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  WRITINGS OF ISAAC NEWTON
  by Isaac Newton
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A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Isaac Newton,
compiled for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 41

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00.00. Newton, Isaac - Library
    2. 01.001. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John
    3. 01.002.     Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John
    4. 01.003.     Preface
    5. 01.004.     Contents
    6. 01.005.     Part One
    7. 01.006.     Chapter I
    8. 01.007.     Chapter II
    9. 01.008.     Chapter III
   10. 01.009.     Chapter IV
   11. 01.010.     Chapter V
   12. 01.011.     Chapter VI
   13. 01.012.     Chapter VII
   14. 01.013.     Chapter VIII
   15. 01.014.     Chapter IX
   16. 01.015.     Chapter X
   17. 01.016.     Chapter XI
   18. 01.017.     Chapter XII
   19. 01.018.     Chapter XIII
   20. 01.019.     Chapter XIV
   21. 01.020.     Part II
   22. 01.021.     Chapter I
   23. 01.022.     Chapter II
   24. 01.023.     Chapter III
   25. 01.024.     Advertisement
   26. 01.025       End
   27. 02.001. The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended
   28. 02.002.     The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended
   29. 02.003.     Preface
   30. 02.004.     Index
   31. 02.005.     Advertisement
   32. 02.006.     Introduction
   33. 02.007.     The Chronology...Amended
   34. 02.008.     Chapter I
   35. 02.009.     Chapter II
   36. 02.010.     Chapter III
   37. 02.011.     Chapter IV
   38. 02.012.     Chapter V
   39. 02.013.     Chapter VI
   40. 02.014.     Notes
   41. 02.015.     End

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  CHAPTER 1: 00.00. NEWTON, ISAAC - LIBRARY
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Newton, Isaac - Library Newton, Isaac - Observations upon the Prophecies of
Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John Newton, Isaac - The Chronology of Ancient
Kingdoms Amended


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  CHAPTER 2: 01.001. OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL, AND THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and
the Apocalypse of St. John, by Isaac Newton This eBook is for the use of anyone
anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Observations upon
the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John Author: Isaac Newton
Release Date: October 15, 2005 [EBook #16878] Language: English

Produced by Greg Alethoup, Robert Shimmin, Keith Edkins and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net


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  CHAPTER 3: 01.002.     OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL, AND THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN
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OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL, AND THE APOCALYPSE OF St. JOHN. In
Two PARTS. By Sir ISAAC NEWTON.

LONDON, Printed by J. DARBY and T. BROWNE in Bartholomew-Close. And Sold by J.
ROBERTS in Warwick-lane, J. TONSON in the Strand, W. INNYS and R. MANBY at the
West End of St. Paul’s Church-Yard, J. OSBORN and T. LONGMAN in
Pater-Noster-Row, J. NOON near Mercers Chapel in Cheapside, T. HATCHETT at the
Royal Exchange, S. HARDING in St. Martin’s lane, J. STAGG in Westminster-Hall,
J. PARKER in Pall-mall, and J. BRINDLEY in New Bond-Street.

M.DCC.XXXIII.


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  CHAPTER 4: 01.003.     PREFACE
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To the Right Honourable

P E T E R

Lord K I N G, Baron of Ockham, Lord High Chancellor of Great-Britain. My Lord,

I shall make no Apology for addressing the following Sheets to Your Lordship,
who lived in a long Intercourse of Friendship with the Author; and, like him,
amidst occupations of a different nature, made Religion your voluntary Study;
and in all your Enquiries and Actions, have shewn the same inflexible Adherence
to Truth and Virtue.

I shall always reckon it one of the Advantages of my Relation to Sir Isaac
Newton, that it affords me an opportunity of making this publick acknowledgment
of the unfeigned Respect of, My Lord, Your Lordship’s most obedient, and most
humble Servant, Benj. Smith.


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  CHAPTER 5: 01.004.     CONTENTS
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CONTENTS.

PART I.

Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel.

CHAP. I. Introduction concerning, the Compilers of the Books of the Old
Testament.

CHAP. II. Of the Prophetic Language.

CHAP. III. Of the vision of the Image composed of four Metals.

CHAP. IV. Of the vision of the four Beasts.

CHAP. V. Of the Kingdoms represented by the feet of the Image composed of iron
and clay.

CHAP. VI. Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast.

CHAP. VII. Of the eleventh horn of Daniel’s fourth Beast.

CHAP. VIII. Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniel’s fourth Beast, to
change times and laws.

CHAP. IX. Of the Kingdoms represented in Daniel by the Ram and He-Goat.

CHAP. X. Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.

CHAP. XI. Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of Christ.

CHAP. XII. Of the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth.

CHAP. XIII. Of the King who did according to his will, and magnified himself
above every God, and honoured Mahuzzims, and regarded not the desire of women.

CHAP. XIV. Of the Mahuzzims, honoured by the King who doth according to his
will.

PART II.

Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John.

CHAP. I. Introduction, concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written.

CHAP. II. Of the relation which the Apocalypse of John hath to the Book of the
Law of Moses, and to the worship of God in the Temple.

CHAP. III. Of the relation which the Prophecy of John hath to those of Daniel;
and of the Subject of the Prophecy.


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  CHAPTER 6: 01.005.     PART ONE
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PART I.

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL.


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  CHAPTER 7: 01.006.     CHAPTER I
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CHAP. I.

Introduction concerning the Compilers of the books of the Old Testament. When
Manasses [1] set up a carved image in the house of the Lord, and built altars in
the two courts of the house, to all the host of Heaven, and us’d inchantments
and witchcraft, and familiar spirits, and for his great wickedness was invaded
by the army of Asserhadon King of Assyria, and carried captive to Babylon; the
book of the Law was lost till the eighteenth year of his grandson Josiah. Then
[2] Hilkiah the High Priest, upon repairing the Temple, found it there: and the
King lamented that their fathers had not done after the words of the book, and
commanded that it should be read to the people, and caused the people to renew
the holy covenant with God. This is the book of the Law now extant. When [3]
Shishak came out of Egypt and spoil’d the temple, and brought Judah into
subjection to the monarchy of Egypt, (which was in the fifth year of Rehoboam)
the Jews continued under great troubles for about twenty years; being without
the true God, and without a teaching Priest, and without Law: and in those times
there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great
vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries, and nation was
destroyed of nation, and city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity.
But [4] when Shishak was dead, and Egypt fell into troubles, Judah had quiet ten
years; and in that time Asa built fenced cities in Judah, and got up an army of
580000 men, with which, in the 15th year of his reign, he met and overcame Zerah
the Ethiopian, who had conquered Egypt and Lybia, and Troglodytica, and came out
with an army of 1000000 Lybians and Ethiopians, to recover the countries
conquered by Sesac. And after this victory [5] Asa dethroned his mother for
idolatry, and he renewed the Altar, and brought new vessels of gold and silver
into the Temple; and he and the people entered into a new covenant to seek the
Lord God of their fathers, upon pain of death to those who worshiped other Gods;
and his son Jehosaphat took away the high places, and in the third year of his
reign sent some of his Princes, and of the Priests and Levites, to teach in the
cities of Judah: and they had the book of the Law with them, and went about
throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people. This is that book of
the Law which was afterwards lost in the reign of Manasses, and found again in
the reign of Josiah, and therefore it was written before the third year of
Jehosaphat. The same book of the Law was preserved and handed down to posterity
by the Samaritans, and therefore was received by the ten Tribes before their
captivity. For [6] when the ten Tribes were captivated, a Priest or the
captivity was sent back to Bethel, by order of the King of Assyria, to instruct
the new inhabitants of Samaria, in the manner of the God of the land; and the
Samaritans had the Pentateuch from this Priest, as containing the law or manner
of the God of the land, which he was to teach them. For [7] they persevered in
the religion which he taught them, joining with it the worship of their own
Gods; and by persevering in what they had been taught, they preserved this book
of their Law in the original character of the Hebrews, while the two Tribes,
after their return from Babylon, changed the character to that of the Chaldees,
which they had learned at Babylon. And since the Pentateuch was received as the
book of the Law, both by the two Tribes and by the ten Tribes, it follows that
they received it before they became divided into two Kingdoms. For after the
division, they received not laws from one another, but continued at variance.
Judah could not reclaim Israel from the sin of Jeroboam, and Israel could not
bring Judah to it. The Pentateuch therefore was the book of the Law in the days
of David and Solomon. The affairs of the Tabernacle and Temple were ordered by
David and Solomon, according to the Law of this book; and David in Psalms
78:1-72, admonishing the people to give ear to the Law of God, means the Law of
this book. For in describing how their forefathers kept it not, he quotes many
historical things out of the books of Exodus and Numbers. The race of the Kings
of Edom, before there reigned any King over Israel, is set down in the book of
[8] Genesis; and therefore that book was not written entirely in the form now
extant, before the reign of Saul. The writer set down the race of those Kings
till his own time, and therefore wrote before David conquered Edom. The
Pentateuch is composed of the Law and the history of God’s people together; and
the history hath been collected from several books, such as were the history of
the Creation composed by Moses, Genesis 2:4 the book of the generations of Adam,
Genesis 5:1 and the book of the wars of the Lord, Numbers 21:14. This book of
wars contained what was done at the Red-sea, and in the journeying of Israel
thro’ the Wilderness, and therefore was begun by Moses. And Joshua might carry
it on to the conquest of Canaan. For Joshua wrote some things in the book of the
Law of God, Joshua 24:26 and therefore might write his own wars in the book of
wars, those being the principal wars of God. These were publick books, and
therefore not written without the authority of Moses and Joshua. And Samuel had
leisure in the reign of Saul, to put them into the form of the books of Moses
and Joshua now extant, inserting into the book of Genesis, the race of the Kings
of Edom, until there reigned a King in Israel. The book of the Judges is a
continued history of the Judges down to the death of Sampson, and therefore was
compiled after his death, out of the Acts of the Judges. Several things in this
book are said to be done when there was no King in Israel, Judges 17:6. Judges
18:1. Judges 19:1. Judges 21:25 and therefore this book was written after the
beginning of the reign of Saul. When it was written, the Jebusites dwelt in
Jerusalem, Judges 1:21 and therefore it was written before the eighth year of
David, 2 Samuel 5:8 and 1 Chronicles 11:6. The books of Moses, Joshua, and
Judges, contain one continued history, down from the Creation to the death of
Sampson. Where the Pentateuch ends, the book of Joshua begins; and where the
book of Joshua ends, the book of Judges begins. Therefore all these books have
been composed out of the writings of Moses, Joshua, and other records, by one
and the same hand, after the beginning of the reign of Saul, and before the
eighth year of David. And Samuel was a sacred writer, 1 Samuel 10:25 acquainted
with the history of Moses and the Judges, 1 Samuel 12:8-12 and had leisure in
the reign of Saul, and sufficient authority to compose these books. He was a
Prophet, and judged Israel all the days of his life, and was in the greatest
esteem with the people; and the Law by which he was to judge the people was not
to be published by less authority than his own, the Law-maker being not inferior
to the judge. And the book of Jasher, which is quoted in the book of Joshua,
Joshua 10:13 was in being at the death of Saul, 2 Samuel 1:18. At the dedication
of the Temple of Solomon, when the Ark was brought into the most holy place,
there was nothing in it but the two tables, 1 Kings 8:9 and therefore when the
Philistines took the Ark, they took out of it the book of the Law, and the
golden pot of Manna, and Aaron’s Rod. And this and other losses in the
desolation of Israel, by the conquering Philistines, might give occasion to
Samuel, after some respite from those enemies, to recollect the scattered
writings of Moses and Joshua, and the records of the Patriarchs and Judges, and
compose them in the form now extant. The book of Ruth is a history of things
done in the days of the Judges, and may be looked upon as an addition to the
book of the Judges, written by the same author, and at the same time. For it was
written after the birth of David, Ruth 4:17, Ruth 4:22 and not long after,
because the history of Boaz and Ruth, the great grandfather and great
grandmother of David, and that of their contemporaries, could not well be
remembered above two or three generations. And since this book derives the
genealogy of David from Boaz and Ruth, and omits David’s elder brothers and his
sons; it was written in honour of David, after he was anointed King by Samuel,
and before he had children in Hebron, and by consequence in the reign of Saul.
It proceeds not to the history of David, and therefore seems to have been
written presently after he was anointed. They judge well therefore who ascribe
to Samuel the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

Samuel is also reputed the author of the first book of Samuel, till the time of
his death. The two books of Samuel cite no authors, and therefore seem to be
originals. They begin with his genealogy, birth and education, and might be
written partly in his lifetime by himself or his disciples the Prophets at
Naioth in Ramah, 1 Samuel 19:18-20 and partly after his death by the same
disciples. The books of the Kings cite other authors, as the book of the Acts of
Solomon, the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, and the book of the
Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. The books of the Chronicles cite the book of
Samuel the Seer, the book of Nathan the Prophet, and the book of Gad the Seer,
for the Acts of David; the book of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah
the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the Seer, for the Acts of Solomon; the
book of Shemajah the Prophet, and the book of Iddo the Seer concerning
genealogies, for the Acts of Rehoboam and Abijah; the book of the Kings of Judah
and Israel for the Acts of Asa, Joash, Amaziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah,
Manasseh, and Josiah; the book of Hanani the Seer, for the Acts of Jehosaphat;
and the visions of Isaiah for the Acts of Uzziah and Hezekiah. These books were
therefore collected out of the historical writings of the antient Seers and
Prophets. And because the books of the Kings and Chronicles quote one another,
they were written at one and the same time. And this time was after the return
from the Babylonian captivity, because they bring down the history of Judah, and
the genealogies of the Kings of Judah, and of the High Priests, to that
captivity. The book of Ezra was originally a part of the book of the Chronicles,
and has been divided from it. For it begins with the two last verses of the
books of Chronicles, and the first book of Esdras begins with the two last
chapters thereof. Ezra was therefore the compiler of the books of Kings and
Chronicles, and brought down the history to his own time. He was a ready Scribe
in the Law of God; and for assisting him in this work Nehemias founded a
library, and gathered together the Acts of the Kings and the Prophets, and of
David, and the Epistles of the Kings, concerning the holy gifts, 2Ma 2:13. By
the Acts of David I understand here the two books of Samuel, or at least the
second book. Out of the Acts of the Kings, written from time to time by the
Prophets, he compos’d the books of the Kings of Judah and Israel, the Chronicles
of the Kings of Judah, and the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. And in doing
this he joined those Acts together, in due order of time, copying the very words
of the authors, as is manifest from hence, that the books of the Kings and
Chronicles frequently agree with one another in words for many sentences
together. Where they agree in sense, there they agree in words also. So the
Prophecies of Isaiah, written at several times, he has collected into one body.
And the like he did for those of Jeremiah, and the rest of the Prophets, down to
the days of the second Temple. The book of Jonah is the history of Jonah written
by another hand. The book of Daniel is a collection of papers written at several
times. The six last chapters contain Prophecies written at several times by
Daniel himself: the six first are a collection of historical papers written by
others. The fourth chapter is a decree of Nebuchadnezzar. The first chapter was
written after Daniel’s death: for the author saith, that Daniel continued to the
first year of Cyrus; that is, to his first year over the Persians and Medes, and
third year over Babylon. And, for the same reason, the fifth and sixth chapters
were also written after his death. For they end with these words: So this Daniel
prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Yet
these words might be added by the collector of the papers, whom I take to be
Ezra. The Psalms composed by Moses, David, and others, seem to have been also
collected by Ezra into one volume. I reckon him the collector, because in this
collection I meet with Psalms as late as the Babylonian captivity, but with none
later.

After these things Antiochus Epiphanes spoiled the Temple, commanded the Jews to
forsake the Law upon pain of death, and caused the sacred books to be burnt
wherever they could be found: and in these troubles the book of the Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel was entirely lost. But upon recovering from this
oppression, Judas Maccabæus gathered together all those writings that were to be
met with, 2Ma 2:14. and in reducing them into order, part of the Prophecies of
Isaiah, or some other Prophet, have been added to the end of the Prophecies of
Zechariah; and the book of Ezra has been separated from the book of Chronicles,
and set together in two different orders; in one order in the book of Ezra,
received into the Canon, and in another order in the first book of Esdras.

After the Roman captivity, the Jews for preserving their traditions, put them in
writing in their Talmud, and for preserving their scriptures, agreed upon an
Edition, and pointed it, and counted the letters of every sort in every book:
and by preserving only this Edition, the antienter various lections, except what
can be discovered by means of the Septuagint Version, are now lost; and such
marginal notes, or other corruptions, as by the errors of the transcribers,
before this Edition was made, had crept into the text, are now scarce to be
corrected. The Jews before the Roman captivity, distinguished the sacred books
into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, or holy writings; and read only
the Law and the Prophets in their Synagogues. And Christ and his Apostles laid
the stress of religion upon the Law and the Prophets, Matthew 7:12. Matthew
22:4. Luke 16:16, Luke 16:29, Luke 16:31. Luke 24:44. Acts 24:14. Acts 26:22.
Romans 3:21. By the Hagiographa they meant the historical books called Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, the book of
Job, the Psalms, the books of Solomon, and the Lamentations. The Samaritans read
only the Pentateuch: and when Jehosaphat sent men to teach in the cities, they
had with them only the book of the Law; for the Prophecies now extant were not
then written. And upon the return from the Babylonian captivity, Ezra read only
the book of the Law to the people, from morning to noon on the first day of the
seventh month; and from day to day in the feast of Tabernacles: for he had not
yet collected the writings of the Prophets into the volume now extant; but
instituted the reading of them after the collection was made. By reading the Law
and the Prophets in the Synagogues, those books have been kept freer from
corruption than the Hagiographa. In the infancy of the nation of Israel, when
God had given them a Law, and made a covenant with them to be their God if they
would keep his commandments, he sent Prophets to reclaim them, as often as they
revolted to the worship of other Gods: and upon their returning to him, they
sometimes renewed the covenant which they had broken. These Prophets he
continued to send, till the days of Ezra: but after their Prophecies were read
in the Synagogues, those Prophecies were thought sufficient. For if the people
would not hear Moses and the old Prophets, they would hear no new ones, no not
tho they should rise from the dead. At length when a new truth was to be
preached to the Gentiles, namely, that Jesus was the Christ, God sent new
Prophets and Teachers: but after their writings were also received and read in
the Synagogues of the Christians, Prophecy ceased a second time. We have Moses,
the Prophets, and Apostles, and the words of Christ himself; and if we will not
hear them, we shall be more inexcusable than the Jews. For the Prophets and
Apostles have foretold, that as Israel often revolted and brake the covenant,
and upon repentance renewed it; so there should be a falling away among the
Christians, soon after the days of the Apostles; and that in the latter days God
would destroy the impenitent revolters, and make a new covenant with his people.
And the giving ear to the Prophets is a fundamental character of the true
Church. For God has so ordered the Prophecies, that in the latter days the wise
may understand, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall
understand, Daniel 12:9-10. The authority of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, is
human. The authority of Councils, Synods, Bishops, and Presbyters, is human. The
authority of the Prophets is divine, and comprehends the sum of religion,
reckoning Moses and the Apostles among the Prophets; and if an Angel from Heaven
preach any other gospel, than what they have delivered, let him be accursed.
Their writings contain the covenant between God and his people, with
instructions for keeping this covenant; instances of God’s judgments upon them
that break it: and predictions of things to come. While the people of God keep
the covenant, they continue to be his people: when they break it they cease to
be his people or church, and become the Synagogue of Satan, who say they are
Jews and are not. And no power on earth is authorized to alter this covenant.
The predictions of things to come relate to the state of the Church in all ages:
and amongst the old Prophets, Daniel is most distinct in order of time, and
easiest to be understood: and therefore in those things which relate to the last
times, he must be made the key to the rest.

Notes to Chap. I.

[1] 2 Chronicles 33:5-7.

[2] 2 Chronicles 34:1-33.

[3] 2 Chronicles 12:2-4, 2 Chronicles 12:8-9. & 2 Chronicles 15:3, 2 Chronicles
15:5-6.

[4] 2 Chronicles 14:1, 2 Chronicles 14:6-9, 2 Chronicles 14:12.

[5] 2 Chronicles 15:3, 2 Chronicles 15:12-13, 2 Chronicles 15:16, 2 Chronicles
15:18.

[6] 2 Kings 17:27-28, 2 Kings 17:32-33.

[7] 2 Kings 17:34, 2 Kings 17:41.

[8] Genesis 36:31.


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  CHAPTER 8: 01.007.     CHAPTER II
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CHAP. II. Of the Prophetic Language. For understanding the Prophecies, we are,
in the first place, to acquaint our-selves with the figurative language of the
Prophets. This language is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and
an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic.

Accordingly, the whole world natural consisting of heaven and earth, signifies
the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as
is considered in the Prophecy: and the things in that world signify the
analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify
thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, with the things
thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called Hades or
Hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. Whence ascending towards
heaven, and descending to the earth, are put for rising and falling in power and
honour: rising out of the earth, or waters, and falling into them, for the
rising up to any dignity or dominion, out of the inferior state of the people,
or falling down from the same into that inferior state; descending into the
lower parts of the earth, for descending to a very low and unhappy estate;
speaking with a faint voice out of the dust, for being in a weak and low
condition; moving from one place to another, for translation from one office,
dignity, or dominion, to another; great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven
and earth, for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract or overthrow them; the
creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the
beginning and end of the world, for the rise and ruin of the body politic
signified thereby. In the heavens, the Sun and Moon are, by interpreters of
dreams, put for the persons of Kings and Queens; but in sacred Prophecy, which
regards not single persons, the Sun is put for the whole species and race of
Kings, in the kingdom or kingdoms of the world politic, shining with regal power
and glory; the Moon for the body of the common people, considered as the King’s
wife; the Stars for subordinate Princes and great men, or for Bishops and Rulers
of the people of God, when the Sun is Christ; light for the glory, truth, and
knowledge, wherewith great and good men shine and illuminate others; darkness
for obscurity of condition, and for error, blindness and ignorance; darkning,
smiting, or setting of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom,
or for the desolation thereof, proportional to the darkness; darkning the Sun,
turning the Moon into blood, and falling of the Stars, for the same; new Moons,
for the return of a dispersed people into a body politic or ecclesiastic.

Fire and meteors refer to both heaven and earth, and signify as follows; burning
any thing with fire, is put for the consuming thereof by war; a conflagration of
the earth, or turning a country into a lake of fire, for the consumption of a
kingdom by war; the being in a furnace, for the being in slavery under another
nation; the ascending up of the smoke of any burning thing for ever and ever,
for the continuation of a conquered people under the misery of perpetual
subjection and slavery; the scorching heat of the sun, for vexatious wars,
persecutions and troubles inflicted by the King; riding on the clouds, for
reigning over much people; covering the sun with a cloud, or with smoke, for
oppression of the King by the armies of an enemy; tempestuous winds, or the
motion of clouds, for wars; thunder, or the voice of a cloud, for the voice of a
multitude; a storm of thunder, lightning, hail, and overflowing rain, for a
tempest of war descending from the heavens and clouds politic, on the heads of
their enemies; rain, if not immoderate, and dew, and living water, for the
graces and doctrines of the Spirit; and the defect of rain, for spiritual
barrenness. In the earth, the dry land and congregated waters, as a sea, a
river, a flood, are put for the people of several regions, nations, and
dominions; embittering of waters, for great affliction of the people by war and
persecution; turning things into blood, for the mystical death of bodies
politic, that is, for their dissolution; the overflowing of a sea or river, for
the invasion of the earth politic, by the people of the waters; drying up of
waters, for the conquest of their regions by the earth; fountains of waters for
cities, the permanent heads of rivers politic; mountains and islands, for the
cities of the earth and sea politic, with the territories and dominions
belonging to those cities; dens and rocks of mountains, for the temples of
cities; the hiding of men in those dens and rocks, for the shutting up of Idols
in their temples; houses and ships, for families, assemblies, and towns, in the
earth and sea politic; and a navy of ships of war, for an army of that kingdom
that is signified by the sea.

Animals also and vegetables are put for the people of several regions and
conditions; and particularly, trees, herbs, and land animals, for the people of
the earth politic: flags, reeds, and fishes, for those of the waters politic;
birds and insects, for those of the politic heaven and earth; a forest for a
kingdom; and a wilderness for a desolate and thin people.

If the world politic, considered in prophecy, consists of many kingdoms, they
are represented by as many parts of the world natural; as the noblest by the
celestial frame, and then the Moon and Clouds are put for the common people; the
less noble, by the earth, sea, and rivers, and by the animals or vegetables, or
buildings therein; and then the greater and more powerful animals and taller
trees, are put for Kings, Princes, and Nobles. And because the whole kingdom is
the body politic of the King, therefore the Sun, or a Tree, or a Beast, or Bird,
or a Man, whereby the King is represented, is put in a large signification for
the whole kingdom; and several animals, as a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard, a Goat,
according to their qualities, are put for several kingdoms and bodies politic;
and sacrificing of beasts, for slaughtering and conquering of kingdoms; and
friendship between beasts, for peace between kingdoms. Yet sometimes vegetables
and animals are, by certain epithets or circumstances, extended to other
significations; as a Tree, when called the tree of life or of knowledge; and a
Beast, when called the old serpent, or worshipped. When a Beast or Man is put
for a kingdom, his parts and qualities are put for the analogous parts and
qualities of the kingdom; as the head of a Beast, for the great men who precede
and govern; the tail for the inferior people, who follow and are governed; the
heads, if more than one, for the number of capital parts, or dynasties, or
dominions in the kingdom, whether collateral or successive, with respect to the
civil government; the horns on any head, for the number of kingdoms in that
head, with respect to military power; seeing for understanding, and the eyes for
men of understanding and policy, and in matters of religion for [Greek:
Episkopoi], Bishops; speaking, for making laws; the mouth, for a law-giver,
whether civil or sacred; the loudness of the voice, for might and power; the
faintness thereof, for weakness; eating and drinking, for acquiring what is
signified by the things eaten and drank; the hairs of a beast, or man, and the
feathers of a bird, for people; the wings, for the number of kingdoms
represented by the beast; the arm of a man, for his power, or for any people
wherein his strength and power consists; his feet, for the lowest of the people,
or for the latter end of the kingdom; the feet, nails, and teeth of beasts of
prey, for armies and squadrons of armies; the bones, for strength, and for
fortified places; the flesh, for riches and possessions; and the days of their
acting, for years; and when a tree is put for a kingdom, its branches, leaves
and fruit, signify as do the wings, feathers, and food of a bird or beast. When
a man is taken in a mystical sense, his qualities are often signified by his
actions, and by the circumstances of things about him. So a Ruler is signified
by his riding on a beast; a Warrior and Conqueror, by his having a sword and
bow; a potent man, by his gigantic stature; a Judge, by weights and measures; a
sentence of absolution, or condemnation, by a white or a black stone; a new
dignity, by a new name; moral or civil qualifications, by garments; honour and
glory, by splendid apparel; royal dignity, by purple or scarlet, or by a crown;
righteousness, by white and clean robes; wickedness, by spotted and filthy
garments; affliction, mourning, and humiliation, by clothing in sackcloth;
dishonour, shame, and want of good works, by nakedness; error and misery, by
drinking a cup of his or her wine that causeth it; propagating any religion for
gain, by exercising traffick and merchandize with that people whose religion it
is; worshipping or serving the false Gods of any nation, by committing adultery
with their princes, or by worshipping them; a Council of a kingdom, by its
image; idolatry, by blasphemy; overthrow in war, by a wound of man or beast; a
durable plague of war, by a sore and pain; the affliction or persecution which a
people suffers in labouring to bring forth a new kingdom, by the pain of a woman
in labour to bring forth a man-child; the dissolution of a body politic or
ecclesiastic, by the death of a man or beast; and the revival of a dissolved
dominion, by the resurrection of the dead.


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  CHAPTER 9: 01.008.     CHAPTER III
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CHAP. III. Of the vision of the Image composed of four Metals. The Prophecies of
Daniel are all of them related to one another, as if they were but several parts
of one general Prophecy, given at several times. The first is the easiest to be
understood, and every following Prophecy adds something new to the former. The
first was given in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the second
year of his reign; but the King forgetting his dream, it was given again to
Daniel in a dream, and by him revealed to the King. And thereby, Daniel
presently became famous for wisdom, and revealing of secrets: insomuch that
Ezekiel his contemporary, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, spake thus
of him to the King of Tyre: Behold, saith he, thou art wiser than Daniel, there
is no secret that they can hide from thee, Ezekiel 28:3. And the same Ezekiel,
in another place, joins Daniel with Noah and Job, as most high in the favour of
God, Ezekiel 14:14, Ezekiel 14:16, Ezekiel 14:18, Ezekiel 14:20. And in the last
year of Belshazzar, the Queen-mother said of him to the King: Behold there is a
man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of
thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was
found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy
father made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers:
forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting
of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found
in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, Daniel 5:11-12. Daniel was
in the greatest credit amongst the Jews, till the reign of the Roman Emperor
Hadrian: and to reject his Prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion. For
this religion is founded upon his Prophecy concerning the Messiah.

