Text, translated from the 1595 Latin, 1601 Latin, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1618 Latin (Bertius), 1609/1612 Latin & 1624 Latin Parergon/1641 Spanish [but text in Latin] editions:
192.1. {1595L{The BRITISH ISLES, {1606E only{Now, THE EMPIRE OF Great Britaine}1606E only}{1608/1612I only{and those lying around it.}1608/1612I only}.
192.2. Plinius says that in the Atlantic ocean there are many islands named BRITANNICÆ INSULÆ, the British islands, but [only] the two larger [ones] in particular, ALBION {1608/1612I only{Inghilterra}1608/1612I only} and HIBERNIA (Ireland) are called so properly. Of these ALBION {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead}, since it is both the largest and as it were commander of the rest, is most properly called BRITANNIA, and I might easily be convinced that all these islands were mentioned in the ancient records of the Greeks before they were named or known by the Romans, and to have been generally called the CASSITERIDES, as we say the stannaries, and as the main one is CASSITERA, which the Romans call Britannia. And although I am not ignorant [about the fact] that Caßitera is considered by Dionysius and Stephanus to be Indica Insula, an Indian island, {1606E only{or an island belonging to or close to India}1606E only}, yet, this does not influence my opinion a whit.
192.3. For I truly think that this was advanced by them out of ignorance, and not founded on knowledge or skill in geography. For we all know that this is also a common error in these days, [viz.] to call all countries or islands that are unknown or far remote and distant from us Indian isles, by which name, not without manifest ignorance of the truth, they call the whole continent of the New World, together with the islands around it which were first discovered and found in the days of our grandfathers, and such as are daily being discovered now, [also] by that name. I find Pomponius Mela to be on my side, a man of undisputed good judgment and credibility, who calls them CELTICAS, Celtic isles, as if they were near neighbours to the Celtæ.
192.4. I know that these Caßiterides are by others described differently, as [for instance] by Diodorus Siculus [as being located] a little above Lusitania {1606E & 1608/1612I only{(Portugal)}1606E & 1608/1612I only}, by Plinius as opposite Celtiberia {1606E only{(Valentia)}1606E only}{1608/1612I has instead{Biscaia}1608/1612I instead}, [and] near Artabrum promontorium {1606E only{(cabo de finis terræ)}1606E only} by Strabo and Ptolemæus. Since there are no islands at all in this area {1606E only{(and therefore none of these either)}16006E only}, nor were there ever any, it becomes apparent that these islands were known to the ancients only by name, and not by their true location. Now everyone recommends these islands for the great abundance of tin and lead which they yearly produce. Strabo also claims these islands [to be] rich in leather. Is it not true that these three [products], whose abundance has made ENGLAND famous all over the world, prove clearly that they all referred to and aimed at Britain {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead} For what [other] country or province is there on the whole globe of the earth that is so rich in pelts and leather? Or that has such plenty of fine wool as ENGLAND?
192.5. The same Strabo confirms that on the Caßiterides there is no need to dig deeply to find metals. Plinius says that they are found at very surface of the earth. Who would not realise that they are both speaking of the same thing? From this I conclude that in former times the Phnicians, and the Spanish, for trade sailed through the straits of Gibraltar and brought {not in 1624PL/1641S{brass vessels and}not in 1624PL/1641S} salt in exchange for tin, lead and pelts, like the Romans later used to do, after Cæsar had subdued it, [partly] over land via France. Therefore it was then first known to the Romans by the name of Britannia, which centuries earlier was very famous among the Phnicians by the name Caßitera. Appianus, a respected author who lived at the time of Hadrianus the emperor writes that the Spaniards avoided to travel on the Western and Northern ocean, except when they were forced into Britain by the violence of the tide. That here he calls Britain Caßitera is without question, but then that name fell into disuse and the [use of] the name of Britain, as I consider to be very likely, became more common, and better known. Let the learned investigate, and at their leisure consider whether [or not] this is true.
192.6. Sextus Rufus Avienus describes these islands under the name of OESTRYMNIDVM. Surely I am of the opinion that he does. For he says that these strymniades are very rich in lead and tin, and that the country people make ships of leather, in which they sail on the main sea. In what sense does this differ from what Plinius reports, [when he says] that the Britans go to sea in ships made of reeds and covered with raw hides? {1606E only{And does not Cæsar in his first book of de Bello civili say that the Britans used to make the keel and ribs of their ships of some light wood [and that] the other part being constructed with osiers or rods, was covered with leather?}1606E only}.
192.7. The Romans divided this island, as Dion and Xiphilinus testify, into the HIGHER, containing all that part which is towards the South, and the LOWER towards the North. In the Almagest of Ptolemæus, the one is called MINOR, the Lesser, the other MAIOR, the Greater, which happened at the time of Severus, emperor of Rome. But during the reign of Valentinianus the emperor, I find in Sextus Rufus that it was distinguished by these names[:] BRITANNIA PRIMA, the first, BRITANNIA SECVNDA, the second, BRITANNIA MAXIMA, The greater, CÆSARIENSIS and FLAVIA. The book of Remembrances (Notiar.) and Ammianus add VALENTIA, which others, such as Orosius, Claudianus and Hegesippus call SCOTIA, Scotland.
192.8. Xiphilinus in Severus attributes the people in general to the following two nations: MÆATAE and CALEDONII, for the names of the rest may well be reduced to these two. {1606E only{(Yet, this must be wrong, except if he refers in particular to Valentia, the latter part)}1606E only}. He who wants to know the various people of this island as it was being inhabited, let him have recourse to Ptolemæus, or to our map here, onto which we have summarised those things we have collected here and there, dispersed over Cæsar {1606E only{in his Commentaries}1606E only}, [in] Tacitus, Pausanias and Ammianus, and he shall be fully satisfied. {1606E only{But do you want to be totally convinced? [Then] take the learned M[r]. Camden as your guide, and then I will warrant your safe conduct}1606E only}. So far about the names of these islands. Now let us in a similar manner speak about the islands themselves, and first about the largest of them, which we said was called Britannia.
192.9. Aristoteles writes to Alexander the Great that this island in size exceeds the rest. Tacitus testifies that it is the largest of all the islands that the Romans ever knew. It is so large, as Appianus writes, that it might seem to be ANOTHER CONTINENT. And Hegesippus calls it ANOTHER WORLD. Cæsar, Diodorus, Strabo and Mela claim it to be three cornered, {1606E only{and therefore it may as well as Sicilia be called TRINACRIA}1606E only}. Tacitus, based on Livius and Fabius Rusticus says it resembles a flail, or the warlike weapon Bipennis, {1606E only{a hatchet or battle axe}1606E only} Iornandes says [that] it is formed like a cone, {1606E only{that is, like a geometrical object which, like a taper, is broad at the bottom and pointed at the top. Nubiensis, the Arab who wrote about five or six hundred years ago says it resembles the head and neck of an Alnaama, an ostrich}1606E only}.
