EVripides desired , that either wee might line as dumbe , in perpetuall silence : or that dumbe thinges , without any ambiguitie of words , might speake to vs . As for my selfe , I could wish , that either we were of those Indian people called Astomi , whom Plinie Lib. 7. cap. 1. describeth to liue without mouthes : or else contented ( like them ) with the sole benefit of ayre , without eating or drinking , wee might heere spend our time . For by this meanes it might come to passe , that our spirit , ( which with a firme eye cannot contemplate things naturall , no more then the Owle looke on the rayes of of the Sun ) beeing freed from those mistes & thicke vapours , occasioned by the vse of meats : would comprehend with a perfect regard , the Ideas and formes of things nakedlie , and according as they are indeede ▪ Heracl . Chrisippus then should not neede , to take Helleborus with such obseruance , for the purging of his vnderstanding , to the end he might the more subtilly see , the strength of his arguments . Our soule ( against her nature ) would be no heauie burden at all vnto vs : shee should not neede to serue herselfe with the salt of our bodies , to keepe her from corrupting ▪ but rather shee would be like vnto a Phar●s , which in our diuine nauigation , would discouer the way for our attayning to the land of heauen .

But in regard that our life is maintained , by the nourishing of the bodie , and that by ( one mutuall assistance ) both together doe conserue themselues , euen while we our selues doe studie how to support this life , by continuall care for furnishing it with ●oodes : it ensueth , that wee altogether abase , & cast downe to the earth , that part of the soule , which otherwise ( of her selfe ) would couet nothing els , then to eleuate her selfe to high and heauenly things . Notwithstanding , Plato holdeth , that In his Timeus . man is pouruayed of store of repletion , and cloying for the intestines , to shewe , that God hath created him a soule full of reason & councell : with out which , as the plants are euermore fastened to their rootes , for their feeding , so would hee likewise alwaies haue meate in his mouth , or else , as the beasts , his minde would be perpetually labouring , in seeking after nothing but fresh pasture . You may see the same thus , while the meate dooth conuay it selfe by the passages of the belli● , the spirit naturally sends his strength vegetatiue & nutritiue thorow the bodie , and by this commixture , life , & the motion of the bodie is maintained : and as this more sublime part of nature , passeth on further still to shewe the effects of his force and vertue , so after foode hath sustained the bodie , the spirit is called too the desire of new viandes , & constrainde to yeeld it selfe subject to the bellies appetite ▪ Lib. 26. cap. 8. For there is nothing ( saith Plinie ) that is more painefull to a man , then his bellie , for the content whereof , the most part of men imploy their whole life time . This importuning vessell of the bodie , euermore is at hand with vs , like a greedie creditour summoning vs many times in the day : but he is not to be listened to alwayes when he calls , if hee haue had his dutie paide him . No more then one vnder age , who would not allow his tutour or guardian the expences for his nourishing , as though he had liued with him onlie vppon winde , and yet continually hath bin Tit. De alim . pup . praest. C. by him , and fed with his pursse : but whosoeuer shall or doth deale so , the Emperour hath iudged him not receiueable , except he can proue he hath had his feeding elswhere .

The necessitie of the bellie , is alwayes in such rigour with vs , that the Stoicks themselues , who were excluded ( in themselues ) from all sense of man , constrainedly did yet listen to the bellies murmuring : and did eate , but how ? to the end they might shunne eating . Quite contrarie to certaine gourmandes and gluttons , who vsed then , and yet doe , to eate and drinke , only to encrease their eating and drinking : hauing no other God but their bellie , wheron they bestowe whatsoeuer serues to excite luxurie : for which , the Seas are trauersed , euen so farre as to the Riuer Phasis , ransacking her entrailes , for contentation agreeing with their insatiable appetites . And this is that part , wherein we come neerest vnto brute beastes , who by their proper nature , are led to desire whatsoeuer their bellie demaundes , and ( with whom ) we make common this necessitie , of eating and drinking .

For nature hath giuen to all creatures one instrument of life , which is naturall heate , & that ( euen as our wood in the fire ) hath his seate in the triple substaunce of our bodie , to ●it , the solide , humorall and spirituous parts , which ( without ceassing ) he ruinates and consumeth : so that in very small while , all would bee wasted , if it were not maintained by a fresh supply of meates and drinkes , neither more or lesse , then as the flame of a Lampe , which is extinct so soone as the Oyle is consumed , if no more be put thereinto for longer lasting : And heereupon , Hippocrates Lib. 1. Aph. 14. the Prince of Phisitians sayd , that the bodies of young men haue neede of more nourishment , then others , because they haue much more heate then they : for otherwise ( saith hee ) their bodies would consume themselues . Contrariwise , the bodies of olde men , because they haue but little store of heate , they haue neede but of as little nourishing .