Now in this vision of the Image composed of four Metals, the foundation of all
Daniel’s Prophecies is laid. It represents a body of four great nations, which
should reign over the earth successively, viz. the people of Babylonia, the
Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. And by a stone cut out without hands,
which fell upon the feet of the Image, and brake all the four Metals to pieces,
and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth; it further represents
that a new kingdom should arise, after the four, and conquer all those nations,
and grow very great, and last to the end of all ages. The head of the Image was
of gold, and signifies the nations of Babylonia, who reigned first, as Daniel
himself interprets. Thou art this head of gold, saith he to Nebuchadnezzar.
These nations reigned till Cyrus conquered Babylon, and within a few months
after that conquest revolted to the Persians, and set them up above the Medes.
The breast and arms of the Image were of silver, and represent the Persians who
reigned next. The belly and thighs of the Image were of brass, and represent the
Greeks, who, under the dominion of Alexander the great, conquered the Persians,
and reigned next after them. The legs were of iron, and represent the Romans who
reigned next after the Greeks, and began to conquer them in the eighth year of
Antiochus Epiphanes. For in that year they conquered Perseus King of Macedon,
the fundamental kingdom of the Greeks; and from thence forward grew into a
mighty empire, and reigned with great power till the days of Theodosius the
great. Then by the incursion of many northern nations, they brake into many
smaller kingdoms, which are represented by the feet and toes of the Image,
composed part of iron, and part of clay. For then, saith Daniel, [1] the kingdom
shall be divided, and there shall be in it of the strength of iron, but they
shall not cleave one to another. And in the days of these Kings, saith Daniel,
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the
kingdom shall not be left to other people; but it shall break in pieces, and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou
sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and that it
brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold.

Notes to Chap. III.

[1] Daniel 2:41, &c.


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  CHAPTER 10: 01.009.     CHAPTER IV
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CHAP. IV. Of the vision of the four Beasts. In the next vision, which is of the
four Beasts, the Prophecy of the four Empires is repeated, with several new
additions; such as are the two wings of the Lion, the three ribs in the mouth of
the Bear, the four wings and four heads of the Leopard, the eleven horns of the
fourth Beast, and the son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven, to the Antient
of Days sitting in judgment. The first Beast was like a lion, and had eagle’s
wings, to denote the kingdoms of Babylonia and Media, which overthrew the
Assyrian Empire, and divided it between them, and thereby became considerable,
and grew into great Empires. In the former Prophecy, the Empire of Babylonia was
represented by the head of gold; in this both Empires are represented together
by the two wings of the lion. And I beheld, saith [1] Daniel, till the wings
thereof were pluckt, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon
the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it; that is, till it was
humbled and subdued, and made to know its human state. The second Beast was like
a bear, and represents the Empire which reigned next after the Babylonians, that
is, the Empire of the Persians. Thy kingdom is divided, or broken, saith Daniel
to the last King of Babylon, and given to the Medes and Persians, Daniel 5:28.
This Beast raised itself up on one side; the Persians being under the Medes at
the fall of Babylon, but presently rising up above them. [2] And it had three
ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it, to signify the kingdoms of
Sardes, Babylon, and Egypt, which were conquered by it, but did not belong to
its proper body. And it devoured much flesh, the riches of those three kingdoms.
The third Beast was the kingdom which succeeded the Persian; and this was the
empire of the Greeks, Daniel 8:6-7, Daniel 8:20-21. It was like a Leopard, to
signify its fierceness; and had four heads and four wings, to signify that it
should become divided into four kingdoms, Daniel 8:22. for it continued in a
monarchical form during the reign of Alexander the great, and his brother
Aridæus, and young sons Alexander and Hercules; and then brake into four
kingdoms, by the governors of provinces putting crowns on their own heads, and
by mutual consent reigning over their provinces. Cassander reigned over Macedon,
Greece, and Epirus; Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia; Ptolemy over Egypt,
Lybia, Arabia, Coelosyria, and Palestine; and Seleucus over Syria. The fourth
Beast was the empire which succeeded that of the Greeks, and this was the Roman.
This beast was exceeding dreadful and terrible, and had great iron teeth, and
devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and such
was the Roman empire. It was larger, stronger, and more formidable and lasting
than any of the former. It conquered the kingdom of Macedon, with Illyricum and
Epirus, in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes, Anno Nabonass.. 580; and
inherited that of Pergamus, Anno Nabonass. 615; and conquered that of Syria,
Anno Nabonass. 679, and that of Egypt, Anno Nabonass. 718. And by these and
other conquests it became greater and more terrible than any of the three former
Beasts. This Empire continued in its greatness till the reign of Theodosius the
great; and then brake into ten kingdoms, represented by the ten horns of this
Beast; and continued in a broken form, till the Antient of days sat in a throne
like fiery flame, and the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and the
Beast was slain and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flames; and one
like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Antient of
days [3], and received dominion over all nations, and judgment was given to the
saints of the most high, and the time came that they possessed the kingdom.

I beheld, saith [4] Daniel, till the Beast was slain, and his body destroyed,
and given to the burning flames. As concerning the rest of the Beasts, they had
their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a
time. And therefore all the four Beasts are still alive, tho the dominion of the
three first be taken away. The nations of Chaldea and Assyria are still the
first Beast. Those of Media and Persia are still the second Beast. Those of
Macedon, Greece and Thrace, Asia minor, Syria and Egypt, are still the third.
And those of Europe, on this side Greece, are still the fourth. Seeing therefore
the body of the third Beast is confined to the nations on this side the river
Euphrates, and the body of the fourth Beast is confined to the nations on this
side Greece; we are to look for all the four heads of the third Beast, among the
nations on this side of the river Euphrates; and for all the eleven horns of the
fourth Beast, among the nations on this side of Greece. And therefore, at the
breaking of the Greek empire into four kingdoms of the Greeks, we include no
part of the Chaldeans, Medes and Persians in those kingdoms, because they
belonged to the bodies of the two first Beasts. Nor do we reckon the Greek
empire seated at Constantinople, among the horns of the fourth Beast, because it
belonged to the body of the third.

Notes to Chap. IV.

[1] Daniel 7:4.

[2] Daniel 7:5.

[3] Daniel 7:13.

[4] Daniel 7:11-12.


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  CHAPTER 11: 01.010.     CHAPTER V
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CHAP. V. Of the Kingdoms represented by the feet of the Image composed of iron
and clay.

Dacia was a large country bounded on the south by the Danube, on the east by the
Euxine sea, on the north by the river Neister and the mountain Crapac, and on
the west by the river Tibesis, or Teys, which runs southward into the Danube a
little above Belgrade. It comprehended the countries now called Transylvania,
Moldavia, and Wallachia, and the eastern part of the upper Hungary. Its antient
inhabitants were called Getæ by the Greeks, Daci by the Latins, and Goths by
themselves. Alexander the great attacked them, and Trajan conquered them, and
reduced their country into a Province of the Roman Empire: and thereby the
propagation of the Gospel among them was much promoted. They were composed of
several Gothic nations, called Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Gepides,
Lombards, Burgundians, Alans, &c. who all agreed in their manners, and spake the
same language, as Procopius represents. While they lived under the Romans, the
Goths or Ostrogoths were seated in the eastern parts of Dacia, the Vandals in
the western part upon the river Teys, where the rivers Maresh and Keresh run
into it. The Visigoths were between them. The Gepides, according to Jornandes,
were upon the Vistula. The Burgundians, a Vandalic nation, were between the
Vistula and the southern fountain of the Boristhenes, at some distance from the
mountain Crapac northwards, where Ptolemy places them, by the names of
Phrugundiones and Burgiones.[1] The Alans, another Gothic nation, were between
the northern fountain of the Boristhenes and the mouth of the river Tanais,
where Ptolemy placeth the mountain Alanus, and western side of the Palus Mæotis.

These nations continued under the dominion of the Romans till the second year of
the Emperor Philip, and then for want of their military pay began to revolt; the
Ostrogoths setting up a kingdom, which, under their Kings Ostrogotha, Cniva,
Araric, Geperic, and Hermanaric, increased till the year of Christ 376; and then
by an incursion of the Huns from beyond the Tanais, and the death of Hermanaric,
brake into several smaller kingdoms. Hunnimund, the son of Hermanaric, became
King over the Ostrogoths; Fridigern over the Visigoths; Winithar, or Vinithar,
over a part of the Goths called Gruthungi by Ammian, Gothunni by Claudian, and
Sarmatæ and Scythians by others: Athanaric reign’d over another part of the
Goths in Dacia, called Thervingi; Box over the Antes in Sarmatia; and the
Gepides had also their King. The Vandals fled over the Danube from Geberic in
the latter end of the reign of Constantine the great, and had seats granted them
in Pannonia by that Emperor, where they lived quietly forty years, viz. till the
year 377, when several Gothic nations flying from the Hunns came over the
Danube, and had seats granted them in Mæsia and Thrace by the Greek Emperor
Valens. But the next year they revolted, called in some Goths, Alans and Hunns,
from beyond the Danube, and routed the Roman army, slew the Emperor Valens, and
spread themselves into Greece and Pannonia as far as the Alps. In the years 379
and 380 they were checkt by the arms of the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius, and
made a submissive peace; the Visigoths and Thervingi returned to their seats in
Mæsia and Thrace, the Hunns retired over the Danube, and the Alans and Gruthingi
obtained seats in Pannonia.

About the year 373, or 374, the Burgundians rose from their seats upon the
Vistula, with an army of eighty thousand men to invade Gallia; and being
opposed, seated themselves upon the northern side of the Rhine over against
Mentz. In the year 358, a body of the Salian Franks, with their King, coming
from the river Sala, were received into the Empire by the Emperor Julian, and
seated in Gallia between Brabant and the Rhine: and their King Mellobaudes was
made Comes domesticorum, by the Emperor Gratian. Richomer, another noble Salian
Frank, was made Comes domesticorum, and Magister utriusque Militiæ, by
Theodosius; and A.C. 384, was Consul with Clearchus. He was a great favourite of
Theodosius, and accompanied him in his wars against Eugenius, but died in the
expedition, and left a son called Theudomir, who afterwards became King of the
Salian Franks in Brabant. In the time of this war some Franks from beyond the
Rhine invaded Gallia under the conduct of Genobald, Marcomir and Suno, but were
repulsed by Stilico; and Marcomir being slain, was succeeded in Germany by his
son Pharamond.

While these nations remained quiet within the Empire, subject to the Romans,
many others continued so beyond the Danube till the death of the Emperor
Theodosius, and then rose up in arms. For Paulus Diaconus in his Historia
Miscell. lib. xiv. speaking of the times next after the death of this Emperor,
tells us: Eodem tempore erant Gothi & aliæ gentes maximæ trans Danubium
habitantes: ex quibus rationabiliores quatuor sunt, Gothi scilicet, Huisogothi,
Gepides & Vandali; & nomen tantum & nihil aliud mutantes. Isti sub Arcadia &
Honorio Danubium transeuntes, locati sunt in terra Romanorum: & Gepides quidem,
ex quibus postea divisi sunt Longobardi & Avares, villas, quæ sunt circa
Singidonum & Sirmium, habitavere: and Procopius in the beginning of his Historia
Vandalica writes to the same purpose. Hitherto the Western Empire continued
entire, but now brake into many kingdoms.

Theodosius died A.C. 395; and then the Visigoths, under the conduct of Alaric
the successor of Fridigern, rose from their seats in Thrace and wasted Macedon,
Thessaly, Achaia, Peloponnesus, and Epirus, with fire and sword for five years
together; when turning westward, they invaded Dalmatia, Illyricum and Pannonia;
and from thence went into Italy A.C. 402; and the next year were so beaten at
Pollentia and Verona, by Stilico the commander of the forces of the Western
Empire, that Claudian calls the remainder of the forces of Alaric, tanta ex
gente reliquias breves, and Prudentius, Gentem deletam. Thereupon Alaric made
peace with the Emperor, being so far humbled, that Orosius saith, he did, pro
pace optima & quibuscunque sedibus suppliciter & simpliciter orare. This peace
was ratified by mutual hostages; Ætius was sent hostage to Alaric; and Alaric
continued a free Prince in the seats now granted to him. When Alaric took up
arms, the nations beyond the Danube began to be in motion; and the next winter,
between A.C. 395 and 396, a great body of Hunns, Alans, Ostrogoths, Gepides, and
other northern nations, came over the frozen Danube, being invited by Rufinus:
when their brethren, who had obtained seats within the Empire, took up arms
also. Jerome calls this great multitude, Hunns, Alans, Vandals, Goths,
Sarmatians, Quades, and Marcomans; and saith, that they invaded all places
between Constantinople and the Julian Alps, wasting Scythia, Thrace, Macedon,
Dardania, Dacia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Dalmatia, and all Pannonia. The
Suevians also invaded Rhætia: for when Alaric ravaged Pannonia, the Romans were
defending Rhætia; which gave Alaric an opportunity of invading Italy, as
Claudian thus mentions.

Non nisi perfidiâ nacti penetrabile tempus, Irrupere Getæ, nostras dum Rhætia
vires Occupat, atque alio desudant Marte cohortes. And when Alaric went from
those parts into Italy, some other barbarous nations invaded Noricum and
Vindelicia, as the same Poet Claudian thus writes:

Jam foedera gentes Exuerant, Latiique auditâ clade feroces Vendelicos saltus &
Norica rura tenebant. This was in the years 402 and 403. And among these nations
I reckon the Suevians, Quades, and Marcomans; for they were all in arms at this
time. The Quades and Marcomans were Suevian nations; and they and the Suevians
came originally from Bohemia, and the river Suevus or Sprake in Lusatia; and
were now united under one common King called Ermeric, who soon after led them
into Gallia. The Vandals and Alans might also about this time extend themselves
into Noricum. Uldin also with a great body of Hunns passed the Danube about the
time of Chrysostom’s banishment, that is, A.C. 404, and wasted Thrace and Mæsia.
Radagaisus, King of the Gruthunni and succesor of Winithar, inviting over more
barbarians from beyond the Danube, invaded Italy with an army of above two
hundred thousand Goths; and within a year or two, A.C. 405 or 406., was overcome
by Stilico, and perished with his army. In this war Stilico was assisted with a
great body of Hunns and Ostrogoths, under the conduct of Uldin and Sarus, who
were hired by the Emperor Honorius. In all this confusion it was necessary for
the Lombards in Pannonia to arm themselves in their own defence, and assert
their liberty, the Romans being no longer able to protect them. And now Stilico
purposing to make himself Emperor, procured a military prefecture for Alaric,
and sent him into the East in the service of Honorius the Western Emperor,
committing some Roman troops to his conduct to strengthen his army of Goths, and
promising to follow soon after with his own army. His pretence was to recover
some regions of Illyricum, which the Eastern Emperor was accused to detain
injuriously from the Western; but his secret design was to make himself Emperor,
by the assistance of the Vandals and their allies: for he himself was a Vandal.
For facilitating this design, he invited a great body of the barbarous nations
to invade the Western Empire, while he and Alaric invaded the Eastern. And these
nations under their several Kings, the Vandals under Godegisilus, the Alans in
two bodies, the one under Goar, the other under Resplendial, and the Suevians,
Quades, and Marcomans, under Ermeric, marched thro’ Rhætia to the side of the
Rhine, leaving their seats in Pannonia to the Hunns and Ostrogoths, and joined
the Burgundians under Gundicar, and ruffled the Franks in their further march.
On the last of December A.C. 406, they passed the Rhine at Ments, and spread
themselves into Germania prima and the adjacent regions; and amongst other
actions the Vandals took Triers. Then they advanced into Belgium, and began to
waste that country. Whereupon the Salian Franks in Brabant took up arms, and
under the conduct of Theudomir, the son of Ricimer, or Richomer, abovementioned,
made so stout a resistance, that they slew almost twenty thousand of the
Vandals, with their King Godegesilus, in battel; the rest escaping only by a
party of Resplendial’s Alans which came timely to their assistance.

Then the British soldiers, alarm’d by the rumour of these things, revolted, and
set up Tyrants there; first Marcus, whom they slew presently; then Gratian, whom
they slew within four months; and lastly Constantine, under whom they invaded
Gallia A.C. 408, being favoured by Goar and Gundicar. And Constantine having
possessed a good part of Gallia, created his son Constans Cæsar, and sent him
into Spain to order his affairs there, A.C. 409. In the mean time Resplendial,
seeing the aforesaid disaster of the Vandals, and that Goar was gone over to the
Romans, led his army from the Rhine; and, together with the Suevians and residue
of the Vandals, went towards Spain; the Franks in the mean time prosecuting
their victory so far as to retake Triers, which after they had plundered they
left to the Romans. The Barbarians were at first stopt by the Pyrenean
mountains, which made them spread themselves into Aquitain: but the next year
they had the passage betrayed by some soldiers of Constans; and entring Spain 4
Kal. Octob. A.C. 409, they conquered every one what he could; and at length,
A.C. 411, divided their conquests by lot; the Vandals obtained Boetica, and part
of Gallæcia; the Suevians the rest of Gallæcia; and the Alans Lusitania and the
Carthaginian Province: the Emperor for the sake of peace confirming them in
those seats by grant A.C. 413. The Roman Franks abovementioned, having made
Theudomir their King, began strait after their conquest of the Vandals to invade
their neighbours also. The first they set upon were the Gauls of Brabant[2]: but
meeting with notable resistance, they desired their alliance: and so those Gauls
fell off from the Romans, and made an intimate league with the Franks to be as
one people, marrying with one another, and conforming to one another’s manners,
till they became one without distinction. Thus by the access of these Gauls, and
of the foreign Franks also, who afterwards came over the Rhine, the Salian
kingdom soon grew very great and powerful.

Stilico’s expedition against the Greek Emperor was stopt by the order of
Honorius; and then Alaric came out of Epirus into Noricum, and requested a sum
of money for his service. The Senate were inclined to deny him, but by Stilico’s
mediation granted it. But after some time Stilico being accused of a traiterous
conspiracy with Alaric, and slain 10 Kal. Sept. A.C. 408; Alaric was thereby
disappointed of his money, and reputed an enemy to the Empire; he then broke
strait into Italy with the army he brought out of Epirus, and sent to his
brother Adolphus to follow him with what forces he had in Pannonia, which were
not great, but yet not to be despised. Thereupon Honorius fearing to be shut up
in Rome, retired to Ravenna in October A.C. 408. And from that time Ravenna
continued to be the seat of the Western Emperors. In those days the Hunns also
invaded Pannonia; and seizing the deserted seats of the Vandals, Alans, and
Goths, founded a new kingdom there. Alaric advancing to Rome besieged it, and 9
Kal. Sept. A.C. 410 took it: and afterwards attempting to pass into Africa, was
shipwrackt. After which Honorius made peace with him, and got up an army to send
against the Tyrant Constantine. At the same time Gerontius, one of Constantine’s
captains, revolted from him, and set up Maximus Emperor in Spain. Whereupon
Constantine sent Edobec, another of his captains, to draw to his assistance, the
Barbarians under Goar and Gundicar in Gallia, and supplies of Franks and Alemans
from beyond the Rhine; and committed the custody of Vienne in Gallia Narbonensis
to his son Constans. Gerontius advancing, first slew Constans at Vienne, and
then began to besiege Constantine at Arles. But Honorius at the same time
sending Constantius with an army on the same errand, Gerontius fled, and
Constantius continued the siege, strengthned by the access of the greatest part
of the soldiers of Gerontius. After four months siege, Edobec having procured
succours, the Barbarian Kings at Ments, Goar and Gundicar, constitute Jovinus
Emperor, and together with him set forward to relieve Arles. At their approach
Constantius retired. They pursued, and he beat them by surprize; but not
prosecuting his victory, the Barbarians soon recovered themselves; yet not so as
to hinder the fall of the tyrants Constantine, Jovinus and Maximus. Britain
could not be recovered to the Empire, but remained ever after a distinct
kingdom. The next year, A.C. 412, the Visigoths being beaten in Italy, had
Aquitain granted them to retire into: and they invaded it with much violence,
causing the Alans and Burgundians to retreat, who were then depopulating of it.
At the same time the Burgundians were brought to peace; and the Emperor granted
them for inheritance a region upon the Rhine which they had invaded: and the
same, I presume, he did with the Alans. But the Franks not long after retaking
and burning Triers, Castinus, A.C. 415, was sent against them with an army, who
routed them and slew Theudomir their King This was the second taking of Triers
by the Franks. It was therefore taken four times, once by the Vandals and thrice
by the Franks. Theudomir was succeeded by Pharamond, the Prince or King of the
Salian Franks in Germany. From thence he brought new forces, reigned over the
whole, and had seats granted to his people within the Empire near the Rhine. And
now the Barbarians were all quieted, and settled in several kingdoms within the
Empire, not only by conquest, but also by the grants of the Emperor Honorius.
For Rutilius in his Itinerary, written in Autumn, Anno Urbis 1169, that is,
according to Varro’s computation then in use, A.C. 416, thus laments the wasted
fields:

Illa quidem longis nimium deformia bellis; And then adds, Jam tempus laceris
post longa incendia fundis Vel pastorales ædificare casas. And a little after,
Æternum tibi Rhenus aret. And Orosius in the end of his history, which was
finished A.C. 417, represents now a general pacification of the barbarous
nations by the words comprimere, coangustare, addicere gentes immanissimas;
terming them imperio addictas, because they had obtained seats in the Empire by
league and compact; and coangustatas, because they did no longer invade all
regions at pleasure, but by the same compact remained quiet in the seats then
granted them. And these are the kingdoms, of which the feet of the Image were
henceforward composed, and which are represented by iron and clay intermixed,
which did not stick one to another, and were of different strength.

Notes to Chap. V.

[1] Procop. l. 1. de Bello Vandalico.

[2] Galli Arborici: whence the region was named Arboricbant, and by contraction
Brabant.


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  CHAPTER 12: 01.011.     CHAPTER VI
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CHAP. VI. Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast.

Now by the wars above described the Western Empire of the Romans, about the time
that Rome was besieged and taken by the Goths, became broken into the following
ten kingdoms.

1. The kingdom of the Vandals and Alans in Spain and Africa. 2. The kingdom of
the Suevians in Spain. 3. The kingdom of the Visigoths. 4. The kingdom of the
Alans in Gallia. 5. The kingdom of the Burgundians. 6. The kingdom of the
Franks. 7. The kingdom of the Britains. 8. The kingdom of the Hunns. 9. The
kingdom of the Lombards. 10. The kingdom of Ravenna.

Seven of these kingdoms are thus mentioned by Sigonius. 1Honorio regnante, in
Pannoniam 2Hunni, in Hispaniam 3Vandali, 4Alani, 5Suevi & 6Gothi, in Galliam
4Alani 7Burgundiones & 6Gothi, certis sedibus permissis, accepti. Add the
Franks, Britains, and Lombards, and you have the ten: for these arose about the
same time with the seven. But let us view them severally.

1. The Kings of the Vandals were, A.C. 407 Godegesilus, 407 Gunderic, 426
Geiseric, 477 Hunneric, 484 Gundemund, 496 Thrasamund, 513 Geiseric, 530
Gelimer. Godegesilus led them into Gallia A.C. 406, Gunderic into Spain A.C.
409, Geiseric into Africa A.C. 427; and Gelimer was conquered by Belisarius A.C.
533. Their kingdom lasted in Gallia, Spain and Africa together 126 years; and in
Africa they were very potent. The Alans had only two Kings of their own in
Spain, Resplendial, and Ataces, Utacus or Othacar. Under Resplendial they went
into France A.C. 407, and into Spain A.C. 409. Ataces was slain with almost all
his army by Vallia King of the Visigoths A.C. 419. And then the remainder of
these Alans subjected themselves to Gunderic King of the Vandals in Boetica, and
went afterwards with them into Africa, as I learn out of Procopius. Whence the
Kings of the Vandals styled themselves Kings of the Vandals and Alans; as may be
seen in the Edict of Hunneric recited by Victor in his Vandalic persecution. In
conjunction with the Chatti, these Alans gave the name of Cathalaunia, or
Catth-Alania, to the Province which is still so called. These Alans had also
Gepides among them; and therefore the Gepides came into Pannonia before the
Alans left it. There they became subject to the Hunns till the death of Attila
A.C. 454, and at length were conquered by the Ostrogoths.

2. The Kings of the Suevians were, A.C. 407 Ermeric, 458 Rechila, 448
Rechiarius, 458 Maldra, 460 Frumarius, 463 Regismund. And after some other Kings
who are unknown, reigned A.C. 558 Theudomir, 568 Miro, 582 Euboricus, and 583
Andeca. This kingdom, after it had been once seated in Spain, remained always in
Gallæcia and Lusitania. Ermeric after the fall of the Alan kingdom, enlarged it
into all Gallæcia, forcing the Vandals to retire into Boetica and the
Carthaginian Province. This kingdom lasted 177 years according to Isidorus, and
then was subdued by Leovigildus King of the Visigoths, and made a Province of
his kingdom A.C. 585.

3. The Kings of the Visigoths were, A.C. 400 Alaric, 410 Athaulphus, 415
Sergeric and Vallia, 419 Theoderic, 451 Thorismund, 452 Theoderic, 465 Euric,
482 Alaric, 505 Gensalaric, 526 Amalaric, 531 Theudius, 548 Theudisclus, &c. I
date this kingdom from the time that Alaric left Thrace and Greece to invade the
Western Empire. In the end of the reign of Athaulphus the Goths were humbled by
the Romans, and attempted to pass out of France into Spain. Sergeric reigned but
a few days. In the beginning of Vallia’s reign they assaulted the Romans afresh,
but were again repulsed, and then made peace on this condition, that they should
on the behalf of the Empire invade the Barbarian kingdoms in Spain: and this
they did, together with the Romans, in the years 417 and 418, overthrowing the
Alans and part of the Vandals. Then they received Aquitain of the Emperor by a
full donation, leaving their conquests in Spain to the Emperor: and thereby the
seats of the conquered Alans came into the hands of the Romans. In the year 455,
Theoderic, assisted by the Burgundians, invaded Spain, which was then almost all
subject to the Suevians, and took a part of it from them. A.C. 506, the Goths
were driven out of Gallia by the Franks. A.C. 585, they conquered the Suevian
kingdom, and became Lords of all Spain. A.C. 713, the Saracens invaded them, but
in time they recovered their dominions, and have reigned in Spain ever since.

4. The Kings of the Alans in Gallia were Goar, Sambida, Eocharic, Sangibanus,
Beurgus, &c. Under Goar they invaded Gallia A.C. 407, and had seats given them
near the Rhine, A.C. 412. Under Sambida, whom Bucher makes the successor, if not
the son of Goar, they had the territories of Valence given them by Ætius the
Emperor’s General, A.C. 440. Under Eocharic they conquered a region of the
rebelling Galli Arborici, given them also by Ætius. This region was from them
named Alenconium, quasi Alanorum conventus. Under Sangibanus they were invaded,
and their regal city Orleans was besieged by Attila King of the Hunns, with a
vast army of 500000 men. Ætius and the Barbarian Kings of Gallia came to raise
the siege, and beat the Hunns in a very memorable battle, A.C. 451, in campis
Catalaunicis, so called from these Alans mixt with the Chatti. The region is now
called Campania or Champagne. In that battle were slain on both sides 162000
men. A year or two after, Attila returned with an immense army to conquer this
kingdom, but was again beaten by them and the Visigoths together in a battle of
three days continuance, with a slaughter almost as great as the former. Under
Beurgus, or Biorgor, they infested Gallia round about, till the reign of Maximus
the Emperor; and then they passed the Alps in winter, and came into Liguria, but
were there beaten, and Beurgus slain, by Ricimer commander of the Emperor’s
forces, A.C. 464. Afterwards they were again beaten, by the joint force of
Odoacer King of Italy and Childeric King of the Franks, about the year 480, and
again by Theudobert King of the Austrian Franks about the year 511.

5. The Kings of the Burgundians were, A.C. 407 Gundicar, 436 Gundioc, 467
Bilimer, 473 Gundobaldus with his brothers, 510 Sigismund, 517 Godomarus. Under
Gundicar they invaded Gallia A.C. 407, and had seats given them by the Emperor
near the Rhine in Gallia Belgica, A.C. 412. They had Saxons among them, and were
now so potent, that Orosius A.C. 417 wrote of them: ’Burgundionum esse
prævalidam manum, Galliæ hodieque testes sunt, in quibus præsumpta possessione
consistunt. About the year 435 they received great overthrows by Ætius, and soon
after by the Hunns: but five years after had Savoy granted them to be shared
with the inhabitants; and from that time became again a potent kingdom, being
bounded by the river Rhodanus, but afterwards extending much further into the
heart of Gallia. Gundobald conquered the regions about the rivers Araris and
Rhodanus, with the territories of Marseilles; and invading Italy in the time of
the Emperor Glycerius, conquered all his brethren. Godomarus made Orleans his
royal seat: whence the kingdom was called Regnum Aurelianorum. He was conquered
by Clotharius and Childebert, Kings of the Franks, A.C. 526. From thenceforward
this kingdom was sometimes united to the kingdom of the Franks, and sometimes
divided from it, till the reign of Charles the great, who made his son
Carolottus King of Burgundy. From that time, for about 300 years together, it
enjoyed its proper Kings; and was then broken into the Dukedom of Burgundy,
County of Burgundy, and County of Savoy; and afterwards those were broken into
other lesser Counties.

