1.5. Whether it be likelie that any giants were, and whether they inhabited
in this Ile or not. Cap. 5.
Whether it be likelie that any giants were, and whether they inhabited
in this Ile or not. Cap. 5.
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1 _BEsides these
aforesaid nations, which haue crept (as you haue heard) into our Iland,
we read of sundrie giants that should inhabit here. Which report as it is
not altogither incredible, sith the posterities of diuers
princes were called by the name: so
vn|to some mens eares it séemeth so strange a rehersall, that for the
same onelie cause they suspect the credit of our whole historie, &
reiect it as a fable, vnworthie to be read. They also condemne the like
in all other histories, especiallie of the North, where men are
naturallie of greatest stature, imagining all to be but fables that is
written of Starcater, Hartben, Angrine, Aruerode, &c: of
whom
Saxo
, Iohannes Magnus
and
Olaus
doo make mention, & whose bones doo yet remaine to be seene
as rare miracles in nature. Of these
also some in their life time were able to lift vp (as they write) a
vessell of liquor of 1000. weight, or an horsse, or an oxe, & cast it
on their shoulders (wherein their verie women haue beene like|wise knowne
to come néere vnto them) and of the race of those men, some were séene of
no lesse strength in the 1500. of Grace, wherein Olaus liued,
and wrote the same of his owne experience and knowledge. Of the giant of
Spaine that died of late yeares by a fall vpon the Alpes, as he either
went or came from Rome, about the purchase of a dispensation to marrie
with his kinswoman (a woman also of much more than com|mon stature) there
be men yet liuing, and may liue long for age, that can saie verie much
euen by their owne knowledge. Wherfore it appeareth by present
ex|perience, that all is not absolutelie vntrue which is re|membred of
men of such giants. For this cause ther|fore I haue now taken vpon me to
make this breefe discourse insuing, as indeuouring therby to prooue, that
the opinion of giants is not altogither grounded vpon vaine and fabulous
narrations, inuented onelie to de|light the cares of the hearers with the
report of mar|uellous things: but that there haue beene such men in déed,
as for their hugenesse of person haue resembled rather
Esay. 30. vers. 25
. high towers than mortall men, although their
posterities are now consumed, and their monstruous races vtterlie worne
out of knowledge.
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1 I doo not meane herein
to dispute, whether this name Gigas or
Nephilim
was giuen vnto them, rather for their tyrannie and oppression of
the people, than for their greatnesse of bodie, or large steps, as
Goropius
would haue it (for he denieth that euer men were greater than at
this present) or bicause their parents were not knowne, for such in old
time were called Terrae filij; or whether the word
Gigas dooth onlie signifie Indigenas, or homelings,
borne in the land or not; neither whether all men were of like quantitie
in stature, and farre more greater in old time, than now they be: and yet
ab|solutelie I denie neither of these, sith verie probable reasons may be
brought for ech of them, but especiallie the last rehearsed, whose
confirmation dependeth vpon the authorities of sundrie ancient writers,
who make diuers of noble race, equall to the giants in strength and
manhood, and yet doo not giue the same name vnto them, bicause their
quarels were iust, and commonlie taken in hand for defense of the
oppressed. Examples hereof we may take of Hercules and
Antheus,
Antheus. Lucane lib. 4. in fine
. whose wrestling declareth that they were equall in
stature & stomach. Such also was the courage of Antheus,
that being often ouercome, and as it were vtterlie vanqui|shed by the
said Hercules, yet if he did estsoones returne againe into his
kingdome, he foorthwith recouered his force, returned and held
Hercules tacke, till he gat at the last betwéene him and
home, so cutting off the far|ther hope of the restitution of his armie,
and killing fi|nallie his aduersarie in the field, of which victorie
Poli|tian
writeth thus:
Incaluere animis dura certare palaestra,
Neptuni quondàm filius atque Iouis:
Non certamen erant operoso ex aere lebetes,
Sed qui vel vitam vel ferat interitum:
Occidit Antaeus Ioue natum viuere fas est,
Est magistra Pales Graecia, non Lybia.
