Text, one scholarly version only, translated from the 1584 Latin 3rd Add, 1584 Latin, 1584 German 3rd Add., 1585 French 3rd Add., 1587 French, 1588 Spanish, 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1598 French, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1602 Spanish, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1609/1612 Latin and 1609/1612/1641 Spanish edition:
136.1.{1584L3Add{The land} {1606E has instead{liberties}1606E instead} of PERUGIA.
136.2. Iohannes Campanus, writing about this country, says that although he had seen and travelled through many countries, yet he never in all his life saw a more pleasant country {1606E only{and better manured}1606E only} than the country of Perugia. All things seem wasted and wild to those that are far off, but if you come closer, nothing may be found that is more glorious, either with respect to the farming of the land, or wholesomeness of the air, or fertility of the soil. The river Tiber runs through the middle of this country, and kindly waters it. Not far from there is the city of Perugia, situated on the mountain range Apennine, built a long time ago (as Trogus Pompeius says) by the Achaians, and of the twelve cities of Hetruria {1587F, 1598F & 1608/1612I only{or Tuscany}1587F, 1598F & 1608/1612I only} it is the main one.
136.3. It was called Augusta by emperor Augustus, as shown by the capital letters, {1587F & 1598F only{a foot and a half in size}1587F & 1598F only}{1606E only{each half a yard square}1606E only}, engraved on its gates. This city, considering the nature of the place, is invincible, richly beautified both with religious and with private buildings of great state, and [it] is very populous. This city above all the cities of Italy has always been most fortunate and happy {not in 1606E{says Blondus}not in 1606E}, having retained the same state and government [with] little or nothing changed, which it enjoyed before the building of Rome, and what it obtained since then (in the time that Rome was ruled by kings, consuls, emperors and tyrants) it has retained this to this day.
136.4. Yet it has endured many and various grievous and bitter storms. For in the time that Fabius Maximus was consul, as Livius reports, 4500 of its citizens were slain. In the days of the Triumviri, Augustus besieged it, brought it to great distress by famine, took it and razed it to the ground, and everything was wholly destroyed by fire, except only for the temple of Vulcanus, as Appianus records. Afterwards it endured a seven year siege and attack from the cruel tyrant Totilas and was finally sacked, spoilt &c. Now it is subject to the popes of Rome and has a famous university which was established around the year of Christ 1290, as Middendorpius has written. Here, in the time of our grandfathers, flourished the most renowned specialists in civil law Bartholus and Baldus.
136.5. In the precincts of this city is lake Perugia, anciently called LACUS TRASUMENUS, long famous because of the great defeat {1606E only{that Hannibal}1606E only} caused to the Romans. {not in 1587F & 1598F{Appianus calls it in his Annibalicas Lacus Plestinus but I do not know for what reason}not in 1587F & 1598F}. It is in circumference, as that Campanus just mentioned writes, about thirty {1584G3Add & 1602G have instead{three}1584G3Add & 1602G instead} miles. Its water is very clear and pure, [and although] there are no rivers that run into it, nor are there any that come from it, yet its water is so exceedingly sweet that anyone would think it was {1592L & 1595L only{like wine}1592L & 1595L only} fed from some running spring.
136.6. In it, there are three {1584G3Add & 1602G have instead{two}1584G3Add & 1602G instead} isles, of which the two that are in the North are close together. One is called the Greater, the other the Lesser (Maiores and Minores). One is waste, and uninhabited except for a church situated on top of a hill. The other, which is near the liberties of Cortona, has about 200 families. The third, which is towards the South, is bigger than the other two, very populous and well inhabited. Its inhabitants devote almost all their time to fishing. They sow little corn, yet they do not neglect to plant vines. For wood, fuel and food for their cattle, they go out into the fields and woods that are close.
136.7. {not in 1584L3Add, 1584L, 1584G3Add, 1587F, 1588S, 1598F & 1602G{In the records of Ludovicus, [the] first emperor of Rome, there is mention of these three islands, where he calls them Maior, Minor and Pulvensis {1606E only{(now Polvese)}1606E only}, and I note that they still retain their ancient names}not in 1584L3Add, 1584L, 1584G3Add, 1587F, 1588S, 1598F & 1602G}. No bogs, fens or springs oppress the shore. These are full of olive gardens, which on the hills on every side adorn the lake, and are wonderful in their fertility.
136.8. On the plain between the lake and the hills there is such an abundance of hemp and flax that there is no more of those [to be found] in all Hetruria {1606E & 1608/1612I only{or Tuscane}1606E & 1608/1612I only}. No country yields better wines or sweeter apples. The variety of fishes in the lake is not large, but their abundance is wonderful, in which it excels above all other lakes in Italy. {not in 1606E{The fishermen fish during the whole year, (even during winter time, which is not done in any other lake in Italy)}not in 1606E}. In winter this fish is carried to Etruria{1606E & 1608/1612I instead{Tuscany}1606E & 1608/1612I instead}, {not in 1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S{Umbria}not in 1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S} {1587F & 1598F instead{Ancona & Spoleto}1587F & 1598F instead}{1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S have instead{Ducado de Spoleto}1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S instead} {not in 1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S{Picenum}not in 1588S, 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S} {not in 1587F, 1592L, 1595L, 1598F, 1601L, 1602G, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L {and Vicentia}not in 1587F, 1592L, 1595L, 1598F, 1601L, 1602G, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L}.
136.9. To Rome also they drive much cattle daily, to be sold [there]. The same Campanus [also] says that here they catch [a kind of] pike [which is] partly coloured, [and] spotted with various green specks, about which he reports strange wonders, namely that it mates with serpents, and derives its strange colours from that. {1606E only(The common people, says Iacobus Geumus in the twentieth chapter of his first book, truly believe that lampreys do mate with serpents, which Plinius considers to be a fable although he often seems to be very delighted to write down fables [himself].
136.10. Athenĉus also writes in a report to a certain Andreas about these lampreys which are bred from vipers, that if they bite, the wound [turns out to] be lethal, which opinion he afterwards revokes as being false)}1606E only}. Also, he tells about a pike which, lying on the dry ground and being attacked by a fox, gripped one of its legs with its teeth, and both were found dead}1584L3Add, 1584L, 1584G3Add, 1587F, 1588S, 1592L, 1598F & 1602G end here}. {1595L{Plinius in his second book, chap. 107, says that once this whole lake burned}1595L, 1601L, 1602S, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641S end here}.