SECTIO SEPTIMA.
Catulos suos et pueros æquo habent in precio: Nisi quod à pauperioribus facilius impetrabis filium quàm catulum, &c.
Quamuis principio huius commentarioli censuerim, Munsterum et alios magni nominis viros, in ijs, quæ de Islandia scripta reliquerunt, esse à calumnæ nota liberandos: num tamen id hîc, etiam à candidissimo et maxime sincero quocunque fieri possit, non satis video. Quid enim mouit tantos viros, vt Nautarum maleuolas nugas et mendacia secuti, tam atroci et contumelioso opprobrio gentem nostram diffamarent, commacularentque? Nihil profectò, nisi secura ridendi et contemnendi gentem pauperem et ignotam, licentia, et si quæ sunt huic vicia confinia.
Cæterum nôrint omnes non tam Islandis, quàm ipsis Authoribus, incommodare hoc mendacium. Cum enim illud, et plurima etiam alia in historiam suam accumulant, efficiunt vnà, vt alibi quoque suspectæ fidei habeantur. Illudque quod ait Aristoteles lucrantur, vt cum vera dixerint, illis sine suspitione non credatur.
Sed age Lector, subsiste paulisper, mecùmque grauitatem et sapientiam tantorum virorum expende: Ne tantum Islandiæ Elogium intactum prætereamus. Docuerunt hactenus Krantzius et Munsterus: Islandos esse Christianos. Item: Islandos ante susceptam Christi fidem lege naturali vixisse. Item: Islandos vixisse lege quadam non multum à lege Germanorum discrepante. Item: Vixisse eos in sancta simplicitate. Adesdum igitur Lector, et quas Christianismi, Legis naturalis, legis Germanorum, santæ simplicitatis notas Authores illi requirant, et in Islandis monstrent ac depingant, perpende. Vna fuit supra, quòd infernum siue carcerem damnatorum montis Heclæ voragine et radicibus circumscribant Islandi: de quo vide Sect. i. huius: et sect. 7. prior. part. Altera nota, quòd, cum Anabaptistis, proprietatum et dominiorum distinctiones tollant: de quo Sect. præced. Tertia eàque longe excellentissima hæc est: illi præclari affectus naturales, amor, cura, et animus tam pius et paternus Islandorum in liberos, quòd videlicit eiusdem precij sint apud illos canes et filij, aut hi etiam viltoris. Siccine nobis Munstere et Krantzi. Legem Christi, naturæ, Germanorum, et sanctam simplicitatem depingitis: O picturam præclaram et excellentem, quamuis non prorsus Apellæam: O Inuentum acutum et admirandum, si benè authenticum: O scientiam plusquàm humanam, etsi non prorsus diuinam.
Nos verò Islandi, quamuis vltimi et gelidum conclusi ad Arcton, longè alias Christianismi notas requirimis. Nam et præceptum Dei habemus, vt quilibet proximum diligat velut seipsum. Iam nemo est, puto, qui seipsum non plus diligat, aut pluris faciat, quàm canem. Quod si tantus esse debet proximi cuiuslibet fauor, tanta æstimatio, tantus amor, quantus quæso erit in liberos? Quorum arctissimum amorem, præterquam quod ipsa parens natura nobis firmissimè conciliauit, etiam Lex diuina curam summam in enutriendo habere iussit (Exo. 12. 24. Ephe. 6, 4.) vt scilicet sint in sancto coniugio, Ecclesiæ quædam seminaria, omnis pietatis et honestatis exercitia: Prout vates ille pulcherrimè cecinit.
Vult Ecclesiolam quamlibet esse domum.
Item: Coniugium humanæ quædam est Academia vitæ.
Vt iam satis constet, apud Christianos longè pluris faciendos et curandos filios, quàm canes: Et, si qui non aliter curent, Christianos non esse.