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1 The like doo our
histories report of
Corineus and Go|magot
, Corineus. Gomagot. peraduenture king of
this Ile, who fought a combat hand to hand, till one of them was slaine,
and yet for all this no man reputeth Hercules or
Corineus for giants, albeit that
Hanuile in his Architrenion
make the later to be 12. cubits in height, which is full 18. foot,
if poeticall licence doo not take place in his report and assertion. But
sith (I say againe) it is not my purpose to stand vpon these points, I
passe ouer to speake any more of them. And whereas also I might haue
procéeded in such order, that I should first set downe by manie
circumstances, whether any gi|ants were, then whether they were of such
huge and in|credible stature as the authours doo remember, and fi|nallie
whether any of them haue beene in this our I|land or not, I protest
plainlie, that my mind is not here bent to deale in any such maner, but
rather generallie to confirme and by sufficient authoritie, that there
haue beene such mightie men of stature, and some of them al|so in
Britaine, which I will set downe onelie by sundrie examples, whereby it
shall fall out, that neither our Iland, nor any part of the maine, haue
at one time or other béen altogither without them. First of all therfore,
& to begin with the scriptures, the most sure & certeine ground
of all knowledge: you shall haue out of them EEBO page image 9 such notable
examples set downe, as I haue obserued in reading the same, which vnto
the godlie may suffice for sufficient proofe of my position.
Neuerthelesse, after the scriptures I will resort to the wrttings of our
lear|ned Diuines, and finallie of the infidell and pagane authors,
whereby nothing shall seeme to want that may confute Goropius,
and all his cauillations.
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1
2
Moses the prophet of the Lord,
Cap. 6. vers. 5.
writing of the estate of things before the floud, hath these
words in his booke of generations. In these daies saith he, there were
gi|ants vpon the earth.
Berosus also the Chalde writeth,
Anti. li. 1.
that néere vnto Libanus there was a citie called
Oe|non (which I take to be Hanoch, builded sometime
by Cham) wherein giants did inhabit, who trusting to the
strength and hugenesse of their bodies, did verie great oppression and
mischeefe in the world. The Hebrues called them generallie
Enach, of Hanach the Che|bronite, father to
Achimam, Scheschai and Talma, al|though their first
originall was deriued from Henoch the sonne of Caine,
of whome that pestilent race des|cended,
as I read. The Moabits named them Emims, and the
Ammonites Zamsummims, and it should seeme by the second of Deut. cap. 19, 20
. that Ammon and Moab were greatlie replenished
with such men, when Moses wrote that treatise. For of these
monsters some families remained of greater stature than other vnto his
daies,
[...]. cap. 13. verse. 33, & 34
. in comparison of whome the children of Israell
confessed themselues to be but grashoppers. Which is one noble testimonie
that the word Gigas or Enach is so well taken for a man
of huge stature, as for an homeborne
child, wicked tyrant, or oppressour of the people.
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1 Furthermore,Deut. 3. vers. 11. Og of Basan. there is mention
made also in the scriptures of
Og, sometime king of Basan
, who was the last of the race of the giants, that was left in the
land of promise to be ouercome by the Israelits, & whose iron bed was
afterward shewed for a woonder at Rabbath (a citie of the
Ammonites) conteining 9. cubits in length, and 4. in bredth, which cubits
I take not to be geometri|call, (that is, each one so great as six of the
smaller, as those were wherof the Arke
was made, as our Diuines affirme, especiallie Augustine: whereas
Origen, hom. 2. in Gen.
out of whom he seemeth to borrow it, appeareth to haue no such
meaning directlie) but rather of the arme of a meane man, which
oftentimes dooth varie & differ from the standard. Oh how
Goropius dalieth about the historie of this Og, of
the breaking of his pate against the beds head, & of hurting his ribs
against the sides, and all to prooue, that Og was not bigger
than other men, and so he leaueth the matter as sufficientlie
an|swered with a French countenance
of truth. But see
August. de ciuit. lib. 15. cap. 25.
& ad Faustum Manich. lib. 12
. Ambros
. &c.
and
Iohannes Buteo
that excellent geo|metrician, who hath written of purpose of the
capacitie of the Arke.
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1 In the first of Samuel you shall read of
Goliah a Philistine
,Cap 17. ver. 4, 5, 6. Goliah. the weight
of whose brigandine or shirt of maile was of 5000. sicles, or 1250.
ounces of brasse, which amounteth to 104. pound of Troie weight after 4.
common sicles to the ounce. The head of his speare came vnto ten pound English or 600. sicles of that
me|tall. His height also was measured at six cubits and an hand bredth.
