about. p. 100 l. 34. r. religion. p. 101. l. 31. r. incommoda. p. 104. l. 5. r. Ex. ibid. l. 12. r. milk. p. 112. l. 10. r. drought. p. 118. l. 40. r. better. p. 124. l. 7. r. naturalis. p. 129. l. 27. r. Blancanus. p. 133. l. 37. r. Sylvine. p. 136. l. 19 r. better cheap. with. ibid. l. ult. r. his. p. 144. l. 26. r. touching. p. 145 l. 4. r. reason. ibid. l. 26. r. mortal, that if he sinned not, he could not. p. 153. l. 4. r. Archepius. p, 163. l. ult. r. nineteen. p. 1. 7. l. 42. r. namely. p. 176. l.. 10. r. the. ibid. l. 11. r, that. p. 191. l. 21. r. regum. p. 210. l. 12. r. Yolland. p. 234. l. 41. r. Fuchsius. p. 241. l. 44. r. Polyaenus. p. 269. l. 24. r. innumerabiles. p. 277. l. 37. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 285. l. 8. r. lawmaker. p. 338. l. 10. in marg. r. c. 22. p. 385. l. 19 r. immundis. p. 403. l. 47. r. daughter. p. 413. l. 4. r. plenius. p. 415. l. 16. r. venturous. p. 418. l, penult. r. by the Romans. p. 419. l. 21: r: except: p: 443: l: 31: r: terras: ibid. l: 39: r: nought: p: 448: l: 35: r: infinitely in their: p: 401: l: 29: r: of.  
These are the greatest I have met with, not doubting but some of consequence have escaped me, and for those of lesser note I have passed them over, desiring the reader if he will not take the pains to amend all, yet he would be pleased to set these four or five right: p: 45: lin: 13: p: 104: l: 12: p: 136: l: 19: p: 145: l: 26: p: 163: l: vlt:   

THE CONTENTS OF THE SEVERAL BOOKS, CHAPTERS, AND SECTIONS.  

LIB. 1. Of this pretended decay in general, together with some preparatives hereunto.  

CAP. 1. Of divers other opinions, justly suspected, if not rejected, though commonly received.  
Sect. 1 In Divinity. pag. 1.  
Sect 2 In Philosophy. p. 4.  
Sect. 3 In History Ecclesiastical. p. 5.  
Sect. 4 In History Civil or national. p. 7.  
Sect. 5 In Natural History. p. 8.  
Sect. 6 With an application thereof to the present purpose. p. 11.   

CAP. 2. Of the Reasons inducing the Author to the writing and publishing of this discourse.  
Sect. 1 Whereof the first is the redeeming of a captivated truth. pag. 12.  
Sect. 2 The second is the vindicating of the Creator's honour. p. 14.  
Sect. 3 The third is, for that the contrary opinion quails the hopes and blunts the edge of virtuous endeavours. p. 15.  
Sect. 4 The fourth is, for that it makes men more careless, both in regard of their present fortunes, and in providing for posterity. p. 19  
Sect. 5 The fifth and last, is the weak grounds which the contrary opinion is founded upon, as the fictions of Poets, the morosity of old men, the over-valuing of Antiquity, and disesteeming of the present times. p. 22.   

CAP. 3. The Controversy touching the world's decay stated, and the Method held thorough this ensuing treatise proposed.  
Sect. 1 Touching the pretended decay of the mixed bodies. pag. 27.  
Sect. 2 Of the Elements in regard of their quantity and dimensions. p. 28.  
Sect. 3 In regard of their qualities. p. 31.  
Sect. 4 Of mankind in regard of Manners and the Arts. p. 32.  
Sect. 5 In regard of the duration of their lives, their strength, and stature. p. 35.  
Sect. 6. The precedents of the Chapter summarily recollected, and the Method observed in the ensuing Treatise proposed. p. 37.   

CAP. 4. Touching the world's decay in general.  
Sect. 1 The first general Reason that it decays not, is drawn from the power of that Spirit that quickens and supports it; the second and third, from the consideration of the several parts whereof it consists. pag. 38.  
Sect. 2 The fourth, for that such a decay as is suppposed, would in time point out the very date of the world's expiration, and consequently of the second coming of Christ. p. 42.  
Sect. 3 The fifth, for that upon the supposition of such a decay as is pretended, the vigour and strength of the parts thereof must of necessity long since have been utterly exhausted and worn out. p. 44.  
Sect. 4 The sixth argument is drawn from the Authority of Solomon, and his reason taken from the Circulation and running about of all things as it were in a ring. p. 45.   

CAP. 5. General arguments made for the world's decay, refuted.  
Sect. 1 The first general objection drawn from reason, answered, which is, that the Creature the nearer it approaches to the first mould, the more perfect it is, and according to the degrees of its remoueall and distance from thence, it incurs the more imperfection and weakness p. 47.  
Sect. 2 The second answered, which is, that the several parts of the world decay, which should argue a linger consumption in the whole. p. 50  
Sect. 3 The third answered, which is taken from the authority of Saint Cyprian. p. 50.  
Sec. 4 The same authority of Saint Cyprian farther answered, by opposing against it the authority of Arnobius, supported with ponderous & pressing reasons. p. 55.  
Sec. 5. The fourth answered, which is borrowed from the authority of Esdras. p. 60.  
Sec. 6 The rest answered, pretended to be taken from authority of holy Scriptures. p. 62.    

LIB. 2. Of the pretended decay in the Heavens and Elements, together with that of the Elementary bodies, man only excepted.  

CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their substance.  
Sect. 1 Of their working upon this inferior world, and the dependence of it upon them. pag. 64.  
Sec. 2 Their pretended decay in their substance refuted by reason. p. 67.  
Sec. 3 An objection drawn from job, answered. p. 69.  
Sec. 4 Another taken from Psal. 102. answered. p. 71.  
Sec. 5 A third taken from the apparition of New stars, answered. p. 74.  
Sec. 6 The last drawn from the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, answered. p. 75.   

CAP. 2 Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their motions.  
Sec. 1 The first reason drawn from the causes of that Motion. p. 78.  
Sec. 2 The second, from the certainty of demonstrations upon the Celestial Globe: The third, from a particular view of the proper motions of the Planets, which are observed to be the same at this day as in former ages, without any variation: The fourth, from the infallible and exact prediction of their Oppositions, Conjunctions, and Eclipses for many ages to come: The fifth from the testimony of sundry grave Authors, averring the perpetual constancy & immutability of their motions. p. 80.  
Sec. 3 The same truth farther proved from the testimony of Lactantius & Plutarch. p. 84.  
Sec. 4 An objection of du Moulins, touching the motion of the polar star, answered. p. 85.   

CAP. 3. Touching the pretended decay in the light of the heavenly bodies.  
Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the nature of the heavenly light, & those things whereunto it is resembled, p. 86.  
Sec. 2 The second, for that it ha●…h nothing contrary unto it, and here Pareus and Mollerus are censured for holding that the light of heaven 〈◊〉 impaired. p. 87.  
Sec. 3 Hereunto other Reasons are added, and the testimony of Eugubinus vouched. p. 88   

CAP. 4. Touching the pretended decay in the warmth of the heavenly bodies.  
Sect. 1 That the stars are not of a fiery nature or hot in themselves. p. 90.  
Sec. 2 That the heat they breed springs from their light, and consequently their light being not decayed, neither is the warmth arising therefrom, p. 91.  
Sec. 3 Two objections answered, the one drawn from the present habitablenes of the torride Zone, the other from a supposed approach of the Sun nearer the earth ●…hen in former ages. p. 93.  
Sec. 4 A third objection answered, taken from a supposed remoueall of the Sun more Southerly from us then in former ages. p. 94.   

CAP. 5. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their influences.  
Sect. 1. Of the first kind of influence from the highest immoveable heaven, called by Divines, Coelum Empyreum. p. 97.  
Sec. 2 Of th' second kind, derived from the Planets and fixed stars. p. 98.  
Sec. 3 That the efficacy of these influences cannot be fully comprehended by us. p. 99  
Sec. 4 That neither of them is decayed in their benign and favourable effects, but that curious inquisition into them is to be forborn. p. 100   

CAP. 6. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in general.  
Sect. 1 That the Elements are still in number four. p. 102.  
Sec. 2 That the Elements still retain the same properties that anciently they did, and by mutual interchange and compensation the same bounds & dimensions. p. 106.  
Sec. 3 An objection drawn from the continual mixture of the Elements each with other, answered. p. 109.   

CAP. 7. Touching the pretended decay of t●… Aire in regard of the temper thereof.  
Sect. 1 Of excessive drought and cold in former ages, and that in foreign Countries. pag. 110.  
Sect. 2 Of excessive cold & rain in former ages here a●…tome, and of the common complaint of unseasonable weather in all ages, together with the reason thereof. p. 112.  
Sect. 3 Of contagious diseases, and specially the plague, both here at home 〈◊〉 abroad, in former ages. p. 113.  
Sect. 4 Of Earthquakes in former ages, and their terrible effects, elegantly described by Seneca. p. 116.  
Sect. 5 Of dreadful burnings in the bowels of Aetna & Vesuvius, and the rising of a new Island out of the Sea with hideous roaring near Putzol in Italy. p. 117.  
Sect. 6. Of the nature of Comets and the uncertainty of predictions from them, as also that the number of those which have appeared of late years is less than hath usually been observed in former ages, and of other fiery and watery meteors. p. 119.  
Sect. 7 Of strange and impetuous winds and lightnings in former ages above those of the present. p. 121.   

CAP. 8. Touching the pretended decay of the waters & the fish the inhabiters thereof.  
Sect. 1 That the Sea, & Rivers, and Baths are the same at this present as they were for many ages past, or what they lose in one place and time, they recover in another, by the testimony of Strabo, Ovid, and Pontanus. p. 123.  
Sect. 2 That fishes are not decayed in regard of their store, dimensions, or duration. p. 125.   

CAP. 9 Touching the pretended decay of the earth, together with the plants, & beasts, & minerals.  
Sect. 1 The divine meditation of Seneca and Pliny upon the globe of the earth. An objection out of Aelian touching the decrease of mountains, answered. That all ●…hings which spring from the earth return thither again, and consequently it cannot decay in regard of the fruitfulness in the whole: Other objections of less consequence, answered. p. 128.  
Sect. 2 Another objection touching the decay of the fruitfulness of the holy Land, fully answered. p. 131,  
Sect 3 The testimonies of Columella & Pliny produced that the earth in itself is as fruitful as in former ages, if it be well made and manured: together with the reason why so good and so great store of wine, is not now made in this kingdom as formerly hath been. p. 133.  
Sect. 4 An argument drawn from the present state of husbandmen, and another from the many and miserable dearths in former ages, together with an objection taken from the enhancing of the prizes of victuals in latter times, answered. p. 136.  
Sect. 5 That there is no decrease in the fruitfulness, the quantities, or virtues of plants and simp●…▪ nor in the store and goodness of metals & minerals, as neither in the bigness or life of beasts, together with an objection touching the Elephant mentioned in the first of Macchabees, answered. p. 139.  
Sect. 6 A●…ection taken from the Eclipses of the planets answered. p. 142.    

LIB 3. Of the pretended decay of mankind in regard of age & duration, of strength and stature, of arts and wits.  

CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of Men in regard of their age, and first by way of comparison between 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 mortal, but had he not fallen, should have been preserved to immortality. pag. 144.  
Sect. 2 Of the long lives of the patriarchs, and of the manner of computing their years, and that Almighty God drew out the lines of their lives to that length for reasons proper to those first times. p. 145.  
Sect. 3 That since Moses his time, the length of man's age is nothing abated, as appears by the testimony of Moses himself, and other grave Authors, compared with the experience of these times. p. 147.  
Sect. 4 The same confirmed by the testimony of other ancient and learned writers. p. 149.  
Sect. 5 That in all times and nations some have been found, who have exceeded that number of years which the wisest of the ancients accounted the utmost period of man's life, and that often those of latter ages have exceeded the former in number of years, as is made to appear aswell from sacred as profane story. p. 150.  
Sect. 6 The same assertion farther proved & enlarged by many instances both at home & abroad, specially in the Indieses. p. 153.  
Sect. 7 That if our lives be shortened in regard of our Ancestors, we should rather lay the burden of the fault upon ourselves & our own intemperance, then upon a decay in nature. p. 156.   

CAP. 2. Farther Reasons alleged, that the age of man for these last thousand or two thousand of years, is little or nothing abated.  
Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the several stops & pawses of nature in the course of man's life, as the time of birth after our conception, our infancy, childhood, youth, man's estate, & old age, being assigned to the same compass of years as they were by the Ancients; which could not possibly be, were there an universal decay in mankind in regard of age; and the like reason there is in making the same Clymactericall years, & the same danger in them. p. 159.  
Sect. 2 The second is drawn from the age of Matrim any and generation, which among the Ancients was as forward as ours now is, if not more timely. p. 163.  
Sect. 3 The third is borrowed from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and employment in public affairs, Ecclesiastical, Civil, & Military, they were thereunto both sooner admitted, & therefrom sooner discharged, than men now a days usually are: which should in reason argue, that they likewise usually finished the course of their life sooner. p. 167.   

CAP. 3. Containing a comparison betwixt the Giants mentioned in Scripture, both among themselves and with those of latter ages.  
Sect. 1 Of the admirable composition of man's body, & that it cannot be sufficiently proved that Adam as he was the first, so he was likewise the tallest of men, which in reason should be, were there in truth any such perpetual decrease in man's stature as is pretended. p. 171.  
Sect. 2 What those Giants were which are mentioned in the sixth of Genesis, and that succeeding ages until David's time afforded the like. p. 173.  
Sect. 3 That latter times have also afforded the like, both at home & abroad, specially in the Indies where they live more according to nature. p. 175.   

CAP. 4. More pressing Reasons to prove, that for these last two or three thousand years, 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 man's body, & in the view of them we are first to know that they were standards, that is, for public contracts certain & constant, & consequently, if the grains of our barley corn, the first principle of measure, be the same with theirs, as hath already been proved, it cannot be but our ordinary measures should be the same with theirs, & so likewise our statures. p. 177.  
Sect. 2 That in particular the ordinary Hebrew, Grecian, & Roman measures were the same with ours or very little different. p. 179.  
Sect. 3 The second reason taken from the ordinary allowance of diet to soldiers & servants, which appears to be of like quantity with us, as was that among the ancient Grecians & Romans, together with a doubt touching God's allowance to the Israelites, answered. p, 184.  
Sect 4 Divers other Reasons drawn from experience added, as from the bedsteeds, the seats, the doors, the pulpits, the altars of the ancients, and other doubts cleared. p. 186.  
Sect. 5 The same farther proved, first for that the son often proves taller than the father. Secondly, for that age and stature holding for the most part correspondence, it being already proved that the age of mankind is not decreased, from thence it follows, that neither is their stature. Thirdly, for that if mankind decreased in stature by the course of nature, so must of necessity all other Creatures, they being all alike subject to the same law of nature. Fourthly, for that if men had still declined since the Creation, by this time they could have been no bigger than rats or mice, if they had at all been. p. 188.   

CAP. 5. Wherein the principal objections, drawn aswell from Reason as from authority and experience, are fully answered.  
Sect. 1 Of sundry fabulous narrations of the bones of Giantlike bodies, digged up, or found in Caves. p. 190.  
Sect. 2 Divers reasons alleged, why such bones might be found in former ages, and not now, and yet the ordinary stature of mankind remain the same. p. 193.  
Sect. 3 An answer to the argument, drawn from the testimonies commonly produced on behalf of the adverse opinion. p 196.  
Sect. 4 Of the wonderful strength of divers in latter ages, not inferior to those of former times. p. 201.  
Sect. 5 Two doubts cleared; the first touching the strong physic which the Ancients used; the second touching the great quantity of blood which they are said usually to have drawn at the opening of a vain. p. 203.  
Sect. 6 The third doubt cleared, touching the length of the duodenum, or first gut; as also of the several opinions of jacobus Capellus and johamnes Temporarius touching the decrease of humane strength and stature. p. 206.  
Sect. 7 Another rub removed, taken from the impurity of the seed contracted by the succession of propagation, as also touching some late memorable examples of Parents, famously fertile in the lineage issuing from their bodies, beyond any examples in that kind of former ages. p. 209.   

CAP. 6. Containing a discourse in general, that there is no such Universal and perpetual decay in the powers of the mind, or in the Arts and Sciences as is pretended.  
Sect. 1 The excellency of the Ancients in the powers of the mind, compared with those of the present; as also their helps and hindrances in matter of learning, balanced. p. 211.  
Sect. 2 That there is both in Wits & Arts, as in all things besides a kind of circular progress, aswell in regard of places as times. p. 216.   

CAP. 7. Touching the three principal professions, Divinity, Law, and Physic.  
Sect. 1 The strange ignorance of the Ancients in many things in matters of divinity. p. 218.  
Sect. 2 Of the palpable darkness of some ages before this last, and specially of the ninth Centurie, as also Gods special blessing upon these latter ages in reviving the Arts & languages. p. 224.  
Sect. 3 The Lawyers of this last age preferred before those of former times. p. 226.  
Sect. 4 Ancient and modern Physicians compared, specially in the knowledge of Anatomy and Herbarie, the two legs of that science. p. 230.  
Sect. 5 Of the profitable use of extractions, and the Paracelsian Physic, either wholly unknown to the Ancients, or little practised by them. p. 230.   

CAP. 8. Touching History Poetry, and the Art Military.  
Sect. 1 That the Moderns have far exceeded the Ancients in Chronology and Cosmography, the two eyes of History. p. 232.  
Sect. 2 The defect of the Ancients in natural and Ecclesiastical history justly corrected by the Moderns; and in civil History: the moderns are matched with the ancients: And of the knowledge of weights, and measures, andthe true valuation of coins recovered and restored by latter writers, which thorough the neglect of former ages had well nigh perished. p. 234.  
Sect. 3 A comparison between the Greek & Latin, as also between the Ancienter and latter Latin Poets, and that Poetry, as other Arts hath fallen and risen again in this latter age. p. 236.  
Sect. 4 In Military matters the Romans excelled the Grecians, and have themselves been matched, if not surpassed in latter ages, in weapons, in fortifications, in stratagems, but specially in sea-fights. p. 240.   

CAP. 9 Touching Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, the Mathematics, Philosophy, Architecture, the Arts of painting and Navigation.  
Sect. 1 Touching Grammar, Rhetoric, & Logic. p. 243.  
Sect. 2 Touching Astronomy and Geometry, as also the Physics and Metaphysics. pag. 244.  
Sect. 3 Of the Arts of painting and Architecture revived in this latter age. p. 247.  
Sect. 4 Of the Art of Navigation brought to perfection in this latter age. p. 250.   

CAP. 10. Touching divers Artificial works and useful inventions, at leastwise matchable with those of the Ancients, namely and chiefly, the invention of Printing, Guns, and the Sea-card or Mariners Compass.  
Sect. 1 Of some rare inventions & artificial works of this latter age, comparable both for use and skill to the best of the Ancients. p. 254.  
Sect. 2 Of the benefits and the Inventor of the most useful art of Printing. p. 256.  
Sect. 3 Of the use and invention of Guns. p. 260.  
Sect. 4 Of the use and invention of the Mariners compass or Sea-card, as also of another excellent invention said to be lately sound out upon the Loadstone, together with a conclusion of this comparison touching Arts and wits, with a saying of Bodins, and another very notable one of Lactantius. p. 363.    

LIB 4. Of this pretended decay in matter of manners, together with a large proof of the future consummation of the world, from the testimonies of the Gentiles, and the uses which we are to draw from the consideration thereof.  

CAP. 1. That there is no such universal and perpetual decay in the manners of men as is pretended, which is first proved in general, and then from Religion the ground of manners.  
Sect. 1 That there is a vicissitude and revolution in virtues and in vices, as there is in Arts and Sciences. p. 270.  
Sect. 2 The extreme folly of the Ancients in adoring and invocating images. p. 273.  
Sect. 3 Their gross and ridiculous blockishness in the infinite multitude of their Gods. p. 276.  
Sect. 4 The most shameful & base condition of their Gods. p. 277.  
Sect. 5 Their barbarous and most unnatural cruelty in sacrificing their children to their Gods. p. 279.  
Sect. 6 Their monstrous beastliness in the worship of Priapus and Berecynthia, as also of their doting folly in their divinations; together with a touch upon the childish fables of the jewish Rabbins, the absurd opinions and horrible practices of ancient Heretics in the primitive Christian Church, and the incredible ignorance & superstition of the Romish. p. 282.   

CAP. 2. Touching the Laws of the ancient Grecians and Saxons, whereof some were wicked and impious others most absurd and ridiculous.  
Sect. 1 The unjust and absurd Laws of Solon the Athenian Lawgiver. p. 285.  
Sect. 2 The unreasonable and irreligious Laws of Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian Lawgiver. p. 286.  
Sect. 3 The impious and dishonest Laws of Plato. p 288.  
Sect. 4 The Unnatural and unchaste Laws of Aristotle. p. 290.  
Sect. 5 The barbarous and uncivil laws of the Gauls and the Saxons our Predecessors. p. 292.   

CAP. 3. Touching the insufficiency of the precepts of the ancient Philosophers for the planting of virtue, or the rooting out of vice; as also of the common error touching the golden age.  
Sect. 1 Touching the insufficiency of the precepts of the ancient Philosophers, for the planting of virtue, and the rooting out of vice; as also of the manners of the Ancients observed by Caelius Secundus Curio out of juvenal and Tacitus. p. 294.  
Sect. 2 Touching that idle tale of the golden age forged by the Poets, and taken up by some Historians. p. 297.   

CAP. 4. Of the excessive cruelty of the Romans toward the jews, the Christians, other Nations, one another, and upon themselves.  
Sect. 1 Of the Roman cruelty toward the jews. p. 301.  
Sect. 2 Their cruelty toward the Christians, first in regard of the unsatiable malice of their Persecutors. p. 302.  
Sect. 3 Secondly, in regard of the incredible number of those that suffered. p. 304.  
Sect. 4 Thirdly, in regard of the various and devilish means and instruments which they devised and practised for the execution or torture of the poor Christians. p. 305  
Sect. 5 Of their extreme cruelty towards others, their very religion leading them thereunto, as witnesseth Lactantius. p. 306.  
Sect. 6 Of their cruelty one towards another by the testimony of Tacitus and Seneca, and first in their civillwarres. p. 309.  
Sect. 7 Secondly, of the cruelty of their Emperors towards their subjects, their Captains towards their soldiers, their Masters towards their slaves, and generally of their whole Nation. p. 313.  
Sect. 8 Thirdly, of their cruelty one towards another in their sword fights: In which first is considered the original and increase of those games, aswell in regard of their frequency, as both the number and quality of the Fighters. p. 316.  
Sect. 9 Secondly, of the fervent and eager affection of the people to these games, as also that they were in use in the Provinces, and namely among the jews, but refused by the Grecians, and why? p. 318.  
Sect. 10 Thirdly, these bloody spectacles were cried out against by the tongues and pens of Christians Divines, and then cried down by the laws and power of Christian Emperors. p. 321.  
Sect. 11 The Romans being thus cruel towards others, likewise turned the edge of their cruelty upon themselves, partly by a voluntary exposing themselues to present death in those public shows, either for money or upon a bravery, or by laying violent hands upon themselves, which by their gravest writers was held not only lawful and commendable, but in some cases honourable. p. 322.   

CAP. 5. Of the excessive covetousness of the Romans, and their unsatiable thirst of having more, though by most unjust and indirect means.  
Sect. 1 Of the excessive covetousness of the Romans in general by the testimonies of Petronius Arbiter, juvenal, Galgacus, & Hannibal, and in particular Caecilius Claudius, Marcus Crassus, & specially Seneca the Philosopher are taxed for this vice. p. 325.  
Sect. 2 Of their wonderful greediness of gold, manifested by their great toil and danger in working their mines, fully and lively described by Pliny. p. 327.  
Sect. 3 Their unmerciful pilling and poling, robbing and spoiling the Provinces, not sparing the very temples and things sacred. p. 328.  
Sect. 4 Of the base and most unconscionable practices of Tiberius and Caligula, nay even of Vespasian himself for the heaping up of treasure. p. 330.  
Sect. 5 That the whole nation was deeply infected with the same vice. p. 33●…   

CAP. 6. Of the Roman luxury in matter of incontinency and drunkenness.  
Sect. 1 A touch upon the Roman luxury in the sins of the flesh. p. 334.  
Sect. 2 Of their excess in drinking p. 336.  
Sect. 3 The same amply confirmed by the testimony of Pliny. p. 338.  
Sect. 4 In particular, this excess of the Romans in drinking is confirmed by the practice of Anthony, specially at his being with Cleopatra, as also by the practice of Clodius son to Esope the Tragedian in drinking of dissolved pearl. p. 341.  
Sec. 5 Of excessive drinkers among the Romans in regard of the quantity of the liquor, and how both their Princes and people were all generally tainted with this vice. p 344.  
Sect. 6 Of the costliness and curious workmanship of the vessels out of which they drank, which was likewise a means to draw them on to excessive drinking. p. 345.   

CAP. 7 Of the excessive gluttony of the Romans.  
Sect. 1 Of their costly tables, their huge platters, the quality, order, & number of their waiters, as also of their art & schools of Carving p. 347.  
Sect. 2 That after ages sometimes reform the abuse of former times: Of the great number and chargeable hire of their Cooks: Of Apicius his wastfulnesse in belli-cheere, that such wastfulness was common among them. p. 350.  
Sect. 3 Of their long and often sitting and usual practice of vomiting even among their women, as also of the number of their courses at a sitting, together with the rarity and costliness of their several services. p. 352.  
Sec. 4 Of the sumptuous provision of two platters furnished out, the one by Vitellius, the other by Esope the Tragedian, as also of the horrible excess of Caligula and Heliogabalus. p. 354.  
Sec. 5 Of the excessive luxury of more ancient times. p. 355.  
Sec. 6 Of their wonderful niceness in the strangeness, weight, and newness of their fish●…s, as also of divers other their strange curiosities about them, and of the vastness of their fishponds, & great store of fishes in them. 358.  
Sec. 7 Of their excessive gluttoni●… in fowl as well as in fish, together with their luxurious appurtenances to their solemn feasts, as also that their gluttony rose with their Empire, and again fell with it. p. 361.  
Sec. 8 That their riot did not only show itself in the delicious choice of their fare, but in their voracity & gurmandizing in regard of the quantity some of them devoured at a meal. p. 364.   

CAP. 8 Of the Romans excessive luxury in building.  
Sec. 1 Of their excess in the great variety of their far fetched and dear bought marble. p. 365.  
Sec. 2 Of their excessive sumptuousness in their temporary or transeunt buildings, made only for pastime to last but for a short time. p. 366.  
Sect. 3 Of their infinite expense in their permanent Amphitheatres, and the appurtenances belonging thereunto, namely their Curtains & Arena. p. 368.  
Sect. 4 Of their incredible expense in the hiring, and arming, & dieting of their sword-players, in the hunting, bringing home, feeding & keeping of their wild beasts in other admirable shows to the astonishment of the beholders; in refreshing the Spectators with precious & pleasant perfumes and the like; and lastly, in casting their largesse among the people; neither was this the practice of the Emperor's only, but of private men. p. 370.  
Sect. 5 Of their superfluous expense as in the number & largeness, so likewise in the beauty and ornament of Baths, which were likewise of little other use then for pleasure. p. 372.  
Sect. 6 Of the endless masses of treasure which they poured out in the erecting and adorning of temples for the worship of those Idols which they forged to themselves, or at leastwise knew well enough were no gods. p. 373  
Sect. 7 Of their wonderful vanity in erecting infinite numbers of statues, and those very chargeable and that to themselves. p. 376.  
Sec. 8 Their prodigal sumptuousness in their private buildings in regard of the largeness & height of their houses, as also in regard of their marble pillars, walls, roofs, beams, and pavement full, of art and cost. p. 377.  
Sect. 9 The profuse expenses of Domitian and Nero in their buildings, as also of Caligula in his mad works. p. 381.  
Sec. 10 That the Romans luxurious excess in their householdstuff and the ornaments of their houses was suitable to that of their buildings p. 382   

CAP. 9 Of the Romans excessive luxury in their dressing and apparel.  
Sec. 1 How effeminate they were in regard of their bodies, specially about their hair. p. 385.  
Sec. 2 Of the pressing, plaiting, store, die, and prize of their garments, as also of their rings and jewels of inestimable value. p. 386.  
Sect. 3 The great excess and immodesty of their women in the same kind. p. 389.  
Sec. 4 More of the excessive niceness of their women, as also of Caligula his monstrous phantasticalness in his apparel, together with their extreme vanity in the multitude of their servants and slaves waiting on them. p. 391.  
Sec. 5 Of their prodigal, or rather prodigious gifts of their Emperors, & the extreme unthriftiness of private men. p. 395.   

CAP. 10. Of the Romans extreme arrogancy and confidence in admiring and commending themselves, together with their gross and base flattery specially to their Emperors; and lastly, their impudent, nay impious vainglory and boasting of their Nation and City.  
Sect. 1 Of their extreme arrogance in admiring and commending, and ●…ven deifying themselves. pag. 398  
Sect. 2 Of their gross and base flattery, specially toward their Emperors both living and dead. pag. 400.  
Sect. 3 Of their impudent, nay impious vainglory and boasting of their own Nation and City. p. 404.   

CAP. 11. Wherein the objections brought in behalf of the Romans touching their pretended justice, prudence, and fortitude are examined and fully answered.  
Sect 1 The first objection touching the pretended justice of the Romans, answered out of Lactantius. p. 406.  
Sec. 2 The same answer farther confirmed by the testimony of Saint Augustine. p. 410.  
Sect. 3 Another answer, that none can be truly just which are not truly religious, nor any truly religious which profess not the Christian Religion. p. 412.  
Sect. 4 The second objection touching the pretended wisdom of the Romans, answered, by taking a brief view of their courses, but specially by the testimony of Pliny. p. 413.  
Sec. 5 The third objection touching the pretended fortitude of the Romans answered, in as much as their Empire is by their own writers in great part ascribed to Fortune, and by Christians may be referred to God's special providence for the effecting of his own purposes rather than to any extraordinary worth in them. p. 416.  
Sec. 6 Secondly, the Romans having no right or little just to the Nations they subdued, we cannot rightly term their strength in conquering them fortditue. 418.  
Sec. 7 Thirdly, that the Christians in suffering for Religion surpassed the Roman fortitude, and equalled it in suffering for their country. p. 420.  
Sec. 8 That as the Christians have surpassed the Romans in the passive part of fortitude, so have they matched them in the active; and that the partial overvaluing of the Roman manhood by their own Historians, is it chiefly which hath made the world to think it unmatchable. p. 423.  
Sect. 9 The English not inferior to the Roman in valour and magnanimity by the judgement of Sir Walter Raleigh. p 426.   

CAP. 12. Wherein the general objections touching the world's decay in matter of Manners, are answered at large.  
Sect. 1 Two objections drawn from reason, and both answered: The one, that since the first plantation of Christian Religion, men have from time to time degenerated: The other, that the multitude of Laws, & Lawyers, & Law-suites, and the multiplicity of words in writings and convaiances, argue the great sickness and malice of the present times in regard of the former. p. 431.  
Sect. 2 Another objection answered, taken from the Scriptures, which in divers places seem to say, that the last times shall be the worst. p. 433.  
Sect. 3 The passages of Scripture alleged to that purpose, particularly and distinctly answered. p. 436.  
Sec. 4 The last doubt touching the coming of Antichrist, answered. p 437  
Sec. 5 The argument of greatest weight to prove that Antichrist is already come. p. 438.   

CAP. 13. That the world shall have an end by Fire, and by it be entirely consumed.  
Sec. 1 That the world shall have an end, is a point so clear in Christian religion, that it needeth not to be proved from the principles thereof, neither is he worthy the name of a Christian who makes any doubt of it. p. 441.  
Sect. 2 That the world shall have an end by the testimony of the Gentiles. p. 442.  
Sect. 3 That the world shall have an end by fire, proved likewise by the testimony of the Gentiles. p. 444.  
Sect. 4 That the world shall be by fire totally and finally dissolved and annihilated, proved by Scripture. p. 446.  
Sect. 5 The same farther proved by reason. p. 447.  
Sect. 6 The arguments commonly alleged from the Scripture for the Renovation of the world, answered. p. 450.   

CAP. 14. Of the uses we are to make of the consummation of the world, & of the day of judgement.  
Sec. 1 That the day of the world's end shall likewise be the day of the general judgement thereof, and that then there shall be such a judgement is proved aswell by reason as the testimony of the Gentiles. p. 454.  
Sect. 2 The consideration of this day may first serve for terror to the wicked, whether they regard the dreadfulness of the day itself, or the quality of the judge, by whom they are to be tried. p. 456.  
Sect. 3 Or the nature and number of their accusers. p. 459.  
Sect. 4 Or lastly, the dreadfulness of the sentence which shall then be pronounced upon them. p. 461.  
Sect. 5 Secondly, the consideration of this day may serve for a special comfort to the godly, whether they meditate upon the name and nature of t'c day itself in regard of them, or the assurance of God's love and favour towards them, and the gracious promises made unto them. p. 464.  
Sect. 6 Or the quality & condition of the judge in respect of them by whom they are to be tried, or lastly the sweetness of the sentence which shall then be pronounced on their behalf. p. 467.  
Sect. 7 Thirdly, the consideration of this day may serve for admonition to all. p. 470.  
Sect. 8 As likewise for instruction. p. 471     

OF THE VALVE OF THE ROMAN SESTERCE, Compared with our English coin now in use.  
BEcause in the fourth and last book of this ensuing treatise in discovering of the Roman luxu●…ie, frequent mention is made of their excessive expenses, and the ordinary computation of their Authors, whose testimonies I use, is by Sesterces. I held it requisite for the better understanding of those sums by such who are not acquainted with the Roman coins, in this table to express the value of the Sesterce, and withal to reduce some of their most noted sums to our sterling that so the Reader desirous to know any particular sum, may either find it expressed in this Table, or easily find it out by proportioning the sum he desires to know with the nearest unto it either above or under.  
The Sestertius was among the Romans a coin so common, that nummus and Sestertius came at length to be used promiscuously the one for the other; so called it was quasi Semistertius, because of three asses it wanted half a one, and is thus commonly expressed ●…S, or thus HIS, by which is understood two asses and an half. For the value os it, ten asses make a denarius or Roman penny, so termed because it contained denaaera, which were the same with their asses; so as the Sesterce containing two asses and an half, must o●… necessity be foun●… in the denarius four times; now the denarius being the eigh●… part of an ounce, and an ounce of silver being now with us valued at five shillings; it follows from thence that the value of the denarius is seven pence halfpenny; & consequently of the Sesterce being the fourth part thereof, penny half penny farthing half farthing. Touching their manner of counting by Sesterces, a controversy there is betwixt Budaeus and Agricola, whether Sestertius in the masculine and Sestertium in the neuter be to be valued alike, which Agricola affirms, Budaeus, upon better reason in my judgement, denies, and to him I incline, holding with him that Sestertium in the neuter contains a thousand Sestertios: But here two things are specially to be noted; first, that if the numeral, or word that denoteth the number being an adictin●… and of a different ca●…e, be joined with Sestertiûm (by an abbreviation put for Sestertiorum) in the genitive case plural, then doth it note so many thousand Sesterty; for example, decem Sestertiûm signifieth decem millia ten thousand Sesterces: Secondly, if the numeral joined with Sestertiûm be an adverb, than it designeth so many hundred thousand, ex: gr●…: decies Sestertiûm signifies decies contena millia, ten hundred thousand or a million of Sesterces; and sometimes the substantive Sestertiûm is omitted but necessarily understood; the adjective then or adverbe set alone being of the same value as if the substantive were expressed, as thu●…, decem standing by itself is fully as much as decem Sestertium, & decies in like case, as if it were decies Sestertiûm, which I have premised that the reason of my rendering the Latin sums might the better be conceived, now to the table.  
Sesterces Are worth In English moneys. Twenty 0l-3 -3s-1 -1d-0b A hundred 0-15-7-0b. Five hundred, 3-18-1-0b. A thousand, 7-16-3-0. Five thousand, 39-1-3-0. Ten thousand, 78 2 6-0. Twenty thousand, 156-5-0-0 Fifty thousand, 390-12-6-0. A hundred thousand, 781-5-0-0. Five hundred thousand, 3906-5-0-0. A Million, 7812-10. 0-0 Five Millions, 39062-10-0-0. Ten Millions. 78125-0-0-0. Twenty Millions, 156250-0-0-0. Fifty Millions, 390625-0-0-0. A hundred Millions, 781250-0-0-0. Two hundred Millions 1562500-0-0-0. Five hundred Millions, 3906250-0-0-0. A thousand Millions, 7812500-0-0-0.  
A Talon is 750 ounces of silver, which after five shillings the ounce, is 187 pounds.   

Boethius Lib. 3. Metro. 9  

O Qui perpetua mund●…m ratione gubernas,  
Terrarum Coelique Sator qui tempus ab aevo  
Ire jubes: stabilisque manens das cuncta moveri;  
Da Pater augustam menti conscendere sedem,  
Da fontem lustrare boni, da luce reperta  
In te conspicuos animae defigere visus.  
Disijce terrenae nebulas & pondera molis,  
Atque tuo splendore mica. Ta namque serenum,  
Tu requies tranquilla pijs, Te cernere, finis,  
Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem.   

THou that madest heaven & earth, whose wisdom still doth guide  
The world, by whose command time evermore doth slide:  
Thou that unmoved thyself, causest all things to move:  
Grant, Father, I may climb these sacred seats above,  
Grant, I of good may view the spring, that finding light,  
My mind perpetually on thee may fix her sight.  
Dispel these clouds, discharge this load of lumpish clay,  
And spread thy beams: for thou to Saints the clearest day,  
The calmest quiet art, and thee to comtemplate  
Port, passage, leader, way, beginning is and date.    

AN APOLOGY OF THE POWER AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD: OR, An Examination and Censure of the common error touching Natures perpetual and universal decay.  
LIB. I. Which treats of this pretended decay in general, together with some preparatives thereunto.  

CAP. I. Of divers other opinions justly suspected, if not rejected, though commonly received.  

SECT. I. In Divinity.  
THE opinion of the World's decay is so generally received, not only among the Vulgar, but of the Learned both Divines and others, that the very commonnes of it, makes it currant with many, without any further examination: That which is held, not only by the multitude, but by the Learned, passing smoothly for the most part without any check or control. Nec alius pronior fidei lapsus, quam ubi rei falsae gravis author extitit, saith Pliny, Men do not anywhere more easily err, then where they follow a guide, whom they presume they may safely trust: They cannot quickly be persuaded, that he who is in reputation for knowledge and wisdom, and whose doctrine is admired in weighty matters, should mistake in points of laesser consequence; and the greatest part of the World, is rather led with the names of their Masters, and with the reverend respect they bear their persons or memories, then with the soundness and truth of the things they teach. Wherein that of Vadianus in his Epistle of Paradise, is, and ever will be verified. Magnos errores magnorum virorum authoritate persuasi transmittimus: We deliver over as it were by tradition from hand to hand, great errors being thereunto induced by the authority of great men. Whiles we are young, our judgement is raw and green, and when we are old, it is forestalled, by which means it comes often to pass that inter iuvenile iudicium & senile preiudicium veritas corrumpitur; between the precipitancy & rashness of youth to take whatsoever is offered, and the obstinate stiffness of age in refusing what it hath not formerly been acquainted with, truth is lost. The evidencing of which assertion, is the proper subject of this Chapter, wherein I hope I shall make it appear that many opinions are commonly received, both in ordinary speech, & in the writings of learned men, which notwithstanding are by others either manifestly convinced, or at leastwise justly suspected of falsehood and error, and this aswell in Divinity as in Philosophy and History.  
First then in Divinity (not to meddle with doctrinal points in controversy at this day) it is commonly received and believed, that Iu●…as among the other Apostles received the blessed Sacrament at our Lords hands, of which notwithstanding, saith the learned Zanchius, Etsi multi 
In quartum praec●…ptum.  magni viri hoc docuerint & scripserint, ego tamen nullo modo concedo, aut concedere possum, quia apertè pugnat cum historia Iohannis Evangelistae: Though many great Clarks have taught and written it, yet myself neither do nor can by any means grant it, in as much as it plainly contradicts the History of john the Evangelist. 
Cap. 13. 30.   
That Melchizedek spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrews, was Sem the son of Noah: Yet Pererius in his Commentary on the 14 of Genesis, endeavours to overthrow it by many weighty reasons drawn from the Text.  
That our first Parents stood but one day in Paradise, of which opinion the same Author affirms, Pervulgata est, eademque ut m●…ltorum sic 
Comment. in Gen. cap. 3.  imprimis nobilium & illustrium Authorum firmata consensu; it is commonly received and strengthened by the consent of many worthy and famous Authors: yet labours he to disprove it, in as much as so many, and so different acts are by Moses recorded to have passed between their Creation and Ejection, as could not well be dispatched within the compass of one day. And Tostatus, though he were first of the common opinion, yet afterward upon better advice he changed it.  
That the Prophecy of old jacob, The Sceptre shall not depart from judah 
Gen. 49. 10.  until Shiloh come., was fulfilled in Herod's reign at the birth of CHRIST by the continuance of the government in the Tribe of judah till the reign of Herod, reputed the first stranger that took upon him the Kingly 
Exercit. 1. ad apparat. Annal. 〈◊〉. 2.  office among the jews: but Causabon in his Exercitations proves that neither the kingly government was continued in that Tribe, in as much as it was often interrupted, and at length ended in Zedechiah, nor that Herod was a stranger, in as much as himself, his father and his Grandfather were all circumcised, and yet he confesses of the common opinion, haec sententia ab insignibus pietate & doctrina viris profecta, ubi semel est admissa sine ulla controversia aut examine apud omnium aetatum eruditos praeter admodum paucos semper deinceps obtinuit; this opinion first set on foot by men of singular piety and learning, and being once generally embraced without any question or examination of it, afterward prevailed with the learned of all ages, some few only excepted.  
That jephtah flew his daughter, and sacrificed her to the Lord, but junius in his annotations on that place thinks he only consecrated her by vowing her virginity, which may well stand with the nature 
jud. 11. 38. Hebr. 11. 32. Deut. 12 31.  of the original word, and the contrary cannot well stand either with jephtahs' faith or God's acceptance.  
That the Ark rested upon the hills of Armenia; whereas Sir Walter Raleigh is confident that therein most writers were utterly mistaken. Neither 
History of the world▪ part. 1a. lib. 〈◊〉. cap. 70.  was he led so to think (as he professeth) out of humour or singularity, but therein groundeth himself upon the original, and first truth, which is the word of God, and after upon reason and the most probable circumstances thereupon depending. And in truth, he that shall consider that the sons of Noah coming out of the Ark, traveled from the East into the land of Shinar (where they built the tower of Babel,) and that Armenia lies to the Northwest of that plain, will easily 
Gen. 11. 〈◊〉.  conceive that it could not well be, that the Ark should rest upon those hills; but the chief occasion of the mistake seems to be in the vulgar translation, which hath rendered Armenia instead of Ararat.  
That of the three sons of Noah, Sem, Cham and japhet, Sem was the eldest, I'm the second, and japhet the youngest, whereas junius is of opinion that japhet was the eldest, grounding himself upon the text, Genesis 10. 21. I'm the youngest, which he proves from Genesis 9 24. and that japhet was the eldest is not his opinion alone, but of Lyranus, Tostatus, Genebrard and the Hebrew doctors.  
That the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, was an apple: whereas the text specifies no such matter; and it should seem by the circumstances thereof, that it was rather some other kind of fruit 
Gen. 3. 6.  more pleasant both to the taste and sight.  
That the waters of the red sea were of colour red: whereas travellers into those parts by sight find the contrary: it rather borrowing 
Vide Agatharchidem de rub●… mari. Dec. 2 a. lib. 80. cap. 1.  that name from the red banks and cliffs about it, as both Castro and Barros are of opinion; or from the Coasts of Idumaea by which it passeth, as Scaliger first observed and after him Fuller.  
To these may be added that it is commonly believed that Moses had horns when he came down from the mountain, because they read in the vulgar Latin, Ignorabat quòd cornuta esset facies sua: He 
Ex od. 34. 29.  knew not that his face was horned; whereas the sense is, he knew not that his face shined, the same word in the Hebrew signifying both an horn and a shining beam  
That our Saviour wore his hair long, because we read he was a Nazarite; whereas the truth is, that he was a Nazarite, or rather a Nazarene, as with Beza our last translators read it, by education, not by profession 
Math. 2. 23.  and institution, in regard of the place in which he was nursed and conversed, not any vow whereunto he was bound.  
And lastly that Absalon was hung by the hair of the head, whereas the text says in plain terms, his head caught hold of the oak: in 
2 Sam. 18. 9  like manner (it seems) as Henry Grandchild to the Conqueror is said to have ended his days in the new forest, 
Cambden in Hams●….    

SECTIO 2. In Philosophy.  
SEcondly in Philosophy it is commonly received that the heart is the seat and shop of the principal faculties of the soul: nay divine scripture applying itself to the ordinary opinion therein, in many places attributes wisdom and understanding to the heart: whereas that noble pare of Physicians Hypocrates and Galen have made it evident by experimental proofs, that those divine powers of reasoning and discourse are seated in the brain, in as much as they are not hindered by the distemper of the heart, but of the brain, nor recovered being lost by medicaments applied to the heart, but to the brain.  
That the three principal faculties of the soul, the understanding, the imagination and memory are distinguished by three several Cells or Ventricles in the brain, the imagination (as is conceived) being confined to the forepart, the memory to the hinder part, and judgement or understanding to the middle part thereof; which opinion Laurentius confutes, and Fernelius derides, making them all to be dispersed thorough all the 
Hist. Anot. lib. 10. q. 2●….  receptacles of the brain, in as much as sometime when the whole brain is disaffected, the operation but of one of those faculties is hurt; and sometimes again when but one ventricle is hurt, the operation of all the three faculties are hindered. Neither ought it to seem more strange that the same ventricle in the brain should be capable of all these three functions, then that the same bone or sinew and every part and particle thereof should have in it (in regard of the nourishment it receives, and the excrement it drives forth,) an attractive, a retentive, an assimulative and an expulsive virtue.  
That one hand by nature is more useful and more properly made for action then the other: whereas we find no such difference betwixt the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils; and if men were left to themselves, as many I think if not more, would use the left hand, as now by education and custom do the right: And in truth I am of opinion that God and nature have given us two hands, that we should use both indifferently, that if need required, the one might supply the loss or defect of the other. Such would Plato have the Citizens of his commonwealth to be, and such do I take those seven hundred Beniamites to have been mentioned in the 20th of judges & if either hand should in nature be preferred before other, me thinks in reason it should be that which is nearest the heart the fountain of life and activity.  
That in nature there is an East and a West, which as to me it seems cannot be, since that which to us is East, is West to our Antipodes, and that which is East to them, is West to us.  
That the radical moisture, and primogeniall heat naturally engrafted in us wastes always by degrees from the time of our conception, as oil in a lamp or wax in a taper: whereas notwithstanding till we come to the age of consistence,, we still grow in bulk, in strength and stature: which for mine own part I cannot conceive how it should be: if from our infancy our natural heat and moisture still decreased.  
That a man hath a natural speech of his own as he is a man, (some think Hebrew) which language he would speak by nature if he were not taught some other: but this is a dream, and hath been twice confuted by a double experiment. The first was by Psamm●…ticus a king of 
〈◊〉. lib. 2.  Egypt, who desiring to understand which was man's most ancient and natural language, caused two children to be sequestered from all society of men, and to be nourished by two she goats, forbidding all speech unto them: which children continuing for a long time dumb, at last uttered Bec Bec: the King being informed that in the Phrygian language Bec signified Bread, imagined that the children called then for bread, and from thence collected that because they spoke that language which no man had taught them, therefore the Phrygian language was the natural speech of man. A weak proof & silly conceit. For the child's Bec (as is probablely collected) was only that language which they learned of their Goate-Nurces when they came to suck their tetts, who receiving from them some ease by their sucking, saluted them with Bec, the best language they had, from whom the children learned it, and so much as they heard, so much just they uttered, and no more: and if they had not heard it, they could never have pronounced it, as we may evidently see in men that are borne deaf; and by another experiment tried upon other infants, (which is our second instance) by Melabdim E●…hebar, whom they call the Great Magore or Mogul. He likewise 
Purcas Pilgr. 〈◊〉. 1. cap. 8.  upon the forenamed error, that man hath a certain proper language by nature, caused thirty children to be brought up in dumb silence, to find out the experience, whether all of them would speak one and the same language, having inwardly a purpose to frame his religion conformable to that nation whose language should be spoken, as being that religion which is purely natural unto man. But the children proved all dumb, though they were so many of them, and therefore they could not speak, because they were not taught: whereby it appeareth that the speaking of any language is not in man by nature; The first man had it by divine Infusion, but all his posterity only by Imitation.   

SECT. 3 jam. In history Ecclesiastical.  
THirdly in History, which is Ecclesiastical, Civil or natural. In History Ecclesiastical it is commonly received that Simon Peter encountered with Simon Magus, and that the Magician undertaking to fly up the air, the Apostle so wrought by prayer and fasting that he came tumbling down and broke his neck: but of this story saith St. Augustine, Est quidem & haec opinio plurimorum, quamvis eam perhibeant esse falsam plerique Romani: many are of this opinion, yet most of the Roman 
Epist. 86. Casulano.  writers hold it but as a tale. And in another place he calls it Graecam fabulam, an invention of the Grecians who were so fruitful in these kind of fables, that Pliny himself could say of them, mirum est quo procedat Graeca credulitas, nullum tam impudens mendacium est ut teste careat; it is a 
Hist. Natu. lib. 8. 22.  wonder to see whither the credulity of the greeks carry them, there being no lie so shameful, but it finds a patron among them: Nay, the very Latin Poet took notice of their immoderate liberty this way.  
— Et quicquid Graecia mendax  
Audet in historia. 
juven. Sat. 10.   
What dares not lying Greece  
Insert in histories.  
That the Sibyls clearly foretold many things touching the name, the forerunner, the birth and death of Christ, the coming of Antichrist, the overthrow of Rome, & the consummation of the world, which notwithstanding, 
Exer. 1●…. ad ap. annal. cap. 10. Ephes. 3. 9 Colos●…. 1. 26. Rom. 16. 25.  (as Causabon hath learnedly observed) seems to be contrary to the word of God, that so profound mysteries should be revealed to the Gentiles, so long before the incarnation of Christ; specially since they write more plainly and particularly of those matters, than the Prophets of God themselves among the jews; and the greatest Clerks among the Gentiles Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and others, curious searchers into all kinds of learning, never so much as once mention either their names or their writings, nor any of these mysteries. While the Church of Christ was yet in her infancy many such kind of books were forged thereby to make the doctrine of the Gospel more passable among the Gentiles; and no marvel then that these of the Sibyls passed for current among the rest.  
That Saint George was a holy Martyr, and that he conquered the dragon; whereas Dr. Reynolds proves him to have been both a wicked 
De Eccl. Rom. Idol. l. 10. cap. 50.  man and an Arrian by the testimony of Epiphanius, Athanasius and Gregory Nazianzen. And Baronius himself in plain terms affirms, apparet totam illam de actis Georgij fabulam fuisse commentum Arrianorum, It appears that the whole story of George is nothing else but a forgery of the Arrians; yet was he received (as we know) as a Canonised Saint through Christendom, & to be the Patron both of our nation and of the most honourable order of Knighthood in the world.  
That the wise men which came out of the East to worship our Saviour, were Kings and from hence (their bodies being translated to Cullen,) they are at this day commonly called the three Kings of Cullen, and the day consecrated to their memory is by the French termed Le jour de trois Rois, the day of the three Kings. yet Mantuan a Monk fears not to declare his opinion to the contrary, and gives his reason for it.  

Nec reges ut opinor erant, neque enim tacuissent  
Historiae sacrae Authores Genus illud honoris,  
Inter mortales quo non sublimius ullum,  
Add quod Herodes ut magnificentia Regum  
Postulat, hospitibus tantis regale dedisset  
Hospitium, secumque lares duxisset in amplos.   

Had they been Kings nor holy History,  
Would have concealed their so great Majesty,  
Higher then which on Earth none can be named;  
Herod's magnificence would eke have framed  
Some entertainment fitting their estates,  
And harboured them within his Royal gates.    

SECT. 4. In History Civil.  
IN History Civil or national, it is commonly received, that there were four, and but four Monarchies succeeding one the other; the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman; Yet john Bodin a man of singular learning, specially in matter of History, dares thus to begin the seventh Chapter of his Method. Inveteratus error de quatuor Imperijs, ac magnorum Virorum opinione pervulgatus tam altè radices egit, ut vix evelli posse videatur; that inveterate error of four Empires made famous thorough the opinion of great men, hath now taken such deep roots, as it seems it can hardly be plucked up; & thorough a great part of that Chapter labours he the Confutation of those who maintain that opinion.  
That the Saxons called the Remainder of the Britons, Welsh, as being strangers unto them: whereas that word signifies not a strangers either in the high or low Dutch, as Verstigan a man skilful in those Languages 
Cap. 5.  hath observed; & that the Saxons gave them the name of Welch, after themselves came into Britain, is altogether unlikely. For that inhabiting so near them as they did, to wit, but over against them on the other side of the Sea, they could not want a more particular and proper name for them, then to call them strangers. It seems then more likely that the Britons being originally descended from the Gauls, the Saxons according to their manner of speech, by turning the G into W, instead of Gallish termed them Wallish, and by abbreviation Walch or Welch, as the French at this day call the Prince of Wales, Prince de Galls.  
That Brute a Trojan by Nation, and great grandchild to Aeneas, arrived in this Island, gave it the name of Britain from himself, here reigned, and left the government thereof divided among his three sons, England to Loegrius, Scotland to Albanak, and Wales to Camber: Yet our great Antiquary beating (as he professeth) his brains and bending 
Cambden: Britan▪ de primis Incolis.  the force of his wits to maintain that opinion, he found no warrantable ground for it. Nay by forcible arguments (produced as in the person of others disputing against himself) he strongly proves it (in my judgement) altogether unsound and unwarrantable, Boccace, Vives, Adryanus junius, Polydorus, Buchanan, Vignier, Genebrard, Molinaeus, Bodine, and other. Writers of great account, are all of opinion, there was no such man as this supposed Brute: And among our own ancient Chronicles, john of Wethamsted, Abbot of S. Albon holdeth the whole narration of 
In granario. A●…o 1440.  Brute to have been rather Poëticall, then Historical, which me thinks is agreeable to reason, since Caesar, Tacitus, Gildas, Ninius, Bede, William of Malmesbery; and as many others as have written any thing touching our Country before the year 1160, make no mention at all of him, nor seem ever so much as to have heard of him. The first that ever broached it was Geoffrey of Monmoth about four hundred years ago, during the reign of Henry the second, who publishing the British story in Latin, pretended to have taken it out of ancient monuments written in the British tongue: but this Book as soon as it peeped forth into the light, was sharply censured both by Giraldus Cambrensis, and William of Newberry who lived at the same time; the former terming it no better than Fabulosam historiam, a fabulous history, and the latter, ridicula figmenta, ridiculous fictions, and it now stands branded with a black coal among the books prohibited by the Church of Rome.  
That the Pigmies are a Nation of people not above two or three foot high, and that they solemnly set themselves in battle array to fight against the Cranes their greatest enemies: of these notwithstanding witnesseth Cassanion, Fabulosa illa omnia sunt quae de illis vel Poetae, vel alij Scriptores 
De Gygantibus Cap. ultimo.  tradiderunt: all those things are fabulous, which touching them either the Poets or other writers have delivered. And with him fully acordeth Cardan in his eight Book De rerum varietate: Apparet ergò 
Cap. 4.  Pigmeiorum historiam esse fabulosam, quod & Strabo sentit, & nostra aetas, cum omnia nunc firmè orbis mirabilia innotuerint, declarat. It appears then that the History of the Pigmies is but a fiction, as both Strabo thought, and our age, which hath now discovered all the wonders of the world, fully declares. Gellius also, & Rhodogin refer these Pigmies (if any such 
9 4.  there be) to a kind of Apes. 
4. 3.    

SECT. 5. In History Natural.  
IN Natural History, it is commonly received, that the Phoenix lives five hundred or six hundred years, that there is of that kind but one at a time in the World, that being to die, he makes his nest of sweet spices, and by the clapping of his wings sets it on fire, and so burns himself: and lastly, that out of the ashes arises a worm, and from that worm another new Phoenix: Neither am I ignorant that sundry of the Fathers have brought this narration to confirm the doctrine of the Resurrection: but rather as I believe, to fight against the Gentiles with their own weapons, and to pierce them with their own quills, or from thence to borrow an illustration, then as giving credit to the truth of the story, which was originally coined in Egppt as fruitful in fables, as Africa in monsters, and from thence derived to the Grecians and Romans; one of them is said to have been brought to Rome by the command of Claudius Caesar, and exposed to public view, as appeareth upon record, Sed quem falsum esse nemo dubitaret, saith Pliny, no man need make any doubt of it but that he was counterfeit, and in the 
●…at. bist. 10. 2.  same Chapter, haud scio an fabulose unum in toto orbe nec visum magnoperè, I doubt it is but a fiction, that there is but one of the kind, in the whole World, and that so seldom seen. With whom accord Tacitus, & Cardan, 
Lib. 6. Annal. cap. 7. Lib. 10. de sub-Exercit. 233.  & Scaliger, and reason itself drawn both from Divinity and Philosophy, from Divinity, in as much as two at least of every kind came into the Ark, male and female, as they at first were created: from Philosophy: in as much as without more individuals than one the whole kind by a thousand casualties must needs be in danger of utter extinguishment, and therefore where we find but one of a kind, as the Sun and the Moon, God and Nature have set them out of gunshot, far enough from any reach of malice or fear of danger.  
That the whelps of Bears are at first littering without all form or fashion, and nothing but a little congealed blood, or lump of flesh, which afterward the dame shapeth by licking, yet is the truth most evidently otherwise, as by the eyewitness of joachimus Rheticus, and others, 
Gesnerus.  it hath been proved. And herein as in many other fabulous narrations of this nature, (in which experience checks report) may we justly take up that of Lucretius,  
— Quid nobis certius ipsis  
Sensibus esse potest, quo vera & falsa notemus.  
What can more certain be then sense,  
Discerning truth from false pretence.  
That the Beaver being hunted and in danger to be taken, biteth off his stones, knowing that for them only his life is sought, and so often escapeth; hence some have derived his name, Castor à castrando seipsum, from gelding himself, and upon this supposition, the Egyptians in their Hi●…rogliphicks, when they will signify a man that hurteth himself, they picture a Beaver biting off his own stones, though Alciat in his Emblems turn it to a contrary purpose, teaching us by that example to give away our purse to thieves rather than our lives, & by our wealth to redeem our danger: but this relation touching the Beaver is undoubtedly false, as both by sense and experience, and the testimony of Dioscorides it is manifested. First, because their stones are very small, and so placed 
Lib. 3. cap. 23.  in their body as are a Boars, and therefore impossible for the Beaver himself, to touch or come by them, and secondly, they cleave so fast unto their back, that they cannot be taken away, but the beast must of necessity lose his life; and consequently most ridiculous is their narration, who likewise affirm, that when he is hunted, having formerly bitten off his stones, he standeth upright, and showeth the hunters that he hath none for them, and therefore his death cannot profit them, by means whereof they are averted and seek for another.  
That Swans a little before their death sing most sweetly, of which 
Natur. bist. 10. 23.  notwithstanding Pliny thus speaks, Olorum morte narratur flebilis cantus, falsò ut arbitror aliquot experimentis. Swans are said to sing sweetly before their death, but falsely, as I take it, being led so to think by some experiments. And Scaliger to like purpose, de signi verò cantu suavissimo quem cum mendaciorum parent Graecia iactare ausus es ad Luciani tribunal 
Exercit. 232.  apud quem aliquid novi dicas 〈◊〉. Touching the sweet singing of the Swan, which with Greece the mother of lies you dare to publish, I cite you to Lucian's tribunal, there to set abroach some new stuff. And Aelian cantandi studiosos esse iam communi sermone pervulgatum est: ego verò cignum 
Lib. 10. c. 14.  nunquan audivi canere fortasse neque alius, that Swans are skilful in singing is now rife in every man's mouth, but for myself I never heard them sing, and perchance no man else.  
That the Salamander lives in the fire, yet both Galen and Dioscorides refute this opinion. And Mathiolus in his commentaries upon Dioscorides 
De Temp. lib. 3. lib. 2. cap. 56. Des erreurs Populaires.  affirms that by casting many Salamanders into the fire for trial, he found it false. The same experiment is likewise avouched by joubertus.  
That the Mandrakes represent the shape and parts of a man, yet the same Mathiolus, a very famous Physician affirms of them, Radi●…es porrò 
In comment: in Dioscoridem.  Mandragorae humanam effigiem representare ut vulgò creditur fabulosum est, that the roots of the Mandrake represent the shape of a man as it is commonly believed is fabulous, calling them cheating knaves and quacksalvers that carry them about to be sold, therewith to deceive barren weeman.  
That Vipers in their birth kill their mother of whom they are bred; Scaliger out of his own experience assures us the contrary, Viperas saith 
Exercit. 201.  he, ab impatientibus morae foetibus numerosissimis, atque id●…irco erumpentibus rumpi atque interire falsum esse scimus, qui in Vincentij Camerini ligneatheca vidimus enatas Viperillas parent salva, that Uipers are rend and slain by the number of their young ones impatient of delay and striving to get forth, we know to be false, who in a wooden box belonging to Vincentius Camerinus have seen the young newly brought forth, together with the old one, safe and sound. True indeed it is that the 
Vide Angelum Abbatium de Viper●… natura & Bustamentitinum de animaentibus. S. S.  Viper bringing sometime twenty or more, and being delivered but of one a day the hindermost impatient of so long delay sometimes gnaw●…s thorough the tunicle or shell of the egg in which they are enclosed, and so come forth with part of it upon them; which Aristotle truly affirming thereupon it seems hath grown the mistake that they gnaw thorough the belly of the dam which is undoubtedly false. The derivaton then of the word Vipera quasi vi pariens, is but a trick of wit, grounded upon an erroneous supposition; it being rather (as I conceive) from vi●…um pariens, there being no other kind of serpent which brings forth her young hatched out of the egg, but only the Viper.  
That the Hare is one year a male and another a female: whereas Rondeletius affirms that they are not stones which are commonly taken to be so in the female, but certain little bladders filled with matter, such as are upon the belly of a Beaver, wherein also the vulgar is deceived, taking those bunches for stones, as they do these bladders. Now the use of these parts both in Bevers and Hares is this, that against rain both the one and the other sex suck there out a certain humour and anoint their bodies all over therewith, which serves them for a defence against rain.  
That a Wolf if he see a man first suddenly strikes him dumb, whence came the proverb Lupus est in fabula: and that of the Poet,  
Lupi Moerim videre priores,  
The Wolves saw Moeris first.  
Yet Philip Camerarius professes, fabulosum esse quod vulgo creditur, hominem 
Medita●…: Histor. cap. 23.  à lupo praevisum subitò consternari & vocem amittere, That it is fabulous which is commonly believed that a man being first seen by the Wolf is thereupon astonished and looseth his voice; And that himself hath found it by experience to be a vain opinion. which Scaliger 
Exercitat. 344.  likewise affirms upon the same ground. utinam tot ferulis castigarentur mendaciorum assertores isti quot à Lupis visi sumus sine jactura vocis. I wish those Patrons of lies were chastised with so many blows as at sundry times I have been seen of wolves without any loss of my voice.  
That men are sometimes transformed into Wolves, and again from Wolves into men: touching the falsehood whereof Pliny himself is thus 
Nat. hist. liber 8. cap. 22.  confident, homines in Lupos verti rursumque restitui sibi, falsum esse confidenter existimare debemus, aut credere omnia quae fabulosa tot saeculis comperimus: that men are changed into Wolves and again restored to themselves, that is to the shape of men, we ought assuredly believe to be false, or to give credit to whatsoever we have found fabulous in the course of so many ages. Now that which hath given occasion to this opinion might be as I suppose either an illusion of Satan in regard of the beholders, or a strong melancholy imagination in the patients, or the education of men among Wolves from their very infancy. For that the Devil can at his pleasure transubstantiate or transform one substance into another I hold it no sound divinity.  
That the Pelican turneth her beak against her breast therewith pierceth it till the blood gush out wherewith she nourisheth her young: whereas the Pelican hath a beak broad and flat, much like the slice of Apothecaries and Surgeons with which they spread their plasters, no way fit to pierce, as Laurentius joubertus Counsellor and Physician to Henry the fourth of France in his book of Popular errors hath observed.  
Lastly that the Mole hath no eyes, nor the Elephant knees; both which notwithstanding by daily and manifest experience are found untrue.   

SECTIO 6. An Application of what hath been said to the present purpose.  
MAny more instances might be given both in Divinity, Philosophy and History, to show that 'tis a thing neither new nor unjustifiable by the practice of wise men to examine and impugn received opinions, if they be found erroneous, such as I take this to be of Nature's universal decay. So that I hope it shall neither seem unpleasing nor unprofitable nor yet impertinent that I have dwelled so long upon this point. I know that of Chrysostome to be most true: The hardest lesson is to unlearn, and therefore have I harped so long upon this string to make it clear that men may err, specially where that falls out which justin in his dialogue with Tryphon hath observed, that posteriores sequntur priores securi examinis, that the latter follow the former without examination, Custom with most men prevails more than Truth: though Christ hath said, as Tertullian rightly noteth, I am Truth and not Custom: yea such is the force thereof, that according to the inbred notions and praeconceptions, which it hath form and imprinted in our minds for the most part we shape the discourse of Reason itself. Thus Pythagoras by bringing up his Scholars in the speculative knowledge of numbers, made their conceits so strong, that when they came to the contemplation of things natural, they imagined that in every particular thing they even beheld as it were with their eyes how the element of number gave essence and being to the works of Nature. A thing in reason impossible, which notwithstanding thorough their misfashioned praeconceite, appeared unto them no less certain than if Nature had written it in the very foreheads of all the Creatures of God.  
Divine is that speech of Aristotle in his Metaphysics; Quantam autem vim habeat consuetudo leges declarant, in quibus fabulosae & pueriles narrationes plus valent cognitione vera earum rerum propter consuetudinem. What is the strange force of Custom, the Laws themselves declare; in which childish and fabulous narrations are preferred before the true knowledge of the same things, and that only through custom. From whence (to draw nearer to our present purpose) the great Lawyer Panormitan wishes that the severity of the ancient Canons be not too far 
Duarenus de Beneficijs, 8. 6.  pressed upon delinquents, because men of latter ages (saith he) are no w●…y matchable with the Ancients, as not in strength nor stature, so neither in wit nor manners. But I much marvel that so great a Clerk should be so easily carried away with so vain a show, and by making men believe that they were not able to observe the Canons, make them unable indeed: which together with the greedy desire of gain, hath been no doubt the ground, or at least the pretence of such a multiplicity of dispensations in latter ages; men choosing rather to stretch their purse-strings, and to buy out a dispensation for their money then to improve their endeavours for the doing of that which the Canon requires. And hence the Lenten fast duly kept with much ease by our Predecessors, is with most men now adays made so impossible, notwithstanding the observation thereof conduce so much to the public good.    

CAP. 2. Of the Reasons inducing the Author to the writing and publishing of this Discourse.  

SECT. 1. Whereof the first is the redeeming of a captivated truth.  
Such is the admirable beauty and sovereignty of Truth in itself, and such infinite content doth it yield the Soul being found and embraced, that had I proposed no other End to myself in this ensuing Treatise then the discovery and unfolding thereof, I should hold it alone a very ample recompense, and sufficient reward of my labour. The greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which by an easy and unstrained derivation implies the breath of God: so that as Minerva, by which is meant the Arts, is feigned to have sprung from the head of jupiter: so Truth undoubtedly flows from the mouth of the Creator, not only that supernatural and revealed Truth, which concerns our spiritual & supernatural good, but that likewise which concerns our good either moral or natural. For as every good thing, so far as it is good, is from 
jam. 1. 17.  God, the Author and original cause of all goodness: so every Truth is from the same God, the Fountain of all Truth: Howbeit he impart the divers kinds thereof after a different manner; the Truth of Experience by sense, of Reason by discourse of the intellectual power, of Religion by faith. These are as several lines drawn from the same Centre, or several beams from the same Sun: All which notwithstanding in their several ranks and degrees carry in them, or rather have stamped and printed upon them some character or resemblance of the Divine Excellency.  
And as Truth is the breath of God, so is the Soul of man too, which 
Gen, 2. 7.  may well be thought to be in part the cause that the Soul is so wonderfully taken and affected with the love and liking of it. All the Kingdoms in the World, and the glittering pomp of them cannot so much refresh and delight a studious mind, as this one inestimable jewel of Truth, which Lucretius hath lively described:  
Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, etc.  
It is a view of delight, saith he, to stand or walk upon the shore side, & 
Lib. 2. 〈◊〉.  to see a ship tossed with tempests upon the Sea; or to be in a fortified tower, and to see two Armies join battle upon a plain: but it is a pleasure incomparable for the mind of man to be settled, landed, and fortified in the certainty of Truth, and from thence to descry and behold the errors, perturbations, labours and wanderings up and down of other men. We see in all other pleasures there is satiety, and after they be used their verdure departeth, which showeth well they be but deceits of pleasure, and not pleasures, and that it was the novelty that pleased, and not the quality. But of the Contemplation of Truth there is no satiety, but satisfaction and appetite are perpetually interchangeable; and certainly the more contentment and comfort do we reap therein, For that the apprehension of Truth helps to repair that Image of God which by the fall of man was in that very part sorely battered and bruised, I mean in regard of the knowledge of natural Truths, but in regard of supernatural utterly defaced.  
Now such being the condition of Truth, both in regard of God, itself, and us, we may not part with it upon any terms, nor can we purchase it at too dear a rate; Buy the truth, but sell it not. Some perchance in this very point may suppose, that the opinion maintaining Nature's 
Prov. 23. 23.  decay argues in the maintainers more modesty and humility, and is apt to breed in men a religious fear and devotion, being persuaded as well by sense and reason, as by Scripture and faith, that the World must have an end, and that in appearance the end thereof cannot be far off. Which though it were so, yet may it not be upheld with an untruth, Rectè placet laudem humilitatis in parte non ponere falsitatis, ne humilitas conconstituta in parte falsitatis perdat praemium veritatis, saith S. Augustine. 
Lib de Nat. & Gratia c. 36.  We desire not to settle the praise of humility upon false grounds, lest being built upon falsehood, it lose the reward of Truth. If evil be in no case to be done that good may come thereof, no, not the least evil for the greatest good, if a lie may not be made for the winning of a man's Soul, no, nor for the gaining of a world of Infidels to the faith, as Divines truly teach, then may not the defence of any untruth be undertaken, what fair pretence soever of piety, or charity, or humility it may put on. For as we are to speak veritatem in charitate, the truth in love, so are we to follow charitatem in veritate, love grounded upon 
Ephes. 4. 15.  truth. It being one of the properties of true charity to rejoice in truth. 
1 Cor. 13. 6.  Truth then and true piety, Truth and true charity, Truth and true humility, being inseparable companions, let none presume to put them asunder, whom God hath thus linked and joined together. Will ye talk deceitfully for God's cause, saith job, will ye make a lie for him? if we may not utter an untruth 
job 13. 7.  for God's cause and the advancement of his glory, much less for the best good of man, the glory of God being as much and more to be preferred before the best spiritual good of man, as man's spiritual good before his temporal. Absit à me ut veritatem per mendacium v●…lim iri confirmatam, saith Chrysostome, far be it from me to attempt the 
In Matt●…um.  strengthening of truth by falsehood. The reason hereof is well yielded by S. Augustine, fracta velleviter imminuta authoritate veritatis omnia 
De Mendacio ad Consen●…m.  dubia remanebunt, the credit and sovereignty of Truth being never so little cracked, or the practice of lying never so little countenanced, a man can build upon nothing, but all things willbe full of doubt and distrust. And again, nunquam errari tutius existimo, quam cum in amore nimio veritatis, & reiectione nimia falsitatis erratur, a man cannot lightly err more safely then in too much love of Truth and hatred of lies, when there they arise from error and mistake, or malice and forgery, whether they consist in the disagreement and disconformity betwixt the speech and the conceptions of the mind, or the conceptions of the mind and the things themselves, or the speech and the things.   

SECT. 2. The second is the vindicating of the Creator's honour.  
AS my first Reason for the writing and publishing this Discourse was for the redeeming of a captivated truth: so my second is for the vindicating of the Creator's honour, the reputation of his wisdom, his justice, his goodness, and his power; being all of them in my judgement by the opinion of Nature's decay not a little impeached and blemished. His wisdom, for that intending (as by the sacred Oracles of his word he hath in sundry passages clearly manifested it) to put an end to the World by fire, it cannot, I think be well conceived why he should ordain or admit such a daily universal and irrecoverable consumption in all the parts of Nature which without fire, or any other outward means would undoubtedly bring it to that final period.  
His justice, for that withdrawing from latter ages that strength and ability of performing religious duties, and practising moral virtues, which to the former he granted, yet to demand and expect no less from the latter than he did from the former, what is it but to reap where he sowed not, to require as much of him that had but five talents, as of him that had ten, or to deal as Pharaoh did with the Israelites, still to exact 
Ex. 5. 7. 8.  the same task of brick, and yet to withhold the wont allowance of straw. Neither can we with that confidence reprehend the reigning vices of the times if we cast the reason thereof not so much upon the voluntary malice and depravation of men's wills, as upon the necessity of the times praeordained by God, which upon the matter, what is it but to lay the burden upon God, and to accuse him, that so we may free and excuse ourselves?  
His Bounty and Goodness, as if out of a niggardly and sparing disposition he envied the succeeding generations of the World that happiness which upon the preceding he freely and richly conferred; whereas I am rather of opinion, that as in holy Scripture, for the most part, he accepted and preferred the younger brother before the elder, and as Christ our Saviour turned the water into wine toward the end of the feast, which far excelled that in the beginning: so the gifts and graces of 
joh. 2. 10.  God, have been more plentifully poured out upon mankind in this latter age of the World, than ever since the first Creation thereof. As was foretold by the Prophet in the old Testament, and remembered by the 
joel 2. 18. Act. 2. 17  Apostle in the New; And it shall come to pass in the last days (saith God) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.  
Lastly, the reputation of his Power, is thereby most of all stained and wounded, as if his treasury could at any time be emptied and drawn dry, as if he had but one blessing in store, or were forced to say with old Isaak when he had blessed jacob with corn and wine have I blessed him, & what shall I do now to thee my son? No no, his arm is not shortened neither is his mighty power any way abated; yet they who thus complain 
Gen. 27. 38.  of nature's decay, what do they else but implicitly impeach and accuse his Power, which in truth is nothing else but Natura Naturans (as the Schools phrase it) Active Nature, and the creature the workmanship thereof, Natura Naturata, Nature Passive; That which the Samaritans ignorantly and blasphemously spoke of Simon Magus, may properly and truly be spoken of Nature, that it is the Great power of God, or the power of the Great God, as is divinely observed by the witty Scaliger against Cardan in that exercitation which in its front bears this inscription, opposed to Cardanes assertion: Non ex fatigatione mundum solutum iri, that the world shall not dissolve by being tired, quasi natura 
Exercit. 77.  (saith he) sit asinus ad molas, non autem Dei Opt. Max. potestas, quae eodem nutu gubernat infinito quo creavit, we may not conceive that Nature, is as an ass wasted and wearied out, at the mill; but the power of the Mighty God which governs all things with the same infinite command, wherewith they were created. And with him accords Valesius discoursing of the World's end towards the end of his book de Sacra Philosophia, Quae à Deo ipso per se ac sine causa secunda compacta sunt, non possunt ab alia causa solui, sed solum ab eo ipso à quo sunt coagmentata: Those things which are made of God himself immediately by himself without the concurrence of second causes, cannot be unmade by any inferior cause, but by him alone by whom they were first made. And again, Certe ita est, virtutem divinam apponi necesse est, ut deleatur quod Deus ipse fecit; there needs no less than a divine power for the abolishing of that which the Deity itself hath wrought, which he seems to have borrowed from Plato in Timoeo where he thus speaks of the world Ita apte cohaeret ut dissolvi nullo modo queat, nisi ab eodem à quo est colligatus, so proportionably doth each part answer other, that it is indissoluble, but only from his hand who first framed it. As than Almighty God created all things of nothing by the power of his word. So doth he still uphold them and will till the dissolution of all things in their essenses, faculties, and operations by the Word of his Power, reaching from one end to the other mightily, and disposing all things sweetly. Indeed with the 
Heb. 1. 3. Wisdom. 8. 1.  works of man it is not so, when he hath employed about them all the cunning, and cost, and care that may be, he can neither preserve them nor himself, both they and he moulder away and return to their dust, but I know saith the Preacher that whatsoever God doth, it shall be for ever, nothing 
Eccles. 3. 14.  can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it. Add the son of Sirach. He garnished his works for ever and in his hand are the chief of them unto all generations, they neither labour nor are weary, nor cease from their works, none 
16. cap. 27, 28, yet.  of them hindereth another, and they shall never disobey his word.   

SECTIO 3. The third is for that the contrary opinion, quails the hopes, and blunts the edge of virtuous endeavours.  
MY third reason for the penning and publishing of this discourse is that the contrary opinion thereunto seems not a little to rebate and blunt the edge of men's virtuous endeavours. For being once throughly persuaded in themselves, that by a fatal kind of necessity and course of times, they are cast into those straits, that notwithstanding all their striving and industry, it is impossible they should rise to the pitch of their noble and renowned predecessors, they begin to yield to the times and to necessity, being resolued that their endeavours are all in vain, and that they strive against the stream; nay the Master himself of morality, the great Patriarch of Philosophers, hath told us, that circa impossibilia non est deliberandum, it is no point of wisdom for a man to beat his brains, and spend his spirits about things merely impossible to be achieved, and which are altogether out of our reach. The way then to excite men to the imitation of the virtue, and the exploits of their famous Ancestors is not (as I conceive) to beat down their hopes of parallelling them, and so to clip the wings of their aspiring desires: but rather to teach them that there wants nothing thereunto but their own endeavour, and that if they fall short, the fault is not in the age, but in themselves. The spies that were sent by Moses to discover the land of Canaan, at their return told the people, that the inhabitants 
Numb. 13. 28. 33.  the of were much stronger than themselves, that they were Giants the sonn●…s of Anak, and themselves but as Grasshoppers in comparison of them, by means of which report, the hearts of the people melted within them, and they were utterly discouraged from marching forward, though the discoverers reported withal, that the land from whence they came flowed with milk and honey, and the pomegrannats, the figs, the wonderful clusters of grapes brought from thence, for a taste and evidence of the goodness of the soil pleased them exceeding well. Thus when our Ancestors are painted forth as Giants, not only in stature and strength, but in wit and virtue, though the acts we find recorded of them, please us marvellous well, yet we durst not venture, or so much as once think upon the matching of them, because we are taught and made to believe, that we forsooth are but as pigmies, and dwarves in regard of them; and that it were as possible to fit a child's shoe to Hercules foot, as for us any way to come near them, or to trace their steps, Possunt, quia posse videntur. They can because they seem they can.  
Certainly the force of imagination is wonderful, either to beget in us an ability for the doing of that which we apprehended we can do, or a disability for the not doing of that which we conceive we cannot do: which was the reason that the Wizards and Oracles of the Gentiles being consulted, they ever returned either an hopeful answer, or an ambiguous, such as by a favourable construction, might either include or at leastwise not utterly exclude hope. Agesilaus (as I remember) clapping his hands upon the All, tar, & taking it off again, by a cunning device showed to his soldiers, victory, stamped upon it, whereby they were so encouraged, and grew so confident, that beyong all expectation, they indeed effected that whereof by this sleight, they were formerly assured. Prognostications and Prophecies often help to further that which they foretell, and to make men such as they bear them in hand they shall be; nay by an unavoidable destiny must be. Francis marquis of Saluzze yields us a memorable example in this kind, who being Lieutenant General to Francis the first 
Guicciardin.  King of France over all his forces which he then had beyond the mountains in Italy, a man highly favoured in all the Court, and infinitely obliged to the King for his Marquesite which his brother had forfeited, suffered himself to be so far affrighted and deluded, as it hath since been manifestly proved, by Prognostications, (which then throughout all Europe were given out to the advantage of the Emperor Charles the fifth and to the prejudice of the French,) that having no occasion offered, yea his own affections contradicting the same, he first began in secret to complain to his private friends of the inevitable miseries which he foresaw prepared by the Fates against the Crown of France. And within a while after (this impression still working into him) he most unkindly revolted from his Master, and became a turncoat to the Emperor's side, to the astonishment of all men, his own great disgrace, and the no less disadvantage to the French enterprise on the other side I doubt not but that the prophecies of Savanarola, as much assisted Charles the eight 
Idem.  to the conquest of Naples, which he performed so speedily and happily, as he seemed rather with chalk to mark out his lodgings, then with his sword to win them.  
To like purpose was that Custom among the Heathen of deriving the pedigree of valiant men from the Gods, as Varro the most learned 
Augustin. de Civit. Dei lib. 3. c. 4.  of the Romans hath well observed. Ego huiusmodi à Dis repetitas origines utiles esse lubens agnosco, ut viri fortes etiamsi falsum sit, se ex Dis genitos credant, ut eo modo animus humanus veluti divinae stirpis fiduciam gerens, res magnas aggrediendas presumat audaciùs, agate vehementiù:, & ob haec impleat ipsa securitate foeliciùs. I for my part (saith he) judge those pedigrees drawn from the Gods not to be unprofitable, that valiant men (though in truth it be not so) believing themselves to be extracted from divine races, might upon the confidence thereof undertake high attempts the more boldly, intent them the more earnestly and accomplish them the more securely and successively. And of the Druids Caesar hath noted, that among other doctrines they taught the soul's immortality 
De bello Gallico, lib. 6.  by propagation, because they taught, hoc maximè ad virtutem excitari homines metu mortis neglecto, that by means of this apprehension men were notablely spurred forward and whetted on to the adventuring and enterprising of commendable actions, through the contempt of death: Which same thing Lucan hath likewise remarked. 
Lib. 1.   

— Vobis authoribus umbrae  
Non tacitas Erebi sedes, ditisque profundi  
Pallida regna petunt; regit idem spiritus artus  
Orb alio: longae, (conitis si cognita) vitae  
Mors media est; certè populi, quos despicit Arctos,  
foelices errore suo, quos ille timorum  
Maximus, haud urget Lethi metus; inde ruendi  
In ferrum mens prona viris, animaeque capaces  
Mortis, et ignavum est rediturae parcere vitae.   

— Your doctrine is  
Our ghosts go not to those pale realms of Stygian Dis,  
And silent Erebus: the self same souls doth sway  
Bodies elsewhere, and death (if certain truth you say)  
Is but the midst of life. Thrice happy in your error  
Ye Northern wights whom Death the greatest Prince of terror  
Nothing affrights. Hence are your Martial hearts inclined  
To rush on point of sword, hence that undaunted mind  
So capable of Death, hence seems it base and vain  
To spare that life which will eft 'zounds return again.   
By all which we see the admirable efficacy of the imagination, either for the elevating or depressing of the mind, for the making of it more abject and base, or more active and generous, and from thence infer that the doctrine of Nature's necessary decay rather tends to make men worse than better, rather cowardly then courageous, rather to draw them down to that they must be, then to lift them up to that they should and may be, rather to breed sloth then to quicken industry. I will give one instance for all, and that home-bredde, the reason why we have at this day, no Vineyards planted, nor wine grown in England as heretofore, is commonly ascribed to the decay of Nature, either in regard of the heavens or Earth or both, and men possessed with this opinion sit down and try not what may be done; whereas our great Antiquary imputes it to the Lazines of the Inhabitants rather than to any defect or distemper in the Climate, and withal professes that 
Camden in Glocestershire.  he is no way of the mind of those grudging slothful husbandmen, (whom Columella censures) who think that the earth is grown weary and barren with the excessive plenty of former ages. I have somewhere read of a people so brutish and barbarous that they must first be taught and persuaded that they were not beasts but men, and capable of reason before any serviceable or profitable use could be made of them. And surely there is no hope, that ever we shall attain the height of the worthy acts and exploits of our Predecessors, except first we be resolved that God's Grace and our own endeavours concurring there is a possibility we should rise to the same degree of worth. Si hanc cogitationem homines habuissent ut nemo se meliorem fore eo qui optimus fuisset arbitraretur, ij ipsi qui sunt optimi non fuissent, if men had always thus conceived with themselves that no man could be better than he that then was best, those that now are esteemed best, had not so been. They be the words of Quintilian, and thereupon he infers, as doth the Apostle 1. Corinth. 12. at the last verse, Nitamur semper ad optima, quod facientes, aut evademus in summum, aut certe multos 
Orat. 12. 10.  infra nos videbimus, Let us covet earnestly the best gifts, and propose to ourselves the matching at least, if not the passing of the most excellent patterns, by which means we shall either gain the top, or see many beneath us. Non enim nos tarditatis natura damnavit, sed ultra nobis quam oportebat indulsimus, ita non tam ingenio illi nos superarunt quam proposito, saith them same Author in another place. Nature hath not made us more uncapable the our Ancestors, but we have been too indulgent 
Libr: 2. c. 5.  to ourselves, by which means it comes to pass that they surmount us not so much in wit as in endeavour.   

SECT. 4. The fourth is that it makes men more careless as in matter of repentance, so likewise both in regard of their present fortunes, and in providing for posterity.  
AS the opinion of the world's universal decay quails the hopes and blunts the edge of men's endeavours, so doth it likewise of our exhortations and threatenings, when men are persuaded that famines and pestilences, and unseasonable weather, and the like, are not the scourges of God for sin, but rather the diseases of wasted & decrepit Nature, not procured so much by the vices and wickedness of men, as by the old age and weakness of the world. And this opinion being once throughly rooted and settled in them, they neither care much for repentance, nor call upon God for grace, thereby either to prevent these heavy judgements, hanging over their heads, or to remove them having seized upon them, but the Prophets of God (I am sure) took another course, they told not the people▪ that these plagues were the symptoms and characters of the world's declining and decreasing, but the marks and rods of God's vengeance for their transgressions and rebellions, and that the only way both to prevent and remove them, was to remove their heinous and grievous sins out of God's sight, the only means to turn them from themselves, was for themselves to return and be reconciled to their God. besides the same opinion serves to make men more careless both in regard of their present fortunes, and in providing for posterity. For when they consider how many thousand years' nature hath now been as it were in a fever Hectic, daily consuming and wasting away by degrees; they infer that in reason she cannot hold out long, and therefore it were to as little purpose to plant trees, or to erect lasting buildings, either for Civil, Charitable, or Pious uses, as to provide new apparel for a sick man, that lies at death's door, and hath already one foot in the grave: I beseech you brethren saith the Apostle by the coming of the Lord jesus, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, 
2. Thes. 2. 1.  neither by spirit nor by word nor by letters as from us, as though the day of Christ were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means. What a solemn preface doth he make unto it? and with how serious a conclusion doth he seal it up? Now among other reasons yielded by Divines for this his earnestness herein, one special one is, that men might not lavish out, and scatter their estates, upon a vain supposition of the approach of that day. As Philip Camerarius a learned man, & counsellor to the state of Norinberg, reports upon his own knowledge, 
Medit. Hist. cap. 41.  that a Parish Priest in those parts skilful in Arithmetic presumed so far upon his Calculations and the numeral letters of that prediction in the Gospel, Videbunt in quem pupugerunt, they shall look 
1562.  upon him whom they pierced, that he confidently assured his parishioners, not only of the year, but the very day and hour of the world's end, and our Saviour's coming to judgement. Whereupon such as gave credit to him carelessly wasted their means, persuading themselves that they should now have no further use of them. At the day & hour prefixed they all met in a Chapel to hear their Prophet preaching and praying, during which time there arose a great tempest with fearful thunder and lightning, in so much as all present looked out every minute, for the fulfilling of the prophecy: but a while after the storm clearing up, and the day appearing fair, the silly people finding themselves to be thus abused, for very indignation they rush upon their false prophet, and would have slain him or used him shamefully as he deserved, had he not slipped out of their fingers, and the fury of the enraged multitude been appeased by some of the wiser sort. The like is reported by Espencaeus out of Bullinger of the Hutites a branch of the sect of Anabaptists, in his Commentaries on the third chapter of the second epistle to Timothy: so dangerous a thing it is to predetermine the last day, or to set a period to the course of nature. It is most certain that we are by many hundreths of years' nearer the world's end, than was the Apostle when he wrote that exhortation to the Thessaly: and yet when that end shall be, is still as uncertain to us, as it was to them. Upon which point St. Augustine I remember hath an excellent meditation, comparing the several ages of the world to the ages of man; not so much as I conceive in regard of growth or declination, as in regard of progression, making the infancy thereof from Adam to Noah, the Childhood from Noah to Abraham, the Youth from Abraham to David, the man's estate from David to Christ, the old age from Christ to the end of it. And as the duration in all the other ages of man is certain, but the lasting of old age uncertain: so is it in the World. And as Chrysostome well noteth, we call not the end of the year the last hour, or day or week thereof, but the last month or quarter: so we call this last age of the World the End thereof. But how long this age shall last, it is still doubtful, it being one of those secrets which the Almighty hath locked up in the cabinet of his own counsel, a secret which is neither possible neither profitable for us to know, as being not by God revealed unto us in his Word, much less than in the book of Nature.  
It is agreed upon on all sides by Divines that at least two signs forerunning the World's end, remain unaccomplisht; the Subversion of Rome, and the Conversion of the jews. And when they shall be accomplished God only knows, as yet in man's judgement there being little appearance of the one or the other. It is not for ut to know the times and seasons 
Act. 1. 7.  which the Father hath put in his own power: In his own power they are, they depend not upon the law of Nature, or chain of second Causes, but upon his will and pleasure, who as he made the World by his word, so by his beck can and will unmake it again. Sola religione mihi persuadetur mundum caepisse, atque finem incendio habiturum, saith Scaliger: it is only 
Exercit. 62.  faith and religion that assures man that as the World had a beginning, so it shall have an end; And Divine Bartas, 
Sept. 〈◊〉. 1.   
L'immuable decret de la bouche divine,  
Qui Causera sa fin, Causa son origine.  
Th'immutable divine decree, which shall  
Cause the World's end, caused his original.  
Let not then the vain shadows of the World's fatal decay keep use ither from looking backward to the imitation of our noble Predecessors, or forward inproviding for posterity, but as our predecessors worthily provided for us, so let our posterity bless us in providing for them, it being still as uncertain to us what generations are yet to ensue, as it was to our predecessors in their ages. I will shut up this reason with a witty Epigram made upon one who in his writings undertook to foretell the very year of the World's consummation. 
Owen upon Nap●…ir.   

Nonaginta duos durabit mundus in annos,  
Mundus ad arbitrium sistat obitque tuum.  
Cur mundi sinem propiorem non facis, ut ne  
Ante obitum mendax arguerere? sapis.   

Ninety two years the World as yet shall stand,  
If it do stand or fall at your command.  
But say, why placed you not the World's end nigher?  
Lest ere you died you might be proved a liar.    

SECT. 5. The fifth and last reason is the weak grounds which the contrary opinion is founded upon.  
THE fifth and last reason which moved me to the undertaking of this Treatise was the weak grounds which the contrary opinion of the World's decay is founded upon. I am persuaded that the fictions of Poets was it which first gave life unto it. Homer hath touched upon this string, with whom Virgil accords, and they are both seconded by juvenal and Horace: But above all, that pretty invention of the four Ages of the World, compared to four metals, Gold, Silver, Brass, and Iron, hath wrought such an impression in men's minds, that it can hardly be rooted out. For ancient Philosophers and Divines, I find not any, that are so much as alleged in defence of it, but Pliny and Cyprian, to whom some have added Gellius and Augustine: but how truly it shall appear Godwilling when we come to speak of their testimonies in their proper places. And for Scripture proof, it is both very sparing and wrested.  
That which above all (as I conceive) hath made way for this opinion is the morosity and crooked disposition of old men, always complaining of the hardness of the present times, together with an excessive admiration of Antiquity, which is in a manner natural and inbred in us, vetera extollimus, recentium incuriosi, The ancient we extol beingcarelesse 
Tacitus Ann. lib. 2. verbis ultimis.  of our own times. For the former of these, old men for the most part being much changed from that they were in their youth in complexion and temperature, they are filled with sad melancholy thoughts, which makes them think the World is changed, whereas in truth the change is in themselves. It fares with them in this case as with those whose taste is distempered, or are troubled with the jaundice, or whose eyes are bloodshot, the one imagining all things bitter or sour which they taste, and the other red or yellow which they see.  
— Terraeque Vrbesque recedunt. 
Virg. Aen. 3.   
Themselves being launched out into the deep, the trees and houses seem to go backward; whereas in truth the motion is in themselves, the houses and trees still standing where they were. Seneca tells us a pleasant tale of Harpaste his wife's fool, who being become suddenly blind, 
Epist. 50.  she deemed the room in which she was to be dark; but could by no means be persuaded of her own blindness. Such for the most part is the case of old men, themselves being altered both in disposition of body, and condition of mind, they make wonderful narrations of the change of times since they remember: which because they cannot be controlled, pass for currant.  
The other pioner, as I may so call it, which by secret undermining makes way for this opinion of the World's decay, is an excessive admiration of Antiquity, together with a base and envious conceit of whatsoever the present age affords, or possibly can afford in comparison thereof. Vetulam praeferunt immortalitati, they prefer the wrinkles of 
〈◊〉 of Ulysses.  Antiquity before the rarest beauty of the present times, the common voice every where is, and ever hath been, and will be to the World's end  

Faelix nimium prior aetas 
Boetius lib. 2. metro 5.   
Contenta fidelibus arvis—  
- utinam quoque nostra redirent  
In mores tempora priscos.   

Thrice, happy former ages and blessed  
With faithful fields content and pleased.—  
Would our times also had the grace  
Again old manners to embrace.   
yet if we will speak properly and punctually, Antiquity rather consists in the old age, than infancy, or youth of the World. But take it as commonly understood, I think it will not be denied by any that understand the course of times, but that in latter ages many abuses have been reform, many Arts perfected, many profitable Inventions discovered, many noble and notable acts achieved,  
Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis aevi  
Rettulit in melius.  
Time and much toil of this unsteddie World  
Hath bettered many things.  
As truly Virgil, and elegantly Claudian,  
— Rerumque remotas 
De raptu Proserp. lib. 3.   
Ingeniosa vias paulatim explorat egestas.  
Witty necessity by degrees traceth out  
Of things the prints and windings most remote.  
But let us hear what the wisest man that ever lived of a mere man hath determined in this point. Say not thou what is the cause that the former 
Eccles. 7. 10.  days were better than these: for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. Upon which words saith Isidorus Clarius, Quia manifestum est habuisse priora tempora, sicut & haec nostra habent incommoda sua, because it is evident that former times had their mischiefs and miseries waiting upon them as well as ours. Yet because for the most part, the best of former times is recorded, and the worst concealed from us, as the Sieve le's go the finest flower, but retains the bran; or because we are generally more sensible of the crosses, than the blessings of our own times; or lastly because the sight and presence of things diminisheth that reputation which we 
Minuit praesentia 〈◊〉. Lib. de Oratoribus.  conceived of them. Such is the disease and malignity of our nature, Vitium malignitatis humanae, as Tacitus calls it, ut vetera semper in laude, praesentia sint in fastidio.  

— Et nisi quae terris semota suisque  
Temporibus defuncta videt, fastidit & odit.  
Sed redit ad fastos & virtutem imputat annis, 
Horace lib. 2. op. 1.   
Miraturque nihil nisi quod Libitina sacravit.   

Save what removed is by place, nor lacks  
Antiquity to warrant it, he loathes and hates:  
Virtue he counts by years and Almanacs,  
Wonders at nought but what death consecrates.   
But as the same Poet wittily speaks comparing the Grecians with the Romans, the same may we demand comparing ourselves and ●…atter ages generally with the ancients.  

Quod si tam antiquis novitas invisa fuisset  
Quam nobis, quid nunc esset vetus, aut quid haberet  
Quod legeret tereretque viritim publicus usus?   

If ancients had envied as much as we  
Things that are new, what now would ancient be,  
Or could be read and used publicly?   
It was the cunning of Michael Montaigne as himself witnesseth to use a similitude of plutarchs or a sentence of Senecaes' as his own 
Essays▪ l 2. c. 10  that so it might appear how men censured that in him, which in those ancient Authors they highly applauded: but very witty was the device of Michael Angelo a most famous modern painter, who drawing a table after the Antique manner hid it in a corner of a friends house where he thought it would soon be discovered, and withal set his own name in a corner of it, but in letters scarce discernible. The table being found he was quickly sent for, showed him it was by the master of the house and commended for an exquisite piece far beyond any of the present age; but when the Author of it challenged it to be his own, and for proof thereof showed him his name in it, he craved pardon of him and acknowledged his error. Such is the advantage which antiquity hath against the present times, that if we meet with any thing which excels, we think it must be ancient, or if with any thing that is ancient, it cannot but excel: Nay therefore we think it excels because we think it ancient though it be not so.  

Vt quidam artifices nostro faciunt saeculo,  
Qui pretium operibus maius inveniunt, novo 
Phaedrus l. 〈◊〉. Fabul. in prologo.   
Si marmori adscripserunt Praxitelen, suo  
Detrito, Myronem argento.   

As some artificers in these our days  
Who sell their works at a far dearer rate,  
If on new marble they Praxiteles,  
Or Myron write, upon their battered plate.   
I have seen, saith Ludovicus Viues, the verses of a man then living, which because they were found in a very ancient Library, covered 
De Causis Corrupt. Ar●…. lib. 7.  with dust and eaten with moths, he that took them up, in a manner adored them bareheaded, as being Virgil's, or some one of that age, And another with disdain cast away an epistle of Tully's, before which there was of purpose prefixed a french name: Addito etiam convitio barbariei Transalpinae: adding this scoff withal that it savoured of transalpine barbarism. Which perverse and partial judgement I conceive not to spring so much from a due respect to the ancient Authors, as an envious disesteeming of the present To the best and wisest while they live, the world is continually a froward opposite, a curious observer of their defects, and imperfections, their virtues it afterward as much admireth. 
Hooker 5 7   
Virtutem incolumem odimus, 
Hor. l. 3. odd. 24.   
Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi.  
Virtue growing in our sight w'envy  
Removed from hence we strait ways deify  
When Hercules had vanquished so many fierce monsters  
Comperit invidiam supremo fine domandam. 
idem l. 2. Epist. 1   
He grappled last with envy as the worst.  

Esse quid hoc dicam vivis quod fama negatur  
Et sua quod rarus tempor a lector amat.  
Hi sunt invidi●… nimirum (Regule) mores 
Mar●…ialis, l. 5. epig. 10.   
Praeferat antiquos semper ut illa novis.   

Whence is't that Poets living are misprized,  
And few do like the works of their own times?  
Through Envy (Regulus) are they despised,  
Which still to new prefers the elder rhymes.   
Men read the Authors of their own times either as inferiors o●… punies to themselves with a kind of scorn to learn of them.  
— Quia turpe putant parere minoribus, & quae  
Imberbes didicêre, senes perdenda fateri.  
To younger than themselves to yield great shame they hold, 
Horat. l. 2. ep. 〈◊〉.   
And what they learned in youth t'vnlearne when they are old.  
Or as their Equals, in whose persons or manners because happily they espy some imperfections, they judge accordingly of their works. For as dead flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stin●…king 
Eccles. 10. 1.  savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom. Which was in a manner the Apostles case, his letters (say they) are weighty and powerful: but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. And no doubt but to those who thus conceived of him, his very 
2. Cor. 10. 10.  letters were not so powerful and weighty, as otherwise they would have been; And as now they are to us, who know not what his person or speech was. Or if no exception be to be taken to them, yet we hold it a kind of disreputation or disparagement unto us, by yielding them their due (though worthily and justly merited,) to praeferre them before ourselves, which is the only reason, that the same men, being while they ●…iue mightily maligned and impugned, they are after their death, and that many times by the same corrivals, as highly honoured and commended.  

Vrit enim fulgore suo, qui praegravat arts  
Infra se positas, extinctus amabitur idem. 
Horat. l. 2. ep. 〈◊〉    

Who others doth in acts and skill surmount,  
With brighter beams inferior spirits doth vex,  
But being dead is held of great account.   
Which Martial verifies in the practice of Vacerra.  

Miraris veteres Vacerra solos,  
Nec laudas nisi mortuos Poetas,  
Ignoscas petimus Vacerra, tanti 
Lib. 8. epig 6●….   
Non est ut placeam Tibi perire,   

Old Poets only thou dost praise,  
And none but dead ones magnify:  
Pardon Vacerra, thee to please  
I am not yet in mind to die.   
He is a happy man saith the great Scaliger, (and that not so much out of his reading as his own sense and feeling,) who while he lives is made partaker of those deserved praises. 
In sine 〈◊〉. Elementor●…m.   
Quas vita non dat, funus ac cinis dabunt.  
What life grants not, death and the grave will give.  
Even Tully himself, the pattern of eloquence to all succeeding ages, and one of the most absolute, and eminent in his profession, that ever the world yielded, was notwithstanding sharply censured, and taunted at, by his coevalls, ut tumidiorem et Asianum et redundantem, et 
Quintie Orat. 12. 10.  in repetitionibus nimium, et in salibus aliquando frigidum, et in compositione fractum, exultantem ac pene quod procul absit, viro molliorem: as swelling after the Asiatic manner, too redundant and frequent in repetitions, in jests sometime too cold, and in the composure of his matter broken and effeminate. And to like purpose Velleius Paterculus speaking of a notable exploit of Sextius Saturninus, observes the same humorous disposition 
Lib. 2. c 92.  in those of his time, Quod ego factum, saith he, cuilibet veterum Consulum gloriae comparandum reor, nisi quod naturaliter audita visis laudamus libentius, & presentia invidiâ, preterita veneratione persequimur, et his nos obrui, illis instrui credimus, which noble exploit of his I could justly compare with the most famous and glorious acts of the ancient Consuls; but that out of a natural inclination we more willingly commend things we receive by hearsay then by sight, prosecuting things present with envy, but being passed with veneration; as being persuaded that we are affronted by the one, but instructed by the other.  
For myself I profess with Pliny the younger, Sum ex iis qui minor antiquos, non tamen ut quidam, temporum nostrorum ingenia despicio, neque enim 
Lib. 6. Ep. 21.  quasi lassa aut effaeta natura, ut nihil jam laudabile pariat: I am one of the number of those who admire the ancients, yet not as some, do I despise the wits of our times, as if Nature were tired and barren and brought forth nothing now that were praiseworthy. To which passage of Pliny Viues seems to allude, male de natura censet quicunque uno illam aut altero partu effaetam arbitratur, he that so thinks or says, is doubtless injurious and ingrateful both to God and nature, And qui non est gratus datis, non est dignus dandis, he that doth not acknowledge the peculiar and singular blessings of God bestowed upon this present age in some things beyond the former, is so far from meriting the increase of more, as he deserves not to enjoy these. And commonly it falls out that there the course and descent of the graces of God ceases, and the spring is dried up, where there is not a corespondent recourse and tide of our thankfulness. Let then men suspend their rash judgoments. nec perseverent suspicere preteritos, despicere presents, only to admire the ancients and despise those of the present times. Let them rather 
Sydonius, l. 3. ep. 3.  imitate Lampridius the Orator, of whom witnesseth the same Sydonius that he read good Authors of all kinds, cum reverentia antiquos, 
Lib. 8. ep. 31.  sine invidia recentes, the old with reverence, the new without envy. I will conclude this point and this chapter with that of Solomon, He 
Eccles. 3. 11.  hath made every thing beautiful in his time: answerable whereunto is that of the son of Syrach (which may well serve as a Commentary upon those works of Solomon) All the works of the Lord are good, and he will give every needful thing in due season: so that a man cannot say, this is 
Ecclesiasticus, 39 33. 34. 35.  worse than that, therefore praise ye●… the Lord with the whole heart and mouth, and bless the name of the Lord.    

CAP. 3. The Controversy touching the world's decay stated, and the method held thorough this ensuing Treatise proposed.  

SECT. 1. Touching the pretended decay of the mixed bodies.  
Lest I should seem on the one side, to sight with shadows, and men of straw made by myself, or on the other to maintain paradoxes, which daily experience refutes, it shall not be amiss in this Chapter, to unbowel the state of the question, touching the World's decay, and therewithal to unfold and lay open the several knots, and joints thereof, that so it may appear wherein the adverse party agrees, and wherein the point controverted consists, where they join issue, and where the difference rests. It is then agreed on all hands, that all subcoelestiall bodies, individuals, I mean, under the circle of the moon, are subject not only to alteration, but to diminution and decay, some I confess last long, as the Eagle and Raven among birds, the Elephant and Stag among beasts, the Oak among Vegetables, stones and metals among those treasures which Nature hath laid up in the bosom of the earth: yet they all have a time of groweth and increase, of ripeness and perfection, and then of declination and decrease, which brings them at last to a final and total dissolution. Beasts are subject to diseases, or at least to the spending of those natural spirits wherewith their life and being as the Lamp with oil is mainetai ned. Vegetables to rottenness, stones to mouldering, and metals to rust and canker, though I doubt not but some have lain in the bowels of the earth untainted since the world's Creation, and may continue in the same case till the Consummation thereof: Which need not seem strange, since some of the Egyptian Pyramids (stones drawn from their natural beds and fortresses and exposed to the invasion of the air and violence of the weather) have stood already well nigh three thousand years, and might for aught we know stand yet as long again And I make no question but glass and gold and crystal and pearl and precious stones might so be used that they should last many thousand years if the world should last so long. For that which Poets fain of time that it eats out and devours all things, is in truth but a poetical fiction, since time is a branch of Quantity, it being the measure of motion, and Quantity in itself isno way active, but merely passive, as being an accident flowing from the matter. It is then either some inward conflict, or outward assault which is wrought in time that eats them out. Time itself without these is toothless, and can never do it. Nay even among Vegetables it is reported by M. Camden that whole trees lying under the Earth have been and daily are digged up in Cheshire, Lancheshire, & Cumberland, which are thought to have lain there since Noah's flood, And Verstigan reports the like of finre trees digged up in the Netherlands, which are not known to grow any where in 
Cap. 4.  that Country, neither is the soil apt by nature to produce them, they growing in cold hilly places, or upon high mountains, so that it is most likely, they might from those places during the deluge by the rage of the waters be driven thither. Yet all these consisting of the Elements, as they do, I make no doubt, but without any outward violence in the course of nature by the very inward conflict of their principles whereof they are bred, would by degrees, though perchance for a long time insensibly, yet at last feel corruption. For a Body so equally tempered, or evenly balanced by the Elements, that there should be no praedominancie, no struggling or wrestling in it, may be imagined, but surely I think was never really subsisting in Nature, nor well can be.   

SECT. 2. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in regard of their quantity and dimensions.  
I Come then in the next place from the mixed Bodies to the Elements themselves wbereof they are mixed. Of these it is certain that they decay in their parts, but so as by a reciprocal compensation they both loose and gain, sometime losing what they had gotten, and then again getting what they had formerly lost, Egregia quaedam est in elementis quaternarum virium compensatio, aequalibus iustisque regulis ac terminis vices suas dispensantium, saith Philo in his book de Mundi incorruptibilitate, there is in the Elements a singular retribution of that fourfold force that is in them; dispensing itself by even bounds and just rules. The Element of the fire, I make no doubt, but by condensation it sometimes loses to the air, & the air again by rarefaction to it. Again the air by condensation loses to the water, & the water by rarefaction to it. The earth by secret conveyances sucks in & steals away the waters of the Sea, but returns them again with full mouth. And these two encroach likewise & make inroads interchangeably each upon other. The ordinary depth of the sea is commonly answerable to the ordinary height of the main land above the water: and the whirlpools & extraordinary depths answerable to the height of mountains above the ordinary height of the Earth. The Promontories and necklands which butt into the Sea, what are they but solid creeks, and the creeks which thrust forth their arms into the Land, but fleeting promontories. The Lands what are they but solid lakes, and the lakes again but fleeting Lands. Nay, Lands sometimes are swallowed up by the Sea, sometimes new rise out of the Sea. Sometimes parts of the Continent are recovered out of the Sea, as was a place in Egypt called Delta, Ammania regio, and others, nay the greatest part of the Netherlands 
Aristoteles 〈◊〉 Meteor.  was so recovered, as appears by their finding innumerable shells of sea-fish almost in every place where they dig, and other parts again irrecoverably lost by the inundation thereof as it fell out in the same Countries about four hundred years since in the reign of our King Henry the first, the steeples and towers which yet appear above the water showing to Passengers the revenge of that unmerciful Element upon a part for the loss of the whole land. Helice likewise and Bura cities of Greece were drowned (as it seems) in Ogyges 'slud, of which the Poet 
Ovid. Met. 15.   

Siquaeras Helicen & Buram Achaidos Vrbes  
Invenies sub aquis.  
Bura and Helice on Achayan ground,  
Are sought in vain, but under water found.   
And Seneca in the sixth boo●…e of his Natural questions thus speaks of 
Cap. 32.  these two Cities, Helicen, Burimque totas mare accepit, supra oppida duo navigatur, duo autem quae novimus, quae in nostram no●…iam memoria literis servata perduxit, quam multa alia alys locis mersa sunt? Helice and Buris the Sea hath wholly swallowed up, so that now we sail over two Towns, two I say which are come to our knowledge by the memory of ancient records, but how many other trow we may be swallowed up in diverse other places, which we never heard of? Inter insulas nulla iam Delos, saith Tertullian in his book de Pallio, among the Lands there is now no such thing to be found as Delos: and again Acon in Atlantico Lybiam aut Asiam adequans quaeritur nun●…. Acon in the Atlantic Sea equalling Africa or Asia is now found wanting. The story of K. Arthur, and the Knights of the round table is but an idle Book, yet it was not (it seems) without cause that he calls the Cornish Tristram, Sir Tristram de Lioness, inasmuch as Master Carew of Antony in his Survey of 
Suru. lib. 1.  Cornwall witnesseth, that the Sea hath ravened from that shire that whole Country of Lioness, and that such a Country of Lioness there was, he very sufficiently proveth by many strong reasons. Sometimes dry Towns become Havens, and sometimes again Haven-townes have become dry, as Hubert Thomas a man of very good parts, chief Secretary to Frederi●…k the third Count Palatine of Rhine, and Prince Elector, in his description of the Country of Liege affirmeth that the Sea hath in time come up to the walls of Tongres now well nigh an hundreth English miles from the Sea; which among other reasons he proves by the great iron rings there yet to be seen, unto which the ships that there sometimes arrived were fastened. Also Forum julium, a Town seated in littore Narbonènsi, the present estate whereof is described very well (as all other things) by that excellent Chancellor of France, Michael Hospitalis. 
Epist. lib. 5.   

Apparet moles antiqui diruta portus,  
Atque ubi portus erat siccum nunc littus & horti  
The ruins of an ancient haven appears to be,  
But where the haven was, now gardens may you see.   
In like manner the river Arno now falleth into the sea six miles from Pisa, whereby it appeareth that the Land hath there gotten much upon 
Survey of Tuscany.  the Sea in this coast, for that Strabo in his time reporteth it was but 20 furlongs (which is two miles and an half) distant from the Sea. Lastly, sometimes Lands have been annexed to the Continent, as Samos which (as witnesseth Tertullian) is become sand, and Pharos which in Homer's time was an Island, but in Plinyes annexed to the Continent by the slime of Nilus, and sometimes again pieces have been cut off from the Continent, and made Lands, as Sicily which was separated from the main of Italy.  

Haec loca vi quondam & vasta comvulsa ruina, 
Virg, Aen, lib. 3.   
(Tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetust as)  
Dissiluisse ferunt, cum protinùs utraque tellus  
una foret, venit medio vi pontus & undis  
Hesperium Si●…ulo latus abs●…idit, arvaque & urbes  
Littore diductas, angusto interluit aestu.   

These places by huge force with ruin violent,  
(So great a change in things long tract of time can make)  
Sundered they say, which erst were both one Continent  
Till in between the Sea with force impetuous brake,  
And with his mighty waves th'Hesperian did divide  
From the Sicilian shore, and now 'twixt towns and fields  
Thus rend asunder ebbs and flows a narrow tide.   
Sic & Hispanias à contextu Africae mare eripuit, saith Seneca. Thus did the 
Nat. quaest. lib. 6 c. 29. Camden. Twine. Verstigan.  Sea snatch away Spain from the Continent of Africa. And this 〈◊〉▪ as many imagine, was likewise broken off from the Continent of 〈◊〉▪ grounding themselves partly upon their private reasons, and par●… 〈◊〉 'pon the authorities of Antonius Volscus, Dominicus Marius Niger, 〈◊〉 Servius Honoratus, who seeks to prove it from that of Virgil  
Et penitùs toto divisos orbe Britannos.  
And Britain's wholly from the World divided. 
Eciog. 1.   
And of Claudian in imitation of Virgil,  
— Nostro diducta Britannia mundo.  
Britain from our World severed.  
Of both these as well Lands annexed to the Continent, as pieces of the Continent broken off from it by force of the Sea and made Lands, Pliny hath written at large in the second Book of his Natural History, cap. 85. 86. 87. And Ovid in the 15 of Met. toucheth them both.  
Fluctibus ambitae fuerant Antissa, Pharosque,  
Et Phaenissa Tyros, quarum nunc Insula nulla est.  
Antissa, Pharos and Phaenissian Tyre,  
Now are not, but with Seas surrounded were.  
And on the other side,  

Leucada continuam veteres habuere coloni  
Nunc freta circumeunt, Zancle quoque iuncta fuisse  
Dicitur Italiae: donec confinia pontus  
Abstulit, & media tellurem repulit unda   

Th' old inhabitants of Leucadian Isles  
Conjoined to the Continent them found.  
And Zancle joined was to Italy,  
Which now cut off by Sea the waves surround.   
By reason of which mutual traffic and interchange, the Elements may truly be said to remain always the same in regard of their entire bodies, as Theseus' his ship so renowned antiquity was held by the scholars of Athens to be the same, though it were renewed in every part thereof, and not a plank or pin remained of the first building. Or as a river may properly be said to be the same, though it vary from itself by the access of fresh supplies every moment.  
Rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis, at iste 
Horat. lib. 〈◊〉. ep. 2.   
Labitur & labetur in omne volubilis aevum.  
The Clown waits till the ford be slidden all away,  
But still it slides, and will for ever and a day.   

SECT. 3. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in regard of their qualities.  
THere is no fear then of the natural decay of the Elements in regard of their quantity and dimensions; all the controversy is in regard of their quality, whether the air and water be so pure and wholesome, and the earth so fertile and fruitful as it was some hundreths or thousands of years since. Touching the former, I think I shall make it appear that the World in former ages hath been plagued with more droughts, excessive reins, winds, frosts, snows, hails, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, and other contagious diseases, then in latter times: all which should argue a greater distemper in the Elements; and for the fruitfulness of the earth I will not compare the present with that before the fall or before the flood: I know and believe that the one drew on a curse upon it, (though some great Divines hold that curse was rather in regard of man's ensuing labour in dressing it, then of the Earth's ensuing barrenness) 
Gen 3. 17. 18. Pererius in locum.  and the other by washing away the surface and fatness thereof, and by incorporating the salt waters into it, much abated the native and original fertility thereof, and consequently the vigour and virtue of plants as well in regard of nourishment as medicine. Upon which occasion it seems after the Flood man had leave given him to feed upon 
Gen. 9 3.  the flesh of beasts and fowls and fishes, which before the flood was not lawful. Neither can it be denied that God's extraordinary favour or curse upon a land (beside the course of Nature) makes it either fruitful or barren, A fruitful land maketh he barren, saith the Psalmist, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein; And on the other side, he turneth the 
Psal. 107 34 35.  wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water springs. And for grounds which are continually rend & wounded with the plowshare, worn and wasted with tillage, it is not to be wondered if they answer not the fertility of former ages: But for such as have time and rest given to recover their strength, and renew their decayed forces, or such as yet retain their virginity without any force offered unto them, I doubt not but experience and trial will make it good that they have lost nothing of their primitive goodness, at leastwise since the flood, and consequently, that there is in the earth itself by long-lasting no such perpetual and universal decay in regard of the fruitfulness thereof, as is commonly imagined.  
And if not in the earth itself, then surely not in the trees and herbs, and plants and flowers which suck their nourishment from thence as so many infants from their mother's breast: Let any one kind of them that ever was in any part of the world since the Creation be named that is utterly lost; no, God and Nature have so well provided against this that one seed sometimes multiplies in one year many thousands of the same kind. Let it be proved by comparing their present qualities with those which are recorded in ancient writers, that in the revolution of so many ages, they have lost any thing of their wont colour, their smell, their taste, their virtue, their proportion, their duration. And if there be no such decay as is supposed to be found in the several kinds of vegetables, what reason have we to believe it in beasts, specially those that make vegetables their food. If Aristotle were now alive, should he need to compose some new treatise De historia Animalium? in those things where he wrote upon certain grounds and experimental observations? have the beasts of which he wrote any thing altered their dispositions? Are the wild become tame, or the strong feeble? no certainly. It was true in all ages both before and since which the Poet hath  

Forts creantur fortibus, & bonis,  
Est in juvencis, est in equis patrum 
Horrat. Lib. 4. Od. 4.   
Virtus, nec imbellem feroces  
Progenerant aquilae Columbam.   

From nobles noble spirits proceed,  
Steers, Horses like their Sires do prove,  
The Eagle fierce doth never breed  
A timorous and fearful Dove.   
Hath the Lion forgotten his Majesty, or the Elephant his sagacity, or the Tiger his fierceness, or the Stag his swiftness, or the Dog his fidelity, or the Fox his wiliness? were the Oxen then of the same Country stronger for labour, the horses better featured or more serviceable than now? doubtless these lessons as their Mistress cannot but teach them, so these scholars cannot but learn them, neither is it in their power to forget them.   

SECT. 4. Touching the pretended decay of mankind, in regard of manners and the arts.  
WIth man it is otherwise: for he having a free will, (at leastwise in moral and natural actions) by reason of that liberty varieth both from his kind and from himself, more than any other creature beside: And hence is it (other circumstances concurring) that in the same country men are sometimes generally addicted to virtue, sometimes to vice, sometimes to one vice, sometimes to another, sometimes to civility, sometimes to barbarism, sometimes to studiousness & learning, sometimes to ease and ignorance, sometimes they are taller of stature, sometimes lower, & lastly, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter lived, ct this I say ariseth partly from the Liberty of man's will, & partly from God's providence overruling & disposing all things according to the secret counsel of his own unsearchable wisdom.  

Signat tempora proprijs  
Aptans officijs Deus, 
Both. de Consol. Lib. 1. Met. 6.   
Nec quas ipse coercuit  
Misceri patitur vices.   

To proper offices  
God hath each season bounded▪  
And will not that the courses  
He sets them be confounded.   
Haec omnia mutantur saith S. Augustine, nec mutatur divinae providentiae ratio, qua fit Vt ista mutentur. All these things are changed, and yet the reason of the Divine Providence, by which they are changed, changeth not. To affirm then that humane affairs remain always in the same estate, continually drawn out as by an even thread, without variation, is untrue: and on the other side to say that they always degenerate and grow worse and worse, is as unsound. For surely had it been so, since the Creation or the fall of man, civil society, nay the world itself could not have subsisted, but would long since have been brought to utter ruin and desolation. Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit, vice was at highest, and near its downfall stood. And as Bodin hath 
juvenal. Salyr. 1.  both rightly observed and learnedly expressed. Quod si res humanae in 
Method. Hist. Cap. 7.  deterius prolaberentur, jampridem in extremo vitiorum ac improbitatis gradu constitissemus, quo quidem antea perventum esse opinor. Sed cum flagitiosi homines nec ulterius progredi nec eodem loco stare diutius possent, sensim regredi necesse habuerunt, vel cogente pudore qui hominibus inest ànatura, vel necessitate, qd in tantis sceleribus societas nullo modo coli poter at, vel etiam qd verius est, impellente Dei bonitate. If men should always grow worse & worse, we had long since arrived to the utmost point and highest pitch of villainy, to which it may be men have already attained, but when they could neither make a farther progress, nor longer abode in the same state they must needs by degrees return again, either very shame constraining them, which is implanted in man by nature, or mere necessity in as much as humane society could not stand with such an higth of wickedness, or else which I rather believe, the Grace and Goodness of God moving and leading them thereunto.  
Vice sometimes abounds in one nation, and sometimes in another, and in the same nation the same vice doth not always equally abound: but it either riseth or falls, reigns or vanisheth according to the disposition of Rulers and execution of laws: As is well and wisely noted by a late Historiographer of our own in the the very entrance of his History of England, we shall find (saith he) the same correspondencies to hold in 
〈◊〉. D.  the actions of men, virtues and vices the same, though rising and falling according to the worth or weakness of Governors; the causes of the ruins and mutations of states to be alike, and the train of affairs carried by precedent in a course of succession under the like colours; and that which he observes in the history of this nation is no doubt true in all. We need go no farther then that of the jews for a notable instance in this kind: who at times, more zealous than they in the worship of God, and the exercises of religion? and who again, at other times more rebellious? It is said of them in the psalm, Then believed they his words, but presently it follows 
Psal. 106. 12. V. 13. 14.  in the very next verse, They soon forgot his works: and according to their obedience or rebellion so were they either prosperous or unfortunate in the course of their affairs: during their faith & fidelity towards God, every man of them was in war as a thousand strong, and as much as a great Senate for counsel in peaceable deliberations: chose if they swerved, (as they often did) their wont courage and magnanimity forsook them utterly, their soldiers and military men trembled at the sight of the naked sword, when they entered into mutual conference & sat in council for their own good, that which children might have seen, their gravest Senators could not discern, their Prophets saw darkness in steed of Visions, and the wise and prudent were asmen bewitched.  
Now that which is spoken touching the revolutions and returns of virtues and vices, is likewise true in Arts and sciences. Hinc factum est, (saith Contarenus,) ut quibusdam aetatibus acerrima hominum ingenia vigere, aliis tanquam flaccesscere videantur. Hence it is that in some ages the wits 
De perfectione Re●…an Lib. 2. Cap. 4.  of men seem wonderful sharp, and again in others flat and blunt. And it is a true observation which Ramus to this purpose hath, commigrationes gentium variae cemmemorantur, commigrationes literarum & disciplinarúm commemorari possent, non minores. we read of divers commigrations or removalls of Nations, and surely no less of Arts and Sciences might be observed. Whereupon Aristotle who held the Arts Eternal, as he did the world, yet tells us there was always a rising and a 
1. de Coelo. & 1. Meteor.  falling of them as of the stars: so as sometimes they flourished in one place and age, and sometimes in another: as the stars sometime shine in our Hemisphere, sometimes in the other. Where was there ever more learning and sciencè then in Greece, and where is there now in the world more barbarisine? what most exellently learned men, pillars and lights of the Church of Christ hath Africa brought forth as Tertullian, Minutius, Optatus, Lactantius, Arnobius, his Master Fulgentius, St. Cyprian, and St. Augustine? and with what learned men is Africa in our time acquainted? chose in the flourishing days of the Romans how utterly without all knowledge of letters were the Germans and Netherlanders, & how do they now a days flourish in all kind of learning & cunning? While the Arts through the Christian world lay in a manner buried in negligence and obscurity, than did their lustre shine forth most clearly in Ireland, thither did our English Saxons repair as to a Fair or Market of good letters: Whence of the holy men of those times we often read in our Ancient writers. Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hiberniam. He was sent into Ireland to study there. And in the life of Sulgen, who 
Camden in Hibernia.  lived about six hundred year ago.  

Exemplo Patrum commotus amore legend●…  
juit ad Hybernos sophia mirabile claros: 
J●…cobus Curio●…. 2. K●…: Chron.    

And for to skill and learning he aspired  
Treading the steps of Ancestors he sailed  
To Ireland, then for wisdom much admired.   
And it may seem that the English Saxons borrowed from them the manner of forming their letters, since they used the same character which the Irish use at this day, yet now when learning is as it were revived again from the grave, thorough all Christendom, only this part of it (which was then as another Goshen in Egypt) remains for the most part unlightned, in the darkness of ignorance, incivility, and superstition. Thus Almighty God in sundry ages and in several places casts abroad the seeds of learning and knowledge, which in their due time grow up and spread abroad to the glory of his own name and the behoof of mankind. Neither can I here let pass the words of Bodin to like effect touching the Arts and inventions of wit as were those before alleged touching virtue and vice; Haec illa est, (saith he) rerum omnium tam certa conversio ut dubitare nemo debeat quin idem in hominum ingenijs, quod in agris eveniat qui maiori ubertate gratiam quietis referre solent. This is that certain wheeling about of all things, so that no man need doubt but the same befalls men's wits that doth their grounds which are wont to recompense the favour of their rest with the more plenteous crop.   

SECT 5. Touching this pretended decay in regard of the duration of men's lives their strength and stature.  
THe same vicissitude and revolution as is in Arts and wits is likewise to be found in the ages of men, and the duration of their lives; as my Lord of S. Alban hath truly noted, decursus saeculorum & successio propaginis nihil videntur omnino demere de diuturnitate vit●…. The course of times and succession of progenies seem to abate nothing 
Historia vitae & Mortis, pag. 156.  from the lasting of men's lives. Certain times there are in all Regions in which the thread of men's lives is either drawn out longer or contracted to a shorter scantling: For the most part they live longer when the times are more barbarous, their diet more simple, and the exercise of men's bodies more in use: but shorter when the times are more Civil and men more given to luxury and ease, which pass and return by turns, Succession itself effects nothing therein, alone. in case it did, the first man in reason should have lived longest, and the son should still come short of his father's age: so that whereas Moses tells us that the days of man's age in his time were threescore years and ten, by this reckoning 
Ps. 90. 1●….  they might well enough by this time be brought to ten, or twenty, or thirty at most. It cannot be denied but that in the first ages of the world both before and after the flood men usually lived longer than we find they have done in latter ages: But that I should rather choose to ascribe to some extraordinary privilege then to the ordinary course of nature. The world was then to be replenished with inhabitants, which could not so speedily be done but by an extraordinary multiplication of mankind: neither could that be done, but by the long lives of men. And again Arts and sciences were then to be planted, for the better effecting whereof, it was requisite, that the same men should have the experience and observation of many ages. For as many 
Aristotle.  Sensations breed an experiment, so do many experiments a Science.  
Per varios usus artem experimentia fecit  
Exemplo monstrante viam.  
Through much experience Arts invented were 
Manilius, l. 1.   
Example showing way.  
Specially it was requisite men should live long for the perfecting of Astronomy, and the finding out of the several motions of the heavenly bodies, whereof some are so slow, that they ask a long time precisely to observe their periods and revolutions. It was the complaint of Hypocrates, Ars longa vita brevis. And therefore Almighty God in his wisdom then proportioned men's lives to the length of Arts; and as God gave them this special privilege to live long: so in likelihood he gave them withal a temper & constitution of body answerable thereunto. As also the food wherewith they were nourished, specially before the flood, may well be thought to have been more wholesome and nutritive, and the plants more medicinal: And happily the influence of the heavens was at that time, in that climate where the patriarchs lived, more favourable and gracious. Now such a revolution as there is in the manners, wits, and ages of men, the like may well be presumed in their strength and stature. Videtur similis esse ratio in magnitudine corporum sive statura quae nec ipsa per successionem propaginis defluit. There seemeth 
Hist. vit. et moris. pag. 158.  to be the like reason in the groweth & bigness of men's bodies, which decreaseth not by succession of offspring; but men are sometimes in the same nation taller, sometimes of a shorter stature, sometimes stronger, and sometimes weaker, as the times wherein they live, are more temperate or luxurious, more given to labour or exercise, or to ease and idleness. And for those narrations which are made of the Giantlike statures of men in former ages, many of them were doubtless merely poetical and fabulous. I deny not but such men have been, who for their strength and stature have been the miracles of nature, the world's wonders, whom God would therefore have to be, (saith S. Austin) that he might show, that as well the bigness as the beauty of the body, are not to be ranged in the number of things good in themselves, as being common both to good and bad. Yet may we justly suspect that which Suetonius hath not spared to write, that the bones of huge beasts, or sea-monsters, both have and still do, pass currant for the bones of Giants. A very notable story to 
In Augusto, cap. 72.  this purpose, have we recorded by Camerarius who reports that Francis 
Medit. Hist. cap. 82.  the first, king of France, who reigned about an hundred years since, being desirous to know the truth of those things, which were commonly spread, touching the strength and stature of Rou'land, nephew to Charlelamaine, caused his sepulchre to be opened, wherein his bones and bow were found rotten, but his armour sound, though covered with rust, which the king commanding to be scoured off, and putting it upon his own body, found it so fit for him, as thereby it appeared that Roland exceeded him little in bigness and stature of body, though himself were not excessive tall or big.   

SECT. 6. The precedents of this chapt: summarily recollected, and the method observed in the ensuing treatise proposed  
NOw briefly and summarily to recollect and as it were to wind up into one clue or bottom what hath more largely been discoursed thorough this chapter, I hold first that the heavenly bodies are not at all, either in regard of their substance, motion, light, warmth or influence in the course of nature at all impaired, or subject to any impairing or decay: Secondly, that all individuals (under the Cope of heaven) mixed of the elements are subject to a natural declination and dissolution: Thirdly, that the quantity of the Elements themselves is subject to impairing in regard of their parts, though not of their entire bodies: Fourthly, that the air and earth and water and divers seasons diversely affected sometime for the better, sometime for the worse, and that either by some special favour or judgement of God, or by some cause in nature, secret or apparent: Fiftly, that the several kinds of beasts, of plants, of fishes, of birds, of stones, of metals, are as many in number, as at the Creation, & every way in Nature as vigorous, as at any time since the flood: Sixtly, and lastly that the manners, the wits, the health, the age, the strength, and stature of men daily vary, but so as by a vicissitude and revolution they return again to their former points from which they declined & again decline, and again return, by alternative and interchangeable courses, Erit hic rerum in se remeantium orbis, quamdiù erit ipse orbis, This 
Lipsuis de constant. 1. 16.  circle and ring of things returning always to their principles will never cease as long as the world lasts.  

Repetunt proprios cuncta recursus 
Boetius l. 3. Met. 2.   
Redituque suo singula gaudent  
Nec manet ulli traditus ordo  
Nisi quod fini iunxerit ortum  
Stabilemque sui fecerit orbem.   

To their first spring all things are backward bound  
And every thing in its return delighteth  
Th'order once settled can in nought be found  
But what the end unto the birth uniteth  
And of its self doth make a constant round.   
And consequently there is no such universal and perpetual decay in the frame of the Creatures as is commonly imagined, and by some strongly maintained.  
The method which I propose is first to treat hereof in general that so a clearer way, and easier passage may be opened to the particulars; then of the Heavens as being the highest in situation, and the noblest in outward glory and duration, as also in their efficacy, and universality of operation, and therefore doth the Prophet rightly place them next God himself, in the order of Causes, it shall come to pass in that day, saith the 
H●…sca, 2, 21.  Lord, that I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Israel. From that we may descend to the four Elements, which as a musical instrument of four strings, is both tuned and touched by the hand of heaven: And in the next place those bodies, which are mixed and tempered of these Elements, offer themselves to our consideration, whether they be without life, as stones and metals, or have the life of vegetation only, as Plants; or both of vegetation and sense, as beasts and birds and fishes; and in the last place, man presents himself upon this Theatre, as being created last, though first intended, the master of the whole family, & chief Commander in this great house, nay the masterpiece, the abridgement, the map and model of the Universe. And in him we will examine this pretended decay, first in regard of age and length of years, secondly in regard of strength and stature, thirdly in regard of wits, and Arts, and fourthly and lastly in regard of manners and conditions, to which all that is in man is or should be finally referred, as all that is in the world is, under God, finally referred to man. And because it is not sufficient to possess our own fort, without the dismantling and demolishing of our enemies, a principal care shall be had throughout the whole work, to answer, if not all, at least the principal of those objections which I have found, to weigh most with the adverse part. And in the last place, lest I should any way be suspected to shake or undermine the ground of our Christian religion, or to weaken the article of our belief touching the consummation of the world, by teaching that it decays not, to wipe off that aspersion, I will endeavour to prove the certainty thereof, not so much by Scripture, which no Christian can be ignorant of, as by force of Reason and the testimony of Heathen writers; and finally I will conclude with an exhortation grounded thereupon for the stirring of men up, to a preparation of themselves against that day, which shall not only end the world, but judge their actions, and dispose of the everlasting estate of their persons.    

CAP. 4. Touching the world's decay in general.  

SECT. 1. The three first general reasons that it decays not.  
THe same Almighty hand which created the world's massy 
The first reason drawn from the power of that Spirit which quickens and supports it.  frame and gave it a being out of nothing, doth still support and maintain it, in that being, which at first it gave, and should it with draw himself but for a moment, the whole frame would instantly return into that nothing, which before the Creation it was, as Gregory hath rightly observed, Deus suo presentiali esse, dat omnibus rebus esse ita quod si se rebus subtraheret, sicut de nihilo facta sunt omnia, sic in nihilum diffluerent universa. God by his presential Essence gives unto all things an Essence, so that if he should withdraw himself from them, as out of nothing they were first made, so into nothing they would be again resolved. In the preservation then of the Creature, we are not so much to consider the impotency, and weakness thereof, as the goodness, wisdom, and power of the Creator, in whom, and by whom, and for whom, they live and move and have their being. The spirit of the Lord filleth the world, (saith the Author of the wisdom of Solomon, and the secret working 
Cap. 1. 7.  of the spirit, which thus pierceth through all things, hath the Poet excellently expressed,  

Principio caelum ac terr as camposque liquentes 
Aeneid 6.   
Lucentemque globum Lunae, Titaniaque astra  
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus  
Mens agitat molem & magno se corpore miscet.   

The heaven, the earth, and all the liquid maine,  
The Moon's bright globe, and stars Titanian  
A spirit within maintains, and their whole mass,  
A mind which through each part infused doth pass,  
Fashions and works and wholly doth transpierce  
All this great Body of the Universe.   
This Spirit the Platonists call the Soul of the World, by it, it is in some sort quickened and formalized, as the body of man is by its reasonable Soul. There is no question then, but this Soul of the World, (if we may so speak) being in truth none other than the immortal Spirit of the Creator, is able to make the body of the World immortal, and to preserve it from dissolution, as he doth the Angels, and the spirits of men: and were it not that he had determined, to dissolve it by the same supernatural and extraordinary power, which at first gave it existence, I see not but by the ordinary concurrence of this spirit, it might everlastingly endure: and that consequently (to drive it home to our present purpose) there is no such universal and perpetual decay in the course of Nature; as is imagined, and this I take to be the meaning of Philo, in that book which he hath composed De Mundi incorruptibilitate, of the World's incorruptibility; there being some who have made the World eternal without any beginning or ending, as Aristotle, and the Peripatetics, others give it a beginning, but without ending, as Plato and the Academics, whom Philo seems to follow; and lastly others both beginning & ending, as Christians and other Sects of Philosophers, whom Aristotle therefore flouts at, saying that he formerly feared his house might fall down about his ears, but that now he had a greater matter to fear, which was the dissolution of the world. But had this pretended universal & perpetual decay of the World been so apparent as some would make it, his flout had easily been returned upon himself, & his opinion by daily & sensible experience as easily confuted, which we may well wonder none of those Philosophers who disputed against him, (if they acknowledged and believed the truth thereof) should any where press in defence of their own opinions, it being indeed the most unanswerable and binding argument that possibly could be enforced against him, were there that evident certainty in it as is commonly imagined, whereas he in the sharpness of his wit seeing the weakness thereof, would not so much as vouchsafe it a serious answer, but puts it off with a jest. For mine own part I constantly believe that it had a beginning, and shall have an ending, and hold him not worthy the name of a Christian who holds not as much: yet so as I believe both, to be matter of faith; through faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the word of God; and through the same faith we likewise understand that 
Heb. 11. 3.  they shall be again unframed by the same word. Reason may grope at this truth in the dark, howbeit it can never clearly apprehend it; but enlightened by the beam of faith. I deny not but probable, though not demonstrative and convincing arguments, may be drawn from discourse of reason to prove either the one or the other, and among the rest that taken from the World's decay, to prove the final consummation thereof, I take to be most unsound, in as much as it begs a principle, which is not to be granted, and supposeth such a decay, which in my judgement to the world's end and the day of Judgement will never be sound and sufficiently proved.  
I remember the Philosophers propose a question, Vtrum Mundus solo generali concursu Dei perpetuo durare possit? Whether the World by the ordinary and general cooperation of God's power and providence 
Ruvio de caelo & mundo lib. 1. cap. 12.  could still last or no? and for the most part they conclude it affirmatively, even such as professed the Christian Religion, and for proof of their assertion they bring in effect this reason. The Heavens, say they 
2. reason from the consideration of the several parts of the World.  are of a nature which is not capable in itself of corruption, the loss of Elements is recovered by compensation, of mixed Bodies without life by accretion, of living Bodies by succession, the fall of one being the rising of the other, as Rome triumphed in the ruins of Alba, and the depression of one Scale is the elevation of another, according to that of Solomon, One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth 
Eccles. 1. 4.  for ever.  

— Mutantur in aevum  
Singula, & incoeptum alternat natura tenorem,  
Quodque dies antiqua tulit, post auferet ipsa. 
Pontanus cap. 48 meteor.    

Each thing in every age doth vary  
And Nature changeth still the course she hath begun,  
And will eftsoons undo what she erewhile had done.   
Again, all subcoelestiall bodies (as is evident) consist of matter and 
3 Reason from the like consideration.  form; Now the first matter having nothing contrary unto it, cannot by the force of nature be destroyed, and being created immediately by God, it cannot be abolished by any inferior agent. And as for the forms of natural bodies, no sooner doth any one abandon the matter it informed but another instantly steps into the place thereof, no sooner hath one acted his part & is retired, but another presently comes forth upon the stage, though it may be in a different shape, and to act a different part, so that no portion of the matter is, or at any time can be altogether void & empty, but like Vertumnus or Proteus it turns itself into a thousand shapes, and is always supplied and furnished with one form or other.  

Nec sic interimit mors res, ut materiaï 
Lucret. lib. 2.   
Corpora consiciat, sed coetum dissipat ollis:  
Ind aliis aliud coniungit. & efficit, omnes  
Res ut convertant formas, mutentque colores  
Et capiant sensus, & puncto tempore reddant:  
Vt nos●…as refer, eadem primordia rerum.   

Death doth not so destroy things  
As it the matter to nought brings.  
It only doth dissolve the frame,  
And so it leaves to be the same,  
And joining other things it changeth  
Their shape, form, colour, and so rangeth  
Their being at times, that you may know  
They all from like principles do flow.   
Neither in truth in the course of Nature can it possibly be otherwise; since it intends not the abolition of any thing, as being a defect, and contrary to it's own good, but for the succession and generation of some other thing in the room thereof. As Nature than cannot create by making something out of nothing: so neither can it annihilate by turning something into nothing. Whence it consequently follows as there is no access, so there is no diminution in the universal, no more than there is in the Alphabet by the infinite combination & transposition of letters, or in the wax by the alteration of the seal stamped upon it. If a man should take but one drop of water in the whole year from the Ocean, or but one sand from the sea shore, or but one grass from the earth without any new supply, nay without a supply proportionable, that the addition may fully countervail & repair the subtraction, their store must in continuance of time of necessity be emptied and utterly exhausted; and in like manner the World being finite, and there being no access to the whole, if there should be any such perpetual and universal decay and decrease in all the parts thereof, as is pretended, it must needs at last by degrees be annihilated and brought to nothing, which is both in reason, and by the consent of all Divines, as incommunicably the effect of a power divine and above nature, as is the work of the Creation itself, so as whatsoever is taken from one, must of necessity be given to another.  
Ne res ad nihilum redigantur protinus omnes.  
Lest things ere long to nothing should be brought. 
Luc●…. lib. 〈◊〉.   
Put the case than that some principal part of the World should still decrease, surely some others must thereupon continually increase, or there would follow some diminution, and consequently some annihilation in respect of the whole, & if upon the continual decrease of some, others should still increase, there would likewise thereupon follow such a disproportion, and jarring as they could never well accord, and in the end the whole would be turned into those which gained by the loss, and grew great by the fall of others, & consequently they would prove the ruin both of others and themselves, as the spleen growing and swelling to an immoderate bigness upon the pining of the other parts, in the end ruins both itself and them, as then a due proportion is held betwixt the parts as well in the natural body of man as the body politic of the state for the upholding of the whole, so is there likewise by the divine providence in this vast body of the World, not that any of the limbs or members thereof (the heavens only excepted) remain without their alteration or diminution, but because they mutually by tur●…es and exchanges both take one from another, and again repay one to another what they formerly took, by which means neither is any thing lost in the whole, nor any one part so either enfeebled by decrease, or by increase over strengthened as they lose that proportion which makes the music of the whole, or that use and service which to the whole they all stand obliged to perform, and to this purpose it is surely as a divine oracle, for the wisdom & truth thereof, which the Poet hath put into the mouth of Pythagoras.  

Nec species sua cuique manet: rerumque novatrix 
Ovid. Met ... 15.   
Ex aliis alias reparat natura figuras.  
Nec perit in tanto quidquam (mihi credit) mundo:  
Sed variat, faciemque novat: nascique vocatur  
Incipere esse aliud, quam quod fuit ante: morique  
Desinere illud idem: cum sint huc forsitan illa,  
Haec translata illuc, summâ tamen omnia constant.   

They hold not long their shapes, but soon Dame Nature.  
Of one shape lost brings forth another feature;  
Believe it, in so great and huge a mass  
Nothing doth perish, but change and vary face;  
We say a thing new borne is, when as  
It doth become another than it was:  
And so we say, a thing doth suffer death.  
When it the form forsakes, as men their breath,  
And though the counters be placed lower or higher,  
Yet still the total sum doth stand entire,    

SECT. 2. Fourth reason for that such a decay as is supposed would in time point out the very day of the world's expiration, and consequently of the second coming of Christ.  
ANother special reason moving me to believe that the World's supposed decay is but imaginary, is that it would in time point out the very date of its expiration, so that men should be able from the extremity of the disorder & confusion (into which it would by degrees degenerate) by the rule of proportion, as it were by the even decrease of sand or water in an hourglass prognosticate the instant beyond which it could no longer subsist; whereas before the Universal Deluge which swept away every living soul breathing upon the face of the Earth, (except Noah & his Family, and the beasts which lodged with him under the roof of the same Ark) we read of no such forerunning declination which was the reason that men took no notice of it till it over took them, and as it was then, so shall it be at the sudden, and unexpected coming of the second deluge of fire. For as in the d●…es which were before 
Math. 24 38.  the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the Ark, and knew not until the flood came and swept them all away: So shall also the coming of the son of man be: it 
2. Peter. 3. 10.  shall be like the coming of the thief in the night, when men shall say, Peace 
1. Thess. 5. 3.  and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them.  
The more I wonder what should make the Author of the Scholastical 
In Libr. Gen. Cap. 35.  history thus to write, Tradunt Sancti quod quadraginta annis ante judicium non videbitur arcus coelestis, id quod etiam naturaliter ostendet desiccationem aeris. Holy men affirm that forty years before the day of ludgment no rainbow shall appear, which shall serve as a natural sign of the drought in the air already begun. Those Holy men he names not, neither can I so much as conjecture who they should be, since no such opinion, nor any mention thereof (as I presume) is to be found in the writings of any of the Ancient Fathers now extant, neither in truth is it any way grounded, either upon Scripture or show of reason drawn from thence. And besides it assumes that as yielded, which is not only uncertain, but certainly false, that the conflagration of the world shall be wrought, or at leastwise prepared by second and natural causes, whereas it shall doubtless be the supernatural work of God's omnipotency, as was likewise the drowning of it. Howbeit Henricus Mecliniensis scholar to Albertus Magnus in his Commentaries upon the great Conjunctions of Albumazar, seems to refer it to the watery constellations then reigning, as some others do, the future general conbustion to the predominance of fiery constellations: whereas notwithstanding they ascribe the universal declination and dotage of nature to the want of that warmth which former ages enjoyed: So that according to their grounds following the course of nature the world should rather have been burned in Noah's time, it being then in the prime and strength of natural heat, and reserved for a flood at the last day, it being now according to their opinion seized upon, with cold and waterish humours, or at least their feigned fiery constellations would better have suited with those times, and the waterish with ours. But thus we see how curiosity entangleth, and error ever crosseth and contradicteth itself. Haec est mendaciorum natura ut cohaerere non possint (saith Lactantius) Such is the property of 
5. 3.  falsehoods that they can never hang together.  
At nulla est discordia veris, 
Boethius Lib. 5. Metr. 3.   
Semper que sibi certa coherent.  
In true things discord is there none,  
They friendly still agree in one.   

SECT. 3. Fifth reason that upon the supposition of such a decay, the vigour of the world must needs long since have been exhausted and worn out.  
A fifth reason which makes me think that Nature neither hath nor doth degenerate and pine away in the several kinds of Creatures in regard of their number, dimensions, faculties or operations, is that in the course of so many ages already past, the vigour and strength of it must needs have been utterly exausted and worn out. If in every Centenary of years from the Creation or since the flood some small abatement only should have been made, (which notwithstanding the Patrons of the adverse opinion hold to be great, as will appear when we come to the examination of the particulars,) and if we should question a man of an hundred years of age about this point, what a wonderful change will he tell you of, since his remembrance: so that if we should go backward and proportionablely allow the like change within the like compass of years, since the beginning of the world, it could not possibly subsist at this day. But put the case, as I say, that not so great as is imagined, but some small abatement should be made for every Centenary, surely even in that proportion nothing else could now be left unto us but the very refuse & bran, the dross & dregges of nature. and as heavy things sink in rivers, but straws and sticks are carried down the stream, so in this long current of time, the kernel and pith of Nature must needs have been spent and wasted, only the rind and shells should have been left to us. The Heavens could not by their warmth and influence have been able sufficiently to cherish the earth, nor the earth to keep the plants from starving at her breasts, nor the plants to nourish the beasts, nor could the beasts have been serviceable for the use of man, nor man himself of ability to exercise the right of his dominion over the beasts and other Creatures. The Sun by this time would have been no brighter than the Moon or Stars, Cedars would have been no taller than shrubs, Horses no bigger than Dogs, Elephants than Oxen, Oxen than Sheep, Eagles than Pigeons, Pigeons than Sparrows, and then whole race of mankind must have become Pigmies, and mustered themselves to encounter with Cranes.  
If we should allow but one inch of decrease in the growth of men for every Centenary, (& less cannot well be imagined) there would at this present be abated almost five foot in their ordinary stature, which notwithstanding was held the competent height of a man, above sixteen hundred yearers since, & so still continues, so that the ordinary stature of the men of the first age should by this rule have been about ten foot, which exceeds that of Goliath by some inches. Sir Walter Rauleigh who in sundry places positively defends nature's universal decay, (which I must confess I somewhat marvel at, in a man of that peirceing wit and clear judgement, but that as others he took it up upon trust, without bringing 
History of the world. 〈◊〉. 1 Lib. 1. cap. 5.  it to the touchstone) to prove men to be but reeds now a days, as he termeth them, in comparison of the Cedars of former ages, gives us an instance, drawn from the times and practise of Galen in comparison of ours, telling us that Galen did ordinarily let blood, six pound weight, whereas we (saith he) for the most part stop at six ounces. The truth of his allegation touching Galens' practice, I shall hereafter have ●…itter occasion to examine, in the chapter purposely dedicated to the consideration of men's decay in strength; at this time I will only touch the matter of proportion. There is some doubt among Chronologers, of the precise time wherein Galen lived, as appears by Gesner in his life; but in this they all agree, that he practised at least two hu●…dred years since Christ, so that taking our level from thence, we may safely affirm that he flourished about fourteen hundred years since, in the compass of which time, men have lost by that account about a pound of blood for every Centenary, which proportion of loss, if we should observe in the like distances of time before Galen from the Creation, it were not possible that so much as a drop of blood should be left in any man's body at this day. From these particulars we may guess at the rest, as retailers do of the whole piece, by taking a view of the ends thereof, or as Pythagoras drew out the measure of Hercules whole body from the S●…antling of his foot.   

SECT. 4. Sixth argument taken from the authority of Solomon and his reason drawn from the Circulation of all things as it were in a ring.  
TO these reasons may be added the weighty authority of the wisest man that ever lived, of a mere man; how often doth he beat upon the circulation and running round of all things as it were in a ring: how earnestly and eloquently doth he press it, and express it as it were in lively colours in that most divine book of the Preacher. The Sun (saith he) ariseth, and the Sun goeth down, and hasteth to the 
Cap. 1 & cap. 5. 6. 7.  place where he arose. Which Boetius discoursing upon the same Theme hath elegantly set forth.  

Cadit Hesperias Phoebus in undas  
Sed secreto tramite rursus 
Lib. 3. Met. 2.   
Cursum solitos vertit ad ortus.   

The sun doth set in Western maine,  
But yet returns by secret ways.  
Unto his wont rise again.   
But the Preacher stays not there. The wind goeth toward the South and turneth about toward the North, it whirleth about continually and returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the Sea, yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. Whereupon he infers, the thing that hath been, it is that that shall be, and that which is done, is that which shall be done, and there is no new 
v. 9 10.  thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, behold this is new? it hath been already of old time before us; & again, that which hath been is now, and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth 
Cap. 3. 15.  that which is past. Now this wheeling about of all things in their seasons and courses, and their supposed perpetual decrease, are in my understanding incompatible, they cannot possibly stand together, nor be truly affirmed of the same subject. For if they return again to their times and turns, to the state from which they declined, as Boetius speaks of a bowed twig. 
Lib de Con. Phil. 3. Met. 2.   

Validis quondam viribus acta  
Pronum flectit virga cacumen  
Hanc si curuans dextra remisit  
Recto spectat vertice coelum.   

The tender plant by force and might  
Constraned its top doth downward bend:  
Remove the hand which bowed it  
And strait to heaven-wards will it tend.   
If I say they thus return to their former condition, as hath been more at large proved by Lodovicus Regius, a French man in a book which 
Lovys Le Roy.  he purposely entitles, De La Vicissitude des choses, and dedicates it to Henry the third King of France, then can it not be they should always grow worse and worse, as on the other side if they always degenerate and grow worse and worse, it cannot be they should have such returns as Solomon speaks of, wise and learned men in all ages have observed, and experience daily confirms. The Poets fain that Saturn was wont to devou●…e his sons and then to vomit them up again, which fiction of theirs (saith Rodogin) the wiser sort understand to be referred to time shadowed under the name of Saturn, à quo vicibus cuncta gignantur & 
Lib. 7. c. 4●….  absumantur quae renascantur denuò, because as all things spring from time and by it are consumed, so in it they are renewed and restored again. And by this means the world for the entire, is still preserved safe and sound.  

Exutae variant faciem per secula gentes,  
At manet incolumis mundus, suaque omnia servat 
Mani●…us, l. 1.   
Quae nec long a dies auget, minuitve senectus:  
Nec motus puncto currit, cursuve fatigat.  
Idem semper erit quoniam semper fuit idem,  
Non alium videre patres aliumve nepotes  
Aspicient.   

