24.2 The fix and iqenbieds Bodke 
the feet were puffed up and {welled againe. A peculiar maladieisthis and naturall tothe gyp- G 
tians ; butlooke when any of their kings fell into it, woe worth the fubjects and poore people: 
for then were the tubs and bathing veflels wherein they {ate in the baine, filled with mens bloud 
for their cure, But furely this difeafe continued not long inItalie, before itwas quite extingui- 
Some thinke thed : like as another before it, in old time called*Gemurfa,which began between thetoesiand 
fannin, {olongagocitisfince any have been troubled therewith, that the very namealfo is forgdttén 
refembling 40d growne out of ufe. Where by the way,this is to be nored asa ftraunge and wonderful] thing, 
pee That fome of our difeafes fhould have an end and loofe their courfe for ever; and othersagaine 
thax. - continue ftill: as for example,the cholique paffion ; which came among usno longeragoethan 
in the daies of Tiberius Cafar the Emperour:and the firftthat everfeltit; wasthe prince him- 
felfe whereupon arofe no {mall queftion throughout the whole citieof Rome:forwhen asthe 44 _ 
faid Emperour publifhed a certaine proclamation, wherein heeexcufed.himfelfe fornorcom= = 
ming abroad to manage the affairs of the State, becaufe he was ficke of theicholique; the Senat 
and people reading this ftaunge name of an unknowne maladie, entred inroa deepe difcourfe 
with themfelves, What to thinke and make of ic? But what fhould we fay of all thefe kind of difz 
cafes? and what an anger and difpleafure of the gods is this,thusto plagueand puni(hus ? Vas. 
it not enough to havefent amongft men intothe world acertaine number of maladies other. 
wife, and thofe not fo few as three hundred, but wee muftbe in feare and daunger ftillievery day 
of new? And yetfee!as many as there be of them comming by the hand of God, yet men tho- 
row their owne exceffe and diforders, bring as many more upon themfelves, and be caufesftill . 
of farther troubles and miferies. Well, thus you fee by thatwhich [have written in the former 
books, what was theold Phyfickein times paft, namely,confifting of thefimples onelyfoundin ! 
dame Natures garden, and how fhe alone at the firft and for a long time, was our Phyfician and 
furnifhed us with remedies for all difeafes. | 18 
2 Cuap. 11, 
e& The praife of Hippocrates, and other Phyficians meere Simplifis. 
Ippocrates verely had this honour above al] men, That hee was the firft who wrote with 
Hae perfpicuitie of Phyficke, and reduced the precepts and rules thereof into the bo- 
die of an Art: howbeit, in all his books wefind no other receits,but hearbs. Semblably, 
the writings of Diocles the Caryftian, were no lefle ftored with thelike medicines, and yet afa- K 
mous Phyfician he was, and both in time and reputation next and fecond to Hippocrates. Prax- 
agoras al{o, and Chryfippus,yea and afterthem Era/iftvaias held onthefamecourfe. As for He- 
rophilus, although hee was the firftthatwent more exquifitly co worke and brought inamore 
fubtile and fine method of Phyficke, yetnone eftcemed better of Simples than he. But furely, 
practife and experience (which as in all thingselfe is found to be moft effeCtuall, fo in the pro- 
feffion of Phyficke efpecially) began in his daies by little and Jitile toflake, untill in the end all 
their Phyficke prooved nothing but words and bibble babbles : for beleeve me, his {chollets 
and difciples thought it more for their eafe and pleafure co fitclofein the {chooles and heare 
their doctours out of the chaire difcourfe of the points of Phyficke, thanto goe afimplingin- g — 
to the defarts and forrefts to feeke and gather hearbs at all feafons of the yeere, fomeat onetime 
and fome at another. ; 
Cuar. IL 
2& Of thenew practife in Phyficke : of Alclepiades the Phyfician : and what courfe 
he tooke to alter and aboli{h the old Phyficke for to bring 
in thenew. . 
€ 7 Hat cunning means foever thefe new Phyficians could devife to overthrow the aunct- 
VV ent manner of working by fimples,yet it maintained ftill the remnants of the former 
credit, built furely upon the undoubted grounds of long experience;andfoit conti- 
nuedtill the dayes of Pompey the Great, at what time 4/clepiades a great Oratour and profeflor 
of Rhetoricke went in handto pervert and reje@t the fame: for feeing that he gained not bythe 
faid Arc fufficiently, and was not like to arife by pleading cawfes at the bar,to that wealth nae 
