Besides these aforesaid nations, which haue crept (as you haue heard)
into our Iland, we read of sundrie giants that should inhabit here.
Which report as it is not altogither incredible, sith the posterities
of diuers princes were called by the name: so vnto some mens eares it
seemeth so strange a rehersall, that for the same onelie cause they
suspect the credit of our whole historie, & reiect it as a fable,
vnworthie to be read. They also condemne the like in all other
histories, especiallie of the North, where men are naturallie of
greatest stature, imagining all to be but fables that is written of
Starcater, Hartben, Angrine, Aruerode, &c: of whom Saxo, Johannes
Magnus and Olaus doo make mention, & whose bones doo yet remaine to be
seene as rare miracles in nature. Of these also some in their life
time were able to lift vp (as they write) a vessell of liquor of 1000.
weight, or an horsse, or an oxe, & cast it on their shoulders (wherein
their verie women haue beene likewise knowne to come néere vnto them)
and of the race of those men, some were séene of no lesse strength in
the 1500. of Grace, wherein Olaus liued, and wrote the same of his
owne experience and knowledge. Of the giant of Spaine that died of
late yeares by a fall vpon the Alpes, as he either went or came fro
Rome, about the purchase of a dispensation to marrie with his
kinswoman (a woman also of much more than common stature) there be men
yet liuing, and may liue long for age, that can saie verie much euen
by their owne knowledge. Wherfore it appeareth by present experience,
that all is not absolutelie vntrue which is remembred of men of such
giants. For this cause therfore I haue now taken vpon me to make this
breefe discourse insuing, as indeuouring therby to prooue, that the
opinion of giants is not altogither grounded vpon vaine and fabulous
narrations, inuented onelie to delight the eares of the hearers with
the report of maruellous things: but that there haue beene such men in
[Sidenote: * _Esay._ 30. _vers._ 25.]
deed, as for their hugenesse of person haue resembled rather[*] high
towers than mortall men, although their posterities are now consumed,
and their monstruous races vtterlie worne out of knowledge.
I doo not meane herein to dispute, whether this name Gigas or Nephilim
was giuen vnto them, rather for their tyrannie and oppression of the
people, than for their greatnesse of bodie, or large steps, as
Goropius would haue it (for he denieth that euer men were greater than
at this present) or bicause their parents were not knowne, for such in
old time were called Terræ filij; or whether the word Gigas dooth
onlie signifie Indigenas, or homelings, borne in the land or not;
neither whether all men were of like quantitie in stature, and farre
more greater in old time, than now they be: and yet absolutelie I
denie neither of these, sith verie probable reasons may be brought for
ech of them, but especiallie the last rehearsed, whose confirmation
dependeth vpon the authorities of sundrie ancient writers, who make
diuers of noble race, equall to the giants in strength and manhood,
and yet doo not giue the same name vnto them, bicause their quarels
were iust, and commonlie taken in hand for defense of the oppressed.
[Sidenote: Antheus.]
[Sidenote: _Lucane lib._ 4 _in fine._]
Examples hereof we may take of Hercules and Antheus, whose wrestling
declareth that they were equall in stature & stomach. Such also was
the courage of Antheus, that being often ouercome, and as it were
vtterlie vanquished by the said Hercules, yet if he did eftsoones
returne againe into his kingdome, he forthwith recouered his force,
returned and held Hercules tacke, till he gat at the last betwéene him
and home, so cutting off the farther hope of the restitution of his
armie, and killing finallie his aduersarie in the field, of which
victorie Politian writeth thus:
Incaluere animis dura certare palæstra,
Neptuni quondàm filius atque Iouis:
Non certamen erant operoso ex ære lebetes,
Sed qui vel vitam vel ferat interitum:
Occidit Antæus Ioue natum viuere fas est,
Estq; magistra Pales Græcia, non Lybia.
[Sidenote: Corineus.]
[Sidenote: Gomagot.]