The people changed, at times the face doth vary,  
The world stands sound, and always holds its own,  
Nor by long days increased, nor age less grown,  
Runs round, yet moves not, nor by running's weary,  
Was still the same and still the same shall be  
That which our gransirs saw our sons shall see.     

CAP. 5. General arguments making for the world's decay refuted.  

SECT. 1. The first general objection drawn from reason answered.  
HOwbeit, as the great Patriarch of Philosophers hath taught us that Verum est index sui & obliqui, Truth may serve as a square or rule both for itself and falsehood, as a right line discovers the obliquity of a crooked, yet because  
Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita altera, 
Sen. Med●…. Act. 2.   
Aequum licet statuerit, haud aequus fuit:  
Who but one party hears yet doth decree,  
Just is he not, though just his sentence be.  
Let us see what the Adverse part can say for themselves. Their general arguments then for the world's decay are drawn, partly from reason, and partly from authority. The main argument drawn from reason, upon which all the rest, in a manner depend, so as I may call it, the Pole-deede of their evidence, is this, That the Creature the nearer it approaches to the first mould, the more perfect it is, and according to the degrees of its removal and distance from thence, it incurs the more imperfection and weakness, as streams of a fountain the farther they run thorough unclean passages, the more they contract corruption. For the losing of which knot, I shall crave pardon if I enlarge myself and make a full answer thereunto, considering that in the striking off, of this head, the body of the opposite reasons fall to the ground, and at the shaking of this foundation, the whole building totters. First then I will examine the truth of this proposition, whether every thing the farther it departs from its original, the more it loses of its perfection, because upon it the weight of the argument is grounded; and secondly I will consider how justly it is applied to this present purpose. For the first whether we behold the works of Art or Nature or Grace, we shall find that they all proceed by certain steps from a more imperfect and unpolished being to that which is more absolute and perfect. To begin with the works of Grace: in the course of Christianity we grow both in knowledge and virtue, in illumination & sanctification, as the blind man in the Gospel having recovered his sight, first saw men walking like trees confusedly and indistinctly, but afterwards more clearly: in knowledge we grow by leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, and going on unto perfection, by leaving milk fit for 
Hebr. 6. 1.  babes, and using stronger meat belonging to them that are of full age, who by 
Hebr. 5. 13. 14.  reason of an habit have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. In virtue we grow, not only by adding virtue to virtue, as it were link to link, but by increasing in those virtues as it were by enlarging the 
2. Pet. 1. 5.  links, that the man of God may be made perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every 
2. Tim. 3. 17.  good work. For the works of Arts we see the Limmer to begin with a rude draught, and the Painter to lay his grounds with shadows and darksome colours, the weaver out of a small thread, makes a rich and fair piece, and the Architect upon rubbish lays a goodly pile of building, which at first consists of naked walls, but at last is furnished with variety of household stuff, and garnished with hangings and pictures. Lastly for the works of Nature out of what a confused Chaos was the goodly frame of this world raised? out of what unworthy little seeds spring the tallest trees, and most beautiful flowers, nay what a base beginning at the first Creation had and still hath man himself the Lord of the Creatures so as himself even blushes to mention it, how impotent and unable to help himself is he brought into the world? how slowly doth he come forward to the use of his senses, his strength, his reason? yet at length by degrees if he live and be of a sound constitution, he arrives unto it. By which it appears that at leastwise individuals, in the several works both of Grace and Art and Nature, the farther they proceed from their original, the more perfect they are, till they arrive to their state of perfection, though herein they differ, that Art and Nature than decline, but Grace is turned into Glory.  
And for the species or kinds of things, which is it that specially concerns our present question, as I cannot affirm that by degrees they grow on still to greater perfection, so neither can I find that they daily grow more imperfect. For Grace we know, it was more abundantly poured out by the incarnation and passion of the Son of God in this latter age of the world, then at any time before since the first creation thereof. And of Art it is commonly thought that near about the same time the Roman empire was at the highest and Soldiers, Poets, Orators, Philosophers, Historians, Politicians, never more excellent, which withal should argue that Nature was at that time rather strengthened then enfeebled, in as much as both Art and Grace are built upon Nature, I mean the natural faculties of the soul, which commonly follow the temper of the body, & the more vigorous they are, the more happily are both Art and Grace exercised by them.  
Now for the application of the proposition to the present purpose touching the world's decay, it is evident, that if it were indeed of that force as is pretended, it would thereupon follow that in the course of Nature Adam should have been the tallest and longest-liued man that ever breathed upon the face of the earth; whereas notwithstanding we read not of any Giants till a little before the flood; and Noah who lived after the flood saw twenty years more than Adam himself did, the latter being nine hundred and fifty and the former but nine hundred and thirty years old when he died. Nay Methusaleth the eight from Adam out stripped him by forty years wanting but one, and we see by daily experience that a weak or foolish father often begets a strong and a wise son, and that the grandchild sometimes equals the age of the father and grandfather both together. If a thousand candles or torches should be successively lighted one from another, it cannot be discerned by their dull or bright burning which was first or last lighted, nay the last sometimes yields a brighter light than the first, if it meet with matter accordingly prepared. The water which runs a thousand miles thorough clean passages, is every whit as wholesome and sweet at its journey's end, as when it first issued from the fountain. The seed that is cast into the earth seldom fails to bring forth as good as itself and sometimes better, and if at any time it prove worse, it is not because it is further distant from its original, (which is the very point in controversy) but because it meets with a worse soil, or a worse season, and the soil and season are worse perchance then in former times, nor by reason of the revolution of so many ages since the Creation, but either by reason of God's Curse upon sin, or some other accidental cause, which being removed, they return again to their native and wont properties. For, did they grow worse & worse only by a farther distance from their first being, then would the Creatures have decayed in process of time, whether man had sinned or no, and man himself should have been of less strength and stature and continuance, though he had not failed in the tempera●… use of the creature, or of any other means making for the preservation of his life and health, 〈◊〉 I suppose the Patrons of the adverse part, will not maintain, o●…ce I am sure that the common te●…et of Div●…es is, that whatsoever defect or swarning is to be found, in the nature either of man himself, or the Creature made to serve him, ariseth from the sin of man alone, as being the only caus●… of all the jar and disorder in the world: Now to impute it to sin and yet withal to affirm that 〈◊〉 is occasioned by ●…he ●…ll of the Creature from its 〈◊〉 ex●…ce implies in my judgement a manifest and irreconciliable contradiction.  
To conclude this answer, this axio●…e, 〈◊〉; quo magis elongatur a suo principio, eo magis defi●…it & langu●…scit, Every thing the farther it is removed from its original, the more faint and feeble it grows, in violent motions is most true, As an arrow shot out of a bow or a dart flung upward from the hand of a man, the higher they mount the slower they move; and so I conceive it to have been m●…nt by Aristotle: but in natural motions, as the moving of a stone downward, and such is rather Natur●…s motion in the course of the world,) the contrary is undoubtedly tru●…, Cres●…●…undo, the farther it moves the more strength it gathers, and forti●…ies itself in going Besides if the strength of the hand could go along with the dart, or if the bow with the arrow, as the hand and power of God leads and preserves Nature in her course, keeping ●…t a w●…king as the spring doth the wheels in a watch or Clock; th●…e is no question, but their motions would prove, as quick and forcible in the end as at the beginning, and not cease at all before the strength of the hand or bow which carry them forward were removed from them: Finally, if this axiom were not to be limited, it should equally extend to the Angels and the souls of men, and the first matter, and the heavens as well as to the sublunary mixed bodies: but the same power which upholds and maintains them, in their original state, supports likewise the whole body of this inferior world together withal the several spe●…ies or kinds thereof, and did it not so do, all the absurdities already touched, as impotency in that spirit which animates the world, to support it, an●…ihilation in the course of Nature, defect and swarving in the Crea●… without the sin of man, foreknowledge of the world's end, & the end of it long before this time, would infalliblely follow thereupon.   

SECT. 2. The second general objection answered, which is that the several parts of the World decaying, it should argue a consumption in the whole.  
ANother argument drawn from reason, for the world's decay, is, that all the parts of it decay, and by degrees grow to dissolution, which should likewise argue a wasting and lingering consumption in the whole, since there seems to be the same reason of the whole which is of all the parts, where of it consists. But the answer hereunto will easily appear out of that which hath already been delivered, and by taking a review of the several parts of the Universal. First then for the heavens, undoubtedly they feel no such decay either in substance, quantity, motion, light, warmth or influence, as I hope I shall make it manifest in the next Chapter, and for the Elements what they lose in regard of their quantity, is again made up by equivalence or compensation, and that in respect of their quality they decay not either by being of less efficacy, or more malignant dispositions, then in former ages, remains to be showed in their proper place; and lastly for the bodies mixed and tempered of the Elements, though it be granted, that all individuals or particulars in time decay or perish, yet doth it not follow, that the same condition should likewise be annexed to the species or kind, which is still preserved by a new supply and successive propagation of particulars, not always inferior to their predecessors, which this argument presumes, but sometimes excelling, and commonly equalling them in goodness, as hath always been touched in part, and shall hereafter by Gods help be more fully and distinctly proved.   

SECTIO 3. The third general objection answered, taken from the authority of S. Cyprian.  
THe arguments drawn from authority are either humane or divine testimonies. Among humane that of S. Cyprian is most famous, as well in regard of his great piety and learning, as his approach to the pure and primitive times of the Church of Christ. This holy Martyr then and venerable Bishop grieving that the Christian Religion should be charged with these lamentable accidents wherewith the World at that time was pressed and shaken, shapes this reply to Demetrianus their accuser. Illud primo loco scire debes senuisse iam mundum; non illis viribus stare quibus prius steterat, nec vigore & robore eo praevalere, quo antea praevalebat, hoc enim nobis tacentibus, & nulla de Scripturis sanctis praedicationibusque divinis documenta promentibus, mundus ipse iam loquitur, & occasum sui rerum labentium probatione testatur. Non hyeme nutriendis seminibus tanta imbrium copia est, non frugibus aestate torrendis solis tanta flagrantia est, nec sic verna de temperie sua laeta sata sunt, nec adeò arbores foetibus autumno foecundae sunt; minus de effossis & fatigatis montibus eruuntur marmorum crustae, minus argenti & auri opes suggerunt, exhausta iam metalla, & pauperes venae tenuantur in dies singulos & decrescunt, deficit in agris agricola, in amicitijs concordia, in artibus peritia, in moribus disciplina. Putasne tu posse tantam substantiam rei senescentis existere, quantumprius potuit novella adhuc & vegeta iuventute pollere? Minuatur necesse est quicquid fine iam proximo in occidua & extrema divergit; sic sol in occasu suo radios minus claro & igneo splendore iaculatur, sic declinante iam cursu exoletis cornubus Luna tenuatur, & arbour quae fuerat ante viridis & fertilis, are scentibus ramis fit postmodum sterili senectute deformis, & fons qui exundantibus prius venis largiter profluebat, vix modico sudore distillat. Haec sententia mundo data est haec Dei lex est, ut omnia orta occidant, & aucta senescant, & infirmentur fortia, & magna minuantur, & cum infirmata & diminuta fuerint, fi●…iantur. You ought first to have known this, that the World is now waxen old, that it hath not those forces which formerly it had, neither is endued with that vigour and strength wherewith it formerly was, & thus much though we held our peace, and brought no proof thereof from holy Scripture and divine Oracles, the World itself proclaims and testifies its declination by the experience of all things declining in it. We have not now so great store of showers for the nourishing of our seeds in Winter, nor in Summer so much warmth of the Sun for the ripening of our corn. In the Spring our fields are not so fresh and pleasant, nor in Autumn our trees so loaden with fruits, less pieces of marble are hewed out of the exhausted and tired mountains, and the emptied Mines yield less quantity of gold and silver, theit veins daily diminishing and decreasing, The husbandman is defective in manuring the Earth, concord fails in friendship, skill in Arts, and discipline in manners. Can you imagine that the state of a thing waxing old should be so firm & sound as when it flourished in its youth? That must needs be weakened which (the final period of it approaching) hastens to the last end. so the Sun when it is setting, darts not forth so fiery and clear beams. So the Moon drawing toward the end of her race, draws in her horns and grows less, and the tree which formerly was green and fruitful, her boughs withering becomes deformed by barren old age, and the wellspring which formerly flowed abundantly with full streams, being dried up through age, hardly distils a drop of moisture. This sentence is passed upon the World, this is the Law which God hath set it, that all things that are borne, should die; all that increase, should decrease, that strong things should be weakened, and great lessened, and being thus weakened and lessened, they should at last be utterly dissolved.  
This discourse of Cyprian, and the excellent flowers of Rhetoric in it, show him to have been both a sweet and powerful Orator, of a great wit, a flowing eloquence: but whether in this he show himself so deep a Philosopher or sound Divine, I leave that to the Reader to judge, and refer his judgement to the future examination of the particulars: only by the way it shall not be amiss to remember, that the Christians of those times (happily by reason aswell of the bloody persecutions which pressed them sore, as the frequent passages both in the Gospel and Epistles, which speak of the second coming of Christ, as if it had been then hard at hand? stood in continual alarms and expectation of the day of judgement and the end of the World, as evidently appears by the very words of Cyprian himself in this discourse, & their thoughts still running thereupon, all things seemed suitable thereunto, and to draw towards that end. It cannot be denied, but those times wherein Cyprian lived were indeed very bitter and miserable in regard of f●…mine, and war, & mortality, yet about forty years after, it pleased Almighty God to pacify those storms, and dispel those clouds by the conversion of the renowned Constantine to the Christian Religion, as it had been by the breaking forth of the Sun beams, so as they who sowed in tears, reaped in joy, at which time had Cyprian lived, no doubt he would have changed his note, his pen would have as much triumphed in the tranquillity and flourishing estate of the Church under that noble Emperor, as it deplored the torn state of the World in the time wherein himself lived. The former famine, and war, and mortality, being then by God's gracious blessing happily turned into health, and peace, and plenty. He would then have told you that whereas before, showers of their blood were poured out for Christ's sake, now it pleased God to open the windows of Heaven for the moistening and nourishing of their seeds, that as Christ the Son of Righteousness was acknowledged as the Saviour of the World, and the shining beams of the Gospel displayed themselves: so the Sun in the firmament had recovered its warmth and strength for the ripening of their corn; that as the outward face of the Church was become beautiful and glorious, so the very fields seemed to smile and to receive content therein by their fresh and pleasant hue; that as men brought forth the fruits of Christianity in greater abundance, so their trees were more plentifully loaden with fruits; that as the rich mines of God's word were farther searched into, so new veins of marble and gold and silver were discovered; that Christian religion having now gotten the upper hand, had made the Husbandman and Artificer, more careful & industrious in their callings, had opened the Schools for Professors, in all kind of learning, had restored wholesome discipline in manners, & faithfulness in friendship. Finally, he would have told you that the world with the Eagle had now cast her worn bill and sick feathers, and upon the entertainment of Christ, and his Gospel, was grown young again. Which I am the rather induced to believe for that Cyprian himself in the same discourse against Demetrianus in another place refers the disasters of those times to the obstinacy of the world, in not receiving the truth of Christianity and submitting itself to the yoke of Christ jesus. A more likely and certain cause doubtless then that other of the world's imaginary old age and decay: His words are these. Indignatur ecce Dominus & irascitur, & quod ad eum non convertamini comminatur, & tu miraris et quereris in hac obstinatione, & contemptu vestro si rara desuper pluvia descendat, si terra situ pulueris Squalleat, si vix jejunas & pallidas herbas sterilis gleba producat etc. Behold the Lord is angry and threatens because you turn not unto him, and dost thou wonder or complain, if in this your obstinacy & contempt, the rain seldom fall the earth be deformed with dust, & the land bring forth hungry & starved grass, if the hail falling do spill the vine, if the overturning whirlwind do mar the Olive, if drought dry up the springs, if pestilent damps do corrupt the air, if diseases consume men, when all these things come by sins provoking, & God is the more offended since such and so great things do no good at all. And the same reason is upon the like occasion yielded by Lactantius, Discite igitur si quid vobis reliquae mentis est, homines ideo malos & iniustos esse quia dij coluntur: & ideo mala omnia 
5. 8.  rebus humanis quotidie ingravescere quia Deus mundi hujus effector & gubernator der●…lictus est quia susceptae sunt contra quam fas est impiae religiones: postremo quia ne vel a pau●…is quidem coli deum sinitis. Learn thus much then (if you have any understanding left) that men are therefore wicked & unjust because such Gods are worshipped, and that such mischiefs daily befall them, because god the Creator and Governor of the world is forsaken by them, because impious religions against all right are entertained of them, finally because you will not permit the worship of the true God so much as to a few. here then was the true cause of their bloody wars that they shed the innocent blood of Christians & trampled under foot the precious blood of Christ; as their wars together with the unkindly season were the cause of dearth and famine, and both famine and war of pestilence and mortality: how frequently and fervently doth the Scripture beat upon this cause, God every where promising to reward the obedience of his people with plenty and peace and kindly seasons, & their rebellion with scarcity & sickness, & the sword. But that these scourges of the world were at any time caused by or imputed to the old age or decay thereof, to my remembrance we no where read. As then the referring of these plagues with Demetrianus and the Gentiles to the curse of God upon Christian religion, was a blasphemous wrong to God's truth: So with Cyprian to refer them to the old age and natural decay of the world, (be it spoken with all due reverence to so great a light in the church of God) is in my judgement an aspersion upon the Power and providence and justice of God. And Pammelius in his annotations to excuse Cyprian herein (conceiving belike that he was not in the right) tells us that therein he alludes to the opinion of the ancient Philosophers & Poets: perchance thereby intending Lucretius the great admirer and sectary of Epicurus, who of all the Poets I have met with, hath written the most fully in this argument.  

I am que adeo effa ta est aetas, effoetaque tellus: 
Lucret. l. 2. versus finem.   
Vix animalia parva create, quae cuncta creavit  
Soecla; deditque ferarum ingentia corpora partu.  
Haud (ut opinor) enim mortalia soecla superne  
Aurea de coelo demisit funis in arva:  
Nec marc, nec fluctus plangentes saxa crearunt:  
Sed genuit tellus eadem, quae nunc alit ex se.  
Praeterea n●…idas fruges, vinetaque laeta  
Sponte suà primum mortalibus ipsa creavit:  
Ipsa dedit dulces foetus, & pabula laeta.  
Quae nunc vix nostro grandescunt aucta labour  
Conterimusque boves, & vires agricolarum:  
Conficimus ferrum vix arvis suppeditati:  
Vsque adeò parcunt faetus, augentque labores.  
jamque caput quassans grandis suspirat arator  
Crebrius in cassum magnum cecidisse laborem:  
Et cum tempora temporibus praesentia confert  
Praeteritis, laudat fortunas saepe parentis:  
Et crepat, antiquum genus ut pietate repletum  
Perfacile angnstis tolerârit finibus aevum,  
Cum minor esset agri multo modus ante viritim:  
Nec tenet, omnia paulatim tabescere, & ire  
Adscopulum spa●…io aetatis defessa vetusto.   

The world with age is broke, the earth out worn,  
And she of whom what ever lives was borne  
And once brought forth huge bodied beasts, with pain  
A small race now begets. No golden chain  
These mortals down from heaven to earth did let,  
As I suppose: nor sea, nor waves that beat  
The rocks did they create, 'twas earth did breed  
All of herself, which now all things doth feed.  
The cheerful vine she of her own accord,  
She corn to mortal wights did first afford:  
Sweet fruits beside and food did she bestow,  
Which now with labour great great hardly grow:  
The plough-swanes strength we spend, our oxen wear,  
When we our fields have sown no crop they bear,  
So wax our toils, so waneth our relief,  
The husband shakes his head, and sighs for grief,  
That all his travels frustrate are at last.  
And when times present he compares with past,  
He his Sires fortune raises to the sky,  
And much doth talk of th'ancient piety,  
And how though every man less ground possessed,  
Yet better lived with greater plenty blest.  
Nor marks how all things by degrees decay  
And tired with age towards the rock make way.   
But herein Lucretius likewise contradicted himself in other places of the same book, and had the world been indeed so near its last breathing as it were, and giving up of the Ghost, as Cyprian would make it in his time, much more as Lucretius in his: undoubtedly it could never have held out by the space of almost fourteen hundred years since the one, & above sixtee ne hundred since the other, & how long it is yet to last, he only knows, who hath put the times and seasons in his own power.   

SECT. 4. The same authority of Cyprian farther answered by opposing against it the authority of Arnobius supported with ponderous and pressing reasons.  
NOw because this authority of Cyprian is it which prevails so much with so many, it shall not be amiss to oppose thereunto that of Arnobius, not naked and standing upon bare affirmation as doth that of Cyprian, but backed with weighty & forcible arguments, 
Adversus Gentes 〈◊〉 procula principio.  a very renowned both Orator and Philosopher, he was the master of Lactantius and divers other very notable and famous men, and being pressed by the Gentiles of his time with the same objection against Christian religion, as was Cyprian by Demetrianus, he shapes unto it an answer clean contrary by showing that all the fundamental and primordial parts of the world, as the heavens & elements remained still entire since the profession of Christian religion, as before they were, & for other calamities of famine and wars and pestilence and the like, the common scourges of the world, they had been as great or greater in former ages, and that before the name of Christianity was heard of in the world then at that time they were. His Latin, because the allegation is long and in some places it savours of the African harshness, I will spare, and only set down the English.  
And first of all in fair and familiar speech this we demand of these men: since the name of Christian religion began to be in the world, what uncouth, what unusual things, what against the Laws instituted at the beginning hath Nature, as they term & call her either felt or suffered? Those first Element, whereof it is agreed that all things are compounded, are they changed into contrary qualities? Is the frame of this engine and fabric which covereth and encloseth us all in any part loosed or dissolved? Hath this wheeling about of Heaven swarving from the rule of its primitive motion either begun to creep more slowly, or to be carried with headlong volubility? Do the Stars begin to raise themselves up in the West, and the Signs to in●…line towards the East 〈◊〉 The Prin●…e of Stars the Sun whose light clotheth, and heat quickeneth all things, doth he cease to be hot, is he waxen cooler, and hath he corrupted the temper of his wont moderation into contrary Habits? Hath the Moon left off to repair herself, and by continual restoring of new to transform herself into her old shapes? Are colds, are heats, are temperate warmths between them both by confusion of unequal times gone? Doth Winter begin to have long days, and Summer nights to call back the slowest lights? Have the winds breathed forth their spirits as having spent their blasts? Is not the air straitened into clouds, and doth not the field being moistened with showers wax fruitful? Doth the Earth refuse to receive the seeds cast into her? Will not trees bud forth? Have fruits appointed for food by the burning up of their moisture changed their taste? Do they press gore blood out of olives? Are lights quenched for want of supply? The Creatures enured to the land, and that live in waters, do they not gender and conceive? The young ones conceived in their wombs do they not after their own manner and order conserve? To conclude, Men themselves whom their first and beginning nativity dispersed through the habited coasts of the Earth, do they not with solemn nuptial rights couple themselves in wedlock? Do they not beget most sweet offsprings of children? Do they not manage public, private, and domestical businesses? Do they not every one as he pleaseth by diverse sorts of arts and disciplines direct their wits, and studiously repay the use of their nativity? Do they not reign, do they not command to whom it is allotted? Do they not every day more increase in the like dignities and power? Do they not sit in judgement to hear causes? Do they not interpret laws and statutes? Do they not publicly use all other ways whereby the life of man is held in and kept in compass, all according to the orders and customs of the country in their several nations? These things therefore being so, and that no novelty hath broken in to interrupt the perpetual tenor of things by severing and discontinuing them: What is it that they say, Confusion is brought upon the world since Christian religion entered into it, and discovered the mysteries of hidden verity? But the Gods, say they, exasperated with your injuries and offences bring upon us pestilen●…es, droughts, scarcity of corn, lo●…usts, mice, hail, and other hurtful things assaulting the affairs of men. Were it not folly longer to insist upon things evident and needing no defence, I would soon by unfolding former times demonstrate that the evils ye speak of are neither unknown nor sudden, nor that these confusions broke in, nor that mortal businesses began to be infested with such variety of dangers, since our Society obtained the happiness of this name to be bestowed upon them. For if we be the cause, and for our demerits these p●…gues were invented, whence knew antiquity these names of miseries, whence gave it signification to wars? With what knowledge could it name the Pestilence ●…nd Hail? or assume them into the number of thosewords wherewith they uttered their speech? For if these evils be new, and draw their causes from late offences, how could it be that it should form words to those things whereof itself neither had experience, nor had learned that they were in any time done? Scarcity of corn and extreme dearth distresseth us. What? were the ancient and eldest ages at any time free from the like necessity? Do not the v●…ry names by which th●…se evils are called testify and cry that never any mortal man was privileged from it? Which were it a matter so hard to believe, I could produce the testimonies of Authors, what n●…tions, how great, how often have felt horrible famine, and have been destroted with a great desolation. But storms of Hail fall very often, and light on all things. And do we not see it registered and recorded in ancient writings that countries have often been battered with showers of stones? Want of rain kills up the corn, and makes the earth unfruitful; And was antiquity free from these evils, especially seeing we know that huge rivers have been dried up to the very bottom? The contagion of Pestilence vexeth Mankind; Run over the Annals written in several tongues, and ye shall learn that whole countries have oftentimes been made desolate, and emptied of inhabitants. All kind of grains are destroyed and devoured by locusts, by mice, Pass through foreign histories, & they will inform you how often former times have been troubled with these plagues, and brought to the miseries of poverty, Cities shaken with mighty earthquakes totter even unto ruin. What? Have not former times seen Cities together with the Inhabitants swallowed up in huge gaping clefts of the earth? Or have they had their e●…ate free from these casualties? when was mankind destroyed with deluges of waters? not before us? when was the world burnt & dissolved into embers & ashes? not before us? when were mighty cities overwhelmed by the seas inundation? not before us? when did they make war with wild beasts, and encounter with Lions? not before us? when were people plagued with ven●…mous serpents? not before us? For that ye use to object unto us the causes os so often wars, the laying waist of Cities, the irruption of Germans and Scythians I will by your good leave and patience be bold to say, that ye are so transported with desire to slander, that ye know not what it is ye say. That upward of tenthousand years ago a huge swarm of men should break out of that Island of Neptune, which is called Atlantic, as Plato declares, and utterly destroy and consume innumerable nations, were we the cause? That the Assyrians and Bactrians sometimes under the leading of Ninus and Zoroastres should war one against the other, not only with sword and strength, but also by the hidden arts of Magic, and the Chaldeans, was it our envy? That Helena by the direction and impulsion of the Gods was ravished, and became a fatal calamity both to her own and future times, was it attributed to the crime of our religion? That the great and mighty Xerxes brought in the sea upon the land, and past over the seas on foot, was it done through the injury of our name? That a young man, rising out of the borders of Macedon, brought the kingdom and people of the East under the yoke of captivity and bondage, did we procure and cause it? That now the Romans should like a violent stream drown and overwhelm all nations, did we forsooth thrust the Gods into the fury? Now if no man dare to impute to our times the things that were done long since: how can we be the causes of the present miseries, seeing there is no new thing fall'n out, but all are ancient, and not unheard of in any antiquity? although it be not hard to prove that the wars which ye say are raised through the envy of our religion, are not only not increased since Christ was heard off in the world, but also for the greater part (by repressing man's furiousness) lessened. For seeing we so great a multitude of men have learned by his instructions & laws, that we are not to requite evil fo●… evil, that it is far better to suffer then to do wrong, rather to shed a man's own then to pollute his hands and conscience with the blood of another: the ungratesull world hath ere while received this benefit from Christ, by whom the fierceness and wildness of nature is tamed, and they have begun to refra●…ne their hostile hands from the blood of the creature Kinne unto them. Certainly if all who know, that to be men stands not in the shape of bodies, but in the power of reason, would listen a while unto his wholesome and peaceable decrees and not puffed up with arrogance and selfeconceit, rather believe their own opinions then his admonitions: the whole world long ago (turning the use of iron unto milder works) should have lived in most qu●…et tranquillity, and have met together in a firm and indissoluble league of most safe concord. But if, say they, through you the state of man suffereth no disadvantage, whence are t●…ese evils wherewith now a long time miserable mortality is afflicted and oppressed? You ask my opinion in a matter not necessary to this business. For the present disputation now in hand was not undertaken by me to this end, to show or prove upon what causes or reasons each thing was done, but to manifest that the reproach of so great a crime as we are charged with, is far from us, which if I perform, and by deeds and evident remonstrances unfold the truth of the matter, whence these evils are, or out of what fountains or principles they proceed, I care not. For what if the first matter, digested into the four elements of all things, contain wrapped up in its rotations the causes of all miseries? what if the motions of the stars by certain signs, parts, times, lines produce these evils, and bring upon things subject unto them necessities of divers sorts? what if inset times the vicissitude of things fall out, and as it is in the motions of the sea, sometime there is a flow of prosperity, sometime it ebbeth back again, and evils return in the room thereof? What if the dregs of this matter which we tread under our feet have this law given unto it, to breathe forth most noisome vapours, wherewith this air being corrupted should both infect the bodies and disable the endeavours of men? what if (which indeed is nearest unto truth) whatsoever seemeth cross unto us, is not evil to the world itself: and that we persuading ourselves that all things are done for our benefits, do by reason of our wicked opinions wrongful accuse the event of nature? Plato the highest top and chiefest pillar of Philosophers, maintaineth in his commentaries, that those fearful inundations and conflagrations of the world, are the purging of the earth: neither was that wise man afraid to call the subversion, slaughter, ruin, destruction and funerals of mankind, an innovation of things, and that thereby repareing their strength they recover accrtaine youth again. Heaven, saith he, raines not, and we labour of I know not of what scarcity of corn. What? dost thou require that the Elements serve thy necessities? and to the end thou mayst live more daintily and delicately, that the times obsequiously apply themselves to thy commodities? What if he that is desireous of navigation complain in like sort that now along time there are no winds, and that the blasts of heaven are ceased. Must we say there fore that such tranquillity of the world is pernicious, because it hinders the desires of Passengers? What if any who hath been accustomed to toss himself in the sun, and to procure dryness to his body, should in like manner complain that the pleasure of fair and clear weather is by very often cloudiness taken away? Must the clouds therefore be said as enemies to hang and overspread the sky, because thou canst not at thy pleasure fry thyself in the flames and prepare occasions for drinking? All these events which come to pass and fall out under the cope of Heaven are to be weighed not by our petty commodities, but by the reasons and orders of nature itself. Neither if any thing happen which toucheth us and our affairs but with unwelcome successes, is it forthwith evil, and to be accounted noxious. Whether the worldraine or not rain, it raineth or not ratneth to itself, and which happily thou knowest not, either it consumes away the too much moisture with the fervency of drought, or temper thes drought of a very long time with the pouring out of reins. It sendeth pestilences, diseases, famines, & other forms of evils threatening destruction: how dost thou know whether so it take away that whichiss superfluous, and by itsowne losses set a measure to the riot and excess of things? Darest thou say this or that is evil in the world, the original and cause whereof thou art not able to unfold and resolve? and because happily it hinders thy pleasures of the deleights and lusts, wilt thou say it is pernicious & cruel? what then? If could be contrary unto thy body, & use to congeal the heat of thy blood, must not winter therefore be in the World? And because thou canst not endure the fervent heat of the Sun, must the Summer be taken out of the year? and nature again be ordered by other laws? Hellebore is poison unto men: ought it not for this cause to be brought forth? The wolf lays wait for the flock of sheep: is Nature in the fault which hath bred so troublesome a beast unto those fleecy creatures? The biting of the Serpent taket away life: shall I therefore speak evil of the first beginnings of things because they have added so cruel monsters unto living Creatures? It is too arrogant a part, seeing thyself art not thine own, and livest in possession of another, to presume to prescribe to those that are mightier than thyself; and to require that that be done which thou desirest, not that which thou findest by ancient constitutions already settled in things. Wherefore if you men will have your complaints to take place, it is requisite ye first teach us whence or what ye are: whether this World be made & framed for you, or ye came as stranger●… unto it out of other Countries? Which seeing you are not able to tell, & you cannot resolve us for what cause you live under this hollow vault of Heaven: leave off to suppose that any thing belongeth unto you, seeing the things that are done, are not alike done, but are to be reckoned & accounted in the sum intended in the whole. By reason of Christians, say they, these evils are come, & the gods send these calamities upon corn. I demand when ye say these things, do ye not see how desperately with open & manifest lies ye slander us? It is now three hundred years more or less, since we Christians began to be, & bear this name in the World have there been all these years continual wars, continual dearths? hath there been no peace at all in the Earth, no cheapness, no plenty of things? For he that accuseth us must first of all demonstrate that these calamities have been perpetual & continual, that mortal men have never had any breathing time, & that without any holidays, as they say, have endured the forms of manifold dangers. But do we not see in these middle years & middle times, that innumerable victories have been obtained over conquered enemies? that the territories of the Empire have been enlarged, & Nations whose names were never heard of, been brought in subjection? that oftentimes the years have yielded marvellous great increase, & such cheapness & plenty of things, that there was no buying or selling at all, the prices of things being so much fallen? For how could things be done, & how could mankind continue until this time, if fertility & plenty did not supply all whatsoever need required? But sometimes heretofore have been in need & necessity. And theyhave been recompensed again with abundance. Again some wars have been waged against our will. And they have afterwards been corrected by victories & good success. What then shall we say? that thegods are sometime mindful of our miseries. & sometime again unmindful? If at what time there is Famine it be said they are angry, it followeth that in time of plenty they are not aengry nor displeased: & so all is brought to this issue, that by turns they lightly lay aside & take up their angers, & by remembrance of offences return afresh unto them again. Although what that is wbieh they say seems to be inexplicable, & cannot be known or understood. If therefore they would have the Almans, Persians, Scythians subdued because Christians did dwell & live among these Nations: Why did they give the Romans the victory seeing Christians dwelled & lived among their Nations also. If it were their pleasure that mice & locusts should therefore swarm in Asia & Syria, because in like manner Christians dwelled in those Nations: why did they not at the same time swarm in Spain & France seeing innumerable Christians lived in these Provinces also? If for this very cause they send drought upon the corn, & barrenness among the Getulians' & them of Aquitaine: why did they the same year give such plentiful harvests to the Moors & Numidians, the like Religion being settled in these Countries also? If in any one City they have caused through the hatred of our name very many to perish with famine: why in the same place have they through the dearness of all provision made not only those that are not of our body, but even true Christians also much more the richer & wealthier? It behoved therefore that either none should have had any thing that was comfortable; if we be the cause of Evils, for we are in all Nations: or seeing ye see that things profitable are mingled with those that are incommodious, leave off at length to ascribe that unto us which impeacheth your estates, since we be no hindrance at all to your wealth and prosperity.   

SECT. 5. The fourth objection answered, which is borrowed from the authority of Esdras.  
THat which yet farther disables the validity of this testimony of Cyprian, is that in the opinion of Sixtus Senensis, a learned Writer, he borrowed it from the Apocryphal Esdras. For Canonical Scripture, he seems indeed to glance at the name thereof by the way, but alleadges 
●…blioth. ●…nct. lib. 1.  none; And if Senensis had thought that any book of the Canon had favoured this opinion of Cyprian, he would never have sent us to Esdras, but since the appeal is made to Esdras, to Esdras let us go. He then in his fourth book and fifth Chapter, v. 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55, thus speaks of this matter. He answered me, and said, ask a woman that beareth children, and she shall tell thee. say unto her, wherefore are not they whom thou hast now brought forth like those that were before, but less of stature; & she shall answer thee: They that be borne in the strength of youth, be of one fashion, and they that be borne in the time of age when the womb faileth are otherwise. Consider thou therefore also, how that ye are less of stature than they that were before you, and so are they that come after you less than ye, as the creatures which now begin to be old, and have passed over the strength of youth. Now as others depend upon the authority of Cyprian, so Cyprian himself depending upon this of Esdras, it will not I hope be thought either unseasonable or impertinent, if we a little examine the weight thereof. First then, it is certain that this book is not to be found either in Hebrew or Greek, neither is it by the Tridentine Counsel admitted into the Canon, & no doubt but upon very sufficient reason is it excluded both by them and us, in regard of the doctrines which it teacheth, manifestly repugnant to the rules of orthodox faith; as in the fourth and seventh Chapters it teacheth, that the souls of the Saints departed this life are detained as it were imprisoned in certain cells & faults of the Earth until the number of the Elect be accomplished, and that then they shall receive their Crowns of glory altogether, and not before. In the sixth Chapter he tells us a most ridiculous unsavoury tale, of two vast Creatures made upon the fifth day of the Creation; the one called Enoch, or Behemoth, and the other Leviathan. In the seventh he derives his pedigree from Aaron, by nineteen generations, whereas the true Esdras, or Esras derives his but by fifteen. And to bring it home somewhat nearer to our purpose. In the fourteenth chapter he shows himself manifestly a false Prophet, touching the Consummation of the world, which (saith he) hath lost his youth, and the times begin to wax old: for the world is divided into twelve parts, and ten parts of it are gone already, and half of a tenth part, and there remaineth that which is after the half of the tenth part. So that by his computation dividing the whole time of the world's duration into twelve equal portions, only one and a half were then remaining; which had it been true, the world should have ended almost fifteen hundred years ago. For the time from the world's Creation to Esdras, (according to the Scriptures calculation) contain about three thousand four hundred and seventy years, and this sum of years contain ten parts and an half of of the twelve, allotted for the whole duration of the world, whence it consequently follows, that the residue of the time from Esdras to the world's end, could not exceed the number of five hundred years: and yet from Esdras to this present year of the Lord, one thousand six hundred twenty six, we find there are passed almost two thousand years.  
Hereunto may be added the sharp but well deserved Censure of junius in his preface to the Apocryphal books. Nihil habet Esdrae quam falfo emendicatum nomen & injuriâ maximâ. Authorem enim, quem puduit sui operis longè amplius debuerat puduisse, cum suis somnijs nomen tanti viri praefigeret, & impudenter Ecclesiam vellet fallere. He hath nothing in him worthy of Esdras, but only a borrowed name and that most injuriously assumed. He was ashamed of his own name, but he should rather have shamed to prefix the name of so worthy a man before his dreams, and thereby attempt the deceiving of the Church. And again in his annotations on the first chapter of that book, Quis vero huic libro tantam fidem deinceps arroget, quae in ipsa fronte naevos tam immanes & in re tam evidenti mendacia tam puerilia, ne quid gravius dicam, animadvertit. Quisquis es qui hunc librum legis, sum authoritatem probandi atque judicandi sermones ejus, Non enim obstringit fidem tuam illius authoritas, si qua est, in tam crassis erroribus. Who will hereafter give credit to this book, who observes in the very forehead of it so notorious blemishes, and in a matter so evident, (not to say worse of it) so childish lies. Whosoever thou art that readest this book, take to thyself authority of trying and judging his speeches. For his authority cannot bind thy Credence, if there be any in such gross errors. It shall not be amiss then to follow this advice of junius, and to bring this counterfeit to the touchstone, whereby we shall easily discern, that both the ground he assumes is unsound, and his illation from thence deduced inconsequent. His ground is that children borne or begotten in old age, are always weaker than those in youth: Whereas Isaak borne of Sarah when she was now so old that she was thought both by others and herself to be past conceiving, 
Gen. 18. 11. 12.  and begotten of Abraham when his body was now dead, was 
Rom. 4. 19  for any thing we find to the contrary of as strong & healthful a constitution as jaacob borne in the strength of Isaac and Rebecca. And joseph or Benjamin as able men as Reuben, though jaacob in his blessing call him, The beginning of his strength and the excellency of power, as being his first 
Gen. 49 3.  begotten. Nay often we see that the youngest borne in age not equals only, but excels both in wit and spirit and strength and stature the Eldest borne in youth. So unsure and sandy is this ground; and for his inference drawn from thence, it is no less unwarrantable and insufficient. There being in the resemblance betwixt a woman and the world as large a difference, as is the dissimilitude between the fruit of the one and the generations of the other: The one taking her beginning by the course of nature in weakness & so growing to perfection and ripeness she quickly declines and hastens to dissolution. She must necessarily expect the term of certain years before she can conceive her fruit, and then again at the end of certain years she leaves to conceive. Whereas the other being created immediately by a supernatural power, was made in the very first moment (that it was fully made) in full perfection which except it be for the sin of man it, never lost, nor by any force of subordinate causes possibly could or can lose. The quickening efficacy of that word, Crescite & multiplicamini, though delivered many thousand years since is now as powerful in beasts, in plants in birds in fishes in men as at first it was. And thus much this false Prophet seems himself to acknowledge in the chapter following, where he thus brings in the Lord speaking unto him; All these things 
Cap. 6. 6.  were made by me alone, and by none other: by me also they shall be ended, and by none other. And if they shall be ended immediately by the hand of the Almighty, as immediately by it they were made, then doubtless there is no such natural decay in them, which would at last without the concurrence of any such supernatural power bring them to a natural d●…ssolution, no more than there was any natural forerunning preparation to their Creation. And thus we see, how this Goliath hath his head stricken off with his own sword, and this lying Prophet condemned out of his own mouth. I have dwelled the longer upon this examination, because I find that the testimony drawn from this Counterfeit was it that in appearance misled Cyprian, & both their testimonies together, that which hath yielded the principal both confidence and countenance to the Adverse part.   

SECT. 6. The last objection answered pretended to be taken from the authority of holy Scriptures.  
AS the testimony taken from Esdras wants authority: so those which re drawn from authority of sacred & Canonical Scriptures want right explication & application. Whereof the first that I have met with, are those misconstrued words of the Prophet Isaiah, The world languisheth and fadeth away, or (as some other translations read it,) The world is feebled 
Cap. 24 4.  & decayed. Which by junius & Tremelius are rendered in the future tense Languebit, Concidet orbis habitabilis, and are undoubtedly to be referred to the destruction & desolation of those Nations against which he had in some chapters precedent, denounced the heavy judgements of God, As the Moabites, Egyptians, Tyrians, Syrians, Assyrians, Ethiopians, Babylonians, and the Isralites themselves. junius thus rightly summing the chapter, Propheta summam contrahit judiciorum quae supra denunciaverat, The Prophet recapitulates or draws into one head or sum the judgements which before he had denounced at large, and in particular; which coming from the justice and immediate hand of God for sin upon a part of the world, can in no sort be referred to the ordinary course of Nature in regard of the Universal.  
That which carries with it some more colour of Reason is that by St. Paul, The Creature is said to be subject to vanity, to the bondage of corruption, 
Rom. 8. 20. 21. 22.  to groaning, and to travelling in pain: All which seem to imply a decay and declination in it: But in the judgement of the soundest Interpreters, the Apostle by vanity and bondage of corruption, means, first, that impurity, infirmity, and deformity, which the Creature hath contracted by the fall of man; Secondly, the daily alteration and change, nay declination and decay of the Individuals and particulars of every kind under heaven; Thirdly, the designation & hasting of the kinds or species themselves to a final & total dissolution by fire; And lastly, the abuse of them, tending to the dishonour of the Creator, or the hurt of his servants, or the service of his enemies: All these may not improperly be termed vanity and a bondage of corruption, under which the Creature groaneth and traveleth, wishing and waiting to be delivered from it.  
But that of S. Peter is it which is most of all stood upon, where he brings in the profane scoffers at Religion, and especially at the article of the world's Consummation, thus questioning the matter; where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as 
2. Pet. 3. 4.  they were from the beginning of the Creation. But in truth that place, if it be well weighed, rather makes against the world's supposed decay then for it, in as much as if the Apostle had known or acknowledged any such decay in it, it is to be presumed, that being invited, and in a manner forced thereunto by so fair and fit an occasion, he would have pressed it against those scoffers, or in some sort have expressed himself therein. But since he only urges the Creation of the world, and the overwhelming of it with water, to prove that the same God, who wasthe Author 
v. 5. 6.  of both those, is as able at his pleasure to unmake it with fire, it should seem he had learned no such divinity, as the world's decay, or at leastwise had no such assurance of it, and warrant for it, as to teach it the Church; Nay in the 7 verse of the same chapter, he tells us, that the heavens and earth which are now, are by the same word, by which they were Created, kept in store and reserved to fire. It was not then their averring, that things continued as they were, that made them scoffers, but their irreligious inference from thence, that the world neither had beginning, neither should have ending; but all things should always continue as formerly they always had done. And thus much may suffice for the consideration of the world's decay in General, it rests now, that we descend to a distinct view of the particulars, amongst which the Heavens first present themselves upon the Theatre, as being the most glorious and operative bodies, and seated in the most eminent room.     

LIB. II. Of the pretended decay of the Heavens and Elements, and Elementary Bodies, Man only excepted.  

CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of the Heavenly Bodies.  

SECT. 1. First of their working upon this inferior World.  
SUch and so great is the wisdom, the bounty, and the power which Almighty God hath expressed in the frame of the Heavens, that the Psalmist might justly say, The Heavens declare the glory of God; the Sun, & the Moon, & the Stars serving 
Psal. 19 1.  as so many silver & golden Characters, embroidered upon azure for the daily preaching and publishing thereof to the World. And surely if he have made the floor of this great House of the World so beautiful, and garnished it with such wonderful variety of beasts, of trees, of herbs, of flowers, we need wonder the less at the magnificence of the roof, which is the highest part of the World, and the nearest to the Mansion House of Saints and Angels. Now as the excellency of these Bodies appears in their situation, their matter, their magnitudes, and their Spherical or Circular figure: so specially in their great use and efficacy, not only that they are for signs and seasons, and for days & years, but in that by their motion, their light, their warmth, & 
Gen. 1. 14.  influence, they guide and govern, nay cherish and maintain, nay breed & beget these inferior bodies, even of man himself, for whose sake the Heavens were made. It is truly said by the Prince of Philosophers, Sol & homo generant hominem, the Sun and man beget man, man concurring in the generation of man as an immediate, and the Sun as a remote cause. And in another place he doubts not to affirm of this inferior World in general, Necesse est mundum inferiorem superioribus lationibus continuari, ut omnis inde virtus derivetur: it is requisite, that these inferior parts of the World should be conjoined to the motions of the higher Bodies, that so all their virtue and vigour from thence might be derived. There is no question but that the Heavens have a marvelous great stroke upon the air, the water, the earth, the plants, the metals, the beasts, nay upon Man himself, at leastwise in regard of his body and natural faculties: so that if there can be found any decay in the Heavens, it will in the course of Nature, and discourse of reason consequently follow, that there must of necessity ensue a decay in all those which depend upon the Heavens: as likewise on the other side, if there be found no decay in the Heavens, the presumption will be strong, that there is no such decay (as is supposed) in these Subcaelestiall Bodies, because of the great sympathy and correspondence which is known to be between them by many and notable experiments. For to let pass the quailing and withering of all things, by the recess and their reviving and resurrection (as it were) by the reaccesse, of the Sun; I am of opinion, that the sap in trees so precisely follows the motion of the Sun, that it never rests, but is in continual agitation as the Sun itself: which no sooner arrives at the Tropic, but he instantly returns, and even at that very instant (as I conceive, and I think it may be demonstrated by experimental conclusions) the sap which by degrees descended with the declination of the Sun, begins to remount at the approach thereof by the same steps that it descended: and as the approach of the Sun, is scarce sensible at his first return, but afterward the day increases more in one week, than before in two, in like manner also fares it with the sap in plants, which at first ascends insensibly and slowly, but within a while much more swiftly and apparently. It is certain, that the Tulypp, Marigold, and Sun-flowre open with the rising, and shut with the setting of the Sun; So that though the Sun appear not, a man may more infallibly know when it is high noon by their full spreading, then by the Index of a Clock or Watch. The hop in its growing winding itself about the pole, always follows the course of the Sun from East to West, and can by no means be drawn to the contrary, choosing rather to break then yield.  
It is observed by those that sail between the Tropics, that there is a constant set wind, blowing from the East to the West, sailors call it the Breeze, which rises and falls with the Sun, and is always highest at noon, and is commonly so strong, partly by its own blowing, and partly by overruling the Currant, that they who sail to Peru, cannot well return home the same way they came forth. And generally, Mariners observe, that caeter is paribus they sail with more speed from the East to the West, than back again from the West to the East, in the same compass of time. All which should argue a wheeling about of the air, and waters by the diurnal motion of the Heavens, and specially by the motion of the Sun. Whereunto may be added, that the high Seasprings of the year are always near about the two Aequinoctials and Solstices, and the Cock as a trusty Watchman, both at midnight and break of day gives notice of the Sun's approach.  
These be the strange and secret effects of the Sun, upon the inferior Bodies, whence by the Gentiles he was held the visible God of the World, and termed the Eye thereof, which alone saw all things in the World, and by which the World saw all things in itself.  
Omma qui videt, & per quem videt omnia mundus.  
And most notablely is he described by the Psalmist, in them hath he set a 
Psal. 19 4. 5. 6.  Tabernacle for the Sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, & rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the Heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.  
Now as the effects of the Sun, the head-spring of light and warmth, are upon these inferior Bodies more active: so those of the Moon, (as being Vltima coelo, Citima terris, nearer the Earth, and holding a greater resemblance therewith) are no less manifest. And therefore the husbandman in sowing & setting, graffing and planting, lopping of trees, & felling of timber, and the like, upon good reason observes the waxing & waning of the Moon. which the learned Zanchius well allows of, commending Hesiod for his rules therein. Quod Hesiodus ex Lune decrementis 
De operibus Dei.  & incrementis totius agricolationis signa notet, quis improbet? who can mislike it; that Hesiod sets down the signs, in the whole course of husbandry, from the waxing and waning of the Moon? The tides and ebbs of the Sea follow the course of it, so exactly, as the Seaman will tell you the age of the Moon only upon the sight of the tide, as certainly, as if he saw it in the water. It is the observation of Aristotle & of Pliny out of him, that oysters, and mussels, and cockles. and lobsters, & 
Arist. l. 4. de partibus animalium cap. 5. Plin. lib. 2 c. 41. & 99  crabs, and generally all shellfish grow fuller in the waxing of the Moon, but emptier in the waning thereof. Such a strong predominancy it hath even upon the brain of Man, that Lunatikes borrow their very name from it, as also doth the stone Selenites, whose property, as S. Augustine and Georgius Agricola record it, is to increase and decrease in light 
De civet. Dei lib. 21. c. 5. De natura Fossil. lib. 5.  with the Moon, carrying always the resemblance thereof in itself. Neither can it reasonably be imagined that the other Planets, and stars, and parts of Heaven, are without their forcible operations, upon these lower Bodies, specially considering that the very plants and herbs of the Earth, which we tread upon, have their several virtues, as well single by themselves, as in composition with other ingredients. The Physician in opening a vein, hath ever an eye to the sign then reigning. The Canicular star specially in those hotter Climates, was by the Ancients always held a dangerous enemy to the practice of Physic, and all kind of Evacuations. Nay Galen himself, the Oracle of that profession, adviseth 
In 3. de diebus Criticis.  practitioners in that Art, in all their Cures to have a special regard to the reigning Constellations & Conjunctions of the Planets. But the most admirable mystery of Nature, in my mind, is the turning of iron touched with the loadstone, toward the North-pole, of which I shall have farther occasion to entreat, more largely in the Chapter touching the Comparison of the wits & inventions of these times with those of former ages. Neither were it hard to add much more, to that which hath been said, to show the dependence of these Elementary Bodies upon the heavenly. Almighty God having ordained, that the higher should serve as intermediate Agents, or secondary Causes, between himself and the lower: And as they are linked together in a chain of order, so are they likewise chained together in the order of Causes, but so as in the wheels of a Clock, though the failing in the superior, cannot but cause a failing in the inferior, yet the failing of the inferior, may well argue though it cannot cause a failing in the superior. We have great reason then, as I conceive, to begin with the Examination of the state of Celestial bodies, in as much as upon it the conditionof the subcoelestiall wholly de-pends. Wherein five things offer themselves to our consideration, Their substance, their motion, their light, their warmth, and their influence.   

SECT. 2. Touching the pretended decay in the substance of the Heavens.  
TO find out whether the substance of the heavenly bodies be decayed or no, it will not be amiss a little to inquire into the nature of the matter and form, of which that substance consists, that so it may appear whether or no in a natural course they be capable of such a supposed decay. That the Heavens are endued with some kind of matter, (though some Philosophers in their jangling humour, have made a doubt of it,) yet I think no sober and wise Christian will deny it: But whether the matter of it, be the same with that of these inferior bodies, adhuc sub judice lis est; it hath been, and still is a great question among Divines. The ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitive Church, for the most part, following, Plato, hold that it agrees with the matter of the Elementary bodies, yet so as it is compounded of the finest flower, and choicest delicacy of the Elements: But the Schoolmen on the other side, following Aristotle, adhere to his Quintessence, and by no means, will be beaten from it, since, say they, if the Elements 
Lib. 1. de Coelo, cap. 2.  and the heavens should agree in the same matter, it should consequently follow, that there should be a mutual traffic and commerce, a reciprocal action, and passion between them, which would soon draw on a change, and by degrees, a ruin upon those glorious bodies. Now though this point will never (I think) be fully and finally determined, till we come to be Inhabitants of that place, whereof we dispute, (for hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are at hand, but the things 
Wisdom, 9 16.  which are in heaven, who hath searched out?) Yet for the present, I should state it thus, that they agree in the same original matter, and surely Moses, me thinks, seems to favour this opinion, making but one matter, (as far as I can gather from the text) out of which all bodily substances were created.  
Vnus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe.  
So as the heavens, though they be not compounded of the Elements, 
1. Metamorph.  yet are they made of the same matter, that the Elements are compounded of. They are not subject to the qualities of heat, or cold, or drought, or moisture, nor yet to weight, or lightness, which arise from those qualities, but have a form given them, which differeth from the forms of all corruptible bodies, so as it suffereth not, nor can it suffer from any of them, being so excellent and perfect in itself, as it wholly satiateth the appetite of the matter it informeth. The Celestial bodies then, meeting with so noble a form to actuate them are not, nor cannot, in the course of nature, be liable, to any generation or corruption, in regard of their substance, to any augmentation or diminution in regard of their quantity, no nor to any destructive alteration in respect of their qualities.  
I am not ignorant that the controversies, touching this form what it should be, is no less than that touching the matter; Some holding it to be a living and quickening spirit, nay a sensitive and reasonable soul, which opinion is stiffly maintained by many great & learned Clarks, both jews, and Gentiles, & Christians, supposing it unreasonable that the heavens which impart life to other bodies, should themselves be destitute of life: But this error is notablely discovered and confuted by Claudius Espencaeus, a famous Doctor of the Sorbone, in a Treatise which he purposely composed on this point; In as much as what is denied 
De Coelorum animatione.  those bodies in life, in sense, in reason, is abundantly supplied in their constant & unchangeable duration, arising from that inviolable knot, & indissoluble marriage, betwixt the matter & the form, which can never suffer any divorce, but from that hand which first joined them. And howbeit it cannot be denied, that not only the reasonable soul of man, but the sensitive of the least gnat that flies in the air, and the Vegetative of the basest plant that springs out of the earth, are (in that they are endued with life) more divine and nearer approaching to the fountain of life, than the forms of the heavenly bodies; yet as the Apostle speaking of Faith, Hope, and Charity, concludes Charity to be the greatest; (though by faith we apprehend and apply the merits of Christ) because it is more universal in operation, and lasting in duration; so though the forms of the Creatures endued with life do in that regard, come a step nearer to the Deity, than the forms of the heavenly bodies, which are without life, yet if we regard their purity, their beauty, their efficacy, their indeficiencie in moving, their universality and independency in working, there is no question, but the heavens may in that respect be preferred, even before man himself, for whose sake they were made; Man being indeed immortal in regard of his soul, but the heavens in regard of their bodies, as being made of an incorruptible stuff.  
Which cannot well stand with their opinion, who held them to be composed of fire, or that the waters which in the first of Genesis, are said to be above the firmament, and in the hundred forty eight Psalm, above the heavens, are above the heavens we now treat of, for the tempering and qualifying of their heat, as did S. Ambrose, and S. Augustine, and 
Hexam. l. 2. c. 3. De Civit. Dei, l. 11. c. ult.  many others, venerable for their antiquity, learning, and piety. Touching the former of which opinions, we shall have fitter opportunity to discuss it at large, when we come to treat of the warmth caused by the heavens. But touching the second, it seems to have been grounded upon a mistake of the word Firmament, which by the Ancients, was commonly appropriated to the eight sphere, in which are seated the fixed stars, whereas the original Hebrew (which properly signifies Extension, or Expansion) is in the first of Genesis, not only applied to the spheres in which the Sun and Moon are planted, but to the lowest region of the air, in which the birds fly, and so do I with Pareus & Pererius 
v. 15. v 20.  take it to be understood in this controversy. This region of the air being, as S. Augustine somewhere speaks, Terminus intransgressibilis, a firm and immovable wall of separation betwixt the waters that are bred in the bowels of the earth, and those of the Clouds: and for the word heaven, which is used in the hundred forty and eight Psalm, it is likewise applied to the middle region of the air by the Prophet jeremy, which may serve for a Gloss upon that text, alleged out 
jerimy. 10. 13.  of the Psalm. When he uttereth his voice, there is a noise of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth.  
Now the Schoolmen finding that the placing of waters above the starry heavens, was both unnatural and unuseful, and yet being not well acquainted with the propriety of the Hebrew word, to salve the matter, tell us of a Crystalline or glassy heaven, above the eight sphere, which, say they, is undoubtedly the waters above the firmament mentioned by Moses; which exposition of theirs, though it do not infer a decay in the heavenly bodies, yet doth it cross the course of Moses his historical narration, his purpose being, as it seems, only to write the history of things which were visible and sensible, as appears in part by his omitting the Creation of Angels, whereas the Crystalline heaven they speak of, is not only invisible and insensible, but was not at all discovered to be, till the days of Hipparchus or Ptolemy. Since then the heavens in regard of their substance, are altogether free (for any thing yet appears,) from any mixture or tincture of the Elements, being made of an incorruptible and inalterable quintessence, which neither hath any conflict in itself, nor with any other thing without it, from thence may we safely collect that it neither is, nor can be subject to any such decay as is imagined.   

SECT. 3. An objection drawn from job, answered.  
HOwbeit the deserved curse of God, deprived the earth of her fertility, in bringing forth without the sweat of Adam, and his offspring, yet I find not that it stretched to the Stars, or that any thing above the Moon was altered or changed, in respect of Adam's fault, from their first perfection. True indeed it is which Eliphaz teacheth, 
job. 15. 15. & 25. 5.  that the heavens, & Bildad, that the stars are not clean in God's sight: it may be, because of the fall of Angels, the inhabitants of heaven, whom therefore he charged with folly: Which exposition, junius so far favours, as instead of Coelum, he puts Coelites, into the very body of the 
job. 4 18.  text: But in my judgement it would better have sorted with the Margin, in as much as by Coelites, we may understand either Saints or Angels, both Citizens of heaven, either in actual possession, or in certain hope and expectation; in possession, as Angels and Saints departed, in expectation, as the Saints here in warfaire on the earth: And of these doth Gregory in his Morals on job, expound the place, hoc coelorum nomine repetijt quod Sanctorum prius appellatione signavit, saith he: job repeats 
Cap. 15. 15.  that by the name of heaven, which before he expressed under the name of Saints. And thus both he and S. Augustine expound that of the nineteen Psalm, The heavens declare the glory of God. And with them most of the Ancients, that petition of the Lords Prayer, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But what need we fly to allegories, & figurative senses, when the letter of the text will well enough stand with the analogy of faith, the texts of other Scriptures, and the rule of sound reason. The very material heavens then, may not untruly or unproperly be said, to be unclean in God's sight. First, Quia habent aliquid potentialitatis admixtum, as Lyra speaks, they have some kind of potentiality, (I know not how otherwise to render his word) mixed with them, he means in regard of their motion, and the illumination of the moon and stars from the Sun. But chiefly, as I take it, they are said to be unclean, not considered in themselves, but in comparison of the Creator, who is Actus purissimus & simplicissimus; all Act, and that most pure, not only from stain and pollution, but all kind of impotency, imperfection, or Composition whatsoever, And in this sense the very blessed & glorious Angels themselves, which are of a substance far purer than the Sun itself, may be said to be unclean in his sight, in which regard the very Seraphins are said, to cover their faces and feet with their 
Isay. 6. 2.  wings. But to grant that the heavens are become unclean, either by the fall of man or Angels, yet doth it not follow (as I conceive) that this uncleanness doth daily increase upon them, or which is in truth the point in controversy, that they feel any impairing by reason of this uncleanness, it being rather imputative, as I may earn it, then real and inherent. Nun vides coelum hoc, saith Chrysostome, ut pulchrum, ut ingens, ut astrorum choreis varium, quantum temporis viguit, quinque aut plus annorum 
Apud Augustinum Steuchum, l. 10. de Perenni Philosoph●…a.  millia processerunt, & haec annorum multitudo ei non adduxit senium; Sed ut corpus novum ac vegetum floridae virentisque juventae viget aetate: Sic coelum, quam habuit à principio pulchrit●…dinem semper eadem permansit, nec quicquam tempus eam debilitavit. Dost not thou see the heavens, how fair, how spacious they are, how bee-spangled with divers constellations? how long now have they lasted? five thousand years or more are past, and yet this long duration of time hath brought no old age upon them; But as a body new and fresh, flourisheth in youth: So the heavens still retain their beauty, which at first they had, neither hath time any thing abated it. Some error or mistake doubtless there is in Chrisostomes' computation in as much as he lived above 1200 years since, & yet tells us that the world had then lasted above 5000 years, but for the truth of the matter he is therein seconded by all the school divines, and among those of the reformed churches none hath written in this point more clearly and fully then Alstedius in his preface to his natural divinity. Tanta est hujus palatij diuturnitas atque firmitas ut ad hodiernum usque diem supra annos quinquies mille & sexcentoes ita perstet ut in eo nihil immutatum dimin●…tum aut vetustate & diuturnitate temporis vitiatum conspiciamus. Such, saith he, and so lasting is the duration and immovable stability of this palace, that being created above 5600 years ago, yet it so continues to this day, that we can espy nothing in it changed, or wasted, or disordered by age, and tract of time.   

SECT. 4. Another objection taken from Psalm the 102 answered.  
ANother text is commonly and hotly urged by the Adverse part, to like purpose as the former, and is in truth the only argument of weight, drawn from Scripture in this present question, touching the heaven's decay in regard of their Substance. In which consideration we shall be enforced to examine it somewhat the more fully. Taken it is from the hundred and second Psalm, and the words of the Prophet are these. Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, & 
v. 25. 26. 27.  the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea all of them shall wax old as doth a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. To which very place undoubtedly, the Apostle alludes in the first to the Hebrews, where he thus renders it, Thou Lord in 
v. 10. 11. 13  the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish, but thou remainest, and they shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. In which passages the words which are most stood upon and pressed, are those of the growing old of the heavens like a garment, which by degrees grows bare till it be torn in pieces and brought to rags. S. Augustine in his Enarration upon this Psalm according to his wont, betakes him to an Allegorical Exposition, interpreting the heavens to be the Saints, and their bodies to be their garments wherewith the soul is clothed. And these garments of theirs, saith he, wax old and perish, but shall be changed in the resurrection, and made comformable to the glorious body of jesus Christ. Which exposition of his, is pious I confess, but surely not proper, since the Prophet speaks of the heavens, which had their beginning together with the earth, and were both principal pieces in the great work of the Creation. Neither can the regions of the air, be here well understood, (though in some other places they be styled by the name of the heavens) since they are subject to continual variation and change, and our Prophet's meaning was, as it should seem, to compare the Almighty's unchangeable eternity, with that which of all the visible Creatures was most stable and steadfast. And beside, though the air be indeed the work of God's hands, as are all the other Creatures, yet that phrase is in a special manner applied to the starry heavens, as 
Ps. 19 1. 〈◊〉.  being indeed the most exquisite and excellent piece of workmanship that ever his hands framed. It remains then, that by heavens here, we understand the lights of heaven, thought by Philosophers to be the thicker parts of the spheres, together with the spheres themselves, in which those lights are fixed and wheeled about. For that such spheres and orbs there are I take it as granted, neither will I dispute it, though I am not ignorant, that some latter writers think otherwise, and those, neither few in number, nor for their knowledge unlearned. But for the true sense of the place alleged, we are to know that the word there used to wax old, both in Hebrew, Greek & Latin doth not necessarily imply a decay or impairing in the subject so waxing old, but sometimes doth only signify a farther step & access to a final period in regard of duration. We have read of some who being well stricken in years have renewed their teeth and changed the white colour of their hair, and so grown young again. Of such it might truly be said that they grew elder in regard of their nearer approach to the determinate end of their race, though they were younger in regard of their constitution and state of their bodies. And thus do I take the Apostle to be understood, that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away; 
Heb. 8. 13.  where he speaks of the Ceremonial law, which did not grow old by degrees, at least before the incarnation of Christ, but stood in its full force and vigour until it was by him abrogated and disannulled. To which purpose Aquinas hath not unfitly observed upon the place, Quod dicitur vetus significat quod sit prope cessationem, the terming of a thing old, implies that it hastens to an end. This then as I take it may truly be affirmed of the signification of the word in general and at large, and may justly seem to have been the Prophet's meaning in as much as he addeth But thou art the same and thine years shall have no end. From whence may be collected, that as God cannot grow old because his years shall have no end: so the heavens because they shall have an end may be therefore said to grow old. But whereas it is added, not only by the Psalmist but by the Apostle in precise terms, They shall wax old as doth a garment, and again as a Vesture shalt thou change them, the doubt still remains whether by that addition, the sense of the word be not restrained to a gradual and sensible decay. I know it may be said, that a garment waxing old, not only loses his freshness, but part of his quantity and weight, it is not only soiled; but wasted either in lying or wearing, & so in continuance of time becomes utterly unserviceable, which no man I think will ascribe to the heavens, I mean that their quantity is any way diminished. All agree then that the Similitude may be strained too far, as the wring of the nose bringeth forth blood and the wresting of a string too high mars the music: but yet the question still remains, how it is to be understood and how far we me may safely extend it. For to say that waxing old in that passage is only to be understood of a nearer approach to an alteration, or an abolishment, seems to be too cold an interpretation, in as much as then needed not the Prophet to have added for a clearer explication of his mind, in the manner of their waxing old, as doth a garment: it rests then to be showed as I conceive wherein the similitude stands, which the interpreters I have met with do not sufficiently unfold, and those that undertake the unfolding of it, run upon the rocks by publishing harsh and unwarrantable positions; Me thinks the Psalmist himself gives some light unto it, Thou coverest thyself, saith he, with light as with a garment, and stretchest out the heavens 
Psal. 104. 2.  like a Curtain: his meaning then in my judgement may be this, that the Heavens which for their expansion may well be campared to a Curtain or garment shall wax old, the comparison standing between the heavens and a garment, not in regard of their deficiency, but their spreading, the heavens couèring this inferior world, as a garment doth the body it is spread over. Or if the comparison stand in their deficiency, which seems, I confess, the more kindly exposition, to my seemeing, Aquinas in few words looseth the knot, sicut vestimentum saith he, quod sumitur ad usum, & cessante usu deponitur. The heavens then shall wax old as doth a garment in that their use shall cease together with man, as doth the use of a garment with him that useth it. Which exposition he seems to have borrowed from Dydimus blind in his bodily eyes, but in his mind sharp sighted, quod canit Psaltes, veterescent & mutabuntur, designat eorum usum abijsse & defecisse, Vt enim indumentum ubi officio functum fuerit obvoluitur: sic coelum ac terrae functae munerihus suis abibunt. In that the Psalmist professeth, They shall wax old and be changed, his meaning is when there shall be no further use of them. For as a garment having performed that use to which it was ordained, is folded up and laid aside: so the heaven and the earth having finished those services, for which they were created, shall vanish and pass away. And upon this Comment of Dydimus, Eugubinus thus cometh. Hoc autem 
Lib. 10. De Perenni Philosophia.  summus docet Theologus primum mundum antiquandum, vetustate & senio interiutrum, sed non'eo senio quo res mortales corrumpuntur atque abolentur, in coelo tale senium nullum est, sed alium quoddam cujus similitudo ex vestibus ostenditur, cum deponimus eas ubi nobis esse usui desijssent, tanquam inutiles eas exuimus atque obuoluimus, sic mundus, id est coelum, non eo delebitur quod eadem vetustate atque omnia animalia & arbores, aliquando sit defecturus, sed quia cessabit usus ejus quo rerum tantos ordines peragebat. The purpose of this great Divine was to teach, that the heavens should wax old and consume with age, but not with such an old age, as that by which things mortal suffer corruption and dissolusion. In heaven there is no such waxing old to be found, but another kind there is, the resemblance whereof is taken from garments, when we put them off, as having no further use of them, laying them aside and folding them up: in like manner the heaven shall not therefore be dissolved, because it shall at any time suffer defect thorough that old age, which beasts and plants feel, but because the use of it shall cease, by which it kept these inferior bodies in due order. And perchance the Apostle himself, rendering the words of the Psalmist, intends as much, As a vesture shalt thou fold them up: as the curtains and carpets and hangings are folded 
Heb. 1. 12.  up, and laid aside when the family removes. Which seems likewise, to have been foretold by the Prophet Isayah, the heavens shall be rolled together 
34. 4.  as a scroll, and they shall pass away with with a noise saith S. Peter, like the hissing of parchment, riveled up with heat, for so signifies the original 
2. Pet. 3. 10.  word in that place. Howsoever, they shall not wax old by the course of nature, but by the mighty power of the God of Nature, he that created them shall dissolve them, and nothing else; which the Prophet seems to point at in this very passage, Tu mutabis & mutabuntur, thou shalt change them, not Nature, but thou shalt change and they shall be changed. And as for that fresh lustre and brightness wherewith (as is commonly thought) the heavens shall be renewed at the last day, as a garment by turning is changed, and by changing refreshed, it may well be by making them more resplendent than now they are, or ever at any time were since their first creation, Not by scouring off of contracted rust, but adding a new gloss and augmentation of glory. And whereas some Divines have not doubted to make the spots and shadows appearing in the face of the Moon to be undoubted arguments of that contracted rust, if those spots had not been original and native of equal date with the Moon herself, but had been contracted by age and continuance of time, as wrinkles are in the most beautiful faces, they had said somewhat, but that there they were above fifteen hundred years agone, appears by Plutarch's discourse De maculis in fancy Lunae, & that they have since any whit increased, it cannot be sufficiently proved. Perchance by the help of the new devised perspective glasses, they have been of late more clearly & distinctly discerned than in former ages, but that proves no more that they were not there before, then that the Sydera Medcaea lately discovered by virtue of the same instruments, were not before in being, which the Discoverers themselves knew well enough, they could not with any colour of reason affirm. 
Galilaeus a Florentine.    

SECT. 5. A third objection taken from the apparition of new stars answered.  
HOwbeit it cannot be denied but that new stars have at times appeared in the firmament, as some think, that was at our Saviour's birth, yet in as much at it pointed out the very House in which he was borne by standing over it, and was not (for aught we find) observed by the Mathematicians of those times, I should rather think it to have been a blazing light created in the Region of the Air, carrying the resemblance of a star, than a new and true created star, seated in the firmament.  
As for that which appeared in Cassiopaea in the year one thousand five hundred seventy two, (the very year of the great Massacre in France) I think it cannot well be gainsaid, to have been a true star, it being observed by the most skilful and famous Astronomers of that time to hold the same aspect in all places of Christendom, to run the same course, to keep the same proportion, distance and situation, everywhere, & in every point, with the fixed stars by the space of two whole years: but this I take to have been not the effect of Nature, but the supernatural & miraculous work of Almighty God, the first Author and free disposer of Nature; and the like may be said of all such Comets which have at any time evidently appeared, (if any such evidence may be given) to be above the Globe of the Moon, from whence it can no more be inferred that the heavens are composed of a matter corruptible, naturally subject to impairing and fading, then that their motion is irregular, or that it is in the power of mortal man to dispose of the course of those immortal Creatures, because by a special privilege at the prayer of josuah, both 
Cap. 10. v. 12.  the Sun and Moon were stayed in their wont courses, and the shadow went back ten degrees in the Dial of Ahaz, for the assurance of the truth of the Prophet Isaiahs' message sent to King Hezekiah. 
Isay 38 8.   
The same answer may not be unfitly shaped, to that wonder which S. Augustine reports out of Varroes' book, entitled de Gente Populi Romani, 
De Civit. Dei 11. 8.  and he out of Castor touching the Planet Venus, which to add the greater weight and credit to the relation, being somewhat strange and rare, I will set it down in the very words of Varro, as I find them quoted by S. Augustine. In coelo mirabile extitit portentum, nam in stella Vener is nobilissima, quam Plautus Vesperruginem, Homerus Hesperon appellat, pulcherrimam dicens, Castor scribit tantum portentum extitisse, ut mutaret colorem, magnitudinem, figuram, cursum, quod factum ita neque antea, neque postea sit, hoc factum Ogyge Rege dicebant Adrastus, Cyzicenus, & Dyon Neapolites Mathematici nobiles. In Heaven, saith he, appeared a marvellous great wonder, the most noted star called Venus, which Plautus terms Vesperrugo, and Homer Hesperus the fair, as Castor hath left it upon record, changed both colour, and bigness, and figure, and motion, which accident was never seen before, nor since that time, the renowned Mathematicians Adrastus and Dyon averring, that this fell out during the reign of King Ogyges. Which wonder neither Varro nor Augustine ascribe to the changeable matter of the Heavens, but to the unchangeable will of the Creator. And therefore the one calls it as we see Mirabile portentum, and the other makes this Comment upon it, that it happened, quia ille voluit qui summo regit imperio ac potestate quod condidit, because he would have it so, who governs all things that he hath made with a Sovereign and independing power. So that two special reasons may be yielded for these extraordinary unusual apparitions in heaven, the one that they may declare to the world that they have a Creator & Commander, who can alter or destroy their natures, restrain or suspend their operations at his pleasure, which should keep men from worshipping them as Gods, since they cannot keep themselves from alteration. The other to portend and foreshow his judgements, as did that new star in Cassiopoea, a most unnatural inundation of blood in France; and this change in Venus, such a deluge in Achaia, as it overflowed and so wasted the whole Country, that for the space of two hundred years following it was not inhabited.   

SECT. 6. The last objection drawn from the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon answered.  
THe last doubt touching the passibility of the matter of the Heavens, is drawn from the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, in which they are commonly thought to suffer, and to be as it were in travel during that time. Which if it were so, it must of necessity by degrees consume the vigour and beauty of those glorious bodies, and finally the bodies themselves. To this purpose is alleged that of the Poet, where he calls these Eclipses, 
Virg. Georg▪ l. 2   
Defectus Solis varios Lunaeque labores.  
Defects and travels of the Sun and Moon.  
As also the manner of the ancient Romans while such Eclipses lasted, to 
Tacit. Annal. 1. 7.  lift up many burning torches toward Heaven, and withal to beat pans of brass and basons, as we do in following a swarm of bees.  
Commovet Gentes publicus error,  
Lassantque crebris pulsibus aera. 
Boetius lib. 4 m●…t. 5.   
A common error through the World doth pass,  
And many a stroke they lay on pans of brass  
Saith Boetius and Manilius, speaking of the appearance of the Moon's Eclipse by degrees in divers parts of the Earth.  
Seraque in extremis quatiuntur gentibus aera, 
L●…b. 1.   
Th' utmost coasts do beat their brass pans last.  
And the Satirist wittily describing a tattling Gossip,  
una laboranti poterit succurrere Lunae.  
She only were enough to help 
juv, lib. 2. Sat. 6   
The labours of the Moon.  
They thought thereby they did the Moon great ease, and helped her in her labour, as Plutarch in the life of Aemilius observeth. Nay Aemilius himself a wise man, as the same Author there witnesseth, congratulated the Moon's delivery from an Eclipse, with a solemn sacrifice, as soon as she shone out bright again, which action of his that prudent Philosopher and sage Historian not relateth only, but approveth & commendeth as a sign of godliness and devotion, yea this Heathenish and sottish custom of relieving the Moon in this case by noise & outcries, the Christians it seems borrowed from the Gentiles, as appears by S. Ambrose in his eighty and third Sermon, where he most sharply checks his Auditors for their rude and uncivil, nay profane and irreligious 
Ser. 83, vel 82. Maximus Taurinensis hath an Homily to the same purpose, and in the same words.  carriage in this very point: And because his discourse there is not only smart and piercing, but marvelous punctual and pertinent in regard of the question in hand, I hope it will not be thought time or paper misspent, if I set it down as there I find it. Who would not grieve at it that you should so far forget your soul's health, as you should not blush to call Heaven as a witness to your sin. For when I lately preached unto you touching your covetousness, even the same day at Evening there was so great a shouting of the people, that your profaneness pierced the Heavens. I inquired what the meaning of that noise might be: it was told me that with your outcries you relieved the Moon, being then in travel, and succoured her faintings with your shouting: which when I heard, in truth I could not choose but laugh and wonder at your vanity, that like devoute Christians you thought to bring aid to God, for it seems you cried, least by means of your silence he might perchance lose one of his noblest Creatures; or as if being weak and impotent he could not maintain those lights himself had created, but by the assistance of your voices. And surely ye do very well in that you secure the Deity, that by your help he may govern heaven. But would ye do it to purpose indeed, then must ye watch every night & all night. For how often trow ye is the moon eclipsed while you sleep, & yet she falls not from heaven: Or is she always eclipsed in the night, & not likewise in the day time? But then only it seems is the moon eclipsed with you, when your bellies are well stuffed with a full supper, & your brains steeled with full pots; then only the Moon labours in heaven, when the wine labours in your heads; then is her circle troubled with charms, when your sight is dazzled with over much qua●…ing. How canst thou then discern what befalls the Moon in heaven, when thou canst not discern what is done near thee on earth, herein is that plainly verified which holy Solomon foretold, a fool cha●…geth as the Moon: Thou changest like the Moon, when being ignorant of the 
Eccles. 27. 11.  motion thereof, thou who wert a Christian before, now beginnest to be sacrilegious; for sacrilege thou committest against thy Creator, when thou imputest such impotency to the Creature: Thou than changest like the moon, when thou who before shinedst in the devotion of faith, now fallest away thorough the weakness of unbelief: thou changest like the moon, when thy brain is as void of wit, as the moon is of light, and I could wish thou didst indeed change as the moon for she quickly returns again to her fullness, but thou by leisure to the use of thy wits; she soon recovers her light, but thou slowly the faith which thou hast denied. Thy change then is worse than that of the moon; she suffers an Eclipse of her light, but thou of thy soul's health. But willsome man say, is not the moon in labour then? yes indeed she labours, it cannot be denied: but she labours with the other creaturess, as the Apostle 
Rom. 8.  speaks, we know that the whole Creature groaneth and traveleth in pain until now; and again, the Creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of Corruption. It shall be freed from bondage. You see then that the moon doth not labour with charms, but with dutiful observances, not with dangers, but with useful offices, not to perish, but to serve. For the Creature is made subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same, So that the Moon is not willingly changed from her condition, but thou wittingly and willingly robbest thyself of thine own reason. She by the condition of her nature suffers an Eclipse, thou by consent of thine own will, art drawn into mischief. Be not then as the moon when she is eclipsed, but as when she fills her circle with light. For of the righteous man it is written, He shall be established for ever as the moon, & as the faithful witness 
Ps. 89. 37.  in heaven.  
By which witty discourse of S. Ambrose, it plainly appears that in his judgement, the moon suffered nothing by her Eclipse, which opinion of his is confirmed not only by the testimony of Aristotle, in the eight of the Metaphysics, but by the evidence of reason, it being caused by the shadow of the earth, interposed between the Sun and the Moon, as in exchange or revenge thereof, (as Pliny speaketh,) the Eclipse of the Sun is caused by the interposition of the moon, betwixt the 
Lib. 2. cap. 10.  earth and it. The moon so depriving the earth, and again the earth the moon of the beams of the Sun: Which is the true cause that in the course of nature, the Moon is never eclipsed but when she is full, the Sun and she being then in opposition; nor the Sun, but when it is new-moon; those two Planets being then in conjunction: I say, in the course of Nature, for the Eclipse at our Saviour's passion, was undoubtedly supernatural: Quam Solis obscurationem non ex canonico Syderum cursu accidisse satis ostenditur quod tunc erat Pascha judaeorum. Nam plena Luna solenniter agitur, saith S. Augustine. It is evident that that Eclipse of the Sun happened not by the ordinary & orderly course of the stars, 
Lib. 3. de. Civit. Dei, cap. 15.  it being then the Passover of the jews, which was solemnised at the full moon; And this was it, that gave occasion, as is commonly belecued, to that memorable exclamation of Dennys the Areopagite, being then in Egypt: Aut Deus Naturae patitur, aut machina mundi dissolvetur, either the God of Nature suffers, or the frame of Nature will be dissolved. And hereupon too, as it is thought by some, was erected that Altar at Athens, Ignoto Deo, To the unknown God: Though others think that Eclipse was confined within the borders of judea; howsoever it cannot 
Act. 17. 23.  be denied, but that it was certainly beside and above the course of Nature. Neither ought it seem strange, that the Sun in the firmament of heaven, should appear to suffer, when the Sun of Righteousness indeed suffered upon earth.  
But for other Eclipses, though their Causes be now commonly known, yet the ignorance of them was it, which caused so much superstition in former ages, and left that impression in men's minds, as even at this day wise men can hardly be persuaded, but that those Planets suffer in their Eclipses, which in the Sun is most childish and ridiculous to imagine, since in itself, it is not so much as deprived of any light, nor in truth can be: it being the fountain of light, from which all the other stars borrow their light, but pay nothing back again to it, by way of retribution. Which was well expressed by Pericles, as Plutarch in his life reports it, For there happening an Eclipse of the Sun, at the very instant, when his Navy was now ready to launch forth, & himself was embarked, his followers began to be much apald at it, but specially the Master of his own galley, which Pericles perceiving, takes his cloak & with it hoodwinkes the Master's eyes, & then demands of him what danger was in that, he answering none, neither saith Pericles is there in this Eclipse, there being no difference betwixt my cloak and that Veil, with which the Sun is covered, but only in bigness. And the truth is that the Sun then suffered no more by the intervening of the Moon, then from Pericles his cloak, or daily doth from the clouds in the air which hinder the sight of it, or by the interposition of the Planet Mercury, which hath sometimes appeared as a spot in it; But whether these Eclipses either cause or presage any change in these inferior 
Scalig. Exer. 72.  bodies, I shall have fitter occasion to examine hereafter, and so pass from the consideration of the substance, to the motion of the heavenly bodies.    

CAP. 2. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their motions.  

SECT. 1. The first reason, that there is no decay in the motions of the heavenly bodies, drawn from the causes thereof  
MOtion is so universal and innate a property, and so proper an affection to all natural bodies, that the Great Philosopher knew not better how to define Nature, then by making her the Engineer and Principle of Motion: And therefore as other objects, are only discernible by one sense, as colours by seeing, and sounds by hearing, motion is discernible by both, nay and by feeling too, which is a third sense really distinguished from them both. That there is in the heavenly bodies no motion of Generation or Corruption, of augmentation, or diminution, or of alteration, I have already showed. There are also who by reason of the incredible swiftness of the first Mover, and some other such reasons, dare deny that there is in them any Lation or Local motion, herein 
Copernicus.  flatly opposing in my judgement both Scripture and Reason, & Sense; But to take it as granted, without any dispute, that a Local motion there is, which is the measure of time, as time again is the measure of motion, the line of motion and the thread of time, being both spun out together: Some doubt there is touching the mover of these heavenly bodies, what or who it should be, some ascribing it to their matter, some to their form, some to their figure, and many to the Angels, or Intelligences, as they call them, which they suppose to be set over them. For mine own part, I should think that all these and every of them might not unjustly challenge a part in that motion: The matter as being neither light nor heavy, the form aswell agreeing with such a matter, the figure as being Spherical or Circular, the Intelligence as an assistant: In the matter is a disposition; For whereas light bodies naturally move upward, and heavy downward, that which is neither light nor heavy is rather disposed to a Circular motion, which is neither upward nor downward. In the figure is an inclination to that motion, as in a wheel to be carried round, from the form an inchoation or onsett, and lastly from the Intelligence a continuance or perpetuation thereof, as a great Divine of our own both age and Nation hath well expressed it, Gods own 
Hooker, Eccles. Policy, 5. 69.  eternity,) saith he) is the hand which leadeth Angels in the course of their perpetuity, their perpetuity the hand that draweth out Celestial motion, that as the Elementary substances are governed by the heavenly: so might the heavenly by the angelical. As the corruptible by the incorruptible, so the material by the immaterial, and all finits by one infinite. It is the joint consent of the Platoniks, Peripatetiks, and Stoikes, and of all the noted sects of Philosophers; who acknowledged the Divine Providence, with whom agree the greatest part of our most learned & Christian Doctors, that the Heavens are moved by Angels, neither is there in truth any sufficient means beside it to discover the being of such Creatures by discourse of Reason. Which to me is a strong argument, that the Heavens can by no means err, or fail in their motions, being managed by the subordinate ministry of such indefatigable and unerring guides, whose power is every way proportionable to their knowledge, and their constancy to both.   

SECT. 2. The Second reason taken from the Certainty of demonstrations upon the Celestial globe: The Third, from a particular view of the proper motions of the Planets, which are observed to be the same at this day, as in former ages without any variation: The Fourth, from the infallible and exact predication of their Oppositions, Conjunctions, and Eclipses for many ages to come: The Fifth, from the testimony of sundry grave Authors, averring perpetual Constancy and immutability of their motions.  
THe most signal motions of the heavens (beside their retrogradations, trepidations, librations, and I know not what, which Astronomers have devised to reconcile the diversity of their observations) are the diurnal motion of all the fixed stars and Planets, and all the Celestial spheres from East to West in the compass of every four and twenty hours, and the proper motion of them all from the West to the East again. These motions whether they perform, by themselves, without the help of orbs, as fishes in the water, or birds in the air; or fastened to their spheres, as a gem in a ring, or a nail or knot in a Cartwheel, I cannot easily determine: howbeit I confess we cannot well imagine how one and the same body should be carried with opposite motions, but by the help of somewhat in which it is carried, As the Mariner may be carried by the motion of his ship from the East to the West, and yet himself may walk from the West to the East in the same ship: Or a fly may be carried from the North to the South upon a Cartwheel, and yet may go from the South to the North upon the same wheel: But howsoever it be, it is evident that their motions are most even and regular, without the least jar or discord, variation or uncertainty, languishing or defect, that may be. Which were it not so, there could be no certain demonstrations made upon the Globe or material Sphere: Which notwithstanding by the testimony of Claudian are most infallible, as appears by those his elegant verses upon Archymedes admirable invention thereof.  

juppiter in parvo cum cerneret aether a vitro,  
Risit, & ad superos, talia dicta dedit:  
Huccine mortalis progressa potentia curae?  
jam meus infragili luditur orbe labour  
jura poli, rerumque fidem legesque Deorum  
Ecce Syracusius transtulit arte senex.  
Inclusus varijs famulatur Spiritus astris  
Et vivum certis motibus urget opus  
Percurrit proprium mentirus signifer annum  
Et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit.  
jamque suum volvens audax industria Mundum  
Gaudet & humana sydera mense regit.   

When jove within a little glass survaid  
The Heavens, he smiled, and to the Gods thus said:  
Can strength of Mortal wit proceed thus far?  
Lo in a frail orb my works mated are.  
Hither the Syracusians art translates  
Heaven's form, the course of things, and humane fates.  
Th'included spirit serving the star-deck signs,  
The living work in constant motions winds  
Th'adulterate Zodiaque runs a natural year,  
And Cynthia's forged horns monthly new light bear,  
Viewing her own world, now bold industry  
Triumphs and rules with humane power the sky.   
The Gentiles saith julian, (as S. Cyrill in his third book against him, reports it) videntes nihil eorum quae circa Coelum minui vel augeri neque ulla sustinere deordinatam affectionem, sed congruam illius motionem ac bene op●…atū ordinem, definitas quoque leges Lunae, definitos ortus & occasus Solis, statutis semper temporibus, merito Deum & Dei solium suspicabantur: seeing no part of heaven to diminished or decreased, to suffer no irregular affection, but the motion thereof to be as duly and orderly performed as could be desired, the waxing and waning of the moon, the rising and setting of thee sun to be settled and constant at fixed and certain times, they deservedly admired it as God, or as the throne of God. The order and regularity of which motions we shall easily perceive by taking a particular view of them. I will touch only those of the Planets. The proper motion of Saturn was by the Ancients observed, and is now likewise found, by our modern Astronomers, to be accomplished within the space of thirty years, that of jupiter in twelve, that of Mars in two, that of the Sun in three hundred sixty five days and almost six hours, that of Venus and Mercury in very near the same space of time, that of the Moon in twenty seven days and all most eight hours: Neither do we find that they have either quickened or any way slackened these their courses, but that in the same space of time they always run the same races which being ended, they begin them again as freshly as the first instant they set forth; Cum per certa annorum spacia orbes suos 
De Consol. ad Albiaum. cap. 6.  explicuerint iterum ibunt per quae venerant, saith Seneca: when in certain terms of years they shall have accomplished their courses, they shall again run the same races they have passed. These than be the bounds and limits, to which these glorious bodies are perpetually tied, in regard of their motion, these be the unchangeable laws like those of the Medes and Persians whereof the Psalmist speaks, He hath 
Psal. 148. 6.  given them a law which shall not be broken: which Seneca in his book of the Divine Providence, well expresses in other words, Aeternae legis imperio procedunt, they move by the appointment of an eternal law, that is, a law both invariable & inviolable. That which Tully hath delivered of one of them is undoubtedly true of all: Saturni stella in suo cursu multa mirabiliter 
Lib. 2. denarura Deorum.  efficiens, tum ante●…edendo, tum retardando, tum vespertinis temporibus delitescendo, tum matutinis rursum se aperiendo, nihil tamen immutat sempeternis soeculorum aetatibus, quin eadem ijsdem temporibus efficient: The planet Saturn doth make many strange and wonderful passages in his motion, sometimes going before, and sometimes coming after, sometimes withdrawing himself in the evening, and sometimes again showing himself in the morning, and yet changeth nothing in the continual duration of all ages, but still at the same season worketh the same effects. And in truth, were it not so, both in that Planet and in all the other stars, it is altogether impossible they should supply that use which Almighty God in their Creation ordained them unto, that is, to serve for signs and seasons, for days and for years, to the world's end. And 
Gen. 1. 14.  much more impossible it were that the year, the month, the day, the hour, the minute of the Oppositions, Conjuctions and Eclipses of the Planets, should be as exactly calculated and foretold one hundreth years before they fall out, as at what hour the sun will rise to morrow morning. Which perpetual aequability & constant uniformity in the Celestial motions, is both truly observed & eloquently descibedby Boetius.  

Si vis celsi jura Tonantis  
Pura solers cernere ment, 
Lib. 4. de consol. Philosophiae. Met. 6.   
Aspice summi culmina Coeli;  
Illic justo foedere rerum  
Veterem servant cider a pacem.  
Non sol rutilo concitus igne  
Gelidum Phebes impedit axem.  
Nec quae summo vertice mundi  
Flectit rapidos ursa meatus  
Vnquam occiduo lota profundo  
Caetera cernens cider a mergi  
Cupit Oceano tingere flammas.  
Semper vicibus temporis aequis  
Vesper sir as nunciat umbras  
Revehitque diem Lucifer almum.  
Sic alternos reficit cursus  
Alternus amor, sic astrigeris  
Bellum discors exulat or is.   

If thou with pure and prudent mind  
The laws of God wouldst see  
Look up to heaven and thou shalt find  
How all things there agree.  
In peace the stars their courses run  
Nor is the Moon's cold sphere  
Impeached by the scorching Sun,  
Nor doth the Northern bear  
Which swift about the Pole doth move  
Though other stars he see  
Drenched in the Western Ocean, love  
His flames there quenched be.  
Night's late approach by courses due  
The evening star doth show  
And morning star with motion true  
Before the day doth go:  
Thus still their turns renewed are  
By interchanging love:  
And war and discord banished far  
From starry skies above,   
And no less wittily by Manilius, 
Lib. 1.   

Nec quicquam in tanta magis est mirabile mole  
Quam ratio; & certis quod legibus omnia parent,  
Nusquam turba nocet, nihil ullis partibus errat.  
There is not aught that's to be seen in such a wondrous mass,  
More wonderful and strange than this that Reason brings to pass:  
That all obey their certain laws which they do still prefer,  
No tumult hurteth them, nor ought in any parr doth err.   
Wherewith the Divine Plato accords, Nec errant, nec praeter antiquum ordinem 
In Epino●….  revolvuntur, neither do they run random, nor are they rolled beside their ancient order. And Aristotle breaketh out into this passionate 
Arist. de Mundo  admiration thereof, Quid unquam poterit aequari coelesti ordini, & volubilitati, cum cider a convertantur exactissima norma de alio in aliud seculum: What can ever be compared to the order of the Heavens, and to the motion of the Stars in their several revolutions, which move most exactly as it were by a rule and square, by line and level from one generation to another.  
There were among the Ancients not a few, nor they unlearned, who by a strong fancy conceived to themselves an excellent melody made up by the motion of the Celestial Spheres. It was broached by 
a Arist. l. 2. de coelo, cap. 9  Pythagoras, entertained by 
b Lib. 10. de Rep.  Plato, stiffly maintained by 
c In lib. 2. de Somnio Scipionis cap. 3.  Macrobius and some Christians, as 
d Lib. de Musica  Beda, 
e Lib. de Musica cap. 2.  Boetius, and 
f Lib. deimag. mundi cap. 24.  Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury: but Aristotle puts it off with a jest, as being Lepidè & musicè dictum, factu autem impossibile, a pleasant and musical conceit, but in effect impossible, inasmuch as those Bodies in their motions make no kind of noise at all. Howsoever it may well be that this conceit of theirs was grounded upon a certain truth, which is the Harmonical and proportionable motion of those Bodies in their just order, and set courses, as if they were ever dancing the rounds or the measures. In which regard the Psalmist tells us that the Sun knoweth his going down, he appointed the Moon for seasons, and the Sun knoweth his going down. Which words of his may not be taken in a proper, but in a figurative sense; The Prophet thereby 
Psal. 104. 19  implying, that the Sun observeth his prescribed motion so precisely to a point, that in the least jot he never erreth from it: And therefore is he said to do the same upon knowledge and understanding, Non quòd animatus sit aut ratione utatur, saith Basill upon the place, sed quòd juxta terminum divinitùs praescriptum ingredients, semper eundem cursum servat, ac mensur as suas custodit: Not that the Sun hath any soul, or use of understanding, but because it keepeth his courses and measures exactly according to God's prescription.   

SECT. 3. The same truth farther proved from the testimony of Lactantius and Plutarch.  
LActantius from hence gathereth two notable Conclusions, the one, 
Lib. 2. Instit. cap. 5.  that the Stars are not Gods as the Gentiles commonly imagined, the other, that they are governed by God, which the Epicurians denied: for the former of those, saith he, argumentum illud quo colligunt universa coelestia Deos esse in contrarium valet. Nam si Deos esse idcircò opinantur, quia certos & rationabiles cursus habent, errant: Ex hoc enim apparet Deos non esse quod exorbitare illis apraestitutis itineribus non licet; caeterùm si Dij essent huc atque illuc passim sine ulla necessitate ferrentur, sicut animantes in terra, quorum quia liberae sunt voluntates, huc atque illuc vagantur ut libet, & quocunque mens duxerit eo feruntur. That argument from whence the Heathen do collect that the Stars must needs be Gods, doth most plainly prove the contrary: For if they take them to be Gods, because of the certainty of their courses, they be therein much deceived: for this plainly proveth, that indeed they be no Gods, because they be not able to depart from their set courses. Whereas if they were Gods, they would move both this way and that way in the Heavens, as freely as living Creatures do upon the earth, who because they have the liberty and freedom of their will they wander up and down whither they themselves please. And for the latter, tanta rerum magnitudo, saith he, tanta dispositio, tanta in servandis ordinibus, temporibusque constantia, non potuit aut olim sine provido Artifice oriri, aut constare tot seculis sine incola potente, aut in perpetuum gubernari sine perito & sciente rectore, quod ratio ipsa declarat. Such a greatness in their creation, such a comeliness in their order, such a constancy in observing both their courses and their seasons, could never either at first have been framed without a cunning hand, or so long have been preserved without a powerful inhabitant, or so wisely have been governed without a skilful Regent, as even reason itself maketh it plain and evident. And Plurarch affirmeth generally of all men, that the very first motive that lead them unto God was that orderly motion whereby the stars are carried. Homines caeperunt 
Lib. 1. De Placitis Philosophorum c. 6.  Deum agnoscere cum viderent stellas tantam concinnitatem efficere, ac dies, noctesque aetate ac hyeme, suos servare statos ortus atque obitus. Men began first to acknowledge a God when they considered the stars to maintain such a comeliness, and both day and night in summer and winter to observe their designed risings and settings.   

SECT. 4. An objection of Du Moulins touching the motion of the Polar Star answered.  
ANd thus I hope the Heavens are sufficiently discharged from any imputation of Decay in regard of their motion, the constant regularity whereof, we find to have been observed and admired by the most learned of all ages: It remains now that I should proceed to the examination of the other qualities thereof, which before I attempt, it shall not be amiss to remove a rub cast in our way by Du Moulin a famous French Divine, in his Book entitled, The accomplishment of Divine Prophecies, touching the motion of the Polar star, his 
In cap. 5. Apocal part 5.  words are these, or to this purpose. Astrology also doth lend us some light in this matter; For in the year of the World three thousand six hundred sixty five, Ptolomaeus Philadelphus reigning in Egypt some four hundred sixty nine years after the building of Rome, there lived one Hipparchus a famous ginger, who reports that in his time the star commonly called the Polar star, which is in the tail of the lesser Bear, was 12 degrees & two fifths distant from the Pole of the Aequator. This star from age to age hath insensibly still crept nearer to the Pole, so that at this present it is not past three degrees distant from the Pole of the Aequator. When this star than shall come to touch the Pole, there being no farther space left for it to go forward) which may well enough come to pass within five or six hundredth years) it is likely that then there shall be a great change of things, and that this time is the period which God hath presixed to Nature. A bold conjecture of a man so well versed in holy Scriptures and in other matters so modest; as if God had written in the Heavens the period of times, or had so written it as any mortal eye could discern it, his beloved Son professing, that it is not for us to know 
Act. 1. 7.  the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. And as the Conjecture is bold, so is it built upon as sandy a foundation which is, that the Polestar shall draw so near the Pole as to touch it, or shall ever be brought to those straits, as it shall find no passage to go forward, whereas it is certain, it shall ever remain in some certain distance from the Pole, twenty six or twenty seven minutes at the least. True indeed it is, that about five hundred years hence, if the World last so long, it shall then approach the nearest, but then shall it withdraw itself again by degrees to as remote a distance as it ever was before; As it heretofore hath been the most Southerly star in that Asterisme, and is now become the most Northerly: so in process of time it may become the most Southerly again: But from hence to infer that the Poles of the Aequator are movable, is inconsequent, and incompatible with the most received and best approved grounds of Astronomy. Besides, other fixed stars have their times of access and recess, to and fronthe Pole, aswell as this: so that the motion of this can no more point out the period of Nature, then of those: All which Du Moulin himself either by his own observation or advertisement from others well perceiving, in a latter Edition of that book printed at Sedane in the year one thousand six hundred thenty one, hath well mended the matter, by changing some words. For instead of this in the first edition; From hence it appeareth that the Poles of the Equatour are movable, in the second, he hath thus changed it: It being certain, and observed by long experience, that the fixed stars move from the West to the East in a motion parallel to the Eclyptique. In his first edition, he says: When this star shall come to touch the Pole, there being no further space left for it to go forward, but in his second he changeth it thus, when this star shall approach the Pole as near as it can: Again in his first thus, which may well come to pass within these five or six hundred years, in his second thus, which may well come to pass within siue hundred years: Lastly in his first thus, it seems that this time is the period which God hath prefixed to Nature, in his second thus, it seems that some notable period shall then expire. And surely I cannot but as much commend his modesty in this second change, as I found it wanting in his first conjecture, and I am of opinion that S. Augustine never purchased more true honour by any book that ever he writ, then that of his Retractations, the shame is not so much to err, as to persevere in it being discovered. Specially if it be an error taken up & entertained, by following those, whom for their great gifts we highly esteem and admire, as it seems Du Moulin took his error at leastwise touching the moveablenes of the Poles of the Equatour, from joseph Scaliger: But the motion of the heavens puts me in mind of passing from it to the light thereof.    

CAP. 3. Touching the pretended decay in the light of the heavenly bodies.  

SECT. 1. The first reason that it decays not, taken from the nature of that light, and those things whereunto it is resembled.  
AS the waters were first spread over the face of the earth: so was the light dispersed thorough the firmament: and as the waters were gathered into one heap, so was the light knit up, and united into one body: As the gathering of the waters was called the Sea, so, that of the light was called the Sun. As the rivers come from the sea▪ so is all the light of the stars derived from the Sun: And lastly, as the Sea is no whit leassened though it furnish the Earth with abundance of fresh rivers: So though the Sun have since the Creation, both furnished, & garnished the world with light, neither is the store of it thereby diminished, nor the beauty of it any way stained. What the light is, whether a substance or an Accident, whether of a Corporal or incorporal nature, it is not easy to determine. Philosophers dispute it, but cannot well resolve it. Such is our ignorance, that even that by which we see all things, we cannot discern what itself is. But whatsoever it be, we are sure that of all visible Creatures, it was the first that was made, and comes nearest the nature of a Spirit, in as much as it moves in an instant from the East to the West, and piercing thorough all transparent bodies, still remains in itself, unmixed and undivided; it chaseth away sad and melancholy thoughts, which the darkness both begets and maintains; it lifts up our minds in meditation to him who is the true light, that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, himself dwelling in light unaccessible, and clothing himself with light as with a garment. And if we may behold in any Creature any one spark of that eternal fire, or any far off dawning of God's glorious brightness, the same in the beauty, motion, and virtue of this light may best be discerned. Quid pulchrius luce, saith Hugo de sancto Victore, quae cum in se colorem non habeat, omnium tamen rerum colores ipsa quodammodo colorat. What is more beautiful than the light, which having no colour in itself, yet sets a lustre upon all colours. And S. Ambrose, unde vox Dei in Scriptura debuit inch oar nisi à lumine? Vnde mundi ornatus nisi à luce exordium sumere! frustra enim esset si non ●…ideretur. From whence should the voice of God in holy Scripture begin, but from the light? From whence should the ornament of the world begin, but likewise from the same light? For in vain it were, were it not seen.  

O Father of the light, of wisdom fountain,  
Out of the bulk of that confused mountain 
Bartas.   
What should, what could issue before the light  
Without which, Beauty were no Beauty hight.    

SECT. 2. The second, for that it hath nothing contrary unto it, and here Pareus and Mollerus are censured for holding that the light of heaven is impaired.  
S. Augustine in divers places of his works is of opinion, that by the first created light were understood the Angels, and herein is he followed by Beda, Eucherius, Rupertus & divers others. Which opinion of his though it be questionless unsound, in as much as we are taught that that light, sprang out of darkness, which of the Angels can in no sort be verified, yet it shows the 
2 Cor 4. 6  lightsome nature of Angels, so likewise the Angelical nature of light, still flourishing in youth, & no more subject to decay or old age, than the Angels are. Since then in the properties thereof, it comes so near the nature of Spirits, of Angels, of God, me thinks they who dare accuse the heavens, as being guilty of decay and corruption in other respects, should yet have spared the light thereof. The more I wonder that men reverenced for their learning, & reputed lights of the Church, should by their writings go about to quench or blemish this light. Videntur haud parum elanguisse minusque nitidi esse quam fuerant initio, saith 
Pareus in Epistolam ad Hebraeos, c. 1, v. 11.  one speaking of the heavenly bodies. They seem to hame suffered not a little defect, and to have lost of that brightness, in which they were at first created. And another: Non est nunc illa claritas luminis, nec sunt illae stellarum vires quae fuerunt. There is not now that brightness 
Moll●…r, in Psal. 102. v. 27.  of the light, nor those virtues of the stars that have been. Venturous assertions, and such I believe, as would have puzzled the Authors of them to have made them good, specially considering that as there is nothing contrary to the quintessential matter, and circular figure of the Heavens: So neither is there to the light thereof. Fire may be quenched with water, but there is nothing able to quench the light of Heaven, save the power of him that made it. Again fire may be extinguished by withdrawing or withholding the fuel upon which it feeds: But the light of heaven having no matter by which it is nourished; there is no fear of the failing thereof thorough any such defect & for the matter of the Celestial spheres and stars, in which it is planted, it hath already sufficiently appeared, that it neither is, nor in the course of Nature can be subject to any impairing alteration: And so much Pareus himself hath upon the matter confessed in two several places in his Commentaries upon the first of Genesis, whereof the first is this, 
v. 6.  speakeing of the firmament and the Epithets of iron and brass, given it in holy Scriptures, and by profane Authors, Haec Epitheta, saith he, Metaphoricè notant Coeli firmitatem, quia tot millibus annorum immutabili lege circumvoluitur, nec tamen atteritur motu aut absumitur, quia à Deo sic est firmatum initio. These Epithets metaphorically signify the firmness & stableness of heaven, because by an unchangeable law it hath now wheeled about so many thousand years, and yet is it not wasted or worn by the motion thereof, because it is established by God. And again within a while after, he useth almost the same words, firmamentum non dicitur de duritie aut soliditate, impermeabili, sed de firmitate quâ perpetuo motu circumactum coelum non atteritur, nec absumitur, sed manet quale à Deo initio fuit firmatum. Nay a little before that last passage, dividing the whole firmament or Expansum, containing all the Celestial Spheres and regions of the air, into two parts; The higher, saith he, (thereby intending the heavenly bodies) is purissima, & incorruptibilis, & inalterabilis; most pure, incorruptible, and inalterable. Now if it should be demanded, how the Heaveus may be said to languish, and to have lost of their native brightness, and yet still to remain incorruptible & inalterable, for mine own part, I must profess, I cannot understand it, nor know which way to reconcile it. A number of the like passages may be observed in the writings of our latter Divines: but I sparetheir names for the reverence I bear their gifts, and places, and persons, and so proceed.   

SECT. 3. Hereunto some other reasons are added, and the testimony of Eugubinus vouched.  
I Remember Mr. Camden reports, that at the demolition of our 
In Yorkshire  Monasteries, there was found in the supposed monument of Constantius Chlorus, father to the Great Constantine, a burning Lamp which was thought to have burnt there ever since his burial, about three hundredth years after Christ, and withal he adds out of Lazius, that the ancient Romans used in that manner to preserve lights in their Sepulchers a long time by the oylelinesse of Gold, resolved by Art into a liquid substance. Which if it be so, how much more easy is it for the Father of lights to preserve those natural lights of Heaven, which himself hath made without any diminution. In artificial lights we see, that if a thousand Candles be all lighted from one, yet the light of the first is not thereby any whit abated, and why should we then conceive that the Sun by imparting his light so many thousand years, should lose any part thereof. They who maintain that the soul of man is derived ex traduce, hold withal that the Father in begetting the son's soul loses none of his own, it being tanquam lumen de lumine, as one light from another, nay more than so, it is the very resemblance that the Nicene Fathers thought not unmeet to express the unexpressable generation of the second person in Trinity from the first, who is therefore termed by the Apostle, the brightness of his glory. As then the Father by communicating his substance to his son, loses none of his 
Hebr. 13.  own, so the Sun by communicating his light to the world, loses no part nor degree thereof. Some things there are of that nature, as they may be both given and kept, as knowledge, and virtue, and happiness, and light, which in holy Scripture is figuratively taken for them all. whether the same individual light be still resident in the body of the sun, which was planted in it at the first Creation, or whether it continually empty and spend itself, and so like a river be continually repaired with fresh supplies; for mine own part I cannot certainly affirm, though I must confess, I rather incline to the former: But this I verily believe, that as the body of the Sun is no whit lessened in extension: So neither is the light thereof in intention: Men being now no more able to fix their eyes upon it, when it shines forth in its full strength, than they were at the first Creation thereof. I will conclude this chapter with that of Eugubinus in his tenth book de Perenni Philosophia. Futuri interitus, ac senescentiae aliqua jam indicia praecessissent, non constaret idem Sol, non eadem fulgoris esset plenitudo, idem radiorum vigour, haec igitur Senectus nusquam est. Had there been in the heavens any such decay or waxing old, as is supposed, we should have seen some forerunning tokens thereof: The Sun would not have been like himself, he would not have retained the same fullness of brightness, nor the same vigour in his beams: This old age than is no where to be found. Where he takes it as granted, that none would be so unreasonable, as to affirm that the strength and clearness of the light of heaven is any way abated. Now what hath been spoken of the light, may no less truly be verified of the warmth and influence thereof, which spring therefrom, and now succeed in their order to be examined.    

CAP. 4. Touching the pretended decay in the warmth of the heavenly bodies.  

SECT. 1. That the stars are not of a fiery nature, or hot in themselves.  
THe light of Heaven, whereof we have spoken, is not more comfortable & useful, then is the warmth thereof; with a masculine virtue it quickens all kind of seeds, it makes them vegetate, & blossom, and fructify, and brings their fruit to perfection, for the use of man & beast, and the perpetuating of their own kinds, nay it wonderfully refresheth and cheers up, the spirits of men and beasts, and birds, and creeping things, & not only impartsthe life of vegetation, but of sense & motion, to many thousand creatures, and like a tender parent forsters and cherisheth it being imparted. Some there are that live without the light of heaven, searching into and working upon, those bodies which the light cannot pierce, but none without the warmth, it being in a manner the universal instrument of Nature, which made the Psalmist say that there is nothing hid from the heat of the sun. Few things are 
Psal. 19 6.  hid from the light, but from the heat thereof nothing. Our life withthe ligh of heaven would be tedious and uncomfortable: but without the warmth impossible. Since then such is the continual and necessary use of the Coelstiall warmth, aswell in regard of the generation, as the preservation of these inferior bodies, accommodating itself to their several tempers and uses, in several manners and degrees, it may easily be conceived to be a matter of marvellous great importance in deciding the main question touching Nature's decay, to inquire thoroughly into the state and condition of it, (upon which so many and great works of Nature wholly depend) whether it be decayed or no, or whether it still abide in the fullness of that strength and activity in which it was created. For the better clearing of which doubt, it will be very requisite first to inquire into the efficient cause thereof, which being once discovered, it will soon appear whether in the course of nature it be capable of any such diminution or no.  
I am not ignorant that S. Augustine, S. Basill, S. Ambrose, and generally as many Divines, as held that there were waters, properly so termed, 
De civet. Dei. Lib. 11. c. ult. Hom. 3. in Ge 〈◊〉. Hexem. 2. 2.  above the starry firmament, held with all that the Sun and Stars caused heat as being of a fiery Nature, those waters being set there, in their opinion, for cooling of that heat: which opinion of theirs seems to be favoured by Syracides in the forty third of Ecclesiasticus, where he 
v. 3. 4.  thus seakes of the Sun, At noon it parcheth the country, and who can abide the burning heat there of. A man blowing a furnace is in works of heat: but the sun burneth the mountains three times more, breathing out fiery vapours. Neither were there wanting some among the ancient Philosophers who maintained the same opinion, as Plato and Plyny, and generally 
In Tim. Nat. Hist. 2. 9  the whole sect of Stoics, who held that the Sun and Stars were fed with watery vapours, which they drew up for their nourishment, and that when these vapours should cease and fail the whole world should be in danger of combustion, and many things are alleged by Balbus in Cicero's second book of the nature of the Gods, in favour of this opinion of the Stoics. But that the Sun and Stars are not in truth and in their own nature fieric and hot, appears by the ground already laid touching the matter of the heavens, that it is of a nature incorruptible, which cannot be, if it were fiery, inasmuch as thereby it should become liable to alteration and corruption by an opposite and professed enemy. Besides all fiery bodies by a natural inclination mount upwards, so that if the stars were the cause of heat, as being hot in themselves, it would consequently follow that their circular motion should not be Natural but violent. Whereunto I may add, that the noted stars being so many in number, namely one thousand twenty and two, besides the Planets, and in magnitude so great that every one of those, which appear fixed in the firmament, are said to be much bigger, than 
The least 18 times. 167 times.  the whole Globe of the water and earth, and the Sun again so much to exceed both that globe and the biggest of them, as it may justly be styled by the son of Syrach, instrumentum admirabile a wonderful instrument; which being so, were they of fire, they would doubtless long 
Ecclesiastcus 43. 2.  ere this have turned the world into ashes, there being so infinite a disproportion between their flame and the little quantity of matter supposed to be prepared for their Fuel. That therefore they should be fed with vapours, Aristotle deservedly laughs at it, as a childish and ridiculous device, in as much as the vapours ascend no higher than the middle region of the air, and from thence distil again upon the water and earth from whence they were drawn up, and those vapours being uncertain, the flames likewise feeding upon them must needs be uncertain, and daily vary from themselves both in quantity and figure according to the proportion of their fuel.   

SECT. 2. That the heat they breed springs from their light, and consequently their light being not decayed, neither is the warmth arising there from.  
THe absurdity then of this opinion being so foul and gross, it remains that the Sun and Stars infuse a warmth into these Subcaelestiall bodies, not as being hot in themlselues, but only as being ordained by God to breed heat in matter capable thereof, as they impart life to some creatures and yet themselves remain void of life, like the brain which imparts Sense to every member of the body, and yet is itself utterly void of all Sense. But here again some there are which attribute this effect to the motion, others to the light of these glorious bodies: And true indeed it is, that motion causes heat, by the attenuation & rarefaction of the air: But by this reason should the Moon which is nearer the Earth, warm more than the Sun, which is many thousand miles farther distant, & the higher Regions of the Air should be always hotter than the lower, which notwithstanding if we compare the second with with the lowest is undoubtedly false. Moreover the motion of the celestial bodies being uniform, so should the heat derived from them in reason likewise be, & the motion ceasing, the heat should likewise cease, & yet I shall never believe, that when the Sun stood still at the prayer of josua, it than ceased to warm these inferior Bodies. And we find by experience, that the Sun works more powerfully upon a body which stands still then when it moves, & the reason seems to be the same in the rest or motion of a body warming or warmed, that receiveth or imparteth heat.  
The motion being thus excluded from being the cause of this effect, the light must of necessity step in, and challenge it to itself; the light than it is, which is undoubtedly the cause of celestial heat in part by a direct beam, but more vehemently by a reflexed: for which very reason it is, that the middle Region of the air is always colder than the lowest, and the lowest hotter in Summer then in Winter, and at noon then in the morning and evening, the beams being then more perpendicular, and consequently in their reflection more narrowly united, by which reflection and union, they grow sometimes to that fervency of heat, that fire springs out from them as we see in burning glasses; and by this artificial device it was that Archimedes, as Galen reports it, in his third book de Temperamentis, set on fire the Enemy's Galleys, and 
Cap. 2.  Proclus a famous Mathematician, practised the like at Constantinople, as witnesseth Zonaras in the life of Anastasius the Emperor. And very reasonable me thinks it is, that light the most Divine affection of the Coelelestiall Bodies, should be the cause of warmth, the most noble, active, and excellent quality of the Subcoelestiall. These two like Hypocrates twins; simul oriuntur & moriuntur, they are borne and dye together, they increase and decrease both together, the greater the light is, the greater the heat; and therefore the Sun as much exceeds the other stars in heat, as it doth in light. To drive the argument home then to our present purpose, since the light of the Sun is no way diminished, and the heat depends upon the light, the consequence to me seems marvelous fair and strong, which is, that neither the heat arising from the light, should have suffered any decay or diminution at all.   

SECT. 3. Two objections answered, the one drawn from the present habitablenes of the Torrid Zone, the other from a supposed approach of the Sun nearer the earth then in former ages.  
NOtwithstanding the evidence of which truth, some have not doubted to attribute the present habitableness of the Torride Zone, to the weakness and old age of the Heavens, in regard of former ages. But they might have remembered that the Cold Zones should thereby have become more inhabitable by cold, as also that holding as they do, an universal decay in all the parts of Nature, & men according to their opinion, decaying in strength as well as the Heavens, they should now in reason be as ill able to endure the present heat, as the men of former ages were, to endure that of the same times wherein they lived, the proportion being alike between the weakness, as between the strength of the one and the other. But this I only touch in passing, having a fitter occasion to consider more fully of it hereafter, when we come to compare the wits and inventions of the Ancients with those of the present times.  
That which touches nearer to the quick, & strikes indeed at the very throat of the cause, is an opinion of very many, and those very learned men, that the Body of the Sun is drawn nearer the Earth by many degrees than it was in former ages, & that it daily makes descents, & approaches towards it, which some ascribe to a deficiency of strength in the Earth, others in the Sun, most in both. Bodin out of Copernicus, Reinoldus 
Method. Hist. cap. 8,  & Stadius, great Mathematicians tell us, that since Ptolemy's time, who lived about an hundred & forty years after Christ, the Sun by clear demonstrations is found to have come nearer us by one hundred & thirty semidiameters of the earth, which make twenty six thousand six hundred and sixty Germane miles, which are double to the French, as the French are to the Italian and ours. This wonderful change Philip Melancthon, saith he, ad coelestium, terrestriumque corporum tabescentem naturam referendum putavit, thought fit to impute to the declining estate of the celestial & terrestrial Bodies. But if the terrestrial depend upon the celestial, (as hath already been proved, & is the common opinion of all, both Divines and Philosophers) than what is wanting in the wont vigour of the celestial, being supplied by the approach thereof, the terrestrial should still without any decay remain unimpaired in their condition. The force of which reason serves also strongly against them who maintain an habitableness under the Torride Zone, through the weakness of the Sun, and yet withal hold a supply of that weakness by the nearer approach thereof.  
But consulting in this point with both the learned Professors in the Mathematics at Oxford, they both jointly agree, that this assertion of the Sun's continual declination; or nearer approach to the Earth, is rather an idle dream, than a sound position, grounded rather upon the difference among Astronomers, arising from the difficulty of their observations, then upon any certain & infallible conclusions. Ptolemy who lived about the year of Christ one hundred & forty, makes the distance of the Sun from the Earth to be one thousand two hundred & ten semidiameters of the Earth. Albategnius about the year eighr hundred & eighty makes it one thousand one hundred forty six. Copernicus' about the year one thousand five hundred and twenty, makes it one thousand one hundred seventy nine. Tychobrahe about the year one thousand six hundred, makes it one thousand one hundred eighty two. Now I would demand, whether the Sun were more remote in Ptolemy's time, & nearer in the time of Albategnius, & then again more remote in the latter ages of Copernicus & Tycho: which if it were so, than one of these two must needs follow, that either their observations were notgrounded upon so certain principles as they pretend, or that the declination of the Sun is uncertain & variable, not constant & perpetual, as is pretended. But what would Bodin say if he lived to hear Lansbergius, Kepler, & other famous Astronomers of the present age, teaching that the Sun is now remote above two thousand and eight hundred, nay three thousand semidiameters from the Earth, affirming that Copernicus and Tycho neglected to allow for refractions, which (as the Optics will demonstrate) do much alter the case.  
I will close up this point with ●…he censure of Scaliger upon the Patrons of this fancy, Quae vero nonnulli prodere ausi sunt, solis corpus longè 
Exercit. 99  propius nos esse, quam quantum ab Antiquis scriptum sit, ita ut in ipsa deferentis corpulentia locum mutasse videatur, vel ipsa scripta spongijs, vel ipsi Authores scuticis sunt castigandi. In as much as some have dared to broach, that the Body of the Sun is nearer the Earth then by the Ancients it was observed to be, so that it might seem to have changed place in the very bulk of the Sphere, either the Authors themselves of this opinion deserve to be chastened with stripes, or surely their writings to be razed with sponges.   

SECT. 4. A third objection answered, taken from a supposed removal of the Sun more Southerly from us then in form●…r ages.  
AS some have inferred a diminution in the Heavenly warmth from a supposed nearer approach of the Sun to the Earth, so have others (at leastwise in regard of the Earth) from the removal thereof more Southerly then in former ages. But craving in this point likewise the opinion of my worthy friend Master Doctor Bainbridge Professor in Astronomy at Oxford, he returned me this answer.  
It is the general opinion of Modern Astronomers, that the Sun in our time goeth not so far Southernly from us in Winter, as it did in the time of Ptolemy and Hipparchus, neither in Summer cometh so much Northernly towards us, as then.  
For Ptolemy (above ann. Christ. 140) observed the greatest declination of the Sun from the Equinoctial towards either Pole 23. 51. 20. agreeable to the observations of Hipparchus 130 years before Christ, and of Eratosthenes before Hipparchus. Whereupon Ptolemy thought the Sun's greatest declination immutable.  
But succeeding Ages have observed a difference; for about Anno Christi 830. many learned Arabians observed the greatest declination of the Sun to be 23. 35. to whom agreeth Albategnius, a Syrian, about an. Christ. 880. Yet did not Albategnius from hence conclude any mutation in the greatest declination of the Sun; for so small a difference might well happen by error of observations.  
Afterwards about ann. Christ. 1070. Arzachel a Moor of Spain, observed the greatest declination of the Sun, 23. 33. 30. who to salve these different observations invented a new Hypothesis, which yet was not received by Astronomers of after times, who for many ages followed the greatest declination of Arzachel without any alteration till the times of Regiomontanus and Copernicus, for Copernicus by his observations some years before, and after ann. Christi 1520. affirmed, the greatest declination of the Sun, to be no more than 23. 28. 24. agreeable to the observations of Regiomontanus, and Peurbachius some years before him. Copernicus' collating his observations with those of former ages, renewed the Hypothesis of Arzachel; that the Sun's greatest declination was mutable; yet so that it was never greater than 23. 52. nor less than 23. 28. The difference being only 24. And that in 1717 years it decreaseth from the former to the latter; and in other 1717 years increaseth from this to that again.  
According to which Hypothesis of Copernicus, above 65 years before Christ, the greatest declination of the Sun was 23. 52. From which time accounting backwards, it was less and less; so that about 1782 years before Christ, the greatest declination of the Sun, was but 23. 28. from which time accounting still backwards, it was more and more; till about 3499 years before Christ, it was again 23. 52.  
So after Christ, about the year 1652, the greatest declination of the Sun by this Hypothesis shall be but 23. 28. and from thence again increase till it become 23. 52. about the year 3369, after Christ. This opinion of Copernicus is received by most of this time, some following him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, others somewhat varying in the difference of the greatest declination, making it when it is least (as in our time) not less than 23, 30, and in the periodical restitution thereof.  
But to speak freely, I cannot so easily be drawn into this opinion, but rather think the greatest declination of the Sun, to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, immutable, and for ever the same; For the little difference of a few minutes betwixt us, and Ptolemy may very well arise (as I formerly said) from the error of observations by the Ancients. The greatest declination of the Sun from the Equinoctial towards either Pole, being always the same; the Sun cannot go more Southernely from us, nor come more Northernly towards us, in this, then in former ages.  
But supposing a mutability in the Sun's greatest declination, according to the former Periods; it followeth that as the Sun about 65 years before the Epoch of Christ went from our vertical point more Southernly than now it doth; So, many Ages before Christ, it went no more Southernly, then now it doth; and that many ages after our time, it shall go as far Southernly, as at the Epoch of Christ.  
Secondly, when the greatest declination was most. As then in Winter the Sun went more Southernly from us then now, so in Summer it came more Northernly and nearer us, than now.  
Again, when the greatest declination is least, (as in our Age) it goeth not so far Southernly from us in Winter, as formerly, neither in Summer comes so far Northernly.  
From which answer it may (as I conceive) be fitly and safely inferred, first that either there is no such remoueall at all of the Sun, (as is supposed) or if there be, as we who are situate more Northernly, feel perchance the effects of the defects of the warmth thereof, in the unkindly ripening of our fruits and the like, so, likewise by the rule of proportion, must it needs follow, that they who lie in the same distance from the South-Pole, as we from the North, should enjoy the benefit of the nearer approach thereof; And they who dwell in the hottest Climates interjacent, of the abating of the immoderate fervency of their heat; and consequently, that to the Universal, nothing is lost by this exchange: And as in this case it may happily fall out, so undoubtedly doth it in many other: from whence the world's supposed decay is concluded, We understand not, or at leastwise we consider not, how that which hurts us helps another nation, we complain (as was before truly observed out of Arnobius) as if the world were made, and the government thereof administered for us alone; & hereby it comes to pass, that as he who looks only upon some libbat or end of a piece of Arras, conceives perhaps an hand or head which he sees to be very unartificially made, but unfolding the whole, soon finds, that it carries a due and just proportion to the body: So, qui ad pauca respicit de facili pronuntiat (saith Aristotle) he that is so narrow eyed as he looks only to his own person or family, to his own corporation or nation, will paradventure quickly conceive, and as soon pronounce, that all things decay and go backward, whereas he that as a Citizen of the world, and a part of mankind in general takes a view of the Universal, and compares person with person, family with family, nation with nation suspends his judgement, or upon examination clearly finds, that though some members suffer, yet the whole is thereby no way indammaged at any time, and at other times those same members are again relieved. And from hence my second inference is, that supposing a mutability in the Sun's greatest declination; look what damage we suffer by his farther remoueall from us in Summer, is at leastwise in part recompensed by his nearer approach in Winter, and by his periodical Revolutions fully restored. And so I pass from the consideration of the warmth, to those hidden and secret qualities of the heavens, which to Astronomers, and Philosophers are known by the name of Influences.    

CAP. 5. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies, in regard of their jufluences.  

SECT. 1. Of the first kind of influence, from the highest immoveable Heaven, called by Divines Coelum Empyraeum.  
HOwbeit Aristotle thorough those works of his, which are come to our hands, to my remembrance, hath not once vouchafed so much as to take notice of such qualities, which we call Influenences, and though among the Ancients Auerroes and Auicenne, and among those of fresher date Picus Mirandula, and Georgius Agricola 
Lib. 3. contra Astrolag. c. 5. Lib. 4. &. 5. de Causis subter.  seek to disprove them: Yet both Scripture, and Reason, and the weighty authority of many great scholars aswell Christians as Ethnics, have fully resolved me that such there are. They are by Philosophers distinguished into two ranks, the first is that influence which is derived from the Empyreal immoveable heaven, the palace and Mansion house of Glorified Saints and Angels, which is gathered from the diversity of Effects, aswell in regard of Plants, as beasts, and other commodities under the same Climate, within the same Tract and latitude, equally distant from both the Poles, which we cannot well refer originally to the inbred nature of the soil, since the Author of Nature, hath so ordained, that the temper of the inferior bodies should ordinarily depend upon the superior, nor yet to the Aspect of the movable spheres and stars, since every part of the same Climate, successively, but equally enjoys the same aspect: It remains then that these effects be finally reduced to some superior immoveable cause, which can be none other than that Empyreal heaven; neither can it produce these effects by means of the light alone, which is uniformly dispersed thorough the whole, But by some secret quality, which is diversified according to the divers parts thereof; and without this, we should not only find wanting that connexion, and unity of order, in the parts of the world, which make it so comely, but withal, should be forced, to make one of the worthiest pieces thereof void of action, the chief end of every created being. Neither can this action misbeseeme the worthiness of so glorious a piece, since both the Creator thereof, is still busied in the works of Providence, and the Inhabitants in the works of ministration. 
john. 5. 17. Heb. 1. 14.    

SECT. 2. Of the second kind, derived from the Planets and fixed stars.  
THe other kind is that which is derived from the stars, the aspect of several constellations, the opposition and conjunction of the Planets, & the like. These we have warranted by the mouth of God himself, in the thirty eight of job, according to our last, and 
v. 31.  most exact Translation; Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleyades, or lose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzoreth in his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? whereby the ordinances of heaven, it may well be thought is meant the course and order of these hidden qualities, which without divine and supernatural revelation, can never perfectly be known to any mortal creature.  
Besides, as a wise man of late memory hath well and truly observed, it cannot be doubted, but the stars are instruments of far greater 
Sr W. R.  use, then to give an obscure light, and for men to gaze on after sun set, it being manifest that the diversity of seasons, the Winters & Summers, more hot or cold, more dry or wet, are not so uncertained by the Sun and Moon alone, who always keep one & the same course, but that the stars have also their working therein, as also in producing several kinds of metals, and minerals in the bowels of the earth, where neither light nor heat can pierce. For as heat peirces where light cannot, so the influence pierces where the heat cannot.  
Moreover if we cannot deny, but that God hath given virtues to springs and fountains, to cold earth, to plants, and stones, and minerals, nay to the very excremental parts of the basest living creatures, why should we rob the beautiful stars, of their working powers? For seeing they are many in number, and of eminent beauty and magnitude, we may not think that in the treasury of his wisdom, who is infinite, there can be wanting, even for every star a peculiar virtue and operation: As every herb, plant, fruit, and flower, adorning the face of the earth, hath the like. As then these were not created to beautify the earth alone, or to cover and shadow her dusty face, but otherwise, for the use of man and beast, to feed them and cure them: so were not those incomparablely glorious bodies set in the sirmament, to none other end then to adorn it, but for instruments and organs of his divine providence so far as it hath pleased his just will to determine.  

I'll ne'er believe that the Arch-Architect  
With all these fires the Heavenly Arches decked  
Only for show, and with these glistering shields  
T' amaze poor shepherds watching in the fields. 
Bartas.   
I'll ne'er believe that the least flower that pranks  
Our garden borders, or the common banks,  
And the least stone that in her warming lap  
Our kind nurse Earth doth covetously wrap,  
Hath some peculiar virtue of it own;  
And that the glorious Stars of Heaven have none:  
But shine in vain, and have no charge precise,  
But to be walking in Heaven's Galleries,  
And through that Palace up and down to clamber,  
As golden Gulls about a Prince's Chamber.   
But how far it hath pleased the Divine Providence to determine of these influences, it is hard I confess, to be determined by any humane wisdom.   

SECT. 3. That the particular and uttermost efficacy of these influences cannot be fully comprehended by us.  
IF in the true and uttermost virtues of herbs and plants, which ourselves sow and set, and which grow under our feet, and we daily apply to our several uses, we are notwithstanding in effect ignorant, much more in the powers and working of celestial bodies. For (as was said before) hardly do we guess aright, at things that are upon the earth, and 
Wisdom. 9 16.  with labour do we find the things that are before us: but the things which are in heaven who hath searched out? It cannot well be denied, but that they are not signs only, but at leastwise concurrent causes, of immoderate cold or heat, drought or moisture, lightning, thunder, raging winds, inundations, earthquakes and consequently of famine and pestilence, yet such cross accidents, may and often do fall out, in the matter upon which they work, that the prognostication of these casual events, even by the most skilful Astronomers is very uncertain. And for the common Almanacs a man by observation shall easily find that the contrary to their prediction is commonly truest.  
Now for the things which rest in the liberty of man's will, the Stars have doubtless no power over them, except it be lead by the sensitive appetite, and that again stirred up by the constitution and complexion of the body, as too often it is, specially where the humours of the body are strong to assault, and the virtues of the mind weak to resist. If they have dominion over Beasts, what should we judge of Men, who differ little from Beasts, I cannot tell, but sure I am, that though the Stars incline a man to this or that course of life they do but incline, enforce they cannot: Education and reason, and most of all Religion, may alter and overmaster that inclination, as they shall produce a clean contrary effect. It was to this purpose a good and memorable speech of Cardinal Poole, who being certified, by one of his acquaintance, who professed 
Duditius in vi-ta Poli.  knowledge of these secret favours of the stars, that he should be raised and advanced to great calling in the world, made answer, that whatsoever was portended by the figure of his birth, ●…or natural generation, was canceled and altered, by the grace of his second birth, or regeneration in the blood of his Redeemer.  
Again we may not forget that Almighty God created the stars, as he did the rest of the Universal, whose secret influences may be called his reserved and unwritten Laws, which by his Prerogative Royal he may either put in execution or dispense with at his own pleasure. For were the strength of the Sarres such as God had quitted unto them, all dominion over his Creatures, that petition of the Lords Prayer, Led us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, had been none other but a vain expense of words and time. Nay be he pagan or Christian that so believeth, the only true God of the one and the imaginary Gods of the other, would thereby be despoiled, of all worship and reverence and respect. As therefore I do not consent with them who would make those glorious Creatures of God vertulesse: so I think that we derogate from his eternal and absolute power and providence to ascribe to them the same dominion over our immortal souls which they have over our bodily substances, and perishable natures. For the souls of men loving and fearing God, receive influence from that divine light itself, whereof the Sun's clarity and that of the Sarres is by Plato called but a shadow, Lumen est umbra Dei, & Deus est lumen luminis, Light is the shadow of God's brightness, who is the light of light.   

SECT. 4 That neither of these kinds of influences is decayed in their benign and favourable effects, but that curious inquisition into them is to be forborn.  
NOw then since the immovable Heaven by the confession of all that acknowledge it; is altogether inalterable, since the aspect of the fixed constellations, the conjunction and opposition of the Planets, in the course of their revolutions, is still the same, and constant to itself; since for their number their quantity, their distance, their substance, th●…is motion, their light, and warmth, they are no whit impaired, why should we make any doubt but that their influence is now likewise as sweet (as God in his conference with job teameth it,) as benign, as 
job. 38. 31.  gracious, as favourable, as ever in regard of the Elements, thee Plants, the beasts and man himself: and why should we not believe that education, reason and eeligion, are now as powerful, as ever to correct and qualify their unlucky and malign aspects, that the hand of God is no way shartned, but that he is now as able as ever to control and check his creatures, and make them work together for the best, to them that love him: As 
Rom. 8. 28.  he did sometime in this very case, for his chosen people: they fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. He that set the Sun 
judges. 5. 20.  and Moon, at a stand in their walks, and commanded the shadow to retire in the dial of Ahaz, he that made a dry path through the red sea, muzzled the mouths of thee Lions, and restrained the violence of the fire, so as for a season it could not burn; hath he bound himself to the influetce of a Star, that he cannot bind it up or divert it, or alter it at his pleasure, and upon the humble supplication of his servants? no, no, Sanctus dominabitur astris: if according to Ptolemy the great Master of judiciary Astrology, wisdom and foresight overrule the stars, then surely much more devotion and piety. If the Saints by their prayers command the Devils, and both shut and open Heaven for rain and drought, as did Elias, then may they aswell by virtue of the same prayer 
jam. 5. 17.  stop the influences of the stars, the instrumental causes of drought & rain. Be not dismayed then at the signs of heaven, for the Heathen be dismayed at them. And surely they in whom corrupt Nature 
jer. 10. 2.  sways & reigns, have much more reason to be dismayed at them, than others in whom Grace and the sense of Godliness prevails. And whiles they fear many times they know not what, by means of their very fear they fall into that which they stand in fear of: fear being the betrayer of those succours which reason affords. Much noise there is at this present, touching the late great Conjunction of Saturn & jupiter, & many 
july 9 1623.  ominous conjectures are cast abroad upon it, which if perchance they prove true, I should rather ascribe it to our sins then the stars, we need not search the cause so far off, in the Book of Heaven, we may find it written nearer at home in our own bosoms: And for the stars, I may say as our Saviour in the Gospel doth of the Sabbath, the stars were made for men, and not men for the stars. they were not created to govern, but to serve him; if he serve & be governed by his Creator; and if God be on our side, and we on his, jupiter & Saturn shall never hurt us; But whatsoever the force of the stars be, upon the persons of private men, or the states of weale-publiques, I should rather advise a modest ignorance therein, than a curious inquisition thereinto, following the witty & pithy counsel of Phavorinus the Philosopher in Gellius, where he thus speaks. Aut 
Lib. 14. 6. 1.  adversa eventura dicunt, aut prospera, si dicunt prospera & fallunt, miser fies frustrà expectando, si adversa dicunt & mentiuntur, miser fies frustrà timendo, si vera respondent, eaque sunt non prospera, jam indè ex animo miser fies antequam è fato fias, si falicia promittunt eaque eventura sunt, tum planè duo erunt incommoea, & expectatio te spe suspensum fatigabit, & futurum gaudij fructum spes tibi defloraverit. Either they portend then bad or good luck, if good & they deceive, thou wilt become miserable by a vain expectation, if bad & they lie, thou wilt be miserable by a vain fear; if they tell thee true, but unfortunate events, thou wilt be miserable in mind before thou art by destiny; if they promise fortunate success, which shall indeed come to pass, these two inconveniences will follow thereupon, both expectation by hope will hold thee in suspense, & hope will deflower & devour the fruit of thy Content. His conclusion is, which is also mine both for this point, and this Chapter, & this discourse touching the Heavenly Bodies; Nullo igitur pacto utendum est istiusmodi hominibus res futuras praesagientibus: we ought in no case to have recourse to those kind of men which undertake the foretelling of casual events, And so I pass from the consideration of the celestial bodies to the subcoelestial, which by God's ordinance depend upon them, and are made subordinate unto them; touching which & the celestial bodies both together, comparing each with other the Divine Bartas, thus sweetly and truly sings;  

Things that consist of th'Elements uniting,  
Are ever tossed with an intestive fight, 
Bartas 2 Day of the first week.   
Whence springs (in time) their life and their deceasing,  
Their divers change, their waxing and decreasing:  
So that, of all that is, or may be seen  
With mortal eyes, under Night's horned Queen,  
Nothing retaineth the same form and face,  
Hardly the half of half an hour's space.  
But the Heavens feel not fates impartial rigour,  
Years add not to their stature nor their vigour:  
Use wears them not; but their greene-ever age,  
Is all in all still like their pupillage.     

CAP. 6. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in general.  

SECT. 1. That the Elements are still in number four, and still retain the ancient places and properties.  
Having thus proved at large, in the former Chapters touching the Heavens, that there neither is, nor in the course of Nature can be, any decay either in regard of their matter, their motion, their light, their warmth or influence, but that they all continue as they were even to this day by God's ordinance., it remains that I now proceed to the consideration 
Psal. 109. 91.  of the sublunary bodies, that is, such as God & Nature hath placed under the Moon. Now the state of these inferior, being guided and governed by the superior, if the superior be unimpaireable, as hath been showed, it is a strong presumption, that the inferior are likewise unimpaired. For as in the wheels of a Watch or clock, if the first be out of order, so are the second & third, & the rest that are moved by it: so if the higher bodies were impaired, it cannot be but the lower depending upon them, should taste thereof, as on the other side the one being not impaired, it is more than probable that the other partake with them in the same condition. Which dependence is well expressed by Boeshius, where having spoken of the constant regularity of the heavenly bodies. he thus goes on.  

Haec concordia temperat aequis  
Elementa modis, ut pugnantia 
De Consol. lib. 4 Hec. 6.   
Vicibus cedant humida siccis,  
jungantque fidem frigora flammis,  
Pendulus ignis surgat in altum,  
Terraeque graves pondere sidant  
jisdem causis vere tepenti  
Spirat florifer annus odores,  
Aestas Cererem fervida siccat,  
Remeat pomis gravis autumnus,  
Hyemem defluus irrigat imber,  
Haec temperies alit & profert,  
Quicquid vitam spirat in orbe  
Eadem rapiens conduit & aufert  
Obitu me●…gens orta supremo,   

The concord tempers equally  
Contrary Elements,  
That moist things yield unto the dry,  
And heat with cold consents;  
Hence fire to highest place doth fly,  
And Earth doth downward bend,  
And flowery Spring perpetually  
Sweet odours forth doth send,  
Hot Summer harvest gives, and store  
Of fruit Autumnus yields,  
And showers which down from Heaven do power,  
Each Winter drown the fields:  
What ever in the world doth breath,  
This temper forth hath brought,  
And nourished: the same by death  
Again it brings to nought.   
Among the subcoelestiall bodies following Nature's method, I will first begin with the consideration of the Elements, the most simple and universal of them all, as being the Ingredients of all mixed bodies, either in whole or in part, and into which the mixed are finally resolved again, & are again by turns remade of them, the common matter of them all still abiding the same.  

here's nothing constant, nothing still doth stay; 
Bartas.   
For birth and death have still successive sway:  
Here one thing springs not till another die  
Only the matter lives immortally.  
Th'almighty's table, body of this All,  
(Of changefull chances common Arsenal,  
All like itself, all in itself contained,  
Which by time's flight hath neither lost nor gained)  
Changeless in essence, changeable in face,  
Much more than Proteus or the subtle race  
Of roving Polypes, who (to rob the more)  
Transform them hourly on the waving shore:  
Much like the French, (or like ourselves their apes)  
Who with strange habit do disguise their shapes.  
Who loving novels full of affectation,  
Receive the manners of each other Nation.   
By consent of Antiquity they are in number four, the Fire, the Air, the Water, and the Earth.  

Quatuor aeternus genitalia corpora mundus  
Continet: ex illis duo sunt onerosa, suoque  
Pondere in inferius tellus, atque unda feruntur:  
Et totidem gravitate carent: nulloque prement  
Alta petunt aer, atque aere purior ignis.  
Quae quamquam spatio distant; tamen omnia fiunt  
Et ipsis, & in ipsa cadunt.   

Four bodies primitive the world still contains  
Of which, two downward bend the earth and watery plains,  
As many weight do want and nothing forcing, higher  
They mount, th' air and purer streams of fire  
Which though they distant be, yet all things from them take  
Their birth, and into them their last returns do make.   
Three of them show themselves manifestly in mixed, the butter being the Aieriall part thereof, the whey the watery, and the cheese the earthly: but all four in the burning of green wood, the flame being fire; the smoke, the air; the liquor distilling at the ends, the water; and the ashes, the earth. Philosophy likewise by reason, teaches and proves the same, from their motion upward and downward, from their second qualities, of lightness and heaviness, and from their first qualities, either active, as heat and cold, or passive, as dry and moist. For as their motion proceeds from their second qualities, so do their second from the first, & their first from the heavenly bodies, next to which, as being the noblest of them all, as well in purity as activity, is seated the Element of the fire, (though many of the Ancients, and some latter writers, as namely Cardane, among the rest seem to make a doubt of it)  

Ignis ad aethereas volucer se sustulit aur as 
1 de subtle. Manil. 1. Astron●…m.   
Summaque complexus stellantis culmina Coeli,  
Flammarum vallo naturae moenia fecit.   

The fire eftsoons up towards heaven did sty,  
And compassing the starry world, advanced  
A wall of flames, to safeguard nature by.   
Next the fire, is seated the air, divided into three regions, next the air the water, and next the water the earth.  

Who so (sometime) hath seen rich Ingots tried,  
When forced by fire their treasure they divide  
(How fair and softly gold to gold doth pass, 
Bartas.   
Silver seeks silver, brass consorts with brass;  
And the whole lump, of parts unequal, severs  
Itself apart, in white, red, yellow rivers)  
May understand how, when the mouth divine  
Oped (to each his proper place t'assignassigne)  
Fire flew to fire, water to water slid,  
Aire clung to air, and earth with earth abide.   
The veil both of the Tabernacle and Temple, were made of blue, and 
Exod. 36. 35. 2. Chron. 3. 14. Lib. 6. de Bel. judaico, c 6. & l. 15. Antiquit. c. 14.  purple, and scarlet, or crimson, and fine twisted linen: by which four, as josephus noteth, were represented the four elements; his words are these: Velum hoc erat Babylonium variegatum, ex hya●…intho, & bysso, coccoque & purpura, mirabiliter elaboratum, non indignam contemplatione materiae commistionem habens, sed velut omnium imaginem praeferens; Cocco enim videbatur ignem imitari, & bysso terram, & hyacintho aerem, ac mare purpura, partim quidem coloribus, bysso autem & purpura origine, bysso quidem quia de terra, mare autem purpuram gignit, The veil was Babylonish work, most artificially embroidered, with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, having in it a mixture of things, not unworthy our consideration, but carrying a kind of resemblance of the Universal; for by the scarlet, seemed the fire to be represented; by the linen, the earth; by the blue, the air; and by the purple, the sea, partly by reason of the colours of scarlet and blue, and partly by reason of the original of linen and purple, the one coming from the earth, the other from the sea. And S. Hierome in his epistle to Fabiola, hath the very 
Epist 128.  same conceit, borrowed, as it seems, from josephus, or from Philo, who hath much to like purpose, in his third book of the life of Moses: or it may be from that in the eighteenth of the book of Wisdom, In the 
v. 14.  long robe was the whole world: As not only the vulgar latin, and Arias Montanus, but out of them and the Greek original, our last English Translation reads it.  
The fire is dry and hot, the air hot and moist, the water moist and cold, the earth cold and dry: thus are they linked, and thus embrace they one another with their symbolising qualities, the earth being linked to the water by coldness, the water to the air by moistness, the air to the fire by warmth, the fire to the earth by drought: which are all the combinations of the qualities that possibly can be; hot & cold, as also dry and moist, in the highest degrees, being altogether incompatible in the same subject: And though the earth & the fire be most opposite in distance, in substance, & in activity; yet they agree in one quality, the two middle being therein directly contrary to the two extremes, air to earth, and water to fire.  

Water, as armed with moisture and with cold,  
The cold-dry earth with her one hand doth hold;  
With th' other th' air: The air as moist and warm,  
Holds fire with one; water with th' other arm: 
Bartas.   
As countrie-maidens, in the month of May,  
Merrily sporting on a holiday  
And lusty dancing of a lively round  
About the Maypole, by the Bagpipes sound;  
Hold hand in hand, so that the first is fast  
(By means of those between) unto the last.  
But all the links of th' holy chain which tethers  
The many members of the world togethers,  
Are such, as none but only he can break them  
Who at the first did (of mere nothing) make them.    

SECT. 2. That the Elements still hold the same proportions each to other, and by mutual exchange the same dimensions in themselves.  
THese four then, as they were from the beginning, so still they remain the radical and fundamental principles of all subcoelestiall bodies, distinguished by their several and ancient Situations, properties, actions, and effects, and howsoever after their old wont they fight and combat together, being single; yet in composition they still accord marvelous well.  

Tu numeris elementa ligas; ut frigora flammis,  
Arida conveniant liquidis, ne purior ignis  
Euolet, aut mersas deducant pondera terras. 
Boethius, l. 3. Met. 9    

To numbers thou the elements dost tie  
That cold with heat may symbolise, and dry  
With moist, lest purer fire should sore too high,  
And earth through too much weight too low should lie.   
The Creator of them, hath bound them, as it were, to their good behaviour, and made them in every mixed body to stoop and obey one pre-dominant, whose sway and conduct they willingly follow. The air being predominant in some, as in oil, which always swims on the top of all other liquors; and the earth in others, which always gather as near the Centre as possibly they can. And as in these, they vary not a jot from their native and wont properties, so neither do they in their other conditions. It is still true of them, that nec gravitant nec levitant in suis locis, there is no sense of their weight or lightness in their proper places, as appears by this, that a man lying in the bottom of the deepest Ocean, he feels no burden from the weight thereof: The fire still serves to warm us as it did, the air to maintain our breathing, the water to cleanse and refresh us, the earth to feed and support us, and which of them is most necessary for our use is hard to determine: Likewise they still hold the same proportion one toward another, as formerly they have done: For howbeit the Peripatetikes, pretending herein the Authority of their Mr Aristotle, tell us that as 
2 de Generate. c. 6.  they rise one above another in situation, so they exceed one another, proportione decupla, by a tenne-fold proportion, yet is this doubtless a foul error, or at leastwise a gross mistake, whether we regard their entire bodies, or their parts; If their entire bodies, it is certain that the earth exceeds both the water and the air by many degrees: The depth of the waters, not exceeding two or three miles, & for the most part not above half a mile, as Mariners find by their line and plummet, whereas the diameter of the earth, as Mathematicians demonstrate, exceeds seven thousand miles. And for the air, taking the height of 
Clavius in Sacrobosc. c. 1. Lib. de Crepusc. l. 10. propos. 60. 7. Perspect.  it from the place of the ordinary Comets, it contains by estimation about fifty two miles, as Nonius, Vitellio, and Allhazen show by Geometrical proofs. Whence it plainly appears that there cannot be that proportion betwixt the entire Bodies of the Elements which is ptetended, nor at any time was since their Creation. And for their parts, 'tis as clear by experience, that out of a few drops of water may be made so much air as shall exceed them fivehundred or a thousand times atleast  
But whatsoever their proportion be, it is certain that notwithstanding their continual transmutation, or transelementation, as I may so call it, of one into another, yet by a mutual retribution it still remains the same that in former ages it hath been, as I have already showed more at large in a former Chapter: & Philo most elegantly expresseth, Egregia 
Lib. de Mundi incorrupcibilitate●…  quidem est in elementis quaternarum virium compensatio, aequalibus, justisque regulis ac terminis vices suas dispensantium: sicut enim anni circulus quaternis vicibus distinguitur, aliis partibus post alias succedentibus, & per ambitus eosdem usque recurrente tempore: pari modo & elementa mundi vicissim sibi succedentia mutantur, & quod diceres incridibile, dum mori videntur, redduntur immortalia, iterum atque iterum metiendo idem stadium, & sursum atque deorsum per eandem viam cursitando continuè, à terra enim acclivis via incipit, quae liquescens in aquam mutatur, aquaporrò evaperat in aerem, aer in ignem extenuatur, ac declivis altera deorsum tendit à Capite, igne per extinctionem subsidente in aerem, aere verò in aquam se densante, aquae verò liquore in terram crassescente. There is in the Elements a notable compensation of their fourfold qualities, dispencing themselves by even turns and just measures. For as the circle of the year is distinguished by four quarters, one succeeding another, the time running about by equal distances: in like manner the four Elements of the World by a reciprocal vicissitude succeed one another: & which a man would think incredible, while they seem to dye, they become immortal running the same race, and incessantly travailing up and down by the same path. From the Earth the way riseth upward, it dissolving into water, the water vapours forth into air, the air is rarified into fire; again they descend down ward the same way, the fire by quenching being turnedinto air, the air thickened into water, & the water into earth. Hitherto Philo, wherein after his usual wont he Platonizes', the same being in effect to be found in Plato's Timaeus, as also in Aristotle's book de Mundo, if it be his, in Damascene, 
Lib. 1. de sid. orth. c 3 De operibus sex dicrum. Ovid. Met. 15.  and Gregory Nyssen. And most elegantly the wittiest of Poets.  

— resolutaque tellus  
In liquidas rarescit aquas tenuatur in auras,  
Aeraque humor habet dempto quoque pondere rursus  
In superos aer tenuissimus emicat ignes.  
Ind retrò redeunt: idemque retexitur ordo  
Ignis enim densum spissatus in aera transit  
Hinc in aquas tellus glomeratâ cogitur undâ.   

The Earth resolved is turned into streams,  
Water to air, the purer air to flames:  
From thence they back return, the fiery flakes  
Are turned to air, the air thickened, takes  
The liquid form of water, & that earth makes.   
The four Elements herein resembling an instrument of Music with four strings, which may be tuned divers ways, and yet the harmony still remains sweet, and so are they compared in the book of Wisdom, 
Cap. 19, v. 17.  The Elements agreed among themselves in this change, as when one tune is changed upon an instrument of Music, and the melody still remaineth.  