All which doo import that he was a notable giant, and a man of great
stature & strength to weare such an armour, and beweld so heauie a
lance. But Goropius thinking himselfe still to haue Og
in hand, and indeuouring to extenuate the fulnesse of the letter to his
vttermost power, dooth neuerthelesse earnest|lie affirme, that he was not
aboue three foot more than the common sort of men, or two foot higher
than Saule: and so he leaueth it as determined.
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1
In the second of Samuel,
Cap. 21. ver. 26, 17, &c. I find report of
foure gi|ants borne in Geth; of which Ishbenob the first, that
would haue killed Dauid, had a speare, whose head weighed the
iust halfe of that of Golias [...]: the second cal|led Siphai, Sippai or Saph, 1.
Par. 20. was nothing infe|riour to the first: the third hight
also Goliah, the staffe of whose speare was like vnto the beame
of a weauers loome, neuerthelesse he was slaine in the second battell in
Gob by Elhanan, as the first was by Abisai
Ioabs brother, and the second by Elhanan. The fourth
brother (for they were all brethren) was slaine at Gath by
Io|nathan nephew to Dauid, and he was not onlie huge
of personage, but also of disfigured forme, for he had 24. fingers and
toes. Wherby it is euident, that the genera|tion of giants was not
extinguished in Palestine, vn|till the time of Dauid, which was
2890. after the floud, nor vtterlie consumed in Og, as some of
our expositors would haue it.
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1 Now to come vnto our
christian writers. For though the authorities alreadie alleged out of the
word, are suf|ficient to confirme my purpose at the full; yet will I not
let to set downe such other notes as experience hath reuealed, onelie to
the end that the reader shall not thinke the name of giants, with their
quantities, and other circumstances, mentioned in the scriptures, ra|ther
to haue some mysticall interpretation depending vpon them, than that the
sense of the text in this be|halfe is to be taken simplie as it speaketh.
And first of all to omit that which
Tertullian Lib. 2. de resurrect.
saith; S. Augustine noteth,
De ciuitate Dei lib. 15. cap.
9
. how he with other saw the tooth of a man, wherof he
tooke good aduisement, and pronounced in the end that it would haue made
100. of his owne, or anie other mans that liued in his time. The like
hereof also dooth
Iohn Boccace
set downe,Iohannes Boccacius. in the 68.
chapter of his 4. booke, saieng that in the caue of a mountaine, not far
from Drepanum (a towne of Sicilia called E|ryx as he
gesseth) the bodie of an excéeding high giant was discouered, thrée of
whose teeth did weigh 100. ounces, which being conuerted into English
poise, doth yeeld eight pound and foure ounces, after twelue oun|ces to
the pound, that is 33. ounces euerie tooth.
He addeth farther,
that the forepart of his scull was able to conteine manie bushels of
wheat, and by the proportion of the bone of his thigh, the
Sym|metricians iudged his bodie to be aboue 200. cubits.
Those teeth,A carcase discouered of 200.
cu|bits. scull, and bones, were (and as I thinke yet are, for
ought I know to the contrarie) to be seene in the church of
Drepanum in perpetuall memorie of his greatnesse, whose bodie
was found vpon this occasi|on. As some digged in the earth to laie the
foundati|on of an house, the miners happened vpon a great vault, not
farre from Drepanum: whereinto when they were entred, they saw
the huge bodie of a man sitting in the caue, of whose greatnesse they
were so afraid, that they ranne awaie, and made an outcrie in the citie,
how there sat a man in such a place, so great as an hill: the people
hearing the newes, ran out with clubs and wea|pons, as if they should
haue gone vnto a foughten field, and 300. of them entring into the caue,
they foorth|with saw that he was dead, and yet sat as if he had béen
aliue, hauing a staffe in his hand, compared by mine author vnto the mast
of a tall ship, which being touched fell by and by to dust, sauing the
nether end betwéene his hand and the ground, whose hollownesse was filled
with 1500. pound weight of lead, to beare vp his arme that it should not
fall in péeces: neuerthelesse, his bodie also being touched fell likewise
into dust, sauing three of his aforesaid teeth, the forepart of his
scull, and one of his thigh bones, which are reserued to be séene of such
as will hardlie beleeue these reports.