The like doo our histories report of Corineus and Gomagot,
peraduenture king of this Ile, who fought a combat hand to hand, till
one of them was slaine, and yet for all this no man reputeth Hercules
or Corineus for giants, albeit that Hanuile in his Architrenion make
the later to be 12. cubits in height, which is full 18. foot, if
poeticall licence doo not take place in his report and assertion. But
sith (I say againe) it is not my purpose to stand vpon these points, I
passe ouer to speake any more of them. And whereas also I might haue
proceeded in such order, that I should first set downe by manie
circumstances, whether any giants were, then whether they were of such
huge and incredible stature as the authours doo remember, and finallie
whether any of them haue beene in this our Iland or not, I protest
plainlie, that my mind is not here bent to deale in any such maner,
but rather generallie to confirme and by sufficient authoritie, that
there haue beene such mightie men of stature, and some of them also in
Britaine, which I will set downe onelie by sundrie examples, whereby
it shall fall out, that neither our Iland, nor any part of the maine,
haue at one time or other béen altogither without them. First of all
therfore, & to begin with the scriptures, the most sure & certeine
ground of all knowledge: you shall haue out of them such notable
examples set downe, as I haue obserued in reading the same, which vnto
the godlie may suffice for sufficient proofe of my position.
Neuerthelesse, after the scriptures I will resort to the writings of
our learned Diuines, and finallie of the infidell and pagane authors,
whereby nothing shall seeme to want that may confute Goropius, and all
his cauillations.
[Sidenote: _Cap._ 6. _vers._ 5.]
Moses the prophet of the Lord, writing of the estate of things before
the floud, hath these words in his booke of generations. In these
[Sidenote: _Anti. li._ 1.]
daies saith he, there were giants vpon the earth. Berosus also the
Chalde writeth, that néere vnto Libanus there was a citie called Oenon
(which I take to be Hanoch, builded sometime by Cham) wherein giants
did inhabit, who trusting to the strength and hugenesse of their
bodies, did verie great oppression and mischeefe in the world. The
Hebrues called them generallie Enach, of Hanach the Chebronite, father
to Achimam, Scheschai and Talma, although their first originall was
deriued from Henoch the sonne of Caine, of whome that pestilent race
descended, as I read. The Moabits named them Emims, and the Ammonites
Zamsummims, and it should seeme by the second of Deut. cap. 19, 20.
that Ammon and Moab were greatlie replenished with such men, when
Moses wrote that treatise. For of these monsters some families
remained of greater stature than other vnto his daies, in comparison
[Sidenote: _Nu. cap._ 13. _verse_ 33, & 34.]
of whome the children of Israell confessed themselues to be but
grashoppers. Which is one noble testimonie that the word Gigas or
Enach is so well taken for a man of huge stature, as for an homeborne
child, wicked tyrant, or oppressour of the people.
[Sidenote: _Deut._ 3. _vers._ 11.]
[Sidenote: Og of Basan.]
Furthermore, there is mention made also in the scriptures of Og,
sometime king of Basan, who was the last of the race of the giants,
that was left in the land of promise to be ouercome by the Israelits,
& whose iron bed was afterward shewed for a woonder at Rabbath (a
citie of the Ammonites) conteining 9. cubits in length, and 4. in
bredth, which cubits I take not to be geometricall, (that is, each one
so great as six of the smaller, as those were wherof the Arke was
made, as our Diuines affirme, especiallie Augustine: whereas Origen,
hom. 2. in Gen. out of whom he seemeth to borrow it, appeareth to haue
no such meaning directlie) but rather of the arme of a meane man,
which oftentimes dooth varie & differ from the standard. Oh how
Goropius dalieth about the historie of this Og, of the breaking of his
pate against the beds head, & of hurting his ribs against the sides,
and all to prooue, that Og was not bigger than other men, and so he
leaueth the matter as sufficientlie answered with a French countenance
of truth. But see August. de ciuit. lib. 15. cap. 25. & ad Faustum
Manich. lib. 12. Ambros. &c. and Johannes Buteo that excellent
geometrician, who hath written of purpose of the capacitie of the
Arke.
[Sidenote: _Cap._ 17. _ver._ 4, 5, 6.]
[Sidenote: Goliah.]
In the first of Samuel you shall read of Goliah a Philistine, the
weight of whose brigandine or shirt of maile was of 5000. sicles, or
1250. ounces of brasse, which amounteth to 104. pound of Troie weight
after 4. common sicles to the ounce. The head of his speare came vnto
ten pound English or 600. sicles of that metall. His height also was
measured at six cubits and an hand bredth. All which doo import that
he was a notable giant, and a man of great stature & strength to weare
such an armour, and beweld so heauie a lance. But Goropius thinking
himselfe still to haue Og in hand, and indeuouring to extenuate the
fulnesse of the letter to his vttermost power, dooth neuerthelesse
earnestlie affirme, that he was not aboue three foot more than the
common sort of men, or two foot higher than Saule: and so he leaueth
it as determined.