192.10. This island was first discovered and made known to the Roman empire in the time of Julius Cæsar {1606E only{the tyrant,}1606E only} who first of all men (I mean of the Romans) entered it with one thousand sailing ships, as Athenæus in his sixth book has left on record. For previously, as Dion says in his 39th book, it was uncertain whether there was such an island or not. The later writers were doubtful whether it used to be part of the mainland, or [that it always has been] a separate island by itself, and about this question they have written much for both points of view, since indeed they knew nothing for certain about it (not having seen it, nor being informed about it by its inhabitants), but had only written about it by guessing and conjecturing, each after his own opportunities or learning.
192.11. In the course of time, first when Agricola was vice-prætor, (which I understand from Tacitus was [the case] under Vespasianus) then again, in our days, {1606E only{says Dion}1606E only} under Severus, it was clearly found to be only an island, {1606E only{and not [part] of a continent}1606E only}. Before the arrival of these men, the island had never born the yoke of any foreign prince, as Diodorus Siculus informs us. It was governed by many princes. Its own people mostly ruled it, and they had a kind of sovereignty, as we read in Cæsar, Strabo, Xiphilinus and Tacitus, who also adds that by their princes they are drawn to various factions, taking opposing sides, and that they do not have any common counsel {1606E only{for the [entire] state of the whole commonwealth}1606E only}, so that they fight in different groups, and were conquered as such.
192.12. The temperature of the air, says Cæsar, is milder than in France, [and] its frosts and cold are not so biting. Tacitus states that there is never any bitter, cold weather. Strabo writes that the air is more subject [to have] clouds than snow. Herodianus informs us that the air is thick and foggy, and he thinks the reason [for that] to be the heat and vapours which ascend from its fens and marshes. {1601L{In Britain, (says Minutius Felix the divine), the heat of the sun is not so great but is smoothed and tempered by the warm and hot streams of the sea which surround it on all sides}1601L}.
192.13. The same Strabo mentioned before says that most of the island is plain and flat, [and] covered with woods and groves. There are also some earth hills, but very craggy and dry without water, as Xiphilinus writes, and in addition some plains, deserts, and lots of fens and bogs. This Herodianus declares to be true, who [also] says that because of the frequent overflowing of the sea, it is fenny and marshy in various places. Yet, a Panegyricus claims it to have a very fertile soil for corn, but it is [even] better for grass than for corn, and is kinder to beast than to man, as Mela confirms, and therefore there is an infinite amount of cattle here, as Cæsar records.
192.14. Yet it [also] produces wheat {1606E only{and rye}1606E only}, as Strabo writes. And by means of their great store of marl for this, Plinius says, the [soil of the] Britans has great fertility, which in the time of emperor Julianus was so luxurious and super-abundant that, as Marcellinus writes in his eighteenth {1608/1612I has instead{eighth}1608/1612I instead} book, they exported corn and [such] provisions to France and Germany. The same story is confirmed by Zozimus. It yields all kinds of commodities and other things like France does, (except beech and fir trees), such as hares, hens and geese, as Cæsar just mentioned confirms. Xiliphinus, based on Dion, highly recommends it for its wonderful abundance of all sorts of fish.
192.15. Solinus [praises it] as much for the great variety and richness in metals. All the world has continually admired it for its infinite abundance of tin and lead {1608/1612I{white and black}1608/1612I}, especially higher up in the country, as Cæsar claims. This opinion is confirmed, to some extent, by Diodorus Siculus, who says that metals are plentifully found {1606E only{in Cornwall}1606E only}, near the promontory {1606E only{which Ptolemæus calls Antivestæum and}1606E only} Bolerium {1608/1612I only{situated in Cornwall}1608/1612I only}. {1606E only{The same [can be found in] Diodorus, Belerium, Nubiensis [as] Tarfi'lgarbey mina Igiezira, [for] The outermost bound of the island towards the West, or, as our seamen call it, The lands end and the cape of Cornwall}1606E only}. Next to these metals the same author says that it also yields iron, but not in any great quantities, and that in the same manner towards the sea coast. {1601L{Plinius also says that it produces {1608/1612I{black}1608/1612I} lead in great abundance, even in the upper surface of the earth}1601L}. It also has some veins of silver and gold, if we are to believe Tacitus and Strabo, {1606E only{two authors with a good reputation}1606E only}. Also, the prophecies of Sibylla claim it to be rich in gold.
192.16. Perhaps, {1606E only{says Ortelius}1606E only}, this is the case because so much is brought here, for Cicero writes to Trebatius that the isle by itself does not produce one dram of gold nor silver, but that nothing is to be exported from here, nor is any kind of booty to be expected other than one would obtain from slaves. {1606E only{But Cicero spoke here as a lawyer, not as a philosopher and lover of the truth. For our histories confirm that there have been mines of both of these metals in former ages, which were to be found in England, Wales and Scotland. And we would now undoubtedly find similar ones, if we would look for them with the same diligence}1606E only}. Plinius and Mela write that there are many great rivers here which yield pearls and precious stones. These pearls are the best in value and worth, next to those from India, in the judgment of Ælianus. The expectation of profit from these says Suetonius {1606E instead has{Plinius}1606E} in his life [of Cæsar] first prompted Cæsar to assault this island. {1601L{Heliodorus highly recommends the amethyst of England}1601L}.
192.17. I read in Solinus that there are hot baths here (fontes calidi, {1606E only{[in] Bath, I understand)}1606E only} which are marvellously carved and trimmed for the use of man. These fountains, he says, are consecrated to Minerva, who presides over them. Heliodorus too ascribes the amethyst, a precious stone, to this country. Here also is the agath, the best of its kind, as Solinus and the old commentator on Dionysius {1608/1612I has instead{Eustatius}1608/1612I instead} jointly state.
192.18. It seems that Plinius, many years ago, had heard of our English oysters, which one of them recommended who wrote about them like this: he knew that an oyster from Rutupinum would bite at the first occasion. The poet Gratius highly praises the English dogs, which are exported from here, as Strabo writes, for their natural excellence in sure hunting, about which Nemesianus was not ignorant either, when he wrote about them like this: --Divisa Britannia mittit Veloces, nostriq. Orbis venatibus aptos. {1606E & 1608/1612I only{[that is:] Britain, that other world has always borne the name, for swiftest hounds, and best for hunters game}1606E & 1608/1612I only}. Symmachus writes to Flavianus, his brother, that in former times the Romans greatly admired the English dogs, and Strabo states that the Gauls used their help in their wars. There is a kind of them which is smaller than the common kind, which I find described in Oppianus' book of hunting. He calls it Agassei, {1606E only{a beagle or geese hound, see [also] M[r]. Camden's Britannia}1606E only}. Whether in former times it had wine or not, (for Tacitus flatly denies that it will produce vines or olive trees) I dare not confirm.