Sed et hic in prolem dulcissimam affectus naturalis in Ethnicis etiam satis apertè conspicitur: vt si quos hoc penitùs exueris, eosdem etiam homines esse negaueris. Monstrant id matres Carthaginenses, cum tertio bello Punico adolescentes quique lectissimi obsides in Siciliam mitterentur, quos illæ fletu et lamentatione miserabili ad naues comitatæ, et ex his quædam à filioram compleximus ægrè diuulsæ, cum ventis pandi vela cernerent, nauesque è portu egredi, dolore stimulante, in subiectos fluctus dissiluere: Sabellico authore. Monstrat Ægeus, qui nauem filij Thesei, cum velis atri coloris, ex Creta redeuntem cerneret, perijsse filium ratus, vitam in proximis vndis finiuit. Sabellic. lib. 3. cap. 4. Monstrat Gordianus senior, Africæ proconsul, qui similiter, ob rumores de morte filij, vitam suspendio clausit. Campofulgos. lib. 5. cap. 7. Monstrant idem Iocasta Creontis filia, Auctolia Sinonis F. Anius Tuscorum Rex, Orodes Rex Parthorum, et alij numero innumero. De quibus vide stat. lib. 2. Plutarchum, et alios, &c. Huc illud. Amor descendit, &c. Adeò, vt videas non minus esse homini proprium, sobolem intimè diligere, et summo amore prosequi, quàm aut volare; vt si iam aliquando homines esse Islandos, nedum Christianos scriptores nostri fassi sint, hunc amorem et affectum in filios ijsdem, quantumuis inuiti et repugnantes, adscribant: sin minus, non modò hominis titulum et dignitatem illis detrahant, sed etiam infrà bruta et quasuis bestias, quæ ipsæ, stimulante natura, maximo prolis suæ et arctissimo amore tenentur, deprimant.
Non addam contra hoc impudens mendacium exempla etiam nostratium satis illustria: Tacebo leges nostras plagiarias ipsis Islandis antiquiores, quippe a Noruagis acceptas, quæ exstant in codice legum nostrarum, titulo Mannhelge: cap. 5. Si quis hominem liberum (quemuis nedum filium) extraneis vendat, &c.
Iam verò si quis eò fortunæ deueniat, vt proprium filium, siue incolæ, siue extranei alicuius potestati, vel fame vel extrema quacunque vrgente necessitate, aut periculo, permittat, ne familicum *media deficientem aspicere cogatur, canem verò in proprias dapes reseruet, Is minimè dicendus est filium æquo aut inferiore loco habere quàm canem, siue id faciant, Islandi, siue extranei quilibet.
Offenderant fortè Germanorum vel Danorum nautæ apud nos mendicos quosdam, liberis onustos, quorum hîc maximus est numerus, qui iocando, vt sunt nugis scurrilibus addicti, dixerint: Da mihi aut vende hoc vel illud: Cumque rogarint extranei: Quid tu mihi vicissim? Responderint mendici. Habeo liberos 10. vel 14. dabo ex eis vnum vel plures, &c. Solet enim ista mendicorum colluuies istiusmodi scurriles dialogismos cum extraneis instituere. Quod si tum quispiam bonus vir, misertus stoliditatis et inopiæ mendicorum, vno illos filio leuauerit, eique propter Deum in alijs terris, aliquo tandem modo benè prospexerit, num mendicus, qui alioqui cum filio, fame et paupertate moriturus, filium miserenti permittit et committit, filium istum suum minoris facit quàm canem? Præstitum est à multis tam Islandis quàm extraneis huiusmodi beneuolentiæ et commiserationis opus: ex quibus fuit vir nobilissimus Accilius Iulius à serenissimo rege Daniæ olim missus ad Islandos, Anno Domini 1552. Qui vt audiui, 15. pueros pauperculos assumpsit et secum in Daniam auexit: Vbi postea ipsius beneficio singulos suo vitæ generi addictos, in viros bonos et frugi euasisse, mihi narratum est.