[Sidenote: _Cap._ 21. _ver._ 16, 17, &c.]
In the second of Samuel, I find report of foure giants borne in Geth;
of which Ishbenob the first, that would haue killed Dauid, had a
speare, whose head weighed the iust halfe of that of Goliath: the
second called Siphai, Sippai or Saph, 1. Par. 20. was nothing
inferiour to the first: the third hight also Goliah, the staffe of
whose speare was like vnto the beame of a weauers loome, neuerthelesse
he was slaine in the second battell in Gob by Elhanan, as the first
was by Abisai Ioabs brother, and the second by Elhanan. The fourth
brother (for they were all brethren) was slaine at Gath by Ionathan
nephew to Dauid, and he was not onlie huge of personage, but also of
disfigured forme, for he had 24. fingers and toes. Wherby it is
euident, that the generation of giants was not extinguished in
Palestine, vntill the time of Dauid, which was 2890. after the floud,
nor vtterlie consumed in Og, as some of our expositors would haue it.
Now to come vnto our christian writers. For though the authorities
alreadie alleged out of the word, are sufficient to confirme my
purpose at the full; yet will I not let to set downe such other notes
as experience hath reuealed, onelie to the end that the reader shall
not thinke the name of giants, with their quantities, and other
circumstances, mentioned in the scriptures, rather to haue some
mysticall interpretation depending vpon them, than that the sense of
the text in this behalfe is to be taken simplie as it speaketh. And
first of all to omit that which Tertullian Lib. 2. de resurrect.
[Sidenote: _De ciuitate Dei lib._ 15. _cap._ 9.]
saith; S. Augustine noteth, how he with other saw the tooth of a man,
wherof he tooke good aduisement, and pronounced in the end that it
would haue made 100. of his owne, or anie other mans that liued in his
[Sidenote: _Iohannes Boccacius._]
time. The like hereof also dooth Iohn Boccace set downe, in the 68.
chapter of his 4. booke, saieng that in the caue of a mountaine, not
far from Drepanum (a towne of Sicilia called Eryx as he gesseth) the
bodie of an exceeding high giant was discouered, thrée of whose teeth
did weigh 100. ounces, which being conuerted into English poise, doth
yeeld eight pound and foure ounces, after twelue ounces to the pound,
that is 33. ounces euerie tooth.
He addeth farther, that the forepart of his scull was able to conteine
manie bushels of wheat, and by the proportion of the bone of his
[Sidenote: A carcase discouered of 200. cubits.]
thigh, the Symmetricians iudged his bodie to be aboue 200. cubits.
Those teeth, scull, and bones, were (and as I thinke yet are, for
ought I know to the contrarie) to be seene in the church of Drepanum
in perpetuall memorie of his greatnesse, whose bodie was found vpon
this occasion. As some digged in the earth to laie the foundation of
an house, the miners happened vpon a great vault, not farre from
Drepanum: whereinto when they were entred, they saw the huge bodie of
a man sitting in the caue, of whose greatnesse they were so afraid,
that they ranne awaie, and made an outcrie in the citie, how there sat
a man in such a place, so great as an hill: the people hearing the
newes, ran out with clubs and weapons, as if they should haue gone
vnto a foughten field, and 300. of them entring into the caue, they
foorthwith saw that he was dead, and yet sat as if he had been aliue,
hauing a staffe in his hand, compared by mine author vnto the mast of
a tall ship, which being touched fell by and by to dust, sauing the
nether end betwéene his hand and the ground, whose hollownesse was
filled with 1500. pound weight of lead, to beare vp his arme that it
should not fall in péeces: neuerthelesse, his bodie also being touched
fell likewise into dust, sauing three of his aforesaid teeth, the
forepart of his scull, and one of his thigh bones, which are reserued
to be séene of such as will hardlie beleeue these reports.
