Book I, chapters 6–8: The causes of wonderful effects

CHAP. VI.

Whence the Form cometh; and of the chain that Homer faigned, and the rings that Plato mentioneth.

So then, the form, as it is the most excellent part, so it cometh from a most excellent place; even immediately from the highest heavens, they receiving it from the intelligences, and these from God himself: and the same original which the Form hath, consequently the properties also have. Zeno Citticus holds two beginnings, God and Matter; the one of them active or efficient, the other the passive principle. For God, as Plato thinks, when by the Almighty power of his Deity he had framed in due measure and order the heavens, the stars, and the very first principles of things the Elements, which wast away by reason of so many generations and corruptions, did afterwards by the power of the Heavens and Elements, ordain the kinds of living creatures, plants, and things without life, every one in their degree, that they might not be of the same estate and condition as the heavens are; and he enjoyned inferiour things to be ruled of their superiours, by a set Law, and poured down by heavenly influence upon every thing his own proper Form, ful of much strength and activity: and that there might be a continual encrease amongst them, he commanded all things to bring forth seed, and to propagate and derive their Form wheresoever should be fit matter to receive it. So then, seeing that formes come from heaven, they must needs be counted Divine and heavenly things: for such is the pattern and the most excellent cause of them, which Plato, that chief Philosopher, calls the soul of the World, and Aristotle universal Nature, and Avicenna calls it the Form-giver. This Form-giver doth not make it of any thing, as though it were but some frail and transitory substance, but fercheth it meerly out of himself, and bestows it first upon intelligences and stars, then by certain aspects informeth the Elements, as being fit instruments to dispose the matter. Seeing therefore this Form cometh from the Elements, from heaven, from the intelligences, yea from God himself; who is so foolish and untoward, as to say that it doth not savour of that heavenly nature, and in some sort of the Majesty of God himself? and that it doth not produce such effects, as nothing can be found more wonderfull, seeing it hath such affinity with God? Thus hath the providence of God linked things together in their rankes and order, that all inferiour things might by their due courses be derived originally from God himself, and from him receive their Operations. For God the first cause and beginner of things, as Macrobius saith, of his own fruitfulnesse hath created and brought forth a Spirit, the Spirit brought forth a Soul, (but the […]th of Christianity saith otherwise) the Soul is furnished partly with reason, which it bestows up Divine things, as heaven and the stars (for therefore are they said to have Divine Spirits) and partly with sensitive and vegerative powers, which it bestows upon frail and transitor[…] things. Thus much Virgil well perceiving, calleth this Spirit, The soul of the World; The Spirit, saith he, cherisheth it within, and conveying it self through the inmost parts, quickens and moves the whole lump, and closeth with this huge body. Wherefore seeing Ma[…] stands as it were in the middle, betwixt eternal and those trans[…]ory things, and is not altogether so excellent as heaven, and yet, because of his reason, more excellent then other living creatures; and he hath also the sensitive power: therefore the other living creatures, as it were degenerating from man, are indued onely with the two powers that remain, the sensitive and vegetative powers. But the Trees or Plants, because they have neither sense nor reason, but do onely grow are said to live only in this respect, that they have this vegetative soul. This the same Poet doth expresse a little after. Seeing then the Spirit cometh from God, and from the Spirit cometh the soul, and the soul doth animate and quicken all other things in their order, that Plants and bruit beasts do agree in vegetation or growing, bruit beasts with Man in sense, and Man with the Divine creatures in understanding, so that the superior power cometh down even from the very first cause to these inferiours, deriving her force into them, like as it were a cord platted together, and stretched along from heaven to earth, in such sort as if either end of this cord be touched, it will wag the whole; therefore we may rightly call this knitting together of things, a chain, or link and rings, for it agrees fitly with the rings of Plato, and with Homers golden chain, which he being the first author of all divine inventions, hath signified to the wise under the shadow of a fable, wherein he feigneth, that all the gods and goddesses have made a golden chain, which they hanged above in heaven, and it reacheth down to the very earth. But the truth of Christianity holdeth that the Souls do not proceed from the Spirit, but even immediately from God himself. These things a Magician being well acquainted withal, doth match heaven and earth together, as the Husband-man plants Elmes by his Vines; or to speak more plainly, he marries and couples together these inferiour things by their wonderful gifts and powers, which they have received from their superiours; and by this means he, being as it were the servant of Nature, doth bewray her hidden secrets, and bring them to light, so far as he hath found them true by his own daily experience, that so all men may love, and praise, and honour the Almighty power of God, who hath thus wonderfully framed and disposed all things.