Quid si quis in extrema constitutus angustia, filium non modò vendat; sed si emptorem non habet, ipse mactet et comedat? Nota sunt huius rei exempla: Parentum videlicet inuitiæ crudelitatis in filios, stimulante non odio vel astorgia, sed ineuitabili necessitate compellente. Num quis inde vniuersale gentis alicuius conuicium exstruxerit? Legimus, in obsidione Samariæ matres duas filios suos mactasse, et coctos comedisse: 4. Reg. C. 6. Legimus in obsidione Ierosolymitana, quam flebilis fuerit vox miserrimæ matris, filium misellum iam mactaturæ. Infans, ait, (referam enim Eusebij verba de hac re, etsi notissima, vt miseræ matris affectus appareat,) miselle et infelix, cuinam in hoc belli. famis, et seditionis tumultu, te commodè reseruem? Si Romanorum subijciamur imperio, illic seruitutis iugo pressi, vitam infoeliciter exigemus. Sed seruitutum credo fames anteuertet. Accedit factiosorum prædonum turba, his vtrisque miserijs toleratu multò asperior. Age igitur mi gnate, sis matri cibus, sis prædonibus furia, sis communi hominum vitæ fabula, quæ res vna ad Iudæorum calamitates deesse videtur. Quæ cum dixisset, natum trucidat, assatumque dimidium mox comedit, dimidium reseruat &c. Eusebius libro 3. capite 6. Iam quis est, qui non credat misserrimam hanc matrem filium hunc suum, domini alicuius, si se obtulisset, apud quem credidisset seruatum iri, aut emptoris possessioni fuisse permissuram? Nota est fames, Calagurium, Hispaniæ vrbem, olim à Cneio Pompeio obsessam opprimens (Val. libro septimo cap. 7.) cuius ciuibus, vxores et liberi in vsum estremæ dapis conuersi sunt, quos profectò; pro cibarijs et alijs dapibus haud inuiti vendidissent. Nota est quoque fames, quæ Anno Domini 851. (Vincent. libro 25. cap. 36.) Germaniam attriuit, vt etiam pater filium suum deuorare voluerit. Notum etiam est, post mortem Henrici septimi Imperat fame per triennium continuata, quomodo parentes liberos, vel liberi parentes deuorarint, et præcipuè quidem in Polonia et Bohemia. Et ne exempla tantùm antiqua petamus, accepimus tantam annonæ sæuitiam, Anno 1586. et 1587. in Hungaria grassatam fuisse, vt quidam alimentorum inopia adacti immanissimo Christianorum hosti proprios liberos vendiderint, et in perpetuum seruitutis iugum manciparint: quidam paruulos suos, quos vlterius tolerare non sustinebant, crudeli misericordia in Danubium proiecisse, et, suffocasse dicantur. Sed, num hæc et similia exempla quempiam eò insaniæ adigent, vt dicat hanc vel illam nationem, liberos in escam propriam mactare *consuettisse, Turcis libenter vendere, aut aquis submergere et suffocare solitam esse? Non opinor. Sic neque, quòd mendici apud Islandos, extrema vrgente necessitate, cuius durissimi sunt morsus, filios suos libenter amittant, toti genti, et quidem probri loco, communiter adscribendum est à quoquam, nisi apud eundem omnis pudor, candor, humanitas, veritas exulent.
Cæterum optarim ego, parcius Islandis canum curam exprobrare illos populos, quorum matronæ, et præcipuè nobiles, canes in maximis delicijs habent, vt eos vel in plateis, ne dicam in sacris concionibus, sinum gestent, quem morem in peregrinis quibusdam, quos Romæ catulos simiarum et canum in gremio circumferre Cæsar conspexit, hac quæstione reprehendit, dum quæreret: Numquid apud ipsos mulieres liberos non parerent? Monens errare eos, qui à natura inditos sibi affectus, quibus in amorem hominum ac præcipuè sobolis incitarentur, in bestias transferunt, quarum deliciarum voluptas Islandorum gentem, nunquam cepit aut habuit. Quare iam Munstere et Krantzi, alias nobis Christianitatis, (vt sic dicam) legis naturæ, legis item Germanorum, et sanctæ simplicitatis notas qusente.
The same in English.
THE SEVENTH SECTION.
They make all one reckoning of their whelpes, and of their children: except that of the poorer sort you shall easier obtaine their sonne then their shalke.
Although in the beginning of this Treatise I thought that Munster and other men of great name in those things which they haue left written concerning Islande, were not to bee charged with slander, yet whether that fauour may here be shewed by any man whatsoeuer (be he neuer so fauourable, and neuer so sincere) I doe not sufficiently conceiue. For what should moue such great men, following the despightful lyes, and fables of mariners, to defame and staine our nation with so horrible and so shamefull a reproch? Surely nothing else but a carelesse licentiousnesse to deride and contemne a poore and vnknowen Nation, and such other like vices.