In the histories of Brabant I read of a giant found, whose bones were
17. or 18. cubits in length, but Goropius, as his maner is, denieth
them to be the bones of a man, affirming rather that they were the
bones of an elephant, because they somwhat resembled those of two such
beasts which were found at the making of the famous ditch betwéene
Bruxels and Machlin. As though there were anie precise resemblance
betwéene the bones of a man and of an elephant, or that there had euer
béene any elephant of 27. foot in length. But sée his demeanour. In
the end he granteth that another bodie was found vpon the shore of
Rhodanus, of thirtie foot in length. Which somewhat staieth his
iudgement, but not altogither remooueth his error.
[Sidenote: _Mat. Westmon._]
The bodie of Pallas was found in Italie, in the yeare of Grace 1038.
and being measured it conteined twentie foot in length, this Pallas
was companion with Æneas.
[Sidenote: _Iohannes Leland._]
There was a carcase also laid bare 1170. in England vpon the shore
(where the beating of the sea had washed awaie the earth from the
stone wherein it laie) and when it was taken vp it conteined 50. foot
[Sidenote: _Mafieus, lib. 14. Triuet._]
in measure, as our histories doo report. The like was seene before in
[Sidenote: _Mat. West._]
Wales, in the yeare 1087. of another of 14. foot.
In Perth moreouer a village in Scotland another was taken vp, which to
this daie they shew in a church, vnder the name of little John (per
Antiphrasin) being also 14. foot in length, as diuerse doo affirme
[Sidenote: _Hector Boet._]
which haue beholden the same, and whereof Hector Boetius dooth saie,
that he did put his whole arme into one of the hanch bones: which is
worthie to be remembred.
In the yeare of Grace 1475. the bodie of Tulliola the daughter of
Cicero was taken vp, & found higher by not a few foot than the common
sort of women liuing in those daies.
[Sidenote: _Geruasius Tilberiensis._]
Geruasius Tilberiensis, head Marshall to the king of Arles writeth in
his Chronicle dedicated to Otho 4. how that at Isoretum, in the
suburbes of Paris, he saw the bodie of a man that was twentie foot
long, beside the head and the necke, which was missing & not found,
the owner hauing peraduenture béene beheaded for some notable
trespasse committed in times past, or (as he saith) killed by S.
William.
The Greeke writers make mention of Andronicus their emperour, who
liued 1183. of Grace, and was ten foot in height, that is, thrée foot
higher than the Dutch man that shewed himselfe in manie places of
England, 1582. this man maried Anna daughter to Lewis of France
(before assured to Alexius, whome he strangled, dismembred and drowned
in the sea) the ladie not being aboue eleuen yeares of age, whereas he
was an old dotard, and beside hir he kept Marpaca a fine harlot, who
ruled him as she listed.
Zonaras speaketh of a woman that liued in the daies of Justine, who
being borne in Cilicia, and of verie comelie personage, was
neuerthelesse almost two foot taller than the tallest woman of hir
time.
[Sidenote: _Sir Thomas Eliot._]
A carcase was taken vp at Iuie church neere Salisburie but of late
yeares to speake of, almost fourtéene foot long, in Dictionario
Eliotæ.
[Sidenote: _Leland in Combrit._]
In Gillesland in Come Whitton paroche not far from the chappell of the
Moore, six miles by east from Carleill, a coffin of stone was found,
and therein the bones of a man, of more than incredible greatnes. In
like sort Leland speaketh of another found in the Ile called Alderney,
whereof you shall read more in the chapiter of our Ilands.
[Sidenote: _Richard Grafton._]
Richard Grafton in his Manuell telleth of one whose shinbone conteined
six foot, and thereto his scull so great that it was able to receiue
fiue pecks of wheat. Wherefore by coniecturall symmetrie of these
parts, his bodie must needs be of 24. foot, or rather more, if it were
[Sidenote: The Symmetrie or proportion of the bodie of a comelie man.]
diligentlie measured. For the proportion of a comelie and well
featured bodie, answereth 9. times to the length of the face, taken at
large from the pitch of the crowne to the chin, as the whole length is
from the same place vnto the sole of the foot, measured by an imagined
line, and seuered into so manie parts by like ouerthwart draughts, as
Drurerus in his lineall description of mans bodie doth deliuer.
