Q. Why have some commended flattery?  A. Because flattery setteth forth before our eyes what we ought to be, though not what we are.

Q. Wherefore should virtue be painted girded?  A. To show that virtuous men should not be slothful, but diligent and always in action.

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 of digestion cause phlegm to abound in them.

Q. Why doth much watching make the brain feeble?  A. Because it increases choler, which dries and extenuates the body.