In the histories of
Brabant I read of a giant found, whose bones were 17. or 18. cubits in
length, but
Goro|pius,
as his maner is, denieth them to be the bones of a man, affirming
rather that they were the bones of an elephant, because they somwhat
resembled those of two such beasts which were found at the making of the fa|mous ditch betwéene Bruxels and
Machlin
. As though EEBO page image 10 there were anie precise resemblance
betwéene the bones of a man and of an elephant, or that there had euer
béene any elephant of 27. foot in length. But sée his demeanour. In the
end he granteth that another bodie was found vpon the shore of
Rhodanus, of thirtie foot in length. Which somewhat staieth
his iudgement, but not altogither remooueth his error.
Compare 1577 edition:
1 The bodie of
Pallas
was found in Italie,Mat. West|mon. in the
yeare of Grace 1038. and being measured it conteined twen|tie foot in
length, this Pallas was companion with Ae|neas.
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1 There was a carcase also laid bare 1170. in England
vpon the shore (where the beating of the sea had wash|ed awaie the
earth from the stone wherein it laie) and when it was taken vp,Iohannes Leland. Mafieus
, Lib. 14. Triuet. Mat. West. it conteined 50. foot in
measu [...], as our histories doo report. The like was seene before in Wales,
in the yeare 1087. of another of 14. foot.
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1 In Perth
moreouer a village in Scotland another was taken vp, which to this daie
they shew in a church, vnder the name of
little Iohn
(per Antiphrasin) being
also 14. foot in length, as diuerse doo affirme which haue beholden the
same,Hector Boet. and whereof Hector
Boetius dooth saie, that he did put his whole arme into one of
the hanch bones: which is worthie to be remembred.
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1 In the yeare of Grace
1475. the bodie of Tulliola the daughter of Cicero was
taken vp, & found higher by not a few foot than the common sort of
women li|uing in those daies.
Compare 1577 edition:
1
Geruasius Tilberiensis
,
Geruasius Tilberien|sis. head Marshall to the
king of Arles writeth in his Chronicle dedicated to Otho 4. how that at Isoretum, in the suburbes
of Paris, he saw the bodie of a man that was twentie foot long, beside
the head and the necke, which was missing & not found, the owner
hauing peraduenture béene beheaded for some notable trespasse committed
in times past, or (as he saith) killed by S. William.
The Greeke writers
make mention of
Andronicus
their emperour, who liued 1183. of Grace, and was ten foot in
height, that is, thrée foot higher than the Dutch man
that shewed himselfe in manie places of Eng|land, 1582. this man maried Anna daughter to Lewis of France
(before assured to Alexius, whome he stran|gled, dismembred and drowned
in the sea) the ladie not being aboue eleuen yeares of age, whereas he
was an old dotard, and beside hir he kept Marpaca a fine
har|lot, who ruled him as she listed.
Zonaras
speaketh of a woman that liued in the daies of Iustine, who being
borne in Cilicia, and of verie comelie personage, was neuerthelesse
almost two foot taller than the tallest woman of hir time.
Compare 1577 edition:
1 A carcase was taken vp
at Iuie church neere Sa|lisburie but of late yeares to speake of,Sir Thomas Eliot. almost fourtéene foot long.
in Dictionario Eliotae.
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1
In Gillesland in Come Whitton
paroche not far from the chappell of the Moore,Leland in Combrit. six miles by east from Carleill, a coffin
of stone was found, and therein the bones of a man, of more than
incredible greatnes. In like sort Leland speaketh of another
found in the Ile called Alderney
, whereof you shall read more in the chapiter of our
Ilands.
Compare 1577 edition:
1
2
Richard Grafton in his Manuell
telleth of one whose shinbone conteined six foot,Richard Grafton. and thereto his scull so great
that it was able to receiue fiue pecks of wheat. Where|fore by
coniecturall symmetrie of these parts, his bodie must needs be of 24.