Sith then the knot of sacred marriage,  
Which joins the Elements, from age to age 
Bartas.   
Brings forth the world's babes: sith their enmities,  
With fell divorce, kill whatsoever dies:  
And sith but changing their degree and place,  
They frame the various forms, wherewith the face  
Of this fair world is so embellished,  
As six sweet notes, curiously varied  
In skilful music, make a hundred kinds  
Of heavenly sounds, that ravish hardest minds;  
And with division (of a choice device)  
The Hearers souls out at their ears entice:  
Or as of twice-twelue letters thus transposed,  
This world of words is variously composed,  
And of these words, in divers order sown,  
This sacred volume that you read is grown.  
Who so hath seen, how one warm lump of wax  
(Without increasing or decreasing) takes  
A hundred figures, well may judge of all  
Th'incessant changes of this neither ball:  
Yet think not that this changing oft remises  
Ought into nought: it but the form disguises  
In hundred fashions, and the substances  
Inly, or outly, neither win nor lose.  
For all that's made, is made of the first matter  
Which in th'old nothing made the All-Creator.  
All that dissolves, resolves into the same,  
Since first the Lord, of nothing made this frame:  
Nought's made of nought, and nothing turns to nothing,  
Things birth or death change but their formal clothing:  
Their forms do vanish, but their bodies bide,  
Now thick, now thin, now round, now short, now side▪   

Vtque novis facilis signatur Cera figuris,  
Nec manet ut fuerat, nec formam servat eandem,  
Sed tamen ipsa eadem est.   
They be the verses of Ovid in the 15 of the Met. but may well be rendered by those of Bartas touching several prints stamped upon the same lump of wax.   

SECT. 3. An objection drawn from the continual mixture of the Elements each with other answered.  
THus than we see that the Elements are still the same, no way impaired in regard of their portions or proportions: neither do I find any objection against this of any moment or worthy our notice: Let us now examine whether or no they be impaired in their qualities, for which I have often heard it alleged, that their frequent interchange, their continual blending and mixing together now for the space of so many thousand years, cannot in reason but much have altered their inbred vigour and original constitution, as Islanders, & in them specially their maritine parts are thought by Aristotle, & commonly by experience are found to be most tainted in their manners, by reason that lying open to trade, they draw on the commerce & intercourse of sundry foreign Nations, who by long conversation, debauch them in regard of their Customs, their language, their habit & natural disposition. But this allegation is in truth a bare and naked supposition. For though it be true that such a continual traffic and interchange there is betwixt the Elements, yet doth it not therefore follow that their qualities should thereby degenerate, or become more impure, inasmuch as that impurity which by intercourse they have contracted, by perpetual agitation they purge out again, and by continual generation each out of other renew their parts, and so by degrees return to their former estate and purity, Again, for the fire, if we consider it in its own sphere, (though as the rest of the Elements, it be indeed subject to a successive generation & corruption, in regard of the parts thereof) yet is it always most pure, which is the reason that it neither can be seen, as fiery Meteors are, neither can any creature either breed or live in it. And as for the Air, Water, and Earth, if they were pure, it is certain they could not be so serviceable as they are. If the Air were pure, neither men, nor birds, nor beasts could breathe in it, as S. Augustin reports of the hill Olympus, Perhibetur in Olympi vertice aer esse tam tenuis ut neque sustentare alites 
De Gen, ad literam. lib. 3. c. 2  possit, neque ipsos qui fortè ascenderint homines, crassioris aurae spiritu alere sicut in isto aere consueverunt: It is said that upon the top of the hill Olympus, the air is so thin & pure, that it can neither bear up the birds that offer to fly in it, nor be useful for the breathing of men, if any come thither, being used to thicker air. Neither could any Meteors, did it still continue pure, be bred in it: as rain & snow & dews and frosts and the like, which notwithstanding are many ways commodious and profitable for the use of all living creatures, so as they could not live without them. And for the water if it were pure, it could neither feed the fishes nor bear up vessels of burden. As likewise if the earth were pure, it would be altogether Barren, and fruitless, like sand or ashes, not able to nourish the plants that hang upon the breasts of it. The Elements then being ordained for the ornament of the world, but chiefly to serve the mixed bodies, there is nothing lost, but much gained to the whole, by the loss of their purity, nay the restitution and recovery thereof (if so they were created) would undoubtedly prove the utter undoing of the whole, as the untainted virginity of either sex would of the race of mankind; yet for farther satisfaction, it shall not be amiss to consider these three asunder, in reference to the mixed bodies, the air I mean, the water and the earth, that so it may appear whether the air be decayed in its temper, the water in its goodness and virtue, the earth in its fatness and fruitfulness.    

CAP. 7. Touching the pretended decay of the air, in regard of the temper thereof.  

SECT. 1. Of excessive drought and cold in former ages and that in foreign Countries  
THat the air is not distempered, more than in former ages, will as I conceive appear by this, that unseasonable weather, for excessive heat and cold, or immoderate drought and rain, thunder and lightning, frost and snow, hail & winds, yea & contagious sicknesses, pestilential, Epidemical diseases, arising from the infection of the air, by noisome mists and vapours, to which we may add, earthquakes, burning in the bowels of the earth, blazing Comets, & the like, were as frequent, if not more, in former ages, then in latter times, as will easily appear to such who please to look either into the General history of the world at large, or the several Chronicles of particular nations. Such burning like that of Phaeton, such floods like that of Ogyges and Deucalion recorded by Orosius, Pliny, S. Augustine, & Varro, the world hath not felt or known since those times. To like purpose I remember justus Lypsius a man rather partial for Antiquity then for the present age, hath written an Epistle upon occasion of a great drought which happened in the year 
Epist. Select. 47.  one thousand six hundred and one, and lasted by the space of above four months, to which he makes his entrance, Non tamen nimis insolens aut nova, et si nobis sic visa. It is no new or unusall thing, though to us so it seem: whereupon he produceth sundry instances for excessive heat and drought in former ages aswell from the Roman history, as the German Annals. Among which the most remarkable, are that in the year one thousand two hundred twenty eight, the heat was such, that their harvest was fully ended before Midsummer, or to speak in his words, before the Festival of S. john the Baptist, which we commonly call Midsummer day. And again two years after, in the months of july, & August, it continued so fervently hot that men roasted eggs in the sand.  
And lest we should think that their immoderate cold, was not answerable to their heat, he goes on and tells us that in the reign of Lewis son to Charlemaigne, in the year eight hundred twenty one, the winter was so long and sharp that not only small brooks and streams, but the Rhine, Danubius, Albis, the Seen, and generally all the great rivers both of France and Germany were so hard frozen that for the space of thirty days or more, Loaden Carts passed over them, as it had been upon Bridges.  
Vndaque jam tergo ferratos sustinet orbs, 
Virgil Georgics. 3.   
Puppibus illa prius, patulis nunc hospita plaustris.  
The river on its back now iron wheels sustains,  
And what did ships ere while, now Wagons entertains.  
But in the year one thousand eighty six, the winter continued so bitter that from S. martyn's day, which is the Eleventh of November, to the first of April, the Rhine was passable on foot. And for unseasonable cold, in regard of the time of the year, he reports out of Hermannus Contractus, that in the year one thousand sixty three, in the midst of April for the space of four days the weather was so cruel with raging winds and abundance of snow that it killed their Cattle and birds and destroyed their vines and trees. And lastly he vouches out of Robertus de Monte that in the year one thousand one hundred twenty five, it was so sore and biting a winter, that innumerable Eels by reason of the long continuance of the Ice, came creeping out of the ditches & hiding themselves in the meadows, were there found dead, and rotten by the the wonderful excess of Cold, & upon the trees scarce appeared there any leaves till the month of May: his Conclusion is, Quorsum ego ista? ut opinio illa novitatis eximatur, quae malè in omni dolore aut querela blanditur, nunquam tale, nemini tantum: nugae et plebeii sermons, quos historiae refutent & seriò lectae, hunc quoque Constantiae fructum in animo gignant. But now to what end are these examples alleged by me? Surely to no other purpose but to work out of men's minds that opinion of novelty and strangeness, wherewith we usually flatter ourselves in our grief and complaints, never was the like, no age ever saw or felt it, in such a measure: Trifling speeches, beseeming the vulgar, but confuted by history, which being accuratly read, may serve to arm us with constancy against these and the like accidents.  
I think we shall hardly read or hear of a sharper frost in latter ages, then that which Ovid mentions, in the place whither he was banished, at his being there.  
Nudaque consistunt formam servantia testae  
Vina, nec hausta meri sed data frusta bibunt. 
Ovid de Trist▪   
Bare wines still keeping form of Cask stand fast,  
Not gulps, but gobbets of their wine they taste.  
Agreeable whereunto is that of Virgil,  
Caeduntque securibus humida vina, 
Georgick. 3.   
And liquid wines with axes do they cleave.  
Serres in the life of Francis the first reports, that at the siege of Luxenbuge, in the year 1543, the weather was so cold, that the provant wine ordained for the army being frozen, was divided with hatches, and by the soldiers carried away in baskets. And Tacitus speaking of the 
Annal, 13. 8.  Romans war in Armenia, tells us that the winter was so sharp, and the earth so long covered with ice, that they could not pitch their tents, unless they had first digged the ground; many of their limbs grew stark with extremity of cold, and many died in keeping the watch, and there was a soldier noted carrying a faggot, whose hands were so stiff frozen, that sticking to his burden, they fell from him as though they had been cut from his arms.   

SECT. 2. Of excessive draugh & cold and rain in former ages here at home, and of the come mon complaint of unseasonable weather in all ages, together with the reason thereof.  
ANd if we look nearer home, we shall find that in the year one thousand one hundred & fourteen, in the fourteenth year of King Henry the first, the river of Thames was dried up, & such 
Survey of London. ex l. Bermun.  want of water there, that between the Tower of London & the bridge, and under the bridge itself, that not only horse, but a great number of men women and children, did daily wade over on foot. And for excessive and unseasonable frosts, rain, snow, hail, winds & the like our stories are full, specially Stows Chronicles: & many of them were so immoderate, as we have had none of latter times comparable thereunto.  
Is is true indeed that in general, all Lands, and ours I believe, above any other in the world, is subject to such uncertainty of weather, that many times we can hardly distinguish Christmas from Midsummer, but only by the length of days: So warm it is at Christmas, & again so stormy & cold at Midsummer. And for rain, thorough the year, I think, we have more than any where upon the Continent: So that I may justly call our Island Matulam Planetarum, the Urinal of the Planets. I will give one instance for all: In the two and twentieth year of Edward the third, from Midsummer to Christmas, for the more part, 
Hollenshed.  it continually reigned: so that there was not one day and night dry together. But this I take to be, specially for that it is environed by the Sea, & withal stands so far to the Northwest. Since than it is still situate where it was, it is likely that the air was here for the most part, tempered or distempered in former ages, as now it is: Yet I know the complaint is common, that our summers by reason of cold and moist, are not so kindly as they have been:  

Sternuntur segetes & deplorata colonis  
Votajacent, longique perit labor irritus anni:   

The corn lies down, the ploughman doth complain,  
His hopes are void, & toiling all the year,  
He only hath his labour for his pain.   
Neither will I altogether deny it, it may be God hath a quarrel to us for our sins, or seeks by this chastisement to draw us nearer to himself: But what is this to the universal decay of Nature? doubtless the same complaint hath still been in the times of our Fathers, & Grandfathers, and Great Grandfathers, and so upward in regard of the Generations before them. Nun quotidie hoc murmuratis, & hoc dicitis, quam 
Augustinus in Psal. 33. in illa verba: Quis est homo qui vult vitam, & diligit di●…s videre b●…nos.  diu ista patimur! quotidie peiora & peiora: apud parentes nostros fuerunt dies laetiores, fuerunt dies meliores. O si interrogares ipsos parentes tuos, similiter tibi de diebus suis murmurarent: Fuerunt beati Patres nostri, nos miseri sumus; malos dies habemus; Do you not daily murmurre and thus say, how long shall we suffer these things! All things grow worse & worse; Our Fathers saw better & merrier days: But I wish thou wouldst ask the question of thy Fathers, & thou shalt find them murmurre likewise in regard of their days: saying, Oh our Fathers were happy, we miserable: we see nothing but bad days. But had this complaint been as true as ancient, as just as usual in all ages, we had not been left at this day to renew it: we should by this time have had no weather to ripen our corn or fruits, in any tolerable manner. For myself then, mine opinion is, that men for the most part, being most affected with the present, more sensible of punishments then of blessings, & growing in worldly cares, & consequently in discontent, as they grow in years and experience, they are thereby more apt to apprehend crosses than comforts, to repine & murmurre for the one, then to return thanks for the other. Whence it comes to pass that unseasonable weather, & the like cross accidents, are printed in our memories, as it were with red letters in an Almanac: but for seasonable & fair, there stands nothing but a blank: the one graven in is brass, the other written in water.   

SECT. 3. Of contagious diseases, and specially the plague, both here at home and abroad, in former ages.  
NOW for contagious diseases, & specially the plague itself, it is well known, that this land hath now by God's favour been in a mannerall together 
This was writ ten in the last year of King James.  free from it since the first year of his Majesty's reign: whereas heretofore it hath commonly every seven or eight years at farthest spread itself through the greatest part of the land, and swept away many thousands in the year one thousand three hundred forty eight, it was so hot in Wallingford a Town of Berkshire, that in a manner it dispeopled the Town, reducing their twelve Churches to one or two which they now only retain. In London 
Camden in Berkshire.  it had so sharp and quick an edge, and mowed down such multitudes that within the space of twelve months, there were buried in one Churchyard commonly called the Cistersians, or Charterhouse, above 
Reb. Auesbury & Tabian.  fifty thousand. They writ further, that through the kingdom it made such a ravage, as it took away more than half of men, Churchyards 
Sam Daniel, Ann. 22. Eduardi, 3.  could not suffice to bury the dead, new grounds are purchased for that purpose: And it is noted, that there died, only in London between the first of january and the first of july 57374. Other Cities and towns suffering the like, according to their portions: The earth being every where filled with graves, and the air with cries. In the tenth year likewise of Edward the second, there was so great a pestilence, and general sickness of the common sort, caused by the ill nutriment they 
Ann: 1317.  received, as the living scarce sufficed to bury the dead.  
Now if we cast our eyes abroad under the Emperor's Vibius Gallus, & Volutianus his son, about two hundred & fifty years after Christ, 
Pompon: Let●… Zonaras, come. 2.  there arose a plague in Ethiopia, which by degrees spread itself into all the provinces of the Roman Empire, and lasted by the space of fitteene years together, without any intermission; and so great was the mortality, that in Alexandria, as Dyonisius himself, at that very time Bishop of that sea reports it, there was not one house of the whole city 
Eusebius, l. 7. c: 17.  free, & the whole remainder of the inhabitants did not equal the number of old men in former times: By means whereof S. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, who lived in the same age, took occasion to write, that his excellent Treatise de Mortalitate: And Lypsius his censure of this pestilence is, Non alia unquam maior lues mihi lecta, spatio temporum 
De Constantia, l. 2. c. 22.  sive terrarum: I never read of a more grievous contagion, whether we regard the long lasting or the large spreading thereof: Yet was that certainly for the time more impetuous and outrageous under justinian, the fierceness whereof was such that only in Constantinople and the places near adjoining thereunto, it cut off at least five thousand, & sometimes ten thousand persons in one day: Which myself should hardly be drawn, either to report or to believe, but that I find it recorded by faithful Historiographers of those times. Neither less wonderful 
Procopius, l: 11: de bello Persico. Agathias, lib. 5. Lib: 5. c. 8  was that pestilence in Africa, which snatched away only in Numidia, Octingenta hominum millia, saith Orosius, eight hundred thousand men. Or that under Michael Duca in Greece, which was so sharp and violent, Vt vivi prorsus pares non essent mortais sepeliendis, they be the words of Zonaras, the living were no way sufficient to bury the dead. But that which scourged Italy in Petrarches' time, in the year one thousand 
Lypsiius, ut supra.  three hundred fifty nine, as himself relates it, in my mind exceeds all hitherto spoken of, there being scarely left alive ten ofa thousand thorough the whole country. Whereby the way I cannot let pass, that under David, though by most Divines held to be supernatural 
2. Sam. 24: 15:  and miraculous, in which there died of the people seventy thousand men within the space of three days.  
Now for other infectious ●…idemicall diseases in former ages, Pasquier assigns a whole chapter to them, which he thus entitles, Des maladies qui ont seulement unifois Cours par La disposition de L' air. Of those diseases 
Lib: 4: c: 25:  which have but once had their course through the distemper of the air. here with us, we have not heard of late days of any such diseases, as the shaking of the sheets, or the sweeting sickness, touching which, it is very memorable that Mr Camdem hath delivered in his description of Shrewesbury; as for the cause thereof, saith he, let others search it out, for my own part I have observed, that this malady hath run through England thrice in the ages aforegoing, & yet I doubt not but long before also it did the like, although it were not recorded in writing. First in the year of our Lord 1485, in which King Henry the seventh first began his reign, a little after the great Conjunction of the superior Planets in Scorpio. A second time yet more mildly, although the Plague accompanied it in the 33d year after, Anno 1518, upon a great opposition of the same Planets in Scorpio & Taurus, at which time it plagued the Netherlands and high Almany also. Last of all 33 years after that again in the year 1551, when another Conjunction of those Planets in Scorpio took their effects: so that by God's goodness for the space now of these last seventy three years we have not felt that disease. Twice thirty three years & more, and the same Conjunction and opposition of the Planets have passed over, & yet it hath not touched us. In the 31 year of King Henry the first, a terrible murrain of cattle spread through the whole kingdom, in so much as whole sties of hogs, and whole stalls of oxen were everywhere suddenly emptied, & it continued so long, ut nulla omninò huius regni villa huius miscriae immunis alterius incommoda ridere posset, (saith Malmesburiensis) so as no one village was so free from this misery that it could laugh at the mishap of others. 
Novel. hist. l. 〈◊〉   
Now adays we hear not of so frequent, of such fowl & fretting kinds of Leprosies anywhere in the World as were anciently among the jews, they had the Leprosy of the skin, of the fl●…sh, of the scab, of the 
Levit. 13.  running sore, of the hair, of the head, and beard: their garments both linen & woollen were infected with it, so as sometimes it increased and spread itself in the very garment, though separared from the body of 
Ibid. v. 55.  the diseased. Nay which is more strange, the walls of their houses were not free from it: it tainted the very stones & the mortar with greenish & reddish spots, so as they were forced sometimes to pluck down a part of the House, sometimes the whole, when no other means was found 
Levit. 14. 33. etc.  to cleanse it. Now their great multitudes of Lepers appears in this, that they had so many, and so solemn laws for their trial; for their cleansing, & for the shutting of them up without the camp. And though we may well conceive that some of them were stricken with this disease immediately by the finger of God, as 
a Num. 12. 10.  Myriam, Moses sister for her murmuring, 
b 2. Kings. 5. 27.  Gehazi for his bribery, 
c 2 Kings. 15. 5.  Azariah for his backwardness in reformation of Religion, 
d 2 Chron. 16. 19  Vzziah for his presumptuous forwardness in taking upon him the Priest's office, yet those four that sat together expecting the charity of Passengers at the gate of 
e 2 King. 7. 4.  Samaria, & those ten that our 
f Lnke. 17. 12.  Saviour healed at once, show that the number of their ordinary Lepers was very great.  
Lastly, none can be ignorant, that the sickness which we call the French disease, they the Neapolitan, and the Neapolitans the Indian, (because we borrowed it from the French, they from the Spaniards at Naples, and they again from the Indians) is neither so catching, nor so virulent, not so contagious, nor so dangerous, as in former times it hath been.   

SECT. 4. Of earthquakes in former ages, and their terrible effects lively described by Seneca.  
TO the pestilences and other contagious diseases of former ages may be added the Earthquakes arising likewise from the distemper of the air, though in another kind. Of these we have heard little in these latter times, or at leastwise they have been nothing so frequent & fearful as in the days of our more ancient predecessors, in so much as they chiefly gave occasion to the composing of that Litany, and therein to the petition against sudden death, which by public authority is used through the Christian Church at this day by the force of Earthquakes contrary to the Proverb, Mountains have met; 
Plin. 2. 83.  The City of Antioch where the Disciples of Christ were first called Christians, with a great part of Asia bordering upon it, was in Traianes' time swallowed up with an Earthquake, as writeth Dion, reporting very 
Lib. 68  marvelous things thereof. By the same means at one time were twelve 
Pliny l. 2. c, 14. Tac. Annal. 2. 10. Lypsius de Constant. l. 1. c. 16.  famous Cities of Asia over-turned under the reign of Tiberius. And at an other time as many towns of Campania under Constantine. And of the dreadfulness of this accident, above the pestilence or any other incident to mankind, Seneca excellcntly discourses in the sixth book of his 
Cap. 1.  Natural questions: Hostem muro repellam, saith he, praeruptae altitudinis. Castilia, vel magnos exercitus, difficultate aditus morabuntur, à tempestate nos vindicant portus, nimborum vim effusam & sine fine cadentes aquas tecta propellunt, fugientes non sequitur incendium, adversus tonitrua & minas Coeli subterraneae domus & defossi in altum specus remedia sunt, ignis ille coelestis non transverberat terram, sed exiguo ejus objectu retunditur, in pestilentia mutare sedes licet, nullum malum sine effugio est, nunquam fulmina populos percusserunt, pestilens coelum exhausit urbes non abstulit; hoc malum latissimè patet, inevitabile, avidum, publicè noxium, non enim domus solùm & familias, aut urbes singulas haurit, sed gentes totas regionesque subvertit, & modò ruinis operit, modò in altam voraginem conduit, ac ne id quidem relinquit ex quo appareat quòd non est saltem fuisse, sed supra nobilissimas urbes sine ullo vestigio prioris habitus solum extenditur. A wall will repel an enemy, rampiers raised to a great height by the difficulty of their access will keep out powerful armies, An Haven shelters us from a tempest, & the covering of our Houses from the violence of storms & lasting reins, the fire doth not follow us, if we fly from it, against thunder & the threats of Heaven, vaults under ground & deep caves are remedies, those blast & flashes from above, do not pierce the earth, but are blunted by a little piece of it oppofed against them; In the time of pestilence a man may change dwellings, there is no mischief but may be shunned, the lightning never struck a whole Nation, a pestilential air hath emptied Cities, not over-turned them: but this mischief is large in spreading, unavoidable, greedy of destruction, generally dangerous. For it doth not only depopulate Houses, & Families, & towns, but lays waste & makes desolate whole Regions and countries: sometimes covering them with their own ruins, and sometimes over-whelming them, and burying them in deep gulfs, leaving nothing whereby it may so much as appear to posterity, that that which is not, sometimes was, but the Earth is leveled over most famous Cities, without any mark of their former existence.   

SECT. 5. Of dreadful burnings in the bowels of Aetna, and Vesuvius, and the rising of a new Island out of the Sea with hideous roaring near Putzol in Italy.  
AS the quake of the earth were more terrible in former ages, so were the burnings in the bowels thereof no less dreadful, the one being as it were the cold & the other the hot fits thereof. The mountain Aetna in Sicily hath flamed in time passed so abundantly that by reason of thick smoke and vapours arising therefrom, the Inhabitants thereabout could not see one another (if we may give credit to Cicero) for two days together. And in the year of the world 3982, it 
Sands his Relation, lib. 4.  raged so violently, that Africa was thereof an astonished witness. But Virgil's admirable description thereof may serve for all.  

— Horrificis tonat Aetna ruinis  
Interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem;  
Turbine fumantem piceo, & candente favilla,  
Attollitque globos flammarum & sydera lambit,  
Interdum scopulos, avulsaque viscera montis  
Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub aur as  
Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuatimo.   

Aetna here thunders with a horrid noise,  
Sometimes black clouds evaporeth to skies,  
Fuming with pitchy curls and sparkling fires,  
Tosseth up globes of flames, to stars aspires:  
Now belching rocks, the mountain's entrails torn,  
And groaning, hurls out liquid stones there borne  
Thorough the air in showers.   
But rightly did another Poet divine of this mountain and the burnings therein,  
Nec quae sulphurijs ardet fornacibus Aetna 
Ovid. Met. Lib. 15.   
Ignea semper erit, neque enim fuit ignea semper.  
Aetna which flames of sulphur now doth raise.  
Shall not still burn, nor hath it burnt always.  
The like may be said of Vesuvius in the kingdom of Naples, it flamed with the greatest horror in the first, or as some say in the third year of the Emperor Titus: where besides beasts, fishes and fowl, it destroyed two adjoining Cities Herculanum and Pompeios with the people sitting in the Theatre, Pliny the natural Historian, than Admiral of the Roman Navy desirous to discover the reason was suffocated with the smoke thereof, as witnesseth his Nephew in an epistle of his to Cornelius Tacitus.  

— Sensit procul Africa tellus,  
Tunc expuluerijs geminata incendia nimbis,  
Sensit et Aegyptus Memphisque & Nilus atrocem  
Tempestatem illam, Campano è littore missam,  
Nec caruisse ferunt Asiam Syriamque tremenda  
Peste, nec exstantes Neptunj è fluctibus arces  
Cyprumque Cretamque & Cycladas ordine nullo  
Per pontum sparsas nec doctam Palladis urbem  
Tantus inexhaustis erupit faucibus ardour  
Ac vapour.   
They be the verses of Hieronymus Borgius touching the horrible roaring and thundering of this mountain, and may thus be englished.  

Then remote Africa suffered the direful heat  
Of twofold rage with showers of dust replete  
Scorched Egypt, memphis, Nilus felt amazed,  
The woeful tempest in Campania raised,  
Not Asia, Syria, nor the towers that stand  
In Neptune's surges, Cyprus, Crect, Ioues land  
The scattered Cycladeses, nor the Muse's seat  
Minerva's town that vast plague scaped such heat  
Such vapours broke forth from full jaws—   
Marcellinus farther observes that the ashes thereof transported in the air obscured all Europe, and that the constantinopolitans being wonderfully affrighted therewith (in so much as the Emperor Leo forsook the City) in memorial of the same did yearly celebrate the twelfth of November. Who in these latter ages hath ever heard or read of such a fire issuing out of the earth as Tacitus in the 13 of his Annals and almost the last words describes. The city of the Inhonians in Germany confederate with us (saith he) was afflicted with a sudden disaster, for fires issuing out of the earth burned towns, fields, villages every where, and spread even to the walls of a colony newly built, and could not be extinguished neither by rain nor river water, nor any other liquor that could be employed until for want of remedy, and anger of such a destruction, certain peasants cast stones a far of into it; then the flame somewhat ●…laking, drawing near they put it out with blows of clubs and otherlike, as if it had been a wild beast, last of all they threw in clothes from their backs which the more worn and fowler, the berrer they quenched the fires.  
But the most memorable both Earthquake and burning is that which Mr. George Sands in the forth book of his Travels reports to have happened near Puttzoll in the kingdom of Naples likewise, in the year of our Lord 1538, and on the 29th of September, when for certain days foregoing the country thereabout was so vexed with perpetual Earthquakes, as no one house was left so entire, as not to expect an immediate ruin, after that the sea had retired two hundred paces from the shore, (leaving abundance of fresh water rising in the bottom (there visiblely ascended a mountain about the second hour of the night with hideous roaring, horriblely vomiting stones, and such store of Cinders as overwhelmed all the buildings thereabout, and the salubrious Baths of Tripergula, for so many ages celebrated, consumed the vines to ashes, killing birds and beasts; the fearful inhabitants of Puttzoll flying through the dark with their wives and children naked, defiled, crying out and detesting their Calamities; manifold mischiefs had they suffered, yet none like this which nature inflicted: yet was not this the first Island that thus by the force of Earthquakes have risen out of the sea, the 
Pliny lib. 2. cap. 85, 86, 87  like is reported both of Delos and Rhodos, and some others.   

SECT. 6. Of the nature of Comets and the uncertainty of predictions from them, as also that the number of those which have appeared of late years, is less than hath usually been observed in former ages, and of other fiery and watery prodigious meteors.  
IT remains that in the next place I should speak somewhat of Comets or Blazing stars, whether in latter times more have appeared, or more disastrous effects have followed upon their appearance, then in former ages. Some took the Comet to have been a star, ordained and created from the first beginning of the world: but appearing only by times and by turns, of this mind was Seneca. Cardan, likewise 
Natur. Quest. Lib. 7. cap. 21. 23.  in latter times harps much, if not upon the same, yet the like string. But Aristotle (whose weighty reasons and deep judgement I much reverence) conceiveth the matter of the Comet, to be a passing hot and dry exhalation, which being lifted up, by the force & virtue of the Sun, into the highest region of the air is there inflamed, partly by the Element of fire, upon which it bordereth, and partly by the motion of the heavens which hurleth it about; so as there is the same matter of an Earthquake, the wind, the lightning, and a Comet, if it be imprisoned in the bowels of the earth, it causeth an Earthquake; if it ascend to the middle region of the air, and be from thence beating back, wind, if it enter that region and be there environed with a thick cloud, lightning; if it pass that region a Comet, or some other fiery Meteor, in case the matter be not sufficiently capable thereof.  
The common opinion hath been, that Comets either as Signs or causes, or both have always prognosticated some dreadful mishaps to the world, as outrageous winds, extraordonary drought, dearth, pestilence, wars, death of Princes and the like.  
Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether.  
Mani●…  
ne'er did the Heavens with idle blazes flame:  
But the late Lord Privy Seal Earl of Northampton, in his Defensative against the poison of supposed prophecies, hath so strongly encountered this opinion, 
Cap. 16.  that for mine own part I must profess, he hath persuaded me, there is no certainty in those predictions, in as much as Comets do not always forerun such events, neither do such events always follow upon the appearing of Comets. Some instances he produceth of Comets, which brought with them such abundance of all things, & abated their prizes to so low an ebb, as stories have recorded it for monuments, and miracles to posterity: And the like, saith he, could I say of others, Ann. Dom. 1555. 1556. 1557. 1558. after all which years nothing chanced that should drive a man to seek out any cause above the common reach: and therefore I allow the diligence of Gemma-Frisius taking notice of as many good, as bad effects, which have succeeded after Comets. Moreover he tells us that Peucer, a great Mathematician of Germany, prognosticated upon the last Comet, before the writing of his Defensative, that men's bodies should be parched and burned up with heat: But how fell it out? Forsooth, saith he, we had not a more unkindly summer many years, in respect of extraordinary cold: never less inclination to war, no Prince diseased in that time, and the plague which had been somewhat quick before in Lombardy, as God would have it, ceased at the rising of the Comet. Besides all this, he reports of his own experience, as an eyewitness, that when divers upon greater scrupulosity, than cause, went about to dissuade Queen Elizabeth, lying then at Richmond, from looking on a Comet which then appeared, with a courage answerable to the greatness of her state, she caused the window to be set open, and cast out this word, jacta est alea; the dice are thrown, thereby showing that her steadfast hope & confidence, was too firmly planted in the providence of God, to be blasted or affrighted with those beams, which either had a ground in nature whereupon to rise, or at leastwise no warrant in Scripture to portend the mishap of Princes. Neither do I remember that any Comet appeared either before her death (as at her entrance 
Ann: 1558:  there did,) nor that of Prince Henry, nor of Henry the Great of France, the one being a most peerless Queen, the other a most incomparable Prince, & the third for prudence & valour, a matchless King. And for the last Comet which appeared, it was so far from bringing any excessive heat with it, that for a long time there hath not been known 
An: 1618.:  more cold years than three or four immediately ensuing it. And though it be true, that some great Princes died not long after it, yet after that immediately going before, I cannot call to mind any such effect: but as Seneca truly notes, Naturale est magis nova quam magna mirari, it is natural 
Nature: Quest: l: 7: c, 1:  unto us to be inquisitive & curious rather about things new and strange, than those which are in their own nature truly great: Yet even among the Ancients, Charlemaigne professed, that he feared not the sign of the blazing star, but the Great & potent Creator thereof. And Vespasian, as Dyon reports, when the apparition of a Comet was thought to portend his death, replied merrily: No, said he, this bushy star notes not me, but the Parthian King: Ipse enim comatus est, ego verò calvus sum: For he wears bushy locks, but I am bald Lastly, some Comets have been the Messengers of happy & joyful tidings, as that at the birth of our Saviour, & another at the death of Nero, Comets summè bonus apparuit, qui praenuntius fuit mortis magni illius Tyranni & pestilentissimi hominis, saith Tacitus: There appeared a favourable & auspicious Comet, as an Herald to proclaim the death of that great Tyrant and most pestilent man.  
The predication then, & success of mischievous & unfortunate accidents from the appearance of Comets, appearing to be thus uncertain; it follows in the second place to be considered, whether more have appeared in these latter times, then in former ages. For mine own part I remember but two, for the space of these last thirty years, and during his late Majesty's reign but one, whereas my Lord of Northampton, (as we have heard before,) speaks of four within the compass of four years. Before the death of julius Caesar, Virgil witnesseth. 
Georg. l. 1.   
Non alias coelo ceciderunt plura sereno  
Fulgura, nec diri toties arsere Cometae.  
ne'er in clear skymore lightnings did appear,  
And direful comets never rifer were.  
Beda & Paulus Aemilius mention two, which by the space of fourteen days appeared together, in the reign of Charles Martell, father to Charlemaigne, the one in the morning going before the Sun, & the others in the evening following after it. The like whereunto I do not remember we any where read of. Now that which hath been said of Comets may likewise be applied to other fiery & watery Meteors, as streamings, swords, flying dragons, fight armies, gapings, two or three Suns & Moons, & the like appearing in the air many times to the great terror & astonishment of the beholders: of all which & many more of that kind, he that desires to read more, I refer him to Vicomercatus, Garzaeus, Pontanus, & Lycosthenes, de Prodigijs & Portentis ab 
Garzaeus.  orbe condito, usque ad annum 1557. Of strange & prodigious accidents from the beginning of the world, to the year of our Lord 1557. But the strangest apparition in the air in this kind that ever I heard, or read of, was that which I find reported by Mr Fox, whiles the Spanish match with Queen Many was in the heat of treating, & near upon 
Acts & Mon. p. 1637.  the eoncluding, There appeared in London on the fifteenth of February 1554, a Rainbow reversed, the bow turning downward, & the two ends standing upward: a prodigious & supernatural sign indeed of those miserable & bloody times which quickly followed after.   

SECT. 7. Of strange and impetuous winds and lighnings, in former ages, above those of the present.  
IN the last place we may add the impetuous thunders & lightnings, together with outrageous winds in former times, such as latter ages have scarce been acquainted with. And because the latter of these have of late played their parts more fiercely both by sea & land, it shall not be amiss to remember, that even in the Phophet David's time, 
Ann: 1624.  when in likeliehood they launched not forth into the main, but coasted along by the shore, they were notwithstanding by the violence of tempests, lifted up to heaven, and carried down again to the depths: which 
Psal. 107. ver. 26.  the Poet hath in a manner translated word for word.  
Tollitur in coelum, sublato gurgite et ijdem  
Voluimur in barathrum.  
With surging waves to heaven we lifted are,  
And in a trice to helward down we fare.  
It was a terrible storm, & seldom heard of which encountered S. Paul & his company in their voyage towards Rome, though they sailed in sight of land, raised by a tempestuous wind called Euroclydon, insomuch as beside their imminent danger neither Sun nor Stars, which should have been their, guides in many days appeared unto 
Acts, 27. 20.  them. The concurrence & combating of contrary winds, which is now a days not often observed to happen, & I think in course of Nature & discourse of Reason can hardly be, yet Virgil mentions it more than once,  

Vnà Eurusque Nothusque ruunt creberque procellis  
Affricus & vastos voluunt ad littora fluctus. 
Aeneid▪ 1.    

Th'eastwind, the West, the South-west and by West.  
Rush forth together, and with boisterous storms  
Huge waves to shoreward roll—   
And again,  
Omnia ventorum concurrere praelia vidi, 
Georg. 1   
I saw the winds all combating together.  
Such a wind it seems was that, which smote at once all the four corners of the house of jobs eldest son.  
Let any who is desirous to inquire into, and compare things of this 
job. 1. 19:  nature, but read what is recorded in the Turkish history of two wonderful great storms, the one by land in Sultania, set down in the entrance of Soliman's life; the other at Algiers, not far from the mi'dst of the same life. at Charles' the 5th his coming thither, as also at his parting from thence; and I presume he will admire nothing in this kind, that hath fall'n out in these latter times.  
Vidi ego, saith Bellarmine, quòd nisi vidissem non crederem, à vehementissimo vento effossam, ingentem terrae molem, eamque delatam super pagum 
De ascen: mentis in Deum per Scal. Create gradu 2  quendam, ut fovea altissima conspiceretur, unde terra eruta fuerat, & pagus totus coopertus, & quasi sepultus manserit ad quem terra illa devenerat. I myself have seen, which if I had not seen, I should not have believed, a very great quantity of earth, digged out and taken up by the force of a strong wind, and carried upon a village thereby, so that there remained to be seen a great empty hollowness, in the place from whence it was lifted, and the village upon which it lighted, was in a manner all covered over & buried in it. This example I confess●…, could not be long since, since, Bellarmine professes that himself saw it, Yet it might well be some scores of years before our last great winds, which notwithstanding by some, for want of reading and experience are thought to be unmatchable: And I know not whether that outrageous wind which happened in London in the year 1096. during the reign of 
ohn Stow.  William Rufus, might not well be thought to parallel, at least, this recorded by Bellarmine: It bore down in that City alone, six hundred houses, & blew off the roof of Bow Church, which with the beams were borne into the air a great height, six whereof being 27 foot long, with their fall were driven 23 foot deep into the ground, the streets of the city lying then unpaved. And in the fourth year of the same King, so vehement a lightning, (which as hath been said, is of the same matter with the wind) pierced the steeple of the abbey of Winscomb in Glostershire, that it rend the beams of the roof, cast down the Crucisixe, broke off his right leg, and withal overthrew the image of our Lady standing hard by, leaving such a stench in the Church, that neither incense, holy-water, nor the singing of the Monks could allay it: But it is now more than time I should descend a step lower, from the air to the water.    

CAP. 8. Touching the pretended decay of the waters and the fish, the inhabiters thereof  

SECT. 1. That the sea, and rivers, and baths are the same at this present, as they were for many ages past, or what they lose in one place or time, they recover in another.  
THough the Psalmist tell us, that the Lord hath founded the earth upon the Seas, and established it upon the floods, because for the more 
Psal. 24. 2.  commodious living of man and beasts, he hath made a part of it higher than the seas, or at leastwise restrained them from incursion upon it, so as now they make but one entire Globe; yet because the waters in the first Creation covered the face of the earth, I will first begin with them. The mother of waters, the great deep hath undoubtedly lost nothing of her ancient bounds or depth, but what is impaired in 
Sec lib. 1. cap. 3. Sect. 2.  one place, is again restored to her in another. The rivers which the Earth sucked from her by secret veins, it renders back again with full mouth, & the vapours which the Sun draws up, empty themselves again into her bosom.  

The purest humour in the Sea, the Sun  
Exhales in th'air: which there resolved, anon  
Returns to water, & descends again, 
Bartas.   
By sundry ways into his mother main.   
Her motions of ebbing & flowing, of high springs and dead Neapes, are still as certain & constant, as the changes of the Moon and course of the Sun: Her native saltness & by reason thereof her strength, for the better supporting of navigable vessels, is still the same: And as the Sea the mother of waters, so likewise the rivers the daughters thereof, ●…ither hold on their wont courses and currents, or what they have diminished in one age or place, they have again recompensed and repaid in another, as Sr●…bo hath well expressed it, both of the sea and rivers, 
Lib. 17  Quoniam omnia moventur & transmutantur, (aliter talia ac tanta administrari non possent) existimandum est, nec terram ita semper permanere, ut semper tanta sit nec quicquam sibi addatur aut adimatur, sed nec aquam, nec candem sedem semper ab istis obtineri, presertim cum transmutatio ejus, cognata sit ac naruralis, quini●…ò terrae multum in aquam convertitur, & aquae multum in terram transmutatur. Quare minime mirandum est si eas terrae partes quae nunc habitantur, olim mare occupabat, & quae pelagus sunt prius habitabantur. Quemadmodum de fontibus alios deficere contingit, alios relaxari; item & flumina & lacus. Because thnigs move and are changed (without which such and so great matters could not well be disposed) we are to think that the earth doth not remain always in the same state, without addition or diminution, neither yet the water, as if they were always bounded within the same lists, specially seeing their mutual change is natural & kindly but rather that much earth is turned into water, & contrariwise no less water in to earth it is not them to be wondered at, if that part of the earth which is now habitable was formerly overflowed with water, and that again which now is sea, was sometimes habitable; as among fountains some are dried up and some spring forth afresh, which may also be verified of rivers and lakes. wherewith accords that of the Poet.  

Vidi ego quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus  
Esse fretum; vidi factas ex aequore terras.  
Et procul à pelago Chonchae jacuere marinae, 
Metamorp. 15.   
Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis:  
Quodque fuit campus, vallem decursus aquarum  
Fecit; & eluvie mons est deductus in aequor.  
Eque paludosa siccis humus aret arenis  
Quaeque sitim tulerant stagnata paludibus hument.  
Hic fontes natura novos emisit, et illic  
Clausit, & antiquis tam multa tremoribus orbis  
Flumina prosiliunt, aut exsiccata residunt.   

What was firm land sometimes that have I seen  
Made sea, and what was sea made land again,  
On mountain tops old anchours found have been,  
And sea fish shells to lie far from the main,  
Plains turn to vales by water falls, the down  
By overflows is changed to champain land,  
Dry ground erewhile, now moorish fen doth drown,  
And fens again are turned to thirsty sand,  
Here fountains new hath nature opened,  
There shut up springs which erst did flow amain,  
By earthquakes rivers oft have issued,  
Or dried up they have sunk down again.   
The Poet there brings instances in both these: And to like purpose is that of Pontanus.  

Sed nec perpetuae sedes sunt fontibus ullae 
Lib. 48. Mete●…:   
Aeterni aut manant cursus, mutantur in aewm▪  
Singula, & inceptum alternat natura tenorem,  
Quodque dies antiqua tulit, post auferet ipsa   

Fountains spring not eternally  
Nor in one place perpetually do tarry,  
All things in every age for evermore do vary,  
And nature changeth still the course she once begun,  
And will herself undo what she of old hath done.   
which though it be true in many, yet those great ones as Indus and Ganges, and Danubius, and the Rhine, & Nilus are little or nothing varied from the same courses and currents which they held thousands of years since; as appears in their descriptions by the ancient Geographers; But above all methinks the constant rising of Nilus continued for so many ages, is one of the greatest wonders in the world, which is so precise in regard of time, that if you take of the earth adjoining to the river and preserve it carefully, that it come neither to be wet nor wasted, and weigh it daily, you shall find it neither more nor less heavy till the seventeenth of june, at which day it beginneth to groweth 
Reported by Mr. Goe Sands as a common experiment, affirmed by Alpinus a Physician, Marchitus the French Consul Elianus a jesuit, and Varrat an Englishma●…  more ponderous and augmenteth with the augmentation of the river, whereby they have an infallible knowledge of the state of the deluge.  
Now for the Medicinal properties of Fountain or Baths no man I think makes any doubt, but that they are both as many and as efficacious as ever. some it may be have, lost their virtue and are grown out of use: but others again have in stead thereof been discovered in other places, of no less use and virtue, as both Baccius & Blanchellus in their books de Thermis have observed. And for those hot ones at the city of Bath I make no question but Nechams' verses may as justly be verified of their goodness at this present, as they were four hundred years since, about which time he is said to have written them.  

Bathoniae Tharmas vix prefero Virgilianas'  
Confecto prosunt Balnea nostra seni.  
Prosunt attritis, collisis, invalidisque,  
Et quorum morbis frigida causa subest.   

Our Baines at Bath with Virgil's to compare  
For their effects I dare almost be bold:  
For feeble folk, and crazy good they are,  
For bruised, consumed, far spent, and very old  
For those likewise whose sickness comes of cold.    

SECT. 2. That the fishes are not decayed in regard of there store, dimensions, or duration.  
BUt it is said, that though the waters decay not, yet the fish, the inhabitants thereof, at leastwise in regard of their number are much decayed, so as we may take up that of the Poet.  

— Omne peractum est, 
juvenal▪ Sat. 5.   
Et iam defecit nostrum mare—  
All our Seas at length are spent and fail.   
The Seas being grown fruitless and barren as is pretended in regard of former ages, & that so it appears upon record in our Haven towns: But if such a thing be, (which I can neither affirm nor deny, having not searched into it myself) themselves who make the objection, shape a sufficient answer thereunto, by telling us that it may so be by an extraordinary judgement of God, (as he dealt with the Egyptians) in the death of our fish for the abuse of our fleshpots, or by the intrusion of the Hollander, who carries from our coast such store as we might much better load ourselves with: and if we should a little enlarge our view, & cast our eyes abroad, comparing one part of the world with another, we shall easily discern, that though our Coast fail in that abundance, which formerly it had by over-laying it, yet others still abound in a most plentiful manner, as is by experience found upon the Coast of Virginia at this present. And no doubt, but were our Coasts spared for some space of years, it would again afford as great plenty as ever. Finally, if the store of fish should decay by reason of the decay of the world, it must of necessity follow that likewise the store of plants, of beasts, of birds, and of men should daily decay by virtue of the same reason. Nay rather, since the curse lighting upon man extended to plants and beasts, but not to fishes, for any thing I find expressly registered in holy Scripture. As neither did the universal Deluge hurt, but rather help them, by which the rest perished. There are still no doubt even at this day as at the first Creation, in the Sea to be found  

As many fishes of so many features, 
Bartas.   
That in the waters one may see all Creatures:  
And all that in this All is to be found,  
As if the World within the deeps were drowned.   
Now as the store of fishes is no way diminished: so neither are they decayed either in their greatness or goodness. I will instance in the whale, the King of fishes, or as job terms him, the King over the children of pride. That which S. Basil in his Hexameron reports, namely that the whales are in bigness equal to the greatest mountains, and their backs when they 
Lib. 51. c. 25  show above water are like unto Lands, is by a late learned Writer not 
Brier●…woods inquir●… c. 13.  undeservedly censured, as intolerably hyperbolical. Pliny in the ninth book and third Chap. of his Natural history tells us that in the Indian Seas some have been taken up to the length of four acres, that is, nine hundred and sixty feet; whereas notwithstanding Arrianus in his discourse de rebus Indicis assures us, that Nearchus measuring one cast upon that shore, found him to be but fifty cubits. The same Pliny in the first Chapter of his 32 book sets down a relation of King jubaes', out of those books which he wrote to C. Caesar, son to Augustus the Emperor, touching the History of Arabia, where he affirms, that in the bay of Arabia, Whales have been known to be 600 foot long, and 360 foot thick, and yet as it is well known by the soundings of Navigatours, that Sea is not by a great deal 360 foot deep. But to let go these fancies: and fables and to come to that which is more probable. The dimensions of the Whale, saith Aelian, is five times beyond the largest Elephants: 
Lib. 16. c 12 Lib. 16. c. 〈◊〉  but for the ordinary, saith Rondeletius, he seldom exceeds 36 cubits in length, and 8 in height. Dion a grave Writer reports it as a 
Lib. 54  wonder, that in the reign of Augustus, a Whale leapt to land out of the Germane Ocean, full 20 foot in breadth, and 60 in length. This I confess was much, yet to match it with lattet times, Gesner in his Epistle to Polidor 
Lib. 4.  Virgil avoucheth it as most true, that in the year of our Lord 1532, in the Northern parts of our own land, not far from Tinmouth haven, was a mighty Whale cast on land, found by good measure to be 90 foot in length, arising to 30 English yards, the very breadth of his mouth was six yards and an half, and the belly so vast in compass, that one standing on the fish of purpose to cut off a rib from him, and slipping into his belly, was very likely there to have been drowned with the moisture then remaining, had he not been suddenly rescued. From whence we may gather, that jobs admirable description of this fish under the name of Leviathan, is still true, & that in vastness, since Augustus 
job. 41.  his time, he is nothing decreased: And yet I well believe, that those on the Indian Seas may much exceed ours, which might perchance give occasion to those large relations of Pliny & juba. Hereunto may be added the observation of Macrobius touching the growth of 
Satur. l. 3. c. 16. Nat. hist. 9 17.  the Mullet. Plinius Secundus saith he, temporibus suis negat facile mullum repertum, qui duas pondo libras excederet, at nunc & majoris passim videmus, & praesentia hac insana nescimus. Plinius Secundus denies that in his time a Mullet was easily to be found which exceeded two pound weight; but now adays we everywhere see them of greater weight, and yet are not acquainted with those unreasonable prizes which they then paid for them.  
I will close up this chapter with a relation of Gesners' in his Epistle to the Emperor Ferdinand prefixed before his books De Piscibus, touching the long life of a Pike which was cast into a pond or pool near Hailebrune in Swevia, with this inscription engraven upon a collar of brass fastened about his neck. Ego sum ille piscis huic stagno omnium primus impositus per mundi Rectoris Frederici Secundi manus, 5 Octobris, anno 1230. I am that fish which was first of all cast into this pool by the hand of Frederick the second governor of the World. 5 of Octob. in the year 1230. He was again taken up in the year 1497, & by the inscription it appeared he had then lived there 267 years: so as it seems, that as fishes are not diminished in regard of their store or growth: so neither in respect of their age and duration. But I leave floating on the Waters, and betake me to the more stable Element the Earth.    

CAP. 9 Touching the pretended decay of the Earth, together with the Plants, and beasts, and minerals.  

SECT. 1. The divine meditations of Seneca and Pliny upon the globe of the Earth. An objection out of Aelian touching the decrease of mountains answered. That all things which spring from the earth return thither again, & consequently it cannot decay in regard of the fruitfulness in the whole. Other objections of less consequence answered.  
BOth Seneca and Pliny have most divine meditations upon this consideration, that the Globe of the Earth in regard of the higher Elements and the Heavens wheeling about it, is by the Mathematicians compared to a prick or point.  
These so many pieces of Earth (saith Pliny) or rather, as most have 
Lib. 2. c. 68  written, this little prick of the World, (for surely the Earth is nothing else in comparison of the whole) is the only matter of our glory; this I say, is the very seat thereof: here we seek for honours and dignities, here we exercise our rule and authority, here we covet wealth and riches, here all mankind is set upon stirs and troubles, here we raise civil wars still one after another, and with mutual massacres & murders we make more room therein: And to let pass the public fury of Nations abroad, this is it wherein we chase and drive out our neighbour Borderers, and by stealth dig turfth from our Neighbour's soil to put into our own: And when a man hath extended his lands, and gotten whole countries to himself far and near, what a goodly deal of earth enjoyeth he? and say, that he set out his bounds to the full measure of his covetous desire, what a great portion thereof shall he hold, when he is once dead, and his head laid. Thus Pliny, with whom Seneca sweetly accords. Hoc est punctum quod inter tot gentes, ferro & igne dividitur, ôquam ridiculi sunt mortalium termini! 
Nat. quaest. l. 1. praef.  Punctum certè est illud in quo navigamus, in quo bellamus, in quo regna disponimus. It is but a point which so many Nations share with fire and sword. Oh how ridiculous are the bounds of mortal men! It is verily but a point inwhich we sail, in which we wage wars, in which we dispose of Kingdoms. But from these sublime speculations, we are to descend to the examination of the Earth's supposed decay.  
Aelian in the eight book of his history, telleth us, that not only 
Cap. 11.  the mountain Aetna, (for thereof might be given some reason, because of the daily wasting and consuming of it by fire,) but Parnassus & Olympus did appear to be less and less, to such as sailed at sea, the height thereof sinking as it seemed, and thereupon infers, that men most skilful in the secrets of Nature, did affirm that the world itself should likewise perish and have an end. His conclusion I cannot but approve, and most willingly accept of, as a rich testimony for the confirmation of our Christian doctrine, from the pen of a Gentile: But that he infers it, from so weak grounds, I cannot but wonder at the stupidity of so wise a man. For to grant that those mountains decrease in their magnitude, yet shall I never yield a universal decrease in the whole globe of the Earth, since the proportions aswell of the Diameter as Circumference thereof, are by Geometrical demonstrations found to be the same which they were in former ages, or at leastwise not to decrease. And for the difference, which is observed betwixt the Calculation of Ancient & Modern writers; it is certainly to be referred to the difference of miles, or of instruments, or the unskilfullnesse of the Authors; not to the different dimensions of the Earth, which I think no Geometrician ever somuch as dreamt of. Notwithstanding which truth, I must, & do readily subscribe to that of job, Surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, 
Cap. 14. v. 18. 19  and the rock is removed out of his place, but let us take jobs reason with us, which he immediately adds; The waters wear the stones, thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth: This diminution then of the Mountains (as Blaucanus observes) is caused partly by Rainwater, and partly by Rivers, which by continual fretting, by little and little wash away & eat out both the tops, and sides, and feet of mountains; whence the parts thus fretted through, by continual falling down, wear out the mountains, and fill up the lower places of the valleys, making the one to increase as the other to decrease; whence it comes to pass that some old houses, heretofore fairly built, be now almost buried under ground, and their windows heretofore set at a reasonable height, now grown even with the pavement. So some write of the triumphal Arch of Septimius, at the foot of the Capitol mountain in Rome, now almost covered with earth, in somuch as they are enforced to descend down into it, by as many stairs as formerly they were used to ascend; whereas chose the Roman Capitol itself seated on the mountain which hangs over it (as witnesseth George Agricola) discovers its foundation plainly above ground, which without question were at the first laying thereof deep rooted in the earth, whereby it apppeares, that what the mountain looseth the valley gains; and consequently that in the whole globe of the earth nothing is lost, but only removed from one place to another, so that in process of time the highest mountains may be humbled into valleys, and again the lowest valleys exalted into mountains.  

If aught to nought did fall;  
All that is felt or seen within this all,  
Still losing somewhat of itself, at length  
Would come to nothing: if death's fatal strength  
Could altogether substances destroy,  
Things than should vanish even as soon as die. 
Bartas.   
In time the mighty mountains tops be bated;  
But, with their fall, the neighbour vales are fatted  
And what, when Trent or Avon overflow  
They reave one field, they on the next bestow.   
And whereas another Poet tells us that  

Eluviemons est diductus in aequor:  
The mountain by washings oft 
Ovid. 15. Met.   
into the sea is brought.   
It is most certain, and by experience found to be true, that as the rivers daily carry much earth with them into the sea, so the sea sends back again much slime and sand to the earth, which in some places, and namely in the North part of Devonshire is found to be a marvellous great commodity for the enriching of the soil.  
Now as the Earth is nothing diminished in regard of the dimensions, (the measure thereof from the Surface to the Centre being the same, as it was at the first Creation,) So neither is the fatness & fruitfulness thereof, at leastwise since the flood, or in regard of duration alone, any whit impaired; though it have yielded such store of increase by the space of so many revolutions of ages, yet he that made it, continually reneweth the face thereof, as the Psalmist speaks, by turning all things 
104: 30.  which spring from it into it again. Saith one,  
Cuncta suos ortus repetunt, matremque requirunt:  
And another:  
E terris orta, terra rursus accipit.  
And a third joins both together,  

Quapropter merito maternum nomen adepta est  
Cedit enim retro, de terra quod fuit ante 
Lucr. l. 2.   
In terras,   
And altogether they may thus not unfitly be rendered.  

All things return to their original,  
And seek their mother: what from earth doth spring,  
The same again into the earth doth fall   
Neither do they herein descent from Syracides, with all manner of living 
16. 30.  things hath he covered the face of the earth, and they shall return into it again. And that doom which passed upon the first man after the fall, is as it were engraven on the foreheads, not only of his posterity, but of all earthly Creatures made for their sakes; Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.  
As the Ocean is mainetained by the return of the rivers, which are drained & derived from it: So is the earth by the dissolution and reversion of those bodies, which from it receive their growth and nourishment. The grass to feed the beasts, the corn to strengthen, and the wine to cheer the heart of man, either are or might be both in regard of the Earth & Heavens, as good and plentiful as ever. That decree of the Almighty, is like the Law of the Medes & Persians irrevocable; They shall be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years: And again, Hereafter seed time, and harvest, and cold, and heat, and 
Gen. 8. 22.  summer, and winter, and day, and night, shall not cease so long as the Earth remaineth. And were there not a certainty in these revolutions, so that  
— In se sua per vestigia voluitur annus, 
Virgil.   
The year in its own steps into in self returns:  
It could not well be, that the Stork and the Turtle, the Crane and the Swallow, and other fowls, should observe so precisely as they do the 
jer. 8. 7.  appointed times of their coming and going. And whereas it is commonly thought, and believed, that the times of the year are now more unseasonable than heretofore, and thereby the fruits of the Earth neither so fair, nor kindly as they have been; To the first I answer, that the same complaint hath been ever since Salomon's time: He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds 
Eccles. 11. 4.  shall not reap. By which it seems, the weather was even then as uncertain as now; and so was likewise the uncertain and unkindly riping of fruits, as may appear by the words following in the same place: In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thy hand rest: 
v: 6.  for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that, or whether both shall be alike good: And if sometimes we have unseasonable years, by reason of excessive wet and cold, they are again paid home by immoderate drought and heat, if not with us, yet in our neighbour countries, and with us. I think, no man will be so unwise, or partial, as to affirm that there is a constant and perpetual declination, but that the unseasonableness of some years, is recompensed by the seasonableness of others. It is true that the erroneous computation of the year we now use, may cause some seeming alteration in the seasons thereof, & in process of time, must needs cause a greater if it be not rectified: but let that error be reform, and I am persuaded that communibus annis, we shall find no difference from the seasons of former ages: at leastwise in regard of the ordinary course of nature: For of God's extraordinary judgements, we now dispute not, who sometimes for our sins emptieth the bottles of heaven incessantly upon us: and again at other times makes the heavens as brass over our heads and the earth as iron under our feet.   

SECT. 2. Another obiectiòn, to uching the decay of the fruitfulness of the holy land, fully answered.  
WHen I consider the narrow bounds of the land of Canaan, (it being by S. Hieromes account, who lived long there, but 160 
Epist. 129. ad Dardanum.  miles in length, from Dan to Bersheba, and in breadth but 40, from joppa to Bethleem,) and withal the multitude incredible (were it not recorded in holy Scripture) both of men & cattle which it fed, there meeting in one battle between judah & Israel twelve hundred 
1: Chron. 13. 3.  thousand chosen men: Nay the very swordmen, beside the Levites and Benjamites were upon strict inquiry found to be fifteen hundred and 
2. Chron. 21. 5.  seventy thousand, whereof the youngest was twenty years old, there being none by the Law to be mustered under that age: and which is more strange, the very guards of jehosaphars' person amounted to almost 
2: Chron. 17. 14.  an eleven hundred thousand. And for the number of cattle, there were slain in one sacrifice at the dedication of Salomon's temple, two 
2. Chron: 〈◊〉. 5▪  and twenty thousand bullocks, and an hundred & twenty thousand sheep. When I say, I compare these multitudes of men & cattle with the narrow bounds of that country; I am forced to believe that it was indeed a most fruitful soil, flowing with milk and honey, & richly abounding in all kind of commodities: Yet the reports of some, who have taken a survey of it in these latter ages, bear us in hand, that the fruitfulness thereof, is now much decayed in regard of those times: From whence they would infer a general decay in all soils, & consequently in the whole course of nature. But it may truly be said that this wonderful fruitfulness proceeded from a special favour of Almighty God toward this people, as appears in the 11 of Deuteronomy, this land doth the Lord thy God care for, the eyes of the Lord thy God are always 
v: 12.  upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. And more clearly in the 26 of Leviticus: If you walk in mine ordinances, and 
v: 3.  keep my commandments, I will send you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall give their fruit, and your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread in plenteousness, and dwell in your land safely. But the miraculous providence of God showed itself most evidently over this land in answering their doubt, what they should 
Levit. 25. v. 20▪ 21.  eat the seventh year, if they suffered the land to rest, as God had enjoined them; the reply is, I will send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. Now then as this extraordinary fruitfulness proceeded from an extraordinary favour: so this favour ceasing, the fruitfulness might likewise cease without any natural decay of the soil: The country about Sodom & Gomorrha was for fruitfulness as the Paradise, or garden of the Lord, till the curse of God fell upon it, than it became a waste land, and so remains to this day: Yet can it not be gainsaid but that beside this special blessing of God, this soil of Palestina was naturally▪ very rich in itself, in as much as it fed 
Gen. 13. 10. Wisdom, 10 7. josua, 12. 24.  one & thirty Idolatrous Kings, with their people, before the entrance of God's chosen nation into it; one of which alone possessed, as it should seem threescore cities and the pomegranates, the figs & the grapes, which the spies (sent by Moses to discover the land) brought back with them, were marvellous goodly & fair. And as this soil was thus rich 
Numb. 13. 24.  before the entrance of this people, so since the displanting of them from thence, & the Saracens possessing it, it hath not altogether lost its ancient fruitfulness whatsoever is pretended to the contrary, if we may credit Brocardus, who about three hundred years since was himself an eyewitness thereof. His words are these. Non est credendum 
De Terra sancta, part. 2. c. 1.  contrarium nunciantibus, neque enim eam diligenter considerarunt, his oculis vidi quanta fertilitate Terra benedicta fructificat: frumentum enim vix terra exculta sine stercore & simo mirabiliter crescit & multiplicatur. Agrisunt velut horti in quibus feniculum, salvia, ruta, rosa passim crescunt. There is no heed to be given to them who affirm the contrary; For they have not throughly considered of the matter; with these eyes did I behold the exceeding fertility of that blessed land: The Corn with a very little making of the earth prospers and multiplies beyond belief, the fields are as it were gardens of delight, in which fennel, sage, rue, and roses every where grow; And so having largely described the admirable fruitfulness thereof in all kinds, at length he concludes: Denique illic exstant omnia mundi bona, & verè terra fluit rivis lactis & mellis. Finally there are to be had all the good things the world can afford, so that it may still be truly termed, a land flowing with rivers of milk and honey. And if it be degenerated from its ancient fertility (which upon the report of Bredenbachius Adrichomius and others, I rather believe) I should rather impute it to the Curse of God upon that accursed nation which possesseth it, or to their ill manuring of the earth, from which the proverb seems to have grown, that where the Grand Signiors horse once treads the grass never grows afterward) then to any Natural decay in the goodness of the soil.   

SECT. 3. The testimonies of Columella and Pliny produced that the earth in itself is as fruitful as in former ages, if it be made and manured.  
NOw that which by Brocardus hath been delivered touching the holy land in particular, is by Columella in his books of Husbandry with no less assuredness averred touching the nature of the Earth in general: nay to show his confidence herein, he makes that assertion, the entrance to his whole work, thus beginning the very first chapter of his first book. Saepenumero Civitatis nostrae principes audio culpantes, m●…do agrorum infoecunditatem, modo Coeli per multa jam tempora noxiam frugibus intemperiem, quosdam etiam praedictas querimonias velut ratione certa mitigantes, quod existiment ubertate nimi●… prioris aevi defatigatum & effoetum solum, ●…equire pristina benignitate prebere mortalibus alimenta; quas ego causas Publi Sylvini procul à veritate abesse certum habeo, quod neque fas est existimare rerum naturam quam primus ille mundi genitor perpetua foecunditate donavit (quasi quodam morbo) sterilitate affectam, neque prudentis credere tellurem, quae divinam & aeternam juventam sortita communis omnium parens dicta sit, quia & cuncta peperit & deinceps paritura sit, velut hominem consenuisse, ne posthaec reor violentia Coeli nobis ista, sed nostro potius accidere vitio, qui rem rusticam pessimo cuique servorum velut carnifici noxae dedimus quam majorum nostrorum optimus quisque & optimè tractaverit. I have often heard the chief of our City complaining of the unfruitfulness of the earth, and sometimes again of the unkindlinesse of the weather now for a good space hurtful to the fruits, and some have I heard with show of reason qualifying these complaints in that they believe the earth being worn out and become barren by the excessive fruitfulness of former ages, not to be able to yield nourishment to mankind, according to the proportion of her accustomed bounty; but for mine own part Publius Sylvinus I am well assured that these pretended causes are far from truth, it being a piece of impiety so much as once to imagine that nature (which the first founder of the world blessed with perpetual fruitfulness) is affected with barrenness, as a kind of disease, neither is it the part of a wise man to think that the Earth, (which being endued with a divine and eternal youth, is deservedly termed the Common Parent of all things, inasmuch as it both doth and hereafter shall bring all things forth) is now waxen old like a man, so as that which hath befallen us I should rather impute it to our own default then to the unseasonableness of the weather, inasmuch as we commit the charge of our husbandry to the basest of our slaves, as it were to a public executioner, whereas the very best of our ancestors with most happy success underwent that charge themselves, and performed that work with their own hands. Now Sylvinus to whom he dedicated his works having received and read this resolute assertion by reason he knew it to be against the common tenet, and specially of one Tremellius, upon whose judgement it seemed he much relied, made a Quaere thereof, & sent it to Columella, to which in the very first chapter of his second book he returns answer with this title title prefixed.  
Terram nec senescere nec fatigari, si  
stercoretur.  
That the earth is neither wearied nor  
waxeth old, if it be made.  
And then thus goes on. Queris à me Publi Sylvine quod ego sine cunctatione non recuso docere, cur priori libro veterem opinionem fere omnium qui de cultu agrorum locuti sunt à principio confestim repulerim, falsamque sententiam repudiaverim censentium longo aevi situ, longique jam temporis exercitatione fatigatam & effoetam humum consenuisse. You demand a question of me Sylvinus, which I will endeavour to answer without delay, which is, why in my former book presently in the very entrance, I have rejected the ancient opinion almost of all, who have written of husbandry, & have cast of their imagination as false, who conceive that the earth by long tract of time and much usage is grown old and fruitless: where he is so far from recalling his assertion, or making any doubt of the certain truth thereof: that he labours farther to strengthen it with new supplies of reasons and at length concludes, Non igitur fatigatione, quemadmodum plurimi crediderunt, nec senio, sed nosta scilicet inertia minus benignè nobis arva respondent: licet enim maiorem fructum percipere, si frequenti & tempestiva & modica stercoratione terra refoveatur. It is not through the tiredness or age of the earth, as many have believed, but through our own negligence that it hath not satisfied us, so bountifully as it hath done. For we might receive more profit from it, if it were cherished with frequent and moderate and seasonable dressing.  
And with Columella agrees Pliny in the eighteenth book of his Natural History, & third Chapter, where discoursing of the great abundance and plenty in foregoing ages, and demanding the reason thereof, he thereunto shapes this reply; Surely, saith he, the cause was this, and nothing else: Great Lords and Generals of the field, as it should seem, tilled themselves their grounds with their own hands. And the Earth again for her part, taking no small pleasure as it were to be aired and broken up, Laureato vomere & triumphali aratore, with ploughs laureate, & ploughmen triumphant, strained herself to yield increase to the uttermost. Like it is also that these brave men and worthy Personages were as curious in sowing a ground with corn, as in setting a battle in array; as diligent in disposing and ordering of their lands, as in pitching a field. And commonly every thing that cometh under good hands, the more neat & clean that the usage thereof is, and the greater pains that is taken about it, the better it thriveth and prospereth afterwards. And having instanced in Attilius Serranus, and Quintius Cincinnatus, he goes on in this manner. But now see how the times be changed: they that do this business in the field, what are they but bondslaves fettered, condemned malefactors, and in a word noted persons, such as are branded and marked in their visage with an hot iron, yet we forsooth marvel that the labour of these contemptible slaves and abject villains doth not render the like profit, as that travel in former ages, of great Captains and Generals of Armies. By which it appears that Columella and Pliny imputed the barrenness of the Earth in regard of former ages) if any such were) not to any deficiency in the Earth itself, but to the unskilfulness or negligence of such as manured it. To which purpose Aelian reports a pretty story of one Mises who presented the Great 
Lib. 1. c. 33.  King Artaxerxes, as he road through Persia, with a Pomegranate of wonderful bigness: which the King admiring, demanded out of what Paradise he had gotten it, who answered, that he gathered it from his own garden, the King seemed therewith to be marvelous well content, & gracing him with royal gifts, swore by the Sun, this man with like diligence and care might aswell in my judgement of a little City make a great one. Videtur autem hic sermo innuere, saith the Author, omnes res curâ & continuâ sollicitudine, & indefesso labore meliores & praestantiores quam Natura producat, effici posse. It seems by this, that all things by labour and industry may be made better than Nature produces them. And it is certain that God so ordained it, that the industry of man should in all things concur with the works of Nature, both for the bringing of them to their perfection, and for the keeping of them therein being brought unto it. As the Poet speaking of the degenerating of seeds hath truly expressed it.  

Vidi lecta diu & multo spectata labour  
Degenerare tamen, ni vis humana quotannis 
Virg. in his Georgics l. 1   
Maxima quaeque manu legeret.   

Oft have I seen choice seeds, and with much labour tried,  
Eftsoones degenerate, unless man's industry,  
Yearly by hand did lease the greatest carefully.   
And this I take to be the true reason (as before hath been touched) why neither so good, nor so great store of wine is at this day made in this kingdom, as by records seems to have been in former ages; the neglect I mean, of planting & dressing our vines as they might be, and at this present are in foreign countries, and with us formerly have been, & this neglect hath perchance arisen from hence, that we & the French being often and long at defiance, & all friendly commerce ceasing betwixt us, partly to cross them in the venting of their commodities, & partly to enrich themselves, men were either by public authority set on work, or they set themselves on work, to try the utmost of their endeavour in the making of wines, but since peace and trade hath been settled betwixt both kingdoms, that practice hath by degrees grown out of use, for that men found by experience that both better wines & better cheap might be had from France then could be made here; and I make no doubt but as tillage with us, so the planting of Vineyards is increased with them, and for this reason, together with the Causes before alleged, it seems to be, that the French wines are better with us at this present than they were in the reign of Edward the second, as shall by God's help be fully manifested in the next Section. And that which hath been spoken of the making of wines may likewise be understood of the making of Bay sale in this kingdom in former ages, for which (as I am credibly informed) records are likewise to be seen; for to ascribe either the one or the other to the Sun's going more Southerly from us in Summer, is in my judgement both unwarrantable and improbable: unwarrantable as hath already been showed in this very book Cap. 4. Sect, 4. improbable, for that if this plant should decay for this reason, all other plants, & trees, & herbs, & flowers should consequently partake of the like decay, at leastwise in some proportion, which our best Physicians and Herbalists have not yet found to be so, nay the contrary is by them avouched; and as our wines are in a manner utterly decayed here, so their strength in France, in Spain, in Italy, in Hungary, in Germany, should upon the same supposition be much abated, which notwithstanding I have nowhere found to be observed,   

SECT. 4. An argument drawn from the present state of husbandmen, and another for the many & miserable dearths in former ages together with an objection taken from the high prizes of victuals answered.  
But that which farther persuadeth me, that neither the goodness of the soil, nor the seasonableness of the weather, nor the industry of the husbandman is now inferior to that of former ages, is this, that both this fine and rent being raised, his apparel and education of his children more chargeable, & the rates of public payments more burdensome, yet he fares better, and lays up more money in his purse, then usually in those times he did.  
Besides it is certain, that if we compare time with time, the famines of former ages were more grievous than ours: I omit those of jerusalem and Samaria, because occasioned by the sieges of those Cities, as also those which either Civil wars, or foreign invasions hath drawn on. Of the rest that of Lypsius. is undoubtedly true. jam de fame 
De Const l. 2. 22  nihil profectò nos aut aetas nostra vidimus, si videmus antiqua. Now touching famine verily we and our age have seen nothing, if we behold ancient records. Under the Emperor Honorius, so great was the scarcity & dearth of victuals in Rome itself, that in the open marketplace this voice was heard, Pone pretium humanae carni, set a price to man's flesh. And long before, even when L. Minutius was made the first overseer 
Zozimus 6. Annal. Lib. 4,  of the grain, Livy reports, multos è plebe, ne diutinâ fame cruciarentur, capitibus obvolutis seize in Tyberim praecipitasse. That many of the Commons lest they should be tortured with long famine, covering their faces, cast themselves headlong into Tiber. What a miserable dearth was that in Egypt, held by the Ancients for abundance of Corn, the Granary of 
Gen 47. 23.  the world) when for want of bread their greatest Nobleses were forced to sell not only their lands, but themselves, and become bondslaves to Pharaoh. How universal was that foretell by Agabus, which also came to pass under Claudius Caesar, as both Dion and Suetonius bear witness to S. Luke. But to come nearer home, few histories, I think, exceed 
Act. 11. 28,  our own in this point. About the year 514, during the reign of Cissa king of the Southsaxons in his country reigned such an extreme 
Beda. l. 4. c. 13.  famine, that both men and women in great flocks and companies cast themselves from the rocks into the Sea, in the year 1314, about the beginning of the reign of Edward the second, the dearth was generally such over the land, that purposely for the moderation of the prices of victuals, a Parliament was assembled at London: but it increased so vehemently that upon S. Laurence Eve, there was scarcely bread to be gotten for the sustentation of the Kings own family. And the year following 
Thomas de la Moor.  it grew so terrible, that horses & dogs, yea men and children were stolen for food, and which is horrible to think, the thieves newly brought into the gaoles, were torn in pieces, and presently eaten half alive by such as had been longer there. In London it was proclaimed that no Corn should be converted to Brewer's uses, which Act the King (moved with compassion towards his Nation) imitating, caused to be executed through all the kingdom: otherwise saith Walsingham, the greater part of the people had perished with penury of bread. And again to conclude this sad discourse, in the year 1317, in the tenth year of the same King, there was such a murrain of all kind of cattle; 
Sam. Daniel.  together with a general failing of all fruits of the Earth by excessive reins and unseasonable weather, as provision could not be had for the King's house, nor means for other great men to maintain their Tables: Inasmuch as they put away their servants in great numbers, who having been daintily bred, and now not able to work, scorning to beg, fell to robbery and spoil, which added much to the misery of the Kingdom.  
It will be said, if the plenty of corn and victuals, be as great as in former ages, how comes it to pass that their prices are somuch enhanced? But if we compare our prices with those of the ancient Romans, we shall find that theirs far exceeded ours. The Roman penny by the consent of the learned, and the judgement of our last Translatours in divers parts of their Marginal notes, was the eight part of an ounce, accounting five shillings to the ounce, so that it was worth of our money seven pence half penny. Now by the testimony of Varro and Macrobius, their Peacock's eggs (which are now of no reckoning with us,) were 
De Re Rust. l. 3. c. 6. Sat. l. 3. 13.  sold with them for five Roman pence a piece: and the Peacocks themselves for fifty. Thrushes and Ousells or blackbirds were commonly sold for three pence a piece. Nay Varro mentions one L. Axius, a Roman 
Varro, l. 3. c. 2,  Knight, who would not let go a pair of doves, minoris quadringentis denarijs, 
Cap. 7.  for less than four hundred pence. But these insana pretia, as Macrobius calls them, mad, and unreasonable prices, we shall have 
Cap. 16.  fitter occasion to speak of, when we come to treat of the luxury of the Ancients, In the mean time it shall not be amiss to remember what our Saviour tells us in the Gospel, that two Sparrows or passerculi, as Beza renders it, were then sold for a farthing, thereby implying 
Mat. 10. 29.  their great cheapness: Yet for the same money, it being the tenth part of a Roman penny, and answering in value to half penny farthing of our coin, more may be had at this day with us: But I leave foreign Nations and return to our own. If then together with the inhancing of prices, we likewise take into our consideration the inhancing of Coin, it will appear that the prices of things are not so much enhanced as is supposed. About three hundred years ago, in the latter part of the reign of Edward the second, and beginning of Edward the third, an ounce of silver was valued at one shtlling and eight pence, whereas now it is valued at five shillings: so that one hundred pounds than was both in weight and worth fully as much as three hundred pounds are now; and consequently, if they gave a groat for that which we now give a shilling, they gave just the same price which we now give. The price of Claret wine, as appears upon record among the statutes of Edward the second, was at that time twelve pence the gallon, so that by proportion the price should now be three shillings, and look how much it comes shot of that price, it is certain that somuch the cheaper it is at this day, than it was in that age. Whereunto may be added the plenty of coin and multitude of men, both which are doubtless in regard of those times much increased. For the former of which, though it be true that some great ones heaped up huge masses of treasure, yet I think it will not be denied, but that there are now more rich men then in those times: Some wise men being of opinion that there is now more plate in the land, than there was in Edward the thirds time both money and plate: And for the latter, he that shall duly consider the daily enlarging of our cities and towns, and the adding of new Isles to the greatest part of our Parish Churches, within these last two or three hundred years, will easily believe that the number of our people is not a little increased. Either of which asunder, but much more both together must needs be a means of raising the prices of all things. yet this complaint as it hath been in all ages, so will it still continue, since 
Ier: 44. 18.  we left to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have had scarceness of all things, and have been consumed with the sword and with the famine.   

SECT. 5. That there is no decrease in the fruitfulness, the quantities or virtues of plants & simples, nor in he store & goodness of metals & minerals, as neither in the bigness or life of beasts, together with an objection touching the Elephant in the first of Macchabees, answered.  
NOw if such be the condition of the Earth itself, and the fruits thereof, what reason have we to conceive otherwise of the trees and plants, springing up and nourished from thence. I cannot find that either Dioscorides, Theophrastus, or Pliny among the Ancients; or among latter writers, Ruellius, Fuchsius, or our own Gerard ever observed any decay, either in the groweth, the virtues or duration of these Vegetables; the Oak and Beetch, rise to as great an higth and bigness, spread their branches and roots as far, last as long, bring forth as fair mast; as they did a thousand year agone. Those underground trees, whose bulks are sometimes taken up entire, in Cheshshire, Lancashire, 
Camden▪  & other places, & are commonly thought to have lain buried there ever since Noah's flood, are not found in length or largeness to exceed the bodies of ours at this day. In former ages I grant was greater choice of good timber, because greater plenty of woods, but those being cut down, tillage hath succeeded in the place thereof, which in regard of our increase of people, seemed of the two, the more necessary, & for fuel, it is in most places supplied with other kinds which were not then thought upon.  
The like may be said for the virtues of Plants, Issop, Garlic, Hemlock, and the rest, they are still endued with the same temper, with the same degrees of heat or cold, & are available for the same uses, as in former ages; as may easily appear by comparing Galen de simplicium medicamentorum facultatibus, with Wecker a modern Physician. The former makes Garlic hot in the fourth degree, so doth the latter. The former 
Practic. General. l. 4.  Issop hot in the third degree, and so doth the latter. The former hemtocke extremely cold, so doth the latter. These may suffice for a taste, and thus may we parallel simples, as for their first, so for their second & third qualities, and application to diseases. The difference of their strength is doubtless very great in regard of the different Climates they grow in: But that it should by succession of ages be abated in their several species, and in the same Climate, is more I think then ever any Herbalist in his writings, or learned Physician in his practice hath yet observed.  
And if there be no decay found in the Vegetables, very likely it is that the same may likewise be verified of the beasts those at leastwise which make them their food, and are nourished by them. Surely he that shall compare the present proportions of the elephant, the camel, the horse, the dog, with the descriptions of Aristotle, as also the present extension of their lives, with that which both he, and other Ancients record of them, will easily find that there is in them no sensible decrease. Vita equorum, (saith he) plurimis ad decimum octavum, atque etiam vicesimum annum, sed nonnulli viginti quinque, & triginta egerunt: Et si cura 
Hist. Amnialium, lib. 12. c. 8.  diligenter adhibeatur vel ad quinquaginta protrahitur aetas horses commonly live eighteen or twenty years, yet some last five & twenty or thirty, & if they be very well kept, they may come to forty or fifty; which he makes in a manner their utmost period. Whereas Albertus tells us, that himself was assured by a soldier, that the horse he then used, was three score years old, and yet was serviceable in the wars. And Augustinus Niphus yet latter, that he was crediblely informed by the horsemen of Ferdinand the first, that there was then in the King's stable an horse that was seaventy years old.  
Butaeo, a man much commended for his rare learning by many learned writers, labouring to demonstrate by Geometrical proportions, that the Ark was capable of so many several kind of beasts, as are said to have been in it, as also their provision for one year spaces, takes the ground of his demonstration from the present dimensions of their bodies, and their present allowance for food, proportioning the capacity of the Ark thereunto, and is therein applauded not only by Goropius Becanus, but by Pererius and Sr Walter Raleigh: whereas, were there such a continual diminution in the quantity of their bodies, and consequently in their food as is supposed, his ground were false, and his demonstration frivolous. Whereunto may be added that the same allowance of food, which Cato, and Varro, and Columella, in their books of husbandry agreed upon to be sufficient for an ox, or a horse, or a sheep in their times, is now likewise thought to be but competent: And the same proportions of body, which the Ancient Painters & Carvers allowed to horses and dogs, is now likewise by the skilfullest in those Arts found to be most convenient. Indeed in the first book of Macchabees & sixth chapter, is somewhat a strange relation 
v. 37.  made of Elephants, which are there described to be so big, that each of them carried a wooden tower on his back, out of which fought thirty two armed men, besides the Indian which ruled the beast. Whence some have conceited that the Elephants of those times were far greater than those of the present age: But doubtless the Author of that book speaks of the Indian race, which are far beyond the Ethiopian, as junius in his annotations on that place hath observed out of Pliny. And there are of them, saith Aelian, nine cubits high, which is thirteen foot and an half. And those which have been in the great Moguls country assure us, that at this day they are there far more vast and huge than any that we have seen in these parts of the world. But leaving the Vegetables and beasts springing and walking upon the face of the earth, let us a little search into the bowels thereof, and take a view of the metals and minerals therein bred. Of the nature, causes, and groweth, whereof Georgius Agricola hath written most exactly, but neither he, nor any man else, I think ever yet observed that by continuance of time theirveines are wasted & impaired, one treatise he hath expressly composed de veteribus & novis metallis, wherein he shows that as the old are exhausted, new are discovered. It is true indeed which 
lib 33. in Proaem.  Pliny hath observed, that we descend into the entrailes of the earth, we go down as far as to the seat and habitation of the infernal spirits, and all to meet with rich treasure, as if she were not fruitful enough, & beneficial unto us in the upper face thereof, where she permitteth us to walk and tread upon her: Yet notwithstanding by the covetousness and toil of men can her mines never be drawn dry, nor her store emptied.  

The Earth not only on her back doth bear  
Abundant treasures gliftring every where,  
But inwardly she's no less fraught with riches,  
Nay rather more (which more our fowls bewitches) 
Bartas 3 day of the 1 week.   
Within the deep folds of her fruitful lap,  
So boundless mines of treasure doth she wrap,  
That th' hungry hands of humane avarice  
Cannot exhaust with labour or device.  
For they be more than there be stars in heaven,  
Or stormy billows in the Ocean driven,  
Or ears of corn in Autumn on the fields,  
Or savage beasts upon a thousand hills,  
Or fishes diving in the silver floods,  
Or scattered leaves in winter in the woods.   
I will not dispute it, whether all minerals were made at the first creation, or have since received increase by tract of time, which latter I confess I rather with Quercetan incline unto, they being somewhat 
In his epistle to Aubertus de ortu & causis meta●…orum.  of the nature of stones, which undoubtedly grow, though not by augmentation or accretion, yet by affimilation or apposition, turning the neighbour earth into their substance, Yet thus much may we confidently affirm, that the minerals themselves wast not in the ordinary course, but by the insatiable desire of mankind. Nay such is the divine providence, that even there where they are most vexed and wrought upon, yet are they not worn out, or wasted in the whole. Of late within these few years Mendip hills yielded, I think, more lead than ever, & at this day I do not hear that the Iron mines in Sussex, or the Tin works in Cornwall are any whit abated, which I confess to be somewhat strange, considering that little corner furnishes in a manner all the Christian world with that mettle: & for mines of gold & silver, though by some it be thought that they fail in the East Indies in regard of former ages: Yet most certain it is that in the West Indies, that supposed defect is abundantly recompensed.   

SECT. 6. An objection taken from the Eclipses of the Planets, answered.  
BEfore we conclude this Chapter, there remains yet one rub to be removed touching the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon For as some have been of opinion, that the bodies of those Planets suffered by them, so many have thought that these inferior bodies suffered from them, & consequently that the more Eclipses there are, (which by tract of time must needs increase in number) the more do all things depending upon those planet's decay and degenerate in their virtues & operations. But as the former of these opinions is already proved to be certainly false, so is this latter altogether uncertain. What effects Eclipses produce, I cannot punctually define. Strange accidents I grant, aswell in the course of Nature, as in the Civil affairs, have often followed upon them, as appears in Cyprianus Leovicius, who hath purposely composed a Tract of them. And Mr Camden observes that the town of Shrewesbery suffered twice most grievous loss by fire within the compass of fifty years, upon two several Eclipses of the Sun in Aries, but whether those Accidents were to be ascribed to the precedent Eclipses, I cannot certainly affirm. Once we are sure that the moon is eclipsed by the interposition of the Earth, as is the Sun by the moon. Since then the night is nothing else but the interposition of the Earth between us and the Sun, I see no reason but we should daily fear as dangerous effects from every night or thick cloud, as from any Eclipse. But I verily believe that the ground of this error, as also of the former, sprang from the ignorance of the Causes of Eclipses; Sulpitius Gallus being the first amongst the Romans, and amongst the greeks, Thales Milesius, who finding their nature did prognosticate and forshew them. After them, Hipparchus compiled his Ephemerideses, containing the course and aspects of both these Planets for six hundred years ensuing, and that no less assuredly, then if he had been privy to Nature's counsels. Great persons and excellent doubtless were these, saith Pliny, who above the reach of all humane capacity, found out the reason of the course of so mighty stars, and divine 
Lib. 2. c. 12.  powers. And whereas the weak mind of man was before to seek, fearing in these Eclipses of the stars, some great wrong, or violence, or death of the Planets, secured them in that behalf. In which dreadful fear stood Stesicorus and Pyndarus the Poets, notwithstanding their lofty style, and namely at the Eclipse of the Sunce, as may appear by their Poems. In this fearful fit also of an Eclipse, Nicias the general of the Athenians (as a man ignorant of the cause thereof) feared to set sail with his fleet out of the haven, and so greatly endangered & distressed the state of his country: But on the contrary, the forenamed Sulpitius being a Colonel in the field, the day before that King Perseus was vanquished by Paulus, was brought forth by the General into open audience before the whole host, to foretell the Eclipe that should happen the next morrow, whereby he delivered the army from all pensiveness and fear, which might have troubled them, in the time of battle, and within a while after he compiled also a book thereof. Thus far Plyny touching the harmless and innocent nature of Eclipses, himself in the next chapter reducing their certain revolutions, and returns to the space of two hundred twenty two months.  
I will shut up all with a memorable story to this purpose taken out of john de Royas in his Epistle to Charles the fifth, prefixed to his Commentaries upon the plain Sphere. Colonus the leader of King Ferdinand's army, at the Island of jamaica, being in great distress for want of victuals, which he could by no means attain of the Inhabitants, & by his skill foreseeing an Eclipse of the Moon shortly to ensue, took order that it should be declared to the Governors of the Island, that unless they supplied him and his with necessaries, imminent danger hanged over their heads, in witness whereof they should shortly see the Moon eclipsed The Barbarians at first, refused his demands and contemned his threatening: but when at the set time they indeed beheld the Moon by degrees to fail in her light, and understood not the cause thereof, they first gave credit to his words, and then supply of victuals to his army, casting themselves to his feet and craving pardon for their offence.  
Finally to the present objection, if any harmful malignant effect be for the present or afterward produced by the Eclipse in those parts where it is seen, yet no man I think will deny it, but to be repairable by by the tract and revolution of time, or if irreparable, yet this decay in the Creatures, ariseth not from any deficiency in themselves, from any waxing old or removal from their first originals, (which is the very point in question) but from an adventitious and external cause. And so I pass from the other Creatures to the Consideration of Man the Commander and Compendium of all the rest, for whose sake both they were first made, and this discourse was first undertaken.     

LIB. III. Of the pretended decay of mankind in regard of age and duration of strength and stature, of arts and wits.  

CAP. I. Touching the pretended decay of men in regard of their age, and first by way of comparison between 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 Mortal, but had he not fall'n, should have been preserved to immortality.  
SInce upon exammination we have found that there is no such perpetual and universal decay as is pretended in the Hea●…ens, in the Earth, in the Air, in the Water, the fishes, the plants, the Beasts, the Minerals: I see no reason but that from thence we might safely and sufficiently conclude that neither is there any such decay in man. But because this discourse was principally undertaken 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 upon due consideration and comparison it shall appear that there is no such decay in any of these as is supposed, the Question I trust touch-the world's decay in general will soon be at at end.  
The ordinary age of man being compared with that of the heavens, the stones, the metals, some beasts & trees is very short, but the longest being compared with God and Eternity is but as a span, a shadow, a dream of a shadow, nay mere nothing, which the Roman Orator hath both truly observed, and eligantly expressed. Apud Hypanim flwium qui ab Europae 
Psal. 39 5. 1. Tusculan.  parte in pontum influit, Aristoteles ait bestiolas quasdam nasci quae unum diem vivant; ex iis igitur hora octava quae mortua est, provecta aetate mortua est, quae vero occidente sole decrepita, eo magis si etiam Solstitiali die. Confer nostram 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 falls into Pontus, certain little animals are bred, which live but a day at most: Amongst them then, such as dye the eight hour, die old; such as dye at sun set, die in their decrepit age specially if it be upon the day of the Summer Solstice. Now compare our age with eternity, and we shall be found in regard of duration almost in the same state of shortness that those Creatures are.  
The body of man even before the fall was doubtless in itself by reaof contrary Elements, contrary humours, and members of contrary temper whereof it was composed, dissoluble and moral: As also by reason of outward accidents, the daily wasting of his native heat, and the disproportionable supply of his radical moisture: But these defects his Creator supplied, arming him against outward accidents by divine providence, the guard of Angels and his own excellent wisdom, against the contrarieties fight in his body, by the harmony of his soul: against the wasting of his native heat and radical moisture by that supernatural virtue & efficacy which he gave to the fruit of the tree of life: He was then Naturally Mortal: (for otherwise even after his fall should he have continued immortal, as the Apostate Angels did) but by special privilege and dispensation immortal. mortalis erat, saith S. Augustine, 
Lib. 7. de Gen. ad Lit. c. 25.  conditione corporis animalis, immortalis autem beneficio-conditoris: He was mortal in respect of his natural body, but immortal by the favour of his Creator: Yet doubtless had he not sinned, he had not still lived here upon earth, though in likelihood his age might be extended to some thousands of years, but should have been at length translated from hence to heaven where he could neither have sinned nor dyed●… Sic est immortalis conditus, Saith Gregory, ut tamen si peccaret, & mori 
Moral. lib. 4. cap. 26.  possit, & sic mortalis est conditus, ut si non peccaret etiam non mori possit, atque ex merito liberi arbitrij beatitudinem illius regionis attingeret, in qua vel peccare vel mori non possit. He was so created immortal that if he sinned he might dye, and again so was he created mortal that, he could not dye: But by the merit of his freewill should have been translated to that place of bliss where he could neither sin nor dye.   

SECT. 2. Of the long lives of the Patriarches, and of the manner of Computing there years, and that Almighty God drew out the lines of their lives to that length for reasons proper to those first times.  
THough upon the fall of man the duration of his continuance here upon the earth was much shortened, yet certain it is that many of the Ancient patriarchs before the flood lived above nine hundred, and some to almost a thousand years, Neither aught this to seem incredible, though Plyny mentioning some who were reported to have lived five six or eight hundred years, at length concludes 
Lib. 7. cap. 48.  that all these strange reports arise from the ignorance of times past, and for want of knowledge how they made their account. For some, saith he, reckoned the Summer for one year and the Winter for another. There were also that reckoned every quarter for a year, as the Arcadians whose year was but three months, and some again you have, as namely the Egyptians, who count every change or New moon for a year, and therefore no marvel if some of them are reported to have lived a thousand years. Thus Pliny. But josephus to justify the truth of Moses his history touching the age of the first patriarchs, 
Lib. 1. Antiq. cap. 4.  vouches the authority of Manathon the writer of the Egyptian story, Berosus of the Chaldean, Moschus and Esthieus of the Phenician, as also Hesiodus, Hecataeus, Elamius, Acuselaus, Ephorus and others, all affirming that those of the first age lived to a thousand years, but how they made their computation josephus doth not express: Whereupon some have been so bold as to tell us, that the years Moses there speaks of, are not to be computed as ours, but were somewhat above the monthly year containing in them thirty six days which is a number quadrat, being made up of six times six: So that one of our years contains ten of them, and those years being divided into twelve months, there could not above three days be attributed to each of them. But this opinion (for I will not spare it though it make for me,) how not only false it is, but manifestly repugnant to the sacred Scriptures, any man may of himself easily discern. For if we embrace this computation, it will from thence follow that Caynan and Enoch begat children when they were but six years old and an 
Gen. 5. 12. Gen. 5. 21.  half, or seven at most, for the Scripture tells us, that the one begat them when he was but sixty five years old, and the other at seventy: so that if ten of their years made but one of ours, it would consequently follow, that they begat children when they were yet but seven years of age: Besides, since none of those Ancient patriarchs attained to a thousand years, if their years were so to be accounted, as these men would have it, none of them should have arrived to ninety seven years; and yet many we know are now found to pass an hundred. Again, the Scripture testifies, that Abraham died in a good old age full of 
Gen. 25. 7. 8.  days, being one hundred seaventy five years old, which number according to their computation, makes but seventeen years and an half; a ridiculous old age. Lastly, in the seaventh and eight of Genesis in that one year alone, in which the flood lasted, mention is made of the first, second, 
Gen. 7. 11 & 8. 4: 5: 13: 14.  and tenth month, & lest any should imagine, that those months lasted only three days, we have there named the seaventeenth day of the second, and the twenty seaventh of the seaventh month. 
Gen: 7. 11: & 4. 5.   
To take it then as granted that Moses his computation of the year was the same with ours, and that those first patriarchs lived much longer than any of latter times; yet from thence cannot any sufficient proof be brought, that there hath been & still continues, a constant and perpetual decrease in man's age, since for special Reasons and by special privilege Almighty God granted that to them, which to their successors was denied: which I will rather choose to express in josephus his words then in mine own. Where having assigned some other causes thereof, peculiar to those times & persons, at length he concludes. Deinde propter virtutes & gloriosas utilitates quas iugiter perscrutabantur, 
Lib. 1. Antiq. c: 4:  id est astrologiam & Geometriam, Deus iis ampliora vivendi spatia condonavit, quae non ediscere potuissent, nisi sexcentis viverent annis, per tot enim an norum curricula magnus annus impletur. Again in regard of the excellent and profitable use of Astronomy and Geometry, which they daily searched into, Almighty God granted them a longer space of life, in as much as they could not well find out the depth of those Arts, unless they lived six hundred years, for in that revolution of time, the great year comes about. Where what he means by the great year, since the most learned make a great doubt, I for my part will not undertake positively to determine. But to this reason of losephus may well be added another principal 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 he granted them for these reasons a longer space of life by special privilege: so likewise he fitted their food, their bodies, and all other necessaries proportionable thereunto; as extraordinary carefulness and skilfulness in the moderation and choice of their diet together with a singular knowledge in the virtues of plants, and stones, and minerals, and the like, as well for the preservation of their health, as the curing of all kind of diseases; which well agrees with that of Roger Bacon, speaking of the patriarchs in his book de scientia 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 & experimenta contra senectutem, nam Deus illustravit in omni sapientia, & ergo diu vivere potuerunt. They being endued with singular wisdom, found out the whole course of the regiment of health and secret medicines, whereby the pace of old age was slackened, and when it arrived the rigour of it was abated, and from them their sons as by a tradition derived this skill, and these experiments against old age, for God enlightened them with all kind of wisdom; and from hence it came to pass that they lived long. Yet even among them before the flood, we find that the first man, who in case of a decrease should in reason have lived longest, was notwithstanding in number of years exceeded not only by Methusalath, and jered before, but by Noah after the flood, except we will add unto Adam's age threescore years, as some divines do, upon a supposition that he was created in the flower of man's age, agreeablely to those times.   

SECT. 3. That since Moses his time, the length of man's age is nothing abated, as appears by the testimony of Moses himself, and other grave authors, compared with the experience of these times.  
HOwsoever it fared with the patriarchs, sure we are that since Moses his time; who was borne in the year of the world 2434, or thereabout, above three thousand years ago, when the world was now well replenished, and the most necessary sciences depending upon observation and experience, in a manner perfected, the length of man's age is nothing abated, as clearly it appears by that most famous and evident testimony of his: the time of our life, (saith he) is three score years and ten, and though men be so strong that they come to four score years, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away, and we are gone. And that these are indeed the words of 
Psal. 90. 10.  Moses, appears by the very Title of the Psalm prefixed to it. A Psalm of Moses the man of God. For though S. Augustine seem to make some doubt of it, because he finds it not recorded in his history: And Aben Ezra a jewish Rabbin, think the Author to have been one of David's singers so named, yet S. Hierome doubts not constantly to aver it to be that same Moses, who was the penman of holy writ, and the Captain of the Hebrews, & that we might not call it into question, the Holy Ghost seems purposely to have annexed that Epithet, The man of God, that is, not only a godly religious and excellent man, but a man endued with a prophetical spirit, and so is it taken, 1 Sam. 2. 27. & 1. Kings. 13. 1. In which regard Moses himself gives himself 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. Augustine's objection, he would leave very few Psalms to David himself, were his argument of any force. Yet some Expositors there are, who refer 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 believe, for that of all those six hundred thousand Israelites, which under the conduct of Moses came out of Egypt, only two, Caleb and josua entered into the land of promise, all the rest, men, women, & children, young & old, leaving their carcases in the Wilderness within the space of forty years. True indeed it is, that both Moses. himself and his brother Aaron outlived the number of years set down in that Psalm; yet saith judicious Calvin, de communi ratione loquitur, he speaks of the ordinary course, how it commonly fared with men in that respect even in those times. And thus do I take Herodotus to be understood 
In Thalia.  jumping in the same number with Moses, spatium vivendi longissimum propositum esse octoginta annos, that the utmost space of man's life is four score years: Though Solon come a degree shorter, making the age of man threescore and ten, as both Laertius and Censorinus in his book De die natali testify of him. Plato who had (as Seneca witnesseth) 
Laert. l. 1. c. 14.  a strong and able body, borrowing his name from his broad breast, not without much care & diligence arrived to the age of eighty one years. 
Epist. 51.  And Barzillai who lived in David's time, is said to have been Senex valdè, a very aged man, yet was he by his own confession, but four score 
2. Sam. 19 32. v. 35.  years old. Nay David himself is said to have been old, stricken in years, & Satur dierum, full of days, insomuch as they covered him with clothes, 
1. King. 1. 1. 1 Chro: 19 28. 2. Sam. 5. 4.  but he got no heat: yet was he but threescore and ten when he died, thirty when he began to reign, and forty years he reigned, being naturally of a sound and healthful constitution. Solomon's age we cannot by Scripture certainly determine: some Divines conjecture, that he little exceeded forty, but the most learned, that he passed not fifty or threescore at most, yet is it noted of him, that cum senex esset, when he was old, his wives turned away his heart after other Gods: Of all the Kings of judah 
1 King. 11. 4.  and jerusalem which followed after, the greatest part came not to fifty, very few to threescore, and none full home to threescore and ten. In the whole Catalogue of Roman, Greek, French, and German Emperors, only four are found which attained to fourscore, and those not among the first of that rank. In the beadroll of Popes, five only lived to see those years, and those of latter days in comparison, namely john 23. Gregory 12 & 13. Paulus 3 and 4. and which is more remarkable, our Queen Elizabeth of fresh and blessed memory outlived all her predecessors since the conquest, reigning the years of Augustus, and living the age of David.   

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 
Lib. 7. c. 48 49.  man, affirmeth, (but upon what ground I know not) that a crow liveth nine times as long as we, and the Hearts or Staggs four 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 live an hundred and two and twenty years: and Berosus is of opinion, that one cannot pass an hundred and seventeen. In the Oracle of Sibylla Erithraea by the testimony of Phlegon Trallianus are found these verses.  
Viginti & centum revolutis protinus annis,  
Quae sunt humanae longissima tempora vitae.  
When six score winters are expired, which fate  
Of humane life hath made the longest date.  
Moreover Trebellius Pollio in his book to Constantius thus writeth, Doctissimi Mathematicorum centum viginti annos homini ad vivendum datos judicant, neque amplius cuiquam concessum dicunt, illud etiam adijcientes, Mosen ipsum, (ut Iudaeorum libri testantur) Dei familiarem viginti quinque ac centum annos vixisse, qui cum interitum hunc ut immutatum fortè quereretur, ferunt illi ab incerto Numine responsum, neminem deinceps amplius esse victurum. The most learned Mathematicians are of opinion, that a man can live but an hundred and twenty years, and that none can go beyond that period, yet they add, that Moses himself, as the writings of the jews testify, being familiar with God, lived to the age of one hundred twenty five years, who when he complained of this change, they report this answer to have been given him by some divine power, that no man after that should pass those bounds. Thus Pollio: ignorantly mistaking the age of Moses, but alluding as it seems to that speech of God in the sixth of Genesis, his days shall be an hundred & twenty years. Which words 
V. 3.  notwithstanding I should rather choose to refer to the continuance of the world till the coming of the flood, then to the duration of the age of particular men. For it is certain that after this, not only Noah, but Sem and Arphaxad, and Salah, and Eber, and Peleg, and Nahor, and Terah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and jacob, some of them by much; and all of them by some number of years exceeded this proportion.  
Crinitus in his seventh book de honesta disciplina reports out of Terentius Varro from the authority of Dioscorides a great ginger, that the Egyptians; (who took special care about the embalming of dead bodies) by a subtle and witty kind of reasoning found out, within what bounds of space to the very utmost 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 years, so that it could not pass that term, which the heart of those, say they, who die not untimely, doth manifest; in as much as together with age, if it be examined, it either receives increase or decrease; It receiving the increase of two drams every year till a man come to fifty, and then again the decrease of two yearly till he arrive to an hundred, and so returning to its original weight, it can then make no farther progress. Now this observation though it be doubtless more curious than true, yet doth it show that the common opinion of the Ancients was, that men did seldom pass one hundred years. Seculum centum annorum spatium vocârunt, dictum à seen, quòd longissimum spatium●…id putârint senescendorum hominum, saith Varro, Seculum was the 
Lib. 5. de delingua latina.  space of an hundred years, so called à seen, because they held that to be the utmost point of growing old. And with Varro herein accords the son of Syrach, The number of a man's days at the most are an hundred years. So as that 
Ecclus 18. 8.  prerogative extraordinary of Longevity was as I take it, specially annexed, as to those first ages of the world, so to the Church and people chosen by God in those times. For had men in all places and in all ages arrived to the lives of the patriarchs, the Earth by this time had not been able to sustain 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 have been always found who have exceeded that number of years which many of the Ancients (as we have heard) accounted the utmost period of man's life.   

SECT. 5. That in all times and nations some have been found who have exceeded that number of years which the wisest of the ancients accounted the utmost period of man's life, and that often those of latter ages have exceeded the former in number of years, as is made to appear as well from sacred as profane story.  
TO let go fabulous and uncertain reports of the Arcadian kings and such like, certain it is, that Marcus Valerius Corvinus, lived 
〈◊〉. 7. c. 48:  one hundred years complete, Metellus the Pontife or Supreme Priest lived full as long. Epimenides the Cretian lived one hundred & fifty, whereof the last fifty he spent under ground in a Cave. Zenophanes the Colophonian one hundred and two at the least: for he traveled at twenty five, and returned at seventy seven after his setting forth, but after his return how long he lived it is uncertain. Gorgias the Sicilian a famous Rhetorician in his time, lived to one hundred and eight. Hypocrates the renowned Physician to one hundred and four, both approving and honouring the excellency of his Art by his age. Asinius Pollio inward with Augustus, though of a luxurious life, surmounted an hundred. And for women Cicero's wife Terentia lived till she was one hundred and three. Clodia wife to Ofilius went beyond her, and saw one hundred & fifteen years, & yet had she in her youth fifteen children: Luceia a common vice in plays followed the stage and acted thereon an hundred years, such another vice that played the fool's part, and made sport between while in interludes, named Galeria Copiola was brought aga●… act her feats upon the stage when Cn. Pompeius and Q. Sulpitius were consuls, at the solemn plays vowed for the health of Augustus Caesar, when she was in the hundred and fourth year of her age. The first time that ever she entered the stage to show proof of her skill in that profession, was ninety one years before, and then was she brought thither by M. Pomponius an Aedile of the Commons in the year that C. Marius and Carbo were Consuls. And once again Pompeius the great, at the solemn dedication of his stately Theatre, trained the old woman to the stage, thereby to make a show of her to the wonder of the world.  
And if from profane stories we should come to the sacred, we shall there likewise find that some in all ages have reached to that number of years, and that often (which I desire to be observed) those of latter times have exceeded the former. To let go the Patriarches of whom as far as jaacob I have in part already spoken, joseph attained to an hun-and ten, his brother Levi to one hundred thirty seven, and Moses & 
Gen. 50. 26. Exo. 6. 16. Deut. 34. 7. Num. 33. 39  Aron were each of them one hundred and twenty at the least. Phineas Aaron's nephew, it may be by special favour for his great Zeal, is supposed to have lived three hundred years: and justly no doubt, if the war of the Israelites against the tribe of Beiamin, (in which expedition Phineas was 
jud. 28.  consulted with) were acted in the same series of time, in which the history is recorded. josua lived one hundred and ten. job after his restitution 
jos. 24. 29. job. 42. 16.  lived one hundred and forty years, notwithstanding that before his affliction he had children of the age of men and women. Elizeus seems to have been above an hundred, inasmuch as he lived threescore years after the assumption of Elias; and such he was at that assumption as the children taunted him for his bald pate. Tobias the elder lived to one hundred fifty and eight, the younger to one hundred 
Tob. 14. 13. & 16.  twenty seven. Long after this Anna the Prophetess mentioned by S. Luke seems to have out pitched an hundred, as our common translation 
2 cap. v. 37.  reads it, she being a widow fowerskore and four years, married seven, and by common account no less than fourteen or fifteen when she was married, which being put together make up an hundred and six years or there about: though I am not ignorant that junius and our last translation agreably to the original render it thus, & erat vidua annorum quasi octoginta & quatuor, she was a widow of about fowreskore and four years that is according to an usual Hebraisme, about foverscore and four years old, as Noah is said to have been filius quingentorum 
Gen. 5. 32.  annorum, the son of five hundred years, that is, natus quingentos annos, five hundred years old. john the divine and beloved desciple an apostle a prophet and an evangelist, who of all the apostles only died in his bed, all the rest suffering martyrdom for the name of Christ, was doubtless very aged when he resigned his spirit for as witnesseth Eusebius 
In Chron:  out of Irenaeus he deceased in the 2 year of Traian which was the 101 from the nativity, the 68 from the passion of Christ; Cedrenus affirms that he lived to 106, but surely considering he wrote his Gospel after he was 90 
In Comp.  by the testimony of Epiphanius, it is more than probable that he drew 
Haer. 51  ne'er upon 100 if he exceeded it not.  
After this again Plyny to show the error of some ●…athematitians, who thought that the life of man could not even then be extended beyond 
Lib. 7. c 49.  an hundred years, produceth a taxation or review of the several ages of men between Apennine and the Poo made under the emperor's Vespasian, the father and the son, in which upon examination were found at Parma three men that had lived each of them one hundred and twenty years, at Brixels one that was one hundred twenty five years old: Moreover at Parma two, one hundred and thirty years of age; at Plaisance one elder by an year: at Faventia there was one woman one hundred thirty two years old: at Bononia L. Taurentius the son of Marcus & at Ariminium M. Aponius reckoned each of them one hundred and fifty years. About pleasance, is a town situate upon the hills named Velleiacum wherein six men brought a certificate that they had lived one hundred and ten years a piece, four likewise came in with a note of an hundred and twenty years, & one of an hundred and forty: But because we will not dwell (saith he) upon a matter so evident and commonly confessed in the review taken of the eight Region of Italy, there were found in the role fifty four of one hundred years of age, fifty seven of one hundred & ten, two of one hundred twenty five, four of one hundred and thirty, as many that were an hundred thirty five, or one hundred thirty seven, and last of all three men of one hundeed and forty.  
Now had Plyny vir unus apud Latinos in observandis investigandisque Naturae arcanis diligens & accuratus, the only man among the Latins who is a diligent and curious tracer of the prints of Nature's footsteps, 
Cri●…itus.  had this man I say observed any such decrease as is pretended in men's ages in regard of former times, he would doubtless have noted it, either in that chapter where so fare an opportunity 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 compass; or if there were found defect in that place, it may happily be supplied in another; or if a general defect in this age by reason of some accidental occasion, yet may it be repaired & recompensed again 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 have equalled and some exceeded those recounted by Plyny in number of years.   

SECT. 6 The same assertion farther proved and enlarged by many instances, both at home & abroad.  
ARchapius the Philosopher boasted, as witnesseth Roger Bacon in his book de erroribus medicorum, that he had lived 1029 years: and farther adds that himself had spoken with many eye-witnesses worthy Credit who knew a man qui magnifico medicamine sumpto vixerat nongentis et multis aliis annis & habuit litteras Papales in testimonium huius rei, who having used a princely preservative lived nine hundred years, and had the Pope's letters testimonial to show for it.  
To say nothing of the wand'ring jew, by some named johannes Buttadeus, of whom about six years since, being seen and conferred with at Antwerp, & again about sixteen before that, in France was every where in those times so much talk, as if he had been present at our Saviour's passion, and had lived in this wand'ring manner ever since; I will only refer the curious Reader, who desires to be farther informed in that point to the relations of Guido Bonatus, (who lived about 400 years since) in the first part, 5 tract & 141 consideration of his judiciary Astrology, & to the seaventh book of the History of the peace betwixt the Kings of France & Spain in the year 1604, where the story is not only related but learnedly disputed; & to an old manuscript Chronicle de gestis Regis johannis lately in the keeping of the ever renowned Sr Henry Savill, where report is made that in the year of Grace 1228, an Archbishop of Armenia arriving as a pilgrim in this kingdom to visit the relics of our Saints, and being demanded if he could say any thing touching the wand'ring jew, of whom at that very time was much rumour; a certain Knight in his train made answer for him in french, that he knew him well, and had often conversed with him; and thereupon describes him both for his person, and manners, & the occasion of his living in that fashion, Much like as doth Paul of Eitsen, Bishop of Sleswing, who is said to have met & conferred with him at Hamborough, in the year 1542, in the French history before alleged, but leaving him to his wand'ring life, I return to more certain Relations.  
Paul the Hermit lived to one hundred & thirty, S. Anthony to one hundred & five, one Cornarius a Venetian by weighing his meat and drink which he took every meal (as himself in his medicinal observations testifies) survived an hundred in perfect sense and sound health. Gartius Aretinus great Granfather to Petrarch, arrived to one hundred & four. 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 above all, most memorable is the age of johannes de Temporibus, which Verstigan out of the Dutch Authors thus reports: here by the way, saith he, I must note to the Reader that johannes de Temporibus, that is to say, john of times so called for the sundry times or ages he lived, was shield-knave, or Armour bearer to Charles the great, of whom he was also made Knight. This man being of great temperance, sobriety, & contentment of mind in his condition of life, but above all, of a most excellent constitution of body, residing partly in Germany where he was borne, & partly in France, lived unto the ninth year of the reign of the Emperor Conrade, & died at the age of three hundred sixty oney ears, seeming thereby a very miracle of Nature, & one in whom it pleased God to represent unto latter ages the long years & temperate lives of the ancient patriarchs. Mine Author goeth on; 'tis said that there hath a man lately lived in the East Indies, of some thought to be yet living, of greater age than this john of Times: The certainty hereof I cannot affirm, but it is crediblely reported, that a wo●… lately lived at Segovia in Spain of an hundred & threescore years of age. And Franciscus Alvarez saith, that he saw Albuna Marc: chief Bishop of Ethiopia being of the age of an hundred & fifty years. Anthony Fume an Historiographer of good account, reporteth that in the year one thousand five hundred & seaventy, there was an Indian presented to Solyman General of the Turks army, who had outlived three hundred years. And Sr Walter Raleigh tells us, that himself knew the old Countess of Desmond of Inchiquin in Munster, who lived in the year 1589 & many years since, & yet was married in Edward the fourth's time, & held her jointure from all the Earls of Desmond till then: And that this is true (saith he) all the Noblemen & Gentlemen of Munster can witness. My Lord of S. Alban casting her age, brings her to one hundred & forty at least, adding withal, ter per vices dentijsse, that she recovered her teeth after casting them three several times. The same Author reports that a while since in Hereford-shire at their May-games there was a Morris dance of eight men, whose years put together made up eight hundred, that which was wanting of an hundred in some superabounding in others. Mr Carew in his survey of Cornwall, assures us upon his own knowledge that fourscore, & fourscore and ten years of age is ordinary there in every place, & in most persons accompanied with an able use of the body and their senses. One Polezew, saith he) lately living reached to one hundred & thirty, a kinsman of his to one hundred & twelve. One Beauchamp to one hundred and six, and in the parish where himself dwelled he professed to have remembered the decease of four within fourteen week's space, whose years added together made up the sum of three hundred & forty. The same Gentleman made this merry Epigram or Epitaph upon one Brawn an Irish man, but Cornish beggar.  

here Brawn the quondam beggar lies  
Who counted by his tale,  
Some six score winters and above;  
Such virtue is in ale.  
Ale was his meat, his drink, his cloth,  
Ale did his death reprieve,  
And could he still have drunk his ale,  
He had been still alive.   
And I make no doubt but the like observation might be made in other countries under his Majesty's dominions, aswell as in those two shires, if the like particular survey, & search were made.  
And if we please a little to cast our eyes abroad, we shall likewise find that even at this day the Indians, a barbarous people and living according to Nature, reach to a marvellous great age, matchable to any that we read of since the flood, either in sacred or profane story. Sr Walter Raleigh in his discovery of Guiana reports that the king of A●…omaia, being one hundred and ten years old, came in a morning on foot to him from his house which was fourteen English miles, and re●…urned on foot the same way: But that which is written by Mons●…r Besanneera a french Gentleman in the relation of Captain Laudonr●… reis second voyage to Florida, is much more strange, and not unworthy to be set down at large. Our men, saith he, regarding the age of their Paracoussy or Lord of the country, began to question with him thereabouts, whereunto he made answer that he was the first living Original from whence five generations were descended, showing them withal another old man which far exceeded him in age, and this man was his father, who seemed rather an Anatomy than a living body: for his sinews, his veins, his arteries, his bones, & other parts appeared so clearly thorough his skin, that a man might easily tell them, & discern them one from another. Also his age was so great that the good man had lost his sight, & could not speak one only word but with exceeding great pain. Monsieur d' Ottigni having seen so strange a sight, turned to the younger of these two old men, praying him to vouchsafe to answer to that which he demanded touching his age: then called he a company of Indians, & striking twice upon his thigh & laying his hand upon two of them, he showed by signs that these two were his sons; again smiting upon their thighs, he showed him others not so old, which were the children of the two first, and thus continued he in the same manner until the fifth generation: But though this old man had his father alive more old than himself, and that both their hair was as white as was possible, yet it was told them that they might yet live thirty or forty years more by the course of nature, although the younger of them both, was not less than two hundred & fifty years old.  
Torquemado in the first journey of his discourse tells us, that being at Rome about the year 1531: it was bruited thorough all Italy that at Tarentum there lived an old man, who at the age of an hundred years was grown young again, he had changed his skin like unto the snake & had recovered a new, being withal become so young & fresh, as those which had seen him & known him before, could then scarce believe their own eyes; and having continued above fifty years in this estate, he grew at length to be so old, as he seemed to be made of barks of trees; whereunto he further adds (and that the above written relation, saith he, may not seem impossible, we have a more admirable thing in the same kind, recorded by Fernand Lopez of Castegnede, historiographer to the King of Portugal in the vl book of his Chronicle, where he saith, that Nonnio de Cugne, being Viceroy at the Indies in the year 1536, there was a man brought unto him as a thing worthy of admiration, for that it was averred by good proofs & sufficient testimony, that he was three hundred and forty years old, he remembered he had seen that City wherein he dwelled unpeopled, being then when he spoke it one of the chief of all the East Indies; he had grown young again four times, changing his white hair & recovering new teeth. When the Viceroy did see him, he then had the hair of his head & of his beard black, although he had not much, & there being by chance a Physician at that time present, the Viceroy willed him to feel the old man's pulse, which he found as good & as strong as a young man's in the prime of his age. This man was borne in the Realm of Bengala, & did affirm that he had had at times near seven hundred wives, whereof some were dead and some he had put away. The King of Portugal advertised of this wonder, did often inquire, and had yearly news of him by the fleet which came from thence: He lived above three hundred and seventy years. The same Castegnede adds, that in the time of the same Viceroy, there was also found in the City of Bengala another man, a Moor or Mahometan called Xequepeer borne in a Province named Xeque, who was three hundred years old, as he said: all those that did know him did also certify it, having great presumption so to do. This Moor was reputed among them an holy man by reason of his austereness and abstinence: The Portugals did converse familiarly with him. Now besides that the histories of Portugal touching the Indies are faithfully collected and certified by very authentical witnesses, there were in my time, saith Torquemado, both in Portugal and Castille many which had seen these old men.   

SECT. 7. That if our lives be shortened in regard of our Ancestors, we should rather lay the burden of the fault upon our intemperance, then upon a decay in Nature.  
THe High-landers likewise in Scotland, and the wild Irish commonly live longer than those of softer education, of nice and tender bringing up, (which often falls out in the more civil times and countries) being no doubt a great enemy to Longevity, as also the first feeding and nourishing of the Infant with the milk of a strange dug; an unnatural curiosity, having taught all women but the beggar to find out nurses, which necessity only ought to commend unto them. Whereunto may be added hasty marriages in tender years, wherein nature being but yet green and growing, we rend from her, and replant her branches, while herself hath not yet any root sufficient to maintain her own top. And such halfe-ripe seeds for the most part wither in the bud, and wax old even in their infancy. But above all things the pressing of Nature with over-weighty burdens, and when we find her strength defective, the help of strong waters, hot spices and provoking sauces, is it which impairs our health, and shortens our life.  

— Simul assis 
Horat. lib. 2. Sat. 2.   
Miscueris elixa; simul conchylia turdis  
Dulcia se in bilem vertent, stomachoque tumultum  
Lenta feret pituita; vides ut pallidus omnis  
Coena desurgat dubia?   

Mix sod with roast, and fish with flesh, straightways  
The sweet will turn itself to bitter gall:  
Tough phlegm will in the stomach tumults raise.  
Seest not how doubtful 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 quam parvo liceat producere vitam,  
Et quantum natura petat.  
Non auro myrrhaque bibunt, sed gurgite puro  
Vita redit, satis est populis fluviusque Ceresque.   

O wasteful riot never well content,  
With low-prized fare, hunger ambitious  
Of Cates by land and sea far fetched and sent,  
Vainglory of a table sumptuous:  
Learn with how little life may be preserved,  
In gold and myrrh they need not to carroufe,  
But with the brook the people's thirst is served,  
Who fed with bread and water are not starved.   
Multos morbos multa fercula fecerunt, saith Seneca, our variety of dainty 
Epist. 95.  dishes hath bred variety of diseases. And again, Maximus ille medicorum, & hujus scientiae Conditor, foeminis nec capillos defluere dixit, nec pedes laborare: atqui haejam & capillis destituuntur, & pedibus aegrae sunt, non mutata foeminarum natura, sed vita est. The greatest of Physicians & the founder of that Science affirms that women neither lose their hair, nor grow diseased in their feet: but now we see they are both bald and gouty, not because their nature is changed, but the course of their life. Beneficium sexus sui vitijs perdiderunt, & quia foeminam exuerunt, damnatae sunt morbis virilibus. They have forfeited the privilege of their sex by their own viciousness, and having together with their modesty put off their womanhood, they are deservedly plagued with men's diseases.  
Besides, our Ancestors used some things now grown out of use with us, which were no doubt special means to preserve their health and prolong their lives, as the anointing of their bodies, their frequent use of saffron and honey, their wearing of warmer clothes, and dwelling in closer houses with little doors and windows, choosing rather to admit less air than much light, preferring their health before their pleasure, as also for the most part they used less Physic and more exercise: so that if our lives be shortened in regard of them, we have reason to acquit and discharge nature, and to lay the whole burden of the fault upon ourselves.  
— Natura beatis  
Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti.  
Nature allows that all should blessed be,  
Knew they to use her bounty prudently.  
And doubtless through our own ignorance or negligence it is, if we make not that use of Nature's bounty which we might and should: and herewith that of Roger Bacon accords in his book de retardatione accidentium senectutis: Mundo senescente senescunt homines, non propter mundi senectutem, sed multiplicationem viventium inficientium ipsum aerem qui nos circundat, & negligentiam regiminis & ignorantiam illarum rerum, illarumve proprietatum quae regiminis defectum supplent. The world waxing old, men likewise wax old, not so much by reason of the world's old age, as the multiplication of living creatures infecting the air which environs us, and our negligence in the government of our health, and our ignorance in the virtue of those things which should supply the defect of that government; and again in his book de scientia experimentali. Causa 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 convenientioribus, & in meliori proportione earum ad invicem secundùm diversitatem aspectuum, & proiectionem radiorum invisibilem, & quod ab illo statu paulatim recesserunt, & secundùm hunc recessum ponunt vitae decurtationem usque ad aliquem terminum fixum in quo est status, sed hoc habet multas contradictiones & difficultates de quibus non est modo dicendum. The cause of this prolonging and shortening our lives; many conjectured to be in regard of the Heavens, for they thought that the Heavens were best disposed at the first, and that as the world waxeth old, all things decayed, supposing that the Stars 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 beams, and that by degrees they are fallen off from that estate, and according thereunto they proportion the decrease of life until it come to some settled period, beyond which there is no farther progress; but this assertion includes many contradictions and difficulties of which I cannot now speak.  
Yet me thinks it may be demonstrated by evident reason, besides the arguments already alleged, that at the least for these last thousand or two thousand years, the age of mankind is little or nothing abated, which I will endeavour to make good in the next Chapter.    

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

SECT. 1. The first reason taken from the several stops and pawses of nature in the course of man's life, as the time of birth after our conception, our infancy, childhood, youth, man's estate, and old age, being assigned to the same compass of years as they were by the Ancients; which could not possible be, were there a universal decay in mankind in regard of age; And the like reason there is in making the same Clymactericall years and the same danger in them.  
THat the age of mankind for these last thousand or two thousand years is nothing shortened, will farther appear by the several stages and stops which the Ancients have marked out, aswell in the growth of the infant in the mother's womb, and time of birth, as in the distribution of man's age after the birth, agreeable unto that which is generally received by the learned, and for the most part we find to be verified by experience at this day. As among Plants, those which last longest have likewise their seeds longest buried under the earth before their springing above ground: so likewise among beasts, those which live longest, are carried longest in the womb of their dams; the bitch carries her young but four months, the mare nine, the elephant two years (not ten as some have vainly written) and look what proportion is found betwixt their conception and birth, the like is commonly found betwixt their birth and death. Nature then in her proceedings in natural actions being alike, aswell to them as to mankind, it should in reason seem, that as their time is the same which the Ancients, (namely Hypocrates and Aristotle) have left upon record, from their conception to their birth, and again ordinarily (or caeteris paribus, as in Schools we speak) from their birth to their death; so it should far with mankind too: If then it shall appear that the Ancients assigned the same space of time for the delivery of a woman with child, which we now do, me thinks the consequent from hence deduced should be more than probable, that as the space of their abode in the womb of the mother, and coming from thence into the world, is the same as then it was, so likewise ordinarily, and in the course of nature (if she be not wronged or interrupted, nor on the otherside by a supernatural power advanced above herself) it should be the same during their abode here in the world, and their return to the womb 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 than that of any other Creature (perchance because his food & fancy are more variable, or because nature is more solicitous of him, as being her darling) yet most certain it is, the same periods which by Hypocrates were assigned for his first coming into the light, are now also by Physicians observed, & that so precisely as they exactly agree with him, not only in the number of months but of days; the months assigned by him were the seaventh, the ninth, the tenth, & sometimes the 
Lauren. hist. Anat. l. 8.  eleventh, & so they still remain; and as the eight was by him held dangerous & deadly, so is it now; & as the tenth month is our usual computation, so was it likewise theirs, as appears by that of Neptune in Homer speaking to a Nimph.  
Anno circummacto speciosum partum edes  
nimirum decimo mense. 
Odis. 〈◊〉.   
The year ended thou wilt be delivered  
of a fair child, that is to say, in the 10th month.  
From whence it may be observed that the Aeolians (of whom was Homer) counted their year from thence, as did also the Romans till Numa's reign, I mean from the usual time of a woman's going with child.  

Quod satis est utero matris dum prodeat infans,  
Hoc anno statuit temporis esse satis.   
Sayeth the Poet speaking of Romulus.  

That space which is unto our birth assigned, 
Fast. lib 1.   
The same by him was to the year confined.   
And to the end we may fully know what space is there by him understood, he presently adds.  

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

Our year ten full moons did contain  
This number than was honoured  
For that a woman going in pain  
So long, was then disburdened.   
But I proceed from the time of the birth to the Ancients distribution of man's age after the birth.  
Some of them divided the age of man into three, some into four, some into five, some into six, some into seven parts: which they resembled to the seven Planets; comparing our infancy to the Moon, in which we seem only to live & grow as plants; the second age or childhood to Mercury, wherein we are taught and instructed; the third age or youth to Venus, the days of love, desire, & vanity: the fourth to 
Rodog. 10. 61. 62.  the Sun, the strong flourishing and beautiful age of man's life; the fifth to Mars, in which we seek honour and victory, and in which our thoughts travel to ambitious ends; the sixth to jupiter, in which we begin to take account of our times, judge of ourselves, & grow to the perfection of our understanding: The last & seaventh to Saturn, wherein our days are sad and overcast, & in which we find by dear & lamentable experience, & by the loss which never can be repaired, that of all our vain passions and affections past, the sorrow only abideth.  
Philo judaeus in that excellent book of the workmanship of the world, discoursing of the admirable properties of the sacred number of seven, among many other things alleged to that purpose, he affirms that at the end of every seaventh year, there is some notable change in the body of man, and for better proof thereof, he produceth the authority of Hypocrates, and an Elegy of Solons which thus begins.  

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

When children once to seven years have aspired,  
The tale of all their teeth they have acquired.  
By that the next seven ended have their date  
puberty comes and power to generate.  
The third seven perfects growth, and then the chin  
With youthly down to blossom doth begin.   
But among all the Ancients I have met with, Macrobius in his first book of Scipio's dream, extolling (as Plilo doth) the rare and singular 
Cap: 6:  effects of the septenary number, most clearly and learnedly expresseth the remarkable pawses and changes of Nature every seaventh year in the course of man's age, as the casting of the teeth in the first seven, the springing of the pubes in the second, of the beard in the third, the utmost 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 Ancients observed touching these secret stations and progresses of Nature in the state of man's body and course of his life, is still found to be true, aswell by the Verdict and judgement of learned men, as by the proof and trial of Experience, which could not possibly be, were there a constant abatement in the length of our whole age, by such an universal & irrevocable decay of Nature as is pretended: for than should men doubtless grow to ripeness and perfection sooner, as they are supposed sooner to hasten to death and dissolution, which must needs draw on an alteration and confusion in all the noted changes thorough the course of man's life: And therefore the holy Scripture assigning the patriarchs a longer life, assigns them likewise proportionablely thereunto a longer 
Loc, Con: c: 12, Classis. 1  time before they were ripened for generation, as Peter Martyr hath rightly noted.  
It is true and ever was, which Galen in his sixth book of the regiment of health hath observed, that these changes cannot so be tied to any such precise number of years, 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, others at thirty five, according to their several constitutions, educations, diet, situation of Climates and countries and the like; The Poet professed of himself above sixteen hundred year ago, that his beard began to sprout and paint his cheeks before twenty.  
Quamuis jam juvenile decus mihi pingere malas  
Caeperit, & nondum vicesima venerit aetas. 
Ovid.   
Though now my beard began my cheeks to grace,  
Nor had I lived yet twice ten years' 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 uniform, where all circumstances concur in a like degree.  
It is now commonly thought, that thirty three, or between that and 35 years, is the flower & perfection of man's age, (it being the mid way 
St. Augustine makes it sooner. Circa 30 quip annos definierunt esse etiam huius Saeculi doctissimi homines iuventulem, quae cum fuerit spatio proprio terminata inde iam hominem in detrimenta pergere gravioris & saenilis aetatis, Civi. dei. 22. 15.  to seventy, which both Moses & Solon held the Epilogue & conclusion thereof: so as those who run beyond that, are like Racers which run beyond the goal.) And this was the age of our blessed Saviour, to the perfection whereof, the Apostle seems to allude in the 4 to the 
a v. 13.  Ephesians: Till we meet together unto a perfect man and unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ: which passage 
b De Civit. Dei. Lib. 22. c. 15.  S. Augustin interpreting, is of opinion, that we shall rise again by reason of the perfection thereof, in ea aetane usque quam Christum pervenisse cognovimus, as men of that age unto which Christ himself the head of the Church arrived. I know there want not some, as namely 
d Lib. 2. Cap. 39  Irenaeus & others, who by occasion of that speech of the jews, 
e john 8. 57  thou art not yet fifty year old, and hast thou seen Abraham? conjecture that he was about that age: but whether it were his cares & troubles that made him seem elder than indeed he was, or the jews would thereby signify that though he had been much elder than he was, yet was it not possible for him to have seen Abrabam in the flesh; certain it is that he came not to forty: some late Divines being of opinion that he reached thirty five, but the most part, as also the most Ancient and most learned, 
f Decherius de anno ortus & mortis Christi.  that he little exceeded thirty three since then our infancy ends and childhood 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 thousand year ago, 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 observing anciently the same Clymactericall years and in them the same danger of sickness or death that we do, as appears 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 Queen Elizabeth) but much more fully in Baptista Codronchus a famous both Philosopher and Physician who hath purposely composed a large treatise de annis Climactericis, in which thus begins his preface to that work Antiquissimi & peritissimi rerum naturalium observatores, nec vulgares homines vitae humanae curriculum considerantes septimo quoque anno & presertim tertio supra sexagesimum homines plerosque corporis & animi affectionibus conflictari, in discrimine versari, ac saepius interire pluribus observationibus ac periculis cognoverunt. The most ancient and skilful searchers into natural things, and those no mean men taking into consideration the course of man's life by many observations and trials, they found that every seventh year, 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 only one instance from Antiquity to show 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 book, and seaventh chapter of his Noctes Atticae, where he thus speaks of this matter, Observatum in multa hominum memoria, expertumque est in senioribus plerisque omnibus sexagesimum tertium vitae annum cum periculo & called aliqua venire, aut corporis morbique gravioris aut vitae interitus, aut animi aegritudinis. It hath been of a long time observed and experienced, in almost all old men, that the 63 year of their life, hath proved dangerous and hurtful unto them, either in regard of some grievous sickness of body or death or great grief of mind: & going on, he alleags to this purpose a part of a letter which Augustus Caesar wrote to Caius his Nephew. Aue mi Caiazzo, meus ocellus iucundissimus: quem semper medius sidius desidero quum à me abes; said precipue diebus talibus, qualis est hodiernus, oculi mei requirunt meum Caium; quem ubicunque hoc die fuisti, spero laetum & benevolentem celebrasse: quartum & sexagesimum natalem meum, nam ut vides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commnem seniorum omnium tertium & sexagesimum annum evasimus. I greet the well my Caius, mine own dear heart, whom in truth I always find wanting as oft as thou art absent from me, but chiefly upon such days as this is, mine eyes long to behold my Caius, which wheresoeverthou wert, I hope thou hast kept festival, it being my sixty fourth birthday, for as thou seest I have escaped my sixty third being the common climacterical of all old men.   

SECT. 2. The second is drawn from the age, of Matrimony and Generation which among the Ancients was fully as forward as ours now is if not more timely.  
FOR the better clearing of which point, it shall not be amiss somewhat farther to insist upon the age of Generation and Marriage, which among the Ancients was both in opinion held, and in practice proved to be the same or little different from that which amongst us is in use at this day. The third council of Carthage ordained that public readers in the Church cum ad annos pubertatis venerint aut cogantur uxores ducere aut continentiam profiteri, when they came 
Cap. 19  to years of puberty, should be forced either to marry or vow chastity; and Quintilian of his own wife professeth that having borne him two sons, she died, Nondum expleto aetatis undevicesimo anno being not yet 
Proem. Lib. 6.  full one and twenty years of age. Mulieres statim ab anno decimo quarto, à à viris Dominae vocantur, saith Epictetus: women no sooner pass fourteen, 
En●…irid. c. 55.  but presently they have given them from men, or from their husbands the title of Mistresses. The 
a Digest. l. 9 de Spons.  Civil Laws allowed a woman marriage at twelve, so did the. 
b Burdorf. Synag. Iud 3.  jewish Talmud and the 
c Lancelot. l. 2. tit. 11.  Canons of the Church, 
d 2 Oper, & Dierum.  Hesiod at fifteen, 
e De Spartana Re●…up.  Xenophon and the 
f E●…ucho. Act 2: sc: 3:  Comedian at sixteen, anni sedecem fios ipse, 
g Polit: 7: 16:  Aristotle at eighteen, 
h 5 de Repub: & 6 de Legibus Tranquillus in Claudio, c. 23:  Plato at twenty: The reason of the difference I take to be this: The Laws would not permit them to marry sooner, & Plato held it not fit they should stay longer. And as we commonly are both ripe for marriage, and marry about the same years the Ancients did, so men for the most part leave begetting, and women bearing of children about the same time as they did.  
Tiberius' made a Law, known by the name of Lex Papia, by which he forbade the such men as were past sixty, or women past fifty to marry, as being insufficient for generation. To which Lactantius out of Seneca seems to allude, thus jesting at the Ethnics touching their great God jupiter. Quare apud Poetas salacissimus Iupiter desijt liberos tollere, utrum 
Lib: 1: diuin. instit. cap. 16.  sexagenarius factus, & ei Lex Papia fibulam imposuit? How comes it to pass that in your Poets the lecherous jupiter begets no more children, is he passed sixty, & restrained by the Papian Law? Yet this Law by the Emperor Claudius in part, but by justinian (almost five hundred years 
L: Sa●…inus 27: c: de ●…upt.  after) was fully repealed as insufficient, in as much as men after that age were, and still are found to be sufficient for that act; Seldom indeed it is that men beget after seaventy, or women bear after fifty; and the same was long since both observed & recorded by the principal both Secretary & great Register of Nature in his time, adding farther that men commonly left begetting at sixty five, & women bearing at forty five: 
Aristrt: bist: Ani●… l: 5: c. 14. Rome 4: 19  When Abraham's body was now dead in regard of generation, he was short of 100 Indeed Plutarch reports of Cato Maior, that he begat a son at eighty: & Pliny of Masinissa, after eighty six: but they both 
7. 14.  report it as a wonder, neither want there precedents in this age to parallel either of them.  
I well know that the accusation is common, & perchance in part not unjust, that men now a days generally marry sooner than their Ancestors did, which is made to be one of the chief causes of our supposed shorter lives: but that many of them abstained not so long from marriage as we now commonly do, it may be evidenced by these following examples, drawn from the Oracles of sacred writ. There descended from Abraham in the space of four hundred years and little more, & from jaacob and his sons, within 200 or thereabout, above six hundred thousand men, beside children and those who died in the interim, and were slain by the Egyptians: which wonderful multiplication 
Exod. 12. 37.  within the compass of that time, should in reason argue that they married timely. In the forty sixth of Genesis, Moses describing old jaacobs' journey down into Egypt, tells us that the number of 
Gen. 46. 26.  persons springing from his loins, which accompanied him in that journey, were sixty six souls, and not content with the gross sum he specifies the particulars, among which the sons of judah are named to be Er, & Onan, & Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah; (but Er and Onan, saith the text, died in the land of Canaan) and the sons of Pharez 
v. 12.  were Hezron, and Hamul; so that he begat Pharez upon Thamar his daughter in law after the death of his eldest sons Er and Onan, who according to the Law had married her successively, and Pharez begat Hezron and Hamul, and yet at this time was judah himself but forty 
Gen. 38. v. 18.  four years of age at most, as appears by this, that joseph was then but thirty nine, sixteen he was when he was sold by his brethren, & twenty 
Gen. c. 37. 41. 45.  three years after, was his father's journey into Egypt. Now it is evident that judah was but four years elder than joseph, the one being borne in the eleventh year of their Father's abode in Mesopotamia, and the other after the expiration of the fourteenth: In the compass then of forty four years or thereabout, had judah sons which were 
Gen. c. 29. 30.  married, namely Er & Onan, after that himself by mistake begets another son upon their wife, viz: Pharez, who had likewise two sons at this time when jaacob went down into Egypt. S. Augustine is I confess much perplexed in the losing of this knot; and so is Pererius treading in his steps: They both flying for the saluing of the Text to an 
Quest: 128: in Genes: Comment: in 38: g●…n: quest: 1:  Anticipation in the story, as if some of those who are named by Moses to have descended with jaacob into Egypt, had been both begotten & borne long after his settling there: But this gloss seeming to Pareus somewhat hard, (as in truth it is) he resolves the doubt, by making both judah, & Er, & Onan, and Pharez to marry all of them at the 
Comment: in 38 g●…n. pa●…e 1.  entrance of their fourteenth year, which in the ordinary course of nature both than was, and still is the year of puberty, and then thus concludes he: In his omnibus nihil coactum aut contortum, nihil quod non consueto naturae ordine fieri potuerit, ut nec miracula fingere sit opus, nec filios Pharez qui in descensu numerantur in Aegypto demum natos asserere sit necesse: 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 
As do the jewe. in the Sederolam, making Ere to marry at 8, & Perez to beget a son at 9  to miracles, or affirm that the sons of Pharez, who are ranked in the number of those who descended with jaacob, were afterward borne in Egypt. And with Pareus herein accords the learned 
a D●…iure Connubiorum, c: 20: Sect. 3.  Arnisaeus, (some small difference between them in the calculation of years set apart) wondering that two such great Clerks, as Augustine & Pererius should trouble themselves so much about so slender a difficulty, not considering, as it seems, the Examples of the like or more timely marriages, recorded in holy Scripture. Whereof we have a notable one in the same Chapter of Benjamin, who at the same time is made the father of ten sons, and yet was he then but twenty three or twenty four years of 
v. 21.  age; being borne in the hundred and sixth year of his father, which was the year before the selling of joseph. Dina by the testimony of 
Apud Eusebeum l. 9 de praeparat. Euangel. c. ult. commentar. in 34. Gen. Nicephorus ex Euodio, 2. 3. 2▪ Kings. 22. 1.  Polyhistor, when she was ravished and sued unto for marriage by Sichem was but ten years of age, and by the computation of Caietan but fourteen, of Pererius but fifteen or sixteen at utmost. The blessed Virgin when she brought forth our Saviour, but fifteen. Somewhat more evident is that of josiah, who was but thirty nine years old when he died, eight he was when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty one; yet was Eliakim his son twenty five years old when he began to reign, being by Pharaoh Neco substituted in the place of his 
Cap. 23. 36.  brother jehoahaz, after he had reigned three months; so that josiah by just computation could not well exceed fourteen years of age, when he was first married: But that of Ahaz is yet more remarkable, who lived but thirty six years in the whole, twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years; yet was his 
2. King. 16. 2.  son Hezekiah, who immediately succeeded him, twenty five years old 
Cap. 18. 2.  when he began to reign: By which account Ahaz was married, and begat Hezekiah at eleven, or before. And though Functius in his Chrononologie, moved with the strangeness hereof, would make Hezekiah the Legal, not the natural son of Ahaz, by adoption, not by generation, and junius in his annotations refer those words; twenty years old was he when he began to reign, to jothan the father of Ahaz; yet herein they both stand alone, aswell against reason, as the ordinary phrase of Scripture and stream of interpreters. S. Hierome in his epistle to Vitalis, to 
Epist. 132.  make it good, hath recourse to God's Omnipotency, Neque enim valet natura, saith he, contra naturoe Dominum: And again, Quòd pro miraculo fit; legem Naturae facere non potest: That which it pleaseth God to work supernaturally as a miracle, may not be held for the ordinary law of Nature. Yet himself in the same Epistle alleages the example of Solomon to the same purpose: And another more strange than that; to the relation whereof he prefixes this solemn preface; Audivi, Domino teste, non mentior, I have heard, God knows I fain it not, that a certain nurse, having the education of an exposed child committed to her charge, who lay with her, being now of the age of ten years, and 
The like story hath Gregory in his Dialogues, touching a child of nine years old  provoked to incontinency by the nurse, overcharged with wine, she was found with child by him.  
I will conclude this reason with the example of Solomon, who is commonly thought to come to the Crown at twelve years of age, and the Scripture assures us that he reigned but forty, by which account he died at the age of fifty two, which is the most received opinion aswell of the 
1 King. 11. 42.  jewish Rabbins, as the Christian Doctors: yet was Rehoboam his son and successor forty one years old when he began to reign: so that but an ele●…en years at most, are left for Solomon when he begat him: Such 
1 King. 14. 21.  matches as these in this age, I think can hardly be matched neither in truth do I hold it fit they should.   

SECT. 3. The third is borrowed from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and employment in public affairs, Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military, they were thereunto both sooner admitted, and therefrom sooner discharged then men now adays usually are, which should in reason argue, that they likewise usually finished the course of their life sooner.  
ANother reason tending to the same purpose may not unfitly be drawn from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and employment in public affairs. They were thereunto as soon admitted and sooner discharged then men now adays usually are, which should in reason argue that they likewise ran their race & finished their course sooner, in as much as quod citius crescit, citius finitur, that which 
Baldus.  sooner comes to ripeness and perfection, hastens sooner to rottenness & dissolution. Now public charges may well be distributed into Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military, of the Church, of the State, and of the wars: I will begin with the Ministerial offices of the Church, and therein with the Principal, which is that of the Bishop: Thomas Becket was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of forty four years, as witnesseth Matthew Parker (who succeeded him in that See) in his book of the lives of the Archbishops entitled Antiquitates Britannicae: Is qui ad Episcopalem 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 be advanced to the dignity of a Bishop, ought not to be less than thirty years old, inasmuch 
Lib. 1. tit. 7.  as we read that our Lord was baptised and preached at that age. Whereas now adays with us seldom is any preferred to that place till he be passed forty or fifty. Venerable Bede our famous Countryman 
Malmesberiensis de gestis Angli, Reg. lib. 1. Histor. Eccles. l. 6. c. 2.  who lived about eight hundred years ago, was by hisowne testimony made Deacon at nineteen. And Origen by the testimony of Eusebius, Catechist in Alexandria at eighteen years of age. But that which to this point is most memorable in the exercise of sacred functions, is that by the commandment of God himself, the Levites after the age of 
Numb. 8. 25  fifty years were exempted from the execution of their office, which notwithstanding was nothing so painful as that of the Ministry of the Gospel, if faithfully discharged. Where by Levites it may well be that not only those who served in inferior offices under the Priests, but the Priests themselves as being of the tribe of Levi are to be understood, to which purpose M. Nettles in his answer to the jewish part of M. Seldens' History of Tithes hath vouched the Rabbins, as named Aben Ezra on Leviticus 16. every Priest is a Levite, but every Levite is not a Priest. And joshuah Ben Levi mentioning that text, Numb. 18: 26. Speak unto the Levites, doth under the name of Levites understand also Priests, farther adding, that in four and twenty places the Priests are called Levites, which being so; I see no reason but that from thence we may safely infer, that in likelihood the same space of years was assigned to the Priest, aswell for his entrance upon his office, as his discharge from it, specially considering that his place was of an higher nature.  
Now for the wars. The Gauls put their sons in arms, and prepared 
Des estals & emp●…res. Tac. annal. 13 2  them to war at fourteen. Cneius Pompeius at eighteen years of age, and Caesar Octavianus at nineteen sustained civil wars. The jews indeed ordinarily levied their soldiers from twenty years upward, as plainly appears in the first of Numbers and divers other places. But 
V. 3  the Romans from seventeen, which by Gellius out of Tubero is reported to have been the practice and prescript of Servius Tullius one of their 
Lib. 10. 28  Kings. The same was afterwards confirmed by the Gracchis, Gracchi lex iuniorem annis septendecem militem non legi. The Gracchian Law ordained 
Plut. in Gracchis  that none should be levied under seventeen. Yet in times of Necessity they came under those years, as in the second Punic war, Tum decretum, saith Livy, ut Tribuni plebis ad populum ferrent, ut qui minores annis 17. Sacramento dixissent, iis perinde stipendia procederent: ac si 17 annorum 
Lib. 25  aut maiores milites facti essent. It was then decreed that the Tribunes should tell the people that such as being under seventeen had taken their military oath, should in like sort receive their pay as if they had been full seventeen or past. The Grecians indeed entered upon their military service somewhat latter, but were discharged from it sooner, they took up soldiers for the wars at eighteen, but discharged them at forty or thereabout. We find in Demosthenes, that the state being endangered, they were all commanded to tug at the oar, usque ad eos qui 45 annorum 
3. Oly●…th.  essent, even to those that were forty five: upon which Ulpian the Scholiast commenteth, that this was an unusual practice, quia Lex apud Athenienses ad annum quadragesimum duntaxat, iubet militare, exorsos à decimo octavo, because the Laws among the Athenians commands men to serve in the wars only till forty, entering upon the service at eighteen. And it should seem Macrobius aims at this, discoursing of the efficacy of the Septenary number, Nonnullarum Rerumpub. is mos est, ut post 
Lib. 1. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  sextam hebdomaden ad militiam nemo cogatur, in plurimis detur remissio post septimam, it is the custom of some states, that after the sixth week no man should be forced to serve in the wars, and in the most they are discharged after the seventh: where by weeks he understands weeks of years, and in the sixth week seems to point at the practice of the Athenian state, in the seventh to that of the Roman. Neither the Roman nor the Grecian went commonly beyond forty five, as Dyonisius affirmeth, or 
〈◊〉 de Mi●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: 1 〈◊〉: 2 Sir Henry Sa●… in his view of military m●…ters  forty six, as Polybius: And even 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 Soldier to serve after fifty, nor a Senator after sixty.  
By the testimony of Polyhistor, and the computation both of Caietan and Pererius, simeon and Levi, when they so fiercely and desperately set 
〈◊〉: 34  upon the Sichemites, little or nothing surpassed the number of twenty years, in somuch that Pererius breaks out into this admiration: Subit animum meum vehementer admirari, praeferocem istorum animum, qui vix dum adolescentiam egressitam atrox facinus & ani●…ò conceperint, & audacissime exsèquentes perfecerint: I cannot but ex●…dingly marvel at their wonderful fierceness, that being scarce past their youth, they should in their minds conceive so bloody a fact, & put it in execution so boldly. King Edward the fourth having been Conqueror in eight or nine several set battles, died at the age of forty one, and our famous King Arthur 
Comines.  (if we may believe Ninnius) having victoriously fought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave up the ghost at the same age. julian having been for divers years a great Commander in the wars was slain at one and thirty; and it 
Socrates in hist. 〈◊〉: 6. 47.  is well known that the Great Alexander had conquered in a manner the known World at thirty three. Upon the consideration whereof julius 
Cicero. S. Philip. Suctotonius. 〈◊〉. cap. 7. Cap. 88  Caesar beholding his statue in the Temple of Hercules at Cales, fetched a deep sigh, as being ashamed that at that age himself had achieved no memorable act, yet was himself but 56 when he was slain.  
Lastly, for the administration of Civil affairs in the state, Romulus first King of the Romans having reigned (saith Plutarch in the very endof his life) 38 years died at fifty, by which account he must begin his ragne at 12 somewhat too young (a man would think) for a King that was to lay the foundation of such an Empire. Cicero by the testimony of Cornelius Nepos (who was his familiar friend, and wrote his life) pleaded publicly for Sextus Roscius at 13, and by the testimony of Aulus Gellius Euripedes 
15. 20.  wrote one of his tragedies, Natus annos duo de viginti, at eighteen years of age. josephus witnesseth of himself annos novendecem natus ad Rempub: caepi me dare, I began to apply myself to the affairs of the 
In vita s●…a.  weal public, being but yet nineteen years of age. And Moses of joseph the Patriarch, that when he had in a manner the whole government of Egypt committed to his charge by Pharaoh, was but thirty years old; 
Gen. 41. 46. 2 Sam. 5. 4.  which was likewise David's age▪ when he began to reign. Augustus' entered upon the Consulship at twenty, and received virilem togam at sixteen saith Suetovius in his life. But Aurelius Antoninus a year younger as Spartianus affirms, by which ornament or habit, they were judged fit 
Cap. 8 & 26.  for public employment in the common wealth. And Laevinus Torrentius in his Annotations upon that place, observeth that even the laws themselves at that time reputed men fit for action in state affairs at seventeen, at which age Nero was chosen Emperor: Tertullian comes 
Suct. cap. 8.  much lower, tempus etiam Ethnici observant, ut ex lege naturae jura suis aetatibus reddant: Nam foeminas à duodecem annis, masculos à duobus amplius ad 
De vela●… virginibus.  negotia mittunt. The Ethnics so observe their times, that from the law of Nature they dispose of their ages in Civil affairs: for women they employ after twelve, and men two years after that. And as they were reputed sooner fit for action than we: so likewise sooner unfit: cum sexaginta annos habebant, tum erant à publicis negotijs liberi atque expediti, 
Varro de vita. Pop. Romani, teste 〈◊〉.  & otiosi: when they once came to sixty then were they freed from all public service, and left to their ease and rest. In somuch as it grew to a Proverb amongst the Latins, Sexagenarios de ponte deijci oportere, that men of sixty deserved to be cast from the bridge, as being unprofitable for the commonwealth after that age. And from thence were they commonly called Depontani which was upon this occasion taken up, as witnesseth Festus. Quo tempore primum per pontem coeperunt com●…iijs 
Ad verbum Sexagenarij.  suffragiunferre, iunio●…es conclamauêre, ut de ponte deijcerentur sexagenarij; quia nullo publico munerefungerentur. at what time they held their assemblies & gave their suffrages upon the bridge, the younger sort cried out with one voice, that such as were sixty should be thrown from the bridge, in as much as they had no public charge. To which outcry of theirs Ovid alludes.  
Pars pi●…tat, ut ferrent juvenes suffragia Soli,  
Pontibus infirmos praecipitasse senes. 
5 Fastorum▪   
That younger men might voices give alone,  
The elder were down from the bridges thrown. 
Aelianus lib. 4. c. 1.   
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 only for marriage, but likewife for their entrance upon, & discharge from public employment, aswell in the Church and State as in the wars, was little or nothing different from that which is both allowed and practised at this day, (save that they seemed to have been more indulgent and favourable to themselves then now we are) what reason have we to imagine that the length and duration of time which they usually lived, was different from ours?  
I will close up this chapter with an observation or two taken from the Municipal laws of our own Land, which account prescription or custom by the practising of a thing time out of mind (as they call it) and that time they confine to the same number of 60 years, as formerly they have 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 again: Our Ancestors for many revolutions of ages in their Leases or other instruments of conveyance commonly valued three lives but at one and twenty years in account in Law. Whereas now adays they are valued by the ablest Lawyers at twenty six, twenty eight, yea thirty years: Whether it were that the wars and pestilential diseases then consumed more, I cannot determine, but me thinks it should in reason argue thus much, that our lives at leastwise are not shortened in regard of theirs, which is as much as I desire to be granted, and more than is commonly yielded, though (as I conceive) upon no sufficient ground denied; and so I pass from the age of men to the consideration of their strength and stature.    