Neuertheles, this symmetrie is not taken by other than the well
proportioned face, for Recta, orbiculata (or fornicata) prona,
resupinata, and lacunata (or repanda) doo so far degenerate from the
true proportion as from the forme and beautie of the comelie. Hereby
also they make the face taken in strict maner, to be the tenth part of
the whole bodie, that is, fr[=o] the highest part of the forehead to
the pitch of the chin, so that in the vse of the word face there is a
difference, wherby the 9. part is taken (I say) from the crowne
(called Vertex, because the haire there turneth into a circle) so that
if the space by a rule were truelie taken, I meane from the crowne or
highest part of the head to the pitch of the nether chap, and
multiplied by nine, the length of the whole bodie would easilie
appeare, & shew it selfe at the full. In like maner I find, that from
the elbow to the top of the midle finger is the 4. part of the whole
length, called a cubit: from the wrist to the top of the same finger,
a tenth part: the length of the shinbone to the ancle a fourth part
(and all one with the cubit:) from the top of the finger to the third
ioint, two third parts of the face from the top of the forehead. Which
obseruations I willinglie remember in this place, to the end that if
anie such carcases happen to be found hereafter, it shall not be hard
by some of these bones here mentioned, to come by the stature of the
whole bodie, in certeine & exact maner. As for the rest of the bones,
ioints, parts, &c: you may resort to Drurerus, Cardan, and other
writers, sith the farther deliuerie of them concerneth not my purpose.
[Sidenote: _Sylvester Gyraldus._]
To proceed therefore with other examples, I read that the bodie of
king Arthur being found in the yeare 1189. was two foot higher than
anie man that came to behold the same. Finallie the carcase of William
Conqueror was séene not manie yeares since (to wit, 1542.) in the
[Sidenote: _Constans fama Gallorum._]
citie of Cane, twelue inches longer, by the iudgment of such as saw
it, than anie man which dwelled in the countrie. All which testimonies
I note togither, bicause they proceed from christian writers, from
whome nothing should be farther or more distant, than of set purpose
to lie, and feed the world with fables.
In our times also, and whilest Francis the first reigned ouer France,
there was a man séene in Aquiteine, whome the king being in those
parties made of his gard, whose height was such, that a man of common
heigth might easilie go vnder his twist without stooping, a stature
[Sidenote: Briat.]
incredible. Moreouer Casanion, a writer of our time, telleth of the
bones of Briat a giant found of late in Delphinois, of 15. cubits, the
diameter of whose scull was two cubits, and the breadth of his
shoulders foure, as he himselfe beheld in the late second wars of
France, & wherevnto the report of Ioan Marius made in his bookes De
Galliarum illustrationibus, where he writeth of the carcase of the
same giant found not farre from the Rhodanus, which was 22. foot long,
from the scull to the sole of the feet, dooth yéeld sufficient
testimonie. Also Calameus in his commentaries De Biturigibus,
confirmeth no lesse, adding that he was found 1556. & so dooth
Baptista Fulgosus, lib. 1. cap. 6. saieng farther, that his graue was
seene not farre from Valentia, and discouered by the violence and
current of the Rhodanus. The said Casanion in like sort speaketh of
the bones of a man which he beheld, one of whose téeth was a foot
long, and eight pound in weight. Also of the sepulchre of another
neere vnto Charmes castell, which was nine paces in length, things
incredible to vs, if eiesight did not confirme it in our owne times,
and these carcases were not reserued by the verie prouidence of God,
to the end we might behold his works, and by these relikes vnderstand,
that such men were in old time in deed, of whose statures we now begin
to doubt. Now to say somwhat also of mine owne knowledge, there is the
thighbone of a man to be séene in the church of S. Laurence néere
Guildhall in London, which in time past was 26. inches in length, but
now it beginneth to decaie, so that it is shorter by foure inches than
it was in the time of king Edward. Another also is to be seene in
Aldermarie burie, of some called Aldermanburie, of 32. inches and
rather more, whereof the symmetrie hath beene taken by some skilfull
in that practise, and an image made according to that proportion,
which is fixt in the east end of the cloister of the same church, not
farre from the said bone, and sheweth the person of a man full ten or
eleuen foot high, which as some say was found in the cloister of
Poules, that was neere to the librarie, at such time as the Duke of
Somerset did pull it downe to the verie foundation, and carried the
stones thereof to the Strand, where he did build his house. These two
bones haue I séene, beside other, whereof at the beholding I tooke no
great heed, bicause I minded not as then to haue had any such vse of
their proportions, and therefore I will speake no more of them: this
is sufficient for my purpose that is deliuered out of the christian
authors.