192.19. Yet I understand from Vopiscus that Aurelianus the emperor allowed the Britans to plant vines, and to make wine. Also, the Panegyricus, an oration addressed to Constantine the Great, attributes to this island such a great fertility for corn and all sorts of grain that it has enough both of corn for bread and corn for brewing to be self-sufficient. Plinius writes that Sotacus truly believed that amber (Electrum) dropped from certain trees here, which they therefore called Electrides, amber trees, a fabricated story invented by the old writers, as may also be the case for what Clemens, in the sixth book of his Stromaton writes about the story of Hervetus:
192.20. They who write histories report that in Britannia ([in Greek lettering] Britannike, the Greek copy has), there is a certain cave underneath a hill in the top of which there is a chink or rift. When the wind blows into the cave, and beats against its sides, a sound is heard resembling cymbals, making a melodious harmony. Similarly, [there is a fable] by Solinus too, who writes that there is an altar (ara) in a by-place or odd corner in Caledonia, {1606E only{a part of Scotland}1606E only}, where an inscription written in Greek letters clearly shows that Ulysses landed here {not in 1624LParergon/1641S{to carry out some vow he had made}not in 1624LParergon/1641S}. And whether this isle was ever part of the main continent or not, as Servius claims, I dare not confirm. Now what remains is that we in the same manner say something about its people.
192.21. Cæsar and Diodorus Siculus report that it is marvellously populous. But from where the people and first inhabitants came, whether they were indigenous (indigenæ) or came from other countries, is not known, as Tacitus has written. The inner parts, higher inland, are inhabited by those who as they say were born and bred there. The sea coasts are inhabited by those who came there from Belgium {1606E only{(the Low countries)}1606E only} [and] almost all of them take their name from those cities and provinces from where they came, and where they were born, as Cæsar reports. This opinion of his is confirmed by Ptolemæus, who on this island also mentions and describes the Belgæ and Atrebates.
192.22. Tacitus claims that the Caledonij, {1606E only{(a people in Scotland)}1606E only} have red hair and large limbs, which is a clear argument that they derive from the Germans. Their well coloured complexion, curly head and their location opposite the Spanish coast prove that the ancient Iberi had in former times crossed the sea and had settled here. That the Gauls entered these coasts, close to their country, is very probable on the basis of their ceremonies, superstitious opinions and similitude of language. Zozimus in his first book of Histories writes that emperor Probus sent to this island all the Burgundians and Vandals that he conquered and captured alive, so that here they might live and settle.
192.23. The Saxons and other people that entered this land I omit on purpose, because these belong to later times, and [came] only recently, [whereas] we only intended to touch on those things that were of greater antiquity. Generally, the inhabitants of this isle, in those days, were all uncivil and rude. And being further remote from the main continent, they had less knowledge about foreign wealth, {1606E only{and were less interested in it}1606E only}. That the Britans were more valiant and brave than the Gauls we learn from Tacitus.
192.24. That they were much taller of stature [than the French], we can read in Strabo. {1601L{That they treated strangers discourteously is reported by Horatius}1601L}. Claudianus the poet calls this island sæva Britannia, tyrannous Britain. And the same author, in his Panegyricus, for the {1624LParergon/1641S{fourth}1624LParergon/1641S} consulship of Honorius, calls the people sævos Britannos, cruel Britans. {1601L{Ovidius in his second book on love calls them virides Britannos, the green Britans, [and] in the fifteenth book of his Metamorphosis Æquoreos Britannos, the Britans of the sea}1601L}. They wear their hair long, all their bodies everywhere being shaven except for their head and upper lip.
192.25. The same author says that as regards their nature and qualities they are mostly all alike {1624LParergon has instead{like the French}1624LParergon instead}, yet some are more plain and simple minded, others more rude and barbarous. Thus, although they have plenty of milk, yet they do not know how to make cheese. Others are fully ignorant about sowing, planting, grafting and other such farming activities. In their behaviour and conversations, they are, as Diodorus says about them, plain, simple and sincere, and far remote from the wily subtleties and crafty devices of our people {1606E only{who live closer to the court}1606E only}.
192.26. They eat simple, plain food, and have nothing to do with wealth and a gorgeous life style. And as Mela says about them, they are only rich in land, cattle, large plots of land and area of ground. And they do not consider it lawful to eat hares, hens or geese. Yet, they keep them, as Cæsar writes, but only for game and pleasure. But they have a kind of geese here which they call chenerotes (barnacles), which they value as a delicacy, so that in England there is no daintier dish [than these geese], as Plinius reports.
192.27. They feed themselves with milk and meat, as the same author {1624LParergon/1641S instead{Cæsar}1624LParergon/1641S instead} says. {not in 1624LParergon/1641S{They put their corn up into their barns in ears of sheaves unthreshed, from where they fetch and thresh as much as they need from day to day}not in 1624LParergon/1641S}. About their temperate and modest diet, as well as their patience in adversity and affliction, Dion {1608/1612I has instead{Xiphilinus}1608/1612I instead} in his life of Nero will inform you.
192.28. Dioscorides, {1606E only{that famous physician and industrious and meticulous student and searcher of the true nature of medicinal specimens has many hundreds of years ago}1606E only} recorded that they made their own drink, which they call Curmi {1606E only{(or as they now pronounce it, Courow, ale) from barley}1606E only}. {1601L{Zonaras writes that they used to make a kind of food which, if a man took only the quantity of a bean of it, he would neither be hungry nor thirsty for a long time. Let him believe it who likes to}1601L}. About the same Britans Herodianus writes like this. They wear no kind of garment, but only clasp a piece of iron around their neck, thinking that to be a great ornament and a sign of wealth, as other barbarous nations do with gold. Cæsar says that they are clad in skins and leather.
192.29. They used to have ten or twelve wives common to a certain group of them. Especially brothers with brothers and fathers with their sons were thus co-partners. But if any of these women got a child, whoever got it was considered to have obtained it from the man who first married her when she was a maiden. Thus Cæsar wrote about them in his time. [But] Eusebius in the sixth {1606E has instead{seventh}1606E} book of his de Præpar. evangel. has given us to understand that many of them had but one wife only, which is confirmed by Clemens Alexandrinus in the 9th book of his Recognitium. Plutarchus says that they usually live to be one hundred and twenty years old.
192.30. They use brass money or iron rings, made of a certain weight, instead of gold or silver coins. Plinius says that they used to wear rings on their middle finger. In Cæsar I read that their houses stand thronged and close together, but as Strabo writes, these were mostly made of reed or timber. They dwell in woods like we do in cities. What they call a town is whatever has a bank or ditch around it, or is fortified with sturdy wood, to which they may flock or resort to avoid an invasion or attack by their enemies, as Cæsar {1606E only{in his commentaries}1606E only} gives us to understand. And there, as Strabo says, they make cabins or cottages for themselves, and stables for cattle, as may serve them for their present needs.
192.31. Herodianus calls them a very warlike and bloody nation. They fight not only on horseback and on foot, but also with coaches and waggons, armed in the manner of the Gauls. Covinos they call them, whose axle-trees or axles were armed with hooks, {1606E only{made somewhat like the Welsh bills nowadays used}1606E only}, as Pomponius Mela states. They also use in their wars a great multitude of carriages, as Cæsar, Strabo and Diodorus inform us. They fight with long, huge swords, as Tacitus tells. These swords, says Herodianus, hang down close to their bare skin, and are only sheathed in a straight piece of leather.