foot, or rather more, if it were dili|gentlie measured. For the
proportion of a comelie and well featured bodie, answereth 9. times to
the length of the face, taken at large from the pitch of the crowne to
the chin,The Sym|metrie or proportion of the bodie of
a comelie man. as the whole length is from the same place vnto
the sole of the foot, measured by an imagined line, and seuered into so
manie parts by like ouerthwart draughts, as
Drurerus
in his lineall description of mans bodie doth deliuer. Neuertheles,
this symmetrie is not taken by other than the well proportioned face, for
Recta, orbiculata (or fornicata) prona, resupinata,
and lacu|nata (or repanda) doo so far degenerate from
the true pro|portion as from the forme and beautie of the comelie. Hereby
also they make the face taken in strict maner, to be the tenth part of
the whole bodie, that is, frõ the high|est part of the forehead to the
pitch of the chin, so that in the vse of the word face there is a
difference, wherby the 9. part is taken (I say) from the crowne (called
Vertex, because the haire there turneth into a circle) so
that if the space by a rule were truelie taken, I meane from the crowne
or highest part of the head to the pitch of the nether chap, and
multiplied by nine, the length of the whole bodie would easilie appeare,
& shew it selfe at the full. In like maner I find, that from the
elbow to the top of the midle finger is the 4. part of the whole length,
called a cubit: from the wrist to the top of the same fin|ger, a tenth
part: the length of the shinbone to the ancle a fourth part (and all one
with the cubit:) from the top of the finger to the third ioint, two third
parts of the face from the top of the forehead. Which obseruations I
willinglie remember in this place, to the end that if anie such carcases
happen to be found hereafter, it shall not be hard by some of these bones
here mentioned, to come by the stature of the whole bodie, in certeine
& ex|act maner. As for the rest of the bones, ioints, parts, &c:
you may resort to Drurerus, Cardan
, and other writers, sith the farther deliuerie of them
concerneth not my purpose. To proceed therefore with other examples, I
read that the bodie of king Arthur
being found in the yeare 1189. was two foot higher than anie man
thatSyluester Gyraldus. came to behold the
same. Finallie the carcase of
Wil|liam conqueror
was séene not manie yeares since (to wit, 1542.) in the citie of
Cane, twelue inches longer, by the iudgment of such as saw it,Constans fama Gal|lorum. than anie man which
dwelled in the countrie. All which testimonies I note togither, bicause
they proceed from christian writers, from whome nothing should be farther
or more distant, than of set purpose to lie, and feed the world with
fables.
In our times also, and
whilest Francis the first reig|ned ouer France, there was a man
séene in
Aqui|teine,
whome the king being in those parties made of his gard, whose
height was such, that a man of common heigth might easilie go vnder his
twist without stoo|ping, a stature incredible. Moreouer
Casanion, a wri|ter of our time, telleth of the bones of
Briat
a giant found of late in Delphinois,
Briat. of 15. cubits, the diame|ter of whose
scull was two cubits, and the breadth of his shoulders foure, as he
himselfe beheld in the late se|cond wars of France, & wherevnto the
report of
Ioan Marius made in his bookes De Galliarum
illustrationibus
, where he writeth of the carcase of the same giant found not farre
from the Rhodanus, which was 22. foot long, from the scull to
the sole of the feet, dooth yéeld sufficient testimonie. Also
Calameus in his commentaries De Biturigibus
, confirmeth no lesse, adding that he was found 1556. & so
dooth
Baptista Fulgosus, lib. 1. cap. 6.
sai|eng farther, that his graue was seene not farre from
Valentia, and discouered by the violence and current of the
Rhodanus. The said
Casanion
in like sort spea|keth of the bones of a man which he beheld, one
of whose téeth was a foot long, and eight pound in weight. Also of the
sepulchre of another neere vnto
Charmes
castell, which was nine paces in length, things incredible to vs,
if eiesight did not confirme it in our owne times, and these carcases
were not reserued by the verie pro|uidence of God, to the end we might
behold his works, and by these relikes vnderstand, that such men were in
old time in deed, of whose statures we now begin to doubt. Now to say
somwhat also of mine owne know|ledge, there is the thighbone of a man to
be séene in the church of S. Laurence néere
Guildhall in London
, which in time past was 26. inches in length, but now it beginneth
to decaie, so that it is shorter by foure inches than it was in the time
of king Edward. Another also EEBO page image 11 is to be seene in
Aldermar [...]e burie, of some called Al|dermanburie
, of 32. inches and rather more, whereof the symmetrie hath beene
taken by some skilfull in that practise, and an image made according to
that pro|portiõ, which is fixed in the east end of the cloister of the
same church, not farre from the said bone, and sheweth the person of a
man full ten or eleuen foot high, which as some say was found in the
cloister of Poules, that was neere to the librarie, at such time as the
Duke of So|merset did pull it downe to the verie foundation,
and carried the stones thereof to the
Strand, where he did build his house. These two bones haue I séene,
beside other, whereof at the beholding I tooke no great heed, bicause I
minded not as then to haue had any such vse of their proportions, and
therefore I will speake no more of them: this is sufficient for my
purpose that is deliuered out of the christian authors.
