Part 1 (2/2)

2. Grosse absurdities have beene entertained by generall opinion.

I shall give an instance of each, that so I may the better prepare the Reader to consider things without a prejudice, when hee shall see that the common opposition against this which I affirme cannot any way derogate from its truth.

1. Other truths have beene formerly accounted as ridiculous as this, I shall specifie that of the Antipodes, which have beene denied and laught at by many wise men and great Schollers, such as were _Herodotus_, St.

_Austin_, _Lactantius_, the _Venerable Bede_, _Lucretius_ the Poet, _Procopius_, and the voluminous _Abulensis_ with others. _Herodotus_ counted it so horrible an absurdity, that hee could not forbeare laughing to thinke of it. Ge?? d? ???? ??? pe???d?? ????a?ta?, p?????? ?d? ?a? ??d??a ???? ????ta? ?????s?e??? ?? ??ea??? te ?e??ta ???f??s?, p???? t?? te ??? ???sa? ?????te??a ?? ?p? t?????.

[Greek: Gelo de horon ges periodous grapsantas, pollous ede kai oudena noon echontas exegesamenon hoi okeanon te rheonta graphousi, perix ten te gen eousan kukloterea hos apo tornou.]

”I cannot choose but laugh, (saith he) to see so many men venture to describe the earths compa.s.se, relating those things that are without all sense, as that the Sea flowes about the World, and that the earth it selfe is round as an Orbe.”

But this great ignorance is not so much to be admired in him, as in those learneder men of later times, when all sciences began to flourish in the World. Such was Saint _Austin_ who censures that relation of the Antipodes to be an incredible fable,[1] and with him agrees the eloquent _Lactantius_,[2]

_quid illi qui esse contrarios vestigiis nostris Antipodes putant?

num aliquid loquuntur? aut est quispiam tam ineptus, qui credat esse homines, quorum vestigia sunt superiora quam capita? aut ibi quae apud nos jacent inversa pendere? fruges & arbores deorsum versus crescere, pluvias & nives, & grandinem sursum versus cadere in terram? & miratur aliquis hortor pensiles inter septem mira narrari, quum Philosophi, & agros & maria, & urbes & montes pensiles faciunt? &c._

”What (saith he) are they that thinke there are Antipodes, such as walke with their feet against ours? doe they speake any likelyhood?

or is there any one so foolish as to believe that there are men whose heeles are higher than their heads? that things which with us doe lie on the ground doe hang there? that the Plants and Trees grow downewards, that the haile, and raine, and snow fall upwards to the earth? and doe wee admire the hanging Orchards amongst the seven wonders, whereas here the Philosophers have made the Field and Seas, the Cities and Mountaines hanging.”

What shall wee thinke (saith hee in _Plutarch_) that men doe clyng to that place like wormes, or hang by their clawes as Cats, or if wee suppose a man a little beyond the Center, to bee digging with a spade?

is it likely (as it must bee according to this opinion) that the earth which hee loosened, should of it selfe ascend upwards? or else suppose two men with their middles about the center, the feete of the one being placed where the head of the other is, and so two other men crosse them, yet all these men thus situated according to this opinion should stand upright, and many other such grosse consequences would follow (saith hee) which a false imagination is not able to fancy as possible. Upon which considerations, _Bede_[3] also denies the being of any Antipodes,

_Neque enim Antipodarum ullatenus est Fabulis accommodandus a.s.sensus_,

”Nor should wee any longer a.s.sent to the Fable of Antipodes.” So also _Lucretius_ the Poet speaking of the same subject, sayes:

_Sed va.n.u.s stolidis haec omnia finxerit error._[4]

[Sidenote 1: _De civit. Dei. lib. 16. cap. 9._]

[Sidenote 2: _Inst.i.tut. l. 3. c. 24._]

[Sidenote 3: _De ratione temporum, Cap. 32._]

[Sidenote 4: _De nat. rerum, lib. 1._]

That some idle fancy faigned these for fooles to believe. Of this opinion was _Procopius Gazaeus_,[1] but he was perswaded to it by another kinde of reason; for he thought that all the earth under us was sunke in the water, according to the saying of the Psalmist,[2] Hee hath founded the Earth upon the Seas, and therefore hee accounted it not inhabited by any. Nay _Tostatus_ a man of later yeeres and generall learning doth also confidently deny that there are any such Antipodes, though the reason which hee urges for it bee not so absurde as the former, for the Apostles, saith hee,[3] travelled through the whole habitable world, but they never pa.s.sed the Equinoctiall; and if you answer that they are said to goe through all the earth, because they went through all the knowne world, hee replies, that this is not sufficient, since Christ would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of his truth,[4] and therefore 'tis requisite that they should have travelled thither also, if there had been any inhabitants, especially since he did expressely command them to goe and teach all nations, and preach the Gospell through the whole world,[5] and therefore he thinkes that as there are no men, so neither are there seas, or rivers, or any other conveniency for habitation: 'tis commonly related of one _Virgilius_, that he was excommunicated and condemned for a Heretique by _Zachary_ Bishop of _Rome_, because hee was not of the same opinion. But _Baronius_ saies,[6] it was because hee thought there was another habitable world within ours. How ever, you may well enough discerne in these examples how confident many of these great Schollars were in so grosse an errour, how unlikely, what an incredible thing it seemed to them, that there should be any Antipodes, and yet now this truth is as certaine and plaine, as sense or demonstration can make it. This then which I now deliver is not to be rejected; though it may seeme to contradict the common opinion.

[Sidenote 1: _Comment. in 1. Cap. Gen._]

[Sidenote 2: _Psal. 24. 2._]

[Sidenote 3: _Comment. in_ 1. Genes.]

<script>