6. The Kings of the Franks were, A.C. 407 Theudomir, 417 Pharamond, 428 Clodio,
448 Merovæus, 456 Childeric, 482 Clodovæus, &c. Windeline and Bucher, two of the
most diligent searchers into the originals of this kingdom, make it begin the
same year with the Barbarian invasions of Gallia, that is, A.C. 407. Of the
first Kings there is in Labbe’s Bibliotheca M.S. this record.

Historica quædam excerpta ex veteri stemmate genealogico Regum Franciæ.

Genobaldus, Marcomerus, Suno, Theodemeris. Isti duces vel reguli extiterunt à
principio gentis Francorum diversis temporibus. Sed incertum relinquunt
historici quali sibi procreations lineâ successerunt.

Pharamundus: sub hoc rege suo primo Franci legibus se subdunt, quas primores
eorum tulerunt Wisogastus, Atrogastus, Salegastus.

Chlochilo. Iste, transito Rheno, Romanos in Carbonaria sylva devicit, Camaracum
cepit & obtinuit, annis 20 regnavit. Sub hoc rege Franci usque Summam progressi
sunt.

Merovechus. Sub hoc rege Franci Trevirim destruunt, Metim succendunt, usque
Aurelianum perveniunt.

Now for Genobaldus, Marcomer and Suno, they were captains of the Transrhenane
Franks in the reign of Theodosius, and concern us not. We are to begin with
Theudomir the first King of the rebelling Salii, called Didio by Ivo
Carnotensis, and Thiedo and Theudemerus by Rhenanus. His face is extant in a
coin of gold found with this inscription, THEUDEMIR REX, published by Petavius,
and still or lately extant, as Windeline testifies: which shews that he was a
King, and that in Gallia; seeing that rude Germany understood not then the
coining of money, nor used either Latin words or letters. He was the son of
Ricimer, or Richomer, the favourite of the Emperor Theodosius; and so being a
Roman Frank, and of the Salian royal blood, they therefore upon the rebellion
made him King. The whole time of his reign you have stated in Excerptis Gregorii
Turonensis è Fredigario, cap. 5, 6, 7, 8. where the making him King, the tyranny
of Jovinus, the slaughter of the associates of Jovinus, the second taking of
Triers by the Franks, and their war with Castinus, in which this King was slain,
are as a series of successive things thus set down in order. Extinctis Ducibus
in Francis, denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe qua prius fuerant. Eodem
tempore Jovinus ornatus regios assumpsit. Constantinus fugam versus Italiam
dirigit; missis a Jovino Principe percussoribus super Mentio flumine, capite
truncatur. Multi nobilium jussu Jovini apud Avernis capti, & a ducibus Honorii
crudeliter interempti sunt. Trevirorum civitas, factione unius ex senatoribus
nomine Lucii, à Francis captà & incensa est.--Castinus Domesticorum Comes
expeditionem accipit contra Francos, &c. Then returning to speak of Theudomir,
he adds: Franci electum à se regem, sicut prius fuerat, crinitum inquirentes
diligenter ex genere Priami, Frigi & Francionis, super se crearunt nomine
Theudemerum filium Richemeris, qui in hoc prælio quod supra memini, à Romanis
interfectus est; that is, in the battle with Castinus’s army. Of his death
Gregory Turonensis makes this further mention: In consularibus legimus
Theodemerem regem Francorum filium Ricimeris quondam, & Ascilam matrem ejus,
gladio interfectos.

Upon this victory of the Romans, the Franks and rebelling Gauls, who in the time
of Theudomir were at war with one another, united to strengthen themselves, as
Ordericus Vitalis[1] thus mentions. Cum Galli prius contra Romanos rebellâssent,
Franci iis sociati sunt, & pariter juncti, Ferramundum Sunonis ducis filium,
sibi regem præfecerunt. Prosper sets down the time; Anno 25 Honorii, Pharamundus
regnat in Francia. This, Bucher well observes, refers to the end of the year
416, or the beginning of the next year, dating the years of Honorius from the
death of Valentinian; and argues well, that at this time Pharamond was not only
King by the constitution of the Franks, but crowned also by the consent of
Honorius, and had a part of Gallia assigned him by covenant. And this might be
the cause that Roman writers reckoned him the first King: which some not
understanding, have reputed him the founder of this kingdom by an army of the
Transrhenane Franks. He might come with such an army, but he succeeded Theudomir
by right of blood and consent of the people. For the above cited passage of
Fredigarius, Extinctis Ducibus, in Francis denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe
quâ prius fuerant, implies that the kingdom continued to this new elected family
during the reign of more Kings than one. If you date the years of Honorius from
the death of his father, the reign of Pharamond might begin two years later than
is assigned by Bucher. The Salique laws made in his reign, which are yet extant,
shew by their name that it was the kingdom of the Salii over which he reigned;
and, by the pecuniary mulcts in them, that the place where he reigned abounded
much with money, and consequently was within the Empire; rude Germany knowing
not the use of money, till they mixed with the Romans. In the Preface also to
the Salique laws, written and prefixed to them soon after the conversion of the
Franks to the Christian religion, that is, in the end of the reign of Merovæus,
or soon after, the original of this kingdom is thus described: Hæc enim gens,
quæ fortis dum esset & robore valida, Romanorum jugum durissimum de suis
cervicibus excussit pugnando, &c. This kingdom therefore was erected, not by
invasion but by rebellion, as was described above. Prosper in registering their
Kings in order, tells us: Pharamundus regnat in Francia; Clodio regnat in
Francia; Merovæus regnat in Francia: and who can imagine but that in all these
places he meant one and the same Francia? And yet ’tis certain that the Francia
of Merovæus was in Gallia.

Yet the father of Pharamond, being king of a body of Franks in Germany in the
reign of the Emperor Theodosius, as above, Pharamond might reign over the same
Franks in Germany before he succeeded Theudomir in the kingdom of the Salians
within the Empire, and even before Theudomir began his reign; suppose in the
first year of Honorius, or when those Franks being repulsed by Stilico, lost
their Kings Marcomir and Suno, one of which was the father of Pharamond: and the
Roman Franks, after the death of Theudomir, might invite Pharamond with his
people from beyond the Rhine. But we are not to regard the reign of Pharamond in
Germany: we are to date this kingdom from its rise within the Empire, and to
look upon it as strengthened by the access of other Franks coming from beyond
the Rhine, whether in the reign of this King or in that of his successor Clodio.
For in the last year of Pharamond’s reign, Ætius took from him a part of his
possession in Gallia: but his successor Clodio, whom Fredigarius represents as
the son of Theudomir, and some call Clogio, Cloio, and Claudius, inviting from
beyond the Rhine a great body of Franks, recovered all, and carried on their
conquests as far as the river Soame. Then those Franks dividing conquests with
him, erected certain new kingdoms at Cologn and Cambray, and some other cities:
all which were afterwards conquered by Clodovæus, who also drove the Goths out
of Gallia, and fix’d his seat at Paris, where it has continued ever since. And
this was the original of the present kingdom of France.

7. The Kings of Britain were, A.C. 407 or 408, Marcus, Gratian, and Constantine
successively; A.C. 425 Vortigern, 466 Aurelius Ambrosius, 498 Uther Pendraco,
508 Arthur, 542 Constantinus, 545 Aurelius Cunanus, 578 Vortiporeus, 581 Malgo,
586 Careticus, 613 Cadwan, 635 Cadwalin, 676 Cadwallader. The three first were
Roman Tyrants, who revolted from the Empire. Orosius, Prosper and Zosimus
connect their revolt with the irruptions of the Barbarians into Gallia, as
consequent thereunto. Prosper, with whom Zosimus agrees, puts it in the year
which began the day after that irruption. The just time I thus collect: Marcus
reigned not many days, Gratian four months, and Constantine three years. He was
slain the year after the taking of Rome, that is A.C. 411, 14 Kal. Octob. Whence
the revolt was in Spring A.C. 408. Sozomen joins Constantine’s expedition into
Gallia with Arcadius’s death, or the times a little after; and Arcadius died
A.C. 408 May the 1st. Now tho the reign of these Tyrants was but short, yet they
gave a beginning to the kingdom of Britain, and so may be reckoned the three
first Kings, especially since the posterity of Constantine, viz. his sons
Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendraco, and his grandson Arthur, reigned
afterwards. For from the time of the revolt of these Tyrants Britain continued a
distict kingdom absolved from subjection to the Empire, the Emperor not being
able to spare soldiers to be sent thither to receive and keep the Island, and
therefore neglecting it; as we learn by unquestionable records. For Prosper
tells us; A.C. 410, Variane Cos. Hac tempestate præ valetudine Romanorum, vires
funditùs attenuatæ Britanniæ. And Sigebert, conjoining this with the siege of
Rome, saith: Britannorum vires attenuatæ, & substrahunt se à Romanorum
dominatione. And Zosimus lib. 6. The Transrhenane Barbarians invading all
places, reduced the inhabitants of the island of Britain, and also certain
Celtic nations to that pass, that they fell off from the Roman Empire; and being
no longer obedient to the Roman laws, [Greek: kat’ heauton biateuein], they
lived in separate bodies after their own pleasure. The Britons therefore taking
up arms, and hazarding themselves for their own safety, freed their cities from
the imminent Barbarians. In like manner all Brabant and some other Provinces of
the Gauls imitating the Britons, freed themselves also, ejecting the Roman
Presidents, and forming themselves into a sort of commonwealth according to
their own pleasure. This rebellion of Britain and the Celtic nations happened
when Constantine usurped the kingdom. So also Procopius, lib. 1. Vandal.
speaking of the same Constantine, saith: Constantine being overcome in battle,
was slain with his children: [Greek: Bretannian men toi Rômaioi anasôsasthai
ouketi echon; all’ ousa hypo tyrannous ap’ autou emene.] Yet the Romans could
not recover Britain any more, but from that time it remained under Tyrants. And
Beda, l. 1. c. 11. Fracta est Roma à Gothis anno 1164 suæ conditionis; ex quo
tempore Romani in Britannia regnare cessaverunt. And Ethelwaldus: A tempore Romæ
à Gothis expugnatæ, cessavit imperium Romanorum à Britannia insula, & ab aliis;
quas sub jugo servitutis tenebant, multis terris. And Theodoret, serm. 9. de
curand. Græc. affect. about the year 424, reckons the Britons among the nations
which were not then in subjection to the Roman Empire. Thus Sigonius: ad annum
411, Imperium Romanorum post excessum Constantini in Britannia nullum fuit.

Between the death of Constantine and the reign of Vortigern was an interregnum
of about 14 years, in which the Britons had wars with the Picts and Scots, and
twice obtained the assistance of a Roman Legion, who drove out the enemy, but
told them positively at their departure that they would come no more. Of
Vortigern’s beginning to reign there is this record in an old Chronicle in
Nennius, quoted by Camden and others: Guortigernus tenuit imperium in Britannia,
Theodosio & Valentiniano Coss. [viz. A.C. 425.] & in quarto anno regni sui
Saxones ad Britanniam venerunt, Felice & Tauro Coss. [viz. A.C. 428.] This
coming of the Saxons, Sigebert refers to the 4th year of Valentinian, which
falls in with the year 428 assigned by this Chronicle: and two years after, the
Saxons together with the Picts were beaten by the Britons. Afterwards in the
reign of Martian the Emperor, that is, between the years 450 and 456, the Saxons
under Hengist were called in by the Britons, but six years after revolted from
them, made war upon them with various success, and by degrees succeeded them.
Yet the Britons continued a flourishing kingdom till the reign of Careticus; and
the war between the two nations continued till the pontificate of Sergius A.C.
688.[2]

8. The Kings of the Hunns were, A.C. 406 Octar and Rugila, 433 Bleda and Attila.
Octar and Rugila were the brothers of Munzuc King of the Hunns in Gothia beyond
the Danube; and Bleda and Attila were his sons, and Munzuc was the son of
Balamir. The two first, as Jornandes tells us, were Kings of the Hunns, but not
of them all; and had the two last for their successors. I date the reign of the
Hunns in Pannonia from the time that the Vandals and Alans relinquished Pannonia
to them, A.C. 407. Sigonius from the time that the Visigoths relinquished
Pannonia A. C. 408. Constat, saith he, quod Gothis ex Illyrico profectis, Hunni
successerunt, atque imprimis Pannoniam tenuerunt. Neque enim Honorius viribus ad
resistendum in tantis difficultatibus destitutus, prorsus eos prohibere potuit,
sed meliore consilio, animo ad pacem converso, foedus cum eis, datis acceptisque
obsidibus fecit; ex quibus qui dati sunt, Ætius, qui etiam Alarico tributus
fuerat, præcipue memoratur. How Ætius was hostage to the Goths and Hunns is
related by Frigeridus, who when he had mentioned that Theodosius Emperor of the
East had sent grievous commands to John, who after the death of Honorius had
usurped the crown of the Western Empire, he subjoins: Iis permotus Johannes,
Ætium id tempus curam palatii gerentem cum ingenti auri pondere ad Chunnos
transmisit, notos sibi obsidiatûs sui tempore & familiari amicitiâ
devinctos--And a little after: Ætius tribus annis Alarici obses, dehinc
Chunnorum, postea Carpilionis gener ex Comite domesticorum & Joannis curopalatæ.
Now Bucher shews that Ætius was hostage to Alaric till the year 410, when Alaric
died, and to the Hunns between the years 411 and 415, and son-in-law to Carpilio
about the year 417 or 418, and Curopalates to John about the end of the year
423. Whence ’tis probable that he became hostage to the Hunns about the year 412
or 413, when Honorius made leagues with almost all the barbarous nations, and
granted them seats: but I had rather say with Sigonius, that Ætius became
hostage to Alaric A.C. 403. It is further manifest out of Prosper, that the
Hunns were in quiet possession of Pannonia in the year 432. For in the first
book of Eusebius’s Chronicle Prosper writes: Anno decimo post obitum Honorii,
cum ad Chunnorum gentem cui tunc Rugila præerat, post prælium cum Bonifacio se
Ætius contulisset, impetrato auxilio ad Romanorum solum regreditur. And in the
second book: Ætio & Valerio Coss. Ætius depositâ potestate profugus ad Hunnos in
Pannonia pervenit, quorum amicitiâ auxilioque usus, pacem principum interpellatæ
potestatis obtinuit. Hereby it appears that at this time Rugila, or as Maximus
calls him, Rechilla, reigned over the Hunns in Pannonia; and that Pannonia was
not now so much as accounted within the soil of the Empire, being formerly
granted away to the Hunns; and that these were the very same body of Hunns with
which Ætius had, in the time of his being an hostage, contracted friendship: by
virtue of which, as he sollicited them before to the aid of John the Tyrant A.C.
424, so now he procured their intercession for himself with the Emperor. Octar
died A.C. 430; for Socrates tells us, that about that time the Burgundians
having been newly vext by the Hunns, upon intelligence of Octar’s death, seeing
them without a leader, set upon them suddenly with so much vigour, that 3000
Burgundians slew 10000 Hunns. Of Rugila’s being now King in Pannonia you have
heard already. He died A.C. 433, and was succeeded by Bleda, as Prosper and
Maximus inform us. This Bleda with his brother Attila were before this time
Kings of the Hunns beyond the Danube, their father Munzuc’s kingdom being
divided between them; and now they united the kingdom Pannonia to their own.
Whence Paulus Diaconus saith, they did regnum intra Pannoniam Daciamque gerere.
In the year 441, they began to invade the Empire afresh, adding to the Pannonian
forces new and great armies from Scythia. But this war was presently composed,
and then Attila, seeing Bleda inclined to peace, slew him, A.C. 444, inherited
his dominions, and invaded the Empire again. At length, after various great wars
with the Romans, Attila perished A.C. 454; and his sons quarrelling about his
dominions, gave occasion to the Gepides, Ostrogoths and other nations who were
their subjects, to rebel and make war upon them. The same year the Ostrogoths
had seats granted them in Pannonia by the Emperors Marcian and Valentinian; and
with the Romans ejected the Hunns out of Pannonia, soon after the death of
Attila, as all historians agree. This ejection was in the reign of Avitus, as is
mentioned in the Chronicum Boiorum, and in Sidonius, Carm. 7 in Avitum, which
speaks thus of that Emperor.

Cujus solum amissas post sæcula multa Pannonias revocavit iter, jam credere
promptum est. Quid faciet bellis. The Poet means, that by the coming of Avitus
the Hunns yielded more easily to the Goths. This was written by Sidonius in the
beginning of the reign of Avitus: and his reign began in the end of the year
455, and lasted not one full year.

Jornandes tells us: Duodecimo anno regni Valiæ, quando & Hunni post pene
quinquaginta annos invasa Pannonia, à Romanis & Gothis expulsi sunt. And
Marcellinus: Hierio & Ardaburio Coss. Pannoniæ, quæ per quinquaginta annos ab
Hunnis retinebantur, à Romanis receptæ sunt: whence it should seem that the
Hunns invaded and held Pannonia from the year 378 or 379 to the year 427, and
then were driven out of it. But this is a plain mistake: for it is certain that
the Emperor Theodosius left the Empire entire; and we have shewed out of
Prosper, that the Hunns were in quiet possession of Pannonia in the year 432.
The Visigoths in those days had nothing to do with Pannonia, and the Ostrogoths
continued subject to the Hunns till the death of Attila, A.C. 454; and Valia
King of the Visigoths did not reign twelve years. He began his reign in the end
of the year 415, reigned three years, and was slain A.C. 419, as Idacius,
Isidorus, and the Spanish manuscript Chronicles seen by Grotius testify. And
Olympiodorus, who carries his history only to the year 425, sets down therein
the death of Valia King of the Visigoths, and conjoins it with that of
Constantius which happened A.C. 420. Wherefore the Valia of Jornandes, who
reigned at the least twelve years, is some other King. And I suspect that this
name hath been put by mistake for Valamir King of the Ostrogoths: for the action
recorded was of the Romans and Ostrogoths driving the Hunns out of Pannonia
after the death of Attila; and it is not likely that the historian would refer
the history of the Ostrogoths to the years of the Visigothic Kings. This action
happened in the end of the year 455, which I take to be the twelfth year of
Valamir in Pannonia, and which was almost fifty years after the year 406, in
which the Hunns succeeded the Vandals and Alans in Pannonia. Upon the ceasing of
the line of Hunnimund the son of Hermaneric, the Ostrogoths lived without Kings
of their own nation about forty years together, being subject to the Hunns. And
when Alaric began to make war upon the Romans, which was in the year 444, he
made Valamir, with his brothers Theodomir and Videmir the grandsons of Vinethar,
captains or kings of these Ostrogoths under him. In the twelfth year of
Valamir’s reign dated from thence, the Hunns were driven out of Pannonia.

Yet the Hunns were not so ejected, but that they had further contests with the
Romans, till the head of Denfix the son of Attila, was carried to
Constantinople, A.C. 469, in the Consulship of Zeno and Marcian, as Marcellinus
relates. Nor were they yet totally ejected the Empire: for besides their
reliques in Pannonia, Sigonius tells us, that when the Emperors Marcian and
Valentinian granted Pannonia to the Goths, which was in the year 454, they
granted part of Illyricum to some of the Hunns and Sarmatians. And in the year
526, when the Lombards removing into Pannonia made war there with the Gepides,
the Avares, a part of the Hunns, who had taken the name of Avares from one of
their Kings, assisted the Lombards in that war; and the Lombards afterwards,
when they went into Italy, left their seats in Pannonia to the Avares in
recompence of their friendship. From that time the Hunns grew again very
powerful; their Kings, whom they called Chagan, troubling the Empire much in the
reigns of the Emperors Mauritius, Phocas, and Heraclius: and this is the
original of the present kingdom of Hungary, which from these Avares and other
Hunns mixed together, took the name of Hun-Avaria, and by contraction Hungary.

9. The Lombards, before they came over the Danube, were commanded by two
captains, Ibor and Ayon: after whose death they had Kings, Agilmund, Lamisso,
Lechu, Hildehoc, Gudehoc, Classo, Tato, Wacho, Walter, Audoin, Alboin, Cleophis,
&c. Agilmund was the son of Ayon, who became their King, according to Prosper,
in the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius A.C. 389, reigned thirty three
years, according to Paulus Warnefridus, and was slain in battle by the
Bulgarians. Prosper places his death in the Consulship of Marinianus and
Asclepiodorus, A.C. 413. Lamisso routed the Bulgarians, and reigned three years,
and Lechu almost forty. Gudehoc was contemporary to Odoacer King of the Heruli
in Italy, and led his people from Pannonia into Rugia, a country on the north
side of Noricum next beyond the Danube; from whence Odoacer then carried his
people into Italy. Tato overthrew the kingdom of the Heruli beyond the Danube.
Wacho conquered the Suevians, a kingdom then bounded on the east by Bavaria, on
the west by France, and on the south by the Burgundians. Audoin returned into
Pannonia A.C. 526, and there overcame the Gepides. Alboin A.C. 551 overthrew the
kingdom of the Gepides, and slew their King Chunnimund: A.C. 563 he assisted the
Greek Emperor against Totila King of the Ostrogoths in Italy; and A.C. 568 led
his people out of Pannonia into Lombardy, where they reigned till the year 774.

According to Paulus Diaconus, the Lombards with many other Gothic nations came
into the Empire from beyond the Danube in the reign of Arcadius and Honorius,
that is, between the years 395 and 408. But they might come in a little earlier:
for we are told that the Lombards, under their captains Ibor and Ayon, beat the
Vandals in battle; and Prosper placeth this victory in the Consulship of
Ausonius and Olybrius, that is, A.C. 379. Before this war the Vandals had
remained quiet forty years in the seats granted them in Pannonia by Constantine
the great. And therefore if these were the same Vandals, this war must have been
in Pannonia; and might be occasioned by the coming of the Lombards over the
Danube into Pannonia, a year or two before the battle; and so have put an end to
that quiet which had lasted forty years. After Gratian and Theodosius had
quieted the Barbarians, they might either retire over the Danube, or continue
quiet under the Romans till the death of Theodosius; and then either invade the
Empire anew, or throw off all subjection to it. By their wars, first with the
Vandals, and then with the Bulgarians, a Scythian nation so called from the
river Volga whence they came; it appears that even in those days they were a
kingdom not contemptible.

10. These nine kingdoms being rent away, we are next to consider the residue of
the Western Empire. While this Empire continued entire, it was the Beast itself:
but the residue thereof is only a part of it. Now if this part be considered as
a horn, the reign of this horn may be dated from the translation of the imperial
seat from Rome to Ravenna, which was in October A.C. 408. For then the Emperor
Honorius, fearing that Alaric would besiege him in Rome, if he staid there,
retired to Millain, and thence to Ravenna: and the ensuing siege and sacking of
Rome confirmed his residence there, so that he and his successors ever after
made it their home. Accordingly Macchiavel in his Florentine history writes,
that Valentinian having left Rome, translated the seat of the Empire to Ravenna.

Rhætia belonged to the Western Emperors, so long as that Empire stood; and then
it descended, with Italy and the Roman Senate, to Odoacer King of the Heruli in
Italy, and after him to Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths and his successors, by
the grant of the Greek Emperors. Upon the death of Valentinian the second, the
Alemans and Suevians invaded Rhætia A.C. 455. But I do not find they erected any
settled kingdom there: for in the year 457, while they were yet depopulating
Rhætia, they were attacked and beaten by Burto Master of the horse to the
Emperor Majoranus; and I hear nothing more of their invading Rhætia. Clodovæus
King of France, in or about the year 496, conquered a kingdom of the Alemans,
and slew their last King Ermeric. But this kingdom was seated in Germany, and
only bordered upon Rhætia: for its people fled from Clodovæus into the
neighbouring kingdom of the Ostrogoths under Theoderic, who received them as
friends, and wrote a friendly letter to Clodovæus in their behalf: and by this
means they became inhabitants of Rhætia, as subjects under the dominion of the
Ostrogoths. When the Greek Emperor conquered the Ostrogoths, he succeeded them
in the kingdom of Ravenna, not only by right of conquest but also by right of
inheritance, the Roman Senate still going along with this kingdom. Therefore we
may reckon that this kingdom continued in the Exarchate of Ravenna and Senate of
Rome: for the remainder of the Western Empire went along with the Senate of
Rome, by reason of the right which this Senate still retained, and at length
exerted, of chusing a new Western Emperor.

I have now enumerated the ten kingdoms, into which the Western Empire became
divided at its first breaking, that is, at the time of Rome’s being besieged and
taken by the Goths. Some of these kingdoms at length fell, and new ones arose:
but whatever was their number afterwards, they are still called the Ten Kings
from their first number.

Notes to Chap. VI.

[1] Apud Bucherum, l. 14. c. 9. n. 8.

[2] Rolevinc’s Antiqua Saxon. l. 1. c. 6.


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  CHAPTER 13: 01.012.     CHAPTER VII
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CHAP. VII. Of the eleventh horn of Daniel’s fourth Beast.

[1]Now Daniel, considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another
horn, before whom there were three of the first horns pluckt up by the roots;
and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking
great things,--and [2] his look was more stout than his fellows,--and the same
horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them: and one who stood by,
and made Daniel know the interpretation of these things, told him, that [3] the
ten horns were ten kings that should arise, and another should arise after them,
and be diverse from the first, and he should subdue three kings, [4] and speak
great words against the most High, and wear out the saints, and think to change
times and laws: and that they should be given into his hands until a time and
times and half a time. Kings are put for kingdoms, as above; and therefore the
little horn is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth Beast, and rooted
up three of his first horns; and therefore we are to look for it among the
nations of the Latin Empire, after the rise of the ten horns. But it was a
kingdom of a different kind from the other ten kingdoms, having a life or soul
peculiar to itself, with eyes and a mouth. By its eyes it was a Seer; and by its
mouth speaking great things and changing times and laws, it was a Prophet as
well as a King. And such a Seer, a Prophet and a King, is the Church of Rome. A
Seer, [Greek: Episkopos], is a Bishop in the literal sense of the word; and this
Church claims the universal Bishoprick. With his mouth he gives laws to kings
and nations as an Oracle; and pretends to Infallibility, and that his dictates
are binding to the whole world; which is to be a Prophet in the highest degree.
In the eighth century, by rooting up and subduing the Exarchate of Ravenna, the
kingdom of the Lombards, and the Senate and Dukedom of Rome, he acquired Peter’s
Patrimony out of their dominions; and thereby rose up as a temporal Prince or
King, or horn of the fourth Beast. In a small book printed at Paris A.C. 1689,
entitled, An historical dissertation upon some coins of Charles the great,
Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, and their successors stamped at Rome, it is recorded,
that in the days of Pope Leo X, there was remaining in the Vatican, and till
those days exposed to public view, an inscription in honour of Pipin the father
of Charles the great, in these words: Pipinum pium, primum fuisse qui
amplificandæ Ecclesiæ Romanæ viam aperuerit, Exarchatu Ravennate, & plurimis
aliis oblatis; "That Pipin the pious was the first who opened a way to the
grandeur of the Church of Rome, conferring upon her the Exarchate of Ravenna and
many other oblations." In and before the reign of the Emperors Gratian and
Theodosius, the Bishop of Rome lived splendidly; but this was by the oblations
of the Roman Ladies, as Ammianus describes. After those reigns Italy was invaded
by foreign nations, and did not get rid of her troubles before the fall of the
kingdom of Lombardy. It was certainly by the victory of the see of Rome over the
Greek Emperor, the King of Lombardy, and the Senate of Rome, that she acquired
Peter’s Patrimony, and rose up to her greatness. The donation of Constantine the
Great is a fiction, and so is the donation of the Alpes Cottiæ to the Pope by
Aripert King of the Lombards: for the Alpes Cottiæ were a part of the Exarchate,
and in the days of Aripert belonged to the Greek Emperor. The invocation of the
dead, and veneration of their images, being gradually introduced in the 4th,
5th, 6th and 7th centuries, the Greek Emperor Philippicus declared against the
latter, A.C. 711 or 712. And [5] the Emperor Leo Isaurus, to put a stop to it,
called a meeting of Counsellors and Bishops in his Palace, A.C. 726; and by
their advice put out an Edict against that worship, and wrote to Pope Gregory
II. that a general Council might be called. But the Pope thereupon called a
Council at Rome, confirmed the worship of Images, excommunicated the Greek
Emperor, absolved the people from their allegiance, and forbad them to pay
tribute, or otherwise be obedient to him. Then the people of Rome, Campania,
Ravenna and Pentapolis, with the cities under them, revolted and laid violent
hands upon their magistrates, killing the Exarch Paul at Ravenna, and laying
aside Peter Duke of Rome who was become blind: and when Exhileratus Duke of
Campania incited the people against the Pope, the Romans invaded Campania, and
slew him with his son Hadrian. Then a new Exarch, Eutychius, coming to Naples,
sent some secretly to take away the lives of the Pope and the Nobles of Rome:
but the plot being discovered, the Romans revolted absolutely from the Greek
Emperor, and took an oath to preserve the life of the Pope, to defend his state,
and be obedient to his authority in all things. Thus Rome with its Duchy,
including part of Tuscany and part of Campania, revolted in the year 726, and
became a free state under the government of the Senate of this city. The
authority of the Senate in civil affairs was henceforward absolute, the
authority of the Pope extending hitherto no farther than to the affairs of the
Church only. At that time [6] the Lombards also being zealous for the worship of
images, and pretending to favour the cause of the Pope, invaded the cities of
the Exarchate: and at length, viz. A.C. 752, took Ravenna, and put an end to the
Exarchate. And this was the first of the three kingdoms which fell before the
little horn. In the year 751 [7] Pope Zechary deposed Childeric, a slothful and
useless King of France, and the last of the race of Merovæus; and absolving his
subjects from their oath of allegiance, gave the kingdom to Pipin the major of
the Palace; and thereby made a new and potent friend. His successor [8] Pope
Stephen III, knowing better how to deal with the Greek Emperor than with the
Lombards, went the next year to the King of the Lombards, to persuade him to
return the Exarchate to the Emperor. But this not succeeding, he went into
France, and persuaded Pipin to take the Exarchate and Pentapolis from the
Lombards, and give it to St. Peter. Accordingly Pipin A.C. 754 came with an army
into Italy, and made Aistulphus King of the Lombards promise the surrender: but
the next year Aistulphus, on the contrary, to revenge himself on the Pope,
besieged the city of Rome. Whereupon the Pope sent letters to Pipin, wherein he
told him that if he came not speedily against the Lombards, pro data sibi
potentia, alienandum fore à regno Dei & vita æterna, he should be
excommunicated. Pipin therefore, fearing a revolt of his subjects, and being
indebted to the Church of Rome, came speedily with an army into Italy, raised
the siege, besieged the Lombards in Pavia, and forced them to surrender the
Exarchate and region of Pentapolis to the Pope for a perpetual possession. Thus
the Pope became Lord of Ravenna, and the Exarchate, some few cities excepted;
and the keys were sent to Rome, and laid upon the confession of St. Peter, that
is, upon his tomb at the high Altar, in signum veri perpetuique dominii, sed
pietate Regis gratuita, as the inscription of a coin of Pipin hath it. This was
in the year of Christ 755. And henceforward the Popes being temporal Princes,
left off in their Epistles and Bulls to note the years of the Greek Emperors, as
they had hitherto done.