CHAP. VII.

Of Sympathy and Antipathy; and that by them we may know and find out the vertues of things.

BY reason of the hidden and secret properties of things, there is in all kinds of creatures a certain compassion, as I may call it, which the Greeks call Sympathy and Antipathy; but we term it more familiarly, their consent, and their disagreement. For some things are joyned together as it were in a mutual league, and some other things are at variance and discord among themselves; or they have something in them which is a terror and destruction to each other, whereof there can be rendred no probable reason: neither will any wise man seek after any other cause hereof but only this, That it is the pleasure of Nature to see it should be so, that she would have nothing to be without his like, and that amongst all the secrets of Nature, there is nothing but hath some hidden and special property; and moreover, that by this their Consent and Disagreement, we might gather many helps for the uses and necessities of men; for when once we find one thing at variance with another, presently we may conjecture, and in trial so it will prove, that one of them may be used as a fit remedy against the harms of the other: and surely many things which former ages have by this means found out, they have commended to their posterity, as by their writings may appear. There is deadly hatred, and open enmity betwixt Coleworts and the Vine; for whereas the Vine windes it self with her tendrels about every thing else, she shuns Coleworts only: if once she come neer them, she turns her self another way, as if she were told that her enemy were at hand: and when Coleworts is seething, if you put never so little wine unto it, it will neither boil nor keep the colour. By the example of which experiment, A[…] drocides found out a remedy against wine, namely, that Coleworts are good against drunkennesse, as Theophrastus saith, in as much as the Vine cannot away with the savour of Coleworts. And this herbe is at enmity with Cyclamine or Sow-bread; for when they are put together, if either of them be green, it will dry up the other: now this Sow-bread being put into wine, doth encrease drunkennesse, whereas Coleworts is a remedy against drunkennesse, as we said before. Ivy, as it is the bane of all Trees, so it is most hurtful, and the greatest enemy to the Vine; and therefore Ivy also is good against drunkennesse. There is likewise a wonderful enmity betwixt Cane and Fern, so that one of them destroyes the other. Hence it is that a Fern root powned, doth loose and shake out the darts from a wounded body, that were shot or cast out of Canes: and if you would not have Cane grow in a place, do but plow up the ground with a little Fern upon the Plough-shear, and Cane will never grow there, Strangle-tare or Choke-weed desires to grow amongst Pulse, and especially among Beans and Fetches, but it choaks them all: and thence Dioscorides gathers, That if it be put amongst Pulse, set to seethe, it will make them seethe quickly. Hemlock and Rue are at enmity; they strive each against other; Rue must not be handled or gathered with a bare hand, for then it will cause Ulcers to arise; but if you do chance to touch it with your bare hand, and so cause it to swell or itch, anoint it with the juice of Hemlock. Much Rue being eaten, becometh poison; but the juice of Hemlock expels it; so that one poison poisoneth another: and likewise Rue is good against Hemlock being drunken, as Dioscorides saith. A wilde Bull being tyed to a Fig-tree, waxeth tame and gentle, as Zoroaster saith, who compiled a book called Geoponica, out of the choice writings of the Antients. Hence it was found out, that the stalks of a wilde Fig-tree, if they be put to Beef as it is boiling, make it boil very quickly, as Pliny writeth; and Dioscorides ministreth young figs that are full of milky juice, together with a portion of water and vinegar, as a remedy against a draught of Bulls blood. The Elephant is afraid of a Ram, or an engine of war so called: for as soon as ever he seeth it, he waxeth meek, and his fury ceaseth: hence the Romans by these engines put to flight the Elephants of Pyrrhus King of the Epyrotes, and so got a great victory. Such a contrariety is there betwixt the Elephants members, and that kind of Lepry which makes the skin of a man like the skin of an Elephant; and they are a present remedy against that disease. The Ape of all other things cannot abide a Snail: now the Ape is a drunken beast, for they are wont to take an Ape by making him drunk; and a Snail well washed is a remedy against drunkennesse. A man is at deadly hatred with a Serpent: for if he do but see a Serpent, presently he is sore dismaid; and if a woman with child meet a Serpent, her fruit becometh abortive: hence it is, that when