The eighteenth Booke of 



But lioWto come more particularly to tHefignes which fore-tokn the Spring: feme there be G 

 thatgoebythcButterflie, and hold that their brood comming abroadj is an allured token that 

 the Spring is come/or that ihcfe creatures fo iceblcjarc not able to abide any colds howbeit/his 

 was checked that very yearCjwhcrcin I wrote this Booke or Hifioric of NauU es worke : for feeo 

 it was and markedvcrywelljthat three flights of them oneafter another were killed with tljecold 

 weather that fiirprifed them thrice^for that they were ftirring too esrelvjandcame abroad over- 

 foonc. Yea,and the very birds who arc our guefts in warme weathxr, vifKed us five or fixe dcies 

 before Februariejand made a goodly lliew ot" a timely Spring,puttingus in good hope^that all 

 cold weather was gone : howbeit, therccnfuedamoft bitter aherrwmterftrcigbtuponit, that 

 nipped and killed them in manner every one.Hard and doubtfiill therefore is the cafcjthat wher- 

 as firit and principally we were to fetch our rule from the heavens to guide and direct us^thcn aR y 

 tcrwards we fhould be driven to goe by other figncs and arguments mecrcconjeduralj. Buta-. 

 bove all, the caufe of this incertitude and difficultic^is partly the convcxitic of the cope ofhea-. 

 venjand partly the diverfe climates obfervcd in the globe ot the earth : by meancs whereofjOnc 

 and the fame ftar leemeth to rife at fundrie rimes in divcrfecountries,and appeareih looner or la- 

 ter to fome than to others : and therefore the caufe depending thereupon^ is not in all places of 

 like validirie^nor fbewerh the fame effe(5is alwaies at the fame times. And yet there is one difficul- 

 tk morejarifing from ihofe Authors who writing of one and the fame thing, have delivered di- 

 verfe opinionsj according to the fundrie climates wherein ihey were^at what tin\e as they obier- 

 ved the figure and conf^itution of the heavens . Now were there of thcfc Aftronorners three 

 ScdSjto witjthe Chal^dtans^the -^gyptians^and the Greekes. To whicli there may bee added 

 a fourth, which among us C^/ar the Didatout firtt credkd : who obfeiv ing the courie of the Sun, I 

 and taking with liim the advife alfo of SoftgcNes (a learned M.athen)atician and sk'.lfull AfitGno- 

 nicr in his time) reduced the yeare unto the faid revolution. Howbeit^ in this calc ulation of his, 

 there was found an errorgsnd fliort he came of the marke which he aimed at,by rcafon that there 

 was no biilexiile or leape yeare by him infeited, but after twelve yeares. Now^when it was obfer- 

 ved by this reckoning5that the Sunne had performed his revolution fooner than the year turned 

 aboutjwhich before was wont to prevent the courfe of the Sunne,this error was reformedjand af- 

 ter every fourth yeare expircdjcame about the Eifl'extile aforefaid,and made all ftreight. Sof?ge~ 

 nes alfo himfellc, albeit hee were reputed a more curious and exquifite Mathematician than the 

 rcfl.yet in three fcverall tieatiles that he madejtctradiDg or corredingthatin onebooke which 

 lie had let downeiiianother5feemcd evermore to write doubtfully, and left the thing in as great K 

 ambiguitie and undetermined as he found it. As for thefe writers,whofe n ames 1 have alleadged 

 and prefixed in the front of thisprefent volutne now in hand,they have likewife delivered their 

 opinions astouching this point : but hardly lhallyou find two cf them in one the fame mind. 

 I-.efTe marvell then, if the refi have varied one from another, who may pretend for their excufe 

 the diverfe trads and climates wherein they wrote. As for thofe who lived in the fune region,and 

 yet wrote contrarie,! cannot tell what to make of them. Howbeit, I care not much to let downa 

 one example of their difcord and difagrcement.He//(?<3:W the Poet((br under his name alio there 

 goetha Treatifcof Alfrologie) hathputdownein writing the matutine letting of theffarVer- 

 gilia?(which is the occultation thereof by thcraiesandbcamesof the Sunne toward morning) ^ 

 to begin ordinarily upon the day of the ^Equinox in Autumne . T hdn the Miiefian faith jThat 

 it falleth out upon the five and twentieth day after thefaid iEquinox.yi»4.v/wd!»tjVr writeth,That 

 it is nine and twentie daies after : and ^nxW^.Euctemon hath noted the eight and fbrtieih day fol- 

 lowing rhe faid i£quinoXjfor the rcirait or occultation oftheforenamed Brood-hen liar Vergi- 

 lia?.Loe what varietie there is among thefe deepe cleaikes and great Ailrologers* 



For mine owne part I hold well with C^Jars calculation, and will keepe me to his obfervations 

 asneareasIcan,forthatthcfame will fit beft with our meridian here in allltalie. Yet nevetthe- 

 leflel Will not ff icke to let downe the opinions of others, bccaufe my delleignc tendeih not to 

 one particular place alonc,but I purpole and profeffe to rcprefent unto the Reader theuniverfall 

 Hilforic of NacurCjand the whole world. But my meaning is not to rehcarfe the names of everie M 

 Author one by one(for that were a tedious peece of workc, and would require a long traine of 

 fuperfluous words) but onely to put downe the regions of every climate, and that as fuccindly 

 and breefely as I can. Wheie,by the way I muft advertife the Readersjthat they remember well 

 this one thing,how when for brevities fake i nominate the bnd or region Attica, they muft with- 

 al] 