Compare 1577 edition:
1 Now it resteth
furthermore that I set downe, what I haue read therof in Pagane writers,
who had alwaies great regard of their credit, and so ought all men
that dedicate any thing vnto
posteri [...]ie, least in going about otherwise to reape renowme and praise,
they doo pro|cure vnto themselues in the end nothing else but meere
contempt and infamie. For my part I will touch rare things, and such as
to my selfe doo séeme almost incredi|ble: howbeit as I find them, so I
note them, requiring your Honour in reading hereof, to let euerie Author
beare his owne burden, and euerie oxe his bundle.
Compare 1577 edition:
1
Plutarch
telleth how Sertorius being in Lybia,In
vita Ser|iorij de An|theo. néere to the streicts of
Maroco, to wit, at Tingi (or Tanger in Mauritania, as it is now called) caused
the sepulchre of Antheus, afore remembred to be opened: for
hearing by common report that the said giant laie buried there, whose
corps was fiftie cubits long at the least, he was so far off from
crediting the same, that he would not be|leeue it, vntill he saw the
coffin open wherein the bones of the aforesaid prince did rest. To be
short therefore, he caused his souldiers to cast downe the hill made
some|time ouer the tombe, and finding the bodie in the bot|tome coffined
in stone, after the measure therof taken, he saw it manifestlie to be 60. cubits in length, which were ten more
than the people made accompt of, which
Strabo
also confirmeth.
Pausanias
reporteth out of one Miso, that when the bodie of
Aiax was found, the whirlebone of his knée was adindged so
broad as a pretie dish: also that the bo|die of Asterius somtime
king of Creta was ten cubits long, and that of Hyllus or
Gerion no lesse maruelous than the rest, all which
Goropius
still condemneth to be the bones of monsters of the sea
(notwithstanding the manifest formes of
their bones, epitaphes, and inscripti|ons found ingrauen in brasse and
lead with them in their sepulchres) so far is he from being persuaded and
led from his opinion.
Compare 1577 edition:
1
Philostrate in Heroicis
saith,Philostrate. how he saw the bodie
of a giant thirtie cubits in length, also the carcase of ano|ther of two
and twentie, and the third of twelue.
Liuie
in the seauenth of his first decade, speaketh of an huge person
which made a challenge as he stood at the end of the Anien bridge,
against any Romane that would come out
and fight with him, whose stature was not much inferiour to that of
Golias, of
Artaches
(of whome Herodot speaketh in the historie of
Xerxes) who was sixe common cubits of stature, which make but
fiue of the kings standard, bicause this is longer by thrée fingers than
the other. Of
Pusio, Secundilla, & Cabaras
, of which the first two liuing vnder Augustus were aboue
ten foot, and the later vnder Claudius of full nine and all
remembred by Plinie; of Eleazar a Iew, of whome
Iosephus
saith, that he was sent to Tiberius, and a per|son of
heigth fiue cubits, of another of whom
Nice|phorus maketh mention lib. 12. cap. 13. Hist.
eccles.
of fiue cubits and an handfull, I say nothing, bicause
Casani|on
of Mutterell hath alredie sufficientlie discoursed vp|on these
examples in his De gigantibus, which as I gesse he hath written
of set purpose against Goropius, who in his
Gigantomachia, supposeth himselfe to haue killed all the
giants in the world, and like a new Iupiter Al|terum carcasse
Herculem, as the said
Casanion
dooth meri|lie charge and vpbraid him.
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Plinie
telleth of an earthquake at Creta,Lib. 7.
which disco|uered the body of a giant, that was 46. cubits in length
after the Romane standard, and by diuerse supposed to be the bodie of
Orion or Aetion. Neuerthelesse I read, that
Lucius Flaccus and Metellus
did sweare Per sua ca|pita, that it was either the
carcase of some monster of the sea, or a forged deuise to bleare the
peoples eies withall, wherein it is wonderfull to see, how they please
Goropius as one that first deriued his fantasticall
ima|gination from their asseueration & oth. The said
Plinie
also addeth that the bodie of Orestes was seuen cubits in
length, one Gabbara of Arabia nine foot nine inches, and two
reserued In conditorio Sallustianorum halfe a foot longer than
Gabbara was, for which I neuer read that anie man was driuen
to sweare.
