vera patenti cernimus freto. In the fenns of Freesland, 1230, by reason of tempests,[1] the sea drowned multa hominum millia, et jumenta sine numero, all the country almost, men and cattle in it. How doth the fire rage, that merciless element, consuming in an instant whole cities! What town, of any antiquity or note, hath not been once, again and again, by the fury of this merciless element, defaced, ruinated, and left desolate? In a word,
[2]Ignis pepercit? unda mergit; aëris
Vis pestilentis æquori ereptum necat;
Bello superstes, tabidus morbo perit.
Whom fire spares, sea doth drown; whom sea,
Pestilent ayre doth send to clay;
Whom war scapes, sickness takes away.
To descend to more particulars, how many creatures are at deadly feud with men! Lions, wolves, bears, &c. some with hoofs, horns, tusks, teeth, nails: how many noxious serpents and venemous creatures, ready to offend us with sting, breath, sight, or quite kill us! How many pernicious fishes, plants, gums, fruits, seeds, flowers, &c. could I reckon up on a sudden, which by their very smell, many of them, touch, taste, cause some grievous malady, if not death it self! Some make mention of a thousand several poysons: but these are but trifles in respect. [3]The greatest enemy to man is man, who, by the devils instigation, is still ready to do mischief—his own executioner, a wolf, a devil to himself and others. We are all brethren in Christ, or at least should be—members of one body, servants of one Lord; and yet no fiend can so torment, insult over, tyrannize, vex, as one man doth another. Let me not fall, therefore, (saith David, when wars, plague, famine, were offered) into the hands of men, merciless and wicked men:
[4]Vix sunt homines hoc nomine digni;
Quamque lupi, sævæ plus feritatis habent.
We can, most part, foresee these epidemical diseases, and, likely, avoid them. Dearths, tempests, plagues, our astrologers foretell us: earth-quakes, inundations, ruines of houses, consuming fires, come by little and little, or make some noise before-hand; but the knaveries, impostures, injuries, and villanies of men no art can avoid. We can keep our professed enemies from our cities, by gates, walls and towers, defend our selves{{smallrefs||
