Fearfull prodigies in Italy, seene neere the citie of Rome, in the aire, between the Castle Angelo and the Vatican as it was sent in a letter by a merchant of good credit living in Ligorne to Seignior Torriano, an Italian here resident in London, and by him faithfully translated into English.

Fearfull prodigies in Italy, seene neere the citie of Rome, in the aire, between the Castle Angelo and the Vatican as it was sent in a letter by a merchant of good credit living in Ligorne to Seignior Torriano, an Italian here resident in London, and by him faithfully translated into English.

Table of contents

Title page

Fearfull Prodigies in Italy, ſeen neer the citie of Rome in the aire, between Caſtle Angelo and the Vatican. Wonderfull art thou, ô Lord, in all thy works.

Fearfull Prodigies in Italy, ſeen neer the citie of Rome in the aire, between Caſtle Angelo and the Vatican.
Wonderfull art thou, ô Lord, in all thy works.

[Page]

[Page]

IT is not unknowne to all the world, how that Scarlet Whore, which triumphs in the bloud of the Saints, that ſits upon her ſeven hils, the ſometimes Empreſſe of the earth▪ the Citie of Rome, hath alwayes endevoured to ſhew it ſelfe the fear of Antichriſt the Pope, who by his perverting the truth of Chriſtian Doctrine, and exalting himſelfe above the Princes and Potentates of the earth, ſtrives to extirpate Chriſts little ſtock, it being their fathers good will to give them a Kingdome. No marvell it is therefore, if the Almightie Power out of the viols of his wrath, and the cup of his judgements upon that place, which is guiltie of ſo many fornications, idolatries, and bloud-ſhods, as in the ſequent diſcourſe ſhall be manifeſted. On Chriſtmas day, the day of the nativitie of our Saviour, ſtylo novo, about two of the clock in the after-noone, from that hill [Page] which was anciently called Mons Tarpeius on which the Capitoll, the Temple, conſectated to all the Heathen Gods, was ſometimes ſituated, and now the Church of Saint Marie de Monte major. In which is probable are committed as many idolatries as were perpetrated in the other, was heard great and mournfull groanes, as if it had been of people now departing this life; when on the ſudden, the aire which was verie cleare and faire, the dayes in Italy being as long in December as they are here in mid March; and the great Luminarie of Heaven, the Sun, operating with as much vigour, was moſt ſtupendiouſly darkened, lightning, fire and ſmoke uſhering in a moſt hideous tempeſt of thunder, which in thoſe parts is verie rare at that time of the yeare, by reaſon of the thinneſſe and puritie of the aire, unſubject to vapours, which with dreadfull bolts, as if it had threatened diſſolution not onely to Rome, but to all the Nations of the world; Heavens Canoniers diſcharging their fatall artillerie on the mountaine, with ſuch ſpeed and violence, that it ſeemed to rent (as it were) with an earth-quake, divers flames of fire breaking forth with ſtrange eruptions out of the earth, as if it would have conſumed the whole Citie: the people in the meane time being in ſtrange and terrible amazements, thinking the day of doome had been come: the Popes triple Crowne falling from his head for feare, as I am certainly enformed, and the Conclave of Cardinals in mightie feare and perplexitie, as it is conjectured; but that the Devill was ſomething too great in them, would have repented them of their ſins. For after the terrible flaſhes of lightning, with thunder-claps, and the like hideous and fearfull ſounds, which endured the ſpace of a full houre, the aire began to cleare up, and the face of Heaven appeared as it were ſurrounded with a cleare ſhining light, and the noyſe ſeaſed, and a new one began, which was of a ſhrill ſounding Trumpet, after which came flying in the aire from the North and from the South, two dreadfull flaming Dragons of huge & extended forme: one of them appearing to hover over Caſtle Saint [Page] Angelo, the Popes principall Citadell, and the other over mount Tarpey. In the middle ſpace betweene which was ſeene the reſemblance of a naked man, the priſe for which (it ſhould ſeeme) theſe infernall Combatants came thither to ſtrive for: and ſo with huge out-cries and ghaſtly grones, which were plainly heard, the trumpets ſounding as it were a charge, the two winged Devils made haſte to encounter one another: the Dragon that came from the North, ſtriving to ſelfe upon the man with out-ſtretched wings and Harpenian tallons; when preſently the other Dragon from the South came in as it were either to the naked mans reſcue, or elſe with more furie to devoure him: at laſt, after divers hovering and dreadfull claſhings together with their ſcaly wings, which ſounded a far off like dints of ſwords upon ſteely Corflets, they furiouſly met, and like eager Faulkons, or incenſed Eagles, endevoured to plume one another in their rapinous tallons; the man all the while caſting forth pitifull ſighs and heart breaking grones, as if he had ſeemed to implore aſſiſtance from Heaven; and the teſtified ſpectatours, who ſtood quaking with as much dread as humane frailtie can doe at ſuch unwonted ſpectacles. When after two or three gyres in the aire (like angry Comets) the Dragons ſeemed to all their viewes, juſt over the head of the man, to cloſe together, then could no man imagine the dreadfulneſſe of the combate, Iriſh Grey-hounds with Engliſh Maſtives, Serpents with Eagles, nay, two encountring ſhips at Sea, ſeeming to be but modells of this conflict, ſometimes one Dragon, and ſometimes the other having the better, and