After this [9] the Lombards invading the Pope’s countries, Pope Adrian sent to
Charles the great, the son and successor of Pipin, to come to his assistance.
Accordingly Charles entered Italy with an army, invaded the Lombards, overthrew
their kingdom, became master of their countries, and restored to the Pope, not
only what they had taken from him, but also the rest of the Exarchate which they
had promised Pipin to surrender to him, but had hitherto detained; and also gave
him some cities of the Lombards, and was in return himself made Patricius by the
Romans, and had the authority of confirming the elections of the Popes conferred
upon him. These things were done in the years 773 and 774. This kingdom of the
Lombards was the second kingdom which fell before the little horn. But Rome,
which was to be the seat of his kingdom, was not yet his own. In the year 796,
[10] Leo III being made Pope, notified his election to Charles the great by his
Legates, sending to him for a present, the golden keys of the Confession of
Peter, and the Banner of the city of Rome: the first as an acknowledgment of the
Pope’s holding the cities of the Exarchate and Lombardy by the grant of Charles;
the other as a signification that Charles should come and subdue the Senate and
people of Rome, as he had done the Exarchate and the kingdom of the Lombards.
For the Pope at the same time desired Charles to send some of his Princes to
Rome, who might subject the Roman people to him, and bind them by oath in fide &
subjectione, in fealty and subjection, as his words are recited by Sigonius. An
anonymous Poet, publish’d by Boeclerus at Strasburg, expresseth it thus:

Admonuitque piis precibus, qui mittere vellet Ex propriis aliquos primoribus, ac
sibi plebem Subdere Romanam, servandaque foedera cogens Hanc fidei sacramentis
promittere magnis.

Hence arose a misunderstanding between the Pope and the city: and the Romans
about two or three years after, by assistance of some of the Clergy, raised such
tumults against him, as gave occasion to a new state of things in all the West.
For two of the Clergy accused him of crimes, and the Romans with an armed force,
seized him, stript him of his sacerdotal habit, and imprisoned him in a
monastery. But by assistance of his friends he made his escape, and fled into
Germany to Charles the great, to whom he complained of the Romans for acting
against him out of a design to throw off all authority of the Church, and to
recover their antient freedom. In his absence his accusers with their forces
ravaged the possessions of the Church, and sent the accusations to Charles; who
before the end of the year sent the Pope back to Rome with a large retinue. The
Nobles and Bishops of France who accompanied him, examined the chief of his
accusers at Rome, and sent them into France in custody. This was in the year
799. The next year Charles himself went to Rome, and upon a day appointed
presided in a Council of Italian and French Bishops to hear both parties. But
when the Pope’s adversaries expected to be heard, the Council declared [11] that
he who was the supreme judge of all men, was above being judged by any other
than himself: whereupon he made a solemn declaration of his innocence before all
the people, and by doing so was looked upon as acquitted.

Soon after, upon Christmas-day, the people of Rome, who had hitherto elected
their Bishop, and reckoned that they and their Senate inherited the rights of
the antient Senate and people of Rome, voted Charles their Emperor, and
subjected themselves to him in such manner as the old Roman Empire and their
Senate were subjected to the old Roman Emperors. The Pope crowned him, and
anointed him with holy oil, and worshipped him on his knees after the manner of
adoring the old Roman Emperors; as the aforesaid Poet thus relates:

Post laudes igitur dictas & summus eundem Præsul adoravit, sicut mos debitus
olim Principibus fuit antiquis. The Emperor, on the other hand, took the
following oath to the Pope: In nomine Christi spondeo atque polliceor, Ego
Carolus Imperator coram Deo & beato Petro Apostolo, me protectorem ac defensorem
fore hujus sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ in omnibus utilitatibus, quatenùs divino
fultus fuero adjutorio, prout sciero poteroque. The Emperor was also made Consul
of Rome, and his son Pipin crowned King of Italy: and henceforward the Emperor
stiled himself: Carolus serenissimus, Augustus, à Deo coronatus, magnus,
pacificus, Romæ gubernans imperium, or Imperator Romanorum; and was prayed for
in the Churches of Rome. His image was henceforward put upon the coins of Rome:
while the enemies of the Pope, to the number of three hundred Romans and two or
three of the Clergy, were sentenced to death. The three hundred Romans were
beheaded in one day in the Lateran fields: but the Clergymen at the intercession
of the Pope were pardoned, and banished into France. And thus the title of Roman
Emperor, which had hitherto been in the Greek Emperors, was by this act
transferred in the West to the Kings of France.

After these things [12] Charles gave the City and Duchy of Rome to the Pope,
subordinately to himself as Emperor of the Romans; spent the winter in ordering
the affairs of Rome, and those of the Apostolic see, and of all Italy, both
civil and ecclesiastical, and in making new laws for them; and returned the next
summer into France: leaving the city under its Senate, and both under the Pope
and himself. But hearing that his new laws were not observed by the judges in
dictating the law, nor by the people in hearing it; and that the great men took
servants from free men, and from the Churches and Monasteries, to labour in
their vineyards, fields, pastures and houses, and continued to exact cattle and
wine of them, and to oppress those that served the Churches: he wrote to his son
Pipin to remedy these abuses, to take care of the Church, and see his laws
executed.

Now the Senate and people and principality of Rome I take to be the third King
the little horn overcame, and even the chief of the three. For this people
elected the Pope and the Emperor; and now, by electing the Emperor and making
him Consul, was acknowledged to retain the authority of the old Roman Senate and
people. This city was the Metropolis of the old Roman Empire, represented in
Daniel by the fourth Beast; and by subduing the Senate and people and Duchy, it
became the Metropolis of the little horn of that Beast, and completed Peter’s
Patrimony, which was the kingdom of that horn. Besides, this victory was
attended with greater consequences than those over the other two Kings. For it
set up the Western Empire, which continues to this day. It set up the Pope above
the judicature of the Roman Senate, and above that of a Council of Italian and
French Bishops, and even above all human judicature; and gave him the supremacy
over the Western Churches and their Councils in a high degree. It gave him a
look more stout than his fellows; so that when this new religion began to be
established in the minds of men, he grappled not only with Kings, but even with
the Western Emperor himself. It is observable also, that the custom of kissing
the Pope’s feet, an honour superior to that of Kings and Emperors, began about
this time. There are some instances of it in the ninth century: Platina tells
us, that the feet of Pope Leo IV were kissed, according to antient custom, by
all who came to him: and some say that Leo III began this custom, pretending
that his hand was infected by the kiss of a woman. The Popes began also about
this time to canonize saints, and to grant indulgences and pardons: and some
represent that Leo III was the first author of all these things. It is further
observable, that Charles the great, between the years 775 and 796, conquered all
Germany from the Rhine and Danube northward to the Baltic sea, and eastward to
the river Teis; extending his conquests also into Spain as far as the river
Ebro: and by these conquests he laid the foundation of the new Empire; and at
the same time propagated the Roman Catholic religion into all his conquests,
obliging the Saxons and Hunns who were heathens, to receive the Roman faith, and
distributing his northern conquests into Bishopricks, granting tithes to the
Clergy and Peter-pence to the Pope: by all which the Church of Rome was highly
enlarged, enriched, exalted, and established. In the forementioned dissertation
upon some coins of Charles the great, Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, and their
successors, stamped at Rome, there is a draught of a piece of Mosaic work which
Pope Leo III. caused to be made in his Palace near the Church of John Lateran,
in memory of his sending the standard or banner of the city of Rome curiously
wrought, to Charles the great; and which still remained there at the publishing
of the said book. In the Mosaic work there appeared Peter with three keys in his
lap, reaching the Pallium to the Pope with his right hand, and the banner of the
city to Charles the great with his left. By the Pope was this inscription,
SCISSIMUS D.N. LEO PP; by the King this, D.N. CARVLO REGI; and under the feet of
Peter this, BEATE PETRE, DONA VITAM LEONI PP, ET BICTORIAM CARVLO REGI DONA.
This Monument gives the title of King to Charles, and therefore was erected
before he was Emperor. It was erected when Peter was reaching the Pallium to the
Pope, and the Pope was sending the banner of the city to Charles, that is, A.C.
796. The words above, Sanctissimus Dominus noster Leo Papa Domino nostro Carolo
Regi, relate to the message; and the words below, Beate Petre, dona vitam Leoni
Papæ & victoriam Carolo regi dona, are a prayer that in this undertaking God
would preserve the life of the Pope, and give victory to the King over the
Romans. The three keys in the lap of Peter signify the keys of the three parts
of his Patrimony, that of Rome with its Duchy, which the Pope claimed and was
conquering, those of Ravenna with the Exarchate, and of the territories taken
from the Lombards; both which he had newly conquered. These were the three
dominions, whose keys were in the lap of St. Peter, and whose Crowns are now
worn by the Pope, and by the conquest of which he became the little horn of the
fourth Beast. By Peter’s giving the Pallium to the Pope with his right hand, and
the banner of the city to the King with his left, and by naming the Pope before
the King in the inscription, may be understood that the Pope was then reckoned
superior in dignity to the Kings of the earth.

After the death of Charles the great, his son and successor Ludovicus Pius, at
the request of the Pope, [13] confirmed the donations of his grandfather and
father to the see of Rome. And in the confirmation he names first Rome with its
Duchy extending into Tuscany and Campania; then the Exarchate of Ravenna, with
Pentapolis; and in the third place, the territories taken from the Lombards.
These are his three conquests, and he was to hold them of the Emperor for the
use of the Church sub integritate, entirely, without the Emperor’s medling
therewith, or with the jurisdiction or power of the Pope therein, unless called
thereto in certain cases. This ratification the Emperor Ludovicus made under an
oath: and as the King of the Ostrogoths, for acknowledging that he held his
kingdom of Italy of the Greek Emperor, stamped the effigies of the Emperor on
one side of his coins and his own on the reverse; so the Pope made the like
acknowledgment to the Western Emperor. For the Pope began now to coin money, and
the coins of Rome are henceforward found with the heads of the Emperors,
Charles, Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, and their successors, on the one side, and
the Pope’s inscription on the reverse, for many years.

Notes to Chap. VII.

[1] Daniel 7:8.

[2] Daniel 7:20-21.

[3] Daniel 7:24.

[4] Daniel 7:25.

[5] Sigonius de Regno Italiæ, ad Ann. 726.

[6] Sigonius ib. ad Ann. 726, 752.

[7] Sigon. ib. Ann. 750.

[8] Sigon. ib. Ann. 753, 754, 755.

[9] Sigon. ib. Ann. 773.

[10] Sigon. de Regno Ital. ad Ann. 796.

[11] Vide Anastasium.

[12] Sigon. de Regno Ital.

[13] Confirmationem recitat Sigonius, lib. 4. de Regno Italiæ, ad An. 817.


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  CHAPTER 14: 01.013.     CHAPTER VIII
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CHAP. VIII. Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniel’s fourth Beast, to change times and laws. In the reign of the Greek Emperor Justinian, and again in the reign of Phocas, the Bishop of Rome obtained some dominion over the Greek Churches, but of no long continuance. His standing dominion was only over the nations of the Western Empire, represented by Daniel’s fourth Beast. And this jurisdiction was set up by the following Edict of the Emperors Gratian and Valentinian.--[1] Volumus ut quicunque judicio Damasi, quod ille cum Concilio quinque vel septem habuerit Episcoporum, vel eorum qui Catholici sunt judicio vel Concilio condemnatus fuerit, si juste voluerit Ecclesiam retentare, ut qui ad sacerdotale judicium per contumeliam non ivisset: ut ab illustribus viris Præfectis Prætorio Galliæ atque Italiæ, authoritate adhibitâ, ad Episcopale judicium remittatur, sive à Consularibus vel Vicariis, ut ad Urbem Romam sub prosecutione perveniat. Aut si in longinquioribus partibus alicujus ferocitas talis emerserit, omnis ejus causæ edictio ad Metropolitæ in eadem Provincia Episcopi deduceretur examen. Vel si ipse Metropolitanus est, Romam necessariò, vel ad eos quos Romanus Episcopus judices dederit, sine delatione contendat.----Quod si vel Metropolitani Episcopi vel cujuscunque sacerdotis iniquitas est suspecta, aut gratia; ad Romanum Episcopum, vel ad Concilium quindecim finitimorum Episcoporum accersitum liceat provocare; modo ne post examen habitum, quod definitum fuerit, integretur. This Edict wanting the name of both Valens and Theodosius in the Title, was made in the time between their reigns, that is, in the end of the year 378, or the beginning of 379. It was directed to the Præfecti Prætorio Italiæ & Galliæ, and therefore was general. For the Præfectus Prætorio Italiæ governed Italy, Illyricum occidentale and Africa; and the Præfectus Prætorio Galliæ governed Gallia, Spain, and Britain. The granting of this jurisdiction to the Pope gave several Bishops occasion to write to him for his resolutions upon doubtful cases, whereupon he answered by decretal Epistles; and henceforward he gave laws to the Western Churches by such Epistles. Himerius Bishop of Tarraco, the head city of a province in Spain, writing to Pope Damasus for his direction about certain Ecclesiastical matters, and the Letter not arriving at Rome till after the death of Damasus, A.C. 384; his successor Siricius answered the same with a legislative authority, telling him of one thing: Cum hoc fieri--missa ad Provincias à venerandæ memoriæ prædecessore meo Liberio generalia decreta, prohibeant. Of another: Noverint se ab omni ecclesiastico honore, quo indignè usi sunt, Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritate, dejectos. Of another: Scituri posthac omnium Provinciarum summi Antistites, quod si ultrò ad sacros ordines quenquam de talibus esse assumendum, & de suo & de aliorum statu, quos contra Canones & interdicta nostra provexerint, congruam ab Apostolica Sede promendam esse sententiam. And the Epistle he concludes thus: Explicuimus, ut arbitror, frater charissime, universa quæ digesta sunt in querelam; & ad singulas causas, de quibus ad Romanam Ecclesiam, utpote ad caput tui corporis, retulisti; sufficientia, quantum opinor, responsa reddidimus. Nunc fraternitatis tuæ animum ad servandos canones, & tenenda decretalia constituta, magis ac magis incitamus: ad hæc quæ ad tua consulta rescripsimus in omnium Coepiscoporum perferri facias notionem; & non solum corum, qui in tua sunt dioecesi constituti, sed etiam ad universos Carthaginenses ac Boeticos, Lusitanos atque [2] Gallicos, vel eos qui vicinis tibi collimitant hinc inde Provinciis, hæc quæ a nobis sunt salubri ordinatione disposita, sub literarum tuarum prosecutione mittantur. Et quanquam statuta sedis Apostolicæ vel Canonum venerabilia definita, nulli Sacerdotum Domini ignorare sit liberum: utilius tamen, atque pro antiquitate sacerdotii tui, dilectioni tuæ esse admodùm poterit gloriosum, si ea quæ ad te speciali nomine generaliter scripta sunt, per unanimitatis tuæ sollicitudinem in universorum fratrum nostrorum notitiam perferantur; quatenus & quæ à nobis non inconsultè sed providè sub nimia cautela & deliberatione sunt salubriter constituta, intemerata permaneant, & omnibus in posterum excusationibus aditus, qui jam nulli apud nos patere poterit, obstruatur. Dat. 3 Id. Febr. Arcadio & Bautone viris clarissimis Consulibus, A.C. 385. Pope Liberius in the reign of Jovian or Valentinian I. sent general Decrees to the Provinces, ordering that the Arians should not be rebaptized: and this he did in favour of the Council of Alexandria, that nothing more should be required of them than to renounce their opinions. Pope Damasus is said to have decreed in a Roman Council, that Tithes and Tenths should be paid upon pain of an Anathema; and that Glory be to the Father, &c. should be said or sung at the end of the Psalms. But the first decretal Epistle now extant is this of Siricius to Himerius; by which the Pope made Himerius his Vicar over all Spain for promulging his Decrees, and seeing them observed. The Bishop of Sevill was also the Pope’s Vicar sometimes; for Simplicius wrote thus to Zeno Bishop of that place: Talibus idcirco gloriantes indiciis, congruum duximus vicariâ Sedis nostræ te auctoritate fulciri: cujus vigore munitus, Apostolicæ institutionis Decreta, vel sanctorum terminos Patrum, nullatenus transcendi permittas. And Pope Hormisda [3] made the Bishop of Sevill his Vicar over Boetica and Lusitania, and the Bishop of Tarraco his Vicar over all the rest of Spain, as appears by his Epistles to them.

Pope Innocent the first, in his decretal Epistle to Victricius Bishop of Rouen
in France, A.C. 404, in pursuance of the Edict of Gratian, made this Decree: Si
quæ autem causæ vel contentiones inter Clericos tam superioris ordinis quam
etiam inferioris fuerint exortæ; ut secundum Synodum Nicenam congregatis ejusdem
Provinciæ Episcopis jurgium terminetur: nec alicui liceat, [4] Romanæ Ecclesiæ,
cujus in omnibus causis debet reverentia custodiri, relictis his sacerdotibus,
qui in eadem Provincia Dei Ecclesiam nutu Divino gubernant, ad alias convolare
Provincias. Quod siquis fortè præsumpserit; & ab officio Clericatûs summotus, &
injuriarum reus judicetur. Si autem majores causæ in medium fuerint devolutæ, ad
Sedem Apostolicam sicut Synodus statuit, & beata consuetudo exigit, post
judicium Episcopale referantur. By these Letters it seems to me that Gallia was
now subject to the Pope, and had been so for some time, and that the Bishop of
Rouen was then his Vicar or one of them: for the Pope directs him to refer the
greater causes to the See of Rome, according to custom. But the Bishop of Arles
soon after became the Pope’s Vicar over all Gallia: for Pope Zosimus, A.C. 417,
ordaining that none should have access to him without the credentials of his
Vicars, conferred upon Patroclus the Bishop of Arles this authority over all
Gallia, by the following Decree.

Zosimus universis Episcopis per Gallias & septem Provincias constitutis.

Placuit Apostolicæ Sedi, ut siquis ex qualibet Galliarum parte sub quolibet
ecclesiastico gradu ad nos Romæ venire contendit, vel aliò terrarum ire
disponit, non aliter proficiscatur nisi Metropolitani Episcopi Formatas
acceperit, quibus sacerdotium suum vel locum ecclesiasticum quem habet,
scriptorum ejus adstipulatione perdoceat: quod ex gratia statuimus quia plures
episcopi sive presbyteri sive ecclesiastici simulantes, quia nullum documentum
Formatarum extat per quod valeant confutari, in nomen venerationis irrepunt, &
indebitam reverentiam promerentur. Quisquis igitur, fratres charissimi,
prætermissà supradicti Formatâ sive episcopus, sive presbyter, sive diaconus,
aut deinceps inferiori gradu sit, ad nos venerit: sciat se omnino suscipi non
posse. Quam auctoritatem ubique nos misisse manifestum est, ut cunctis
regionibus innotescat id quod statuimus omnimodis esse servandum. Siquis autem
hæc salubriter constituta temerare tentaverit sponte suâ, se a nostra noverit
communione discretum. Hoc autem privilegium Formatarum sancto Patroclo fratri &
coepiscopo nostro, meritorum ejus speciali contemplatione, concessimus. And that
the Bishop of Arles was sometimes the Pope’s Vicar over all France, is affirmed
also by all the Bishops of the Diocess of Arles in their Letter to Pope Leo I.
Cui id etiam honoris dignitatisque collatum est, say they, ut non tantum has
Provincias potestate propriâ gubernaret; verum etiam omnes Gallias sibi
Apostolicæ Sedis vice mandatas, sub omni ecclesiastica regula contineret. And
Pope Pelagius I. A.C. 556, in his Epistle to Sapaudus Bishop of Arles: Majorum
nostrorum, operante Dei misericordiâ, cupientes inhærere vestigiis & eorum actus
divino examine in omnibus imitari: Charitati tuæ per universam Galliam, sanctæ
Sedis Apostolicæ, cui divinâ gratiâ præsidemus, vices injungimus. By the
influence of the same imperial Edict, not only Spain and Gallia, but also
Illyricum became subject to the Pope. Damasus made Ascholius, or Acholius,
Bishop of Thessalonica the Metropolis of Oriental Illyricum, his Vicar for
hearing of causes; and in the year 382, Acholius being summoned by Pope Damasus,
came to a Council at Rome. Pope Siricius the successor of Damasus, decreed that
no Bishop should be ordained in Illyricum without the consent of Anysius the
successor of Acholius. And the following Popes gave Rufus the successor of
Anysius, a power of calling Provincial Councils: for in the Collections of
Holstenius there is an account of a Council of Rome convened under Pope Boniface
II. in which were produced Letters of Damasus, Syricius, Innocent I. Boniface I.
and Cælestine Bishops of Rome, to Ascholius, Anysius and Rufus, Bishops of
Thessalonica: in which Letters they commend to them the hearing of causes in
Illyricum, granted by the Lord and the holy Canons to the Apostolic See thro’out
that Province. And Pope Siricius saith in his Epistle to Anysius: Etiam dudum,
frater charissime, per Candidianum Episcopum, qui nos præcessit ad Dominum,
hujusmodi literas dederamus, ut nulla licentia esset, sine consensu tuo in
Illyrico Episcopos ordinare præsumere, quæ utrum ad te pervenerint scire non
potui. Multa enim gesta sunt per contentionem ab Episcopis in ordinationibus
faciendis, quod tua melius caritas novit. And a little after: Ad omnem enim
hujusmodi audaciam comprimendam vigilare debet instantia tua, Spiritu in te
Sancto fervente: ut vel ipse, si potes, vel quos judicaveris Episcopos idoneos,
cum literis dirigas, dato consensu qui possit, in ejus locum qui defunctus vel
depositus fuerit, Catholicum Episcopum vitâ & moribus probatum, secundum Nicænæ
Synodi statuta vel Ecclesiæ Romanæ, Clericum de Clero meritum ordinare. And Pope
Innocent I. saith in his Epistle to Anysius: Cui [Anysio] etiam anteriores tanti
ac tales viri prædecessores mei Episcopi, id est, sanctæ memoriæ Damasus,
Siricius, atque supra memoratus vir ita detulerunt; ut omnia quæ in omnibus
illis partibus gererentur, Sanctitati tuæ, quæ plena justitiæ est, traderent
cognoscenda. And in his Epistle to Rufus the successor of Anysius: Ita longis
intervallis disterminatis à me ecclesiis discat consulendum; ut prudentiæ
gravitatique tuæ committendam curam causasque, siquæ exoriantur, per Achaiæ,
Thessaliæ, Epiri veteris, Epiri novæ, & Cretæ, Daciæ mediterraneæ, Daciæ
ripensis, Moesiæ, Dardaniæ, & Prævali ecclesias, Christo Domino annuente,
censeam. Verè enim ejus sacratissimis monitis lectissimæ sinceritatis tuæ
providentiæ & virtuti hanc injungimus sollicitudinem: non primitùs hæc
statuentes, sed Præcessores nostros Apostolicos imitati, qui beatissimis Acholio
& Anysio injungi pro meritis ista voluerunt. And Boniface I. in his decretal
Epistle to Rufus and the rest of the Bishops in Illyricum: Nullus, ut frequenter
dixi, alicujus ordinationem citra ejus [Episcopi Thessalonicensis] conscientiam
celebrare præsumat: cui, ut supra dictum est, vice nostrâ cuncta committimus.
And Pope Cælestine, in his decretal Epistle to the Bishops thro’out Illyricum,
saith: Vicem nostram per vestram Provinciam noveritis [Rufo] esse commissam, ita
ut ad eum, fratres carissimi, quicquid de causis agitur, referatur. Sine ejus
consilio nullus ordinetur. Nullus usurpet, eodem inconscio, commissam illi
Provinciam; colligere nisi cum ejus voluntate Episcopus non præsumat. And in the
cause of Perigenes, in the title of his Epistle, he thus enumerates the
Provinces under this Bishop: Rufo & cæteris Episcopis per Macedoniam, Achaiam,
Thessaliam, Epirum veterem, Epirum novam, Prævalin, & Daciam constitutis. And
Pope Xistus in a decretal Epistle to the same Bishops: Illyricanæ omnes
Ecclesiæ, ut à decessoribus nostris recepimus, & nos quoque fecimus, ad curam
nunc pertinent Thessalonicensis Antistitis, ut suâ sollicitudine, siquæ inter
fratres nascantur, ut assolent, actiones distinguat atque definiat; & ad eum,
quicquid à singulis sacerdotibus agitur, referatur. Sit Concilium, quotiens
causæ fuerint, quotiens ille pro necessitatum emergentium ratione decreverit.
And Pope Leo I. in his decretal Epistle to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica:
Singulis autem Metropolitanis sicut potestas ista committitur, ut in suis
Provinciis jus habeant ordinandi; ita eos Metropolitanos à te volumus ordinari;
maturo tamen & decocto judicio.

Occidental Illyricum comprehended Pannonia prima and secunda, Savia, Dalmatia,
Noricum mediterraneum, and Noricum ripense; and its Metropolis was Sirmium, till
Attila destroyed this city. Afterwards Laureacum became the Metropolis of
Noricum and both Pannonias, and Salona the Metropolis of Dalmatia. Now [5] the
Bishops of Laureacum and Salona received the Pallium from the Pope: and Zosimus,
in his decretal Epistle to Hesychius Bishop of Salona, directed him to denounce
the Apostolic decrees as well to the Bishops of his own, as to those of the
neighbouring Provinces. The subjection of these Provinces to the See of Rome
seems to have begun in Anemius, who was ordained Bishop of Sirmium by Ambrose
Bishop of Millain, and who in the Council of Aquileia under Pope Damasus, A.C.
381, declared his sentence in these words: Caput Illyrici non nisi civitas
Sirmiensis: Ego igitur illius civitatis Episcopus sum. Eum qui non confitetur
filium Dei æternum, & coeternum patri, qui est sempiternus, anathema dico. The
next year Anemius and Ambrose, with Valerian Bishop of Aquileia, Acholias Bishop
of Thessalonica, and many others, went to the Council of Rome, which met for
overruling the Greek Church by majority of votes, and exalting the authority of
the Apostolic See, as was attempted before in the Council of Sardica.