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1
Trallianus
writeth how the Athenienses digging on a time in the ground,Trallianus. to laie the foundation of a new wall
to be made in a certeine Iland in the daies of an emperour, did find the
bones of Macrosyris in a coffin of hard stone, of 100. cubits in
length after the ac|compt of the Romane cubit, which was then either a
foot and a halfe, or not much in difference from halfe a yard of our
measure now in England. These verses al|so, as they are now translated
out of Gréeke were found withall,
Sepultus ego Macrosyris in longa insula
Vitae peractis annis mille quinquies: which amounteth
to 81. yeares foure moneths, after the Aegyptian rec|koning.
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1 In the time of
Hadrian the emperour, the bodie of the giant Ida was
taken vp at Messana, conteining 20. foot in length, and hauing a double
row of teeth, yet standing whole in his chaps.
Eumachus also in Perigesi
, telleth that when the Carthaginenses went about to dich in their
prouince, they found two bodies in seue|rall coffins of stone, the one
was 23. the other 24. cubits in length, such another was found in
Bosphoro Cymmerio after an earthquake, but the inhabitants
did cast those bones into the Meotidan marris. In Dal|matia, manie graues
were shaken open with an earth|quake, in diuerse of which certein
carcases were found, whose ribs conteined 16. els, after the Romane
mea|sure, whereby the whole bodies were iudged to be 64. sith the longest
rib is commonlie about the fourth part of a man, as some rouing
symmetricians affirme.
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Arrhianus
, saith that in the time of Alexander the bo|dies of the
Asianes were generallie of huge stature, and commonlie of fiue cubits,
and such was the heigth of Porus of Inde, whom the said
Alexander vanquished and ouerthrew in battell.
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Suidas
speaketh of Ganges, killed also by the said prince, who farre
exceeded Porus; for he was ten cubits long. What should I speake
of Artaceas a capitaine in the host of Xerxes afore
remembred, whose heigth was within 4. fingers bredth of fiue cubits,
& the tallest man in the armie except the king himselfe. Herod.
lib. 7. Of
Athanatus
whom Plinie remembreth I saie nothing. But of all these,
this one example shall passe, which I doo read of in Trallianus,
and he setteth downe in forme and manner following.
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2 In the daies of
Tiberius th' emperor saith he, a corps was left bare or laid
open after an earthquake, of which ech tooth (taken one with another)
conteined 12. inches ouer at the least. Now forsomuch as in such as be
full mouthed,A mouth of sixteene foot wide. ech
chap hath commonlie 16. teeth at the least, which amount vnto 32. in the
whole, needs must the widenesse of this mans chaps be welneere of 16.
foot, and the opening of his lips fiue at the least. A large EEBO page image 12 mouth in mine opinion, and not to eat peason with La|dies
of my time, besides that if occasion serued, it was able to receiue the
whole bodies of mo than one of the greatest men, I meane of such as we be
in our daies. When this carcase was thus found, euerie man mar|uelled at
it, & good cause why. A messenger was sent to Tiberius the
emperour also to know his pleasure,A counter|fect made
of a monstrous carcase by one tooth ta|ken out of the head.
whe|ther he would haue the same brought ouer vnto Rome or not, but he
forbad them, willing his Legate not to remooue the dead out of his
resting place, but rather somewhat to
satisfie his phantasie to send him a tooth out of his head, which being
done, he gaue it to a cunning workeman, commanding him to shape a carcase
of light matter, after the proportion of the tooth, that at the least by
such means he might satisfie his curious mind, and the fantasies of such
as are delited with nouelties. To be short,This man
was more fauorable to this monster than our pa|pists were to the
bodies of the dead who tare them in peeces to make money of
them. when the image was once made and set vp on end, it
appéered rather an huge colossie than the true carcase of a man, and when
it had stood in Rome vntill the people were wearie & throughlie
satisfied with the sight thereof, he
caused it to be broken all to peeces, and the tooth sent againe to the
carcase frõ whence it came, willing them moreouer to couer it
diligentlie, and in anie wise not to dismember the corps, nor from
thence|foorth to be so hardie as to open the sepulchre anie more.