192.32. {1601L{Pomponius Mela writes that they used to adorn the pommels of their swords with the teeth of certain sea fish}1601L}. They do not know the meaning of a brigantine, sack or headpiece. They never use these pieces of armour, considering them to be only a troubling hindrance when they are to cross any bogs or fens. For they are used to swim, run through those fens and marshes or to wade through them, [the water coming] up to their waist, and often being bare legged, they go through thick and thin. Yet later, we learn from Dion's oration to Bundvica {1606E only{their queen}1606E only}, that they used to arm themselves for defence with helmets, habergeons and grieves. When they attacked their enemies, the same author informs us, they used to make an awful noise, and to sing terrible and threatening songs.
192.33. They often make war for petty reasons and on purpose, and very often they are determined to attack and annoy one another, especially out of a desire to increase their reign and enlarge the area they rule over. Tacitus adds that they also go into the [battle]fields under the leadership and command of women, for a clear proof of which he includes (in the fourteenth book of his Annals) Bundicea and her daughters. Dion says the same {not in 1606E{in his book on Nero}not in 1606E}, but he calls her Bunduica. So does Tacitus in his life of Julius Agricola, writing her name [as] Voadica. Corpora inficiunt ultro, on purpose they stain and paint their bodies; {not in 1608/1612I{(there is a very learned man who thinks that for ultro we should read nitro, with nitrate), but for what reason and to what end they did this is uncertain}not in 1608/1612I}.
192.34. Mela and Iornandes think that they did this as an ornament, to beautify themselves, or to appear more terrible to their enemies when they spotting them, as Cæsar said, who adds that they paint their bodies in such a way with wood (Luteum he calls it) that they appear blue or sky-coloured. Others here for Luteum read Glastum, on whose side Plinius seems to speak, but he says this only about women, when he writes that the wives and women of the Britans used to smear their whole body with glastum, {1606E only{(woad}1606E only}, a herb-like plantain, and to go to certain solemnities stark naked, to perform some rites and ceremonies there, in this imitating the colour of the Æthiopians {1606E instead{Blackamores}1606E instead}. (But why should I not retain the ancient reading which in Cæsar was glasto, where others would like to have luteo, for which I see no reason, seeing that from a passage of a description written by my good friend M[r]. Humfrey Lhuyd I [am given] to understand that among the West Britons in the ancient British tongue which they still speak to this very day, by the word glas they mean blue or sky-coloured, whereas they also by the same word designate the herb Isatis, {1606E only{(that is woad)}1606E only}, which resembles the plantain).
192.35. And I read in Herodianus that the men did not only stain their bodies with some kind of colour, but also marked themselves with various kinds of pictures, and images of various sorts of living creatures, and to go naked, so as not to hide their paintings. Listen, you shall hear Solinus speak the same words: The country is partly occupied by a barbarous and wild people, who, from childhood onwards, have certain artists, men skilled in these things, who make various images and pictures of living creatures, drawn and pictured upon their skins, and so imprinted into their flesh that, as they grow up to be a man, these pictures, together with the painted stains, grow bigger and bigger. Nor do these wild people endure anything more patiently and willingly than that their limbs, by means of those deep cuts and slashes, may so deeply absorb these colours that they will display them for a long time.
192.36. Among their goddesses, as I learn from Dion, they worshipped Andates (for that is what they call Victoria, victory), who had a temple and a sacred wood, where they used to do sacrifices and perform their religious service[s] and worship her. Next to her they had another [goddess] who was called Adraste. Whether this was the same as Adrastia (who some take to be Nemesis {1606E only{the Goddess of revenge) who was worshipped by the ancient Greeks and Romans}1606E only}, I leave to others to determine.
192.37. Cæsar says that in former times the druids, {1606E only{a kind of superstitious priests}1606E only}, also dwelt among these people. He claims that their discipline {1606E only{and religion}1606E only} was first invented here, and then carried beyond the sea into France. That they continued [their practices] until the time of Vespasianus, {1606E only{the emperor of Rome}1606E only}, in Mona {1606E only{or Anglesey}1606E only} becomes clear from the 14th book of Tacitus' Annals. From them, without doubt, this nation obtained its knowledge about the state & immortality of the soul after this life, for this was the opinion of those druids, as Cæsar and others report about them. But about the druids, we will, {1606E only{if God permits}1606E only}, speak more in [our discussion on] ancient France, or Gallia, as it was in Cæsar's time.
192.38. I have Plinius as my supporter, who strongly convinces me that the Britons so highly esteemed and wonderfully extolled the art of magic, and practised it with such strange ceremonies that it is thought that the Persians took it over from them. The Bundvica just mentioned also seems to support this view, who, as soon as she had finished her oration to her army, cast away a hare she took out of her lap to guess what the outcome of that venture would be. After she was seen to lead the way, the whole group together shouted joyfully in acclamation.
192.39. These people held it to be a very sensible thing to sacrifice their captives and apply their blood to their altars, to seek and find out about the intention and pleasure of their gods by [examining] their entrails, {1606E only{as the Romans did by [interpreting] the bowels of beasts}1606E only}. So far Tacitus and so much about Albion. Now it remains that we in a similar manner say something about Ireland.
192.40. HIBERNIA, {1606E & 1608/1612I only{or IRELAND}1606E & 1608/1612I only}.
192.41. {1606E only{West of Britain, in the vast ocean (the Romans call it Oceanus Virginius, that is, as the Welsh call it, Norweridh, or, as the Irish pronounce it, Farigi) lies that excellent island which}1606E only} all ancient writers have generally called by one and the same name, although they have never written about it in the same way {1606E only{(a common and usual thing for proper names when translated into foreign languages)}1606E only}. For some {1606E has instead{Ptolemæus (and vulgarly all geographers following him)}1606E instead} call[s] it HIBERNIA.
192.42.{1606E only{ Orpheus, the most ancient poet of the Greeks, Aristoteles, the prince of philosophers, and Claudianus [call it]}1606E only} [or] IERNA. {1606E only{Iuvenalis and Mela [call it]}1606E only} IVVERNA, {1606E only{Diodorus Siculus IRIS}1606E only}, Eusthatius in his Commentaries on Dionysius Afer [calls it] VERNIA {1606E only{([in Greek lettering] Okernia) or BERNIA. The Welsh or ancient Britons [call it] YVERDON, the Irish themselves, (from which all the rest is derived) ERIN}1606E only}. {not in 1606E{It is called IRIS by Diodorus}not in 1606E only}. {1606E only{From which all the Saxons, by adding the word land, meaning country or province (as is their custom), have framed [the word] IRELAND, by which name it is not only known to the English, but [more] generally these days, it is called like that by all nations whatsoever. So far the learned Clarencieux [Camden], who also thinks that it has been named by them [the Irish] after their Irish word Hiere which means the West or West coast or country.
