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The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries

R >> Richard Hakluyt >> The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries




I thought good to write these things out of Cardane, that I may bring euen
the testimony of strangers on our sides, against such monstrous fables.
This place of Cardane implieth these two things, namely that apparitions of
sprights are not proper to Island alone (which thing al men know, if they
do not maliciously feigne themselues to be ignorant). And secondly that
that conference of the dead with the liuing in the gulfe of Hecla is not
grounded vpon any certainty, but only vpon fables coined by some idle
persons, being more vaine then any bubble, which the brutish common sort
haue vsed, to confirme their opinion of the tormenting of soules. And is
there any man so fantasticall, that wilbe induced to beleeue these gulfes,
mentioned by writers, to be any where extant, although they be neuer so ful
of dead mens miracles? yea doubtlesse. For from hence also they say, that
reproches are iustly vsed against our nation: namely that there is nothing
in all the world more base, & worthlesse then it, which conteineth hell
within the bounds therof. This verely is the good that we haue gotten by
those historiographers, who haue bin so greedy to publish nouelties. But
this opinion, bred by the sottishnes of the common people hath hitherto (as
I hope) bene sufficiently ouerthrowen as a thing foolish & vaine, and as
being deuised for the vpbrayding of our nation. Wherefore, proceede
(friendly Reader) and be farther instructed in this philosophy of infernall
secrets.

SECTIO NONA.

[Sidenote: Frisius & Munst.] Circum verò Insulam, per septem aut octo
menses fluctuat glacies, miserabilem quendam gemitum, & ab humana voce
non alienum, ex collisione edens. Putant incolæ, & in monte Hecla, & in
glacie loca esse, in quibus animæ suorum crucientur.

Egregium scilicet Historiæ augmentum, de Orro Islandico in vnius montis
basin, haud sanè vastam, coacto: Et interdum (statis forsan temporibus)
loca commutante. Vbi scilicet domi in foco montano delitescere piget, &
exire, pelagúsque sed sine rate, tentare iuuat, seseque in glaciei
frustella colligere. Audite porrò, huius secreti admiratores: En porrigam
Historicis aliud Historiæ auctarium nequaquam contemnendum. Scribant
igitur, quotquot his scriptorum commentis adherent, Islandos non solùm
infernum intra limites habere, sed & scientes volentes ingredi, atque
intactos eodem die egredi. Quid ita? Quia peruetus est Insulæ consuetudo,
vt maritimi in hanc glaciem, ab Historicis infernalem factam, manè phocas,
seu vitulos marinos captum eant, ac vesperi incolumes redeant. Addite
etiam, in scrinijs & alijs vasis ab Islandis carcerem damnatorum asseruari,
vt paulò post ex Frisio audiemus.

Sed maturè prævidendum erit vobis, ne Islandi fortitudinis & constantiæ
laudem vestris nationibus præripiant: Quippe qui tormenta (vt historicis
vestris placet) barathri sustinuisse & velint & possint, illáque sine vllo
grauiore damno perrumpere atque effugere valeant, quod quidem ipsum ex iam
dictis efficitur: Et multos nostratium enumerare possum, qui in ipso
venationis actu longiusculè à littore digressi, glacie à Zephyris
dissipata, multa milliaria glaciei insidentes, tempestatis violentia
profligati, & aliquot dies ac noctes continuas crudelissimi pelagi
fluctibus iactati, sicque (id enim, inquam, ex præsenti Historicorum
problemate consequitur) tormenta & cruciatus barathri glacialis experti
sunt: Qui tandem mutata tempestate, atque à Borea spirantibus ventis, ad
littora, cum hoc suo glaciali nauigio rursus adacti, incolumes domum
peruenerunt: Quorum aliqui etiam hodie viuunt. Quare hoc nouitatis auidi
arripiant, indeque, si placet, iustum volumen conficiant, atque ad
Historiam suam apponant. Nec enim vanissima illa commenta aliter, quàm
eiusmodi iocularibus excipienda & confundenda videntur. Cæterum, ioco
seposito, vnde digressi sumus, reuertamur.

Primùm igitur ex sectione secunda satis constat, glaciem, neque septem,
neque octo mensibus circa ipsam Insulam fluitare: Deinde etiam, glaciem
hanc, et si interdum ex collisione grandes sonitus & fragores edit,
interdum propter vndarum alluuionem, raucum murmur personat, quicquam tamen
humanæ voci simile resonare aut eiulare minimè fatemur.