Pausan. lib.
8.
telleth in like maner of Hiplodanus & his fellowes,
who liued when Rhea was with child of Osyris by
Cham, and were called to hir aid at such time as she feared
to be molested by Hammon hir first husband, whilest she remained
vpon the Thoumasian hill, In ipso loco,
Grandiáque effossis mira|bitur ossa
se|pulchris. saith he, spectantur ossa maiora multo quàm vt
humana existimari possunt,
&c. Of Protophanes who had but one great and broad
bone in steed of all his ribs on ech side I saie nothing, sith it
concerneth not his stature.
I could rehearse manie
mo examples of the bodies of such men, out of
Solinus
, Sabellicus
, D. Cooper
, and o|thers. As of
Oetas and Ephialtes
, who were said to be nine orgies or paces in heigth, and foure in
bredth, which are taken for so many cubits, bicause there is small
dif|ference betwéene a mans ordinarie pace and his cubit, and finallie of our Richard the first, who is
noted to beare an axe in the wars, the iron of whose head onelie weighed
twentie pound after our greatest weight, and whereof an old writer that I
haue seene, saith thus:
This king Richard I vnderstand,
Yer he went out of England,
Let make an axe for the nones,
Therewith to cleaue the Saracens bones,
The head in sooth was wrought full weele,
Thereon were twentie pound of steele,
And when he came in Cyprus land,
That ilkon axe he tooke in hand, &c.
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2
3 I could speake also of
Gerards staffe
or lance, yet to be seene in Gerards hall at London in Basing
lane, which is so great and long that no man can beweld it, neither go to
the top thereof without a ladder, which of set purpose and for greater
countenance of the wonder is fixed by the same. I haue seene a man my
selfe of se|uen foot in height, but lame of his legs. The chronicles also
of Cogshall
speake of one in Wales, who was halfe a foot higher, but through infirmitie and wounds not
able to beweld himselfe. I might (if I thought good) speake also of
another of no lesse heigth than either of these and liuing of late
yeares, but these here remem|bred shall suffice to prooue my purpose
withall. I might tell you in like sort of the marke stone which
Turnus threw at Aeneas, and was such as that twelue
chosen and picked men (saith
Virgil
,
(Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus)
were not able so
stur and remooue out of the place: but I passe it ouer,
Vis vnita fortior est ea|dem dispersa. and diuerse of the
like, concluding that these huge blocks were ordeined and created by God:
first for a testimonie vnto vs of his power and might; and secondlie for
a confirmation, that hugenes of bodie is not to be accompted of as a part
of our felicitie, sith they which possessed the same, were not onelie
tyrants, doltish, & euill men, but also oftentimes ouercome euen by
the weake & féeble. Finallie they were such indéed as in whom the
Lord delited not, according to the saieng of the prophet
Cap. 3, 36.
Baruch
; Ibi fuerunt gigantes nominati, illi qui ab initio fuerunt
statura magna, scientes bellum, hos non elegit Dominus, neque illis
viam disciplinae dedit, propterea perierunt, & quoniam non
habuerunt sapientiam, interierunt propter suam insipientiam,
&c.
that is, There were the giants famous from the beginning, that were
of great stature and expert in warre, those did not the Lord choose,
neither gaue he the waie of knowledge vnto them, but they were destroied,
because they had no wisedome, and pe|rished through their owne
foolishnesse. That the bodies of men also doo dailie decaie in stature,
beside
Plinie
lib. 7.
Esdras likewise confesseth lib. 4. cap. 5
. whose authoritie
4. Esd. cap. 5. is so
good herein as that of
Homer or
Plinie, who doo
af|firme so much, whereas
Goropius still continuing his woonted
pertinacitie also in this behalfe, maketh his proportion first by the old
Romane foot, and then by his owne, & therevpon concludeth that men in
these daies be fullie so great as euer they were, whereby as in the
former dealing he thinketh it nothing to conclude a|gainst the
scriptures, chosen writers and testimonies of the oldest pagans. But see
how he would salue all at last in the end of his
Gigantomachia
, where he saith, I denie not but that od huge personages
haue bene seene, as a woman of ten, and a man of nine foot long, which I
my selfe also haue beholden, but as now so in old time the common sort
did so much woonder at the like as we doo at these, because they were
seldome séene, and not commonlie to be heard of.