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

SECT. 1. Of the admirable composition of man's Body, and that it can not be sufficiently proved 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 perpetual decrease in man's stature as is pretended,  
AS the great power of Almighty God doth shine forth and show itself in the numberless variety of the parts of man's body: so doth his wonderful goodness in their excellent use, and his singular wisdom in their orderly disposition, sweet harmony and just symmetry, aswell in regard of themselves, as in reference each to other, but chiefly in the resultance of the beautiful and admirable frame of the whole body. The consideration whereof made the Royal Prophet to cry 
Psal. 139. 13  out: I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, in thy book were all my members written, and curiously wrought, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well- This proportion is in all respects so even and correspondent, that the measures of Temples, of dwelling 
Vitruvius' l. 3. c. 1  houses, of Engines, of ships were by Architects taken from thence, and those of the Ark itself too, as it is probably thought. For as the Ark was three hundred Cubits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in height, 
August. l. 15. de Ciu. Dei c. 26. & ad Faus●…um man. 12. 14. & Amb. de No & arca. cap. 6  so the body of man rightly shaped, answers thereunto. The length from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, and breadth from side to side, and thickness from back to breast carrying the proportion of three hundred, and fifty, and thirty each to other: so that look what proportion fifty hath to three hundred, which is six to one, the same hath the breadth of man's body to his height or length. And what proportion thirty hath to three hundred, which is ten to one, the same hath the thickness to his length and breadth. Nay some have observed 300 minuta (which I take to be barley corns, the fourth part of an inch or thereabout 
Laurentius Ana●…. l. 1, c. 20 Lomatius l. 1. c. 7 ) to make up the length of a man's body of just stature, and consequently, fifty in the breadth, and thirty the thickness, answerable to the several numbers of the Cubits in the several measures of the Ark.  
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 likewise those of all other both vegetable, sensitive and unsensible Creatures) within certain bounds,  
Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere  
So that though the dimensions of men's bodies be very different in regard of several Climates & Races, yet was there never any race of men found to the bigness of mountains or whales, or the littleness of flies or aunts, because in that quantity, the members cannot usefully and commodiously, either dispose of themselves, or exercise those functions, to which they were by their maker assigned, True indeed it is, that both history of former ages, and experience of latter times teach us, that a great inequality there is, and hath been: but that since the fi●… ●…reation of man there should be any such perpetual, universal, an●… constant decrease and diminution, as is pretended, that shall I never believe.  
For then in reason should the first Man have been a Giant of Giants, the hughest and most monstrous Giant that ever the world beheld, and upon this ground it seems, (though faisely supposed) johannes Lucidus 
Lib. 1. de emendatione Temporum cap. 4. v. vit.  labours to prove him so indeed, from that passage in the fourteenth of josua, according to the Vulgar Translation: Nomen Hebron ante vocabatur Cariah-Arbe, Adam maximus ibi inter Enakim situs est, which may thus be rendered: Adam the greatest of Giants lies there buried: And this fancy of Lucidus is countenanced by that fable of the jewish Rabbis, reported by Moses bar Cephas, who supposing Paradise to be di●…oyned 
Lib. de Paradiso.  from this world, by the interposition of the Ocean, tell us that Adam being cast out of it, waded thorough 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 stream of Antiquity (S. Jerome only, & some few others his followers excepted) holding that 
In mat. 27. & in Ephes 5.  the first Adam was buried, not in Hebron, but in that place where the second Adam triumphed over death, so doth he likewise by following 
Origenes, Athanasius, Basilius. Epiphanius Chrisostomus ex Graecis: ex Lat●…is  the Vulgar Translation corrupt the Hebrew original, which is thus to be rendered: Nomen autem Hebronis nomen fuerat Kiriath-arbah, is fuerat homo inter Anakeos maximus: So that the word Adam or homo, is to be referred not to the first man, but to Arbah, the first founder as is thought 
Tertullianus, Cyprianus sive qui scripsit de operibus Cardinalibus, Ambrose Augustinus atque alibi eti●…m▪ ipse Hicronimus nempe epist. 17: ad Paul & Eustoch:  of that City; and thereupon our last Translation reads it thus: The name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arbah, which Arbah was a great man among the Anakims'. Besides, the word Adam even in the Vulgar Translation itself, is not always understood as proper to the first man, but common, as homo in Latin, or man in English: And yet to grant the word in that place to be understood of the first man, and that he was there buried; well might he be called the Greatest, yet notsomuch in regard of any excessive vastness in the dimensions of his body, as because he was the headspring and fountain of mankind, or in respect of that original justice, with which before his fall he stood invested. There is no necessity then, to believe that the first man was the tallest of men, nay rather as he came short of many that followed after in age, and number of years, so it may safely be thought, that he exceeded them not in stature or dimensions of body; there being often found in the Creatures a reciprocal correspondence, betwixt their durations and dimensions, as among the Grecians, the same word signifies both; whence some translate 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes: 4: 13: Luc: 2. 52:  it age, and some stature: So that those patriarchs of the first age, who by special dispensation lived longest, may well be conceived by virtue of the same dispensation, to have had a stature and length of body in some sort, suitable to the lasting and length of their lives.   

SECT. 2. What those Giants were which are mentioned in the 6 of Genesis, & that succeeding ages till David's time afforded the like.  
YEt the first mention that holy Scripture makes of Giants is in the sixth of Genesis, not long before the flood, but long after the Creation, 
v: 4:  There were Giants in the earth in those days, saith the text; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and thy bear children unto them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. The Original word is Nephelim, derived from Naphal, which signifies to fall, whence junius refers their name to their 
o Eccles: 16: 7:  defection & apostasy from religion and the worship of the true God. Calvin to the falling of others before them by reason of their 
a Eccles: 23: 4  excessive pride, cruelty, and oppression. Philo in his book, which he hath purposely composed de Gygantibus, to their own falling from piety and godliness to carnal thoughts and earthly desires. From which he fetcheth their name in Greek: S. Cyrill about the beginning of his ninth book against julian, discoursing of this very passage of Moses, thus comments upon it. Mos est divinae Scripturae Gigantes vocare agrestes & feroces & robustos: Nam de Persis & Medis judaeam devastaturis, dixit Deus per Isayam, Gigantes venient ut impleant furorem meum. It is the phrase of holy writ to call such Giants as are in behaviour rough and rude, wild, 
cap: 13:  and barbarous: So speaks God by the Prophet Isayah, of the Medes and Persians, ordained for the laying waist of judea; Giants shall come and execute my fury upon you. So that if we rest in any of these interpretations, there is no necessity we should conceive these Giants to have exceeded other men in stature. Nay, S. Chrysostome seems to deny it, Gygantes à Scriptura dici opinor non inusitatum hominum genus aut insolita●… formam, sed Heroas & viros fortes & hellicosoes: I think they are in Scripture called Giants, not any uncouth kind of men for shape or feature, but such as were Heroical and warlike: Which exposition of his, hath in truth some ground in the latter part of the same verse, where Moses seems to unfold himself, thus describing those whom immediately before he had called Giants, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown.  
On the other-side Cassianus, Ambrose, and Theodoret are as express, 
Cass: Coll: S: c: 21 Am●…. de No & Arca c: 4: Theod. in Gen: qu: 48:  that by Giants, Moses there understood men of an huge and vast proportion of body: But for mine own part, I see not but all these interpretations, (Chrysostom's only excepted) may well enough stand together and be accorded. These Giants being such as the Interlineary Gloss briefly but pithily describes, immanes corpore, superbos animo, viribus praevalidos & inconditos moribus: Giants than they were not only in regard of their pride, their tyranny, their incivility, and infidelity, but like wise and that doubtless most properly in respect of the monstrous enormity of their bodies: most of the former being in likelihood occasioned by this latter.  
Now as this is the first place that we read of Giants not long before the flood, (which should argue they were taller and stronger than any that went before them) so it is not the last, but in all times we may trace them thorough the history of succeeding ages. From whence Reason collects, that even in regard of these irregular prodigious births, for aught we find in Scripture, Nature hath suffered no apparent or sensible decay. Of this stamp it seems was Nymrod, who hath therefore this Character set upon him, that he was Robustus Venator coram Domino, 
Gen: 10: 9:  a mighty hunter before the Lord: There were some likewise found of this excessive stature in the time of Abraham, of Moses, of josuah, and of David, whom we have registered under the names of Rephaims, Zuzims, 
Gen: 14: 5: Num: 13: 33 Deut: 2: 20: 21 Ios: 11: ●…1: Amos: 2: 9:  Zanzummins, Emims, and Anakims'. Also the Prophet Amos found among the Amorites men of Giantlike stature, whose height he compareth to Cedars and their strength to Oakes. Particularly it is noted in the third of Deuteronomy of Ogge King of Basan four hundred years after Abraham, that his bed of iron kept and showed as a monument in Rabbah was nine cubits long and four broad: And surely if 
v: 11:  his stature were answerable to the dimensions of his bed, he was one of the greatest Giants that we any where read of, not only in sacred but in any warrantable profane story. For whereas nine cubits make up thirteen foot and an half, if we should allow a foot and half for the length of his bedsteed at both the ends beyond his body; yet there still remains twelve foot, which is double to a just stature. And though I am not ignorant that both the Chaldee Paraphrase, and Complutensian Bible following it, render it, In cubito eiusdem Regis, as if the measure were to be taken by the Cubit of King Ogge himself; yet Arias Montanus and Tremellius following the original, render it, in cubito viri, or virili; and junius gives this note upon it, idest iustae & communis mensurae, qualem mensuram cubitalem quisque Artifex observare solet: that is, of the just and common measure, such as Artificers usually observe in their cubits, and such as himself in the third of josuah translates, notam mensuram, the ordinary known measure. And to say truth, the 
v: 4:  measuring of Ogge by his own cubit had been both to make his stature altogeter uncertain, and the commensurations of his body most disproportionable, there being no man, whose body is justly framed, who is full four of his own cubits in length; neither had such a shape been only disproportionable, but exceeding weak, aswell for offence, as defence, whereas he is described as a mighty man, and of wonderful strength. Lastly, if we shall imagine him to have been a transcendent Giant, and yet measure him by his own cubit, double to the ordinary, his length will then arise to twenty four foot at least, a stature most incredible. After this in David's time we read that Goliath the Philistin of Gath, 
1: Sam: 17: 4  was a Giant of six cubits and a span long: Neither do I remember that in sacred Scriptures we have the measure of any precisely observed, save of him only: the armour which he wore weighed five thousand shekels of brass, the sheft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: Also in though second of Samuel, 
Cap: 21: 19:  there is mention of a brother to this 〈◊〉, a man of like stature and strength: And of two 〈◊〉, the one of which was slain by jehonathan David's Nephew, he who had twelve fingers and as many toes, 
v: 20: 21.  four 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 Lion as it had be●…o a kid, slew thirty of the Philistines at once, and after that a thousand more of them with 
Iud: 14: & 16.  the jawbone of an ass: And lastly he took the gates of Assah, and the two posts, & lifted them away with the bars, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the mountain before Hebron.   

SEC. 3. That latter times have also afforded the like both at home and abroad, specially in the Indies, where they live more according to nature.  
THE like may be said of all succeeding ages down to the present times; It is the confession of Cassanion in his book of Giants; No●… uno tantum seculo aut altero visi sunt; sed fermè ab initio mundi ad Davidis usque tempora propagatum id genus hominum magnitudine prorsus admiranda. They have not been seen in one only or two ages, but almost from the beginning of the world even to David's time hath that kind of men of a monstrous bigness been deduced. S. Augustine goes farther, Quasi vero Corpora hominum modum nostrum longe excedentia 
De Civit: Dei, 15. 23.  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 book; Nunquam fermè defuerunt qui modum aliorum plurimum excederint; they have almost at no time been wanting who have much exceeded the ordinary stature.  
I will insist only upon the most signal instances drawn from the testimonies of the most approved Authors. In the Gospels or writings of the Apostles we read not of any, they intending, matters of greater, weight and consequence: But Pliny tells us, that during the reign of Claudius the Emperor, a mighty man one Gabbara by name was 
Lib. 7. c. 16.  brought out of Arabia to Room, nine foot heath was he, and as many inches. There were likewise in the time of Augustus Caesar two others, named Pusio and Secondilla higher than Gabbara by half a foot, whose bodies were preserved & kept for a wonder within the Salustian gardens. Maximinus the Emperor, as julius Capitolinus affirms, exceeded eight foot; And Andronichus Comninus ten, as Nicetas. In the days of Theodosius, there was one in Syria, (as Nicephorus reports) five cubit's high and an hand-breadth. Eginhardus and Krantzius affirm that Charlemaigne 
Lib. 12. c 37.  was seven foot high: But in that they add of his own feet, they both leave his height altogether uncertain, (as was before said in the description of the stature of Ogge) and his body very disproportionable, there being no man whose body is rightly featured, who exceeds fix of his 
Vitruvius, l. 3 c: 1.  own feet.  
But to draw nearer to our own times: julius Scaliger hath left it upon record, that at his being at Milan, he there saw in a public hospital 
Exercit. 263.  a young man of so monstrous an height, that he could not stand upright, he was therefore laid upon two beds, the one joined longwise unto the other, both which he filled with his length. Goropius Becanus Physician to the Lady Mary, Queen of Hungary, regent of th' 
De Gygante●….  Netherlands, and sister to the Emperor Charles the fifth, assures us, that himself saw a woman ten foot high, and that within five miles of hit dwelling, there was then to be seen a man almost of the same lengths whereupon his assertion is, Audacter affirmamus, we boldly affirm: that men in former ages were commonly nothing taller than now they, are: Their Giants were of six or seven cubits high, & so are ours: nay he goes farther, Considenter de philosophiae preceptis statuimus, nihil in humana statura ab ineunte mundi aetate immutatum esse: We confidently aver out of the grounds of Philosophy, that since the Creation of the world nothing is altered in the stature of mankind.  
But to return to the Giants of latter ages, john Cassanion, who seems to have undertaken his treatise of Giants purposely to censure and confute Goropius, yet mentions one himself commonly called the Giant of Bordeaux, whom King Francis passing that way beheld with admiration, 
Cap. 6.  commanding he should be of his guard: but being a peasant of a gross spirit, not able to apply himself to a Courtier's life, he soon quited his halberd, and getting away by stealth, returned to the place whence he came. An honourable person, who had seen him archer of the guard, did assure me, saith Cassanion, that he was of such an height as any man of an ordinary stature might go upright betwixt his legs when he did stride. There is at this present to be seen here in England one Parsons, by trade a blacke-smith, now Porter at the King's Court, who by just measure is found to be no less than seven foot & 
〈◊〉 1614  two inches. And I here that a Welshman is lately entertained by the Prince in the like place, who outstrips the Smith in height by five inches, and yet is he still growing, so as in time he may well come unto eight foot.  
But it may well be that in these parts of the world where luxury hath crept in together with Civility, there may be some diminution of strength and stature in regard of our Ancestors; yet if we cast our eyes abroad upon those nations which still live according to nature, though in a fashion more rude and barbarous, we shall find by the relation of those that have lived among them, that they much exceed us in stature, still retaining as it seems the vigorous constitution of their Predecessors, which should argue, that if any decay be, it is not universal, and consequently not natural, but rather adventitious and accidental. For proof hereof, to let pass the stories of Olaus Magnus touching the Inhabitants of the Northern Climate, I will content my self with the Indies. Melchior Nunnez in his letters where he discourseth 
Simon Mai●… dierum Canicul: colloq: 2:  of the affairs of China reports that in the chief city called Pag●…, the Porters are fifteen foot high, and in other letters written in the year 1555, he doth aver that the King entertains and feeds five hundred such men for Archers of his Guard. In the West Indies in the region of Chica near the mouth of his straits; Ortelius describes a people whom he terms Pentagones', from their huge stature, being ordinarily of five cubits long, which makes seven foot & an half; whence their country is known by the name of the land of Giants. Mr Pretty a Gentleman of Suffolk, in his discourse of Mr Candish his voyage about 
Hackluit in his English voyage.  the world, being himself employed in the same action, tells us that measuring the print of an Indians foot in the sand, not far from the coast of Brasil; he found it to be eighteen inches long, by which computation, the Indian himself in proportion could be no less than nine foot. Cassanion likewise acknowledgeth that in the Island of Summatra & near the Antarctic Pole, some are found of ten or twelve foot high. Lastly, Antony Pigafet a great traveller in his time, as testifieth Goulart, 
Memorables Hi stoires de nostre temps.  affirms that he had seen towards the same Pole so tall a Giant, as other tall men did not reach with their heads above his navel; and others beyond the straits of Magellane, which had their necks a cubit long, and the rest of their bodies answerable thereunto.    

CAP. 4. More pressing Reasons to prove that for these last two or three thousand years, 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 man's body, and in the view of them we are first to know that they were standards, that is, for public contracts, certain and constant; and consequently if the grains of our barley corn, the first principle of measure be the same with theirs, as hath already been proved, it cannot be but our ordinary measures should be the same with theirs, and so likewise our statures.  
I will not dwell upon these lighter skirmishes, but proceed on to a more serious fight, and downright strokes drawn from the demonstrations of more weighty reasons, whereof the first shall be taken from the comparison of the measures of the Ancients and ours, used in this present age, borrowed from the body of man. It was a memorable saying of Protagoras, reported and repeated by Plato, that man was rerum omnium mensura, the measure of all things; he is the measure of 
In 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉:  measures, the yard, the ell, the pace, the furlong, the mile, they are all measured by the body of man and the parts thereof, which likewise serve for the measuring each of other. So that if they hold that Symmetry & commodulation, (as Vitruvius calls it) which they ought from the proportion 
Lib. 3. c. 1:  of the head, the hand, the cubit, the foot, the finger, nay the tooth or the least bone, may the dimensions of the whole body be infalliblely collected. As Pythagoras gathered the height of Hercules from the proportion of his foot; and Pulcher a skilful Geometrician the height of a Giant 
Gellius out of Plutarch: l: 1: c: 1  (discovered in Sicily by an earthquake) at the command of Tiberius from the proportion of his tooth, sent from thence to the Emperor 
Trallianus out of Apolloniu●… de mirabilibus & l●…ngaevis.  for a taste and trial of the whole. To lay a ground then to that which I am to say, that the building which I am to raise upon it may stand the surer, first I take it to be an undeniable truth, that the cubit, the foot, the inch, the digit were all of them standards, that is, certain and constant measures, it being not lawful for every man to make or take his measures in public contracts by his own cubit or foot, or of any whom himself would make choice of, but by that which was common and indifferent to all, legally & publicly allowed: And this much not only stands with right reason, but appears to be true, by that Amphora Capitolina amongst the Romans, a standing stable measure, kept in the Capitol, (with which all other measures were to accord) mentioned by julius Capitolinus in the life of Maximinus, as also by the Roman Congius, whereof one was lately in the keeping of Cardinal Farnese, & is exquisitely effigiated by Vyllalpandus in the latter end of his third tome upon the Prophet Ezekiel. Among the jews likewise the Law required that they should not use or have 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 feet was taken from the proportion of a man, mediae or mediocris staturae, of a middle stature, and considering that both the Roman and Grecian foot consisteth of twelve inches, and withal that a foot is the sixth part of a man's body, it must needs follow that a man of a middle stature consisted of six foot by the standard or assize. But because it was observed that in divers Climates, or it may be in the same Climate in divers ages men varied in their stature; and consequently that the middle stature was not always & in all places the same, they measured the digit, which is the least & last principal of measures in man's body, by barley corns, allowing four barley corns laid athwart for the digit, as Lucas Gauricus a great & famous Mathematician in his book of Geometry & the parts thereof, hath truly and wisely observed, Nam etsi, saith he, ab humanis membris dimensionu●… parts deno●…inari Veteres voluere placuit tamen propter humanorum corporum inaequalitatem, à certo quodam principio exordiri, ex quo mensurae reliquae velut ex certis partibus constituerentur. Statuerunt ergo Geometrae granum hordei transuersum, id est secundum latitudinem positum, mensurarum minimam. Though the Ancients have pleased to denominate the several parts of measures from the several parts of man's body; yet by reason of the inequality of men's bodies, they thought it reasonable to take their rise from some certain and unvariable beginning, from whence other measures might likewise be made up of even and certain parts. And to this purpose did the Geometricians make the barley corn laid athwart, or according to its breadth the least and first of all other measures. And that four of these make up a digit, appears 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 four palms, one palm contains  
Four digits, and one digit four grains.  
Now that the barley-corne, the (Grownsell as it were, and simplest principle of Measures) or at leastwise the fairest thereof which is used to that end, is the same with us as with the Ancients, it cannot well be denied, if the goodness and fruitfulness of the Earth be not decayed, as I have sufficiently proved in a former Chapter, aswell by reason as the testimony of Columella and other grave Writers. And besides if we still 
Lib▪ 2: c. 9  use the grains of barley for the weight of gold and silver, as the Ancients did; I see no reason why we should except against them in this case. Well then, four grains now concurring to the making up of a digit, 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 foot, and cubit, from whence we collect that a body of six foot height 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 leastwise for the general 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 us by them could avail us little. For howbeit from them we might understand what proportion each part should bear to other, yet can we not know what proportion the whole should bear, unless their measures were the same with ours. But their works in those kinds yet remaining, show that the measure which they allowed for an horse or a man of a just and even stature, are the same for proportion both with their own rules and our standing measures used at this day: And at this day do the best Architects observe Vitruvius his measures, finding them to agree with, or very little to disagree from ours.   

SECT. 2. That in particular the ordinary Hebrew Grecian and Roman measures were the same with ours or very little different.  
THose Nations which have left us any notable Records of their several sorts of measures, are to my remembrance but three: the Hebrews, the Grecians, and the Romans. For the first it is clear that as they had some weights sacred or of the Sanctuary, which were the beggar, and others of ordinary and common use, which were the lesser: so were their measures; there was a special Cubit which contained an handbredth more than the vulgar, (borrowed it seems from 
Ezek. 40. 〈◊〉 43. 13.  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 termed the Cubit of a man, and the measure of a man, that is, of a man grown up to ripe age and perfect stature. And both junius (as 
Deut. 3. 11. Revel. 21. 17.  before I observed) in his annotations on that of Deuteronomy and Ribera in his Commentaries on the Revelation, seem both of them to refer it to the ordinary measures which Artificers commonly use 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 
Gen. 6. 15. Aug. de 〈◊〉. Dei l: 15: c: 27.  of the Ark; which S. Augnstine lead by Origen held to be Geometrical, containing six common Cubits: but it is certain, that casting the bigness of it by the vulgar Cubit now in use, it was a vessel of so ample & huge capacity, that it was fully sufficient for the preserving of all sorts of creatures together with their food by God appointed to be reserved in it. The length of it was three hundred Cubits, which multiplied by the breadth, namely fifty cubits, and the product by the height of thirty cubits, showeth the whole concavity to have been four hundred and fifty thousand cubits, large enough for stowage for Noah and his company, the beasts, and birds, and their provision, and somewhat to spare, as Buteo hath learnedly demonstrated.  
Of Solomon's Temple it is noted that it was sixty cubits long, twenty broad, and thirty high, which Ribera likewise makes to be vulgar and usual 
1: Kings. 6. 2. De fabrica templi: c: 5:  cubits. And though the building may seem to have been very scant after that proportion, yet if we consider that none might come within this space but the Priests that then served, and that both the Altar of Houlocausts, and the Court of the Priests who served not, was without, it will seem needless to require a longer or larger room for those services to which it was assigned; Yet since these cubits in the second book of Chronicles, are said to be ex primariâ mensurâ, after the primary or chief measure, it should seem they were no ordinary cubits, but rather 
Cap. 3. v. 3.  sacred, which contained the common and vulgar cubit double, as may appear by this, in that the pillars of brass jachin and Boaz set up before the porch of the Temple in the first of Kings, are said to be eighteen Cubits high: but in the second of Chronicles, thirty five, which together 
Cap. 7. v. 15. Cap. 3. 15.  with the basis being one Cubit high, make thirty six, double to eighteen, as the shekel 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 above sixty foot in height, it may well be conjectured, that their foot and Cubit either came short of ours, or was at most but equal unto it. And for solomon's own house which was one hundred Cubits long, fifty broad, and thirty high, generally received it is, that they were of the Common measure. We read that 
1. King 7. 2.  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 half to the cubit, make up fifteen foot, a very large proportion, even by the 
v: 10:  length of the vulgar foot now in use: But those in Herod's Temple, twenty five Cubits long (as witnesseth josephus who saw it himself) if the cubit by which he reckoned exceed our ordinary, were of a length altogether 
Antiquit: l: 15: c: 3.  incredible. And for mine own part, I know not how we should compute either the height of Goliath, or the length of Oggs' bed, and the like, but by the vulgar and ordinary cubit, now commonly in use amongst us, as most of the learned do, and if in so doing they err not, then are our measures, and consequently our present stature undoubtedly equal with, or at leastwise not much inferior to theirs that lived 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 Grecians, howbeit Causabon in his commentaries 
In Tiberio. c: 6●…  upon Suetonius, seem to make the Grecian foot, as likewise that of other Nations, of less extent than the Roman; yet Georgius Agricola, who studied this point more thoroughly, and hath of set purpose composed a large volume of the Grecian and Roman weights and measures, affirms the Grecian to exceed the Roman by half an inch, & for proof thereof doth he mention a pillar to be seen in the Chapel of the twelve Apostles in the Vatican, which seemed to him to have been brought out of Greece, with this inscription graven in the higher part 
Libro dei Men suris, quibus intervalla 〈◊〉.  thereof, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, nine foot, and from the measure and proportion of this would he prove it to exceed the Roman by the quantity aforenamed, yet by his own confession Marlianus who hath written the Topography of Rome, & exactly described whatsoever therein was worth the observing, hath marked no such difference: And for the Cubit, though Herodotus in one place speak of Regius Cubitus, that contained twenty seven digits, which is three more than the ordinary, yet that 
Lib: 1:  their ordinary either digit or cubit exceeded ours, I nowhere find it expressly observed. And for their stature it is precisely noted by the same Author, that Phya the wife of Pisistratus was held so tall, that she 
Lib: 1.  was exhibited and applauded as another Minerva, and yet wanted she three fingers of four cubits. Neither adds he, Cubitorum Regiorum, of Regal cubits, as in the other passage, which makes me conceive that he might rather mean the vulgar. And for the Persians; from whom the Grecians borrowed their Regal Cubit, he tells us that one Artaches a principal 
Lib: 7:  Commander in Xerxes his army, was statura inter Persas procerissima, the tallest among all the Persians, and yet wanted he four digits of the measure of five Regal Cubits, so that his height according to the vulgar Cubit was about eight foot: And I think at this day there are few Kingdoms, though much inferior to that of Persia, which cannot show one at least not much inferior to that proportion.  
In the third and last place come the ancient Roman measures to be compared with ours: neither have I met with any who either affirm or so much as conjecture that they exceeded ours: but many that they rather came short of them. Sr Henry Savill a severe and exact man in the 
In his view of Military matters.  search of Antiquity, speaking of the quadrantall, a measure of a cubical Roman foot, sets this note in the margin, The Roman foot less than ours by half an inch. In like manner Agricola censures Budaeus for making 
De restit. Pond: & Mensur:  up the Roman quadrantall, by the measure of the french foot, whereas, saith he, it exceeds the Roman duobus digitis, by two fingers: and farther adds, that the standing measure of the ancient Roman foot is yet at this day to be seen cut in stone or marble in divers places of Rome; and namely in the gardens of Angelo Colocci: Some of these, it seems, Goropius Becanus met with & measured, & by his own testimony, found them short of four of his palms or hand-breadths; & yet, 
Gigantomachiae.  saith he, statura mea mediocritate brevior, myself come short of a middle stature. The mile we know was measured by the pace, and the pace by the foot, now that the Roman mile came short of ours, appears by the great stones set up at every miles end in the Appian way; and the Italian mile in use at this day, taken, as it seems, from the ancient Roman, is shorter than ours, near about the same proportion, as is the Roman foot said to be shorter than our foot. To bring it home then to our present purpose; It is by Suetonius reported of Augustus, that he was indeed 
Cap: 79.  somewhat short, nevertheless of a comely stature: Which from the testimony of julius Marathus, he notes to have been five foot and nine inches, the just measure of our late famous Queen Elizabeth, who as she matched that renowned Emperor in happiness and duration of reign, so did she likewise in the stature of her body, nay if we admit the mentioned difference between the Roman foot and ours, she exceeded him in height by more than two inches: And I see no reason why Suetonius should term Augustus short, coming so near the middle stature, except only because he came somewhat short of that. The same Author writes that Nero levied a new legion of Italians of 
Cap: 19  six footmen, which he called the Phalanx of the great Alexander, by which it should seem that very few exceeded that stature. And of Tiberius, he observes that he was statura quae justam excederet, somewhat, as it seems, above six foot. Valentinian and Valens gave order that for 
Cap: 68 Cod.  the common soldier five foot and seven inches should suffice; And Vegetius 
Theodo●…: titulo de Tyranibus: Lib: 1: c, 5.  witnesseth of Marius the Consul, that such as were six foot high, or siue & ten inches should be ranked inter Alares Equites vel in primis legionum cohortibus, among the principal troops that served either on horfe-backe or on foot. From whence Causabon collecteth that such as were seven foot high were counted Giants, & to that purpose voucheth 
In Suet: Tyb: c: 68:  he the authority of Sidonius Apollinaris who flourished about the year four hundred and forty. 
In Carmine ad Catuli●…um.   
— Spernit senipedem stylum Thalia  
Ex quo septipedes vidit Patronos:  
Six footed rhymes Thalia doth defy  
Ere since she seven foot Patrons did espy,  
whom a little after he termeth Giants:  
Tot tantique petunt simul Gigantes,  
Quot vix Alcinoi culina ferret  
Giants so many & so hugely main,  
As scarce Alcinous Kitchen can sustain.  
By all which passages it clearly appears, that our ordinary stature at this day, if it exceed not that of the Ancient Romans, yet doth it equal it at least.  
Now before I conclude this Reason & Section, it shall not be amiss by the way to remember that Nicephorus makes the stature of Christ by 
Lib. 1: c: 40:  tradition to have been, (if Langus render him right) ad palmos prorsus septem, full seven hand breadths. Which length allowing four hand breadths to the foot, according to the usual account, wants one hand breadth of two foot; The stature of a dwarf of the least size: but if by palmos he means spans, whereof about three make up two foot, so likewise could he be but four foot & a span long, too short a stature for a comely body, such as we may well and piously conceive he had, and all ancient Christian writers confess; and Lentulus the Proconsul in that Epistle to the Roman Senate, which goes under his name, confirms as much: And it should seem by that of the Apostle, till we come to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 
Ephes. 4. 13.  that his stature was complete and perfect, not excessive in height, for then Zaccheus needed not to have gone up to a tree to have seen him, nor yet very defective, that having been apt to expose him to scorn & derision. And in likelihood we should have found it somewhere, by some one or other among so many and malicious Adversaries, objected unto him. It is true that none of the Evangelists, (most particular and precise in setting down other Circumstances) have 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 knowing how inclinable by nature we are to turn the very resemblances & memorials of those, whom we most honour and reverence into Idols. Another thing which I would note is this, that when I call six foot a middle stature, my meaning is not that there are as many found to be above it, as below it (which is the vulgar understanding of that word) but because it is, and ever hath been held by the Learned, the most competent and comely stature; so as he who is under that, is somewhat too short, and he who is above it, somewhat too tall in regard of the most even, just, and exact proportion. It was so held among the Romans, as appears by Vitruvius, & by the Commentatours on Suetonius in the life of Tiberius: And yet their ranking of six foot men among 
Cap, 68  their principal troops, & Nero his making up a legion of the levied from all the parts of Italy, which in a kind of pride and glory he named the Phalanx of Alexander the great, show that then very few exceeded that stature: And yet, (which may not be forgotten) was their foot short of ours three inches in the measure of six feet. And surely, now among us to raise a Legion of five foot & nine inches in any of his Majesty's kingdoms, or perchance in some one of our shires, would prove, I dare say, no very hard task, or such as we should hold a matter worth the glorying in.   

SECT. 3. The second reason taken from the ordinary allowance of diet to soldiers and servants, which appears to be of like quantity with us, as was that among the Ancient Grecians and Romans, together with a doubt touching God's allowance to the Israelites, answered.  
But I pass from this first Reason drawn from the comparison of ancient and modern Measures, to a second no less weighty and pressing in my judgement, borrowed from the allowance of diet, taking this for my ground, that caeteris paribus, men for the most part feed according to the proportion of their bodies; and withal that their public allowance was made according to their customary feeding. To Hercules, being a man supposed of a mighty stature, is allowed by Homer an ox at a meal when he was hungry. Of Maximinus the Emperor abovenamed, Capitolinus reports, that he often ate in a day forty pound weight of flesh, and sometimes sixty, as he addeth out of Cordus. Athenaeus alleages Theodorus Hieropolis in his books 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 year one thousand five hundred & eleven, the Emperor Maximilian the first, being at Ausburge 
S●…ius in his Commentaries of the memorable things of our time.  at an assembly of the states of Germany; there was presented him a man of an unreasonable height and greatness, who at a few mouthfuls and without any stay, would devour a whole sheep, or a calf, not caring whether it were roast or raw, saying that it did but sharpen his appetite. Children for the most part are not allowed the like quantily as men of riper years, though they be growing, nor among men dwarves the like as Giants: And it stands with great reason that the portion of diet appointed for the nourishing of the body, should in some sort be answerable to the proportion of the body nourished. If then it shall appear that the daily bread allowed by the Ancients to their servants & soldiers, was no more than is by us 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 inferior to theirs, as is commonly supposed.  
The ordinary allowance in corn among the Grecians, was the measure of a Choenix a day, as witnesseth Suidas; & fromhence, as it seems, was borrowed that Motto of Pythagoras, remembered by Plutarch super Choenicem●… ne si●…as, sit not upon a Choenix, that is, having gotten food 
Symps. 7. prob. 4.  for a day, do not grow secure, as if that would never be spent. And Athenaeus tells us, that Clearchus a great coiner of new words, was wont upon this occasion to call a Choenix Hemerotrophidem sustenance 
Lib: 3:  for a day. At leastwise in the Camp it was so, if we credit Herodotus in his Polymnia, where he vittaileth the common soldier in Xerxes' army at a Ch●…nix a day: The quantity of which allowance we shall find anon very near to agree both with the Roman, & that which is in use at this day. The measure then to a Roman footman for a month, saith Polybius, was two thirds of a Medimnus of wheat, which made up four Modij, the whole Medimnus by a general consent of all the best Authors containing six Modij in all. With which rate of Polybius precisely agreeth Donate upon Terence, where he limiteth dimensum 
ja 〈◊〉.  serui, (in the Gospel called, a servants portion of meat) to be four Modij the month; the same portion which both Cato & Columella allow 
Luc. 12: 42. So 〈◊〉 & Beza 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  for country ●…indes. Now that it may appear what this allowance was according to our measures, we are to know that the Roman Modius, howbeit it be usually in our language rendered a Bushel, & be so commonly construed in Schools; yet is it about a pint less than a peck, as is rightly observed, not only by Sr Henry Savill in his view of military matters, but by our last Translatours of the Bible, who though they have set bushel 
Mat. 5. 15. Ma●…. 4. 21.  in the Text, yet in the Margin have they affixed this note, The word in the original signifieth a measure containing about a pint less than a p●…ke.  
First then to compare the Grecian and the Roman allowance. The Medimnus containing forty eight Choenices, as witnesseth Budaeus out of Pollux, and six Modij, as Tully, & Suidas, & Nepos, and others; the Roman 
Lib. 5. de Ass.  being allowed four Modij by the Month, and the Grecian a Choenix by the day, their allowances were equal, or not much different, save that the Roman seems to be somewhat larger: four Modij containing after that reckoning thirty two Choenices, which amongst them was a month's allowance. With which if we compare our own measures, it will weekly amount to a pint less than a peck, & allowing two gallons to the peck, it will arise to about a quart by the day, which is but a competent allowance for a soldier or labour-man (living most upon bread) at this day; as Budaeus by conference with his Baker, hath fully cleared the 
Lib: 5: de Ass:  point. And here it may not be forgotten that our last Translatours (to clear the whole business more fully) in their marginal notes on the sixth of the Revelation at the sixth verse, give us to understand, that the word Choenix there used signifieth a measure containing one wine quart, and the twelfth part of a quart. Now I am not ignorant that the Gomer of Manna, being the daily allowance of the ●…ewes during their abode in the wilderness, by Gods own appointment, is by Rabanus valued at three Choenices, and by junius two and an half, bating one fifth. But I should rather ascribe so large an allowance to God's special bounty, then to their necessity; and so much hath junius himself in his annotations upon that place confessed: inde colligitur, quam 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 marvelous great plenty, in likelihood was it that gave them occasion to distaste it, to grow weary of it, & cast out those murmuring speeches against God & Moses his servant & their leader, Animam nostram taed●…t huius pa●…is vilis●…imi, our soul loatheth this light bread; & to 
Num. 21: 5:  fall a longing after the cucumbers and leeks, the onions and garlic 
Cap. 11. 5:  of Egypt: Though the Manna, aswell in regard of the delicacy thereof, as the raining of it down from heaven, be by the Psalmist termed 
Psal 78. 25:  Angels food; & in the book of Wisdom be commended for having in it a certain contentful delight agreeable to every man's ●…ast. It is likewise 
Cap: 16: 20:  true that the Roman allowance to a horseman by the testimony of Polybius, seemed to be larger than that of the footman, there being allotted 
Lil: 6:  him monthly seven Medimni of oats or barley for his horse, and two of wheat for himself: But it may very well be, as Lypsius conjectureth, that he had a spare horse and an attendant or two allowed him, and then his two Medimni for himself, & his two servants agrees justly 
De militia Romana. l. 5: 16: c.  with the two thirds of a Medimnus to a footman.   

SECT. 4. Divers other reasons drawn from experience added as from the armour, the bed-steeds, the seats, the doors, the pulpits, the Altars of the Ancients, & other doubts cleared.  
TO proceed, that which seems to make the matter more evident, because it strikes more upon the sense, is the view of the roofs, the doors, the tables, the seats, the robes, the bed-steeds, the weapons, the armour, the pulpits, the Altars, the tombs of the Ancients, yet remaining to be seen; all which argue that they were of the same stature, or very little differing from us. Aristotle in his Mechanics gives us to understand, that the bed-steeds in his time, did not commonly exceed six 
Quest. 26.  foot: Nay Magius himself, who hath written a large discourse in defence of the contrary & common opinion; yet at last confesseth, 
Miscellan: c. 4.  that taking an exact measure of the Tombs at Pisa and other cities in Italy, though some of them were made a thousand years since, some more; yet found he them in dimensions parum aut nihil, little or nothing differing from those of our times, and withal ingenuously acknowledgeth, that being at Pisaurum in the Duke of Urbine's armoury, he there saw certain brass helmets digged up in the fields near Metaurum, where Asdrubal was overthrown by the Roman forces, and were verily thought to have laid there since that time: Quae tamen ab iis quas modo milites nostri gestare solent ad magnitudinem quod attinet, non discrepabant: which notwithstanding, saith he, in regard of bigness, differed not from those which our soldiers now a days usually wear.  
I know that the sword of Edward the third, the armour of john of Gaunt, the tilting staff of Charles Brandon, the walking staffs and riding staffs of Henry the eight showed in the Tower and other places far exceed the ordinary of our times: but perchance some of them like Sinesius Grandio in Seneca delighted in great things, or I should think that sometimes they were rather for show then for use; and for the rest, it only argues the strength & stature of those that used them, not for others, who lived in the same age with them: Nay if we compare the common armour of the age wherein john of Gaunt lived, or the most ancient in the Tower or otherwhere, with that which is now in use, we shall find no such sensible difference as should argue a decay in stature. Indeed their arrows generally exceeded ours both in bigness and length; but this I should rather impute to their continual practice in shooting from their very infancy, then to their strength and stature. The truth whereof appears by this, that so long as that practice was continued, (which was till the invention and ordinary use of Guns) so long the like dimensions of their shafts were likewise continued without any diminution, as may be seen by comparing the arrows commonly used in Henry the seaventh & Henry the eights time, with those in use many years before, few of which are full a yard by measure; yet my Lord of S. Alban witnesseth, that the rebellious Cornish in the reign of King Henry the seaventh, not much above one hundred year ago shot an arrow of a full Cloth-yard long.  
The doubt which may be made touching the Altar of the Tabernacle 
Exod. 27. v. 1.  seems to be of greater consequence, which by God's appointment was to be three cubits high, that is, four foot and an half, whereas those of latter times are not above three foot or three & an half at most; which seems to infer the difference in succeeding ages of the stature of those that were to serve at the Altar: But I would demand whether the Cubit, Moses there speaks of, were according to the ordinary stature of men then living; if so, than a man rightly proportioned, being at most but four of his own Cubits, there was left but one cubit for the Priest above the Altar, which was much too little for him to minister with ease: And what then shall we say to Salomon's Altar, which was ten cubits 
2. Chron. 4. 1.  high, surely it must in reason so be understood, that the height be accounted from the lowest floor of the temple or tabernacle where the people stood; but the Priest went up by certain slope degrees, certain easy ascents to the Altar, so that the height of those ascents from the floor together with the Altar itself made up the full measure there spoken of. It will be replied, that it was expressly forbidden to go up by steps to the Altar: True indeed, but the reason is there added, that 
Exod. 20. 26.  thy nakedness be not discovered thereon, so as such degrees of ascent as occasioned not any danger or doubt of discovering his nakedness, who ministered at the Altar, seem there not to be forbidden; which is the interpretation both of junius & Abulensis, allowing then an Altar of three foot & half high, & arising to it from the lower floor of a foot high; the height of the altar from the lower floor will be four foot & an half, or three cubits, which is the measure required in the Leviticall Law, & differs little in height from the Altars in foreign parts, or those which are yet standing with us; if we likewise take their height from the lower floor, which by reason of the continued and easy degrees of ascent to them may not unfitly be counted their basis or foot And most certain it is, that the Altars which amongst Christians were built for five or six hundred years since, & yet remain, whereof there are in France, & Spain, & Italy not a few to be seen; serve 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 living should hardly reach their tops, much less be able to serve at them with any tolerable conveniency.   

SEC. 5. The same farther proved, first for that the son often proves taller than the father. Secondly, for that age and stature holding for the most part correspondence, it being already proved that the age of mankind is not decreased, from thence it follows that neither is their stature. Thirdly, for that if mankind decreased in stature by the course of nature, so must of necessity all other creatures, they being all alike subject to the same law of nature. Fourthly, for that if men had still declined since the Creation, by this time they would have been no bigger than rats or mice if they had at all been.  
BEsides were there such a general and continual decay of men in stature as is supposed, either the Child would always come short of the Parents in stature, or very seldom would it fall out otherwise, whereas now we find it by daily experience that the son very often not only equals but exceeds the father, and the daughter the mother. Nicephorus Calistus in the twelfth book of his Ecclesiastical history tells us of one whom himself saw, of such an excessive height, that 
Cap. 37.  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 woman 
De Ctvit. Dei lib. 15. c. 25.  who in his time a little before the sacking of Rome by the Goths, came thither with her Father and Mother, she was, saith he, of a Giantlike stature far beyond all that saw her, though infinite troops 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 have seen, saith Marcellus Donatus a learned Physician, a young maiden 
Lib. 3. c. 14  of a Giantlike stature whom they carried from town to town to show her as a prodigious thing, for the sight of whom every man gave some thing, wherewith her mother that conducted her and herself were maintained. She was in an hired Chamber by herself, and there suffered herself to be seen with admiration; going as others did, I enquired carefully of every point, and did learn both from herself and her mother, who was a woman of a mean stature, that the maiden's father was not tall, that in all their stock there was not any one that exceeded the height of other persons. It is likewise reported in the History of the Netherlands, that in the year 1323, was to be seen in Holland a woman Gyantesse, to whom the tallest men seemed children, yet her parents of mean stature. So then, if Giants be sometime borne or begotten of such parents, no marvel that the son as often proves taller than the father, as he comes short of him. But it commonly falls out in this kind, though not in that extremity, as with the Samogitheans, a people lying betwixt Prussia and Livonia, of whom Scaliger writes, that per vices tum 
Exercit. 263  proceros, tum penè nanos generant, by turns they bring forth Giants and Dwarves, like some trees, saith he, which bear very plentifully one year, and are the next altogether barren: Nature so disposing that what was deficient in the Dwarfc, is abundantly repaid in the Giant.  
Again, there is for the most part a mutual connexion between age and stature, (whence it may be in the Greek, the same word signifieth both) so as that race of men which is tallest and strongest, commonly hold out longest; upon which ground, as it seems, they who invented the fable of the Pigmies withal affirmed, that their women usually brought forth at five years, and died at eight: But certain it is, that in those barbarous countries which are not weakened by luxury, as they much exceed us in duration, so do they likewise in dimensions, both which have been fully showed by sundry examples already alleged, and generally we see that in the several 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 than it hath been, as I take it, sufficiently proved in the precedent chapters, that the age of men is not so sensibly impaired in regard of former times, as is commonly conceived, 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 doubtless, all other natural bodies should suffer the like defect, even the Elements and the Heavens themselves, all which, (if I flatter not myself too much) I have in my former discourse clearly freed from any such universal & perpetual declination. And in truth, reason itself will easily teach us, that if men were generally in former ages taller and larger than now they are, so must the horses too upon which they road; and if horses, other kinds 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 conceive, to be yielded, why among those kinds of Creatures, (which wanting reason, are guided merely 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 means of the abuse of his Reason and free choice, (which was given him to help him, and not to hurt him, (had he the grace to make use of it) is most subject to variation, and so to declination: yet as all men do not always abuse their reason, at leastwise in a greater degree than their Predecessors, (as shall God assisting be hereafter made good) so do they not always decline in strength and stature, for than should they by this time scarcely have exceeded the quantity of Rats or Mice, or at most have but equalled that Dwarf of whom Nicephorus reports, (how truly I cannot say) that he had the shape, the voice and reason of 
Lib. 12. c. 37  a man, yet was in body no bigger than a Partridge; or that other mentined 
Lib. 6. Fab. 19  by Sabinus in his Commentaries upon the Metamorphosis: Vidit Italia nuper virum iusta aetate non maiorem cubito circumferri in cavea psyttaci, cujus viri meminit in suis scriptis Hieronymus Cardanus, There was lately to be seen in Italy a man of a ripe age not above a cubit high, carried about in a Parrots cage, of whom Hierome Cardan in his writings makes mention: But me thinks it being the form which gives bounds to the matter (of itself unlimited and boundless) and the form of man being still for essence and natural functions the same which was from the beginning, the bounds of his quantity cannot vary in any great or notorious difference, but through some exorbitancy and aberration in nature, which as they have been in all ages, so have monsters too, not only in figure and shape, but also both, in excess and defect.    

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

SECT. 1. Of sundry fabulous narrations of the bones of Gianlike bodies digged up, or found in Caves.  
THe Truth being thus settled, it remains that we now dispel those mists and clouds with which the brightness of it is sometimes overcast: whereof the chief is, the huge bodies and bones that at sundry times have been digged up, and yet are kept in many places as monuments of Antiquity to be seen. Such are they which are shown at Puteoli or Putzole in the Kingdom of Naples, upon which Pomponius Laetus hath bestowod verses, which he thus concludes,  
Hinc bona posteritas immania corpora servat,  
Et tales mundo testificatur avos.  
Their huge corpses good posterity keeps here,  
To witness to the World that once such were.  
The like have I seen at Worms in Germany and other Cities standing upon the Rhine hung up in Chains, or laid up in Megazines and other public places; but saith Philippus Camerarius, I have heard many dispute and make doubt whether they were the bones of men, or of fishes. 
Meditat. histor. c. 82. siuc libro 3 c. 2.  Infinite are the stories which to this purpose are recorded, it would require a just volume to collect them into one body, and in truth it shall not need, inasmuch as I find it already done by the same Camerarius, by Gassanion in his book of Giants; and Fazelus in his first book and first Decade of the affairs of Sicily; as also by our Hollenshed in the fourth 
Cassan. c. 11. Fazelus c. 6.  chap. of his first volume, but with this Caution; For my part saith he, I will touch rare things, and such as to myself do seem almost incredible; wherefore I will only point at a few of the most memorable, lest on the one side I should seem purposely to balk that rub which is commonly thought most of all to thwart my way, or on the other side should cloy the Reader with too many unsavoury tales.  
It is reported by Plutarch out of Gabinius, (which I confess, I somewhat 
In vita Scrtorij  marvel at in so grave an Author) that Sertorius being in Lybia near the straits of Morocco, found the body of Antaeus there buried, sixty cubits, to which Fazelus adds ten more, and makes it up scaventy: But Strabo in the seaventeenth of his Geography, mentioning the same thing, lays this censure upon Gabinius the Author of it: Sed nec Gabinius Romanarum rerum Scriptor in describenda Mauritania fabulis prodigiosis abstinet: neither doth Gabinius in his description of Mauritania abstain from the relation of monstrous fables. In the fourteenth year of 
Fulgosus, l: c. 6:  Henry the second Emperor was the body of Pallas, (as 'twas thought,) companion to Aeneas, taken up at Rome, and found in height to equal the walls of that city: But as Galeotus Martius hath well observed, his 
De doctrina promiscua: cap. 36: Virgil: Aen: 11:  body was said to have been burned,  
Arsurasque comas obnubit amictu,  
The locks that shortly should consume in fire  
He covered with his Robe.  
Which I suppose to be likewise true of many of those bodies, which notwithstanding are reported to have been found entire for their proportions long after their deaths, though turned into ashes many years before: It being the custom of those countries to burn, as it is ours to bury our dead. Our Malmesburiensis likewise in his second book & thirteenth chapter de gestis Rerum Anglorum mentioneth the same, story shall I call it, or fable, telling us that in the year of grace 1042, & in the reign of S. Edward, the body of Pallas the son of evander, of whom Virgil speaks, Romae repertum est illibatum ingenti stupore omnium quod tot saecula incorruptionem sui superavit, was found at Rome entire and sound, to the great astonishment of all men, that by the space of so many ages it had triumphed over corruption; and farther to confirm the truth thereof, he assures us that the gaping wideness of the wound which Turnus made in the midst of his breast, was found by measure to be four foot & an half, a large wound, and the weapon which made it, we cannot but conceive as large; and by the appearance of it at full, not only the bones and skin and sinews, but the flesh to remain incorrupt; a matter altogether incredible. Besides he sets us down his Epitath found at the same time,  
Filius Evandri Pallans quem lancea Turni  
Militis occidit more suo iacet hic,  
Which himself knows not well how to give credit too, quod non tunc crediderim factum, (saith he, which I cannot believe was then made, but by Ennius, or some other of latter ages: But I proceed.  
Herodotus in his first book tells us, that the body of Orestes being taken up, was found to be seven cubits; but Gellius is bold to 
Lib. 3. c. 10.  bestow upon him for his labour the title of Homo Fabulator, a forger of fables, rather inclining to the opinion of Varro, who held the utmost period of a man's growth to be seven foot. What would he then have said to the body of Oryon, which Pliny makes forty six cubits, or of Macrosyris which Trallianus makes an hundred cubits, or of that body discovered 
Lib. 7. c. 16. De Mirabi●…bus & longaevis. De Genealog. Deorum, l: 4:  in a vast cave near Drepanum in Sicily, three of whose teeth, if we may believe Boccace, weighed an hundred ounces, and the lead of his staff, a thousand and five hundred pounds. And the body itself by 
Cap: 63:  proportion of some of the bones was estimated to no less than two hundred cubits, which makes three hundred feet, somewhat I think beyond Paul's steeple. The more I wonder at S. Augustine, who confidently assures us, that himself with others being on the sea shore at 
De Civit Dei Lib: 15: c: 9:  Utica, he there saw a man's iaw-tooth so big, that being cut into small pieces, it would have made an hundred such as the men living in his age commonly had, by which computation the body itself must likewise in reason have exceeded the bodies of his age an hundred times; so that being compared with a body of six foot, & exceeding it one hundred times, it will be found six hundred foot high, which is the just double to Boccace his Giant. Yet Ralph the Monk of Cogshall, who wrote 350 years ago (as witnesseth Camden) it may be in imitation of S. Augustine, 
Camden in Essex:  avers; that himself saw the like, which in a Monk is I confess more tolerable than that which Lodovicus Viues, deservedly reputed a grave and learned Author, upon that passage of S. Augustine's affirms, that going to the Church on S. Christopher's day (the place he names not, but it seems to be Louvain, because from thence he dates his Epistle dedicatory to King Henry the 8: He was there showed a tooth belonging, as it was thought to that St bigger than a man's fist, the pattern whereof belike was taken from that huge Colossus made to represent him at the entrance of Notre dame in Paris more like a mountain than a man; whereas notwithstanding Baronius professeth in plain terms, se non habere quid dicat de Gigantea statura qua pingi consuevit, that he knows 
Not in Martyr●…l: Jul. 25.  not what to say to that Giantlike stature, in which they commonly set him forth: But Villavincentius goes farther, dubium nemini esse picturam hanc à sanctis Patribus in hunc usum propriè excogitatum, ut Evangelij preconem 
De ratione conconc o●…audi li. 3. c. 7 ex Hyper●…:  adumbret, that no man need doubt but that picture was devised of holy men to shadow forth the preacher of the Gospel, who whiles he lifts up Christ by his preaching and carries him about to be seen and known, is endangered in the waves of this world, and yet upheld by the staff of hope. The like tooth is to be seen in the Netherlands, pretended to belong to the Giant of Antwerp, but Goropius Becanus rather 
Gygantomacbi●…  thinks it to be the tooth of an Elephant, whose conjecture is therein the more probable, for that, (as witnesseth Verstegan) at such time 
Cap: 4:  as the famous water passage was digged from brussels unto the river of Rupell at Willibrooke, there was found the bones of an Elephant, the head whereof, (which is yet reserved) himself had seen. Of latter times it hath been written, and by some strongly averred, that the body of William the Conqueror was found uncorrupt more than four hundred 
Hollenshed, vol. 1. lib 1: c: 4.  years after it was buried, and in length eight foot; the former of which could not well be, since his tomb being too narrow for the unboweled body, (so say our stories) it broke in the laying of it down; & for the latter there is as little show, since they who have written his life all agree, that he was a man of a mean or middle stature, though for his limbs active & strong: And for a full confutation of the said fable, (saith Stow) when his restless bones, which so hardly had obtained intombing, 
Toward the latter end of his life.  did afterwards as unluckily again lose it in the year of Christ 1562, viz: when Chastillion conducting the remnant of those that escaped at the battle of Dreux, took the city of Cane, certain savage soldiers aswell English as others, did beat down, & utterly deface the noble Monument of that victorious King, pulling out all his bones, which some of them spitefully threw away, (when they could not find the treasure they falsely surmised had been laid up there) and others, specially the English, snatched every one to have some piece of them, not making any wonder of them, as they would have done if they had exceeded the length & bigness of men's bones of latter years, whereas indeed there was no such thing noted in them, as I have been certainly informed,) saith the same Author) by English men of good credit, who were then present eye-witnesses at the spoil of that Monument & bones, and brought some part of them into this Realm. Thevet likewise in the second Tome of his cosmography, describing the city of Cane, mentioneth the rifling of his Monument, but of any such monstrous 
Lib. 15. Cap. 10:  bones or body there found, he speaks not a word. And besides it is most unreasonable to conceive, that within the compass of five hundred years or little more, there should be such a wonderful abatement; neither in truth if our measures be the same as then they were, is it at all possible.   

SECT. 2. Divers reasons alleged why such bones might be found in former ages and not now, and yet the ordinary stature of mankind remain 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 ivisse dicuntur per capita sua iurarent: I will not credit that story of Orion reported by Pliny, though Flaccus and Metellus who are said to see it, should swear by their heads it was true. Let us not wrong Antiquity so far, but deal with them as we desire our posterity should deal with us: Let us not conceive they were all either so vain as to affirm they saw that which they saw not, or so weak as not able to distinguish betwixt the figure of the bones of men and those of beasts & fishes: specially when they found the Sceleton whole and entire. Much I grant might be and no doubt was feigned, much mistaken, much added to truth thorough error, or an itching desire of Hyperbolical amplifications; yet I cannot but believe that many of their relations touching this point were true: howbeit a diminution of the stature of mankind in general cannot from thence be sufficiently enforced.  
To let go then the conceit of Theophrastus & Paracelsus, that by the 
Pliny, 36: 13: vide Agricolam de natura fossi●…ium.  influence of the heavens such bones might be bred in certain tracts & veins of the earth, I should rather choose to ascribe these superlative prodigious shapes to artificial or supernatural then to natural & ordinary causes. For the former it may be that either great princes out of ambition and desire of honour in succeeding ages, or cunning workmen out of curiosity have framed and composed such pieces which posterity discovering might behold with astonishment, & the infernal spirits thereby to delude men, and the sooner to draw them from the knowledge and worship of the true God to Idolatry and superstition, have concurred with them herein, & yielded them their assistance; who being able to raise wonderful tempests in the air & storms in the sea, I see not but they might be as able to compose such frames under the earth; The wit and art of man may go far, but being assisted by the Devils help, it produceth effects, almost incredible. That insana substructio, that huge monstrous piece of work, known by the name of stonehenge near Amesbery, though it be by the Ancients termed Chorea Gigantum, the Giant's dance; yet shall I never think that it was performed by the strength of men, but rather by some sleights or Engines now unknown, or by some artificial composition, they being no natural stones hewn out of the rock, but artificially made of pure sand by some glewy and unctuous matter knit and incorporated together, as Camden seems to conjecture; or whether Merlin (as the common saying is) brought them thither, reared & disposed them in that order by Magic and the help of Devils; I will not take upon me to determine▪ howsoever it were, it is doubtless a work for admiration nothing inferior to the greatest Sceleton or frame of bones that was ever yet discovered. And for teeth, I make no question but they may by mere art be made so lively to resemble the natural teeth of men, that the wisest will hardly be able to distinguish the counterfeit from the natural.  
But that which I rather choose to insist upon, is, that the bodies of such men were begotten by Devils, who that they have had carnal familiarity with women, is the consent of all Antiquity. Creberrima fama est, saith S. Augustine, multique se exper●…os vel ab iis qui experti essent, de quorum fide dubitandum non est, audisse confirmant, Sylvanos & Faunos, 
De Civit. Deil. 15: c: 23:  quos vulgo Incubos vocant, improbos saepe extitisse mulieribus, ac earum appetisse & peregisse concubitum, & quosdam Daemons quos Dusios Galli nuncupa●…t hanc assidue immunditiam & tentare & efficere plures talesque asseverant, ut hoc negare impudentiae videatur. It is commonly reported & many affirm, that either themselves have found it by experience, or heard it from those of whose credit there was no doubt to be made, who had themselves experienced it, that Satyrs and Fairs, whom they call Incubi, have been often lewd with women lusting after them, & satisfying their lust with them: and that certain Devils, whom the Gauls call Dusij, daily both attempt & perform the samefilthines such & so many affirm, 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 pedigree from Devils, who had the company of women in the shape of men. Thus not a few of the Ancients imagined those Giants mentioned in the sixth of Genesis, to have been begotten, as the Heathen likewise for the most part derive their Heroes and mighty men from the like original. And that the births of such monstrous mixtures must needs be monstrous, Tostatus truly observeth: Talibus conceptibus robustissimi homines & procerissimi nasci 
In 6. Gen. quas●… 6.  solent, of such conceptions are wont to be borne the strongest & tallest of men. And Vallesius having given the reason hereof at large, (which for fear of offending chaste ears, I list not here to repeat) at last concludes, 
De sacra Phylosophia, c. 8.  Robusti ergo & grandes ut nascerentur, poterant ita Daemones procurare: Thus than the Devils might procure that mighty huge Giants should be borne, whose both opinion & reasons herein are both approved and farther proved by Delrio in his Magical disquisitions. The 
Lib: 2. c. 15.  evidence hereof will yet farther appear, if we consider that where God was least known & the Devil most powerfully reigned, there these impure Acts were most frequently practised, which is the reason, as I conceive, that among the Hebrews, the chosen people of God, we read of no such matter: nay those Giants we find mentioned in holy writ, were for the most part of other Nations: But since the incarnation of the Son of God our blessed Saviour, who came to dissolve the works of the Devil, the delusions of these spirits have vanished as a mist before 
1. john. 3. 8.  the Sun: though their kingdom be not at an end, yet is their malice much restrained and their power abated. Which Plutarch himself ingeniously confesseth in that excellent discourse of his, Cur Oracula 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 schoolmaster, that he embarking for Italy, and being one evening becalmed before the Pax, (too little Lands that lie between Cor●…yra & Leucadia) they suddenly heard a voice 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 answer: then quoth the voice, when thou art come to the Palodes proclaim it aloud, that the great Pan is dead, all in the ship that heard this were amazed, when drawing near to the foresaid place, Thamus standing on the pup of the ship, did utter what was formerly commanded, forthwith there was, heard a great lamentation, accompanied with groans and schreeches: This coming to the knowledge of Tiberius Caesar, he sent for Thamus, who avouched the truth thereof: And hereby was declared, as we may well conceive, the subjection of Satan by the death of Christ: so that now he had no longer power to abuse the illuminated world with his impostures. By this then appears both the reason of such vast enormous bodies, as were in former times, and withal the Cause why they have ceased since in succeeding ages. To which we may add, that if we should ascribe these effects to God himself and his extraordinary power, for the manifestation of his greatness; yet as other miracles, so likewise these are now grown out of date and use: he manifesting himself to us in a clearer manner, rather by the gracious power of his word, than the miraculous greatness of his power, and so our Conclusion still remains firm, that the stature of mankind is not generally impaired in regard of any such universal decay in the course of Nature as is pretended.   

SECT. 3. An answer to the argument drawn from the testimonies on behalf of the adverse opinion.  
THe second main rub, which to many gives occasion of stumbling, and comes now to be removed, is the authority of divers grave writers, and those not only of latter stamp, but such as have been, and still are accounted Venerable aswell for learning as Antiquity. Among which, the most Eminent that I find named by the adverse part, are Gellius, Pliny, juvenal, Virgil, and Homer, and that I may neither wrong the Authors nor Vouchers, I will produce them speaking in their own words Gellius having alleged the opinion of Varro, that the utmost point of man's growth in the course of nature is seven foot, and having styled Herodotus a Fabler for saying the body of Orestes was seven cubits, presently adds, Nisi si ut Homerus opinatus est, vastiora 
Lib. 3. c. 10.  prolixioraque fuerint corpora hominum Antiquorum, & nunc quasi jam mundo senescente, rerum atque hominum decrementa sint. Unless as Homer 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 weak thereby to draw him to their side, specially considering what he had said immediately before out of Varro. Which testimony of his prevails somuch with Peter Martyr, that he 
Lo●…orum come. c: 12: clas. 1:  cannot yield any decrease since the flood, si rogarer) saith he) an existimem corpora humana, quae postea fuerunt ab iis immin●…ta esse quae ante diluvium producebantur, fortassis annuerem: sed quod à diluvio usque ad hanc nostram aetatem perpetuo decrescant, id non facile concederem, verbis praesertim annotatis quae Aulos Gellius, 3: libr: scripsit ubi ait modum adolescendi humani corporis esse septem pedum: quae mensura hodie quoque videtur esse staturae 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. Idemque ut paulo ante dixi Cyprianus videtur statuere. Sed quare ●…on tam facile assentiar▪ causam attuli quia de mensurâ quam Gellius definivit, hodie nihil propemodum videam immutatum. If I were demanded whether I think that men's bodies since the flood are decreased in regard of those before the flood, happily I should grant it: but that since the flood downward to this our present age they should still decrease, that would I not easily yield, specially observing those words which Aulus Gellius hath in his third book, where he saith, that the measure of growth in man's body, is to seven foot, which at this day seems to be the height of those of the tallest stature; yet to conceal nothing, we read indeed in the fourth book, and toward the end of the fifth chapter in the apocryphal Esdras, that our bodies are less than they were; and that still they shall be lessened more & more, in as much as nature is every day weakened more than other, and the same opinion (as I said before) seems to be approved by Cyprian; but why I cannot easily yield assent thereunto, I have given my reason, because I find little or nothing abated of that measure which Gelli●… defined  
Plinyes words I must confess are more round and resolute, In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem staturam indies fieri, propemodum 
Lib. 7. cap. 16.  observatur: rarosque patribus proceriores, consument ubertatem seminum exustione, in cuius vices nunc vergat aevum, which is thus rendered by Philemon Holland, Doctor in Physic, whose Latin Copy differed it seems somewhat from mine: or he added somewhat of his own. This is observed for an undoubted truth, that generally all men come short of the full stature in times past, & decrease every day more than other, & seldom shall we see the son taller than his father, for the ardent heat of the Elementary fire (whereunto the world inclineth already now toward the latter end, as sometimes it stood much upon the watery Element) devoureth & consumeth that plentiful humour and moisture of natural seed that ingen●…eth all things, and this appeareth by these examples following.  
And then having brought the examples of Orion and Orestes, he adds, jam verò ante annos prope mille vates ille Homerus non cessavit minora corpora mortalium, quam prisca, conqueri. And verily that great and famous Poet Homer, who lived almost a thousand years ago, complained and gave not over, that men's bodies were less of stature even then, then in old time.  
But if I be not mistaken, this assertion of Plinyes directly crosseth himself in the very entrance of his Natural History, where he thus begins Mundum, & hoc quod nomine alio calum appella●…e libuit, cuius circumflexu teg●…ntur cuncta, numen esse credi par est, aeternum, immensum, neque genitum, neque interiturum unquam. The world, and this which by another name men have thought good to call Heaven, believe we ought in all reason to be a God without beginning & likewise Endless. If the world be Endless, how doth it suffer a perpetual decrease, and if it suffer any such decrease, how is it endless. Againo, holding a decrease in stature, I see not how he can well avoid a diminution likewise in age which notwithstanding in other places he seems to deny, or at leastwise having in sundry several Chapters fair occasion offered, doth not maintain, but rather chooseth to pass it over in silence, as being thereof some what doubtful. Besides how the ardent heat of the Elementary fire should cause any such decay, I cannot for my part conceive, since that heat for any thing we find is not increased since the first Creation, and this supposed decay is commonly attributed rather to a deficiency then an excess of heat. But Pliny who held that the Sun and Stars were nourished by an Elementary moisture, must of necessity upon that supposed, though false ground, likewise hold a sensible decay in the World, inasmuch 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 upon a sandy foundation. He was doubtless an admirable Man in that which he undertook, the Historical part of Nature: but whether he deserved the like commendation in that which we call the Philosophical part thereof, I leave it to others to judge, and pass to the examination of the testimonies of the Poets. But before I descend to the particulars, it shall not be amiss a little to consider of the Vanity of their fictions and fables about the Giants which doubtless in part gave occasion to this common Error touching Man's and the World's decay, though I verily believe that the Poets themselves had a mystical meaning therein. They feigned them to be borne of the Earth, to have a thousand hands and snakes for hairs, and to wage war with the Gods.  

Terra feros partus immania monstra Gygantes,  
Edidit ausuros in jovis ire domum. 
Ovid, Fast. 5   
Mille manus illis dedit & pro crinibus angues,  
Atque ait, in magnos arma movete Deos.   

Giants wild monsters earth great mother bare,  
Who durst assail the sacred seat of jove,  
With thousand hands. and snakes instead of hair,  
Armed, arms she charged them 'gainst the gods to move.   
Which war of the Giants, Cornelius Severus thus elegantly describes.  

Tentauêre nefas olim detrudere mundo  
Sydera, captivique jovis transfer Gygantes  
Imperium, & victo leges imponere Coelo.   

The Giants did advance their wicked hand  
Against the stars to thrust them headlong down,  
And robbing jove of his Imperial crown,  
On conquered heavens to lay their proud command.   
But Macrobius his interpretation of this fable is worth the observing: 
Sat●…al. lib. 1. cap: 20.  Gygantes autem quid aliud fuisse credendum est quam hominum quandam impiam gentem Deos negantem, et ideo existimatam deos è coelesti sede pellere voluisse. What otherthing should we imagine those Giants to have been, but an impious race of men denying the Gods, and were therefore said to have attempted the chase of them out of Heaven. 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 john, Amadis of Gaul, Pontagruel, Gargantua, and the like have since done: And therefore Plato banished Poets from his commonwealth; and Moses, (as Philo in his book of Giants witnesseth) both painting and the statuary Art, cousin Germane to Poetry, Quod veritatem mendacijs vitient, credulis animis per oculos illudentes. saith he, because they corrupt the truth with lies, & deceive credulous minds by those representations which are presented to their eyes. Yet will we not deny them the favour to hear what they can say for themselves. Let juvenal then first speak.  

Saxa inclinatis per humum quaesita lacertis  
Incipiunt torquere, domestica, seditione 
satire. 15.   
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 brawls always  
The readiest weapon) they commence their fray  
Not that of Turn or Aiax, or whereby  
The son of Tydeus broke Aeneas thigh,  
But such as hands unlike to theirs, and now  
Bred in our days well able are to throw.  
For even while Homer lived this race decreased  
And mother earth hath ever since been pleased  
Cowardly dwarves to breed: those deities  
That them behold, deride them and despise.   
Now for as much as it is evident that Invenall herein followed Virgil and Homer, as will clearly appear when we come to the examining of their testimonies, I will likewise refer the answer hereunto, to that place. For Virgil then, he speaking of Turnus and his great strength, thus poetizes: 
Aenead: 12:   

Saxum antiquum ingens campo qui forte iacebat  
Limbs agro positus litem ut 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 chance lay in the field  
To bond out several grounds, and quarrels to prevent,  
Scarce twelve choice men such as now mother earth doth yield  
Could bear it on their necks, yet he incontinent  
Caught it with puissant arm, and to his foe it sent.   
With which accords that in the first of his Georgickes' touching the ploughing up of the Emathean and Emonean fields, where many bloody battles had been 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 fields   

The painful husband ploughing up his ground,  
Shall find all fret with rust both pikes and shields,  
And empty helms under his harrow sound;  
Wondering at those great bones those graves do yield.   
But what credit shall we give to Virgil in these things who tells us of Enceladus.  
Fessum quoties motat latus intremere omnem  
Trinacriam.—  
As oft as wearied he from side to side doth turn  
Trinacria trembles.  
And of Titius,  
— Per tota novem cui i●…gera corpus  
Porrigitur.  
Whose body stretches to nine acres length.  
And beside he was doubtless herein as in many other passages thorough the Aeneads Homer's ape, who thus brings in Hector,  

Hector autem rapiens lapidem portabat, qui portas 
Iliad, 12:   
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 up a stone before the gate that lay,  
The upper pointed was, blunt was the neither part:  
Two of the better sort such as live now a day  
Could scarce with all their force mount it into a cart.   
To like purpose, and very near in the same words is that which he hath in another place of Diomedes, throwing a stone at Aeneas. 
Iliad. 5:   

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

Into his hand Tydides' took  
A stone of wondrous weight,  
Two men such as the world now yields  
To bear't have not the might   
From whence it is manifest that all the alleged Authors herein followed Homer, he being named by Gellius, Pliny, & juvenal, & so plainly imitated by Virgil, that we need not doubt from whom he borrowed it, rendering Homer's  
Quales nunc sunt homines— into  
Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus;  
But herein he exceeds Homer that he turns two into twelve, more tollerablely I confess, because more Poetically, that a man may know it at the first blush to be but a fiction.  
And as for Homer himself, the founder and springhead of this opinion, as he was the Author of many excellent inventions, so as it was truly written of him,  
Hic ille est cuius de gurgite sacro  
Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores.  
This is the man whose sacred stream hath served all the Crew  
Of Poets, thence they drank their fill, thence they their furies drew. And therefore was he painted vomiting, and the Poets round about licking up his vomit; yet as a rank and battle soil that abounds both in corn and weeds, so was he likewise the fruitful parent of many errors and fables, which were afterwards taken up and embraced with like greediness as were his best and choicest inventions. Such is naturally our affection, that whom in great things we mightily admire, in them we are not persuaded willingly that any thing should be amiss: The reason whereof is for that as dead flies putrify the ointment of the Apothecary: 
Eccles. 1. 10.  so a little folly him that is in estimation for wissdome. And this in every profession hath too much authorised the judgement of a few. I will not stand to make a Catalogue of Homer's mistakes and fictions, which his admirers in succeeding ages have entertained as certain truths. That fable of the Pigmies (because it hath some affinity with our present matter) and their manner of fight with Cranes shall suffice for all: which many not only Poets but great Philosophers, and among them Aristotle himself relying upon his authority have taken up upon trust: whereas all the parts of the world being now in a manner discovered there is no such country or people to be found in it. And for this particular opinion, it is not only objected by Goropius, but by Magius freely acknowledged that Homer, by plutarchs computation, (who composed a treatise purposely of his life) living but one hundred years or a little more after the Trojan wars, made such a difference in men's strength and stature, as was altogether incredible within the compass of so short a space: nay himself makes Hector's spear to be 
Iliad, 12:  but ten Cubits long, the ordinary length they are at even at this day: & brings Telemachus Ulysses his son thus speaking to his nurse Euriclea.  
Haud equidem quenquam longinquus sit licet hospes 
Odyss 19   
Absque labore feram contingere Chanica nostram:  
No guest though come from far I thee assure  
To touch my Choenix will I Choenix endure.  
From which Budaeus infers that even than a Choenix was the daily allowance 
5. de Ass.  for a man, as it likewise was many hundred years after Homer's times among the Grecians. For conclusion, though ten persons be brought to give testimony in any cause, yet if the knowledge they have of the thing whereunto they come as witnesses, appear to have grown from some one among them, and to have spread itself from hand to hand, they are all in force but as one testimony; and if it appear that the fountain, from which either immediately or mediately they all draw, be corrupted, if the testimony of the first man upon whom they depend, prove invalide, then is this one upon the matter no testimony, which is in truth the case of the counterwitnesses produced in this business.   

SECT. 4. Of the wonderful strength of divers in latter ages, not inferior to those of former times.  
But to grant that Hector, and Ajax, and Diomedes, and Hercules, and the like excelled in strength, yet can it not be denied, but some such have likewise been recorded in succeeding ages, as C: Marius by Trebellius Pollio, Maximinus by Capitolinus, Aurelian by Vopiscus, Scanderbag by Barlet, Galiot Bardesin a Gentleman of Catana, by Fazell, Tamerlane, Ziska, Hunniades, by others; George Le Feure a learned German writes, that in his time in the year 1529 lived at Mis●…a in Thuring one called Nicholas Klunher Provost of the Great Church that was so strong, as without Cable or Pulley or any other help he fetch up out of a Cellar a pipe of wine, carried it out of doors and laid it upon a cart. I have seen a man, saith Mayolus an Italian Bishop, in the 
In diebus 〈◊〉. Co●…o 〈◊〉. 4.  town of Aste, who in the presence of the marquis of Pescara handed a pillar of marble three foot long, and one foot in diameter, the which he cast high in the air, than received it again in his arms, than lashed it up again, sometime after one fashion, sometime after another, as easily as if he had been playing with a ball or some such little thing. There was, saith the same Author, at Mantua, one named Rodamas, a man of a little stature, but so strong that he broke a Cable as big as a man's arm, as easily as it had been a small twine thread: mounted upon an horse and leading another by the bridle, he would run a full Career and stop in the midst of his course, or when it liked him best. Froissard a man much esteemed for the truth and fidelity of his history, reports that about two hundred years since, one Ernaudo Burg a Spaniard, and companion to the Earl of Foix, when as attending the Earl, he accompanied him to an higher room, to which they ascended by twenty four steps, the weather cold; and the fire not answerable, and withal espying out at the window certain asses in the lower court loaden with wood, he goes down thither, lifts up the greatest of them with his burden on his shoulder, and carrying it to the room 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 year 1582, at the circumcision of Mahumet the son of Amurath Emperor of the Turks, writes that amongst many active men which there showed their strength, one was most memorable, who for proof thereof lifted up a piece of wood that twelve men had much ado to raise from the earth, and afterwards lying down flat upon his back, he bore upon his breast, a weighty stone, which ten men had with much a do rolled thither, making but a jest of it. Many are yet alive, saith Camerarius, that know how strong and mighty 
Meditat: Hist: 〈◊〉. 82.  George of Fronsberg, Baron of Mindlehaim of late memory was. There is a book printed & published in the German tongue containing his memorable acts, & howbeit Paulus jovius handleth him but roughly, as being an enemy to the Pope; yet extolleth he highly his wonderful great force, being able by the acknowledgement of jovius with the middle finger of his right hand to remove a very strong man out of his place, sat he never so fast: He stopped a horse suddenly, that ran with a main Career, by only touching the bridle, and with his shoulder would he easily shove a Canon whither he listed. Cardan writes that himself saw one dancing with two in his arms, two upon 
De subtilitate lib: 11.  his shoulders, and one hanging about his neck. Potocova a Polonian and Captain of the Cosakes, during the reign of Stephen Batore, was so strong, as witnesseth Leonclavius, that he would tear in pieces new horse shoes, as it had been paper. The history of the Netherlands reports, 
Insupplem: Ann●…l. Turcicor:  that the woman Gyantesse before mentioned was so strong, that she would lift up in either hand a barrel full of Hamborough beer, and would easily carry more than eight men could.  
Before these, but long since those ancient Heroes, was the Giant Aenother borne in Turgaw, a village in Swevia, who bore arms under Charlemaigne, 
A●…entinus, hist. B●…iorum, l: 4:  he felled men as one would mow hay, & sometimes broached a great number of them upon his pike, and so carried them all upon his shoulder, as one would carry little birds spitted upon a stick. Hinc apparet (saith Camerarius) quòd nostra aetas & natio tales viros produxerit quos fortitudine & robore cum veteribus conferre licet. From hence it appears that our age and nation hath brought forth such men, as every way are matchable with the Ancients in activity & strength. Oflatter days and here at home, Mr Richard Carew a worthy Gentleman in his survey of Cornwall assures us that one john Bray (well known to himself, as being his tenant) carried upon his back at one time by the space well near of a But-length six bushels of wheaten meal, reckoning 15 gallons to the bushel, and the miller a lubber of 24 years' age upon the whole: whereunto he addeth that john Roman of the same shire, a short clownish grub would bear the whole carcase of an ox, though he never tugged with it, when he was a calf, as Milo did. To these might be added divers other domestical examples of latter times, save that such kind of relations seem as unsavoury and incredible to the most part of Readers, as they are certain, admirable, and delightful to the beholders.  
It is most true that the great works our noble Predecessors have left us, our Cathedral Churches, our ruins of Castles and Monasteries, our bridges, our highways, and Cauce-wayes, and in foreign parts their Arches, Obelisks, Pyramids, Vaults, Aqueducts, theatres, and Amphitheatres seem to proclaim, as the greatness of their minds, so likewise of their bodies: But I should rather ascribe this to their industry, their devotion, their charity, uniting, their forces and purses in public works and for the public good, then to the bodily strength of particular men.   

SECT. 5. Two doubts cleared, the first touching the strong physic which the Ancients used, the second touching the great quantity of blood which they are said usually to have drawn at the opening of a vein.  
A greater doubt arises touching the little, but strong physic which the Ancients used, and the great quantity of blood which they usually drew at the opening of a vein: For the first of these, I should think that it rather argued the strength of our bodies, who notwithstanding our disuse of exercise and more frequent use of Physic, and that many times from the hands of unskilful Empirics, we ordinarily hold out as long as they did: And for the strength of their Physic, let us here Goropius a famous Physician, and doubtless a very learned man, as his works testify, and his greatest adversaries cannot but confess. Dicunt olim medicamenta multò vehementiora data fuiss●… quam nunc hominum natura ferre possit: They say that the Physic which the Ancients administered was much stronger than the nature of man is now capable of; to which he replies, eos qui sic arbitrantur insigniter falli contendo, ferunt enim corpora aequè nunc helleborum atque olim eodem vel majori pondere, ut ipse in aliis & meipso sum expertus: Verùm inscitia eorum qui nihil Medici habent praeter titulum & vestem longam, & impudentem arrogantiam in causa est ut sic opinentur. I am confident that those who thus think are notablely deceived, in as much as our bodies can now aswell endure the like or greater quantity of Elleborum, as I have made trial in myself & others: But the ignorance of such as have indeed nothing in them of the Physician but the bare title, a long gown, and impudent arrogancy, is the cause that men so think. And with him herein plainly accords Leonardus Giachinus of the same profession, who having composed a Treatise purposely to show 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 usi sunt, idque cum ratione tum experientia comprobari: That our bodies now a days may well enough suffer the same helps of Physic which the Ancients used, & that this may be made evident aswell by reason as experience. And I suppose skilful Physicians will not deny, but that the Physic of former times agrees with ours as in the receipts, so for the dosis and quantity; and for them who hold a general decay in the course of Nature, they are likewise forced to hold this. For if plants, and drugs, and minerals, decay in their virtue proportionablely to the body of man, (as is the common opinion) then must it consequently follow, that the same quantity having a less virtue may without danger and with good success be administered to our bodies though inferior in strength: Roger Bacon in his book de erroribus medicorum, tells us, that the disposition of the heavens is changed every Centenary or thereabout; and consequently that all things growing from the earth change their complexions, as also doth the body of man; and thereupon infers that eaedem proportiones medicinarum non sunt semper continuandae sed exigitur observantia certa secundum temporis discensum: The same proportions of medicines are not still to be continued, but there is required a certain quantity according to the variation of time. Where, by the change of the disposition of the heavens, I cannot conceive that he intends it always for the worst, for so should he cross himself in the same book, neither for any thing I know have we any certainty of any such change as he speaks of, but this am I sure of, that if together with the heavens, the plants change their tempers, and with the plants the body of man, than needs there no alteration in the proportion of medicines; in as much as what art should therein supply, nature herself prevents & performs: But for mine own part holding a natural decay in neither, upon that ground, as I conceive, may more safely be warranted the continuance of the ancient proportions.  
Now touching the drawing of blood, I know it is said that Galen usually drew six pounds at the opening of a vein, whereas we for the most part stop at six ounces, which is in truth a great difference if true, specially in so short a time, he living three hundred years or thereabout since Christ. For decision then of this point, we must have recourse to Galen himself, who in that book which he purposely composed of cures by letting of blood, thus writes: Memini quibusdam ad sex usque libras sanguinem detractum fuisse, ita ut febris extingueretur. I remember that 
Ca●…: 14:  from some I have drawn six pounds of blood, which hath rid them of their fever: yet from others he took but a pound and a half, or one pound, and sometimes less, as he saw occasion: neither in old time, nor in these present times was the quantity ever definite or certain, but both then and now variable more or less according to strength, the disease, age, or other indications; and in pestilent fevers his advice is, ubi valida virtus subest, & aetas permittit, usque ad animae defectum sanguinem mittere 
De me●…hodoi m●…dendi l 9 c. 4  expedit: where the strength and age of the patient will bear it, it will do well to take blood even to a fainting or sounding; and such was the case (as by his own words it appears) 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 books show) reports that he drew from a patient of his in four days twenty seven pallets, 
Lib. 9 c. 14.  every pallet of Paris containing three ounces & more, so that he drew from him about seven pounds, allowing twelve ounces to the pound, which was the account that Galen followed, as appears in his own Treatise of weights and measures, and so continues it in use among Physicians and Apothecaries unto this day. The whole quantity of blood in a man's body of a sound constitution and middle stature was anciently estimated, and so is it still at about three gallons: and I have been informed by a Doctor of Physic of good credit and eminent place in this University, that a patient of his hath bled a gallon at nose in one day, and hath 
D. C.  done well after it; which (as I conceive) could not be so little as seven or eight pounds, allowing somewhat less than a pound to a pint, in as much as I have found a pint of water to weigh sixteen ounces. Now what Nature hath done with tolerance of life, Art may come near unto upon just cause without danger. And if any desire to be farther informed in this point, he need go no further than the Medicinal observations of johannes Shenkius de capite Humano, where to his 333 observation he prefixes 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 pounds of blood have issued. The Authors from whom he borroweth his observations are Matheus de Gradi in his commentaries upon the 35 chapter of Rasis ad Almans Brasavolus comment. ad Aphor. 23. lib. 5. Donatus lib. de variolis & morbillis cap. 23. Lusitanus Curate 100 Cent. 2. And again Curate. 60, Cent. 7, his instances are of a Nun who voided by divers passages 18 pounds of blood, of Diana a noble Lady of Est, who bled only at the nostrils 18 pounds besides what was spilt on the ground, upon her apparel, in napkins and other linens about her; of one Andrew, Cook to Frederick Gonzaga Cardinal, who bled in one day and two nights 20 pounds. And lastly of a young man named Berdavid, from whom there issued at the nose within the space of six days 40 pounds, and yet they all lived after it, and did well penes Authores fides esto▪   

SEC. 6. A third doubt cleared touching the length of the Duodenum or first gut, as also of the several opinions of jacobus Capellus, and johannes Temporarius, touching the decrease of humane strength and stature.  
ANother doubt tending to the same end, I received from an other 
D. B.  Doctor of Physic of special note, & of mine ancient acquaintance, well known in London for his sufficiency in his profession, and from him likewise I must acknowledge the best part of the answer which I shall frame thereunto. The objection, because, of any I have met with, it is most fully opened & seriously urged by Archangelus Piccolhomini in his anatomical Lectures, I will express in his words, where speaking of the first gut, he thus goes on, Dicitur etiam graecis dodecadactylos, nobis duodenum, 
Lib. 2. lect. 11  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 membra proportione respondentia. Dicitur quoque pyloros, id est ianitor portonarius translato nomine inferioris orificij ventriculi ad superiorem duodeni partem quae ex eo proximè enascitur. It is called of the Grecians dodecadactyloes, & of us duodenum, because it seems in those times to have been 12 inches long, whereas in this age it hardly equals the tops of nine fingers, perchance because now adays men being less and then bigger, they had likewise bigger parts of the body answerable thereunto. It is also called pyloros or the porter, which name is borrowed from the neither orifice of the stomach, and applied to the higher part of the duodenum which grows out of it. Thus he; where what he means by the apices or tops of nine fingers, I do not well apprehend, but Riolanus I am sure in the 2 book and 12 Chapter of his Anthropographia tells us plainly that ab Herophylo duodenum dicitur quoniam olim duodecem transversos digitos longum erat, ubi hodie vix quatuor digitos aequat. It was by Herophylus called duodenum because anciently it was 12 inches long, whereas now it is scarce full four. How long since this Herophilus lived I cannot certainly determine, nor well conjecture, his name I find not in Gesners' Bibliotheca, indeed Tertullian in his book de anima mentioneth him, by which it appears that he lived before him, but how long it appears not; suppose it to be 5, 6, or 8 hundred years (which is as much as in reason can well be demanded, and upon that supposition allow him to have lived two thousand years ago, which being granted, and withal that all the other parts of man's body are decayed proportionably to the duodenum, (which Piccolomini himself confesseth, and thereof I think no wise or learned man will once offer to make any doubt) this I say being granted, it must of necessity follow that in the space of 2000 years, two thirds of humane stature are lost, for that is the proportion of 4 to 12; so as if men now be five foot high, they were then 15, & 2000 years before that again (if we shall allow the like proportion of decrease to the like space of time (45 foot high, and so upward, which how unreasonable it is to affirm or conceive, I leave to the Authors and Patrons of that fancy to imagine. Again I would willingly know whether in Herophilus time the inch were the same with ours or no, if so, then belike there is no such notorious diminution in stature as from him is collected▪ 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 duodenum 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 comparison, & a matter altogether incredible. And I wonder that Galen or Hypocrates, or some other of those ancient Physicians had not found the variation thereof in their time in regard of former ages, aswell as we in ours in regard of theirs; or that finding it, they have left no record or mention of so notable an observation in any of their writings, which me thinks is a strong presumption that indeed either in their practice or reading they observed no such matter. But to make a plain and full answer to this objection, we need go no farther then that of Riolanus immediately annexed to the passage before alleged. Nec mensuram antiquam deprehendes nisi graciliorem & angustiorem ventriculi partem à fundo inferne exporrectam usque ad anfractuum principium addideris quam saepè 12 digitos aequare vidi. Neither shall you find the ancient measure, unless you add to the duodenum the lower and narrower part of the stomach, and extend it to that place where the guts begin their pleats and windings, and this have I often seen to equal 12 inches: out of which words I make mine answer thus, that if we take duodenum strictly, only for so much as is from the lowest orifice of the stomach to the winding guts, than I say it is scantly four inches long, but if we take in that thinner part and end of the ventricle which the greeks call pyloros, and the Latins 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 been by ancient Writers taken into the duodenum, and accounted as one with it, not only Riolan in the place before alleged, and Laurentius lib. 6. cap, 13. but Piccolhomini himself confesseth in the latter part of the passage already quoted, and Leonardus Fuchsius in the third book 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. johannes Matthaeus de Gradi in his Commentaries upon the ninth book of Razis cap. 11: and lastly Alexander Benedictus in his second book of Anatomy chapt. 8. and though he there make Galen to speak in a different language, yet are Riolan and others of another opinion therein.  
Whiles this part was even upon going to the Press, there came to mine hands two books written by two learned French men, jacobus Capellus and johannes Temporarius, the one entitled the mensuris, the other Chronologicae demonstrationes; in both which the point in hand is touched to the quick: The former, Capellus I mean, in his very preface sharply censures the Poets, Homer & Virgil & juvenal for their hyperbolical amplifications, in speaking of the enormous stature of the Ancients, and so doth he Pliny, Solinus, S. Augustine, and Ludovicus Vives for following them therein, and then alleging that passage of julius' Scaligers, where he affirms that the Samogithians, a people seated betwixt Prussia & Livonia, by turns beget dwarves & giants; he grants that this vicissitude, though not in that degree, yet in some sort may be observed in all nations: yet this man after all this flourish tells us, that it cannot be but some kind of truth there should be in those complaints of the Poets, & that the world waxes old, though not in posthaste as they would have it: yet sensim & sine sensu, as he terms it, soft & fair, & by degrees insensible. The only reason he builds upon being this, that the measures of all Nations being proportioned (as he imagineth) to their statures, and withal that as the Nations rise in antiquity one above another, so do their measures: from whence he infers, that as the measures of the Ancients were longer, so were likewise their statures. Wherein he manifestly crosseth both himself, and as many as I have read of that subject, either occasionally or of set purpose; for himself he freely acknowledgeth in another place of the same discourse, that both the present Parisian foot in France & the Picen in Italy are bigger than the Ancient Roman; for the latter of which, he both vouches and well approves the testimony of Cardan de subtle: lib. 11: Adducor authoritate scribentium olim de re militari qui tyronum mediocrem magnitudinem quinque pedum esse statuerunt, ut quarta parte pes antiquus mensura pedis nostri minor sit. I am induced by the authority of those who writing of military matters, set down five foot for the ordinary stature of a common soldier, to believe that the ancient foot was by measure a quarter less than ours. Again himself confesseth (neither without manifest folly can it be denied) that some nations in regard of their Climate much exceed others in stature, as for the most part do the Western, the Eastern, & the Northern, the Southern, so as if his comparison had been made betwixt the ancient and modern measures of the same nation, it might well have 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 judgement 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 nature, for mine own part I cannot imagine, as neither can I conceive how there should be any such alternative vicissitude of stature in all nations as he holds, and yet withal an universal and perpetual decrease: all which himself it seems foreseeing modestly, concludes the point: Nos igitur haec, ea potius ment in medium adduximus, ut haec vere nobilis questio ab eruditis viris luculentius & accuratius pertractetur, quam quod veluti de inventa veritate gloriemur & nobis ipsi suffeni simus: We then have produced these things to this purpose, that this question truly noble, may by learned men be more clearly and exactly handled, not that I would glory in the finding out of a truth, or as if I were only pleased with mine own conceit. Now for johannes Temporarius he doth not mince the matter as Capellus, but in his Chronological demonstrations Anno mundi 410, and fourth Chapter, strikes downright right blows, telling us roundly and plainly 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 Giants then, so have there since been in all ages downward, and some every way as tall, if not taller than they: and afterward discoursing of the Ark & the capability thereof out of Buteo (though indeed he name him not) he makes Moses his cubit to be the same with ours, & the beasts then to be of the same bigness as now they are, & to spend no more quantity of food then now they do; herein likewise treading in Buteo his steps, though in some other things touching the fabric of the Ark he descent from him.   

SECT. 7. Another rub removed taken from the impurity of the seed, contracted by the succession of propagation, as also touching some late memorable examples of parents famously fertile, in the lineage issuing from their bodies, beyond any examples in that kind in former ages.  
THE last, but in the opinion of many not the least rub to be removed, is drawn from the impurity of the seed, contracted by the succession of propagation, from whence there must needs in reason succeed, as a diminution in the continuance and duration, so likewise an imparing both in the strength and stature of mankind. This argument I find thus expressed in a treatise published in Mr C●…ffs name, and entitled, The differences of the ages of man's 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 we take for our natural moisture, there being supplied not so pure humidity as was lost, the particulars decaying by little and little, are at last clean consumed: so by procreation, (the mainetenance of our species) the purity of our complexion being by degrees & time diminished, at length there follows even of necessity an absolute corruption: but for answer hereunto, though it be granted that generation be as requisite to the continuance of the species, as is nutrition for the preservation of the particular, & withal that our food doth not so kindly and fully supply our radical moisture, which is daily wasted by our vital heat feeding upon it, whence finally ensueth the Individuals extinguishing: Yet that every individual should necessarily yield weaker and wors●…r seed for the propagation of the species than itself was generated of, that I constantly believe can never be proved: Nay the contrary thereunto is manifested by daily experience, in as much as we often see feeble & sickly parents to beget strong & healthy, short to beget tall, & such as have died young, long-lived children: And undoubtedly if this were so indeed as is pretended, mankind had long since been utterly extinguished, & with it had this controversy been at an end; & not only mankind, but the several kinds of fowls, & fishes, & beasts, & plants, since they are all maintained by their seed as man is, whose decay notwithstanding 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 amiss to remember a modern example or two of Parents famously fertile in the lineage issued from their bodies, such as I do not remember any where to be parallelled by antiquity. In the memory of our Fathers, saith Vives in his commentary upon the eight chapter of the fifteenth book of the City of God, there was seen a village in Spain of about an hundred houses, whereof: all the inhabitants were issued from one certain old man who then lived, 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 given: Lingua enim nostra supra Abav●…m non ascen●…t: For our language, saith he, meaning the Spanish, affords not a name above the great Grandfather's father. Likewise in S. Innocents' Churchyard, in the city of Paris, is to be seen the Epitaph of Yelland ●…aeily, widow to Mr Dennis Capell, a Proctor at the chastelet, which doth show that she had lived eighty four years, and might have seen 288 of her children and children's children; she died the 17 of April 1514. Now imagine, saith Pasquier, how much she had been troubled to call them by a proper 
Lib: 6: c: 46.  denomination that were distant from he●… the fourth and fifth degree. Whereunto we may add, that which Theodore Zwinger, a Physician of Basill, in the third volume of the Theatre of man's life, recites of 
Lib. 11:  a noble Lady, of the family of the Dalburgs, who saw of her race even to the sixth degree, whereof the Germans have 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 daughter's 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 
Lib: 7: c. 13.  sacrificed in the Capitol, 74 of his children & children's children, attending on him. And so I pass from the consideration & comparison of the stature & strength of men's bodies, to that of their minds, consisting in the more noble faculties of the reasonable soul, and the beautiful effects thereof.    

CAP. 6. Containing a discourse in general, that there is no such universal and perpetual decay in the powers of the mind, or in the Arts & Sciences as is pretended.  

SECT. 1. The excellency of the Ancients in the powers of the mind compared with those of the present, as also their helps and hindrances in matter of learning, balanced.  
SInce it is a received conclusion of the choicest, both Divines & Philosophers, that the reasonable soul of man is not conveied unto him from his Parents, but infused immediately by the hand of the Creator; & withal, that the souls of all men at their first Creation & infusion, are equal & perfect alike, endued with the same essence & abilities; it must needs be, that the inequality & disparity of actions, which they produce, arise from the divers temper of the matter which they inform, and by which, as by an instrument they work. Now the matter being tempered by the disposition of the bodies of our parents, the influence of the heavens, the quality of the elements, diet, exercise, & the like; it remains, that as there is a variety & vicissitude of these in regard of goodness, so is there likewise in the temper of the matter whereof we consist, & the actions which by it our souls produce: Yea where both the agents & the instruments are alike, yet by the diversity of education or industry, their works are many times infinitely diversified.  
The principal faculties of the soul, are imagination, judgement, and memory. One of the most famous for memory among the Ancients, to my remembrance, was Seneca the Father, who reports of himself, that 
〈◊〉, lib: 1. Controvers,  he could repeat two thousand names, or two hundred verses, brought to his Master by his Schoolfellows backward or forward: But that which Muretus reports of a young man of Corsica, a student in the Civil 
V●…ierum L●…ctionum, l. 3.  Law, whom himself saw at Milan, far exceeds it; he could, saith he●…, recite thirty six thousand names in the same order as they were delivered, without any stay or staggering, as readily, as if he had read them out of a book: His conclusion is, Huic ego ne ex antiquitate quidam quem opponam habeo, nis●… forte Cyrum quem Plinius, Quintilianus, & alij Latini Scriptores tradiderunt tenuisse omnium militum nomina. I find none among the Ancients, whom I may set against him, unless Cyrus perchance, whom Plini●…, Quintilian, and other Latin writers, report to have remembered the names of all his soldiers, which yet Muretus himself doubts was mistaken of them: Zenophon, of whom only or principally they could learn it, affirming only that he remembered the names, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of his Captains or chief commanders▪ And Aeneas Silvius in his history of the Council of Basill (at which himself was present) tells us of one Ludovicus Pontanus of Spoleto, a Lawyer likewise by profession, (who died of the Pestilence at that Council, at thirty years of age) that he could recite not the titles only, but the entire bodies of the Laws, being for vastness and fastness of memory, nemini Antiquorum inferior, as he speaks, nothing inferior to any of the Ancients. It is to this purpose very memorable, which Famianus Srada, in the first book of his Academical P●…olusions, relates of Francis Suarez, who hath, sayeth he, so strong a memory, that he hath S. Augustine (the most copious & various of the Fathers) ready by heart, alleging every where (as occasion presents itself) fully & faithfully, his sentences, & which is very strange, his very words; nay if he be demanded any thing touching any passage in any of his volumes (which of themselves are almost enough to fill a Library,) Statim quo loco, quaque pagina disseruerit ea super re expedite docentem ac digito commonstrantem saepe vidimus; I myself have often seen him instantly showing and pointing with his finger, to the place & page in which he disputed of that matter; This is I confess the testimony of one jesuit, touching another. But of Dr Rainolds, it is most certain that he excelled this way, to the astonishment of all that were inwardly acquainted with him, not only for S. Augustine's works, but almost all Classike Authors: so as in this respect it might truly be said of him, which hath been applied to some others, that he was a living library, or third university: I have heard it very crediblely reported, that upon occasion of some writings, which passed to & fro, betwixt him & Doctor Gentilis, than our Professor in the Civil Laws, he publicly professed, that he thought Dr Rainolds had read, and did remember more of those Laws than himself, though it were his profession.  
And for the excellency of the other faculties of the mind, together with that of the memory It is wonderful the testimony that Viues (himself a man of eminent parts) in his Commentaries on the second book, and 17 Chapter de civitate Dei, gives Budaeus; Qu●… viro, (saith he) Gallia acutiore ingenio, acriore iudicio, exactiore diligentia, maiore eruditione nullum unquam produxit, hac vero aetate nec Italia quidem; then which man, France never brought forth a sharper wit, or more piercing judgement, of more exact diligence, and greater learning, nor in this age Italy itself. And then going on, tells us, that there was nothing written in Greek or Latin, which he had not turned over, read, examined; Greek & Latin were both alike to him, yet was he in both most excellent, speaking either of them as readily, & perchance with more ease than the french, his mother tongue; he would read out of a Greek book in Latin, & out of a Latin book in Greek. These things which we see so exquisitely written by him, flowed from him ex tempore; he writes more easily both in Greek & Latin, than the most skilful in those languages understand. Nothing in those tongues is so abstruse & difficult, which he hath not ransacked, entered upon, looked into, & brought as it were another Cerberus from darkness to light. Infinite are the significations of words, the figures, & properties of speech, which unknown to former ages, by the only help of Budaeus, studious men are now acquainted with. And these so great & admirable things, he without the directions of any teacher, learned merely by his own industry; Foelix & foecundum ingenium, quod in se uno invenit, & doctorem, & discipulum, & docendi viam rationemque, & cuius decimam partem, alij sub magnis magistris vix discunt, ipse id totum à se magistro ed●…ctus est: An happy & fruitful wit, which in itself alone found both a master, a scholar, & a method of teaching; and the tenth part of that which others can hardly attain unto under famous teachers, all that learned he of himself, being his own reader; and yet (saith he) hitherto have I spoken nothing of his knowledge in the laws, which being in a manner ruined, seem by him to have been restored, nothing of his Philosophy, whereof he hath given us such a trial in his books d●… Ass, that no man could compose them, but such a one as was assiduously versed in the books of all the Philosophers; & then having highly commended him for his piety, his sweet behaviour, & many other rare & singular virtues added to his great wit; he farther adds, that notwithstanding all this, he was continually conversant in domestic & state affairs at home, & ambassages abroad; so as it might truly be said of him, as Plinius Caecilius speaks of his uncle Secundus, when I consider his state affairs, & the happy dispatch of so many businesses, I wonder at the multiplicity of his reading & writing; & again, when I consider this, I wonder at that, & so leave him with that happy Distich of Buchanan:  
Gallia quod Graeca est quod Graecia barbara non est  
Vtraque Budaeo debet utrumque suo:  
That France is turned to Greece, that Greece is not turned rud●…  
Both owe them both to thee, their dear great learned Bude.  
And if we look over the Perynees, Metamorus, in his Treatise of the Universities & learned men of Spain, spares not to write of Tostatus, Bishop of Abulum, si alio quam suo seculo vivere contigisset, neque Hipponi Augustinum, neque Stridoni Hieronymum, nec quempian●… ex illis proceribus Ecclesiae antiquis nunc invideremus. Had he lived in any other age save his own, we should not have needed now to envy either Hippo for Augustine, or Stride●… for Hierom; nor any other of those ancient noble worthies of the Church. To which Possevin in his Apparatus adds, that at the age of two & twenty years, he attained the knowledge of almost all Arts & Sciences. For beside Philosophy & Divinity, the Canon & the Civil Laws, history & the Mathematics, he was well skilled in the Greek & Hebrew tongues: so as it was written of him,  
Hic stupor est mundi, qui scibile discutit omne, 
Bellarm: de Eccles: script:   
The world's wonder for that he  
Knows whatsoever knowne may be:  
He was so true a student, & so constant in sitting to it; that with Didymus of Alexandria, aenea habuisse intestina putaretur, he was thought to have a body of brass, & somuch he wrote & published, that a part of the epitaph engraven on his tomb was;  
Primae natalis luci folia omnia adaptans  
Nondum sic fuerit pagina trina satis;  
The meaning is, that if of his published writings, we should allow three leaves to every day of his life, from his very birth, there would be yet some to spare; & yet withal he wrote so exactly, that Ximines his scholar, attempting to contract his Commentaries upon Matthew, could not well bring it to less than a thousand leaves in folio, and that in a very small print, and others have attempted the like in his other works with like success. But that which Pasquier hath observed out of Monstrelet, is yet more memorable, touching a young man who being 
Lib. 5: c. 38.  not above 20 years old, came to Paris in the year 1445, and showed himself so admirably excellent in all Arts, Sciences, & Languages, that if a man of an ordinary good wit and found constitution should live one hundred years, and during that time study incessantly without eating, drinking, sleeping, or any recreation, he could hardly attain to that perfection: insomuch that some were of opinion, that he was Antichrist begotten of the Devil, or somewhat at leastwise above humane condition: Which gave occasion to these verses of Castellanus. who lived at the same time, and himself saw this miracle of wit.  

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

A young man have I seen  
At twenty years so skilled,  
That every Art he had, and all  
In all degrees excelled.  
What ever yet was writ  
He vaunted to pronounce  
Like a young Antichrist, if he  
Did read the same but once.   
Not to insist upon supernaturals, were there among us that industry, & that union of forces, & contribution of helps 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 have the light of their writings to guide and assist us: we have books by reason of the Art of Printing more familiar, and at a cheaper rate: most men being now unwilling to give three hundred pound for three books, as Plato 
Gellius l. 3. c. 17  did for those of Phylolaus the Pythagorean. And by this means are we freed from a number of gross errors, which by the ignorance or negligence of unskilful Writers crept into the text: yet on the other side it is as true that we are forced to spend much time in the learning of Languages, specially the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, which the Ancients spent in the study of things, their learning being commonly written in their own Language. Beside the infinite & bitter controversies among Christians in matter of Religion since the infancy thereof even to these present times, hath doubtless not a little hindered the advancement & progress of other Sciences, together with a vain opinion, that all Arts were already fully perfected, so as nothing could be added thereunto, and that the Founders of them were Giants, more than men for their wits in regard of us, and we very dwarves, sunk below our species in regard of them. Sed non est ita, saith Lodovicus Vives, nec nos sumus nani, nec 
De Causi. corrupt. A●…m l. 1.  illi homines Gygantes, sed omnes eiusdem staturae, & qnidem nos altius evecti eorum beneficio, maneat modò in nobis quod in illis, studium, attentio animi, vigilantia & amor veri; quae si absint, jam non sumus nani, sed homines justae magnitudinis humi prostrati. It is not so, neither are we Dwarves, nor they Cyants, but all of equal stature, or rather we somewhat higher, being lifted up by their means, conditionally there be in us an equal Inte●…tion of spirit, watchfulness of mind, and love of truth: for if these be wanting, then are we not so much dwarves as men of a perfect growth lying on the ground.  
Likewise it cannot be denied, but that the encouragements for study & Learning were in former times greater: what liberal bountiful allowance did Alexander afford Aristotle for the entertainment of Fishers, 
800 Talents.  Faukeners and Hunters to bring him in b●…asts, fowls, & fishes of all kinds for the discovery of their several natures & dispositions: Nay the daily wages of Roscius the stage-player, as witnesseth Macrobius, 
Sa●…al. li●… 3. c. 14.  was a thousand denarij, which amounteth to thirty pound of our coin. And Aesop the Tragedian grew so rich by the only exercise of the same trade, if we may credit the same Author, as he left to his son above one hundred and fifty thousand pound sterling: Whereunto may be added, that the Ancients coppying out their books for the most part with their own hands, it could not but work in them a deeper impression of the matter therein contained, and being thereby forced to content themselves with fewer books, of necessity they held themselves more closely to them. And it is most true which Seneca hath aswell in reading as eating, in books as diet, Varietas delectat, certitudo prodest, 
2.  Variety is delightful, but certainty more useful and profitable.  
So that upon the matter, all reckonings being on all sides cast up, and one thing being set against another, as we want some helps which the Ancients had, so are we freed from some hindrances wherewith they were encumbered, as again it is certain that they both wanted some of our helps, and were freed from some of our hindrances: if then we come short of their perfections, it is not because Nature is generally defective in us, but because we are wanting to ourselves, & do not strive to make use of, and improve those abilities wherewith God & Nature hath endowed us. Malè de Natura censet quicunque uno illam aut altero partu effaetam esse arbitratur, saith Vives; He thinks unworthily and irreverently of Nature who conceives her to be barren after one or two births; no, no, that which the same Author speaks of places, is likewise undoubtedly true of times, Vbique bona nascuntur ingenia, excolantur modo, alibi fortassis frequentiora, sed ubique nonnulla. Everywhere & in all ages good wits spring up, were they dressed & manured as they ought, though happily more frequently in some places & ages then in others. Scythia itself anciently yielded one Anacharsis, and no doubt had they taken the same course as he did, more of the same mettle would have been found there.   

SECT. 2. That there is both in wits and Arts as in all things beside, a kind of circular progress aswell in regard of places as times.  
THere is (it seems) both in wits & Arts, as in all things beside, a kind of circular progress: they have their birth, their growth, their flourishing, their failing, their fading, and within a while after, their resurrection, and reflourishing again. The Arts flourished for a long time among the Persians, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and therefore is Moses said to be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, 
Act. 7. 22.  who well knowing their own strength, were bold to object to the Grecians, that they were still children, as neither having the knowledge of Antiquity, nor the antiquity of knowledge: But afterwards the Grecians got the start of them, & grew so excellent in all kind of learning, that the rest of the world in regard of them were reputed Barbarians, which reputation of wisdom they held even to the Apostles time, I am debtor, saith S. Paul, both to the Grecians and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to 
Rom. 1. 14.  the unwise. And again, the jews require a sign, and the Grecians seek after 
1: Cor. 1. 22  wisdom. By reason whereof they relished not the simplicity of the Gospel, it seeming foolishness unto them: And in the 17 of the Acts the Philosophers of Athens; (sometimes held the most famous University in the World) out of an opinion of their own great learning scorned S. Paul and his doctrine, terming him a sour of words, a very Babbler or tri fire: yet not long after this, these very Grecians declined much, & themselves (whether thorough their own inclination, or by reason of their bondage under the Turk, the common enemy both of Religion and Learning, I cannot determine) are now become so strangely barbarous, that their knowledge is converted into a kind of affected ignorance, as is their liberty into contented slavery: yet after the loss both of their Empire and Learning, they still retained some spark of their former wit and industry.  

Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo  
Promptus, & Isaeo torrentior, ede quid illum 
●…ven. Sat. 7   
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, wondrous bold, well spoken, than  
Isaeus fluenter, tell who all men  
Brought with himself: a Soothsayer, a Physician,  
Magician, Rhetorician, Geometrician,  
Grammarian, Painter, Ropewalker, all knows  
The needy Greek; bid go to heaven, he goes.   
But now they wholly delight in ease, in shades, in dancing, in drinking, and for the most part no farther endeavour the enriching either of their minds or purses then their bellies compel them.  
The lamp of Learning being thus near extinguished in Greece,  
In Latium spret is Academia migrat Athenis.  
Athens forsaken by Philosophy,  
She forthwith ●…avell'd into Italy.  
〈◊〉 began to shine afresh Italy near about the time of the birth of Christ, there being a general peace thorough the world & the Roman Empire being fully settled: & established, Poets, Orators, Philosophers, Histori●…s▪ never more excellent. From thence this light spread itself over Christendom, & continued bright till the inundation of the Goths and H●…nnes, & V●…ndals, who ransacked Libraries, and defaced almost all the monuments of Antiq●…y, insomuch as that lamp seemed again to be put out by the space of almost a thousand years, & had longer so continued, had not first Mensor King of Africa & Spain raised up & spurred forward the Arabian wits to the rest●…raton of good letters by proposing great rewards & encouragements unto them. And afterwards Petrarch a man of a singular wit & rare natural endowments, opened such Libraries as were left undemolished, beat off the dust from the motheaten books, & drew into the light the best Authors. He was seconded by Boccace & john of Raven●…; & soon after by Areline, Phil●…lphus, Valla, Poggius, Omnibonus, Vergerius, Blondus, & others. And those again were followed by Aeneas Silvius, Angelus Politianus, Hermolaus Barbarus, Marsilius Ficinus, & that Phoenix of Learning johannes Picus Earl of Mirandula, who as appears in the entrance of his Apology proposed openly at Rome nine hundred questions in all kind of faculties to be disputed, inviting all strangers thither, from any part of the known world, and offering himself to bear the charge of their travel both coming and going, and during their abode there: so as he deservedly received that Epitaph which after his death was bestowed on him.  
johannes iacet hic Mirandula, caetera norunt  
Et Tagus, & Ganges, forsan & Antipodes.  
here 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 ut aethereus sol.  
In wit all men he far hath overgone,  
Eclipsing them like to the rising Sun.  
This path being thus beaten out by these Heroical spirits, they were backed by Rodulphus Agricola, Reucline, Melancthon, joachimus Camerarius, Wolphangus Lazius, Beatus Rhenanus, Almains, the great Erasmus a Netherlander, Ludovicus Vives a Spaniard, Bembus, Sadoletus, Eugubinus Italians, 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 drowsy spirit of the Grecians began again to be revived and awakened; in Bessarion, Gemmistius, Trapezontius, Gaza, Argyropilus, Calcondilas, and others: nay,, those very Northern Nations which before had given the greatest wound to learning, began now as by way of recompense 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 stars have si●…ce thorough Christendom succeeded, and some of them exceeded these in learning & knowledge▪ is so infinite, that the very recital of their names were enough to fill whole volumes: And if we descend to a particular examination of the several professions, Arts, Sciences and Manufactures, we shall surely find that predication of the Divine Seneca accomplished, Mu●…venientis aev●…populus ign●… nobis sciet, the people of 
Natural. quaest. l. 7. c. 31.  future ages shall come to the knowledge of many things unknown to us: And that of Tac●…us most true, Nec omnia apud priores meliora, sed nostra quoque aetas multa laudis & ar●…um imitanda posteris 〈◊〉 Neither 
Annal. l. 3. c. 12.  were all things in ancient times better than ours, but our age hath left unto posterity many things worthy praise and imitation. Ramus goes further, and perchance warrantably enough: Maiorem doctorum hominum 
P●…aefat. Scho●…l. 〈◊〉.  & oper●… proventum saeculo uno vidim●…, quam totis antea 14. maiores nostri viderant. We have seen within the space of one age, a more plentiful crop of learned men & works, than our Predecessors saw in fourteen, next going before.    

CAP. 7. Touching the three principal professions, Divinity; Law, and Physic.  

SEC. 1. Of the Divinity of the Gentiles and jews 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 profane and fabulous in their vain discourses touching the Genealogy, the number & nature of their Gods, & partly mixed with much error and weakness in their Metaphysics, professing themselves to be wise, they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Ante Christum quam 
Rom. 1. 21. 22.  molestae disputationes, saith Lodovicus Vives in his 5 book & 9 chapter de veritate fidei Christianae, how irksome 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●…table. How divers and uncertain were their ends of goodness? which held men's minds in suspense, but Christ hath now fully cleared & opened all points, we are now well acquainted with the true end and the means that conduce to that end, what is honest, what profitable, what hurtful, the resolutions are now easy and perspicuous; and in the fourth chapter of the same book, nunc r●…onditissima mysteria scitu digna & necessaria, melius nostrae mulier●…le intelligunt, quam maximi olim philosophi, Our silliest women now better understand the deepest Mysteries worthy or needful to be known, than the profoundest Philosophers than did. They were (as the Apostle speaks in another case) ever learning, but never came, nor indeed could ever come to the knowledge of truth, in as much as the mere natural man perceiveth not, nor can perceive the hid things of God, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which made them to be, as Minutius Foelix in his Octavius hath truly observed, Semper adversus sua vitia facundi, always eloquent in declaiming against their own vices; but we (saith he) qui non habitu sapientiam sed ment praeferimus, who do not place, or wear wisdom in the robe but in the mind: non eloquimur magna sed vivimus, we speak not big but live well, & glory in this, that we have found that, which they with all eagerness sought, but could not find. His conclusion is: Quid ingrati sumus? quid nobis invidemus, si veritas divinitatis nostri temporis aetate maturuit? fruamur bono nostro: Why are we ingrate? why do we envy ourselves, if the true knowledge of the deity have been brought to ripeness and full perfection in our age? In God's name let us enjoy our own blessing. Among the jews, the only visible Church, the sacred Oracles of God, containing the revelation of supernatural truths, were indeed preserved: But hereunto, their Talmudists & Cabalists, their Scribes & pharisees, their Sadduces atd Essens added such traditions, such fictions, such corrupt glosses and malicious interpretations, as the fruit of their doctrine lay hid under the leaves; and as the learned in their language well know, very little use can be made of their best Commentaries upon Scripture; howbeit they presumed, that their chiefs kill lay that way: So that we need not doubt, but the most excellent Divines, have all been since the coming of Christ. It is to me very strange, that not only the Pharisees should be infected with this opinion of the Pythagoreans, 
josephus de bello Jud. 2. 7.  touching the dwelling of the same soul in divers bodies successively, & in divers ages; but that Herod, and the whole nation of the jews, should be tainted with that gross error, as appears in that they held our Saviour to be john the Baptst, or Elias, or one of the Prophets; 
Mat. 14. 2. Mar: 18: 28: Luk: 9 19:  all which they knew to be dead, and some of them long before: Their meaning being, that the soul of the Baptist, or of Elias, or of one of the Prophets, was by traduction passed into our Saviour's body; as Pythagoras writes of himself, that he was first Euphorbus, and then Callidas, than Hermotimus, than Pyrrhus, and lastly Pythagoras: But yet far more strange it is, that the Apostles of our Saviour themselves should be thus misled; and yet it should seem by that their demand touching him that was borne blind, Master, who did sin this man, or his parents, 
john. 9: 〈◊〉  that he was borne blind; that they were indeed possessed with that opinion, for how could they conceive that he should sin before he was borne, but in some other body which his soul actuated before? and in truth Saint Cyrill upon that occasion, is induced to think, that they were swayed with the common error of that nation and those times; 
In Graeca Ca●…na.  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, 
Comment. in locum.  tam crasso figmento fuerit datus locus. Truly, this is a prodigious kind of wonder, that among the elect people of God, who were enlightened by the heavenly wisdom of the Law and the Prophets, way should be given to so palpable a fiction. Yet I know not whether their stupidity, were greater in this, or in that other demand of theirs, at our Saviour's ascension, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? where 
Act. 1. 6.  Calvin again stands amazed, that they should all with one consent (for somuch doth the text imply) join together in such a foolish question as he terms it, mira profecto illorum fuit ruditas, quod tam absolute tantaque cura per triennium edocti non minorem inscitiam produnt, quam si nullum unquam verbum audissent, totidem in hac interrogatione sunt errores quot verba: wonderful in truth was their rawness & rudeness, that having been so exquisitely and diligently taught by three years' space, they notwithstanding bewray as much ignorance, as if they had never heard somuch as one word of instruction, as many errors are in their question as words: But this likewise of restoring them a temporal kingdom, than was, and at this day continues to be, the common error of that whole nation, neither by any means will they be beaten from it: That which to me seemeth more admirable, is, that S. Peter himself, even after the descending of the holy Ghost, was ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles, of whom together with the jews, the Catholic Church was to be made up: whereby it should seem, that then likewise he was ignorant, that himself was the head of the Catholic Church, as by those who hold themselves the only Catholics, he is now made; yet may it not be denied, or somuch as doubted, that the holy and blessed Apostles were all endowed with singular gifts and graces, aswell for knowledge and wisdom, as all kind of moral virtues, fitting for so high a calling; and that in their writings, they were the penmen of God, inspired by the holy Ghost: but leaving them, let us descend a little lower in the Church of Christ. As then the three first Centuries are commended for Piety, Devotion, & Martyrdom, so is the fourth for learned and famous Divines. Habuit haec aetas si quae unquam alia plurimos praestantes & illustres Doctores, say the Magdeburgians: This age if ever any abounded in excellent and famous Doctors, as namely Arnobius, Lactantius, Eusebius, 
Centur. 4: c. 4:  Athanasius, Hilarius, Victorinus, Basilius, Nazianzenus, Ambrose, Prudentius, Epiphanius, Theophilus, Hieronymus, Faustinus, Didymus, Ephraim, Optatus, to which number, they might well have added, (for that he began to show his worth in the same Centurie) that renowned pillar of truth & hammer of heresies S. Augustine. These and the like great Divines of those ages I much honour, & eorum nominibus semper assurgo, I confess I reverence their very names; yet most certain, it is they had all their slips and blemishes in matter of doctrine: But before this age, Tertullian, and Origen, and Cyprian, are specially branded for notorious errors, and Vincentius Li●…inensis gives this rare commendation of the Fathers, assembled in the Council of Nice, that they were tantae eruditionis, tantaeque doctrinae, of so profound learning and singular knowledge, ut propè omnes possent de dogmatibus disputare, that almost all of them could reason of matters of faith: Yet in those very 
Contra haereses, cap: 41.  times, was the Church so rend and torn in sunder with Capital heresies, trenching upon the very vital parts and fundamental principles of Christian Religion, touching the sacred Trinity, and incarnation of our blessed Saviour. ut illis temporibus ingeniosares fuit esse Christianum, so as 
Erasmus.  in those times it was a matter of wit to be a Christian: Such were the niceties, wherein their Teachers differed, and such their subtleties, they bound their scholars to maintain.  
But that which to me seemeth most strange, is, that so many of them were infected with the error of the Millenaries, that so many, specially of the Greek Fathers, held that the Angels were created long before the creation of the visible world, that a number both of the Greek and Latin maintained, that the souls of men departed this life, go neither to heaven nor hell, till the resurrection of the body, but remained in certain hidden receptacles they knew not whree, that Antichrist was to come of the tribe of Dan, that the sons of God, who in the sixth of Genesis, are said to have fallen in love with the daughters of men. were the blessed Angels: upon which occasion, Pererius a learned jesuit hath these memorable words, Pudet dicere quae de optimis Scriptoribus hoc loco dicturus sum: I even blush to utter those things which here 
Comment. in locum:  I am to speak of most excellent writers, they being not only false, but absurd and shameful, unworthy the wit & learning of so famous men, as also of the purity and holiness of the blessed Angels; yet truth enforceth me to speak, partly, lest that should seem probable to any man, by reason of the countenance of so grave Authors, which is no way to be approved; and partly, that from hence it may appear 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 mediocriter eruditis perspicua indubitata, exploratèque percepta sunt: for many things anciently either obscure or doubtful, or altogether unknown to the most learned among them, are now become even to mean Clerks clear & certain. And with him fully accords Andradius in 
Lib. 2:  his defence of the Tridentine Council, God hath revealed many things to us that they never saw. And Dominicus Bannes a famous schoolman: It 
2 a. 2ae pag. 58.  is not necessary, that by how much the more the Church is remote from the Apostles times, by somuch there should be the less perfect knowledge of the mysteries of faith therein, because after the Apostles times, there were not the most learned men in the Church, which had dexterity in understanding and expounding matters of faith Roffensis likewise, our Countryman strikes upon the same string: It cannot be unknown to any, but that many things are more 
Confut. assert. Luth: art. 8.  narrowly sifted & clearly understood by the helps of latter wits, aswell in the Gospels, as other parts of the Scriptures, then formerly they have been; and lastly, to make up the music full, Cardinal Caietan bears a part, Let 
In 1 Gene.  no man think it strange, if sometimes we bring a new sense of holy writ, different from the ancient Doctors, but let him diligently examine the Text & context, and if he find it to agree therewith, let him praise God, who hath not tied the exposition of the sacred Scriptures, to the senses given by the ancient Doctors. These testimonies, I the rather vouch for that the Authors of them being professed Champions of the Roman Church, withal profess themselves to be the greatest friends to the ancient Fathers.   

SECT. 2. Of ensuing ages.  
YEt not to conceal a truth, these were lightsome times in regard of those succeeding ages that followed after, when Divinity was woven into distinctions, which like Cobwebs were fine and curious in working, but not much useful. And in the mean time for the most part in the Scriptures and holy Languages there was so great ignorance, ut Graecè nosse suspectum fuerit, Hebraicè propè Haereticum, that, as witnesseth Espencaeus himself a Doctor of the Sorbon, to be skilled in 
2 Tim. 3. digressione 17.  Greek was suspicious, in the Hebrew almost haereticall, which suspicion Rhemigius an Interpreter of S. Paul's Epistles, surely was not guilty of: for commenting upon these words, à vobis diffamatus est sermo, he tells us, 
1 Thess. 1. 8  that diffamatus, was somewhat improperly put for divulgatus, S. Paul being not very solicitous of the propriety of words: whereupon Ludovicus Vives demands, Quid facias principibus istis Scholarum qui nondum sciunt Paulum non Latinè, sed Graecè scripsisse: What shall we say to these 
Comment. de Civ Dei l. 2. c. 21.  Masters in Israel, who know not that S. Paul wrote not in Latin, but in Greek. It appears by the rescript of Pope Zacharie to Boniface a Germane Bishop, that a Priest in those parts baptised in this form, Baptizo te 
3. part. Decret, deconsecr. d●…stinct. 4. Can, 84  in nomine Patria, & Filia, & Spiritua sancta: And by Erasmus, that some Divines in his time would take upon them to prove, that Heretics were to be put to death, because the Apostle saith, Haereticum hominem devita, which it seems they understood as if he had said, de vita tolle. I have somewhere read, that two Friars disputing whether God made any more worlds than one, the one wisely alleging that passage of the Gospel touching the ten Lepers which were cleansed, Anon decem facti sunt mundi, as if God had made ten worlds, the other looking into the text, replies as wisely, with the words immediately following, Sed ubi sunt novem? but what is become of the nine? so as from thence he would prove but one to be left. He that is disposed to make himself merry in this kind; may find in Henry Stevens his Apology of Herodotus, a number of like stuff, I will only touch one or two of the choicest. Du Prat a Bishop and Chancellor of France, having received 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 twelve mastiff dogs, the Chancellor taking Molossos to signify Mules, made a journey of purpose to the Court to beg them of the King; who wondering at such a present to be sent him from England, demanded the sight of the letter, and smiling thereat, the Chancellor finding himself to be deceived, told him that he mistook Molossos for Muletoes, and so hoping to mend the matter, made it worse. Another tale he tells of a Parish Priest in Artois, who had his Parishioners in suit for not paving the Church, and that the charge thereof lay upon them and not upon him he would prove out of the 17 of the Prophet jeremy, Paveant illi, non paveam ego. I remember Archbishop Parker somewhere in his Antiquitates Britannicae, makes relation of a French Bishop, who being to take his oath to the Archbishop of Canterbury, & finding the word Metropoliticae therein, being not able to pronounce it, he passed it over with Soit pour dict, let it be as spoken; & when they had most grossly broken Priscian's head, being taken in the fact, their common defence was, those words of S. Gregory, non debent verba coelestis Oraculi subesse regulis Donati, the words of the heavenly Oracles ought not to be subject to the rules of Donatus.  
But about 200 years since, together with the Arts, the languages likewise began to revive, in somuch as Hebrew & Greek are now as common as true Latin then was, & for the true sense of holy Scripture, never had the Church more judicious & faithful Interpreters, then by the Divine providence it hath enjoyed these last 100 years: beside, the Sermons of this latter age, specially in this land, have doubtless been more exquisite & effectual, then ordinarily they have been in any precedent age; insomuch, as it is observed, that if there were a choice collection made of the most accurate, since the entrance of Queen Elizabeth, to these present times, (leaving out the largeness of applications thereupon) it would prove one of the rarest pieces that hath been published since the Apostles times. Hereunto might be added for practical divinity, the decisions of cases of conscience, which the Ancients did not handle professedly, but only upon the Buy, and the many singular treatises tending to devotion, which I wish they were aswell practised as they are written. And no doubt but the great agitation of controversies, which these latter times have produced, hath not only sharpened the spirits of Divines, but made the grounds of Christian religion to be better understood. For, as S. Augustine speaks of the Father's writings before Pelagius, ante exortum Pelagium securius loquebantur Patres, before the rising of Pelagius the Fathers spoke more securely: so may we truly say, before Luther arose and awakened the world, Divines spoke & wrote more loosely then since they have done: The sparks of truth being forced out of contention, as the sparks of fire are out of the collision of the flint & steel.  
To conclude this Section, touching Divinity, it is most true which alearned Divine of our own times & Church hath rightly observed, 
〈◊〉:  that whosoever shall peruse the Church story digested into Centuries or Annals, or cast but a glance of his eye upon the Catalogues of writers, made by S. Hierome, Suidas, Photius, Gennadius, Abbas Tritemius, Illyricus, Ball, & Bellarmine, shall find the ages of the Church to resemble the stars of the sky: In some parts we see many glorious and eminent stars, in others few of any remarkable greatness, 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 unknown Authors, resembling the least and obscurest stars in the sky. After we have passed the eight age of the Church, we fall into Cimmerian darkness. Bellarmine cannot speak of the ninth age with patience. Seculo hoc nullum extitit 
De Roman Pontifice, l: 4: c. 12:  indoctius aut infoelicius, quo qui mathematicae aut Philosophiae operam dabat vulgo Magus putabatur: never was there any age more unlearned or unhappy than this, in which he that studied the Mathematics or Philosophy was commonly held a Magician. Sabellicus is at a stand in admiring the palpable Egyptian darkness thereof: mirum est quanta 
Eneead: 9:  omnium bonarum artium oblivio per id tempus mortalium animos obrepserit, ut ne in Pontificibus quidem ullis sive Principibus quicquam illuceret quod vitam iuvare possit: A wonder it is, how strange a forgetfulness of all good arts about this time crept upon the minds of men: so as neither in Prelates nor Princes appeared any thing which might farther civility. Genebrard after a sort blesseth himself from it, Infoelix dicitur hoc seculum, 
Chron. lib: 4:  exhaustum hominibus doctrina, & ingenio claris, sine etiam claris Principibus atque Pontificibus: This is called the unhappy age, void of men renowned either for wit or learning, as also without any famous, either Princes or Prelates: So great an alteration there is in the studies and endeavours of men in divers ages, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and then by God's blessing for the better again.   

SECT. 3. The Lawyers of this last age, preferred before those of former times.  
NExt Gods Laws, those of the Empire seem to challenge their place, howbeit with us, having neither that reward nor employment as they deserve, they have lost both their rank and dignity, but in foreign parts where they are cherished and honoured, they marvellously flourish, in somuch as in some transmarine kingdoms their Lawyers are held, and for the most part undoubtedly are, more sufficient Scholars than their Divines; and within this last centenary, much more sufficient than the writers and professors of the same faculty in many precedent ages, aswell in that part which is professed in Schools, as the practic expressed in judgements and plead. He that shall judiciously compare Baldus and Bartolus, jason and Accursius, with Cuijacius, Alciatus, Ottomannus, Duarenus all french men, shall easily find these latter, not only for their phrase more polite, & for their method more exact, but for the marrow & true sense of the law more profound. I will instance only in the two first. For Cuijacius, it is a memorable testimony which is yielded him by Massonius; jacobus Cuijacius juris Romani radices tanta cura effossas in lucem protulit, ut caeteri ante eum ignorasse illas ipse solus post multos & quaesivisse diligentius, & penitius invenisse videatur: james Cujace with so great industry digged up and brought to light, the very roots of the Imperial Law, that both others before him seemed to be ignorant of them, and he alone after others to have sought them more diligently, and discovered them more fully: But that of Pithaeus outuies this of Massonius, where in an Epitaph erected to him, he doubts not to style him, Romani iuris à primis Conditoribus interpretem primum & ultimum, the first and the last interpreter of the Roman Law since the first founders thereof: adding withal, that what clear and native light soever is at all brought to that science, this present age hath derived 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 grave,  
They died together and one sepulchre they have.   
Whereunto may be added the grave testimony which Arias Montanus gives Alciat.  

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

The Civil Law with art and eloquence did shine,  
But barbarous pettifoggers did the same obscure  
In season Alciat came and did the Laws refine,  
And taught the Lawyer thence to speak more pure.   
Yet Cuijacius himself, whether out of judgement or modesty I cannot affirm, was content to yield the bucklers to Govianus, touching whom Thuanus witnesseth that himself heard him thus protesting, Govianum 
Bibliot. hist. 99  ex omnibus iuris justinianaei interpretibus, quotquot sunt vel fuere, unum esse, cui, si quaeratur quis excellat, palma deferenda sit: that of all the Interpreters of the Laws of justinian, which either are, or have been, if the question should be, who amongst them most excelled, Govianus was the only man, to whom the price was of right to be adjudged. Now for the latter part, which is the practic, it may easily be evidenced to any who will be pleased to look into it, that by the observations, experience, pains, and learning of the Lawyers of these latter ages, it is grown to much more exactness and perfection, then former ages had. Which appears by the judgements, decisions, arrests, and plead of the highest Courts of the greatest part of the Christian Nations, which are extant in great numbers, as the decisions of the several roots of Italy at Rome, at Naples, at Florence, at Genoa, at Bononia, at Mantua, at Perusium, and the rest. The judgements of the Imperial chamber at Spire, which is the last resort of the German Nation, and the arrests of the several Courts of Parliament in France, as Paris, Aix, Bordeaux, Gren●…ble, and the rest: to which may be added the plead of Monsieur Seruin, the french King's advocate, and others of that nature, which are all published and extant, partly in Latin, and partly in their own languages, with that variety and learning as much exceeds the former ages.   

SECT. 4. Ancient and modern Physicians compared especially in the knowledge of Anatomy and Herbary, the two legs of that Science.  
THE third great Profession is Physic, in which besides the uncertain and fabulous reports of Apollo and Esculapius, we read not of any excellent till Hypocrates, & after him being much decayed, it was revived by Galen, ut sub eo rursum nata medicina videatur, so 
〈◊〉.  as it seemed under him to be borne again. Two special parts thereof are the knowledge of the body of man, and the knowledge of simples: touching the former, the opening and anatomising of men's bodies. It was doubtless among the Ancients in very little use, I mean the Egyptians, the Hebrews, the Grecians, the Romans, & the Primitive Christians. First then I know the Egyptians are by some said to have been this way most skilful, but considering how excessively curious & ceremonious, or rather superstitious they were in preserving their bodies entire & unputrified, I conceive their opening them to have been rather for the imbowelling & imbaulming, than the anatomising of them: and for the Grecians they could not well practise it, in as much as they usually burned their dead bodies, by the testimony not only of Homer & Herodotus, (whose authorities yet in this case might pass as sufficient) but likewise of Thucydides & Plutarch, witnesses beyond all exception, whereof the latter in the 3 book and 4 question of his Symposiaques gives us to understand, that their custom was with the bodies of ten men to burn one of an woman, because they supposed their flesh to be more unctuous, and thereby to help forward the burning of the rest more easily & speedily; & surely had Anatomy been in use among the Grecians, me thinks Physicians & Anatomists should somewhere discover it in the works of Hypocrates yet extant, which I presume cannot be shown, once I am sure, that when at the instance of the Abderites he came to visit Democritus, he found him (as may be seen in his Epistle to Damogetus) cutting up several beasts, who being by him demanded the reason thereof, Democritus returns him this answer, Haec animalia quae vides proptereà seco, non dei opera perosus, sed fellis, bilisque naturam disquirens, these beasts which thou seestI cut up, not because I hate the works of God, but to search into the nature of gall & choler: now if he feared lest the cutting up of beasts might be censured as an hating of God's works, he must needs much more have feared that censure, had he cut up the bodies of men.  
But among the jews it is evident, that this Art could not be in use, for that their executed malefactors were put to death either by burning or stoning, (whom they buried under an heap of stones) or by crucifying them upon a cross, & for these they had express charge, Deut. 21. at the last verse, that they should no●… suffer them to hang all night upon the tree, but in any wise must they bury them the very day they wer●… crucified: and besides it was most precisely enjoined 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 far held unclean, that if he presumed to enter into the tabernacle before he was purified, he was to be cut off from Israel for defiling it; nay, if in this case he but touched bread or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, he thereby made it unclean, as appears Aggai 2. 13.  
Some more doubt seems to be touching the ancient Romans, but I think it may easily be showed, that from the Grecians they likewise took up & practised the burning of dead bodies, the places which they commonly used to this purpose were by them called puticuli or culinae, & the pots or vessels in which they preserved the bones & ashes of the burnt bodies, Vrnae, whereof I have seen one in M. Chambers his keeping at Bath: but all the difficulty seems to consist in this, when this custom began among them, and when it ceased, for the former it is commonly held, that it was not in use among the Romans before Sylla the Dictator, who having himself cruelly tyrannised upon the dead body of Marius, & fearing lest the same measure might be showed to himself, commanded that his body instantly upon his death should be burned, whereas Pli- 7. 54. only says, 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 nobility that commanded it, and he that attentively reads the Roman story will easily find, that this custom was practised among them long before Sylla, even from the first foundation of Rome, so witnesseth Ovid in his 4 de Fastis, speaking of Remus the brother of Romulus.  
Arsarosque artus unxit.  
The limbs that now were to be burnt  
His brother did anoint.  
And again.  
Vltima plorato subdita flamma rogo est,  
The last fire now was set unto his hearse.  
After this Numa being by sect a Pythagorean, forbade his own body to be burnt, as witnesseth Plutarch in his life, which he needed not have done had not the custom then been usual, & Tullus Hostilius his successor had not his body therefore burnt because he was stricken dead with lightning, for so was the Law After this again Tully in his second de legibus telsus, that the Law of the 12 Tables commanded, Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito, neve urito, let no dead body be buried or burned in the City, which (as he there adds) was for fear their buildings might from thence take fire: now the Laws of the 12 Tables were composed, as witnesseth Gellius 20. 1. in the 300 year after the foundation of the City, which was almost 400 years before Sylla; & if any desire further satisfaction in this point, I refer him to the learned and copious Annotations of Blasius Vigenerus in French upon the first Decade of Livy, which Author himself hath excellently translated into that language; among other examples produced by him to this purpose, he makes it plain ou●… of Livy lib. 8, that the body of the son of Manlius the Consul, (who contrary to his father's command fought out of his rank & was therefore by a command from the same mouth put to death) was presently carried out of the camp and burned with all military pomp, and this he assigns to the year 412 by his computation above 270 years before the death of Sylla.  
Now this practice of the Romans I have the longer insisted upon, partly for the checking of a common error, holding that before Sylla the Romans burned not their dead bodies, and partly to show that many of those monstrous giantlike bodies, which aswell among the Romans as Grecians are said to have been digged up, were undoubtedly burnt, but chiefly that hereby it may appear, that the noble and useful practice of anatomising men's bodies, was not in use among them, neither indeed could it be, considering they held it unlawful, aspicere humana exta, as Pliny speaks in his proem to his 28 book, to look upon the entrails of men's bodies, and Dion in his 55 tells us, that it was granted to Tiberius to touch the body of Augustus, quod nefas alias erat, which was otherwise unlawful, and from hence it was that their Vespillones, Coriarij, Pollinctores, Libitinarij, and other officers of that kind employed about the washing, the anointing, the carrying forth, the burning and providing things necessary about the dead, were not suffered to live in the City, and the bodies themselves were burnt without the City, & few there were that went forth of the city gates to wait on the funerals of their nearest and dearest friends: 
Sen. nat. quest. 3 18   
Now the Antiquity of this custom being cleared, a second doubt there is, when it ceased, manifest than it is that it continued in use till the Antonins, and tben began it by degrees to be disused, Macrobius witnessing in the seventh book and seventh chapter of his Saturnals, that in his time it was in a manner grown out of use, yet certain it is that the bodies of Pertinax and Severus fifty years after were both burned, as reporteth Dion of the one, and Herodian in his fourth book of the other, and near about this time it was that Galen lived, so as I verily believe he never or very seldom opened the bodies of men, I know that Riolan and Laurentius have both of them zealously defended him against the Neotericks, who charge him with much weakness and ignorance in this Art, but I cannot observe that either of them hath produced so much as one clear passage out of any part of his works, to prove that he ever so much as once opened the body of a man, dogs indeed, & swine, & apes it appears he opened, & once an Elephant, but for his usual opening of men's bodies, in my mind they bring no sufficient proofs, which Laurentius himself well perceiving, modestly concludes his answer to the first instance brought against Galen with a verisimile est, it is likely that he cut up the bodies of men.  
But let us pass on from the jews and Gentiles, to the Primitive Christians who were (as their works show) professed adversaries to this practice. Tertullian in the fourth chapt. of his book de anima, speaking of Herophilus, doubts whether he may call him medicum or lanium, a Physician or a butcher, qui hominem odijt ut nosset saith he, who hated mankind that he might know it, & S, Augustine de Civit. dei 22. 24. harps much upon the same string, Etsi medicorum diligentia nonnulla Crudelis quos anatomicos appellant lani●…uit corpora mortuorum: howbeit the over-diligent cruelty of some Physicians whom they call Anatomists hath butchered the bodies of the dead: And to like purpose is that of Boniface, the vl extravag. common. lib. 3. tit. 6. cap. 1. where he severely threatens such with the thunderbold of excommunication irrevocable, but only by the sea Apostolic, who exenterate dead bodies, and cut the flesh from the bones, mangling it into gobbets, quod non solum (saith he) divinae maiestatis conspectui abominabile plurimum redditur, sed etiam humanae considerationis obtutibus occurrit vehementius abhorrendum which is a practice abominable in the eyes both of God & men. Out of all which it appears that this practice of anatomising the dead bodies of men, so profitable to bring us to the knowledge of ourselves, and consequently of our maker, so necessary to Physicians & Surgeons was never brought into the body of a perfect art, till this latter age. Nos multa quotidie prioribus seculis incognita obseruamus: we observe many 
Laurentius.  things utterly unknown to former ages: And this last age in truth hath yielded men singular in this art▪ Vesalius, Vassaeus, Varolius, Silvius, Fallopius, Piceolhominaeus, Columbus, Riolanus, Laurentius, who followed Henry the fourth of France in his civil wars, and gained much experience by cutting up the bodies of such as were slain in the field, ut videatur haec Ars nunc summum perfectionis fastigium attigisse, they be his own words, so as this Art now, & never before seems to have reached the very top of perfection. Never was it in any age so illustrated with lively & exquisite pictures, so encouraged with stipends, so furnished with schools, fitting instruments & all manner of helps, and generally so honoured as it is at this day. And truly I have often not a little wondered with myself, that an University so famous in foreign parts as this of Oxford, was never to my knowledge provided of a public Lecture in this kind, till now; as neither was it for a garden of simples, now in good forwardness by the noble munificence of the Heroical Earl of Danbie, nor of a History Lecture, nor of an Arabic, though it were long since solemnly decreed in the Council of Vienna, that this University, as likewise Paris, Bononia, Salamanca, & Rome (which were undoubtedly then accounted the principal Universities in Christendom) should each of them have maintained two professors in that language, as also in Chalde & Hebrew, Clementinarum, lib. 5. Tit. 1. cap. 1.  
Now for the knowledge of Simples, the other leg, as it were, upon which Physic stands, as Theophraestus was in many things amended by Plynie, & Plynie by Dioscorides, so hath Dioscorides himself by the happy travels of Ruellius, & Rovillius, & Leonardus Fuchsius, who in his Epistle to joachimus' Marquis of Brandenburg, tells us, that this part of Physic was a while since so utterly neglected & defaced, that, had not God raised up industrious and learned men to restore it, actum plane de Medicina Herbaria fuisset, it had been utterly lost: But Hermolaus Barbarus was he, who by translating Dioscorides out of Greek into Latin, & by adding his Corrolarium thereunto touching the same subject, first recovered the ancient lustre thereof. And since, by reason of the discovery of many parts of the world unknown to the Ancients, many plants, gums, drugs, & minerals, are by Monaedus & others known to us, which they never heard of.   

SECT. 5. Of the profitable use of extractions, and the Paracelsian Physic, either wholly unknown to the Ancients, or little practised by them  
TO the perfiting of the anatomical and reviving of the Botanicall art in this latter age; may be added a new kind of physic professed by a new sect of Physicians, never heard of in the world before; and altogether differing from the Ancients, as in name, in terms of art, so likewise in rules, in matter, in method & manner of proceeding, aswell for doctrine as practise▪ a founder it had (if we may credit himself) descended of a noble and ancient family among the Heluetians, the name which he gives himself Philippus, Theophrastus, Bombastus, ab Hoenhaim, or Paracelsus, by which name he is now commonly known; borne he was in or about the year 1494, & died at Salisburge in Germany in the year 1541, being then but forty seven; a man strangely composed, as Bullinger, & Gesner, and Operinus, a citizen of Basile (his bosom-friend & individual companion from some years) have characterized him: without learning, without civility, without religion, being never heard to pray, a great hater of women, and yet an excessive lover of wine, exceedingly vainglorious in his words & writings, & yet sordid in his apparel, & base in the company he willingly made choice of, which for the most part were coachmen and carters, or bores of the country, & with these would he sit up drinking all night, and (than seldom shifting himself) cast himself down on a bed to sleep, prodigal he was in his expenses, yet seldom wanted money, & sometimes having not a penny in his purse over night, he would draw forth handfuls of gold in the morning, which made men believe he had indeed the art of transmutation of metals, & that he carried with him the philosopher's stone in the pommel of his sword, which he always wore: he spent sometime in most of the Universities in Christendom, consulting in matters of physic with Doctors, Surgeons, keepers of baths, wise women, Magicians, Alchemists, Monks, and of all kind of people: And lastly, passing into Arabia, he there likewise spent ten years more in the same studies, (if we may credit Bickerus in Hermete rediviuo) and so returning (as he there speaks) loaden with the spoils of the East; he brought to light in these parts of the world the use of Hermetical, spagyrical, or Chemical physic, (as they term it.) So as where Galen mentions in his time but three sects of physicians, Emperikes, Methodists, and Dogmatiques; we have now a fourth that go under the name of Chymiques, Hermetiques', or Paracelsiaus, & a branch of them (as I conceive, is the order Roseae Crusis) who treading in the steps of their master, have changed Aristotle's 3 principles of natural bodies, matter, form, and privation into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; and from the several temper of these three, they affirm all sicknesses and health to arise. I will not in all things undertake the defence of them, neither can I if I would; the truth is, they magnify themselves too much, and overvaluing themselves & their own wits, & worth; they too much disesteem the precepts & practise of the Ancients; yet it cannot be denied, but by reason of their artificial extractions, separations, and preparations of their medicines; they have had happy success in the curing of some desperate diseases, which in former ages have been thought incurable; and Paracelsus himself, even by the acknowledgement of his adversaries, wrought wonders in the speedy healing of inveterate & festered ulcers, for that he was able by mere 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 years, (as he vainly boasteth of himself) is I confess no part of my Creed. Well then, leaving their vanities to themselves, I doubt not but the most learned Physicians of this age who stick most to Galen, (if they be not led with faction or fancy, but with judgement, reason, & experience) will easily confess at times a profitable use of the Paracelsian extractions in their practice, as being less loathsome, & cumbersome, & withal more active & vigorous, more spiritful & operative; as on the other side it must be granted, that being applied without good advice and moderation, they cannot but prove dangerous, by reason of their piercing & searching nature; so as the joining of the galenical & Paracelsian Physic together, making use of them both as occasion serves, is by 
1 De velere & nova medicina.  Audernacus, 
2 de Chymicorun cum Galeni●… consensis.  Sennertus, 
3 Phrarmac●…paea dogmaticorum restituta.  Quercitan, & some others of best note, held the best and safest course. I cannot here omit Quercitanes' words to this purpose: Si Hiprocrates, vel Aristoteles, vel ipse etiam Galenus nunc reviuisceret, obstupesceret certe tot ornamentis artem hanc adauctam atque illustratam, tot novis inventis ditatam, tot mirificis operationibus confirmatam: If Hypocrates, or Aristotle●… or Galel himself were now alive, they would wonder to see this art enlarged & beautified with so many ornaments, enriched with so many new inventions, confirmed by so many strange practices & experiments. Whereupon he infers, verissimum itaque est quod sapientum quidam medicorum nostri seculi ait, creurunt cum ingenijs & ipsae scientiae artesque magna & incredibilia incrementa sumpserunt: It is most true, which one of the wisest Physicians of our age affirms, together with good wits the sciences sprang up, and the Arts are incrediblely inproved.    

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

SECT. 1. That the moderns far exceeded the Ancients in Chronologie and cosmography the two eyes of History.  
AS the two legs of Physic are Anatomy and Herbarie, so the two eyes of History are Chronologie and topography, computation of times, and description of places: in both which it is certain, that the Moderns have so far exceeded the Ancients, as these seem to have seen nothing in a manner in regard of them. First then for Chronologie, how dim-sighted are the Ancients in the computation of times, how miserably do they wander up and down in the dark, and knock their heads each against other, and how excellently have latter Writers, and specially joseph Scaliger in that most elaborate work of his de emendatione Temporum, cleared those mists, and chased away that darkness. It is to this purpose a notable speech of Causabons', Scientia temporum quantoperè 
Ex. 1. in Baron, p. 150.  fuerit post renatas litter as exculta, quam admiranda acceperit incrementa, asinus est qui ignorat inter literatos, malignus & beneficiorum dei ingratus aestimator qui dissimulat, stupenda enim sunt quae summi viri in nostra praesertim Gallia & Germania praestiterunt. He that knows not how much the knowledge of times hath been laboured since the new birth of good letters, among the learned, can be held but an ass, and he who dissembles it, envious and an ingrateful under-valuer of God's blessings towards this age: admirable things they are which in this kind men of note have achieved, specially in our France and Germany. The learned works in Chronologie of Funccius, Buntingius, Bucholcerus, Helvicus, Calvisius, Genebrardus, Gordonus, Salianus, Torniellus, and our English Lively (of whose skill in Chronologie the same Causabon makes honourable mention cont. Bar. Exer. 16. n. 13. their works, I say, published to the world, make his words good, and fully testify what he there affirms▪  
Now for topography, the other eye of History, Strabo often, and that deservedly censures Eratostenes, Hipparchus, Polybius, Possidonius, the gravest Authors among the Ancients, and Ptolemy sharply takes up Marinus Tyrius, though otherwise a diligent Writer: yet both Strabo & Ptolemy themselves, if they be compared with our latter Geographers, Hondius, Mercator, Thevet, Merula, Ortelius, Maginus, how defective, how imperfect will they be found. The ignorance of former ages in this point was so gross, that what time Pope Clement the sixth, as we read in Robert of Auesbury, had elected Lewis of Spain to be Prince of the Fortunate Lands, & for to aid & assist him, mustered Soldiers in France & 
Anno 1344.  Italy, our Countrymen were verily persuaded that he was chosen Prince of Britain, as one (saith he) of the Fortunate Lands: yea and our very Ligier Ambassadors there with the Pope, were so deeply settled in this opinion, that forthwith they withdrew themselves from Rome, & hasted with all speed into England, there to certify their Countrymen and friends of the matter: Yet that which to me seemeth more strange, is that those two learned Clerks Lactantius and Augustine, should with that earnestness deny the being of any Antipodes. Their words are worth the noting, thereby to see their confidence and eagerness in the maintenance of so evident a mistake. Quid illi, saith Lactantius, qui esse 
Divi●…arum Inst●…▪ 1. l. 3. c. 24.  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, & urbes, & montes pensiles faciunt? What shall we think of them who give out there are Antipodes, that walk opposite to us, do they speak any thing to the purpose, or is there any so blockish as to believe there are men whose feet are higher than their heads, or that those things there hang, which with us lie on the ground? that the plants and trees spring downward, that the snow and rain, and hail fall upward upon the earth? & need any man marvel that hanging gardens are counted in the number of the seven wonders of the world, since the Philosophers have made both fields and seas, cities and mountains all hanging. Lactantius is herein seconded by Augustine: Quod verò & Antipodes esse fabulantur, id est homines à contraria 
De Civit. Dei l. 16. c. 9  parte terrae ubi 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 Sun rises when it sets to us, having their feet opposite to ours, is a matter altogether incredible, & by no means to be believed. But Zachary Bishop of Rome, and Boniface Bishop of Mentz, led (as it seems) by the authority of these Fathers, went farther herein, condemning one Virgilius 
Aventinus in hist. 〈◊〉 an. 745.  a Bishop of Saltzburg as an Heretic only for holding that there were Antipodes. But time and travel have now discovered the contrary so evidently, that we may aswell doubt the being of a Sun in the firmament as the experimental clearness of this truth.  
And as evident it is now likewise found to be by certain experience, that under the middle or burning Zone) which the Ancients by means of excessive heat, held altogether inhabitable) there is as healthful, temperate, and pleasant dwelling as anywhere in the world, as appears by the relations of Benzo, Acosta, and others. Besides the Ancients (as it seems) were altogether ignorant of the new World discovered in the year 1492 by Columbus, now known by the name of America or the West-Indies, whatsoever from Plato's Atlantis, or Salomon's Ophir be slightly pretended to the contrary: yet I confess I have often wondered not a little at Senecaes' bold prepheticall spirit touching that Discovery. 
〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉.   