Quod autem dicunt, nos & in glacie, & in monte Hecla loca statuere, in
quibus animæ, nostrorum crucientur, Id verò seriò pernegamus, Deóque ac
Domino nostro Iesu Christo, qui nos à morte & inferno eripuit, & regni
coelestis ianuam nobis reserauit, gratias ex animo agimus, quòd nos de
loco, in quem animæ nostrorum defunctorum commigrent, rectius, quàm dicunt
isti Historici, instituerit. Scimus & tenemus animas piorum non in
Purgatoriam Pontificiorum, aut campos Elysios, sed in sinum Abrabæ, in
manum Dei, in Paradisum coelestem, mox è corporis ergastulo transferri.
Scimus & tenemus de impiorum animabus, non in montanos focos & cineres, vel
glaciem nostris oculis expositam, deflectere, sed in extremas mox abripi
tenebras, vbi est fletus & stridor dentium, vbi est frigus, vbi est ignis
ille, non vulgaris, sed extra nostram scientiam & subtilem disputationem
positus. Vbi non modò corpora, sed animæ etiam, i.e. substantiæ
spirituales, cruciantur. Huic extremo & tenebricoso carceri non Islandos
viciniores, quàm Germanos, Danos, Gallos, Italos, aut quamuis aliam gentem,
quoad loci situm, statuimus. Nec de huius carceris loco sitúue quicquam
disputare attinet: sufficit nobis abundè, quòd illius tenebricosum foetorem
& reliqua tormenta, dante & iuuante Domino nostro Iesu Christo, cuius
precioso sanguine redempti sumus, nonquam sumus visuri aut sensuri. Atque
hic de orco Islandico disputationis colophon esto.

The same in English.

THE NINTH SECTION.

[Sidenote: Frisius and Munster.] But round about the Iland, for the space
of 7. or 8. moneths in a yere there floateth ise, making a miserable kind
of mone, and not vnlike to mans voice, by reason of the clashing
together. The inhabitants are of opinion that in mount Hecla and in the
ise, there are places wherein the soules of their countreymen are
tormented.

No doubt, a worthy augmentation of the history, concerning the hel of
Island, shut vp within the botome of one mountaine, & that no great one:
yea, at some times (by fits and seasons) changing places: namely, when it
is weary of lurking at home by the fires side within the mountaine, it
delighteth to be ranging abroad, & to venter to sea, but without a ship, &
to gather it selfe round into morsels of yce. Come forth, & giue care all
ye that wonder at this secret. Lo, I will afford these historiographers
another addition of history very notable. Let them write therfore, that the
Islanders haue not only hel within their iurisdictction, but also that they
enter into it willingly & wittingly, & come forth againe vntouched the very
same day. How can that be? [Sidenote: Taking of Seales on the the ice.] Why
it is an ancient custome of the Island that they which inhabite neare the
sea shore do vsually go betimes in a morning to catch Seales, euen vpon the
very same ise which the historiographers make to be hel, & in the euening
returne home safe and sound. Set downe also (if ye please) that the prison
of the damned is kept in store by the Islanders in coffers and vessels, as
we shall anon heare out of Frisius.