But, be it knowen to all men that this vntrueth doth not so much hurt to the Islanders, as to the authors themselues. For in heaping vp this, and a great number of others into their Histories, they cause their credite in other places also to be suspected: And hereby they gaine thus muche (as Aristotle sayth) that when they speake trueth no man will beleeue them without suspition.
But attend a while (Reader) and consider with me the grauitie and wisedome of these great Clarkes: that we may not let passe such a notable commendation of Island. Krantzius and Munster haue hitherto taught, that the Islanders are Christians. Also: that before receiuing of Christian faith they liued according to the lawe of Nature. Also: that the Islanders liued after a law not much differing from the lawe of the Germanes. Also, that they liued in holy simplicitie.
Attend I say (good Reader) and consider, what markes of Christianitie, of the lawe of nature, of the Germanes law, of holy simplicitie, these authors require, and what markes they shew and describe in the Islanders. There was one of the sayd markes before: namely, that the Islanders doe place hell or the prison of the damned, within the gulfe and bottome of mount Hecla: concerning which, reade the first section of this part, and the seuenth section of the former. The seconde marke is, that with the Anabaptists they take away distinctions of properties and possessions: in the section next going before. The third and most excellent is this: those singular and natural affections, that loue and tender care, and that fatherly and godly minde of the Islanders towards their children, namely, that they make the same accompt of them, or lesse then they doe of their dogges. What? Will Munster and Krantzius after this fashion picture out vnto vs the lawe of Christ, the lawe of nature, the lawe of the Germanes, and holy simplicitie? O rare and excellent picture, though not altogether matching the skill of Apelles: O sharpe and wonderfull inuention, if authenticall: O knowledge more then humane, though not at all diuine.
But wee Islanders (albeit the farthest of all nations and inhabiting a frozen clime) require farre other notes of Christianitie. For we haue the commaundement of God, that euery man should loue his neighbour as himselfe. Nowe there is none (I suppose) that doeth not loue or esteeme more of himselfe then of his dogge. And if there ought to bee so great fauour, so great estimation, so great loue vnto our neighbour, then how great affection doe we owe vnto our children? The most neare and inseparable loue of whom, besides that nature hath most friendly setled in our mindes, the loue of God also commaundeth vs to haue speciall regard in trayning them vp (Exod 12. 24. Ephes. 6. 4.) namely that there may be in holy marriage certaine seminaries of Gods Church, and exercises of all pietie and honestie according to the excellent saying of the Poet—
God will haue each family,
A little Church to be,
Also,
Of humane life or mans societie,
A Schole or College is holy matrimonie
That it may be manifest, that among Christians their sonnes are more to be accompted of and regarded, then their dogges: and if any doe no otherwise esteeme of them, that they are no Christians.
But this naturall affection towarde our most deare of-spring is plainely seene in the heathen themselues: that whomsoeuer you totally depriue of this, you denie them also to bee men. The mothers of Carthage testifie this to be true, when as in the third Punic warre the most choyse and gallant young men in all the Citie were sent as pledges into Sicilia, whom they followed vnto the shippes with most miserable weeping and lamentation, and some of them being with griefe separated from their deare sonnes, when they sawe the saules hoysed, and the shippes departing out of the hauen, for very anguish cast themselues headlong into the water: as Sabellicus witnesseth. Egæus doth testifie this, who when he sawe the shippe of his sonne Theseus, returning out of Creete with blacke sayles, thinking that his sonne had perished, ended his life in the next waters: Sabell lib. 3. cap 4. Gordianus the elder, Proconsul of Affrica, doth testifie this, who likewise, vpon rumours of the death of his sonne, hanged himselfe. Campoful lib 5. cap. 7. Also, Iocasta the daughter of Creon, Auctolia daughter of Simon, Anius King of the Thuscans, Orodes King of the Parthians, and an infinite number of others. Concerning whom reade Plutarch stat. lib. 2. and other authors, &c. To these may be added that sentence, Loue descendeth, &c. So that you see, it is no lesse proper to a man entirely to loue his children, then for a bird to flie: that if our writers at any time haue confessed the Islanders to be men (muche lesse to be Christians,) they must, will they nill they, ascribe vnto them this loue and affection towardes their children: if not, they doe not onely take from them the title and dignitie of men, but also they debase them vnder euery brute beast, which euen by the instinct of nature are bound with exceeding great loue, and tender affection towards their young ones.