Venient annis Secula seris,  
Quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum  
Laxet, & ingens Pateat tellus,  
Typhisque novos Detegat orbs,  
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 appear, and mighty Lands  
Typhis discover, than Thule  
The World's end shall no longer be.   
This prophecy we have found fulfilled not only in the discovery of those vast Regions before unknown, but in opening by means of Navigation, and the help of the Compass every creek and corner of the habitable World, worth the knowing: so that now it hath, & never before had it thorough lights made in it. Nay particular countries have been of late years most exactly described by several Writers. The Netherlands by Lewis Guicciardine, Great Britain by the renowned Camden, & the like by others. Neither have there wanted some who have descended to Provinces and Shires, Master Carew to the survey of Cornwall, & Master Lambert to the perambulation of Kent, and Master Burton to the description of Lecestershire: yea particular Cities, Rome, Venice, Paris, London, & the Houses of great Princes have found their particular Maps & delineations so fully & perfectly expressed, that a man who never saw them but in representation, may now speak as particularly of them, as if he had been borne and bred in them.   

SECT. 2. That the defect of the Ancients in Natural & Ecclesiastical history is justly corrected by the moderns, & in Civil history the moderns are matched with the Ancients: And of the knowledge of weights and measures, and the true valuation of coinès recovered and restored by latter Writers, which thorough the neglect of former ages had well nigh perished.  
THe body of History branches itself into History Natural, Ecclesistasticall, & Civil. For the first it is most certain, that even Aristotle himself and Pliay were ignorant of many things, and wrote many not only uncertain, but now convinced of manifest error and absurdity, Conradus Gesnerus hath laboured this part of History most industriously: but others who have undertaken several pieces of this burden more exactly, Some of birds, de animalibus insectis, crustaceis, testaceis, Zoophytis, as Aldrovandinus. Some of fishes, as Rondoletius, some of Baths as Baccius, and Blanthellus, some of Metals, as Georgius Agricola, and some of plants and vegetables, as Mathiolus, Ruellius, Fuchius, to whom may be added the commendable pains of Gerrard in our own language. And some others again purposely of some one particular kind of beasts, or birds, or fishes, or plants, or baths, or metals.  
History Ecclesiastical hath likewise been shamefully abused by thrusting into it many fabulous narrations of the lives of Saints and deaths of Martyrs. Baronius, and before him the Magdeburgians, have both very diligently, though with different purposes traveled herein; in somuch that now between them both, we have made up a complete history of the Church, which former ages never saw.  
Civil history indeed the Grecians & Romans excelled in, but with much partiality on both sides, & many speeches they have put into the mouths of Commanders & others merely feigned, & beside they lay in darkness & obscurity, for the space of many hundred years together, till this latter age, in which they were not only drawn into the light, but aemulated & equalled. Cornelius Tacitus somuch magnified, Sr Henry Savill sharply censures for his style, taking occasion from those words in the life of Agri cola, bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter: at te (saith he) Corneli Tacite bonum historicum facile credimus, bonum oratorem crederemus libenter, 
In his annot.  were it not for this & some other sayings of the like making: Fuit illi viro, saith Tacitus (judging of Seneca as we may of him) ingenium amaenum, 
13 Annal.  & temporis illius auribus accommodatum: How that age was eared long or round I cannot define, but sure I am it yielded a kind of sophisticate eloquence & rhyming harmony of words, where-under was small matter in sense; when there seemed to be most in appearance, and divers instances he brings out of Tacitus; and as Sr Henry Savill taxes him for his phrase, so doth Strada for his history, in that not content 
Lib. 1. prol. 2.  with bare relations he adds of his own conjectures, animadversions, interpretations of actions, sometimes savouring of detraction, sometimes of flattery, and for the most part, as it best served his turn, to make way for the displaying of his wit in his political observations and precepts, as he shows by divers passages taken out of him, accusing him likewise of irreligion: and with Strada herein accords Lipsius, who calls Tacitus 
in notis.  immemorem, secumque pugnantem, unmindful of what he had said, and crossing himself: Bonamicus, sectantem veri speciem relicta veritate, a follower 
In sermo: Poet: ser: 5 de verissim  of the shadow of truth, leaving the truth itself: Caesar Baronius who convinces him of envy, & 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 pass by others, Tertullian, who 
in Apolog. c. 16.  lived in the next age after him, styles him mendaciorum loquacissimum, a loud liar; and in truth his vain and fabulous narration touching the jews, in the last book of his history, together with his virulency against the Christians, annal. 15. 10. show him to have been none other, whatsoever he pretend to the contrary: But I leave him and descend to modern Historiographers.  
Sr Walter Raleigh, for so far as he hath gone in the history of the world, is matchable with the best of the Ancients. Francis Guicciardine, Comines, Thuanus not inferior to any: and the particular histories of most country's, have received, as it were, new light & fresh colours in this latter age. The Spanish from Mariana, & Turquet; the French from Peter Matthew, & Du Serres, the high Dutch from Paulus jovius & 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 own story, it lay dispersed in the narrations of several writers, & those for the most part Monks, till Polidor Virgil collected it into one body: but in my judgement Sr Henry Savill and Mr Camden have better deserved, by presenting us the Authors themselves in two several volumes: Some pieces hereof we have very well done in our own language, as the three Norman Kings, & Henry the fourth by Dr Hayward: Edward the fifth, or rather Richard the 3 by Sr Thomas More; Henry the seventh by my Lord of S. Albans; the life of Q. Elizabeth by M. Camden since translated. Neither have there been wanting such as have written, and that very commendablely the lives of particular men, eminent for virtue, or learning, or place. Onuphrius & Cicarella come nothing short of Anastasius and Platina in the lives of the Popes. The lives of the Emperors, Petrus Mexias hath well performed. Serrarius of the Archbishops of Mentz, and Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury of his predecessors. Barlet hath with good approbation published the life of Scanderbegge, and Catena of Pius Quintus, Doctor Humphreys of Bishop jewel, and Sir George Paul of Archbishop Whitegift: and it were to be wished that this kind of history were more in use, aswell for the honour of the deceased, as the incitement of the living; in which kind Thevet, and Paulus jovius, and the right Reverend father in God Doctor Godwin, now Bishop of Hereford, deserve both praise and imitation.  
An appendix of history is the right valuation of weights, and measures, and coins, which though they were doubtless known to the Ancients who used them; yet since for many ages past, the knowledge of them hath much grown out of use, and was in a manner lost; which bred a marvellous great mistake and confusion in history, until by the worthy pains of Budaeus, Gesnerus, Alciatus, Glarianus, Agricola, Villalpandus, Mariana, and our learned Countryman Edward Brierwood, late professor of Astronomy in Gresham College, it was again regained and restored: And if any desire to see all that have written of this subject, I refer him to Gaspar Wolphius his treatise, entitled Virorum illustrium alphabetica enumeratio qui de ponderibus ac mensurarum doctrina scripserunt.   

SECT. 3. A Comparison between the Greek & Latin, as also between the ancienter & latter Latin Poets, and those that have written in other languages, and that poetry as other arts hath fallen and risen again in this latter age.  
TOuching Poetry for the inventive part thereof, Sir Philip Sydneyes' Arcadia is in my judgement nothing inferior to the choicest piece among the Ancients, & for the Poets themselves it is true of the most ancient, both among the greeks & Latins which Bartas hath of Marrot.  

Thee Marrot I esteem even as an old Colosse  
All soiled, broken, overgrown with moss,  
Worn picture, Tomb defaced, not for fine work I see,  
But in devout regard of their antiquity.   
Volcatius Sedigitus having named nine of the Roman Comedians, adds in 
Gellius, 15. 24.  the close of all.  
— Decimum addo antiquitatis causà Ennium.  
Ennius as tenth I add  
Because he ancientest is.  
This controversy being, it seems on foot in Horace his time, (as in all ages it hath been) he wittily demands this question.  
Si meliora dies ut vina poemata reddat,  
Scire velim pretium chartis quotus arroget annus.  
If as time betters wine it betters Poems too,  
Tell me how many years doth give them price enough.  
And in the end concludes,  

Qui veteres ita miratur laudatque Poetas  
Vt nihil anteferat, nihil illis comparet, errat.  
Who praises & admires old Poets much doth err,  
If nought he dare compare, or nought to them prefer.   
Hercules Ciophanus witnesseth, that Planudes well knowing that Grecce had not a Poem so abounding with delight & beauty, as Ovid's Metamorphosis translated it into that language. And generally the Latin Poets, who came after the Greek in time, are notwithstanding by Scaliger 
Poetices, l. 5. c. 2.  preferred before them; And by name Virgil before Homer, Virgilius artem ab eo rudem acceptam lectioris naturae studijs atque iudicio ad summum extulit fastigium perfectionis: Virgil receiving from him an unpolisht art by the study & judgement or a choicer temper, raised it to the utmost point of perfection. And again, Equidem unum illum censeo scivisse quid esset non ineptire, unum esse inter omnes unicum, singulis autem instar 
Ibid.  omnium. Truly I think he only knew what it was not to trifle, that he was the only one amongst them all, and instead of all being compared with any one. To which I know not what can be added, except that of Macrobius exceed it: Haec est Maronis gloria ut nullius laudibus crescat, nullius vituperatione minuatur: This is Virgil's commendation, that a man can neither add to him by praising him, nor take from him by dispraising him: Yet if I should match him with Ariosto or Torquato Tasso in Italian, Bartas in French, or Spencer in English, I think I should not much wrong htm. Of the latter of which, our great Antiquary in the life of Q. Elizabeth anno 1598., gives this testimony, Musis adeo arridentibus natus, ut omnes Anglicos superioris aevi poetas (ne Chaucero quidem conciue excepto) superaret, he was borne so far in favour of the Muses, that he excelled all the English Poets of former ages, not excepting Chaucer himself his fellow citizen. And among the Latin Poets, as they began their infancy or childhood in Livius Andronicus, Ennius, 
Idem Scalig. Ib.  Accius, Pacuvius, Nevius, Plautus; so they came to their full strength in Terence, Catullus, Tibullus, Ovid, Horace, Virgil, plus est exacti iudicij in una Comaedia Terenttana quam in Plautinis omnibus, there is more 
Eras●…us.  exa●… judgement in one of Terence his Comedies, then in all those of Pla●…s. They declined in Marshal, juvenal, Silius, Statius: grew old in Serenus, Sidonius, Severinus, Ausonius; but sprang up and reflourished again in Palingenius, Aonius, Politianus, Cerratus, Vida, Pontanus, Sanazarus, Fracastorius; Quos cum quovis veterum compares, multis & non ignobilibus anteponas, saith the same Scaliger, whom a man may safely compare with any of the Ancients, and prefer before many of them, and those not of the lowest rank. Crinitus his censure of the Latin Poets differs not much from this of Scaligers: and Famianus Strada hath so 
In 5. libris de Poetis Latinis.  well both censured & imitated the chief of them, that he comes nothing short of the Authors themselves, which is the more to be wondered at; in that therein he is to act so different parts, & to apply himself to so different veins; nay his imitation of Claudian in expressing a controversy between a Lutist and a Nightingale for quickness and life, may without prejudice be equalled with any thing that Antiquity can boast of in that kind.  
It is true that (Mantuan excepted) few of the Monks or Friars, (who were counted the only Scholars for a while) excelled in Poetry, for the most part they only delighted in rhyming, without either sharpness of wit, or neatness of style, and sometimes they wanted all three: witness those poor verses upon 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 corpse rests buried in this grave;  
Grant Christ his soul in Heaven eternal joys may have:  
Give him of to be drunk the well of wisdom, to  
Which with such joy and love he strived and breathed so.   
Which verses William of Malmesburie, though himself a Monk, bitterly 
De rebus gestis Anglorum l. 1.  censures, as being shameful ones, unworthy the monument of so worthy a man: Neither can the shame, saith he, be lessened by any kind of excuse, that in the Monastery, which whiles he lived, flourished as a School of good letters, not a man could be found to commend his memory to posterity, but in so barren & slender a style: Yet were these tolerable verses in regard of those which passed with applause in succeeding ages, the famous King Ethelbert had this Epitaph set upon him.  

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

King Ethelbert lieth here  
Closed 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 King's race,  
Lo is dead, thus death all sorts doth deface.  
Upon the Great Seal of Edward the Confessor was this verse ing●…en,  
Sigillum Eadwardi, Anglorum Basilei.  
But I most pity the mishap of Francis Petrarch a man of singular learning & himself an excellent Poet as those times afforded, that his bones could find no better an Epitaph than this at Arqua in Italy.  

Frigida Francisci lapis hic tegit ossa Petrarchae  
Suscipe virgo parens animam, sat virg●…ne parce  
Fessaque jam terris coeli requiesc●…t in 〈◊〉▪   

This stone doth cover the cold bones of ●…anc. Petrarch,  
Thou Virgin Mother take his soul, thou Christ pardon grant,  
Now weary of the earth he rests in Heaven's Ark.   
But when together with the regeneration of other kinds of learning Poetry likewise grew in request, among an infinite number which excelled in this kind, I will only instance in two, Ronsard & Buchanan: of the former of which Pasquier hath written this singular Epigram.  

Seu tibi numeri Maroniani, 
Lib. 1.   
Seu placent Veneres Catulli●…,  
Sive tu lepidum velis Petrarcham,  
Sive Pindaricos modos refer,  
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 ut magis aemulentur illi:  
Rursus tam graviter refert Maronem,  
Vt nullus putet hunc Catullianum.  
Rursus tam lepidè refert Catullum,  
Vt nullus putet hunc Maronianum,  
Et cum sit Maro totus & Catullus,  
Totus Pindarus, & Petrarcha totus,  
Ronsardus tamen est sibi perennis,  
Quod si nunc redivivus extet unus  
Catullus, Maro, Pindarus, Petrarcha,  
Et quotquot veteres fuere vates,  
Ronsardum nequeant simul refer  
Vnus qui reliquos refert Poetas.   

Whether thou Maro's number please,  
Or elegant Catullus vain,  
Or Petrarchs' Tuscan gracefulness,  
Or Theban Pindars' lofty strain:  
Ronsard doth Maro's rhymes express;  
And elegant Catullus vain,  
And Petrarchs' Tuscan gracefulness,  
And Theban Pindars' lofty strain.  
He so expresseth Pindars' style,  
So doth Catullus emulate,  
Virgil and Petrarch, that the while  
They all seem him to imitate.  
Grave Maro he resembles so,  
None would him think Catullian:  
So elegant Catullus too;  
None would him think Maronian,  
Though all Catullus, all Virgil,  
All Pindar he and Petrarch be,  
Yet the same Ronsard is he still.  
Maro, Catullus might we see,  
Pindar or Petrarch live again,  
And all th'old Poets more or less  
All jointly hit not Ronsards vain,  
Who only doth them all express.   
To which we may add Pithaeus his Epitaph upon the same Ronsard.  

Summe poetarum quos prisca & nostra tulerunt  
Quosque 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 rhymes.   
Of the latter joseph Scaliger gives this testimony,  

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

Unto the highest pitch hast thou advanced Poetry,  
Raised to the height in thee it stands, and higher cannot fly.  
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 Grecians, and have themselves been matched, if not surpassed in latter ages, in weapons, in fortifications, in stratagems, but specially in sea-fights.  
THough Mars and the Muses have little affinity, and seldom lodge together, yet will I not fear to join the Art Military next to Poetry. And though the knowledge hereof belong not to my Profession, yet I dare say, it will not be gainsaid, but as Alexander herein exceeded his Predecessors, so did julius Caesar him: & 
Sir Walter Raleigh in his history of the World part. 1. lib. 5. cap. 1. §. 1.  generally the Romans the Grecians; yet a worthy Knight and expert Captain himself demanding the question, whether was the better Soldier, the Grecian or Roman, makes answer the Englishman. And truly I think, he who well considers what noble acts Edward the third, the black Prince his son, and Henry the fifth performed in France, and upon what terms & conditions, with what numbers, and against what enemies, will easily believe, that he spoke not somuch out of affection as judgement: The Grecian built his glory and erected his triumphs of victory & trophies of honour, upon the delicacy of the Persian and nakedness of the Indian, and the Roman for the most part, upon the division & rudeness of poor barbarous nations; but the English his; upon the ruins of a stout warlike, & every way accomplished Nation: And for Caesar himself, if I should parallel him with Charlemaigne, Hnnniades, Tamerlane, Castriot, Ziska, or the great Henry of France, I think 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 & ultimum simul ducem.   

Which of you twain the warlike palm should wear  
Hath the world strove, and long been at a pause,  
But death O Harry gave to thee the cause  
Both first & last of captain's name to bear.   
The armour & weapons now used in the wars, aswell for offence as defence, are nothing inferior to the Ancient, nay many of them are doubtless more commodious, & some much more terrible: what childish weapons were the longbow & crossbow, if we regard annoyance of the enemy, in comparison of the Gun & great Ordinance: and yet nothing so many are now slain in the wars as then: so as the present are both of more ready dispatch, and for the most part in conclusion of the war less bloody. I am not ignorant that discourses have been written by soldiers on both sides, some preferring the bow before the gun, others the gun before the bow, but the latter have been by the most judicious preferred before the former, and time & experience have found their judgement true.  
But for the matter of Fortification, there is no question, but this age exceeds 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 professors whereof we name Ingeners, a word unknown to our Ancestors, at least in that sense: But the Italians are they who in this Art have showed themselves most skilful, aswell in the precepts as practise thereof, and have carried away the Bell from all other Nations, as may appear both by their books and works.  
And for Stratagems of war, whether we take them in their projects or effects, I conceive those of latter ages to be nothing inferior to those of ancient times; howsoever Policaenus & julius Frontinus in their several books of that subject be pleased to admire them: What a blunt invention was that of the Trojane horse, in comparison of the surprise of Amiens by the Spaniard; or of Breda by the states of the united Provinces, in the Netherlands; or the disordering of the Spanish fleate, by Sir Francis Drake in 88: But that recorded by Sir Walter Raleigh in the fourth book of his first part of the History of the world, and acted in 
Cap. 2. parag. 18  Queen Mary's time, is in my judgement matchable to any that ever yet I heard or read of. He thus relates it: The Island of Sarke joining to Garnesay, and of that government, was surprised by the French, & could never have been recovered again by strong hand, having corn and cattle enough upon the place, to feed so many men as would serve to defend it; and being every way so unaccessable, as it might be held against the great Turk; yet by the industry of a Gentleman of the Netherlands, it was in this sort regained: He anchored in the road with one ship of small burden, & pretending the death of his Merchant, besought the French, being some thirty in number, that they might bury their Merchant in hallowed ground, & in the Chapel of that Isle; offering 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 yielded: Then did the Flemings put a coffin into their boat, not filled with a dead carcase, but with swords, Targets, and Harquebusses. The French received them at their landing, & searching every of them so narrowly, as they could not hide a penknife, gave them leave to draw their coffin up the rocks with great difficulty; some part of the French took the Flemish boat and rowed aboard the ship to fetch the commodities promised, & what else they pleased; but being entered, they were taken and bound. The Flemings on the land, when they had carried their coffin into the Chapel, shut the door to them, and taking their weapons out of the coffin, set upon the French: they run to the cliff and cry to their company aboard the Fleming to come to succour, but finding the boat charged with Flemings, yielded themselves and the place.  
Lastly, for Sea-fight, this age undoubtedly surpasseth the Ancient, theirs being but boys play in comparison of ours. What poor things were their Galleys to our ships, their pikes and stone-bows & slings, to our Canon & musket-shot; how untowardly the managing of their vessels, in regard of that skill, which latter ages have found out & practised: And herein I dare match our own Nation (if perchance the Hollander have not gotten the start of us) with any in the world: only it were to be wished, that some worthy pen would undertake the reducing of these kinds of fights into an Art, as many have done the land-service, by setting down rules and precepts for it, gathered out of observation: Sir Richard Hawkins hath done somewhat in this kind, but brokenly and glancingly, intending chiefly a discourse of his own voyages: Sir Walter Raleigh tells us in his history of the world, that himself had entered upon such a work, at the command of Prince 
Lib. 5. c. 1. p. 6.  Henry, but upon his death put it by: The intendment was noble, and the writer doubtless very able; so as it were to be wished, that those pieces & fragments which he left behind him, touching that subject, were sought up & brought to light, that they might serve, if not for sufficient directions in matter of practice; yet for patterns & delineations to such as would farther advance & perfect so worthy a business; there being no one thing (as I conceive) which can be more important for the state, or more concern the safety and welfare of this Island.    

CAP. 9 Touching Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, the Mathematics, Philosop, by Architecture, the Arts of Painting and Navigation.  

SEC. 1. Touching Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic.  
But leaving these considerations to Soldiers, let us return to our own Element, taking a view of the liberal sciences, among which Grammar deservedly challenges the first rank, as being indeed the key that opens the door to the rest. This latter age hath herein excelled so far, that all the great learned Scholars, who have of late risen, specially if they adhered to the reformed Churches, have been by the Friars, & such like people, in a kind of scorn termed Grammarians: But these Grammarians are they, who by the help of Phylologie, & the languages have discovered so many forgeries & supposititious writings, now by all acknowledged so to be, which before passed as currant, aswell in the works of the Fathers of the Church, as profane Authors. These are they, who have presented us with so many exact Translations out of Greek & Hebrew into Latin, and again out of Latin into other languages. And howsoever Albericus Gentilis, & some others have written in defence of the Latinity of that translation of the Bible, which goes under the name of the Vulgar; yet can it not be denied, but it is justly accused of much incongruity & barbarism, which by latter Translations have been reform. These are they, who have vindicated infinite Authors from a number of foul corruptions, which by tract of time had crept upon them, thorough the ignorance or negligence of Transcribers or Printers or both: So that they have herein in a manner restored the Authors to themselves, making them speak in their own words & sense; and beside by annotations, animadversions, commentaries & expositions, by the search & help of coins, old Epitaphs, inscriptions, & such like remainders of Antiquity, have further added a marvellous great light unto them.  
In the next place, Rhetoric presents itself, which in truth was brought to the height amongst the Grecians & Romans, specially whiles their states remained popular: But in the general declination & decay of Arts which followed after, this likewise was well near extinguished, that little life of it which remained, being reserved only in the predicancie of Postillers, or the pathetical sermons of Friars, till Sadoletus, Bembus, Muretus, & others revived & reduced it to its ancient lustre.  
Logic indeed is it, wherein we are thought to be most defective in regard of former ages; and it is true, that the Schoolmen had set their stock, the utmost of their endeavours upon this part of learning, their whole life being in a manner little else but a perpetual wrangling and altercation, & that many times rather for victory & ostentation of wit, than a sober & serious search of truth: so as their entrance being vain, their end was likewise fruitless. What huge volumes have they compiled of the Predicables & Predicaments? as if in them consisted the very spirit & soul of Logic; whereas in truth they are rather an Appendix or preparative unto it, than part of it. By which means they kept men so long in the porch, that they entered not into the house till it was more than time to go out of it. Latter ages finding this intolerable inconvenience have well compacted the body of this Art into a lesser compass, (yet so as Aristotle's Text is not to be neglected) and to this body have they not improperly added the doctrine of Methods as a necessary limb thereof: whereas we do not find that anciently, it was so held either by the Founders or principal Masters of this science, or at leastwise they have left us no sufficient Rules and precepts touching this most useful part. Even Hooker himself (though otherwise no friend to Ramystry) acknowledgeth that it is of marvellous quick dispatch, 
1. 6.  showing them that have it as much almost in three days, as if it dwelled three score years with them: and again, that the mind of man is thereby restrained, which through curiosity, doth many times with peril wade farther in the search of truth than were convenient. And for Raymundus Lullius (a man it seems of a strong brain) some great wits are of opinion, that by his ars brevis greater matters may in the sciences be more speedily effected, then by any helps of the ancients that went before him.   

SECT. 2. Touching Astronomy and Geometry, as also the Physics and Metaphysics.  
FOr the Mathematics, Regio-Montanus might in Ramus his judgement safely enough compare with the best of the Ancients: Noriberga 
Schol: Math. l. 2  tum Regiomontano fruebatur, Mathematici inde & studij & operis gloriam tantam adepta, ut Tarentum Archyta, Syracuse Archimedi Byzantium Proclo, Alexandria Ctesybio non justius quam Noriberga Regiomontano gloriari possit: Then did Norinberg enjoy Regio-Montanus, and from thence purchased so great honour both of the study & practice of the Mathematics, that Tarentum could not more justly glory in Archytas, nor Syracuse in Archimedes, nor Byzantium in Proclus, nor Alexandria in Ctesybius, then might Norinberg in Regio-Montanus. I will only 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, & Hebrews, but many Doctors of the Christian Church, as appears by Espencaeus in his Treatise de Coelorum animatione, that the Heavens, or at least the stars were living bodies, informed with quickening souls. It was likewise the opinion of Origen, & Chrysostome, & his Master Eusebius Emissenus, that the stars were not fixed in the Heavens, as nails in a Cart wheel, or knots in a piece of timber, but moved in it as fishes in the Sea, or birds in the Air. Nay Philastrius goes so far, as to condemn the opinion of their fixedness for an heresy: 
Hae●…esi 82.  Multi scriptores Ecclesiastici coeli rotunditatem non modo negârunt, sed etiam sacris literis adversari existimârunt, saith Pererius in his second book and third question upon Genesis; many of the Ecclesiastical Writers not only denied the spherical or circular figure of the Heavens, but were of opinion that it crossed the holy Scriptures. S. Augustine himself in divers places seems to make a doubt of it; but Chrysostome in his Homilies upon the epistle to the Hebrews dare challenge any that should defend it, & herein is he followed by Theodoret and Theophilact. But these fancies are now so generally cried down, that to revive them would be counted no less than folly, and to defend them absurdity. In how many things are Aratus & Eudoxus corrected by Ptolemy, & Ptolemy himself by Regiomontanus, Alphonsus, Purbachius, Copernicus: & they again by Clavius, Tycho-Braye, Galilaeus, Kepler, and others. It was the error of Aristotle; that via lactea was a meteor, & not only of Aristotle, but almost all before him that there were but eight Celestial Spheres; after this Timocaris about 330 years before Christ found out nine, but about the year of Christ 1250, Alphonsus discovered ten, and the received opinion now is, that there are eleven, the highest of all being held immovable, 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 certifieth another; which is likewise verified in the admirable invention of composing the Ephemerideses, unknown to Ptolemy & the Ancients, who for want of the use of it were forced by Tables to make their supputations in a most toilsome manner, who was the first inventor thereof I am not certain, saith Cardan de rerum varietate lib. 11. cap. 59: but Purbachius was the first who seems to have brought it to light, after whom Regiomontanus enlarged it, but Zelandinus and others to have perfected it, ita ut jam nihil desiderari posse videatur, nothing seems to be wanting to it.  
The like may be said of Geometry, I will instance only in one demonstration, which is the Quadrature of a Circle. This Aristotle in divers places calls scibile but not scitum, a thing that might be known, but as than not known, in as much as the means of finding it out, though much laboured, yet was it in his time unknown among the Ancients: Antiphon, Bryse, Hypocrates, Euclid, Archimede, Apollonius, Porus traveled long & earnestly in the discovery hereof, but Buteo in a book written of purpose, hath accurately discovered their errors herein. And Pancirollus in his nova reperta tells us, that annis abhinc plus minus triginta 
Titulo 17.  Ars ista fuit inventa, quae mirabile quoddam secretum in se continet: about thirty years since was that Art found out, which contains in it wonderful secrets; & to show that it is indeed found out, he there makes demonstration of it, approved & farther explicated by Salmuth, who hath both translated him, & written learned commentaries upon him. Notwithstanding joseph Scaliger in an Epistle of his to the States of the United 
Cyclomet. Element.  Provinces, challenge this Invention to himself: Nos tandem in conspectum post tot secula sistimus, we at last after so many ages have brought it to light, & exposed it to public view.  
I will close up this consideration of the Arts and Sciences with a view of Philosophy, which branches itself into the Metaphysics, Physics, Ethics, & Politickes: the two latter of which I will reserve to the next Book, contenting myself at this time with the 2 former: First then for the Metaphysics that part of it which consists in the knowledge of immaterial substances was undoubtedly neither so well studied nor understood 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 grave that inscription upon their Altars, Ignoto Deo, to the unknown God; Their ignorance was likewise no less touching the nature & office of Angels, the mansion or function of separated souls, nay not a few of the most ancient Christian Divines held the Angels corporeal, though invisible substances, and that the reasonable soul of man was derived from his Parents, whereas the contrary opinions are now commonly held both more divine and more reasonable.  
The Physics or Natural Philosophy is it which the ancients, & specially the Grecians, and among them Aristotle hath with singular commendation much enriched, yet can it not be denied, but he is by the experience of latter ages found very defective in the historical part thereof: And for the speculative, both himself & his followers seem to refer it rather to profession & disputation, matter of wit and credit, then use & practice: It is therefore a noble and worthy endeavour of my Lord of S. Albans so to mix 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 Practise again perfecting Speculation. Now among those practical or active parts of Natural Philosophy which latter ages have produced- Pancirollus names Alchemy for a chief one: And 
Nova reperta tit. 7.  it is true that we find little mention thereof in Antiquity, not suspected of forgery: But for mine own part I much doubt whether any such experiment be yet really found or no: And if it be whether the operation of it be not more dangerous & difficult than the effect arising from it, is or can be advantageous. But of this am I well assured, that as he who digged in his Vineyard for gold miss it, but by opening the roots of the Vines thereby, found their fruit the next year more worth unto him then gold: so whiles men have laboured by transmutation of metals from one species to another to make gold, they have fallen upon the distillations of waters, extractions of oils, and such like rare experiments unknown to the Ancients, which are undoubtedly more precious for the use of man then all the gold of both the Indies.   

SECT. 3. Of the Arts of Painting and Architecture revived in this latter age.  
Hereunto may be added the Arts of Horsemanship, and Heraldry, Agriculture, & Architecture, Painting and Navigation, all which have been not a little both enlarged and perfected in these latter ages: yet with this difference, that some of them together with the other Arts decayed, and again revived with greater perfection: Others were never in their perfection till now: I will instance only 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 Grecians herein, who before were esteemed the best in the world.  
Venimus ad summum fortunae, pingimus-atque 
Horat Ep. 1. l. 2   
Psallimus, & luctamur Achivis doctius unctis.  
To Fortune's height we are aspired, we paint, we sing,  
The skilful greeks we pass in wrestling.  
Quintilian in the last chapter save one of his last book, shows how much this Art was accounted of among the Ancients, and how by degrees it grew to perfection, and so doth Pliny in his 35 book, & 9 & 10 chapters. Some inventing colours, others shadows & landscapes, and others rules of proportion, but in tract of time, it so far again decayed, that Aeneas Silvius who lived about 200 years since, tells us in one Epistle, videmus picturas ducentorum annorum nulla prorsus arte politas, We 
Ep. 119.  see the pictures madu 200 years since polished with no kind of art: And in another immediately following, Si ducentorum, trecentorumve annorum, aut sculpturas intueberis, aut picturas, invenies non hominum, sed monstrorum portentor umque facies, If we look upon the sculptures or pictures made about 200 or 300 years since, we shall find faces rather of monsters than men. And to like purpose is that of Durerus himself an excellent 
Eipstola ae●…te Geometria●….  Painter, Penitus deperdita ultra mille annos latuit, ac tandem ante ducentos hos annos per Italos rursum in lucem prodijt: This Art lay hid in obscurity as it had been utterly lost above a thousand years; till at length about 200 years ago it again broke forth into light by help of the Italian wits. The most famous Italians in this Art were Michael Angelo, & Raphael Urbin. Some of our own Nation, as namely Master Heliard an Exeter man borne, & many Netherlanders, whose names & Icones are published by Hondius, have herein deserved 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 styled whiles he lived, the Apelles of Germany, nay Erasmus in his Dialogue of the right pronunciation of the Greek & Latin Tongues, seems to prefer him before Apelles: Equidem arbitror (saith he) si nunc viveret Apelles, ut erat ingenuus & candidus, Alberto nostro cessurum huius palmae gloriam. Truly I am of opinion, that did Apelles now live, being as he was of an ingenuous disposition, he would in this Art yield the Bucklers to our Albertus. But for singular rules in this kind, Lomatius may not be forgotten, whom Mr Richard Haydocke hath translated out of Italian into English, & dedicated to the ever honoured Sir Thomas Bodley.  
Such is the affinity betwixt the arts of painting & building, by reason they both stand chiefly upon proportions & just dimensions, that Vassari, who was both himself, hath likewise written the lives of the most famous & best skilled in both. Vitruvius who lived but in the reign of Augustus, is the only man in a manner among the Ancients, either in Greek or Latin, 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 learned Architect beyond the Alps: To whom Angelus Politianus in an Epistle of his to Laurentius Medici's, Duke of Florence, yields this testimony. Ita perscrutatus antiquitatis vestigia est, ut veterem Architectandi rationem & deprehenderit & in exemplum revocaverit: He so narrowly traced the prints & footsteps of Antiquity, that he both fully comprehended the manner of the ancient building & reduced it into pattern; and in the end concludes touching his worth as Sallust of Carthage, Tacere satius puto quam pauca dicere, I hold it safer to be silent then to speak in few words now as the most sufficient modern Architects in most things follow the ancients, so in many things they vary from them, & that upon just reason. The ancient Grecians & the Romans by their example in their buildings abroad where the seat was free, did almost religiously situate the front of their houses towards the South: But from this the modern Italians do justly vary. Again, the Ancients did determine the longitude of all rooms which were longer than broad by the double of the latitude, and the height by the half of the breadth & length summed 
Vitruvius, l. 6. c. 5.  together: But when the room was precisely square, they made the height half as much more as the latitude: from which dimensions, the modern Architects have likewise taken leave to vary and that upon good discretion.  
The public buildings of the Grecians and Romans were doubtless very artificial & magnificent, and so were likewise many of those of the ancient Christians, I mean their Churches, Monasteries, Castles, bridges, and the like: But the houses of private men were in the memory of our Fathers, for the most part very homely, till the Princes of Italy began to bestow more art & cost upon them. Cosmo Medici's Duke of Florence being one of the first who set upon this work; the Italians were soon followed by the French after the victorious return of Charles the eight from Naples, and they again by us ever since the uniting of the two roses in King Henry the seaventh, who at his coming to the Crown, had spent the greatest part of his time in France: Before his entrance we had indeed some huge vast buildings; but his house at Richmond & his Chapel at Westminster (except perchance some would prefer King's College Chapel in Cambridge began by Henry the sixth) were the two first neat curious pieces that this kingdom had seen: The latter of which may well enough compare, not only with any piece this day in Christendom, but for the bigness of it, with any thing in antiquity of that kind. But for a stately dainty house, that of None-such excels, which King Henry the eight, saith our great Antiquary, 
Camd●…n in Su●…rey.  built with so great sumptuousness, and rare workmanship, that it aspireth to the very top of ostentation for show: So as a man may think, that all the skill of Architecture is in this one piece bestowed and heaped up together. So many statues & lively images there are in every place: so many wonders of absolute workmanship & works seeming to contend with Roman Antiquities, that most worthily it may have and maintain still this name that it hath of None-Such, according as Leland hath written of it.  
Huic quia non habeant similem laudare Britanni  
Saepe solent; nullique parem cognomine dicunt.  
The Britons oft were wont to praise this place for that through all  
The Realm they cannot show the like, & None-Such they it call.  
So as what Sebastianus Serlius a skilful Architect spoke of the Pantheon at Rome, may not unfitly be applied to this pile of building, that it is unicum exemplar consummatae Architecturae, the only pattern we have of perfect Architecture; whether we cast our eyes abroad into the country upon the houses of Noblemen & Gentlemen, or upon the Colleges & Schools in the Universities, or upon the dwellings of the Merchant & Artificer in the town & city, specially in the Metropolis; we shall generally find a wonderful great change in building within these last hundred years, this latter as much exceeding the former, as Augustus his marble Rome did that of brick. And if we look into foreign parts, the Escurial in Spain & the Gallery in France, will yield to nothing Antiquity can boast of in that kind: Yet if we may believe reports, the King of Chinaes' palaces, at leastwise for riches & state, put down any thing which is to be seen in Europe at this day.  
Now I know the Pyramids raised by the Egyptian Kings, & the Obelisks by the Grecian & Roman Emperors are much spoken of, as being unparaleld by any thing in these latter ages, and they were indeed insanae substructiones, as Pliny speaks, mad kind of buildings, only for show & ostentation, nothing at all for use: yet that Obeliske, which in the year 1586 was raised by the direction of Dominicus Fontana, & at the charge of Sixtus Quintus (which Thuanus terms, inter opera eius primum & praecipuum, the first & the principal among all the great 
Histor. l. 85. tom 4.  works which he did) may well be counted little inferior to the chiefest of them. It was one solid stone 107 foot in height, weighing 956148 pounds: It was translated from the Vatican, where it lay in an obscure & dirty place, almost covered over with filth, and erected in a more eminent place near S. Peter's Church. There were disbursed about this work (as Fontana himself hath written) 37975 Crowns; there being employed 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 upon that occasion of the situation of Ophir.  
THe last, but the chief & most useful of the three Arts which I last named is Navigation, in which those of former ages were so ignorant, that they ingraued Non ultra upon Hercules pillars, that the Nations about Pontus thought no sea in the world like their own, and doubted whether there were any other sea but that only; whereof it came that Pontus was a word used for the sea in general. That the Egyptians, held otherwise a witty people, used to coast the shores of the red Sea upon Raffs, divised by King Erythrus: And in the time of the Romans, the Britons our Ancestors had a kind of boat (with which they crossed the Seas) made of small twigs and covered with leather, of which Lucan the Poet.  

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

The moistened osyre of the hoary willow  
Is wooven first into a little boat  
Then clothed in bullocks hide upon the billow  
Of a proud river lightly doth it float  
Under the waterman.  
So on the Lakes of overswelling Poe  
Sails the Venetian, & the Britons 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 thorough sea in leather voyage made.  
But that which is more observable is, that the jews were so unskilful in this art, as they commonly called the Mediterranean sea the great sea; not being in those times, as it seems, much acquainted with the Ocean: 
Numb. 34. v. 6.  And though the Phoenicians & Carthaginians, the Tyrians & Sydonians, are much renowned in histories for great Navigatours; yet it is thought by the learned that those voyages they performed, was only 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 denied  
Through the vast Ocean now in ships doth ride  
Saith Fracastorius, and Acosta, Equidem navigationem altissimo Oceano commissam neque apud Veteres lego, neque ab illis aliter Oceanum navigatum 
Lib. 1, de natura noviorbis, c. 1. 8  puto quam à nostris Mediterraneum: That the Ancients adventured themselves into the main Ocean, neither do I read it in any of their Writers, nor do I believe they otherwise sailed over the Ocean, than we do now over the Mediterranean Sea. And it should seem they undertook not their longest voyages without Oars, which the Scripture implies in that undertaken by jonas, where the Mariners upon the rising 
jonas, 1. 13.  of a violent tempest were constrained to use their Oars.  
I am not ignorant, that as Vatablus and Arias Montanus would make Ophir, whither Solomon sent his Navy (by reason of the affinity of the 
1 King 9 28.  name) to be Peru in the West Indies, so Pineda spends no less than twelve leaves in the largest folio, to prove Tharsis, to which it is likewise commonly 
De ●…bus Salomo●…is, l, 4: c: 14:  thought to have gone to be Tartessus in Spain: But for the first of these opinions, Cornelius Wytfliet, Secretary of state in the Counsel of Brabrant, in his book entitled Descriptionis Ptolomaicae argumentum, or Occidentis notitia, hath strongly confuted it; and so hath Pererius in his third book upon Genesis treating of Havilah. But Sir Walter Raleigh is confident that himself hath so knocked it in the head, as it were idle to make any more question thereof: That this question, saith he, be a subject 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 America hath none, no not any city, village, or mountain so named: But when Francis Pizarro first discovered the lands to the South of Panama, arriving in that Region which Attabaliba commanded, (a Prince of Magnificence, riches and dominion, inferior to none) some of the Spaniards utterly ignorant of that language, demanding by signs as they could, and pointing with their hand athwart the river or brook that ran by, the Indians answered Peru, which was either the name of that brook or of water in general: The Spaniards thereupon conceiving that the people had rightly understood them, set it down in the journal of their enterprise, and in the first description made and sent over to Charles the Emperor, all that West part of America to the South of Pannama had the name of Peru, which hath continued ever since, as divers Spaniards in the Indies assured me. Which also Acosta the jesuit in his natural & moral History of the Indies confirmeth. And whereas Montanus also findeth that a part of the Indies called jucatan took the name of jocktan, who as he supposeth, navigated from the utmost East of India to America: It is most true that jucatan is nothing else in the language of that country, but, What is that, or What say you? For when the Spaniards asked the name of that place, no man conceiving their meaning, one of the Saluages answered jucatan, which is, What ask you? or what say you. Thus far Sir Walter Raleigh, yielding the reason of his dissent from Montanus & Vatablus, holding that Ophir, to which Salomon's Navy sailed for gold, was Peru in the West Indies, Whereunto may be added out of Salmuth in his Commentary upon Pancirollus, that in all likelihood, this land of Ophir took 
Titulo de novo orbe.  its name from Ophir the son of joctan, (as the land of Havilah likewise did from another son of his, mentioned in the same place) who as 
Gen. 10. 19  josephus witnesseth, fixed his seat in the E●…st, placing the country of 
Lib. 1. Antiq. c,  Ophir about Chersonesus, with whom accords Gaspar Varrerius in his Commentaries purposely written de Ophyra Regione, where he plainly proves Ophir to be that Aurea Chersonesus in the East Indies, which is now called Malaca Moreover one of the principal commodities which Solomon's fleet brought home was ivory, of which in the West Indies there is none to be found, it being known to want Elephants: And lastly out of the Text it appears▪ that Solomon prepared his Navy for a voyage into the East, inasmuch as his ships set forth at Ezion-Geber bordering 
1 King. 9 26. 27.  upon the Red sea, & thither as to the Rendezvouz came the Tyrians & Sydonians, hiram's men to join with them: which had been a most indirect course, had they intended their voyage toward the West.  
Now for Pineda his making of Tharshis; to be Tartessus in his own Country of Spain, though herein he follow Goropius Becanus, yet in the judgement I suppose of most men, recitasse est refutasse, the very recital 
Hispanicorum l. 7.  of it, is refutation sufficient. For if I should demand Pineda where those Spanish mines are now to be seen, from whence Salomon's ships brought so much treasure, he must tell me, that either they are dried up, or transported to the Indies, from whence in fleets they are yearly brought back into Spain, as Sarrarius sports with him, in nov●…m orbem translata magnis classibus revehuntur: So as had not Spain itself an Ophir or Tarshis to furnish it with gold, the poverty of it would doubtless soon appear to the world. Besides Pineda herein dissents from Acosta his own countryman & brother of the same society, who thinks that by Tarshis the Hebrews indefinitely understand some remote, strange, and 
De Natura novi Orbis l 1. c. 13.  rich place, as we, saith he, do by the Indies. And if we should say, that Salomon's Tarshis by a little change of letters was Paul's Tarsus a famous city in Silicia (which seems likewise to have its name from Tarsis the 
Act. 21. 39  2 son of javan) we therein should I think, shoot nearer the mark than 
Gen. 10. 4,  Pineda: but I must confess for mine own private judgement, I rather incline to their opinion who by Tarshis understand none other than the Sea. The Israelites & Phoenicians, because they knew no other Sea than the Mediterranean in the beginning, & that the people of Tarshis had the greatest ships, and were the first Navigators in those parts with such vessels, they were therefore called Men of the Sea, & the word Tharshis used often for the Sea. Thus S. Hierome in his commentaries on Daniel, 
Cap. 10  jonas fugere cupiebat non in Thars●… Siliciae, sed absolutè in pelagus. jonas desired to fly not to Tars●…s in Silic●…a but to the Sea. But junius and Tremelius go farther, translating Tharshis by Oceanus, thus: Nam classis Oceani 
1 King. 10. 22.  pro Rege cum class Chir●… erat, semel ternis annis veniebat classis ex Oceàno; afferens aurum & argentum &c. which we thus render in our last English Translation: For the King had at Sea a navy of Tharshis with the navy of Hiram▪ once-in-three years came the navy of Hiram, bringing gold and silver. And from this opinion, that by Tarshis is or may be understood the sea, the learned Drusius in his sacred observations dissents not; only he affirms that not Tharshis, but jam is the commo●…●…ame for the sea, and 
Lib. 9 c. 1●….  that not in Syriack as S. Hierome would have it, but in Hebrew. Whereas then it is said or understood, that the ships of Solomon went every three years to Tharshis, if by Tharshis we understand the Sea, the phrase is not improper or strange at all: for we use it ordinarily wheresoever we navigate, namely, that the King's ships are gone to the Sea or returned from the Sea, by which it appears, (not to touch their opinion who deceived by the Chalde Paraphrast, by Tharshis understand Carthage) that the voyage of Salomon's Navy was neither to Peru in the West Indies, n●…r Tartessus in Spain, but to Ophir in the East Indies, which being performed by coasting, needed perchance more time, but less skill in navigation.  
The perfection then of this Art seems by God's providence to have been reserved to these latter times, of which Pedro de Medina, & Baptista Ramusio have given excellent precepts. But the Art itself hath been happily practised by the Portugals, the Spaniards, the Hollanders, & our own Nation, whose voyages and discoveries, Master Hackluit hath collected & reported in three several volumes, lately enlarged & perfected by Master Purchas, and it were to be wished aswell for the honour of the English name, as the benefit that might thereby redound to other Nations, that his collections and relations had been written in Latin, or that some learned pen would be pleased to turn them into that Language. Among many other famous in this kind, 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 sailed round about the world, whereupon one wrote these verses unto him.  

Drake peragrati novit quem terminus orbis 
Camden in Devonshire.   
Quemque semel mundi vidit uterque polus:  
Si taceant homines facient Te sydera notum  
Sol nescit comitis immemor esse sui.   

Sir Drake whom well the world's end knew,  
Which thou didst compass round:  
And whom both Poles of Heaven once saw,  
Which North and South do bound.  
The stars above will make thee known  
If men here silent were:  
The Sun himself cannot forget  
His fellow traveller.   
And for the better breeding, continuance, and increase of such expert Pilots amongst us, it would doubtless be a good & profitable work, (according to Master Hakcluits' honest motion in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Lord Admiral, then being) if any who hath the means had likewise the mind to give allowance for the reading of a Lecture of Navigation in London, in imitation of the late Emperor Charles the fifth, who wisely considering the rawness of his Seamen; and the manifold shipwrecks which they sustained in passing & repassing between Spain and the West Indies, established not only a Pilot Maior for the examination of such as were to tak●… charge of ships in that voyage, but also founded a Lecture for the Art of Navigation, which to this day is read in the Contractation house at Seville. The Readers of which Lecture have not only carefully taught and instructed the Spanish Mariners by word of mouth, but have also published sundry exact & worthy Treatises concerning Marine Causes, for the direction & encouragement of posterity: and namely these three, Alonzo de Chavez, Hieronymo de Chavez, & Rodorigo Zamerano, & to this purpose it is a commendable work of Master Hues, who for the instruction of Navigators in the principles of Geometry & Astronomy, & thereby for the improvement & advancement of the Art of Navigation, hath written & twice published in two several editions a learned Treatise of the Celestial & terrestrial Globes, and their use, which for the better use of such as are ignorant of the Latin tongue, and desirous to learn, I could wish were translated into our own Language.    

CAP. 10. Touching divers artificial works and useful inventions, at leastwise matchable with those of the ancients, namely & chiefly the invention of Printing, Guns, and the Sea-Card or Mariner's Compass.  

SECT. 1. Of some rare inventions and artificial works of this latter age, comparable both for use and skill to the best of the Ancients.  
AS the Arts & Sciences have all of them in these latter ages either been revived from decay or reduced to use, or brought forward to perfection: so many secrets of Nature & rare conclusions have been 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 artificial inventions, for the use, ease, delight, or ornament of mankind, as a number of Mechanical, Mathematical, & Musical Instruments, Chimneys, stirrups, paper, spectacles, Porcellan, perspective glasses, fining of sugars, hand-mils, gloves, hats, bands, watches, besides divers excellent works in stuffs, in silks, in linens, in hangings, in carpets, and the like, particularly set down by Polidore Virgil de Inventoribus Rerum, and Pancirollus in his Nova-reperta, & Cardanus in his 17 book de artibus, artificiosisque rebus, to whom notwithstanding much more might easily be added, For as truth is the daughter of time, so are useful Inventions too, as rightly Manilius, lib. 1.  

Sed cum long a dies acuit mortalia corda  
Et labor ingenium miseris dedit, & sua quenque  
Advigilare sibi jussit fortuna premendo,  
Seducta in varias certârunt pectora curas,  
Et quodcunque sag●…x tentando repperit ●…sus,  
In common bonum commentum laeta dedere.   

But when that tract of time had whet men's wits,  
And industry had moulded them, by fits  
Fortune pressing each man to endeavour  
To free himself from misery, together  
They bend their minds to search out sundry things  
And what is found by observation sage,  
They cheerfully impart from age to age.   
I will only specify some of the rarest artificial works of this latter age, comparable for the workmanship with the best of the ancient.  
Peter Ramus tells us of a wooden Eagle, & an iron fly made by Regiomontanus 
Scholar Math. l. 2  a famous Mathematician of Norinberg, whereof the first (in imitation and emulation of Architas his dove) flew forth of the city aloft in the air, met the Emperor a good way off coming towards it, & having 
Gellius l. 10. & cap. 12  saluted him, returned again, waiting on him to the city 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, 
The 6 day of the first week.   
A learned Germans late admired invention,  
Which mounting from his fist that framed her  
Flew far to meet an Almain Emperor.  
And having met him with her nimble train  
And weary wings, turning about again  
Followed him close unto the Castle gate  
Of Norinberg, whom all their shows of state,  
Streets hanged with Arras, arches curious built,  
Gray-headed Senate, and youth's gallantise,  
Graced not so much as only this devise.   
He goes on and thus describes the fly,  

Once as this Artist more with mirth than meat  
Feasted some friends whom he esteemed great,  
From under's hand an iron fly flew out,  
Which having flown a perfect round about,  
With weary wings returned unto her Master,  
And as judicious on his arm he placed her.  
O divine wit, that in the narrow womb  
Of a small fly could find sufficient room  
For all those springs, wheels, counterpoise and chains,  
Which stood instead of life, and spur, and reins.   
Desinamus itaque Archytae columbam mirari, cum muscam, cum aquilam geometricis alis alatam Noriberga exhibeat, saith Ramus, let us give over to wonder at Archytas his dove, sithence Norinberg hath exhibited both a Fly and an Eagle winged with Geometrical wings. Bartas likewise remembers the curious Dial & clock at Strausburgh, which myself have beheld not without admiration,  

But who would think that mortal hands could mould  
New heavens, new stars whose whirling courses should  
With constant windings though contrary ways  
Mark the true monds of years & months & days,  
Yet 'tis a story that hath oft been heard  
And by an hundred witnesses auered.   
Neither doth he forget that most exquisite silver sphere (matchable with Archimedes, or that of Zapores King of Persia) which was sent as a present from the Emperor Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turk, & is mentioned by Paulus jovius & Sabellicus: It was carried as they write, by twelve men, unframed & reframed in the Grand Signiors presence by the maker, who likewise delivered him a book containing the mystery of using it.  

Nor may we smother nor forget ingratelie  
The Heaven of silver, that was sent but lately  
From Ferdinando as a famous work  
Unto Byzantium to the greatest Turk:  
Wherein a spirit still moving too & fro,  
Made all the Engine orderly to go;  
And though the one sphere did always slowly slide,  
And contrary the other swiftly glide;  
Yet still their stars kept all their courses even  
With the true courses of the stars of heaven.  
The Sun there shifting in the Zodiaque  
His shining houses, never did forsake  
His pointed path, there in a month his sister  
Fulfilled her course & changing oft her lustre  
And form of face, (now larger, lesser soone)  
Followed the changes of the other moon.    

SECT. 2. Of the benefits and Inventour of the most useful Art of Printing.  
But leaving these,  
Magna nec ingenijs investigata priorum  
Quaeque diu latuere canam:  
I'll speak of greater things which long lay hid  
Neither were found by search of former wits.  
These spoken of, are in truth but toys & trifles in regard of those three most useful inventions, which these latter ages challenge as due & proper to themselves, Printing, Guns, and the Mariners compass; of which Cardane comparatively speaks in high terms. His tribus tota 
De subtle. l, 17.  Antiquitas nihil par habet, All Antiquity can boast of nothing equal to these three. Upon these than will I insist, & with these conclude this comparison of Arts & Wits; the rather for that there is none of them but some have excepted against, as being not modern but ancient inventions. I will begin with Printing, touching which Bodin outvies Cardane, una typographia cum omnibus omnium veterum inventis certare facile 
De ●…eth: hist. lib: 7:  potest: Printing alone may easily contend for the prize with all the inventions of the Ancients. And Polidore Virgil having spoken of the famous Libraries erected by the Ancients, presently adds, Fuit illud omnino magnum mortalibus munus, sed nequaquam conferendum cum hoc 
De Jnventor: rerum, l: 2: c: 7:  quod nostro tempore adepti sumus, reperto novo scribendi genere: tantum enim uno die ab uno homine literarum imprimitur, quantum vix toto anno à pluriribus scribi possit. That was indeed a great benefit to mankind, but not to be compared with this which our age hath found out & enjoyed, since a new kind of writing was brought to light and practised, by means whereof, as much may be printed by one man in one day, as could be written by many in a whole year; or as Sabellicus, as much as the readiest 
Enead. 10: 6:  penman could well dispatch in two years. And by this means, books which were before in a manner confined to the Libraries of Monasteries, as their only Magazines, were redeemed from bondage, obtained their enlargement, & freely walked abroad in the light; so as now they present themselves familiarly to the eyes & hands of all men, and he that hath but slender means, may notwithstanding furnish himself in a competent manner, there being now more good Authors to be bought for twenty shillings then could then be purchased for twenty pounds. And beside, they then spoke such languages as it pleased the Monks to put into their mouths, who many times thorough ignorance, or negligence, or wilfulness mistook words and sentences, and sometimes thrust that into the Text which they found in the Margin. From whence arose such a confusion in most Authors, that it much puzzled the best wits how to restore them to the right sense, as Lodovicus Viues 
In prefa●…ioae:  complains, it befell him in the setting forth of S. Augustine's works de Civitate Dei, & divinandum saepewmero fuit, & coniecturis vera restituenda Lectio: I was often forced to guess at the sense & none otherwise then by conjectures could the text be restored to the true reading: And Erasmus in his preface to the works of the same father, vix in alterius tam impie quam in huius sacri Doctoris voluminibus lusit otiosorum temeri●…as, hardly hath the rashness of idle brains so impiously played its part in the volumes of any other, as of this holy Doctor: Yet that other complaint of his in his preface before S. Hieromes works, touching the many and gross corruptions which therein he found, far exceeds this, Vnum illud & vere dicam & audacter minoris arbitror Hieronymo suos constitisse libros conditos quam nobis restitutos: This one thing may I truly and boldly affirm, that in mine opinion, S. Hieromes books cost him less pains the making, then me the mending. Again, it cannot be denied but the fairness of the letter beyond that of ordinary writing, adds no small grace to this invention. Mira certè Ars, saith Cardane, quâ mille chartarum una die conficiuntur, nec facile est iudicare an in tanta facilitate 
De varietate rerum, l: 13: c: 64:  ac celeritate pulchritudo, an in tanta pulchritudine celeritas & facilitas sit admirabilior: An admirable Art sure it is, by which a thousand sheets may be dispatched in a day, neither is it easy to judge whether in so great easiness and quickness of dispatch the fairness of the letter, or in the fairness of the letter the quickness of dispatch and easiness thereof, be more to be wondered at. Lastly, it is not the least benefit of printing, that by dispersing a number of Copies into particular men's hands, there is now hope that good letters shall never again suffer so universal a decay as in forrmer ages they have done, by the burning and spoiling of public Libraries, in which the whole treasure of learning was in a manner stored up. Since then by this means; books are become both fairer, and cheaper, and truer, and less subject to a total perishing: and since by this Art the preserver of Arts, the Acts & writings of worthy men are made famous and commended to posterity; it were a point of heinous ingratitude to suffer the Inventor thereof to be buried in oblivion.  
Some difference I confess there is about his name, yet not such but may be reconciled without any great difficulty. Peter Ramus seems to attribute it to one john Fust a Moguntine, and in truth shows good 
Scholar Mathem. lib: 2:  cards for it, telling us, that he had in his keeping a copy of Tully's Offices printed upon parchment with this inscription added in the end thereof: Praesens Marci Tullij clarissimum opus johannes Fust Moguntinus civis non atramento, plumali canna, neque aerea, sed arte quadam perpulchra manu Petri de Gerneshem pueri mei faeliciter effeci, finitum an. 1466, 4 die mensis Februarij. This excellent work of Marcus Tullius I john Fust a citizen of Mentz happily imprinted, not with writing ink, quill, or brass pen, but with an excellent Art by the help of Peter Gerneshem my servant: finished it was in the year 1466, the 4th of February. Pasquier avers 
Lib: 4: c: 22: Titul. 12:  that the like had come to his hands, and Salmuth that one of the same impression was to be seen in the public Library at Ausburg, and another (as others) in Emanuel College in Cambridge, and myself have seen a fifth in the public Library at Oxford, though with some little difference in the inscription. Yet Pollidore Virgil from the report of the Moguntines themselves affirms, that john Gutenberg a Knight, and dwelling 
Lib. 2. c: 7:  in Mentz, was the first Inventor thereof, & therein with him accord Palmerius in his Chronicle, Melchior Guilandinus in the 26 Chapter of his Treatise touching paper & parchment; Chasaneus in his Catalogue of the Glory of the world, the second part and 39th Consideration, Veignier in his Bibliotheque, Bibliander de communi ratione omnium linguarum, in his chapter of printing (professing that therein he follows Wymphilingius in his Epitome of the affairs of Germany) johannes Arnoldus in his book of the Invention of Printing; And lastly, Munster in his cosmography, who adds this particular, that he smothered it a long time, labouring to conceal 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 proof thereof in printing a book: They both then deserve their commendation, but in different degrees: Gutenberg in the highest, Fust in a second or third; & no doubt, but many since have added much to the speed, grace and perfection thereof, whose names, though we know not, yet perchance, have they as well deserved of the commonwealth of learning as he: Sure we are, that Manutius Operinus, Raphelengius, Plantin, and both the Stephens; the Father & the Son, are not to be forgotten, but remembered with honour, for the furthering and perfecting of this Art.  
Yet some there are who writing of the affairs of the Indies, as Petrus 
Hist. Ind. l. 6 Lib. 2. A●…cm. apud Indos c. 38.  Maffaius, Garzias ab Horto, & Paulus jovius assure us, that either the Germans borrowed this Invention from the 1 Chinese, or at leastwise the Chinese had the practice & use of it long before them. Whereunto I answer 
Lib. 14. Hist.  (not to question the credit of the Authors) though in truth (as is well known) no great friends to the Germane nation, that though it were long since in use with the Chinese, yet, for aught appeareth, was it never, nor yet is with them brought to that perfection as it is with us at this day: Si à veteribus tale quiddam excogitatum sit, ut nemo debita laude sraudandus, fateri quisque debeat omnia minus fuisse exculta, nitida, subtilia, elimata, nec tam spectabili literarum varietate exornata atque expolita, saith Levinus Lemnius. If any such thing were discovered by the Ancients (either 
De occultis rerum mi●…ac. l. 3. c. 4.  by the Chinese or otherwhere) as they are not to be robbed of their due praise, so ought we to confess, that all things are now more exact and perfect, and better polished with a fair variety of letters. But that the Germans should borrow it from the Chinese, as is pretended by the Spaniards, is more I think then is true, I am sure then is yet proved, or in likelihood doth appear: And the Germans themselves will never with patience endure such a wrong. Germania certè nunquam sibi hanc laudem patietur extorqueri, saith Salmuth, Germany will never suffer the praise of this Invention to be wrested from her, And Beroaldus.  

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

Thou Germany this blessing didst invent,  
Than which the world more useful never saw,  
To write on books thou teachest thus by print.   
And with him accords Laurentius Valla, though himself an Italian, if those verses be his which are ascribed unto him in the front of his Works.  

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

Germania drew great store of books from Italy,  
But now much more she doth. than she received, repay:  
What erewhile in one year could scarcely written be;  
Now by Germania's help is finished in one day.    

SEC. 1. Of the use and invention of Guns.  
AS the Invention of Printing is chiefly in use in time of Peace, so is that of Guns in time of war, with which the Aries, Onagri, Catapulta, or Balistae, Engines of the Ancients, (which I know not well how to English, they being grown for the most part out of use) are no way comparable, Nec ulla ex parte huic conferendus est antiquus Aries, vires inferiores habebat, & difficilius admuros adigebatur, saith Patricius, The Ram anciently for battery, is in no sort to be compared with 
De reg●… l. 7. tit. 6.  this Engine, it had less strength, & more difficulty there was in bringing it, and applying it to the walls. And Bodine to like purpose, (though 
Method. hist. c. 7.  herein perchance he jump not with Lipsius in his Poliorcetica) omitto Catapulta Veterum & antiqua belli tormenta, quae si cum nostris conferantur sanè puerilia quaedam ludicra videri possint: I pass over the Engines of the Ancients, which being compared with ours, are rather childish toys than instruments for war. And Lipsius himself calls it, Geniorum, non hominum inventum▪ an invention of spirits, and not of men. Such is the 
De Machinis ●…alogo 11.  force of these modern Engines, that they not only destroy men, but cast down walls, rampiers, towers, castles, cities, and shake the tallest ships into shivers, there being nothing that comes within their reach that can stand against them. It was a piece of almost incredible bigness which by Mahomet's command was employed against Constantinople, ad quam trahendam adhibebantur septuaginta juga boum, & bis mille viri, as witnesseth Chalcondilas in his eight book de rebus Turcicis, for the drawing of which were employed seventy yoke of oxen, and two thousand men. It is true that there is nothing more mischievous to besieged cities, and so is there nothing that helps them more for the chase 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 helpful they are being well used, the more hurtful are they being abused: then fire and water there is nothing more commodious to the life of man, yet is the Proverb true, that when they are once enraged, & pass their bounds, they become merciless: 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 bless God & curse men, saith S. james. And iron by Pliny is rightly termed, optimum, pessimumque vitae instrumentum, the best & worst instrument belonging to man, But sure it seems that God in his providence had reserved this Engine for these times, that by the cruel force & terrible roaring of it, men might the rather be deterred from assaulting one another in hostile and warlike manner; And I verily believe, that since the invention and use thereof, fewer have been slain in the wars then before. Neither doth it serve, (as is commonly objected,) to make men cowards, but rather hardens them. For he that dares present himself to the mouth of a Cannon, cannot fear the face of death in what shape soever it present itself.  
Howsoever some have not been wanting, who would bear us in hand that this Invention is not of latter times, but ancient; among whom Sir Walter Raleigh is one, who in his History of the World, refers not 
Lib. 1. c. 7. sect. 4  only the Invention of Printing, but of Guns too, and Ordinance of battery to the Indians, grounding himself herein upon the report of the Portugals: And hereby, saith he, we are now made to understand, that the place of Philostratus in vita Apollonij Tianei, is no fable, though expressed 
Lib. 2. c. 14.  in fabulous words, when he saith, that the wise men which dwell between Hyphesis and Ganges use not themselves to go forth to battle, but that they drive away their enemies with thunder and lightning. But hereof I can say nothing, choosing with Camerarius, potius credere quam 
Meditat. histor. c●…ntur. 2. c. 28 De occult. rerum miraculis  cum molestia experiri, rather to believe it, then to endure the hazard and trouble to make trial of it. Others refer it to Salmoneus, as witnesseth Levinus Lemnius, induced thereunto by those verses of Virgil 
l. 3. c. 4. Aenead. l 5.   

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

I saw Salmoneus there endure  
Most cruel pains and great,  
For that he dared the flames of jove,  
And thunder counterfeit.  
In Chariot drawn with horses four,  
Shaking a fiery brand  
Through mids of Elis town he road,  
And through all Grecian land  
Triumphing wise: and to himself  
Audaciously did take  
Honours divine. Mad frantic man  
That did not inly quake:  
With horne-foot horses, and brasse-wheeles,  
Ioves storms to emulate,  
And lightnings impossible  
For man to imitate.   
But Servius in his Commentaries conceives, that this imitation of thunder was by driving his Chariot over a brazen bridge: And if he used any Engine, it seems to have been rather for rattling and terror, then for any real effect: And whereas great Ordinance exceed thunder, this was such that it came far short of it: And therefore as ' Rota hath well observed, the Poet calls it.  
— non imitabile fulmen.  
But this I leave as a very uncertain ground for the ancient invention of this Engine. Petrarch and Valturius upon better show of reason (as 
De remed. v●…ivsque fort. dial. 99  they conceive) refer it to Archimede, found out (as they pretend) by him for the overthrow of Marcellus his ships at the siege of Syracuse. 
Dear Military.  But it were strange that both Plutarch & Livy, who have written largely of his admirable wit & wonderful Engines, and particularly of the siege of that city, should among the rest forget this rare invention; and yet more strange that the Romans upon the taking of the city should not take it up and make use of it: Nay, as Magius (who hath written a chapter of purpose, to refute them who refer this invention to the 
Miscel: l: 1: c: 1:  Ancients) hath observed; neither Heron, nor Pappus, nor Athenaeus, nor Biton in their manuscripts of the Mechanniques, (for printed they are not) have described any such Engine: nor Aegidius Romanus, (who lived 
De regimine Principum. l. 3. parte 3: c: 18:  & wrote in the reign of Philip the fair King of France about the year 1285,) where he treats purposely of warlike Engines & instruments, remembers any such thing. Brightman in his exposition on the Revelation of S. john, tells us that by the fire, & smoke, & brimstone which in that place are said to have issued out of the mouths of the horses, are to be understood our powder & guns now in use, & that of them S. john prophesied, but how these can be said to issue out of the mouths of horses, he doth not well express, nor I think well understood.  
The common opinion than is, that this device was first found out by a Monk of Germany, whose name many writers affirm to be deservedly lost: But Forcatulus in his fourth book of the Empire & Philosophy of France, names him Berthold Swarts of Cullen, & Salmuth, Constantine 
Nova Reperta, tit. 11:  AnklitZen of Friburg: Howsoever they all agree that he was a Germane Monk, and that by chance a spark of fire falling into a pot of Niter, which he had prepared for Physic or Alchemy, and causing it to fly up, he thereupon made a composition of powder, with an instrument of brass & iron, and putting fire to it, found the conclusion to answer his expectation. The first public use of Guns that we read of, was thought to be about the year 1380 as Magius, or 400 as Ramus, in a battle betwixt the Venetians & the Genoese fought at Clodia-Fossa, in which the Venetian having from this Monk belike, gotten the use of Guns, so galled their enemies, that they saw themselves wounded & slain, and yet knew not by what means, or how to prevent it, as witnesseth Platina in the life of Vrbane the sixth. And Laurentius Valla in the second book & 34 Chapter of his Elegancies, (which as himself testifies, he wrote in the year 1438) affirms that the Gun grew in 
Lib: 3: c: 14:  use not long before his time. His words are, Nuper inventa est machina quam Bombardam vocant, the Engine which they call the Gun was lately found out. And Petrarch who lived somewhat before him to like purpose in his 99 dialogue of the Remedies of both fortunes, though therein I confess he seem to cross himself, Erat haec pestis nuper rara, ut cum ingenti miraculo cerneretur: This pestilent device was lately so rare, that it was beheld with marvelous great astonishment. Yet I have seen the copy of a record, that great ordinance were brought by the French to the battery of a Castle or fort called Outhwyke, near to Calais, and then in possession of the English, the first year of Richard the second; of which fort, one William Weston was Captain, and being questioned in Parliament for yielding up the fort, he doth in his excuse alalleage, that the enemies brought to the battery thereof nine pieces de grosses Canon's par les quelles les mures & les measons da dit Chastel furent rents & percussez en plusiears lieux, of great Canons, by means whereof the walls and houses of the said Castle were in divers places rend in sunder and sorely battered; and in another place, he termeth them huge, most grievous, & admirable Ordinance: nay more than so, I am credibly informed, that a commission is to be seen for the making of Saltpetre in Edward the thirds time, and another record of Ordinance used in that time some twenty years before his death: by all which it should appear, that either the invention of Guns was sooner than is commonly conceived, or that our Nation and the French had the use of it with the first, howsoever, it is most clear, that at leastwise in these parts of the world this invention was not known till in latter ages in comparison of the world's duration.   

SECT. 4. Of the use and invention of the Martiners Compass or sea-card, as also of another excellent invention said to be lately found out upon the Loadstone, together with a conclusion of this comparison touching Arts & Wits, with a saying of Bodins, and another very notable one of Lactantius.  
TO these inventions of Printing & Guns, may be added in the last place that of the Mariners compass, of which Bodin thus 
Methodo hist: cap: 7:  confidently speaks, Cum Magnete nihil sit admirabilius in tota rerum natura, usum tamen eius plane divinum Antiqui ignorarunt: Though there be nothing more admirable than the Loadstone in the whole course of Nature, yet of the Divine use thereof were the Ancients ignorant: And Blondus, Certum est id navigandi auxilium Priscis omnino fuisse 
Italia Illustrata regi●… 13:  incognitum: It is certain that help of sailing was altogether unknown to the Ancients. And Cardan, a man much versed in the Rarities of Nature, 
de 〈◊〉: c: 17.  inter caetera rerum inventa admiratione primum digna est ratio Nauticae pyxidis: Among other rare Inventions, that of the Mariners compass is most worthy of admiration. By means of it, was Navigation perfected, the lives and goods of many thousand have been, and daily are preserved: It finds out a way thorough the vast Ocean, in the greatest storms and darkest nights, where is neither path to follow, nor inhabitant or passenger to inquire; It points out the way to the skilful Mariner when all other helps fail him, and that more certainly though it be without reason, sense, and life, then without the help thereof all the Wizards & learned Clerks in the world, using the united strength of their wits & cunning can possibly do: By means of it are the commodities of all countries discovered, trade, & traffic, & humane society maintained, their several forms of government, and religion observed, & the whole world made as it were one Commonwealth, and the most distant Nations fellows citizens of the same body politic.  
This wonderful instrument we have amply described by Cieze in his second tomb & ninth chapter de Rebus Indicis, and Bellonus in his second book & sixteenth chapter de Singularitatibus: But for the reason thereof, I say with Acosta, Causas huius tanti prodigij alij rimentur, & Sympathiam 
De Natura noviorbis: l. 1:  nescio quam conentur inducere, ego summi Opificis potentiam providentiamque quoties intueor, & vehementer admiror & iucundissimè celebro. Let others search out the causes of this so wonderful an instrument, & pretend therein I know not what Sympathy, I for my part as oft as I look upon it, cannot but exceedingly admire, & most willingly praise the power and providence of God.  
Whether it were known to the Ancients or no, some doubt is moved, as of all things else there is: But herein, in my judgement, without any sufficient reason. For can we conceive that so rare a device & of so singular use could be known to Aristotle, Theophrastus, Pliny, Dioscorides, Galen, and that we should no where in any of their works find the least mention thereof? Surely, I for my part shall never believe it; neither can I be persuaded that so precious and useful an invention could possibly be entertained & commonly practised, and yet lost again out of the world as if it had never been. But that indeed it was not practised appears by this, that the Ancients, when by reason of a storm or mist they had lost the sight of the lights of heaven, they had no remedy to fly unto; Nullum coelo nubibus obscurato à magnete aut alio instrumento petebatur auxilium, when the heaven was darkened with 
Blondus Italia illustrata Regione 13:  clouds, they had no assistance from the Loadstone or any other instrument.  
— Clawmque affixus & haerens  
Nunquam amittebat oculosque sub astra tenebat. 
Aenead, 5:   
The helm he held & never it forsook  
●…ut on the stars his eyes did ever look.  
Saith the Poet, as long as the stars appeared; but when they were be misted, they then wandered they knew not whither.  
Tres adeo incertos caeca caligine soles,  
Erramus pelago, totidem sine fidere noctes. 
Aenead. 3:   
On Sea we roved three days as dark as night,  
Three nights likewise not seeing starry light.  
And in S. Paul's coasting voyage by sea, when they had lost the sight of the Sun and Stars all hope that they should be saved was then taken 
Act. 27: 20:  away.  
Some notwithstanding have been found, who have thought this invention ancient. Levinus Lemnius in his third book and fourth chapter de Occultis naturae miraculis seems 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 certainly 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: 
In Mercatore S●…na 5:  where by versoriam, Lemnius would have us understand the Mariners Compass, and then adds, Quanqùam ut opinor haec pixidicula nostro jam tempore magis exculta sit, elimata, expolita, omniaque exactius demonstret, as in the same chapter he speaks of printing: Yet I believe that this instrument was in latter ages brought to exact perfection: But for Plautus I dare say he was never guilty of such a meaning: Turnebus by Versoriam 
Lib. 20 advers. cap. 4.  understanding the rope with which the sail, others the rudder, with which the ship is turned: Neither of which are impertinent or improper, so as there is no necessity of applying it to the Mariners Compass. Stephen Pasquier in his 4 Book & 23 chapter of his Recherches of France brings it up as high as the times of S. Lewis by the verses of one Hugh 
En sabible guyo●….  de Bercy, who lived in his reign, and as he pretends plainly describes it: but whether the words be so plain as he makes them, or whether they were published by some other since Bercy, but in his name, is very uncertain, specially since no Poet or Historiographer contemporary with him, or more ancient than he, are found to make mention thereof: and yet S. Lewis died not much above 300 year since. Pineda for the more 
Lib. 4. de r●…bus Solomonis c. 4.  commodious placing of Tharshis in Spain, is confident that it was in use in Solomon's time, making his universal wisdom, and deep insight in the nature of all things, the principal ground of his opinion: But Solomon's wisdom though it were universal, and deep beyond all the children of the East, inasmuch as God gave him latitudinem cordis, a large heart as the sand on the sea shore, yet was it finite and limited aswell in things natural as supernatural. I doubt not but Adam in the state of integrity knew more than Solomon, and yet I dare not pronounce him omniscious, that being an attribute, (as is likewise Omnipotency, ubiquity & eternity) individually proper to the Godhead, & incommunicable to any created substance, though merely incorporeal, whether they be the damned or the blessed spirits. If then the holy Angels, if Adam in Paradise knew not all things, nay if the Son of God himself, as he was man confess himself to be ignorant of some things, why should we think it strange to affirm, that Solomon knew not all things. If there be such a secret as the artificial transmutation of other metals into gold, (which by the experiments of many is confidently avouched) it is more than probable he was ignorant of it: for had he known it, he needed not to have sent his Navy to Ophir or Tharshis for gold; as likewise had he known this secret of the Loadstone, it needed not to have spent three years in going and coming, neither should his Mariners have needed to crave the assistance of the Tyrians and Sydonians, as Pilots for the better conducting of them in their voyage. I conclude then that either Solomon knew not this secret, or if he knew it, he put it not in practice, or if he put it in practice, it was since lost and recovered again, which to me seemeth the most unlikely of all.  
Now to the authority of these three, who plead for the antiquity of this Invention, may be opposed thirteen, and those in learning nothing inferior who plead against it, maintaining it to have been an Invention of latter ages unknown to the Ancients, as Acosta lib. 1. histor. Ind. cap. 17. Mariana lib. 1. de rebus Hispaniae cap. 22. Maluenda lib. 3. de Antichristo 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 Commentaries on that place. Philander in his Comment. upon 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 method of History cap. 7. Ramus in Scholar Mathemat. lib. 2. and to those may be added many more, were I ambitious in mustering up of names, or did the cause require it. Since the writing hereof I find that our Fuller Miscell. 4. 19 thinks it likewise very probable, that the Tyrians anciently had the use of the Compass, and that Solomon might be the Inventor thereof, but against him may be produced the reasons before pressed against Pineda, & not only the authorities already alleged, but unto them we may farther add 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 clear that the native property of this stone of turning always to the North, was to the ancients unknown.  
But a greater doubt presents itself about the time and Author of this Invention, when & by whom it should first be found out & set on foot. Doctor Gilbert our Countryman (who hath written in Latin a large & learned Discourse of the properties of this stone) seems to be of opinion that Paulus Venetus brought the Invention of the use thereof from the Chinese. Osorius in his discourse of the acts of King Emanuel, refers it to Gama and his Countrymen the Portugals, who as he pretends took it from certain barbarous Pirate's roving upon the Sea about the Cape of good hope. Goropius Becanus likewise thinks he hath great reason to entitle it upon his Countrymen the Germans, in as much as the 32. 
Hispanicorum l. 3.  points of the wind upon the Compass borrow the names from the Dutch in all Languages. But Blondus, who is therein followed by Pancirollus, 
Italia illustrata Regione 13.  both Italians, will not have Italy lose the praise thereof, telling us that about 300 years ago it was found out at Malphis or Melpbis a City in the Kingdom of Naples in the Province of Campania, now called Terra di Lavorador; But for the Author of it, the one names him not, & the other assures us, he is not known: 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.  

weare not to Ceres so much bound for bread,  
Neither to Bacchus for his clusters red,  
As Signior Flavio to thy witty trial,  
For first inventing of the Seaman's dial,  
Th'use of the needle turning in the same,  
Divine device, O admirable frame  
Whereby thorough th'Ocean in the darkest night  
Our hugest Carracks are conducted right,  
Whereby weare stored with trou●…h-man, guide and Lamp,  
To search all corners of the watery Campe.  
Whereby a ship that stormy heavens have whirled  
near in one night into another world  
Knows where she is, and in the Card descries  
What degrees thence the Equinoctial 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 Germane afterwards added to the Compass the 32 points of the wind in his own language, whence other Nations have since borrowed it. But surely a pity it is that the Author of such an Invention is not both more certainly known & honourably esteemed: He better deserving in my judgement to be enrolled and ranked among the great benefactors of the world, than many who for their supposed merits, of mankind were deified among the Heathen.  
Another excellent and secret conclusion upon 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 turn upon two round tables, having on their borders the Alphabet written circlewise, if two friends agreeing upon the time, the one in Paris, the other in London, (having each of them their table thus equally fitted) be disposed upon certain days & at certain hours to confer, it is to be done by turning the needle in one of the tables to the Alphabet, & the other by Sympathy will turn itself in the same manner in the other table, though never so far distant: which conclusion if infallibly true, may likewise prove of good and great consequence: howsoever I will set it down as I find it described by Famianus Strada in imitation of the style and vain of Lucretius.  

Magnesis genus est lapidis mirabile, cui si 
Lib. 2. Prolusione 6.   
Corpora ferri plura stylosve admoveris, inde  
Non modo vim motumque trahent quo semper ad ursam  
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 unum.  
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, sum  
Planum orbem patulumque notas, elementaque prima,  
Ordine quo discunt pueri, describe per or as  
Extremas orbis, medioque repone jacentem  
Qui tetigit magneta stylum, ut versatilis inde  
Litterulam quamcunque velis contingerepossit.  
Hujus ad exemplum simili fabricaveris orbem  
Margin descriptum, munitumque indice ferri,  
Ferri quod motum Magnete accepit ab illo,  
Hunc orbem dissessurus sibi portet amicus;  
Conveniatque prius quo tempore, queisve diebus  
Exploret stylus an trepidet quidve indice signs.  
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 margin toto  
Queis opus est ad verba notis hunc dirige ferrum  
Litterulasque modo hano modo & illam cuspide tange  
Dum ferrum per eas iterumque iterumque 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 atque 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 utinam haec ratio scribendi prodeat usu  
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 arras.   

The Load above all other stones hath this strange property,  
If sundry steels thereto, or needles ye apply,  
Such force & motion thence they draw, that they incline  
To turn them to the bear which near the Pole doth shine.  
Nay more, as many steels as touch that virtuous stone,  
In strange & wondrous sort conspiring all in one,  
Together move themselves, and situate together:  
As if one of those steels at Rome bestirred, the other  
The selfsame way will stir though they far distant be,  
And all through Nature's force & secret Sympathy:  
Well than if you of aught would fain advise your friend  
That dwells far off, to whom no letter you can send;  
A large smooth round table make, write down the Christcross row  
In order on the verge thereof, and then bestow  
The needle in the midst which touched the Load, that so  
What note soe'er you list it strait may turn unto:  
Then frame another orb in all respects like this,  
Describe the edge, and lay the steel thereon likewise,  
The steel which from the selfsame Magnes motion drew;  
This orb send with thy friend what time he bids adieu:  
But on the days agree first, when you mean to prove,  
If the steel stir, and to what letters it doth move.  
This done, if with thy friend thou closely wouldst advise,  
Who in a country off far distant from thee lies,  
Take thou the orb & steel which on the orb was set,  
The christcross on the edge thou seest in order writ,  
What notes will frame thy words to them direct thy steel,  
And it sometime to this, sometime to that note wheel,  
Turning it round about so often till you find  
You have compounded all the meaning of your mind;  
Thy friend that dwells far off, o strange! doth plainly see  
The steel to stir, though it by no man stirred be,  
Running now here now there: He conscious of the plot  
As the steel guides pursues, & reads from note to note;  
Then gathering into words those notes, he clearly sees  
What's needful to be done, the needle truchman is:  
Now when the steel doth cease its motion; if thy friend  
Think it convenient answer back to send,  
The same course he may take, and with his needle write  
Touching the several notes what so he list indite.  
Would God men would be pleased to put this course in ure,  
Their letters would arrive more speedy and more sure,  
Nor Rivers would them stop, nor thieves them intercept;  
Princes with their own hands their business might effect:  
We Scribes from black sea scaped, at length with hearty wills  
At th'altar of the Load would consecrate our quills.   
Of this devise, how two absent friends might confer at great distance, Viginerius in his Annotations upon T. Livius, speaketh somewhat in the 1316 column of his first volume; as namely that a letter might be read through a stone wall of three foot thick, by guiding and moving the needle of a compass over the letters of the Alphabet, written in the circumference: but the certainty of this conclusion, I leave to the experiment of such as list to make trial of it, and so conclude this comparison touching Wits & Arts with the words of Bodi●…: Non minus peccant 
Method. hist. cap. 7.  qui à veteribus aiunt omnia comprehensa, quam qui illos de veteri multarum artium possessione deturbant, habet Natura scientiarum thesauros numirabiles qui nullis aetatibus exhauriri possunt. They are no less to blame who affirm all things to have been found out by the ancients, than 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 never be exhausted Or rather with those of Lactantius worthy to be written in letters of gold, as being no less true and pertinent, 
Lib 2. c 8. Diuin. Inst.  then witty and elegant: Dedit omnibus Deus pro virili portione sapientiam, ut & inaudita investigare possent, & audita perpendere; nec quia nos illi temporibus antecesserunt, sapientia quoque antecesserunt, quae si omnibus aequaliter datur, occupari ab antecedentibus non potest. Illibabili●…est 〈◊〉 lux & claritas solis, quia ut sol oculorum, sit sapientia 〈◊〉 est cordis humani. Quare cum sapere, id est veritatem quaerere omnibus sit innatum, sapientiam sibi adimunt qui sine ullo judicio inventa maiorum probant▪ & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more ducuntur. Sed hoc eos fallit quod Maiorum nomine posi●… non patant fieri posse, ut aut ipsi plus sapiant quia Minores vocantur, aut illi de●…rint quia Maiores nominantur. God hath given wisdom unto all according to a competent measure, that they might both find out things unheard of before, and weigh things already ●…ound out▪ Neither because they had the start of us in time, doth it likewise follow that they have it also in wisdom, which if it be indifferently granted to all, it cannot be forestalled by them which went before. It is unimpaireable like the light and brightness of the sun, it being the light of man's heart as the sun is of his eyes. Since then to be wise, that is, ●…search the truth, is a disposition inbred in every man, they debar themselves of wisdom, who without any examination approve the inventions of their Ancestors, & like unreasonable creatures, are wholly led by others. But this is it which deceives them, the name of Ancestors being once set in the front, they think it cannot be that either themselves should be wiser, because they are called Punies, or the others should in any thing be mistaken, because they are called their Ancestors. And thus have we seen that there is in mankind no such universal & perpetual decay in regard of age & life, of strength & stature, of arts & wits, as is commonly pretended: It now remains, that in the last place we examine their manners & conditions, virtues & vices, whether it be so that men always grow worse & worse, as it is likewise generally and confidently both held and believed.     

LIB. IV. Of the pretended decay in matter of manners, together with a large proof of the future consummation of the world, from the testimonies of the Gentiles, and the uses which we are to draw from the consideration thereof.  

CAP. 1. That there is no such universal & perpetual decay in the manners of men as is pretended, which is first proved in general, and then from Religion the ground of manners.  

SECT. 1. That there is a vicissitude and Revolution in virtues and vices, as there is in Arts & Sciences  
SUCH is the near affinity and mutual connexion betwixt these four, Age, Strength, Wit, & Manners, that as the three former ordinarily follow the temper & complexion of the body, so for the most part doth the fourth too; though I must confess that by the freedom of the will in moral matters we are more masters of the fourth, then of the other three, which are more natural, and consequently less in our power to alter or command; as strength then is the comfort of age, and 〈◊〉 the grace of strength, & virtue, the guide of wit: so age without strength is tedious, strength without wit dangerous, wit without virtue hurtful and pernicious. If then having matched men of latter ages with those of the former in regard of age, strength, & wit, they should not likewise prove matchable in regard of virtue, it were a blemish rather than an ornament, a discommendation then a praise.  
Now though it be true that vice at this day so abounds thorough the world, as it commonly doth, and well may breed a doubt even in the best, whether these last times be not indeed the worst, and as it were the lees & dregs of all ages; yet when I consider that in these latter ages, (if we compare them with the precedent since the Creation) a great part of the known world hath been converted to the Christian doctrine, and that the Author of it hath told us, By their fruits ye shall know them; me thinks I should wrong both him and it, if I should yield that the world hath not thereby been bettered, even in regard of civil virtue & moral goodness: Deus ut parens diligentissimus appropinquante ultimo tempore nuncium misit, qui vetus illud seculum fugatamque justiciam reduceret, ne humanum genus maximis & perpetuis agitaretur erroribus; Redijt ergo species illius aurei temporis, saith Lactantius. God as a most tender father, the 
Lib 5. 〈◊〉. c. 7  end now drawing on, sent his Messenger, who should reduce that old age and banished justice, lest mankind should always be tossed up & down with infinite & continual errors, so as now we have brought back again unto us a representation of those golden times.  
But as I cannot easily grant that men always, and in all places wax worse and worse; so I do not believe that always, & in all places they wax better and better, or that they stand at a stay: But as in the Arts & Sciences; so likewise in matter of manners, there is a vicissitude, an alternation & revolution as before hath been touched in part. The world is sometimes better & sometimes worse, according to the times of war or peace, the conditions of Princes & Laws, and the execution of them. Sometimes virtue increaseth in one kingdom and decreaseth in another, and again in the same kingdom one vice grows up and another withers, at leastwise for a time. This circulation of virtue and vice hath been observed, and the observation thereof commended to posterity by the soundest & sagest writers in Antiquity: Nisi forte in rebus cunctis inest quidam velut orbis, & quemadmodum temporum vices ita morum vertantur, nec omnia apud priores meliora, sed nostra quoque aetas multa laudis & artium imitanda posteris tulit, saith Tacitus. Unless perchance there be in all things a certain circular change, & as there is by turns 
Annal. l. 3. c. 12.  an intercourse of times, so also of Customs and Manners. Neither were all things in ancient times better than ours, burr our age hath likewise left to posterity many things worthy praise and imitation And again, vitia erunt donec homines, sed neque haec continua, & meliorum interventu 
Cerealis apud Tacitum, hist. l. 4.  pensantur. Vices there will be, as long as men are, but these jast not always, and they are often recompensed by the intervening of better times. And with him accords the grave Seneca: Hoc maiores nostri questi sunt, hoc nos quaerimur, hoc posteri nostri querentur, eversos esse mores, 
De benef. l. 1. c. 10.  regnare nequitiam, in deterius res humanas & in omne nefas labi: at ista stant loco eodem, stabuntque paululum duntaxat ultra aut citra mota, ut fluctus quos aestus accedens longius extulit, recedens maiore littorum vestigio tenuit, nunc in adulterio magis quam in alio peccabitur, abrumpetque frenos pudicitia, nunc conviviorum vigebit furor, & foedissimum patrimoniorum exitium culina, nunc cultus corporum nimius, & formae cura, prae seferens animi deformitatem; nunc in petulantiam & audaciam erumpet male dispensata libertas, nunc in crudelitatem privatam ac publicam ibitur bellorumque civilium insaniam, qua omne sanctum ac sacrum profanetur, habebitur aliquando ebrietati honour, & plurimum meri cepisse virtus erit. Non expectant uno loco vitia, sed mobilia & inter se dissentientia, tumultuantur invicem fuganturque. Caeterum idem semper de nobis pronunciare debebimus, malos esse nos, malos fuisse, invitus adijciam, & futuros esse. This our Ancestors complained of, this we complain of, this our posterity will complain of, that manners are corrupted, that wickedness reigns, that humane affairs grow worse & worse, but these stand where they were, and so shall remain, being only at times a little removed; sometimes this way, sometimes that way, as the waves which the tide flowing carries farther in, but ebbing leaves farther off. Sometimes Adultery spreads itself more than any other sin, and immodesty will endure no bridle: and sometimes again the madness of feasting is in fashion and the kitchen the basest kind of consuming a man's patrimony; And then again the immoderate decking of our bodies and care of preserving our beauty, which too much discovers the deformity of the mind, sometimes liberty dispensed with breaketh out in to desperate boldness, sometimes into cruelty public & private, and the rage of civil wars, whereby all holy things and places come to be profaned, and the time will come when drunkenness shall be had in honour, and it shall be held a virtue to swill down much wine. Vices rest not in any one state or place, but shifting hither & thither, and sighting one against another, they both assault and put one another to flight: But however it go, it shall always be truly said of us, that we are naught, naught we have been, (and which I unwillingly add) we shall still be naught. And the same Author having related a story out of Asclepiodorus, how Phillippe of Macedon sent men down into an old mine to search what store was 
Natural. Quest. l. 5. cap. 15.  left in it, and whether the covetousness of former ages had not drawn it dry, cum magna haec voluptate legi, saith he, intellexi enim saeculum nostrum non novis vitijs sed iam antiquitùs traditis laborare, nec nostra aetate primum avaritiam venas terrarum lapidumque rimatam in tenebris male abstrusa quaesisse: Illi quoque Maiores nostri quos celebramus laudibus, quibus dissimiles querimur nos esse, spe ducti montes ceciderunt & supra lucrum sub ruina steterunt. This I read with marvellous great content: for thereby I understood, that our age was not burdened with new vices, but such as were anciently practised, nor that Avarice now first searched into the veins of the earth & stones, seeking out those things which Nature hath buried in darkness. Even those our Ancestors, whom we so highly extol, to whom we complain that ourselves are unlike, in hope of lucre cut thorough mountains and under danger of ruin stood upon their gain.  
It cannot be denied, but that a wicked Governor hath many times a good successor, and a graceless father a godly and virtuous son.  
Egregia est soboles scelerato nata parent:  
A worthless sire begets a worthy son.  
Thus Constantine succeeded to Dioclesian, jovinian to julian, Alexander Severus to Heliogabalus, Hezekias to Ahaz, & josias to Ammon. And doubtless were the son always worse than the faher, the successor than the predecessor, and succeeding ages then the proceeding, villny had long ere this stretched itself to the utmost period, & that complaint which the satirist uttered by way of Poetical aggravation had long before this time been verified in truth and in deed:  
Non habet ulterius quod nostris moribus addat  
Posteritas.  
Nought hath posterity  
Which to our manners may yet further added be.   

SECT. 2. The extreme folly of the ancients, in adoring & invocating images.  
IN this comparison of manners, I will first begin with the Religion of the Ancients, which overspread almost the whole world, because from their foul errors in matters of the first Table we shall easily guess at their gross irregularities in those of the second, the duties of the latter depending upon the observation of the former: And beside in the very choice & exercise of their Religion will appear much inhumanity & brutish stupidity; Their Idols of gold, & silver, & stone, and wood were to the inspired penmen of holy writ so ridiculous, that every where they inveigh against them as most sottish vani●…es, and the worshippers of them, as men void of common Reason, showing themselves more blockish than the very blocks they adored, in that being themselves made according to God's image, they worshipped images made with their own hands, and bestowed upon their own works the Deity of him, from whom they received breath and being. Their Idols are silver and gold, saith the Prophet David, even the works of men's hands, they have a mouth and speak not, eyes have they and see not, they have 
Ps. 115. 4.  ears and hear not, noses have they and smell not, they have hands and touch not, feet have they and walk not, they that make them are like unto 〈◊〉, and so are all they that put their trust in them. And the Prophet Esay having 
Cap: 44 9 etc.  showed how a man plants a tree, & when it is grown up cuts it down, with part thereof he baketh his bread, with part he roasteth his meat & warmeth himself, and with the residue thereof he maketh his god, even his Idol: The Carpenter stretcheth out a line, he fashioneth it with a red thread, he planeth and he pourtraieth it with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, and according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in an house; then boweth he and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me for thou art my God: And thereupon infers, they have not known nor understood, for God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And the Prophet jerimy much to like purpose, one cutteth a tree out of the Forest with an axe, and another decketh 
jer. 10. 3. etc.  it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers, that it fall not, the Idols stand up as a palm tree, but they speak not: They are borne because they cannot go, and then concludes, They dote and are foolish, for the stock is a doctrine of vanity. But most lively & elegantly, yet with scorn and derision have we this blockish vanity described in the book of Wisdom. Miserable 
Cap. 13. 10. &c  are they, and among the dead is their hope that call them Gods, which are the works of men's hands, gold & silver, and the thing that is invented by Art & the similitude of beasts, or any vain stone that hath been made by the hand of antiquity. Or as when a Carpenter cutteth down a tree meet for the work, and pareth off all the bark thereof cunningly, & by Art maketh a vessel profitable for the use of life, and the things that are cut off from his work he bestoweth to dress his meat to fill himself, & that which is left of these things which is profitable for nothing, (for it is a crooked piece of wood, & full of knobs) he carveth it diligently at his leisure, & according as he is expert in cunning, he giveth it a proportion, & fashioneth it after the similitude of a man, or maketh it like some vile beast, and straketh it over with vermilion, & painteth and covereth every spot that is in it; And when he hath made a convenient Tabernacle for it, he setteth it in a wall, & maketh it fast with iron, providing so for it lest it fall: for he knoweth that it cannot help itself, because it is an image that hath need of help: Then he prayeth for his goods, & for his marriage, and for his children, he is not ashamed to speak unto it that hath no life, he calleth on him that is weak for health, he prayeth unto him that is dead for life, he requireth help of him that hath no experience at all, & for his journey him that is not able to go, and for gain and success in his affairs, asketh ability to do of him that is most unable to do any thing.  
This childish foppery the Primitive Christians also scoffed & laughed at, Quae amentia est, aut ea fingere quae ipsi postmodum timeant, aut timere quae finxerunt, saith Lactantius: What a madness is it either to make things which themselves fear, or to fear those things which themselves have made. Nec intelligunt homines ineptissimi quod si sentire simulacra & movere possent, ultrò adoratura homines fuissent à quibus sunt expolita. Neither do these foolish men understand that the images they adore, had they but sense & motion, would adore them who framed & form them. Sed haeo nemo considerate, ac mentes eorum penitus succum stultitiae perbiberunt: adorant ergo insensibilia qui sentiunt, irrationalia qui sapiunt, exanima qui vivunt, terrena qui oriuntur è coelo. juvat ergo velut in aliqua sublimi specula constitutum unde universi exaudire possint Persianum illud proclamare,  
O cur as hominum, o quantum est in rebus inane,  
O curvae in terris animae & coelestium inanes!  
But these things none considereth, their minds being thoroughly drenched with the liquor of foolishness: They which have sense adore things without sense, which have life things without life, which are from heaven things earthly. It were good then from some high tower that all might hear it, to proclaim aloud that of Persius,  

O cares of men! O world all fraught  
With vanities! O minds inclined  
Towards earth, all void of heavenly thought!   
And Sedulius an ancient Christian Poet, by Nation a Scot, hath excellently described this palpable folly,  

Heu miseri qui vana colunt, qui corde sinistro  
Religiosa sibi sculpunt simulacra, suumque  
Factorem fugiunt, & quae fecêre verentur,  
Quis furor est quae tanta animos dementia ludit?  
Vt volucrem, turpemque bovem, torvumque draconem,  
Semihominemque canem supplex homo pronus adoret.   

Ah wretched they that worship vanities,  
And consecreate dumb Idols in their hearts,  
Who their own Maker God on high despise,  
And fear the work of their own hands and Art!  
What fury, what great madness doth beguile  
men's minds, that man should ugly sh●…pes adore  
Of birds, or bulls, or dragons, or the vile  
Half dog half man on knees for aid implore.   
To these ugly shapes doth Seneca allude: Nu●…ina vocant quae si accepto spiritu occurrerent monstra haberentur. Divine powers they call those which if they should meet having life put into them, would be held monsters. And one of their own Poets seems to ●…est at their grossness herein.  

Olim truncus eram ficulnus inutile lignum,  
Quem Faber incertus scamnum facere●…ne, Priapum 
Hora●…us.   
Maluit esse deum.   

Even now I was the stock of an old fig tree,  
Th●… workman doubting what I then should be,  
A bench or god, at last a god made me.   
It is indeed true, that the Romans for a time were altogether without images for any religious use, but afterward they received into their City those of all other Nations by them conquered, so as they who were Lords of the whole world, became slaves to the Idols of all the World: Which babbles, as witnesseth S. Augustine. that learned Varro both bewailed & utterly condemned in express words: Qui 
De Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 31.  primi simulacra Deorum populis posuerunt, ij & civitatibus suis timorem ademerunt, & errorem addiderunt: They who first erected Idols for the people's use thereby both abolished all fear of the Deity and introduced error. But the wise Seneca thus derides them, Simulacra Deorum venerantur, illis supplicant genu posito, illa adorant, & cum haec suspiciant, fabros qui illa fecere contemnunt: the Images of the Gods they worship, those they pray unto with bended knees, those they adore, and while they so greatly admire them, they contemn the Artificer that made them.   

SECT. 3. Their gross and ridiculous blockishness in the infinite multitude of their gods.  
THeir strange infatuation will yet appear farther unto us if we rise a little higher from the Images to the Gods which they represented, and surely whether their practice about their images, or their opinion touching their Gods were more gross and ridiculous, it is hard to define: Whether we regard their number or their condition, or their manner of service. For their number he that reads Boccace his books de Genealogia Deorum, will easily find them almost numberless; so as the Apostle might well say, There be Gods many, and Lords many. Crinitus 
1 Cor. 8. 5. De 〈◊〉 disciplina 3. 14.  out of Hesiodus makes them thirty thousand strong: & the juppiters' alone out of Varro no less than three hundred. There were Dij majorum gentium, which were worshipped generally throughout the greatest part of the world; & Dij Tutelares, gods of several Nations & Provinces, chosen to be their patrons & guardions, which may be gathered by those high places which Solomon built for his Idolatrous wives, wherein they worshipped the several Gods of their several Nations, Ashtoreth the 
1 King. 11.  Goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the God of the Ammorites, Cbemosh the God of the Moabites, & Molech the God of the Ammonites: so likewise for all the rest of his outlandish wives, which burned incense & offered unto their Gods, whereby it appeareth that every Nation had a God of his own, & yet farther may it be seen by the practice of those Nations which Salmanezer transplanted into the Samaritan Cities, of whom it is recorded, that though they feared the Lord, yet they worshipped every one his own peculiar God, of whom there is a Catalogue in the same place set down, The Babylonians Succoth Benoth, the Cuthites 
2 King. 17.  Nergall, the Hammathites Ashima, the Avites Nibhaz, & Tartak, the Sepharvites Adramelech, & Anamelek. And as several Nations & Provinces chose to themselves their Gods, so did likewise the Cities as we may partly see by that rabble of them mustered up by Rabshaketh in his Oration to King Hezekiah, where is the God of Hamah and Arpad, 
Capl 18.  where is the God of Sepher-vaim Hevah & juah: & in imitation of the Gentiles did the men of judah multiply their gods according to the 
jer. 2. 28. 11. 13  number of their Cities. Neither did Nations, Provinces, & Cities only affect to have every one unto themselves their own peculiar and several Gods, as their Patrons and defenders, but the same was likewise followed by all their several families, who still had their Lares & Deos Penates, that is, their household Gods, as the Protectors of their families, whom because they adored in the secret & inward parts of their houses, the Poets use to call Deos Penetrales: Yea and as Pliny reporteth, not only several families had their several Gods, but also every several person would adopt a several God of his own; insomuch that he thought the number of Gods to be multiplied above the number of men. Major Coeli●…um populus etiam qu●…m hominum intelligi potest, cum 
Lib. 2. cap. 7.  singuli quoque ex semetipsis singulos Deos faciant, I●…nones Geniosque adoptando sibi. We may well conceive greater multitudes of Gods then of men, seeing every man adop●…eth as he pleaseth both greater & small●…r gods to himself. All which considered, otiosum est per omnia Deorum nomina per●…urrere qui colerentur à veteribus, saith Ter●…ullian. It were an idle thing to attempt to run through the names of all the Gods which the Ancients worshipped, they had so many old Gods & new Gods, he Gods & she Gods, city Gods & country God, co●…mon Gods & proper Gods, land Gods & sea Gods. And with Tertull●…an herein accords S. Augustine, Quando autem possins uno loco libri h●…us ●…morari 
De Ciui●…. Dei l. 4. 〈◊〉.  omnia nomina Deorum aut Dearum, quae illi grandibus volum●…bus vix comprehendere potuerunt singulis rebus propria dispertie●…tes officia Numinum. How can all the names of their Gods and Goddesses be recounted in one chapter of this book, which themselves could not range within the compass of many great volumes, appointing a p●…rticular God to wait on every particular thing; nay for some thing, saith he, they had many Gods, as namely for corn they had Segetia for the sowing of it, while it lay under the earth Tutelina, when it sprang up Proserpina, Nodotus when it shut into a blade, when it spired Voluti●…a, when the ear opened Patilena, when it broke forth Host●…lina, when it blosomed Flora, when it kerned Lacturtia, when it grew ripe Ma●…uta, when it was reaped 〈◊〉. His conclusion is, which also shall be mine for this point, Ne omnia commemoro quia me piget quod illos non 〈◊〉: neither do I name all, for that it grieveth me to wri●…e what they were not ashamed to act.   

SECT. 4. The most shameful and base condition of their gods.  
THe quality & condition of their gods was doubtless much more shameful th●…n their multitude. The common opinion touching their great god jupiter was, that he was entombed in Crete, and his monument was there to be seen. Whereupon Lactantius wit ily demands, 
Lib. 1. c. 11.  Quomodo potest Deus esse alibi vivus alibi mortuus, alibi habere templum, alibi sepulchrum? Tell me I beseech you how can the same god be alive in one place and dead in another, have a temple dedicated to him in one place, and a tomb erected in another. Nay Callimachus himself in his hymn on jupiter, calleth the Cretians liars in this very respects, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. which part of his hymn is thus translated into Latin by Bonaventura Vulcanius.  
At certe mendax est Creta, sepulchrum  
Quae posuit tibi qui haud moreris, nam semper es idem.  
The Cretians always liars are, who raised unto thy name  
A sepul●…her, that never diest, but ever art the same.  
Moreover, they gave divine honour to notorious common strumpets, as unto Goddesses, to Venus, to Faula, to Lupa the nurse of Romulus, so called among the shepherds for the common prostitution of her 
Lactantius. l. 1. c: 20.  body, and to Flora, who having gained much by her meretricious trade; she made by her will the people of Rome her h●…ire, and left a sum of money, by the use whereof, her birthday was yearly to be celebrated, with the setting forth of games, which in memory of her they called Floralia. Nay, their great Goddess juno; they make both the wife and the sister of jupiter, and jupiter himself with the other gods, no better than Adulterers, Sodomites, murderers, thieves: Neither were these things concealed or whispered in private, but published to the world; they were lively described by their Painters in their tables, by their Poets in their verses, and acted by their Players upon their stages. Quanta maiestas putanda est. Quae adoratur in templis, illuditur in theatris, what great majesty call ye me that, which is adored in the temples, & 
Lactant. l 5. c. 21.  profaned in the Theatres. And so far were the worshippers of these goodly gods from punishing or censuring them therein, that they were highly applauded and approved by the people, and rewarded by the state: Neither were these things written or spoken by Lucian, or such as scoffed at Religion, but by those who professedly undertook the praise of their Gods, Non enim ista Lucilius narrat aut Lucianus qui Dijs & hominibus non pepercit, sed hi potissimum qui Deorum laudes canebant, & 
Cap. 9  quibus credemus si fidem laudantibus non habemus? These things are not reported by Lucilius or Lucianus, who spared neither God nor man, but specially by them who sung the praises of the Gods; and to whom I pray you in such cases should we give credit, if not to them, who purposely seek to commend?  
Besides, they worshipped ridiculous gods, as Fortunam, Fornacem, Mutam, the passions of the mind and the diseases of the body, Timorem, Pallorem, Febrem, nay Vices, Priapum, Cupidinem, non nomina colendorum sed crimina colentium, not names fit for Divine powers to be worshipped, being nothing else but the vices of the worshippers. Hereunto may be added their silthy gods, Crepitus ventris, Cloacina, sterquilinium, well deserving that reproach which is cast upon them by Aristophanes, that they were Dij Merdivori, & so Moses calleth them in express terms, dirty dunghill gods, as the original is rendered by junius & Tremelius. 
Deos stercore●…s, Deut. 29. 17. Hist. l. 3. c. 6.  Four whole days, saith Tacitus, Cremona ministered matter to sack & to burn, and all things beside both holy & profane being consumed into ashes; the temple of Mephitis without the walls remained untouched, either because it stood out of the way, or by reason of some divine virtue of the goddess: Now would you know what this goodly Lady was, surely none other then the Goddess of ill savours: and these kind 
Sir H. Savill in his marginal notes on that place. Deut. 32. 13.  of Gods and Goddesses Lactantius deservedly wisheth to be ever present with their worshippers: Yet not content with this, they worshipped the Devils themselves, they sacrificed unto devils not unto God, saith Moses: And I say, saith the Apostle, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, 
1. Cor. 10. 20.  they sacrifice to Devils and not to God.  
What should I speak of the Thebans worshipping a weasel, the Trotans a mouse, the Egyptians an onion or a leek, and such like contemptible things: which notorious folly, juvenal, who lived a while amongst them, thus wittily derides.  

Porrum & caepe nefas violare & frangere morsu  
O sanctas Gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hortis 
satire: 15.   
Numina!   

A leek, an onion ô'tis wickedness,  
These once to violate & to eat no less,  
Sweet Saints they are, & holy ones I trow,  
To whom their gods do in their gardens grow.   
And divers such absurd Gods they worshipped, which would make a modest man even blush to name, as Sibylla hath truly noted:  

— Haec adoratis  
Et multa alia vana quae sane turpe fuerit praedicare  
Sunt enim Dij hominum deceptores stultorum:   

These foolish Gods and many more  
Like vain, they worship and adore:  
Which filthy were to name in Schools,  
Such filthy gods deceive but fools.    

SEC. 5. Their barbarous and most unnatural cruelty, in sacrificing their children to their Gods.  
NOw if from the multitude and quality of their Gods we proceed yet a little farther, to search into the manner of their service, we shall easily find that more fantic & unreasonable, then either of the two former. Which madness of theirs is well set forth by Seneca, Si 
〈◊〉 fragmentis.  intueri vacet quae faciunt, quaeque patiuntur superstitiosi, inveniet tam indecora honestis, tam indigna liberis, tam dissimilia sanis, ut nemo fuerit dubitaturus, furere eos si cum paucioribus furerent, nunc sanitatis patrocinium est insanientium turba: If a man had but the leisure to look into those things, which men led with superstition both do & suffer, he shall find them so unbefitting honest, so unworthy of ingenuous, so unlike sound & sober minds, as no man would doubt but they were stark mad, were but the number of them fewer that thus go a madding, whereas now the only plea for themselves that they are in their right wits is the number of mad men.  
Alexander ab Alexandro hath of set purpose composed an entire 
Dierum G●…ialium. l. 6 c. 26.  chapter touching this point, where the main matter he insists upon, that made the sacrifices of the Heathen most odious, was the effusion of humane blood in the service of their Gods; yet had this barbarous unnatural practice spread itself well near over the known world: It was in use among the Troyans', as it should seem by that of Virgil, touching Aeneas:  

Vinxerat & post terga manus quos mitteret umbris  
Inferias caeso sparsurus sanguine flammas. 
Aeneid. 11:    

Their hands behind their backs he bound whom he had destined  
A sacrifice unto the ghosts, & on whose flames to shed  
Their blood he purposed.   
And again in another place,  

— Sulmone creatos 
Aeneid. l. 10.   
Quatuor hic iwenes totidem quos educat Vfeus  
Viventes rapit, inferias quos immolet umbris  
Captivoque rogi perfundat sanguine flammas.   

Sulmos four sons alive he took, Vfeus four sons likewise,  
Whom to the ghosts he purposed eftsoons to sacrifice,  
And on those burning carcases to spill their captive blood.   
Whereupon Lactantius cries out, quid potest esse hac pietate dementius, quam mortuis humanas victimas immolare, & ignem cruore hominum tanquam 
Lib. 5. c. 10.  oleo pascere? What can be more fantic than this kind of piety, which sacrificeth living men for the ease of the dead, & feeds the fire of the Altar with humane blood, as it were with oil. The Grecians in like manner were infected with this bloody and deadly disease:  

Sanguine placastis Divos & Virgin caesa  
Cum primum Iliacas Danai venistis ad or as 
Aeneid. l. 2.   
Sanguine quaerendi reditus, animaque litandum  
Argolica.   

With blood and offering of a maid the Gods were pacified,  
When first to Troyward ye were bound, with blood ye must again  
Seek your return, with Grecian soul they must be satisfied   
The Virgin he means was Iphigenia, who was sacrificed in the sight of her father Agamemnon, which gave occasion to that of Lucretius,  
Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum?  
Such, so much wickedness Religion could persuade.  
This wicked custom was likewise taken up by the Carthaginians, as appears by Silius Italicus:  

Mos fuit in populis quos condidit advena Dido  
Poscere caedi Deos, veniam, ac flagrantibus aris 
Lib. 4.   
(Infandum dictu) parvos imponere natos  
Vrna reducebat miserandos annua casus.   

The ancient custom of that state, Queen Dido established,  
Was this, with humane sacrifice the Gods they worshipped.  
On burning Altars (out alas) their children young they slew,  
An yearly lot these cruelties did solemnly renew.   
And Lactantius reports out of Pescenius Festus, that the Carthaginians having 
Lib. 1. c. 21.  for a time intermitted that kind of sacrifice, and being overthrown in a battle by Agathocles King of Sicill, for the paci●…ying of their God Saturn, whom by their loss they conceived to be displeased with them; they sacrificed at once unto him two hundred children, sons to the chief Nobility of the city; whereby perchance, saith he, they gave themselves a greater blow, than Agathocles their professed enemy had done. The Gauls also our next neighbours were guilty of this devilish kind of worship, if we may credit Lucan.  

Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro  
T●…utates, hor●…ensque feris altaribus Haesus  
Et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae.   

And they that use with cursed blood their Idol Gods to please  
Teutates fierce, & Hesus grim whom nought else may appease;  
But sacrifice of humane flesh & Taranis likewise  
Worshipped as cursed Diana is just after Scythike wise.   
Neither were the Moabites free from this horrible sin▪ as may be seen in the 2 of Kings and the 3, where the King of Moab took his own son, as some think, or others the King of Edom's son, & offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And generally it was practised by the Inhabitants of the land of Canaan, Their sons & their daughters they burned 
V 27. Deut 12 31.  in the fire to their Gods. The parents killed with their own hands souls destitute of help. Good God, that the candle of reason should be so far 
Wisdom 12. 6.  dimmed, and the image of God defaced in man, as to think that an acceptable sacrifice, which was in truth an horrible & sacrilegious impiety, as if religion did extinguish natural affection, or that were lawful at the Altar or in the temple, which in the market place was most unlawful, and punishable in an high degree: Nun satius esset pecudum more vivere, saith Lactantius? were it not better to live as beasts without all sense of religion, then to exercise it in such savage manner: Yet was not this so strange in the barbarous nations, their religion being herein suitable to their manners, as in the Romans, the professed Masters forsooth of Morality & Civility: Yet came this damnable practice long in use among them too, until it was to be abolished by decree of Senate, during the Consulship of Cornelius Lentulus, & Licinius Crassus: Which makes me the more to wonder that Virgil held amongst them, as the world than went; an honest understanding man, should after the publishing of this decree, commend it in Aeneas as an act of piety, and not rather censure it as a most abominable impiety.  
Haec culpa non illius fuit qui literas fortasse non didicerat, sed tua qui cum esses eruditus, ignorasti tamen quid esset pietas, & illud ipsum quod nefariè, quod detestabiliter fecit, pietatis esse officium credidisti, saith Lactantius. This was not so much Aeneas his fault, who was perchance altogether unlearned, 
Lib. 5. c. 10.  as thine, who being endued with knowledge, yet wast ignorant what was piety, & believest that to be a pious act, which he most wickedly & detestablely committed.  
But that which I most admire, is, that it should creep in amongst the jews, the peculiar people of the true God, as himself complains by the Prophet jerimy: And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnon, to burn their sons & their daughters in the 
jer. 7. 31.  fire, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart; By the Prophet Ezekiell, when they had slain their children to their Idols, than they came 
Ezek. 23▪ 39  the same day into my sanctuary to prrphane it; & by the Prophet David, They were mingled among the Heathen, and learned their works, and they served 
Psal. 106. 35. 36 37. 38.  their Idols which were a snare unto them; yea they sacrificed their sons & their daughters unto Devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the Idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus Ahaz made molten images for Baalim, and burned his children for sacrifice before the Idol Moloch, or Saturn, 
2 King. 16. 3. 2 Chron. 28. 3. Selden de Dis Syris.  which was represented by a man like br●…sen body bearing the head of a calf, set up not far from Jerusalem, in a valley shadowed with wood, called Gehinnon or Tophet, from whence is the word Gehenna used for hell. The children offered were enclosed within the carcase of this Idol, and as the fire increased, so the sacrificers with a noise of Cymbals & other instruments filled the air, to the end, the horrible cries of the children might not be heard; and hence the place borrowed the name of Tophet, from Top, which signifies a timbrel; of which most detestable impiety, able to make a man's hair stand an end and his heart tremble even at the relation thereof: Paulus Fagius hath written at large in his Commentary upon the Chalde Paraphrase, & before him S. Hierome upon 
In Lev●…icum.  the tenrh of S. Matthew, and since him Wolphius in his Expositions on the second book of Kings, added for supplement of Peter Martyrs, thus sharply but justly censures it; Fuit autem haec plusquam belluina immanitas; quae enim ferae suos catulos non potius ament, amplectantur, foveant, nutriant, quam occidant, ne dum crudeliter excruciatos necent; This monstrous inhumanity was more than brutish: for what wild beasts do not rather love, embrace, nourish and cherish their young ones, then kill them & cruelly torment them to death?   

SECT. 6. Their monstrous beastliness in the worship of Priapus & Berecynthia, as also of their doting folly in their divinations, together with a touch upon the childish fables of the jewish Rabbins, the absurd opinions and horrible practices of ancient Heretics in the primitive Christian Church, & the incredible ignorance and superstition of the Romish.  
I cannot tell whether their cruelty were greater in the worship of Moloch, or their beastliness in the worship of Priapus, described by Gyraldus at large, in his history of the Gods: And Tostatus in his 50 
Syntagm. 8.  question upon the 20 of Exodus. It was so obscene, as the very mention of it, cannot but offend chaste ears; Hic morbus, hoc crimen, hoc dedecus habet 
August. de Civ. Dei, 6. l. 8. cap.  inter illa sacra professionem quod in vitiosis hominum moribus vix habet inter tormenta confessionem. They profess in the holding of those sacrifices, that beastly crime, which the most vicious men will hardly confess upon the rack. I will therefore skip over it as cleanly as I may, as men commonly do over bogs & quagmires. The shape in which this God was represented, was such as nature hath taught us to hide: The gestures of the Priests in serving him, such as I wonder their Matrons 
Nos pudore pulso 〈◊〉 sub Iove Coleis apertis.  & Virgins, in whom were any sparks of modesty, could behold it with patience: And for the people who came to worship, the sacrifice being ended, they all stepped aside into a thicked, which was always planted near the Altar of this God, and there like bruit beasts promiscuously satisfied their lust, thereby as they conceived best pleasing their God; which was the cause, as it seems, that the true God commanded, that no groves should be planted near the place of his worship, and if any were, they should be cut down. This Priapus, as S. Hierome & Isidore are of opinion, was the same with that Baal-peor or Beelphegor, 
Lib. 1. contra jovinianum, c. 12. Originim, c. 8. Numb. 25. 5.  whom the Moabites & Madianites adored, & the Israelites themselves for love of the Madianitish women: And the same S. Hierome makes Maacha the mother of Asa, guilty of the same villainy, in his commentaries upon the fourth of Hosea, where he thus translates part of the fifteenth chapter of the first book of Kings: Insuper & Maacham matrem suam amovit, ne esset princeps in sacris Pryapi, & in luco eius: Moreover he deposed Maacha his mother, that she might not be chief in the sacrifices of Priapus & his groves.  
Of much like condition to this worship of Priapus, was that of Berecynthia, the mother of the gods, as we find it described by S. Augustine, out of his own experience; his words are these. Ante eius Lecticam 
De Ciui●…. Dei lib. 2. c. 4.  die solenni la●…ationis eius, talia per publicum cantitabantur, à nequissimis scenicis qualia non dico matrem Deorum, sed matrem qualiumcunque Senatorum vel quorumlibet honestorum virorum, imò vero qualia nec matrem ipsorum Scenicorum deceret audire: Such filthy stuff was by loose lewd varlets sung before her chariot on the solemn day of her lavation, as was utterly 〈◊〉, I will not say for the mother of the Gods, but of any Senarour, nay of any honest man, nay of the singers themselves to hear: and perchance, saith he, they would have blushed to have spoken that before their own mothers at home, which before the mother of the Gods in the 〈◊〉 & hearing of innumerable multitudes of both sexes they boldly sang, & therevpon breaks out into this exclamation, Quae sunt sacri legia, si illa erant sacra? quae inquinatio, si illa lavatio? what should we call sacrilege, if this were sacrificing? what pollution, if this lavation? and if this be sacrilege, then surely the worshipping of God by blasphemies & cur●…ings, as did the Lyndians, is a degree beyond sacrilege; who notwithstanding proceeded so far in this devilish mad custom, ut ea sacra pro violaris haberentur, si quando inter solennes ritus vel imprudenti alicui ex●…ider et bonum verbum, as witnesseth Lactantius, that they held it a violation of their sacrifice, if during their solemn Ceremonies, but a good 
Lib. 1. c. 21.  word chanced to slip from any man though unawares. Now what a lamentable case is this, to consider that the common enemy of mankind should so far prevail in blinding their understandings, as to conceive that the Author of life should be worshipped with the effusion of humane & innocent blood, the fountain of holiness with brutish impurity, the father of blessings with execrable cursings?  
Hereunto may be added the vain divinations which the Romans made upon the entrails of Beasts, upon the flying, the feeding, the singing, the cherping of birds: But the sage Cato & those of the wiser sort well saw the doting folly of these lying vanities, Potest Augur Augurem 
Cicero de divinatione, l. 2.  videre, & non ridere? Can one Diviner look upon another & not smile? And the same Cato, as S. Augustine reports it, when one asked counsel of him in sober earnest, what harm he thought aboded him because 
De doctor. Christiana, l. 2. c. 21.  Rats had gnawn his hose, he answered with a jest, that it was no strange thing to see that, but it had been much more strange if his hose had devoured the Rats. Tully likewise in his disputations touching such arguments, when one to enforce the verity of divination had said, that a victory 
De divinatione, lib. 2.  which fell to the Thebans, was foreshowed by an extraordinary crowing of cocks, he could reply upon that with a very smooth & quick put off, that it was no miracle cocks should crow, but if fishes had so done, that had been wonderful indeed.  
I will conclude this point, as Alexander ab Alexandro doth his last 
Die●…um Genialium.  book: Quantum debemus Christo Domino Regi & Doctori nostro, quem 〈◊〉 rum Deum veneramur & scimus, quo praemonstrante explosa monstrosa ferarum Gentium doctrina rituque immani & barbaro, veram religionem edocti▪ humanitatem & verum Deum colimus, evictisque erroribus & infandis inep●…ijs quas Prisci coluere, quid quemque deceat & quibus sacris quàque ment Deum colere oporteat noscitamus. How much do we owe to Christ our King & Master, whom we acknowledge and worship as true God, by whose guidance and direction, the monstrous doctrine and barbarous rites of those savage nations being chased away, and we being taught true Religion, embrace civility and the true God; and the errors & unspeakable follies which the Ancients had in honour and reverence, being brought to light, we know what our duty is, with what ceremonies, and with what mind God is to be worshipped; which is in effect the same with that of the Apostle, Thanks be to God, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of 
Coloss. 1. 13.  his dear son.  
If I were disposed to enlarge this discourse, here might easily be remembered the unsavoury tales, the childish fancies and fables of the jewish Rabbins in their Talmud and Cabal, the most absard opinions and horrible practices of Ancient Heretics in the Primitive Church, the incredible ignorance & superstition among those, who for the space of many ages were commonly accounted the best, nay the only Christians: But each of these would require a large volume, and are already fully discovered by others. The first by Gala●…inus de arcanis Catholicae veritatis, and Buxdorsius in his Synagoga judaica; the second by 〈◊〉, Philastrius, Epiphanius, Augustine, ●…rateolus, Alphonsus à Castro and others; the third by the writers of the reformed Churches, who have set themselves to oppose the corruptions and abuses of the Church, or rather the court of Rome: And howbeit the Romanists in requital here of would prove their Adversaries doctrine to open a gap to disobedience and licentiousness; yet I doubt not but the more sober minded among them, find that to proceed, rather out of eagerness, and heat of disputation, then from any solid reason or settled judgement; since it is certain, that since Luther awakened the world, the manners even of the Romish Clergy themselves are not a little reform.    

CAP. 2. Touching the Laws of the Ancient Grecians and Saxons, whereof some were wicked and impious, others most absurd and ridiculous.  

SECT. 1. The unjust and absurd Laws of Solon the Athenian Emperor.  
AS Religion is the hinge upon which the government of the Political state depends and moves, so next after it good and wholesome Laws serve much for the bettering of a Commonwealth in matter of manners. Law being therefore defined by Plato to be a reasonable Rule leading and directing men to their due end for a public good, ordaining 
De Legibus.  penalties for them that transgress, & rewards for them that obey. And by Cicero to be the highest and chief reason grafted in nature, commanding 
Lib. 1. de Legibus.  those things which are to be done, & forbidding the contrary. But by the Civilians most briefly and properly, Lex est sanctio sancta, jubens honesta, prohibens contraria, Law is an holy decree, (that is, a decree not to be violated) commanding honest things, and forbidding the contrary. Now 
See Fi●…z Herbert in his Treatise of Policy and Religion. part. 1. c. 7.  as the ancient Paynims were defective in points of true Religion: so were they likewise in making just Laws, sometimes commanding where they should forbid, and again forbidding where they should command, rewarding where they should punish, and punishing where they should reward. I will instance only in some particular Laws of the Grecians, and of our Predecessors the Saxons.  
Among the Grecians four Lawmakers were most renowned, Solon, Lycurgus, Plato, and Aristotle, two of which actually founded Commonweals, the one the Athenian, the other the Lacedemanian. The other two only framed them in Idea or speculation, yet all provided Laws for them, such as they were. I will begin with Solon, accounted one of the seven Sages in Greece, highly commended for his great wisdom in making Laws both by Aristotle and Plato, who proposeth him and Lycurgus as patterns for all such as shall institute Commonweals, and devise Laws for them. Solon then resolving for the relieving of the poor to make a Law for the abolishing and cancelling all contracts and 
Plutarch in Solone.  obligations of debts past, & imparting his mind therein to some of his entire friends, they seeing his resolution, borrowed great store of money, and employed it in the purchase of land, whereupon it followed that when Solon published his new Law, they remained exceedingly enriched, their Creditors defrauded, and he much suspected of deceit, as to have had secret intelligence with them, & part of their gain. And although it seemeth that therein he had wrong, for he lost by his own Law, as some write, 15 talents which were owing him, yet in two things he cannot be excused, the one in that he caused not his friends to restore the money which they had guilefully borrowed, and the other that without examination of the particular causes and reasons of every man's debt, he ordained a general abolition of all debts both good and bad, whereby aswell those which were able to pay, as the unable were discharged, and all Creditors without difference defrauded, contrary to all equity & justice, which as Cicero saith speaking of the like case, requireth 
Offic. lib. 2.  above all things that every man have his own, & that equal regard be had to the rich aswell as to the poor; which (saith he) is no way observed, cum locupletes suum perdunt, & debitores lucrentur alienum, when rich men lose their own, and debtors gain that which belongeth to other men.  
Another of Solon's absurd Laws was, that whosoever in any public sedition should be nuter 〈◊〉 & take neither pa●…, should remai●… ever after infamous: his reason was for that he thought it not convenient that any man should so much love his own ease, as not to participate of the trouble of the Commonwealth whereof he was a member, which reason of his together with the Law itself, Plutarch wisely and worthily rejecteth, for that it would be an assured means to put (as it were) fire to gunpowder, & to set all the Commonwealth on a ●…ame without help of any internal remedy. For (saith he) as in a sick body all the hope of help within itself is to be expected from the pa●…s that are sound, and therefore when the body is wholly corrupted, there is no help of remedy but from abroad, even so in a politic body sick with sedition, all the internal remedy is to come from the whole sound parts thereof, that is to say, such as are Neutrals, who may labour with the one side, and with the other to compound the quarrel: for otherwise where all is in tumult, no remedy can be expected, except it come from abroad, & therefore Plutarch holdeth it for the highest and principal point of Politic Science in any governor to know how either to prevent seditions that they never grow, or else quickly to appease them when they are grown, be they never so little. For as the least spark that is may fall into such matter, that it may set an whole house on fire: so the least civil sedition may fall among such persons & in such times that it may put a whole Commonwealth in combustion; and utterly ruin it.   

SECT. 2. The unreasonable and irreligious Laws of Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian Lawgiver.  
NOw for Lycurgus if we examine his Commonwealth and the Laws thereof, we shall find that he likewise failed both in true prudence and in moral virtue. For whereas a good Lawmaker ought to frame his Commonwealth no less to religion, justice, temperance, then to fortitude, that it may stand & flourish aswell in time of peace, as in time of war, his Laws tended principally to make the people valiant and warlike, whereupon it followed that the Lacedæmonians flourished so long as they had wars, and when they came to enjoy peace, they fell to decay within a while, as Aristotle noteth. Whereby 
Pol. 2. 7.  the weakness of the Laws of Lycurgus evidently appeared. For as peace is not ordained for war, but war for peace, as motion and labour is ordained for rest: so in like manner a Commonwealth is rather to be framed & ordained for peace then for war: & yet so for both, that it may stand by both: But in the Common-weaelth of the Lacedæmonians this was no way performed. For the Laws of Lycurgus tending only to make them strong, laborious & valiant, could not make them religious, just & truly temperate. Which for civil discipline and peaceable government is most requisite. For as for Laws tending to religion, we find none made by Lycurgus, nor any religious act of his but only one, more ridiculous than religious, as that he dedicated an Image to laughter, which he made a God, or at least would have to be worshipped for a God, to make the people merry at their public feasts and meetings; & beside he opened a great gap to injustice and to all cozenage and deceit: for he ordained that it should be lawful for any man to steal any kind of meat, so that he were not taken or discovered in the doing of it, and that boys & children should have so little allowed them to eat, as they should be forced to shark and proole for their better provision to make them thereby more industrious, nimble and quick of spirit, and others more wary and watchful to keep well that which they had. Insomuch that who could steal most cunningly was most commended; But who seeth not that this was the next way to fill the Commonwealth with thieves. For is it likely that those who from their infancy are brought up in pilfering trifles, will afterwards, when they have got the habit and ability thereof, forbear to steal things of great importance? Or can thieves practise their occupation with more safety any way to become in the end most expert, and thereby pernicious to the Commonwealth, then with the warrant and under the protection of the Law? seeing the penalty which was ordained for them that were taken with the manner, was not inflicted for the injustice of the fact, but for their lack of skill and dexterity in the performance, which must needs make every man labour to excéll in the act of thievery. Finally, when the Law not only permitteth, but induceth men to deceive sometimes, and in some things, doth it not also dispose, and as it were direct them to deceive as oft and howsoever they may. Therefore good and wise Lawmakers seek to prevent evils, & to cut off the occasions of vice, and not to minister matter thereunto, which in our corrupt natures needeth a bridle to restrain it, and not a spur to prick it forward.  
This may also be said in respect of another Law of Lycurgus, inducing to intemperancy and all kind of incontinency. For although he ordained some things notably for the education of youth, tending as it seemed to the repression of concupiscence and dissolute life, as a very spare and homely diet, hard bedding of reeds, or (as some write) no bedding at all, continual labour and exercise, one only garment for 
justin. l. 3.  the whole year & such like; yet it appeareth that his meaning was none other therein, but only the better to enable them to endure the labour and toil of the war. For he ordained other laws so much in favour & furtherance of lust & all carnality, yea in the worst kind, that it might justly be said, he made his whole commonwealth worse than a Burdell. For he instituted certain wrestle, & dances, & other exercises of boys & wenches naked, to be done in public at diverse times of the year, in the presence both of young and old men, which what effect it might work in the minds & manners of their citizens, any man may easily judge, especially, seeing that both their laws and customs, permitted that men should be enamoured of boys, which was held for laudable & necessary for their good education, it being presumed that their lovers would carefully instruct them in virtue.  
Furthermore adultery which was punished with death, not only by the law of Moses, but also by the laws of other nations, as a thing pernicious to the commonwealth, was not only permitted, but also approved by Lycurgus his law, ordaining, that if an old man married a young wife, she might with her husband's licence, make choice of any young man that she liked to have a child by him, which her husband brought up as his own: And if a valiant or virtuous man, as good soldiers were there termed, liked well of another man's wife, he might demand leave of her husband to have issue by her: which was not denied, but thought convenient for their commonwealth, to maintain a good race & breed of valiant men; as Plutarch signifieth in defence of this law of Lycurgus.  
This then being so, what marvel is it that all sin of the flesh, and beastliness, reigned more in Lacedemonie, than any where else in Greece, as Aristotle witnesseth: Nay, what wonder is it that Almighty God of 
Po●…it. l 2. c. 7.  his just judgement plagued them for it in the end, with a memorable overthrow in the plain of Leuctra, where they lost the dominion of Greece by the occasion and for the punishment of an horrible rape committed 
Doidor: Sicul●…s. 15. c. 14.  by two of their citizens.   

SECT. 3. The impious & dishonest Laws of Plato.  
TO Solon and Lycurgus, we may add Plato and Aristotle, who though they founded no commonweals, as did the other two, yet they framed in writing either of them one, in which they laboured to show both the excellency of their own wits, & perfection of humane policy; wherein nevertheless they evidently showed the imbecility & imperfection of both: For what can be more absurd or more impious, than the community which Plato ordained in his commonwealth, not only of goods & possessions, but also of women, to the end, that no man should have any thing proper or peculiar to himself: in somuch, that Fathers & Mothers should not know their own children, neither yet any child know his own parents; whereby he thought to establish in the commonwealth such a perfect unity, that no man should be able to say, that is thine, or this is mine: But every one have a general care of all; whereas if that law were in practice, the utter overthrow of the commonwealth, and of all humane society must needs follow thereon. For Matrimony being taken away, and such a promiscuous and beastly procreation introduced, the natural love betwixt parents and their children, brethren, kinsfolk, & allies, & all consanguinity, kindred, & affinity would be quite abolished: horrible incest between kinsfolk, brethren & sisters, father & daughter, mother & son which all nations abhor, would ordinarily be committed: And by occasion of quarrels, which sometimes could not be avoided; one brother would kill another, the father the son, and the son the father, for lack of knowledge one of another: Besides many other great inconveniences, declared very particularly and at large by Aristotle in the second book of his Politics; And Lactantius in the third of his Divine Institutions, where he proveth this imaginary community of Plato, 
Cap. 1. 2. 3. & 4. Cap. 21. 22.  to take away frugality, abstinence, shamefastness, modesty, and justice itself, the mother of all other virtues. Sic honesta & legitima esse incipiunt quae solent flagitiosa & turpia iudicari, in as much as thereby those things are held honest and lawful, which are commonly accounted foul and wicked. Sic virtutem dum vult omnibus dare, omnibus ademit, & by this means, while he pretended to make all virtuous, he made all vicious. Nam re●…um proprietas & vitiorum & virtutum materiam continet, communitas autem nihil aliud quam vitiorum licentiam: For a propriety in things, contains in it the subject matter aswell for virtue as for vice to work upon, but community hath nothing in it besides the liberty of vice. Qui ergo vult homines adaequare, non matrimonia, non opes subtrahere debet, sed arrogantiam, superbiam, tumorem, ut illi potentes & elati pares se esse mendicissimis sciant; detracta enim divitibus insolentia & iniquitate, nihil intercrit utrumne alij divites alij pauperes sint, cum animi pares sint quod efficere nulla res alia preter religionem Dei potest. Putavit ergo fe justitiam invenisse cum eam prorsus everterit, quia non rerum fragilium sed mentium debet esse communitas. He then that would bring in an equality among men, must not take away weddings and wealth, but arrogancy, pride, and swelling, that those, who by reason of their great power, are puffed up, may know themselves to be peers to the poorest beggars. For remove insolency, injustice, and uncharitableness from the rich, and there will no inconvenience follow from having some poor, & others rich: Their minds being equal, which nothing but true religion can possibly effect. Plato thought then he had found justice, when indeed he overthrew it, in as much as there ought not to be a community of things, but of minds. And farther, both Aristotle & Lactantius though upon different reasons, show, that the unity which Plato sought by this means to establish in his commonwealth, would not follow thereupon: Non invenit concordiam quam quaerebat, quia non videbat unde oriatur, he found not that concord he sought for, because he saw not from whence it sprang. Whereby appeareth his double error, the one, that he found not that virtue he sought to plant, the other, that he found that vice he sought to prevent; And so I pass to another most dishonest & unreasonable law of his, which was this.  
Having ordained that young men should for increase of their strength & agility of body, exercise themselves naked at certain times & in certain places appointed for that purpose, called Gymnasia; commanded also not as Lycurgus did in Lacedemonia, that young girls and wenches should dance naked amongst boys; but far more absurdly, that women in the flower of their youth should dance, run, wrestle, ride, & do all exercises with young men naked aswell as they, which, saith he, whosoever misliketh, understandeth not how profitable it is for the commonwealth. But who could imagine that the Prince of Philosophers, (for so was Plato esteemed) could so far forget himself, as having instituted and framed his commonwealth to all kind of virtue, as the only means to arrive to perfect felicity, who, I say, considering this, could imagine, that this great Professor, Master, & Teacher of virtue, would not only permit, but also ordain a thing so contrary to his own profession, to the end of his commonwealth, and to his own laws, precepts, and counsels, as the lascivious aspect of naked women, whereby the fire of concupiscence being kindled in men, and the bridle of natural modesty taken from women, what else could follow thereon but all beastly dissoluteness & carnality of life, aswell in the one as in the other. For precepts are given, and laws ordained in vain against incontinency, when the occasions, provocations, & nourishments thereof are permitted, which whosoever useth to admit, playeth with the flame, as doth the fly, and commonly is burned thereby.   

SECT. 4. The unnatutall & unchaste laws of Aristotle.  
BUt perhaps some may think that Aristotle, Plato's scholar, who was the wonder of the world for his wit, and undertook to censure & syndicate both his Master, and all other Lawmakers before him, saw clearer in matter of laws for the reformation of manners and the good of the commonwealth than he. Let us then examine him a little, and we shall find that he erred more absurdly than any of them: This may appear by two of his laws; whereof the one was, that if a man had any deformed or lame child, he should cast it out like a whelp, and expose it to perish: And the other was, that if a man had above a 
Polit. 7. c. 16.  certain number of children, which number he would have to be determined according to every man's ability, his wife should destroy the fruit in her womb, when she found that she had conceived; wherein he showed himself more unnatural and inhuman than the very bruit beasts. For, as Cicero saith very well, these two things cannot agree together, to wit, that nature would have procreation, and that it would 
Lib. 3. de Finibus.  not have the creature when it is borne to be beloved and conserved; the which appeareth, saith he, evidently in bruit beasts, whose labour and care in the conservation of that which is borne of them is such, that we acknowledge the force and voice of Nature therein. What then can be more dissonant from Reason and Nature, then that a man who is borne and naturally inclined to clemency, humanity and piety, should show himself unkind and inhuman not towards beasts, but towards men, not towards strangers or servants, but towards his own offspring, and that not for any fault of theirs, but for some defect or deformity of body, which they could not either prevent or remedy, and ought rather to move a man to compassion and pity, then to cruelty. Expectet aliquis ut alieno sanguini parcant, qui non parcunt suo: non possunt innocentes existimari, qui viscera sua in praedam canibus obijciunt, & quantum in ipsis est crudelius necant, quam si strangulassent, saith Lactantius. Can any man expect 
Lib. 6. cap. 20.  they should spare other men's blood, that spare not their own? innocent they cannot be held, who expose their own bowels for a prey to dogs, and as much as in them is, kill more cruelly than if they had strangled them.  
Besides such corporal defects do not always nor often hinder the operation of the mind and understanding, and therefore it may very well happen by the execution of this inhuman Law of Aristotle, not only that a Father shall be deprived of a son, but also the Commonwealth of a serviceable & notable member. For as Seneca saith, ex casa vir magnus exire potest, & ex deformi humilique corpusculo formosus animus & magnus, A worthy man may come out of a base cottage, and a beautiful high spirit out of a low deformed body.  
The like may be said of the other Law of Aristotle concerning abortion or the destruction of the Child in the mother's womb, being a thing punished severely by all good Laws as in●…urious not only to nature, but also to the Commonwealth, which thereby is deprived of a designed Citizen, as Cicero terms it, speaking of a woman of Miletum in Asia, who having procured abortion of her child a little before her time of travel was condemned to death, neque injuria, saith he, quia designatum 
Cic. per A. Cluentio.  reipub. civem sustulisset, & very justly for that she had made away one that was designed to be a Citizen of the Commonwealth: In which respect the Civil & Common Law do grievously punish all wilful abortion after conception, and the Canonists teach it to be a mortal sin.  
And here I cannot forbear to say somewhat of another Constitution of Aristotle's, which I know not whether it were more absurd or ridiculous: for whereas he forbade in his Commonwealth the use of lascivious pictures and images, lest young men, and specially children 
Pol. 7. 17.  might be corrupted by the sight thereof, nevertheless in the same Law he excepteth the Images and pictures of certain Gods, in whom, saith he, the custom alloweth lasciviousness, meaning no doubt the painted tables and graven stories of the adulteries of jupiter, Mars, Venus, and other Gods and Goddesses, set forth everywhere among the Paynims, as well in private houses as in their Temples and other public places. Wherein may be observed the ridiculous absurdity of this great Philosopher, for what could it avail to take away all other wanton pictures and representations that might corrupt the minds of youth, when he expressly alloweth the use of the lascivious pictures of the Gods, which must needs corrupt them much more? and as it were instill into them vicious affections & desires together with their religion, yea by the example of their Gods; by the imitation of whom they could not but hope to attain aswell to perfection of virtue, as to eternal felicity, believing as they did, that they were true Gods. For how could any man be persuaded that adultery deserved punishment, or was not a great, yea a divine virtue seeing Mars taken tardy with Venus, or jupiter stealing away Europa in shape of a bull, violating Leda in the form of a Swan, & entering into the house of Danae by the lover like a golden shower; would not any man that should be religiously devoted to these Gods, be animated by the sight thereof to do the like? yea and children learning their religion, and not only hearing, but seeing everywhere by pictures & images that such acts were committed by their Gods, could they imagine that the same were evil and not to be imitated? This is very well declared by Lucian of his own experience, who in his Dialogues maketh Menippus say thus, When I was yet but a boy, saith he, & heard out of Homer and Hesiod of the Adulteries, fornications, rapes and seditions of the Gods, truly I thought that those things were very excellent, and began even then to be greatly affected towards them: for I could not imagine that the Gods themselves would ever have committed adultery if they had not esteemed the same lawful and good: And the like signifieth also Cheraea in Terence, who beholding a table wherein it was painted, how jupiter deceived Danae when he came in 
In Eunuch.  at the top of the house, saith, that he was greatly encouraged to deflower a young maid by the example of so great a God: at quem Deum, saith he, qui templa coeli summa sonitu concutit, ego homuncio hoc non facerem? ego verò illud ita feci & lubens. But what God was this trow you? marry he who shakes the highest Temples of Heaven with thunder; and therefore might not I who am but a silly wretch do the like? yes truly I did it and that with all my heart. And it is doubtless most true which S. Augustine hath observed to this purpose, magis intuentur quid fecerit jupiter, quam quid docuerit Plato vel censuerit Cato: they rather considered what jupiter did, than what Plato taught, or Cato thought.   

SECT. 5. The barbarous and uncivil laws of the Gauls and the Saxons our Predecessors.  
NOw these Laws of the Grecians were not more dishonest and unmorall then were those of the Gauls and Saxons our Predecessors uncivil and barbarous; I mean their ordeall Laws which they used in doubtful Cases when clear and manifest proofs 
Pasq 4. 1. 2. Verstig. c. 3.  wanted to try and find out whether the accused were guilty or guiltless. These were of four sorts, as Aeneas Silvius, Beatus Rhenanus, johannes Pomarius, Cornelius Killianus, and others in their Histories and Chronicles report. The first was by Campfight or Combat, the second by iron made red hot, the third was by hot water, and the fourth by cold water.  
For their trial by Campfight, the Accuser was with the peril of his own body to prove the accused guilty, and by offering him his glove or gauntlet to challenge him to this trial: which the other must either accept of, or acknowledge himself culpable of the crime whereof he was accused. If it were a crime deserving death, than was the Campe-fight for life and death, and that either on horseback or on foot: if the offence deserved imprisonment and not death, than was the Campfight accomplished when the one had subdued the other by making him to yield, or unable to defend himself, and so be taken prisoner: the accused had the liberty to choose another in his steed, but the accuser must perform it in his own person, and with equality of weapons. No women were admitted to behold it, nor men children under the age of thirteen years; the Priests and people did silently pray, that the victory might fall to the guiltless. And if the fight were for life & death, a Beer stood ready to carry away the body of him that should be slain. None of the people might cry, skrecke, make any noise, or give any sign whatsoever. And hereunto at Hall in Suevia (a place appointed 
Munsler. l. 3.  for Campfight) was so great regard taken, that the Executioner stood beside the judges with an axe ready to cut off the right hand and left foot of the party so offending. He that being wounded did yield himself, was at the mercy of the other to be killed or let to live: if he were slain, then was he carried away and honourably buried, and he that slew him reputed more honourable than before: But if being overcome he were left alive, then was he by sentence of the judges declared utterly void of all honest reputation, and never to ride on horseback, nor to carry arms.  
The trial by red hot iron, called Fire-Ordeall was used upon accusations without manifest proof, though not without suspicion, that the accused might be faulty; the party accused and denying the offence, was adjudged to take red hot iron, & to hold it in his bare hand, which after many prayers and invocations that the truth might be manifest, he must either adventure to do, or yield himself guilty, and so receive 
Aventin. l. 4.  the punishment that the Law according to the offence committed should award him. Some were adjudged to go blindfolded with their bare feet over certain ploughshares, which were made red hot & laid a little distance one from another, and if the party in passing thorough them did chance not to tread upon them, or treading upon them received no harm, then by the judge he was declared innocent: And this kind of trial was also practised here in England, (as was likewise the Campfight for a while) upon Emma the mother of K. Edward the Confessor, who was accused of dishonesty of her body with Allwin B. of Winchester, and being led blindfolded to the place where nine hot Culters were laid, went forward with her bare feet, and so passed over them, and being past them all & not knowing it, good Lord, said she, when shall I come to the place of my purgation, then having her eyes uncovered and seeing herself to haue passed them, she kneeling down gave God thanks for manifesting her innocence in her preservation, & in memorial thereof gave nine Lordships to the Church of Winchester, and King Edward her son repenting he had so wrongfully brought his Mother's name into question, bestowed likewise upon the same 
Camden in Dorcet.  Church the I'll of Portland with other revenues. A much like trial unto this is recorded of Kunigund, wife to the Emperor Henry the second, who being falsely accused of adultery, to show her innocency did in a great & honourable assembly take seven glowen irons one after another in her bare hands, & had thereby no harm.  
The trial called Hot water, Ordeall was in cases of accusation as is afore said, the party accused being appointed by the judge to thrust his arms up to the elbows in seething hot water, which after sundry prayers and invocations he did, and was by the effect that followed judged faulty or faultless.  
Lastly, cold water Ordeall was the trial, which was ordinarily used for the common sort of people, who having a cord tied about them under their arms, were cast into some river, and if they sunk down to the botttome thereof until they were drawn up, (which was within a very short limited space) then were they held guiltless, but such as did remain upon the water were held culpable, being, as they said, of the water rejected & cast up. These kinds of impious & unjust laws, the Saxons for a while after their Christianity continued, but were at last by a decree of Pope Stephen the second utterly abolished, as being a presumptuous tempting of God without any grounded reason or sufficient warrant, and an exposing many times of the innocent to manifest hazard.    

CAP. 3. Touching the insufficiency of the precepts of the Ancient Philosophers for the planting of virtue, or the rooting out of vice, as also of the common error touching the golden age.  

SECT. 1. Touching the insufficiency of the precepts of the ancient Philosophers for the planting of virtue, and the rooting out of vice; as also of the manners of the Ancients, observed by Caelius secundus Curio, out of juvenal and Tacitus.  
TO these laws of the Grecians and Germans, may be added the opinions & precepts of the Ancient Philosophers, touching virtue and vice, final happiness and the state of the soul after this life which were as divers one to another as they were all erroneous and opposite to the truth, the growth of virtue or suppressing of vice. What could possibly ●…ore hinder the course of virtue, than the doctrine of the Epicureans, that sovereign happiness consisted in pleasure? or more strengthen the current of vice, then that of the Stoics, that all sins were equal. The Epicureans though they granted a God, yet they denied his providence, which should serve as a spur to virtue, and a bridle to vice. The Stoics, though they granted a divine providence, yet withal they stiffly maintained such a fatal Necessity, not only in the events of humane actions, but in the actions themselves, as thereby they blunted the edge of all virtuous endeavours, and made an excuse for vicious courses. Again, the Epicurean gave too much way to irregular affections; and on the other side, the Stoic was too professed an enemy to them, though regulated by reason; but both of them doubted, if not denied the immortality of the soul, whereby they opened a wide gap to all licentiousness, not censurable by the laws of man, or which the executioners whereof either thorough ignorance could not, or thorough fear or favour would not take notice of. Which hath often made me wonder that the commonwealth of the jews would suffer such a pestilent sect in the bowels of it, as the Sadduces, who flatly denied, not only the resurrection of the body, but the immortality of the soul. Since 
Act. 23. 8.  then the Christian religion, and that alone teacheth both, as fundamental articles of our belief, and withal a particular providence of God, extending to the very thoughts, and a particular judgement after this life, rewarding every man according to that he hath done in the flesh, whether it be good or evil; and beside, requires a reformation of the heart & inward man, the fountain & source of all outward actions & speeches; it is most evident, that howsoever our lives be, yet our rules tend more to virtue and honesty than did those, either of the Gentiles, or of the jews; who although they were not all infected with the foul leprosy of the Sadduces, yet it is certain, that these doctrines and rules were not in the law of Moses & the Prophets so clearly delivered, as now they are by Christ & his Apostles in the Gospel; nay the law itself permitted unto them such a divorce, though for the hardness of their hearts, as is not now allowed. And though the Law allowed not Polygamy, yet 
Mat. 19 8.  in regard of their frequent practice, we have great reason to conceive, that they scarce held it to be a sin. And the pharisees, though of all other sects they pretended, and seemed to be the most zealous & strict observers of the Lan●…; yet teaching others & themselves, practising the observation thereof as they did, only in regard of outward conformity, thereby perhaps made their disciples formal justiciaries, but withal 
Mat. 5.  damnable hypocrites, boiling in malice, & lust, & covetousness while they set a fair face on it, and made a goodly semblance of holiness, piety, and devotion. And if it so fared with the jews, no marvel that the Gentiles, (their natural inclination carrying them headlong to wickedness, and withal their religion, their laws, the doctrine and examples of their Teachers, being as so many provocations to draw them onward) proved such indeed as the Apostle describes them to be in the 1 of the Romans, full of all unrighteousness fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, of murder, of debate, of deceit, taking all things in evil part, whisperers, backebiters, haters of God, doers of wrong, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to Parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, such as never can be appeased, merciless, which men though they know the Law of God, how that they which commit such things are worthy of death, yet not only do the same, but favour them that do them. And so I pass from the root to the fruit, from the causes to the effects, from their laws & precepts touching manners, to their practice, & customs, & manners themselves. And here I must freely profess myself to accord with Sidonius Apollinaris, veneror antiquos, non ita tamen ut aequaevorum meorum virtutes & merita postponam: 
Lib. 3. Ep. 8.  I have the Ancients in such due respect and veneration as they deserve, yet so as I would not willingly disesteem or undervalue the virtues and merits of those who have lived since, or now live in the same age with me. The Ancients I know well, had many great virtues, and we no less vices, yet let no man be so unwise or unjust, to surmise that either the former ages were free from notorious vices, or the latter void of singular virtues. And surely, he that shall read Bohemus of the manners of the Gentiles, or the books of judges, the Kings, the Chronicles, the Prophets, and josephus of the manners of the jews, will easily acknowledge the former: Whereunto we may add the testimony of Coelius Secundus Curio, a witty and learned man of this age in his Epistle prefixed to his commentary upon juvenal, where he tells us, that meeting with those verses of Horace.  

Damnosa quid non imminuit dies?  
Aetes' parentum peior avis tulit  
Nos nequiores, mox daturos  
Progeniem vitiosiorem.   