extending their ſcaly mouths to devour that Phantome or Apparition of a man that hung in the ayre betwixt them, and ſo joyning together beake to beake, wing to wing, and body to body; two cunning wraſtlers never gave greater demonſtration of skill then theſe two Monſters by their imbraces, ſtriving to overthrow, not to ſupport each other. At laſt, after at leaſt halfe an houres fight in this ſtupendious manner which [Page] ſtroke at the beholders with an extremity of feare and amazement the Dragon that came from the North, in all mens view ſeemed to have the better of the conflict, the other with ſubtile and cunning turnes, as it were, rather to defend himſelfe then offend his enemy, flying up and downe the empty ayre, whileſt the other moſt violently purſued him: But as you have ſeene in the races of horſes, wherein the one at the beginning runs at an eaſie rate, whileſt the other is at his full careere and ſwiftneſſe; yet at the end the horſe that kept a ſober pace at the firſt, when the other is out of breath outſtrips him and gains the poſt, and with it victory: ſo as neer as could be conjectured went the buſineſſe of the combat betweene theſe two Dragons; for the Dragon of the North having by delayes and jugling manner of fight recovered breath, as Rams that retire to come on with the greater acrimony and fierceneſſe, moſt furiouſly returned to aſſault the Dragon of the South, thundering upon his wings, which flagg'd like ſailes when they want wind, and piercing his body with his cruell gripes; the other caſt forth many a lamentable outcry bewailing, as it were, his miſchance, and making ſuch a noyſe as ſouldiers doe that are vanquiſhed, labouring with might and maine to diſingage himſelfe from the gripes of his cruell adverſary, who ſtill laid on freſh load, ſo that the poore Dragon of the South was in a moſt diſtreſſed ſtrait, and ſo ſtriving with all his diminiſhed forces, at laſt he got out of the reaches and imbraces of the Dragon of the North, and then like an ill-bred Hawke, in a cloud of ſulphurous lighning, turned taile and fled, the Victor not offering to purſue him, in an inſtant he was vaniſhed, leaving behinde him ſuch an horrible ſtench as was enough to infect the whole Region; the conquering Dragon in the interim giving forth many joyfull ſhouts from his divelliſh throat, and inſulting triumphantly in his victory, made haſt toward his incorporeall prey, the naked man, who was notwithſtanding viſible, and as it ſeemed, ſenſible of his approaching ruine; for with dolorous clamours he gave forth ſuch [Page] skreekes as would have amazed the hardieſt man living, and did ſo ſtupifie the auditors, that what betweene their feares and the expectation of the novelty, were in an agony and diſtraction; at laſt it was heard plainly to pronounce in the Italian tongue, Roma, Roma, tua doctrina non ſ [...] attuli Catoloci, which is in Engliſh, Rome, thy doctrine is not altogether Catholike, in which certainly that divell againſt his naturall quality ſpoke truth. But to be briefe, this wretched, or leaſt ſeeming wreched man, being now, as it were, in the very jawes of death, the Dragon of the North being even ready to ſwallow him up at a morſell, was heard in the ayre a very loud ſound of d [...]s, neighing of horſes, and clangor of trumpets, when forth of a cloud to the North-weſt appeared an army of aeriall ſouldiers in white garments, with red croſſes in their front before them, and marched with ſwift and furious approach toward the Dragon, ſome of them ſhooting off Muſquets, which were plainly heard, the fire ſmoaking in their pans, and the ſmell of the powder being ſmelt below in the City▪ the Dragon no whit amazed at the multitude of a ailants, flew couragiouſly among the armed ſquadrons, and dealt a very deathfull dole amongſt them, beating downe both horſe and man with his ſcaly and impenetrable wings; ſo that divers of them were ſeene to drop downe, as if they had falne into ſome other region of the ayre, and ſo were no more: but the other ſouldiers couragiouſly charging this cruell Dragon on all ſides, who vomited up flames of fire and ſulphure, and at laſt with a hideous and fearefull skreech, extending its ſcaly wings, and ſo fell downe into the emptie regions of the ayre as the ſlaughtered ſouldiers had done, and were ſeene no more, but left that curſed and divelliſh ſmell behind him, that it ſeemed hell had belched up all his vapours and infernall Lethean fogs, the army of celeſtiall ſouldiers in the interim compaſſing the poore ſhadow of a man about: and so in triumph with Enſignes diſplayed, and Drums beating, departed with all the ſignes of victory and triumph; immediatly the ayre began to [Page] cleare, and the Sunne being juſt ready to ſet, it being then about five of clocke (the dreadfull combat having indured at leaſt two houres) diſplayed his cheerefull countenance, and the Cardinalls and Senators of Rome going towards their palacies in much amaze and affright diſcourſing of the effect of this portent, and ſome of the Inhabitants of good account going up to the top of mount Tarpey under the place where the laſt battell was fought upon the Church-walls and the Church-yard, they found diffuſed a great quantity of blood, which lay there like water on the tops of the graſſe, and this they made evident report of to his unholineſſe, who made at it a mockery, and interpreted it according to his own divelliſh fancie, that it portended the downfall of heretikes, ſuch as his Holineſſe termes all true believers, that deny his heatheniſh Supremacy and Apoſtaticall tenents.