Aquileia was the second city of the Western Empire, and by some called the
second Rome. It was the Metropolis of Istria, Forum Julium, and Venetia; and its
subjection to the See of Rome is manifest by the decretal Epistle of Leo I.
directed to Nicetas Bishop of this city; for the Pope begins his Epistle thus:
Regressus ad nos filius meus Adeodatus Diaconus Sedis nostræ, dilectionem tuam
poposcisse memorat, ut de his à nobis authoritatem Apostolicæ Sedis acciperes,
quæ quidem magnam difficultatem dijudicationis videntur afferre. Then he sets
down an answer to the questions proposed by Nicetas, and concludes thus: Hanc
autem Epistolam nostram, quam ad consultationem tuæ fraternitatis emisimus, ad
omnes fratres & comprovinciales tuos Episcopos facies pervenire, ut in omnium
observantia, data profit authoritas. Data 1-2 Kal. Apr. Majorano Aug. Cos. A.C.
458. Gregory the great A.C. 591, [6] cited Severus Bishop of Aquileia to appear
before him in judgment in a Council at Rome. The Bishops of Aquileia and Millain
created one another, and therefore were of equal authority, and alike subject to
the See of Rome. Pope Pelagius about the year 557, testified this in the
following words: [7] Mos antiquus fuit, saith he, ut quia pro longinquitate vel
difficultate itineris, ab Apostolico illis onerosum fuerit ordinari, ipsi se
invicem Mediolanensis & Aquileiensis ordinare Episcopos debuissent. These words
imply that the ordination of these two Bishops belonged to the See of Rome. When
Laurentius Bishop of Millain had excommunicated Magnus, one of his Presbyters,
and was dead, [8] Gregory the great absolved Magnus, and sent the Pallium to the
new elected Bishop Constantius; whom the next year [9] he reprehended of
partiality in judging Fortunatus, and commanded him to send Fortunatus to Rome
to be judged there: four years after [10] he appointed the Bishops of Millain
and Ravenna to hear the cause of one Maximus; and two years after, viz. A.C.
601, when Constantius was dead, and the people of Millain had elected Deusdedit
his successor, and the Lombards had elected another, [11] Gregory wrote to the
Notary, Clergy, and People of Millain, that by the authority of his Letters
Deusdedit should be ordained, and that he whom the Lombards had ordained was an
unworthy successor of Ambrose: whence I gather, that the Church of Millain had
continued in this state of subordination to the See of Rome ever since the days
of Ambrose; for Ambrose himself acknowledged the authority of that See. Ecclesia
Romana, [12] saith he, hanc consuetudinem non habet, cujus typum in omnibus
sequimur, & formam. And a little after: In omnibus cupio sequi Ecclesiam
Romanam. And in his Commentary upon 1 Tim. iii. Cum totus mundus Dei sit, tamen
domus ejus Ecclesia dicitur, cujus hodie rector est Damasus. In his Oration on
the death of his brother Satyrus, he relates how his brother coming to a certain
city of Sardinia, advocavit Episcopum loci, percontatusque est ex eo utrum cum
Episcopis Catholicis hoc est cum Romana Ecclesia conveniret? And in conjunction
with the Synod of Aquileia A.C. 381, in a synodical Epistle to the Emperor
Gratian, he saith: Totius orbis Romani caput Romanam Ecclesiam, atque illam
sacrosanctam Apostolorum fidem, ne turbari sineret, obsecranda fuit clementia
vestra; inde enim in omnes venerandæ communionis jura dimanant. The Churches
therefore of Aquileia and Millain were subject to the See of Rome from the days
of the Emperor Gratian. Auxentius the predecessor of Ambrose was not subject to
the see of Rome, and consequently the subjection of the Church of Millain began
in Ambrose. This Diocese of Millain contained Liguria with Insubria, the Alpes
Cottiæ and Rhætia; and was divided from the Diocese of Aquileia by the river
Addua. In the year 844, the Bishop of Millain broke off from the See of Rome,
and continued in this separation about 200 years, as is thus related by [13]
Sigonius: Eodem anno Angilbertus Mediolanensis Archiepiscopus ab Ecclesia Romana
parum comperta de causa descivit, tantumque exemplo in posterum valuit, ut non
nisi post ducentos annos Ecclesia Mediolanensis ad Romanæ obedientiam
auctoritatemque redierit. The Bishop of Ravenna, the Metropolis of Flaminia and
Æmilia, was also subject to the Pope: for Zosimus, A.C. 417, excommunicated some
of the Presbyters of that Church, and wrote a commonitory Epistle about them to
the Clergy of that Church as a branch of the Roman Church: In sua, saith he, hoc
est, in Ecclesia nostra Romana. When those of Ravenna, having elected a new
Bishop, gave notice thereof to Pope Sixtus, the Pope set him aside, and [14]
ordained Peter Chrysologus in his room. Chrysologus in his Epistle to Eutyches,
extant in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, wrote thus: Nos pro studio pacis
& fidei, extra consensum Romanæ civitatis Episcopi, causas fidei audire non
possumus. Pope Leo I. being consulted by Leo Bishop of Ravenna about some
questions, answered him by a decretal Epistle A.C. 451. And Pope Gregory the
great, [15] reprehending John Bishop of Ravenna about the use of the Pallium,
tells him of a Precept of one of his Predecessors, Pope John, commanding that
all the Privileges formerly granted to the Bishop and Church of Ravenna should
be kept: to this John returned a submissive answer; and after his death Pope
Gregory ordered a visitation of the Church of Ravenna, confirmed the privileges
heretofore granted them, and sent his Pallium, as of antient custom, to their
new Bishop Marinian. Yet this Church revolted sometimes from the Church of Rome,
but returned again to its obedience. The rest of Italy, with the Islands
adjacent, containing the suburbicarian regions, or ten Provinces under the
temporal Vicar of Rome, viz. 1Campania, 2Tuscia and Umbria, 3Picenum
suburbicarium, 4Sicily, 5Apulia and Calabria, 6Brutii and Lucania, 7Samnium,
8Sardinia, 9Corsica, and 10Valeria, constituted the proper Province of the
Bishop of Rome. For the Council of Nice in their fifth Canon ordained that
Councils should be held every spring and autumn in every Province; and according
to this Canon, the Bishops of this Province met at Rome every half year. In this
sense Pope Leo I. applied this Canon to Rome, in a decretal Epistle to the
Bishops of Sicily, written Alippio & Ardabure Coss. A.C. 447. Quia saluberrime,
saith he, à sanctis patribus constitutum est, binos in annis singulis
Episcoporum debere esse conventus, terni semper ex vobis ad diem tertium
Kalendarum Octobrium Romam æterno concilio sociandi occurrant. Et
indissimulanter à vobis hæc consuetudo servetur, quoniam adjuvante Dei gratiâ,
faciliùs poterit provideri, ut in Ecclesiis Christi nulla scandala, nulli
nascantur errores; cum coram Apostolo Petro semper in communione tractatum
fuerit, ut omnia Canonum Decreta apud omnes Domini sacerdotes inviolata
permaneant. The Province of Rome therefore comprehended Sicily, with so much of
Italy and the neighbouring Islands as sent Bishops to the annual Councils of
Rome; but extended not into the Provinces of Ravenna, Aquileia, Millain, Arles,
&c. those Provinces having Councils of their own. The Bishops in every Province
of the Roman Empire were convened in Council by the Metropolitan or Bishop of
the head city of the Province, and this Bishop presided in that Council: but the
Bishop of Rome did not only preside in his own Council of the Bishops of the
suburbicarian regions, but also gave Orders to the Metropolitans of all the
other Provinces in the Western Empire, as their universal governor; as may be
further perceived by the following instances.

Pope Zosimus A.C. 417, cited Proculus Bishop of Marseilles to appear before a
Council at Rome for illegitimate Ordinations; and condemned him, as he mentions
in several of his Epistles. Pope Boniface I. A.C. 419, upon a complaint of the
Clergy of Valentia against Maximus a Bishop, summoned the Bishops of all Gallia
and the seven Provinces to convene in a Council against him; and saith in his
Epistle, that his Predecessors had done the like. Pope Leo I. called a general
Council of all the Provinces of Spain to meet in Gallæcia against the Manichees
and Priscillianists, as he says in his decretal Epistle to Turribius a Spanish
Bishop. And in one of his decretal Epistles to Nicetas Bishop of Aquileia, he
commands him to call a Council of the Bishops of that Province against the
Pelagians, which might ratify all the Synodal Decrees which had been already
ratified by the See of Rome against this heresy. And in his decretal Epistle to
Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica, he ordained that Bishop should hold two
Provincial Councils every year, and refer the harder causes to the See of Rome:
and if upon any extraordinary occasion it should be necessary to call a Council,
he should not be troublesom to the Bishops under him, but content himself with
two Bishops out of every Province, and not detain them above fifteen days. In
the same Epistle he describes the form of Church-Government then set up, to
consist in a subordination of all the Churches to the See of Rome: De qua forma,
saith he, Episcoporum quoque est orta distinctio, & magna dispositione provisum
est ne omnes sibi omnia vindicarent, sed essent in singulis Provinciis singuli
quorum inter fratres haberetur prima sententia, & rursus quidam in majoribus
urbibus constituti sollicitudinem sumerent ampliorem, per quos ad unam Petri
Sedem universalis Ecclesiæ cura conflueret, & nihil usque à suo capite
dissideret. Qui ergo scit se quibusdam esse præpositum, non moleste ferat
aliquem sibi esse præpositum; sed obedientiam quam exigit etiam ipse dependat;
et sicut non vult gravis oneris sarcinam ferre, ita non audeat aliis importabile
pondus imponere. These words sufficiently shew the monarchical form of
government then set up in the Churches of the Western Empire under the Bishop of
Rome, by means of the imperial Decree of Gratian, and the appeals and decretal
Epistles grounded thereupon. The same Pope Leo, having in a Council at Rome
passed sentence upon Hilary Bishop of Arles, for what he had done by a
Provincial Council in Gallia, took occasion from thence to procure the following
Edict from the Western Emperor Valentinian III. for the more absolute
establishing the authority of his See over all the Churches of the Western
Empire.

Impp. Theodosius & Valentinianus AA. Aetio Viro illustri, Comiti & Magistro
utriusque militiæ & Patricio.

Certum est & nobis & imperio nostro unicum esse præsidium in supernæ Divinitatis
favore, ad quem promerendum præcipue Christiana fides & veneranda nobis religio
suffragatur. Cum igitur Sedis Apostolicæ Primatum sancti Petri meritum, qui
princeps est Episcopalis coronæ & Romanæ dignitas civitatis, sacræ etiam Synodi
firmavit auctoritas: ne quid præter auctoritatem Sedis istius illicitum
præsumptio attemperare nitatur: tunc enim demum Ecclesiarum pax ubique
servabitur, si Rectorem suum agnoscat Universitas. Hæc cum hactenus
inviolabiliter suerint custodita, Hilarius Arelatensis, sicut venerabilis viri
Leonis Romani Papæ fideli relatione comperimus, contumaci ausu illicita quædam
præsumenda tentavit, & ideo Transalpinas Ecclesias abominabilis tumultus
invasit, quod recens maximè testatur exemplum. Hilarius enim qui Episcopus
Arelatensis vocatur, Ecclesiæ Romanæ urbis inconsulto Pontifice indebitas sibi
ordinationes Episcoporum solâ temeritate usurpans invasit. Nam alios
incompetenter removit; indecenter alios, invitis & repugnantibus civibus,
ordinavit. Qui quidem, quoniam non facile ab his qui non elegerant,
recipiebantur, manum sibi contrahebat armatam, & claustra murorum in hostilem
morem vel obsidione cingebat, vel aggressione reserabat, & ad sedem quietis
pacem prædicaturus per bella ducebat: His talibus contra Imperii majestatem, &
contra reverentiam Apostolicæ Sedis admissis, per ordinem religiosi viri Urbis
Papæ cognitione discussis, certa in eum, ex his quos malè ordinaverat, lata
sententia est. Erat quidem ipsa sententia per Gallias etiam sine Imperiali
Sanctione valitura: quid enim Pontificis auctoritate non liceret? Sed nostram
quoque præceptionem hæc ratio provocavit. Nec ulterius vel Hilario, quem adhuc
Episcopum nuncupare sola mansueta Præsulis permittit humanitas, nec cuiquam
alteri ecclesiasticis rebus arma miscere, aut præceptis Romani Antistitis liceat
obviare: ausibus enim talibus fides & reverentia nostri violatur Imperii. Nec
hoc solum, quod est maximi criminis, submovemus: verum ne levis saltem inter
Ecclesias turba nascatur, vel in aliquo minui religionis disciplina videatur,
hoc perenni sanctione discernimus; nequid tam Episcopis Gallicanis quam aliarum
Provinciarum contra consuetudinem veterem liceat, sine viri venerabilis Papæ
Urbis æternæ auctoritate, tentare. Sed illis omnibusque pro lege sit, quicquid
sanxit vel sanxerit Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritas: ita ut quisquis Episcoporum ad
judicium Romani Antistitis evocatus venire neglexerit, per Moderatorem ejusdem
Provinciæ adesse cogatur, per omnia servatis quæ Divi parentes nostri Romanæ
Ecclesiæ detulerunt, Aetî pater carissime Augusti. Unde illustris & præclara
magnificentia tua præsentis Edictalis Legis auctoritate faciet quæ sunt superius
statuta servari, decem librarum auri multa protinus exigenda ab unoquoque Judice
qui passus fuerit præcepta nostra violari. Divinitas te servet per multos annos,
parens carissime. Dat. viii. Id. Jun. Romæ, Valentiniano A. vi. Consule, A.C.
445. By this Edict the Emperor Valentinian enjoined an absolute obedience to the
will of the Bishop of Rome thro’out all the Churches of his Empire; and
declares, that for the Bishops to attempt any thing without the Pope’s authority
is contrary to antient custom, and that the Bishops summoned to appear before
his judicature must be carried thither by the Governor of the Province; and he
ascribes these privileges of the See of Rome to the concessions of his dead
Ancestors, that is, to the Edict of Gratian and Valentinian II. as above: by
which reckoning this dominion of the Church of Rome was now of 66 years
standing: and if in all this time it had not been sufficiently established, this
new Edict was enough to settle it beyond all question thro’out the Western
Empire.

Hence all the Bishops of the Province of Arles in their Letter to Pope Leo, A.C.
450, petitioning for a restitution of the privileges of their Metropolitan, say:
Per beatum Petrum Apostolorum principem, sacrosancta Ecclesia Romana tenebat
supra omnes totius mundi Ecclesias principatum. And Ceratius, Salonius and
Veranus, three Bishops of Gallia, say, in their Epistle to the same Pope: Magna
præterea & ineffabili quadam nos peculiares tui gratulatione succrescimus, quod
illa specialis doctrinæ vestræ pagina ita per omnium Ecclesiarum conventicula
celebratur, ut vere consona omnium sententia declaretur; merito illic
principatum Sedis Apostolicæ constitutum, unde adhuc Apostolici spiritus oracula
reserentur. And Leo himself, in [16] his Epistle to the metropolitan Bishops
thro’out Illyricum: Quia per omnes Ecclesias cura nostra distenditur, exigente
hoc à nobis Domino, qui Apostolicæ dignitatis beatissimo Apostolo Petro
primatum, fidei sui remuneratione commisit, universalem Ecclesiam in fundamenti
ipsius soliditate constituens.

While this Ecclesiastical Dominion was rising up, the northern barbarous nations
invaded the Western Empire, and founded several kingdoms therein, of different
religions from the Church of Rome. But these kingdoms by degrees embraced the
Roman faith, and at the same time submitted to the Pope’s authority. The Franks
in Gaul submitted in the end of the fifth Century, the Goths in Spain in the end
of the sixth; and the Lombards in Italy were conquered by Charles the great A.C.
774. Between the years 775 and 794, the same Charles extended the Pope’s
authority over all Germany and Hungary as far as the river Theysse and the
Baltic sea; he then set him above all human judicature, and at the same time
assisted him in subduing the City and Duchy of Rome. By the conversion of the
ten kingdoms to the Roman religion, the Pope only enlarged his spiritual
dominion, but did not yet rise up as a horn of the Beast. It was his temporal
dominion which made him one of the horns: and this dominion he acquired in the
latter half of the eighth century, by subduing three of the former horns as
above. And now being arrived at a temporal dominion, and a power above all human
judicature, he reigned [17] with a look more stout than his fellows, and [18]
times and laws were henceforward given into his hands, for a time times and half
a time, or three times and an half; that is, for 1260 solar years, reckoning a
time for a Calendar year of 360 days, and a day for a solar year. After which
[19] the judgment is to sit, and they shall take away his dominion, not at once,
but by degrees, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. [20] And the kingdom
and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall, by
degrees, be given unto the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Notes to Chap. VIII.

[1] See the Annals of Baronius, Anno 381. Sect. 6.

[2] Populos Galliciæ.

[3] Hormisd. Epist. 24. 26.

[4] The words, sine auctoritate, seem wanting.

[5] Vide Caroli a S. Paulo Geographiam sacram, p. 72, 73.

[6] Greg. M. lib. 1. Indic. 9. Epist. 16.

[7] Apud Gratianum de Mediolanensi & Aquileiensi Episcopis.

[8] Greg. M. lib. 3. Epist. 26. & lib. 4. Epist. 1.

[9] Greg. lib. 5. Epist. 4.

[10] Greg. lib. 9. Epist. 10 & 67.

[11] Greg. lib. 11. Epist. 3, 4.

[12] Ambros l. 3. de sacramentis, c. 1.

[13] Sigonius de Regno Italiæ, lib. 5.

[14] See Baronius, Anno 433. Sect. 24.

[15] Greg. M. lib. 3. Epist. 56, 57. & lib. 5. Epist. 25, 26, 56.

[16] Epist. 25. apud Holstenium.

[17] Daniel 7:20.

[18] Daniel 7:25.

[19] Daniel 7:26.

[20] Daniel 7:27.


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  CHAPTER 15: 01.014.     CHAPTER IX
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CHAP. IX. Of the kingdoms represented in Daniel by the Ram and He-Goat. The
second and third Empires, represented by the Bear and Leopard, are again
represented by the Ram and He-Goat; but with this difference, that the Ram
represents the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians from the beginning of the four
Empires, and the Goat represents the kingdom of the Greeks to the end of them.
By this means, under the type of the Ram and He-Goat, the times of all the four
Empires are again described: I lifted up mine eyes, saith [1] Daniel, and saw,
and behold there stood before the river [Ulai] a Ram which had two horns, and
the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came
up last.--And the Ram having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia: not
two persons but two kingdoms, the kingdoms of Media and Persia; and the kingdom
of Persia was the higher horn and came up last. The kingdom of Persia rose up,
when Cyrus having newly conquered Babylon, revolted from Darius King of the
Medes, and beat him at Pasargadæ, and set up the Persians above the Medes. This
was the horn which came up last. And the horn which came up first was the
kingdom of the Medes, from the time that Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar overthrew
Nineveh, and shared the Empire of the Assyrians between them. The Empires of
Media and Babylon were contemporary, and rose up together by the fall of the
Assyrian Empire; and the Prophecy of the four Beasts begins with one of them,
and that of the Ram and He-Goat with the other. As the Ram represents the
kingdom of Media and Persia from the beginning of the four Empires; so the
He-Goat represents the Empire of the Greeks to the end of those Monarchies. In
the reign of his great horn, and of the four horns which succeeded it, he
represents this Empire during the reign of the Leopard: and in the reign of his
little horn, which stood up in the latter time of the kingdom of the four, and
after their fall became mighty but not by his own power, he represents it during
the reign of the fourth Beast. The rough Goat, saith Daniel, is the King of
Grecia, that is, the kingdom; and the great horn between his eyes is the first
King: not the first Monarch, but the first kingdom, that which lasted during the
reign of Alexander the great, and his brother Aridæus and two young sons,
Alexander and Hercules. [2] Now that [horn] being broken off, whereas four
[horns] stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation [of the
Greeks], but not in his [the first horn’s] power. The four horns are therefore
four kingdoms; and by consequence, the first great horn which they succeeded is
the first great kingdom of the Greeks, that which was founded by Alexander the
great, An. Nabonass. 414, and lasted till the death of his son Hercules, An.
Nabonass. 441. And the four are those of Cassander, Lysimachus, Antigonus, and
Ptolemy, as above.

[3] And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to
the full, a King [or new kingdom] of fierce countenance, and understanding dark
sentences, shall stand up: and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own
power. This King was the last horn of the Goat, the little horn which came up
out of one of the four horns, and waxed exceeding great. The latter time of
their kingdom was when the Romans began to conquer them, that is, when they
conquered Perseus King of Macedonia, the fundamental kingdom of the Greeks. And
at that time the transgressors came to the full: for then the High-priesthood
was exposed to sale, the Vessels of the Temple were sold to pay for the
purchase; and the High-priest, with some of the Jews, procured a licence from
Antiochus Epiphanes to do after the ordinances of the heathen, and set up a
school at Jerusalem for teaching those ordinances. Then Antiochus took Jerusalem
with an armed force, slew 4000 Jews, took as many prisoners and sold them,
spoiled the Temple, interdicted the worship, commanded the Law of Moses to be
burnt, and set up the worship of the heathen Gods in all Judea. In the very same
year, An. Nabonass. 580, the Romans conquered Macedonia, the chief of the four
horns. Hitherto the Goat was mighty by its own power, but henceforward began to
be under the Romans. Daniel distinguishes the times, by describing very
particularly the actions of the Kings of the north and south, those two of the
four horns which bordered upon Judea, until the Romans conquered Macedonia; and
thenceforward only touching upon the main revolutions which happened within the
compass of the nations represented by the Goat. In this latter period of time
the little horn was to stand up and grow mighty, but not by his own power. The
three first of Daniel’s Beasts had their dominions taken away, each of them at
the rise of the next Beast; but their lives were prolonged, and they are all of
them still alive. The third Beast, or Leopard, reigned in his four heads, till
the rise of the fourth Beast, or Empire of the Latins; and his life was
prolonged under their power. This Leopard reigning in his four heads, signifies
the same thing with the He-Goat reigning in his four horns: and therefore the
He-Goat reigned in his four horns till the rise of Daniel’s fourth Beast, or
Empire of the Latins: then its dominion was taken away by the Latins, but its
life was prolonged under their power. The Latins are not comprehended among the
nations represented by the He-Goat in this Prophecy: their power over the Greeks
is only named in it, to distinguish the times in which the He-Goat was mighty by
his own power, from the times in which he was mighty but not by his own power.
He was mighty by his own power till his dominion was taken away by the Latins;
after that, his life was prolonged under their dominion, and this prolonging of
his life was in the days of his last horn: for in the days of this horn the Goat
became mighty, but not by his own power.

Now because this horn was a horn of the Goat, we are to look for it among the
nations which composed the body of the Goat. Among those nations he was to rise
up and grow mighty: he grew mighty [4] towards the south, and towards the east,
and towards the pleasant land; and therefore he was to rise up in the north-west
parts of those nations, and extend his dominion towards Egypt, Syria and Judea.
In the latter time of the kingdom of the four horns, it was to rise up out of
one of them and subdue the rest, but not by its own power. It was to be assisted
by a foreign power, a power superior to itself, the power which took away the
dominion of the third Beast, the power of the fourth Beast. And such a little
horn was the kingdom of Macedonia, from the time that it became subject to the
Romans. This kingdom, by the victory of the Romans over Persius King of
Macedonia, Anno Nabonass. 580, ceased to be one of the four horns of the Goat,
and became a dominion of a new sort: not a horn of the fourth Beast, for
Macedonia belonged to the body of the third; but a horn of the third Beast of a
new sort, a horn of the Goat which grew mighty but not by his own power, a horn
which rose up and grew potent under a foreign power, the power of the Romans.
The Romans, by the legacy of Attalus the last King of Pergamus, An. Nabonass.
615, inherited that kingdom, including all Asia Minor on this side mount Taurus.
An. Nabonass. 684 and 685 they conquered Armenia, Syria and Judea; An. Nabonass.
718, they subdued Egypt. And by these conquests the little horn [5] waxed
exceeding great towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the
pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven; and cast down some
of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them, that is, upon
the people and great men of the Jews. [6] Yea, he magnified himself even to the
Prince of the Host, the Messiah, the Prince of the Jews, whom he put to death,
An. Nabonass. 780. And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place
of his sanctuary was cast down, viz. in the wars which the armies of the Eastern
nations under the conduct of the Romans made against Judea, when Nero and
Vespasian were Emperors, An. Nabonass. 816, 817, 818. [7] And an host was given
him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the
truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered. This transgression is in
the next words called the transgression of desolation; and in Dan. xi. 31. the
abomination which maketh desolate; and in Matth. xxiv. 15. the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place. It may
relate chiefly to the worship of Jupiter Olympius in his Temple built by the
Emperor Hadrian, in the place of the Temple of the Jews, and to the revolt of
the Jews under Barchochab occasioned thereby, and to the desolation of Judea
which followed thereupon; all the Jews, being thenceforward banished Judea upon
pain of death. Then I heard, saith [8] Daniel, one saint speaking, and another
saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision
concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give
both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me,
Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
Daniel’s days are years; and these years may perhaps be reckoned either from the
destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the reign of Vespasian, or from the
pollution of the Sanctuary by the worship of Jupiter Olympius, or from the
desolation of Judea made in the end of the Jewish war by the banishment of all
the Jews out of their own country, or from some other period which time will
discover. Henceforward the last horn of the Goat continued mighty under the
Romans, till the reign of Constantine the great and his sons: and then by the
division of the Roman Empire between the Greek and Latin Emperors, it separated
from the Latins, and became the Greek Empire alone, but yet under the dominion
of a Roman family; and at present it is mighty under the dominion of the Turks.
This last horn is by some taken for Antiochus Epiphanes, but not very
judiciously. A horn of a Beast is never taken for a single person: it always
signifies a new kingdom, and the kingdom of Antiochus was an old one. Antiochus
reigned over one of the four horns, and the little horn was a fifth under its
proper kings. This horn was at first a little one, and waxed exceeding great,
but so did not Antiochus. It is described great above all the former horns, and
so was not Antiochus. His kingdom on the contrary was weak, and tributary to the
Romans, and he did not enlarge it. The horn was a King of fierce countenance,
and destroyed wonderfully, and prospered and practised; that is, he prospered in
his practises against the holy people: but Antiochus was frighted out of Egypt
by a mere message of the Romans, and afterwards routed and baffled by the Jews.
The horn was mighty by another’s power, Antiochus acted by his own. The horn
stood up against the Prince of the Host of heaven, the Prince of Princes; and
this is the character not of Antiochus but of Antichrist. The horn cast down the
Sanctuary to the ground, and so did not Antiochus; he left it standing. The
Sanctuary and Host were trampled under foot 2300 days; and in Daniel’s
Prophecies days are put for years: but the profanation of the Temple in the
reign of Antiochus did not last so many natural days. These were to last till
the time of the end, till the last end of the indignation against the Jews; and
this indignation is not yet at an end. They were to last till the Sanctuary
which had been cast down should be cleansed, and the Sanctuary is not yet
cleansed. This Prophecy of the Ram and He-Goat is repeated in the last Prophecy
of Daniel. There the Angel tells Daniel, that [9] he stood up to strengthen
Darius the Mede, and that there should stand up yet three kings in Persia,
[Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis] and the fourth [Xerxes] should be far
richer than they all; and by his wealth thro’ his riches he should stir up all
against the realm of Grecia. This relates to the Ram, whose two horns were the
kingdoms of Media and Persia. Then he goes on to describe the horns of the Goat
by the [10] standing up of a mighty king, which should rule with great dominion,
and do according to his will; and by the breaking of his kingdom into four
smaller kingdoms, and not descending to his own posterity. Then he describes the
actions of two of those kingdoms which bordered on Judea, viz. Egypt and Syria,
calling them the Kings of the South and North, that is, in respect of Judea; and
he carries on the description till the latter end of the kingdoms of the four,
and till the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, when transgressors were come to the
full. In the eighth year of Antiochus, the year in which he profaned the Temple
and set up the heathen Gods in all Judea, and the Romans conquered the kingdom
of Macedon; the prophetic Angel leaves off describing the affairs of the kings
of the South and North, and begins to describe those of the Greeks under the
dominion of the Romans, in these words: [11] And after him Arms [the Romans]
shall stand up, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength. As [Hebrew:
MMLK] signifies after the king, Daniel 11:8; so here [Hebrew: MMNW] may signify
after him: and so [Hebrew: MN-H’CHT] may signify after one of them, Daniel 8:9.
Arms are every where in these Prophecies of Daniel put for the military power of
a kingdom, and they stand up when they conquer and grow powerful. The Romans
conquered Illyricum, Epirus and Macedonia, in the year of Nabonassar 580; and
thirty five years after, by the last will and testament of Attalus the last King
of Pergamus, they inherited that rich and flourishing kingdom, that is, all Asia
on this side mount Taurus: and sixty nine years after, they conquered the
kingdom of Syria, and reduced it into a Province: and thirty four years after
they did the like to Egypt. By all these steps the Roman arms stood up over the
Greeks. And after 95 years more, by making war upon the Jews, they polluted the
sanctuary of strength, and took away the daily sacrifice, and, in its room soon
after, placed the abomination which made the Land desolate: for this abomination
was placed after the days of Christ, Matthew 24:15. In the 16th year of the
Emperor Hadrian, A. C. 132, they placed this abomination by building a Temple to
Jupiter Capitolinus, where the Temple of God in Jerusalem had stood. Thereupon
the Jews under the conduct of Barchochab rose up in arms against the Romans, and
in that war had 50 cities demolished, 985 of their best towns destroyed, and
580000 men slain by the sword: and in the end of the war, A.C. 136, they were
all banished Judea upon pain or death; and that time the land hath remained
desolate of its old inhabitants.

Now that the prophetic Angel passes in this manner from the four kingdoms of the
Greeks to the Romans reigning over the Greeks, is confirmed from hence, that in
the next place he describes the affairs of the Christians unto the time of the
end, in these words: [12] And they that understand among the people shall
instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and
by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little
help, viz. in the reign of Constantine the great; but many shall cleave to them
with dissimulation. And some of them of understanding there shall fall to try
them, and to purge them from the dissemblers; and to make them white even to the
time of the end. And a little after, the time of the end is said to be a time,
times, and half a time: which is the duration of the reign of the last horn of
Daniel’s fourth Beast, and of the Woman and her Beast in the Apocalyps.

Notes to Chap. IX.