Aph. 13. Hence may we draw a confirmed atgument , by this which Hippocrates himselfe hath said , that old men easilie endure fasting , but next them , such as are in the strength of theyr age , yet lesse then young men , & infants least of all other , but especially such as are liueliest , and readiest in theyr bodily functions . For the littlenes of heate , the tenacitie of the primitiue humour , and the densitie or thicknes of the body , impeacheth old● men , that this triple substance canno● wast it selfe at all : whence proceedeth , that they haue nothing at all such neede of meates , and the desire or appetite after them ( if so I may say ) which is hunger , in them is much languishing . As contrariwise in young men , it is so much the more ardent , as the heat naturall is aboundant , the 〈◊〉 more fluxible , and the composition of the body more thin , and lesse heaped together . Which three things , as they cause the foode receiued to consume , so by little and little , they repaire any defect there arising . For as it should be thus , that the substance of euery creature , dissolues it selfe by the pores of the skin , into the ayre which enuirons it 1. De sym●om . caus. 7. ( saith Galen ) so followes it of necessitie , that the very neerest parts of the skin , should be first destitute of nouriture , that by their propper strength & vertue , they might draw the nourishment from the other neighbouring parts , onely to repaire that , which through default of sustentation is become worst : those there , from the veines , these heere , from the liuer : the liuer from the intestines & ventricle ( by the mesenterie veines ) calling what is most familiar , and conuenable to his nature . Then the ventricle , seeing her selfe emptie , by a naturall vnderstanding which she hath , of that which is wanting to her : shee is incited to desire meate , wherwith she may be sustained .

But if some body be presented , which hath but small store of heate , and much more naturall moysture , whereto the pores and respiracles of of the skin doe giue place ; there is no great euacuation made of this triple substance , and so consequentlie , there is no neede at all of much nourishment . Neither is it altogether necessarie ( as Galen witnesseth ) De venae sect. ●duer . Eras . in those places , where , ( beside that alreadie said ) the ayre which encompasseth vs , is cold , and the body heauie , benumbde , & not stirring : because the little troughes & openings in the skinne , are mouthes , and yet little or nothing at all passeth out at them . And this he giues vs to vnderstand , by the example of saluage beastes , which ( all winter together ) will not leaue their dennes and cauernes , and hereupon he calles them Phooleuonta Zooa , such as are Beares , Battes , or 〈◊〉 Serpen●s , Lizardes and diuers other . All which hauing at spring time ( by warmth & heate ) the conuoyes of their bodie released and opened , when they knowe that inwarde warmth resolues them , & makes them to waxe hungrie ; they come foorth ( by their owne proper motion ) out of their prisons , and ( guided by nature only ) seeke in all parts , the feeding which is aptest for them . Hence hee gathereth , that continuall breathing , which is occasioned by respiration , procures this defect , & this also prouokes the appetite and desire of eatting . For nature hath giuen this propertie to the emptie part , which thus requireth to be filled . So that if the cause ceassed , for which the body hath need of nouriture , it would ensue as necessarilie , that the selfe same penurie , and his vnderstanding , which is hunger , by little and little would decay : and therefore by this reason , the creatures which are so hidden in the caues of the earth , may liue without the vse of foode . S. August . lib. 21. deciuit . Chap. 6 . So likewise , by the report of notable men , and wel worthie credence , that in the Lanternes and hollowe places of olde Sepulchers , burning Lampes haue bin found , which the inscriptions on the said Tombes haue witnessed , that they were put in there , almost infinite yeares before their finding : as that whereof Lodouicus Viues speaketh , discouered about the yeare 1500. which Hermolaus Barbarus saith , was found in the territories of Pauia , without date of day , or of Consull in very deed , but yet notwithstanding , it had bin there inclosed aboue eight hundred yeares before , as by the written discourse P. Appianus gathered . Such Lampes then , were preserued so long a time with little maintenance , because the moisture there doth strongly support them , and they perish but little : whether it be by the humiditie ( which the Alchymistes tearme radicall ) of the gold ( which alone among all naturall bodies , is belieued , to suffer no diminution at all of his substance ) or any other thing therto belonging , but so it appeares by the testification , engrauen vppon a vessell of earth , which Barbarus before mentioned , deliuered written in these wordes .

