Of the Hiftorie of Plants. L 1 b. 2. 
ketha man in fomefortweake and feeble : which thing Otttd, feemeth alfoto allow of writing 
thus : 
Vt Venus eneruat vires, ficcopia vini 
Et tentut?r.Jfus,dciilitatque pedes. 
As Venery the vigour fpends, fo (lore ofwine 
Makes man to dagger, makes his drength decline. 
A Moreoucr, wine is the Tweeter, hailing water poured into it, as < ^thenaus faith. Homer likewife 
commendeth that wine which is well and fitly allaied. Philocorus writeth (as Athene reporteth) 
that Amphiclyon king of Athens was the fird that allaied wine, as hailing learned the fame of Dm. 
Jiyfius : wherefore he faith, that thofe who in that manner drunke it remained in health, that before 
had their bodies feeblcd and ouerweaketjpd with pure and vnmixed wine. 
B The maner of mingling«r^perirtg of wine was diners : for fometimes to one part of wine, 
there were added two, and fometimes three or foure of water ; or two parts ofwine three of water: 
of a lelfe delay was that which confided ofequall parts ofwine and water. 
C The old Comediansdid thinke that this lefTer mixture was fufficient to make men mad, among 
whom was Mntfitheus; whofe words be extant in Athenseus. 
D Hippocrates in the feuenth bookeof his Aphorifmes faith, that this manner of tempering ofwine 
and vvaterby equall parts bringeth as it were alight pleafant drunkennelTe.and that it is al-inde of 
remedy againd difqiiietne(fe,yawnings,and fliiucringsjand this mingling belongeth to the dron- 
ged wines. 
E Such kinde of wines they might be which in times pad the Scythians were reported of the old 
writers to drinke, who for this caufe do cal! vnmixed wine the Scythians drinke. And they that 
drinke Ample wine fay, that they will Scyth^re, or do as the Scythians do , as we may reade in the 
tenth booke of c^ith ns: us. 
p The Scythians, as Hippocrates and diners other of the old writers affirme, be people of Germany 
beyond the fioud Danubius, which is alfo called Ider:Rhcneis ariuer of Scythia : and Caries 
hauing paffed ouer Ider is reported to hauecome into the borders of the Scythians. 
G And in this our age all the people of Germany do drinke vnmixed wire, which groweth in their 
. ownc countrey, and likewifeother people ofthe North parts, who make nofcruple at all todrinke 
of the ftrongeft wines without any mixture. 
If Of the liquor which is defi tiled out of wine , commonly 
called. Aqua vita:. 
H r l 'Here is drawne out of Wine a liquor, which in Latine is commonly called Aqua vita, or wai 
a ter of life, and alCoAqua ardens, or burning water, which as diddled waters are drawne out of 
herbes and other things, is after the fame mannerdifiilled out of drong wine, that is to fay, by 
certaine indruments made for this purpofe, which are commonly called Limbeckes. 
I This kinde of liquor is in colour and fub dance like vn to waters didillcd out of herbes, and alio 
refembleth cleere Ample water in colour, but in facul tie it farre differeth. 
K It beareth the fyrname of life, bccaufe that it ferueth to preferue and prolong the life of 
man. 
L I [ is called .burning, for that it is eafily turned into a burning flame : for feeing it is not 
any other thing than the thinned and dtonged part ofthe wine, it being put to the flame of fire, 
is quickly burned. 
M This liquor is very hot, and of mod fubtill and thin parts; hot and dry in the later end of the 
tb ird degree, efpecially the purefl fpirits thereof: for the purer it is, the hotter it is, the dryer, and, 
of thinner parts : which is made more pureby often diddling. 
This water diddled out of wine is good for all thofe that are made cold either by a long dif- 
eafe, or through age, as for old and impotent men : for it cherifherhand increafeth natural lheatej 
vpholderh Arength,repaireth and augmenteth the fame : it prolonged! life,quickeneth all the fen-i 
fes and doth not only preferue the memory, but alfo recouereth it when it is lod : it fliarpeneth the 
fight. 
0 Ir . is ^ for tll ° re that are taken with the Catalepfie(which is a difeafe in the braine proceeding 
ofd nnedeand co'djand are fubjeft to dead fieepes,if there be no feller joined • it ferueth for the 
weakenefie, trembling, and beating ofthe hart - it firengtheneth and beareth a fetbledomacke- it 
confiimeth vvmdcboth in the ftomacke,{ides 3 and bowels ^it maketh good concoftion of meatc,: 
and is a Angular remedy againd cold poifons. 
P It hath fuch force and power, in drengtheningof the hart, and dirreth vp the indruments ofthe: 
fenfes. 
