Q. Why did the ancients say it was better to fall into the hands of a
raven than a flatterer? A. Because ravens do not eat us till we be dead,
but flatterers devour us alive.

Q. Why have choleric men beards before others? A. Because they are hot,
and their pores large.

Q. How comes it that such as have the hiccups do ease themselves by
holding their breath? A. The breath retained doth heat the interior
parts of the body, and the hiccups proceeds from cold.

Q. How comes it that old men remember well what they have seen and done
in their youth, and forget such things as they see and do in their old
age? A. Things learned in youth take deep root and habitude in a person,
but those learned in age are forgotten because the senses are then
weakened.

Q. What kind of covetousness is best? A. That of time when employed as
it ought to be.

Q. Why is our life compared to a play? A. Because the dishonest do
occupy the place of the honest, and the worst sort the room of the good.

Q. Why do dolphins, when they appear above the water, denote a storm or
tempest approaching? A. Because at the beginning of a tempest there do
arise from the bottom of the sea, certain hot exhalations and vapours
which heat the dolphins, causing them to rise up for cold air.

Q. Why did the Romans call Fabius Maximus the target of the people, and
Marcellus the sword? A. Because the one adapted himself to the service
of the commonwealth, and the other was very eager to revenge the
injuries of his country; and yet they were in the senate joined
together, because the gravity of the one would moderate the courage and
boldness of the other.

Q. Why doth the shining of the moon hurt the head? A. Because it moves
the humours of the brain, and cannot afterwards dissolve them.

Q. If water do not nourish, why do men drink it? A. Because water
causeth the nutriment to spread through the body.

Q. Why is sneezing good? A. Because it purgeth the brain as milk is
purged by the cough.

Q. Why is hot water lighter than cold? A. Because boiling water has less
ventosity and is more light and subtle, the earthly and heavy substance
being separated from it.

Q. How comes marsh and pond water to be bad? A. By reason they are
phlegmatic, and do corrupt in summer; the fineness of water is turned
into vapours, and the earthiness doth remain.

Q. Why are studious and learned men soonest bald? A. It proceeds from a
weakness of the spirits, or because warmth