Thus have I ſent you a true and briefe narration of this terrible and prodigious wonder, which you may confidently divulge and report for truth; and ſo with my true reſpects to all our friends, I take my leave and reſt,

Your Servant, Antonio di-Soft.

Ligorne, Ianuary 2. Stilo novo.

FINIS.

[Page]

§

[Page]

[Page]

Fearfull Prodigies IN ITALY, Seene neere the citie OF ROME, In the Aire:

Between the Caſtle Angelo and the VATICAN.

As it was ſent in a Letter by a Merchant of good credit living in Ligorne, to Seignior TORRIANO an Italian here reſident in LONDON, and by him faithfully tranſlated into Engliſh.

Mirabilis es, ô Domine, in judiciis tuis.

Printed at London, for John Dobſon. Febr. 6. 1643.

Information about this book

Title statement

Fearfull prodigies in Italy, seene neere the citie of Rome, in the aire, between the Castle Angelo and the Vatican as it was sent in a letter by a merchant of good credit living in Ligorne to Seignior Torriano, an Italian here resident in London, and by him faithfully translated into English.

Di Sofi, Antonio.

Edition statement

1643

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A60723

ID [STC]

Wing S4418

ID [STC]

ESTC R10787

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

13293309

ID [OCLC]

ocm 13293309

ID [VID]

98866

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A60723)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 98866)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 439:13)

Source

— Fearfull prodigies in Italy, seene neere the citie of Rome, in the aire, between the Castle Angelo and the Vatican as it was sent in a letter by a merchant of good credit living in Ligorne to Seignior Torriano, an Italian here resident in London, and by him faithfully translated into English., Di Sofi, Antonio..

Extent

8 p.

For John Dobson,. Printed at London :: Febr. 6, 1643.. (Translation of an undetermined title.) (Signed at end: Antonio di-Sofi.) (Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.