I will not adde against this shamelesse vntruth most notable examples of our owen countreymen: I will omit our lawes of man-stealing, more ancient then the Islanders themselues, being receiued from the Noruagians, and are extant in our booke of lawes vnder the title Manhelge cap. 5, Whosoeuer selleth a free man (any man much more a sonne) vnto strangers, &c.
Now if any man be driuen to that hard fortune, that he must needs commit his own sonne into the hands of some inhabitant or stranger, being vrged thereunto by famine, or any other extreame necessity, that he may not be constrained to see him hunger-starued for want of sustenance, but keepeth his dogge still for his owne eating, this man is not to be sayd, that he esteemeth equally or more basely of his sonne then of his dogge: whether Islanders or any other countreymen do the same.
[Sidenote: The occasion of this slander.] The Germane or the Danish mariners might perhaps find amongst vs certaine beggars laden with children (for we haue here a great number of them) who in iesting maner, for they are much giuen to trifling talke, might saye: Giue me this, or sell me that: and when the stranger should aske, What will you giue me for it? the beggar might answere: I haue ten or foureteene children, I will giue you some one or more of them, &c. For this rabble of beggars vseth thus fondly to prate with strangers. Now if there be any well-disposed man, who pitying the need and folly of these beggers, releaseth them of one sonne, and doth for Gods sake by some meanes prouide for him in another countrey: doth the begger therefore (who together with his sonne being ready to die for hunger and pouerty, yeeldeth and committeth his sonne into the hands of a mercifull man) make lesse account of his sonne then of his dogge? Such works of loue and mercie haue bene performed by many, as well Islanders themselues as strangers: one of which number was that honourable man Accilius Iulius, being sent by the most gracious King of Denmarke into Island in the yere of our Lord 1552, who, as I haue heard, tooke, and carried with him into Denmarke fiftene poore boyes: where afterward it was reported vnto me, that, by his good meanes euery one of them being bound to a seuerall trade, proued good and thriftie men.
What if some man be driuen to that passe, that he doth not onely sell his sonne but not finding a chapman, his owne selfe killeth and eateth him? Examples of this kinde be common, namely of the vnwilling and forced cruelty of parents towards their children, not being pricked on through hate, or want of naturall affection, but being compelled thereunto by vrgent necessity. Shall any man hereupon ground a generall reproch against a whole nation? We reade that in the siege of Samaria, two mothers slew their sonnes, and eat them sodden: 4. King, chap. 6. We reade in the siege of Ierusalem, how lamentable the voice of that distressed mother was, being about to kill her tender childe: My sweete babe, sayth she (for I will report Eusebius owne words, concerning this matter, though very common, that the affection of a mother may appeare) borne to miserie and mishap, for whom should I conueniently reserue thee in this tumult of famine, of warre, and sedition? If we be subdued to the gouernment of the Romans, we shall weare out our vnhappy dayes vnder the yoke of slauery. But I thinke famine will preuent captiuity. Besides, there is a rout of seditious rebels much more intollerable then either of the former miseries. Come on therefore, my sonne, be thou meat vnto thy mother, a fury to these rebels, and a byword in the common life of men, which one thing onely is wanting to make vp the calamities of the Iewes. These sayings being ended, she killeth her sonne, roasting and eating one halfe, and reseruing the other, &c. Eusebius lib 3. cap. 6. Now, what man will not beleeue that this vnhappy mother would full gladly haue passed ouer this her sonne into the possession of some master or chapman, if she could haue happened vpon any such, with whom she thought he might haue beene preserued: That famine is well knowen which oppressed Calagurium, a city of Spaine, when in olde time Cneius Pompeius layed siege thereunto (Valerius lib. 7. cap. 7.) the citizens whereof conuerted their wiues and children into meat for the satisfying of their extreame hunger, whom doubtlesse they would with all their heartes haue solde for other victuals. That famine also is well knowen which in the yere of our Lord 851. (Vincent lib. 35. cap 26.) afflicted Germany, insomuch that the father was glad to deuoure his owne sonne. It was well knowen after the death of the Emperour Henry the seuenth, in a famine continuing three whole yeres, how the parents would deuoure their children, and the children their parents, and that especially in Polonia and Bohemia. And that we may not onely allege ancient examples: it is reported that there was such a grieuous dearth of corne in the yeeres 1586, and 1587, thorowout Hungary, that some being compelled for want of food were faine to sell their children vnto the most bloudy and barbarous enemy of Christians, and so to enthrall them to the perpetuall yoke of Turkish slauery: and some are sayd to haue taken their children, whom they could no longer sustaine, and with cruell mercy to haue cast them into Danubius, and drowned them. But should these stories and the like make any man so mad as to affirme that this or that nation accustometh to kill their children for their owne food, and to sell them willingly vnto the Turks, or to drowne and strangle them willingly in the water? I cannot thinke it. So neither (because beggers in Island being enforced through extreame and biting necessitie, do willingly part with their sonnes) is this custome generally to be imputed vnto the whole nation, and that by way of disgrace, by any man, except it be such an one who hath taken his leaue of all modesty, plaine dealing, humanity, and trueth.