But you had need wisely to foresee, lest the Islanders beguile all your
countries of the commendation of courage & constacy: namely, as they (for
so it pleaseth your writers to report) who both can and will endure the
torments of hell, & who are able to breake through & escape them, without
any farther hurt: which thing is necessarily to be collected out of that,
that hath bin before mentioned. [Sidenote: Westrerne winds disperse the
ice.] And I am able to reckon vp a great many of our countnmen who in the
very act of hunting, wandring somewhat farre from the shoare (the ice being
dispersed by westerne winds) & for the space of many leagues resting vpon
the ice, being chased with the violence of the tempest, & some whole daies
& nights being tossed vp & downe in the waues of the raging sea, & so (for
it followeth by good consequence out of this probleme of the
historiographers) haue had experience of the torments, & paines of this
hell of ice. Who at the last, the weather being changed, & the winds
blowing at the North, being transported again to the shoare, in this their
ship of ice, haue returned home in safety: some of which number are aliue
at this day. Wherefore let such as be desirous of newes snatch vp this, &
(if they please) let them frame a whole volume hereof, & adde it to their
history. Neither do these vaine phantasies deserue otherwise to be handled
& confuted, then with such like meriments, & sportings. But to lay aside
all iesting, let vs returne to the matter from whence we are digressed.
[Sidenote: Ice floateth not 7. or 8. moneths about Island.] First of all
therefore it is euident enough out of the second section, viz. ice floateth
not about this Iland, neither 8. nor 7. moneths in a yere then, that this
ice (although at some times by shuffling together it maketh monstrous
soundings & cracklings, & againe at some times with the beating of the
water, it sendeth forth an hoarse kind of murmuring) doth any thing at all
resound or lament, like vnto mans voice, we may in no case confesse. But
wheras they say that, both in the Isle, and in mount Hecla we appoint
certaine places, wherin the soules of our countrimen are tormented, we
vtterly stand to the deniall of that and we thanke God & our Lord Iesus
Christ from the botome of our hearts (who hath deliuered vs from death &
hell, & opened vnto vs the gate of the kingdome of heaæn because he hath
instructed vs more truely, concernmg the place, whether the soules of our
deceased countrimen depart, then these historiographers doe tell vs. We
know and maintain that the soules of the godly are transported immediatly
out of their bodily prisons, not into the Papists purgatory, nor into the
Elysian fields, but into Abrahams bosome, into the hand of God, & into the
heauenly paradise. We know & maintaine concerning the soules of the wicked,
that they wander not into the fires & ashes of mountaines or into visible
ice, but immediatly are carried away into vtter darknesse, where is weeping
& gnashing of teeth, where there is colde also, & fire not comon, but far
beyond our knowledge & curious disputation. Where not onely bodies, but
soules also, that is spirituall substances are tormented. And we do also
hold, that the Islanders are no whit nearer vnto this extreame & darke
prison, in regard of the situation of place, then the Germans, Danes,
Frenchmen, Italians, or any other nation whatsoeuer. Neither is it any
thing to the purpose, at all to dispute of the place or situation of this
dungeon. It is sufficient for vs, that (by the grace and assistance of our
Lord Iesus Christ, with whose precious blood we are redeemed) we shall
neuer see that vtter darknesse, nor feele the rest of the torments that be
there. Now let vs here shut vp the disputation concerning the hell of
Island.

SECTIO DECIMA.

[Sidenote: Frisius, Zieglerus Saxo fere similiter.] Quòd si quis ex hac
glacie magnam partem ceperit, eámque vasi ant scrinio inclusam, quàm
diligentissimè asseruarit, illa tempore glaciei, quæ circum insulam est,
degelantis, euanescit, vt neque minima eius particula vel guttula aquæ
reperiatur.

Id profecto necessariò addendum fuit: Hanc scilicet glaciem, voces humanas,
secundum Historicos, representatem, & damnatorom receptaculum existentem,
non esse, vt reliqua in vastissima hac vniuersitate omnia, ex Elementi
alicuius materia conflatam. Siquidem cum corpus esse videatur, corpus tamen
non sit, (quod ex Frisij paradoxo rectè deducitur) cum etiam corpora dura &
solida perrumpat, non secus ac, spectra & genij: Restat igitur cum non sit
elementaris naturæ, vt vel spiritualem habeat materiam, vel coelestem, vel
quod ipsi forsan largiantur, infernalem. Infernalem tamen esse non
assentiemur, quia ad aures nostras peruenit frigus infernale longè esse
intractabilius, quam est hæc glacies, humanis manibus in scrinio reposita,
nec quicquam suo contactu, vel nudatam carnem lædere valens. Nec profectò
spiritualem esse dabimus; accepimus enim à Physicis, substantias
spirituales nec cerni, nec tangi, nec ijs quicquam decedere posse: quæ
tamen omnia in hanc historicorum glaciem, quantumuis, secundum illos,
hyperphysicam, cadere certum & manifestum est. Præterea & hoc verissimum
est, eam calore solis resolutam, ac in superficie sua stagnantem, siti
piscatorum restinguendæ, non secus ac riuos terrestres, inseruire: Id quod
substantiæ spirituali denegatum est. Non est igitur spiritualis, vt nec
infernalis. Iam verò coelestem habere materiam, nemo audebit dicere: Ne
forte inde aliquis suspicetur, glaciem hanc barathrum, quod illi Historici
affingunt, secum è coelo traxisse: Vel id coelo, quippe eiusdem materiæ cum
glacie, commune esse, atque ita carcer damnatorum cum Paradiso coelesti
loca commutasse, Historicorum culpa putetur.