192.43. Like the Celtæ, (whose language he proves to be the same as theirs) for the same reason, and by the same word named Spain Iberia, which the Greeks later in their language interpreted as Hesperia}1606E only}. {1603L{In Festus Avenius, who wrote a book entitled Oræ maritimæ, the sea coast, it [Ireland] is named INSULA SACRA, the Holy Island. He moreover adds that it is inhabited by the Hierni}1603L}, {1606E only{that is, by the Irishmen}1606E only}. Isacius in his Commentaries on Lycrophon calls it WEST BRITAIN. {not in 1606E{It was called SCOTIA by the medieval writers and its inhabitants, says P. Orosius}not in 1606E}. Plutarchus in the book which he wrote About the face on the globe of the Moon calls it OGYGIA, {1606E only{but why, we do not know. Yet, read him if you think it worth your while. You shall hear many on old wives' tale.
192.44. The later writers, as S[aint] Isidorus, and the reverend Beda our countryman, call it SCOTIA after the Scottish who settled on the West part of this isle, around the year of our Lord 310 from where, within a few years, being called in by the Picts, they went to Britain, and indeed, Paulus Orosius, Beda and Egeinhardus, authors of great credibility, wrote that it [Ireland] was inhabited by the Scots.
192.45. It is in length from South to North 400 miles, in breadth scarcely 200}1606E only}. Its soil and temperature, as Tacitus says, is not much unlike that of England. It breeds no snakes or serpents, nor any [other] venomous creatures. Fowls and birds are not very plentiful here, and as regards bees, nobody ever saw one in the whole country. Yes, if it happens that anyone throws dust, gravel or small stones brought from here among the hives, the swarms will immediately leave their honeycombs, as Solinus writes. {1606E only{Yet we know from experience that this is not true, for so infinite is the number of bees in this country that they are not only to be found here in hives and bee gardens, but also out in the fields in hollow trees and holes in the ground)}1606E only}.
192.46. The temperature of the air, (says Pomponius Mela) is very unkind and unfit for corn and grain to ripen, but the soil is so good for grass, not only high and rank, but also sweet and wholesome, that their herds and cattle fill themselves so quickly that, if they are not driven out of the pasture, they will eat till they burst. Solinus says the same, but in fewer words. Further, he calls it an inhuman and uncivil country because of the rude and harsh manners of its inhabitants. And Pomponius Mela calls the people a disordered and ill-mannered nation, less acquainted with any sort of virtue than any other people whatsoever. Yet, they may in some respects be regarded as lovers of virtue, in the sense that they are very religious and devout.
192.47. Strabo says that they are more rustic and uncivil than the Britans. Solinus calls them a merciless and warlike people. Strabo writes that they are great eaters. Diodorus says that they used to eat human flesh, and Solinus adds that those who were victorious in war first used to drink the blood of those who were slain, and them to smear their faces with it. Yet they consider it to be a recommendable thing, as Strabo writes, to eat the bodies of their parents when they have died, and men and women will lie openly with one another, disregarding who sees them, and that not only with other women, but also even with their mothers and their own sisters, considering this to be an indifferent custom, neither good nor bad, as Julius Solinus Polyhistor writes.
192.48. Moreover he says that if a great-bellied woman is brought to the bed of her son, she orders the first food which he eats to be laid on his fathers sword, and so on the point of this sword she gently puts it into her son's mouth, and with certain heathenish vows and prayers, she wishes that he may never die but in wars, on his enemies sword. Whoever wants to be more refined and elegant than the rest, will ornate the handle and pommel of his sword with the teeth of certain sea fish, for these are as white as ivory, and the chief delight of the men resides in the bravery of their weapons.
192.49. Eusebius says in his Chronicle that on this island Galba had himself proclaimed as the emperor, but this is a mistake of the author, who in stead of Hiberia wrote Hibernia, because this happened in Spain, {not in 1606E{as appears from Suetonius}not in 1606E}. So far about these two larger islands, which were properly called Britanicæ. Let us now go on with those which are smaller, and lie around their coasts.
192.50. About the ORCADES [ORKNEY ISLES], ÆBUDÆ [HEBRIDES] {1606E has instead{WEST ISLES, MAN}1606E} &c.[the 1595L, 1601L, 1603L & 1609/1612L/S version deviate so much from the text below from the 1606 English edition, that is is given separately after § 80; this means that the text below is based on the 1606E edition only. It was not written by Ortelius, nor by Vrients, but by the translator of the 1606 English edition, the Orientalist William Bedwell (1561-1632) one of the Westminster translators of the King James bible, who made this text the longest to occur in the 1606 English edition of the Theatrum.]
192.51. {1606E only{The ORKNEY ISLES (Orcades) lying to the North of Scotland are, as Ptolemæus and Pomponius Mela report, thirty in number, although Plinius and Martianus say there are only two. Iornandes [says] thirty-three, St. Isidorus very incorrectly [says] 83, and Solinus limits them and counts only 3, (perhaps for tres, three, we should read triginta, thirty) M[r]. Camden thinks them to have been named [as they are] because of their location opposite Cath-nesse, that is, the promontory, foreland or cape of the Cathini, (not Careni as the vernacular copies of Ptolemæus have it), a people who occupied this part of Britain in the time of the Romans, for thus he found it written and interpreted in an ancient manuscript, Argath as opposed to Cath, (the copy incorrectly has supra Getas, above the Goths, for they did not, until many years later, settle on any part of this isle, but perhaps by Getæ he meant Cath, or Ptolemæus' Cathini).
192.52. Of these [islands], as many people report, some are deserted and unmanured, while others are inhabitable and fertile. In Solinus' time they were not inhabited, [and] no man dwelt on them, for they had no wood, nor grass, but were all covered with brushes and shrubs and such. The rest, he says, are nothing but bare rocks and heaps of sand, yet now they are reasonably populous, and yearly yield a great amount of barley. [But] many are wholly without wood, and altogether unprofitable for wheat.
192.53. They all lie closely together and are not far distant from one another, as Plinius and Solinus both say. The same Solinus, as some learned men think, calls one of the Orkney islands POMONA, specifically Pomona diutina, Long-dayed Pomona, because of the great length of the day in this climate. Because it is far greater than any of the rest, it is now commonly called MAIN-LAND.
192.54. This is the main and chief [island] of them all, and has on it, in the town of Kirkwale a bishop's sea and two castles for its defence. It yearly yields some quantity of tin and lead. Among them, Ptolemæus also mentions OCETIS and DUMNA, which we take to be present day Hethy and Hey. (But the island which Plinius calls Dumna seems to be that which they now call Fair Isle having only one town, called Dumo). Eutropius and Orosius claim that Augustus the emperor first incorporated these islands into the empire, but Tacitus says that they were first discovered and subdued by Julius Agricola.