[1] Daniel 8:3.

[2] Daniel 8:22.

[3] Daniel 8:23.

[4] Daniel 8:9.

[5] Daniel 8:9-10.

[6] Daniel 8:11.

[7] Daniel 8:12.

[8] Daniel 8:13-14.

[9] Daniel 11:1-2.

[10] Daniel 11:3.

[11] Daniel 11:31.

[12] Daniel 11:33, &c.


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  CHAPTER 16: 01.015.     CHAPTER X
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CHAP. X. Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. The Vision of the Image composed
of four Metals was given first to Nebuchadnezzar, and then to Daniel in a dream:
and Daniel began then to be celebrated for revealing of secrets, Ezekiel 28:3.
The Vision of the four Beasts, and of the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven, was also given to Daniel in a dream. That of the Ram and the He-Goat
appeared to him in the day time, when he was by the bank of the river Ulay; and
was explained to him by the prophetic Angel Gabriel. It concerns the Prince of
the host, and the Prince of Princes: and now in the first year of Darius the
Mede over Babylon, the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again, and
explains to him what is meant by the Son of man, by the Prince of the host, and
the Prince of Princes. The Prophecy of the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven relates to the second coming of Christ; that of the Prince of the host
relates to his first coming: and this Prophecy of the Messiah, in explaining
them, relates to both comings, and assigns the times thereof. This Prophecy,
like all the rest of Daniel’s, consists of two parts, an introductory Prophecy
and an explanation thereof; the whole I thus translate and interpret.

[1] ’Seventy weeks are [2] cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to
finish transgression, and [3] to make an end of sins, to expiate iniquity, and
to bring in everlasting righteousness, to consummate the Vision and [4] the
Prophet, and to anoint the most Holy.

’Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause
to return and to build Jerusalem, unto [5] the Anointed the Prince, shall be
seven weeks.

’Yet threescore and two weeks shall [6] it return, and the street be built and
the wall; but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks, the
Anointed shall be cut off, and [6] it shall not be his; but the people of a
Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof
shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined.

’Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in half a week he
shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease: and upon a wing of abominations
he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that which is
determined be poured upon the desolate.’

Seventy weeks are cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish
transgression, &c. Here, by putting a week for seven years, are reckoned 490
years from the time that the dispersed Jews should be re-incorporated into [7] a
people and a holy city, until the death and resurrection of Christ; whereby
transgression should be finished, and sins ended, iniquity be expiated, and
everlasting righteousness brought in, and this Vision be accomplished, and the
Prophet consummated, that Prophet whom the Jews expected; and whereby the most
Holy should be anointed, he who is therefore in the next words called the
Anointed, that is, the Messiah, or the Christ. For by joining the accomplishment
of the vision with the expiation of sins, the 490 years are ended with the death
of Christ. Now the dispersed Jews became a people and city when they first
returned into a polity or body politick; and this was in the seventh year of
Artaxerxes Longimanus, when Ezra returned with a body of Jews from captivity,
and revived the Jewish worship; and by the King’s commission created Magistrates
in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and
the King, Ezekiel 7:25. There were but two returns from captivity, Zerubbabel’s
and Ezra’s; in Zerubbabel’s they had only commission to build the Temple, in
Ezra’s they first became a polity or city by a government of their own. Now the
years of this Artaxerxes began about two or three months after the summer
solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth
Olympiad; and the latter part thereof, wherein Ezra went up to Jerusalem, was in
the year of the Julian Period 4257. Count the time from thence to the death of
Christ, and you will find it just 490 years. If you count in Judaic years
commencing in autumn, and date the reckoning from the first autumn after Ezra’s
coming to Jerusalem, when he put the King’s decree in execution; the death of
Christ will fall on the year of the Julian Period 4747, Anno Domini 34; and the
weeks will be Judaic weeks, ending with sabbatical years; and this I take to be
the truth: but if you had rather place the death of Christ in the year before,
as is commonly done, you may take the year of Ezra’s journey into the reckoning.

Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause
to return and to build Jerusalem, unto the Anointed the Prince, shall be seven
weeks. The former part of the Prophecy related to the first coming of Christ,
being dated to his coming as a Prophet; this being dated to his coming to be
Prince or King, seems to relate to his second coming. There, the Prophet was
consummate, and the most holy anointed: here, he that was anointed comes to be
Prince and to reign. For Daniel’s Prophecies reach to the end of the world; and
there is scarce a Prophecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ, which doth
not in something or other relate to his second coming. If divers of the
antients, as [8] Irenæus, [9] Julius Africanus, Hippolytus the martyr, and
Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea, applied the half week to the times of
Antichrist; why may not we, by the same liberty of interpretation, apply the
seven weeks to the time when Antichrist shall be destroyed by the brightness of
Christ’s coming? The Israelites in the days of the antient Prophets, when the
ten Tribes were led into captivity, expected a double return; and that at the
first the Jews should build a new Temple inferior to Solomon’s, until the time
of that age should be fulfilled; and afterwards they should return from all
places of their captivity, and build Jerusalem and the Temple gloriously, Tob
14:4-6 : and to express the glory and excellence of this city, it is
figuratively said to be built of precious stones, Tob 13:16-18. Isaiah 54:11-12.
Revelation 11:1-19 and called the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the
Holy City, the Lamb’s Wife, the City of the Great King, the City into which the
Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour. Now while such a return from
captivity was the expectation of Israel, even before the times of Daniel, I know
not why Daniel should omit it in his Prophecy. This part of the Prophecy being
therefore not yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt a particular interpretation of
it, but content myself with observing, that as the seventy and the sixty two
weeks were Jewish weeks, ending with sabbatical years; so the seven weeks are
the compass of a Jubilee, and begin and end with actions proper for a Jubilee,
and of the highest nature for which a Jubilee can be kept: and that since the
commandment to return and to build Jerusalem, precedes the Messiah the Prince 49
years; it may perhaps come forth not from the Jews themselves, but from some
other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and
give occasion to it; and lastly, that this rebuilding of Jerusalem and the waste
places of Judah is predicted in Micah 7:11. Amos 9:11, Amos 9:14. Ezekiel 36:33,
Ezekiel 36:35-36, Ezekiel 36:38. Isaiah 54:3, Isaiah 54:11-12. Isaiah 61:4.
Isaiah 65:18, Isaiah 65:21-22 and Tob 14:5 and that the return from captivity
and coming of the Messiah and his kingdom are described in Daniel 7:1-28.
Revelation 19:1-21. Acts 1:1-26. Matthew 24:1-51. Joel 3:1-21. Ezekiel 36:1-38.
Ezekiel 37:1-28. Isaiah 60:1-22. Isaiah 62:1-12. Isaiah 63:1-19. Isaiah 65:1-25
and Isaiah 66:1-24 and many other places of scripture. The manner I know not.
Let time be the Interpreter.

Yet threescore and two weeks shall it return, and the street be built and the
wall, but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks the
Messiah shall be cut off, and it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, &c. Having foretold both comings
of Christ, and dated the last from their returning and building Jerusalem; to
prevent the applying that to the building Jerusalem by Nehemiah, he
distinguishes this from that, by saying that from this period to the Anointed
shall be, not seven weeks, but threescore and two weeks, and this not in
prosperous but in troublesome times; and at the end of these Weeks the Messiah
shall not be the Prince of the Jews, but be cut off; and Jerusalem not be his,
but the city and sanctuary be destroyed. Now Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the
20th year of this same Artaxerxes, while Ezra still continued there, Nehemiah
12:36, and found the city lying waste, and the houses and wall unbuilt, Nehemiah
2:17. Nehemiah 7:4, and finished the wall the 25th day of the month Elul,
Nehemiah 6:15, in the 28th year of the King, that is, in September in the year
of the Julian Period 4278. Count now from this year threescore and two weeks of
years, that is 434 years, and the reckoning will end in September in the year of
the Julian Period 4712 which is the year in which Christ was born, according to
Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Orosius,
Cassiodorus, and other antients; and this was the general opinion, till
Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar account, in which Christ’s birth is placed
two years later. If with some you reckon that Christ was born three or four
years before the vulgar account, yet his birth will fall in the latter part of
the last week, which is enough. How after these weeks Christ was cut off and the
city and sanctuary destroyed by the Romans, is well known.

Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week. He kept it,
notwithstanding his death, till the rejection of the Jews, and calling of
Cornelius and the Gentiles in the seventh year after his passion. And in half a
week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease; that is, by the war of
the Romans upon the Jews: which war, after some commotions, began in the 13th
year of Nero, A.D. 67, in the spring, when Vespasian with an army invaded them;
and ended in the second year of Vespasian, A.D. 70, in autumn, Sept. 7, when
Titus took the city, having burnt the Temple 27 days before: so that it lasted
three years and an half. And upon a wing of abominations he shall cause
desolation, even until the consummation, and that which is determined be poured
upon the desolate. The Prophets, in representing kingdoms by Beasts and Birds,
put their wings stretcht out over any country for their armies sent out to
invade and rule over that country. Hence a wing of abominations is an army of
false Gods: for an abomination is often put in scripture for a false God; as
where Chemosh is called [10] the abomination of Moab, and Molech the abomination
of Ammon. The meaning therefore is, that the people of a Prince to come shall
destroy the sanctuary, and abolish the daily worship of the true God, and
overspread the land with an army of false gods; and by setting up their dominion
and worship, cause desolation to the Jews, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled. For Christ tells us, that the abomination of desolation spoken of by
Daniel was to be set up in the times of the Roman Empire, Matth. xxiv. 15.

Thus have we in this short Prophecy, a prediction of all the main periods
relating to the coming of the Messiah; the time of his birth, that of his death,
that of the rejection of the Jews, the duration of the Jewish war whereby he
caused the city and sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second
coming: and so the interpretation here given is more full and complete and
adequate to the design, than if we should restrain it to his first coming only,
as Interpreters usually do. We avoid also the doing violence to the language of
Daniel, by taking the seven weeks and sixty two weeks for one number. Had that
been Daniel’s meaning, he would have said sixty and nine weeks, and not seven
weeks and sixty two weeks, a way of numbring used by no nation. In our way the
years are Jewish Luni-solar years, [11] as they ought to be; and the seventy
weeks of years are Jewish weeks ending with sabbatical years, which is very
remarkable. For they end either with the year of the birth of Christ, two years
before the vulgar account, or with the year of his death, or with the seventh
year after it: all which are sabbatical years. Others either count by Lunar
years, or by weeks not Judaic: and, which is worst, they ground their
interpretations on erroneous Chronology, excepting the opinion of Funccius about
the seventy weeks, which is the same with ours. For they place Ezra and Nehemiah
in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, and the building of the Temple in the reign
of Darius Nothus, and date the weeks of Daniel from those two reigns. The
grounds of the Chronology here followed, I will now set down as briefly as I
can. The Peloponnesian war began in spring An. 1 Olymp. 87, as Diodorus,
Eusebius, and all other authors agree. It began two months before Pythodorus
ceased to be Archon, Thucyd. l. 2. that is, in April, two months before the end
of the Olympic year. Now the years of this war are most certainly determined by
the 50 years distance of its first year from the transit of Xerxes inclusively,
Thucyd. l. 2. or 48 years exclusively, Eratosth. apud Clem. Alex. by the 69
years distance of its end, or 27th year, from the beginning of Alexander’s reign
in Greece; by the acting of the Olympic games in its 4th and 12th years, Thucyd.
l. 5; and by three eclipses of the sun, and one of the moon, mentioned by
Thucydides and Xenophon. Now Thucydides, an unquestionable witness, tells us,
that the news of the death of Artaxerxes Longimanus was brought to Ephesus, and
from thence by some Athenians to Athens, in the 7th year of this Peloponnesian
war, when the winter half year was running; and therefore he died An. 4 Olymp.
88, in the end of An. J.P. 4289, suppose a month or two before midwinter; for so
long the news would be in coming. Now Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned 40 years, by
the consent of Diodorus, Eusebius, Jerome, Sulpitius; or 41, according to Ptol.
in can. Clem. Alexand. l. 1. Strom. Chron. Alexandr. Abulpharagius, Nicephorus,
including therein the reign of his successors Xerxes and Sogdian, as
Abulpharagius informs us. After Artaxerxes reigned his son Xerxes two months,
and Sogdian seven months; but their reign is not reckoned apart in summing up
the years of the Kings, but is included in the 40 or 41 years reign of
Artaxerxes: omit these nine months, and the precise reign of Artaxerxes will be
thirty nine years and three months. And therefore since his reign ended in the
beginning of winter An. J.P. 4289, it began between midsummer and autumn, An.
J.P. 4250. The same thing I gather also thus. Cambyses began his reign in spring
An. J.P. 4185, and reigned eight years, including the five months of Smerdes;
and then Darius Hystaspis began in spring An. J.P. 4193, and reigned thirty six
years, by the unanimous consent of all Chronologers. The reigns of these two
Kings are determined by three eclipses of the moon observed at Babylon, and
recorded by Ptolemy; so that it cannot be disputed. One was in the seventh year
of Cambyses, An. J.P. 4191, Jul. 16, at 11 at night; another in the 20th year of
Darius, An. J.P. 4212, Nov. 19, at 11h. 45’ at night; a third in the 31st year
of Darius, An. J.P. 4223, Apr. 25, at 11h. 30 at night. By these eclipses, and
the Prophecies of Haggai and Zechary compared together, it is manifest that his
years began after the 24th day of the 11th Jewish month, and before the 25th day
of April, and by consequence about March. Xerxes therefore began in spring An.
J.P. 4229: for Darius died in the fifth year after the battle at Marathon, as
Herodotus, lib. 7, and Plutarch mention; and that battle was in October An. J.P.
4224, ten years before the battle at Salamis. Xerxes therefore began within less
than a year after October An. J.P. 4228, suppose in the spring following: for he
spent his first five years, and something more, in preparations for his
expedition against the Greeks; and this expedition was in the time of the
Olympic games, An. 1 Olymp. 75, Calliade Athenis Archonte, 28 years after the
Regifuge, and Consulship of the first Consul Junius Brutus, Anno Urbis conditæ
273, Fabio & Furio Coss. The passage of Xerxes’s army over the Hellespont began
in the end of the fourth year of the 74th Olympiad, that is, in June An. J.P.
4234, and took up one month: and in autumn, three months after, on the full
moon, the 16th day of the month Munychion, was the battle at Salamis, and a
little after that an eclipse of the sun, which by the calculation fell on Octob.
2. His sixth year therefore began a little before June, suppose in spring An.
J.P. 4234, and his first year consequently in spring An. J.P. 4229, as above.
Now he reigned almost twenty one years, by the consent of all writers. Add the 7
months of Artabanus, and the sum will be 21 years and about four or five months,
which end between midsummer and autumn An. J.P. 4250. At this time therefore
began the reign of his successor Artaxerxes, as was to be proved. The same thing
is also confirmed by Julius Africanus, who informs us out of former writers,
that the 20th year of this Artaxerxes was the 115th year from the beginning of
the reign of Cyrus in Persia, and fell in with An. 4 Olymp. 83. It began
therefore with the Olympic year, soon after the summer Solstice, An. J.P. 4269.
Subduct nineteen years, and his first year will begin at the same time of the
year An. J.P. 4250, as above. His 7th year therefore began after midsummer An.
J.P. 4256; and the Journey of Ezra to Jerusalem in the spring following fell on
the beginning of An. J.P. 4257, as above.

Notes to Chap. X.

[1] Daniel 9:24-27.

[2] Cut upon. A phrase in Hebrew, taken from the practise of numbring by cutting
notches.

[3] Heb. to seal, i.e. to finish or consummate: a metaphor taken from sealing
what is finished. So the Jews compute, ad obsignatum Misna, ad obsignatum
Talmud, that is, ad absolutum.

[4] Heb. the Prophet, not the Prophecy.

[5] Heb. the Messiah, that is, in Greek, the Christ; in English, the Anointed. I
use the English word, that the relation of this clause to the former may appear.

[6] Jerusalem.

[7] See Isaiah 23:13.

[8] Iren. l. 5. Hær. c. 25.

[9] Apud Hieron. in h. l.

[10] 1 Kings 11:7.

[11] The antient solar years of the eastern nations consisted of 12 months, and
every month of 30 days: and hence came the division of a circle into 360
degrees. This year seems to be used by Moses in his history of the Flood, and by
John in the Apocalypse, where a time, times and half a time, 42 months and 1260
days, are put equipollent. But in reckoning by many of these years together, an
account is to be kept of the odd days which were added to the end of these
years. For the Egyptians added five days to the end of this year; and so did the
Chaldeans long before the times of Daniel, as appears by the Æra, of Nabonassar:
and the Persian Magi used the same year of 365 days, till the Empire of the
Arabians. The antient Greeks also used the same solar year of 12 equal months,
or 360 days; but every other year added an intercalary month, consisting of 10
and 11 days alternately. The year of the Jews, even from their coming out of
Egypt, was Luni-solar. It was solar, for the harvest always followed the
Passover, and the fruits of the land were always gathered before the feast of
Tabernacles, Leviticus 23:1-44. But the months were lunar, for the people were
commanded by Moses in the beginning of every month to blow with trumpets, and
offer burnt offerings with their drink offerings, Numbers 10:10. Numbers 28:11,
Numbers 28:14. and this solemnity was kept on the new moons, Psalms 61:3-5. 1
Chronicles 23:31. These months were called by Moses the first, second, third,
fourth month, &c. and the first month was also called Abib, the second Zif, the
seventh Ethanim, the eighth Bull, Exodus 13:4. 1 Kings 6:37-38. 1 Kings 8:2. But
in the Babylonian captivity the Jews used the names of the Chaldean months, and
by those names understood the months of their own year; so that the Jewish
months then lost their old names, and are now called by those of the Chaldeans.
The Jews began their civil year from the autumnal Equinox, and their sacred year
from the vernal: and the first day of the first month was on the visible new
moon, which was nearest the Equinox.

Whether Daniel used the Chaldaick or Jewish year, is not very material; the
difference being but six hours in a year, and 4 months in 480 years. But I take
his months to be Jewish: first, because Daniel was a Jew, and the Jews even by
the names of the Chaldean months understood the months of their own year:
secondly, because this Prophecy is grounded on Jeremiah’s concerning the 70
years captivity, and therefore must be understood of the same sort of years with
the seventy; and those are Jewish, since that Prophecy was given in Judea before
the captivity: and lastly, because Daniel reckons by weeks of years, which is a
way of reckoning peculiar to the Jewish years. For as their days ran by sevens,
and the last day of every seven was a sabbath; so their years ran by sevens, and
the last year of every seven was a sabbatical year, and seven such weeks of
years made a Jubilee.


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  CHAPTER 17: 01.016.     CHAPTER XI
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CHAP. XI. Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of Christ. The times of the
Birth and Passion of Christ, with such like niceties, being not material to
religion, were little regarded by the Christians of the first age. They who
began first to celebrate them, placed them in the cardinal periods of the year;
as the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, on the 25th of March, which when Julius
Cæsar corrected the Calendar was the vernal Equinox; the feast of John Baptist
on the 24th of June, which was the summer Solstice; the feast of St. Michael on
Sept. 29, which was the autumnal Equinox; and the birth of Christ on the winter
Solstice, Decemb. 25, with the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John and the
Innocents, as near it as they could place them. And because the Solstice in time
removed from the 25th of December to the 24th, the 23d, the 22d, and so on
backwards, hence some in the following centuries placed the birth of Christ on
Decemb. 23, and at length on Decemb. 20: and for the same reason they seem to
have set the feast of St. Thomas on Decemb. 21, and that of St. Matthew on Sept.
21. So also at the entrance of the Sun into all the signs in the Julian
Calendar, they placed the days of other Saints; as the conversion of Paul on
Jan. 25, when the Sun entred [Aquarius]; St. Matthias on Feb. 25, when he entred
[Pisces]; St. Mark on Apr. 25, when he entred [Taurus]; Corpus Christi on May
26, when he entred [Gemini]; St. James on July 25, when he entred [Cancer]; St.
Bartholomew on Aug. 24, when he entred [Virgo]; Simon and Jude on Octob. 28,
when he entred [Scorpio]: and if there were any other remarkable days in the
Julian Calendar, they placed the Saints upon them, as St. Barnabas on June 11,
where Ovid seems to place the feast of Vesta and Fortuna, and the goddess
Matuta; and St. Philip and James on the first of May, a day dedicated both to
the Bona Dea, or Magna Mater, and to the goddess Flora, and still celebrated
with her rites. All which shews that these days were fixed in the first
Christian Calendars by Mathematicians at pleasure, without any ground in
tradition; and that the Christians afterwards took up with what they found in
the Calendars.

Neither was there any certain tradition about the years of Christ. For the
Christians who first began to enquire into these things, as Clemens
Alexandrinus, Origen, Tertullian, Julius Africanus, Lactantius, Jerome, St.
Austin, Sulpicius Severus, Prosper, and as many as place the death of Christ in
the 15th or 16th year of Tiberius, make Christ to have preached but one year, or
at most but two. At length Eusebius discovered four successive Passovers in the
Gospel of John, and thereupon set on foot an opinion that he preacht three years
and an half; and so died in the 19th year of Tiberius. Others afterwards,
finding the opinion that he died in the Equinox Mark. 25, more consonant to the
times of the Jewish Passover, in the 17th and 20th years, have placed his death
in one of those two years. Neither is there any greater certainty in the
opinions about the time of his birth. The first Christians placed his baptism
near the beginning of the 15th year of Tiberius; and thence reckoning thirty
years backwards, placed his birth in the 43d Julian year, the 42d of Augustus
and 28th of the Actiac victory. This was the opinion which obtained in the first
ages, till Dionysius Exiguus, placing the baptism of Christ in the 16th year of
Tiberius, and misinterpreting the text of Luke 3:23 as if Jesus was only
beginning to be 30 years old when he was baptized, invented the vulgar account,
in which his birth is placed two years later than before. As therefore relating
to these things there is no tradition worth considering; let us lay aside all
and examine what prejudices can be gathered from records of good account. The
fifteenth year of Tiberius began Aug. 28, An. J.P. 4727. So soon as the winter
was over, and the weather became warm enough, we may reckon that John began to
baptize; and that before next winter his fame went abroad, and all the people
came to his baptism, and Jesus among the rest. Whence the first Passover after
his baptism mentioned John 2:13 was in the 16th year of Tiberius. After this
feast Jesus came into the land of Judea, and staid there baptizing, whilst John
was baptizing in Ænon, John 3:22-23. But when he heard that John was cast into
prison, he departed into Galilee, Matthew 3:12 being afraid, because the
Pharisees had heard that he baptized more disciples than John, John 4:1 and in
his journey he passed thro’ Samaria four months before the harvest, John 4:35
that is, about the time of the winter Solstice. For their harvest was between
Easter and Whitsunday, and began about a month after the vernal Equinox. Say not
ye, saith he, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say
unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already
to harvest; meaning, that the people in the fields were ready for the Gospel, as
his next words shew[1]. John therefore was imprisoned about November, in the
17th year of Tiberius; and Christ thereupon went from Judea to Cana of Galilee
in December, and was received there of the Galileans, who had seen all he did at
Jerusalem at the Passover: and when a Nobleman of Capernaum heard he was
returned into Galilee, and went to him and desired him to come and cure his son,
he went not thither yet, but only said, Go thy way, thy son liveth; and the
Nobleman returned and found it so, and believed, he and his house, John 4:1-54.
This is the beginning of his miracles in Galilee; and thus far John is full and
distinct in relating the actions of his first year, omitted by the other
Evangelists. The rest of his history is from this time related more fully by the
other Evangelists than by John; for what they relate he omits. From this time
therefore Jesus taught in the Synagogues of Galilee on the sabbath-days, being
glorified of all: and coming to his own city Nazareth, and preaching in their
Synagogue, they were offended, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to
the brow of the hill on which the city was built to cast him headlong; but he
passing thro’ the midst of them, went his way, and came and dwelt at Capernaum,
Luke 4:1-44. And by this time we may reckon the second Passover was either past
or at hand.

All this time Matthew passeth over in few words, and here begins to relate the
preaching and miracles of Christ. When Jesus, saith he, had heard that John was
cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and
dwelt at Capernaum, and from that time began to preach and say, Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matthew 4:12. Afterwards he called his disciples
Peter, Andrew, James and John; and then went about all Galilee, teaching in the
Synagogues,--and healing all manner of sickness:--and his fame went thro’out all
Syria; and they brought unto him all sick people,--and there followed him great
multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and
from Judea, and from beyond Jordan, Matthew 4:18, Matthew 4:25. All this was
done before the sermon in the mount: and therefore we may certainly reckon that
the second Passover was past before the preaching of that sermon. The multitudes
that followed him from Jerusalem and Judea, shew that he had lately been there
at the feast. The sermon in the mount was made when great multitudes came to him
from all places, and followed him in the open fields; which is an argument of
the summer-season: and in this sermon he pointed at the lilies of the field then
in the flower before the eyes of his auditors. Consider, saith he, the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet Solomon
in all his glory was not arayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe
the grass of the field, which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven, &c.
Matthew 6:28. So therefore the grass of the field was now in the flower, and by
consequence the month of March with the Passover was past.

Let us see therefore how the rest of the feasts follow in order in Matthew’s
Gospel: for he was an eye-witness of what he relates, and so tells all things in
due order of time, which Mark and Luke do not.

Some time after the sermon in the mount, when the time came that he should be
received, that is, when the time of a feast came that he should be received by
the Jews, he set his face to go to Jerusalem: and as he went with his disciples
in the way, when the Samaritans in his passage thro’ Samaria had denied him
lodgings, and a certain Scribe said unto him, Master, I will follow thee
whithersoever thou goest, Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head,
Matthew 8:19. Luke 9:51, Luke 9:57. The Scribe told Christ he would bear him
company in his journey, and Christ replied that he wanted a lodging. Now this
feast I take to be the feast of Tabernacles, because soon after I find Christ
and his Apostles on the sea of Tiberias in a storm so great, that the ship was
covered with water and in danger of sinking, till Christ rebuked the winds and
the sea, Matthew 8:23. For this storm shews that winter was now come on.

After this Christ did many miracles, and went about all the cities and villages
of Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every sickness, and every disease among the people, Matthew
9:1-38 he then sent forth the twelve to do the like, Matthew 10:1-42 and at
length when he had received a message from John, and answered it, he said to the
multitudes, From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence; and upbraided the cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and
Capernaum, wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented
not, Matthew 11:1-30. Which several passages shew, that from the imprisonment of
John till now there had been a considerable length of time: the winter was now
past, and the next Passover was at hand; for immediately after this, Matthew, in
Matthew 12:1-50 subjoins, that Jesus went on the sabbath-day thro’ the corn, and
his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to
eat,--rubbing them, saith Luke, in their hands: the corn therefore was not only
in the ear, but ripe; and consequently the Passover, in which the first-fruits
were always offered before the harvest, was now come or past. Luke calls this
sabbath [Greek: deuteroprôton], the second prime sabbath, that is, the second of
the two great feasts of the Passover. As we call Easter day high Easter, and its
octave low Easter or Lowsunday: so Luke calls the feast on the seventh day of
the unlevened bread, the second of the two prime sabbaths. In one of the
sabbaths following he went into a Synagogue, and healed a man with a withered
hand, Matthew 12:9. Luke 6:6. And when the Pharisees took counsel to destroy
him, he withdrew himself from thence, and great multitudes followed him; and he
healed them all, and charged them that they should not make him known, Matthew
12:14. Afterwards being in a ship, and the multitude standing on the shore, he
spake to them three parables together, taken from the seeds-men sowing the
fields, Matthew 13:1-58 by which we may know that it was now seed-time, and by
consequence that the feast of Tabernacles was past. After this he went into his
own country, and taught them in their Synagogue, but did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief. Then the twelve having been abroad a year,
returned, and told Jesus all that they had done: and at the same time Herod
beheaded John in prison, and his disciples came and told Jesus; and when Jesus
heard it, he took the twelve and departed thence privately by ship into a desert
place belonging to Bethsaida: and the people when they knew it, followed him on
foot out of the cities, the winter being now past; and he healed their sick, and
in the desert fed them to the number of five thousand men, besides women and
children, with only five loaves and two fishes, Matthew 14:1-36. Luke 9:1-62 at
the doing of which miracle the Passover of the Jews was nigh, John 6:4. But
Jesus went not up to this feast; but after these things walked in Galilee,
because the Jews at the Passover before had taken counsel to destroy him, and
still sought to kill him, John 7:1. Henceforward therefore he is found first in
the coast of Tyre and Sidon, then by the sea of Galilee, afterwards in the coast
of Cæsarea Philippi; and lastly at Capernaum, Matthew 15:21, Matthew 15:29.
Matthew 16:13.

Afterwards when the feast of Tabernacles was at hand, his brethren upbraided him
for walking secretly, and urged him to go up to the feast. But he went not till
they were gone, and then went up privately, John 7:2 and when the Jews sought to
stone him, he escaped, John 8:59. After this he was at the feast of the
Dedication in winter, John 10:22 and when they sought again to take him, he fled
beyond Jordan, John 10:39-40. Matthew 19:1 where he stayed till the death of
Lazarus, and then came to Bethany near Jerusalem, and raised him, John 11:7,
John 11:18 whereupon the Jews took counsel from that time to kill him: and
therefore he walked no more openly among the Jews, but went thence into a
country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there continued
with his disciples till the last Passover, in which the Jews put him to death,
John 11:53-54.