Now it resteth furthermore that I set downe, what I haue read therof
in Pagane writers, who had alwaies great regard of their credit, and
so ought all men that dedicate any thing vnto posteritie, least in
going about otherwise to reape renowme and praise, they doo procure
vnto themselues in the end nothing else but meere contempt and
infamie. For my part I will touch rare things, and such as to my selfe
doo séeme almost incredible: howbeit as I find them, so I note them,
requiring your Honour in reading hereof, to let euerie Author beare
his owne burden, and euerie oxe his bundle.
[Sidenote: _In vita Sertorij de Antheo._]
Plutarch telleth how Sertorius being in Lybia, néere to the streicts
of Maroco, to wit, at Tingi (or Tanger in Mauritania, as it is now
called) caused the sepulchre of Antheus, afore remembred to be opened:
for hearing by common report that the said giant laie buried there,
whose corps was fiftie cubits long at the least, he was so far off
from crediting the same, that he would not beleeue it, vntill he saw
the coffin open wherein the bones of the aforesaid prince did rest. To
be short therefore, he caused his souldiers to cast downe the hill
made sometime ouer the tombe, and finding the bodie in the bottome
coffined in stone, after the measure therof taken, he saw it
manifestlie to be 60. cubits in length, which were ten more than the
people made accompt of, which Strabo also confirmeth.
Pausanias reporteth out of one Miso, that when the bodie of Aiax was
found, the whirlebone of his knée was adiudged so broad as a pretie
dish: also that the bodie of Asterius somtime king of Creta was ten
cubits long, and that of Hyllus or Gerion no lesse maruelous than the
rest, all which Goropius still condemneth to be the bones of monsters
of the sea (notwithstanding the manifest formes of their bones,
epitaphes, and inscriptions found ingrauen in brasse and lead with
them in their sepulchres) so far is he from being persuaded and led
from his opinion.
[Sidenote: _Philostrate._]
Philostrate in Heroicis saith, how he saw the bodie of a giant thirtie
cubits in length, also the carcase of another of two and twentie, and
the third of twelue.
Liuie in the seauenth of his first decade, speaketh of an huge person
which made a challenge as he stood at the end of the Anien bridge,
against any Romane that would come out and fight with him, whose
stature was not much inferiour to that of Golias, of Artaches (of
whome Herodot speaketh in the historie of Xerxes) who was sixe common
cubits of stature, which make but fiue of the kings standard, bicause
this is longer by thrée fingers than the other. Of Pusio, Secundilla,
& Cabaras, of which the first two liuing vnder Augustus were aboue ten
foot, and the later vnder Claudius of full nine, and all remembred by
Plinie; of Eleazar a Jew, of whome Iosephus saith, that he was sent to
Tiberius, and a person of heigth fiue cubits; of another of whom
Nicephorus maketh mention lib. 12. cap. 13. Hist. eccles. of fiue
cubits and an handfull, I say nothing, bicause Casanion of Mutterell
hath alredie sufficientlie discoursed vpon these examples in his De
gigantibus, which as I gesse he hath written of set purpose against
Goropius, who in his Gigantomachia, supposeth himselfe to haue killed
all the giants in the world, and like a new Iupiter Alterum carcasse
Herculem, as the said Casanion dooth merilie charge and vpbraid him.
[Sidenote: _Lib._ 7.]
Plinie telleth of an earthquake at Creta, which discouered the body of
a giant, that was 46. cubits in length after the Romane standard, and
by diuerse supposed to be the bodie of Orion or Ætion. Neuerthelesse I
read, that Lucius Flaccus and Metellus did sweare Per sua capita, that
it was either the carcase of some monster of the sea, or a forged
deuise to bleare the peoples eies withall, wherein it is wonderfull to
see, how they please Goropius as one that first deriued his
fantasticall imagination from their asseueration & oth. The said
Plinie also addeth that the bodie of Orestes was seuen cubits in
length, one Gabbara of Arabia nine foot nine inches, and two reserued
In conditorio Sallustianorum halfe a foot longer than Gabbara was, for
which I neuer read that anie man was driuen to sweare.
