| 
of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. 
A berwascalledin Italienot only Succinum,butalfoThieiim:wherasthe Scythians name it Sacti- 
- 
2 
D 
um(forthere alfo it is engendered:)alfo he faith,that others thinke it is engendered in Numidia. 
But I wonder moft at Sopocles the Tragicall Poét (a man,who wrote his Poéfies with fo grave & 
loftiea ftile,and lived befides in fo good reputation ; being otherwife borne at Athens, and def- 
cended froma noble houfe,emploied alfo in the managing of {tate affairs,as who had the charge 
and conduét of.an armie) that hee fhould goe beyondall others in fabulous reports,as touching 
Amber : for he fticketh notto avouch, That beyond India it proceedeth from the teares that fall 
from the eyes of the birds Meleagrides, wailing and weeping for the death of Méeleager. VWho 
would not marvaile, that either himfelfe fhould be of that beleefe, or hope to perfurade others to 
his opinion? For whatchild is there to be found fo fimple and ignorant, who will beleeve, that 
birds fhould keepe their times to fhed tears every yeare fo duly,and efpecially fo great drops and 
infuch quantitie,fofficient to engender Amber in that abundance ? Befides, what congruitie is 
there,that birds fhould depart as farreas to the Indians and beyond, for to mourn and lamentthe 
death of Meleager,when he died in Greece ? What fhould a man fay to this? Are there not ma- 
ny more as goodly tales asthefe, which Poéts have fentabroad into the world? And their pro- 
feffion of Poétrie,that is to fay,of faining and devifing fables, may in fome fort excufe them. But 
that any man fhould{erioufly and by way of hyftorie deliver {uch ftuffe, as touching a thing fo 
rife and cominon, broughtin every day in abundance by merchants which were ynough to con- 
vince fuch impudent lies, isameere mockerie of the world inthe higheft degree ; a contempt 
offered unto all men,and argueth an habit of lying, and an impunitic of that vice intollerable. 
Crap. 111 
egy Of the true originalland generation of Amber.T he fandrie kinds thereof.T he 
exce(se and {uperfiustie of people,as touching Amber.T he medicinab.e 
properties that it affourdeih, of Lincurium,and the ver 
tues that itbathin Phyficke. 
T) V« to leave Poets with their tales, and to fpeake refolutely and with knowledge,of Amber: 
knowne it isfor certaine, [harengendereditis in certaine Iflands of the Ocean Septentio- 
nall,where it beateth upon the coafts of Germanie: andthe Almains call it *Gleflum.And 
in very truth,in that voyage by feawhich Germanic + Cafar made into thofe patts,our countrey- 
men named one of thofe Iflands Gleffaria, byteafon of the Amber there found ; which Ifland 
the Barbarians called Auftravia, It is engendred them in certain trees,refembling Pines in fome 
fort,and iffueth forth from the marrow ot them, like as gum in Cherrie trees,and rofin in Pines. 
Aad verely,thefe trees are fo full of thisliquor,that it {welleth and breaketh forth in abundance: 
which afterwards either congealeth with the cold,or thickeneth by the heat of the Autumn.Now 
if atany time che fearife by any extraordinarie tide, and catch any of it away out of the iflands, 
then verely itis caft a {hore upon the coafts of Germanic, where it isfo apt toroule, that it {ee- 
meclu(as it were) to hang and fettle lightly upon the fands, whereby it isthe more cafily gotten. 
And for that our auncettours heretofore in old time beleeved that it was the juice of a tree, they 
called it therefore in Latiae Succinum. That it commeth from trees of a Pine kind, may appeare 
_bythis, That if a man rub it,he fhall find the {mell of Pine-wood: alfo, for that when it burneth, 
the fameandfume (both) refembleth that of Torch-wood. The Germanes make great tratiicke 
thereof,and bring it into Pannonia, and {o from thence unto us,through our provinces| of atria 
and Venice; | forfrom Pannonia, the Venetians firft(who confine next upon the marches there- 
of,and waom the Greekescall Heneti) received it by way of marchandize in the maritime port 
townes along the Adriatickefea, and fo by that meanes broughtit into name andtequeft:wuich 
ordinarie tafiicke may be the reafon which gave occafion to the forefaid tale that runneth of the 
Poand the Poplars about it,that fhould weep Amber. And even at this day the countrey dames 
ofLumbardie,and thofe parts beyond the Po,ufe to weare faire carkanets and collars of Ambet- 
beads to adorne themfelvesefpecially, and in fome fort forthe health alfo of their bodies : for 
perluaded they are,that it with{tandeth theinflammation of the Amygdales and other accidents 
*For the per= 
fpicuitic and 
brightncs like 
anto glaffe. 
"This difeafeis — 
called Bronches : 
cele or Hernia . 
of chechroat and chawes :for thatthe people of that country are {ubje& to* poghes under their g##ris,ordi- 
ahroat,abourthofe flefhie parts neare unto it, by reafon of fundriekinds of waters which breed 
, i thofe 
narie ia Savoy | 
and thofe paris 
about Geneva, 