a woman is in very sore travel, if she do but smell the fume of an Adders hackle, it will presently either drive out, or destroy her child: but it is better to anoint the mouth of the womb in such a case, with the fat of an Adder. The sight of a Wolfe is so hurtful to a man, that if he spie a man first, he takes his voice from him; and though he would fain cry out, yet he cannot speak: but if he perceive that the man hath first espied him, he makes no ado, but his savage fury ceaseth, and his strength failes him. Hence came that proverb, Lupus in fabula, the Wolf cometh in the nick; which Plato speaks of in his Politicks. The Wolf is afraid of the Urchin; thence, if we wash our mouth and throats with Urchines blood, it will make our voice shrill, though before it were hoarse and dull like a Wolves voice. A Dog and a Wolfe are at great enmity; and therefore a Wolves skin put upon any one that is bitten of a mad Dog, asswageth the swelling of the humour. An Hawk is a deadly enemy to Pigeons, but they are defended by the Kastrel, which the Hawk cannot abide either to hear or see: and this the Pigeons know well enough; for wheresoever the Kastrel remains, there also will the Pigeon remain, thinking themselves safe because of their protector. Hence Columella saith, That there is a kind of Hawks which the common-people call a Kastrel, that builds her nest about houses, that is very good to keep away hawks from a Pigeon-house: If you take the Kastrels young ones and put them in divers earthen pots, and cover the pots close, & plaister them round about, and hang them up in sundry corners of a Pigeon-house, the Pigeons will be so far in love with the place, that they will never forsake it. Hither belongeth that notable Disagreement that is betwixt Garlick and the Load-stone: for being smeared about with Garlike, it will not draw iron to it; as Plutark hath noted, and after him Ptolomaeus: the Load-stone hath in it a poisonous vertue, and Garlick is good against poison: but if no man had written of the power of Garlick against the Load-stone, yet we might conjecture it to be so, because it is good against vipers, and mad dogs, and poisonous waters. So likewise those living creatures that are enemies to poisonous things, and swallow them up without danger, may shew us that such poisons will cure the bitings and blows of those creatures. The Hart and the Serpent are at continual enmity: the Serpent as soon as he seeth the Hart, gets him into his hole, but the Hart draws him out again with the breath of his nostrils, and devours him: hence it is that the fat and the blood of Harts, and the stones that grow in their eyes, are ministred as fit remedies against the stinging and biting of serpents. Likewise the breath of Elephants draws Serpents out of their dens, and they fight with Dragons; and therefore the members of Elephants burned, drives away Serpents. The Storks drive out of the Countreyes where they are, Lyzards, and sundry kinds of Serpents, and other noisome things in the fields: and the intrails of them all are good against the Storks. The same is done also in Egypt by the bird Ibis. That Indian Rat, called Ichneumon, doth harnsse himself with some of the Lote-tree, and so fights against the Asp. The Lamprey fights with Serpents, and with her biting, kills the Basilisk, which is the most poisonous serpent that is. So also the crowing of a Cock affrights the Basilisk, and he fights with Serpents to defend his hens; and the broth of a Cock is a good remedy against the poison of serpents. So the Snail and the Eagle. The Stellion, which is a beast like a Lyzard, is an enemy to the Scorpions; and therefore the oyle of him being putrified is good to anoint the place which is stricken by the Scorpion. The Barbel eats up the Sea-hare, and is good against the poison thereof. A Swine eats up a Salamander, without danger, and is good against the poison thereof. The Hawk is an enemy to the Chamaeleon, and his dung drunken in wine, is good against the poison of the Chamaeleon. Likewise out of the Sympathies of plants, we may gather some secret, which is helpful against some kind of hurt. The herb Corruda, whereof Sperage comes, is most fitly planted where Reed grows, because they are of much likenesse and neernesse; and both of them are inciters to lust. The Vine and the Olive-tree do joy in each others company, as Africanus writes: both of them are very commodious for mens uses. In like manner the Morehenne loves the Hart, which is given to lust; both of their members are inciters to venery. The Goat and the Partridge love each other; and both these are goo[…] for one and the same remedy. So the fish Sargus and the Goat. A Dog is most […] to a man; and if you lay him to any diseased part of your body, he takes away the disease to himself; as Pliny reporteth.