But I could wish that the loue of dogges in Islanders might be more sparingly reprehended by those people, whose matrons, and specially their noble women, take so great delight in dogs, that they carry them in their bosomes thorow the open streetes. I will not say in Churches: which feshion Cæsar blamed in certaine strangers, whom he sawe at Rome carrying about yoong apes and whelpes in their armes, asking them this question: Whether women in their countrey brought foorth children or no? signifying heereby, that they do greatly offend who bestow vpon beasts these naturall affections, wherewith they should be inuited to the loue of mankinde, and specially of their owne ofspring, which strange pleasure neuer ouertooke, nor possessed the nation of the Islanders. Wherefore now (Munster and Krantzius) you must finde vs out other marks of Christianity, of the law of nature, of the Germans law, and of holy simplicity.
SECTIO OCTAVA.
[Sidenote: Krantzius Munsterus] Episcopum suum colunt pro Rege ad cuius nutum respicit totus populus. Quicquid ex lege, scripturis, et ex consuetudine aliarum gentium constituit, quàm sancte obseruant.
Fuit equidem initio ferè ad repurgatam Euangelij doctrinam maxima Episcopi obseruantia; sed nunquam tanta vt exteris legibus aut consuetudini cederent nostræ leges politicæ, ex nutu Episcopi. Nec tempore Alberti Krantzij, multò minus Munsteri (quorum ille 1517, hic 1552. post partum salutiferum decessit) Episcopi Islandorum regiam obtinuerunt authoritatem, cùm scilicet multi ex ijs, qui diuitijs paulò plus valebant aduersus ipsos consurgere non dubitarint; quæ res apud nostrates liquido constat. Intenm tamen Episcopi, anathematis fulmine terribiles, alios in suam potestatem redegerunt, alios furibunda sæuitia id temporis persecuti sunt.
Porrò etsi tum fuit magna, imò maxima Episcopi obseruantia, tamen nunc dispulsis tenebris Papisticis, alia ratione homines Satan aggreditur, eorùmque mentes contemptus libertate et refractaria contumacia, aduersus Deum et sacrum ministerium, etiam hîc armare non negligit.
The same in English.
THE EIGHTH SECTION.
[Sidenote: Krantzius, Munsterus] They honour their Bishop as their King vnto whose command all the whole people haue respect. Whatsoeuer he prescribeth out of the law, the scriptures, or the customes of other nations, they do full holily obserue.
There was indeed at the beginning, about the time of the reformation of religion, great reuerence had vnto the bishop; but neuer so great, that our politique lawes at the bishops command should giue place to outlandish lawes and customes. Neither in the time of Albertus Krantzius, much lesse of Munster (of which two the first deceased in the yere of our Lord 1517, and the second 1552) the bishops of Island had the authonty of kings, when as many of the country which were of the richer sort, would not doubt to rebell against them; which thing is too well knowen in our countrey. Yet in the meane time, the bishops being terrible with their authority of excommunication, reduced some vnder their subiection, and others at that time they cruelly persecuted.
Moreouer, albeit at that time the bishop was had in great, yea, in exceeding great reuerence, yet now adayes, the darkenesse of popery being dispelled, the deuill assaulteth men after another sort, and euen here amongst vs, he is not slacke to arme their minds with contempt, and peruerse stubburnnesse against God, and his holy ministery.