Thus have we, in the Gospels of Matthew and John compared together, the history
of Christ’s actions in continual order during five Passovers. John is more
distinct in the beginning and end; Matthew in the middle: what either omits, the
other supplies. The first Passover was between the baptism of Christ and the
imprisonment of John, John 2:13 the second within four months after the
imprisonment of John, and Christ’s beginning to preach in Galilee, John 4:35 and
therefore it was either that feast to which Jesus went up, when the Scribe
desired to follow him, Matthew 8:19. Luke 9:51, Luke 9:57 or the feast before
it. The third was the next feast after it, when the corn was eared and ripe,
Matthew 12:1. Luke 6:1. The fourth was that which was nigh at hand when Christ
wrought the miracle of the five loaves, Matthew 14:15. John 6:4-5. and the fifth
was that in which Christ suffered, Matthew 20:17. John 12:1.

Between the first and second Passover John and Christ baptized together, till
the imprisonment of John, which was four months before the second. Then Christ
began to preach, and call his disciples; and after he had instructed them a
year, lent them to preach in the cities of the Jews: at the same time John
hearing of the fame of Christ, sent to him to know who he was. At the third, the
chief Priests began to consult about the death of Christ. A little before the
fourth, the twelve after they had preached a year in all the cities, returned to
Christ; and at the same time Herod beheaded John in prison, after he had been in
prison two years and a quarter: and thereupon Christ fled into the desart for
fear of Herod. The fourth Christ went not up to Jerusalem for fear of the Jews,
who at the Passover before had consulted his death, and because his time was not
yet come. Thenceforward therefore till the feast of Tabernacles he walked in
Galilee, and that secretly for fear of Herod: and after the feast of Tabernacles
he returned no more into Galilee, but sometimes was at Jerusalem, and sometimes
retired beyond Jordan, or to the city Ephraim by the wilderness, till the
Passover in which he was betrayed, apprehended, and crucified.

John therefore baptized two summers, and Christ preached three. The first summer
John preached to make himself known, in order to give testimony to Christ. Then,
after Christ came to his baptism and was made known to him, he baptized another
summer, to make Christ known by his testimony; and Christ also baptized the same
summer, to make himself the more known: and by reason of John’s testimony there
came more to Christ’s baptism than to John’s. The winter following John was
imprisoned; and now his course being at an end, Christ entered upon his proper
office of preaching in the cities. In the beginning of his preaching he
completed the number of the twelve Apostles, and instructed them all the first
year in order to send them abroad. Before the end of this year, his fame by his
preaching and miracles was so far spread abroad, that the Jews at the Passover
following consulted how to kill him. In the second year of his preaching, it
being no longer safe for him to converse openly in Judea, he sent the twelve to
preach in all their cities: and in the end of the year they returned to him, and
told him all they had done. All the last year the twelve continued with him to
be instructed more perfectly, in order to their preaching to all nations after
his death. And upon the news of John’s death, being afraid of Herod as well as
of the Jews, he walked this year more secretly than before; frequenting desarts,
and spending the last half of the year in Judea, without the dominions of Herod.

Thus have we in the Gospels of Matthew and John all things told in due order,
from the beginning of John’s preaching to the death of Christ, and the years
distinguished from one another by such essential characters that they cannot be
mistaken. The second Passover is distinguished from the first, by the
interposition of John’s imprisonment. The third is distinguished from the
second, by a double character: first, by the interposition of the feast to which
Christ went up, Matthew 8:19. Luke 9:57 and secondly, by the distance of time
from the beginning of Christ’s preaching: for the second was in the beginning of
his preaching, and the third so long after, that before it came Christ said,
from the days of John the Baptist until now, &c. and upbraided the cities of
Galilee for their not repenting at his preaching, and mighty works done in all
that time. The fourth is distinguished from the third, by the mission of the
twelve from Christ to preach in the cities of Judea in all the interval. The
fifth is distinguished from all the former by the twelve’s being returned from
preaching, and continuing with Christ during all the interval, between the
fourth and fifth, and by the passion and other infallible characters.

Now since the first summer of John’s baptizing fell in the fifteenth year of the
Emperor Tiberius, and by consequence the first of these five Passovers in his
sixteenth year; the last of them, in which Jesus suffered, will fall on the
twentieth year of the same Emperor; and by consequence in the Consulship of
Fabius and Vitellius, in the 79th Julian year, and year of Christ 34, which was
the sabbatical year of the Jews. And that it did so, I further confirm by these
arguments.

I take it for granted that the passion was on friday the 14th day of the month
Nisan, the great feast of the Passover on saturday the 15th day of Nisan, and
the resurrection on the day following. Now the 14th day of Nisan always fell on
the full moon next after the vernal Equinox; and the month began at the new moon
before, not at the true conjunction, but at the first appearance of the new
moon: for the Jews referred all the time of the silent moon, as they phrased it,
that is, of the moon’s disappearing, to the old moon; and because the first
appearance might usually be about 18 hours after the true conjunction, they
therefore began their month from the sixth hour at evening, that is, at sun set,
next after the eighteenth hour from the conjunction. And this rule they called
[Hebrew: YH] Jah, designing by the letters [Hebrew: Y] and [Hebrew: H] the
number 18.

I know that Epiphanius tells us, if some interpret his words rightly, that the
Jews used a vicious cycle, and thereby anticipated the legal new moons by two
days. But this surely he spake not as a witness, for he neither understood
Astronomy nor Rabbinical learning, but as arguing from his erroneous hypothesis
about the time of the passion. For the Jews did not anticipate, but postpone
their months: they thought it lawful to begin their months a day later than the
first appearance of the new moon, because the new moon continued for more days
than one; but not a day sooner, lest they should celebrate the new moon before
there was any. And the Jews still keep a tradition in their books, that the
Sanhedrim used diligently to define the new moons by sight: sending witnesses
into mountainous places, and examining them about the moon’s appearing, and
translating the new moon from the day they had agreed on to the day before, as
often as witnesses came from distant regions, who had seen it a day sooner than
it was seen at Jerusalem. Accordingly Josephus, one of the Jewish Priests who
ministred in the temple, tells us [2] that the Passover was kept on the 14th day
of Nisan, [Greek: kata selênên] according to the moon, when the sun was in
Aries. This is confirmed also by two instances, recorded by him, which totally
overthrow the hypothesis of the Jews using a vicious cycle. For that year in
which Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, he saith, the Passover was on the 14th
day of the month Xanticus, which according to Josephus is our April; and that
five years before, it fell on the 8th day of the same month. Which two instances
agree with the course of the moon.

Computing therefore the new moons of the first month according to the course of
the moon and the rule Jah, and thence counting 14 days, I find that the 14th day
of this month in the year of Christ 31, fell on tuesday March 27; in the year
32, on sunday Apr. 13; in the year 33, on friday Apr. 3; in the year 34, on
wednesday March 24, or rather, for avoiding the Equinox which fell on the same
day, and for having a fitter time for harvest, on thursday Apr. 22. also in the
year 35, on tuesday Apr. 12. and in the year 36, on saturday March 31. But
because the 15th and 21st days of Nisan, and a day or two of Pentecost, and the
10th, 15th, and 22d of Tisri, were always sabbatical days or days of rest, and
it was inconvenient on two sabbaths together to be prohibited burying their dead
and making ready fresh meat, for in that hot region their meat would be apt in
two days to corrupt: to avoid these and such like inconveniences, the Jews
postponed their months a day, as often as the first day of the month Tisri, or,
which is all one, the third of the month Nisan, was sunday, wednesday or friday:
and this rule they called [Hebrew: ’DW] Adu, by the letters [Hebrew: W , D , ’]
signifying the Num 1, 4, 6; that is, the 1st, 4th, and 6th days of the week;
which days we call sunday, wednesday and friday. Postponing therefore by this
rule the months found above; the 14th day of the month Nisan will fall in the
year of Christ 31, on wednesday March 28; in the year 32, on monday Apr. 14; in
the year 33, on friday Apr. 3; in the year 34, on friday Apr. 23; in the year
35, on wednesday Apr. 13, and in the year 36, on saturday March 31. By this
computation therefore the year 32 is absolutely excluded, because the Passion
cannot fall on friday without making it five days after the full moon, or two
days before it; whereas it ought to be upon the day of the full moon, or the
next day. For the same reason the years 31 and 35 are excluded, because in them
the Passion cannot fall on friday, without making it three days after the full
moon, or four days before it: errors so enormous, that they would be very
conspicuous in the heavens to every vulgar eye. The year 36 is contended for by
few or none, and both this and the year 35 may be thus excluded.

Tiberius in the beginning of his reign made Valerius Gratus President of Judea;
and after 11 years, substituted Pontius Pilate, who governed 10 years. Then
Vitellius, newly made President of Syria, deprived him of his honour,
substituting Marcellus, and at length sent him to Rome: but, by reason of
delays, Tiberius died before Pilate got thither. In the mean time Vitellius,
after he had deposed Pilate, came to Jerusalem in the time of the Passover, to
visit that Province as well as others in the beginning of his office; and in the
place of Caiaphas, then High Priest, created Jonathas the son of Ananus, or
Annas as he is called in scripture. Afterwards, when Vitellius was returned to
Antioch, he received letters from Tiberius, to make peace with Artabanus king of
the Parthians. At the same time the Alans, by the sollicitation of Tiberius,
invaded the kingdom of Artabanus; and his subjects also, by the procurement of
Vitellius, soon after rebelled: for Tiberius thought that Artabanus, thus
pressed with difficulties, would more readily accept the conditions of peace.
Artabanus therefore straightway gathering a greater army, opprest the rebels;
and then meeting Vitellius at Euphrates, made a league with the Romans. After
this Tiberius commanded Vitellius to make war upon Aretas King of Arabia. He
therefore leading his army against Aretas, went together with Herod to
Jerusalem, to sacrifice at the publick feast which was then to be celebrated.
Where being received honourably, he stayed three days, and in the mean while
translated the high Priesthood from Jonathas to his brother Theophilus: and the
fourth day, receiving letters of the death of Tiberius, made the people swear
allegiance to Caius the new Emperor; and recalling his army, sent them into
quarters. All this is related by Josephus Antiq. lib. 18. c. 6, 7. Now Tiberius
reigned 22 years and 7 months, and died March 16, in the beginning of the year
of Christ 37; and the feast of the Passover fell on April 20 following, that is,
35 days after the death of Tiberius: so that there were about 36 or 38 days, for
the news of his death to come from Rome to Vitellius at Jerusalem; which being a
convenient time for that message, confirms that the feast which Vitellius and
Herod now went up to was the Passover. For had it been the Pentecost, as is
usually supposed, Vitellius would have continued three months ignorant of the
Emperor’s death: which is not to be supposed. However, the things done between
this feast and the Passover which Vitellius was at before, namely, the stirring
up a sedition in Parthia, the quieting that sedition, the making a league after
that with the Parthians, the sending news of that league to Rome, the receiving
new orders from thence to go against the Arabians, and the putting those orders
in execution; required much more time than the fifty days between the Passover
and Pentecost of the same year: and therefore the Passover which Vitellius first
went up to, was in the year before. Therefore Pilate was deposed before the
Passover A.C. 36, and by consequence the passion of Christ was before that
Passover: for he suffered not under Vitellius, nor under Vitellius and Pilate
together, but under Pilate alone.

Now it is observable that the high Priesthood was at this time become an annual
office, and the Passover was the time of making a new high Priest. For Gratus
the predecessor of Pilate, saith Josephus, made Ismael high Priest after Ananus;
and a while after, suppose a year, deposed him, and substituted Eleazar, and a
year after Simon, and after another year Caiaphas; and then gave way to Pilate.
So Vitellius at one Passover made Jonathas successor to Caiaphas, and at the
next Theophilus to Jonathas. Hence Luke tells us, that in the 15th year of
Tiberius, Annas and Caiaphas were high Priests, that is, Annas till the
Passover, and Caiaphas afterwards. Accordingly John speaks of the high
Priesthood as an annual office: for he tells us again and again, in the last
year of Christ’s preaching, that Caiaphas was high Priest for that year, John
11:49, John 11:51. John 18:13. And the next year Luke tells you, that Annas was
high Priest, Acts 4:6. Theophilus was therefore made high Priest in the first
year of Caius, Jonathas in the 22d year of Tiberius, and Caiaphas in the 21st
year of the same Emperor: and therefore, allotting a year to each, the Passion,
when Annas succeeded Caiaphas, could not be later than the 20th year of
Tiberius, A.C. 34.

Thus there remain only the years 33 and 34 to be considered; and the year 33 I
exclude by this argument. In the Passover two years before the Passion, when
Christ went thro’ the corn, and his disciples pluckt the ears, and rubbed them
with their hands to eat; this ripeness of the corn shews that the Passover then
fell late: and so did the Passover A.C. 32, April 14, but the Passover A.C. 31,
March 28th, fell very early. It was not therefore two years after the year 31,
but two years after 32 that Christ suffered.

Thus all the characters of the Passion agree to the year 34; and that is the
only year to which they all agree.

Notes to Chap. XI.

[1] I observe, that Christ and his forerunner John in their parabolical
discourses were wont to allude to things present. The old Prophets, when they
would describe things emphatically, did not only draw parables from things which
offered themselves, as from the rent of a garment, 1 Samuel 15:1-35 from the
sabbatic year, Isaiah 37:1-38 from the vessels of a Potter, Jeremiah 18:1-23,
&c. but also when such fit objects were wanting, they supplied them by their own
actions, as by rending a garment, 1 Kings 11:1-43 by shooting, 2 Kings 13:1-25.
by making bare their body, Isaiah 20:1-6 by imposing significant names to their
sons, Isaiah 8:1-22. Hosea 1:1-11 by hiding a girdle in the bank of Euphrates,
Jeremiah 13:1-27. by breaking a potter’s vessel, Jeremiah 14:1-22 by putting on
fetters and yokes, Jeremiah 27:1-22 by binding a book to a stone, and casting
them both into Euphrates, Jeremiah 51:1-64 by besieging a painted city, Ezekiel
4:1-17 by dividing hair into three parts, Ezekiel 5:1-17 by making a chain,
Ezekiel 8:1-18 by carrying out houshold stuff like a captive and trembling,
Ezekiel 12:1-28, &c. By such kind of types the Prophets loved to speak. And
Christ being endued with a nobler prophetic spirit than the rest, excelled also
in this kind of speaking, yet so as not to speak by his own actions, that was
less grave and decent, but to turn into parables such things as offered
themselves. On occasion of the harvest approaching, he admonishes his disciples
once and again of the spiritual harvest, John 4:35. Matthew 9:37. Seeing the
lilies of the field, he admonishes his disciples about gay clothing, Matthew
6:28. In allusion to the present season of fruits, he admonishes his disciples
about knowing men by their fruits, Matthew 7:16. In the time of the Passover,
when trees put forth leaves, he bids his disciples learn a parable from the fig
tree: when its branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that
summer is nigh, &c. Matthew 24:32. Luke 21:29. The same day, alluding both to
the season of the year and to his passion, which was to be two days after, he
formed a parable of the time of fruits approaching, and the murdering of the
heir, Matthew 21:33. Alluding at the same time, both to the money-changers whom
he had newly driven out of the Temple, and to his passion at hand; he made a
parable of a Noble-man going into a far country to receive a kingdom and return,
and delivering his goods to his servants, and at his return condemning the
slothful servant because he put not his money to the exchangers, Matthew 25:14.
Luke 19:12. Being near the Temple where sheep were kept in folds to be sold for
the sacrifices, he spake many things parabolically of sheep, of the shepherd,
and of the door of the sheepfold; and discovers that he alluded to the
sheepfolds which were to be hired in the market-place, by speaking of such folds
as a thief could not enter by the door, nor the shepherd himself open, but a
porter opened to the shepherd, John 10:1, John 10:3. Being in the mount of
Olives, Matthew 26:30. John 14:31. a place so fertile that it could not want
vines, he spake many things mystically of the Husbandman, and of the vine and
its branches, John 15:1-27. Meeting a blind man, he admonished of spiritual
blindness, John 9:39. At the sight of little children, he described once and
again the innocence of the elect, Matthew 18:2. Matthew 19:13. Knowing that
Lazarus was dead and should be raised again, he discoursed of the resurrection
and life eternal, John 11:25-26. Hearing of the slaughter of some whom Pilate
had slain, he admonished of eternal death, Luke 13:1. To his fishermen he spake
of fishers of men, Matthew 4:10. and composed another parable about fishes.
Matthew 13:47. Being by the Temple, he spake of the Temple of his body, John
2:19. At supper he spake a parable about the mystical supper to come in the
kingdom of heaven, Luke 14:1-35. On occasion of temporal food, he admonished his
disciples of spiritual food, and of eating his flesh and drinking his blood
mystically, John 6:27, John 6:53. When his disciples wanted bread, he bad them
beware of the leven of the Pharisees, Matthew 16:6. Being desired to eat, he
answered that he had other meat, John 4:31. In the great day of the feast of
Tabernacles, when the Jews, as their custom was, brought a great quantity of
waters from the river Shiloah into the Temple, Christ stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, John 7:37. The next day, in
allusion to the servants who by reason of the sabbatical year were newly set
free, he said, If ye continue in my word, the truth shall make you free. Which
the Jews understanding literally with respect to the present manumission of
servants, answered, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man:
how sayeth thou, ye shall be made free? John viii. They assert their freedom by
a double argument: first, because they were the seed of Abraham, and therefore
newly made free, had they been ever in bondage; and then, because they never
were in bondage. In the last Passover, when Herod led his army thro’ Judea
against Aretas King of Arabia, because Aretas was aggressor and the stronger in
military forces, as appeared by the event; Christ alluding to that state of
things, composed the parable of a weaker King leading his army against a
stronger who made war upon him, Luke 14:31. And I doubt not but divers other
parables were formed upon other occasions, the history of which we have not.

[2] Joseph. Antiq. lib. 3. c. 10.


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  CHAPTER 18: 01.017.     CHAPTER XII
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CHAP. XII. Of the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth. The kingdoms represented
by the second and third Beasts, or the Bear and Leopard, are again described by
Daniel in his last Prophecy written in the third year of Cyrus over Babylon, the
year in which he conquered Persia. For this Prophecy is a commentary upon the
Vision of the Ram and He-Goat.

Behold, saith [1] he, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, [Cyrus,
Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspes] and the fourth [Xerxes] shall be far richer than
they all: and by his strength thro’ his riches he shall stir up all against the
realm of Grecia. And a mighty king [Alexander the great] shall stand up, that
shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall
stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four
winds of heaven; and not to his posterity [but after their death,] nor according
to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be pluckt up, even for
others besides those. Alexander the great having conquered all the Persian
Empire, and some part of India, died at Babylon a month before the summer
Solstice, in the year of Nabonassar 425: and his captains gave the monarchy to
his bastard brother Philip Aridæus, a man disturbed in his understanding; and
made Perdiccas administrator of the kingdom. Perdiccas with their consent made
Meleager commander of the army, Seleucus master of the horse, Craterus treasurer
of the kingdom, Antipater governor of Macedon and Greece, Ptolemy governor of
Egypt; Antigonus governor of Pamphylia, Lycia, Lycaonia, and Phrygia major;
Lysimachus governor of Thrace, and other captains governors of other Provinces;
as many as had been so before in the days of Alexander the great. The
Babylonians began now to count by a new Æra, which they called the Æra of
Philip, using the years of Nabonassar, and reckoning the 425th year of
Nabonassar to be the first year of Philip. Roxana the wife of Alexander being
left big with child, and about three or four months after brought to bed of a
son, they called him Alexander, saluted him King, and joined him with Philip,
whom they had before placed in the throne. Philip reigned three years under the
administratorship of Perdiccas, two years more under the administratorship of
Antipater, and above a year more under that of Polyperchon; in all six years and
four months; and then was slain with his Queen Eurydice in September by the
command of Olympias the mother of Alexander the great. The Greeks being
disgusted at the cruelties of Olympias, revolted to Cassander the son and
successor of Antipater. Cassander affecting the dominion of Greece, slew
Olympias; and soon after shut up the young king Alexander, with his mother
Roxana, in the castle of Amphipolis, under the charge of Glaucias, An. Nabonass.
432. The next year Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus, by means of Seleucus,
form’d a league against Antigonus; and after certain wars made peace with him,
An. Nabonass. 438, upon these conditions: that Cassander should command the
forces of Europe till Alexander the son of Roxana came to age; and that
Lysimachus should govern Thrace, Ptolemy Egypt and Lybia, and Antigonus all
Asia. Seleucus had possest himself of Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Sustana and Media,
the year before. About three years after Alexander’s death he was made governor
of Babylon by Antipater; then was expelled by Antigonus; but now he recovered
and enlarged his government over a great part of the East: which gave occasion
to a new Æra, called Æra Seleucidarum. Not long after the peace made with
Antigonus, Diodorus saith the same Olympic year; Cassander, seeing that
Alexander the son of Roxana grew up, and that it was discoursed thro’out
Macedonia that it was fit he should be set at liberty, and take upon him the
government of his father’s kingdom, commanded Glaucias the governor of the
castle to kill Roxana and the young king Alexander her son, and conceal their
deaths. Then Polyperchon set up Hercules, the son of Alexander the great by
Barsinè, to be king; and soon after, at the sollicitation of Cassander, caused
him to be slain. Soon after that, upon a great victory at sea got by Demetrius
the son of Antigonus over Ptolemy, Antigonus took upon himself the title of
king, and gave the same title to his son. This was An. Nabonass. 441. After his
example, Seleucus, Cassander, Lysimachus and Ptolemy, took upon themselves the
title and dignity of kings, having abstained from this honour while there
remained any of Alexander’s race to inherit the crown. Thus the monarchy of the
Greeks for want of an heir was broken into several kingdoms; four of which,
seated to the four winds of heaven, were very eminent. For Ptolemy reigned over
Egypt, Lybia and Ethiopia; Antigonus over Syria and the lesser Asia; Lysimachus
over Thrace; and Cassander over Macedon, Greece and Epirus, as above.

Seleucus at this time reigned over the nations which were beyond Euphrates, and
belonged to the bodies of the two first Beasts; but after six years he conquered
Antigonus, and thereby became possest of one of the four kingdoms. For Cassander
being afraid of the power of Antigonus, combined with Lysimachus, Ptolemy and
Seleucus, against him: and while Lysimachus invaded the parts of Asia next the
Hellespont, Ptolemy subdued Phoenicia and Coelosyria, with the sea-coasts of
Asia.

Seleucus came down with a powerful army into Cappadocia, and joining the
confederate forces, fought Antigonus in Phrygia and flew him, and seized his
kingdom, An. Nabonass. 447. After which Seleucus built Antioch, Seleucia,
Laodicea, Apamea, Berrhæa, Edessa, and other cities in Syria and Asia; and in
them granted the Jews equal privileges with the Greeks.

Demetrius the son of Antigonus retained but a small part of his father’s
dominions, and at length lost Cyprus to Ptolemy; but afterwards killing
Alexander, the son and successor of Cassander king of Macedon, he seized his
kingdom, An. Nabonass. 454. Sometime after, preparing a very great army to
recover his father’s dominions in Asia; Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and
Pyrrhus king of Epirus, combined against him; and Pyrrhus invading Macedon,
corrupted the army of Demetrius, put him to flight, seized his kingdom, and
shared it with Lysimachus. After seven months, Lysimachus beating Pyrrhus, took
Macedon from him, and held it five years and a half, uniting the kingdoms of
Macedon and Thrace. Lysimachus in his wars with Antigonus and Demetrius, had
taken from them Caria, Lydia, and Phrygia; and had a treasury in Pergamus, a
castle on the top of a conical hill in Phrygia, by the river Caicus, the custody
of which he had committed to one Philetærus, who was at first faithful to him,
but in the last year of his reign revolted. For Lysimachus, having at the
instigation of his wife Arsinoe, slain first his own son Agathocles, and then
several that lamented him; the wife of Agathocles fled with her children and
brothers, and some others of their friends, and sollicited Seleucus to make war
upon Lysimachus; whereupon Philetærus also, who grieved at the death of
Agathocles, and was accused thereof by Arsinoe, took up arms, and sided with
Seleucus. On this occasion Seleucus and Lysimachus met and fought in Phrygia;
and Lysimachus being slain in the battel, lost his kingdom to Seleucus, An.
Nabonass. 465. Thus the Empire of the Greeks, which at first brake into four
kingdoms, became now reduced into two notable ones, henceforward called by
Daniel the kings of the South and North. For Ptolemy now reigned over Egypt,
Lybia, Ethiopia, Arabia, Phoenicia, Coelosyria, and Cyprus; and Seleucus, having
united three of the four kingdoms, had a dominion scarce inferior to that of the
Persian Empire, conquered by Alexander the great. All which is thus represented
by Daniel:[2] And the king of the South [Ptolemy] shall be strong, and one of
his Princes [Seleucus, one of Alexander’s Princes] shall be strong above him,
and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.

After Seleucus had reigned seven months over Macedon, Greece, Thrace, Asia,
Syria, Babylonia, Media, and all the East as far as India; Ptolemy Ceraunus, the
younger brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus king of Egypt, slew him treacherously,
and seized his dominions in Europe: while Antiochus Soter, the son of Seleucus,
succeeded his father in Asia, Syria, and most of the East; and after nineteen or
twenty years was succeeded by his son Antiochus Theos; who having a lasting war
with Ptolemy Philadelphus, at length composed the same by marrying Berenice the
daughter of Philadelphus: but after a reign of fifteen years, his first wife
Laodice poisoned him, and set her son Seleucus Callinicus upon the throne.
Callinicus in the beginning of his reign, by the impulse of his mother Laodice,
besieged Berenice in Daphne near Antioch, and slew her with her young son and
many of her women. Whereupon Ptolemy Euergetes, the son and successor of
Philadelphus, made war upon Callinicus; took from him Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia,
Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Sustana, and some other regions; and carried back into
Egypt 40000 talents of silver, and 2500 images of the Gods, amongst which were
the Gods of Egypt carried away by Cambyses. Antiochus Hierax at first assisted
his brother Callinicus, but afterwards contended with him for Asia. In the mean
time Eumenes governor of Pergamus beat Antiochus, and took from them both all
Asia westward of mount Taurus. This was in the fifth year of Callinicus, who
after an inglorious reign of 20 years was succeeded by his son Seleucus
Ceraunus; and Euergetes after four years more, An. Nabonass. 527, was succeeded
by his son Ptolemy Philopator. All which is thus signified by Daniel:[3] And in
the end of years they [the kings of the South and North] shall join themselves
together: for the king’s daughter of the South [Berenice] shall come to the king
of the North to make an agreement, but she shall not retain the power of the
arm; neither shall she stand, nor her seed, but she shall be delivered up, and
he [Callinicus] that brought her, and he whom she brought forth, and they that
strengthned her in [those] times, [or defended her in the siege of Daphne.] But
out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his seat [her brother
Euergetes] who shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress [or
fenced cities] of the king of the North, and shall act against them and prevail:
and shall carry captives into Egypt, their Gods with their Princes and precious
vessels of silver and gold; and he shall continue some years after the king of
the North.

Seleucus Ceraunus, inheriting the remains of his father’s kingdom, and thinking
to recover the rest, raised a great army against the governor of Pergamus, now
King thereof, but died in the third year of his reign. His brother and
successor, Antiochus Magnus, carrying on the war, took from the King of Pergamus
almost all the lesser Asia, recovering also the Provinces of Media, Persia and
Babylonia, from the governors who had revolted: and in the fifth year of his
reign invading Coelosyria, he with little opposition possest himself of a good
part thereof; and the next year returning to invade the rest of Coelosyria and
Phoenicia, beat the army of Ptolemy Philopator near Berytus; he then invaded
Palestine and the neighbouring parts of Arabia, and the third year returned with
an army of 78000: but Ptolemy coming out of Egypt with an army of 75000, fought
and routed him at Raphia near Gaza, between Palestine and Egypt; and recovered
all Phoenicia and Coelosyria, Ann. Nabonass. 532. Being puffed up with this
victory, and living in all manner of luxury, the Egyptians revolted, and had
wars with him, but were overcome; and in the broils sixty thousand Egyptian Jews
were slain. All which is thus described by Daniel: [4] But his sons [Seleucus
Ceraunus, and Antiochus Magnus, the sons of Callinicus] shall be stirred up, and
shall gather a great army; and he [Antiochus Magnus] shall come effectually and
overflow, and pass thro’ and return, and [again the next year] be stirred up
[marching even] to his fortress, [the frontier towns of Egypt;] and the King of
the South shall be moved with choler, and come forth [the third year] and fight
with him, even with the King of the North; and he [the King of the North] shall
lead forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand.
And the multitude being taken away, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall
cast down many ten thousands; but he shall not be strengthned by it: for the
king of the North shall return, &c.

