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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 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.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 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 prophetCap. 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 authoritie4. 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.