What doth not wasteful time impair?  
Our Fathers worse than Grandsire's are,  
We worse than they, our progeny  
More vicious than ourselves will be.   
He began to doubt of the truth of them, and thereupon fell to a serious inquiry thereinto, & for his better proceeding in that search, made special choice of two Authors, Tacitus and juvenal, the one held as unpartial in history as the other in Satyrs, to make report what they found in matter of manners in their times, and having thoroughly consulted with them both, but chiefly with the latter; from them he makes this relation, Quibus auditis, saith he, & nostri seculi cum illa facta contentione deprehendt long ab illa nostram aetatem vitijs, illam à nostra multis & magnis virtutibus superari: Upon the hearing of them, and the comparing of this present age with that, I found that ours was much surpassed by that in vice, and that again by ours in many and great virtues. Yet long before Horace did Aratus in Phoenomenis take up the same complaint:  
Aurea degenerem pepererunt saecula prolem,  
Vos peiorem illis sobolem generabitis.—  
Those golden sires a base race begat:  
Your race shall be yet more degenerate.  
But Hesiod in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is more advised and moderate, hoping, it seems, for better times than himself saw.  
O utinam quinto hoc minime mihi vivere saeclo,  
Sed fas vel post nasci, aut ante perire fuisset.  
Would God this fifth age I had never seen,  
But or had died before, or after been.  
For with Ovid I can scarce hope that any should accord & profess,  
Prisca iuvent alios, ego nunc me denique natum  
Gratulor.  
Let others like old times, but I am glad  
That in this latter age my birth I had,   

SECT. 2. Touching that idle tale of the golden age first forged by Poets, and since taken up by Historians.  
THat which hath deceived many in this point is that idle tale and vain fancy forged by the Poets, & taken up by some Historians, & believed by the vulgar of the four ages of the world. The first of gold, the second of silver, the third of brass, & the fourth of iron. Thus elegantly described by the wittiest of Poets.  

Aurea prima sata est aetas quae vindice nullo 
Ovid. Met.   
Sponte sua sine lege sidem rectumque colebat,  
Poena metusque aberant, nec vincla minacia collo  
Aere ligabantur, nec supplex turba timebat  
judicis ora sui; sed erant sine judice tuti, etc.  
Postea Saturno tenebrosa in Tartara misso  
Sub Iove mundus erat, subijtque argented proles,  
Auro diterior fulvo, pretiosior aere, etc.  
Tertia post illam successit ahenea proles,  
Saevior ingenijs, & ad horrida promptior arma.  
Non scelerata tamen. De duro est ultima ferro  
Protinus erupit venae pejoris in aevum  
Omne nefas, fugêre pudor, verumque fidesque  
In quorum subiere locum fraudesque, dolique,  
Insidiaeque, & vis, & amor sceleratus habendi.   

The golden age was first, which uncompelled,  
And without rule in faith and truth excelled:  
As then there was not punishment nor fear,  
Nor threatening Laws in brass prescribed were,  
Nor suppliant crouching prisoners shook to see  
Their angry judge, but all was safe and free, etc.  
But after Saturn was thrown down to Hell,  
jove ruled, and then the silver age befell.  
More base than gold, and yet then brass more pure, &c  
Next unto this succeeds the brazen age,  
Worse natured, prompt to horrid war and rage,  
But yet not wicked stubborn, yr'n the last,  
Then blushless crimes which all degrees surpassed  
The world surround, Shame, faith and truth depart,  
Fraud enters, ignorant in no bad Art,  
Force, treason, and the wicked love of gain, etc.   
And from hence it seems was that of Boetius borrowed  

Faelix nimium prior aetas  
Contenta fidelibus arvis. 
Lib. 2. Met. 5   
Nec inerti perdita luxu,  
Facili quae sera solebat  
jejunia solvere gland,  
Nec Bacchica munera nor at  
Liquido confundere melle,  
Nec lucida vellera serum  
Tyrio miscere veneno.  
Tunc classica saeva tacebant  
Odijs neque fusus acerbis  
Cruor horrida tinxerat arma.  
utinam modo nostra redirent  
In mores tempora priscos.   

Thrice happy former age well pleased  
With faithful fields, from riot free,  
Whose hunger readily was eased  
With acorns gathered from the tree,  
They skilled not with Lyaeus' juice,  
The liquid honey to compound,  
Nor knew that twice the Sirian fleece  
In Tyrian die was to be drowned,  
Alarms of war were silent then,  
And horrid arms all smeared with blood  
Through malice shed of cruel men  
Were yet unseen. O would to God  
These times so much degenerate  
Might turn again to th'ancient state.   
But that all this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle & frivolous conceit, like Apuleius his tale of a golden ass, Bodin is so confident, that he breaks forth into this assertion, Aetas illa quam auream 
Method. Hist. c. 7.  vocant, si ad hanc nostram conferatur, ferrea videri possit. That which they call the Golden age being compared with ours, may well seem but iron: And in truth he may boldly affirm it, if that be true which Cicero writes of it. Fuit quoddam tempus cum in agris homines passim bestiarum 
Cicero de inventione Rhetor. l. 1  more vagabantur, & sibi victu ferino vitam propagabant, nec ratione animi quicquam, sed pleraque viribus corporis administrabant. Nondum divinae religionis non humani officij ratio colebatur, nemo legitimas viderat nuptias, non certos quisquam inspexerat liberos, non jus aequabile quid utilitatis haberet, acceperant. Time was when men like beasts wandered in the fields, and maintained their life by the food of beasts▪ neither did they administer their affairs by justice, but by bodily strength: There was no heed given either to Religion or Reason, no man enjoyed lawful marriage, nor with assurance beheld his own issue, neither were they acquainted with the commodity which upright Laws bring with them. During this golden age flourished Camesis & Saturn, & there is no doubt but by Camesis is understood Cham the son of Noah, & by Saturn Nimrod, whose son jupiter Belus (famous for the deposition of his father, incest with his sister, & many other villainies) saw the last of this age. Now how virtuous these men & times were, appears by the story of Moses. I'm like a most ungracious child discovers and derides the nakedness 
Gen. 9 22.  of his aged & worthy Father, & was therefore deservedly accursed to be a servant of servants. Nimrod grandchild to Cham, as his name signifies, was a notorious Rebel, Robustus venator coram Domino, a 
Cap. 10. v. 9  great Oppressor, a Robber, as Aristotle numbers robberi●… among the several kinds of hunting: And beside he is thought to have been the ringleader in that outrageous attempt of building the tower of Babel. And such kind of men are those Giants supposed to have been, who 
Cap. 11. 4.  before this are called Mighty men, men of renown; In as much as Moses 
Gen. 6. 4.  presently adds, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually: And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and 
V 5. 6.  it grieved him at his heart. Quibus verbis intelligit, saith Cassanion, tantas 
De Gygant. c. 1.  ea-tempestate fuisse morum corruptelas, ut omne vitiositatis, nequitiaeque genus ubique regnaret. cum autem ex robore & potentia qua isti pollebant nominis celebritatem adepti sint, in eo animadvertere licet qualis fuerit prima mundi nobilitas aestimata, non quae pietatis, justitiae, aliusve cujusdam virtutis specie, & pulchritudine illustris appareret, sed quae solius potentiae, fortitudinisue titulo sese venditabat: Nam qui tum caeteris valentiores, robustioresque erant, ij vim aliis audacter inferentes, nobiliores, praestantioresque censebantur. Vnde fortassis illud invaluit, ut gentilitia quorundam insignia non nisi crudelium belluarum, rapaciumque ferarum & volucrium habeant imaginem. By which words he understands, that such and so great was the universal corruption of manners in those times, as all kind of vice and wickedness everywhere reigned: And in that the men of that age are said to have gotten renown by means of their exceeding great might, from thence we may gather how the first Nobility of the world was valued, not such as was conspicuous by the beauty & justre of piety, justice, or any other virtue, but such only as gloried & contented itself with the title of strength & power. For those who then were more mighty and powerful than others, and were thereby emboldened to oppress others, were commonly held the most noble and worthy. And happily from hence it was that some families carry in their Scutcheons the representation of wild beasts or birds of prey. Howsoever we are sure that upon this universal inundation of sin, followed the universal deluge of water, washing and cleansing the earth from that abominable filthiness which had generally infected and polluted it. And as about this time sin was ripened, so in the very infancy of the world it grew up so fast, that the second man in the world wilfully murdered the 
Gen 4. 8.  third, being then his only brother. And another of the same race soon after was the founder of Polygamy, and a while after it is added, Then 
Gen. 4. 26  men began to call upon the name of the Lord, as if till than they had not done it, at leastwise in public assemblies. And in that, Enoch not long after this, is said to have walked with God, junius gives this note upon it, 
Gen. 5 23.  id est, non est secutus malitiam sui seculi, that is, he followed not the wicked courses of the age wherein he lived, and therefore was he translated, lest wickedness should alter his under standing or deceit beguile his mind. Haec 
Wisdom. 4 11. Bodin. loco citato.  est illa aurea aetas quae talia monstra nobis educavit, this is forsooth that goodly golden age which hath brought into the world & bred such foul monsters. After this the world was pestered with a number of intolerable Tyrants, whom Hercules subdued, and yet was himself accounted by many a Captain of Pirates. And certain it is, he was most foul, and yet I know not whether more foul, or strong in matter of lust; and both Theseus and Peri●…hous (whom he admitted into his society) were of a strain much alike. But because these things happily may seem fabulous, let us listen to Thucydides, one of the ancientest & truest fathers of history. He than hath left upon record, that a little before his time in Greece itself so great was the wildness and barbarousness thereof, that both by sea and land robberies were commonly practised, and that without any touch of disgrace; it was usually demanded of passengers, whether they were thieves or Pirates. And Caesar in a manner reports the same of the Germans: Latrocinia nullam habent apud Germanos infamiam quae extra fines cuiusque civitatis fiunt, atque ea iuventutis exercendae atque desidiae mi●…uendae causa fieri praedicant. It is no discredit among the Germans to rob, so it be without the bounds of their cities, and this they allow for the exercise of their youth & the shunning of idleness. But particulars are infinite, wherefore I will content myself with one nation, & three or four notorious vices of that Nation. The Nation shall be that of the ancient Romans, I mean before their receiving of Christianity, because they were commonly reputed the most civil & best disciplined of the whole world. The special vices I will instance in, shall be their cruelty, their covetousness, their luxury, their vainglory and ambition; and in these will I show their wonderful excess beyond latter ages, concluding with a demonstration, that the most eminent and renowned virtues of the Romans, as their wisdom & courage, have likewise been at least matched by some of latter ages, and that in some other virtues, as namely in modesty and humility, they have been much exceeded.    

CAP. 4. Of the excessive cruelty of the Romans towards the jews, the Christians, other Nations, one another & upon themselves.  

SEC. 1. Of the Roman cruelty toward the jews.  
THe savage and barbarous inhumanity of the Romans appears partly in their cruel handling of the jews & Christians, & partly of other Nations: But chiefly in their unnatural disposition one towards another and upon themselves: First then for the jews, it is indeed true, that by putting to death the Lord of life, and crying aloud, His blood be upon us and upon our children, they wilfully drew upon themselves the Divine vengeance & that dreadful threat: Lo the days shall come when they shall say, happy are the barren and the wombs that have not borne children, and the paps that have not given suck. Yet were the Romans, though greater enemies to Christian Religion then the jews, appointed by divine providence, as the Executioners of that vengeance, which they performed in a most unmerciful manner: And in regard of themselves, an undue & unjust measure. For to let pass all other bloody massacres of them in divers towns & cities thorough the Roman Empire, after the passion of our Saviour, and before the destruction of jerusalem; surely their cruelty acted in the siege of that city, recorded by josephus, was such as were able, even to resolve an heart of steel into tears 
De bello judaico, l. 6, & 7.  of blood. It was on every side so straightly begirt, that the besieged by extremity of famine, were forced to 〈◊〉, not only horses, asses, dogs, rats, & mice, and the leather that covered their shields & bucklers, but also the very dung out of their stables; yea, & a Noble woman was known to eat her own child that sucked upon her breast, wherein no doubt was fulfilled the prophecy of our Saviour, happy are the barren. Such as were taken by the Romans, were by the commandment of Titus, crucified before the walls of the city, to the number of five hundred every day, until at length (as josephus reporteth) there wanted both crosses for the bodies and place for the crosses. Also great numbers of them, who being forced with famine, sought to save their lives, by yielding themselves to their enemies, were nevertheless killed by the merciless soldier, and their bowels ripped up, in hope to find gold therein, upon a report, or at least a conceit, that the jews did swallow their gold to convey it out of the city by that means. Finally, the number of those which were slain and died during the siege, was, as witnesseth josephus, a million and an hundred thousand, and of the Captives nine hundred and seventy thousand, whereof josephus himself was one, and 
Lib 7. c. 17.  of those, some were condemned to the public works, others of the stronger & handsomer sort carried in triumph, and such as were under the age of seventeen years, were sold for little or nothing, & those which remained in their country, were loaden with such grievous impositions and tributes, that they lived in a continual misery & slavery worse than death. Yet the cruelty of the Romans towards these miserable jews ceased not here, but in the next age, in the time of Traiane the Emperor, within less than fifty years after the subversion of jerusalem, infinita eorum millia, saith Eusebius, infinite thousands of them 
Lib. 4. c. 2.  were killed in Egypt, and Mesopotamia, in Macedonia they were utterly extinguished, and in Cyprus they were all either put to the sword or banished; and a law made, that it should be death for any jew to arrive there, though he were driven thither by tempest against his will. And in a few years after julius Severus, being called out of Britain by the Emperor Adrian, and sent into judea, destroyed almost all the country. For as Dyon writeth, he dismantled fifty strong forts, and razed or burned nine hundred eighty five towns or villages, and killed above fifty thousand jews in battle, besides an infinite number of others that died either by fire, famine, or pestilence, or were sold for slaves. Shortly after Adrians' time, they were also miserablely afflicted by the Emperor Antoninus Pius, and after him by Marcus Aurelius, and again some years after that by the Emperor Severus, who renewed the decrees of Adrian for their exclusion from the sight of their country, and triumphed for his great victories against them. Now though it be true, that the wickedness of the jewish Nation was such, as they well deserved to be thus severely punished; yet cannot the Romans be excused from unreasonable cruelty in dealing thus unmercifully with them, as if they had been beasts rather than men.   

SECT. 2. Their cruelty toward the Christians, first in regard of the insatiable malice of their persecutors.  
THeir dealing with the Christians, (whom they likewise named jews, because our Saviour's Apostles & first disciples, were all of that nation) was yet more merciless because more unjust; They pretended the frequent rebellions of the jews, to be the reason of their great severity towards them: But the Christians they deadly hated and 
Tacitus Annal. 15. 10.  most cruelly persecuted only for their religion, whereas they suffered all religions save the Christian, to be quietly exercised thorough their dominions. Now their cruelty towards the poor Christians appeared in the insatiable malice of their persecutors, the incredible number of those that suffered as Martyrs or Confessors, and the exquisite variety of their tortures. St. Augustine and his scholar Orosius compare the ten persecutions of 
De Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 52.  the Primitive Christians, (which as so many raging waves came tumbling one upon the neck of another,) to the ten plagues of Egypt; the first of which was under Nero, whose cruelty or luxury was of the two more monstrous & unnatural, cannot easily be determined. He caused Rome to be set on fire, that he might the better conceive the flames of 
〈◊〉. c. 37.  Troy, singing unto it Homer's verses. His father and brother he poisoned, murth●…red his master, wife, & mother, taking an exact view of her dead body, commending the proportion of some parts & discommending others. Besides, he made away whosoever was valiant or virtuous in Senate, in city, in Province without any difference of sex or age. No marvel then, that being of a disposition so bloody he fell as a bitter storm upon the Christians, and his cruelty be by S Paul compared 
2 Tim. 4 17.  to the mouth of a Lyon. Nay by reason of that violent persecution, which under him the Christians endured; he was, as witnesseth S. Augustine commonly reputed Antichrist: But certain it is, that Rome 
De Ci●…. Dei, l. 20. c. 19  being by his command set on fire, he falsely accused & punished most greevously the innocent Christians for it. The second persecution was 
T●… Annal.  under Domitian, whom Tertullian calls Neronis portionem, Eusebius, ●…aeredem, the one a part, the other the heir of Nero: And Tacitus puts only this difference between them, that Nero indeed commanded cruel 
In vi●…a. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  murders, but Domitian not only commanded them, but beheld them himself. What the world was to expect from him; appeared in his very entrance to the Empire, retiring himself every day into a private closet, where he passed his time in killing of flies with a sharp bodkin, insomuch that one demanding who was within with the Emperor, Vibius Crispus made answer, ne musca quidem, not somuch as a fly: But from the blood of flies he proceeded on to the shedding of the 
Sue●…on. c 3.  blood of men, so far, and in so fierce a manner,  
— Vt timeas ne 
juvenal. satire. 3.   
Vomer deficiat, ne marrae & sarcula desint.  
Well might ye doubt  
Lest culters, mattocks, spades, ye soon should be without.  
The Author of the last and most grievous persecution, was Dioclesian, whose raging cruelty towards the Christians, Lactantius sets forth in lively colours. Nemo h●…ius tantae belluae immanitatem potest pro merito describere, 
Lib. 5. c. 11▪  quae uno loco recubans tamen per totum orbem dentibus ferreis saevit, & non tantum artus hominum dissipat, sed & ossa ipsa comminuit & in cineres furit, ne quis extet sepulturae locus. Quaenam illa f●…itas, quae rabbiss, quae insania est, lucem vivis, terram mor●…uis denegasse? No man can sufficiently describe the cruelty of this so unreasonable a beast, which lying in one place, yet rageth with his iron teeth thorough the world, and doth not only scatter the members, but break the bones of men; yea shows his fury upon their very ashes, lest there should be found any place for their burial: what rage, what madness, what barbarous cruelty is this, to deny both the light to the living, and the earth to the dead? Where Lactantius seems to allude to that fourth nameless beast of Daniel, 
Daniel. 7 7.  which was fearful & terrible, and very strong, it had great iron teeth, it devoured, and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue under his feet. And though I have instanced only in these three, yet it is certain, that the Authors and Instruments of these persecutions were all of a disposition much alike: Of whom the same Lactantius affirms, that they have borrowed the shapes of beasts, and yet were more cruel than they, pleasing themselves in this, that they were borne men, & yet had they nothing but the outward figure and lineaments of men. For what Caucasus, what India, what Hyrcania, saith he, ever bred or brought forth so cruel and bloody beasts; the rage of other beasts ceaseth when their 
L. 5. c. 11.  appetite is satisfied, & their hunger being slaked, they grow more mild & tame, but the rage of these never ceaseth, their appetite is never satiated with blood; the truth whereof will easily appear, if in the second place we do but cast our eyes upon the infinite multitude of innocent Christians that every where suffered death, and for none other cause but only the profession of their religion.   

SECT. 3. Secondly, in regard of the incredible number of those that suffered.  
OMnis ferè sacro Martyrum cruore orbis infectus est, neque ullis unquam magis bellis exhaustus est, saith Sulpitius: well nigh the whole 
Sacr. Histor. l. 2  world is stained with the blood of the Martyrs; neither was it ever in the like sort emptied by any wars. And Gregory the great almost 
Homilia 27 in Evangelia.  in the same words, totum mundum fratres aspicite, Martyribus plenus est, jam penè tot qui videamus non sumus quot veritatis testes habemus, Deo ergo numerabiles, nobis super arenam multiplicati sunt quia quanti sunt à nobis comprehendi non possunt. Brethren, look abroad upon the whole world, it is filled with Martyrs, we are hardly so many in number to behold them, as we have witnesses of the truth, who have sealed it with their blood, in regard of God they are numerable, but in regard of us they are multiplied above the sand on the sea shore, in as much as we cannot comprehend their number. And happily those latter words of Gregory had reference to that of Cyprian, himself a glorious Martyr, in his exhortation to Martyrdom: Exuberante postmodum copia virtutis & fidei numerari non possunt Martyrs Christiani, testante Apocalypsi & dicente, post haec vidi, etc. The strength of courage and faith afterwards increasing, the Christian Martyrs could not be numbered, according to that testimony in the Apooalyps. After these things I beheld, and lo a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations, & kindreds, and people, & 
Apocal. 7. 9  tongues, stood before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed with long white robes, and palms in their hands: Whereunto might be added, that other Prophetical passage of the same book; The winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress unto the horse bridles by the 
Cap. 14. 20.  space of a thousand & six hundred furlongs. Which Prophesi●… we may well conceive, to have been accomplished to the full, when the very axes & swords of the Executioners were blunted with executions, and themselves were forced to give over and sit down, being utterly wearied therewith, when the day failing, the bodies of the executed, were burnt in the night, to give light to passengers; and thirty three Roman Bishops 
Tac. Aunnl. 15. 10.  successively from S. Peter to Sylvester, were all martyred, when hundreds, thousands, yea ten or twenty thousands were slaughtered at once: Lastly, when by the testimony of S. Hierome in his Epistle to Chromatius. and Heliodorus, (if it be his) there was not a day in the year to which above five thousand might not justly be assigned, the Kalends of januarie only excepted. 
Lactantius, 5. 11.   
Funditur ater ubique cruor, crudelis ubique  
Luctus, ubique pavor & plurima mortis imago.  
Piteous lamenting, dreadful fear, and bloodshed every where,  
And many a ghastly shape of death did every where appear.   

SECT. 4. Thirdly, in regard of the various and devilish means and instruments which they devised and practised for the execution or torture of the poor Christians.  
NOw though the Roman cruelty sufficiently appear in the malice of the principal persecutors of the Christians, and the infinite number of Martyrs that suffered, yet doubtless the various and devilish means and instruments, which they divised and practised for their dispatch or torture doth more evidently prove it. Quae autem per totum orbem singuli gesserint enarrare impossibile est? Quis enim voluminum numerus capiet tam infinita tam varia genera crudelitatis? saith Lactantius. 
Lib. 5. c. 11.  Those things which in this kind thorough the world were every where acted, to recount were impossible. For what number of volumes can contain so infinite and divers kinds of cruelty? And again, dici non potest huiusmodi iudices quanta & quam gravia tormentorum genera excogitaverint, ut ad effectum propositi sui pervenirent. It cannot be expressed, how many and how grievous kinds of torments those judges divised, that they might attain the end of their purpose. And Gregory to like purpose, Quae poenarum genera novimus quae non tum vires Martyrum 
Moral. 32. 12.  exercuisse gaudemus? What kind of punishment can we conceive which we rejoice not then to have exercised the strength of the Martyrs? They were burned in furnaces, they were put into vessels of boiling oil, they were pricked under the nails with sharp needles, their breasts were seared, their eyes boored, their tongues cut out, they were roasted at a soft fire with vinegar & salt poured upon them, they were thrown headlong down the mountains & rocks upon sharp stakes, their brains were beaten out with malles, their bodies were scraped with sharp shells and the talents of wild beasts, they were fried in iron chairs,, and upon grid-irons, their entrails were torn out and cast before their faces, they were crucified with their heads downward, they were hanged by the middles, by the hair, by the feet, their bones were broken with bats, they were torn a sunder with the boughs of trees, and drawn in pieces with wild horses, they were tossed upon bull's horns, and thrown to Libards & Lions; they were covered under hogs-meate, and so cast to swine, they were stabbed with penknives, they were dragged thorough the streets, they were fleyd alive, they were covered in the skins of wild beasts and torn in pieces with dogs, as witnesseth Tacitus, they were set to combat with wild beasts, as witnesseth 
Annal. 15: 10.  the Apostle of himself,  

Non mihi si centum linguae sint, oraque centum 
1 Cor. 15 32. Virg. Aen. l. 6.   
Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas,  
Omnia paenarum percurrere nomina possem.   

An hundred tongues, an hundred mouths, an iron voice had I,  
I could not all those torments name, nor kinds of villainy.    

SECT. 5. Of their extreme cruelty towards others, their very Religion leading them thereunto, as witnesseth Lactantius.  
ANd lest we should think that this cruelty of the Romans towards the jews & C●…ristians was only in regard of their Religion, their own Histories inform us of the like upon other Nations, nay their own very Religion was (it seems) their strongest motive & greatest inducement to cruelty: Nec ullam aliam ad immortalitatem viam arbitrantur, quam exercitus ducere, aliena vastare, delere urbes, oppida exs●…indere, liberos populos aut trucidare, aut subij●…ere servituti, saith Lactantius, They conceive there is no other way to immortality but by leading Armies, laying waste other men's Dominions, razing 
Lib. 1. c. 18.  cities, sacking towns, rooting out or bringing under the yoke of slavery freeborn people. Si quis unum hominem jugulaverit, pro contaminato & nefario habetur, nec ad terrenum hoc domicilium Deorum admitti eum fas putant, ille autem qui infinita hominum millia trucidaverit, cruore campos inundaverit, flumina infecerit, non modo in templum, sed etiam in coelum admittitur, apud Ennium sic loquitur Africanus.  
Si f●…s caedendo coelestia scandere cuiquam est  
Mi soli coeli maxima porta patet.  
Scilicet quia magnam partem generis humani extinxit ac perdidit. O quantis in tenebris African versatus es, vel potius Ô Poeta, qui per caedes & sanguinem patere hominibus asoensum in coelum putaveris. Cui vanitati & Cicero assensit; Est vero inquit Africane, nam & Herculi eadem ipsa porta patuit, tanquam ipse planè cum id fieret, janitor fuerit in coelo. Equidem statuere non possum, dolendumne an ridendum putem, cum videam & graves, & doctos, & ut sibi videntur sapientes viros in tam miserandis errorum fluctibus volutari. Si haec est virtus quae nos immortales facit, mori equidem malim quam exitio esse quamplurimis. If a man kill but one, he is held for a villain, neither is thought fit to admit him to the houses of the Gods here upon earth, but he who murders infinite thousands, waters the fields, & dies the rivers with blood, is not only admitted into the Temple, but into Heaven; Thus in Ennius speaks Africanus.  
If man by murdering may climb Heaven, assuredly,  
The widest gate of Heaven is open laid for me.  
Forsooth, because he had extinguished and made away a great part of mankind. O with how great darkness art thou compassed Africanus, or rather thou Poet, who thoughtest that by slaughter & blood an entrance was opened for men into Heaven; yet to this vanity even Cicero himself assents; It is even so Africanus, saith he; for the same gate was open unto Hercules, as if himself had then been a Porter in Heaven when that was done. Truly I cannot well determine whether I should rather grieve or laugh when I see grave & learned, & (as to themselues it seems) wise men, so miserably tossed up and down in the waves of Error: if this be the virtue which makes us immortal, for mine own part I profess I would rather die then be the death of so many. Yet had this doctrine (as it seems) generally taken such deep root in the minds of the Romans, that he who shed most blood was held the worthiest & the holiest man, that is most like the Gods, and fittest for their hahitation, which is the chief reason, as I conceive, that we read of such wonderful slaughters committed by them, even to the astonishment of such as have been acquainted but with the principles of Christian Religion. Within the space of seventeen years their wars only in Italy, Spain, & Sicily consumed above fifteen hundred thousand men, Quaesivi enim curiosè, saith Lypsius, I have diligently 
De Const. l. 2. c. 21.  searched into it. One Caius Caesar, o pestem, perniciemque generis humani, O plague & mischief of mankind, professeth of himself, and boasteth in it, that he had slain in the wars eleven hundred ninety two thousand, yet so as the slaughter of his Civil wars came not into that account, but only during his command a few years in Spain and France. Quintus Fabius slew of the French one hundred & ten thousand. Cajus Marius of the Cimbri two hundred thousand. Aetius one hundred sixty two thousand of the Huns. Polybius writeth that Scipio at the taking of Carthage gave charge that all should be put to the sword without sparing any; And then adds, that this was a common fashion of the Romans, Videntur enim, saith he, terroris gratia hoc illi facere, itaque frequenter videre est quando Romani civitates capiunt, non homines modo occidi, sed canes etiam dissecari, & aliorum animalium membra truncari. It seems they did it to terrify others, and therefore it hath been often seen that the Romans upon the taking in of a City, not only slew the men, but also cut in sunder the dogs, & mangled other living Creatures. Servius Galba at his being in Spain having assembled the Inhabitants of 
Valerius l. 9 c. 6. Paul. Diac. l 4. c. 9  three cities under a pretence of consulting with them about their welfare, on a sudden slew seven thousand of them, among whom were the very flower of their youth. Likewise Licinius Lucullus Consul in the same country, put to the sword twenty thousand of the Caucaei by the 
Appianus in Ibericit  hands of his soldiers sent into the city against the express covenants of their rendering. Octavianus Augustus having taken Perusia, sacrificed three hundred of the principal Townsmen, which yielded themselves 
Su●…t onius.  (as it had been beasts) before an Altar erected to Divus julius, Antonius 
Xiphi●…inus & Herodianus.  Caracalla being incensed against the citizens of Alexandria for some petty jests broken upon him; entering into the city in a peaceable manner, & calling before him all their youth, he surrounded them with armed men, who at the sign given, fell instantly upon them, and slew every mother's son of them, & then using the like cruelty upon the residue of the Inhabitants, he utterly emptied a spacious & populous city. Volesus Messalla Proconsul of Asia, took off with the axe the 
S nec. de Ira l. 2 cap. 5.  heads of three hundred in one day, & then walking in & out among the dead bodies with his hands behind him, as if he had performed some noble act, he cries out, o rem verè regiam, an exploit worthy a Prince. But me thinks that of Sulpitius Galba exceeds them all, who entering 
Lypsit admiranda l. 4. c. 6.  into Portugal in an hostile manner laid waste the country, the Inhabitants wondering thereat, & not knowing the reason, neither being guilty to themselves of any offence, they send Ambassadors to renew their former league, he entertains them, and seems to take pity on them that they were thus afflicted, but it may be, saith he, it was your wants that caused you to make some spoils & show of war, I will remedy the matter, I will range you into three parts, & will seat you in a good & fat soil where you may lead the rest of your life more happily & securely: Come with your wives & children into such a valley, & there will I assign you your portions. They miserable people come on joyfully, being ranged into three bands; to the first of which when he came, he bids them lay aside their weapons, as being now friends & fellows, which being laid aside, he sets his soldiers upon them, and kills them all upon the place, in vain calling upon the Gods, & his faith given them. The same course he took with the second & third band, before the report of his first bloody act could come unto them.  
Neither did their cruelty extend only to men, but to towns & cities. Sempronius Gracchus, if we may credit Polybius, razing & laying waste three hundred in Spain. Nec habet omne aevum opinor quod adstruat his exemplis praeter nostrum, sed in orbe alio, saith Lypsius. I suppose no age can afford examples matchable to these, except ours, but that in another World; where he instances in the Spanish cruelties upon the naked Indians. It is true indeed that Theodosius a Christian Emperor for a small 
Paul. Diac. hist. mice. l. 13. 6. 4.  matter in comparison, caused seven thousand Innocents' of Thessalonica being called together into the Theatre, as for the beholding of some plays, to be slain by soldiers upon the place, and though he might well for the present purpose be numbered among the ancient Roman Emperors, yet as a Christian I rather choose to excuse him, & that justly, in as much as being admonished by S. Ambrose he heartily repent of that bloody fact: & thereupon at the instance of that worthy Prelate made a Law that from thenceforth thirty days should pass betwixt the sentence of death and the execution thereof, in as much as the guilty, though spared for a time, might notwithstanding afterwards be executed. But the guiltless being once executed, could never again be restored.   

SECT. 6. Of their cruelty one towards another by the testimony of Tacitus and Seneca, and first in their civil wars.  
NOw that which yet much more aggravates the Roman cruelty is this, that they were not only thus hardhearted towards strangers, but without natural affection, implacable, merciless one 
Rom. 1. 30.  towards another, as appeareth partly in their factions & civil wars, partly in the tyranny of their Emperors & inferior Governors, & partly in their bloody games & pastimes. What a miserable complaint is that which is made by Tacitus. Legimus cum Aruleno Rustico Petus Thrasea, Herennio Senefioni Priscus Heluidius laudati essent capitale fuisse, nec in ipsos modo Authores, sed in libros eorum saevitum, delegato Triumviris ministerio ut monumenta clarissimorum ingeniorum in comitio ac foro urerentur, scilicet illo igne vocem populi Romani, & libertatem Senatus, & conscientiam generis humani abolere arbitrabantur, Expulsis insuper sapientiae professoribus, & omni bona arte in exilium acta, ne quid usquam honestum òccurreret. Dedimus profectò grande patientiae documentum, & sicut vetus Respub: videt quid ultimum in libertate esset, ita nos quid in servitute: adempto per inquisitiones etiam loquendi, audiendique commercio, memoriam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus, si tam in potestate nostra esset oblivisci quam tacere. We read that when Petus Thrasea was praised by Arulenus Rusticus, and Priscus Heluidius by Herennius Senesio, it was made a capital crime, neither did their rage extend only to the Authors, but to their books. Command being given from the Triumvirs, that the monuments of those rarewits should be burnt in the pleading & market places. Forsooth in that flame they made account at one blaze to extinguish the voice of the people of Rome, & the liberty of the Senate, & the conscience of mankind. Besides the Professors of wisdom & all ingenuous Arts were banished, that nothing carrying the face of honesty might anywhere appear. Then did we show a singular example of Patience, & as former ages saw the utmost of liberty, so we of servitude. Moreover the mutual commerce of speaking & hearing being by inquisitions abridged, we had surely lost our memory together with our voice, had it been aswell in our power to forget, as to be silent. Yet more pitiful is that sad complaint of Seneca touching his times: Adeo in publicum missa nequitia 
De Ira l. 2. c: 8.  est, & in omnium pectoribus evaluit ut innocentia non rara sed nulla sit. Numquid enim singuli aut pauci rupêre fidem? undique velut signo dato ad fasque nefasque miscendum coorti sunt.  

— Non hospes ab hospite tutus,  
Non socer à genero, fratrum quoque gratia rara est:  
Lurida terribiles miscent aconita Novercae,  
Imminet exitio vir conjugis, illa mariti,  
Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos.   
Sed quota pars ista scelerum est? Wickedness is become so common, and hath taken in all breasts such deep rooting, that innocency is not only rare, but nowhere to be found: Neither have single persons, or some few only transgressed the Law, but as it were at the giving of a sign men are on all sides everywhere risen up to the blending & confounding of right and wrong.  

— The host his guest betrays;  
Sons father in laws, 'twixt brethren love decays,  
Wives husbands, husband's wives attempt to kill,  
And cruel stepmother's pale poisons fill,  
The son his father's hasty death desires.   
And yet how small a part is this of the present villainies.  
But the Civil wars was it which chiefly discovered the bloody & vindictive disposition of this Nation. Before which, as testifieth Saint Augustine, their dogs, their horses, their asses, their oxen, & all such beasts as lived under the service & for the use of men, of tame became 
Deciv. Dei. l. 3. c, 23.  so wild, that they forsook their mansions & masters, & got them into mountains & woods, not without the danger of such as offered to reduce them to their former condition. And surely this wildness of the beasts served as a forerunner of that fierceness & inhumanity which afterwards appeared in their Masters. The sedition of the Gracchis being appeased, Lucius Opimius' Consul executed 3000 as being guilty of that conspiracy by judicial process, ex quo intelligi debet, saith S. Augustine, quantam multitudinem mortuorum habere potuerit turbidus conflictus armorum quando tantam habuit judiciorum velut examinata cognitio. From 
Cap. 24.  whence we may probably gather what multitudes died in the confused conflict of Armies, since so great a number was made away by a legal trial. But Sylla was he, who under pretence of chastising the outrages of Marius, filled the city with blood. Illo bello Mariano atque Syllano 
Cap. 27.  exceptis his qui foris in Asia ceciderunt, in ipsa quoque urbe cadaveribus vici plateae, fora, theatra, templa completa sunt, ut difficile judicaretur quando victores plus funerum ediderunt utrum prius ut vincerent, an postea quia vicissent. In the wars of Marius & Sylla, besides those which were slain in the fields abroad, in the city itself their streets, their market places, their theatres, their temples were all strewed over with carcases, so as it was hard to judge when the Conquerors slaughtered more, either first that they might conquer, or afterwards having conquered. Sylla alone quem neque laudare, neque vituperare quisquam satis dignè potest, 
Valerius lib, 9 cap. 2.  quia dum quaerit victorias Scipionem se populo Romano, dum exercet, Hannibalem representavit, whom no man can sufficiently either commend, or dispraise, for that in pursuing his victories he showed himself as another Scipio to the Roman state, in making use of them another Hannibal, he alone I say, by his infamous proscription, bereaved the city of four thousand & seven hundred Citizens, whose names he commanded to be registered in the public Records, videlicet ne memoria tam praeclarae rei dilueretur, forsooth lest the memory of so notable a fact should be extinguished, neither were they of the base rank of the people, there being among them no less than one hundred & forty Senators, besides infinite slaughters committed either by his command or permission, neither did he thus rage against those only who bore Arms against him, but to the number of the proscribed he added the most peaceable citizens if they were rich, he also drew out his sword against women, as not being satisfied with the slaughter of men, Id quoque inexplebilis feritatis indicium est, saith Valerius, that was likewise a sign of most unsatiable cruelty, that he commanded the heads of such as he had slaughtered to be cut off & brought into his presence, though retaining neither life nor visage, ut oculi●… illa, quae ore nefas erat manderet, that he might feed upon them with his eyes, because with his mouth he could not: the eyes of Marius he plucked out befo●…e he deprived him of life, & then broke in pieces all the parts of his body, & Marcus Ple●…orius because he fell into a sound at the sight of that execution he commanded presently to be slain upon the place, novus punitor misericordiae, apud quem iniquo animo scelus intueri scelus admittere fuit, a rare punisher of mercy, with whom unwillingly to behold a wicked act, was to commit wickedness; but perchance though he thus tyrannised upon the living, he spared the dead, no such matter, for digging up the ashes of C. Marius, who was sometime Questor, though afterwards his enemy, he threw them into the river Amen, En quibus actis foelicitatis nomen sibi asserendum putavit, behold with what goodly acts he purchased to himself the name of happiness. vix mihi verisimilia narrare videor, I scarce seem to myself to report likelihoods, saith Valerius: And S. Augustine tells us, that some counselled him, sinendos esse aliquos vivere, ut essent quibus 
Aug d●… Civit. Dei lib. 3▪ c. 28.  possit imperare: that he should do well to suffer some to live, lest there should be none whom he might command. And from Quintus Catulus he deservedly wrested that bitter speech, Cum quibus tandem victuri sumus si in bello armatos, in pace inermes occidimus, with what forces are we likely to vanquish our own enemies if we thus kill our own men both armed in war & unarmed in peace. And from Lucan it drew those excellent verses, 
Lib. 2.   

Sylla quoque immensis accessit cladibus ultor,  
Ille quod exiguum restabat sanguinis urbi  
Hausit, dumque nimis jam putrida membra recidit,  
Excessit medi●…ina modum, nimiumque secuta est  
Quâ morbi duxêre manus.   

After these barbarous butcheries revengeful Sylla came,  
The little blood that yet remained in Rome he spilt the same,  
And whilst he off the rotten parts doth cut, the reme●…die  
Due measure too much doth exceed, his hands the malady  
Pursue too far.   
And that herein he delivered no more than truth, or rather indeed came short of it, may sufficiently appear by this one bloody act; Sylla 
Vale●…us lib. 9  having upon his credit received to favour four Legions (which make up twenty four thousand) of the adverse part; he caused them notwithstanding in public to be cut in pieces, calling in vain for mercy at his treacherous hand. And when the Senate hearing their groans and scritches stood amazed at it; the satisfaction he gives them, was none other than this. Hoc agamus Patres Conscripti pauculi seditiosi iussu meo puniuntur: My Lords let's to the business, as for the tumult you hear, it is only a few mutinous soldiers are punished at my command. Upon which, Lypsius gives this just censure: Nescio quid magis hic mirer, hominem id facere potuisse an dicere: I know not whether of the two I should more wonder at, that a man could either so do, or so speak. Yet me seems we need not much wonder at it, since the Senators themselves were drawn out of the Senate house, as it had been a prison to execution. Nay Mutius Scevola, being both a Priest & a Senator, was slain, embracing the very Altar in the temple of Vesta, than which nothing among the Romans w●… held more sacred, and was like to have quenched with his blood that fire, which was always kept burning by the care of Virgins: Quae rabies exterarum gentium, quae saevitia barbarorum, huic de civibus victoriae civium comparari potest, saith S. Augustine: What rage of foreign nations, what cruelty of barbarians was ever comparable to 
De Civit. Dei l. 3. c. 29.  this victory of fellow citizens upon each other. Yet was the fire of these broils scarce quenched before the flame burst out afresh in the civil wars, betwixt Sertorius & Catiline, Lepidus and Catulus, Caesar and Pompey; of which Lucan.  

— Alta sedent civilis vulner a dextrae 
Lib. 1.   
Heu quantum terrae potuit pelagique parari  
Hoc quem civiles hauserunt sanguine dextrae?   

Deep stick the wounds which civil arms have made:  
What lands, what seas might have been purchased,  
Even with that blood which civil wars have shed?   
And again,  
— Desuntque manus poscentibus arvis:  
They wanted hands  
For tillage of their lands.  
And in another place,  
— Generis quo turba reducta est  
Humani?  
Hard it was to find  
What was become of mankind.  
Yet after all this, again upon the death of Caesar in the Senate the Triumuiri, Octavius, Lepidus, and Antony, under pretence of revenging his death & reforming the state, like the true scholars of Sylla ordained the like proscription as he had done, proscribing at once the heads of three hundred Senators, and two thousand Roman Knights: Read Appian, & in him a most lively description of the incredible cruelty of those 
De bellis civili●…us. l. 4.  times, some making themselves away, some flying, some hiding themselves in wells and draughts, servants, & wives, & children, hanging and howling about their masters, and husbands, and parents, but not able to help them: Heu scelera quibus nihil acerbius Sol ille vidit visur●…sque est ab ortu omni ad occasum, peream ego nisi humanitatem ipsam perijsse dicas fero & ferino illo aevo, they be the words of Lypsius the great patron of the 
De constantia, lib. 2. c. 24.  Roman virtues. O horrible cruelty, than which the Sun never saw or shall see any thing more grievous from the rising to the fall thereof. Let me not live, if you would not believe that humanity itself was utterly lost out of the world, in that bloody and barbarous age.   

SECT. 7. Secondly, of the cruelty of their Emperors towards their subjects, their Captains towards their soldiers, their Masters towards their slaves, and generally of their whole nations.  
YEt within a while after pax cum bello de crudelitate certabat & vicit, peace contended with war which should be more cruel and overcame: 
August.  I will instance only in Tiberius and Caligula, the third and fourth Emperors, and content myself only with a part of Suetonius his testimony concerning their monstrous cruelties. Touching the first, specie gravitatis & morum corrigendorum, sed & magis naturae obtemperans, saith he: Under a colour of gravity & reformation, but in truth 
Suet. in Tiber. c. 59  by a powerful inclination in his nature he did many such outrageous acts, as it gave occasion among others to the casting out of these verses on him▪  
Fastidit vinum, quia iam sitit iste cruorem,  
Tam bibit hunc avidè quam bibit ante merum.  
He loatheth wine, & now he after blood doth thirst,  
Drinks this as greedily as wine he drank at first.  
Nullus à poena hominum cessanit dies, ne religiosus quidem ac sacer; no day was privileged from executions, no not the most solemn holy days. Because Virgins by a received custom were not to be strangled; he caused 
Cap. 〈◊〉.  the hangman first to deflower a Virgin, & then to strangle her. He thought death so light a punishment, that when he heard Carnulius had by death prevented his tortures, he cried out, Carnulius me evasit, Carnulius hath escaped me. His thoughts were so intent upon nothing else but horrible executions, that having by familiar letters invited a Citizen of Rhodes to come to him to Rome, and being informed of his coming, 
c. 62.  he commanded him instantly to be put to the rack, and his error being discovered, to be put to death, lest it should be divulged. Having caused men to be drawn on to fill themselves with wine, he would suddenly command their privy parts to be fast bound with lute-strings, that so for want of means for avoiding their urine, they might endure miserable torments.  
Caligula, a man of much like temper, succeeded him in the Empire, but in cruelty far exceeded him. Many of honourable rank being first 
Suet. Calig. c. 27.  branded with infamous marks, he condemned to the mines, or the beasts, or shut them up like beasts in cages, or sawed them asunder in the midst. And that not for great matters, but either because they had no good opinion of his shows, or had not sworn by his Genius: He forced fathers to be present at the execution of their sons, and to one, excusing himself by reason of his sickness, he sent his litter for him, inviting him to mirth and jollity. Having recalled one home, who in his Predecessors days was sent into banishment, he asked him how he 
c. 28.  spent the time while he was abroad, who answered by way of compliment, that he incessantly prayed for the speedy death of Tiberius, & his succession to the Empire: whereupon, conceiving that his banished men prayed likewise for his death; he presently dispatched away messengers to the Lands where they lived in exile, commanding them all to be put to the sword. When he desired that a Senator should be torn in pieces; he hired one, who entering in to the Senate house, should assault him as an enemy to the state, and stabbing him with stilettoes, should leave him to be torn by others. Neque ante satiatus est quam membra, & artus, & viscera hominis tracta per vicos atque ante se congesta vidisset: Neither was he satiated before with his eyes he beheld the members & bowels of the man dragged thorough the streets and cast before him. He did not commonly execute any, but with many & soft strokes, his command 
c 30.  being now general and commonly known: Ita feri ut se mori sentiat, so strike him that he may feel himself to die; Being offended with the multitude for crossing his desires, he was heard to say, utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet, I could wish the people of Rome but one neck; meaning to chop them off at one blow. He was wont 
c. 31.  openly to complain of the unhappy condition of his times, that they were not made famous by any public calamity: That Augustus his government was memorable by the slaughter at Varia; & that of Tiberius by the fall of the scaffolds at Fidenae: but his was like to be buried in oblivion, by the calm and prosperous current of all things. And thereupon would he often wish, for the overthrow of his armies, famine, pestilence, fire, earthquakes, and the like, & when he was sporting or feasting himself, he abated nothing of his inbred and wont cruelty, but showed 
c. 32.  the same fierceness both in his words and deeds: Many times while he was dining were some examined upon the rack in his presence, and other had their heads stricken off. At Putzoll at the dedication of a bridge, having invited many unto him from the shore, on the sudden he gives order for the tumbling of them down headlong into the sea, & such as took hold of any thing to save their lives, he causes to be beaten off with poles & oars. Being one day very free at a great feast, he suddenly broke forth into a great slaughter: And the Consuls, who were next him, demanding the reason thereof, his answer was, Quid? nisi uno meo nutu jugulari utrumque vestrum statim posse, nothing but this, that at a beck from me, both your throats may presently be cut. In the midst of his jests, when standing near the statue of jupiter, he demanded Apelles the Tragedian, which of the two, himself or jupiter seemed the greater; Apelles making a pause, he commands him to be sliced in pieces 
c. 33.  with rods, now and then commending his voice calling for mercy, as being sweetly tuneable in the very groaning. As oft as he kissed the neck of his wife or mistress, he would commonly add, tam bona cervix simul ac iussero demetur, so fair a neck may be taken off the shoulders when I list: And sometimes he boastingly threatened, that he would wrest it out of the heart of Coesonia his darling with the rack, why he so affectionately loved her, so as it might truly be said of him, that he was indeed none other than lutum sanguine maceratum, a lump of clay soaked in blood, and of his times might justly be verified, what Seneca in his preface to his fourth book of natural questions speaks of Caius, sciebam olim sub illo in eum statum res humanas decidisse ut inter misericordiae opera haberetur occidi●… under him things were brought to that pass as it was reckoned amogst the works of mercy to be slain.  
Neither was this the disposition only of their Emperors, but of their inferior governor's & officers, happily by imitatio of their Emperors: in masters towards their slaves, in Generals towards their soldiers, and generally the whole multitude one towards another. Ved●…us Pollio was wont upon every light occasion, as sometimes for the breaking of a glass or some such trifle, to cast his slaves into his pond of Lampres, to be devoured by them: Vt in visceribus earum aliquid de servorum suorum corporibus & ipse gustaret, saith Tretullian; that the entralls of his 
Tertullian d●… Pallioc. 5. Lib: 9: c: 23:  Lampres might relish somewhat of the flesh of his slaves: But Pliny gives this censure upon it: Invenit in hoc animali documenta sae●…ae, non tanquam ad hoc feris terrarum non sufficientibus, fed quia in alio genere totum pariter hominem distrahi spectare non p●…terat. He found out in this fish a new kind of cruelty, not but that the wild beasts of the earth were sufficient to effect the same, but because he could in none other kind be hold the whole man to be torn in pieces▪ Not much inferior to this, was the rigorous cruelty of their Generals towards the soldiers, masked under the vizard of strict discipline. It is in this kind a memorable example, that Seneca●…elates ●…elates of Piso, who finding a soldier 
De Ira, l. 1. c. 16  to return from foraging without his companion, as if he had slain him whom he brought not back with him, condemned him to death; his execution being in readiness, and he stretching forth his neck to receive the stroke of the axe, behold in the very instant his companion appears in the place; whereupon the Centurion, who had the charge of the Execution, commands the Executioner to sheathe his sword, and carries back the condemned soldier to Piso, together with his companion, thereby to manifest his innocency, and the whole army waited on them with joyful acclamations: But Piso in a rage gets him up to the Tribunal, and condemns both the soldiers, the one for returning without his companion, & the other for not returning with him; and hereunto adds the condemnation of the Centurion for staying the execution without warrant, which was given him in charge; & thus constituti sunt in eodem loco perituri tres ob unius innocentiam: Three, 
Seneca Ibid▪  were condemned to die for the innocency of one. In more ancient times, three of the Albans named Curiatij, combating with three of 
 of the Horatij Romans for the Empire, by consent of both their states, two of the Romans were vanquished by the three Albans, and the three Albans again by one of the Romans, whose sister having married one of the Albans, because she wept to see her brother wear the spoils of her husband, she was instantly dispatched by him. Huma●…r hu●…us unius foeminae quam universi populi Romani mihi videtur fuisse aff●…tus, saith S. Augustine; the disposition of this one woman seemeth to 
De 〈◊〉 l: 3: c: 14  me more humane than that of the whole body of the people of Rome. here unto may be added that bloody speech, cast forth by the daughter of Appi●…s Coecus, who being crowded by the multitude, as she came 〈◊〉 seeing some public show, utinam, inquit; revi vis●…at frat●…r; aliamque 
Gellius 〈◊〉 10: c: 6.  classem in Siciliam ducat atque istam multitudinem perditum eat, quae me malè nunc miseram convexavit: I wish, saith she, my brother were alive again, that he might conduct another fleet against Sicily, and so make away this multitude which thus troubles me: Now her brother Publius Claudius lately before had lost many thousands of the Romans in an expedition by sea against the Sicilians, and with them his own life.   

SEC. 8. Thirdly, of their cruelty one towards another in their sword-fights: In which first is considered the original and increase of these games, aswell in regard of their frequency, as both the number and quality of the fighters.  
ANd no marveill this speech should fall from her coming from a public show, in as much as the whole body of this people made the effusion of humane blood, and the slaughtering of men their common sport and pastime. Some they cast to beasts, some they set to fight with beasts, some to fight one with another. These they called Gladiatores, swordplayers, & this spectacle, munus gladiatorium, a swordfight; in which their skill in defence was not somuch regarded or praised, as the undaunted giving or receiving of wounds, and life unfearefully parted with: neither mattered it who had the hap to survive, he being reserved but for another day's slaughter. And here I shall crave pardon, if I descend a little to particulars, and insist somewhat largely upon some of them; The matter in itself seems to require it, being no doubt very strange to such as are not acquainted with the Roman history, so strange, that in a people so renowned for their moral virtues, it might happily seem incredible, but that I make it good by the testimony of grave Authors, and which is more; their own: The testimony of any man against himself being in reputation of law of sufficient validity, without either legal exception, or just suspicion. If the Apostle judged the testimony of Epimenides the Poet, forcible against his own countrymen the Cretians, why should not we judge the 
Titu●…. 1. 12.  testimony of the most approved Roman Historiographers, Poets, & Orators weighty enough, being alleged against the Roman Nation. First then, I will consider the cruelty of the act itself, together with some aggravating circumstances. Secondly, the cruel disposition of the people, in entertaining it with that heat and fervency of affection, as is wonderful. Thirdly, that the Christian Religion was it which first cried out against it by the pens of her Divines, and then cried it down by the edicts of her Emperors.  
The beginning of these kind of shows originally sprang from a superstitious conceit, (suggested no doubt by the common enemy of mankind) of sacrificing with the blood of men for the Manes or Ghosts of their deceased parents or near friends. junius Brutus was the first 
Floru●….  we read of that began it in honour of his father's funerals, about 500 years after the City's foundation. He exhibited to this purpose in the market place, 22 pairs of sword-players: Hoc scilicet erat expiare manes patris, vel potius placare diabolum, saith Peter Martyr: This forsooth was to appease his father's Manes, or rather to please the Devil. After this, they grew so common, that men by their testaments appointed them at their funerals. Some there are, saith Seneca, who undertake to dispose of matters, even beyond the term of their lives, taking order for stately monuments, pompous funerals, & ad rogum munera, and at the end of their funerals, the exhibiting of sword-fights. And whereas it was in use only at the funerals of great men, within a while private men took it up, privatorum memorijs Legatariae editiones parentant, saith Tertullian in somewhat an harsh African phrase I confess, but doubtless 
De Spectac.  his meaning is, that even private men by legacies in their last wills, provided for these sword-fights, which by the Romans were called Editiones. Neither was this used at the funerals of men only, but of women too. julius Caesar exhibiting it at the death and for the honour of his daughter, which none ever did before him▪ and so from a small 
Suetonius, c. 26.  brook, it increased to a great and mighty sea, and from matter of Religion, became a matter merely of honour in those that gave it, and of pleasure in those that beheld it. Transijt hoc genus Editionis ab honoribus mortuorum ad honores viventium: These shows passed from the honour 
Tertullian.  of the dead to the honour of the living: The Aediles, the Praetors, the Quaestors, the Consuls, the Priests, the Emperors exhibited them at their birth days, at the dedication of public works & at triumphs, and by degrees they came to set solemn days, which they held as festival, and at the last, not the Magistrates alone, but private men exhibited them at all times, without difference of persons or days. juvenal speaking of some that of base fellows were become rich, adds  
Munera nunc edunt & verso policy vulgi  
Quemlibet occidunt populariter. 
Saty●…●…3:   
Sword-playes they do bestow, and when they turn the thumb,  
They murder whom they list.  
And Marshal tells us of a Cobbler that exhibited them,  
Das gladiatores sutorum regule Cerdo,  
Quodque tibi tribuit Subila, sica rapit.  
Brave king of Cobblers, thou sword-players dost maintain,  
And what thine awl doth get, the sword soon spends again.  
The number of sword-players thus exhibited, grew in the end to a multitude incredible. Caesar in his Edileshippe exhibited three hundred and twenty pair. Gordianus sometimes 500, & never less than an hundred every month. Traian by the space of 123 days without intermission ten thousand; but that of Nero exceeds all, and almost belief itself: Exhibuit ad ferrum quadringentos Senatores sexcentosque Equites 
Suetonius, c. 12.  Romanos: He brought forth to the swordfight four hundred Seanatours and six hundred Roman Knights So that in regard of those excessive number thus wilfully cast away thorough the Roman Empire, we may justly complain with Lypsius, Non temere à funere ortares, 
Sermon. Satu●…. 1: 1●…:  quae revera funus & pestis orbis terrae, credo, imò scio, nullum bellum tantam cladem vastitiemque generi humano intulisse, quam hos advoluptatem ludos, numerum cum animis vestris recensete dierum quos dixi hominumque, mentior, si non unus aliquis mensis Europae stetit vitenis capitum millibus, aut tricenis 〈◊〉▪ It seems upon good reason to borrow its original from Funerals; it being in truth the very funeral and plague of the World, I think, nay I know that no war ever made such havoc of mankind as those games of pleasure▪ Do but count the number of days & men which I named, & let me●… not be credited, if one month sometimes did not cost Europe twenty thousand or thirty thousand heads▪ Yet was the expense infinite which these bloody games cost the masters of them in hiring, in dieting, in disciplining, in arming, in bringing forth their sword-players, in preparing the Theatre & the like▪ And in this regard as for some noble and meritorious act, they had ti●…es & honours bestowed upon them, & pillars with inscriptions erected to them, and during their shows they had the power of public Magistrates: And though those whom they exhibited in the●…e games at first were ●…ues only or captives, over whom they had ●…us vit●… & neci●…, power of life & death, yet afterwards they drew into the sand free men, Knights, Sen●…ours, yea Histories not only affirm, that Commodus the Emperor did himself play the Gladiator in person, but his Statue in that fashion stark naked with his naked sword in his hand is yet to be seen at Rome in the palace of the Farnesis. But that which passeth all bounds of humanity, moderation and modesty is, that Domitian exhibited women in these sword-fights, of which Statius,  

Stat sex us rudi●… insci●…que; ferri  
Et pugnas capit improbus viri●…es, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   
Credas ad Tanaim serumque Phasin  
Thermodonti●…as calere turmas.   

Th'unskillful sex not fit for broils▪  
In bloody fights to manlike toils:  
You at Tanais would have thought  
Or Phasis, Amazons had fought.    

SECT. 9 Secondly, of the fervent and eagen affection of the people to these games, as also that they were in use in the Provinces, and namely among the jews, but refused by the Grecians, and why.  
NOw the affection of the people to these bloody games was such, that at the death of a great man they would call for them as due, & mutiny if they had them 〈◊〉. The marketplace being not able to contain the multitude that flocked unto them, they had theatres & Amphitheatres built if not purposely, yet specially for these shows, which places were of incredible both charge & capacity, some one of them being sufficient to hold above a hundred thousand persons, & yet all little enough in regard of the infinite troops that resorted thither. Equidem existimo, saith Tully, nullum tempus esse frequentioris populi quam illud 
Oratione pro Sestio.  Gladiatorium: Truly I think there is at no time a greater concourse of the people then at the sword-playes. And again, Id autem spectaculi genus erat quod omni frequentia atque omni genere hominum celebratur, quo multitudo maximè delecta●…; that kind of show is it which is most frequented with company of all sorts, & with which the multitude is most delighted. They left all other sporrs to run to this,  

Primo actu placeo cum interèa rumor venit  
Datum iri gladiatores, populus convolat▪  
Tumultuantur, clamant, pugnant de loco.   
They be the words of the Comical Poet, My first act pleased them well, when in the mean while a rumour was raised that the sword-players were at hand, at which noise the people flock thither: They strive tumultuously, they cry out, they fight for their places. When the day was ser, they sought the time long before it came, as appears by that of Seneca, Quicquid interjacet grave est, tam mehercules quam quando dies gladiatorij 
De ●…revit▪ 〈◊〉  muneris dictus est, transire medi●…s dies volunt. Whatsoever falls in between is troublesome, as are the days which come between the publishing of the day of the sword-playes & the coming of it. Being assembled, and the sword-players entered the fight, Irascitur populus & injuriam putat 
Do Ira lib. 1.  quod non libenter pereunt, saith the same Seneca, the multitude grows angry and hold it a wrong and scorn done them, if they die not willingly. With whom Lactantius accords in sense, & almost in words, Irascuntur etiam pugnantibus nisi celeriter è duobus alter occisus est, & tanquam humanum 
Lib. 6. c. 20.  sanguinem sitiant, oderunt mor●…s 〈◊〉. They are displeased with the sword-players except one of them be presently slain: And as if they thirsted for humane blood, they are impatient of delays. Such as were wounded, and lay weltering in their blood, they desired to be searched; Ne quis illos simulata morte deludat, lest any should deceive them with a feigned death: And this was not done only by men, but by women, by Virgins, by Uirgines devoted to Religion, by the Vestal Virgins themselves.  

— Consurgit ad ictus 
Prudentius.   
Et quoties Victor ferrum jugulo inserit illa  
Delicias putat esse suas, pectusque jacentis  
Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi.   

— Rise up at every stroke she must▪  
And whiles into the throat the Victor's knife is thrust,  
That's th'only sport, and then the modest Vestal Priest  
Turning her thumb commands to stab him through the breast.   
Besides this, some of them bathed their hands in the blood of the slain, as Lampridius observes in the life of Commodus; And which of all is most horrible to imagine, they sucked the recking blood out of the fresh wounds. For which we have the testimony of Pliny: Now a days, saith he, you shall see them that are subject to the falling evil to 
Lib. 28. c. 1.  drink the very blood of Fencers & sword-players as out of living cups; a thing that when we behold within the same shewplace, Tigers, Lions, & other wild beasts to do, we have it in horror as a most fearful and odious spectacle, and these monstrous minded persons are of opinion, that the said blood for sooth is most effectual for the curing of that disease, if they may suck it breathing warm out of the man himself, if they may set their mouth close to the vein, to draw thereby the very heart blood, life and all; How unnatural soever otherwise it be holden for a man to put his lips so much as to the wounds of wild beasts for to drink their blood. So as it seems they still retained the nature of that wolf which Romulus their founder sucked, and as their walls were tempered with blood  
Fraterno primi maduerunt sanguine muri  
With brother's blood the walls at first embrued were.  
So were their minds; And yet as if in all this they had done marvellous well, they proclaimed these games, they set up bills in public places to signify the time & the number of the days they lasted, together with a list of the names and qualities of the sword-players, and sometimes the more to content and provoke the multitude, but too forward of themselves, they set forth and exposed to public view those Tragical sports in painted tables, artificially done and to the life, which practice was first begun by Terentius Lucanus, as witnesseth Pliny: All 
Lib. 35. 7.  which considered, I have often wondered at two things, the one that Satan should so far prevail upon this people in blinding their vnde●…nding, being otherwise held a wise Nation, & great Professors of Morality; the other, that the Divine Vengeance should suffer such prodigious Cruelty to pass so long unrevenged: yet Bodin rightly and truly 
Method●… Hist. c. 7. Tacitus Annal. 4. 14.  observes, that by God's judgement at Fidenae fifty thousand men beholding a swordfight, were at once slain by thr fall of a Theatre: which notwithstanding this foul practice infected most of their Provinces and Colonies, and so far wrought it upon the jews themselves, that Agrippa 
josephus' l. 19  exhibited unto them una commissione paria septingenta, seven hundred pairs of Fencers at one sitting, exceeding therein the Romans themselves. And a kind of shadow hereof we have resembled in the 2. of Samuel and the 2. Abner said to joab, Let the young men now arise and play before us: and joab said, let them arise: Then there arose and went over twelve of Benjamin by number which pertained to Ishbosheth the son of Saul, & twelve of the servants of David, & every one caught his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side, so they fell down together. In which combat, saith Peter Martyr in his Commentaries on the place, their meaning was not to decide the controversy by the event of the conflict, for the sparing of blood as was intended in the duels betwixt David and Goliath, the Horatij & the Curiatij, sed nihil aliud hic quaeritur quam ut homines barbarico & belluino more sese mutuo sauciantes & cadentes, spectantium oculos pascerent horrendo spectaculo: here they sought for nothing else but that men wounding and killing one another in a barbarous and a beastly manner, and so falling down dead before them they might feed the eyes of the beholders with an horrid spectacle. Now for the Grecians, though it be true that the Athenians indeed desired the sword-playes after the Roman manner, yet Demonax gave them a short & wise answer, prius evertendam esse aram misericordiae quam tanta atrocitas publicè reciperetur, that the Altar erected to Mercy was first to be demolished before so outrageous cruelty could with reason be admitted.   

SECT. 10. Thirdly, these bloody spectacles were cried out against by the tongues and pens of Christian Divines, and then cried down by the Laws and power of Christian Emperors.  
But after the bright beams of the glorious Gospel of jesus Christ began to shine through the world, these bloody games were cried out against by the writings of Christian Divines, and at last cried down and utterly abolished by the power and edicts of Christian Magistrates. Lactantius is full and round in this point, Qui hominem quamvis 
Lib. 6. c. 20.  ob merita damnatum in conspectu suo jugulari pro voluptate computat, conscientiam suam polluit tam scilicet quam si homicidij quod fit occultè spectator & particeps fiat; hos tamen ludos vocant in quibus humanus sanguis effunaitur, adeò longè ab hominibus facessit humanitas, ut cum animas hominum interficiant ludere se opinentur nocentiores iis omnibus quorum sanguinem voluptati habeant. He that makes it his pastime to behold a man put to death, though justly deserving it, stains his Conscience as much as if he w●…re guilty of secret murder, yet these they call games in which the blood of men is shed, so far is manhood abandoned from men, that they think it but a sport, being in truth themselves more worthy to suffer than they, in the shedding of whose blood they thus delight. And before him Cyprian, Paratur gladiatorius ludus, ut libidinem crudelium 
Epist. ad D●…natum.  luminum sanguis oblectet; The sword-playes are prepared, that the blood gushing out may satiate the wicked longing of their cruel eyes. And before him again Tertullian, Qui ad cadaver hominis communi lege defuncti exhorret, idem in amphitheatro derosa & dissipata, & in suo sanguine 
De spectacul●…s.  squalentia corpora patientissimis oculis desuper incumbit. He that startles at the sight of the Corpses of a man dead by the common course of Nature, most patiently and contentedly beholds them in the Amphitheatre mangled and all to be gored with their own blood.  
Now as the pens and tongues of the Christians were thus armed against this Monster, so were likewise their Laws & Swords. Constantine the first Christian Emperor was he that first gave it a deadly wound. Vetuit Idolis sacrificari, vetuit gladiatorum caedibus pollui urbes; He forbade 
Euseb. l 4 de vita Constant.  sacrificing to Idols, and the pollution of cities by the slaughter of sword-players. And the Law itself we have inserted into the Code, 
Lib. 2. Tit. ●…3  Cruenta spectacula in otio civili & domestica quiete non placent, quapropter omninò gladiatores esse prohibemus; such bloody spectacles in these peaceable time we like not, and therefore straightly forbid all kind of sword-playes. Yet after this (such was the madness of the people upon them) that they were vehemently desired & broke out by starts, but it was a resolute and worthy answer of Theodosius to them earnestly soliciting him for the restitution of these games, Pium Principem oportet non tantum regnare, sed etiam spectare clementer; it behoves a religious Prince not only to reign but to look mildly and mercifully, that is, not to accustom himself to such cruel spectacles. And to the same purpose writes Prudentius to Honorius.  

jam solis contenta feris infamis arena, 
Lib. ult. contra Symachum.   
Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis,  
Nullus in urbe cadat cujus sit poena voluptas.   

Th' infamous sand is now with beasts content,  
In bloody arms manslaughter is not played,  
Nor pleasure made of death and punishment.    

SECT. 11. The Romans being thus cruel towards others, likewise turned the edge of their cruelty upon themselves, partly by a voluntary exposing themselves to present death in those public shows, either for money, or upon a bravery, or by laying violent hands upon themselves; which by their gravest writers was held not only lawful and commendable, but in some cases honourable.  
THus we see how these bloody shows had their birth from Paganism, but their death from Christianity, yet before we conclude this point touching the Roman cruelty, it shall not be amiss to consider how by the just judgement of God, they who were thus barbarously cruel towards others, turned the edge of their cruelty upon their own breasts, and became likewise most unmerciful and unnatural towards themselves; not only by a voluntary exposing of themselves to death in their theatres, by encountering with men and beasts, but by holding it lawful, yea in some cases both commendable and honourable, to lay violent hands upon themselves, & to cut off the thread and extinguish the lamp of their own lives. For the first, it is certain that many of them were well content to sell their lives for money,  
— Quanti sua funera vendant,  
Quid refert? vendunt nullo cogente Nerone.  
What skils it for how much their death they sell?  
They sell't, yet them no Nero doth compel.  
saith juvenal. and Manilius to like purpose.  
Nunc caput in mortem vendunt & funus arenae 
Lib. 4.   
Atque hostem sibi quisque parat cum bella quiescunt.  
In th' Amphitheatre to death and slaughter they their head  
Do sell, and seek out enemies when wars are quieted.  
And with this did the Christians upbraid them, Nec vitae quidem suae parcunt, sed extinguendas publicè animas vendunt, saith Lactantius, Neither 
Lib. 5. c. 9  do they so much as spare their own lives, but sell their souls to be publicly extinguished, and sometimes they did it upon a bravery to show their courage, as appears by that of Tertullian in his exhortation to Martyrdom, Quot otiosos affectatio armorum ad gladium vocat, certè ad feras ipsas affectatione descendunt, & de morsibus & cicatricibus formosiores sibi videntur? How many idle companions only thorough a vain affectation of applause are drawn into the sword-fights, nay encounter with wild beasts, seeming to themselves more beautiful by the scars and wounds which they there receive.  
Neither did they only thus voluntarily expose their lives for a prize or v●…ine-glory to the rage of men or beasts, but which was more cruel, their greatest Clerks held it not lawful only, but commendable, and in some cases honourable, to cut off the thread of their own lives▪ Hereupon he cries out in the Tragedy.  

Vbique mors est optime hoc cavit Deus, 
O●…dipus apud Sen came Theb. act. 1. scen. 1.   
Eripere vitam nemo non homini po●…est,  
At nemo mortem, mille ad hanc aditus patent.   

Death's everywhere, God would it so should be,  
Life every man from man, death none can take,  
A thousand ways thereto wide open lie.   
And lest we should think this to be but a Poetical fiction, whereby men are made to speak what the Poet pleaseth, let us hear the wisest & worthiest among them speaking in good earnest in this matter. Quintilian affirms, that nemo nisi sua culpa diu dolet, no man is long in pain or s●…rrow 
In pr●…emio l. 6.  unless it be thorough his own fault, meaning that kill himself he may be rid of it when he pleaseth. Yea even Seneca himself approves of this selfe-homicide in divers places, and though himself of a contrary Sect, yet he highly commends that speech of Epicurus, Malum est 
Epist. 1●…  in necessitate vivere, necessitas nulla est: Quidni nulla si●…? patent undique ad libertatem viae multae, breves, faciles, agamus Deo gratias quod nemo in vita teneri potest. Indeed it is a misery to live in necessity, but there is no necessity for a man so to live, there are many, and short, and easy ways to free ourselves, let us give thanks to God that no man can be compelled to live whether he will or no. And again, Si me quidem velis audire, hoc meditare, exerce te ut mortem & excipias, & si ita res suadebit, a cersas, 
Epist. 70.  interest nihil an illa ad nos veniat, an ad illam nos. If thou wilt follow my counsel, so prepare thyself, that thou mayst entertain death, nay if need be, thou mayst send for it. For it matters not whether death come to us, or we go to death. Yea he mocks and derides those that 
Epist. 70.  make any scruple thereof, bono loco res humanae sunt, quod nemo nisi vitio suo miser est, placet? Vive: si non placet, licet eo reverti unde venisti, the condition of our estate in this is happy, that no man is miserable but by his own default: Doth thy life please thee? live; if it please thee not thou mayst return when thou wilt from whence thou camest. And in another 
De Iral. 3. c. 15  place, Quocunque respexcris ibi malornm finis est, vides illud praecipitem locum? illac ad libertatem descenditur. Vides illud mare, illud flumen, illud puteum? Libertas illic in imo sedet; vides illam arborem, brevem, horridam, infaelicem? Pendet inde libertas. Vides iugulum tuum, guttur tuum, cor tuum? effugia servitutis sunt. Nimis mihi operosos exitus monstras, & multum animi atque roboris exigentes. Quaeris quod sit ad libertatem iter? quaelibet in corpore toto vena. Which way soever thou lookest, there is an end of all evils to be found. Dost thou see an high and steep place? by falling down from it, thou shalt fall into liberty. Seest thou such a sea, or such a river, or such a pit? liberty lies in the bottom of them, if thou have the heart to cast thyself into them. Dost thou see a tree whereon others have been hanged? there hangs liberty, if thou wilt hang thyself. Dost thou see thine own neck, throat, heart? they are all places of escape to fly from bondage. Are these too hard and painful means to get out, & wouldst thou yet know the way to liberty? Every vein in thy body is a way to it. To conclude this point, Pliny would have us believe that our mother earth having pity on us, doth bring forth 
Pl●…ny, l. 2. c. 63.  poisons to dispatch ourselves out of this wretched world with an easy draught, without wounding the body, or shedding the blood, when there shall be due occasion. And to this purpose, the fact of Cato & Pomponius Atticus, are by their Historians highly commended, as is likewise that of Rasias, by the Author of the books of Macchabees, as 
Macch●…. 2. 14.  a manful and noble act. But among Christians, though it be sometimes practised, yet it is not taught by them; nay by the Christian religion, it is straightly forbidden & condemned, and so far as punishment may light upon the dead, it is punishable, not only by the Common, but by the Cannon & Civil Laws. The Romans are generally much commended for their courage, their wisdom, their justice: But I would demand what courage it is for a man to run away from misery, that he may not grapple with it or look it in the face? What Wisdom, to commend their citizens for dispatching themselves at their own pleasure, so robbing the state of a member, and perchance a very serviceable one, such as Cato was? What justice, that men either thorough weakness of mind, or strength of passion not always capable of reason, should be permitted to give sentence, and do execution upon themselves? And lest we should think that this was the only vice this Nation, (somuch renowned for civility and virtue) was subject unto; I will likewise in passing touch their Covetousness, which was in truth insatiable, and th●…en take a larger view of their luxury, spreading itself into many branches, but all of them most excessive, & were they not recorded by their own writers almost incr edible.    

CAP. 5. Of the excessive Covetousness of the Romans, and their insatiable thirst, of having more, though by most unjust and indirect means.  

SECT. 1. Of the excessive covetousness of the Romans in general, by the testimonies of Petronius Arbiter, juvenal, Galgacus, and Hannibal; and in particular Caecilius Claudius, Marcus Crassus, and specially Seneca the Philosopher are taxed for this vice.  
THe rapine and covetousness of the Romans was such, that being Lords in a manner of all the known world, yet therewith they rested not content.  

Orbem jam totum Victor Romanus habebat, 
Petronius Arbiter.   
Qua mare, qua tellus, qua sydus currit utrumque,  
Nec satiatus erat,   

Now the victorious Roman all the world had won,  
Sea, land, and all where both the stars their course do run,  
Yet was not satisfied.   
These are they, whom brave Galgacus in the life of julius Agricola justly styles Raptores orbis, unjust robbers of the world who having left no land, saith he, to be spoilt, search also the sea, whom not the East nor West have satisfied: To take away by main force, to kill and to spoil falsely they call Empire, and when all is laid waste as a wilderness, that they call peace. This unquenchable desire of theirs, Hannibal likewise both truly and wittily expressed; before whom, when Antiochus mustered a great army prepared against the Romans, richly furnished with weapons inamiled, ensigns, saddles, bridles, and trappings, embossed and embroidered with gold and silver, being demanded by the King, whether all that gallant show were not sufficient for the Romans, his answer was short but sharp, taxing aswell the Cowardice of Antiochus his soldiers, as the covetousness of the Romans: Plane 
Macrobius. l 2. cap. 2. E●… Gellio, l. 3. c. 6.  satis esse credo Romanis haec etsi avarissimi sint, yes truly I believe here is enough for the Romans though they be most excessively covetous. But this honour of theirs afterwards increased infinitely, as appears by that of juvenal,  
Vberior nunquam vitiorum copia, nunquam 
juven. Sat. 1.   
Maior avaritiae patuit sinus.  
Was never yet more plenteous store of vice,  
Nor deeper gulf lay open of avarice.  
And Manilius,  
Nullo votorum fine beati,  
Victuros agimus semper, nec vivimus unquam. 
Lib. 4.   
Never contented with our present state,  
weare still about to live, but live not till too late:  
Every man saith he wishing for that he hath not, but making no reckoning of that he hath.  
Nec quod habet numerat tantum quod non habet optat  
For particulars, Pliny tells us, that when Asinius Gallus & Martius Censorinus 
Pliny, l. 33. c. 10  were Consuls died Cecilius Claudius, who signified by his last will & testament, that albeit he had sustained exceeding great loss during the troubles of the civil wars, yet he should leave behind him at the thoure of his death, of slaves belonging to his retinue four thousand one hundred & sixteen, in oxen three thousand and six hundred yoke, of other cattle two hundred fifty seven thousand, and in ready coin, 
h according to ●…octour Holland, whose translation of Pliny I commonly follow, as a so his computation of the Roman coins, mentioned by that Author.  three score millions of sesterces, besides a very great sum he set out for defraying his funeral charges. And for Marcus Crassus, the same Author in the same chapter affirms, that he was wont to say, that no man was to be accounted rich and worthy of that title, unless he were able to despend by the year, as much in revenue, as would maintain a legion of soldiers. And verily, saith Pliny, his own lands were esteemed worth two hundred millions of Sesterces; and yet such was his avarice, that he could not content himself with that wealthy estate, but upon an hungry desire to have all the gold of the Parthians, would needs undertake a voyage against them; in which expedition he was taken prisoner by Surinas, Lieutenant General for the King of Parthia, who struck off his head, and poured gold melted into his mouth to satisfy his hunger after it. But I most wonder at Seneca the Philosopher, who every where in his writings bitterly inveighs against these co vetous desires, & yet within four years' space gathered he three thousand times three hundred thousand Sesterces, which amounts in our 
Tacitus, Annal. l. 13. c. 10.  coin to 2343750 pounds, and in casting up this sum, both the Translator of Tacitus his Annals, and Master Brerewood precisely accords. 
De pouderibus, c. 19  And whatsoever fair pretence he make in his books of mortification and contempt of the world, yet certain it is, that beside this mass of treasure, he had goodly farms in the country, as appears by his own Epistles, and in the city spacious gardens, & princely sumptuous palaces, the one mentioned by juvenal. Sat. 10.  
Senecae praedivitis hortos:  
The gardens of Seneca the rich:  
The other by Marshal: lib: 4. Epigram: 40,  
Et docti Senecae ter numeranda domus:  
Three houses of Seneca the learned.   

SECT. 2. Of their wonderful greediness of gold, manifested by their great toil and danger in working their mines, fully and lively described by Pliny.  
But that which much more aggravates this vice of the Romans is, that commonly they gathered their riches either by violent rapine, extortion, & oppression, or by cunning slights, & base practices, or lastly by the infinite toil of such as therein they employed, not without the endangering of the lives of many thousands. I will begin with the last; and that I may the more clearly and effectually express it, I will deliver it in the words of Pliny, where he thus speaks of the earth, torn and rend in sunder for rich metals and precious stones.  
The 
Lib: 2: c: 63.  misusages, saith he, which she abideth above and in her outward skin, may seem in some sort tolerable, but we not satisfied therewith, pierce deeper and enter into her very bowels, we search into the veins of gold & silver, we mine & dig for copper & lead metals, and for to seek out gems & some little stones, we strike pits deep within the ground. Thus we pluck the very heartstrings out of her, and all to wear on our finger one gem or precious stone. To fulfil our pleasure & desire, how many hands are worn with digging & delving, that one ●…oynt of our finger might shine again. Surely, if there were any Devils beneath, ere this time verily these mines (for to feed covetousness & riot) would have brought them up above ground. And again in his proem to his 33 book, we descend, saith he, into her entralls, we go down as far as to the seat & habitation of infernal spirits, and all to meet with rich treasure, as if the earth were not fruitful enough, & beneficial unto us in the upper face thereof, where she permitteth us to walk and tread upon her. Now the infinite toil, the fearful and continual danger of these works, he notably describeth in the fourth chapter of the same book. The third manner of searching of this mettle is, saith he, so painful and toilsome, that it surpasseth the wonderful work of the Giants in old time. For necessary it is in this enterprise and business to undermine a great way by candle light, and to make hollow vaults under the mountains, in which labour the pioneers work by turns, successively after the manner of a relief in a set watch, keeping every man his hours in just measure, and in many a month's space, they never see the sun nor daylight. This kind of work & mines they call Arrugiae; wherein it falleth out many times, that the earth above head chinketh, and all at once without giving any warning settleth & falleth, so as the poor pioneers are overwhelmed & buried quick: yet say, they work safe enough, and be not in jeopardy of their lives by the fall of the earth, yet be their other difficulties which impeach their work: For other whiles they meet with rocks of flint and rags, which they are driven to cleave & pierce thorough with fire & vinegar; yet for fear of being stifled with the vapour arising from thence, they are forced to give over such fireworks, & betake themselves oftentimes to great mattocks & pickaxes, yea and to other engines of iron, weighing one hundred & fifty pound a piece, where with they hue such rocks in pieces, & so sink deeper & make way before them. The earth and stones which with somuch ado they have thus loosed, they are fain to carry from under their feet in scuttles and baskets upon their shoulders, which pass from hand to hand evermore to the next fellow. Thus they moil in the dark both day & night in these infernal dungeons, and none of them see the light of the day, but those that are last, & next unto the pits mouth or entry of the cave. Howbeit, be the rock as ragged as it will, they count not that their hardest work: For there is a certain earth resembling a kind of tough clay, which they call white Lome; this being intermingled with gravel or gritty sand, is so hard baked together, that there is no dealing with it; it so scorneth and checketh all their ordinary tools & labour about it, that it seemeth impenetrable. What do the poor labourers then? They set upon it lustily with iron wedges, they lay on load uncessantly with mighty beetles, & verily they think there is nothing in this world harder than this labour, unless it be this unsatiable hunger after gold, which surpasseth all the hardness & difficulty that is.  
Now notwithstanding the great danger and toil of those works, infinite was the number which the Romans employed therein, as may in part appear by the same Author in the same chap: Here saith he, cometh to my remembrance an Act of the Censors extant upon record, as touching the gold mine of Ictimulum a town in the territory of Verselles, which act contained an inhibition, that the Publicans, whofarmed that mine of the City should not keep above five thousand pioneers together at work there:  
By which restraint it should seem, that their usual practice was to keep more, and this have we by Polybius fully cleared, affirming that in the Spanish mines at New Carthage, no less than forty thousand men were daily employed.   

SECT. 3. Their unmerciful pilling and poling, robbing and spoiling the provinces, not sparing the very temples and things sacred.  
YEt had all this been in some sort tolerable, had they not hereunto added the pilling & poling, the robbing & spoiling of their provincials; sometimes by open force & rapine, but commonly under the colourable pretences of tributes or Fees. Demades was wont to say when he was advanced to any place of government; ad auream messem se venisse, that he was come to a golden harvest; and this was surely the conceit of the Roman Precedents when they went to their charges every one like another jason, promised to himself the bringing back of a golden fleece, these were in truth those Harpies.  
— Quarum decerpitur unguibus orbis, 
Rutili●…: Itiner. 1.   
Quae pede glutineo quae tetigêre trahunt.  
Whose claws spoil all the world, whose gluey feet  
Draw to themselves what ere they touch or meet.  
That which Cicero charged Verres with, in the government of Sicily, was doubtless the common practice of them all in like places; as in part appears by the conclusion of C. Gracchus his speech to the people after his return to Rome from the government of Sardinia, as Gellius relates it; the bags, saith he, which I carried forth with me full of money, 
15: 12:  I brought back empty; whereas others returned home those barels full of silver, which they sent forth filled with wine. They had officers under them for their collecting of their tributes, whom they named Publicans; which word we have still retained in our Gospels; but so as it there appears, they were an odious kind of people, by reason of their unjust and unmerciful exactions; whence some (though improperly in regard of the word, yet not impertinently in regard of their snarling and biting conditions) have styled them Publicani, quasi publici canes, and if these were dogs, sur●…ly the Precedents themselves were wolves & lions, not leaving the bones till the morrow, as the Prophet describes the Princes & judges of Israel. One of them while he was yet 
Zephany, 3. 3.  trembling at S. Paul's sermon touching Righteousness, temperance, & the 
Act. 24. v. 26. 27.  judgement to come, yet such a corrupt habit had he gotten, that even then he groped him for a bribe, though a man most unlikely to afford it, aswell in regard of his doctrine and profession, as his poor estate. But some where have I read of this unhappy Felix, that he was inexplebilis avaritiae gurges, an unsatiable gulf of covetousness. Such a one, I am sure, was Sylla, who raised out of the lesser Asia alone, twenty thousand talents yearly: Yet Brutus & Cassius went farther, forcing them to 
App●…anus, l. 5. bellorum civilium. Plutarch.  pay the tribute of ten years within the space of two, and Anthony in one; by which computation they paid in one year two hundred thousand talents, a mighty sum. L. Paulus held one of their best citizens, pretending to make the Epirotes free, as were the Macedonians whom he had conquered, under that pretence, calling out ten of the chief of every city, he advised them to bring forth their gold & silver, which done, he divided his cohorts among them, & gave in charge to the Tribunes & Centurions what his pleasure was: In the morning his command was executed by the Townsmen, and at four of the clock sign was given to his soldiers for the sacking of the Towns. Tantaque praeda fuit, saith Livy, ut in equitem quadringenti denarij, peditibus 
Lib. 45.  duceni dividerentur: So great was the spoil, as there fell to the share of an horseman four hundred denarij, and of a footman two hundred. Nay, in Italy itself Plemminius Lieutenant to Scipio Africanus 
Idem. l 43.  proceeded so far upon the Locreans, over whom he was set with a garrison, that he abstained not from sacrilege, neither did he spoil other Churches alone, but that of Proserpina, robbing & carrying away, intactos omni aetate the sauros, treasures till then untouched. These were strange outrages, that of Galba was indeed less outrageous but more base, he being Proconsul in Spain under Nero, the Taraconians sent him for a present a Crown of gold, affirming that it weighed fifteen pounds. He received it, & causing it to be weighed, found it to want three pound, which he exacted from them: Postposito omni pudore, saith Fulgosus, laying aside all shame, as if it had been a due debt. And to 
Lib. 8.  show he was no changeling, even after his coming to the Empire, he gave with his own hand to a certain musician that pleased him, out of his own purse 20 Sesterces about three shillings English, & to his steward at the making up of his books, a reward from his table. This was base, but that of julius Caesar most dishonest, who in his first Consulship stole out of the Capitol three thousand weight of gold, laying up as much gilded 
Sueton. c. 54.  copper instead thereof. He sacked in an hostile manner certain towns of the Portugals, though they disobeyed not his commands, but freely & friendly opened their gates unto him for his entrance. In France he rob the Oratories & Temples of the Gods, stored with rich offerings & ornaments, & laid waste their Cities, Saepius ob praedam quam ob delictum, saith Suetonius, oftener for love of booty then for any offence by them committed, and afterwards supplied the expense of his civil wars, his triumphs, his shows to the people, evidentissimis rapinis & sacrilegijs, by most notorious pillaging & sacrilege. And no marveill, since as witnesseth Cicero in the third book of his Offices, he had always that of Euripides in his mouth.  
Si violandum est jus, imperij gratia,  
Violandum est:  
If right for aught a man may violate,  
'Tis for a kingdom.  
And I see not, but that he might as safely hold that justice is to be violated for treasure, by which Empire is to be gotten & maintained, as for Empire itself.   

SECT. 4. Of the base and most unconscionable practices of Tiberius and Caligula, nay even of Vespasian himself for the heaping up of treasure.  
NOw if this were the opinion & practice of julius Caesar, what should we expect from Nero, Tiberius, & Caligula, of whom the first wasted Italy by contributions and borrowing of money, ruined the provinces, and impoverished the confederates of the people of 
Tac. Annal. 15. 11.  Rome, and the cities which were called free: Yea the Gods themselves were not privileged from being made a prey: But the temples in the city were robbed, & the gold carried away, which the people of Rome in all ages, either in triumphs or vows, in prosperity or fear had dedicated to the Gods: Yea in Achaia & Asia not only consecrated gifts, but the images of the Gods were taken away; Acratus and Secundus Carinates being sent thither of purpose. The second being presented with a goodly fish, he sent it to be sold in the market, and being designed 
Seneca Epist. 95.  here by Cn. Lentulus one of the Augurs, and a man of great revenues, 
Suet. cap. 49  never left him till thorough fear and anguish he had brought him to his grave. Also to pleasure Quirinus who had been Consul, a wonderful rich man, but childless, in hope to be his heir, he condemned his wife Lepida a noble and worthy Lady divorced from her husband after twenty years' marriage, and accused of contriving his death by poison long before. Venon likewise King of Parthia, who being driven out of his own Kingdom, and betaking himself to the trust of the people of Rome, came to Antiochia with infinite treasure, he caused most perfidiously to be robbed both of it and his life, and of his life for it.  
Verum ut hoc in eo horrenda fuerunt, ita quae sequuntur dedecoris plena, as these things in him were horrible, so were those that followed most abominable and shameful, saith Fulgosus, in reference to Caligula, the successor to Tiberius aswell in vice as Empire. Some with threats he forced to name him their Heir, and if they recovered after the making of 
Sueton. c. 38. & in sequen●…ibus.  their wills, he dispatched them by poison, holding it ridiculous that they should long live after their wills were made. For the bringing in of money he set up stews both of boys & women in the palace itself, and sent some thorough the streets to invite men thither for the increasing of the Emperor's revenues, and having by this and such like wretched means amassed huge sums of treasure, he to satiate his appetite contrectandae pecuniae cupidine incensus, being inflamed with a longing desire of touching money, would sometimes walk upon heaps of gold, and sometimes as they lay spread abroad in a large room, roll himself over them stark naked. O ingentem nimiamque avaritiam quae in tanto imperio tantum Principem excaecatum in eam vilitatem abjectionemque deduxisti, ut neque dedecus suum, neque imperii ignominiam agnosceret, saith Fulgosus, most transcendent & excessive covetousness which blinded so great a Commander, & cast him into such extremity of baseness as to become a public Pander & a poisoner for love of money, which no ingenuous minded man though pressed with extreme necessity would practise though in private.  
But this was in these Monsters no miracle, I more wonder at Vespasian, who had the reputation (perchance by reason of their villainy▪) of a good Emperor, yet even he was so impotently covetous, that he not 
Suet. 〈◊〉.  only called for the arreareages due in Galba's time, but raised new tributes, & laid upon the Provinces more grievous impositions, doubling them in some places, Negotiationes vel privato pudendus propalam exercuit, he publicly practised such kind of traffic, as even a private man would shame to do; taking up commodities at a cheap hand, that afterward he might vent them at dearer rates: neither did he spare to sell honours to such as sued for them, or absolutions to such as were accused, whether they proved guiltless or guilty, he was thought of set purpose to have made choice of the most ravenous poling officers he could anywhere find out, and to have advanced them to the highest places, that being thereby grown rich, he might condemn their persons, and confiscate their goods, and these men he was commonly said to use as sponges, Quod quasi & siccos madefaceret, & exprimeret humentes, because he both moistened them being dry, and wrung them out being moistened. Nay which was more base, he laid an imposition upon urine, and being by his son Titus put in mind of the baseness of it, he took a piece of money received for that use, and putting it to his son's nostrils, demanded of him whether he felt any other savour from it then from any other money, adding withal, Bonus odor lucri ex re qualibet, the smell of gain is good from any thing whatsoever.   

SECT. 5. That the whole Nation was deeply infected with the same vice.  
ANd to speak a truth, the whole body of this people was so far possessed with this dropsy, that Salvianus makes it their national 
Lib. 7. de Prov●…n. i●….  disease, Avaritiae inhumanitas proprium Romanorum malum, inhuman covetousness is the disease proper to all the Romans. And with him accords Mithridates in justin, Non temerè se lupi uberibus alitos 
Lib 36.  jactare, omnet enim habere luporum animos inexplebiles, sanguinis, imperij, divitiarumque avidos esse & jejunos; that they did not without reason boast themselves to be nourished from the dug of a she wolf, inasmuch as they have all of them insatiable minds of wolves, greedily thirsting after Empire, blood and riches. And this well appeared in two public Acts of theirs, the one was, that a piece of Land being in controversy between the Ardeatines and the Aricinians, they both by joint consent 
Liv. dec. 1. l. 3  referred themselves to the arbitration of the Romans, binding themselues to stand to their award: but they adjudged it to themselves. The other was that the Senate having taken great sums of money of certain tributary Cities to make them free, forced them afterward to pay their old tribute without restoring unto them the money they had paid for their freedom; which saith Cicero was turpe imperio, a shame to their Empire, Piratarum enim melior fuit fides quam Senatus, for the faith of pirates 
〈◊〉. 3▪  was better than the faith of the Senate. This was most dishonest, yet I know not whether that which follows were not more dishonourable. Their greatest men took to farm their basest tributes before mentioned, & worse than those, yea and sued for them, Non aliter quam militarem aliquam praefecturam aut civilem Magistratum, they be the words of Euagrius, none otherwise than it had been some great Command 
Lib 3. c. 39  in the wars, or some principal office in the City. And juvenal speaking of those who from small matters were raised to great fortunes thus describes them.  

Conducunt foricas, & cur non omnia? cum sint 
juven. Sa. 3.   
Quales ex humili magna ad fastigia rerum  
Extollit quoties voluit fortuna jocari.   

They draughts (and why not all things else?) do hire,  
Being such as fortune when she would be merry,  
To highest place doth raise from lowest mire.   
What marvel then if Seneca complain, Haec ipsa res tot magistratus tot judices 
Epist. 116.  detinet quae Magistratus & judices facit pecunia. This selfsame thing which keeps in so many Magistrates and judges, In their places, is it which makes both Magistrates and judges, to wit, money; Mercatoresque & venales invicem facti, quaerimus non quale sit quid sed quanti, & being become Merchants on all hands, we seek not so much of what quality things are, but of what price. And all kind of offices being thus purchased with money, as the places of judicature were commonly bought, so was justice openly sold. Omnium sermone percrebuit in his judicijs quae nunc sunt, pecuniosum hominem, quamvis sit nocens, neminem posse damnari, saith Cicero. It is rife in every man's mouth in these Courts of justice, which now are, that a moneyed man, though he be guilty cannot be condemned: and again, nihil tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit: there is nothing so sacred which with money may not be violated, nothing so fenced which may 
〈◊〉.  not be razed. Nay Catiline could say of Rome, o urbem venalem & maturè perituram si emptorem invenerit! O mercenary city and soon to be ruined by sale if it might find but a Chapman.  
Not without reason than have some found in the word ROMA, Radix Omnium Malorum Avaritia, Covetousness is the root of all mischief, 
1 Tim. 6. 1●…▪  taking the first letters of those words as they lie in their order for the making up of that name. And not without proper signification 
Cap. 39 v. 2●…▪ 29. 30.  did Rome take to herself the Eagle for her Ensign, which as job speaketh, dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock & the strong place: from thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold a far off, her young ones also suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he. So as generally might be verified of them, what Claudian writes of Ruffinus.  

Plenus sevitiae, lucrique cupidine fervens,  
Non Tartassiacis illum satiaret arenis  
Tempest as pretiosa Tagi, non stagna rubentis  
Aurea Pactoli, totumque exhauserit Hermum  
Ardebit majore siti.   

Greedy of filthy gain, and full of cruelty,  
Nor can Tartessian sands him of the precious Tage,  
Or golden streams of red Pactolus satisfy,  
Might he all Hermus drink his thirst the more would rage.   
Or Strozza of Scaurus.  

Scaurus habet villas, urbana palatia, nummos,  
Pinguiaque innumeris praedia bobus arat:  
Huic tamen assiduè maior succrescit habendi  
Nunquam divitijs exsatiata fames.   

Scaurus hath farms, coin, cities, palaces,  
With many an ox his fertile fields he ploughs:  
Yet wealth his hunger never satisfies,  
But his desire to have still greater grows.     

CAP. 6. Of the Roman Luxury in matter of Incontinency and Drunkenness.  

SECT. 1. A touch of the Roman Luxury in general, and in particular of the sins of the flesh.  
NOw as the Roman Covetousness was unsatiable, & their cruelty unquenchable: so was their Luxury most incredible, were it not recorded by their own Writers.  

Nunc patimur longae pacis mala, saevior armis 
Iwen, Sat. 6   
Luxuria incumbit, victumque ulciscitur orbem,  
Nullum crimen abest facinusque libidinis ex quo  
Paupertas Romana perit.   

Now suffer we the plagues and mischiefs of long peace,  
Now is the conquered world revenged by luxury,  
Far worse than arms, and since Rome's poverty did cease,  
There wanteth no attempt or crime of lechery.   
Pariterque & luxuria nata est, & Carthago sublata, saith Pliny, no sooner was 
33. 1.  Carthage vanquished by us, but we by luxury: and these two covetousness and luxury mutvally made way each for other:  
Luxuriamque lucris emimus luxuque rapinas.  
We draw on luxury by unjust gain, 
Man. lib. 4.   
And rapine by luxury is drawn on again:  
Eiusmodi tempora constat à Tacito in annalibus esse descripta quibus nulla unquam fuerunt turpissimis vitijs foediora, neque aut virtutum steriliora, aut virtutibus inimicitiorae, as witnesseth Causabon in his preface to Polybius: It is evident that those times are by Tacitus described in his Annals, than which never were any more fruitful in most shameful and abominable vices, or of virtues more barren, or to virtue more opposite: The branches of the Roman luxury were monstrous excess in all kind of uncleanness & incontinency, in diet, in apparel, in retinue of servants, in buildings & furniture of their houses, in bathe & anointings of their bodies, in prodigal gifts, and lastly, in setting forth their plays & Theatrical shows. I am not ignorant that Meursius a Netherlander hath composed an entire book purposely of this subject, intituling it, De luxu Romanorum, of the Roman Luxury, and concluding it with this censure, damno, damno luxum vestrum Romani, & in hac sententia concludo, O ye Romans, I damn I damn your Luxury, and with this sentence I conclude: yet is it certain that he hath omitted many material Collections which might have been added, and the most observable in him I shall not fail to make choice and use of. First then for their excess in the sins of the flesh it is evident that they acted more than is now commonly known to Christians, and I rather desire the foulness thereof should be eternally buried in oblivion, then by exposing it to public view defile my pen with it, and perchance teach whiles I reprehend. The Apostle in the first to the Romans hath given us a touch thereof; yet so as no doubt but he concealed much that he knew, and many things by them were practised, which came not to his knowledge. Though this infection were so generally spread, & had taken so deep root amongst them, that they made but a jest of the foulest sins in that kind. They had certain pastimes, which they termed Ludos Florals, in honour of 
Alexander ab Alexandro 6. 8:  Flora, a notorious strumpet. Qui ludi tanto devotius quanto turpius celebrari solent, saith S. Augustine in his second book de Civitate Dei, and 27 chapter; which games of theirs the more dishonestly, the more devoutly they were celebrated. In these the common queans, which got their maintenance by that trade, ran up & down the streets by daylight, & in the night with burning torches in their hands, having their whole bodies stark naked, and expressing the most beastly motions & gestures, and uttering the most filthy speeches & songs that could possibly be imagined. To these the Poet alludes.  
Turba quidem cur hos celebret meretricia ludos, 
Ovid. Faster. 5:   
Non ex difficili cognita causa fuit.  
Why queans these plays do celebrate I trow,  
'Tis not so difficult the cause to know.  
Yet to these shameful, or rather shameless pastimes were their youth admitted, thereby adding, as it were fire to tinder, nay their sagest Senators, gravest Matrons, and severest Magistrates were well content to grace them with their presence, as it had been some very commendable or profitable exercise: But these Florall plays were but once a year, their interludes in the Theatre, acted upon the open stage were almost daily, yet so abominable, that the godly d●…voute Fathers of the Primitive Christian Church can hardly write of them with patience, specially Salvianus, whose words to this purpose are very smart and piercing: Talia sunt, saith he, quae illic fiunt ut ea non solum dicere, sed etiam recordari 
De Gubernat D. il. 6.  aliquis sine pollutione non possit. Alia quippe crimina singulas sibi in nobis vendicant portiones, ut cogitationes sordidae animum, impudici aspectus oculos, auditus improbi aures, ita ut cum ex his unum aliquid erraverit, reliqua possint carere peccatis, in Theatris vero nihil horum reaetu vacat, quia & concupiscentijs animus & auditu aures, & aspectu oculi polluuntur, quae quidem omnia tam flagitiosa sunt, ut explicare ea quispiam atque eloqui salvo ore non valeat. Quis enim integro verecundiae statu dicere queat illas rerum turpium imitationes. illas vocum ac verborum obscaenitates, illas motuum turpitudines, illas gestuum foeditates, quae quanti sint criminis vel hinc intelligi potest quòd & relationem sui interdicunt. His conclusion is, Quae cum ita sint, ecce qualia aut omnes aut penè omnes Romani agunt. Of such a nature they are which are there acted, that a man cannot speak of them, nor well remember them without some touch of pollution, Other offences challenge to themselves but a part of us, as impure thoughts the mind, unchaste sights the eyes, wicked speeches the ears; so that when one of these is tainted, yet the rest may be clear from pollution, but in the Theatre none of them is free from the guilt of infection, in as much as the mind is there defiled with corrupt thoughts, the affections with naughty desires, the ears by hearing, and the eyes by seeing, all which are so lewd, that no man without blushing can somuch as name them, much less fully describe them. For what modest man is there, who can rccount those representations of beastly actions, those filthy speeches, & motions, & gestures, which how sinful they are, we may from hence conjecture that they cannot well be related: which being so, behold what manner of things all, or at leastwise the greatest part of the Romans practice. And this may we add to Salvianus, that the Actors of these Comedies were by the state itself highly regarded and richly rewarded, as if they had done some profitable piece of service for the Commonwealth. But this kind of luxury, as being loathsome in the very handling I briefly pass over, as men lightly skip over quagmires and proceed to their luxury in diet, and first of their excess in drinking.   

SEC. 2. Of their excess in drinking.  
THis we may partly guess at, by that which Ammianus Marcellinus 
Lib: 22:  writes of their pots, graviora gladijs pocula erant, their pots were heavier than their swords: Among the rest, they had a kind of cups which Horace calls ciboria.  
— Oblivioso lavia massico 
Carm. l: 2. odd. 7.   
Ciboria imple.  
Go fill the biggest cups you may,  
With liquor that drives care away.  
Thought to be the leaves of the Egyptian bean, which are so broad, that Dioscorides for their largeness compares them to a bonnet, Theophrastus to a Thessalian hat; & Pliny thus describes them under the name 
Lib: 21: c: 15:  of Colocassia. The leaves of Colocassia are exceeding large and comparable to the broadest that any tree beareth, of these plaited and enfolded one within another, the Egyptians make them cups of divers forms & fashions, out of which they take no small pleasure to drink; whereby the leaves of Colocassia, Adrianus junius conceiveth Horace his 
Lib: 1: Ani●…ad: cap: 10:  Ciboria to be described. Such a kind of cup, it seems, was that, which that mad fellow speaks of in Plautus, upon casting the dice.  
jacto basilicum propino magnum poclum  
Ille ebibit. 
Plautus in Curcul one.   
I threw the principal chance, and thereupon begin an health in the greatest bowl, and he instantly pledges me the whole. Now the principal chance was Venus.  
— Quem Venus arbitram 
Horace Carm: l: 2: odd: 7:   
Dicet bibendi,  
Whom Venus shall name  
To be Judge of the game.  
And this Lord of misrule in their compotations or drunken meetings, called Modiperator, or Magister; his office was to prescribe rules, and to see them executed, and there he commanded as a Sovereign Monarch in his kingdom.  
Nec regna vini sortiere talis, 
Horace Carm. l. 1. odd. 4.   
Nor shalt thou any more by chance of dice  
Win Bacchus' kingdom or the drinking price.  
Their rules of drinking they borrowed, for the most part, from the Grecians, the most debauched drunken Nation, I think that ever was, in somuch, as their very name is for that quality grown into a proverb, both in Latin & English. Of these rules, one was to drink down the 
Pergr●…cari. 〈◊〉 merry. Greek. in men:  evening star, and drink up the morning star, ad Diurnam stellam matutinam potantes, saith Plautus. another commonly practised among them, was the drinking of so many healths as there were letters in their Mistress' name.  
Naevia sex Cyathis, septem Iustina bibatur, 
Marshal.   
Quinque Lycus, Lyde quatuor, Ida tribus.  
Six healths to Naevia drink, seven to justina,  
To Lycus five, to Lyde four, and three to Ida.  
And yet it should seem by Plutarch in his Symposiaks, that they had a superstitious conceit of drinking four healths, perchance because an even number.  
Aut quinque bibe, aut tres, aut non quatuor:  
Three drink, if more,  
Five, but not four.  
These drunken matches were in a manner the daily trade of their Poets.  
Nulla manner diu nec vivere carmina possunt,  
Quae scribuntur aquae potoribus,  
Who nought but water d●…inke, their rhyme  
Cannot endure or live long time.  
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero  
Pulsanda tellus. 
Horace Car: l. 1. odd: 37,   
Now let us drink out wit,  
And dance & frolic it.  
Neither were their very women free from this excess. Nay Seneca assures 
Epist: 95:  us, that in this practice they put down the men themselves; Non minus pervigilant, non minus potant & oleo & mero viros provocant; aequè invitis ingesta visceribus per os reddunt, & vinum omne vomitu remetiuntur, aeque nivem rodunt solatium stomachi aestuantis: They no less sit up late in the night, they drink no less than men themselves, nay they challenge men to the anointing of their bodies, and the swilling down of wine, regorging what they eat & drink aswell as they; neither do they forbear to chaw upon snow, as men do for the refreshing of their boiling stomaches.   

SECT. 3. The same amply confirmed by the testimony of Pliny.  
THis vice of excessive drinking is by some thought to be the Epidemical, proper disease of this age: But he that will be pleased patiently to peruse, & advisedly to consider this ensuing discourse, which I shall here annex out of Pliny, will I presume alter his opinion therein, not by excusing the present, but by not excusing the former ages, and the better learn to detest this beastly vice in both. Thus then writeth he, no less sharply then elegantly of this vice, and the great excess thereof in his time. If a man mark and consider well the 
Pliny. l. 14: c: 12:  course of our life, we are in no one thing more busy & curious, nor take greater pains then about wine, as if Nature had not given to man the liquor of water which of all other is the most wholesome drink; and wherewithal other Creatures are well contented: But we thinking it not sufficient to take wine ourselves, give it also to our horses, mules, & labouring beasts, and force them against nature to drink it. Besides such pains, so much labour, so great cost & charges we are at to have it, such delight & pleasure we take in it, that many of us think they are borne to nothing else, and can skill of none other contentment in this life: Notwithstanding when all is done, it transporteth & carrieth away the right wit and mind of men, it causeth fury & rage, and induceth, nay it casteth headlong as many as are given thereunto into a thousand vices & misdemeanours; and yet forsooth to the end that we may take the more cups, and pour it down the throat more lustily, we let it run thorough a strainer for to abate & geld, as it were, the force thereof; yea and other devices there be towhet our appetite thereunto, and cause us to quaff more freely; nay to draw on their drink men are not afraid to make poisons, while some take hemlock before they sit down, because they must drink perforce then or else die for it; others the powder of the Pumish stone and such like stuff, which I am abashed to rehearse, & teach those that be ignorant of such lewdness. And yet we see those that be the stoutest & most redoubted drinkers, even those that take themselves most secured of danger, to lie sweeting so long in the baines & brothel houses for to concocke their surfeit of wine, that otherwhiles they are carried forth dead for their labour: You shall have some again, when they have been in the hot house not to stay so long as they may recover their beds, no not so much as to put on their sherts, but presently in the place all naked, as they are puffing & labouring still for wind, catch up great cans and huge tankards of wine (to show what lusty and valiant Champions they be) set them one after another to their mouth, power the wine down the throat without more ado, that they might cast it up again and so take more in the place, vomiting and revomiting twice or thrice together that which they have drunk, and still make quarrel to the pot, as if they had been borne into this world for none other end but to spill and mar good wine, or as if there were no way else to spend & waste the same but thorough man's body. And to this purpose were taken up at Rome these foreign exercises of vaulting and dancing the Moriske, from hence came the tumbling of wrestlers in the dust and mire together, for this they show their broad breasts, bore up the heads, and carry their necks far back, in all which gesticulations, what do they else but profess that they seek means to procure thirst, & take occasion to drink: But come now to their pots that they use to quaff and drink out of: are there not graven in them fair pourtraites think you of adulteries? as if drunkenness itself were not sufficient to kindle the heat of lust, & to teach them wantonness. Thus is wine drunk out of libidinous cups, and more than that, he that can quaff best & play the drunkard most, shall have the greatest reward. But what shall we say to those (would a man think it?) that hire a man to eat also as much as he can drink, & upon that condition covenant to yield him the price for his wine-drinking and not otherwise. You shall have another that will enjoin himself to drink every denier that he hath won at dice. Now when they are come to that once, & be thoroughly whittled, then shall you have them cast their wanton eyes upon men's wives, then fall they to court fair Dames and Ladies, and openly bewray their folly even before their jealous and stern husbands, than I say the secrets of their hea●…t are opened and displayed. Some you shall have even in the midst of their cups make their wills even at the board where they sit, others again cast out bloody and deadly speeches at random, & cannot hold but bluit out those words which afterwards they are forced to eat again, for thus many a man by a lavish tongue in his wine hath come by his death & had his throat cut. And verily the world is now grown to this pass, that whatsoever a man saith in his cups is held for sooth, as if truth were th●… d●…ughter of wine But say they escape these dangers, certes speed they never so well, the best of them all never seeth the Sun rising, so drowsy and sleepy they are in bed every morning, neither live they to be old men, but die in the strength of their youth. Hence cometh it that some of them look pale with a pair of flaggie cheeks, others have bleared and sore eyes, and there be of them that shake so with their hands that they cannot hold a full cup, but shed and pour it down the floor. Generally they all dream fearfully, which is the very b●…ginning of their hell in this life) or else have restless nights. And finally if they chance to sleep (for a due guerdon and reward of their drunkenness) they are deluded with imaginary conceits of Venus' delights, defiled with filthy abominable pollutions: & thus both sleeping & waking they sin with pleasure. Well what becomes the morrow after? they belch sour, their breath stinketh of the barrel, and telleth them what they did over night, otherwise they forget what ever they did or said: they remember no more, then if their memory were utterly extinct. And yet our jolly drunkards give out and say that they alone enjoy this life, and rob other men of it: But who seeth not that ordinarily they lose not only the yesterday past, but the morrow to come? Of all Nations the Parthians would have the glory for this goodly virtue of wine bibbing: & among the greeks Alcibiades indeed deserved the best game for this worthy feat. But here with us at Rome, Nivellius Torquatus, a Milanese won the name from all Romans and Italians both. This Lombard had gone thorough all honourable degrees of dignity in Rome, he had been Praetor, and attained to the place of a Proconsul. In all these offices of state he won no great name: but for drinking in the presence of Tiberius 3 gallons of wine at one draught & before he took his breath again, he was dubbed Knight by the surname of Tricongius, as one would say, the 3 gallon Knight. And the Emperor stern, severe and cruel otherwise though he was, now in his old age, (for in his youthful days he was given overmuch to drinking of wine) would delight to behold this worthy & renowned Knight with great wonder and admiration. For the like rare gift & commendable quality men think verily that C. Piso first rose, and afterwards was advanced to the Provostship of the City of Rome by the said Tiberius: and namely for that in his court being now Emperor he sat two days & two nights drinking continually, & never stirred foot from the board. And verily Drusus Caesar (by report) in nothing more resembled his Father Tiberius than in taking his drink. But to return again to noble Torquatus, herein consisted his excellency, that he did it according to art (for this you must take withal, there is an Art of drinking, grounded upon certain rules and precepts) Torquatus (I say) drank he never so much, was not known at any time to falter in his tongue, never eased himself by vomiting, never let it go the other way under board: how late soever he sat up at the wine over night, he would be sure to relieve the morning watch & sentinel. He drunk most of any man at one entire draught before the pot went from his head: & for smaller draughts beside, he went beyond all other in number, his wind he never took whilst the cup was at his mouth, but justly observed the rule of drinking with one breath: he was not known to spit for all this: & to conclude, he would not leave a drop behind in the cup, not so much as would dash against the pavement, and make the least sound to be heard, a special point & precise law to prevent the deceit of those that drink for a wager. A singular glory no doubt in him & a rare felicity. Tergilla challenged M. Cicero the younger, son to that M. Cicero the famous Orator, & reproached him to his face, that ordinarily he drank 2 gallons at once, and that one time above the rest when he was drunk he flung a pot at M. Agrippa his head. And truly this is one of the fruits and feats of drunkenness. But blame not young Cicero if in this point yet he desired to surmount him that slew his father, M. Antonius I mean; for he before that time strained himself, and strove to win the best game in this feat, making profession thereof, as may appear by a book which he compiled and set forth with this title, Of his own drunkenness: wherein he was not ashamed to avow and justify his excess and enormities that way, and thereby approved (as I take it) under pretence and colour of his drunkenness all those outrages of his, all those miseries and calamities that he brought upon the whole world. This Treatise he vomited & spewed out a little before the battle of Actium, wherein he was defeated. Whereby it may appear very plainly, that as he was drunken before with the blood of the Citizens: so still he was the more bloodthirsty: For this is a property which necessarily followeth this vice, that the more a man drinketh, the more he may, and is always dry. And herein spoke to good purpose a certain Ambassador of the Scythians, saying, that the Parthians the more they drunk the thirstier they were.   

SECT. 4. In particular this excess of the Romans in drinking is confirmed by the practice of Anthony, specially at his being with Cleopatra, as also by the practice of Clodius son to Esope the Tragedian in drinking of dissolved pearl.  
NOw because Pliny hath instanced in Anthony as one of the most notorious drunkards among the Romans, not only for the practice but for the defence thereof, notwithstanding his eminent place and great command, it shall not be amiss a little farther to inquire into some particulars touching his great excess therein. It is a most shameful one which Cicero chargeth him with: Sed haec quae robustioris 
Philip. 2.  improbitatis sunt omittamus; loquamar potius de iniquissim●… genere levitatis Tu istis faucibus, istis lateribus, ista gladiatoria totius corporis firmitate, tantum vini in Hippiae nuptiis exhauseras, ut tibi necesse esset in Populi Romani conspectu vomere postridie. O rem non modo visa foedam, sed etiam auditu! si inter coenam in tuis immanibus illis poculis, hoc tibi accidisset, quis non turpe diceret? in coetu verò populi negotium publicum gerens, magister Equitum, cui ructare turpe esset, is vomens frustis esculentis vinum redolentibus, gremium suum & totum tribunal implevit. But those villainies which require more strength let us omit, & speak rather of his wicked kind of lightness. Thou with those chaps of thine, with those sides, with that ruffianlike strength of thy whole body at the wedding of Hippia didst take in so much wine, that the next day thou must needs vomit in the open view of the people of Rome, a filthy act not only to be seen but to be heard, if at suppertime in the midst of those thy monstrous pots the same had fallen out, who would not have cried out shame on thee? but now the Master of the Horse being about a public business in an assembly of the people where it had been a shame for such a man to belch, vomiting out gobbets of flesh smelling strongly, therewith filled both his own bosom and the whole court of justice..  
This was indeed very foul in itself though but once done, even without the Orators Rhetorical aggravation: but his daily practice of excessive drinking during his abode with Cleopatra was less excusable, because more frequent; touching which Pliny relates two memorable stories, though in different kinds, the one was this.  
Here by the way (saith he) I cannot choose but remember the device of 
Plin. l. 21. c. 3.  Queen Cleopatra, full of fine wit, and as wicked and mischievous with 〈◊〉. For at what time Anthony prepared the expedition and journey of 〈◊〉 against Augustus, and stood in some doubt & jealousy of the said Queen, for all the fair show that she made of gratifying him, and doi●…g him all pleasure, he was at his taster, and would neither eat nor drinko a●…her ●…able without assay made. Cleopatra seeing how timorous he was, and minding yet to make good sport and game at his needless fear and foolish curiosity, caused a Chaplet to be made for M. Anionius, having before dipped all the tips and edges of the flowers that went to it in a strong and rank poison, and being thus prepared, set it upon the head of the said Anthony. Now when they had s●…tten at meat a good while, and drunk themselves merry; the Queen began to make a motion & challenge to Anthony for to drink each of them their chaplets; and withal beg an unto him in a cup of wine seasoned and spiced as it were with those flowers which she ware her own self, O the shrewd and unhappy wit of a woman when she is so disposed! who would ever have misdoubted any danger of hidden mischief herein? Well, M. Anthony yielded to pledge her: off goeth his own garland, and with the flowers minced small, dresseth his own cup. Now when he was about to set it to his head, Cleopatra presently put her hand between and stayed him from drinking, and withal uttered these words; My dear heart and best beloved Anthony, now see what she is whom thou so much dost dread & stand in fear of, that for thy security there must wait at thy cup and trencher extraordinary tasters; a strange and new fashion iwis, and a curiosity more nice than needful; lo how I am not to seek of means and opportunities to compass thy death, if I could find in my heart to live without thee; which said, she called for a prisoner immediately out of the gaol, whom she caused to drink off the wine which Anthony had prepared for himself: no sooner was the goblet from his lips again, but the poor wretch died presently in the place.  
The other story he thus relates; Two only pearls there were together, the fairest & richest that ever have been known in the world, and those possessed at one time by Cleopatra the last Queen of Egypt, which came into her hands by the means of the great Kings of the East, and were left unto her by descent. This Princess when Marcus Antonius had strained himself to do her all the pleasure he possibly could & had feasted her day by day most sumptuously and spared for no cost: in the height of her pride and wanton bravery (as being a noble Courtesan and a Queen withal) began to debase the expense and provision of Anthony, and made no reckoning of all his costly fare. When he thereat demanded again how it was possible to go beyond this magnificence of his, she answered again, that she would spend upon him in one supper 100 thousand Sestertij. Anthony who would needs know how that might be (for he thought it was impossible) laid a great wager with her about it, and she bound it again and made it good. The morrow after when this was to be tried, and the wager either to be won or lost, Cleopatra made Anthony a supper (because she would not make default, and let the day appointed pass) which was sumptuous & royal enough, howbeit there was no extraordinary service seen upon the 
coenam para vi●… pollucibilem Macrobius Sat. 3. 17.  board: Whereat Antonius laughed her to scorn, and by way of mockery, required to see a bill with the account of the particulars. She again said, that whatsoever had been served up already, was but the overplus above the rate and proportion in question, affirming still, that she would yet in that supper make up the full sum that she was seized at: yea herself alone would eat above that reckoning, and her own supper should cost six hundred thousand Sestertij: and with that, commanded the second service to be brought in. The Servitors that waited at her trencher (as they had in charge before) set before her only one crewet of sharp vinegar, the strength whereof is able to dissolve pearls. Now she had at her ears hanging 
Monstruosae magnitudini●… Macrobius. Sat: 3 17.  those two most precious pearls, the singular and only jewels in the world, and even Nature's wonder. As Anthony looked wistly upon her, and expected what she would do, she took one of them from her ear, steeped it in the vinegar, and so soon as it was liquefied, drank it off. And as she was about to do the like by the other: L. Plancius the judge of that wager, laid fast hold upon it with his hand, and pronounced withal, that Anthony had lost the wager: whereat the man fell into a passion of anger. There was an end of one pearl: But the fame of the fellow thereof may go therewith. For after that this brave Queen, the winner of so great a wager, was taken prisoner and deprived of her royal estate, that other pearl was cut in twain, that in memorial of that one half supper of theirs, it should remain unto posterity, hanging at both the ears of Venus at Rome in the temple Pantheon.  
And yet, saith the same Pliny, as prodigal as these were, they shall not go away with the prize in this kind, but shall lose the name of the chief & principal in superfluity of expense. For long before their time, Clodius the son of Aesop the Tragedian Poet, the only heir of his father who died exceeding wealthy, practised the semblable in pearls of great price: so that Anthony need not be over proud of his triumvirate, seeing that he hath to match him in all his magnificence one little better than a stage-player: Who upon no wager at all laid (& that was more princely and done like a King) but only in a bravery, and to know what taste pearls had, mortified them in vinegar and drunk them up. And finding them to content his palate wondrous well, because he would not have all the pleasure by himself, and know the goodness thereof alone, he gave to every guest at his table one pearl a piece to drink in like manner.  
The madness of Clodius, Horace thus describes.  

Filius Aesopi detractam ex aure Metellae 
Serm. 2.   
(Scilicet ut decies solidum exsorberet) aceto  
Diluit ingentem baccam, qui sanior ac si  
Illud idem in rapidum flumen iaceretue cloacam.   

The son of Aesop from Metellas' ear,  
(That he at once ten thousand sols might drink)  
Plucked off, and it dissolved in vinegar,  
As wise as if h'had thrown't into a sink.    

SECT. 5. Of excessive drinkers among the Romans in regard of the quantity of the liquor; and how both their Princes and people were all generally tainted with this vice.  
THese were luxurious drinkers in regard of the preciousness of the liquor, such as I think this age hath not heard of, & God forbid it should. Now for excess in quantity of wine at one draught or one sitting, Lypsius hath written a large Epistle, wherein he hath made a collection of many examples, borrowed from the ancient Historians to that purpose, the title of it is, de potoribus & Edonibus, of excessive 
Ep. 63 ad Con●…ubernales suos.  drinkers and eaters, and beginning with the first of these he thus makes his entrance. Quos ubi & quando non est invenire? in veteri & nostro aevo, in noto & novo orbe videas, & Plinij dicto, nulla in parte mundi cessare ebrietatem. Which kind of men where and when shall you not find? you may see them aswell in the old as in our age, both in the known and new world, and to use Plynies' speech, no part of the world is free from them. To let go the Grecians, and those Romans already named, out of Spartianus he tells us of one Firmus, who under Aurelian was Deputy of Egypt; this man being challenged by Barbarus a famous drinker, Situlas duas plenas mero duxit, he took off two buckets full of wine. Bonosus was such another who lived about the same time, of whom the same Emperor, as witnesseth the same Author, was wont to say, non ut vivat natus est, sed ut bibat, he was borne not to live but to drink: & being hanged for some misdemeanour, they jested on him, amphoram pendere non hominem, that a barrel or tankard hung there, not a man: But that which Capitolinus reports of the Emperor Maximinus is almost incredible: Bibisse saepe in die vini Capitolinam amphoram, that he often drank in one day an Amphora of the Capitol, an Amphora containing of our measure nine gallons, counting a gallon and a pint to the Congius, whereof the Amphora contains eight; Trepidarem haec scribere, saith Lypsius, sed bonus & priscae fidei Author adserit, quam ego non sugillem: I should fear to write these things; but that I vouch it from an Author of good credit, which I durst not impeach or question. Yet one instance beyond this again he brings out of Vopiscus, in the life of Aurelian of one Phagon, who drank out in one day plus orca, what measure this Orca held, I cannot well determine; neither could Lypsius himself, yet thus much he confidently affirms of it, Scio vas vin●…rium fuisse & amphora quidem majus, sed quanto mihi latet, I know for certain that it was a vessel of wine, and that bigger than the Amphora, but how much I know not.  
Now that which most of all infected the state with this beastly vice, was, that the Emperors themselves were deeply infected with it, both heartily affecting it themselves, and highly rewarding it in others. Tiberius Nero propter nimiam vini aviditatem, saith Suetonius, by reason of 
Cap. 42.  his excessive drinking, was nicknamed Biberius Mero; and beside, Piso, whom Pliny told us before, he advanced to the Provostship of the city for that quality; he likewise for the same promoted Flaccus Pomponius to the presidentship of the Province of Syria, styling them in his letters patents, jucundissimos & omnium horarum ami●…os, his most pleasant companions & friends for all seasons: But that which exceeded the rest, and indeed reason itself, was that ignotissimum Quaesturae candidatum nobilissimis anteposuit ob epotam in convivio propinante se vini amphoram, that he preferred a base fellow, who was a suitor for the Treasurershippe, before the most noble & worthy that stood in competition with him, only for the taking off of an Amphora of wine at a feast which himself had began. Now who would not strive to excel and exceed in this lewd practice, when it was in such request & esteem with the greatest Commanders? the multitude soon conforming themselves to their manners, specially in naughtiness, and being thereunto encouraged by commendation & rewards. And how far this unmanly vice had infected the Commons, may appear by that of Macrobius, who affirms, that at that time when Lex Fannia was made against drunkenness, 
Saturnal: l: 3: c: 17:  eo res readier at ut plerique ex plebe Romana vino madidi in comitium venirent, & ebrij de Reipub: salute consulerent; to such a pass were things brought, that the greatest part of the common people of Rome came loaden with wine into the Counsel-house, and being drunk, consulted of the safety of the state.   

SECT. 6. Of the costliness and curious workmanship of the vessel out of which they drank, which was likewise a means to draw them on to excessive drinking.  
NOw as I began this discourse of drunkenness with the greatness, so will I end it with the costliness & curious workmanship of the vessels out of which they drank; which was likewise a means to draw them on to excessive drinking. The world (saith Pliny) is given 
33. 11:  to such inconstancy, as touching silver plate, that a wonder it is to see the nature of men, how variable they be in the fashion and making of such vessel: For no workmanship will please them long. One while we must have our plate out of Furnius his shop, another while we will be furnished from Clodius: And again in a new fit, none will content us but of Gratius his making (for our cupboards of plate & tables, forsooth, must bear the name of such & such goldsmith's shops:) Moreover, when the toy takes us in the head. all our delight is in chased and embossed plate; or else so carved, engraven, and deep cut in, as it is rough again in the hand, wrought in imagery or flower work, as if the painter had drawn them. These celatures in their drinking cups were so framed, that they might put them on or take them off at pleasure, & were therefore called Emblemata: Such was that, whereof the Satirist speaks.  
— Stantem extra pocula caprum. 
juvenal: satire.   
— A goat standing out from the cup.  
Two of this kind wrought by the hand of Mentor, cost Lucius Crassus the Orator one hundred thousand Sesterces: Sometimes were they 
Pliny. l. 33. c. 11.  made of Onyx stones drawn out of the mountains of Arabia, sometimes of mother of pearl, or some rare precious shells. 
Idem 36: 7:   
Cum perfusa mero spumant unguenta Falerno,  
Cum bibitur concha. 
Iuven: satire: 6:   
When their Falernian wines mingled with ointments crop,  
And when they drink in shells.  
And all these kinds they richly enameled with pearls and precious stones; we drink, saith Pliny, in rooes of pearl, and garnish our pots 
Lib: 33: 11.  with emeralls; it delights us to hold the Indies in our hands as a provocation to drunkenness, and gold is now become but an accessory. And for this reason had they some at their feasts set to watch their drinking vessel.  
— Custos affixus ibidem 
Iuven: satire. 5.   
Qui numeret gemmas unguesque observet acutos.  
Fast by some one is set to watch & tell the plate,  
Lest any be purloined by some lime fi●…gred mate.  
Neither were they content to garnish their cups with pearl and precious stone, but made them of entire gems, they thought not themselves dainty enough, saith Pacatus, nisi luxuria intervertisset annum, nisi hibernae poculis rosae innatassent, nisi aestivam in gemmis capacibus glaciem fal●…rna 
In Panygerico  fregissent, unless luxury had changed the season of the year, unless winter roses swum upon the top of their po●…s, unless their pleasant wines dissolved the summer ice in a large gem. And such a one was that which Tully mentions; Erat etiam vas vinarium ex una gemma praegrandi 
6: in 〈◊〉  trulla excavata, cum manubrio aureo: There was likewise a drinking cup for wine made of one entire gem or precious stone, with a great hollow bowl & an handle of gold. They had also drinking vessels of Murrain & Crystal of wonderful great prices. Video isthic Cristallina quorum accendit fragilitas pretium, omnium enim rerum voluptas apud imperitos ipso, quo fugare debet, periculo crescit; Video Murrina pocula, parum scili●…et luxuria magno fuerit, nisi quod vomant capacibus gemmis inter se propinarent: I there see, saith Seneca, their Crystal glasses, whose very brittleness 
De beneficijs, l. 7. c. 9  enhances their price: For among the vulgar, their delight in things is increased by the very danger, which should rather induce them to shun it. I likewise see their Murrain cups, their luxury being not held sufficient, unless they may in large gems drink that which soon after they vomit up again. The price of some of these, Pliny takes the pains particularly to relate: Crescit indies eius rei luxus Murrino 
37. 2:  octoginta Sestertiis empto, capaci plane ad sextarios tres chalice: The excessive luxury hereof increaseth daily, a Murrain cup of three quarts being sold for four score thousand Sesterces; one of these bought for three hundred thousand, Petronius, who had been Consul, broke in pieces a little before his death out of a spite to Nero, ut mensam eius exhaeredaret, that he might disinherit his table thereof. Another of Crystal, mentioned by the same Author, I may not forget; alius hic furor, here is another kind of madness, one Crystal bowl being bought by the mistress of a family, and she not over rich neither, cost her one hundred & fifty thousand Sesterces. Hereunto might not unfitly be added the beastly forms of many of their cups,  
Vitreo bibit ille Priapo,  
Saith juvenal; and Pliny to like purpose, in poculis libidines caelare iuvat & per obscaenitates bibere. But I pass from their drunkenness to their gluttony.    

CAP. 7. Of the excessive gluttony of the Romans.  

SECT. 1. Of their costly tables, their huge platters, the quality; order, and number of their waiters; and also of their Art and Schools of Carving:  
TOuching their excess in gluttony, it is an Ocean both boundless and bottomless, whether we consider the rarity or the variety of those dishes which at their solemn feasts they presented: But before I come to the furnishing of their tables, it shall not be amiss to say somewhat touching the tables themselves, upon which they placed, and some monstrous platters in which they served in their provision, and the number & order of their waiting servants. They had tables of silver & some of gold.  
Sustentatque tuas aurea mensa dapes. 
Martial. l 3. Epigr. 31.   
Tables of gold thy dainties do sustain.  
But their most precious which they had in greatest request were of Citron, as appears by the same Poet in another Epigram: These, as witnesseth 
Lib. 4. Epig. 89. In Satyrico.  Petronius Arbiter, they fetched from Africa.  
— E●…ce Aphris eruta terris  
Citrea mensa  
Tables of Citron brought from Africa.  
With whom Pliny the rain acordeth, who in his natural history hath 
Lib. 13. c. 15.  a discourse proper to this purpose. The Moors, saith he, that border upon the mountain Atlas, are stored with abundance of Citron trees, from whence cometh that excessive expense & superfluity about Citron tables made thereof: And our dames at home by way of revenge twit us their husbands therewith, when we would seem to find fault with the costly pearls which they wear: There is at this day to be seen a board belonging sometimes to Tullius Cicero, which cost him ten Thousand Sesterces; a strange matter, considering he was no rich man; but more wonderful, if we call to mind the severity of that age wherein he lived. Much speech there is beside of Asinius Gallus his table, sold for an eleven thousand Sesterces: Moreover there are two other which King juba sold, the one was prized at fifteen thousand Sesterces, and the other held little under; a round sum, & the price of a good fair Lordship: which incredible prizes are notwithstanding confirmed by Seneca, who farther tells us, they were valued according to their knottiness: video istic mensas et aestimatum lignum 
De benefici●…, l. 7. c 9 the tax of a Senator was then 〈◊〉 Sestertium, twelve hundred thousand Sestertii, Suet: Aug. 41. De Pallio c: 5:  censu Senatoris, eo praetiosius quo illud in plures nodos arbour is infoelicitas torsit: I see there th●…ir tables, and a piece of wood valued at a Senators revenue, somuch the more precious, as the unhappy tree is wrested into divers knots. To which passages of Seneca & Pliny, Tertullian seems to allude, for having produced the instances of Tully & Asinius Gallus mentioned by Pliny, though with some addition to the prices, he presently adds: Hem quantis facultatibus aestimauêre ligneas ma●…ulas, at what high rates did they value these spots in wood. Besides, these tables they supported with Ivory feet.  
Tu libicos Indis suspendis dentibus orbs, 
Martial: l. 2. Epig. am, 43.   
Fulcitur testa fagina mensa mihi.  
Thy Lybian tables Indian teeth do rear:  
My Beechen board an earthen cask doth bear.  
And these ivory feet were artificially carved into the shape of Lions or the like, which was so common, that without these, their greatest dainties could not relish to their palates,  

Nil Rhombus nil dama sapit, putere videntur 
juvenal. Salyr. 11,   
Vnguenta atque rosae, latos nisi sustinet orbs  
Grande ebur: & magno sublimis pardus hiatu:   

Nor buck nor Turbet taste, sweet ointments yield no scent,  
And roses stink, unless huge gaping ivory Pards  
Bearing aloft their large round tables give content.   
Yet such was the store which one man possessed of these, that it exceeded some hundreds.  
Cum mensas habeat fere trecentas,  
Pro mensis habet Annius ministros. 
Martial: l. 7: Epigr▪ 47.   
An hundred ta les Annius hath thrice told,  
And waiters at his tables manifold.  
And Dion reports of Seneca, that notwithstanding his severe and Stoical profession, he was stored with four hundred of those Citron tables. 
Lips. l 1 manuduct: ad Stoicam Philos. ca 18. Lib. 33: c: 11:   
Touching their platters or chargers, no longer since, saith Pliny, then in the days of Claudius the Emperor, Drusillanus a slave of his surnamed Rotundus, the Senescall or Treasurer under him in high Spain, had a silver charger of five hundred pound weight; for the working whereof, there was a forge framed aforehand of set purpose, and the same was accompanied & attended with eight more of a smaller size, weighing fifty pound a piece: Now I would gladly know if it might please you, saith Pliny, how many of his fellows, such sl●…ues I mean as himself, there must be to carry the said vessel and serve it up to the table, or what guests they might be who were to be served with such huge plate: 
h Lib. 35. c 12,  But this is nothing to that Charger of Vitellius, who whiles he was Emperor caused one to be made & finished that cost 
i Decics Sestertium according to Budaeus: but if you read according to Ho●…t manus, ducenties it is twenty times as much more  a million of Sesterces; for the making whereof, there was a fu●…nace built of purpose in the field; alluding to this monstrous platter Mucianus in his second Consulship, when he ripped up in a public speech the whole life of Vitellius now dead, upbraided the memorial of him in these very terms, calling his excess that way, Patinarum paludes, platters as broad as pools or ponds: And verily, saith he, that platter of Vitellius came nothing behind another, which Cassius Severus reproached Aspr●…nas withal, whom he accused bitterly, and said, that the poison of that one platter had killed one hundred & thirty persons, who had tasted thereof. Matchable to these, was the famous platter of Esope the 
Plin. l. 10 c. 51. Seneca Ep. 95.  Tragedian, save that it was more notorious for the daintiness of the provision which he served in it, then for the massines of the dish itself.  
Their waiters were sometime●… naked wenches Tiberius (saith Suetonius) sent to Sextius Claudius, that he would come & sup with him, upon 
Cap: 42.  condition, that he should change nothing of his wont fashion, utque nudis pu●…llis ministrantibus coenaretur; a message worthy of him, who as the same Author reports in the same place, erected a new office, à voluptatibus, only to devise new pastimes & pleasures. But Seneca describes 
Epist 95.  the order & number of their waiters more particularly: They had waiting on them, saith he, puerorum infoelicium greges, whole troops of unfortunate Ganymedes, they had exoletorum agmina, armies of Exoletes grown to men's estat●…, these they ranged into several b●…nds according to their nations & complexions, they of the same band were all of a smoothness alike, or had the same length of downy moss in their chin; nay special care was had, that their hair might be suitable, as in length, so in colour and kind: ne quis cui rectior est coma crispulis misceatur, that none whose hair grew long & strait, should be ranked with the curlepates. He farther tells us of the infinite number of their Cooks and Bakers, and such like officers; Per quos signo dato ad inferendam canam discurritur, by whom the waiters run presently upon the sign given for the car●…ying in of supper: his conclusion is Dij boni quantum hominum unus venter exercet, good God, what a number of men doth one belly set a work; and in another place, Convivia mehercule horum non posuerim inter 
De brevitate vitae. c. 12  vacantia tempora, cum videam quam solliciti argentum ordinent, quam diligenter exoletorum suorum tunicas succingant, quam suspensi sint quomodo aper à coquo caesus exeat, quanta celeritate signo dato glabri ad ministeria decurrunt: quanta arte scindantur aves in frusta non enormia, quam curiose infoelices pueruli ebriorum sputa detergant. Truly for my part, I should not put their feasts among their vacant or leisure times, when I see how solicitous they are about the ordering of their plate, how diligently they tuck up the coats of their Exoletes, how careful they are in what manner the Boar come out of the Cook's hands and be served in, how suddenly the smooth-●…inne Catamites run to the dresser upon the sound given, with what singular art their birds are cut up into competent portions, how studiously and curiously their unhappy boys wipe out the spewing and spitting of their drunken Masters.  
And to this their artificial carving and ordering their dishes on the table doth the Satirist allude, where he intimates Schools and Masters of that Art, who taught their Scholars by dishes fashioned in wood after what manner, and with what gesture of the body they should cut them up.  

Sed nec structor erit, cui cedere debeat omnis 
juu. l, 4. Sat. 11.   
Pergula, disoipulus Tripheri doctoris, apud quem  
Sumine cum magno lepus, atque aper, & pygargus,  
Et Scythicae volucres, & phoenicopterus ingens,  
Et Getulus oryx, hebeti lautissima ferro  
Caeditur, & tota sonat ulmea coena Subura.   

The carvers at my board disciples never were  
To Doctor Trypherus, with whom none may compare,  
Sow's milky teats, the hare, the boar, white buttockt roe,  
Pheasant, Getulian goat, huge Phenicopter too,  
All dainties with blunt knife he carves as is most meet,  
And th'Elmen supper sounds through all Subura street.    

SECT. 2. That after-ages sometimes reform the abuse of former times: of the great number and chargeable hire of their Cooks; of Apicius his wastefulnesin belly-cheer, that such wastefulness was common among them.  
NOw for their provision, I may say with Budaeus, Majora sunt ista 
Lib. 4. de Ass.  omninò nostrae aetatis captu, it was beyond the reach and conceit of our age, so as Pliny herein hath proved a true Prophet, nos fecimus 
Lib. 33. c. 3.  quae posteri fabulosa arbitrentur, we have done those things which posterity will not believe, but account fabulous. In the handling hereof it shall not be impertinent first to observe that after-ages sometimes reform the abuse of former times. Thus Latinus Pacatus in his Panegyricke commends Theodosius for his sobriety and frugality in regard of his Predecessors, in as much as there was then no need ad penum Regiam flagitare remotorum littorum piscem, peregrini aeris volucrem, alieni temporis florem, to take up and purvay for the Emperor's use and provision a fish of a remote coast, a bird of a strange air, or a flower of a contrary season: Then goes he on to describe the excessive Luxury of former ages in respect of the present.  
In like manner Macrobius in a conference at a supper betwixt Horus and Cecinna, makes Horus to declaim against the Luxury of his own 
Saturnal. l. 3. c. 13.  times, but Cecinna answers him by proving that Antiquity was much more faulty that way. Among other instances and reasons alleged by him, this is one; that Peacock's eggs were formerly sold for five pence a piece, which then were nothing worth to be sold: and again, that anciently so many Laws were made against it, as Lex Orchia, fannia, 
Cap. 17.  didia, Licinia, Cornelia, and others, and then concludes, nisi pessimis effusissimisque moribus viveretur, profecto opus tot legibus ferendis non fuisset, vetus verbum est, Leges bonae ex malis moribus procreantur: Except men had then lived in a most inordinate and licentious manner, they had never needed the making of so many laws; it being an old saying, that good Laws are ●…ccasioned by evil manners.  
Another argument for their excessive gluttony in former times might be taken from the number and excessive hire of their Cooks and their wonderful expenses in their Kitchens and at their Tables. For the number of their Cooks, Aspice culinas nostras, saith Seneca & concursantes inter tot ignes coquos nostros; Look into our Kitchens, and mark the number 
Epist. 115.  of our Cooks running up and down among so many fires. And in another Epistle, innumer abiles esse morbon mirab●…is, coquos numera, 
95.  In Rhetorum ac Philosophorum scholis solitudo est: At quam celebres culinae sunt? quanta circa nepotum focos juuéntus premit? Do you wonder that our diseases are innumerable? number our Cooks if you can: The S●…ho les of Rhetoricians & Philosophers are empty: but how are our Kitchens frequented? what multitudes of youth press about th●… chimneys of unthrifts? And for their hire, they were wont to complain, saith Pliny, 
Lib: 9 17.  that the hire of a Cook was as much as the price of an horse, whereas now a days we can hardly get them for the price of three horses: nullusque 
Trium b●…rum, not t●…ium pho●…um as s●…me read it.  jam prope mortalis aestimatur pluris, quam qui peritissime censum Domini mergit; and scarce any man is in greater request, than he that can most artificially waste his Master's substance. And what infinite wast they made this way, the only story of Apicius a famous belly-god may 
Plin. 9 17.  suffice to show: who ●…auing spent a million of Sesterces in his Kitchen & sent going besides many great gifts of Princes, and a mighty revenue of the Capitol in riotous feasting and banqueting, being deep in debt, he began at last, though sore against his will, to look into his reckonings, & take an account of his estate, & found that all being cast up, he had yet left unto himself clear one hundred thousand Sesterces, and thereupon velut in ultima same victurus, veneno vitamfinivit, as if he should hau●… been forced poor man to live in a hunger-starved fashion 
Seneca de consolation ad Albinam c. 10.  he poisoned himself: Quanta luxuria est cui sestertium centies egestas fuit, how great was that Luxury to which one hundred thousand Sesterces seemed poverty? This notable vanity & folly of Apicius, the Epigrammatist most deservedly scoffs at. 
Martial. l. 3. Epigr. 22.   

Dederas Apici bis trecenties ventri,  
Sed adhuc supererat centies tibi laxum, 
It seems it should be read ●…er trecenties.   
Hoc tu gravatus ne famem & sitim ferres.  
Summa venenum potione duxisti,  
Nil est Apici tibi gulosius factum.   

Apicius thou didst on thy gut bestow  
Six hundred thousand: yet when this was spent  
One hundred thousand still remained, which thou  
Fearing to suffer thirst and famishment  
In poisoned potion drankst: Apicius  
Of all thy facts this was most gluttonous.   
And no marvel Apicius should run so far upon the score and consume such a mass of treasure by this means, since it was usual to lavish out and devour whole patrimonies at a sitting,  
— una comedunt patrimonia mensa.  
Quid est coena sumptuosa flagitiosius, & equestrem censum consument, & tricies tamen Sestertio adijciales coenae frugalissimis Viris constiterunt? What 
juven. Sat. 1. Seneca Ep. 95.  is more ●…ewde, saith Seneca, than a sumptuous supper wasting a Knight's revenues? yet it stands the most frugal commonly, if it be solemn, in three hundred thousand Sesterces. And he that shall but look into their bills of fare, and take a particular view of the number of their Courses at a feast, & of their dishes at a Course, & of the prizes of their dishes, together with their long & often sit, will rather wonder that they spent so little, then that they brought going so much.   

SECT. 3. Of their long and often sitting and usual practice of vomiting even among their women, as also of the number of their courses at a sitting, together with the rarity and costliness of their several services.  
FOr their long sit Suetonius reports of Tiberius, that he spent a 
Cap. 42  whole night & two days outright in nothing else but eating & drinking, Noctem continuumque biduum epulando, potandoque consumpsit: And of Nero, Epulas è media die ad mediam noctem protrahebat, he held 
Cap. 27  out his feasts from noon day till midnight. And of Vitellius for often 
Cap. 12.  sit, that he feasted usually three times, sometimes four times a day, every sitting being valued at four hundred thousand Sesterces, facilè omnibus sufficiens vomitandi consuetudine, being easily able to go thorough them all by a continual custom of vomiting: which it seems was among them a common practice: Vomunt ut edant; edunt ut vomant: epulas, 
Seneca de Consolation ad Albinam c 9  quas toto orbe conquirunt, nec oncoquere dignantur: they vomit that they may eat, and eat again that they may vomit, and those delicates which they hunt for thorough the world, they vouchsafe not so much as to concoct, nay the very women practised it, aeque invitis ingesta visceribus 
Seneca epist. 95  per os reddunt, & vinum omne vomitu remittunt, as well as men they eat against their stomaches that which they soon return by their mouths, and all their wine they quickly send back by vomiting: And from hence (as I conceive) did they usually rise from their great feasts so colourlesse and indisposed,  

— Vides, ut pallidus omnis  
Coena desurgat dubia? quin corpus onustum 
Hor. Sat. 2. l. 2.   
Hesternis vitijs, animum quoque praegravat unà,  
Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aurae.   

Seest thou how pale they from their doubtful supper rise?  
The body furthermore surcharged with riotise  
Of yesterday, weighs down the soul, and in the mire  
Of this base earth doth plunge the spark of heavenly fire.   
The number of their Courses at a sitting were usually seven, and that sometimes when they sat privately,  
— Quis fercula septem 
Hor. Sat. 1.   
Secreto coenavit avus?  
Which of our Ancestors upon  
Seven services did sup alone?  
But that monster Heliogabalus had served in at one feast two and twenty several courses, Exhibuit aliquando & tale convivium ut haberet viginti 
Lampridius.  d●…o fercula ingentium epularum; he once made such a feast that he had served in, two and twenty Courses, all of the choicest fare.  
For their variety of dishes we may partly guess at them by that adventitious supper (as Suetonius calls it) which was made Vitellius by his 
Cap. 13.  brother, in qua duo millia lectissimorum pis●…ium, septem avium apposita traduntur, in which are said to have been served in two thousand of the choicest fish, and seven thousand fowl.  
Now for the delicacy and prices of their dishes, it certainly exceeded their variety and number, they were far fetched and dear bought Quicquid mare aut terra, aut etiam coelo gigneretur, ad satiandam ingluviem suam natum existimans faucibus ac dentibus suis subdidit, saith Macrobius 
Saturn. 3. & 17  of Anthony, he devoured with his chaps and teeth whatsoever the Sea or Earth or Aire brought forth, as if all had been borne only to satisfy his luxury. And Sallust of Metellus Proconsul in Spain, Epulae verò exquisitissimae, neque per omnem mudò provinciam, sed trans maria ex Mauritania volucrum & ferarum incognita antea plura genera His feasts were most exquisite not only of all the dainties which were to be had in those parts; but many kinds of birds and beasts before unknown in that Country were brought from beyond the Seas and out of Mauritania. Quis ganeonum aut l●…conum possit vel ausit imitari? Quis nostrum hodie 
Lipsius.  aves aut feras trans mare coenae causâ conquirit: Which of our thriftless Belly-gods can or dare imitate him? which of us now a days sends for birds or beasts beyond the Seas to make a Supper? Yet was this practice among them no rare matter, as may appear by that of Petronius Arbiter.  

Ingeniosa gula est siculo scaurus aequore mersus  
Ad mensam vivus deducitur▪ inde Lucrinis  
Eruta littoribus vendunt conchylia coenis  
Vt renovent per damna famem; jam phasidos unda  
Orbata est avibus, mutoque in littore tantum  
Solae desertis aspirant frondibus aurae.   

The throat is witty, thence the Guilthead that doth clive  
Sicilian sea is brought unto the board alive.  
Shelfish they sell that in the lake of Lucrin grew  
To sup on, by their loss their hunger to renew.  
The banks of Phasis now are dumb, the birds are gone,  
And on forsaken boughs now breathes the wind alone.   
And lest we should think that he speaks Poetically and hyperbolically, the grave Seneca in his sober and sad manner goes beyond it. Non est necesse 
Deconsolat. ad Albinam c: 9  omne perscrutari profundum, nec strage animalium ventrem onerare, nec conchylia ultimi maris ex ignoto littore eruere, Dij istos Deaeque perdant quorum luxuria tam invidiosi imperij sines transcendit, ultra phasin capi volunt quod ambitiosam popinam instruat, nec piget à Parthis à quibus nondum poenas repetivimus, aves petere, undique convehunt omnia vota fastidienti gulae quod dissolutus delicijs stomachus vix admittat ab ultimo portatur Oceano. There is no necessity of searching the deep, nor of filling our bellies with the slaughter of beasts, nor of dragging shellfish of the most remote seas & the unknown shore: The Gods & Goddesses plague them, whose luxury cannot bond itself within the lists of so large & so much envied an Empire: It must be taken beyond the river Phasis, which should serve the provision of their ambitious kitchen, neither are they ashamed to borrow birds from the Parthians, upon whom they have not yet taken revenge, from all places they hunc after that which they long for to satisfy their yawning appetite; nay they fetch that from the farthest part of the Ocean, which their stomach weakened with delicacies, will hardly admit. And a while after, o miserabiles quorum palatum nisi ad pretiosos cibos non excitantur, pretiosoes autem non eximius sapor aut aliqua faucium dulcedo, sed raritas & diffi●…ultas parandi facit. O wretched men, whose palates are not stirred but with precious meats, specially when that which makes them precious is not any singular relish or excellent, savour they have, but only their scarcity and difficulty of procuring them.  
And herein Latinus Pacatus in his Panygerike a●…cords well with Seneca, if he go not a strain beyond him; Ho●…um gulae angustus erat orbis noster, namque appositas dapes non sapore sed sumptu aestimantes, illis demum cibis acquiescebant, quos extremus Oriens aut positus extra Romanum Colchus Imperium, aut famosa naufragijs maria misissent: This our world was too narrow for their throats: for not valuing their Cates by their taste but by their cost, they rested content only with that provision which they got from the uttermost parts of the East, or Colchus seated beyond the Roman Empire, or seas infamous with shipwracks.  
— Magis illa placent quae pluris emuntur. 
juvenal. satire: 11.   
That pleaseth most  
Which dearest cost.   

SECT. 4. Of the sumptuous provision of two platters furnished out, the one by Vitellius, the other by Aesop the Tragedian, as also of the horrible excess of Caligula and Heliogabalus.  
THese dainties we may partly guess at by the furnirure of two famous platters, the one of Vitellius, which for the huge bigness 
Suet. c. 13.  thereof, he was wont to call Minerva's buckler, in this he blended together the livers of guiltheads, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of Phaenicopters, & the melts of Lampres brought from the Spanish & Carpathean Seas, by the Masters of ships and Galleys. The other of Aesop the Tragedian, which he furnished out with 
Valer. l: 9: c: 1:: Senec: Ep: 96  the rarest singing birds, or such as imitated man's voice; they cost him six thousand Sesterces a piece, and the whole platter six hundred thousand: Nulla alia inductus voluptate nisi ut in his imitationem hominis manderet, 
Tertul. de Pallio: Pl. 10. 51.  induced hereunto by none other pleasure, saith Pliny, but that thereby he might eat the imitation of mankind, or perhaps imitatione hominem, mankind by imitation.  
To these may be added the horrible excess of Caligula & Heliogabalus, the former of which, videtur natura edidisse ut ostenderet quid summa 
Seneca de consolation ad Albinam, c. 9:  vitia in summa fortuna possent, whom nature seems to have brought forth, to show what effects the greatest vices joined with the greatest fortune could produce. This man, saith Suetonius, nepotinis sumptibus omnium prodigorum ingenia superavit, in thristles expenses exceeded the 
Cap: 37.  wits of all the prodigals that ever were, commentus porten●…osissima genera ciborum atque caenarum, inventing most monstrous kinds of meats & suppers, the most orient pearls that were to be gotten, he dissolved in vinegar and swallowed down, and set before his guest's bread & victuals of gold, aut frugi hominem esse oportere dictitans, aut Caesarem, commonly saying, that a man need be thrifty or Caesar; yet notwithstanding, saith Seneca, being assisted with the inventions of all his companions, he 
De Consol. ad Abinam: cap. 9:  could hardly find the means to spend the tribute of the Provinces at one supper. Which I wonder Seneca should affirm, considering he practised the dissolving & swallowing of pearls.  
Now for Heliogabalus, Lampridius thus begins his story. Vitam Heliogabali Antonini impurissimam nunquam in literas as misissem, ne quis fuisse Romanorum Pricipem sciret, nisi ante Caligulas, & Neronis, & Vitellios' Vitellios' idem h●…uisset Imperium: The most beastly life of Heliogabalus Anto●…inus I would never have committed unto writing, that it might not have been known, that ever there was such an Emperor of the Romans, unless Caligula, & Nero, & Vitellius had before sat in the same throne. Of him then, besides his other most abominable filthiness, he reports for his excess in diet, that at one supper he caused to be served in the heads of six hundred Ostriches, only for the eating of their brains, being near the sea, he never tasted fish but in places farthest distant from the sea, all his diet was upon fish: And in the Inland he fed the country clowns with the melts of lampres & pikes. To be brief, coenas & Vitellij & Apicij vicit, he exceeded the suppers both of Vitellius & Apicius.   

