BOOK III.] History of Nature. 163 



Languages of so many Nations were repugnant and savage, 

 to draw them together by commerce of Speech, to a Con- 

 ference ; to endue Man with Humanity; and briefly, that of 

 all Nations in the World there should be one only Country. 

 But so noble are all the Places that a Man shall come to, 

 so excellent is every thing, and each State so famous, that I 

 am at a loss what to say. The City of Rome, the only fair 

 Face therein worthy to stand upon so stately a Neck, what 

 Work would it ask to be described as it ought l ? The very 

 Tract of Campania by itself, so pleasant and happy, how 

 should it be described? So that it is evident in this one 

 Place there is the Work of rejoicing Nature. Besides this, 

 the whole Temperature of the Air is evermore so vital, the 

 Fields so fertile, the Hills so open to the Sun, the Forests 

 so harmless, the Groves so shady, the kinds of Wood so 

 bounteous, the Mountains so breezy ; the Corn, the Vines, 

 the Olives so fertile ; the Sheep so enriched with such noble 

 Fleeces.; such Necks to the Oxen ; so many Lakes, such 

 abundance of Rivers and Springs watering it throughout ; so 

 many Seas and Havens, that it is the very Bosom lying open 

 to receive the Commerce of all Lands ; and as of itself 

 earnestly desiring to lie far into the Sea to help all Mankind. 

 Neither do I speak now of the Natures and Manners of the 

 Men ; nor of the Nations subdued by their Tongue and 

 Hand. Even the Greeks (a Nation of all other most given 

 to praise themselves) have given their judgment of her, in 

 that they called a certain Part thereof Great Greece. But 

 that which we did in the mention of the Heaven, namely, to 

 touch some known Planets and a few Stars, the same must 



1 The Romans were proud of the glory of their city ; and believed it 

 to be the only one worthy the regard of the gods : 



" Jupiter arce sua cum totum spectat in orbem, 



Nil nisi Romanum, quod tueatur, habet." OVID, Fasti, lib. i. 



From his high citadel when Jove surveyed 



The extended earth beneath his sovereign sway, 



Nought but the Roman widely spread he spied. 

 Worthy t'engage his care. Wern. Club. 



