The first rudiments of all discipline were anciently the knowledge of -
swimming, and instruction in learning: hereupon because the proverb of an
ignorant and unpolishdunpolished man, that heehe could neither swimmeswim nor read:
For the Ancients considerdconsidered swimming as a means often times to save and -
deliver the body from the dangers of water, and the knowledge of learning
the mind from the waves of fortune: Moreover swimming is very ser=
viceable in time of warrewar, the knowledge of learning in time of peace at -
home: And as weewe observe that brutes have their weapons in readinessereadiness, pro=
vided by nature, man hands and wittwit administredadministered instead thereof against -
externallexternal violence, wittwit to contrive and invent weapons, hands to make and
use them, soeso is the faculty of swimming naturally invested in the same
beasts, but not in man: they even young doedo often escape out of waters by -
swimming, in which a man though old or never soeso strong is suffocated; -
NeedfullNeedful therefore it was to enjoyneenjoin the exercise of swimming to children, be=
ing often times most conducible to præservepreserve a mans life, that that which was
wanting by nature, might be supplyedsupplied by the use of art: The same exercise
have Noble=-menNoblemen, Princes, and Kings used for the safeguard of their body, for -
those descended from noble blood are not wholywholly exempt from the chances of
fortune, but exposed to them as well as other men: If Dionysius had knowneknown nei=
ther swimming nor learning, when heehe was driven out of the kingdomekingdom of Si=
cily as a tyrant, heehe had perished by the waves of the Sea being ShipwrecktShipwrecked in
the Corinthian gulphgulf, but escaping the dangers by swimming, heehe went to -
Corinthus, where heehe settset up a schooleschool to teach boyesboys, and professdprofessed humanehuman -
learning, of a King being made a SchoolemasterSchoolmaster, and holding a rod in steadinstead
of a Scepter, from whence that jeering Proverb, Dionysius of CorynthCorinth: In -
like manner if the royallroyal SonneSon of the Philosophers had not been able
to swimmeswim, noeno man would have heard his voycevoice, nor releivdrelieved him, being -
long since drowned in the waters: swimming therefore is necessary and -
coḿodiouscommodious to all degrees of men: for though it cannot deliver a man presently
from the surges of the vast ocean, yet it gives time of life, whereby heehe
may be saved by others: But the saydsaid King sustainessustains himselfehimself a long -
time, and cryescries out hitherto, though heehe be heard or seen by very few by -
reason of the largenesselargeness of the Sea, and remotenesseremoteness of it: for by chance heehe
hathhas touchdtouched upon a rockerock or great stone in swimming, by which to be præ=
servedpreserved, if the waves prævayleprevail. But the quæstionquestion is what is the Sea? I an=
swer, the ErythræanErythaean or red sea, subject to the TropickeTropic of Cancer, in -
which, there being great store of MagnettsMagnets in the bottomebottom,

it is not safe for
ShippsShips compacted or laden with iron to saylesail: for they might easily be -
drawnedrawn to the bottomebottom by the virtue of the MagnettMagnet: which the saydsaid King
being ignorant of, and the rest perishing the Ship being sunkesunk, heehe alone
escaped by swimming. His CrowneCrown shining with orient RubyesRubies continued
with him, by which heehe might easily be knowneknown, and restored to his -
kingdomekingdom: But what are those good things, which this royallroyal SonneSon is able or
willing to conferreconfer on him, by whomewhom heehe Should be restored to his owneown king=
domekingdom? certainly not such, as PtolomyPtolemy the last King of ÆgyptEgypt bestowdbestowed on
Pompey, by whomewhom his father was restored to the kingdomekingdom of ÆgyptEgypt, to wittwit,
perfidiousnesseperfidiousness and death, but health, the removallremoval of diseases, the præser=
vationpreservation of life from them, the use of things necessary, and the hornehorn of -
plenty, honourhonor and love; which not being vulgar or meanemean things, but
the cheifechief viaticksviatics and ornaments of this life, who, but a man of lead, -
would not desire them? who would not stretch forth his hand, and draw
him into the boat? but heehe must see that in helping him his DiademeDiadem fall
not into the sea: for then heehe could scarce be knowneknown for the King, nor -
received by his subjects, because the venerable Pyropus would perish, be=
cause the Bezoar Stone, assuring health to all men, would be lost: The Ro=
sary alluding hereto cites Aristotle in these words: Chose you a Stone, by
which Kings are revered in their Diadems, and by which PhysitiansPhysicians can
cure their patients, because it is near to fire: for without a medicinallmedicinal -
virtue a CrowneCrown would be of noeno value. But what must be done to
the King now delivered? heehe must be freed from the water which heehe
received in by SudorificksSudorifics, from cold by the heat of fire, from num=
nessenumbness and stupefaction of the parts by baths moderately hotthot, from -
hunger and want of food by the administration of convenient dyetdiet, and
from other externallexternal maladyesmaladies by their contraryescontraries even wholesome reme=
dyesremedies: Then heehe must be provided of royallroyal matrimony, and in due -
time a most hopefullhopeful heir will be generated by him, most acceptable to
all men, most beautifullbeautiful and most fruitfullfruitful, who will excellexcel all his An=
cestors in power, kingdoms, dominions, people, wealth and riches, and will
subject his enemyesenemies to himselfehimself, not by warrewar, but humanity, not by
tyranny, but clemency, which is genuine and peculiar to him . . .