SECT. 5. Of the excessive luxury of more ancient times.  
WHAT should I speak of more ancient times, of the Dictator Caesar, who borrowed of Hirrius six thousand lampres by weight, for the furnishing out of a triumphal supper, and by 
Macrobius, Saturn. 2: 11: Pliny, 9 55.  weight to be repaid again; and if such were his store of lampres, what shall we conceive of his other provision. Of Fabius Gurges, so called for devouring his patrimony thorough his throat. Of Metellus Pius, 
Macrobius: Saturn: 3: 13:  who made suppers ultra Romanorum ac mortalium etiam morem, not only beyond the custom of the Romans, but of mankind. Of Metellus 
Sallust.  Pontifex, of whom Macrobius having specified the dainties served in at his table in all kinds, concludes, Vbi iam lux●…ria tunc accusaretur quando tot rebus farta fuit coena Pontificum? who should then accuse luxury when the table of the high Priest was furnished with such variety of rarities? Of Hortensius, who usually watered, if I may so speak, his plane trees with wine, in somuch, that one day being to plead in a cause, wherein Cicero was likewise retained, he solicited him to change turns with him, that so he might return the sooner to his country farm, to pour wine on his planes with his own hand; and so curious he was about his fishponds, that the same Cicero somewhere calls Philip & him, Piscenarios, pond-men or fishmongers, & so chary withal of his fish, that sooner should you get by his good will, ex equili rhedarias mulas quam ex piscina barbatum mullum, his coach mules out of his stable then one barble 
Varro de re rustica. 3. 17.  out of his ponds: yet was a mule sold sometimes for the price of an house.  
— Pluris mula est quam domus empta tibi. 
Martial. l. 3. Epigr. 2.   
More for a mule then for a house thou payest.  
Of Asinius Celer, who laid down for one mullet six thousand Sesterces, as Tertullian, seven thousand, as Macrobius, eight thousand, as Pliny, 
Tertul: de Pallio: Macr: Satur: 3. 16: Pl. 9: 17:  In qua re luxuriam illius seculi eo magis licet aestimare; saith Macrobius, quod Plinius secundus temporibus suis negat fa●…ile mullum repertum qui duas pondo libras excederet, at nunc & maioris ponderis passim videmus, & pretia haec insana nescimus: wherein we may the sooner guess at the luxury of that age, in as much as Plinius Secundus affirms that in his time, 'twas hard to find a mullet of above two pound weight, whereas now we have them every where of a greater quantity, and yet are not acquainted with those mad prices. Of Lucullus a great statesman, whom Tully & Pompey meeting by chance in the market place, out of a desire they had to know what his daily fair might be, invited themselves to sup with him that night, but upon condition, he should give no warning thereof, for that they desired not to put him to charge: He began at first to put them off with excuses for that time, wishing them rather to agree on the next day; but they importuning him for the present, he demanded of them, whether or no they would then suffer him to give order in what room they should sup; that they permitted: whereupon he presently dispatches away a message in their hearing, that he would that night sup in Apollo; within a while they follow after, and find all things ready in a pompous and princely manner, but knew not the true reason, all the cunning lying in the word Apollo: For he had so disposed of his rooms, that being distinguished by names, their provision & charge when he sat in them was accordingly allotted to them; by which means his steward and cook, as soon as they heard the room named, knew presently what to provide. Now among the rest, that which bore the name of Apollo was chiefest, the sum allotted thereunto, being, as witnesseth Plutarch, Quinquaginta millia drachmarum, which Budaeus●…asts ●…asts up to 5000 Crowns, and adds withal, hujusmodi 
Lib: 4:  multa à Plutarcho referuntur fidem omnino excedentia, si ex presenti seculo aestimentur: Many such things are reported by Plutarch, which if they should be valued by the scantling of our present times, would seem altogether incredible. Of Sergius Aurata or Orata, who borrowed his name from a fish so called, because he loved it most; the first 
Macrobius: Satur. 3. 15.  he was that adjudged the price to the Lucrine oysters for taste. Of Licinius Crassus, who, as witnesseth Cicero, being held a grave & stayed man, and most eminent among the citizens of the best rank & note, mourned in black for a Lamprey which died in a pond adjoining to his house, as it had been for his daughter; and thereupon was afterward commonly called Licinius Murena. Or lastly, of Octavius, Admiral of the Navy, who finding that the Scarus was not to be had in the 
Idem: 3: 16:  Italian Seas, dispersed an incredible multitude of them, being brought thither in ships, between Hostia & Campania, miroque ac novo exemplo pisces in mari, tanquam in terra fruges aliquas seminavit; by a strange and new example sowed fishes in the sea, as it had been corn in the field: And the same man, tanquam s●…mma in hoc utilitatis publicae verteretur, as if herein had consisted the welfare and chief happiness of the state for five years employed his utmost endeavours, that if among other fishes any fisherman by chance lighted upon a Scarus, he should again restore him to the sea safe & sound. Belike this was the same Octavius, of whom Seneca relates this pleasant stroy: Mullum ingentis formae, (quare autem non pondus adijcto & aliorum gulam irrito? quatuor 
Epist. 95:  pondo & ad Selibram fuisse aie●…ant) Tiberius Caesar missum sibi cum in macellum deferri & venire iussisset, amici inquit omnia me fallunt, nisi istum mullum aut Apicius emerit aut Publius Octavius. Vltra spem illi coniectura processit, licitati sunt, vicit Octavius & ingentem consecutus est inter suos gloriam, quum quinque millibus HS emisset piscem quem Caesar vendiderat, ne Api ius quidem emerat. Tiber. Caes being presented with a goodly mullet of a vast quantity (but why do I not add his weight, that so I may provoke the appetite of others? he was said to weigh four pounds & half) sent it presently to the market there to be sold; and my friends, quoth he, I am much mistaken, if either Apicius or Publius Octavius buy him not: It fell out beyond expectation; they both cheapened it, but Octavius carried it away, and thereby got him wonderful applause among his companions, that he had with five thousand sesterces bought a fish which the Emperor sold, and Apicius durst not buy. For mine own part I cannot tell, whether I should more wonder at the base parsimony of Tiberius, or the riotous prodigality of Octavius, that the one being an Emperor should send a fish which was given him for a present, to the market to be sold; or the other, being but a private man, should buy it at such a rate, Yet it should seem by the Satirist, this price was not so rare, but others outvied it.  
— Mullum sex millibus emit, 
juvenal. satire: 4.   
Aequantem sane paribus sestertia libris.  
He for a mullet did six thousand pay,  
Which equal pounds did with those thousands weigh.  
By which proportion it seems, they equalled a thousand Sesterces to a pound of fish.   

SECT. 6. Of their wonderful niceness in the strangeness, weight, and newness of their fishes, as also of divers other their strange curiosities about them, and of the vastness of their fishponds, and great store of fishes in them.  
ANd no marvel since those fishes among them were in greatest request which were brought from remote Seas, their own being in a manner drawn dry,  

Mullus erit dominae quem misit Corsica, vel quem 
juven. Sa●…yr. 5.   
Tauromenetanae rupes quando òmne per actum est,  
Et jam defecit nostrum mare.   

That's th'only Mullet which from Corsica is sent,  
Or from Sicilian rocks, for all our Sea is spent,  
And altogether fails.   
And of the Lampry to like purpose in the same Satire.  
Virroni murena datur quae maxima ve●…t  
Gurgite de Siculo.  
A Lamprey one on Virto did bestow,  
The greatest that Si●…ilian gulf●… did know.  
Of their weight they were so curious and observant, that they had them weighed many times at their very tables in the presence of their guests, many standing by and noting it in their table books, as witnesseth Ammianus Marcelli●…us. Poscuntur etiam 〈◊〉 aliquoties trutinae ut appositi pisces & volucres ponderentur, & glires quorum magnitudo saepius delicata non 
Lib. 28.  sine tedio praesentium ut antehac invsi●…ata laudatur assiduè, maximè cum haec eadem numerantes notarij prope triginta adsistant, cum thecis & pugillaribus. The balances are sometimes sent for in the midst of their feasts, that the fishes which are set before them, & the birds, & the reare-mices may be weighed, whose excessive greatness not without tediousness to some present, as being a thing heretofore unusual, is daily magnified and extolled, specially when almost thirty Notaries standing by, set down the exact weight in their table-books. To which custom the Poe●… alludes.  
— Laudas insane trelibrem  
Mullum. 
Hor. l. 2. Sat. 2.   
A Mullet thou dost praise  
Mad man that three pound weighs.  
And as the weight much commended their fish & enhanced their price, so did the newness & freshness thereof: they being come to such a niceness & delicacy at last that parum videtur recens mullus nisi qui in 
Sen. nat. quest. 3. 17.  convivae manu moreretur, that mullet seemed not new enough which died not in the guest's hand. To this purpose they brought them alive in glassen bottles filled with water, into the rooms where they sat: in cubile natant pisces, & sub ipsa mensa capitur, qui statim transferatur in mensam, our fishes swim in our chambers, and that very fish is taken up under our board which is instantly served in, to our board They took a marvellous delight to see their mullets change colour whiles they were expiring, Mullum expirantem versicolore quadam & numerosa varietate spectari 
39 17▪  proceres gulae narrant: The headmen and peers of Luxury affirm that the mullet when he lies a dying shows himself in many and those very various and changeable colours. But Seneca hereupon cannot hold but desires leave to leave his matter a while, and to lash these gluttons. Permit mihi quaestione sepositâ castigare luxuriam: and then goes on. Quo 
Cap. 18.  pervenêre deliciae? & pro putrido jam piscis affertur qui non hodie eductus, hodie occisus est; nescio de re magna tibi credere, ipse oportet mihi credam huc afferatur, coram me animam agate; ad hunc fastum pervenere ventres delicatorum, ut gustare non possint piscem nisi quem in ipso convivio natantem, palpitantemque viderint, To what pass is our daintiness now come? it is held for a stinking fish which is not that very day drawn out of the water & killed: I cannot trust thee in a matter of so great moment, bring him hither that he may expire in my presence: to such an height are our belly-gods come, that they cannot taste the fish unless they see him in the very feast swimming and panting. And to this end, saith he, cursu advehitur & gerulis cum anhelitu & clamore properantibus datur via, he is brought in in a posting speed, and way is given to the Porters making haste with panting and outcries. His conclusion is, non tempero mihi quin utar interdum temerariis verbis, & proprietatis modum excedam: non sunt ad popinam dentibus & ventre, & ore contenti, oculis quoque gulosi sunt. I cannot refrain but that sometimes I must use unadvised and improper words, they are not content to play the gluttons with their jaws and belly, and mouth, but they must do it with their eyes too. And Meursius hereupon infers, Quae malum hae deliciae? vix credamus 
Cap. 14.  nisi ab ipsis authoribus haberemus, quorum fidem hic negare sit piaculum. What a mischief, what a niceness is this? we should not believe it, but that we have it from those authors whose credit once to question were a kind of impiety. Yet that Sammonicus Severus writes to Severus the 
Macrob. Sat. 3. 16.  Emperor touching the serving in of the Acipenser or Sturgeon is me thinks a degree beyond all that hath been yet spoken, it therein appearing that indeed they made their belly their God. Dignatione vestra 
Philip. 3. 19  cum intersum convivio sacro animadverto hunc piscem à coronatis ministris à Tibicine introferri. When your sacred Majesty is pleased to admit me to your feast, I observe that this fish is ever served in with music: the waiters that bear him wearing garlands or chaplets on their heads. Whereupon Macrobius makes this Comment, Quasi quada●… non deliciarum sed numinis pompa, as it had been not for delight, but for devotion to some divine power.  
Since than they were thus curious in the choice of their fish, we need not much marvel at him in juvenal, who  

— Circaeis nata forent an 
juven. Sat. 4.   
Lucrinum ad saxum Rutipinove edita fund●…  
Ostrea, callebat primo deprendere morsu  
Et semel aspecti littus dicebat Echini.   

No sooner did he taste an Oyster, but he knew  
Whether it from Circe's town, or Lucrin lake they drew,  
Or from Richborow deep; and Lobsters also he,  
What shore them bred can tell when first he doth them see.   
But rather that of Marshal touching the Lampryes in Domitian's fishponds 
Lib. 4. epig. 30.  at Baiae.  

Piscator fuge ne nocens recedas  
Sacris piscibus hae natantur undae,  
Qui norunt Dominum, manumque lambunt  
Illam qua nihil est in orbe majus.  
Quid quod nomen habent & ad Magistri  
Vocem quisque sui venit citatus.   

Angler wouldst thou be guiltless? then forbear,  
For they are sacred fishes which swim here,  
Who know their Sovereign and will lick his hand,  
Than which none's greater in the world's command:  
Nay more th'haue names, and when they called are,  
Do to their several owners call repair.   
Which latter part is confirmed by Pliny, Spectantur & in piscinis Caesaris 
Lib. 10. 70.  genera piscium ad nomen venire, quosdamque singulos. In the Emperor's fishponds are seen a kind of fishes which come at the calling of them by their names, and that particular and single ones. And of Antonia the wife of Drusus he reports, that at Baulos she hung jewels as it had been 
Lib. 9, 35.  earrings in the gilds of a Lamprey which she loved; and that Hortensius the Orator was seen to shed tears for the death of one whom he dear affected.  
These kind of fishponds for the keeping of Lamp●…eyes besides the Emperor divers private men had, and that so large as is almost incredible what is reported of them, were it not written by Authors of good credit. The same Hirrius whom we mentioned before, received for the yearly rents of his buildings raised about his fishponds, as witnesseth Varro, twelve thousand Sesterces; All which he disbursed 
De re ru●…ica 3, 17.  again in the feeding of his fishes: his farm he sold, and specially in regard of his fishponds for four hundred thousand Sesterces. And Cato (as writeth the same Author, being Guardian to Lucullus, sold out 
Ibid. c. 2  of his fishponds so much fish as he received for it forty thousand Sesterces. But Columella making report hereof out of Varro, whether 
Lib. 8. c. 16.  upon a mistake or no I know not, makes t●…e sum ten times as much: his words are, attamen ijsdem temporibus quibus hanc memorabat Varro luxuriem maxima laudabatur severitas Catonis, qui nihilominus & ipse tutor Luculli grandi aere sestertium quadringentorum millium piscinas pupilli sui venditabat. In those very times in which Varro mentions this Luxury, the severity of Cato was highly commended; yet he being guardian to Lucullus, sold his Wards fishponds for a great sum of four hundred thousand Sesterces; the difference is great between Varro and Columella, but it should seem, the one speaks of the fish alone, and th●… other of the fishponds with it. Howsoever the sum was doubtless very great, which argued their great store of fish, and yet their prices being so great withal, it must needs argue that their Luxury was universal, and greater than either their prices or store.   

SECT. 7. Of their excessive gluttony in foul as well as in fish, together with their luxurious appurtenances to their solemn feasts, as also that their gluttony rose with their Empire, and again fell with it.  
NOw as their Luxury showed itself chiefly in their fish, so likewise did it in birds, though not happily so much, yet foul enough to discover their insatiable appetites: Gellius to this 
15. 〈◊〉.  purpose allegeth a notable passage out of a set speech of Favorinus, an ancient Orator, which he used in reproach of their luxurious suppers, when he persuaded the Licinian Law for the cutting off of superfluous charge that way, which is the more remarkable, because in those times. Praefecti popinae atque luxuriae negant coenam lautam esse, nisi quum libentissime edis, tum auferatur, & alia esca melior atque amplior succenturietur. is nunc flos coenae habetur inter istos, quibus sumptus & fastidium pro facetijs procedit: qui negant ullam avem praeter ficedulam totam comesse oportere: caeterarum avium atque altilium, nisi tantum apponatur ut à cluniculis inferiori parte saturi fiant, convivium putant inopia sordere: superiorem partem avium atque altilium qui edint eos palatum non habere. The masters of the Art of Cookery and Luxury deny it to be a rich supper, unless that meat which you feed upon with a good stomach be taken off, and more dainty and full dishes be mustered in place thereof. That is now held the flower of delicacle, when in steed of merriment, costliness even to loathing is substituted: they deny that any bird is to be eaten whole but only the * gnatsnapper, & except such a quantity of other birds and 
Ficedula.  fatted soul be served in, and set on, as a man may glut himself only with the hinder part of them, they hold it but a poor feast: and such as taste the forepart, they censure as having no palate. The fowl which they specially hunted after and most delighted in, were Phoenicopters, Peacocks, Thrushes and Pigeons. For the first of these I know not what kind of bird it was, but Martial thus describes it.  
Dat mihi penna rubens nomen sed lingua gulosis 
Lib. 13. Epig. 71   
Nostra sapit, Quid si garrula lingua foret?  
Red wings gave me my name, my tongue's a dainty cate,  
To gluttons: would be more if that my tongue could prate.  
Their peacocks grew in greatest request in Varroes' time, De pavonibus nostra 
Lib. 3. c. 6.  memoria greges habere caepti, & vaenire magno, ex iis Aufidius supra sexagena millia nummum in anno dicitur capere: Flocks of peacocks began to be kept in our time, and to be held at high rates, Aufidius is said to receive yearly for these birds sixty thousand Sesterces; their bodies being commonly sold for fifty, and their eggs for five pence a piece. What reckoning they made of their thrushes in part appears by that of Marshal.  
Inter aves turdus si quid me judice certum est 
Lib: 13: Epig. 92   
Inter quadrupedes mattea prima lepus.  
Amongst birds the thrush, amongst beasts the hare,  
In my conceit the choicest are.  
Of thrushes they had marvellous great abundance, and yet were they very dear; both which, we have testified by Varro upon his own 
Lib: 3: cap: 2:  knowledge. In this farm alone, saith he, which is ordained for an Ornithon or the keeping of birds, Quinque millia scio venisse turdorum denarijs ternis ut sexaginta millia ea pars reddiderit eo anno villae; I know to have been sold five thousand thrushes for three pence a piece, so as that commodity alone brought in that year three score thousand Sesterces. And no marveill, since the places in which these were kept, were, as writeth the same Author, as large as the whole manor house itself. Now for Pigeons, a pair were commonly sold for two hundred Sesterces, if they were fair, for a thousand. And Lucius Accius having it seems some excellent breed, would not sell them under four hundred pence the pair; and this in Varro's age, which was more severe. 
Lib: 3: c: 7. Lib: 8. cap. 8:  But afterwards in Columella's time they were held at four thousand Sesterces, his words are worth the noting, Pretijs earum domini complent arcam, sicut eximius Author Marcus Varro nobis affirmat, qui prodidit, etiam severioribus suis temporibus paria singula [Columbarum] millibus singulis Sestertiorum solita vaenire, nam nostri pudet seculi, (si credere volumus,) inveniri qui quaternis millibus nummûm binas aves mercantur. The owners of them fill their chests with the money which they receive for them; as that renowned Author Marcus Varro affirms, who witnesseth that even in his times, which were more severe, a pair of pigeons were usually sold for a thousand Sesterces: For, of the age in which we live, I cannot speak without blushing, some being found therein (if it be not a matter beyond belief) who have laid down for two of those birds four thousand sesterces. Yet were they not content with these storehouses at home, but mustered in the provinces abroad whole cohorts of fowlers & hunters to bring them in provision; as Latinus Pacatus hath elegantly expressed it. Vt taceam infami saepe delectu scriptos inprovincijs aucupes ductasque sub signis venatorum cohortes militasse conviviis. Not to speak of their infamous levying of fowlers mustered within the Provinces, and whole bands of hunters marching under several colours; the end of whose wars, was, to make work for their feasts: In which, their curiosity likewise about their very bread was such, that the number of them was not the least, saith Gellius in his 15 book, cap. 19 To whom that of M. Varro in his Satire, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might not unfitly be applied, si quantum operae sumsi●…i ut tuus pistor bonum faceret panem eius duodecimam philosophiae dedisses, bonus iampridem esses factus, nunc illum qui norunt volunt emere millibus centum, te qui novit nemo centussi: If thou hadst bestowed but the tweft part of that pains in the study of Philosophy, which thou hast that thy Baker might make thee good bread, thou thyself mightest long since have been made good; whereas now they that know him, will be content to lay down for him five hundred pounds, but for thee, such as know thee scarce one hundred pence.  
Now if I should hereunto add the appurtenances to these feasts, as their infinite variety of sauces, whereof Seneca, inventae sunt mille conditurae 
Epistola. 95.  quibus aviditas excitaretur, a thousand kind of sauces are found out for the stirring up of the appetite; their bathe & anointings before their feasts, their perfumes & sweet odours in divers kinds at their feasts; Cr●…o sparsa humus, the very floor was strewed over with saffron: the changing of their apparel, as also the roof of the room where 
Sallust: of Metellus:  they sat, with some new device in it at the bringing in of every several course. And lastly, of their damnable practice after their feast ended, not fit to be named among Christians, I should tyre both my s●…lfe, & the Reader, and some of these I shall perchance have fitter occasion to speak of, when I come to treat of their luxury in buildings and in apparel.  
And though it be true in the condition of the state, as in the course of private men.  
Nemo repent fit turpissimus.  
No man ever arrived to the height of villainy at first dash, yet when their Empire was at the height, their riches & fullness bred such excessive luxury, as is scarcely matchable in all respects in any nation at any time: But doubtless as far beyond all that latter ages have afforded as was the vast extent of their dominions. near about the second Punic war they were come to that pass, that Cato the Censor openly complained, non posse salvam esse urbem in qua piscis pluris quam bos vaeniret, that it could not go well with that city, in which a fish was sold for more than an ox. But in Tiberius his time it was come to another pass, when one fish was valued at the price of above ten oxen, Tres mullos triginta millibus nummûm vaenisse graviter conquestus est, saith Suetonius 
Cap: 34:  of that Emperor: He greivously complained that three mullets were sold for thirty thousand Sesterces, which is two thousand Sesterces upon a fish beyond any yet spoken of; which I wonder was forgotten by Pliny in that place where he purposely mentions the excessive prices of fishes: But as their Empire declined so did their luxury, as we 
Lib. 9: c. 17:  have heard before out of Macrobius and Latinus Pacatus; by which it appears that Vices have their rising, their reigning, and their falling, as all other things have: As their fuel increaseth, so do their flame: but that once failing they are soon extinguished.   

SECT. 8. That their riot did not only show itself in the delicious choice of their fare, but in their voracity and gurmandizing, in regard of the quantity some of them devoured at a meal.  
NEither did their excessive luxury show itself only in the delicious choice of their fare, but there were among them, who likewise strangely exceeded in voracity & gurmandizing, in regard of the quantity and weight thereof. Maximinus the Emperor devoured many times in one day quadraginta libras carnis, ut autem Cordus dicit, 
Cap●…olinus.  etiam sexaginta: forty pounds of flesh, or as Cordus hath it, Sixty. Clodius Albinus another Emperor, did eat somuch, quantum ratio humana non patitur, as humane reason cannot well comprehend it: Nam & quingentas ficus passarias quas Graeci Callistruthias vocant jeiunum comedisse 
Idem.  Cordus dicit, & centum Persica Campana, & melones ostienses decem, & vuarum Lavicarum pondo viginti, & ficedulas centum, & ostrea quadraginta: In the morning fasting, he dispatched five hundred dried figs, as writeth Cordus, & an hundred peaches of Campania, and ten melones of Ostia, and twenty pound weight of grapes of Lavica, besides an hundred 
* A bird like a nightingale, feeding on figs.  gnat-gnappers, & forty oysters.  
Dij talem terris avertite pestem,  
God from such monsters us defend.  
But Phago, in whom Aurelian took singular delight for his wonderful eating, surpassed in my mind both the former, ridding at one meal in the Emperor's presence, aprum integrum, centum panes, vervecem & porcellum, a whole boar, an hundred loaves, a weather, & a young pig: 
Vopiscus in Aureliano:  and it should seem, that this serving in of whole bores was a thing not unusual, even when they sat alone & in private.  

— Quis feret istas  
Luxuriae sordes? quanta est gula quae sibi totos 
Iuven: satire: 1:   
Ponit apros, animal propter convivia natum.   

This filthy luxury who can endure? how great a beast  
Is that same gut, which would whole bores  
Ordained for feasts) to be before him set.   
And the other Satirist to like purpose.  

Rancidum aprum antiqui laudabant, non quia nasus  
Illis nullus erat: sed, credo, hac ment, quòd hospes 
Horat: l: 2: Sat: 2.   
Tardiùs adveniens, vitiatum commodiùs, quam  
Integrum edax dominus consumeret.   

Our Ancestors well liked a rancid boar, not that  
They had no nose, but (as I think) if guests came late,  
'Twas thought much fitter they should eat a tainted one,  
Then the feasts founder should devour one all alone.   
Mark Anthony, saith Plutarch, having but twelve guests provided eight boars, one set to the fire after another, that whensoever he came in, sooner or latter, one at least might come in prime. Nay Caranus, saith Athenaeus, set before every guest a boar in a several dish.  
Now I have been long, I confess, in this point, but their infinite vanity & extreme madness therein hath made me so, the rather for that this excess is commonly brought as a reason of the general decrease of mankind now a days, aswell in strength & stature, as age & duration: And though it be true, that we exceed this way too much, wasting that in superfluous and riotous pampering of our bodies, which would be far better bestowed on such as want necessaries; yet it is as true, that they as far exceeded us this way, as we come short of them in riches & dominion: And yet I doubt, much of that which hath been spoken, will hardly be believed, though I have alleged their own Authous, and for the most part in their own words, thereby to add the greater weight, and procure the greater credit thereunto. Nam vetera nunc ferè hoc fatum habent, ut etsi vera, vix videantur, an sui magnitudine, an nostra declinatione, saith a great Antiquary, speaking of this 
Lypsiius, Epist: select. 63.  very thing: These ancient records are for the most part subject to this destiny, that although they be true, yet they seem not so, either thorough their own excess, or our coming so far short of them: But I hope I shall prepare a way to an easier belief of that which is past, by that which is now to follow, touching their luxury in building & appar●…ll, and other prodigal expenses every way suitable to their luxury in diet, if not exceeding it.    

CAP. 8. Of the Romans excessive luxury in building.  

SECT. 1. Of their excess in the great variety of their far fetched and dear bought marble.  
THe chiefest materials of building, in which the Romans most generally exceeded, was the great variety of their far fetched & dear bought Marble: of which Pliny, as being himself an eyewitness speaks so feelingly, and yet withal so wittily, that he best deserves to be heard: Though I profess to make choice of his words, as they lie here & there, and suit best with the present purpose. It now remains, (saith he) to write of the nature of stones, that is to say, the principal point of all enormous abuses, and the very height of wasteful superfluities. For all things else which we have handled heretofore even to this book, may seem in some sort to have been made for man, But as for Mountains, Nature hath framed them for her own self, partly to strengthen, as it were certain joints within the veins & bowels of the earth, partly to tame the violence of great rivers, and to break the force of surging waves & inundations of the sea. And yet notwithstanding for our wanton pleasures, and nothing else we cut & hew, we load and carry away those huge hills and inaccessible rocks, which otherwise to pass only over, was thought a wonder. Our Ancestors in time past, reputed it a miracle, & in a manner prodigious, that first Hannibal and afterwards the Cimbrians surmounted the Alps: But now even the same mountains we pierce through with pickaxe & mattock, for to get out thereof an hundred sorts of marble; we cleave the Capes and Promontories, we lay them open for the sea to let it in; down we go with their heads, as if we would lay the whole world even, and make all level. The mighty mountains, set as limits to bond the frontiers of divers countries, and to separate one nation from another, those we transport and carry from their native seat: Ships we build of purpose for to fraught with marble: the cliffs & tops of high hills they carry to and fro amid the waves & billows of the sea. Now let every man think with himself what excessive prices of these stones he shall hear anon, and what monstrous pieces and masses he seeth drawn & carried both by land and sea, & then let him consider withal how much more fair & happy a life many a man should have without all this, and how many cannot choose but die for it, whensoever they go about to do, or if I should speak more truly, to suffer this enterprise. Also for what use else or pleasure rather, but only that they might lie in beds & chambers of stones, that forsooth are spotted, as if they never regarded how the darkness of the night bereaveth the one half of each man's life of those delights & joys.   

SECT. 2. Of their excessive sumptuousness in their temporary or transeunt buildings, made only for pastime to last but for a short time.  
NOw their buildings were either private or public: and the public again, either merely for pleasure or for use: such were their places for civil assemblies, their bridges, their Aqueducks, their draughts under ground, their market places & high ways; & these, though respectively to their several ends they were very sumptuous, yet because they were for public use, I will not touch, but will only insist upon their excessive snperfluity, cast away upon those which were only for public pleasure, or the vain delight of private men. Among those that were destined to none other end, but game & pastime, their theatres & Amphitheatres first present themselves to our view, and among these, the renowned Theatre of Scaurus. This Scaurus, saith Pliny, when he was Aedile, caused a wonderful piece of work to be made, 
Lib. 36: Cap: 15:  and exceeding all that ever have been known wrought by man's hand, not only those that have been erected for a month, or such a thing, but even those that have been destined for perpetuity, and a Theatre it was: The stage had three lofts one above another, wherein were 360 columns of marble; the base or nethermost part of the stage was all of Marble, the middle of glass (an excessive superfluity, never heard of before or after) as for the uppermost, the boards, planks & floors were gilded; the columns beneath were 40 foot high wanting twain: and between these columns there stood of statues & images in brass to the number of 3000. The Theatre itself was able to receive 80000 persons to sit well and at ease. As touching the other furniture of this Theatre of Scaurus in rich hangings which were cloth of gold, painted tables the most exquisite that could be found, Player's apparel, and other stuff meet to adorn the stage, there was such abundance thereof, that there being carried back to his house of pleasure at Tusculum the surplusage thereof, (over and above the daintiest part whereof he had daily use at Rome) his servants and slaves there, upon indignation for this waste and monstrous superfluities of their Master, set the said country house on fire, and burnt as much as came to an hundred millions of Sesterces. Yet was this magnificent piece of building, by the testimony of the same Pliny but Temporarium Theatrum, a Theatre set up but for a short time: And in another place, vix uno mense futurum in usu, 
Lib. 36 c. 2.  scarce to endure for a month.  
Such a kind of work was Caligula his bridge, novum & inauditum 
Sueton. c. 19  spectaculi genus, a new and unheard of kind of show: It reached from Putzoll to Bauly three miles and a quarter: He built it upon ships in a few days, and in emulation of Xerxes, over this he marched with the Senate and the soldiery in a triumphant manner, and in the view of the people, upon this he feasted and passed the night in dalliance and gaming: but like jonas his gourd, it was suddenly up, and suddenly down, Immensum opus perpendenti, sed cui laudem vanitas detrahit; nam 
Lypsius.  quo fine structum nisi ut destrueretur? a marvellous great work indeed, but such as the vanity thereof deprived it of commendation, for to what end was it raised but to be demolished: thus sported he, saith Seneca, 
Me brenit-vitae cap. 18:  with the power of the Empire, and all in imitation furiosi & externi, & infoeliciter superbi regis, of a foreign, frentique, and unlucky proud King. Of like nature were those buildings set up by the command of Caracalla, (whom we may not unfitly or unjustly call another Caligula) Vbicunque hyematurus erat aut etiam putabatur hyematurus, cogebantur 
Dio.  amphitheatra & circos struere, et ea ipsa mox diruenda, wheresoever he wintered, or but intended to winter, they were constrained to erect Amphitheatres and Cirkes for public games, and those within a while to be taken down again: So as upon the matter they were put to that excessive charge only for the imaginary use of one man.   

SEC. 3. Of their infinite expense in their permanent Amphitheatres, and the appurtenances belonging thereunto, namely their Curtains and Arena.  
But I pass by these transeunt buildings, and come to their permanent, among which the Amphitheatre began by Vespasian, but finished and dedicated by Titus was one of the most famous, Cujus summitatem aegrè visio humana conscendit; the height whereof was such, 
Ammianus.  that the eye of man could hardly reach it. It was reared saith Cassiodore; divitiarum profuso flumine; with rivers of treasure poured out, it contained only upon the steps or degrees sufficient, and easy seats for eighty seven thousand, so as the vacant places besides might well contain ten or twenty thousand more. Marshal prefers it before all the rare great works of Rome.  
Omnis Caesareo cedat labor Amphitheatro,  
Vnum praecunctis fama loquatur opus.  
To Caesar's Amphitheatre all other works must veil,  
To sound this one above them all Fame's trump shall never fail.  
And in another place he bestows upon it the title of Venerable.  
Hic ubi conspicui venerabilis Amphitheatri,  
Erigitur moles stagna Neronis erant.  
In that place where sometimes stood cruel Nero's ponds,  
That venerable piece th'Amphitheater stands.  
Now as the mass of treasure was infinite which they cast away in the raising of these buildings; only to make the people sport, so was it incredible what they spent in the furnishing of them, and setting forth their games therein: Quid dicendum est de iis qui populari levitate ducti, vel magnis urbibus suffecturas opes exhibendis muneribus impendunt? saith Lactantius: what shall we say of them who being led with popular applause, 
Instit. lib. 6.  spend in exhibiting sword-fights, treasure enough for the building or maintaining of great Cities? And Ambrose to like purpose, 
Sermone 81.  Magistratus in Theatris, mimis, athletis, gladiatoribus, alijsque hujusmodi generibus hominum totum patrimonium suum largitur & prodigit, ut unius horae favorem vulgi acquirat. The Magistrate upon Theatrical games, jeasters, wrestlers, swordplayers, & such kind of men, lavishes out his whole patrimony, and that only to purchase the applause of the people for an hour: And surely we may well conceive and believe as much whether we consider their frequency, or their appurtenances: for the former of which Augustus alone is said to have set forth public games in his own name for himself four and twenty several times: And for 
Suetonius.  other Magistrates who either were absent or wanted means to go thorough with it three and twenty. Nay Titus at the dedication of his Amphitheatre held them for an hundred days together. Now for the appurtenances I may say,  
— Materiam superabat opus.  
The workmanship did far the stuff exceed.  
They were beyond the strangeness of their buildings, their whole furniture was sometimes of silver, as that of julius Caesar, and C. Antonius, 
Plin. l. 33. c 3.  sometimes of gold, thus Nero for the ostentation of his greatness to Teridates King of Armenia covered over not the stage only, but the whole 
Idem Ibidem.  Theatre with gold: All the instruments then used and furniture thereof were likewise guilded, and the veil or curtain which hung over them to keep th●…m from the heat of the Sun was all of purple, imbroadered with stars of gold, ex quo & dies ille aureus appellatus, from 
Dio Cassius in Nerone.  whence that was ever after called, the golden day. To these kind of curtains which were doubtless of very great charge, being coloured and shadowing so spacious a place doth Lucretius allude,  

Et vulgo faciunt id lutea rufaque vela,  
Et ferrugina cum magnis intenta theatris  
Per malos vulgata trabesque trementia pendent:  
Namque ibi concessum Caveai subter & omnem  
S●…nai speciem, patrum, matrumque, Deorumque  
Inficiunt, coguntque suo fluitare colore.   

So do those curtains yellow, russet, red,  
When o'er the theatres stretched out and spread,  
On masts and beams they trembling hang: for then  
The scaffolds underneath, and all the Scene  
Of Gods, of Fathers, and of Matron's grave,  
They with their colours die, and cause to wave.   
Hereunto may be added the Arena, the place below in which their games were exhibited, so called, for that it was strewed over with sand for the drinking in of the blood which was spilt upon it, and officers they had purposely for this business, who in the Laws and Writings of the Christian Doctors are termed Arenarij, Sanders, who as they first strewed it over, so between while during the same sitting, they renewed it again, as appears by those verses of Martial, where he speaks of a Lion suddenly enraged who slew two of those Sanders,  

Nam duo de tenera juvenilia corpora turba,  
Sanguinem rastris quae renovabat humum:  
Saevus & infoelix furiali dente peremit,  
Martia non vidit majus Arena nefas.   

Two youthful bodies of that company,  
Which did with rakes the bloody ground renew;  
With furious tooth the savage Lion slew,  
A fouler deed the sand did never see.   
This place Nero in steed of sand caused to be strewed over with dust of 
Plin. 33. 5.  gold, himself being to try a match of Chariot-driving therein: and so did Caius Caligula, Edidit & Circenses quosdam praecipuos minio & Chrysocolla 
Suetonius c. 18  constrato Circo; he set forth certain notable games in the Circus, being strewed over with vermilion and dust of gold.   

SECT. 4. Of their incredible expense in the ●…iring and arming, and dieting of their sword-players, in the hunting, bringing home, feeding, and keeping of their wild beasts, in other admirable shows to the astonishment of the beholders, in refreshing the spectators with precious and pleasant perfumes, & the like, & lastly in casting their largesse among the people, neither was this▪ the pract●…se of the Emperors only, but of private men.  
But the greatest expense of all was the multitude of Fencers who were all hired for great prizes (and great reason, their lives being exposed to evident hazard) besides the arming and dieting of them before they entered, and if they exhibited beasts, it is almost past credit, the relations that are made by Historians touching their number. The Emperor Probus commanded to be let loose at once, a thousand 
Vopiscus in Probo.  Ostrichges, a thousand stags', a thousand wild boars, and a thousand fallow dear, besides wild goats, wild sheep, and other beasts, all which he gave over to the mercy, or rather the rage of the people, every one to catch what he could▪ the Circus being set all over with tall and mighty trees, which by the Soldiers were taken up by the roots as they grew in the woods, and there planted with green turf about them, and fastened with beams and irons. The next day he let in to the same place centum jubatos leones, one hundred maned or crested Lions▪ which with roaring filled the air as it had been with thunder, one hundred Leopards of Lybia, one hundred of Syria, one hundred Lionesses, and three hundred bears. Now if we should cast up the expense he was at for the hunting, for the bringing home, for the feeding and keeping of all these, it is not for an ordinary reach to comprehend: yet stood he not alone in this kind. Gordianus exhibited in one day an hundred wild beasts of Lybia, and in another, one thousand bears, as Capitolinus in his life witnesseth.  
And they strived as it should seem who should outvie one another in rarity of shows, & riotousness of expense, even Titus himself, who in their stories is named, Deliciae generis humani, the delight or delicacy of mankind, marveilously exceeded this way. He set forth the whole tragedy of Orpheus, so that creeping rocks and running woods were exhibited in the Arena, as Martial hath well expressed it.  

Quicquid in Orp●…o Rhodope spectasse theatr●…  
Dicitur, exhibuit Caesar Arena tibi.  
Repferunt 〈◊〉, mirandaque sylva cucurrit,  
Quale fuisse nemus creditur Hesperidum.   

What Rhodope in Orpheus' Theatre did see  
Th'Amphitheater that exhibits unto thee  
O Caesar: Rocks do creep, and woods do move apace,  
The Orchard such they say of Atlas' daughters was▪   
Nay there were that together with Land-Beasts brought in Sea-Monsters, as the Sea-calf and the Sea-horse, which Calphurnius at the games of Carinus testifies that himself beheld,  

Nec solum nobis sylvestria cernere monstra  
Contigit, Aequoreos ego cum certantibus ursis  
Spectavi vitulos & equorum nomine dignum 
Hippopotamos.   
Sed deforme pecus.   

Nor only did I see wood Monsters there,  
But Sea-calves also tugging with the bear,  
And that misshapen ugly beast withal,  
Which we not without cause the Sea-horse call.   
And that which was more strange, they brought in the Sea itself, and therein ships, representing the form of a sea-fight. But Heliogabalus went beyond all conceit: Fertur in Euripis vino plenis naves Circenses 
Dio in Nerone.  exhibuisse, they be the words of Lampridius, he is said to have exhibited ships in the Circus, sailing and contending in wine. It was in Hortensius a great folly and vanity to water his plane trees with wine, but for ships to sail and contend in wine was a most monstrous superlative madness.  
Now amid all these sights, it was ordinary to refresh the spectators with pleasant perfumes from gums, or sweet water, or ointments, 
Apuleius. Spartianus in Adriano. Seneca Ep. 90.  or balsamum, or saffron mixed with wine, or somewhat in that kind, which they conveyed in close pipes through the whole Amphitheatre; and the fight ended, they commonly cast a largesse among the people, wrapping up the names of those things in little pellets, which they intended to give, and every one as he could catch them, brought them to the Masters of the games, who delivered them the thing itself specified in their pellet. Such gifts Titus cast abroad by the space of an hundred days (as witnesseth Dion) for so long his games lasted, and many of them were of good value, as appears by the testimony of the same Author, not only meat, and drink, and apparel, but vessels of silver and gold, horses, cattle, slaves, and the like▪ but it is wonderful what Nero did in this kind, to the forenamed he added curious pictures, pearls, and precious stone, yea naves insulas, agros, ships, houses, 
Suet. c. 11●… Lypsius.  farms: O res vix Suetonio fidissimo testi credendas, things hardly to be credited, though delivered by Suetonius a most faithful Historian  
Neither was this the practice of Emperors only, but even of private men. Cicero testifies of Milo, that in these kind of games he wasted three patrimonies; and Vopiscus with some indignation relates the like 
In Carin●….  of Messalla, Legat hunc locum junius Messalla, quem ego liberè culpare audeo; ille enim patrimonium suum Scaenicis dedit, haeredibus abnegavit: Let junius Messalla read this place, whom I dare freely accuse, for that he hath cast away his patrimony upon stage-players, and defrauded his heirs thereof; and then reckoning many particulars of his wasteful riot that way, at length he thus concludes, Et haec quidem idcirco in literas misi, ut futuros editores pudor tangeret, ne patrimonia sua proscriptis legitimis haeredibus mimis & bal●…tronibus deputarent: These things have I therefore committed to writing, that such as hereafter set forth these kind of games, might blush to confer their patrimony upon jesters and base rascals, excluding their lawful heirs.   

SECT. 5. Of their superfluous expense, as in the number and largeness, so likewise in the beauty and ornament of Baths; which were likewise of little other use then for pleasure.  
But leaving their theatres & Amphitheatres which were only for pleasure, let us take a view of their Baths, which were likewise of little other use, at leastwise as they used them; as appears by that of Artemidorus, Balneum nihil aliud suo aevo fuisse quam transitum ad coenam, that a bath in his time was nothing else but a passage to supper, so as they which often took repast, washed as often; it being noted of Commodus the Emperor, that he washed seven or eight times in a day. And among the Christians, Sisinius a Bishop was censured as intemperate for washing twice in a day: Yet a wonder it is to consider, to what an infinite height these kind of buildings for Bathe amounted, aswell in regard of their number & largeness, as their beauty & ornament. Agrippa, as witnesseth Pliny, during his Aedilship, built for public and free use 
Lib: 36.  one hundred & seventy, and the same Author there adds, that at Rome in his time their number was infinite: and for their largeness, some of them, saith Olimpiodorus, were ingenti, & Cassiodorus mirabili magnitudine, of a●… huge & wonderful bigness: Ammianus is more particular, 
Lib: 16:  Lavacra in modum Provinciarum extructa, Baths built in the manner of Provinces; the Antoninian, or rather Dioclesian Baths alone, were so capacious, as they contained for the use of washing, Sellas mille sexcentas, easque è marmore polito factas, one thousand six hundred several seats, 
Olympio●…rus in Excerptis.  and those all of polished marble.  
Neither was the ornament & beauty of these bathing places unsuitable to their number and largeness; which Seneca in his eighty sixth Epistle hath most elegantly expressed, and withal bitterly censured, where speaking of the meanness of the Bath which Scipio Africanus used, while he lived in banisnment, where Seneca wrote that Epistle, he thus goes on: At nunc quis est qui sic lavari sustineat, pauper sibi videtur ac sordidus nisi parietes magnis & pretiosis orbibus praefulserint, nisi Alexandrina marmora numidicis crustis distincta sint, nisi illis undique operosa & in picturae modum variata circumlitio praetexatur, nisi vitro condatur Camera, nisi Thasius lapis quondam rarum in aliquo spectaculum templo, piscinas nostras circumdederit, nisi aquam argentea epistomia fuderint, & adhuc plebeias fistulas loquor: Quid cum ad Balnea libertinorum pervenero? quantum statuarum? quantum Columnarum & nihil sustinentium, sed in ornamentum positarum & impensae causâ? eo deliciarum venimus ut nisi gemmas calcare nolimus: But who is there now, who would be content to wash as he did, he seems to himself poor & base, whose walls do not shine with great and precious circles, unless between the marble of Alexandria, be inlaid the shave of that of Numedia, unless they have a border round about it with divers colours in manner of pictures, unless their arched roof be covered over with glass, unless the Thasian stone, heretofore a rare sight in some Temple, compass our ponds; unless silver cocks pour us forth water; & as yet have I spoken but of the ordinary & common pipes, how much beyond all this are the Baths of freed men? how many statues, how many pillars have you there, for none other use, but only for ornament & expense? we are now come to that delicacy, that we can tread upon nothing but jewels. By which lively description a man should think, he rather spoke of the palaces of some great Princes, then of their common Bathing rooms, ordained for none other use, than the washing off of the sweat & filth of their bodies. Yet with Seneca in some parts of his description Statius accords.  

Nil ibi plebeium nunquam Temesaea notabis 
In bal●…o ●…trusci.   
Aera, sed argento foelix propellitur unda  
Argentoque cadit, labrisque nitentibus instat,  
Delicias mir●…ta suas.   

There's nothing vulgar, there's no Temesaean brass,  
But happy waters there through silver conduits pass,  
From silver fall, and into glistering cisterns run,  
(Admiring their delights) with expedition,   
Thereby signifying, that not only the pipes, thorough which the water ran, and the cocks & conduits, out of which it ran, but the cisterns too, into which it fell were all of pure silver. And touching the glass, he touches that too.  
Effulgent Camerae, vario fastigia vitro,  
In species animosque nitent.  
The arched roofs do shine & glister gloriously,  
Of divers glass composed, both to the mind & eye.  
Pliny goes farther, and tells us, that not only the sides of the cisterns, in 
Lib. 33. 12:  which they bathed were of silver, but the seats & footing or the bottone, so as they could hardly stand for sliding upon it, ut eadem materia & probris serviat & cibis, so as the same matter, saith he, is made to serve both at our tables, and for base unworthy offices.   

SECT. 6. Of the endless masses of treasure which they poured out in the erecting & adorning of Temples, for the worship of those images which they forged to themselves, or at leastwise knew well enough were no Gods.  
BEfore we enter into their private houses, it shall not be amiss in passing from their Baths by the way, to cast a glance upon their Temples & Statues. Had their temples been consecrated to the honour & service of the true God, I should have highly commended their great expense in the building & beautifying of them, as a work of piety and devotion: But being dedicated to Idols & Devils, & such 
1 Cor. 10. 20.  as themselves, at leastwise the wiser sort amongst them, either laughed at, or believed not, the excessive charge which that way they were at, was not only excessive vanity & folly, but most profane & impious both superstition & superfluity. The number of their Temples only in the city of Rome, was four hundred twenty four, the greatest part of 
Notitia Imper●…:  which was no doubt very magnificent, shining with gold, and jet, and marble, as appears by that of Rutilius.  
Confunduntque vagos delubra micantia visus  
Ipsos crediderim sic habitare Deos.  
And glistering temples wand'ring eyes confound,  
So dwell the Gods I think on heavenly ground.  
And these chiefly, as I conceive doth Claudian intend speaking of Rome.  
— Quae luce metalli,  
Aemula vicinis fastigia conserit astris.  
Who with her metals light doth shine;  
And with the neighbour stars her tops confine.  
But most elegantly and fully hath Arnobius expressed it: Sint ergo haec licet ex molibus marmoreis structa, laquearibus aut renideant aureis, splendeant 
De Templis.  hic gemmae, & sydereos evomant variata interstitione fulgores, terra sunt haec omnia & ex 〈◊〉 vilioris materiae concreta: Though they be built with piles of marble, and their vaults shine with gold; though they glister with precious stone, which dart forth & sparkle abroad beams like the stars in a various distance, yet all these things are but earth, made of the dregges of the basest matter.  
Amongst them all, that of the Capitol was most eminent & stately, it took its name, as witnesseth Arnobius, à Capite Toli, from the head of a man so named, which at the laying of the foundation was digged up: It was four times ruined, and three times again re-edified: It was first built by the Tarquin's, Secondly by Sylla, but dedicated by Lutatius Catulus; in which. Augustus' bestowed upon the seat of jupiter Sedecem 
Dio, 55.  millia pondo auri & quingenties Sestertiûm in gemmis, sixteen thousand weight of gold, and five hundred times an hundred thousand Sesterces in jewels: Thirdly by Vespasian; fourthly & lastly, by Domitian. The height whereof was such, that Silius brings in jupiter, thus prophesying of Domitian's raising it.  
Aurea Tarpeia ponet Capitolia rupe,  
Et junget nostro templorum culmina coelo.  
He on Tarpeian rock shall place the golden Capitole,  
Andshall advance his Temple's top as high as heavenly pole.  
With whom Tertullian fully agrees in sense, and almost in words: Nam etsi à Numa concepta relligio est, nondum tamen aut simulachris aut templis 
I●… Apologetico.  res divina apud Romanos constabat, & nulla Capitolia coelo certantia, sed temeraria de Cespite altaria: Though religion were first brought in by Numa, yet then had the Romans neither images nor temples for divine service, no Capitol contending with heaven for height, but altars were set up of the turf that came next to hand. And no doubt but the length & breadth were every way answerable to the height; the excessive charge that Domitian was at in the building hereof, Martial after his flattering manner hath wittily described, telling him, that thereby he 
Lib. 9: Ep: 4.  had so fa●…re obliged jupiter & all the Gods, that if they should empty their coffers and make sale of all they had, they could never make him sufficient recompense, but would be forced to turn ●…anke-rupts.  

Q●…antum iam superis Caesar coeloque dedisti,  
Si repetes, & si Creditor esse ve●…is?  
Grandis in Aetherio licet anctio fiat Olympo,  
Coganturque Dei vendere quicquid habe●…t  
Conturbabit Atlas, & non erit ●…cia tota  
Decid●…t tecum qua pater ipse deûm.  
Pro Capitolinis quid enim tibi solvere templis  
Quid pro Tarpeiae frondis honore potest? etc.  
Expectes & 〈◊〉 Auguste necesse est,  
Nam tibi quod solvat non habet Arca jovis   

If Caesar, wh●…t on Gods & heaven thou hast bestowed,  
Thou shouldst as Creditor call in, and all that's owed,  
Though in the Etherial skies portsale of all were made,  
And all the Gods were forced to sell what ere they had,  
Atlas would bankrupt prove, and to the prince of heaven  
Not one ounce would remain to make all reckonings even.  
For for the Capitols great temples how can he,  
Or for Ta●…peian oaks & laurels satisfy? etc.  
Thou must, o Caesar, needs a while forbear & stay,  
For why, Io●…es coffers yet have not wherewith to pay.   
By which it appears what account they made of the Gods, to whom they dedicated these Temples: Nay Domitian himself the founder of the Capitol, is so bold with them, as if they had indeed been his debtors, or at leastwise his companions to style himself in his edicts, Dominus & Deus noster sic fieri iubet, our Lord & God so commands, unde 
Sue●…on. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  institutum posthac ut nec scripto quidem nec sermone cuiusquam appellaretur aliter: And from thence forth was it ordained, that no man should give him other title either in writing or speech. Now for the riches & ornament of the Capitol, we may in part give a guess at it by this, that there was spent only upon the gild of it supra duodecem millia talentorum, above twelve thousand talents: It was gilded all over, not the inner roof only, but the utter covering which was of brass or copper, but the doors were laid over with thick plates of gold, which remained till Honorius his reign, and then in a dearth of coin, Stilicho mandasse per hibetur (saith Zozimus) ut fores in Capitolio Romano quae auro magni ponderis erant obductae laminis iis spoliarentur: Cum autem qui hoc facere iussi erant, idagerent, in part for●…um scriptum reppererant, [infoelici Regi servantur:] Quod eventus docuit: nam Stilicho paulo post infoeliciter perijt. 〈◊〉 is said to have given command, that the doors of the Capitol, which were laid over with massy gold, should be robbed of those plates, and when they who had it in charge put it in execution, they found engraven upon a part of the door these words, [They are reserved for an unfortunate King] which the event proved to be true, for Stiliche within a while after perished unfortunately.  
Next to the Capitol was the Pantheon, the Temple of honour, of Fortune, of the City, strange Idols, and that of Peace inferior to none. It was built by Vespastan, three hundred foot in length it was, and in breadth two hundredth; so as Herodian defervedly calls it, Maximum & pulcherimum omnium in urbe operum▪ the greatest and fairest of all the works in the city: Whereunto he adds, ditissimum, ornamentis auri & argenti excultum, the most sumptuous in ornaments of gold & filver: of which josephus thus writes, Omnia in hoc templum collata & disposita sunt ob quae homines videndi cupiditate antea per totum orbem vagabantur. Upon 
Lib. 7. Excid●….  this temple were bestowed all the rarities which men before traveiled thorough the world to see. And Pliny, ex omnibus quae retuli clarissima 
Lib. 34. 8.  quaeque in urbe, jam sunt dicata à Vespasiano Principe in te●…plo Pacis, of all the choice pieces that I have spoken of, the most excellent are laid up and dedicated by Vespasian the Emperor in the temple of Peace: Thus they made Idols to themselves, which the simplest of them could not but discern were no Gods, and then without measure or reason, poured out infinite masses of treasure in the serving & worshipping of them.   

SECT. 7. Of their wonderful vanity in erecting infinite numbers of statues, and those very chargeable, & that to themselves.  
YEt in this was some pretence of Religion, but in their Statues they worshipped themselves, vainly imagining thereby to aeternize their names. Quidam aeternitati secommendari posse per statuas aestimantes eas ardenter affectant, atque auro curant inbracteari, saith Ammianus Marcellinus, some hoping to recommend themselves to eternity by 
Lib: 16:  statues, infinitely affect them, causing them to be overlaid with gold. This itching humour of theirs, pene parem urbi populum dedit quam natura procreavit: in time begat almost as many inhabitants to the city as nature 
Cass●…dorus. l: 7.  brought forth, meaning that the number of their statues, did in a manner equal their citizens: And no marvel, they being sine numero, without number, in somuch as they filled every corner, pestered their 
Victor:  streets and straightened their ways, which gave occasion to that Edict of Claudius, whereby private men were inhibited the erecting of statues 
〈◊〉 lib. ●…ltimo.  to themselves, but by leave first obtained from the Senate, such only excepted as had done some public service.  
For the prize of the stuff whereof they were made, the most common and basest of them were of Marble, the rest of ivory, & silver, and gold, and those solid & ma●…sie, Statuas sibi in Capitolio non nisi aureas argenteasque poni permisit, ac ponderis certi, they be the words of Sutonius 
Cap: 13:  touching Domitian, he forbade any statues to be erected to him in the Capitol, save only of gold & silver, & those of a certain weight, which weight perchance those verses of Statius express,  
Da Capitolinis aeternum sedibus aurum,  
Quo niteant sacri centeno pondere vultus.  
Grant to the Capitol eternal gold, wherein  
Those sacred faces of one hundred weight may shine.  
But that of Commodus fare exceeded this weight, Statuam mille librarum 
Dion in Compendio.  auream habuit▪ he had a Statue erected to him of a thousand pound weight. Now as they were at this great charge in the making and erecting of their Statues: So were they likewise in the guarding of them. They were kept with no less caution, than they were set up with care & cost: And to this purpose maintained they an Officer of great honour who had the title of Comes Romanus given him. This man with his soldiers 
Cassi●…dorus l. 7.  walked thorough the streets of the city in the night to see good order: but chiefly to provide that no wrong should be offered to the Statues▪ thus prodigally careful they were of their own shadows, and as prodigally careless of the lives of others: so as I cannot easily determine whether their cruelty were greater in the one, or their folly in the other.   

SECT. 8. Their prodigal sumptuousness in their private buildings, in regard of their largeness and height of their houses, as also in regard of their marble pillars, walls, roofs, beams, & pavement full of Art and cost.  
NOw for their dwelling houses and private buildings. Claudian speaking of Rome thus sets them out in general.  

Qua nihil in terris complectitur altius aether  
Cujus nec spatium visus, nec corda decorem,  
Nec laudem vox ulla capit.   

On earth nought higher do the Heavens embrace:  
Her largeness sight, her beauty hearts, her praise  
Tongue comprehends not—   
It was the vaunt of Augustus, marmoream se relinquere quam lateritiam accepisset; that he left the City of marble having found it of brick: but S. Hieroms complaint, Vivimus quasi altero die morituri, & aedificamus quasi 
Epist. ad Gaudentium.  semper in hoc seculo victuri, we so feed as if we were to die to morrow, & so build as if we were here to live for ever. The largeness of their houses was strange, and such as a man would wonder what use they could have of it: The words of Valerius are to this purpose very pertinent, where speaking of Quintius Cincinnatus, to whom the Dictatorship was offered, though he ploughed but four acres of land, with some indignation he adds, angustè se habitare nunc putat cuius domus tantum patet quantum 
Lib. 4. c. 6.  Cincinnati rura patuerunt; he thinks he is straightened in his dwelling, whose house is no larger than were all Cincinnatus his grounds. Some of Nero's slaves had Kitchens that took up above two acres of 
Plin. 18. 2  ground; and the Lands of those who laid the ground of their Empire were of less extent than the Cellars of some that came after▪ so that 
36. 15.  by this proportion their houses came almost to the greatness of Cities, domos atque villas cognover is in urbium modum exaedificatas, they be the words of Sallust we may understand their houses & farms to be built in the manner of Cities. Nay they went beyond them: aedificia privata laxitatem urbium magnarum vincentia, private men's houses exceeded 
Sen●… de Beves. 7. 10.  the largeness of great Cities. And of these sometimes they joined two or three together, as Catiline in his Oration to his Soldiers upbraids his enemies; and in this sense it seems is Martial to be understood.  
Et docti Senecae ter numeranda domus. 
Lib. 4. epig. 40.   
And leerned Seneca's thrice to be numbered house.  
Neither was the height of their houses disproportionable to the largeness.  
Aedificant auro sedesque ad sydera mittunt.  
They build with gold and raise their seats unto the stars.  
There were of them who built to the height of their chiefest Temples that of Hercules and Fortune, nay exceeded the Capitol itself.  

Aedificator erat Centronius, & modo curvo  
Littore Caietae summa nunc Tyberis arce. 
juven. Sat. 14   
Nunc Praenestinis in montibus alta parabat  
Culmina villarum, Graecis longeque petitis  
Marmoribus, Vincens Fortunae atque Herculis aedem.  
Vt spado vincebat Capitolia nostra Posides.   

Centronius was a builder, sometimes on  
Crooked Caietas shore, sometimes upon  
Tiburs high top raising his palaces,  
And on Praenestine hills fetching from Greece  
And far away his marbles, to control  
(As th'Eunuch Posid did our Capitol)  
The Church of Fortune and of Hercules.   
Yet to this height they farther added somewhat by planting gardens & orchards & groves upon their house tops: therein like Antipodes running a contrary course to nature, as Seneca truly and justly taxes them. Non vivunt contra naturam qui pomaria in summis turribus serunt, quorum 
Epist. 122.  sylvae in tectis domorum ac fastigijs nutant, inde ortis radicibus quo improbae cacumina egissent? Do they not live contrary to the rules of Nature, who make themselves orchards upon their highest towers, whose woods shake upon the tops of their houses, their roots there springing up where the top should have reached?  
Neither was the riches and ornament unsuitable either to the largeness or height of their building. Thither they called to their great expense the most skilful Architects from Greece and Asia, and all the parts of the known world, Quibus ingenium & audacia erat, etiam quae natura denegavisset, 
Tacit. Annal. 15. 10.  per artem tentare, whose wit and daring was such, that by art they attempted to effect that, which Nature seemed to deny. Among the rest of their ornaments, their infinite number of marvellous high pillars, and those of divers sorts of the choicest kinds of marble was not the least. The height of some of them was 38 foot, and to their height was their beauty and greatness every way answerable. Pueros reperti in 
〈◊〉. 36. 2. S●…ec. ep. 115.  littore calculi leves, & aliquid habentes varietatis delectant, nos ingentium 〈◊〉 columnar●…m sive ex Aegyptijs arenis, sive ex Afric●… solitudinibus ad 〈◊〉 porticu●… aliquam vel capacem populi coenationem ferunt. Children are delighted wit●… pebble stones or shells of divers colours taken up from the shore, and we with divers spots of huge marble pillars, drawn hi●…her from the sands of Egypt, and the deserts of Afri●…a, for the supporting of a gallery or some spacious dining room. Their number was likewise very great,  
Pendent innumeris fastigia nixa columnis. 
Statius in Epithalam 〈◊〉 St●…lla   
Whose roof doth rest on pillars numberless.  
Sometimes an hundred of them stood together  
At tua ●…entenis incumbunt tecta columnis. 
Martial. 5. 13.   
Thy roof upon an hundred pillars stays▪  
Sometimes as many more, as in the house built by Gordianus in the Prenestine 
Capitolinus in Gordiano 3.  way, ducentas columnas uno peristylo habens, having in one entry or gallery two hundred pillars distinguished by fifties from divers countrves, and all of an equal height. And if we desire to know the price of some one of these, Crassus tells us ●…ecem column●… centum millibus nummûm 
Valerius 9 1:  emi, I bought ten pillars for one hundred thousand Sesterces. And as their pillars were of solid marble, so their walls were artificially crusted over with pieces of divers colours Miram●… parietes tenui marmore 
Sen●…a Ep. 116  inductos, cum fciamus quale sit quod absconditur, 〈◊〉 nostris imponimu●…▪ We stand wondering at the walls laid over with thin crusts of marble, though we know well enough what lies under them, we are content to cozen our own eyes To this Lucan alludes,  
Nec summis crustatadomus, sectisque nitebat  
Marmoribus.  
Nor was the house with crusts of marble lined,  
Nor with hewn stones of precious marble shined.  
And Fabianus Papyrius, In hos igitur exitus varius ille secator lapis, ut tenui 
Seneca Contr●…vers. 2: 1.  front parietem tegat: To this purpose is that diversely coloured stone sawed into divers pieces, that with a thin surface it may cover the wall. The first inventor or setter up of this device was Mamurra, as witnesseth Pliny out of Cornelius Nepos. 
Lib. 36. c: 6▪   
But their beams exceeds these walls being all guilded over. 
Statius in Ti 〈◊〉 Majlij Vopisci.   
Auratasnè trabes an mauros undique posts  
Mirer?  
But whereat should I wonder most,  
The golden beams or ivory post?  
Non tanarijs domus est mihi ful●…a columnis▪ 
Propertius.   
Nec Camera auratas inter eburna trabes.  
Nor is my house on Spartan pillars placed,  
Nor ivory roof with guilded beams is graced.  
And they were laid over either with thick guilding or plates of gold. 
Lucanus.   
— Crassumque trabes absconder at aurum▪  
Thick gold did hide the beams.  
As were likewise their roofs.  
— Crasso laquearia fulta metallo.  
— Thick mettle lined the roofs. 
Statius.   
This their best Authors everywhere testify and censure. Quò pertinent haec atria columnata? quò variae istae colorationes? quò aurata lacunaria? to what use are their entries set with rows of pillars of divers colours? to what end are their roofs guilded? they be the words of M●…sonius in Stobaeus. The roof of the Capitol, saith Pliny, was not guilded till 
33. 3.  the razing of Carthage, Quae nunc & in privatis domibus auro teguntur▪ which now a days even in private men's houses are covered with gold▪ Nay he goes farther and tells us, that this practise passed from the roofs and beams, to their chambers and walls, Qui & ipsi jam tanquam vasa inaurantur, which are now guilded as well as our drinking vessels. With whom S. Hierome accords, Auro parietes, auro laquearia, ●…uro fulgent. capita 
Ep. ad Gaudentium.  columnarum, with gold their walls, with gold their roofs, with gold the heads of their pillars shine. And herein they had divers shapes artificially expressed, as it appears by Statius, and precious stones here & there glistering among.  

Vidi arts veterumque manus varijsque metalla 
In 〈◊〉.   
Viva modis, labour est auri memorare figuras,  
Aut ebur, aut dignas digitis contingere gemmas.   

Their ancient works their living metals I  
Of sundry forts did see, a labour 'twere  
To tell the shapes of gold, the ivory,  
The precious stones on fingers fit to wear.   
But that which I think was more costly than gold, was their admirable variety and change of roofs, withdrawing one face, and exhibiting another at their pleasure, Versatilia Coenationum laquearia ita coagmentant, ut subinde alia facies, atque alia succedat, & toties tecta quoties fercula mutentur. They so framed the movable roofs of their dining rooms 
Senec. ep. 90  that one face succeeds another, which they vary as often as they serve in a new course. And it should seem by Rutilius that in these they sometime represented groves with birds singing in them.  
Quid loqu●…r inclus●…s inter laquearia sylvas  
Vernul●… qua vario carmine ludit avis.  
They pleasant groves within their rooofes do shut,  
Where birds do chant and vary many a note.  
And from these sometimes they cast down flowers in such abundance that they buried men under them Oppressit in triclinijs versatilibus parasitos suos violis & floribus, sic ut animam aliqui efflaverint, cum eripi ad summam non possent, saith Lampridius of Heliogabalus, He so overloaded his jesters in his dining rooms that had changeable roofs, with violets and other flowers, that some of them died upon the place, being brought to that pass as at last they could not be rescued. Nay so curious they were, that the very floor which they trod upon must answer the roof, Impenditur cura ut lacunaribus pavimentorum respondeat 
Senec. ep. 115.  nitor, a special care must be had, that the shining of the floor must be answerable to the roof. And in another place, domus etiam qua calcatur 
De Tranq. c. 1.  pretiosa, divitijs per omnes angulos dissipatis: precious things are spread there even where men tread, riches being scattered thorough every corner of the house. And this excessive curiosity Statius glances at.  

Dum vagor aspectu vultusque per omnia duco,  
Calcabam nec opinus opes: Nani splendour ab alto  
Defluus, & nitid●…m referentes aiera testae  
Monstravere solum, varias ubi picta per arts  
Gaudet humus, suberant que novis Asarota figuris.   

Whilst to and fro my wand'ring eyes survaid  
All things, unwares on riches did I tread,  
Down from above came light, the roof the air  
Reflecting on the soil, showed what lay there,  
The artificial pavement seemed to smile,  
And figures new were pictured on the tile.    

SECT. 9 The profuse expenses of Domitian and Nero in their buildings, as also of Caligula in his mad works.  
NOw as the greatest part of these was ordinary even in private men's houses, so we may well conceive that the palaces of the Emperors far exceeded them. I will instance only in two, those of Domitian & Nero. Touching the former, Plutarch treating of the sumptuous furniture of the Capitol, thus writes. Quod si quis hu●… Capitolij magnificum instructum miretur, idem si Domitiani in aula unam porticum vel basilicam, vel balneum, vel pellicum dietam viderit, exclamet cum epicharmo.  
Non liberalis aut benignus tu clues,  
Pro●…ustone gauds.  
Not bountiful nor liberal  
Art thou, but plainly prodigal.  
If any wonder at this magnificent structure of the Capitol, the same man if in Domitian's palace he should behold but one gallery, or hall, or bathe; or parlour for his Con●…ubines, he would presently cry out with Epicharmus, etc. where he makes all the glory of the Capitol, which we have in part opened before, to be but as a trifle or toy, in comparison of Domitian's own house.  
The other was that of Nero, which himself named domum auream, a golden house; and Suetonius in his life thus describes it. Vestibulum eius fui●…, in quo Colossus centum viginti pedum staret ipsius effigy, tanta laxitas 
Cap. 31.  ut porticus triplices milliarias haberet. Item stagnum maris instar, circumseptum aedificijs ad urbium speciem. Rura insuper arvis atque vinetis & pascuis sylvisque varia cum multitudine omnis generis pecudum ac ferarum, in caeteris partibus cuncta auro lita distincta gemmis unionumque conchis erant. Caenationes laqueatae tabulis eburneis versatilibus ut flores, & fistulatis ut unguenta desuper spargerentur, praecipua Caenationum rotunda quae perpetuo diebus ac noctibus vice mundi circumageretur: Ejusmodi domum cum absolutam 
Algentem rapiat Coenatio solemn. juvenal. Sat. 7.  dedicaret, hactenus comprobavit, ut se diceret quasi hominem tandem habitare caepisse. In the porch was set a Colossus shaped like himself of one hundred and twenty foot high, the spaciousness of the house was such, that it had in it three galleries, each of them a mile long, a standing pool like a sea, beset with buildings in the manner of a city; fields, in which were arable grounds, pastures, vineyards, and woods, with a various multitude of tame & wild beasts of all kinds. In the other parts thereof, all things were covered with gold, and distinguished with precious stones or mother of pearl. The supping rooms were roofed with ivory planks, that were movable for the casting down of flowers, and had pipes in them for the sprinkling of ointments. The roof of the principal supping room was round, which like the heaven perpetually day & night wheeled about. This house when he had 
See Tacitus of this house, Annal. 15. c. 10.  thus finished and dedicated, he so far forth approved of it, that he said, he had began to dwell like a ma●….  
I had thought nothing could be added to this extreme madness of Nero & Domitian, which made me resolve here to conclude this chapter; but I know not whether that Caligula, though perchance in somewhat a different kind exceed them both Fabricavit & de Cedris liburnicas 
Suet. c: 37●…  gemmatis puppibus versicoloribus velis magna thermarum, & porticuum, & tricliniorum laxitate, magnaque etiam vitium & pomiferarum arborum varietate: quibus discumbens de die inter choros at Symphonias littora Campaniae perag●…et. In extructionibus Praetoriorum atque villarum omni ratione posthabita, ni il tam efficere concupiscebat quam quod posse effici negaretur, 
Contracta p●…sces aequora sentiunt ●…actis in al●…um molibus: ●…orat.  & jactae itaque moles infesto ac profundo mari excisae rupes durissimi Silicis, & Campi montibus aggere aquati, & complana●…a fossuris 〈◊〉 iuga, incredibili quidem celeri●…ate, cum morae culpa capite lueretur. He buil●… of Cedar, barges or gallifoists, their sternes being set with pearl and precious stone, carrying sails of divers colours, having in them baths, galleries, and parlours of great largeness, with great variety of vines and trees bearing fruit, lying along in these amid his music of voices and instruments, he was carried up & down upon the coast of Campania. In the building of his country or manor houses, setting aside all reason, he desired nothing somuch to be done, as that which was denied could be done: so as that he would lay huge mighty piles in the deep sea, to stop the course of it, he would cut thorough rocks of the hardest flint, equal the Champion to the mountains, and level the tops of high hills; and all this he did with speed incredible, the least delay being presently punished with death.   

SECT. 10. That the Romans luxurious excess in their householdstuff and the ornaments of their houses, was suitable to that of their buildings.  
WE may add as an appendix to their luxury in buildings, that in their householdstuff, and the ornaments of their houses; their excess in their tables, and dishes, and cups I have already touched, as being appurtenances of their luxury in diet, passing by these then we may take a survey of the rest. And first of their beds: These were either Tricliniares or Cubiculares, such as they used for diet, or lodging, in their supping rooms, or their chambers. These by degrees came to be of silver, then were they gilded, & lastly of pure massy gold: which Carvilius Pollio first brought in use: And Suetonius reports of julius Caesar, in aureo lecto veste purpuria decubuisse, that he laid 
Plin. 33. 11. c. 49.  him down in a bed of gold with a purple covering. And Gellius of more ancient times out of Favorinus Stratus; auro, argento, purpura, amplior 
15. 8.  aliquot hominibus quam Dijs immortalibus adornatur: a bed for some men is furnished more magnificently with gold, & silver, & purple, then for the Gods immortal. These they likewise perfumed with rich & precious odours, which the Epigrammatist deservedly laughs at.  
Quid thorus à Nilo? quid Sindone tectus olenti?  
Ostendit stultas quid nisi morbus opes. 
Martial. 2. 16.   
What means thy bed from Nile, & quilt perfumed so?  
What doth thy sickness but thy foolish riches show?  
Next their beds we may set their Chariots, which were in a manner running beds, as their beds were a kind of standing chariots. These Heliogabalus had not only of gold, but set with pearl and precious stone. 
Lampridius.  And such a one belike was that whereof Marshal speaks,  
Aurea quod fundi pretio carruca paratur. 
Martial: 3. 62.   
That for a manors price thou boughtest a golden coach.  
So as that which the Poet feigned of the Chariot of the Sun, might indeed be verified of theirs.  
Aureus axis erat, temo aureus, aurea summae, 
Ovid. Met: 2:   
Curvatura rotae, radiorum argenteus ordo.  
The axletree was gold. the beam, the wheel,  
The spokes of silver were—  
Their harness belonging to these was likewise very costly, & the Caparizons of their horses & mules embroidered with gold & silver. Of these Nero when he journied had never less than a thousand; his mules 
Sueton: c. 30:  being shod with silver, and his muleteers richly apparelled: but Poppaeia his wife therein exceeded him, causing the choicest of her travailing 
Plin: 33: 11:  beasts to be shod with gold: Yet Heliogabalus went a strain farther, and put it to a base use; as he made water in Myrrinis & Onichinis, in Murrain vessels and of the Onyx stone, so made he his stool pans of gold: 
Lampridius.  Which Pliny out of Messala likewise reports of Anthony, in contumeliam naturae vilitatem auro fecit opus proscriptione dignum, to the reproach of nature 
Lib: 33: 3.  he used gold to the basest offices, a work even worthy proscription. And the same doth Martial upbraid Bassa with:  
Ventris onus misero nec te pudet excipis auro, 
Lib: 1: 37:   
Bassa.  
Thy bellies load thou dost exonerate,  
O Basse, in gold, yet shamest not thereat.  
Their caldrons, their seething pots, their gridirons, & frying-pans were usually of silver, as witnesseth Ulpian, & Pliny, vasa coquinaria ex argento 
L. cum aurum. Plin: 33: 11:  fieri queritur; Calvus the Orator complains, that our very kitchen vessels are all of plate. The same Pliny affirms, that the price of a candlestick was the salary or stipend of a Tribune, which was fifty thousand Sesterces: Nay a little hatchet or axe, if we may credit Martial, 
14. 35.  was sold for four hundred thousand.  
Cum sieret tristis solvendis auctio nummis,  
Haec quadringentis millibus empta fnit.  
When sale was made that debts might be defrayed,  
Four hundred thousand for this was well paid.  
Now for ornament of their houses, they bought them pictures of excessive prices: the counterfeit taken from a table made by Pausias, wherein was represented his mistress Glycera with a chaplet of flowers in her hand, curiously plaited and twisted; Lucius Lucullus bought of Dyonisius a Painter of Athens, and it cost him two talents of silver. Cydias 
Pl: 35: 11:  in a table, represented the Argonauts, for which Hortensius the Orator was content to pay one hundred fòrty four thousand Sesterces. And what difference is there herein between us and children, saith Seneca, who value counterfeit rings, and jewels, and bracelets at high 
Ep. 115.  prizes, nisi quod nos circa tabulas & statuas insanimus chariùs inepti, save that we dote about statues and pictures, playing the fool at a dearer rate.  
But as they were luxurious in the price, so were they likewise in the work itself, which many times was lascivious & beastly.  

Quae manus obscaenas depinxit prima tabellas,  
Et posuit casta turpia visa domo 
Propertius.   
Illa puellarum ingenuos corrupit ocellos  
Nequitiaeque suae noluit esse rudes.   

The hand that first lascivious picture drew,  
And filthy sights in houses chaste did show  
He maids chaste eyes did first corrupt, and he  
Would have them trained up in their lechery.   
Thus did Tiberius adorn his chambers, Cubicula plarifariam disposita 
Sueton. 43.  tabellis ac sigillis lascivissimarum picturarum ac figurarum adornavit. So did Hor. Speculato cubiculo scorta dicitur habuisse disposita, etc. They had likewise 
Idem in vita Horati●….  for ornament the shells of Tortoisses artificially wrought, & ingentibus emptas, bought at wonderful high rates. But I leave their houses, 
Seneca de beneficiis pretiis 7. 9  together with the stuff & ornament thereof, and come to their apparel and ornament of their bodies, in which they exceeded as much or more than in their houses.    

CAP. 9 Of the Romans exessive Luxury in their dressing and apparel.  

SECT. 1. How effeminate they were in regard of their bodies, specially about their hair.  
THeir effeminate softness and niceness in regard of their bodies, Seneca hath well both observed and censured: Adhuc quicquid 
Nat. quaest. 7. 31.  est boni moris extinguimus levitate & politura corporum, muliebres munditias antecessimus, colores meretricios matronis quidem non induendos viri sumimus, tenero & molli ingress●… suspendimus gradum, non ambulamus, sed repimus: whatsoever is yet left of good fashion we extinguish it by the decking and trimming of our bodies, we have exceeded the neatness of women, even we men wear light and whorish colours, not becoming matrons, we fashion our gate to a wanton & mincing pace, we do not walk but creep. And of the same he grievously complains in the proem to the first book of his Controversies: Capillum frangere, & ad muliebres munditias vocem extenuare, mollity corporum certare cum foeminis, & immunditijs se excolere munditijs nostrorum adolescentium specimen est: it is now held the accomplished gallentry of our youth to frisle their hair like women, to speak with an affected smallness of voice, and in tenderness of body to match them, & to bedeck themselves with most undecent trim. But their extreme curiosity in plaiting and folding their hair, he in another place most lively describes, and as sharply, but justly reproves: Quomodo irascuntur, si tonsor paulo negligentior 
De brevitate vitae cap. 1●….  fuit tanquam virum tonderet? quomodo excandescunt si quid ex juba sua decisum est? si quid extra ordinem jacuit, nisi omnia in annulos suos reciderunt? Quis est istorum qui non malit Remp. turbati, quam comam? Qui non solicitior sit de capitis sui decore, quam de salute? qui non comptior esse malit, quam honestior? How do they chafe if the barber be never so little negligent, as if he were trimming a man? How do they take on if any thing belopped off of their feakes or foretops? if any thing lie out of order, if every thing fall not even into their rings or curls, which of these would not rather choose that the state whereof he is a member should be in combustion than his hair should be displatted? who is not much more solicitous of the grace of his head then of his health? who maketh not more account to be fine then honest? Even julius Caesar himself was 
Suetonius c. 45  this way too too nice, Circa corporis curam morosior, ut non solum to●…deretur diligenter ac raderetur, sed velleretur etiam, ut quidem exprobraverunt: He was too studious about the care of his body, so as he was not only curiously cut, but shaved, nay had his hairs plucked off with pincers, which some upbraided him with. No marvel then if Nero exceeded this way: Circa cultum habitumque adeo pudendus, so shameful was he in 
Suetonius c. 51  the dressing of himself, that he always wore his hair after the Greek fashion plaited behind. These plaitings they likewise besmeered with ointments and perfumes,  
Et matutino sudaus crispinus amomo 
juven. Sat. 4   
Quantum vix redolent duo funera.  
And Crispin sweeting with his ointments and perfume,  
Two funerals scarce smell so much I dare presume.  
And for the face they used so much slibber-sauce, such daubing and painting, that a man could not well tell,  
— facies dicatur an ulcus. 
Iuven: Sat. 6   
May it a face or else a botch be called?  
Suetonius reports it of Otho, that he shaved every day, and rubbed his 
Cap. 12.  face over with moistened bread, idque instituisse à prima lanugive, ne barbatus unquam esset, and that this he practised from the time of his first appearance of the hairs on his chin, that he might never have a beard. Neither were these things only practised by them, but Schools they 
Senec. ep. 91.  had to teach them, and open shops to sell what they had in this kind.   

SECT. 2. Of the prefsing, plaiting, store, die, and prize of their garments, as also of their rings and jewels of inestimable value.  
NOw as they were thus effeminate and curious about their Bodies, so were they likewise about the apparelling of them, Their garments were artificially pressed; ponderibus ac mille tormentis splendere cogentibus, with weights and a thousand rackings and tortures 
Senec. de tranquil. c. 1.  to make them shine the brighter.  
Sic tua suppositis perlucent praela lacernis. 
Martial 2▪ 46   
So do thy presses shine with garments under-laid.  
And as they were thus artificially pressed, so were they most curiously plaited, as appears by this, that Hortensius having one day with much ado composed himself to the lookingglass, he commenced a suit against his fellow in office, for that meeting him by chance in a narrow way, he had disordered the plaites of his Robe, & capitale putavit quod 
Macrob. Satur. 3. 13.  in humero suo locum ruga mutasset, he held it a capital matter that a fold upon his shoulder was displaced. And therefore Tertullian alluding hereunto accounts it among the commodities of his cloak, that it 
De Pallio c. 5  needed no Artificer, qui pridie ●…ugas ab exordio formet, who the day before he wore it, should set in due form & order the plaites thereof: & a while after, etiam cum reponitur nulli cippo in crastinum demandatur: when it is laid aside, it is not committed to the stocks till the morrow. Of these they had such variety and store, that Nero was never seen twice in the 
Suelonius c. 30.  same garment, & when a Praetor intending to set forth the most sumptuous & magnificent shows he could devise, came to Lucullus to borrow of him some store of short cloaks; his answer was, that he would take a time to see if he had so many as the Praetor desired; and the next day sending to know what number would serve the turn, it being told him an hundred, 
Plutarch in Lucullo.  ducentas accipere jussit, he bid them take two hundred. But Horace speaketh of a far greater number, no less than five thousand. 
Epist▪ 6.   

— Chlamydes Lucullus ut aiunt  
Si posset centum scenae praebere rogatus,  
Qui possum tot? ait tamen & quaeram, & quot habebo  
Mittam. Post paulò scribit sibi millia quinque  
Esse domi chlamydum, partem vel tolleret omnes,   

Lucullus asked once, if he could lend  
Unto the stage one hundred cloaks, replied  
How can I man, so many? yet I'll send  
As many as I have when I have tried,  
Soon after writes, five thousand cloaks I have,  
Take all, or part, as many as you crave.   

Sic micat innumeris arcula synthesibus 
Martial. lib. 2 epig 46.   
Atque unam vestire tribum tua Candida possint  
Apula non uno quae grege terra tulit.   

The chest with supper garments infinite,  
Shines in like manner, and thy fleeces white  
From more than one flock in Apulia shorn  
By one whole tribe suffice well to be worn.   
When they went to the public Baths, they had of these so many 
M●…rcellinus lib. 28.  brought after them as might well suffice a dozen men; At their public feasts they changed often only for ostentation to show their variety, at least so often as several courses were served in:  
Vndecies una surrexti Zoile coena 
Martial. lib. 5. epig. 81.   
Et mutata tibi est Synthesis undecies.  
Eleven times at one supper thou  
O Zoilus didst arise:  
As many times thou didst I trow  
Thy mantle change likewise.  
Neither was the price unsuitable to their store, they dared to lay down for a cloak ten thousand Sesterces.  
Millibus decem dixti 
Epig. l. 4. ep. 61.   
Emptas lacernas munus esse Pompillae.  
Pompilla gave thee thou didst boast,  
A cloak that might ten thousand cost.  
And in another Epigram,  
Emit lacernas millibus decem Bassus. 
8. 10.   
Ten thousand Bassus for a cloak did pay.  
Now that which principally hoist up the price of the garments to this immoderate height, was the rich dye which they borrowed from shelfish Quibus eadem matter luxuria paria paenè etiam margaritis pretia fecit, which our Luxury, saith Pliny, hath brought to prizes almost equal to those of pearls. A pound of violet purple in the time of Augustus, as witnesseth 
Lib. 9 c 35.  Cornelius Nepos, who lived and wrote during his reign, was sold for an hundred pence, in steed whereof the Tyrian double dye grew in use, 
Lib. 9 c. 39  which could not be bought for a thousand.  
Their lightness farther appeared in the light apparell which they wore; This is the making of that fine say, whereof silk cloth is made, saith Pliny) which men also are not abashed to put on and use, because in summer time they would go light and thin. And so far do men 
Lib. 11. c. 23.  draw back now a days from carrying a good corslet and armour on their backs, that they think their ordinary apparel doth overloade them. And these transparent garments the Satirist thus deservedly inveighs against.  

— Sed quid  
Non facient alij cum tu multitiasumas  
Cretice, & hanc vestem populo mirante perores  
In Proculas & Pollineas? Est maecha Labulla,  
Damnetur si vis, etiam Carfinia: talem  
Non sumet damnata togam. Sed Iulius ardet,  
Aestuo, Nudus agas, minus est insania turpis.  
En habitum quo te leges acjura ferentem  
Vulneribus crudis populus modò victor, & illud  
Montanum positis audiret vulgus aratris.  
Quid non proclaims in corpore judicis ista  
Si videas? quaero an deceant multitia testem?  
Acer & indomitus, libertatisque magister  
Cretice pelluces?   

What will not others do, since Creticus doth use  
Light garments, and therein Pollineas doth accuse  
And Proculas, while as the vulgar sort therefore  
Both game and wonder makes. Labulla plays the whore  
Condemn her if thou wilt, condemn Carfinia too,  
Yet will she not condemned wear such a gown I trow.  
But july scaldeth, and I fry. Plead naked then,  
Less shame 'tis to be mad. Behold the weed wherein  
The conquering people yet fresh bleeding from the war  
And hardy mountainer leaving both plough and share  
May hear thee talk of law and right, didst thou but see  
A judge in such attire, what outcries would there be?  
Would lawn a witness fit? Thou Creticus so sad,  
So fierce, so free, art in transparent garments clad.   
Hereunto they added rings and jewels of inestimable value at the battle of Cannae the Carthaginians gathered from the fingers of the slaughtered 
Plin. 33. 1.  Romans who died in that battle threc modii, which by Hannibal were sent to Carthage as a token of the greatness of his victory. Nonnius the Senator, being proscribed by Anthony, betook himself to flight, and of all his goods carried with him only one ring, wherein was set an opal Quem certum est, seftertiis viginti millibus aestimatum, which it is 
Plin. l. 37. c. 6.  certain was valued at twenty thousand sesterces. Rings they wore upon every finger,  
Per cujus digitos currit levis annulus omnes,  
On whose each finger was a gold ring set. 
Martial. 5 63.   
Nay for every joint they had a ring, and that set with a precious stone, exornamus annulis digitos, & in omni articulo gemma disponitur, we garnish 
Senec: Nat. Quaest l: 7: 31:  our fingers with rings, & upon every joint shines a precious stone, saith Seneca; & Pliny some will have the little finger loaden with three rings; nay now adays, the middle finger only excepted, all the rest are charged with them, atque etiam privatim articuli minoribus aliis, yea and every joint by themselves must have some lesser rings & gemmals to fit them. 
33. 1.  And if as all this had been too little, they wore upon one joint precious stones.  
Sardonichas, Smaragdos, Adamantas, jaspidas uno. 
Martial. 5. 11:   
Versat in articulo Stella Severe meus.  
Sardonyx, Smaragd, jasper, Diamond,  
My Stella wears on one joint of his hand.  
Parum scilicet fuerit in gulas condi maria, nisi manibus, auribus, capite, totoque corpore à foeminis juxta virisque gestarentur: forsooth it was too little that the seas were made for our gluttony, unless we also wore them upon our hands, in our ears, upon our heads, and over our body, saith Pliny, 
Lib. 9: c: 35:  speaking of the great abundance of pearl and purple, that was worn aswell by men as women. To this luxury of theirs in the use of rings may not unfitly be added, that the rings which they wore in summer, in winter they laid aside, and instead of them used others, distinguishing them into summer and winter rings. Luxuria (saith Probus) invenerat alios annulos aestivos alios vero hiemals. And juvenal. Sat. 1.  

— Cum verna Canopi  
Crispinus Tyrias humero revocante lacernas,  
Ventilet aestivum digitis sudantibus aurum,  
Nec sufferre queat major is pondera gemmae.   

— When an Egyptian slave  
Crispin, a Tyrian cloak shall on his shoulders have,  
And summer gold-ring on his sweeting fingers wear,  
Nor can endure the weight of greater gem to bear.    

SECT. 3. The great excess and immodesty of their women in the same kind.  
NOw if their men were herein thus effeminate, we may well conceive their women exceeded more: Video sericas vestes, si vestes vocandae sunt, in quibus nihil est quo defendi aut corpus, aut denique 
Séns. de Benes: 7: 9:  pudor possit. Quibus sumptis, mulier parum liquidò nudam se non esse jurabit. Haec ingenti summa ab ignotis etiam ad commercium gentibus accersuntur, ut Matronae nostrae, ne adulteris quidem, plus sui in cubiculo quam in publico ostendunt. I see their silken clothes, if they may be called clothes, wherewith neither their bodies nor shame are covered; which a woman wearing, cannot safely swear that she is not naked: Yet are these at huge prizes, fet from Nations with whom we have no traffic, that our women may expose no less to the public view, when they come abroad, than they do to their Paramours in the bed. This immodesty of the women is thus also taxed by Horace.  
Cois tibi paene videre est  
Vt nudam.  
In her lawn she doth appear  
Almost, as if she naked were.  
Now besides this, they were so loaden with costly ornaments, that one Poet tells us.  
Pars minima est ipsa puella sui,  
The least part of herself a maiden is. 
Ovid.   
And another,  
Matrona incedit census induta Nepotum.  
The Matron jets attired in all her heirs estate. 
Propert. l: 3: Eleg. 11:   
And a third.  
Perque caput ducti lapides, per colla manusque, 
Manilius, l: 5:   
Et pedibus niveis fulserunt aurea vincla.  
The head, the neck, the hands were decked with precious stone,  
And chains of gold did shine their snowy feet upon.  
I myself have seen, saith Pliny, Lollia Paulina, late wife and after widow to Caius Caligula the Emperor, when she was dressed and set out, 
Lib: 9: 35:  not in stately wise, nor of purpose for some great solemnity, but only when she was to go to a wedding supper, or rather to a feast when the assurance was made, & great persons they were not that made the said feast; I have seen her, I say, so beset and bedecked all over with emerauls and pearls ranged in rues one by another round about the tire of her head, her cawl, her borders, her peruke of heir, her bungrace & chaplet at her ears pendant, about her neck a carcanet, upon her wrists in bracelets; and upon her fingers in rings, that she glisteren and shone again as she went. The value of these ornaments she esteemed & rated at four hundred hundred thousand Sesterces, and offered openly to prove it out of hand; by her books of accounts & reckonings. Their ropes of pearl were so rich, that S. Hierome tells us, uno filo villarum insunt 
In vita Pauli 〈◊〉.  pretia, upon one rope hang the prizes of divers Lordships. And Tertullian, uno lino decies Sestertium inseritur, upon one twine were threaded up ten hundred thousand Sesterces. And again, saltus & insulas 
De habitu muliebri: cap: 9:  tenera cervix fert, the tender neck carries woods and Lands upon it; nay, one pearl which julius Caesar bought for Servilia the mother of Brutus, Sexagies Sestertio mercatus est, cost him sixty hundred thousand Sesterces: But specially they exceeded in the jewels they wore in their 
Sueton: cap: 50:  ears. Quare uxor tua locupletis domus censum auribus gerit, saith Seneca, why doth thy wife wear in her ears the revenues of a rich family: 
De vita beata, cap. 17: De benef. 7: 9  And in another place, Video uniones, non singulos singulis auribus comparatos: iam enim exercitatae aures oneri ferendo sunt. junguntur inter se & insuper alij binis supponuntur. Non satis muliebris insania viros subiecerat, nisi bina ac terna patrimonia auribus singulis pependissent. I see their pearls not fitted single to their ears, which are now enured to the bearing of weight; they are coupled together, and others are added to the two first, the madness of our women had not sufficiently brought men into subjection, did they not hang two or three patrimonies at each ear. And with him Pliny accords, Binos ac ternos auribus suspendere foeminarum gloria est, to hang these by couples or more in each ear, is the pride of our women. And their luxury (saith he) hath found out a name for this, call it Crotalia, as if they gloried in the sound and striking of the pearl each against other. Nay he goes farther, affectantque iam & pauperes lictorem foeminae in publico unionem esse dictitantes: It is come to that pass, that even the poorer sort affect the same fashion. Their common saying being, that a pearl is the woman's sergeant to wait upon her when she shows herself abroad. But their extreme folly herein, hath Tertullian after his African manner wittily expressed, Graciles aurium 
De habitu muliebri, cap 9  cutes Kalendarium expendunt, the tender libbets of their ears consume their Calendar, that is saith the learned junius in his notes on that passage, universum domus censum qui praescribitur in Kalendario: the whole revenue or expense of their house, which was set down in their Calendar, or rentrole, or count-book: Yet had this been more tolerable, had they not worn them upon their feet too. Pliny can hardly speak of this with patience; Let our women, (saith he) have their 
Lib. 33. 3.  pearl & precious stones upon every finger, about their necks, in their ears, upon their chaplets and treases, etiamnè pedibus induitur? must they needs wear them upon their feet? And in another place, but not without some indignation too, Quin & pedibus nec crepidarum tantum obstragulis, 
Lib. 9 35:  sed totis soculis addunt: neque enim gestare iam margaritas nisi calcent ac per uniones etiam ambulent satis est: Nay, they garnish their feet with them, and not only the higher, but the lower part of their slippers; so as now it is not held sufficient to wear pearl, unless we tread and walk upon it. And the same hath Tertullian likewise observed, in peronibus 
De habitu muliebri. 7. cap:  uniones emergere de luto cupiunt, the pearl in their shoes labours to keep itself out of the mire. But Lampridius tells us of Heliogabalus, that he wore jewels curiously engraven on his feet, which (saith he) moved laughter to all men, quasi possent sculpturae nobilium artificum videri in gemmis quae pedibus adhaererent, as if the gravings of famous Artificers could be discerned in jewels that were set on his feet.   

SEC. 4. More of the excessive niceness of their women, as also of Caligula his monstrous phantasticalness in his apparel, together with their extreme vanity in the multitude of their servants and slaves waiting on them.  
BEsides all this excess in apparel, their niceness was such, that if but an hair were amiss, they called a council about them, for the reforming of it.  
— Tanquam famae discrimen agatur 
juvenal.   
Aut animae.—  
As if their credit or their life in question were.  
Nay, if but tenuis radiolus, the least beam pierced thorough any little hole of their fan, or a fly chanced to sit upon it, queruntur quod non sint apud Cymmerios natae, saith Ammianus Marcellinus, they presently complain, 
Lib. 28.  that they were not borne among the Cymmerians. Their looking-glasses were in height & breadth answerable to their bodies, ingraeven in their borders with gold and silver, and embossed with precious stone: Et pluris unum ex his foeminae constitit quam antiquarum dos fuit illa 
Sen Nat: Quaest l. 1. 17.  quae publicè dabatur imperatorum pauperum filiabus: Some one of these hath stood a woman more than was the dowry of the Ancients: Yea that which by public allowance was given the daughters of the poorer Emperors. And within a while after, jam libertinorum virgunculis in unum speculum non sufficit illa dos quam dedit Populus Romanus filiae Scipionis: Now adays that dowry, which the people of Rome gave with Scipio his daughter, will not suffice to buy a glass for the daughter of a manumissed slave. Now that dowry was undecem millia aeris, eleven thousand asses: what then shall we think of the daughters of their freeborn Citizens, of their Knights, of their Sen●…tours: Surely these, as they were superior in means and rank, so were they likewise in expense.  
I will conclude this discourse of apparel with Caligula his monstrous phantasticallnesse therein, described by Suetonius, Vestitu neque patrio neque civili, ac ne virili quidem aut denique humano semper usus est. He used 
Cap: 52:  not the apparel of his country, nor that which was civil or manlike, and sometimes not somuch as humane: for at times would he imitate Deorum insignia, the ensigns of the Gods: And at other times again, would he come abroad & sit in judgement, in socco muliebri in women's slippers, wherein Suetonius seems to allude to that story, which is by Seneca reported more at large. Caesar (saith he) gave to Pompeius Poenus 
De benef. l. 2. 12  his life, if he give it who takes it not away: But being acquitted and giving thanks, he reached forth his left foot for him to kiss: Now they who go about to excuse him herein, as being not done out of insolency, aiunt, socculum auratum imo aureum margaritis distinctum ostendere eum voluisse, say for him that it was but to make show of his gilded, nay golden slipper set with pearl.  
To their excess in apparel, may not unfitly be added the extreme vanity in the multitude of their servants & slaves waiting on them. Ammianus speaks of fifty attending, when they went to the public Bath: 
Lib. 28.  And in another place he calls them familiarum agmina, troops of household servants: and Pliny, mancipiorum legiones, legions of slaves, which 
Lib. 14.  as a train they drew after them. Horace tells us, that Tigellius had often two hundred that followed him at heels: But Athenaeus much 
Lib. 1. Satyr. 3.  exceeds him, decem ●…mò viginti mille, & plures quoque servos habent, non 
Lib. 6.  quaestus causà ut ille Graecorum ditissimus Nicias, sed plerosque in publico comitantes●…. They have ten, nay twenty thousand servants and more, not somuch to make again of them as did Nicias, the richest of the Grecians, but the greatest part to wait on them when they went abroad. And me thinks, Seneca again outvies Athenaeus, Familia bellicosis nationibus 
De been. 7: 10:  maior, a family more populous than some warlike Nations. Nelther were the women in this excess inferior to the men, but rather went beyond them. Marcellinus describes the order of ranging their servants 
Lib. 14:  when they went abroad, as it had been an army marching in the field: And S. Hierome calls one part of them, an army, noli ad publicum subinde procedere & spadonum exercitu praeeunte viduarum circumferri libertate: 
Ep. ad Furiam.  Do not walk abroad with an army of eunuchs, marching before you after the manner of licentious widows: insomuch as they were driven to have their Nomenclatores, controllers or remembrancers to tell them the names of their servants and people about them, so many they were. Many of these they bought at a dear rate, and clad richly: They usually paid for a slave six thousand Sesterces: And julius Caesar laid down such incredible prizes for some of them, that himself was ashamed thereof: Sic ut rationibus vetarct inferri, so as he gave special 
Sue ton. c. 47.  charge it should not be brought into his accounts. But their jeasters were commonly the dearest:  
Morio dictus erat viginti millibus emi, 
Martial. l. 8, epig. 13.   
Red mihi nummos Gargiliane: sapit.  
A fool I bought for twenty thousand price:  
Restore it back, Gargilian, he is wise.  
And for the rich apparelling of them at times, we have a memorable place in Seneca, diligentius quam intra privatum larem vestita & 
De Tranq. c. 1  auro culta mancipia, & agmen servorum nitentium; their slaves are more carefully apparelled and decked with gold when they appear in public, then within doors, and the troops of their Servants shining and glittering.   

SECT. 5. Of their prodigal, or rather prodigious gifts of their Emperors, and the extreme unthriftiness of private men.  
I May happily seem to some to have been tedious in dwelling too long upon the excessive Luxury of this people: but surely their extreme folly & madness therein have made me so: And if not the rarity, yet the variety of the matter hath been such as I presume it cannot quickly cloy the appetite of an attentive Reader. And though much hath been said, yet much more might be added, specially touching their prodigal, or rather prodigious gifts, which their great Patron justus Lypsius thus censures. Si quis Midas fuisse fingatur qui omnia tacta 
De Magn. Rom. 2. 12.  faciat aurea defecerit inaurare quantum isti sunt largiti: If we could feign a Midas that should turn all he touched into gold, surely he would be weary to make the gold they gave. And again, Vbi estis qui novum orbem & novas in eo divitias reperist●…? huc ite, ostendent & effundent eas Duumviri isti unâ largitione: where are you that speak of a new world, and the great treasure that is there to be found? Come hither and behold two Duumviri (meaning Anthony and Octavius) that will empty it all at one gift: And would you know to what great good purpose all these profuse largitions were? the same Author shall tell you, though somewhat against his will, ut ad imperium veniant, imperium paenè ipsum donant: They in a manner give away the Empire, that they may come unto it. Quid? donant? perdunt certè, & quomodo tot isti pecuniar●… cumuli sine aperta pernitie Provinciarum, Civiumque colligi potuere: What said I, they give away? nay they rob and spoil the Empire, in as much as so great masses of treasure could not possibly be gathered without the evident ruin as well of the Citizens as of the Provincials. Caligula in less than a year scattered and consumed those infinite heaps of gold and silver which Tiberius his Predecessor had laid up, vicies ac septies millies sestertium, 
Suetonius. 37.  seven and twenty hundred millions of Sesterces. Of Vitellius, josephus yields this testimony, Octo menses ac dies quinque potitus imperio 
Debello judai col. 5.  jugulatur in media urbe, quam si vivere diutius contigisset, ejus luxuriae satis esse imperium non potuisset; having reigned eight months & five days he was slain in the midst of the City, whose luxury should he have lived longer, the Empire could not have satisfied: And lest we should think josephus passionate herein, as being a jew and oppressed by the Romans, against the testimony of Tacitus himself a Roman and partial for his Country we cannot except: let us then hear his evidence touching the same Vitellius: Ipse abundè ratus si praesentibus frueretur, nec 
Histor. 2. 27  in longum consultans novies millies sestertium paucissimis mensibus intervertisse creditur, he holding it fully sufficient if he enjoyed th●… present, and not caring for the future, within the compass of a few months, is said to have set going nine hundred millions of Sesterces; which sum Budoeus casting up, thus pronounces of it, hanc ego summam non minorem 
Lib. 4.  ducenties vicies quinquies centenis millibus esse dico, I affirm that this sum is no less than twenty five hundred thousand Crowns. And for Nero, divitiarum ac pecuniae fructum non alium putabat quam profusionem, he thought there was no other end of money and riches but to cast them 
Sueton. c 30  away. Those he held base fellows, who took any account of their expenses, but gallant and noble spirits, if they wasted and lavished it out: He in nothing so much commended & admired his Uncle Caius, as for that in so short a space he brought going the infinite masses of treasures which Tiberius had hoarded up, Quare nec largiendi nec absumendi modum tenuit, so as he never ended giving and wasting:  
— Velut exhausta redivivus pullulet arca 
juven. l. 2. sat. 6   
Nummus.  
As if when nought did in the chest remain,  
Monies would grow there and revive again.  
When once he had given so unreasonable a sum, that his mother Agrippina 
In Dionis Compendio.  thought it fit to restrain his boundless prodigality, she caused the whole sum to be laid before him on a table as he was to pass by, that so the sight of it might work in him a sense of his folly; but he suspecting it belike to be his Mother's device, commands presently so much more to be added thereunto, and withal was heard to say aloud, Nesciebam me tam exiguum dedisse, I knew not that I gave so little. To Terridates (which scarce seems credible to Suetonius himself) during his abode in Italy by the space of nine months he allowed daily octingenta nummûm millia, eight hundred thousand Sesterces: And beside at his parting for a farewell, bestowed on him Sestertium millies, no less than an hundred millions; the rest of his prodigal gifts were not disproportionall thereunto, so that in the whole, bis & vicies millies sestertium 
Tacit. Hist. l. 1. c. 0.  donationibus Nero effuderat, he cast away in prodigal needless gifts two and twenty hundred millions of Sesterces. Menecrates a fiddler, and 
Suetonius c. 30  Specillus a fencer, triumphalium virorum patrimonijs aedibusque donavit, he 
Suetonius c. 30 0  rewarded with the patrimonies and houses of Triumphers: Nay Luxuriae tam effraenatae fuit, saith Orosius, so luxuriously wasteful he was, beyond all reason and measure, ut piscaretur retibus aureis quae purpureis funibus extr●…bebantur, that he would not fish but with nets of gold drawn with purple coloured coards. Neither was his gaming unanswereable to his giving, Quadringenis in punctum sestertijs aleam lusi:, he adventured four hundred Sesterces upon every pick of the dice. 
Suetonius.   
But yet all this might perchance seem more tolerable in their Emperors, had not their private men according to the proportion of their means gone beyond them in these mad monstrous prodigalities. Pyramids Regum miramur, saith Pliny, cum P. Clodius quem Milo occidit Sestertium centies & quadragies octies domo empta habitaverit, quod non secus ac 
Lib. 36. 15.  regum insaniam miror. Do we wonder at the Pyramids of the Egyptian Kings, since Clodius whom Milo slew dwelled in an house which cost one hundred forty eight hundred thousand Sesterces, which truly I as much admire as the madness of those Kings. And going on, touches Milo himself upon the same vein: Itaque & ipsum Milonem sestertium septingenties aeris alieni debuisse inter prodigia animi humani duco: And Milo himself to have been indebted seven hundred hundred thousand Sesterces, I cannot but rank it among the prodigies of humane wit. Curio the son ran in debt, as witnesses Valerius, Sestertium sex centies, six hundred hundred thousand Sesterces, 
Lib. 9 1.   
— Decies centena dedisses 
Hor. l. 1. Sat. 3   
Huic parco paucis contento, quinque diebus  
Nilerat in loculis.  

Ten hundred thousand were you pleased to give  
Unto the sparing man, so well content  
With little, yet might he but five days live,  
In five days all would be consumed and spent.   
Saith Horace of Tigellus. And Martial of Cinna.  
Bis quartum decies non toto tabuit anno,  
Di●… mi●…i non hoc est Cinna perire citò? 
Lib. 9 epig. 〈◊〉   

An hundred thousand eighteen times  
Less than one year did spend:  
Tell me, O Cinna, is not this  
To come soon to an end.     

CAP. 10. Of the Romans extreme arrogancy and confidence in admiring and commending themselves together with their gross and base flattery, specially to their Emperors: and lastly their impudent, nay impious vainglory and boasting of their own Nation and City.  

SECT. 1. Of their extreme arrogancy in admiring and commending, and even deifying themselves.  
THus have we seen the Covetousness and Cruelty, but specially the prodigious Luxury of this Nation (so renowned in History for their Vertucs, as if they had been the only patterns and Masters of morality) in part displayed: Neither were these three vices the only ones which they were generally and notoriously subject unto, I might instance in many more, but will only touch by the way their extreme arrogancy and confidence admiring and commending themselves & their own personal abilities, their gross and base flattery to others, specially their Emperors both living and dead; and lastly their impudent, nay impious vainglory and boasting of their own Nation and City. For the first of those, so far they were from humility, that their greatest Moralists, no not the Stoics themselves any where in their writings remember it as a virtue, it being indeed the proper virtue of Christian Religion; Nay so far they were from ranging it among the Virtues, that they held it a Vice,  
— Faciunt animos humiles formidine Diuûm.  
To fear the gods doth much abase the mind.  
No marvel then that whereas we find the penmen of holy Scripture publishing to the world, and registering to posterity their own infirmities, those men on the other side vaunt everywhere of their worth and sufficiency. Martial, if he have nothing else to brag of, will stand upon his singular gift in trifling.  
Ille ego sum nulli nugarum laude secundus.  
In praise for toys I second am to none. 
Ad Avitum 6. 1   
Ovid thus boldly concludes his Metamorphosis.  
jamque opus exegi quod nec jovis ira, nec ignis  
Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.  
Now have I finished the work, which nor Ioues ire,  
Nor sword abolish shall, nor ravening time, nor fire.  
And in another place:  
Mantua Virgilium laudet, Verona Catullum,  
Romanae gentis gloria dicar ego.  
Let Mantua Virgil praise, Catull Veron  
But glory of Rome let me be termed alone.  
And Horace is no way behind him.  

Exegi monumentum are perennius 
Carm, l: 3: odd: 30   
Regalique situ Pyramidum altius,  
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens  
Posset diruere, aut innumerabilis  
Annorum series & fuga temporum.   

A monument than brass more lasting, I,  
Then Princely Pyramids in site more high,  
Have finished, which neither fretting showers,  
Nor blustering winds, nor flight of years and hours,  
Though numberless can raze.   
And though it be true that they divined aright, yet doubtless, such arrogant confidence, or rather confident arrogancy touching the fruits of their own brains, would better have sounded out of other men's mouths, and more modesty (the very grace and crown of other virtues and gifts) have much better beseemed them. What a vainglorious unsavoury verse was that of Tully's own making, touching the good government of the state during his Consulship.  
O fortunatam natam me Consul Romam.  
O happy Rome & fortunate  
Through me, and through my Consulate.  
But their Emperors went farther; Dioclesian calling himself the brother of the Sun & Moon, and in salutations, not admitting any to farther familiarity than the kissing of his toe. Nay Augustus, somuch magnified by them, made a supper, in which Suetonius witnesseth, Deorum Dearumque habitu discubuisse convivas, & ipsum pro Apolline 
Cap: 70.  ornatum, that his guests sat down in the habit of Gods and Goddesses, and himself attired like Apollo: But this was but a play, though such as Augustus himself blushed to hear of. Domitian (as before hath been touched) went to it in good earnest, sending out his writes with this form, Dominus & Deus noster sic fieri jubet, Our Lord & God so commands it to be: unde institutum posthac ut ne scripto quidem ac sermone 
Sueton. cap: 13.  cujusquam appellaretur aliter, from thence forth it was ordained, that he should neither by the writing nor speech of any man be otherwise named: Yet these were but words, Caligula proceeded to deeds.  
— Diuûmque sibi poscebat honores, 
Suetou cap. 22   
Assuming and challenging to himself, not the name only but the honours due to the Gods: He caused the statues of the Gods, among which was that of jupiter Olympicus, to be brought out of Greece, and taking off their heads, commanded his own to be set on instead thereof, and standing between Castor and Pollux, exhibited himself to be worshipped of such as resorted thither, Templum etiam numini suo proprium & Sacerdotes & excogitatissimas hostias instituit, he farther erected a Temple; and instituted both Priests, & most exquisite sacrifices to the service of himself. In his temple stood his image of gold taken to life, which every day was clad with the same attire as was himself, his sacri fices were phaenicopters, peacocks, bustards, turkeyes, pheasants, & all these were daily offered, and at nights in case the moon shined out full and bright, he invited her to embracements & to lie with him, but the day he would spend in private conference with jupiter Capitolinus, sometimes whispering and laying his ear close to him, and sometimes again talking aloud as if he had been chiding: Nay being angry with heaven, because his interludes were hindered by claps of thunder, and his banqueting by flashes of lightning, ad pugnam provocavit jovem, he 
Senec. de Ira. l. 1: c: 16:  challenged jupiter to fight with him, & quidem sine intermissione Homericum illum exclamans versum, and without ceasing roared out that verse of Homer.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
None is, o jupiter, more mischievous than thou.  
Instead of which verse of Homer, some copies have this Hemistichium,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
Dispatch thou me  
Or I will thee.  
Whereupon Seneca infers (as well he might) Quanta dementia fuit? putavit aut sibi noceri, ne à Iove quidem posse; aut se nocere etiam jovi posse: what extreme madness was that, to think that either jupiter could not hurt him, or that himself could hurt jupiter? Good God? who would imagine that pride & self-love should so far intoxicateand infatuate a man (captivated to sin and sensuality) as to make him utterly to forget himself to be a man, and command others to worship him as a God, or which is more, above God But surely herein I must confess, they be somewhat the more to be pitied, and the rather to be pardoned, for that the Gods whom they worshipped, had not only been men, but like themselves, too notoriously wicked: And withal I am persuaded, the gross flattery of their subjects, but specially the Poets, drew them on to the acting of that, which perchance of themselves they were inclinable enough unto.   

SECT. 2. Of their gross and base flattery, specially toward their Emperors both living and dead.  
HOw notable doth Marshal play the Parasite with Domitian, telling him, that if the Gods should sell all they had, they would not be able to satisfy their debt to him, but would be forced to turn bancke-rupts.  

Grandis in Aetherio licet auctio fiat Olympo  
Coganturque Dei vendere quicquid habent 
These verses of Mariell are upon another occasion, formerly alleged and englished.   
Conturbabit Atlas, etc.   
And again,  
Exspectes & sustineas Auguste necesse est,  
Nam tibi quod reddat non habet arca jovis.  
But this in Martial a professed flatterer, is more tolerable then in Virgil & Lucan, who carry the name of grave and sad Poets, yet the one divides the Empire between jupiter & Augustus.  
Divisum imperium cum jove Caesar habet.  
'Twixt jove & Caesar th'Empire shared is.  
And the other professes, that all the outrages committed in their civil wars, were nothing displeasing unto them, but rather acceptable and advantageous, in regard they holpt to prepare a way for Nero's coming to the Empire.  

His Caesar Perusina fames mutinaeque labores, 
Lib: 1:   
Accedant fatis, aut si quid durius istis:  
Multum Roma tamen debet civilibus armis  
Quod tibi res acta est.   

Add Caesar to these fates Modena broils,  
Perusin famine, or else harder toils:  
Yet Rome to civil arms thou art in debt  
Since all this worketh to thy benefit.   
And again  

Quod si non aliam venturo fata Neroni  
Invenêre viam, 
Ibid.   
jam nihil ô Superi querimur scelera ista nefasque  
Hac mercede placent.   

If other way the fates could not invent  
For Nero's coming, than we rest content,  
This villainy, o Gods, this foul offence  
Mislikes us not with so great recompense.   
And when Domitian challenged to himself divine worship, how ready were they to soothe him in it. Magisteria Sacerdotij ditissimus quisque & ambitione & licitatione maxima vicibus comparabant, Every one as he was richest by great suits and bribes, got him a turn in the Magistracy of the Priesthood; nay quidam eum latialem jovem consalutârunt, there wanted not some among them, who saluted him by the name of jupiter Latialis. But this I must acknowledge, as it was foul in the highest degree, so was it unusual: For though, as noteth Prosper in their petitions 
In ●…imidio Temporis: cap: 7:  to their Princes, they usually styled them, Numini vestro, Perennitati vestrae, to your divine power, to your eternity: Quae vanitas non veritas tradidit atque execrabilia sunt, which vanity not verity hath found out, and are indeed abominable. Nay the Emperors themselves in their Rescripts, shamed not to write, Perennitas nostra, aeternitas nostra, numen nostrum, etc. And we sometimes read, oracula Augusti for Edicta. Yet Deorum honour Principi non ante habetur quam agere inter homines desierat, saith Tacitus: We do not commonly give the honour of the Gods to 
Annal. l. 15:  our Princes as long as they live; thereby implying, that as soon as they were deceased, they did it. Though Augustus, while he was yet living was worshipped as a God, not in Rome perchance and Italy (for that he refused) yet abroad in the Provinces: Whereupon temples were erected unto him, and a College of Priests both men and women: and coins were stamped with rays or beams about his head: whence the Poet:  
Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores.  
To thee while thou dost live  
Honours divine we give.  
Now the Ceremonies of the Apotheosis or deifying their Emperors, (as appears in Herodian and others) was briefly thus. After the 
Lib: 4:  Prince's death, the body being sumptuously and honorablely interred, they framed an image of wax, resembling in all respects the party deceased, but palish and won as a sick man; and so being laid at the entry of the palace in an ivory bed, covered with cloth of gold the Senate & Ladies assisting in mourning attire; the Physicians daily, resorted to him to touch his pulse and consider in college of his disease, doctorally at their departure, resolving that he grew in worse and worse terms and hardly would escape it. At the end of seven days (during which time, saith Xiphilinus, there stood a page with a fan of peacock's feathers to keep off the flies from the face, as if he had been but asleep) they opened and found by their learning, (the crisis belike being bad) that the patient was departed. Whereupon some of the Senate appointed for that purpose, and principal gentlemen taking up the bed upon their shoulders, carried it thorough Via sacra into the Forum, where a company of young Gentlemen of greatest birth standing on the one side and maids of the other, sung hymns & sonnets the one to the other in commendation of the dead Prince, entuned in a solemn and mournful note, with all kind of other music and melody, as indeed the whole ceremony was a mixed action of mourning and mirth, as appeareth by Seneca at the consecration of Claudius: who thus flouts at it. Et erat omnium formosissimum (funus Claudij) & impensa curaplenum, 
In ludo de mort●…:  ut scires Deum efferri, tibicinum, Cornicinum, omnisque generis aeneatorum tanta turba, tantus Conventus, ut etiam Claudius audire possit. It was the goodliest show and the fullest of solicitous curiosity, that you might know a God was to be buried; so great was the rabble of trumpeters, cornetters and other Musicians, that even Claudius himself might have heard them. After this, they carried the hearse out of the city into Campus Martius, where a square tower was built of timber, large at the bottom, and of competent height to receive wood & faggots sufficiently, outwardly bedecked & hung with cloth of gold, imagery work, and curious pictures. Upon that tower stood a second turret in figure and furniture like to the first, but somewhat less, with windows and doors standing open, wherein the hearse was placed, & all kind of spiceries and odours, which the whole world could yield, heaped therein: And so a third and fourth turret, and so forth, growing less and less toward the top: The whole building representing the form of a lantern or watchtower, which giveth light in the night. Thus all being placed in order, the Gentlemen first road about 
P●…arus:  it, marching in a certain measure: then followed others in open coaches with robes of honour, and upon their faces vizards of the good Princes, and honourable personages of ancient times. All these Ceremonies thus being performed; the Prince which succeeded taketh a torch, and first putteth to the fire himself, and after him all the rest of the company, and by and by as the fire was kindled out of the top top of the highest turret, an Eagle was let fly to carry up his soul into heaven, and so he was afterward reputed, and by the Romans adored among the rest of the Gods▪ Marry; before the consecration it was usual, that some Gentlemen at least, should bestow an oath to prove their Deity, Nec defuit vir Praetorius quise efligiem cremati euntem in coelum vid●…sse iurasset, saith Suetonius of Augustus: neither was there wanting 
Cap. 100  one who had been Praetor (Dion names him Numerius Atticus) to swear, that he saw his Effigies mounting into heaven. The like was testified of Drusilla, sister and wife to Caius, by one Livius Geminius a Senator, of which Dio thus writes. One Livius Geminius a Senator 
Lib: 59:  swore, that he saw Drusilla ascending up into heaven, and conversing with the Gods, wishing to himself and his children utter destruction if he spoke an untruth, calling to witness both sundry other Gods, and specially the Goddess herself of whom he spoke. For which oath he received a million of Sesterces, which makes 7812 l 10 s Sterling. What a deal of foppery and impiety was here mixed together. Yet this lesson, as Sir Henry Savill from whom I have borrowed the greatest part of 
Annot. in T●…▪ l. hist: 1. c: 1:  this last narration (conjectures, they may seem to have learned of Proculus julius, who took an oath not much otherwise for Romulus' deity, whom the Senate murdered and made a God; from whence this race of the Roman Gods may seem to have taken beginning. And I doubt not, but many of the wiser sort of the Romans themselves secretly laughed at this folly, sure I am that Lucan durst openly scoff at it.  

— Cladis tamen huius habemus  
Vindictam quantum terris dare numina fas est 
Lib. 7.   
Bella pares Superis facient civilia divos:  
Fulminibus manes, radijsque ornabit & astris,  
Inque Deum templis jurabit Roma per umbras.   

Yet of this slaughter such revenge we have  
As heavenly powers may give, or earth can crave:  
Gods like to those above these civil wars  
Shall make, and Rome with lightning, beams, & stars  
Shall them adorn, and in the temples where  
The Gods do dwell shall by their shadows swear.   
It is true, that in our time after the death of the late Charles in France, his image was laid in a rich bed, in triumphant attire, with the Crown upon his head, and the collar of the order about his neck, & forty days at ordinary hours, dinner and supper was served in with all accustomed ceremonies, as sewing, water, grace, carving, say taking, etc. all the Cardinals, Prelates, Lords, Gentlemen, & Officers attending in far greater solemnity, then if he had been alive. Now this I confess, was a pe●…ce of flattery more than needed, but not comparable to that of the Romans, in making their Emperor's Gods, which they might well have conceived, was neither in the power of the one to give, nor of the other to receive. Yet was not this honour conferred upon their Emperors alone; Tully, as wise as he would be held, would needs have his daughters deified, and the same did Adrian by Antinous his minion, which no doubt might as well be justified as Caligula's, making his horse a Priest, or the same Adrian's erecting monuments to his dead dogs.   

SECT. 3. Of their impudent, nay impious vainglory, and boasting of their own nation and city.  
YEt their inordinate preposterous Zeal in extolling every where their Empire and city beyond measure, and modesty, and truth, seems to have exceeded this toward their Emperors; & from hence I believe hath chiefly grown in the world so great an admiration of them in many things beyond all succeeding ages, and their deserts: But certain it is, that never any people under the Sun, more daringly challenged to themselves the top of all perfection. Nulla unquam Respub. nec maior nec sanctior, nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit, saith Livy, Never was there any commonwealth more ample or holy, or 
Lib. 1.  rich in good examples. Gentiu●… in toto orbe praestantissima una & in omni virtute haud dubie Romana exstitit, saith Pliny: The Roman Nation hath been doubtless of all others in all kind of virtue the most excellent. Nulla Gens est quae non aut ita subacta sit, ut vix exstet; aut ita domita, ut quiescat; aut ita pacata, ut victoria nostra imperioque laetatur, saith Tully: There is no Nation which either is not so utterly vanquished, as it is extinguished; or so mastered, as it is quieted; or so pacified, that it rejoiceth in our victory and Empire and Claudian,  

Haec est exiguis quae finibus orta tetendit  
In geminos axes, parvaque à sede profecta  
Dispersit cum sole manus.   

Small were her confines when she first begun,  
Now stretcheth to both poles; small her first seat,  
Yet now her hands she spreadeth with the Sun.   
This seemed not enough unto Caecilius, against whom Arnobius writes, for he saith, that the Romans did, Imperiu●… suum, ultra solis vias, prapagare: They enlarged their dominion beyond the course of the Sun. And Ovid, he cometh not a step behind them in this their exaggerated amplification. For he saith, that if God should look down from heaven upon the earth, he could see nothing there without the power of the Romans.  
jupiter, arce sua, totum cum spectet in orbem,  
Nil, nisi Romanum, quod tueatur, habet. 
Fast.   
Yea, and (as Egesippus recordeth) there were many that thought the Roman Empire so great, and so largely diffused over the face of the whole earth, that they called orbem terrarum, orbem Romanum, the globe of the earth, the globe of the Romans, the whole world, the Roman world. Hyperbolical speeches, which though Lypsius put off with an animosèmagis quam superbè dicta, as arguing rather magnanimity than ostentation; yet Dyonisius Halicarnassaeus somewhat more warily limits them thus: Romana urbs imperat toti terrae quae quidem inaccessa non sit, the city of Rome commands the whole earth, where it is not inaccessible: But Lypsius himself more truly, quicquid oportunum aut dignum vinci videbatur vicit, it overcame whatsoever it could well overcome, or thought worthy the overcoming. And Macrobius (though himself a Roman ingenuously 
De Somn. Sc●…p. 2. 10.  acknowledgeth Gangem transnare aut Caucasum transcendere Romàni nominis fama non valuit The fame of the Romans as great as it was, yet was never so great as to be able to swim over the River Ganges, or climb over the mountain Caucasus, so that even their fame came short of their swelling amplifications used by their Orators and Poets, but their Dominion came much shorter, as is expressly affirmed by the same Author, Totius terrae quae ad coelum puncti locum obtinet, minima quaedam 
Ibid.  particula à nostri generis hominibus possidetur. Though the whole Earth compared with the Heavens be no bigger than a Centre in the midst of a Circle, yet scarce the least parcel of this little earth, did ever come into the hands of the Romans.  
Yet how could a man well devise to say more than Propertius hath said of that City.  
Omnia Romanae cedant miracula terrae  
Natura hic posuit quicquid ubique fuit.  
All miracles to Rome must yield, for here,  
Nature hath treasured all what's everywhere.  
Except Martial perchance outvie him.  
Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma  
Cui par est nihil & nihil secundum. 
Lib. 12. 〈◊〉.   
Of Lands and Nations Goddess, Rome, and Queen,  
To whom naught peer, nought second yet hath been.  
Which Frontinus seems to borrow from him, but with some addition 
Libro de aquae ●…uctibus.  of his own, Romana urbs indiges terrarumque Dea, cui par est nihil & nihil secundum. Now saith Crinitus, alleging those words of Frontinus, Eos 
De hon. disc. l. 1. c. ult.  dicimus ferè indigetes, qui nullius rei egeant, id enim est tantum Deorum, we usually call those indigites, which want nothing, for that is proper to the Gods. Hubertus Golzius in his treasure of Antiquity hath effigiated two 
Cap. 1: & 3.  pieces of coin, the one with a Greek Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the other with this in Latin, ROMA DEA, the meaning of both being that Rome was a Goddess, neither was this figuratively, but properly understood, she having advanced herself into the number of the Gods, as witnesseth Dion in Augustus; nay erected Temples, and addressed sacrifices to herself, as testify Victor and Onuphrius in their descriptions of Rome, which Prudentius a Christian Poet both glances at, and deservedly derides,  

— Colitur nam sanguine & ipsa 
Lib. 1. cont. Symmachum.   
More Deae, nomenque loci se●… numen hàbetur,  
Atque Vrbis Venerisque pari se culmine tollunt  
Templa, simul geminis adolentur thure deabus.   

She Goddesse-like is worshipped with blood,  
A places name is hallowed for a god:  
As high as Venus' Cities Church doth rise,  
And joint to both they incense sacrifice.   
And Lucan, as to a Goddess, directs his prayer solemnly unto her,  
— summique ô numinis instar  
Roma saue c●…ptis. 
Lib. 1.   
— And thou as greatest power divine,  
Favour, O Rome, this enterprise of mine.  
Her Temple was situate upon mount Palatine, as appears by that of Claudian, bringing in the Provinces as suppliants to visit the Goddess.  
Conveniunt ad tecta Deae, quae candida lucent  
Monte Palatino. 
Lib. 2.   
They meet at th'goddess Temple which doth shine  
So white and glorious on mount Palatine.  
But this was in truth such a mad drunkenness with pride and self-love, that Lypsius himself cannot hold from crying out, O insaniam aedificijs 
De Mag●…. Rom. 3. 6.  & inanimato corpori non vitam solùm attribuere, sed numen. O strange madness, to ascribe unto houses and stones and a dead body not life only, but a deity: And being now a Goddess, she might well take to herself that of old Babylon, a type of her pride, I sit as a Queen, and am no widow, 
Isay 47. 8. Revel. 18. 7  & shall see no sorrow, and challenge to herself eternity as most blasphemously she did, as is to be seen in the coin of the Emperor Probus, 
Hubert●… Golzius rerum Antiq. c. 4.  in which we have Rome set forth sitting in her Temple in a victorious triumphant manner, having on the one side this inscription, Conserv: urbis suae, and on the other, Romae aeternae, and so is it expressly named both by 
a Apud 〈◊〉. ep. 30.  Symmachus, and 
b Lib. 15. c. 6. & 16. 6.  Ammianus Marcellinus. And Suetonius testifies in the life of Nero (cap. 11) that of all their several kinds of plays, pro aeternitate imperij susceptos appellari maximos voluit, those which were exhibited for the eternity of the Empire should be had in greatest state, in which persons of all orders and sexes played their parts. Whereby S. Hierome, not without good reason expounds 
Ep. ad Algasia●… q. 11.  those words in the Revelation, I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, and so doth Prosper Aquitanicus, aeterna cum dicitur quae temporalis est utique nomen est blasphemiae, in that she is called 
In dimidio temporis c. 7.  eternal, being transitory, it is doubtless a name of blasphemy.    

CAP. 11. Wherein the objections brought in behalf of the Romans touching their pretended justice, prudence and fortitude are examined and fully answered.  

SECT. 1. The first objection touching the pretended justice of the Romans answered out of Lactantius.  
But happily it may be said, that as fertile grounds abound as well in weeds as wholesome herbs: so the Romans had many virtues no less commendable, then odious & detestable vices, which to be ignorant of were childish simplicity, to dissemble or suppress, envious partiality. The principal of these virtues are pretended to be their justice, their prudence, and their fortitude. But if there be a chain of all the Virtues, (as both Aristotle and their own great Orator have taught) so that he who truly possesseth one, is owner of all, and he that wants but one, upon the matter hath none at all, but shadows instead of substances, then certainly the Romans, whom we have proved to be excessively cruel, covetous, luxurious, ambitious and vainglorious, could not properly be said to be either just, wise, or valiant, but rather formal then just, crafty or cunning then wise, adventurous or daring then valiant. And I would willingly learn, how they who with such an insatiable thirst of gain and glory (as hath been showed) rob, spoilt, oppressed, not the provincials only, but their own fellow Citizens, can be said to be just, or how they who admitted so many so base Gods and Goddesses, and honoured them with such beastly profane services, can be said to be wise; or lastly how they who were wholly drowned in softness and in delicacy, could be truly valiant; And I will never do that wrong to Christian Religion, as not to believe, but that it hath yielded more just, more wise, more valiant, then Pagan Rome ever did. And therein if Tertullian in his Apologetique, Cyprian against Demetrianus, Lactantius in his Institutions, and Augustin in his books de Civitate dei err not, I am sure I am right.  
I will first then take a view of their ●…ustice, Nec est difficile dicere, cur 
Lactant. Instit. l. 5. c. 10.  Deorum cultores justi & boni esse non possint (saith Lactantius, striking indeed at the very root of their injustice) it is not hard to say why the worshippers of such Gods cannot be either just or good, he goes on and particularizeth in the several branches of their injustice. Quomodò enim sanguine abstinebunt qui colunt cruentos Deos Marte●… atque Bellonam? quomodò aut parentibus parcent qui expulsorem patris sui jovem, aut natis ex se infantibus qui colunt Saturnum? quomodò pudicitiam tuebuntur qui colunt Deam nudam & adulteram, & quasi apud Deos prostitutam? quomodò se à rapinis & fra●…dibus abstinebunt qui Mercurij furta noverunt, docentis non fraudis esse decipere sed astutiae? quomodo libidine coercebunt qui jovem, Herculem, Liberum, Apollinem, caeterosque venerantur quorum adulteria & stupra in mares & faminas non tantùm doctis nota sunt, sed exprimuntur etiam in Theatris, atque cantantur ut sint omnibus notiora. Possuntne inter haec justi esse homines, qui etiamsi natura sint boni ab ipsis tamen Dijs erudiantur ad injustitiam? ad placandum enim Deum quem colas, iis rebus opus est quibus illum gaudere ac delectari scias, sic fit ut vitam colentium Deus pro qualitate numinis sui formet: quoniam religiosissimus est cultus imitari. How should they abstain from blood who worship bloody Gods as Mars and Bellona? how should they either spare their Parents who worship jupiter, or their children who worship Saturn? How should they have a care of their chastity who worship a naked and adulterous Goddess, as it were the prostituted strumpet of the Gods? How should they abstain from rapine and cozenage who are acquainted with the thefts of Mercury teaching, that to deceive was not fraud but wiliness? how should they bridle their lust who adore jupiter, Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo and the rest, whose adulteries and incontinencies both with males and females are not only known to the learned, but are acted and sung in their theatres, that so they may be known to all. Is it possible for men in this case to be just? who though they were naturally well disposed, yet by the examples of their very Gods are they taught injustice. For to please the God you worship. it is requisite you do such things as you know he is delighted with, and may give him content: so as according to his own quality and condition he forms and conforms the lives of such as worship him, in as much as imitation is the most religious kind of worship.  
Yet notwithstanding all this, it seems by the same godly Father that they stood much upon their own just and upright dealing, reproaching the Christians with the contrary, which gives him occasion in another place thus to expostulate the ●…atter with them. Audent igitur homines 
Lib. 5. c. 9  improbissimi justitiae facere mentionem qui far as immanitate vincunt,  
— Lupi ceu  
Raptores atra in nebula quos improba ventris  
Exegit caecos rabbiss.  
Like ravening wolves whom in a gloomy day,  
Their bellies rage drives forth to seek their prey.  
Verùm hos non ventris, sed cordis rabies efferavit, nec atra in nebula, sed aperta praedatione grassantur: nec eos unquam conscientia scelerum revocat, ne sanct●…ac pium nomen justitiae ore illo violent, quod cr●…ore innocentium tanquam rictus bestiarum madet. Do these most dishonest men dare mention justice who exceed the savage Beasts in cruelty, etc. But these not so much the fierceness of their stomaches, as of their own wicked hearts hath enraged, neither do they slink in the dark, but make havoc & lay waste by open violence. Neither are they ever touched with any remorse of Conscience for profaning the holy and divine name of justice with those mouths which like the chaps of beasts are died with the blood of Innocents'. And lest we should conceive he thus speaks by reason of their cruelty towards the Christians, he goes on in the same Chapter, and tells us, Non de nostro sed ex illorum numero semper existunt qui vias obsideant armati maria praedentur, vel si palam grassari non licuit, venena clam temperent, qui uxores necent ut dotes earum lucrentur, aut maritos ut adulteris nubant: qui natos ex se pueros aut strangulent, aut si nimium pij fuerint exponant: qui libidines incestas, nec à filia, nec à sorore, nec à matre, nec à sacerdote contineant; qui adversùs cives suos, patria ●…que conjurent. Qui denique sacrilegia committant & Deorum quos colunt, templa dispolient. They are not of ours, but yours, who rob by the high ways, and turn pirates by Sea. Or if open violence will not serve the turn, they prepare poison, who make away their wives, that they may gain their dowries, or their husbands, that they may marry with their Adulterers, who either strangle their infants, or if they be very devout, expose them, who forbear not incestuous lusts with their own daughters, their sisters, their mothers, no nor with their consecrated Priests, who treacherously conspire against their own Country; Lastly, who commit sacrilege, and rob the Temples of those very Gods whom they worship.  
And lest we should imagine, that he speaks of the Gentiles in general, and not rather of the Romans in particular, he refers us to the testimonies of Seneca & Lucilius. Qui volent scire plura, Senecae libros in manum sumant, qui morum vitiorumque publicorum, & descriptor verissimus, & accusator acerrimus fuit. They who desire to understand more hereof, let them take into their hands Seneca's books, who both most truly describes, and most sharply censures the public manners and vices. And to the testimony of Seneca, he adds that of Lucilius: Sed & Lucilius tenebrosam istam vitam circumscriptè breviterque depinxit his versibus: Lucilius also hath briefly and pithily painted out that base kind of life.  

Nunc vero à mane ad noctem f●…sto atque profesto,  
Totus item pariterque die populusque patresque  
jactare, indufori se omnes, decedere nusquam  
Vni se, atque eidem studio omnes dedere, & arti,  
Verba dare ut cautè possint, pugnare, dolose  
Blan●…iri, certare, bonum simulare virum se,  
Insidias facere, ut si hostes sint omnibus omnes.   

From morn to night on days profane or festival,  
They meet at th'common place commons and fathers all,  
There they bestir themselves, thence will they not depart,  
Oneself same study all attending and one art..  
How closely they may cheat, strive, flatter cunningly,  
Contend, and as good men pretend sincerity,  
Yet undermine, as each were others enemy.   
Nostro autem populo quid tale potest obijci? Cuius omnis religio est sine scelere & sine macula vivere? But now unto those of our profession what can be objected in this kind? whose religion consists wholly in this, to live without wickedness and pollution? Nay so much he stands upon the powerfulness of Christian Religion, that he makes it beyond all the rules of Moral Philosophy, strongly effectual to expel vice, and plant in men all kind of virtue: Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus, maledicus, effraenatus: paucissimis Dei verbis tam placidum quâm ovem, reddam. Da cupidum, avarum, tenacem, jam tibi eum liberalem dabo, & pecuniam suam proprijs 
Lib: 3: c: 26:  plenisque manibus largientem. Da timidum doloris ac mortis: jam cruces & ignes & Phalaridis taurum contemnet. Da libidinosum, adulterum, ganeonem; jam sobrium, castum, continentem videbis. Da crudelem, & sanguinis appetentem; jam in veram clementiam furor ille mutabitur. Da injustum, insipientem, peccatorem; continuò & aequus, & prudens, & innocens erit. Ad quòd efficiendum non mercede, non libris, non lucubrationibus opus est. Gratis ista siunt, facilè, citò: pateant modo aures, & pectus sapientiam sitiat. Give me a man that is wrathful, foul-mouthed, unruly, with a few words of God's book, I will make him as gentle as a lamb. Give me one that is close-fisted▪ covetous, greedy of money: I will send him back unto thee, liberal, bountifully distributing his money with his own hands Give me one that is fearful of torment and death, he shall soon des pise crosses, and fires, and Phalaris his bull. Give me a lecher, an adul terer, a haunter of brothel houses; you shall see him sober, chaste, continent. Give me one that is cruelly disposed, and thirsting after blood, that fury of his shall be changed into true clemency. Give me one who is unjust, unwise, a sinner; he quickly shall be just, wise, upright. For the effecting whereof, there is no need of a reward, of books, of watchings, those things are done gratis, easily, suddenly: only let the ears be open, and the heart long for wisdom. Thus writes Lactantius, and much more to this purpose, attributing a quickening efficacy to the divine oracles of God's word, in the reformation of manners, which was not to be found in the writings of any of the Heathen.   

SECT. 2. The same answer farther confirmed by the testimony of Saint Augustine.  
St Augustine presses them farther, that their Gods never taught them to be good, or at leastwise, that their Priests never published any precepts tending that way in the name of their Gods. Dicatur in quibus locis haec docentium Deorum solebant precepta recitari, & à Cultoribus 
De Civ. Dei: lib: 2: c. 6:  eorum populis frequenter audiri; sicut ostendimus ad hoc Ecclesias institutas, quaquaversum religio Christiana diffunditur. Let it be showed in what places such precepts, given by direction of their Gods, were wont to be read and heard of the people, who came frequently to worship them, as we show that among us, temples are to that purpose erected, as far●…e as Christian Religion is spread: Where (saith he in another place) out of the Prophets, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, many 
Cap: 19:  things are read to the people being assembled, against covetousness & luxury, so excellent, so divine, as if they were rather thunderings from heaven, than wranglings from the Philosopher's Schools. And for the particular point in matter of justice, he flouts at Sallust for saying, that jus bonumque apud eos non legibus magis quam natura valebat, right and 
Cap: 17:  equity did as much prevail with them, through the goodness of their Nature, as by the force of the Laws, Ex hoc jure ac bono credo raptas esse Sabinas'; quid enim justius & melius quam filias alienas fraude spectaculi inductas 
raptas sive more Sabinas', Virro: an. 8:  non à parentibus accipi, sed vi ut quisque poterat a●…ferri: From this love of right I trow it was that the Sabin women were ravished. For what can be more just, than not to receive from their parents hands, but to take and carry away by violence other men's daughters, drawn on under the pretence of beholding a spectacle. From the same love of this right too belike junius Brutus being Consul, caused Lucius Tarqvinius Collatinus, husband to Lucretia, an innocent and good man and his Colleague to quite both his office and the city, only because he bore the name & was of kin to the Tarquins: Quod scelus favente vel patiente populo fecit à quo populo consulatum idem Collatinus sicut etiam ipse Brutus acceperat: And this most unjust act he did by the favour or connivance of the people, from whom Collatinus had received his Consulship as well as Brutus. From the love of this right, it likewise came to pass that Marcus Camillus, who had done his country so great service, being questioned through the insolency of the Tribunes & the envy of his great virtues, tam ingratam sensit quam liberaverat Civitatem, ut de sua damnatione certissimus in exilium sponte discederet, & decem millibus aeris absens etiam damnaretur, mox iterum à Gallis vindex patriae futurus ingratae: He found that city which he had saved so ingrateful, that being fully assured, he should have sentence pass against him, he put himself into voluntary banishment, & being absent, they laid a mulct upon his head of 10000 asses, though he were afterward recalled to free his unthankful country from the forces of the Gauls. To these examples of injustice in other places he adds the unjust putting to death of Rhemus by his brother Romulus, their unjust war upon the Albans the mother of Rome, 
Lib: 3: c. 21.  the unjust exile of Scipio Affricanus at Linternum in Campania, where he ended his days, giving strait charge, ne saltem mortuo in ingrata patria 
he that desires to see more of their monstrous ingratitude towards their best deserving citizens, let him read Valerius. lib. 5. c. 3.  funus fieret, that being dead, his funerals should not be solemnised in his ungrateful Country. Nay Sallust himself he confutes by testimonies drawn from his own writings, where he tells us, that discord, covetousness, ambition, and other mischiefs which were wont to wait upon prosperity, post Carthaginis excidium maxime aucta, after the fall of Carthage mightily increased, and from that time, Majorum mores non paulatim ut antea sed torrentis modo praecipitati, the ancient manners 
2. 18:  not by degrees as before, but like a torrent were carried down headlong. By which confession of Sallust, it appears, that it was not somuch the goodness of their Nature, as the emulation and fear of Carthage that bridled them, and kept them in order. S. Augustine's conclusion in the fore alleged chapter is: Multa commemor are jam piget foeda & injusta 
2. 17:  quibus agitabatur illa Civitas: Cum potentes plebem sibi subdere conarentur, plebsque illis subdi recusarent & utriusque partis defensores magis studiis agerent amore vincendi quam aequum & bonum quicquam cogitarent. So many were the foul and unjust acts with which this City was burdened, that it grieveth me to recount them whiles the Nobility sought to trample upon the Commons, and these again refused to obey them, & the chief abettors on both sides were rather carried with faction then louc of justice.  
Nusquam tuta fides,—  
Faith is no where to be found, 
Virgil.   
is the complaint of one of their Poets; and of another,  
— Qua terra patet fera regnat Erinnys, 
Ovid.   
Infacinus jurasse putes.  
As far as land doth reach doth fierce Erinnys rage,  
A man would think they sworn had to all outrage:  
And of a third,  
Simplicitas, cujus non audeo dicere nomen: 
〈◊〉.   
Simplicity, whose name  
I dare not speak for shame.   

SEC. 3. Another answer, that none can be truly just which are not truly religious, nor any truly religious which profess not the Christian Religion.  
ANd to speak a truth, so natural is the union of true religion with justice, that we may boldly deem there is neither, where both are not: For how should they be unfeignedly just, whom Religion 
Hooker: 5. 1.  doth not cause to be such, or they religious, who are not found such by the proof of their just actions? If they which employ their labour and travail about the public administration of justice, follow it only as a trade with unquenchable and unconscionable thirst of gain, being not in heart persuaded that justice is Gods own work, and themselves his Agents in the business; the sentence of right, Gods 
2: Chron. 19 6.  own verdict, and themselves his Priests to deliver it: formalities of justice do but serve to smother right, and that which was necessarily ordained for the common good is through shameful abuse, made the cause of common misery. It is moreover the proper effect of true Religion, to qualify all sorts of men, and to make them in public affairs the more serviceable, Governors the more apt to rule with conscience, inferiors for conscience sake the willinger to obey. Gaudere & gloriari ex fide semper volumus (saith the good Emperor Theodosius 
C: Tb. l. 16. tit. 2 ) scientes magis religionibus quam officijs & labour corporis, vel sudore Rempub. nostram contineri: We will always rejoice and glory in our faith, aswell knowing that our Empire consists rather by Religion, than any other means. And doubtless the Christian Religion hath herein the start of all others, that it strikes so much upon the soul, whereby it is brought to pass, that men fearing God, are thereby a great deal more effectually then by positive laws restrained from doing evil, in as much as those laws have no farther power than over our outward actions only, whereas unto men's inward cogitations, unto the privy intents and motions of their hearts, Christian Religion serveth for a bridle. What more savage, wild, and cruel than man, if he see himself able, either by fraud to overreach, or by power to overbeare the laws whereunto he should be subject. Wherefore in so great boldness to offend; it behooveth that men should be held in awe, not by a vain surmise, but by a true apprehension of that which no man may think himself able to withstand. Summum praesidium regni est justitia ob apertos tumultus, & religio ob occultos: The chief safeguard of a kingdom 
Cardan desapient. lib. 3.  is justice against open disorders, & religion against secret. And our best writers of the Primitive Church forgot not to press this against the Ethnics, Vos scelera admissa punitis, apud nos & cogitare peccare est; vos conscios time 'tis nos etiam conscientiam solam, sine qua esse non possumus, says Minutius Faelix: You punish wicked acts committed, with us to think wickedly is a sin; you fear to be convinced of guiltiness, we 
In Octau.  fear the guiltiness of our conscience, which we always carry about with us, and without which we cannot be. But above all, Tertullian notably urgeth this point. Tanta est prudentia hominis ad de●…onstrandum 
Apolog. adoe●…. Gente●…. 45.  bonùm quanta authoritas ad exigendum, tam illa falli facilis quam ista contemni. Age ideo quid plenis dicere, non occides, aut docere, ne irascaris quidem? quid perfectius prohibere adulterium an etiam ab oculorum solitaria concupiscentia arcere? quid eruditius de maleficio, an et de maleloquio interdicere? quid instructius injuriam non permittere an nec vicem injuriae sinere? Such is the wisdom of man to direct what is good, as is his authority to exact it, the one may as easily be deceived, as the other contemned. Which commands more fully? either he who saith, thou shalt not kill, or he who charges not to be angry: which of the two is more perfect, to forbid adultery, or to restrain the eyes from concupiscence? whether more wisely done, to forbid evil deeds, or evil words? whether more like to do good, the not permitting of injuries, or the not suffering the revenge of them? And besides all this, the Ethnics only threatened the death of the body to malefactors, but we (saith the same Tertullian) fear to offend God, & pro scientiae plenitudine, & pro latebrarum difficultate, & pro magnitudine cruciatus, non duiturni, verum sempiterni: in regard of the fullness of his knowledge, the difficulty of being hid, and the greatness of the punishment, not for a long time, but for ever. And thus have we seen that the ancient Romans, neither were, nor indeed had the means to be so just as is pretended; or as the Christians were, whom they persecuted. But it will be said, that howsoever they might be defective in matter of justice, yet they excelled in wisdom and courage: Let us then take a view of these, and first of their wisdom.   

SECT. 4. The second objection touching the pretended wisdom of the Romans, answered by taking a brief view of of their courses, but specially by the testimony of Pliny.  
IF we should speak of true wisdom, it is only that which serves to make us wise unto salvation, which without true Religion can never be attained, as Lactantius most divinely: Omnis sapientia hominis in 
Lib: 3  hoc uno est, ut Deum cognoscat & colat, hoc nostrum dogma, haec sententia est: quanta itaque voce possum testificor, proclamo, denuntiö, hoc est illud quod Philosophi omnes in tota sua vita quaes●…erunt, nec unquam tamen investigare, comprehendere, aut tenere valuerunt, quia religionem aut pravam retinuerunt, aut totam penitus sustulerunt: All the wisdom of man consists only in this, that he know and worship God, this is our doctrine, this our opinion, and this with as loud voice as I can, I testify, profess, proclaim: This is it which all the Philosophers during their whole life have sought, and yet could never find out, comprehend, or attain unto, because they either retained a corrupt religion, or wholly extinguished it. I would willingly learn how they, who (as hath already been proved) worshipped stocks and stones, the works of their own hands, or such a rabble of filthy, wicked, odious Gods, and that in such a beastly or cruel manner like men void of common reason, could be said to be wise? Or how they, who suffered the most notorious vices of their Gods to be described by their Poets, acted by their Players, drawn to life by their Painters, whom they highly applauded and rewarded, as if thereby they meant to instruct their youth in virtue, could be said to be wise? Or how they, who wasted such infinite masses of treasure in such vain buildings, banquet, & spectacles could be said to be wise? Or they, who by their sword-playe●… or wild beasts (only to satisfy their beastly pleasure) devoured so many millions of men, as might have served to enlarge or preserve their Empire, could be said to be wise? Or how they, who gave way to men to make themselves away upon all occasions as they thought fit, nay exhorted them to it, & commended them for it (which must needs be a means to weaken their state) could be said to be wise? Lastly, how they, who professed that they most desired to train up their citizens to a military course of life, and yet suff●…red them to wallow in all kind of luxury, could be said to be wise? What great piece of wisdom did they ever show in the making of their Laws, or in their stratagems of war, which hath not been exceeded, or at leastwise equalled by the Christians in latter ages. But the notable folly of the whole body of this state, notoriously appeared in one action of theirs, which I find thus at large described and censured by pli●…y their Countryman, and a great admirer of his own Nation. Certes, when I consider and behold the monstrous humours of 
Lib: 36: cap: 15:  these prodigal spirits, my mind is drawn away still from the progress of mine intended journey, & forced I am to digress out of my way, and to annex unto this vanity of Scaurus as great folly of another, not in Masonry and marble, but in Carpentry and timber: And C. Curio it was, he who in the civil wars between Caesar and Pompey lost his life in the quarrel of Caesar. This Gentleman desirous to show pleasure unto the people of Rome, at the funerals of his father deceased, as the manner than was; and seeing that he could not outgo Scaurus in rich and sumptuous furniture, was put to his shifts, and devised to surpass him in wit, since he could not come near him in wealth. And what might his invention be? Certes it is worth the knowledge; if it were no more but this, that we may have joy of our own conceits and fashions, and call ourselves worthily as our manner is Majores, that is to say superior every way to all others. This Curio then in emulation of Scaurus caused two theatres to be framed of timber and those exceeding big, howbeit so as they might be turned about as a man would have them; approach near one to the other, or be removed farther asunder as one would desire; and all by the means of one hook apiece that they hung by, which bore the weight of the whole frame; the counterpoise was so even, and all the whole fabric thereof sure and firm. Now he ordered the matter thus, that to behold the several stageplayss and shows in the forenoon before dinner, they should be set back to back, to the end, that the stages should not trouble one another; and when the people had taken their pleasure that way, he turned the theatres about in a trice against the afternoon, that they affronted one another, and toward the latter end of the day, and namely when the fencers and sword-players were come in place, he brought both the theatres nearer together (and yet every man sat still & kept his place according to his rank & order) in somuch as that by the meeting of the horns or corners of them both together in compass, he made a fair round Amphitheatre of it, & there in the midst between he exhibited indeed unto them all jointly a sight and spectacle of sword-fencers, fight at sharp, whom he had hired for that purpose. But in truth a man may say more truly, that he carried the whole people of Rome round about at his pleasure, bound sure enough for stirring or removing.  
Now let us c●…me to the point and consider a little better of this thing. what should a man wonder at most therein, the deviser or the devise itself? The workman of this fabric, or the Master that set him a work? Whether of the twain is more admirable, either the verturous head of him that devised it, or the bold heart of him that undertook it? To command such a thing to be done, or to obey, and yield, and go in hand with it? But when we have said all that we can, the folly of the blind and bold people of Rome went beyond all, who trusted such a ticklish frame, & durst sit there in a seat so movable▪ lo where a man might have seen the body of that people, which is Commander and ruler of the whole earth, the Conqueror of the world, the disposer of kingdoms & Realms at their pleasure, the divider of countries and Nations at their wills, the giver of laws to foreign states, the vicegerent of the immortal Gods under heaven, and representing their image unto all mankind, hanging in the air within a frame at the mercy of one only hook, rejoicing, & ready to clap hands at their own danger: What a cheap market of men's lives was here toward? what was the loss at Cannae to this hazard? how near unto a mischief were they, which might have happened hereby in the turning of a hand? Certes, when there is news come of a city swallowed up by a wide chink, and opening of the earth, all men generally in a public commiseration do grieve thereat, and there is not one but his heart doth yearn; and yet behold the Universal state and people of Rome, as if they were put into a couple of barks, supported between heaven and earth, and sitting at the devotion only of two pins or hooks. And what spectacle do they behold? a number of Fencers trying it out with unrebated swords? Nay iwis but even themselves rather entered into a most desperate fight, and at the point to break their necks every mother's son, if the scaffold failed never so little and the frame went out of joint.   