Quare cum glacies hæc Historica nec sit elementaris, vt ex præsenti loco
Frisij optimè sequi iam toties monuimus: nec spiritualis, nec infernalis,
quod vtrúmque breuibus, solidis tamen rationibns demonstrauimus: nec
coelestis materiæ, quod opinari religio vetat: relinquitur omnino, vt
secnndum eosdem Historicos nulla sit, quam tamen illi tàm cum stupenda
admiratione prædicant, & nos videri ac tangi putamus. Est igitur, & non
est: Quod axioma vbi secundum idem, & ad idem, & eodem tempore, verum esse
poterit, nos demum miraculis istis glacialibus credemus. Itáque iam vides
Lector, ad hæc refellenda nullo alio esse opus, quàm monstrari quomodo
secum dissideant. Sed haud mirum, eum qui semel vulgi fabulosis rumoribus
se cermisit, sæpius errare. Cuiusmodi etiam prodidit quidam de glaciei
huius Sympathia, quòd videlicet molis, cuius pars esset, discessum
insequeretur, vt omnem obseruatíonis diligentiam ineuitabili fugæ
necessitate deciperet. Atqui sæpe idimus eiusmodi solitariam molem post
abactam reliquam glaciem, nullis vectibus nullis machinis detentam, ad
líttus multis septimanis consistere. Palam est igitur, illud de glacie
miraculum fundamento niti, quàm est ipsa glacies, magis lubrico.

The same in English.

THE TENTH SECTION.

[Sidenote: Frisius. Zieglerus. Saxo.] If any man shall take a great
quantity of this ice, & shall keepe it neuer so warily enclosed in a
coffer or vessel, it wil at that time when the ice thaweth about the
Iland, vtterly vanish away, so that not the least part thereof, no nor a
drop of water is to be found.

Surely, this was of necessity to be added: namely, that this ice, which
according to historiographers representeth mans voice, & is the place of
the damned, doth not as all other things in this wide world, consist of the
matter of some element. For whereas it seemeth to be a body, when indeed it
is no body: (which may directly be gathered out of Frisius absurd opinion)
whereas also it pierceth through hard & solide bodies, no otherwise then
spirits & ghosts: therefore it remaineth, seeing it is not of an elementary
nature, that it must haue either a spirituall, or a celestial, or an
infernal matter. But that it should be infernall, we can not be perswaded,
because we haue heard that infernall cold is farre more vnsufferable then
this ise, which vseth to be put into a boxe with mens hands, & is not of
force any whit to hurt euen naked flesh, by touching thereof. Nor yet will
we grant it to be spirituall: for we haue learned in naturall Philosophy,
that spiritual substances can neither be seene nor felt, & cannot haue any
thing taken from them: all which things do notwithstanding most manifestly
agree to this ise of the Historiographers, howsoeuer according to them it
be supernatural. Besides also, it is most true, that the very same yse
being melted with the heat of the sunne, & resolued into water, vpon the
vpper part therof, standeth fishermen in as good stead to quench their
thirst, as any land-riuer would do, which thing can no way be ascribed to a
spirituall substance. It is not therefore spirituall, nor yet infernall.
Now none wilbe so bold to affirme, that it hath celestiall matter, least
some man perhaps might hereupon imagine, that this ise hath brought hell
(which the historiographers annexe vnto it) downe from heauen together with
it selfe: or that the same thing should be common vnto heauen, being of one
& the same matter with ise, & so that the prison of the damned may be
thought to haue changed places with the heauenly paradise, & all by the
ouersight of these Historiographers. Wherfore seeing the matter of this
historicall ise is neither elementarie (as we haue so often proued by this
place of Frisius) neither spirituall, nor infernall, both which we haue
concluded euidently in short, yet sound and substanciall reasons: nor yet
celestiall matter, which, religion forbiddeth a man once to imagine: it is
altogether manifest, that according to the said historiographers, there is
no such thing at all, which notwithstanding they blaze abroad with such
astonishing admiration, & which we thinke to be an ordinary matter commonly
seene and felt. Therefore it is, and it is not: which proposition when it
shall fall out true, in the same respect, in the same part, and at the same
time, then will we giue credite to these frozen miracles. Now therefore the
Reader may easily iudge, that wee need none other helpe to refute these
things, but onely to shew how they disagree one with another. But it is no
maruell that he, which hath once enclined himselfe to the fabulous reports
of the common people, should oftentimes fall into error. There was a like
strange thing inuented by another concerning the sympathy or conioining of
this ise: namely, that it followeth the departure of that huge lumpe,
whereof it is a part, so narrowly, & so swiftly, that a man by no diligence
can obserue it, by reason of the vnchangeable necessitie of following. But
we haue oftentimes seene such a solitarie lumpe of ise remaining (after the
other parts thereof were driuen away) and lying vpon the shore for many
weekes together, without any posts or engines at all to stay it. Therefore
it is plaine that these miracles of ise are grounded vpon a more slippery
foundation then ise it selfe.