CHAP. VIII.

That things receive their force and power from Heaven, and from the Stars; and that thereby many things are wrought.

I Suppose that no man doubts but that these inferiour things serve their superiours, and that the generation and corruption of mutable things, every one in his due course and order, is over-ruled by the power of those heavenly Natures. The Aegyptians, who first proved and found out the effects of the heavens, because they dwelt in the open Champion-fields, where they had continually fair weather, and there were no vapours sent up from the earth which might hinder their contemplation of heaven, so that they might continually behold the Stars in their brightnesse, did therefore wholly bestow themselves in the knowledge of heavenly influences: and whereas others that were not so diligent as they, stood amazed at the causes of things, these men referred all to the heavens and the Stars, that all things took their destiny from them, and that the influence of heaven bare great sway in all generations and corruptions; and thus observing the motions of the stars to and fro, they wrought many wonderful things; for this was their resolution, that to certain hours and set times, there were answerable certain aspects of superiour powers, whereby all things were effected, Ptolomy was of the same minde, who reduced the heavenly influences to a certain order, and thereby did progno[…]icate many things: and he thought the matter so clear, that it need not much proof: and moreover, that the increase and decrease of all plants, and all living creatures, more or lesse, did proceed from the power and stroke of the stars. Aristotle, finding that the highest motion was the cause and beginning of all things, (for if that should cease, these must needs presently decay) saith, that it was necessity for this world to be placed very neer and close to the sup[…]our motions, that all power might be thence derived; and he saw that all this force of inferiour things was caused from the Sun, as he himself fitly shews: The winding course of the Sun, saith he, in the oblique circle of the Zodiak, causeth the generation and corruption of all transitory things; and by his going to and fro, distinguisheth times and seasons. Plato saith, that the circular motions of the heavens are the causes of fruitfulnesse and barrennesse. The Sun is the Governour of time, and the rule of life. Hence J[…]m[…]lichus following the doctrine of the Aegyptians, saith, that every good thing cometh certainly from the power of the Sun; and if we receive any good from any thing else, yet the Sun must perfect and finish it. Heraclitus calls the Sun, the Fountain of heavenly light; Orpheus calls it the light of life; Plato calls it a heavenly Fire, an everliving Creature, a star that hath a Soul; the greatest and the daily star: and the natural Philosophers call it the very heart of heaven. And Plotinus shews, that in antient times the Sun was honoured in stead of God. Neither yet is the Moon lesse powerful, but what with her own force, and what with the force of the Sun which she borrows, she works much, by reason of her neernesse to these inferiours. Albumasar said, That all things had their vertue from the Sun and the Moon: and Hermes the learned said, that the Sun and the Moon are the life of all things living. The Moon is nighest to the Earth of all Planets; she rules moist bodies, and she hath such affinity with these inferiours, that as well things that have souls, as they that have none, do feel in themselves her waxing, and her waining. The Seas and Flouds, Rivers and Springs, do rise and fall, do run sometimes swifter, sometimes flower, as she rules them The surges of the Sea are tost to and fro, by continual succession; no other cause whereof the Antients could find but the Moon only: neither is there any other apparent reason of the ebbing and flowing thereof. Living creatures are much at her beck, and receive from her great encrease: for when she is at the full, as Lucilius saith, she feeds Oysters, Crabs, Shelfish, and such like, which her warm light doth temper kindly in the night season; but when she is but the half or the quarter light, then she withdraws her nourishment, and they wast[…], In like manner, Cucumbers, Gourds, Pompons, and such like, as have store of […] juice, feel the state of the Moon: for they wax as she doth; and when she […], they waste, as Athenaeus writes. Likewise the very stems of plants do follow the state of the heavens; witnesse the Husband-man, who finds it by experience in his graffing: and skilful Husbandmen have found the course and season of the year, and the monethly race of the Moon so necessary for plants, that they have supposed this knowledge to be one chief part of Husbandry. So also, when the Moon passeth through those signs of the Zodiak which are most peculiar to the earth, if you then plant trees, they will be strongly rooted in the earth: if you plant them when she passeth through the signs of the Air, then the tree so planted, will be plentiful in branches and leaves, and encreaseth more upward then downward. But of all other, the most pregnant sign hereof is found in the Pome-granate; which will bring forth fruit just so many years, as many daies as the Moon is old when you plant it. And it is a report also, that Garlick, if it be set when the Moon is beneath the earth, and be also plucked up at such a time, it will lose its strong savour. All cut and lopped Woods, as Timber and Fewel, are full of much moisture at the new of the Moon; and by reason of that moisture, they wax soft, and so the worm eats them, and they wither away. And therefore Democritus counselleth, and Vitruvius is also of the same minde, to cut or lop trees in the waining of the Moon, that being cut in season, they may last long without rottennesse. And that which is more, as her age varies, so her effects vary according to her age; for in her first quarter, she maketh hot and moist, but especially moist; from thence all moist things grow and receive their humidity in that time: from that time to the full of the Moon, she gives heat and moisture equally, as may be seen in Trees and Minerals: from that time to the half Moon decaying, she is hot and moist, but especially hot, because she is fuller of light; thence the fishes at that time commonly are wont to swim in the top of the water; and that the Moon is in this age warm, appears by this, that it doth extend and enlarge moist bodies; and thereby the moisture encreasing, it causeth rottennesse, and maketh them wither and w[…]te away. But in her last quarter, when she loseth all her light, then she is meerly hot; and the wises of Chaldea hold that this state of heaven is best of all other. So they report that there is a Moon-herb, having round twirled leaves of a blewish colour, which is well acquainted with the age of the Moon; for when the Moon waxeth, this herb every day of her age brings forth a leaf; and when she waineth, the same herb loseth for every day a leaf. These variable effects of the Moon, we may see more at large, and more usually in tame creatures and in plants, where we have daily sight and experience thereof. The Pismire, that little creature, hath a sense of the change of the Plantes: for she worketh by night about the full of the Moon, but she resteth all the space betwixt the old and the new Moon. The inwards of mice answer the Moons proportion; for they encrease with her, and with her they also shrink away. If we cut our hair, or pair our nailes before the new Moon, they will grow again but slowly; if at or about the new Moon, they will grow again quickly. The eyes of Cats are also acquainted with the alterations of the Moon, so that they are sometimes broader as the light is lesse, and narrower when the light of the Moon is greater. The Beetle marketh the ages and seasons of the Planets: for he gathering dung out of the mixen, rounds it up together, and covereth it with earth for eight and twenty daies, hiding it so long as the Moon goeth about the Zodiak; and when the new Moon cometh, he openeth that round ball of dirt, and thence yields a young Beetle. Onions alone, of all other herbs, (which is most wonderful) feels the changeable state of the Planets, but quite contrary to their change frameth it self; for when the Moon waineth, the Onions encrease; and when she waxeth, they decay; for which cause the Priests of Egypt would not eat Onions, as Plutark writes in his fourth Commentary upon Hesiode. That kinde of spurge which is called Helioscopium, because it follows the Sun, disposeth of her leaves as the Sun rules them; for when the Sun riseth, she openeth them, as being desirous that the morning should see them rise; and shutteth them when the Sun setteth, as desiring to