SECT. 5. The third objection touching the pretended fortitude of the Romans answered, in as much as their Empire is by their own writers in a great part ascribed to Fortune, & by Christians may be referred to God's special providence for the effecting of his own purposes, rather than to any extraordinary worth in them.  
NOw that which is most of all stood upon, aswell by the Romans themselves, as by their Proctors & Patrons is their great fortitude & courage, as appears in their subduing the greatest part of the known world: and in truth, placing their chief happiness in the honour and glory of their names; & withal, supposing that there was for the purchasing thereof no readier means, than the sacryficing of their lives for the enlarging & advancement of their Empire; they were in this regard for the most part, even prodigal of their blood: But shall we call that fortitude, which neither aimed at justice, nor was guided by true wisdom, or rather obstinacy & adventurous boldness? It is very true, that they were often in their wars very successful: but  
— Careat successibus opto,  
Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat.  
May that man's actions never well succeed,  
Who by th'event doth censure of the deed.  
By the confession of their own writers they owed as much to Fortun●… as their valour, whom therefore they made a Goddess and placed in heaven.  
Te facimus Fortuna Deam coeloque locamus.  
Thee, Fortune, we a Goddess make,  
And grant thee place in heaven to take.  
These two Fortune & Fortitude, Ammianus so chayneth & linketh together, as neither of them could well be wanting in the raising of their Empire: Roma ut augeretur sublimibus incrementis foedere pacis aeternae virtus convenit atque fortuna, quarum si altera defuisset ad perfectam non venerat summitatem: That Rome should rise to that height & greatness, Fortitude & Fortune made a league of eternal peace, so as had either of them been wanting, it could never have risen to that perfection. Both of them performed their parts herein, seeming to strive which should precede the other, which Plutarch disputes at large in his book de fortuna Romanorum, and Florus hath briefly, but roundly & clearly expressed. Ad constituendum Romanum imperium virtutem ac Fortunam contendisse videri, that to the stablishing of the Roman Empire, Fortitude & Fortune seemed to contend which should be most forward. Now if themselves attributed as much to fortune as to their fortitude we may well conceive that the latter was short of the former rather than otherwise.  
And surely, if by Fortune we should understand God's Providence, we may safely say, that for the effecting of his own purposes (though happily unknown to thenr) ather then for any extraordinary worth or merit in them, he conferred upon them the Empire of the world. As Augustus Caesar was by God's special providence directed in taxing the world, 
Luc. 2.  that so every man repairing to his own City, Christ by that means might be borne in Bethleem, as was foretell by the Prophet Micah: so 
5. 2.  likewise was he by the same hand and power settled in the Empire, that he might thorough the world settle an universal peace, when the Prince of Peace was to be borne into it, as was foretold by another Prophet, They 
Esay 2. 4.  shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. And may we not well conceive that the world was therefore by the divine Providence brought under the yoke of the Roman government, made subject to their Laws, and acquainted with their language, that so when the Emperors themselves should become Christians, as afterwards they did, the propagation of the Gospel of jesus Christ might find an easier passage. The Romans then perchance might challenge, that as due to their own worth in the conquering of the world, which is rather to be ascribed to the hand of Heaven, disposing these earthly Monarchies for the good of his Church, or for the chastising of his enemies: 
●…r. 43. 10.  To which purpose he gave to Nabuchadnezzar such great victories and large Dominions. Thou O King art a King of Kings, for the God 
Dan. 2. 37.  of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory, which was not for any extraordinary worth or virtue that we read of in Nabuchadnezzar, but only to make him as a staff or a rod in his hands for the scourging of other rebellious nations, an instrument for the accomplishment of his own designs. Answerable whereunto is that memorable speech of S. Augustin. Non tribuamus dandi regni atque imperij potestatem nisi Deo vero qui dat faelicitatem in regno coelorum solis piis, regnum verò terrarum 
De civ. dei. 5. 21  & piis & impiis, sicut ei placet cui nihil injustè placet; Let us not refer the power of conferring Kingdoms, but only to the true God, who gives happiness in the kingdom of heaven only to the godly, but these earthly kingdoms, both to the godly & ungodly, as pleases him whom nothing pleases that is unjust. I conclude this point with that of Solomon, The 
Ecclesiastes 9 11.  race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. The meaning is, that the success of these outward things is not always carried by desert, but by chance in regard of us, though by providence in regard of God.   

SECT. 6. Secondly, the Romans having no right or just title to those Nations they subdued, we cannot rightly term their strength in conquering them fortitude.  
SEcondly, sicut non martyrem poena, sic non fortem pugna, sed causa facit, as the torture doth not make a martyr, so doth not the conquest, but the justness of the cause make a valiant man, if the Romans then cannot show us by what right they conquered the world, we will never call their strength in conquering it, Fortitude, or crown it with the name of Virtue, unless w●…hall, we shall call the outrage of robbers and cutthroats who with fire and sword spoil and lay waste all they can, Courage and Valour. Remota itaque justitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia, saith S. Augustine, take away the justness of the cause, and tell me what is the acquisition of Kingdoms, but great robberies; 
De Civ. de●… 4. 4.  unless we should say, that the kill and robbing of one is a sin, but of many a virtue, as S. Cyprian wittily speaks, homicidium cum admittunt 
Ad Donatum.  singuli crimen est, virtus vocatur cum publicè geritur, impunitatem sceleribus acquirit, non innocentiae ratio, sed saevitia magnitudo: when one single man commits a single murder that's a grievous offence, when it is commonly and publicly done, that's a virtue: They purchase impunity not by reason of their innocence, but the greatness of their Cruelty. When a Pirate was convented before the great Alexander for robbing upon 
Nonius Marcellus ex Cicero●… lib. de Repub. 3.  the Seas, and demanded what he meant so to do, or by what right he did it, his answer to that Emperor was by way of recrimination; by the same right (saith he) as you rob the world, which was eleganter & veraciter responsum, (they be the words of S. Augustine) a trim and true answer: For what was Alexander, if we should term him aright, but  
Faelix terrarum praedo non utile mundo  
Editus exemplar.  
A robber of the world, yet prosperous,  
And to mankind example dangerous.  
Or rather as the same Poet speaks,  
Terrarum fatale malum fulmenque quod omnes  
Percuteret populos pariterque & sydus iniquum  
Gentibus.  
Earth's fatal evil, a thunderbolt of war,  
Striking all Nations, an unlucky star.  
And Seneca professeth both of him and his father Philip, that they were 
Nat. quaest. praes. lib. 3.  to mankind no less plagues, quam inundatio qua planum perfusum est, quam conflagratio qua magna pars animantium exaruit, than a land flood which drowns all the champain, or a burning drought wherewith the greatest part of cattle perish.  
Now that which hath been spoken of Alexander, the Romans may as properly be applied to themselves, Foelix scelus virtus vocatur, unjust attempts if they be fortunate in the event are called virtues: and some actions there are of that nature, quae nunquam laudantur nisi peracta, which are never commended till they are ended; and surely so it was with the Romans, & for proof that their attempts were indeed for the most part unjust, we need go no farther then that of Mithridates in Sallust, Romani 
Epist. ad Reg●… Arsocen.  arma in omnes habent, in eos acerrima quibus victis spolia maxima sunt, the Romans make war upon all, and that upon them most fiercely, from whom being conquered they hope for the greatest booty. And again, Romanis cum nationibus populis Regibus cunctis una & vetus bellandi Causa est Cupido profunda imperii & divitiarum. The Romans have one old and common quarrel with all Nations, people, kings, an unquenchable thirst of Empire and riches, with whom Galgacus in Tacitus fully accords, 
In vita julij Agricola.  Raptores orbis postquam cnncta vastantibus defuere terrae, & mare scrutantur: si locuples est hostis avari, si pauper ambitiosi, quos non oriens non occidens satiaverit; Robbers of the world they are, and after that they have laid all places waste, land wanting for them to spoil, they search into the Sea, if the enemy be rich, their covetousness moves them to invade him, if poor their ambition, so as neither East nor West can satisfy their insatiable appetite. And though we should perchance suspect the testimonies of Mithridates and Galgacus, as being their enemies, yet against that of Lactantius we cannot well accept. Isti qui eversiones 
Lib. 1: c. 18.  urbium, populorumque summam gloriam computant, otium publicum non ferent, rapient, saevient, & injuriis insolenter illatis humanae societatis faedus irrumpent, ut habere hostem possint, quem sceleratius deleant, quam lacessierint: But they who account the subversion of cities and states their greatest glory, will not endure the public peace, they will rob and spoil, and most insolently offering wrongs, will violate the league of humane society, that they may have an enemy whom they may more injuriously vanquish than they have injustly provoked.  
I am not ignorant that Cicero in defence of his own Nation tells us, noster populus socijs defendendis terrarum omnium potitusest, our people by defending their associates, became Masters of the world: but I would willingly be informed whether or no they did not often set their associates to complain without a cause, or abet them in unjust quarrels; & I desire that Cicero or any other Roman should tell me truly what just reason of warring they had upon the Carthaginians in the first Punic war. I know there is a pretence coined that it was under-taken in defence of the Mamertins whom the carthaginians and Syracusians intended to chastise for their villainous treachery committed upon Messana a City in Sicily where they lay in garrison, putting to the sword all the Inhabitents, & dividing the spoil among themselves, and Decius Campanus a Roman Perfect with his Legion consisting of 4000 Soldiers being received into Rhegium for the safeguard thereof against Pyrrhus, by the example and assistance of the Mamertins did the like. Now it is true the Romans at the instance of the people of Rhegium did justice upon their own Countrymen; yet the Mamertins guilty of the same foul fact, and that in a higher degree, they took into their protection, and made it the pretence of their first war upon the Carthaginians, their ancient friends and allies. But it is certain that no company of Pirates▪ thieves, Outlaws, Murderers, or other such Malefactors, can by any good success of their villainy obtain the privilege of Civil Societies to make league or truce, yea or to require fair war, but are by all means as most pernicious vermin to be rooted out of the world. Wherefore we may safely esteem this action of the Romans so far from being justifiable by any colour of confederacy made with them, as that contrariwise by admitting this nest of murderers and thieves into their protection, they justly deserved to be warred upon themselves: Yet after this war ended, and a peace solemnly concluded, when the Carthaginians made a doubtful war upon their rebellious Mercenaries of Sardinia, the Romans perceiving that Carthage beyond their hope had recovered her feet again, began to strike at her head: On the sudden they denounced war against this enfeebled and impoverished City under a shameless pretence that the preparations made for Sardinia were made indeed against Rome itself. The Carthaginians knew themselves at that time unable to resist, and therefore yielded to the Roman demand, renouncing unto them all their right in Sardinia: But this was not enough they would have 1200 talents in recompense belike (for I see not what reason they could allege) of the great fear which they had endured of an invasion from Carthage. It is indeed plain, that they impudently sought occasion of war: but necessity taught the Carthaginians patience, and the money was paid how hardly soever it was raised. Let not Rome then complain of the punic faith in the breach of Covenants, she herself hath broken the peace already which Amilcar purposed to make her dear repent, but what Amilcar lived not to perform, was accomplished by Hannibal his renowned son.   

SECT. 7. Thirdly, that the Christians in suffering for Religion surpassed the Roman fortitude.  
THirdly, if true fortitude consist as well in suffering, as in doing, nay rather in suffering cheerfully and constantly, then in doing valiantly, as the Prince of Philosophers, & great Master of morality hath taught us, Ex eo fortes appellantur quòd res molestas atque asperas fortiter ferant, from thence are they termed manful, that they manfully endure 
E●…. 3. 12.  bitter and shatpe brunts; and from him the Poet,  
Fortiter ille facit, qui miser esse potest.  
He it is doth valiantly,  
That can miserable be.  
Then I will be bold to say, that the Christian Religion hath yielded more undaunted invincible spirits, than ever Pagan Rome did, nay, than all the Pagan Religion ever did: so as I cannot sufficiently wonder what should induce Machiavelli to conceive or affirm that the Christian Religion served to make men cowards, and that Paganism was in that 
Dis. l. 1. 11. 12. 13 14.  respect to be preferred before it. Surely he that shall advisedly read the Ecclesiasticall-Story, what incredible multitudes, with what alacrity, and what exquisite torments they endured, will soon I think be of another mind; they were so far from shunning death, that they ran to meet it half way, kissed it, embraced it, in what ugly terrible shape soever it appeared; in so much that our writers of the Primitive Church dare match them, as well they might with the most hardy & resolute of the Romans, yea and to prefer them before these. Nostri autem (saith Lactantius) (ut de viris taceam) pueri & 〈◊〉 tortores suos taciti vincunt & expromere illis gemitum nec ignis potest. Eant Romani & Mutio glorientur aut Regulo, quorum alter necandum se hostibus tradidit quod Captivum puduit vivere, alter ab hostibus depraehensus 
Lib. 5. c. 13:  cum videret mortem se vitare non posse, manum foco in●…ecit ut pro facinore suo satisfaceret ●…osti quem voluit occidere, eaque poena veniam quam meruerat accepit: Those of our profession (not to speak of the men) even boys & tender young women do with silence conquer their Executioners, from whom not the fire itself can wring so much as a groan. Let the Romans go then and boast of their Mutius & Regulus, of which the one offered himself to death by the hand of the enemy, 
See for this point Laurent Valla in his 2 book de voluptate.  for that he was ashamed to live in captivity; the other being attatched by the enemy, when he saw he could not avoid death, burnt his hand in the fire, that so for his wicked attempt he might make satisfaction to the enemy, whom he sought to dispatch, and by that penance purchased he an undeserved pardon: But with us behold those who are for their sex infirm, and weak for their age, suffer themselves wholly to be torn in pieces, and burned not through any necessity, for they might avoid ' it if they would, but willingly and readily because they trust in God. Eusebius takes a larger scope and makes a boldner challenge, including not the Romans alone, but the Grecians, and any other not Christians. Ex omnibus qui unquam vel apud Graecos vel apud Barbaros propter animi magnitudinem illustres, & hominum sermone celebrati sunt, nullus 
Lib. 8: c. 6.  cum divinis & eximijs nostri temporis Martyribus Dorotheo & suis sodalibus imperatorum ministris comparari potest: Among all those who either among the Grecians or Barbarians have been renowned for their magnanimity, none of them all could be matched with those divine & heroical Martyrs of our time Dorotheus and his Companions the Emperor's servants. After these in time but in learning and zeal nothing inferior unto them: S. Augustine confidently maintains the same truth: Hoc secuti sunt Martyres qui Scaevolas, & Curtios, & Decios non sibi inferendo 
De Ciu. Dei, 5 14.  poenas, sed illatas ferendo: & virtute vera quia vera pietate & innumera multitudine superarunt: This rule our Martyrs followed, who not by laying violent hands on themselves, but by patiently enduring others exceeded the Scevol●…▪ the Curtij, the Deccis both in true fortitude, because joined with true piety, and beside in multitudes innumerable. And lastly, before a●… these, Tertullian both saw, and publicly 
Apolog. 50. ad Gentes.  taught the same truth. Multi apud vos ad tolerantiam doloris & mortis hortantur, ut Cicero in Tusculanis, ut Seneca in Fortuitis, ut Diogenes, ut Pyrrhon, ut Callimachus, nec tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos quantos Christiani factis docendo: Many among you exhort men to a constant and patient enduring of grief & death, as Cicero in his Tusculans, Seneca in his remedies against fortune, Diogenes, Pyrrhon, and Callimachus; yet their writings and words find not so many Scholars as do the Christians, teaching by their deeds & deaths.  
But because the Romans stand so much upon their valour in suffering for their country, it were not hard to instance in many Christians, who might justly be paralled with the chiefest of them in that kind, I will content myself only with one example, and that of the Burgesses of Calais, as I find it reported by Pasquier. The town of Calais during the reign of Philip de Valois being brought to those straits, that now 
〈◊〉. 43.  there was no more hope left, either for succour or victuals; john Lord of Vienna, who there commanded for the King, began to treat about the rendering of it, desiring only that they might give it up with safety of their lives and goods; which conditions being offered to Edward King of England, who by the space of eleven months had straightly besieged it; he being exceedingly enraged, that so small a town should alone stand out against him so long, and withal calling to mind that they had often galled his subjects by sea, was so far from accepting of their petition, that chose he resolved to put them all to the sword, had he not been diverted from that resolution by some sage Counselors then about him, who told him, that for having been faithful and loyal subjects to their Sovereign, they deserved not to be so sharply dealt with: Whereupon Edward changing his first purpose into some more clemency, promised to receive them to mercy, conditionally that six of their principal Towensmen, should present him the keys of the Town bareheaded & barefooted, & with halters about their necks, their lives being to be left to his disposition: Whereof the Governor being advertised, he presently gets him into the marketplace, commanding the bell to be sounded for the conventing of the people; whom being assembled, he acquainted with the articles which he had received, touching the yielding up of the town, and the assurance of their lives which could not be granted but with the death of six of the chief of them: With which news they being all of them exceedingly cast down & perplexed, on the sudden there rises up one of their Company called Stephen S. Peter, one of the richest & most sufficient men of the town, who thus spoke aloud: Sir, I thank God for the goods he hath bestowed on me, but more that he hath given me this present opportunity to make it known that I prise the lives of my Countrymen & fellow burgesses above mine own: At the hearing of whose speech and sight of his forwardness, one john Daire and four others after him made the like offers, not without great abundance of tears & prayers from the common people, who saw them so freely and readily sacrifice all their particular respects for the weal of the public, & instantly without any more ado they addressed themselves to the King of England with the keys of the town, with none other hope but of death: to which (though they held themselves assured thereof) they went as cheerfully as if they had been going to a wedding. Yet it pleasing God to turn the heart of the English King at the instance of his Queen and some of the Lords, they were sent back again safe and sound. Now who can say that our France hath not her Horatij, Qvinti; Curtij, & Deccis? We have ours aswell as the Romans had theirs: but a certain kind of baseness in us more ready to apprehend and admire the worth of strangers then of our own Nation, makes us happily not to believe so: Now that which Pasquier writes of his Nation, and truly, as I think in comparison with the Roman valour in suffering for their country, we may as confidently speak of ours & others perchance of theirs.   

SECT. 8. That as the Christians have surpassed the Romans in the passive part of fortitude, so have they matched them in the active, and that the partial overvaluing of the Roman manhood by their own Historians, is it chiefly which hath made the world to think it unmatchable.  
FOurthly and lastly, as the Romans were thus surpassed in the passive part of fortitude: so were they matched in the Active, many times meeting with those, that either put back their forces without loss, or with victory put them to the worst. julius Caesar their great experienced and most renowned Captain after all his valiant acts and triumphs, what ado did he make to do any thing worth the remembrance upon this Island then inhabited by naked Britain's, and those divided: And though Velleius Paterculus the Court Historiographer bear us in hand, bis penetratam Britanniam à Caesare, that Brittainy was twice throughly invaded by Caesar, yet Lucan tells us another tale,  
Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis:  
To th' Britons whom he sought his coward back he turned.  
And Tacitus a grave Author, Britanniam tantum ostendisse non tradidisse Romanis, that he only showed, but delivered not Britanny to the Romans. And sure he did so little, that both Horace and Propertius agree in it that he left them untouched, or at least unconquered:  
Intactus aut Britannus ut descenderet 
Horat. Ep●…. o●…. 7.   
Sacra Catenatus via:  
Or that the Britons, yet untouched, may  
Be led in chains along the sacred way.  
Says the one: And the other.  
Te manet invictus Romano Marte Britannus.  
— Unconquered Britanny,  
By Roman arms reserved is for thee.  
The Gauls in their contention with them they found so stout & hardy, as Tully himself confesseth, that with other Nations the Romans fought for dominion, but with the Gauls for preservation of their own safety, who once under the conduct of Brennus entered the city of Rome itself, sacked it and burned it. Pyrrhus' King of the Epirots encountered them in Italy itself, and vanquished them in two several battles, in the former of which they were through fear stricken with such a consternation & forgetfulness of their discipline, that they tarried not somuch as to defend their camp, but ran quite beyond it, leaving both it and the honour of the day entirely to Pyrrhus, though the Consul himself were then in the field with a select army. But Hannibal was indeed the man, who made the Romans know that they were but men made of like mettle as others are. Like a hail storm he came thundering down from the Alps & Pyrrenaean mountains upon Italy. At Ticinum now called Pavia, after a long tedious journey, having scarce refreshed his wearied army, consisting of several Nations, and therefore the harder to be held together & commanded, he beat Scipio the Consul, and sent him (with the loss of almost all his horses) wounded out of the field: And within a while after fight with both the Consuls Scipio & Sempronius at Trebia, there escaped of six & thirty thousand of the Romans, but ten thousand of all sorts horse and foot. Not long after, this again he encountered with Flaminius another Consul at the lake of Thrasimene, who was slain in the place, accompanied with fifteen thousand dead carcases of his Countrymen. And Cetronius being sent by Servilius the other Consul to the aid of Flaminius, his strength only served to increase the misadventure, being charged and the greatest part of them cut in pieces by Maharball, the rest yielding themselves to mercy. The Romans being put to these straits, choose a Dictator that was Fabius Maximus, who like a cloud hung upon the tops of the hills, but durst not come down into the plains to fight with Hannibal, though he saw the country fired & spoiled by him before his eyes. Whereupon two new Consuls are chosen Aemilius Paulus & Terentius Varro. For the dispatch of the war great forces are levied, and at Cannae they come pouring upon him with assurance of victory. The whole sum of Hanniballs army in the field this day was, ten thousand horse and forty thousand foot; his enemies having two to one against him in foot, & he five to three against them in horse: But here again he routed and foiled them, in somuch as the Romans were all in a manner either slain or taken prisoners: Of men of special note there died in the great battle, besides Paulus the Consul, two Questors or Treasurers, one and twenty Colonels or Tribunes of the soldiers, four score Senators, or such as had borne office; out of which they were to be chosen into the Senate, and many of these were men of mark, as having been Aediles, Praetors or Consuls, among whom was Servilius the last year's Consul, and Minutius late Master of the horse: besides all this, the number of the Roman Knights that lay slain on the place, & of the common soldiers was almost incredible: Whereas on the side of Hannibal there died but four thousand Gauls, fifteen hundred Spaniards and Africans, and two hundred horse or thereabouts, a loss not sensible in the joy of so great a victory, which had he pursued as Maharball advised him, and forthwith marched away towards Rome then destitute both of men and money, it is little doubted but that the war had presently been at an end: But he believed not so far in his own sufficiency and good fortune, and was therefore told that he knew how to get, not how to use a victory: Yet had not his supplies promised & expected from Carthage, partly by the malice of Hanno, and partly by the sloth & parsimony of the Carthaginians, been too long deferred, it is to be thought the Romans would never again have recovered that blow. For after this, he performed in Italy many noble & worthy exploits, marching home even to the gates of Rome itself; and had he been supplied with victuals in all likelihood, had carried it.  
Now that which hath made the world conceive the Roman Magnanimity to be unmatchable, is the partial overvaluing of their manhood by their own Historians, and the too much slighting of all others in comparison with themselves. I will instance only in two or three passages. Livy to disgrace Hannibal writes, that a little before the striking of the battle at Cannae, de fuga in Galliam dicitur agitasse, he is said 
Lib. 22.  to have bethought himself of flying into Gaul, which was in truth very incredible, the difficulties considered which Hannibal before had passed, and the terms he then stood in. This tale therefore Plutarch omitteth, who in the life of Hannibal takes in a manner all his directions from Livy. My second instance is this: Fabius an ancient Roman Historian (from whom Livy borrows much) saith of Amilcar the father of Hannibal, & his men at Erix a town in Sicill; that having clean spent their strength, and being broken with many miseries, they were glad to submit themselves unto the Romans: But Polybius a grave writer, censureth this report of Fabius, as fabulous & partial, in as much as the 
Lib. 1.  contrary thereunto is to be found in the life of Amilcar, set down by Aemilius Probus, confessing that Erix was in such sort held by the Carthaginians, that it seemed to be in as good condition, as if in those parts there had not been any war. Though then we may not reprehend in that worthy Historian Livy, the tender love of his country, which made him give credit to Fabius & others: Yet must we not for his sake believe those lies which the unpartial judgement of Polybius hath condemned in the writers that gave them original. My third, & last instance is, that the great Captain Fabius or Livy in his person, maketh an objection unto Cneus Scipio, which neither Scipio nor Livy for 
Lib. 28.  him doth answer, that if Asdrubal the brother of Hannibal, and son of Amilcar were vanquished, as Scipio would say, by him in Spain; strange it was, and as little to his honour, as it had been extremely dangerous to Rome, that the same vanquished man should invade Italy: And it is indeed an incredible narration, that Asdrubal being closed in on all sides, and not knowing how to escape out of the battle, save only by a steep descent of rocks over a great river that lay at his back, ran away with all his money, Elephants, and broken troops over Tagus directly toward the Pyrenees, and so toward Italy, upon which he fell with more than threescore thousand Soldiers. Wherefore we can but be sorry, that all Carthaginian records of their wars with Rome (if there were any) being utterly lost, we can know no more thereof, than what it hath pleased the Romans to tell us, unto whom it were no wisdom to give too much credit. Albericus Gentilis, by nation an Italian, late professor of the Civill-Lawes in the University of Oxford, well versed in the Roman story, hath written two learned books de armis Romanorum; In the former of which he clearly proves, that the Romans got the reputation of so great justice, and wisdom, & valour only from the testimony of their own writers, who were in their relations most partial: notwithstanding, saith he, Sunt vel in his ipsis plura & disiecta passim, & quasi in amplo naufragio dissipata quae per sedulam operam collecta, vincere vulgi opinionem, Consensum hominum inveteratum superare, persuasionem de virtute Romanorum bellica tollere possunt: Even in them are many passages to be found scattered here & there, as it were after some great shipwreck, which being diligently collected and put together, might serve to vanquish the vulgar opinion, to root out the inveterate & common consent, to weaken the strong persuasion of men touching the warlike manhood of the Romans. And alleging that place of Cicero in his Oration for murena, virtus militaris populo Romano nomen urbi Romae aeternam gloriam peperit; The military virtue of the Romans won to themselves fame, and to their City eternal glory, imo non ita est M. Tulli, saith he, sed fraus, avaritia, audacia, crudelitas, illud vobis imperium pepererunt, 〈◊〉 terrae reliquum simpliciorem, justiorem, humaniorem, faciliorem, moderationem subegerunt. Tully, it is not so, but fraud, covetousness, impudence, cruelty got you the Empire, and subdued the rest of the world more innocent; more just, more courteous, more merciful, more moderate, more peaceable than yourselves: and this he doth not barely affirm, but substantially makes it good through that book, though in the next, he seem to have spoken in the person of another.  
I will conclude this long, though I trust not tedious discourse of the Romans with a dispute of Sir Walter Rawleigh's handling that problem, proposed and discussed by Livy, whether the great Alexander could have prevailed against the Romans, if after his Eastern conquest he had bend all his forces against them. Where having delivered his opinion against Livy for Alexander, together with his reasons, inducing him thereunto, he goes on preferring the English both before the Macedonian & the Roman: wherein if he speak reason, let him be heard, if not, let him be censured: But for mine own part I must confess, I know not well how to answer his arguments, so pressing & ponderous to me they seem, whether affection have clouded my judgement herein, I leave it to others to judge, his words then are these:   

SECT. 9 The English not inferior to the Roman in valour & magnanimity, by the judgement of Sir Walter Raleigh.  
NOw in deciding such a controversy, saith he, me thinks it were not amiss for an Englishman to give such a sentence between 
Hist. of the world, l. 5: part. 1. cap. 1. Sect. 1.  the Macedonians & Romans, as the Romans once did (being chosen Arbitrators) between the Ardeates & Aricini that strove about a piece of land; saying, that it belonged unto neither of them, but unto the Romans themselves. If therefore it be demanded, whether the Macedonian or the Roman were the best Warrior? I will answer, the Englishman. For it will soon appear to any that shall examine the noble acts of our Nation in war, that they were performed by no advantage of Weapon; against no savage or unmanly people; the enemy being far superior unto us in numbers and all needful provisions, yea as well trained as we, or commonly better, in the exercise of War.  
In what sort Philip won his Dominion in Greece; what manner of men the Persians and Indians were whom Alexander vanquished; as likewise of what force the Macedonian Phalanx was, and how well appointed against such armies as it commonly encountered: any man that hath taken pains to read the foregoing story of them, doth sufficiently understand. Yet was this Phalanx never or very seldom able to stand against the Roman Armies: which were embattled in so excellent a form, as I know not whether any Nations besides them have used, either before or since. The Roman weapons likewise both offensive & defensive were of greater use, than those with which any other Nation hath served, before the fiery instruments of gunpowder were known. As for the enemies with which Rome had to do, we find that they who did over-match her in numbers, were as far over-matched by her in weapons; and that they of whom she had little advantage in arms, had as little advantage of her in multitude. This also (as Plutarch well observeth) was a part of her happiness, that she was never over-laid with too great wars at once.  
Hereby it came to pass, that having at first increased her strength by accession of the Sabines; having won the state of Alba, against which she adventured her own self, as it were in wager upon the heads of three Champions; and having thereby made herself Princess of Latium, she did afterwards by long war in many ages extend her Dominion over all Italy. The Carthaginians had well nigh oppressed her: but their soldiers were Mercenary: so that for want of proper strength they were easily beaten at their own doors. The Aetolians and with them all or the most of Greece assisted her against Philip the Macedonian: he being beaten, did lend her his help to beat the same Aetolians. The wars against Antiochus and other Asiatiques, were such as gave to Rome small cause of boast, though much of joy: for those opposites were as base of courage as the lands which they held were abundant of riches. Sicil, Spain, and all Greece fell into her hands by using her aid to protect them against the Carthaginians and Macedonians.  
I shall not need to speak of her other conquests: it was easy to get more when she had gotten all this. It is not my purpose to disgrace the Roman valour (which was very noble) or to blemish the reputation of so many, or so famous victories: I am not so idle. This I say, that among all their wars, I find not any wherein their valour hath appeared comparable to the English. If my judgement may seem over-partiall, our wars in France may help to make it good.  
First therefore it is well known that Rome (or perhaps all the World beside) had never so brave a Commander in war as julius Caesar; & that no Roman Army was comparable unto that which served under the same Caesar. Likewise it is apparent that this gallant Army which had given fair proof of the Roman courage, in good performance of the Helvetian war, when it first entered into Gaul; was nevertheless utterly disheartened when Caesar led it against the Germans. So that we may justly impute all that was extraordinary in the valour of Caesar's men, to their long exercise under so good a Leader, in so great a war. Now let us in general compare with the deeds done by those best of the Roman soldiers in their principal service, the things performed in the same country by our common English soldiers, levied in haste from following the Cart, or sitting on the shop-stall, so shall we see the difference. Herein will we deal fairly, and believe Caesar in relating the Acts of the Romans: but will call the French Historians to witness what actions were performed by the English. In Caesar's time France was inhabited by the Gauls a stout people, but inferior to the French by whom they were subdued; even when the Romans gave them assistance. The Country of Gaul was rend in sunder (as Caesar witnesseth) into many Lordships: Some of which were governed by petty kings, others by the multitude, none ordered in such sort as might make it appliable to the nearest neighbour. The factions were many and violent, not only in general through the whole Country, but between the petty States, yea in every City, and almost in every house. What greater advantage could a Conqueror desire? yet there was a greater: Ariovistus with his Germans had overrun the Country, and held much part of it in a subjection, little different from a mere slavery: yea so often had the Germans prevailed in war upon the Gauls, that the Gauls (who had sometimes been the better soldiers) did hold themselves no way equal to those daily invaders. Had France been so prepared unto our English Kings, Rome itself by this time, and long ere this time would have been ours. But when King Edward the third began his war upon France, he found the whole country settled in obedience to one mighty King: a King whose reputation abroad was no less than his puissance at home, under whose Ensign the King of Bohemia did serve in person, at whose call the Genoese and other neighbour States were ready to take Arms: Finally a King unto whom one 
a The Dolphin of Viennois.  Prince gave away his Dominion for love: 
b The King of Maiorca.  another sold away a goodly City and Territory for money. The Country lying so open to the Roman, and being so well fenced against the English, it is noteworthy, not who prevailed most therein (for it were mere vanity to match the English purchases with the Roman Conquest) but whether of the two gave the greater proof of military virtue therein. Caesar himself doth witness, that the Gauls complained of their own ignorance in the Art of War, and that their own hardiness was overmastered by the skill of their enemies. Poor men, they admired the Roman Towers and Engines of battery raised and planted against their walls, as more then humane works. What greater wonder is it that such a people was beaten by the Roman, then that the Caribes a naked people, but valiant as any under the sky, are commonly put to the worse by small numbers of Spaniards? Besides all this we are to have regard of the great difficulty that was found in drawing all the Gauls or any part of them to one head, that with joint forces they might oppose their assailants, as also the much more difficulty of holding them long together: For hereby it came to pass that they were never able to make use of opportunity: but sometimes compelled to stay for their fellows, and sometimes driven to give or take battle upon extreme disadvantages, for fear lest their company should fall asunder: as indeed upon any little disaster they were ready to break and return every one to the defence of his own. All this, (and which was little less than all this) great odds in weapon gave to the Romans the honour of many gallant victories. What such help? or what other worldly help then the golden mettle of their soldiers had our English Kings against the French? were not the French as well experienced in feats of war? yea did they not think themselves therein our superiors? were they not in arms, in horse, and in all provision exceedingly beyond us? Let us hear what a French Writer saith, of the inequality that was between the French and English, when their King john was ready to give the onset upon the Black Prince at the battle of Poitiers. john had all advantages 
john de Serres.  over Edward, both of number, force, show, country, and conceit, (the which is commonly a consideration of no small importance in worldly affairs) and withal, the choice of all his horsemen (esteemed then the best in Europe) with the greatest and wisest Captains of his whole Realm. And what could he wish more?  
I think it would trouble a Roman Antiquary to find the like example in their Histories; the example, I say, of a King, brought prisoner to Rome by an army of eight thousand, which he had surrounded with forty thousand, better appointed, and no less expert Warriors. This I am sure of, that neither Syphax the Numidian, followed by a rabble of half scullions, as Livy rightly terms them, nor those cowardly kings Perseus and Gentius, are worthy patterns. All that have read of Cressie and Agincourt, will bear me witness, that I do not allege the battle of Poitiers for lack of other as good examples of the English virtue: the proof whereof hath left many a hundred better marks in all quarters of France, then ever did the valour of the Romans. If any man impute these victories of ours to the longbow, as carrying farther, piercing more strongly, and quicker of discharge then the French Cross-bow: my answer is ready; that in all these respects, it is also (being drawn with a strong arm) superior to the musket; yet is the musket a weapon of more use. The Gun and the Crossbow are of like force when discharged by a boy or woman, as when by a strong man: weakness or sickness, or a sore finger makes the long bow unserviceable. More particularly, I say, that it was the custom of our Ancestors to shoot for the most part, point blank: and so shall he perceive that will note the circumstances of almost any one battle. This takes away all objection: for when two Armies are within the distance of a butts length▪ one flight of arrows or two at the most can be delivered before they close. Neither is it in general true, that the longbow reacheth farther, or that it pierceth more strongly than the Cross bow: but this is the rare effect of an extraordinary arm: whereupon can be grounded no common rule. If any man shall ask: How then it came to pass that the English won so many great battles, having no advantage to help him? I may with the best commendation of modesty, refer him to the French Historian: who relating the victory of our men at Crevant, where they passed a bridge in face of the enemy, useth these words; 
john de Serres.  The English comes with a conquering bravery, as he that was accustomed to gain everywhere without any stay: he forceth our Guard placed upon the bridge to keep the passage. Or I may cite another place of the same Author, where he tells how the Britons being invaded by Charles the eight, King of France, thought it good policy to apparel a thousand and two hundred of their own men in English Cassocks; hoping that the very sight of the English red Cross would be enough to terrify the French. But I will not stand to borrow of the French Historians (all which, excepting De Serres and Paulus Aemilius, report wonders of our Nation) the proposition which first I undertook to maintain, That the military virtue of the English prevailing against all manner of difficulties, aught to be preferred before that of the Romans, which was assisted with all advantages that could be desired. If it be demanded; why then did not our Kings finish the Conquest as Caesar had done? my answer may be (I hope without offence) that our kings were like to the race of the Aeacidae, of whom the old Poet Ennius gave this note; Belli potentes sunt magè quam sapienti potentes; they were more warlike than politic. Who so notes their proceedings, may find that none of them went to work like a Conqueror, save only King Henry the fifth, the course of whose victories it pleased God to interrupt by his death. But this question is the more easily answered, if another be first made: Why did not the Romans attempt the Conquest of Gaul before the time of Caesar? why not after the Macedonian war? why not after the third Punic, or after the Numantian? At all those times they had good leisure, & then especially had they both leisure and fit opportunity, when under the conduct of Marius they had newly vanquished the Cimbri and Teutones, by whom the Country of Gaul had been piteously wasted. Surely the words of Tully were true, that with other Nations the Romans fought for Dominion with the Gauls for the preservation of their own safety.  
Therefore they attempted not the Conquest of Gaul, until they were Lords of all other Countries to them known. We on the other side held only the one half of our own Island; the other half being inhabited by a Nation (unless perhaps in wealth and numbers of men somewhat inferior) every way equal to ourselves: A Nation anciently and strongly allied to our enemies the French, and in that regard enemies to us: So that our danger lay both before and behind us, and the greater danger at our backs, where commonly we felt, always we feared a stronger invasion by Land than we could make upon France, transporting our forces over Sea.  
It is usual with men that have pleased themselves in admiring the matters which they find in ancient histories, to hold it a great injury done to their judgement, if any take upon him by way of comparison to extol the things of latter ages. But I am well persuaded, that as the divided virtue of this our Island hath given more noble proof of itself, than under so worthy a Leader that Roman army could do, which afterwards could win Rome and all her Empire, making Caesar a Monarch: So hereafter by God's blessing, who hath converted our greatest hindrance into our greatest help, the enemy that shall dare to try our forces, will find cause to wish, that avoiding us, he had rather encountered as great a puissance as was that of the Roman Empire. Thus far Sir Walter Raleigh, comparing the Roman valour with the English, and if we should compare them with the Turks, it is certain that the Romans in the like space of time, never subdued the like quantity of land, so excellently fertile, and abounding in warlike people as did they. In less than three hundred years, from Ottoman to Mahomet the third, they won all those goodly Countries from Tauris in Persia to Buda in Hungary, lying East, & West, and North, and South, from Derbent near the Caspian Sea, unto Adena, upon the gulf of Arabia, each of which contains about 3200 miles. So as all the noise which the Roman writers have made about the unmatchable valour of their men, is but like the huge armour which Alexander left in the Indies after his conquering of those Nations, serving rather to amaze the world, then rightly to inform it.    

CAP. 12. Wherein the general objections touching the world's decay in matter of Manners, are answered at large.  

SECT. 1. Two objections drawn from reason, and both answered: The one, that since the first plantation of Christian Religion, men have from time to time degenerated: The other, that the multitude of Laws, and Lawyers, and Law-suites, and the multiplicity of words in writings & conveyances, argue the great sickness & malice of the present times in regard of the former.  
ANd thus I hope I have now sufficiently cleared the point, that the ancient Romans (who are in stories most magnified of any Nation under heaven for their moral virtues) exceeded latter ages in many foul vices, and have by latter ages been equalled, if not exceeded even in those virtues, wherein they seemed most to excel. And herein have I chiefly aimed at the honour of Christ & Christian Religion; which being rightly understood and practised, without apish superstition on the one side, or peevish singularity on the other, serves no doubt to make men more morally virtuous than any other religion, that either at this day is, or since the Creation hath been professed in the world; I speak, not only in regard of justice & temperance, but of wisdom & fortitude; and beside, for contempt of the world, austerity of life, patience, humility, modesty, charity, chastity, obedience, piety, and singular devotion, it hath doubtless yielded men altogether unmatchable. But it will be said, that since the first plantation of Christian Religion, men have from time to time degenerated, so as the farther they are removed from the Primitive Professors, who burned in zeal and shined in good works, the worse they have grown: Whereunto I answer, that the primitive times, aswell in that they came nearer to Christ & his Apostles, as likewise, because they were subject to the fiery trial of persecution were indeed purer than the succeeding ages, in which together with peace & plenty, pride & luxury, oppression & uncharitableness crept in, till at length they, who should have been the principal lights & guides in the Church, became in all manner of uncleanness, cruelty, covetousness, & ambition little inferior to the worst of the Roman Emperors. But here then, things being now come to this height, appeared the special providence of Almighty God, in sending some zealous spirits to awaken the world, to rouse up Christian Princes, to tell the Prelates their own: And though thereupon followed a rent in the Church, yet withal there followed a reformation of manners, at leastwise in regard of scandalous & notorious vices, even among them, who refused, and still refuse reformation in matter of doctrine; the lives of their Popes, their Cardinals, ●…eir Bishops, their Priests, are in appearance much amended, what within these two or three hundred years, by the confession of their own writers, they were; who we may well think, were ignorant of much, and much out of fear or favour they concealed: But somuch have they published to the view of the world, as would grieve an honest man to read, & shame a modest to write, which they shamed not to act, nay boasted of being acted: And for the other part, which professes & maintains the reformation, I hope they will not say, that they are thereby made the worse in matter of manners; God forbid but they, who profess themselves reform in matter of dostrine, should likewise show themselves reform in matter of Manners. And sure I think we may safely say, that fewer rebellions, robberies, murders, sorceries and the like, have been heard of, and more pious and charitable works seen in our Land since the Reformation of Religion, then in the like compass of years since the first plantation thereof amongst us.  
It will perchance be said again, that the multitude of Laws, and Lawyers, & Lawsuits, and the multiplicity of words in writings & conveyances for Law businesses, argue the great sickness and malice of the times in regard of the former: To which it may truly be replied, that the multitude of Laws gives occasion to the number of Law-suites, and that to the increase of Lawyers; and they again serve to increase the multiplying of words in conveyances. Now that which gives occasion to a greater multitude of Laws, is not, as I conceive, so much the increase of vice, as of knowledge and zeal in the Lawmakers; common swearing, simple fornication, profaning of the Lords day and the like, in former times were scarce known to be sins; but being now by the light of the Gospel discovered to be such, and that in an high degree, as they are straitely forbidden by God's Law, so is the edge of our law, turned against them. Besides, it is certain, that no Law can be so cautelously framed for the preventing of all inconveniences in that kind, but that the wit of man armed with malice, will find means to wrest the letter, or frustrate the intent of it; from whence other Laws have sprung up for the clearing of the ambiguity, or supply of the defect of the former; it is not then so much the malice of the present age, as th●… of all ages succeeding one another therein, which hath occasioned such a mass of Laws, as their burden is in a manner now as cumbersome, as were the mischiefs they were made to prevent, prius vitijs laboravimus nunc Legibus, Tacitus spoke it of his times, but it may well enough be verified of ours; we formerly were burdened with vices, but now with Laws. If then a wise choice were made out of the whole body of the Laws, of the most useful and proper for the present times, and they severely executed, the rest being repealed and abrogated, it would prove both easier for the subject, and happier for the weal public. Now for the number of Law-suites, it hath always been observed, that in times of peace and plenty, as riches increase by manufactures, and tillage, and trading, so doth the number of controversies. Our Forefathers for many agés together lived for the most part in Civil Wars and continual alarms; so as the sword then determined the controversy, and not the Law; since then the sword hath been sheathed, no marvel that the Law & Courts of justice have been more in request. Moreover, the fall of the Monasteries and the alienating of their Lands into so many hands, hath no doubt been a great means to set Lawyers a work since that fall, more than in former ages. And what is it but the setting of men a work which sets up a trade, and multiplies the professors thereof? And as the number of professors multiply, so do the diversity of their conceits and inventions; many eyes seeing more than one can, which is the cause, that both more flaws are found in conveyances, and consequently more clauses and cautions thrust into them for the preventing of the like.   

SECT. 2. Another objection answered, taken from the Scriptures, which in divers places seem to say, that the last times shall be the worst.  
BUt the great doubt which troubles most men, is, that the Scriptures seem in divers places to say, that the last times shall be the worst; and to this end are commonly alleged these passages: Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. When the 
Mat. 24. 12. Luc. 18. 8. 1. Tim 4. 1.  Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. This know also, that in 
2. Tim: 3 1.  the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters; and evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, 
v. 13.  deceiving and being deceived. There shall come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lusts. Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken 
2. Pet. 3. 3  before of the Apostles of our Lord jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last days, who should walk after their own ungodly 
jude. v. 17. 18.  lusts. These are all, or at leastwise the principal passages which I have either found alleged, or can remember to that purpose. Where●…to I first reply in general, that put the case they all inferred a decay in matter of Manners toward the end of the world, yet doth not that necessarily enforce a perpetual & universal declination since the fall of man; but men may be (as doubtless they have been) sometimes better & sometimes worse by interchange, and at the last worst of all. But I would demand how it can hang together, that we should expect the subversion of Antichrist & his kingdom, & the conversion of the whole Nation of the jews to the saving knowledge of the truth, before the end of the world, and yet withal affirm or believe, that the whole world still hath, & doth, & shall to the end thereof grow worse and worse? For mine own part I must profess, that I know not how to reconcile so different and contradictory opinions. But for the better clearing and understanding of the passages alleged, it will be needful to consider in what sense The last days in holy Scripture are to be taken. Some there are, who refer them to the days of Antichrist: but others upon better warrant to the days of Christ, from his first coming in the flesh, to his second coming to judgement. Thus the Prophet Isayah, It shall come to pass in the last days, that the Mountain of the Lords 
2. 2.  house shall be established in the top of the mountains. And Micah to the same purpose, and so near in the same words, as if he borrowed them 
4. 1.  from Esay. Now the days of Christ's kingdom are therefore called the last days, not only because it set an end to the kingdom of the jews, but because none other Priesthood, or Sacrifice, or Sacraments, or Law are to succeed in place thereof. As man is a little world, so the age of the world like that of man, is distributed into divers stops or periods. It hath its infancy, childhood, youth, perfect estate, & old age. And as in man old age may, and sometime doth last as long as all the rest, so may it fall out in these times of the kingdom of Christ, and yet they be still the last times. Thus the time of job from his restitution to his death, is said to be his last days, or latter end, though it comprehend 
42. 12. 16.  one hundred and forty years, which in the life of man is a long space. And if by the last days we should understand the times near approaching to the world's end, no small advantage might thereby unawares be given to the jews, who would bear us in hand that the Messias is not yet come, because the last times are not yet come: Whereas we on the other side say for ourselves and truly, that the last times are come; not therefore because they approach near to the world's end, but because the Messias is come. Upon which ground the Apostles themselves, in imitation belike of the Prophets, likewise term it the last times. In the last times he hath spoken to us by his Son, saith S. Paul. And S. john, 
Heb. 1. 2. 1: 2. 18.  Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. Since which time we know sixteen Centenaries of years have passed. So as the Apostles could not well term their times the last in regard of any near approach to the world's end: but because they lived under the Kingdom of Christ. And if I should thus expound those alleged passages, I should conceive the interpretation were not unsound. Augustin I am sure in his Epist. to Hesichius allows it. Calvin in diverse places beats 
〈◊〉.  upon it, Per dies extremos satis tritum est regnum Christi designari: and in another place more fully to our present purpose, Sub extremis diebus 
In Epist, Iud●…. I●… 2. Tim. 3. 1.  comprehendit universum Christianae Ecclesiae statum, under the terms of the last days he comprehends the universal estate of the Church of Christ. Hereunto may be added that which some latter learned Divines touching this point have observed, that the Hebrew word signifies either extremity or posteriority, as I may so speak. Whence it is sometimes rendered Last, and sometimes Latter, both in Greek, Latin, and other Languages, and those two promiscuously taken the one for the other. Thus the Apostle in 2 Timothy and the 3. calls that the last times, which before in his former Epistle and 4 chapt. he had called the Latter times, and that word which in the last of S. Mark, our former Translations 
14.  rendered Finally, our last hath turned Afterward: nay whereas we read in the Prophet joel, It shall come to pass afterward, S. Peter (by divine inspiration 
2. 1●…. Act. 2. 17.  no doubt) hath rendered it, It shall come to pass in the last days. But very remarkable are the words of old jacob to this purpose when he lay a dying, and by the spirit of Prophecy foretold what should become of his sons, I will tell you saith he, that which shall befall you in the last days, in which prediction of his, though it be true that some things concern the Kingdom of Christ, as that touching judah, the Sceptre shall not depart from juda; nor a Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; yet is it as true that many things in that Prophecy, both concerning judah and the other patriarchs and Tribes descending from them were fulfilled long before the incarnation of CHRIST, and not long after the death of jacob. In like manner the same word is used by Daniel in the Interpretation of Nebuchadnezzars dream. There is a God in heaven 
2. 28.  that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King what shall be in the latter days or last days: Which same speech in the 45 v. following he again repeats in these terms: The great God hath made known to the King what shall come to pass hereafter. And though it be most certain that some of those things there fore-shewed, were none otherwise fulfilled then in the kingdom of Christ, as namely that in the 44. v. in the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed: yet withal it may not, it cannot be denied but the greatest part of them were accomplished before our Saviour's apparelling himself with our flesh, and some of them, to wit, the setting up of the Persian Monarchy but 63 years after Nebuchadnezzars dream or vision, and daniel's prediction. And hence it is that junius and Tremelius render the Hebrew word in both those passages of Genesis and Daniel; with Sequentibus, or Consequentibus temporibus, which implies nothing else but times following and ensuing. Those Prophecies then of S. Peter and S. Paul touching the great wickedness of the latter or last times, may well be understood either of the Kingdom of Christ, as hath been said, or of times following theirs, and not necessarily near approaching the end of all time.   

SEC. 3. The passages of Scripture alleged to that purpose, particularly and distinctly answered.  
NOW for the particular passages: That prophecy of S. Paul touching Apostates, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats was accomplished in Eustathius, the Encratits or Tatians, the Marcionists, the Manichaeans, the Cathari, the Cataphrygians or Montanists, who all vented their heresies in those two points within less than two or three hundred years of the Apostles. And if we should with some latter Writers refer that whole prophecy to the defection of the Roman Church, I think we should therein do her no wrong: Howsoever it is fully agreed upon, both by them and us, that the prophecy was long since fulfilled. The same in effect may be said of his other prophecy in his second Epistle: Neque enim aetatem suam cum nostra comparat, sed potius qualis futura sit regni Christi conditio docet, saith judicious Calvin in his Commentaries upon that place, He doth not compare his own age with ours, but rather teaches what the Condition of Christ's Kingdom was to be. And that which the Apostle adds of Evil men and Seducers, that they shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, is not sufficient to evince a perpetual and universal declination. For though some evil men grow worse, yet others may, and by God's grace do grow from bad to good, and from good to better: and even of the same men doth the same Apostle tell us in the same place, They shall proceed no farther, but their folly shall be manifest 
V. 9  unto all men. As for S Peter and his prophecy touching the last days, it is clear that it was accomplished when S. jude wrote his Epistle in as much as he points in a manner with his finger to that passage of S. Peter not only using the same words, but putting us in mind that he had them expressly from the Apostles of the Lord jesus: the only difference betwixt S. Peter and S. jude is this, that the one foretells it, and the other shows how it was even then fulfilled.  
But I pass from the Scholars to the Master, from the Apostles to our Saviour himself and his prophecies touching this point, recorded by the Evangelists, whereof the first is in Mat. 24. Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. For the exposition of which words we are to know that our Saviour in that chapter speaketh of the signs forerunning aswell the destruction of jerusalem as the consummation of the World, and so twisteth as it were, or weaveth them one within another, that it is hard to distinguish them: yet by the consent of the best expositors, the former of these is to be referred to the first part of the chapter, and so consequently this prophecy was long since accomplisned: the meaning of it to be this, that such and so cruel shall be the persecution of Christian Religion, that many who otherwise had a good mind to embrace it, shall forsake both it and the Professors thereof, leaving them to the malice of their Persecutors. And to this purpose do both Maldonate and Aretius bring the Example and words of S. Paul, At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me, I 
1 Tim. 4. 16.  pray God it be not laid to their charge. Our Saviour's second prophecy to this purpose is recorded in the 18 of S. Luke, When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? Which words both Calvin and jansenius refer not precisely to the time of Christ's coming to judgement, but extend them to the general state of men even from his Ascension to his second Coming: Disertè Christus à suo in Coelum ascensu usque ad reditum homines passim incredulos fore praedicit, saith Calvin; Christ expressly teacheth, that from his ascension even till his return, many unbelievers shall everywhere be found. But jansenius somewhat more clearly and fully, Non tantum significat defectum & paucitatem fidei in hominibus qui vivi reperientur in novissimo die, sed etiam in hominibus cuiuslibet temporis. He doth not only intimate the defect and scantness of faith which shall be found in men at the last day, but in those of all ages. To these passages may be added that in the 12 of the Revelation, Woe to the 
V. 12.  Inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time: but the time there spoken of (as the soundest Interpreters expound it) is not called short in respect of the end of the World (which to the devil is utterly unknown) but of his binding up for a thousand years whereof he was forewarned: and besides though the shorter his time be, his rage be the fiercer, yet is not his intended and desired success always answerable to the fierceness of his rage, the Lord holding him, as it were in a teather, or chain, and setting him bounds, as he doth to the raging waves of the sea, hither to shalt thou go, and no farther.   

SECT. 4. The last doubt touching the coming of Antichrist answered.  
THE last doubt is concerning Antichrist, who many think shall come near toward the end of the World, and consequently it shall then be filled with all kind of impiety, impurity, and misery, the attendants of his coming, and that much beyond all former times. But if Antichrist be already come, and that long since, then will the validity of this argument prove utterly ineffectual. And certainly such hath been the wickedness and calamity of all ages, that as Bellarmine speaks: Omnes veteres animadvertentes suorum temporum malitiam 
De Rom. Pont. 3. 3.  suspicati sunt tempora Antichristi imminere. All the Ancients considering the malice of their times, suspected that Antichrist was at hand. Thus S. Cyprian of his time, Scire debetis & pro certo credere & tenere pressurae diem 
Lib. 4. epist: 7.  super caput esse caepisse & occasumsaeculi atque Antichristi tempus appropinquasse. Ye ought to know, and for certain to hold and believe, that the day of pressure is even over our heads, and that the consummation of all things, & the coming of Antichrist doth approach. Lactantius of his, omnis expectatio non amplius quam ducentorum videtur annorum, the 
Lib. 7. cap. 25.  end of our expectation seems not to extend beyond the space of two hundred years at farthest. S. Hierome of his, Qui tenebat de medio fit, & 
Ad 〈◊〉 de Monogamia.  non intelligimus Antichristum appropinquare? he which held or withheld is removed out of the way, and do we not understand that Antichrist is at hand? S. Gregory of his, omnia quae praedicta sunt fiunt: rex superbiae prope 
Lib 4. ep. 38.  est, all things that were foretold are accomplished, the King of Pride cannot be far off. And lastly S. Bernard of his, Superest ut reveletur homo peccati silius perditionis; What remains but that the man of sin, 
Serm. 6. in Psal. 9  the son of perdition be revealed. From which, two things for our present purpose may be gathered, the one, that extreme profaneness hath reigned in the world almost in all ages, aswell as in the present, such as they, who then lived, thought, could not well be exceeded. The other that if they looked out for the coming of Antichrist so long since, by all likelihood he is already come into the world, and that long agone. S. john tells us, that in his time there were many Antichrists, 
1 ep. 2. 18  forerunners no doubt and harbingers, as it were to the great Antichrist that was to come. And S. Paul 〈◊〉 even then the mystery of iniquity began to work: if he were then conceived, in all likelihood he should be born 
2 Thess. 2. 7  ere now, if the egg were then laid, shall we imagine that the Cocatric●…s not yet hatched? was the seed then cast into the ground, and this cursed weed not yet sprung up?  
Credat judaeus Apella  
Non ego.  
Bel who list for me indeed,  
It ne'er shall come into my creed.   

SECT. 5. The argument of greatest weight to prove that Antichrist is already come.  
But among so many and strong arguments as have been, & justly may be brought to prove that Antichrist is already come, there is one which to me hath ever seemed of greatest weight: You know, 
2 Thess. 2. 6. 7.  saith the Apostle, speaking of the man of sin, the son of perdition, what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time: And again, only he who now letteth, will let until he be taken out of the way. So as upon the removing of that obstacle which hindered his coming, he was then to be revealed, as the words plainly import. Now what that hindrance should be, the unanimous consent of the Ancients both Greek & Latins is, that it was the Roman Empire that then flourished. So Chrysostome, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Ambrose, Primasius, Sedulius, and the Greek Scholiast in their several expositions upon the place: Tertullian in his book the resurrectione carnis, and the thirty second Chapter of his Apology. Cyrillus Hyerosolymitanus in Catech●…si 15. Hierome in his eleventh question to Algasia, in his Commentaries upon the 25 of the Prophet jerimy, in his Treatise to Gaudentius & Gerontia; and lastly S. Augustine in his 20 book de civitate Dei, & 19 cap. And with the Ancients herein agree the latter writ●…rs on both sides, aswell Romish as Reform, being warranted by the like Prophecies both of Daniel, and Saint john in his Revelation. And in truth the Apostles 
Daniel 7: Revel. 17.  wariness in not naming it expressly, lest thereby he should incur hatred against the Christian Professors and Religion, shows as much. That than which remains to be inquired into, is, whether that obstacle, which by the Apostle is said to have hindered the revealing of Antichrist be taken out of the way or no, that is, whether that Roman Empire which then flourished, be now dissolved. It is then most certain, that that Empire for the west ended in Augustulus, and the Emperor which now is, is the successor of Charlemaigne, an Emperor of a new erection: Neither hath he the dominions or the power of the former Emperors, but only the name and title,  
Stat magni nominis umbra. 
Lucan. l. 1.   
Of a great name he but the shadow is.  
He hath not the city of Rome which should denominate the Roman Emperor, nor any part of Italy, no nor somuch as a Castle, or an house, or a foot of land as Emperor. We may then rather call him the Germane Emperor than the Roman; and yet surely his command in Germany is very small too. The Romanists then in this case seem to me to deal with him, as the jews did with Christ, they give him the title, but take and keep his rights from him. Or they call him Roman Emperor perchance, because he takes, or as they pretend, should take his Oath of allegiance to the Bishop of Rome: And that the Empire which was in being in the Apostles time, is indeed dissolved; some of the 
a In 2 Thess. 2.  Romanists themselves, though happily unawares confess. Ante adventum Antichristi facienda erat discessio, ut Gentes discedant à Romano Imperio, sicut jam factum cernimus, saith Anselm, before the coming of Antichrist, there was to be a falling away of the Nations from the Roman Empire, as we see it already done. And Thomas, Quid hoc est quod jam diu gentes recesserunt à Romano imperio, & tamen nondum venit Antichristus, what shall we say to this, that long since the Nations fell away from the Roman Empire, and yet Antichrist is not come. And Lyra, Romanum imperium florebat tempore Pauli, à quo recesserunt quasi omnia regna negantia ei subijci & redditionem tributi jam à multis annis: illud etiam imperium caruit imperatore pluribus annis: The Roman Empire flourished in Paul's time, from which almost all kingdoms are fall'n away, denying subjection and the payment of tribute to it: And beside, that Empire hath wanted an Emperor now for the space of many years. Neither do they only acknowledge, that the Empire which flourished in the Apostles time, is dissolved, but that the Emperor which now is, retains rather the shadow then the power of the ancient Empire. And this confession we have out of the mouths even of jesuits' themselves. Quampridem Romanum imperium in eas angustias redactum est, ut vix tenuem quandam umbram Imperij retineat, long since was the Roman Empire brought to those straits, that it scarce retains a thin shadow of that Empire, saith justinianus. And Salmeron most fully, Imperium Romanum jam diu eversum est: Nam qui nunc est Imperator Romanus, levissima est umbra Imperij antiqui; usque adeo ut ne quidem urbem Romae possideat, & jam per multos annos Romani Imperatores defecerunt: The Roman Empire was long since dissolved: For he, who is now Roman Emperor, is but a light shadow of the ancient Empire, so as he doth not possess somuch as the City of Rome, and now for many years have the Roman Emperors failed. I would demand then, whether a name, a title, a shadow can hinder the coming of Antichrist, or be divided among ten Kings, and shared out into ten kingdoms? if it cannot, then is Antichrist undoubtedly already come into the world.  
Now what he is, or where we should find him, or when he came, I leave that to others to dispute or demonstrate; it is for my purpose sufficient that he is come, and that long since; yet if we should a little more narrowly search into the matter, who I pray you, is more likely to be the man, than he, who hath specially advanced his throne upon the Emperor's ruins, who hath thrust himself into the Emperor's seat, the Imperial City▪ the head and mistress of the Empire; then he, who hath taken upon himself the Majesty, the power, the ensigns, the robes of the Emperor, though in some what a different kind; And that the Bishop of Rome hath so done, Pasquier in his Recearches of France, Machiavelli 
Lib. 1. Lib. 3. Lib. 4.  in his Florentine history, Sigonius in his history of the kingdom of Italy, and Guicciardin in his, in part declare: But Lypsius hath set it down so clearly & particularly, as we may easily guess, and need doubt no longer, who it is, that hath succeeded into the Emperor's room. I will set down his words at large as I find them in his preface to his Admiranda. Mira Dei benignitas in hanc urbem, cum Legionum vim eripuit, Legum attribuit, cum armis imperare noluit, sacris indulsit: Et sic quoque fecit eam decus, tutelam, columen rerum. Atqui Senatus ille vetus non est inquiunt, non ille sed alius, & vide in ista purpura ex omni nostro orbe selectos proceres moribus, prudentia, annis, spectandos. Si vetus ille Cyneas redeat & hunc consessum videat, nihil ambigat vel cum regibus iterum, vel cum heroibus comparare. Quid tributa? non tam multa, sed magis innoxia & ultronea sunt. Quid Legationes gentium? nec eae desunt, & ex noto ignotoque orbe (tanta diffusio Majestatis hujus est) concurritur, & jura ac leges Sacror●…m hinc petunt, ipsi Reges ac Principes adeunt & inclinantur, & obnoxia capita uni huic Capiti submittunt: Great is the bounty of God towards this city, when he deprived it of the strength of Legions, he strengthened it with Laws; when he would no longer have it rule with force of arms, he armed it with holy orders: And so likewise did he make it both the ornament and the safety of things. But you will say, the old Senate is not there to be found, indeed not the same, but another there is instead thereof, and there you may see clad in that purple the choicest worthies of Christendom, and the most venerable for manners, for wisdom, for years. If the old Cyneas were alive again and beheld this assembly, he would nothing doubt to compare it again with Kings and Princes. What should I speak of their tribute? indeed it is not so great, but more innocently imposed & willingly paid. What of the Embassages from foreign Nations? neither are they wanting: Hither they resort both from the known & unknown parts of the world (so far is this Majesty spread) and seek for Laws & Constitutions in religious affairs; nay Kings & Princes here present themselves, and all bow down and submit their heads to this one head.    

CAP. 13. That the world shall have an end by Fire, and by it be entirely consumed.  

SECT. 1. That the world shall have an end, is a point so clear in Christian Religion, that it needeth not to be proved from the principles thereof, neither is he worthy the name of a Christian who makes any doubt of it.  
HAving now by God's assistance done with mine Apology of his Providence in the preservation of the world, lest I should seem thereby to undermine or weaken the article of our faith touching the world's end; it remains, that according to promise I endeavour to confirm it, not so much from Scripture which no true Christian can doubt of: And beside, the passages thereof to this purpose, specially in the new Testament are so many and clear, as to be ignorant of them were stupidity no less gross, then to deny them phophane impiety. In this chapter than I will propose three things to myself; first, to prove by the testimony of the Gentiles, that the world shall have an end. Secondly, that it shall have an end by fire: Thirdly and lastly, that it shall by fire be totally & entirely consumed. That the world shall have an end is as clear in Christianity, as that there is a Sun in the firmament: And therefore, whereas there can hardly be named any other article of our faith, which some Heretics have not presumed to impugn or call into question; yet to my remembrance I never met with any who questioned this; & though at this day many & eager be the differences among Christians in other points of Religion, yet in this they all agree & ever did, that the world shall have an end, and that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, and a day of judgement. And surely as by the event of many things already fallen out, we are sure that was true which the Prophets & Apostles foretold of them: So are we as certain, that all other things, and this in particular shall come to pass, which they have likewise foretold, though happily we cannot set down the time or manner of their event. And i●… as much as we, who now live, have seen the accomplishment of many prophecies foretold by the penmen of holy writ, which our forefathers saw not, if we steadfastly believe not the fulfilling of those which are yet to come in their due time, we shall thereby be made the more guilty, and the less excusable before God. Howsoever if we believe (as we all pretend) the Scriptures to be the lively oracles of God, and to have been indicted by the divine & sacred inspiration of the holy Ghost; we cannot but withal believe that the consummation of the world shall most undoubtedly in due time, though to us most uncertain, be accomplished. Now as the clear light of this truth hath by God's grace so brightly shined among Christians, that except they wilfully shut their eyes against it, they cannot but apprehend and embrace it: So did it appear to the jews, though not in so 
Buxdofius Syllag. jud. c. 1.  conspicuous a manner; yea, some sparks of this truth have been scattered even among the Gentiles themselves, so as it were a shame unpardonable for us Christians not to acknowledge it, or somuch as once to doubt of it.   

SECT. 1. That the world shall have an end, by the testimony of the Gentiles.  
SEneca disputing this question, whether a wise man be so sufficiently content with himself as he needs not the help of any fr●…end; 
Epist. 9 circa finem.  puts the case, Qualis futura est vita sapientis, how he would live being destitute of friends, if he were cast into prison or banished into some desert, or cast upon some strange shore; his answer is, Qualis est jovis cum resoluto mundo, etc. as jupiter shall live when the world shall be dissolved, contenting himself with himself. And again more clearly: Quidenim mutationis periculo exceptum? non terra, non coelum, non 
Epist. 71.  totus hic rerum omnium contextus quamvis Deo agente ducatur, non semper tenebit hunc ordinem, sed illumex hoc cursu aliquis dies deijciet, certis eunt cuncta temporibus, nasci debent, crescere, ext●…ngui. Quaecunque vides supra nos currere atque haeo quibu●… innixi atque impositi sumus velut solidissimis carpentur 〈◊〉. What is there which is prviledged from danger of change? not the earth, not the heavens, no nor this whole frame of Creatures, though it be guided by the finger of God, it shall not always observe this order, but some one day at last shall turn it out of his course. For all things have a time to be borne, to increase, and then again to die & be ●…ntinguished. All those things which thou seest wheeling over our Heads, and even those upon which we are seated and settled, as being most solid, shall be surprised and leave to be. And in another place. Si potest tibi solatio esse commune fatum, nihil constat loco stabili, & nihil qua sint loto stabit. Omnia sternet abducetque secum vetustas, supprimet 
De consolation ad Martian, 26.  montes, maria sorbebit▪ If the common destiny of all things may any whit comfort thee, there is nothing settled in a stable course, nothing shall always remain in that state it now stands in; time shall carry down all things with it, it shall level the mountains and swallow up the seas●… And lastly, in his Natural questions, unus humanum genus 
Lib. 3. cap. 19  condet dies, one day shall bury all mankind. Yet it should seem, that withal he held a restoring of all things again: Omne ex integro animal generabitur dabiturque terris homo inscius scelerum & melioribus auspicijs natus: 
Cap. 30.  Sed illis quoque innocentia non durabit nisi dum novi sunt, citò nequitia subrepet. All Creatures shall be again restored, and mankind shall again be sent to inhabit the earth; but a kind void of wickedness and borne to a better fortune: yet shall not their innocence long endure neither, but only whiles they are yet fresh and new, afterward ungraciousness will by degrees creep upon them.  
Aelian, as I have already touched to another purpose in the eight book of his History, telleth us, that not only the mountain Aetna (for 
Cap. 11.  thereof might be given some reason, because of the daily wasting and consuming of it with fire) but Parnassus and Olympus did appear to be less and less to such as sailed at sea, the height thereof sinking as it seemed; and thereupon infers, that men most skilful in the secrets of nature did affirm, that the world itself should likewise perish & have an end. His premises I have in another place sufficiently disproved, but his conclusion inferred thereupon, I cannot but highly approve, & most willingly accept of, as a rich testimony for the confirmation of our Christian doctrine (touching the end of the world) delivered from the pen of a Gentile, nay he positively affirms it to have been the opinion of the most skilful in the secrets of Nature: And certain it is, that the greatest part of Philosophers before Aristotle, Heraclitus, Empedocles, 
Oecumenius in Collectaneis super 3. post Petri  Anaxagoras, Democritus and others, as they held that the world had a beginning in time, so did they likewise, that in time it should have an end: And since Aristotle, the greatest part (his followers only excepted) have ever constantly maintained the same; in somuch, that the very Epicures herein accord with the Stoics, though in other opinions they differ as fire and water, as may appear in Lucretius, by sect an Epicurean, and for his wit much esteemed among the Ancients.  

Principio maria▪ ac terris, coelumque tuere 
De Rerum 〈◊〉 tura 3.   
Hor●…m naturam triplicem, tria corpora Memmi,  
Tres species tam dissimiles, tria talia texta,  
una dies dabit exitio, multosque per annos  
Sustentata ruet moles & machina mundi.   

Behold, O Memmi, first the earth, the sea,  
The heaven, their threefold nature, bodies three,  
Three shapes so far unlike, three pieces wrought  
And woven so fast, one day shall bring to naught,  
And the huge frame & engine of this all  
Upheld so many years, at length shall fall.   
And Ovid speaking of Lucretius, seems to have borrowed from him part of these very words,  
Carmina sublimis tum sunt peritura Lucreti 
in Eleg.   
Exitio terras cum dabit una dies.  
Lucretius' lofty rhymes so long shall live  
Till to this earth one day destruction give.  
And Lucan as he differs not much from Lucrece in name, so doth he fully accord with him in this opinion.  

— Sic cum compage soluta  
Saecula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora. 
Lib. 1: Ph●…os.   
Antiquum repetens iterum Chaos omnia mixtis  
Sydera Syderibus concurrent, ignea pontum  
Astra petent, tellus extendere littora nolet,  
Excutietque fretum, fratri contraria Phoebe,  
Ibit, & obliquum bigas agitare per orbem  
Indignata diem poscet sibi, totaque discors  
Machina divulsi turbabit foedera mundi.   

— So When the last hour shall  
So many age's end, and this disjointed all  
To Chaos back return: then all the stars shall be  
Blended together, than those burning lights on high  
In sea shall drench, earth then her shores will not extend  
But to the waves give way, the moon her course shall bend  
Cross to her brothers, and disdaining still to drive  
Her chariot wheels athward the heavenly orb shall strive  
To rule the day, this frame to discord wholly bend  
The world's peace shall disturb, and all in sunder rend.    

SECT. 3. That the world shall have an end by fire, proved likewise by the testimony of the Gentiles.  
ANd as they held that the world should have an end, so likewise that this end should come to pass by fire. Exustionis hujus odor quidam etiam ad Gentes manavit, saith Ludovicus Vives, speaking of the general combustion of the world, some sent of this burning hath 
De ver. fid. Christ. l. 1.  spread itself even to the Gentiles. And Saint Hierome in his comment on the 51 of I say; Quae quidem & Philosophorum mundi opinio est omnia quae 
An●…e medium.  cernimus igni peretura, which is also the opinion of the Philosophers of this world, that all which we behold shall perish by fire. Eusebius is more particular, affirming it to be the doctrine of the Stoics, and namely 
De prepar. Evan. 3. 15.  of Zeno, Cleanthes & Chrysippus the most ancient among them. Certain it is, that Seneca a principal Scholar, or rather Master of that sect, both thought it & taught it: Et Sydera Syderibus incurrent, & omni flagrante materia vn●… igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet ardebit: The stars 
De Consol. ●…d Mart. c. 26.  shall make inroads one upon another, and all the whole world being in a flame, whatsoever now shines in comely and decent order shall burn together in one fire. Panaetius likewise the Stoic feared, as witnesseth Cicero, ne ad extremum mundus ignesceret, lest the world at last should be 
Ludou. Vives. de ver. fid. Christ. lib. 2. Lib. 7. 16.  burnt up with fire. And with the Stoics herein Pliny agrees, Consument ubertatem seminum exustione in cujus vices nunc vergat aevum, the heat burning up the plentiful moisture of all seeds, to which the world is now hastening. Nume●…us also saith, good souls▪ continue, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, until the dissolution of all things by fire. And with the Philosophers their Poet's accord. Lucan as he held that the world should have an end, so in special by fire, where speaking of those whom Caesar left unburned at the battle of Pharsalia he thus goes on.  

Hos Caesar populos si nunc non usserit ignis,  
Vret cum terris, uret cum gurgite ponti. 
Lib. 7.   
Communis mundo superest rogus, ossibus astra  
Misturus.   

If fire may not these corpses to ashes turn,  
O Caesar, now, when earth and seas shall burn,  
It shall: a common fire the world shall end,  
And with these bones those heavenly bodies blend.   
As for Ovia he deduces it from their prophetical records.  

Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus 
Metamorph. 1   
Quo mare, quo tellus, convexaque regia coeli  
Ardeat, & mundi moles operosa laborat.   

Besides he calls to mind how by decree  
Of fates a time shall come when earth and sea,  
And Heavens high Throne shall faint, and the whole frame  
Of this great world shall be consumed in flame.   
Which he borrowed, saith Ludovicus Vives, ex fatis indubiè Sybillinis, undoubtedly from the Oracles of Sibylla. And indeed verses there are which go under the name of Sibylla to the very same purpose.  

Tunc ardens fluvius coelo manabit ab alto  
Igneus atque locos consum●…t funditus omnes 
Lib 2. or acul●…rum.   
Terramque, Oceanumque ingentem, & caerula ponti  
Stagnaque, tum fluvios, fontes, ditemque Severum  
Coelestemque polum, coeli quoque lumina in unum  
Fluxa ruent, formâ deletâ prorsus eorum  
Astra cadent etenim de coelo cuncta revulsa.   

Then shall a burning flood flow from the Heavens on high,  
And with its fiery streams all places utterly  
Destroy, earth, ocean, lakes, rivers, fountains, hell,  
And heavenly poles: the Lights in firmament that dwell,  
Losing their beauteous form shall be obscured, and all  
Reached from their places down from heaven to earth shall fall.   
He that yet desires farther satisfaction in this point may read Eugubinus his tenth book de Perenni Philosophia, & Magius de exustione Mundi. And so I pass to my third and last point proposed in the beginning of this Chapter, which is that the whole world by fire shall totally and entirely be consumed.   

SECT. 4. That the world shall be by fire totally and finally dissolved and annihilated, proved by Scripture.  
I Am not ignorant that the opinions of Divines touching the manner of the Consummation of the world have been as different as the greatest part of them are strange and improbable; some imagining that all the Creatures which by Almighty God were made at the first beginning, shall again be restored to that perfection which they enjoyed before the fall of man. Others that the Heavens and Elements shall only be so restored; others that the Heavens and only two of the Elements, the Air and the Earth, others again, that the old world shall be wholly abolished, and a new created in steed thereof; and lastly others which I must confess, to me seems the most likely opinion and most agreeable to scripture and reason, that the whole world with all the parts and works thereof (only men and Angels, and Devils, and the third Heavens, the mansion-house of the Saints and blessed Angels, and the place and instruments appointed for the tormenting of the damned, excepted) shall be totally and finally dissolved and annihilated: As they were made out of nothing, so into nothing shall they return again; In the proving whereof I will first produce mine own arguments, and then show the weakness of the adverse.  
Man lieth down, and riseth not, saith job, till the heavens be no more. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of 
14. 12.  thy hands, They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, saith the Psalmist, which the Apostle in the first to the Hebrews, and the 10. and the 11. repeats 
102. 5. 6.  almost in the same words, Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old as doth a garment, saith the Prophet Esay: and in another 
51. 6.  place: all the host of heaven shallbe dissolved, & the heaven shallbe rolled together as a scroll, & all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine, 
34. 4.  and as a falling fig from the fig tree. To the former of which words S. john seems to allude, And the heaven departed as a scroll which is rolled together, 
Revel 6. 14.  Heaven & earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, saith our Saviour. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the 
Mat 24. 35. Mark: 13. 31.  which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat▪ The earth also, & the works that are therein shall be burnt up, saith S. Peter. And I saw a great white throne, & him 
2. 3. 10. Revel. 20. 11.  that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them, saith S. john. Now I would demand whether being no more, as job; perishing, as David; vanishing away like smoke, dissolving, rolling together, falling down as a withered leaf or a dry fig from the tree, as Esay; passing away, as our Saviour; passing away with a great noise; melting with fervent heat, burning up as S. Peter; or lastly flying away, so as their place be found no more, as S. john; do not include an utter abolition, or at leastwise exclude a restitution to a perfecter estate: once Beza I am sure is so evidently convinced by the alleged words of S. Peter, that 
In Rom. 8. 20  he plainly confesses the dissolution the Apostle there speaks of to be a kind of annihilation: And both 
a De extrem●… judicio.  Tilenus & 
b In Sobria Philosoph. par. 1 sect. 3. cap. 3. quaest. 5.  Meisnerus are confident, that those who hold a restitution will never be able to reconcile their opinion with the alleged Scriptures. If we look back to higher times before S. Hierome we shall not easily find any who maintained it. And certain it is, that Clement in his Recognitions, or whosoever were the Author of that work, brings in S. Peter reasoning with Simon Magus, & 
Lib. 2. & 3.  teaching that there were two Heavens, the one Superius & invisibile, & aeternum quod Spiritus beati incolunt: the highest, invisible and eternal, which bl●…ssed spirits inhabit; the other inferius, visibile, varijs distinctum syderibus, corruptibile, & in consummatione saeculi dissolvendum, & prorsus abolendum, lower, visible, distinguished, with divers stars, corruptible, and at the world's end to be dissolved and utterly abolished. Now though that work were not Clements, yet was it doubtless very ancient being quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, and Origen, and remembered by S. Hierome in his Commentaries upon Esay, and is of sufficient authority against those who receive it: for myself I stand not upon his authority, 
Cap. 14. ante medium.  but the rock of Scripture and reason drawn from thence, and the force of natural discourse.   

SECT. 5. The same farther proved by reason.  
THE first then, and as I conceive the most weighty argument is taken from the End of the World's creation, which was partly and chiefly the glory of the Creator, and partly the use of man, the Lord Deputy as it were, or Viceroy thereof. Now for the glory of the Creator, it being by the admirable frame of the World manifested unto man, man being removed out of the world, and no Creature being capable of such a manifestation besides him, we cannot imagine to what purpose the frame itself should be left and restored to a more perfect estate. The other end being for man's use, either to supply his necessity in matter of diet, of Physic, of building, of apparel; or for his instruction, direction, recreation, comfort and delight; or lastly that therein as in a lookingglass he might contemplate the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of God; when he shall attain that blessed estate, as he shall have no farther use of any of these, enjoying perfect happiness, and seeing God as he is, face to face, the second or 
1 Cor. 13.  subordinate end of the World's being must needs be likewise frustrate: And what other end can be given or conceived for the remaining or restoring thereof, for mine own part I must profess I cannot conceive. And to affirm that it shallbe restored, & withal to assign no end wherefore, is ridiculous and unreasonable. An house being built for an inhabitant, as the World was for man; If it be decreed that it shall no more be inhabited, it were but vanity to repair, much more to adorn and beautify it farther. And therefore when mankind shall be dislodged and remove from hence, thereupon shall instantly ensue the Consummation or End, not the reparation or restitution, but the End of the world. So the Scriptures call it in plain terms, and so I believe 
Mat. 24. 3  it. And in truth some Divines, considering that of necessity some end must be assigned, have fall'n upon ends so absurd and unwarrantable, that the very naming of them were sufficient to make a man believe there was no such matter indeed. Some then, and that of our own Church, and that in published books for the clearing of this objection, have fancied to themselves an intercourse of the Saints (after the resurrection) betwixt heaven and earth, and that full Dominion over the Creatures which by the fall of Adam was lost. Others are of opinion that the Earth after the day of judgement being renewed with fire, and 
Catharinus in 1 Pet. 3.  more pleasantly apparelled, shall be the mansion of such as neither by their merits have deserved heaven, nor hell by their demerits. And lastly others, that such as have died in their infancy without circumcision 
Salmeron in eundem locum.  or Baptism might possess it. Now what mere dreams these are of idle brains, if I should but endeavour to demonstrate, I fear I should show myself more vain in vouchsafing them a confutation, than they in publishing them to the World. And yet they are the best we see that Learned men by the strength of their wits can find out.  
My second reason shall be drawn from the nature of the world, and the quality of the parts thereof, which are supposed shall be restored to their original integrity, and so in that state everlastingly remain. I will begin with the vegetables and Creatures endued with sense, & concerning them would willingly learn, whether they shall be all restored, or some only, namely such as shall be found in being at the day of judgement: if all, where shall we find stowage for them? Surely we may in this case properly apply that which the Evangelist in another case uses figuratively, if they should all be restored: even the world itself could not contain the things which should be restored. if some only, them would I gladly know why those some should be vouchsafed this great honour & not all, or how these creatures without a miracle shallbe restrained from propagating & multiplying, & that infinitely their kinds by a perpetual generation. Or lastly, how the several individuals of these kinds shall contrary to their primitive natures, live & dure immortally: But to make a good & sound answer to these demands, is a point of that difficulty, that the greatest part of Divines rather choose to leave out the mixed bodies & prefer only the heavens & the elements to this pretended dignity of restitution; though about the number of the Elements to be restored they all agree not. But here again I would demand, whether the world without the mixed bodies, can truly be said to be more perfect and beautiful then before, whether the inbred and inseparable qualities of the Elements, as thickness and thinness, weight & lightness, heat & cold, moisture & dryness shall remain? if they shall not, how shall they remain Elements? if they shall, how without a miracle shall they be suspended from a mutual intercourse of working one upon another, and a production of Meteors & mixed bodies? And how shall the Earth divested of the vegetables which apparelled her, and appearing with her naked and dusty face, be said to be more amiable than before? Finally, if the heavens according to their Essence shall remain, how shall they naturally & without a miracle stand still, being now naturally inclined to a circular motion? Or how without a miracle shall the light be increased, and yet the warmth springing from thence be abated, nay wholly abolished? Or if the warmth shall remain, how can it choose but burn up those parts of the Earth, upon which it never ceases to dart perpendicular beams? Or how can the Sun stand still, and yet enlighten both the Hemespheres, or the stars of that Hemesphere which it enlightens at all appear? To these demands, Pererius makes a short answer, and in my judgement a very strange one, and unworthy the pen of so great a Clerk, that some of these things God hath already done, that we might be induced the more readily to believe, that they both may, and shall be done again: And for instance, he allegeth the standing still of the Sun & Moon at the prayer of josuah, & the restraining of the burning force of the fire, in the Babylonian furnace; but withal foreseeing that those were miracles, for satisfaction thereunto he concludes: Non agere autem inter se qualitates elementorum, nec lu 'em Syderum calefacere, quamvis nunc ingens esset miraculum, tunc tamen posita semel mundi renovatione non erunt miracula. It were now a great miracle, that the qualities of the Elements should not mutually work each upon other, or that the light of the stars should not produce warmth, but then the world being renewed, they shall be no miracles. Indeed if the world were so to be renewed as the former essence of it were to be destroyed, or the former qualities to be entinguished, then should I happily allow of his reason as probable & passable; but now granting that the same identical form and matter shall, still continue, & that the former qualities shall not be abandoned but perfected, not altered in kind, but only in degree; I cannot see how it should be held & termed a great miracle heretofore, which shall not be so hereafter. And whereas it is said, that the bodies of the Saints shall then naturally live without meat, which now without a miracle they cannot do, we must consider, that though the substance of their bodies shall remain, yet the qualities of them shall be entirely changed, so far as the Apostle is bold to call it a spiritual body. And beside, we may be 
1. Cor. 15. 44.  bold to challenge a special privilege unto the bodies of the Saints, the temples of the holy Ghost, which without special warrant cannot be yielded to any other Corporeal substance. And withal we must remember, that for the resurrection of the body, we have an Article in our Creed & most clear proofs from Scripture, but for the restitution of the Creatures no one such sufficient proof, as the mind of a Christian desirous to be truly informed, can rest fully satisfied therein. Such as they are I will not conceal them: These places than are to that purpose commonly alleged.   

SECT. 6. The arguments commonly alleged from the Scriptures for the renovation of the world, answered.  
WHom the heavens must contain till the times of the Restitution of all things. He laid the foundations of the earth that it should not 
Act. 3. 22. Psal. 104. 5.  be removed for ever, saith David. And Solomon, one generation passeth and another cometh, but the earth abideth for ever. 
Eccles. 1. 4.   
Behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. To which words of the Prophet, S. john 
Esay. 65: 17.  seems to allude, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven 
Revel: 21. 1: & S. Peter: 2: 3: 13:  and the first earth passed away, and there was no more Sea. And for the increase of the light of the Planets and other stars, that passage of the same Prophet is usually alleged: The light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun seven fold: But the pretended 
30. 26.  proofs most stood upon, are drawn from S. Paul's Epistles, The fashion 
1. Cor: 7: 31.  of this world passeth away; the fashion not the substance. And again, The Creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. And lastly, hereunto they add 
Rom. 8: 21.  the words of the Psalmist, Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed: 
Psal: 102. 26:  not abolished but changed: Which words are again by the Apostle taken up and repeated, Heb. 1. 12. These are, I am sure, the strongest, if not all the pretended proofs that are commonly drawn from the holy Scripture and pressed for the maintenance of the adverse opinion; the strength of which, I think I shall so put back, as it shall appear to any indifferent judge, that it is in truth but forced and wrested. The passages I will consider in order as they are alleged, & severally examine their validity to the purpose they are urged. First then whereas we out of the Greek read the Restitution of all things, the Syriake Interpreter hath it usque ad Complementum temporum omnium, to the end of all times, whereby none other thing can be understood then the final consummation of the world; but to take the words as we find them, The times of restitution are undoubtedly the same, which Saint Peter in the next verse save one going before, had termed times of refreshing, and by them is meant the actual fullness and perfection of our redemption, quoniam restitutio illa adhuc in cursu est adeoque redemptio quando adhuc sub onere servitutis gemimus, saith Calvin, because our restitution and consequently our redemption as yet is but imperfect, whiles we groan under the burden of servitude. To the second it may be said, that in the course of nature, the earth should remain for ever without decay or diminution, had not the Creator of it decreed by his almighty power to abolish it: But I rather choose to answer with junius, who upon the first place taken out of the Psalm, gives this note, tantisper dum saeculum duraturum est, as long as time shall endure: and upon the second this, hominis vani comparatione, in comparison of the vanishing estate of man. The earth than is said to remain for ever, as Circumcision and the levitical Law are said to be perpetual, not absolutely, but comparatively. Now for the new heavens and the new earth: it should seem by the places alleged, that if it be literally to be understood of the material heavens, they shall not be renewed as the common opinion is, but new Created, (creation being a production of some new thing out of nothing: So as it shall not be a restitution of the old, but a substitution of new, in as much as the Prophet Esay adds, the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind: And Saint john, the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there was no more Sea. And Saint Peter, The heavens shall pass away with 
v. 10.  a noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up. And of this opinion, Beza in one place 
In Rom. 8. v. 20:  seems to have been: Promittuntur novi Coeli ac nova terra, non priorum restitutio, sive in eundem sive in meliorem statum, nec iis possum assentiri, qui hanc dissolutionem ad solas qualitates referendam censent. There are promised new heavens and a new earth, not the restitution of the old either unto their former or a better state, neither can I assent unto them, who refer this dissolution to the qualities alone. But seeing belike the singularity and absurdity of this opinion, he recalls himself in his annotations upon the very next verse. But the truth is that by new heavens 
v: 21.  and a new earth is to be understood in the Prophet Esay, the state of the Church during the kingdom of Christ: and in Saint Peter and S. john, the state of the Saints in the heavenly jerusalem. For the Prophet, that which I affirm will easily appear to any understanding Reader that pleaseth to peruse that Chapter; specially if thereunto we add the latter part of the next touching the same point. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord: so shall your 
Cap. 66. v. 22. 23.  seed and your name continue, and from month to month, and from sabbaoth to sabbaoth shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. Upon the alleged passage of the former chapter junius & Tremelius give this note, Omnia instauraturus sum in Christo, I will restore all things in Christ: Referring us for the farther illustration thereof to that of the same Prophet in his 25 chapter at the 8 verse. And for the exposition of the latter passage in the 66 chapter, refers us to that in the 65 going before. So that aswell by the drift and coherence of the text, as by the judgement of sound Interpreters, material heavens and earth are not there understood. Which some of our English Translatours well perceiving, have to the first passage affixed this note, I will so alter and change the state of the Church that it shall seem to dwell in a new world: And to the second this, Hereby he signifieth the kingdom of Christ, wherein his Church shall be renewed. Yet I will not deny but that the Prophet may in those words likewise allude to the state of the Saints in the heavenly jerusalem. To which purpose, S. Peter seems to apply them, according to his promise, saith he, we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness, that is, by the consent of the best expositors, righteous and just men, who after the day of judgement shall dwell no longer upon the Earth, but in the heavenly jerusalem. Which Saint john more lively describes in the 21 of the Revelation; for having said in the first verse, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, he presently adds in the second, as it were by way of Exposition of the former: And I john saw the holy City new jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and by the sequel of that Chapter and the latter part of the precedent, it clearly appears (whatsoever Bright-man dream to the contrary) that he there describes the state of the Saints after the day of judgement, and the glory of that place which they are eternally to inhabit; being such, that it had no need of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in it, the glory of God enlightening it, and the Lamb being 
v 23.  the light thereof: And junius thus begins his Annotations on that chapter: Nunc sequitur historiae propheticae pars secunda de statu futuro Ecclesiae coelestis post judicium ultimum: Now follows the second part of this prophetical history of the future state of the Church triumphant after the day of judgement: And with him therein accord the greatest part of the soundest and most judicious Interpreters.  
The other passage alleged of the Prophet Esay touching the increase of light in the Sun and Moon is likewise undoubtedly to be understood of the restauration of his Church, according to the tenor of the 
30.  chapter, and the annotation of junius annexed thereunto, Illustrissima erunt & gloriosissima omnia in restitutione Ecclesiae, all things shall then be more beautifulll and glorious in the restitution of the Church. And with him fully accord our English notes, when the Church shall be restored, the glory thereof shall pass seven times the brightness of the Sun. For by the Sun and Moon which are two excellent Creatures, he showeth what shall be the glory of the Children of God in the kingdom of Christ.  
Now for the words of the Apostle, The fashion of this world passeth away, what other thing intends he, but that in these worldly things, there 
1. Cor. 7. 31.  is nothing durable and solid, elegantly thereby expressing the vanity of them, in which exposition, both junius & Calvin agree.  
That of the same Apostle in the 8 to the Romans, touching the delivering of the Creature from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty 
v. 21.  of the Sons of God, is I confess in appearance more pressing. But this passage the great wit of Saint Augustine found to be very obscure 
in lib. 83. quest. 67.  and perplexed, in somuch as not a few understand those words of Saint Peter of this particular, that in Saint Paul's Epistles some things are hard to be understood. It were then in my judgement no small presumption upon 
2. ep. 3. 16.  a place so intricate and difficult peremptorily to build so uncertain a doctrine. But because it is so hotly urged as a testimony unanswereable, let us a little examine the parts and sense thereof. First than it is clear, that the Creature may be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and yet not restored to a more perfect and beautiful estate, in as much as being annihilated, it is thereby freed from that abuse of wicked and ungrateful men, which here it is of necessity still subject unto. But all the doubt is, how the Creature shall be made partaker of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God. I hope no man will dare to affirm that they shall be with them Coheires of eternal blessedness, as the words seem to import; how then are they made partakers of this glorious liberty? But in as much as when the sons of God shall be made partakers thereof, the Creature shall be altogether freed from the bondage of corruption: So as that, into the liberty of the sons of God, is no more than together with the liberty of the Sons of God, or, by reason of the liberty of the Sons of God, as Saint Chrysostome hath expounded it. They which maintain any other future liberty in the Creature by way of restitution or bettering it, are bound sound to answer all the arguments before alleged, and withal to yield a sufficient reason why some Creatures are to be restored and not all, since the name of Creature is equally attributed to all and not to some only. Surely S. Ambrose in his Expositions upon that place, durst go no farther than we do, habet enim in labour posita Creatura hoc solatium quoniam habebit requiem, cum crediderint omnes quos scit Deus credituros: the Creature travelling in pain hath this comfort, that it shall rest from labour, when they shall all believe, whom God knows are to believe. And in truth this is as much as we need believe, and as the words being favourablely interpreted do enforce.  
The last testimony mustered against us was taken from the Psalmist, Th●…u shalt change them and they shall be changed: But since in the same 
Psal. 102. 26.  verse he likewise tells us, They shall perish; what change shall we there understand? Surely for the same thing to be said to be changed into a better and more perfect estate, and yet withal at the same time to perish, cannot properly be verified. We are to know then that a thing may be changed, not only by alteration, which is a change in the quality, but by augmentation or diminution, which is a change in the quantity; by corruption, which is a change in the substance; or lastly, (though in a larger, and perchance somewhat unusual acceptation) by annihilation, which is a total abolishing of the substance: And this in truth is the greatest change that may be, it being ab ente ad non ens simpliciter, from a being to a not being wholly. And of such a change must the Psalmist of force be understood, if we will reconcile him with himself, and the passages before alleged; or (if this satisfy not) we may say (as some do) that the heavens shall be changed in regard of us; instead of visible and material heavens, (the use of which we now enjoy) we shall be translated to an heaven immaterial and invisible, the Celestial Paradise, the heavenly jerusalem, which in holy Scriptures is likewise termed a new heaven. Notwithstanding all this (for the reverence I bear antiquity) I will not be peremptory in the point: But truly me thinks, that a few obscure places should rather be expounded by many clear, than the clear wrested to the obscure.    

CAP. 14. Of the Uses we are to make of the Consummation of the world, and of the day of judgement.  

SECT. 1. That the day of the world's end shall likewise be the day of the general judgement thereof, and that then there shall be such a judgement, is proved aswell by reason as the testimony of the Gentiles.  
WHatsoever be the manner of the world's end, most certain it is, an end it shall have, and as certain that then we shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that every man may receive according to that which he hath done in his body, whether it be good or evil. 
2. Cor. 5. 10.  If we yield that there is a God, and that this God is Almighty & just (which of necessity he must be, or otherwise he may not be God) it cannot be avoided, but that after this life ended, he administer justice unto men, by punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous: Since in this world the one commonly live in ease and prosperity, and the other in misery and persecution. Shall not then the judge of all the world do right? doubtless he shall and will. Some therefore he punisheth exemplarily 
Gen. 18. 25.  in this world, that we might from thence have a taste or glimce of his present justice: And others he reserveth to the next, that from thence we might have an assurance of a future judgement, which is either particular, as we are single persons at the day of the separation of the soul from the body, which we may call the Privy Sessions of the soul; or universal, as we are parcels of mankind, at the last day, which we may call the general Assize both of soul and body.  
And that there shall be such a general judgement, beside the particular, we have these reasons to induce us to believe it. First, that the body of man rising from his sepulchre at that day may be partaker of eternal 
See Raimundus Sebundus his natural Theology. & Raymundus Lullius in demonst. art. fidei.  punishment or glory with the soul, even as in this life it was participant of the virtues or vices which the soul did execute; as they either sinned together, or served God together: So is it most fit that they should receive the sentence of eternal life or death together. Yet because the soul both may, and often doth, either sin or serve God without the body, but the body of itself can do neither without the soul; therefore is it as requisite, that the separated soul should either suffer pain or enjoy bliss, whiles the body rests in the grave: And being reunited and married again unto the body, should partake more either of bliss or pain than it.  
As this first reason is taken from the Essential parts, so the second reason, that there shall be an universal and public judgement, is drawn from the Actions of the persons to be judged & their rewards. Though it be true then, that if men were rewarded in secret both in soul and in in body according to their actions the justice of God might by that means be preserved, yet could it not be sufficiently manifested, unless this judgement were acted in the public view of the whole world. Many good men have here been openly oppressed and trodden under foot; and on the other side, the wicked have flourished in abundance of outward peace & temporal felicity, which hath made the best of God's servants at times to stagger and stand amazed thereat: But then shall they and all the world clearly see, and confid●…ntly profess to the honour of Divine justice, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtless there is a God that judgeth the Earth. And in regard of this conspicuous 
Psal. 58: 11:  manifestation of God's justice and full accomplishment thereof at the last day, not a few of the Greek & Latin Fathers, as also the holy Scriptures themselves in sundry places seem to say, the retribution of our works in the flesh shall be differred till then. Now besides this honour which shall accrue to the justice of God, both wicked sinners and the blessed Saints of God shall then receive their rewards and final payments openly in the sight and hearing of each other, to the end, that the grief and shame of the impious, and the triumphant joy of the virtuous and religious, might thereby be the more increased. For what greater heart-breaking and confusion can there be to the one, then to have all their secret faults laid open, and the sentence of Condemnation passed upon them in the presence of them whom they derided and vilified; or what greater comfort and content to the other, then to be justified and rewarded in the view of them, who were their professed enemies.  
Lastly, as our blessed Lord and Saviour jesus Christ, (who shall then appear as judge) at his first coming into this world was contemptible in the eye of worldlings, and dishonoured publicly both in his life and death: So was it convenient, that once in this world he should show his power, and Majesty, and that in the sight of all his Creatures, but specially of his wicked enemies, who after that day are never to see or behold him more.  
To these reasons may be added the testimony of the very Gentiles, of Hydaspes, Hermes, & Sibylla; whereof the first having described the iniquity 
Eusebius de p●…aeparati ne 11. 18. 20. & 123.  of the last age, says that the godly and righteous men being severed from the untighteous, shall with tears and groans lift up their hands to heaven imploring the help of jupiter, and that thereupon jupiter shall regard the earth, hear their prayers and destroy the wicked: Quae omnia vera sunt praeter unum quod jovem dixit illa facturum quae Deus faciet, saith Lactantius, all which things are true, save one, which is, that 
Lactan. 7. 1●….  he ascribes that to jupiter which God shall do. And beside (saith he) it was not without the cunning suggestion of Satan left out that then the Son of God shall be sent from the father, who destroying the wicked, shall set the righteous at liberty. Which Hermes notwithstan ding dissembled not. Part of Sibylla's verses alleged by Lactantius in Greek, may thus be rendered in Latin & English:  

Huic luci finem imponent cum fata supremum,  
judicium aethereus Pater exercebit in omnes,  
judicium humano generi imperiumque verendum.   

When God shall to this world its fatal period send  
Th'immortal, mortal men in judgement shall arraign,  
Great shall his judgement be, his Kingdom without end.   
And again,  

Tartareumque chaos tellure hiscente patebit  
Regesque aetherij sistentur judicis omnes  
Ante thronum.   

Tartarean Chaos then Earth opening wide shall show,  
And then all kings before God's judgement seat shall bow.   
And in another place.  

Coelum ego convolvens penetralia caeca recludam  
Telluris, functique & fati lege soluti  
Et mortis stimulo exurgent, cunctosque tribunal  
Ante meum judex statuam, reprobosque, probosque.   

Rolling up Heaven I will Earth's secret vaults disclose,  
Death's sting also and bonds of fate will I unloose:  
Then shall the dead arise, and all both small and great,  
Both good and bad shall stand before my judgement seat.   
Over and above these Prophets and men of learning, Peru the South part of America doth yield to us an ignorant people, who by the light 
Surius in come. an. 1558.  of Nature and a general apprehension (for God knoweth they have nothing else) do believe that the World shall end, and that there shall be then a reward for the good and for the evil according to their desert.   

SECT. 2. The consideration of this day may first serve for terror to the wicked, whether they regard the dreadfulness of the day itself, or the quality of the judge by whom they are to be tried.  
THe certainty then of this universal judgement at the last day being thus clearly proved, not only by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, but by the light of Reason and the testimonies of the Gentiles, the consideration thereof may justly serve for terror to the wicked, it being to them a day of wrath and vengeance; for Comfort to the Godly, it being to them a day of refreshing and full redemption; and lastly for admonition & instruction to both. First than it may justly serve for matter of extreme terror to the wicked, whether they regard the dreadfulness of the day in which they shall be tried, or the quality of the judge by whom they are to be tried, or the nature & number of their accusers that shall bring in evidence against them, or the presence of such an assembly of men and Angels before whom they shall be arraigned, or their own guiltiness and astonishment, or lastly the sharpness and severity of the sentence that shall pass upon them. The very face and countenance of that day shall be hideous and dismal to look to, it shall be apparelled with horror and affrightment on every side: That day is a day of 
Zephany 1. 15. 16.  wrath, a day of trouble and heaviness, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of gloominess and darkness, a day of clouds, storms and blackness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the strong cities and against the high towers. Then shall the Sun be darkened, and the Moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven as it were withered leaves from their trees, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and the graves shall vomit up their dead bodies, the heavens shall pass away with a noise, and shrivel together like scorched parchment, the elements shall melt & dissolve with heat, the sea & floods shall roar, & the Earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up, there shall be horrible clapps of thunder & flashes of lightning, voices & earthquakes, such as never were since men dwelled upon the earth: such howling, such lamentations, such skriches shall be heard in every corner, that the hearts of men shall tremble & wither for very fear and expectation of those things which at that day shall befall them. And now tell me what mortal heart can choose but ache and quake at the remembrance of these unspeakable incomprehensible terrors. The Law was given with thunder & lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, with an exceeding loud and shrill sound of the trumpet, so that all the people were afraid, yea so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I fear and quake. Now if Moses 
Exod. 19  the servant of the Lord quaked to hear the first trumpet at the giving of the Law, how shall the wicked, condemned in their own Conscience, tremble and quake to hear the second at the execution thereof?  
Specially being arraigned at the bar of such a judge, apparelled with Robes of Majesty, & attended with millions of Angels: A judge so sovereign as there lies no appeal from him; so wise as nothing can escape his knowledge; so mighty as nothing can resist his power, so upright as nothing can pervert his justice, who neither can be deceived with sophistry, nor blinded with gifts, nor terrified with threats. They shall look upon him whom they have wounded and gored with the spear of their blasphemies, with the nails of their cursings and cursed oaths; whom they have buffeted & spit upon with their impiety & profaneness; whom they have again crucified to themselves by their devilish & damnable actions, trampling his precious Blood under foot by their impenitency, putting him to open shame by their infidelity, making a mock of him by their obstinacy, and turning his grace into wantonness by their presumption. Holy Augustine in one of his Sermons of the last judgement, brings in this glorious judge thus expostulating the matter with these miscreants at that Day. O man with mine own hands 
Serm. 67.  did I fashion thee out of the slime of the earth: into thy earthly members did I infuse a spirit: I vouchsafed to bestow upon thee mine own Image: I placed thee among the delights of Paradise: but thou contemning the vital efficacy of my Commandments, choosedst rather to listen to the tempter, than thy God. And when being expelled out of Paradise by reason of sin thou wert held in the chains of death, I was enclosed in the Virgin's womb, I was laid in the cratch, I was wrapped in swathing clothes, I endured the scorn of infancy & the grief of manhood, that so being like unto thee, I might make thee like unto myself. I bore the buffet & spittings of scorners, I drank vinegar mixed with gall, I was scourged with whips, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, gored with a spear, & that thou mightest be freed from death, in torments I parted with my life: Look upon the print of the nails, behold the scars of my wounds: I took upon me thine infirmities, that I might impart unto thee my glory. I underwent the death due to thee, that thou mightst live for ever. I was buried in a sepulchre, that thou mightest reign in Heaven. Why hast thou wilfully lost that which I by my sufferings purchased for thee? Why hast thou spurned at the gracious gift of thy Redemption. I complain not of my death, only render unto me that life for which I gave mine. Render me that life which by the wounds of thy sins thou daily killest. Why hast thou polluted with more than beastly sensuality that Temple which in thee I consecrated to myself? Why hast thou stained my body with filthy provocations? Why hast thou tormented me with a more grievous cross of thy sins, then that upon which I sometimes hung: for the cross of thy sins is more grievous (in as much as unwillingly I hang upon it) then that other which taking pity upon thee, & to kill thy death I willingly mounted. I being impassable in myself vouchsafed to suffer for thee: but thou hast despised God in man, salvation in mine infirmity, pardon from thy judge, life from my cross, and wholesome medicine from my sufferings. Now what flinty or steely heart in the world could choose but resolve itself into tears of blood upon such an expostulation were it moistened with any drop of grace? But hereunto might be added, that thou hast often joined with his enemies against him, turned the deaf ear to the ministry of his Word, jested at his threatenings, neglected his gracious invitations, quenched his holy inspirations, abused his Sacraments & his patience, which being long abused at length is turned into fury. This Lamb of God therefore shall then show himself as a Lion, he shall then put on righteousness for a breastplate, & take true judgement in steed of an helmet, then shall he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, & be clad with zeal as with a cloak; Then shall he come in strength as a storm of hail, & as a whirlwind breaking and throwing down whatsoever standeth in his way, as a rage of many waters that flow and rush together. The mountains shall melt & fly away at his presence, a burning fire shall run before him, and on every side of him a violent tempest. And if Felix himself a judge trembled to hear Paul (who as a prisoner was arraigned before him) disputing of this Last judgement, how shall the guilty prisoners tremble before the face of this judge, being both the judge and the party offended? If the jews who came to attach him fell backward at the hearing of his voice in the days of his humility, how shall the wicked stand amazed & confounded at his presence when he comes to judge them in glory & Majesty? Surely for them to endure the fierceness of his angry countenance willbe intolerable, and yet to fly from it impossible, & the more intolerable will it be in regard of the nature and number of their accusers.   

SECT. 3. Of the nature and number of their accusers.  
THe Creatures shall accuse them whom they have abused to vanity, to luxury, to drunkenness, to gluttony; to covetousness, to ambition, to revenge, and being then freed from their bondage, they shall freely complain of this unjust usurpation. Good men shall accuse them, as having been most disdainfully scorned, wronged, oppressed, and trodden underfoot by them. Their Companions shall accuse them, as having been drawn into sin by their wicked enticements and examples. Their Teachers and Governors shall accuse them, as having been irreverent toward their persons, & rebellious against their instructions and commands. Their Children and Servants shall accuse them, as having been negligent in their education in virtue and piety. The Prophets and Apostles shall accuse them as having been careless in the observation of their writings. The good Angels shall accuse them whose directions they have refused to follow. The Devils shall accuse them in that they have betrayed their Lord and Captain to march under their banners. Their own Consciences shall bitterly accuse & upbraid them: the body shall accuse the soul as being the principal agent, and the soul the body as being a ready instrument: The appetite shall accuse reason as being too sensual & indulgent; & reason the appetite, as being irregular & inordinate: all the faculties of the Soul, all the senses & members of the body shall accuse each other: nay which is worst of all, the judge himself shall be thy accuser, representing those transgressions to thy memory, & laying them close to thy charge which either thou hadst forgotten & cast behind thee, or didst perchance not know, or not acknowledge to be sins, Sweet JESUS, which way will the poor Sinner turn himself in the midst of all these accusers & accusations. To confess them then will serve but to increase his shame; to deny them, but to aggravate his fault, & consequently his punishment: nay deny them he cannot, being convinced by two evidences against which there can be no exception, the book of the Law, & the book of his own Conscience, the one shall show him what he should have done, & the other what he hath done; against the book of the Law; he shallbe able to speak nothing, his Conscience telling him that the commandments of the Lord are pure and righteous altogether: and for the book of Conscience, against that he cannot possibly except, it being always in his own keeping, so as it could not be falsified, & whatsoever shall then be found written therein, he shall freely acknowledge to have been written with his own hand: Silence then shall be his safest plea, and astonishment his best Apology.  
The rather, for that all these accusations shallbe brought in and laid against him in the presence of the blessed Saints and glorious Angels which shall then be unto him a terrible and fearful spectacle, aswel in regard of their infinite number, as their inresistable strength. We read of divers holy men, who upon the sight of an Angel have been cast into such pitiful fits, that their spirits have failed them, their breath hath forsaken them, their joints have been loosed and for the time they have been as dead bodies without all appearance of sense or life. Now if holy men have been so much moved with the sight of one Angel bringing them good tidings and conversing familiarly with them, into what inconceiveable gulfs of horror shall the reprobate be plunged upon the sight of so many millions, all armed with indignation against them, and desire of the full and final execution of their Creators will? If an army of men marching with banners displayed be terrible to behold, how dreadful shall those innumerable host of heavenly soldiers appear to the face of their enemies? and if one of them slew four score and five thousand in one night, what mortal weight shall conceive any hope of standing before such multitudes, who as they are now sent forth to minister for their sakes that are heirs of salvation: so than shall they separate the just from the unjust, and shall execute vengeance upon them that shall be heirs of damnation, casting them into a furnace of fire, where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. So as they shall not be bare Spectators, but principal Act●…urs in that lamentable tragedy. We find, that when but one of them descended to role away the stone from our Saviour's Sepulchre, there was a great Earthquake, and for fear of him, the keepers of the Sepulchre were astonished, and became as dead men: Into what extremity then of confusion and perplexity shall the wicked be driven, when they shall perceive such troops of these mighty and glorious Creatures assembled, not only to be witnesses of their shame and just condemnation, but agents in their execution? Besides all this, it shall be acted in the presence of those blessed Saints whom they always held their greatest enemies; and what greater bitterness can be imagined, then to be laid open and reproached in the sight of a man's enemies, and to see them in the mean time advanced to honour, triumphing and insulting upon his miseries, as the Saints then shall do upon impenitent sinners, admiring and applauding the justice of their Creat●…r, and as assistants, approving the equity of that sentence which he shall pronounce, and which the Condemned themselves likewise cannot but justify.  
In as much as then in an instant shall be represented unto themselves, and discovered in the open view of the whole world, all the horrible, foul, bloody, crying, roaring sins that ever they committed, together with all the circumstances of time, and place, and persons, and manner, and measure. Then shall they give a particular strict account of all the blessings, of all the gifts and graces which God hath bestowed upon them, of all the faculties of their souls, of all the senses and members of their bodies, as it were of so many talents committed to their charge, how they have used, or rather abused them. Then shall they give an account, how they have profited by all those wholesome lessons they have heard, and fatherly chastisements they have been corrected with, how they have entertained those good motions that God hath put into their hearts; how they have withstood the Suggestions of Satan, & the temptations of the world and the flesh. Then shall they give an account, not only of their grievous heinous sins of presumption and malice, committed against the light of their Conscience wittingly, willingly, & wilfully, with an high hand and strife neck, but of filthy rotten speeches, profane writings, unsavoury jests, nay of every idle word, nay of every loose and lewd thought; not only of outward, public, notorious transgressions, but of secret practices, mischievous plots & projects, known only to God and their own souls. Lastly, not only of sins of Commission, but of the omission of good duties, and of their precious time misspent, passing the greatest part thereof in eating, and drinking, & sleeping, and dancing, and gaming, in haunting taverns, and playhouses, and dicing-houses, and brothell-houses, which should have been spent in the works of Charity, of Piety, or those of their private calling. Good God, what shall the poor sinner now say, what shall he do for the levelling and clearing of these accounts? shall he call for mercy? he hath already shut that door against himself. Shall he fly to his Saviour? he is now become his judge. Shall he implore the intercession of the Saints and Angels? neither will they intercede if they might be heard, nor shall they be heard, though they would intercede. O hard distress, saith devoute Anselm, on the one side will be his sins accusing him, on the other side justice terrifying him, under him the gulf of hell gaping, above him the judge frowning, within him a Conscience stinging, without him the world burning. Finding no way then to relieve or excuse himself, he shall seek to hide himself in dens and among the clefts of the rocks, and shall say unto the hills and mountains, fall upon me and cover me from the presence of him that sitteth upon the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who can stand? and if the righteous be hardly saved, where shall the impenitent sinner appear? Yet no remedy, stand forth and appear they must at the open bar or God's justice, and there receive their last doom; Depart from me ye Cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels.   

SECT. 4. Or lastly, the dreadfulness of the sentence which shall then be pronounced upon them.  
O Merciful Lord, what a doleful, what as dreadful sentence is this? Depart from thee O Christ? why thou art all things, and therefore the loss of thee is an universal loss of all things. Thou art the greatest good, and therefore to be deprived of thee is the greatest evil. Thou art the very Centre and perfect rest of the soul, and therefore to be pulled from thee is the most cruel separation that can be. It was the richest promise that thou couldst make to the penitent thief, and the sweetest voice that he could hear, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Lord whither shall we go from thee, saith one of thine Apostles, and the other only wisheth to be dissolved, that he may be with thee. The Wizards of the East when they recovered the sight of the star that but led unto thee, being yet in the state of infirmity and humility, rejoiced with an exceeding great joy: and thy forerunner the Baptist at the voice of thy blessed mother sprang for joy, being yet in the womb; how then would they have been replenished and ravished with joy to have seen thee in thy Kingdom of glory, and tormented with grief to have been commanded out of thy presence? specially considering, that with thee is the well of life, in thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. By parting from thee then, we part from the blissful vision of the face of God, from the fruition of the happy fellowship of the holy Angels and society of Saints, and consequently from happiness itself. What remains then, but that parting from happiness, we should indeed become most miserable and accursed Caitiffs. Depart from me ye Cursed. Men sometimes curse where God blesses, and bless where God curses: They can only pronounce a man cursed, they cannot make him so: but here it is otherwise: for with this powerful and righteous judge, to pronounce is to make: when he cursed the fig tree, it instantly withered: And as these impenitent Sinners loved cursing, so shall it come unto them; and as they loved not blessing, so shall it be far from them. As they clothed themselves with cursing like a raiment, so shall it come into their bowels like water, and like oil into their bones; it shall be unto them as a garment to cover them, and for a girdle wherewith they shall be always girded. Cursed shall be the day of their conception, & cursed the day of their birth: Cursed they shall be in their souls, and cursed in their bodies; Cursed in their thoughts, and cursed in their desires; cursed in their speeches, and cursed in their actions; Cursed in the heinousness of their sin, and cursed in the grievousness of their punishment: cursed in their punishment of loss, for their aversion from the Creator, Depart from me; and cursed in their punishment of sense, for their conversion to the Creature, Depart from me into everlasting Fire. Of all the Creatures appointed by Almighty God, to be instruments for the execution of his vengeance, water and fire are noted to have the least mercy: And therefore with fire & brimstone consumed he the filthy Sodomites, a type of this hellish fire, as Sodom was of hell itself. If creating an element here for our comfort, I mean the fire, he made the same so insufferable as it is, in such sort, as a man would not hold his only hand therein one day to gain a kingdom; what a fire think you hath he provided for hell, which is not created for comfort, but only for torment? Our fire hath many differences from that, and therefore is truly said of the holy Fathers, to be but as a painted or feigned fire in respect of that. For first our fire was made to comfort, as I have said, and▪ that only to afflict and torment: Our fire hath need to be fed continually with wood and fuel, or else it goeth out, that burneth eternally without feeding, and is unquenchable; for that the breath of the Lords own mouth doth blow and nourish it. Our fire worketh only upon the body, immediately upon the soul being a spirit it cannot work, that worketh upon the soul separated from the body, as it likewise doth upon the Apostate Angels, and upon both soul and body rejoined. Our fire giveth light which of itself is comfortable, that admitteth none, but is full of dismal darkness. Our fire may be extinguished, or the rage of it abated with water, that cannot. Ours breedeth weeping, that not only weeping but gnashing of teeth, the ordinary effect of cold. Such a strange and incredible fire it is, that it implies contraries, and so terrible is this judge to his enemies, that he hath devised a wonderful way, how to torment them with burning heat and chilling cold both at once. Lastly, our fire consumeth the food that is cast into it, and thereby in short space dispatcheth the pains, whereas that afflicteth & tormenteth, but consumeth not, to the end, the pains may be Everlasting as is the fire.  
O deadly life, O immortal death, what shall I term thee? Life? and wherefore then dost thou kill? Death? and wherefore then dost thou endure? There is neither Life nor Death but hath something good in it. For in life there is some ease, and in death an end, but thou hast neither ease nor end: What shall I term thee? even the bitterness of both. For of death thou hast torment without any end, and of life the continuance without any ease, so long as God shall live, so long shall the damned die; and when he shall cease to be happy, then shall they also cease to be miserable. A star which is far greater than the earth, appeareth to be a small spot in comparison of the heavens, much less shall the age of man seem; yea much less the age and continuance of the whole world in regard of this perpetuity of pains. The least moment of time if it be compared with ten thousand millions of years, because both terms are finite, and the one a part of the other, beareth, although a very small, yet some proportion: but this or any other number of years in respect of endless eternity is nothing, less than just nothing: For all things that are finite may be compared together, but between that which is finite, and that which is infinite, there standeth no comparison. O saith one holy Father in a godly meditation, if a sinner damned in hell did know that he had to suffer those torments no more thousand years then there be sands in the sea or grass leaves on the ground, or no more thousand millions of ages then there be Creatures in heaven, hell, and in earth, he would greatly rejoice, for that he would comfort himself at the leastwise with this cogitation, that once yet the matter would have an end: But now, saith this good man, this word never breaketh his heart, considering that after an hundred thousand millions of worlds (if there might be so many) he hath as far to his journeys end, as he had the first day of his entrance into those torments. And surely if a man that is sharply pinched with the gout, or the stone, or but with thetoothach, and that they hold him but by fits, giving him some respite betweene-whiles, notwithstanding do think one night exceeding long although he lie in a soft bed, well applied & cared for; how tedious do we think eternity will seem to those that shall be universally in all their parts continually without intermission, perpetually without end or hope of end scorched in those hellish flames, which besides that they are everlasting, have this likewise added, that they are prepared for the Devil and his Angels?  
Prepared, by whom? surely by the judge himself, who gives the sentence. Now if but mortal judges should set and search their wits to devise & prepare a punishment for some notorious malefactor, what grievous tortures do they often find out? able to make a man tremble at the very mentioning of them, what kind of punishment than shall we conceive this to be which this immortal King of Heaven & Earth, this judge both of the quick & dead hath prepared? Surely his invention this way is as far beyond the reach of all mortal wits (were they all united in one brain) as is his power. It must needs be then a torment insufferable, unspeakable & incomprehensible which he hath set himself to prepare: But for whom? for the Devil and his Angels, that is, for the Archtraitor, the chief rebel that stands out against him, & hath stood out against him since the first Creation of the World. How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning! thou saidst in thine heart, I will exalt my throne above, beside the stars of God, & I will be like unto the most high: Therefore hath he cast thee down to the bottomless pit of hell, there te be imprisoned in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgement of this great day of the general assize, then & there shalt thou receive thy complete & final sentence: and then shall those miscreants who have chosen rather to hearken to thy enticements, to yield to thy temptations, to march under thy banner, and with thee & thine Angels to stand out in open rebellion against their Liege Lord, then to yield their due obedience to him, who by so many obligations might deservedly challenge it from them: Then I say, shall they who have thus sinned with thee, suffer likewise with thee: & as thou labouredst by all means to make them like thyself insin: so shalt thouthen as earnestly labour to make them like thyself, as in the kind, so likewise in the degree of thy punishment: that as the Saints shall resemble the blessed Angels in heaven, so they may in all respects resemble thee & thy cursed Angels in hell. And thus have we in part heard the terror of this last day in regard of the obstinately wicked; Let us now hear what Comforts the remembrance and meditation thereof may justly afford the righteous, that is, such as by God's grace endeavour to live a virtuous and religious life.   

SECT. 5. Secondly, the consideration of this day may serve for a special comfort to the godly, whether they meditate upon the name and nature of the day itself in regard of them, or the assurance of God's love and favour towards them, and the gracious promises made unto them.  
THese Comforts than arise first from the name & nature of the day in regard of them: Secondly, from the assurance of God's love and favour toward them, & from the gracious promises made unto them: Thirdly, from the quality and condition of the judge by whom they are to be tried: and lastly, from the sweetness of the sentence which shallbe pronounced on their behalf. First then, this day howbeit it shallbe very terrible to impenitent sinners, yet to the Servants of God shall it be a day of joy & triumph, a day of jubilee & exultation, or as the Scriptures term it a day of refreshing & redemption. Neither ought this to seem strange, since the same Sun which melteth the wax, hardeneth the clay, the same beams exhale both stinking vapours out of the dunghilis & sweet savours out of flowers, the beam is every way the same which works upon them, only the difference of the subjects which it works upon, is it that thus diversifies the effects. When the judges in their Assizes come to the bench or place of judgement apparelled in scarlet robes, environed with holdbards, attended on with great troops, assisted by the principal knights and gentlemen of the Country, all this is a pleasing sight to the innocent prisoner, because he hopes that now his innocency shall appear in the face of the Country, and that the day of his deliverance is come: whereas to the guilty it is a dreadful sight, because he knows that the day of his trial, & consequently of his condemnation and execution cannot be far off: in like manner when the gibbet or gallows is set up, the ladder, the halter, the hangman & all in readiness for the execution, this to the good subject & true man is a pleasing spectacle, because it is for their peace & safeguard: but a spectacle full of horror to the condemned thief or murderer who are there instantly to be executed. To such as are straight besieged in a Castle or City, when a powerful Army is raised to rescue them, & draweth near to the place, and is come within sight, the neighing and trampling of the horses, the glittering of the armour, the clashing of weapons, the beating of the drum, the sounding of the trumpet, yea the roaring of the cannon to them are as swe●…t music, because they know all this to be for their succour and relief: but to the besiegers the noise is terrible, because they know it is to assault, remove and vanquish them: & this surely shall be the difference betwixt the faithful and the unrighteous at the day of judgement. The Majesty & Glory of Christ, the train of innumerable Angels attending on him, the shrill sound of the trumpet summoning all flesh to appear before his Tribunal at this great & general Assizes, and all other solemnities belonging to the pomp & magnificence thereof, as it shall utterly daunt and confound the one, in as much as they know themselves guilty of all those enormities and outrages wherewith they shall be charged, so shall it cheer up the other, for that they are than fully to be cleared in the presence of men & Angels from those unjust aspersions & imputations whichtheir enemy have cast upon them, they are to be freed from all those wrongs and oppressions they have sustained, they are to be rescued from that narrow siege, that fierce assault, that long & strong battery which by sin, the world, the flesh, & the Devil hath been laid to their souls; so as all those fearful signs forerunning the last end, as the trembling of the earth, and the shaking of the powers of heaven, shall be unto them as the Earthquake was to Paul and Silas, which served to lose their fetters and manacles, and to open unto them the prison doors and set them at liberty.  
Neither can it in truth be otherwise, considering the love & favour which Almighty God bears them. He hath redeemed them with the precious Blood of his dear Son, he hath begotten them by the incorruptible seed of his word, he hath illuminated and sanctified them with his Spirit, he hath sealed them by his Sacraments, he hath pacified their guilty Consciences with his grace, delivered them out of dangers, supported them in their temptations, relieved them in their distresses, resolved them in their doubts, made all things work together for the best unto them; and will he forsake them at this last trial? no, no, herein he setteth out his love toward them, seeing, that while they were yet sinners; Christ died for them, much more being now justified by his Blood, shall they be saved from wrath thorough him. For if when they were enemies they were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much möre being reconciled shall they be saved by his life: if they were pardoned thorough his death when they were enemies, they shall much more be saved by his life now that they are friends. For how incredible is it, nay how impossible, that he who pardoneth an enemy should condemn a friend. He loved them whiles they yet bore the image of the Devil, and will he not much more love them now, since he hath in part repaired his own Image in them. They were dear unto him when there was in them no goodness, & can he now abandon them being made partakers of that goodness which himself hath wrought in them. Being then plucked out of the power of darkness, let them never fear to be rejected by the Father of lights; having the blessed Angels sent forth to minister for their sakes, let them never fear to be delivered over unto, or in the final sentence to be joined with the Devil and his Angels. What shall we then say to these things? if God be on our side who can be against us, who spared not his own Son, but gave him for us all to death, how shall he not with him give us all things also? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen? it is God that justifieth: who shall condemn? it is Christ which is dead, or rather which is risen again. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? nay in all these things we are more than conquerors thorough him that loved us. And we are persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ jesus our Lord.  
And as the love and favour of God in Christ doth thus arm his children against the terror of the day of judgement, so do likewise the gracious promises made unto them, which embolden them to say again with the blessed Apostle, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, from henceforth is laid up for me the Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love that his appearing. If I shall then receive a Crown of righteousness I need not fear hell fire: if the righteous judge himself will give it me, I need not stand in awe of his severity: if he shall give it to all those who love that his appearing, I need not tremble at the thought thereof; nay I have rather great reason to be glad and rejoice thereat, and when I see those things come to pass, to look up & lift up mine head, as being well assured that my redemption draweth near. And not only my redemption, but mine advancement to honour, even in that very act of judgement: the bench rather than the bar being my place there, & myself being ordained not to stand forth as a prisoner, but to sit as a judge. Verily I say unto you, that when the Son of man shall sit in the Throne of his Majesty, ye which followed me in the regeneration shall sit also upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel, saith Truth itself. Which privilege lest we should think to be restrained only to his Apostles, one of them by good warrant extends it to all the faithful. Do ye not know saith he, that the Saints shall judge the world? that is, wicked men who have oppressed us: And again, Know ye not that we shall judge the Angels? that is, wicked spirits who have tempted or assaulted us. Now what folly is it to be afraid of that judgement where we ourselves shall be judges, and that of our greatest enemies? nay what encouragement should it be to receive if need were, the sentence of death for Christ's sake, since it is certain that as Christ himself shall judge Pilate before whom he was arraigned, and by whom he was wrongfully condemned: so also shall we in some sort at leastwise as Assessors with him & approovers of his sentence, judge our judges. For although Christ our Head principally and properly shall be the judge, yet we that are his members shall have a branch of his authority, and shall be as it were joined in commission with him.   

SECT. 6. Or the quality and condition of the judge in respect of them by whom they are to be tried: or lastly, the sweetness of the sentence which sh●…ll then be pronounced on their behalf.  
But setting this Commission aside, what a comfort will it be to the Godly to be summoned, to be assembled, to be separated from the goats by the ministry of those very Angels who were appointed to be their guardians, to pitch their tents round about them; and to bear them up with their hands that they might not dash their foot against a stone? nay what joy unutterable, with their eyes to behold and look upon that Saviour of theirs (appearing in Majesty as a judge) who redeemed them with his heart blood, and gave his life as a ransom for them, in whom they have trusted, on whom they have believed, to whom they have prayed, for whom they have suffered, with whom they shall be glorified? Their Father, their Husband, their Master, their Head, their Physician, their Advocate and Intercessor: and can the father condemn the son, the husband the wife, the Master his faithful servant, the head his members, the Physician his patient, the Advocate his Client? How happy is our case then, that he must be our judge that was himself judged for us▪ and our assurance is, that he will not condemn us, that hath already be●…ne condemned for us: No, he will be so far from condemning us, that then and there he will fully acquit us in the sight of the whole world, and pronounce that favourable sentence on our behalf, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit a kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  
A judicial sentence shall I call it, or rather a brotherly & gracious invitation? Come ye blessed of my Father: Come, that where the husband is, there may the wife be; that where the father is, there may the sons be; that where the Master is, there may the servants be; that where the Captain is, there may the soldiers be; that where the king is, there may the subjects be, that where the head is, there may the members be. Come, it was thy voice sweet Saviour whiles thou wert yet in the state of humility, Come unto me all ye that are weary & heavy laden & I will refresh you: & dost thou still retain the same sweetness and familiality, being now in glory, and that whiles thou art sitting upon the throne of justice? Good Lord, how dost thou at the same instant show thyself terrible as a Lion to thine enemies, & yet gentle as a Lamb to thy friends? frowning upon the one, and yet smiling on the other, commanding the one out of thy presence with an Ite, Go; and inviting the other to approach near with a Venite, Come. Come, come my dear hearts, now is the time that you must rest from your labours, that your tears must be wiped off, that your long expectation & longing hope must be turned into fruition: your race is at an end, you must now receive the prize; your wrestling at an end, you must now receive the garland, your combating at an end, you must now receive the Crown, Come ye Blessed of my Father. Blessed in your lives, and blessed in your deaths; blessed in your election, blessed in your vocation, blessed in your adoption, blessed in your justification, blessed in your sanctification, and now for accomplishment of all, most blessed in your glorification: And the fountain of all this your blessedness, is none other than the very Father of blessings, my Father and your Father, mine by nature, yours by grace, mine by eternal generation, and yours by spiritual regeneration: And whom the Father blesses, the Son cannot but most lovingly and tenderly embrace. Come ye blessed of my Father. what to do? to inherit a Kingdom. Lest my words should seem to be but wind, lest my promises should seem to be vain, and your patience and believing vain; Come & receive that which I have promised, and you have believed; Come and take actual possession of it; yet not as a purchase of your own, but as an inheritance; not as wages, but as a reward; not as bought by the value of your merits, but conferred upon you by the virtue of my sufferings, and the benediction of my Father as the cause, and your sonne-shippe and obedience as the condition. Your title is good, your evidence fair, so as no exception can be taken to your right, nothing so much as pretended or pleaded to disinherit you. Come on then cheerfully, make haste and enter upon it, myself will lead you the way, follow me. But what may it be gracious Lord that we shall possess? surely no less than a Kingdom. This reward is sometimes set forth unto us under the name of a pleasant garden or Paradise of delight; sometime of a stately magnificent palace; sometime of a large and beautiful City: but here of a Kingdom, a glorious, a spacious, a secure, a durable Kingdom, whose King is the Trinity, whose Law is Divinity, whose measure aternity, as far beyond all the kingdoms of this world, and all the guilded pomp, the glittering power and riches of them, as the greatest earthly Monarch is beyond the King in a play. Earthly monarchs have their secret pressures and pinches, they have their fears, and cares, and griefs, and envy, and anger, and sickness mixed with their joys and contents, or at least by turns succeeding them: Somewhat is ever wanting to their desires, and full of doubts and jealousies they are that their dominions may be either impaired or invaded: And if they were free from the possibility of all those, yet may they in a moment, and that by a thousand ways be arrested by death, and then all their honour lies in the dust, all their thoughts perish: But now with them that inherit this heavenly Kingdom it is not so: they have joy and content at full without the least intermission or diminution, without the least mixture of any fear, or care, or grief, or envy, or anger, or any other troublesome passion whatsoever. They are out of all doubt & jealousy of losing that which they possess, either in whole or in part; they are confident and secure that neither this Kingdom can be taken from them by rebellion or invasion, nor they from it by death or deposition. And herein again doth this Kingdom excel all other kingdoms, that it is of God's special preparing. And such happiness he hath prepared in it for them that shall possess it, as eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, tongue cannot utter, neither hath at any time entered into the heart of man. Such as his imagination cannot apprehend, nor his understanding possibly conceive. O my Lord, if thou for this vile body of ours hast given us so great and innumerable benefits from the firmament, from the air, from the earth, from the sea; by light, by darkness, by heat, by shadow, by dews, by showers, by winds, by reins, by fishes, by beasts, by birds, by multitude of herbs, and variety of plants, and by the ministry of all thy Creatures: O sweet Lord, what manner of things, how great, how good, and how innumerable are those which thou hast prepared for us in our heavenly Kingdom, where we shall see thee face to face, and reign with thee eternally? If thou do so great things for us in our prison, what wilt thou give us in our palace? If thou givest so many things in this world to good and evil men together, what hast thou laid up for only good men in the world to come? If thine enemies and friends together are so well provided for in this life, what shall thy only friends receive in the life to come? If there be so great solaces in these days of tears, what joy shall there be in that day of marriage? If our jail and prison contain so great matters, what shall our Kingdom do? O my Lord and God, thou art a great God, & great is the multitude of thy magnificence & sweetness; and as there is none end of thy greatness, nor number of thy mercies, nor bottom of thy wisdom, nor measure of thy beauty: So is there no end, number, or measure of thy rewards to them that love & serve thee.   

SECT. 7. Thirdly, the consideration of this day may serve for admonition to all.  
seeing then that all these things must be dossolved, what manner persons ought we to be in holy conversation and godliness? looking for, and hasting unto the coming of that day, in which we all shall appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that every man may receive according to that he hath done in his body, whether it be good or evil. Truly I know not (saith S. Chrysostome) what others do think of it, for myself, it makes me often tremble when I consider it. And holy Hierome, whatsoever I am doing, saith he, whether I be eating, or drinking, or sleeping, or waking, or alone, or in company, or reading, or writing, me thinks I ever hear the shrill sound of the Archangels trumpet, summoning all flesh to appear, and crying aloud, Surgite mortui & venite ad judicium, arise ye dead and come away to judgement. The remembrance hereof is like a bitter pill to purge out the malignity of many wanton and vain humours, or like a strainer, all our thoughts, and speeches, and actions which pass thorough it, are thereby cleansed and purified. As the bird guideth her body with her train, and the ship is steered with the rudder, so the course of a man's life is best directed with a continual recourse unto his last end. It is hard for a man to think of that and to think evil, or not to think of it and think well. Therefore when Solomon had spoken of all the vanities of men, at last he opposes this memorandum as a counterpoise against them all, Remember for all these things thou shalt come to judgement: as if he should say, men would never speak as they speak, nor do as they do, if they did but think that these speeches & deeds of theirs should one day come to judgement. Whatsoever thou takest in hand then, remember the end, and that final account which thou art to make, and thou shalt never do amiss. S. Augustine I remember in the entrance of one of his sermons touching the day of judgement, makes a kind of Apology for himself, that he treated in their hearing so often of that subject, telling them, that he did it for the discharge of his own duty, and for their good: it being better (saith he) hereto endure a little bitterness, and hereafter to enjoy eternal sweetness, than here to be fed with false joys, and there to endure real and eternal punishments: But he might have justly excused himself (had any excuse needed in such a case) by the example of our blessed Saviour, who in his Gospels; and his Apostles, who in their Epistles, beat upon this point no one more frequently: The knowledge and publishing whereof to the world hath in all ages been held so necessary, that not the Prophets alone, whose writings are read in our assemblies at this day, plainly foretold it, but Enoch the seaventh from Adam prophesied thereof; nay Adam himself, if we may believe josephus. And that no man might plead ignorance herein; the light of this truth (as hath already 
Antiq. l. 1. c. 4.  been touched) shined among the very Gentiles before the incarnation of Christ.  
A great shame were it then for us Christians not to believe it, but a greater shame to ourselves, and to our profession, a disgrace, & a scandal to infidels, to profess that we believe it, and yet to live worse than Infidels. Mahometans, & jews, & Pagans shall rise in judgements against a number of Christians and shall condemn them, for that standing up in the Congregation, and with their mouths openly professing this article, that they believe that Christ shall come again to judge both the quick & dead; yet their thoughts, their desires, their passions, their actions, their words are such & so foul, as it evidently shows they believe not, or they understand not, or they remember not what they profess. Shall I think that the common drunkard & glutton doth believe and remember, that at this day he must give an account of the abuse of God's Creatures, of making his belly his God, his kitchen his Chapel, and his Cook his Priest? Shall I think that the profane swearer and blasphemer doth believe & remember, that at this day he must give an account of every idle word, much more than of his hellish oaths and damnable blasphemies, wherewith he tears in pieces the name of God, & infects the very air he breathes in? shall I think that the Hypocrite, who seeks to blear the eyes of the world, doth believe & remember, that at this day he must give an account of his glozing & shifting, and that than his hypocrisy shall be uncased & laid open to the view of the world? shall I think that the Parasite doth believe and remember, that at this day he must give an account of preferring the favour of men before the love and service of God? Shall I think the Slanderer doth believe and remember, that at this day he must give an account of wounding and killing his brother in his good name by his tongue, or pen, or both? Shall I think the Adulterer doth believe and remember, that at this day he must give an account of giving the reins to his unbridled appetite without any check or control? Lastly, doth the malicious man believe and remember, that at this day he must give an account of his bloody practices or plots; the ambitious man, of making his honour his Idol; the covetous, of his oppression and extortion? Let themselves a little consider of the matter, and they will easily grant it to be unreasonable, that any man should believe it to be a part of their belief.   

SECT. 8. As likewise for instruction.  
LEt us then either strike it out of the articles of our Creed, or let us so endeavour to live, as it may appear, that we do not only profess it with our mouths, but assuredly believe it with our hearts. Let the civil Magistrate show that he believes it, by forbearing to make his will a law, & by a conscionable care in the governing of those who are committed to his charge, and providing that they may live under him a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Let the Divine, the Messenger of the Lord, who preacheth it to others, show that he believes it himself, by forbearing base and indirect means to rise to honour, (which he is most uncertain how long, or with what content he shall hold) and by feeding the flock of God which depends upon him, caring for it, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, not as Lording it over God's heritage, but as being a pattern to the flock, and when that chief shepherd shall appear, he shall receive an incorruptible Crown of glory; Let that severe call ever ring in his ears, Come give an account of thy stewardship. There shall Andrew come in with Achaia by him converted, to the saving knowledge of the truth: john with Asia, Thomas with India, Peter with the jews, and Paul with the Gentiles; and what shall we then say for ourselves, if we cannot bring forth somuch as one soul converted by us in the whole course of our ministry? Let the Counselors show that he believes, it by giving counsel rather wholesome than pleasing, not for faction but for conscience, and by forbearing to make the good of the state the stalking horse of his private ends. For though he dig never so deep, yet he who now searches and shall then judge his heart digs deeper. Let the Courtier show he believes it by using his favour to the countenancing and advancing of virtue and suppressing of vice, and by forbearing to varnish & gild over foul projects or smother honest motions with fair semblances, looking rather to the worths and necessities of petitioners, then to their purse and power. Let the military man show that he believes it by forbearing to think, that a profane oath is an ornament of speech, or that violence, rapine, and outrage, are the best Characters of a soldier; or that unjust effusion of blood & Duels shall then pass for manhood, or that his stout looks and brave resolution shall then any thing avail him. Let the Nobility and Gentry show that they believe it, by forbearing to make merchandise of Church livings committed to their care only in trust, to strip the backs of the poor, that they may apparel their walls, and to snatch their meat from their mouths, that they may give it to their hawks and dogs. For if they shall stand among the goats on the left hand and hear that doleful sentence, Go y●… cursed, who clothed not the naked and fed not the hungry, tell me what shall become of them, who by extortion and oppression, by unconscionable racking of rents and wresting from them excessive fines, make them naked & hunger-starved; nay grind the face of the poor, and eat their flesh to the bare bones? Let the judges show that they believe it, by forbearing to give sentence for fear or favour, much less for gold or gifts, as well knowing & remembering, that themselves must one day give a strict account to this supreme judge, from whose sentence lieth no appeal. Let the Lawyer show that he believes it, by forbearing to spin out the suits of his Clients, to whip him about from Court to Court, and to set his tongue to sale for the bolstering out of unjust causes, which his own Conscience tells him to be such, lest that cause which here perchance he gained to his Client and got credit by, prove there to be his greatest shame and utter ruin, where all his sophistry & subtle quirks will not serve his turn. Let the merchant show that he believes, it by for bearing lies aswel as oaths, by putting his confidence in God, not in his wedge of gold, and by often calling to mind, that whither soever he travel, or what bargain soever he make, He stands by him as a witness who shall hereafter be his judge. And what folly were it for a thief to steal in the presence of the judge before whom he must be arraigned? Let the Farmer and Countryman show that he believes it by their just laying out of the Lords portions to his Ministers, as knowing that though they haply deceive his Ministers, yet the Lord himself they cannot deceive, & that the double damages then of their bodies & souls willbe infinitely more grievous than their treble damages here. Finally, let all sorts make it appear, that they indeed do not profess it only but believe it by showing that reverence & respect to the word, to the Sacraments, to the Ambassadors to the house, to the day, to the servants, to the members of him who then shall be the reiudge, that they may with comfort & confidence appear in his presence. The least good work now done for his sake and to his honour, shall then steed us more than the treasure of both the Indies, than all the kingdoms of the world & the glory of them. Then our indignation & revenge upon ourselves, our compunction and contrition for our sins committed against this judge, shall refresh us and cheer us. For if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. Then shall our resisting of alluring temptations, our patient enduring bitter afflictions & chastisements, our sufferings, losses, disgraces, banishments for the Truth's sake serve unto us as so many sovereign and precious Cordials: for when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, because we should not be condemned with the world. Let us hear the end of all, Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man: For God will bring every work unto judgement with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil. Even so, come Lord jesus, come quickly. How long Lord, how long, holy and true?  
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory.  BOETHIUS lib. 1 metr. 7. 

— Tu quoque si vis  
Lumine claro cernere verum,  
Tramite recto carpere coelum  
Gaudia pelle, pelle timorem,  
Spemque fugato, Nec dolor adsit,  
Nubila mens est, Vinctaque frenis  
Haec ubi regnant.   

If with clear eye thou wilt see  
Truth, and in the right way tread,  
joy and hope chase far from thee,  
Banish sorrow, banish dread.  
Cloudy, fettered fast with chains,  
Is the mind where passion reign.   
Whatsoever I have written in this or any other book, I humbly submit to the censure of the Church of England.    
FINIS.   

A REVISE.  
WHen my book was almost past the press, I met with one johannes Fredericus L●…nius, a Netherlander, de extremo dei judicio & Indorum vocatione, who lib. 2. cap. 19 endeavouring to prove the vicinity of the last judgement by the world's decay, makes this a main argument thereof: Constat (saith he) illos qui supra annos viginti prodierunt in lucem non pauciores habuisse dentes quam 32 cum iam in eyes qui infra decennium nati sunt non nisi- 20 aut 24 inveniantur. A bold assertion of a grave divine, that man kind should so speedily decrease as in the compass of ten years, to lose 12 or 8 teeth of 32, and his book being printed in the year 1567., had the like measure of decay gone on in proportion since that time, no man long before this day should have had a tooth left in his head to chew his meat. But I wonder he durst so confidently publish that to the world which daily experience, and the writings of modern Anatomists so evidently convince of falsehood; and in truth I think there cannot lightly a better argument be brought for the confirmation of the contrary opinion against himself in that point; in as much as according to Hypocrates, longaevi plurimos dentes habent; and Aristotle, quibus pauciores & rariores, high brevioris sunt vitae: so that the full number being a sign of longaevity, and that of natural strength, if it appear (as undoubtedly it doth) that men now adays have ordinarily the same number of teeth as anciently they had; then must it consequently follow, that likewise ordinarily they are as strong and long-lived as anciently they were: yet herein are we beholding to the same Author, that what he takes from the age and strength of men, he adds to their wits: Sed quod humanorum corporum decedit conditionibus, hoc ingenijs accedit, quod de membrorum robore perit, hoc accumulatur intellectus acumine & sagacitate.  
Pag. 45. is a great mistake, about a pound of blood being printed, for almost half a pound of blood, notwithstanding which abatement yet is the proportion there mentioned altogether incredible, for if Galen usually drew six pounds of blood, and we usually stop at six owces, as Sir Walter Raleigh would have it, and we allow for every pound twelve ounces, then in reason should men in Galens' time, be ordinarily twelve times as strong and tall as now they are; so that if men be now ordinarily five foot high, they must then have been three score, and (allowing the like proportionable decrease since the Creation) in the like distance of time before Galen they must have been above seven hundred foot high, and if we should thus rise upward to the Creation itself, we must then measure men by miles and not by feet; which I wonder the great wit of Sir Walter Raleigh foresaw not.  
Pag. 47. In the Section of the revolution and circulation of all things in their times and turns may properly be inserted these excellent verses of Manilius.  

Percipe nunc etiam, quae sunt Ecliptica Graio 
Lib. 4.   
Nomine, quae certos quasi delassata per annos  
Nonnunquam cessant sterili torpentia motu.  
Scilicet immenso nihil est aequale sub aevo,  
Perpetuosque tenet flores, unumque colorem  
Tutatur: Sed cuncta diu variantur in orbe,  
Et foecunda suis subsistunt frugibus arva,  
Continuosque negant partus eff●…ta creando.  
Rur sus quaefuerant steriles ad semina terrae,  
Post nova sufficiunt, nullo mandante, tributa.  
Concutitur varijs tellus compagibus haerens,  
Subducitque solum pedibus, natat orbis in ipso,  
Et vomit Oceanus pontum, sitiensque resorbet,  
Necsese ipse capit, sic quondam mer ser at urbes,  
Humani generis cum solus constitit haeres  
Deucalion, scopuloque orbem possedit in uno.  
Nec non cum patrias Phaet●…on tentavit habenas,  
Arserunt gentes, timuitque incendia coelum,  
●…geruntque nov as ardentia sydera flammas,  
Atque uno timuit condi natura sepulchro:  
In tantum longo mutantur tempora cursu,  
Atque iterum in semet redeunt: sic tempora certo  
Signa quoque●…mittunt vires, sumuntque receptas.   
Pag. 163. Vndevicesimo is translated twenty one, whereas it should be nineteen, which makes more for my purpose, it being spoken of the wise of Quintilian, who by his own testimony was not full nineteen when she died, yet had she then borne him two sons.  
Pag. 170. I doubt mine information touching prescriptions is not sufficient, but my meaning is, that 60 years ad minimum are required to make a prescription good, which I conceived to have been law with us and I think by the Civil Laws, an interest may be gotten by sixty years quiet possession or less, howsoever the same space of years is now allotted which anciently was: And in the same place, that which I have delivered touching a lease of three lives, compared with a lease of twenty one years, is not perchance clearly enough expressed in law terms, but so as a man may easily understand what I intent  
Pag. 243. Speaking of Grammarians, I have not sufficiently insisted upon the exquisite help of Dictionaries, Lexicons, and Grammars in this latter age beyond the precedent, not only for the easier learning of the Western languages, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and French, but specially of the Eastern, the Hebrew, the Chalde, the Syriake, the Arabic, & (which is worth the observing) of all the ancient fathers, so renowned for their singular learning, but only two, among the Latins Saint Hierome, and Origen among the Grecians, are found to have excelled in the oriental languages, this last centenary having afforded more skilful men that way, than the other fifteen since Christ.  
To Grammar may likewise be referred the useful art of brachygraphy, or writing by short marks, which though it were practised among the Romans, as appears by that epigram of Marshal, 
Lib 14. epig. 208.   
Currant verba licet manus est velocior illis,  
Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus.  
And another of Ausonius,  
Puer notarum praepetum  
Solers minister advola: etc. 
Epig. 138.   
Yet Dio refers the invention thereof to Maecaenas, and by Manilius it should seem that in his time it was new: 
Lib. 55.   

Hic & Scriptor erit foelix cui littera verbum est,  
Quique notis linguam superet, cursumque loquentis, 
Lib. 4.   
Excipiet long as nova per compendia voces.   
So as we have no certainty that either the Grecians, or the Hebrews, or any of those Eastern Nations had before the Romans the use or knowledge of it (whatsoever Lorinus and Raderus out of those words of the Psalmist, my tongue is the pen of a ready writer; and those written on the 
In Psal: 44. Dan. 5. 25.  wall which Daniel interpreted, pretend to the contrary) and beside, this invention of the Romans for aught we find, was lost in succeeding ages, but in these latter recovered again, or at leastwise somewhat equivalent thereunto.  
And to brachygraphy may be added, the writing by Zifers, or nota furtivae, secret marks for the hiding of the writer's mind from others save him to whom he writes it: Now how far latter ages have excelled the former in this invention, shall appear by the words of Hermannus Hugo, Mire sibi gratulabantur veteres, insigni seilicet, ut ipsi putabant, invento, epistolarum occulte scribendarum per transpositas literas, sed 
De prim●… scribendi origi●…. cap. 17.  profecto id artificium facillime à quovis sagaciore deprehendi potest, ut non injuriâ julius Scaliger Exercitat. 327. id vocet delirium, & imposturam Referam tamen paucula ejus exempla veneratione solius antiquitatis. Recentiores omnes id genus technas relinquo apud Neapolitanum quaerendas, lib. 1. De notis furtivis: quamquam Amplissimus consiliarius Puteanus epistola quadam ad Plouvierium de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, rationem ostendit occultissimam scribendi per transpositionem, quam nec Oedipus divinare possit. De qua ita nunqaum locuturus fuisset Scaliger, ut de veterum facili commento. julius Caesar, inquit, Dio, lib. 39 consueverat si quid secreti cuiquam per litter as significaret quartum semper elementum in soribendo, pro eo quod sumi debebat, sumere: ne obvia literarum lectio cuivis esset. Augustus' autem (verba sunt Suetonijs, cap. 88) quoties per notam scribit, ponit B pro A. C. pro B; ac deinceps eadem ratione sequentes litteras; pro X autem duplex AA. And herein doth Salmuth fully accord in opinion with him. Abeant igitur cum sua vetustate tam copiosa & frivola veterum commenta. Long alios astus, long aliam vafritiem aetas haec videtur exposcere: in qua vel infantes cum balbutiunt adhuc, & quaedam subdolae mentis signa veluti primitiae illius ingeruntur, quasi à nutricis uberibus simul cum lacte illam suxisse imò à matris utero contraxisse videantur. Neither have the Ancients been excelled by the moderns, only in the witty invention of Zifring and secret characters, but also by the testimony of Pancirollus in dezifring and discovering the most difficult: Brixianus quidam typis vulgavit modum quendam, quem intellecta credit impossibilem, nisi quis contra exemplar istius habeat. Quod tamen falsum est, quandoquidem scripturam istam ipsemet explicari audivi; & quod dici solet, quasi cum manu tetigi, nullas essenotas adeo difficiles & obscuras, quae non intelligantur abijs qui in hoc scribendi genere exercitati sunt: quorum multi Venetijs reperiuntur. Atque ipsemet domi meae habui Hieronymum Dn. Francisci Nani, nobilis Veneti filium, iuvenem doctissimum, & artis huius imprimis gnarum: cui nullum Notarum genus, quam difficile etiam id esset, ●…fferebatur, quin ab ipso intelligeretur.  
Pag. 245. Among the late profitable inventions in the mathematics, the Mirificus Logarithmorùm Canon found out by the Lord Neper Baron of Merchiston in Scotland, may deservedly challenge a place, the book so entitled he dedicates to his Majesty that now is, than Prince, and in his epistle dedicatory gives this testimony of the invention: Cum novae haec Logarithmorum me●…dus omnem illam pristinae matheseos in calculo difficultatem penitus è medio ●…ollat, & ad fublevandam memoriae imbecillitatem it a se accommodet, ut illius adminiculo facile sit plures quaestiones mathematicas unius spacio, quam pristinâ & communiter receptâ formâ sinuum, tangentium, & secantium, vel integro die absolvere. But because this testimony may perchance by some be thought partial touching an invention of his own; I will thereunto add the grave judgement of Master ●…igges, professor in the Mathematics at Oxford, who hath with great diligence much illustrated and enlarged it: Praesertim cum deo visum fucrit (post 
Epist dedicat. Car: prin.  euàngelij lucem, qua orbem hunc nostrum illustrari voluit) plurimae humanae vitae utiliter inventa, quorum nullum utique apud antiquos extiterit vestigium, nobis communicare. Atque in his ut artes Mathematicae primarium tenent locum, ita in illis Logarithmorum ratio caeteris partibus precellit, sive inventionis spectemus àcumen, sive usus praestantiam.  
Whereunto may not improperly be annexed the invention of Petiscus, prefixed in these words in the front of his trigonometry. Inventio subtensae, tertiae vel quintae, vel cujuscunque imparis partis alicujus arcus; ex data sola subtensa illius arcus; etiam per communem Arithmeticam, & sine omni adminiculo Algebrae: Quae inventio hactenus credita fuit impossibilis. This invention by the help of Algebra was found out not long since; but those who are not skilled in Algebra, for the doing of it by common Arithmetic, are beholding to Petiscus.  
In the same page, mention is made of Scaligers finding out of the quadrature of a circle, but since the writing thereof, I understand that Adrianus Romanus hath written an apology for Archimede against Scaliger, wherein he labours to prove, that he hath not found out the conclusion he pretends, which is answered by Scaliger, and again replied upon by Romanus, but which of them hath the best, I refer to the determination of the professors in that faculty.