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 pradictis) ad maritimas oras vergentibus, sunt quatuor fontes diuersissima natura. Vnus suo perpetuo ardore omne corpus sibi immissum raptim conuertit in saxum, manente tamen priore forma. Alter est algoris intolrerabilis. Tertius vel melle dulcior & restinguenda siti iucundissimus. Quartus plane exitialis, pestilens, & virulentus.

Etiam hac fontium topographia satis aperte monstrat, quam ex impuro fonte has suas narrationes omnes miraculosas hauserit Geographus. Id enim dicere videtur: Montes hos tres pradictos fere, 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. Caterum ad hac confundenda sufficit, credo, ipsorum historicorum contrarietas. Nam de duobas fontibas quidam Frisio his verbis contradicit. Erumpunt ex eodem monte (Hecla) fontes duo, quorum alter equarum frigiditate, alter feruore intolerabili exedit omnem elementarem vim. Hi duo sunt primi illi Frisij fontes, nisi quod hic miraculum indurandi corpora, alteri fontium attributum, omissum sit. Atqui non simul possunt ex ipso monte, & iuxta montem erumpere.

Hic vero libenter quasierim, qua ratione quisquam ex Peripatecicis dicat, aliquid ipso elemento aqua frigidius, aut igne calidius? Vnde demum, scriptores, ista frigiditas? Vnde iste feruor? Nonne e Schola vestra accepimus aquam esse elementum frigidissimum & humidum, atque adeo fngidissimum, vt ad constituendas qualitates secundas, remitti sit necesse, nec simplicem vsibus humanis inseruire? (Hac ego nunc Physicorum oracula fundo, vera an falsa, nescio). Testis est vnus omnium, & pro omnibus, Iohannes Fernelius lib. 2. Physiologia, cap. 4. Sic, inquit, qualitates ha (quatuor prima) quatuor rerum naturis summa obtigerunt, vt quemadmodum paro igne nihil calidius, nihilque leuius: Sic terra nihil siccius, nihil grauius: Aquam sinceram, nullius medicamenti vis gelida euincet, vt nec aerem, vllius humor. Summa praterea sic illis insunt, vt ne minimum quidem possint augescere, remitti vero possint.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 164 of 243
Words from 85893 to 86405 of 127955