192.55. Beyond the Orkney isles, above Britain, five days sailing to the North (where the old explainer of Horatius places the Fortunate Isles), lie, as Solinus writes, the isle of THULE, famous and much spoken about by all ancient writers. But where they are supposed to be now, or what, the world has been uncertain about for a long time. Some take it to be Iceland, but that cannot be true for a number of weighty reasons, as various learned men have demonstrated.
192.56. Synesius doubts whether there [ever] was any such place or not, and our Gyraldus plainly states that if there ever was any such place, it is nowhere in the world to be found now. Some think it to be Shetland (or, as some call it, Hetland), a larger island surrounded by many small ones, subject to the crown of Scotland, and they support this opinion of theirs with a variety of arguments.
192.57. Firstly, Gaspar Peucerus, an author with a good reputation, says that the seamen usually call this island Thylensell. Secondly, they are located halfway between Norway and Scotland, where Saxo Grammaticus places Thule. Thirdly, these islands are directly opposite Bergen (Bergæ, not Belgæ, as has been wrongly and corruptly written, and indeed, it was in this area that Plinius' Bergos was located), and here Mela says that Thula stood.
192.58. Again, Solinus writes that from Cath-nesse to Thule is but two days sailing, (note the comparison of distances: from the Orkneys to the West isles he claims 7 days of sailing, from Orkney to Thule 5, and from Cath-nesse to there only 2). Finally, which by itself is already sufficient, Ptolemæus places Thule under the 63rd degree of latitude, which is precisely the elevation of the North pole at Shetland. So far about Thule or Shetland, which ordinarily was not counted among the British [islands] by the ancients, yet we know it to belong to that number, & subject to the crown of Britain.
192.59. The WESTERN ISLES (called by Ptolemæus, Solinus, Stephanus and Plinius [by the names of] Æbudæ or Hebudes by the later writers, [and] Hebrides by Æthicus Beteoricæ), are, as Solinus writes, 7 days sailing from the Orkneys. Plinius says they are 30 in number, yet commonly they are estimated to be 44 [in number], and a Scottish gentleman who travelled to all of them, as he claims, lists by various names, as far as I can remember, more than 300. Solinus, Stephanus and Ptolemæus name only the following 5, and do not mention any others. RICINA or Ricnea, as Plinius writes it, Antonius calls it Raduna, they now call Racline. [Then] EPIDIUM, now Ila, a large island, and a fertile plain. [Then] MALEOS, now Mula, as also in Plinies time, as it seems. [Then] EAST EBUDA, now Skye, lying close to the coast of Scotland. [Then] WEST EBUDA (Lewes), the largest of them all, but full of stones, craggy steep mountains, and hardly inhabited.
192.60. On Iona, which Beda calls Hy, lying between Isa and the mainland, a monastery was established by St. Columba, where various kings of Scotland have been buried next to the bishops see, in the village of Sodore, to whose diocese all the rest belonged, and were therefore after it called Insulæ Sodorenses. All the other [islands], besides Hirth, are of small significance, being nothing but rocks, stones, and craggy knolls on which all through the year you will hardly find a green turf.
192.61. The people in manners, behaviour, outfit and language resemble the Irish closely, as those in the Orkneys resemble the Goths and Norwegians. For more about these, see Solinus and Mr. Camden's Britannia, to whom we owe this.
192.62. The ISLE of MAN (which Plinius calls Monabia, Orosius and Bede Menavia, Gildas Eubonia, the Welsh Menaw, [and] they themselves Manings, Cæsar Mona, and Ptolemæus Monoëda, that is, as those who say Mon-eitha, Mon the father, to distinguish it from Anglesey, which is also called Mon) is halfway between England and Ireland, as Cæsar in his fifth book about the wars of France, and Gyraldus Cambrensis report, yet its people resemble the Irish more in their language and manners. In length, from South to North, it is about 30 miles, in breadth in some places only 15, & in other places, where it is at its narrowest, not more than 7 or 8 miles.
192.63. In Bedas time it had only 300 families or households, but now it contains 17 parishes, very populous and well inhabited. It produces great plenty of hemp and flax. Its soil is reasonably fertile for corn or grass, and therefore it yearly yields plenty of barley, wheat and rye, but especially oats, from which they mostly bake their bread and maintain a great quantity of cattle, and many flocks of sheep, but both of these are of less quality then they are in England. They burn sea coal instead of wood, of which they have none or very little.
192.64. On the South coast lies a small isle which they call the calf of Man, where there is such a wonderful multitude of sea fowls, which they call Puffins, and of those geese which we call barnacles, clacks or Soland geese, that no one who has not seen them would be inclined to believe. So far about Mona, described by Cæsar. The other Mona that Tacitus and Dion speak about will follow now.
192.65. That which we now call ANGLESEY, that is, the English isle, is by Tacitus and Dion, as I said, called Mona. The Welshmen [call it] Mon, Tir-mon & Inis Dowyl, that is, the dark isle, the Saxons [call it] Monege. [It is] a very excellent and fruitful isle, ancient seat of the druids, [and ] it was subdued under the Roman Empire by Paulinus Suetonius and Julius Agricola about 46 years after the birth of Christ.
192.66. It is very near the coast of Britain, as Dion says, yes, so near that from the main[land], by swimming over the flat and shallow places, Julius Agricola, as reported by Tacitus, conveyed to it both horsemen and footmen, to suppress certain rebels that held it against the Romans. But about this island there is in this Theatre of ours a whole discussion, written by Humfrey Lluyd, a learned gentleman and a meticulous student in British history. On the coast of Wales also lies BERDSEY, that is, the birds isle, called Enhly by the Britons, by Ptolemæus [it is called] Edry, by Plinius Andros or Adros, a plain and excellent country towards the West, but in the East very hilly and mountainous.
192.67. Then GRESHOLME and STOCHOLME, excellent pasture, reasonably pleasant, because of the sweet smell of the wild thyme which grows here all over the place in great abundance. Next to these is SCALMEY, as fertile [an island] as any, called Silimnus by Plinius, Limi by Ptolemæus, and Lemeneia Insula in the catalogue of the martyrs. In the mouth of the Severn lie the Holmes, or as the Welshmen call them, the Echni, FLATHOLME and STEEPHOLME (Reoric in Welsh). Also BARREY, SILEY, CALDEY and LONDEY, small islands, but very fertile.
192.68. Thirty or forty miles off West from the Cape of Cornwall which the seamen commonly call The land's end, lie the SORLINGS or the SYLLY, by Sulpitus Severus called Sillinæ, by Antoninus Sigdeles, by Solinus Siluræ or Silurum Insulæ. The Greeks, from their point of view called them the Hesperides, the West isles, and because of the rich stores of tin (Cassiteros) which they yield, Cassiterides, the stanneries. But why Festus Avienus should call them Ostrimnides I do not know. There are in all 145 of them, next to craggy rocks, which are innumerable. There are 10 of them [worth noting] which Eustathius also confirms: St. Mary, Annoth, Agnes, Sampson, Silly, Brefer, Rusco (or Triscraw), St. Hellen, St. Martine and Arthur with Minanwitham and Minuisisand, larger and better known than the rest for their rich veins of tin, from where, as Plinius says, Medacritus first brought lead or tin into Greece.