SECTIO VNDECIMA.

[Sidenote: Frisius.] Non procat ab his montibus, (tribus prædictis) ad
maritimas oras vergentibus, sunt quatuor fontes diuersissimæ naturæ. Vnus
suo perpetuo ardore omne corpus sibi immissum raptim conuertit in saxum,
manente tamen priore formâ. Alter est algoris intolrerabilis. Tertius vel
melle dulcior & restinguendæ siti iucundissimus. Quartus plane exitialis,
pestilens, & virulentus.

Etiam hæc fontium topographia satis apertè monstrat, quàm ex impuro fonte
has suas narrationes omnes miraculosas hauserit Geographus. Id enim dicere
videtur: Montes hos tres prædictos ferè, contiguos esse: Siquidem tribus
montibus quatuor fontes indiscrete adscribit. Alioqui si non vicinos
statuisset, vni alicui horam duos fontes adscripsisset. Sed neque hi montes
contigui sunt (quippe multis milliaribus inuicem dissiti) neque iuxta hos
fontes illi quatuor reperiuntur: quod, qui credere nolit, experiatur.
Cæterum ad hæc confundenda sufficit, credo, ipsorum historicorum
contrarietas. Nam de duobas fontibas quidam Frisio his verbis contradicit.
Erumpunt ex eodem monte (Heclâ) fontes duo, quorum alter equarum
frigiditate, alter feruore intolerabili exedit omnem elementarem vim. Hi
duo sunt primi illi Frisij fontes, nisi quod hîc miraculum indurandi
corpora, alteri fontium attributum, omissum sit. Atqui non simul possunt ex
ipso monte, & iuxta montem erumpere.

Hîc vero libenter quæsierim, quâ ratione quisquam ex Peripatecicis dicat,
aliquid ipso elemento aquæ frigidius, aut igne calidius? Vnde demum,
scriptores, ista frigiditas? Vnde iste feruor? Nonne è Schola vestra
accepimus aquam esse elementum frigidissimum & humidum, atque adeo
fngidissimum, vt ad constituendas qualitates secundas, remitti sit necesse,
nec simplicem vsibus humanis inseruire? (Hæc ego nunc Physicorum oracula
fundo, vera an falsa, nescio). Testis est vnus omnium, & pro omnibus,
Iohannes Fernelius lib. 2. Physiologiæ, cap. 4. Sic, inquit, qualitates hæ
(quatuor primæ) quatuor rerum naturis summæ obtigerunt, vt quemadmodum paro
igne nihil calidius, nihilque leuius: Sic terra nihil siccius, nihil
grauius: Aquam sinceram, nullius medicamenti vis gelida euincet, vt nec
aërem, vllius humor. Summæ præterea sic illis insunt, vt ne minimum quidem
possint augescere, remitti verò possint. Nolo huc rationes seu argumenta
Physicorum aggregare. Vnum profecto hic cauendum est, ne dum fontium
miracula prædicant scriptores, vt glaciem Islandorum, ita etiam fontes
creatorum numero eximant. Nos fontium adiuncta, quæ huc scriptores
pertraxerunt ordine persequemur. Primus suo perpetuo calore: Plurimæ sunt
in Islandia thermæ seu fontes calidi: Pauciores ardentes: quos neque
cuiquam miraculo esse debere existimamus, cum huiusmodi, vt a scriptoribus
didici, passim abundet Germania, præcipuè in ijs locis, quæ non sunt procul
ab Alpium radicibus. Nota est fama thermarum Badensium, Gebarsuiliensium,
Calbensium, in ducatu Wirtebergensi, & multarum aliarum quarum meminit
Fuchsius in lib. de arte medendi. Et non solum Germania, sed etiam Gallia,
& longe magis omnium bonorum parens Italia, inquit Cardanus. Et Aristoteles
narrat, circa Epyrum calidas aquas scaturire, vnde locus Pyriphlegeton
appellatur. Atque inquam, hæc ideo minus miranda, quod vt incendij montani,
ita feruoris aquei caussas indagarint Naturæ speculatores: Aquam scilicet
per terræ venas sulphureas, aut aluminosas labi, indeque non calorem solùm,
sed saporem etiam & virtutes alienas concipere. Docuit hoc Aristoteles
libro de mundo. Continet, inquit, terra in se multos fontes, vt aquæ, ita &
spiritus & ignis: Quidam amnium more fluunt, & vel ignescens eijciunt
ferrum: Nunc tepidæ aquæ erumpunt, nunc feruentissimæ, nunc temperatæ.
[Sidenote: Lib 3. Nat. quæst.] Et Seneca: Empedocles existimabat ignibus,
quos multis locis apertos tegit terra, aquam calescere, si subiecti sint
solo, per quod aquæ transitus est. Et scite de thermis Baianis Pontanus.