And this which followeth , was written or carued vppon an other vessell of earth , and enclosed within the former , bearing these words .

Now in this vessell of earth , wa● and had bin kept this Lampe , placed betweene two Flagons or Bottles , the one of gold , the other of siluer , full of the most pure liquor of gold : which was imagined to haue giuen nutriment to the Lampe , that continued burning for so many ages . The same Barbarus called this liquor heauenly water , or rather , the diuine water of the Alchimists : which also he noteth , to haue beene called by Democritus and Mercurius Trismegistus , sometimes diuine water , sometime the Scithian drinke : sometime spirituall , that is to say , a spirit drawn Or Quintessence . from the celestiall nature , & ❀ fift essence of things , whereof is composed Aurum Potabile , and the Philosophers stone or dust , in the search whereof , so many people haue vainly consumed themselues . To this diuine licquor of golde , I knowe not whether I may attribute or no , the 〈◊〉 of a Lampe continuallie burning , wherof Cedrenus speaketh , In the abridgemet of his Historie . which from the time of the Emperour Iustinian , was found in the cittie of * * A Cittie of Syria , beyond Euphrates . Edessa , with an Image of our Sauiour Iesus Christ . It had been inclosed or hidden , ouer a certaine gate , immediately after the passion of Christ , and yet neuerthelesse , it had also remained there fiue hundred yeeres , without extinguishing . Moreouer , some of the oyle which was found therein , beeing cast into the neerest fire to that place , it burned intirely all the troupes of warriours , of Chosroes King of the Persians , who was an enemy to the Christians . Whatsoeuer it were , in consideration of the reasons before alleaged , I find it not so strange , as an example now to be made , of a thing very rare , & almost incredible , happening within our owne quarters of Poict● : to wit , the fast or abstinence of a maiden of Confolans , ( or Conflans , ) who for the space of 3. yeres , and euen till this day , hath liued , & doth , without any bodily foode or sustenaunce .

This Maiden is about 14. yeeres of age , and is named Iane Balan , her Father Iohn Balan , a Locksmith , and her Mother Laurencia Chambella : her ●●ture is answerable to her age , some what Country-like of behauiour , anatiue of the Towne of Confolans , vpon the Riuer of Vienna , in the confines of Limosin , and also of Poictu . In the eleuenth yeere of her age , being seazed on by a continuall Feauer , the 16. day of Februarie , 1599. shee hath since then been assailed with the accesse of diuers other sicknesses : and beyond all the rest , with a continuall casting or vomiting , for the space of 20. dayes together . The Feauer hauing somewhat left her , she grew to be speech lesse , and continued so 28. dayes ▪ without the deliuerie of any one word : at the end of which time , she came to her selfe againe , and spake as she had done before ( sauing that her words were full of feare , and voide of good sence . ) Nowe came vppon her a weakenes , and benumming of all her sences and bodilie moouings , from beneath the head , in such sort , that Oesophagus it selfe , ( beeing that part of the stomack , which serues as conduct for passage of meate and drink , into that which we terme the little belly ) being dissolu'd , it lost the force attractiue . Since which time , coulde not any one perswade this Mayden ( in any manner ) to eate , albeit they made trial , to haue her but suck or lick meats delicate , fruits , and sweet things , agreeable to such yo●ig yeeres . Notwithstanding , the vse & motion of her members , came to her againe about sixe months after : except in one hippe , on which side yet she goes with some difficultie . One onely impotencie remaineth to her , that she cannot swallow or let down any thing , for she altogether loathes and abhors mightily , both meates & drinks .

In this time ( a thing most strange ) the inferiour part of the belly , by little & little is in such maner grown leane , and dried vp in her , as downe from her sides , and so along to her nauill , there remaineth nothing of the belly which shee had before . There is only in this place ( or in sted thereof , to wit , vnder the auncient belly , where we may say it hath bin ) a Cartilage or gristle , hanging pointed down from * * That part of the breast where the ribs meete and ioyne together . thorax , or sternu●● , after the maner of an eaues or penthouse , which throwes off from the building , all the water that falls on the top or couerture . Here-hence , & from the points of these bastard-sides , the skinne vnderneath dooth suffer great paine and feeling , both of extension and diu●lsion , as may easily be perceiued by the moanes which the Maide herselfe maketh . From thence comes it , that all the muscles , intestines , bowels , & other parts of the belly , being withdrawne and annihiled by want of foode : one would iudge that they had bin rackt or rent away , at least , there remaineth nothing but the lappings & silaments , for all the ●leshie substance , which filled those parts there , are perished and gon .