[Sidenote: _Trallianus._]
Trallianus writeth how the Athenienses digging on a time in the
ground, to laie the foundation of a new wall to be made in a certeine
Iland in the daies of an emperour, did find the bones of Macrosyris in
a coffin of hard stone, of 100. cubits in length after the accompt of
the Romane cubit, which was then either a foot and a halfe, or not
much in difference from halfe a yard of our measure now in England.
These verses also, as they are now translated out of Gréeke were found
withall,
Sepultus ego Macrosyris in longa insula
Vitæ peractis annis mille quinquies:
which amounteth to 81. yeares foure moneths, after the Aegyptian
reckoning.
In the time of Hadrian the emperour, the bodie of the giant Ida was
taken vp at Messana, conteining 20. foot in length, and hauing a
double row of teeth, yet standing whole in his chaps. Eumachus also in
Perigesi, telleth that when the Carthaginenses went about to dich in
their prouince, they found two bodies in seuerall coffins of stone,
the one was 23. the other 24. cubits in length, such another was found
in Bosphoro Cymmerio after an earthquake, but the inhabitants did cast
those bones into the Meotidan marris. In Dalmatia, manie graues were
shaken open with an earthquake, in diuers of which certeine carcases
were found, whose ribs conteined 16. els, after the Romane measure,
whereby the whole bodies were iudged to be 64. sith the longest rib is
commonlie about the fourth part of a man, as some rouing symmetricians
affirme.
Arrhianus saith, that in the time of Alexander the bodies of the
Asianes were generallie of huge stature, and commonlie of fiue cubits,
and such was the heigth of Porus of Inde, whom the said Alexander
vanquished and ouerthrew in battell.
Suidas speaketh of Ganges, killed also by the said prince, who farre
exceeded Porus; for he was ten cubits long. What should I speake of
Artaceas a capitaine in the host of Xerxes, afore remembred, whose
heigth was within 4. fingers bredth of fiue cubits, & the tallest man
in the armie except the king himselfe. Herod. lib. 7. Of Athanatus
whom Plinie remembreth I saie nothing. But of all these, this one
example shall passe, which I doo read of in Trallianus, and he setteth
downe in forme and manner following.
In the daies of Tiberius th'emperor saith he, a corps was left bare or
laid open after an earthquake, of which ech tooth (taken one with
another) conteined 12. inches ouer at the least. Now forsomuch as in
[Sidenote: A mouth of sixteene foot wide.]
such as be full mouthed, ech chap hath commonlie 16. teeth at the
least, which amount vnto 32. in the whole, needs must the widenesse of
this mans chaps be welneere of 16. foot, and the opening of his lips
fiue at the least. A large mouth in mine opinion, and not to eat
peason with Ladies of my time, besides that if occasion serued, it was
able to receiue the whole bodies of mo than one of the greatest men, I
meane of such as we be in our daies. When this carcase was thus found,
euerie man maruelled at it, & good cause why. A messenger was sent to
[Sidenote: A counterfect made of a monstrous carcase
by one tooth taken out of the head.]
Tiberius the emperour also to know his pleasure, whether he would haue
the same brought ouer vnto Rome or not, but he forbad them, willing
his Legate not to remooue the dead out of his resting place, but
rather somewhat to satisfie his phantasie to send him a tooth out of
his head, which being done, he gaue it to a cunning workeman,
commanding him to shape a carcase of light matter, after the
proportion of the tooth, that at the least by such means he might
satisfie his curious mind, and the fantasies of such as are delited
[Sidenote: This man was more fauorable to this monster
than our papists were to the bodies of the dead who
tare them in peeces to make money of them.]
with nouelties. To be short, when the image was once made and set vp
on end, it appéered rather an huge colossie than the true carcase of a
man, and when it had stood in Rome vntill the people were wearie &
throughlie satisfied with the sight thereof, he caused it to be broken
all to peeces, and the tooth sent againe to the carcase fr[=o] whence
it came, willing them moreouer to couer it diligentlie, and in anie
wise not to dismember the corps, nor from thencefoorth to be so hardie
as to open the sepulchre anie more. Pausan. lib. 8. telleth in like
maner of Hiplodanus & his fellowes, who liued when Rhea was with child
of Osyris by Cham, and were called to hir aid at such time as she
feared to be molested by Hammon hir first husband, whilest she
[Sidenote: Grandiáque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.]
remained vpon the Thoumasian hill, "In ipso loco," saith he,
"spectantur ossa maiora multo quàm vt humana existimari possunt, &c."