Baiano sed ne fumare in littore thermas
Mirere, aut liquidis fluitare incendia venis:
Vulcani fora sulphureis incensa caminis
Ipsa monent, latè multùm tellure sub ima
Debacchari ignem, camposque exurere opertos.
Inde fluit, calidum referens ex igne vaporem,
Vnda fugax, tectis feruent & balnea flammis.

Hoc loco attingendum duxi quod tradit Saxo Grammaticus, Danorum
celebratissimus historicus, Islandiæ fontes quosdam nunc ad summum
excrescere, & exundare: Nunc adeò subsidere, vt vix fontes agnoscas. Qui
etsi rariores apud nos inueniuntur, adscribam tamen similes, etiam alibi à
natura productos, ne quis hic monstri quippiam imaginetur. Hos autem
recitat Plinius. In Tenedo Insula vnum, qui semper à tertia noctis hora, in
sextam solstitio æstiuo exundet. In agro Pitinate, trans Apenninum montem,
fluuium esse, qui omnibus Solstitijs æstiuis exundet, brumali tempore
siccetur. Refert etiam de fonte quodam satis largo, qui singulis horis
intumeseat & residat. Nec id magis neglidendum: subire terras flumina,
rursusque redire; vt Lycus in Asia, Erasinus in Argolica, Tigris in
Mesopotamia, quibus Cardanus addit Tanaim in Moscouia: Et quæ in Æsculapij
fonte Athenis immersa sunt, in Phaletico reddi. Et Seneca scribit esse
flumina, quæ in specum aliquem subterraneum demissa, ex hominum oculis se
subducunt, quæ consumi paulatim & intercidere constet: Eademque post
interuallum reuerti, recipereque & nomen & cursum priorem. Et iterum
Plinius; fluuium in Atinate campo mersum, post 20 millia passuum exire. Quæ
omnia, & his similia, Islandiæ fontes, miraculo nullo, præ cæteris esse
debere, ostendunt.

Omne corpus immissum continuò conuertit in saxum. His duobus adiunctis,
feruore nempe, seu ardore vehementissimo, & virtute indurandi corpora,
primum suum fontem describit Frisius. Et fama quidem accepi, ipse non sum
expertus, existere similem fontem in Islandia, non procul à sede Episcopali
Schalholt, apud villam nomine Haukadal. Habet simile Seneca, dicens, fontem
quendam esse, qui ligna in lapides conuertat, hominumque viscera
indurescere, qui aquam eius biberint: Et addit eiusmodi fontes in quibusdam
Italiæ locis inueniri: quod Ouidias Ciconum flumini tribuit 15. Metamorph.

Flumen habent Cicones, quod potum saxea reddit
Viscera, quod tactis inducit marmora rebus.

Et Cardanus: Georgius Agricola, inquit, in Elbogano tractu iuxta oppidum à
falconibns cognominatum, integras cum corpore abietes in lapidem conuersas
esse, atque quod maius est, in rimis etiam Pyritidem lapidem continere. Et
Domitius Brusonius, in Sylare amne, qui radices montis eius, qui est in
agro vrbis Vrsentinorum olim, nunc Contursij lambit, folia & arborum ramos
in lapides transire, non fide aliorum, sed propria, vt qui incola sit
regionis, (cui rei etiam Plinius astipulatur) narrat, cortices aute
lapidum, annos numero ostendere. Sic (si scriptoribus credimus) guttæ
Gotici fontis sparsæ lapidescunt. Et in Vngaria, Cepusij aqua, in vrceos
infusa, lapidescit. Plinius refert etiam, vt in Ciconom flumine, & in
Piceno lacu velino, lignum deiectum, lapideo cortice obduci.

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