Of Prophecies

I Meane not to speake of Divine Prophecies; Nor of Heathen Oracles; Nor of Naturall Predictions; But only of Prophecies, that have beene of certaine Memory, and from Hidden Causes. Saith the Pythonissa to Saul; To Morrow thou and thy sonne shall be with me. Homer hath these Verses.

At Domus Æneæ cūctis dominabitur Oris,

Et Nati Natorum, & qui nascentur ab illis: A Prophecie, as it seemes, of the Roman Empire. Seneca the Tragedian hath these Verses.

A Prophecie of the Discovery of America. The Daughter of Polycrates dreamed, that Jupiter bathed her Father, and Apollo annointed him: And it came to passe, that he was crucified in an Open Place, where the Sunne made his Bodie runne with Sweat, and the Raine washed it. Philip of Macedon dreamed, He sealed up his Wives Belly: Whereby he did expound it, that his Wife should be barren: But Aristander the Soothsayer, told him, his Wife was with Childe, because Men doe not use to Seale Vessells that are emptie. A Phantasme, that appeared to M. Brutus in his Tent, said to him; Philippis iterùm me videbis. Tiberius said to Galba. Tu quoque Galba degustabis Imperium. In Vespasians Time, there went a Prophecie in the East; That those that should come forth of Judea, should reigne over the World: which though it may be was meant of our Saviour, yet Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian. Domitian dreamed, the Night before he was slaine, that a Golden Head was growing out of the Nape of his Necke: And indeed, the Succession that followed him, for many yeares, made Golden Times. Henry the Sixt of England, said of Henry the Seventh, when he was a Lad, and gave him Water; This is the Lad, that shall enjoy the Crowne, for which we strive. When I was in France, I heard from one Dr. Pena, that the Q. Mother, who was given to Curious Arts, caused the King her Husbands Nativitie, to be Calculated, under a false Name; And the Astrologer gave a Judgement, that he should be killed in a Duell; At which the Queene laughed, thinking her Husband, to be above Challenges and Duels: but he was slaine, upon a Course at Tilt, the Splinters of the Staffe of Mongomery, going in at his Bever. The triviall Prophecie, which I heard, when I was a Childe, and Queene Elizabeth was in the Flower of her Yeares, was;

Whereby, it was generally conceived, that after the Princes had Reigned, which had the Principiall Letters, of that Word Hempe, (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth) England should come to utter Confusion. Which, thankes be to God, is verified only, in the Change of the Name: For that the Kings Stile, is now no more of England, but of Britaine. There was also another Prophecie, before the yeare of 88. which I doe not well understand.

It was generally conceived, to be meant of the Spanish Fleet, that came in 88. For that the King of Spaines Surname, as they say, is Norway. The Prediction of Regiomontanus; Octogessimus octavus mirabilis Annus; Was thought likewise accomplished, in the Sending of that great Fleet, being the greatest in Strength, though not in Number, of all that ever swamme upon the Sea. As for Cleons Dreame, I thinke it was a Jest. It was, that he was devoured of a long Dragon; And it was expounded of a Maker of Sausages, that troubled him exceedingly. There are Numbers of the like kinde; Especially if you include Dreames, and Predictions of Astrologie. But I have set downe these few onely of certaine Credit, for Example. My Judgement is, that they ought all to be Despised; And ought to serve, but for Winter Talke, by the Fire side. Though when I say Despised, I meane it as for Beleefe: For otherwise, the Spreading or Publishing of them, is in no sort to be Despised. For they have done much Mischiefe: And I see many severe Lawes made to suppresse them. That, that hath given them Grace, and some Credit, consisteth in three Things. First, that Men marke, when they hit, and never marke, when they misse: As they doe, generally, also of Dreames. The second is, that Probable Conjectures, or obscure Traditions, many times, turne themselves into Prophecies: While the Nature of Man, which coveteth Divination, thinkes it no Perill to foretell that, which indeed they doe but collect. As that of Seneca's Verse. For so much was then subject to Demonstration, that the Globe of the Earth, had great Parts beyond the Atlanticke; which mought be Probably conceived, not to be all Sea: And adding thereto, the Tradition in Plato's Timeus, and his Atlanticus, it mought encourage One, to turne it to a Prediction. The third, and Last (which is the Great one) is, that almost all of them, being infinite in Number, have beene Impostures, and by idle and craftie Braines, meerely contrived and faigned, after the Event Past.