192.69. Many of them have a good soil for corn, [and] all of them have infinite amounts of rabbits, cranes, swans, herons and other sea fowl. These are the islands, as Solinus writes, which a tempestuous inlet of two or three hours sailing separates from the outermost end of Cornwall (Danmoniorum ora), whose inhabitants still observe their ancient customs: they keep no fairs or markets. They do not care for money. They give and receive such as they need with respect to one another. They find it more important to have things necessary for exchange than to have things of a high price and great value. They are very devout in their religious services to their Gods, and both men and women in a like manner consider themselves to be very skillful in predicting the future.
192.70. On the coast of France, over against Normandy, are GERSEY (Cæsarea, is what Antoninus calls it), [with] a fertile soil, good corn ground, and reasonable pastures. It has 12 parishes, well inhabited and very populous. Also GARNSEY, SERKE, ALDERNEY, ARME, the QUASQUETS and others which, although the ancients never counted them among the number of the British isles, yet we know that they are now subject to crown of England, and have been ever since the year of our Lord 1108, at which time they were by Henry first annexed to this kingdom. They are all in the diocese and jurisdiction of the bishop of Winchester.
192.71. Close to the shore of England there is the isle of WIGHT, (Ptolemæus calls it Wictesis, Plinius & Suetonius Vectis, the Panegyricus & Eutropius Vecta, Diodorus Icta. These names are all derived from the British word Guith, which means division or separation, because it was once joined, as they commonly believe, to the mainland, like Sicily was to Italy). It is 20 miles long and 12 miles wide. Vespasianus first brought it under the obedience of the Romans during the reign of emperor Claudius, as Suetonius writes in the fourth chapter of his Vespasianus, yet Eutropius claims this to have been achieved by Maximianus the emperor.
192.72. It is divided by the sea, which comes way into the land, into two provinces: Fresh-water isle and Binbridge isle. In Beda's time, it contained only 1200 families, [but] now it has 36 parishes, villages & castles which all belong to Hantshire, and reside under the diocese of Winchester. Its soil is very fertile both for corn and cattle. Besides many flocks of sheep with reasonably fine wool, it is wonderfully provided with rabbits, hares, partridges & pheasants. In the time of William the first, William Fitz-osbern was appointed lord of Wight, and after him Henry Beauchamp, earl of Warwick was crowned king of Wight by king Henry the sixth. See more about this in Diodorus Siculus and Beda.
192.73. The isle of TENET, which lies close to the coast of Kent, is eight miles in length and four miles wide. It has a chalky soil and reasonably good corn ground. Solinus calls it Thanatos, or, as some copies have it, Athanatos. He writes about it like this: The isle of Thanatos (Tenit) [is] washed by the French ocean & separated from the mainland of England by a narrow firth. It has very rich corn ground & a fat soil. It is not only good and kind to itself, but also to other places, for it does not only breed or have any snakes or venomous serpents, but the earth and dust which is carried from there to any place in the world will also naturally kill such vermin. So far for Solinus at that time.
192.74. But what he wrote concerning serpents we know now in our days by experience to be untrue. Near to this [island] is a shallow, sandy place, very dangerous to seamen, [which] is commonly called GOODWINS SANDS, an island once possessed by the earl of Goodwin, which, as our histories report, disappeared into the sea in the year of our Lord 1097. This seems to be Toliapis [mentioned] by Ptolemæus, but he places it near to Essex or the Trinobantes, whereas this [island] lies a lot closer to the Cantij.
192.75. Within the mouth of the [river] Thames there are two other islands, one on the side of Kent which we now call SHEPEY, that is the isle of the sheep, but how it was called by the ancients we do not know for certain. The other [island], lying at the Essex side, which Ptolemæus in his time called CAUNA, CONVENNOS or COUNOS (such is the variety of copies) is still called Conway. It lies so flat and low that it is sometimes inundated, except for some little knolls and hills, where the cattle retreat under such dangerous circumstances. It yearly feeds at least four thousand sheep, whose meat is of a most sweet and pleasant taste, surpassing that from other places. Thus having traversed so many troublesome and dangerous seas, and now having arrived within the realm of my own native country, I think it not amiss to put into port here for a while, to rest our weary limbs, and purge ourselves from those brackish humours which we have absorbed during this tedious journey. So far then about the islands named and described on this map.
192.76. Yet there are some more, mentioned by some authors of good reputation. Plutarchus in his life of Demetrius writes that there are many islands near Britain which are waste and deserted, some of which are dedicated to gods and famous dignitaries. Among these there is one on which he reports that they kept Saturnus taken captive in chains, lulled to sleep [as he was] by Briareus. He is bound, I would say, by sleep rather than chains, and has many angels and half-gods as servants to wait and attend on him. Whether this is what Avienus calls Pelagia, and says to be consacrated to Saturnus, I neither dare to confirm strongly, nor to deny peremptorily. Moreover, you may read something worth your while about all this which is not altogether unpleasant, though without doubt merely fabricated, in the same Plutarchus' book entitled De defectu Oraculorum, about the ceasing of oracles, as also in Isacius Tzetzes [work] on Lycophron.
192.77. Artimedorus says in Straboes Geography that there is an island near Britain where they offer sacrifices to Ceres and Proserpina, in exactly the same manner and with similar ceremonies as they do in Samotrace. Apollonius in his History of strange and wonderful things says on [the authority of] Scytinus Chius that there is a certain British isle (not Britain itself, as Mr. Camden interprets him), 400 furlongs in circumference, where fruits grow that are without stones or kernels, where you shall neither find a stone in an olive, nor a kernel in a grape, which is not [just] the case for these two fruits, but also for all other kinds. But this is more like a fantasy tale than a true story.
192.78. Moreover, Dionysius Afer includes the NESIADES the seat and living place of the Ammitæ among the number of the British isles, but I would prefer to call them islands on the coast of France rather than British isles, and that on the authority of Strabo. If anyone desires to know more about this, let him resort to the learned Clarencieux Camden, my singular good friend, who in his Britannia (a worthy work composed by him through infinite efforts and travel) has so learnedly and diligently written down and described their ancient shape, customs, manners, places and cities, together with those of more recent times, and of our own days, that they rather seem to be painted for the eye [of the beholder] in their true colours, than by the pen of an industrious student.
192.79. But some people may say: this is written in Latin, a language I do not understand. Be patient for a while. You shall soon hear him speak [in] good English. I know personally that he is already going back to the school of the learned Philemon Holland to achieve this purpose in this country. If you do not know this man: that learned doctor in medicine, who recently taught the great philosopher Plinius of Como & the renowned historian, the great Livius of Padua, two Italians that could never could pronounce a word in our language before, to speak English so clearly and well that nobody could do it any better. No foreigner, no person at all, ever spoke more properly nor more eloquently.