Of Protophanes who had but one great and broad bone in steed of all
his ribs on ech side I saie nothing, sith it concerneth not his
stature.
I could rehearse manie mo examples of the bodies of such men, out of
Solinus, Sabellicus, D. Cooper, and others. As of Oetas and Ephialtes,
who were said to be nine orgies or paces in heigth, and foure in
bredth, which are taken for so many cubits, bicause there is small
difference betwéene a mans ordinarie pace and his cubit, and finallie
of our Richard the first, who is noted to beare an axe in the wars,
the iron of whose head onelie weighed twentie pound after our greatest
weight, and whereof an old writer that I haue seene, saith thus:
This king Richard I vnderstand,
Yer he went out of England,
Let make an axe for the nones,
Therewith to cleaue the Saracens bones,
The head in sooth was wrought full weele,
Thereon were twentie pound of steele,
And when he came in Cyprus land,
That ilkon axe he tooke in hand, &c.
I could speake also of Gerards staffe or lance, yet to be seene in
Gerards hall at London in Basing lane, which is so great and long that
no man can beweld it, neither go to the top thereof without a ladder,
which of set purpose and for greater countenance of the wonder is
fixed by the same. I haue seene a man my selfe of seuen foot in
heigth, but lame of his legs. The chronicles also of Cogshall speake
of one in Wales, who was halfe a foot higher, but through infirmitie
and wounds not able to beweld himselfe. I might (if I thought good)
speake also of another of no lesse heigth than either of these and
liuing of late yeares, but these here remembred shall suffice to
prooue my purpose withall. I might tell you in like sort of the marke
stone which Turnus threw at Æneas, and was such as that twelue chosen
and picked men (saith Virgil),
[Sidenote: Vis vnita fortior est eadem dispersa.]
(Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus)
were not able to stur and remooue out of the place: but I passe it
ouer, and diuerse of the like, concluding that these huge blocks were
ordeined and created by God: first for a testimonie vnto vs of his
power and might; and secondlie for a confirmation, that hugenes of
bodie is not to be accompted of as a part of our felicitie, sith they
which possessed the same, were not onelie tyrants, doltish, & euill
men, but also oftentimes ouercome euen by the weake & feeble. Finallie
they were such indéed as in whom the Lord delited not, according to
[Sidenote: _Cap._ 3, 36.]
the saieng of the prophet Baruch; "Ibi fuerunt gigantes nominati, illi
qui ab initio fuerunt statura magna, scientes bellum, hos non elegit
Dominus, neque illis viam disciplinæ dedit, propterea perierunt, et
quoniam non habuerunt sapientiam, interierunt propter suam
insipientiam, &c." that is, "There were the giants famous from the
beginning, that were of great stature and expert in warre, those did
not the Lord choose, neither gaue he the waie of knowledge vnto them,
but they were destroied, because they had no wisedome, and perished
through their owne foolishnesse." That the bodies of men also doo
[Sidenote: 4. _Esd. cap._ 5.]
dailie decaie in stature, beside Plinie lib. 7. Esdras likewise
confesseth lib. 4. cap. 5. whose authoritie is so good herein as that
of Homer or Plinie, who doo affirme so much, whereas Goropius still
continuing his woonted pertinacitie also in this behalfe, maketh his
proportion first by the old Romane foot, and then by his owne, &
therevpon concludeth that men in these daies be fullie so great as
euer they were, whereby as in the former dealing he thinketh it
nothing to conclude against the scriptures, chosen writers and
testimonies of the oldest pagans. But see how he would salue all at
last in the end of his Gigantomachia, where he saith, I denie not but
that od huge personages haue bene seene, as a woman of ten, and a man
of nine foot long, which I my selfe also haue beholden, but as now so
in old time the common sort did so much woonder at the like as we doo
at these, because they were seldome séene, and not commonlie to be
heard of.