have her flower covered and concealed from the night. So many other herbs follow the Sun, as the herb Turn-sole […] when the Sun riseth, she holds down her head all day long, that the Sun may never so much as writhe any of her (there is such love as it were betwixt them) and she stoops still the same way which the Sun goeth: so do the flowers of Succory and of Mallows. Likewise the pulse called Lupines, still looks after the Sun, that it may not writhe his stalk; and this watcheth the Suns motion so duly, that like a Dial it shews the Husband-man the time of the day, though it be never so cloudy; and they know thereby the just time when the Sun setteth: and Theophrastus saith, that the flower of the herb Lotum, is not onely open and shut, but also sometimes hides, and sometimes shews her stalk from Sun-set to midnight; and this, saith he, is done about the River Euphrates. So the Olive-tree, the Sallow, the Linden-tree, the Elm, the white Pople-tree, they declare the times of the Suns standing, when it turns back again from the Poles; for then they hide their leaves, and shew only their hoar-white backs. In like manner winter-Cresses or Irium, and Penyrial, though they begin to wither being gathered, yet if you hang them upon a stick about the time of the Solstice, they will for that time flourish. The stone Selenites, (as much as to say, the Moon-beam) called by others Aphroselinon, contains in it the Image of the Moon, and shews the waxing and waining of it every day in the same Image. Another stone there is, that hath in it a little cloud that turns about like the Sun, sometimes hiding, & sometimes shewing it self. The Beast Cynocephalus rejoiceth at the rising of the Moon, for then he stands up, lifting his fore-feet toward heaven, and wears a Royal Ensign upon his head: and he hath such a Sympathy with the Moon, that when she meets with the Sun (as betwixt the old and new Moon) so that she gives no light, the male, or He-Cynocephalus, never looks up, nor eats any thing, as bewailing the losse of the Moon; and the female, as male-content as He, all that while pisseth blood: for which causes, these beasts are nourished and kept in hallowed places, that by them the time of the Moones meeting with the Sun may be certainly known, as Oru[…] writes in his Hieroglyphicks. The star Arcturus, at his rising causeth rain. Dogs are well acquainted with the rising of the Canicular star; for at that time they are commonly mad; and so are vipers and serpents; nay, then the very standing pools are moved, and wines work as they lye in the Cellar, and other great and strange effects are wrought upon earth: when this star riseth, Basil-gentle waxeth whiterish, and Coriander waxeth dry, as Theophrastus writeth. The rising of this star was wont to be diligently observed every year; for thereby they would prognosticate, whether the year following would be wholesome or contagious, as Heraclides Ponticus saith: for if it did rise dark and gloomy, it was a sign that the Air would be thick and foggy, which would cause a pestilence: but if it were clear and lightsome, it was a sign that the Air would be thin and well purged, and consequently healthful. In ancient times they much feared this Star, so that they ordained a dog to be offered in sacrifice to it, as Columella saith, that this star is pacified with the blood and entrails of a sucking whelp; and Ovid likewise saith, that a dog bred on the earth, is sacrificed to the Dog-star in Heaven. The Beast or wilde Goat, which in Egypt is called Oryx, hath a sense or feeling of this Star before it riseth; for then he looks upon the Sun-beams, and in them doth honour the Canicular star. Hippocrates saith, it is good either to purge or let blood, before or after this star riseth; and Galen shews that many very necessary operations of this Star must be observed in Critical dayes; and likewise in sowing and planting. Moreover, the greater stars and constellations must be known, and at what time they go out of the signs, whereby are caused many waterish and fiery impressions in the Air. And whosoever is rightly seen in all these things, he will ascribe all these inferiours to the stars as their causes; whereas if a man be ignorant hereof, he loseth the greatest part of the knowledge of secret operations and works of nature. But of this argument, we have spoken in our writings of the knowledge of Plants.