192.80. When he begins [to speak] (I know it will not be long), we ruder simpletons will hold our mouth. But we should not forget the worthy efforts of the learned Mr. Verstegan, who has given us a good reason to remember him gratefully, because his Restitution of decayed intelligence dealing with the renowned English nation in antiquity, dedicated to his most excellent majesty, [has] recently been printed.}1606E ends here}.
Text of the 1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1609/1612L/S, 1619L (Bertius) & 1624L Parergon/1641S edition from § 50 onwards:
{1595L{ORCADES [ORKNEYS], AEBVDAE [HEBRIDES] {1608/1612I only{isles and those around it.}1608/1612I only} &c.
192.81. I agree with Ptolemæus and Pomponius when they say that the ORCADES comprise 30 islands, but Plinius and Martianus {not in 1608/1612I{mention 40}not in 1608/1612I} and Iornandes mention(s) 34, but Isidorus erroneously makes them to be 83, and Solinus no more than 3, (which perhaps we should read as 30). Many authors say that some are uninhabited whereas others are inhabited. That they are separated by small distances is said by Plinius & Mela. There are no inhabitants on these islands, if we are to believe Solinus, nor do they contain any forests, but only dense shrubs, whereas the uninhabited isles only have plain sand and rocks.
192.82. One of them he calls Pomona, (as the learned think). It seems that Ptolemæus mentions Dumna & Ocetis. Claudius the emperor seems to have brought them under Roman rule, according to Eutropius & Orosius. Tacitus writes that they have been discovered and subjected by Agricola.
What Stephanus calls the AEBVDA after the Periplus by Marcianus is by Solinus called the HEBVDE {1608/1612I only{with an e in the final syllable, whereas in Stephanus it finishes with an A}1608/1612I only}. Both, like Ptolemæus, count five of them. Plinius calls them HAEBVDES, but counts 30 of them, which seems to be incorrect. The first two are in Ptolemæus called the real Hæbudes, the other ones Epidius, Malei & Ricina, called Ricnæa by Plinius. About these Solinus says: Their inhabitants do not know any plants [as food] but live on fish and milk. They have one king for all [the islands] for as many as there may be, they are only separated by small straights.
192.83. The king does not own anything for himself, but everything is at the disposal of everyone according to fixed equality laws. And in order not to let him stray from the true life by avarice, he learns about the justice of poverty since he who does not own anything can best serve public interests. He is not given a wife of his own, but one is changed for the other, to keep him excited, and when he takes one, he will not be able to make a vow for marriage, nor is there hope for offspring.
192.84. Although the islands SILVRES seem to be numerous, yet only one Silura is described by the ancient writers. I read in Solinus that a savage current separates the isle of Silva from the coastal area which is inhabited by the British Dumnanes, (it is wrong to describe them as Damnoni). These people abide by their old customs and refuse the use of money. They prefer to exchange victuals, rather than attaching a price to them. They honour their gods. Knowledge about the future is equally present in men and women. This same island is by Sulpitius Severus called SILINA.
192.85. Whether they are the same as the HESPERIDES of Dionysius Afer, rich in tin [mixture of silver and lead] I confirm nor deny. The isle of MONA is described by Cæsar in the 5th book of his Gallic Wars, located half way between Britannia {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead} & Hibernia. Cassius Dion in his Life of Nero places it close to Britannia {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead}, so close, that he has Agricola's auxiliary troops swim from the continent to it through the sea, as Tacitus notes in his life of Agricola. In the 14th book of his Annals, he writes how Suetonius describes the same concerning Paulinus, namely that he sent infanterists and cavalerists safely through the sea, some of them swimming through the waves next to their horses.
192.86. Through all this, it seems as if there are two islands with the same name, as is still the case today, which are only distinguished by one letter. For in Tacitus they are indicated by MON, and in Cæsar by MAN. Mona was once the seat of the druids, where the places which according to this savage religion were holy, were destroyed on the authority of the Romans, as Tacitus tells us. Next to those mentioned, Plinius & Xiphilinus also mention Mona. Iornandes erroneously calls it MEMNA.
192.87. What Ptolemæus calls VICTESIS, and Plinius VECTIS, and what Suetonius in his Life of Vespasianus calls VECTA, is in the Panegyricus of Maximianus called Eutropia, and he says that it has been added to the Roman empire by this emperor. Diodorus calls it ICTA, and reports that it was customary to bring tin from the mainland to this island in carts. He says that there is something remarkable about the islands which are situated between Britannia {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead} and [the rest of] Europe, because it seems that when the area lying in between dries up, they seem to be part of the main land. Let the author prove these matters.
192.88. THANATOS is an island also known to Solinus and I hear the following from him: it is watered by the French straights, and separated from the British {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra's}1608/1612I instead} mainland by a narrow sea passage. Its fertile soil makes it rich in corn, not only for the island itself, but also for other fortunate regions. While this island does not harbour any snakes, its earth, wherever transported, will kill serpents. TOLIAPIS & COVNOS are mentioned, next to Trenobantes, by Ptolemæus, about which you find more in our Treasury. You also find HEDROS & LIMNOS in Ptolemæus, called SILIMNVS in Plinius, and maybe also ANDROS. So much about the islands on this map.
192.89. However, the classical authors also harbour the memory of some other islands, and Plutarchus in his Demetrius says that there are numerous islands, lying uninhabited and scattered close to Britannia {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead}, some of which are possessed by demons or half-gods. Among these islands there is one, as he reports, where Saturnus, fallen asleep through the efforts of Briareus, is kept in fetters. These fetters regulate his sleep, and with him, demons serve as servants and slaves, so they say. What Avienus calls Pelagiam, dedicated to Saturnus, is something I do not know how to comment on. See about this a pleasant story, albeit full of fables, from the Ceasing of Oracles by Plutarchus.
192.90. Isacius has something similar in his Lycophron. Artemidorus reports in Strabo that there is an island close to Britannia {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead} where sacrifices are being made to Ceres & Proserpina according to the same rites used in Samothracia. Apollonius in his History of Wonders based on Scytinus Chius, says that there is near Britain an island, not on Britanny {1608/1612I has instead{Inghilterra}1608/1612I instead} itself, as Camden understands it, with a circumference of 400 stadia on which fruits grow without stones in them, for its olives have no kernels, nor do their grapes, and the same is reported about similar fruits. But these seem to be fables, rather than true histories.
192.91. Dionysius Afer says that the Nesiades islands, where the Amnites live, also belong to Britannia. {not in 1608/1612I{But I judge them to belong to Gallia, rather than to Britannia, in which I agree with Strabo. So much about the British isles from the classical authors}not in 1608/1612I}. Whoever wants to know more, should turn to the extensive writings of William Camden, our dear friend, who not only has described their ancient shape, religion, habits, places and cities, but also those of the Middle Ages and our own time so learnedly and precisely, that they seem to make them visible, not with the pen but with the paintbrush}1595L, 1601L, 1603L, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L/S, 1619L (Bertius) & 1624LParergon/1641S end here}.