As concerning the other parts of her bodie , it behoueth much more , that there should be an aunswerable diminution : yet she hath a large breast , the paps pretie and round : her armes & thighes fleshie , her face also indifferent round , but brownish : her lippes somewhat red : her tongue ( indeed ) drawne inward a little , but yet her words prompt and readie : her head couered with haire of good length , for her nailes and haire , they do encrease , in each meet part of the body . There comes not any excrement from her , her belly yeelds no ordure , neither doth any vrine at all passe from her bladder , or is the matrixe impeached by her menstruall flowers . Her head is not charged with filth or dandriffe , but shewes it selfe verie sound and well , as well in the exteriour part of the 〈…〉 as in the inward organes of 〈◊〉 for neither dooth her nose or 〈◊〉 render any excrements , onlie from her mouth comes a little spettle , and sometimes from her eyes issues a few teares .

The whole body ouer , yeelds no sweat at all , but we , and such as haue touched her , doe find all her skinne to be colde and dry , and not heated or chafed by any moouing , ( except the arme-pits , & those parts which neighbor neer to the hart ) yet doth shee trauaile about the house , goe to the market for victuals ; sweepe the house ; spinne at her wheele ; reele off her quill ; and giues herselfe ( as any other ) to all seruiceable offices in a familie , & seemes as if shee were not defectiue , in any part of sence , or mouing of her bodie .

By all which things , we may gather the raritie , and meruailous noueltie of this example : for the accident happeneth in such an age , when as the body receiues increasing . And those things which increase , haue need of good store of nouriture ▪ but especially in bodies of such constitution , as this Maidens is , slender , thin , & cold , where the internall parts are accustomed to be most hot . Hence comes it , that our auncients haue said , that in Winter our bellies are Lib. 1. Aph. 15. more hot , then at other times , which causeth a much readier concoction , and an appetite lesse tollerable , especially when it is prouoked by exercises : whereof this Mayden maketh no spare , especially , such as her age is capable of , the ayre and soyle also wherein she liues , affoords the people to be very hungry . All which occasions of appetite and hunger , were taken from her by the accident of her continuall Feauer : and in the end , all her naturall functions became asswaged , and seazed on by a kinde of dead Palsie .

And nowe to begin with the first & principall , the little belly or maw , ( which otherwise is the receptacle of foode , and the officer for the first concoction ) being lagde & rent by the ordure of crude & raw humors , hath languished in such sort , as it had no power , either to retaine the meates therin enclosed , or to receiue in any other . Euen so in Hippocrates , Hermocrates being surprized with an extreame burning Feauer , did euermore cast the foode hee receiued : because this facultie had lost his strength , and that was quenched in him ( saith Galen in the same place ) Com. 1. whereof the office was , to feele lack in health , and to desire what was familiar for him .

Many would attribute the cause of this Symptome , or passion ensuing sicknesse , to some bad power in an Apple , which an olde woman had giuen to this young Maiden , two or three months before ; because when she had eaten it , she had a distaste of her meats , and felt some alteration of her spirits . But in regard , that ( besides this ) nothing hath happened to her , which outwardly hath impeached her health , neither her naturall functions , vntill she became surprized by the Feauer before mentioned ; I see no reason at all , that yeelds any subiect to belieue , how the euill power in the Apple , could remaine so long time hidden , without yeelding any effect . Her vomiting ceassing , she became dumbe , by reason of those nerues resolution , which wee call recurrent ( which hapned to her soone after through all her body ) the fleame cold & raw , beeing liquefied by the heate of the Feauer , which by this meanes wrought a debilitie in the braine , caused that shee could not be sound and wel in spirit . Here-hence it hath necessarily followed , that she must needs loose the sence of tast & sucking , and likewise the vse of swallowing meat and drinke : which onely hath procured the abolition of the animall appetite , and by little & little , it hath bin followed , by a totall priuation of the appetite naturall , which Hippocrates noteth by these words , Genestai de ouc edunato , if we may giue credit to his most graue interpreter Galen . Which casts the cause of this passion , vpon the blame of the liuer , who being the vegetant and naturall soule , so soone as she is wounded , she is constraind , that the auxiliarie , or succouring faculties , ( to wit , attraction , retention , assimiliation or comparison , and expulsion , in whom lies all the power of nourishing ) must needs sinck & fall , and so consequently the appetite , which cannot be compleat & perfect , but by attraction . The same Authour gathers it to be the sicknes of the liuer in Hermocrates , by this , 1. Epid. sect. 3. that the sixt day of his sicknesse , he was seene to looke yellow : & notwithstanding , in all the course of his disease , which was for 27. dayes , this yellownes neuer left him ( as it had done in Heraclides , to whom the selfe same passion happened , and on the same day ) neither by sweating , neither by the voyding of much choller ; nor by the conuoye of the bellie ; nor by vrine , nor yet by vomitting . And therefore it was easie to be seene , that the naturall facultic ( whereof the liuer is the fountaine ) in very strange manner was ouerthrowne . Which being so , all the 5. De lo● . aff. Chap. 1. strength of appetite doth become so weakened , saith Galen ; as sick-folke rather desire to die , then receiue any thing ●n at their mouthes , or haue it so much as but touch their lippes .

In the Maiden of whom wee speake a● this present , ( who hath not bin ●●alte with , by any cunning , or helpes to nature ) , the liuer hath bin so besieged with the burden of hurtfull humours : as her naturall heate beeing broken , and hauing no more force ; by little and little it hath dried vp , with all the nether partes of the bellie , yea and so , as there is nothing indeed to bee meruailed at , when we see the functions of the naturall O●conomi● to be also abolished . This then is one of the causes , of this distaste of meates , and of the fast or abstinence theron ensuing , that this drying vp of the liuer , and of all those parts seruing to nourriture ▪ from whence attraction beeing taken , it hath then bin followed with a priuation of sucking or swallowing , which is the beginning of hunger . In this opinion I haue Galen ●or my 1. De lo● . affect . Chap. 1. warrant , who saith , that by reason of the liuers debiliti● , the bodie can receiue no nourishment : and yet notwithstanding , it may so subsist a long time , to wit , so long as the hart remaineth sound . Neuerthelesse , Hermocrates died at 27. dayes end , because the corruption of humours had gained the substaunce of the hart : which likewise the qualitie of the Feuers heate ( by altering ) had consumed , after it had chased away the naturall heate . But this Maiden hath bin preserued , in regard● , that the Feuers fire being extinct , the naturall heate which remained , being but weake , hath yet bin detained in a bodie lockt vp fast , couered with a skinne wrinckled , colde and drie . Of this heate shee makes but very small decay in herselfe , nor hath she 〈◊〉 also of much maintaining the same these may serue as second and third causes of this defect of appetite .

For all that shee exhaleth by the meanes of respiration , as her breath , and naturall heate , the same is repaired and supplied , first of all by the ayre drawne , as well by inspiration , and receiued at the hart by the pipes of the lunges or lites : as by this insensible transpiration , ( which , according as I can iudge by her disposition , is almost vtterlie wasted in her ) receiued in the whole bodie by the arteries ▪ After this , nature ( thus lagde , and scantly vigorous ) delights herselfe with this crude rhumi● humour , which cannot in this young bodie , but ( of it selfe ) it should much abounde and encrease , according to the qualitie of her sexe and age : and the same more especially may now be discerned , by some little decadence of her bodie , through the palsie , which is not as yet perfectly cured . Now this humour ( in time ) doth seeth it selfe , & conuerts into foode , proper and apte for nourishing of the bodie . And there is no want of manie other things , which haue their maintenaunce in our bodies , wherewith nature may serue herselfe , when ( pressed by hunger ) she pleaseth to vse them for sustenance : as fat , marrowe in the bones , and fleame , all which things , the dispoiled parts of the bodie , doo drawe to their naturall seatings , to fournish well their owne expences withall , and they receiue them ( like a dispersed dewe ) thorow their whole substances . Symmach. lib. 1. Epist. 33. So saith one , that the Snayles in the ayre hauing drought , if no dewe do fall to them from heauen , they liue by sucking themselues . And thence grewe it that Plautus sayd . Captiui .