About twelve years after the battle between Philopator and Antiochus, Philopator
died; and left his kingdom to his young son Ptolemy Epiphanes, a child of five
years old. Thereupon Antiochus Magnus confederated with Philip king of Macedon,
that they should each invade the dominions of Epiphanes which lay next to them.
Hence arose a various war between Antiochus and Epiphanes, each of them seizing
Phoenicia and Coelosyria by turns; whereby those countries were much afflicted
by both parties. First Antiochus seized them; then one Scopas being sent with
the army of Egypt, recovered them from Antiochus: the next year, An. Nabonass.
550, Antiochus fought and routed Scopas near the fountains of Jordan, besieged
him in Sidon, took the city, and recovered Syria and Phoenicia from Egypt, the
Jews coming over to him voluntarily. But about three years after, preparing for
a war against the Romans, he came to Raphia on the borders of Egypt; made peace
with Epiphanes, and gave him his daughter Cleopatra: next autumn he passed the
Hellespont to invade the cities of Greece under the Roman protection, and took
some of them; but was beaten by the Romans the summer following, and forced to
return back with his army into Asia. Before the end of the year the fleet of
Antiochus was beaten by the fleet of the Romans near Phocæa: and at the same
time Epiphanes and Cleopatra sent an embassy to Rome to congratulate the Romans
on their success against their father Antiochus, and to exhort them to prosecute
the war against him into Asia. The Romans beat Antiochus again at sea near
Ephesus, past their army over the Hellespont, and obtain’d a great victory over
him by land, took from him all Asia westward of mount Taurus, gave it to the
King of Pergamus who assisted them in the war; and imposed a large tribute upon
Antiochus. Thus the King of Pergamus, by the power of the Romans, recovered what
Antiochus had taken from him; and Antiochus retiring into the remainder of his
kingdom, was slain two years after by the Persians, as he was robbing the Temple
of Jupiter Belus in Elymais, to raise money for the Romans. All which is thus
described by Daniel. [5] For the King of the North [Antiochus] shall return, and
shall set forth a multitude greater than the former; and shall certainly come,
after certain years, with a great army and with much riches. And in those times
there shall many stand up against the King of the South, [particularly the
Macedonians;] also the robbers of thy people [the Samaritans, &c.] shall exalt
themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. So the King of the
North shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities; and the
arms of the South shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall
there he any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do
according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand
in the glorious land, which shall fail in his hand. He shall also set his face
to go with the strength [or army] of all his kingdom, and make an agreement with
him [at Raphia;] and he shall give him the daughter of women corrupting her; but
she shall not stand his side, neither be for him. After this he shall turn his
face unto the Isles, and shall take many: but a Prince for his own behalf [the
Romans] shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own
reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face towards
the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.

Seleucus Philopator succeeded his father Antiochus, Anno Nabonass. 561, and
reigned twelve years, but did nothing memorable, being sluggish, and intent upon
raising money for the Romans to whom he was tributary. He was slain by
Heliodorus, whom he had sent to rob the Temple of Jerusalem. Daniel thus
describes his reign. [6] Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in
the glory of the kingdom, but within few days be shall be destroyed, neither in
anger nor in battle. A little before the death of Philopator, his son Demetrius
was sent hostage to Rome, in the place of Antiochus Epiphanes, the brother of
Philopator; and Antiochus was at Athens in his way home from Rome, when
Philopator died: whereupon Heliodorus the treasurer of the kingdom, stept into
the throne. But Antiochus so managed his affairs, that the Romans kept Demetrius
at Rome; and their ally the King of Pergamus expelled Heliodorus, and placed
Antiochus in the throne, while Demetrius the right heir remained an hostage at
Rome. Antiochus being thus made King by the friendship of the King of Pergamus
reigned powerfully over Syria and the neighbouring nations: but carried himself
much below his dignity, stealing privately out of his palace, rambling up and
down the city in disguise with one or two of his companions; conversing and
drinking with people of the lowest rank, foreigners and strangers; frequenting
the meetings of dissolute persons to feast and revel; clothing himself like the
Roman candidates and officers, acting their parts like a mimick, and in publick
festivals jesting and dancing with servants and light people, exposing himself
by all manner of ridiculous gestures. This conduct made some take him for a
madman, and call him Antiochus [Greek: Epimenês]. In the first year of his reign
he deposed Onias the high-Priest, and sold the high-Priesthood to Jason the
younger brother of Onias: for Jason had promised to give him 440 talents of
silver for that office, and 15 more for a licence to erect a place of exercise
for the training up of youth in the fashions of the heathen; which licence was
granted by the King, and put in execution by Jason. Then the King sending one
Apollonius into Egypt to the coronation of Ptolemy Philometor, the young son of
Philometor and Cleopatra, and knowing Philometor not to be well affected to his
affairs in Phoenicia, provided for his own safety in those parts; and for that
end came to Joppa and Jerusalem, where he was honourably received; from thence
he went in like manner with his little army to the cities of Phoenicia, to
establish himself against Egypt, by courting the people, and distributing
extraordinary favours amongst them. All which is thus represented by Daniel. [7]
And in his [Philometor’s] estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they [the
Syrians who set up Heliodorus] shall not give the honour of the kingdom. Yet he
shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries [made principally
to the King of Pergamus;] and the arms [which in favour of Heliodorus oppose
him] shall be overflowed with a food from before him, and be broken; yea also
[Onias the high-Priest] the Prince of the covenant. And after the league made
with him, [the King of Egypt, by sending Apollonius to his coronation] he shall
work deceitfully [against the King of Egypt,] for he shall come up and shall
become strong [in Phoenicia ] with a small people. And he shall enter into the
quiet and plentiful cities of the Province [of Phoenicia;] and [to ingratiate
himself with the Jews of Phoenicia and Egypt, and with their friends] he shall
do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers fathers: he shall
scatter among them the prey and the spoil, and the riches [exacted from other
places;] and shall forecast his devices against the strong holds [of Egypt] even
for a time.

These things were done in the first year of his reign, An. Nabonass. 573. And
thenceforward he forecast his devices against the strong holds of Egypt, until
the sixth year. For three years after, that is in the fourth year of his reign,
Menelaus bought the high-Priesthood from Jason, but not paying the price was
sent for by the King; and the King, before he could hear the cause, went into
Cilicia to appease a sedition there, and left Andronicus his deputy at Antioch;
in the mean time the brother of Menelaus, to make up the money, conveyed several
vessels out of the Temple, selling some of them at Tyre, and sending others to
Andronicus. When Menelaus was reproved for this by Onias, he caused Onias to be
slain by Andronicus: for which fact the King at his return from Cilicia caused
Andronicus to be put to death. Then Antiochus prepared his second expedition
against Egypt, which he performed in the sixth year of his reign, An. Nabonass.
578: for upon the death of Cleopatra, the governors of her son the young King of
Egypt claimed Phoenicia and Coelosyria from him as her dowry; and to recover
those countries raised a great army. Antiochus considering that his father had
not quitted the possession of those countries[8], denied they were her dowry;
and with another great army met and fought the Egyptians on the borders of
Egypt, between Pelusium and the mountain Casius. He there beat them, and might
have destroyed their whole army, but that he rode up and down, commanding his
soldiers not to kill them, but to take them alive: by which humanity he gained
Pelusium, and soon after all Egypt; entring it with a vast multitude of foot and
chariots, elephants and horsemen, and a great navy. Then seizing the cities of
Egypt as a friend, he marched to Memphis, laid the whole blame of the war upon
Eulæus the King’s governor, entred into outward friendship with the young King,
and took upon him to order the affairs of the kingdom. While Aniochus was thus
employ’d, a report being spread in Phoenicia that he was dead, Jason to recover
the high-Priesthood assaulted Jerusalem with above a thousand men, and took the
city: hereupon the King thinking Judea had revolted, came out of Egypt in a
furious manner, re-took the city, slew forty thousand of the people, made as
many prisoners, and sold them to raise money; went into the Temple, spoiled it
of its treasures, ornaments, utensils, and vessels of gold and silver, amounting
to 1800 talents; and carried all away to Antioch. This was done in the year of
Nabonassar 578, and is thus described by Daniel. [9] And he shall stir up his
power, and his courage against the King of the South with a great army; and the
King of the South shall be stirrd up to battle with a very great and mighty
army; but he shall not stand: for they, even Antiochus and his friends, shall
forecast devices against him, as is represented above; yea, they that feed of
the portion of his meat, shall betray and destroy him, and his army shall be
overthrown, and many shall fall down slain. And both these Kings hearts shall be
to do mischief; and they, being now made friends, shall speak lyes at one table,
against the Jews and against the holy covenant; but it shall not prosper: for
yet the end, in which the setting up of the abomination of desolation is to
prosper, shall be at the time appointed. Then shall he return into his land with
great riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall
act, against it by spoiling the Temple, and return into his own land. The
Egyptians of Alexandria seeing Philometor first educated in luxury by the Eunuch
Eulæus, and now in the hands of Antiochus, gave the kingdom to Euergetes, the
younger brother of Philometor. Whereupon Antiochus pretending to restore
Philometor, made war upon Euergetes; beat him at sea, and besieged him and his
sister Cleopatra in Alexandria: while the besieged Princes sent to Rome to
implore the assistance of the Senate. Antiochus finding himself unable to take
the city that year, returned into Syria, leaving Philometor at Memphis to govern
Egypt in his absence. But Philometor made friendship with his brother that
winter; and Antiochus, returning the next spring An. Nabonass. 580, to besiege
both the brothers in Alexandria, was met in the way by the Roman Ambassadors,
Popilius Læna, C. Decimius, and C. Hostilius: he offered them his hand to kiss,
but Popilius delivering to him the tables wherein the message of the Senate was
written, bad him read those first. When he had read them, he replied he would
consider with his friends what was fit to be done; but Popilius drawing a circle
about him, bad him answer before he went out of it: Antiochus, astonished at
this blunt and unusual imperiousness, made answer he would do what the Romans
demanded; and then Popilius gave the King his hand to kiss, and he returned out
of Egypt. The same year, An. Nabonass. 580, his captains by his order spoiled
and slaughtered the Jews, profaned the Temple, set up the worship of the heathen
Gods in all Judea, and began to persecute and make war upon those who would not
worship them: which actions are thus described by Daniel. [10] At the time
appointed he shall come again towards the South, but the latter shall not be as
the former. For the ships of Chittim shall come, with an embassy from Rome,
against him. Therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation
against the holy covenant. So shall he do; he shall even return, and have
intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. In the same year that
Antiochus by the command of the Romans retired out of Egypt, and set up the
worship of the Greeks in Judea; the Romans conquered the kingdom of Macedon, the
fundamental kingdom of the Empire of the Greeks, and reduced it into a Roman
Province; and thereby began to put an end to the reign of Daniel’s third Beast.
This is thus exprest by Daniel. And after him Arms, that is the Romans, shall
stand up. As [Hebrew: MMLK] signifies after the King, Dan. xi. 8; so [Hebrew:
MMNW] may signify after him. Arms are every where in this Prophecy of Daniel put
for the military power of a kingdom: and they stand up when they conquer and
grow powerful. Hitherto Daniel described the actions of the Kings of the North
and South; but upon the conquest of Macedon by the Romans, he left off
describing the actions of the Greeks, and began to describe those of the Romans
in Greece. They conquered Macedon, Illyricum and Epirus, in the year of
Nabonassar 580. 35 years after, by the last will and testament of Attalus the
last King of Pergamus, they inherited that rich and flourishing kingdom, that
is, all Asia westward of mount Taurus; 69 years after they conquered the kingdom
of Syria, and reduced it into a Province, and 34 years after they did the like
to Egypt. By all these steps the Roman Arms stood up over the Greeks: and after
95 years more, by making war upon the Jews, they polluted the sanctuary of
strength, and took away the daily sacrifice, and then placed the abomination of
desolation. For this abomination was placed after the days of Christ, Matthew
24:15. In the 16th year of the Emperor Adrian, A.C. 132, they placed this
abomination by building a Temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, where the Temple of God
in Jerusalem had stood. Thereupon the Jews under the conduct of Barchochab rose
up in arms against the Romans, and in the war had 50 cities demolished, 985 of
their best towns destroyed, and 580000 men slain by the sword; and in the end of
the war, A.C. 136, were banished Judea upon pain of death, and thenceforward the
land remained desolate of its old inhabitants. In the beginning of the Jewish
war in Nero’s reign, the Apostles fled out of Judea with their flocks; some
beyond Jordan to Pella and other places, some into Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia,
Asia minor, and elsewhere. Peter and John came into Asia, and Peter went thence
by Corinth to Rome; but John staying in Asia, was banished by the Romans into
Patmos, as the head of a party of the Jews, whose nation was in war with the
Romans. By this dispersion of the Christian Jews, the Christian religion, which
was already propagated westward as far as Rome, spred fast into all the Roman
Empire, and suffered many persecutions under it till the days of Constantine the
great and his sons: all which is thus described by Daniel. [11] And such as do
wickedly against the covenant, shall he, who places the abomination, cause to
dissemble, and worship the heathen Gods; but the people among them who do know
their God, shall be strong and act. And they that understand among the people,
shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by
captivity, and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be
holpen with a little help, viz. in the reign of Constantine the great; and at
that time by reason of their prosperity, many shall come over to them from among
the heathen, and cleave to them with dissimulation. But of those of
understanding there shall still fall to try God’s people by them and to purge
them from the dissemblers, and to make them white even to the time of the end:
because it is yet for a time appointed.

Hitherto the Roman Empire continued entire; and under this dominion, the little
horn of the He-Goat continued mighty, but not by his own power. But now, by the
building of Constantinople, and endowing it with a Senate and other like
privileges with Rome; and by the division of the Roman Empire into the two
Empires of the Greeks and Latins, headed by those two cities; a new scene of
things commences, in which which [12] a King, the Empire of the Greeks, doth
according to his will, and, by setting his own laws above the laws of God,
exalts and magnifies himself above every God, and speaks marvellous things
against the God of Gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be
accomplished.--Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the lawful
desire of women in matrimony, nor any God, but shall magnify himself above all.
And in his seat he shall honour Mahuzzims, that is, strong guardians, the souls
of the dead; even with a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honour them, in
their Temples, with gold and silver, and with precious stones and valuable
things. All which relates to the overspreading of the Greek Empire with Monks
and Nuns, who placed holiness in abstinence from marriage; and to the invocation
of saints and veneration of their reliques, and such like superstitions, which
these men introduced in the fourth and fifth centuries. [13] And at the time of
the end the King of the South, or the Empire of the Saracens, shall push at him;
and the King of the North, or Empire of the Turks, shall come against him like a
whirlwind, with chariots and with horsemen, and with many ships; and be shall
enter into the countries of the Greeks, and shall overflow and pass over. He
shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown;
but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab, and the chief of the
children Ammon: that is, those to whom his Caravans pay tribute. He shall
stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not
escape; but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over
all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lybians and Ethiopians shall be at his
steps. All these nations compose the Empire of the Turks, and therefore this
Empire is here to be understood by the King of the North. They compose also the
body of the He-Goat; and therefore the Goat still reigns in his last horn, but
not by his own power.

Notes to Chap. XII.

[1] Daniel 11:2-4.

[2] Daniel 11:5.

[3] Daniel 11:6-8.

[4] Daniel 11:10, &c.

[5] Daniel 11:13-19.

[6] Daniel 11:20.

[7] Daniel 11:21, &c.

[8] 2Ma 3:5, 2Ma 3:8. & 2Ma 4:4.

[9] Daniel 11:25, &c.

[10] Daniel 11:29-30.

[11] Daniel 11:32, &c.

[12] Daniel 11:36, &c.

[13] Daniel 11:40, &c.


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  CHAPTER 19: 01.018.     CHAPTER XIII
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CHAP. XIII. Of the King who did according to his will, and magnified himself
above every God, and honoured Mahuzzims, and regarded not the desire of women.
In the first ages of the Christian religion the Christians of every city were
governed by a Council of Presbyters, and the President of the Council was the
Bishop of the city. The Bishop and Presbyters of one city meddled not with the
affairs of another city, except by admonitory letters or messages. Nor did the
Bishops of several cities meet together in Council before the time of the
Emperor Commodus: for they could not meet together without the leave of the
Roman governors of the Provinces. But in the days of that Emperor they began to
meet in Provincial Councils, by the leave of the governors; first in Asia, in
opposition to the Cataphrygian Heresy, and soon after in other places and upon
other occasions. The Bishop of the chief city, or Metropolis of the Roman
Province, was usually made President of the Council; and hence came the
authority of Metropolitan Bishops above that of other Bishops within the same
Province. Hence also it was that the Bishop of Rome in Cyprian’s days called
himself the Bishop of Bishops. As soon as the Empire became Christian, the Roman
Emperors began to call general Councils out of all the Provinces of the Empire;
and by prescribing to them what points they should consider, and influencing
them by their interest and power, they set up what party they pleased. Hereby
the Greek Empire, upon the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek and Latin
Empires, became the King who, in matters of religion, did according to his will;
and, in legislature, exalted and magnified himself above every God: and at
length, by the seventh general Council, established the worship of the images
and souls of dead men, here called Mahuzzims. The same King placed holiness in
abstinence from marriage. Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical history [1] tells us,
that Musanus wrote a tract against those who fell away to the heresy of the
Encratites, which was then newly risen, and had introduced pernicious errors;
and that Tatian, the disciple of Justin, was the author thereof; and that
Irenæus in his first book against heresies teaches this, writing of Tatian and
his heresy in these words: A Saturnino & Marcione profecti qui vocantur
Continentes, docuerunt non contrahendum esse matrimonium; reprobantes scilicet
primitivum illud opificium Dei, & tacitè accusantes Deum qui masculum & fæminam
condidit ad procreationem generis humani. Induxerunt etiam abstinentiam ab esu
eorum quæ animalia appellant, ingratos se exhibentes ergo eum qui universa
creavit Deum. Negant etiam primi hominis salutem. Atque hoc nuper apud illos
excogitatum est, Tatiano quodam omnium primo hujus impietatis auctore: qui
Justini auditor, quamdiu cum illo versatus est, nihil ejusmodi protulit. Post
martyrium autem illius, ab Ecclesia se abrumpens, doctoris arrogantia elatus ac
tumidus, tanquam præstantior cæteris, novam quandam formam doctrinæ conflavit:
Æonas invisibiles commentus perinde ac Valentinus: asserens quoque cum Saturnino
& Marcione, matrimonium nihil aliud esse quam corruptionem ac stuprum: nova
præterea argumenta ad subvertendam Adami salutem excogitans. Hæc Irenæus de
Hæresi quæ tunc viguit Encratitarum. Thus far Eusebius. But altho the followers
of Tatian were at first condemned as hereticks by the name of Encratites, or
Continentes; their principles could not be yet quite exploded: for Montanus
refined upon them, and made only second marriages unlawful; he also introduced
frequent fastings, and annual, fasting days, the keeping of Lent, and feeding
upon dried meats. The Apostolici, about the middle of the third century,
condemned marriage, and were a branch of the disciples of Tatian. The Hierocitæ
in Egypt, in the latter end of the third century, also condemned marriage. Paul
the Eremite fled into the wilderness from the persecution of Decius, and lived
there a solitary life till the reign of Constantine the great, but made no
disciples. Antony did the like in the persecution of Dioclesian, or a little
before, and made disciples; and many others soon followed his example.

Hitherto the principles of the Encratites had been rejected by the Churches; but
now being refined by the Monks, and imposed not upon all men, but only upon
those who would voluntarily undertake a monastic life, they began to be admired,
and to overflow first the Greek Church, and then the Latin also, like a torrent.
Eusebius tells us, [2] that Constantine the great had those men in the highest
veneration, who dedicated themselves wholly to the divine philosophy; and that
he almost venerated the most holy company of Virgins perpetually devoted to God;
being certain that the God to whom he had consecrated himself did dwell in their
minds. In his time and that of his sons, this profession of a single life was
propagated in Egypt by Antony, and in Syria by Hilarion; and spred so fast, that
soon after the time of Julian the Apostate a third part of the Egyptians were
got into the desarts of Egypt. They lived first singly in cells, then associated
into coenobia or convents; and at length came into towns, and filled the
Churches with Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons. Athanasius in his younger days
poured water upon the hands of his master Antony; and finding the Monks faithful
to him, made many of them Bishops and Presbyters in Egypt: and these Bishops
erected new Monasteries, out of which they chose Presbyters of their own cities,
and sent Bishops to others. The like was done in Syria, the superstition being
quickly propagated thither out of Egypt by Hilarion a disciple of Antony.
Spiridion and Epiphanius of Cyprus, James of Nisibis, Cyril of Jerusalem,
Eustathius of Sebastia in Armenia, Eusebius of Emisa, Titus of Bostra, Basilius
of Ancyra, Acacius of Cæsarea in Palestine, Elpidius of Laodicea, Melitius and
Flavian of Antioch, Theodorus of Tyre, Protogenes of Carrhæ, Acacius of Berrhæa,
Theodotus of Hierapolis, Eusebius of Chalcedon, Amphilochius of Iconium, Gregory
Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen, and John Chrysostom of Constantinople, were both
Bishops and Monks in the fourth century. Eustathius, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory
Nyssen, Basil, &c. had Monasteries of Clergymen in their cities, out of which
Bishops were sent to other cities; who in like manner erected Monasteries there,
till the Churches were supplied with Bishops out of these Monasteries. Hence
Jerome, in a Letter written about the year 385, [3] saith of the Clergy: Quasi &
ipsi aliud sint quam Monachi, & non quicquid in Monachos dicitur redundet in
Clericos qui patres sunt Monachorum. Detrimentum pecoris pastoris ignominia est.
And in his book against Vigilantius: Quid facient Orientis Ecclesiæ? Quæ aut
Virgines Clericos accipiunt, aut Continentes, aut si uxores habuerint mariti
esse desistunt. Not long after even the Emperors commanded the Churches to chuse
Clergymen out of the Monasteries by this Law.

Impp. Arcad & Honor. AA. Cæsario PF. P.

[4] Si quos forte Episcopi deesse sibi Clericos arbitrantur, ex monachorum
numero rectius ordinabunt: non obnoxios publicis privatisque rationibus cum
invidia teneant, sed habeant jam probatos. Dat. vii. Kal. Aug. Honorio A. iv. &
Eutychianio Coss. A.C. 598. The Greek Empire being now in the hands of these
Encratites, and having them in great admiration, Daniel makes it a
characteristick of the King who doth according to his will, that he should not
regard the desire of Women.

Thus the Sect of the Encratites, set on foot by the Gnosticks, and propagated by
Tatian and Montanus near the end of the second century; which was condemned by
the Churches of that and the third century, and refined upon by their followers;
overspread the Eastern Churches in the fourth century, and before the end of it
began to overspread the Western. Henceforward the Christian Churches having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, came into the hands of the
Encratites: and the Heathens, who in the fourth century came over in great
numbers to the Christians, embraced more readily this sort of Christianity, as
having a greater affinity with their old superstitions, than that of the sincere
Christians; who by the lamps of the seven Churches of Asia, and not by the lamps
of the Monasteries, had illuminated the Church Catholic during the three first
centuries. The Cataphrygians brought in also several other superstitions: such
as were the doctrine of Ghosts, and of their punishment in Purgatory, with
prayers and oblations for mitigating that punishment, as Tertullian teaches in
his books De Anima and De Monogamia. They used also the sign of the cross as a
charm. So Tertullian in his book de Corona militis: Ad omnem progressum atque
promotum, ad omnem aditum & exitum, ad vestitum, ad calceatum, ad lavacra, ad
mensas, ad lamina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, quacunque nos conversatio exercet,
frontem crucis signaculo terimus. All these superstitions the Apostle refers to,
where he saith: Now the Spirit speaketh expresly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils, the Dæmons and Ghosts worshipped by the heathens, speaking lyes in
hypocrisy, about their apparitions, the miracles done by them, their reliques,
and the sign of the cross, having consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding
to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, &c. 1 Timothy 4:1-3. From the
Cataphrygians these principles and practices were propagated down to posterity.
For the mystery of iniquity did already work in the Apostles days in the
Gnosticks, continued to work very strongly in their offspring the Tatianists and
Cataphrygians, and was to work till that man of sin should be revealed; whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying
wonders, and all deceivableness of unrighteousness; coloured over with a form of
Christian godliness, but without the power thereof, 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10. For
tho some stop was put to the Cataphrygian Christianity, by Provincial Councils,
till the fourth century; yet the Roman Emperors then turning Christians, and
great multitudes of heathens coming over in outward profession, these found the
Cataphrygian Christianity more suitable to their old principles, of placing
religion in outward forms and ceremonies, holy-days, and doctrines of Ghosts,
than the religion of the sincere Christians: wherefore they readily sided with
the Cataphrygian Christians, and established that Christianity before the end of
the fourth century. By this means those of understanding, after they had been
persecuted by the heathen Emperors in the three first centuries, and were holpen
with a little help, by the conversion of Constantine the great and his sons to
the Christian religion, fell under new persecutions, to purge them from the
dissemblers, and to make them white, even to the time of the end.

Notes to Chap. XIII.

[1] Lib. 4. c. 28, 29.

[2] In vita Constantini, l. 4. c. 28.

[3] Epist. 10.

[4] L. 32. de Episcopis.


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  CHAPTER 20: 01.019.     CHAPTER XIV
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CHAP. XIV. Of the Mahuzzims, honoured by the King who doth according to his
will. In scripture we are told of some trusting in God and others trusting in
idols, and that God is our refuge, our strength, our defense. In this sense God
is the rock of his people, and false Gods are called the rock of those that
trust in them, Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18,
Deuteronomy 32:30-31, Deuteronomy 32:37. In the same sense the Gods of the King
who shall do according to his will are called Mahuzzims, munitions, fortresses,
protectors, guardians, or defenders. In his estate, saith [1] Daniel, shall he
honour Mahuzzims; even with a God whom his fathers knew not, shall he honour
them with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and things of value. Thus
shall he do in the most strong holds or temples;--and he shall cause them to
rule over many, and divide the land among them for a possession. Now this came
to pass by degrees in the following manner.

Gregory Nyssen [2] tells us, that after the persecution of the Emperor Decius,
Gregory Bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus, instituted among all people, as an
addition or corollary of devotion towards God, that festival days and assemblies
should be celebrated to them who had contended for the faith, that is, to the
Martyrs. And he adds this reason for the institution: When he observed, saith
Nyssen, that the simple and unskilful multitude, by reason of corporeal
delights, remained in the error of idols; that the principal thing might be
corrected among them, namely, that instead of their vain worship they might turn
their eyes upon God; he permitted that at the memories of the holy Martyrs they
might make merry and delight themselves, and be dissolved into joy. The heathens
were delighted with the festivals of their Gods, and unwilling to part with
those delights; and therefore Gregory, to facilitate their conversion,
instituted annual festivals to the Saints and Martyrs. Hence it came to pass,
that for exploding the festivals of the heathens, the principal festivals of the
Christians succeeded in their room: as the keeping of Christmas with ivy and
feasting, and playing and sports, in the room of the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia;
the celebrating of May-day with flowers, in the room of the Floralia; and the
keeping of festivals to the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and divers of the
Apostles, in the room of the solemnities at the entrance of the Sun into the
signs of the Zodiac in the old Julian Calendar. In the same persecution of
Decius, Cyprian ordered the passions of the Martyrs in Africa to be registred,
in order to celebrate their memories annually with oblations and sacrifices: and
Felix Bishop of Rome, a little after, as Platina relates, Martyrum gloria
consulens, constituit at quotannis sacrificia eorum nomine celebrarentur;
"consulting the glory of the Martyrs, ordained that sacrifices should be
celebrated annually in their name." By the pleasures of these festivals the
Christians increased much in number, and decreased as much in virtue, until they
were purged and made white by the persecution of Dioclesian. This was the first
step made in the Christian religion towards the veneration of the Martyrs: and
tho it did not yet amount to an unlawful worship; yet it disposed the Christians
towards such a further veneration of the dead, as in a short time ended in the
invocation of Saints. The next step was the affecting to pray at the sepulchres
of the Martyrs: which practice began in Dioclesian’s persecution. The Council of
Eliberis in Spain, celebrated in the third or fourth year of Dioclesian’s
persecution, A.C. 305, hath these Canons. Can. 34. Cereos per diem placuit in
Coemeterio non incendi: inquietandi enim spiritus sanctorum non sunt. Qui hæc
non observârint, arceantur ab Ecclesiæ communione. Can. 35. Placuit prohiberi ne
fæminæ in Coemeterio pervigilent, eò quod sæpe sub obtentu orationis latentèr
scelera committant. Presently after that persecution, suppose about the year
314, the Council of Laodicea in Phrygia, which then met for restoring the lapsed
discipline of the Church, has the following Canons. Can. 9. Those of the Church
are not allowed to go into the Coemeteries or Martyries, as they are called, of
hereticks, for the sake of prayer or recovery of health: but such as go, if they
be of the faithful, shall be excommunicated for a time. Can. 34. A Christian
must not leave the Martyrs of Christ, and go to false Martyrs, that is, to the
Martyrs of the hereticks; for these are alien from God: and therefore let those
be anathema who go to them. Can. 51. The birth-days of the Martyrs shall not be
celebrated in Lent, but their commemoration shall be made on the Sabbath-days
and Lords days. The Council of Paphlagonia, celebrated in the year 324, made
this Canon: If any man being arrogant, abominates the congregations of the
Martyrs, or the Liturgies performed therein, or the memories of the Martyrs, let
him be anathema. By all which it is manifest that the Christians in the time of
Dioclesian’s persecution used to pray in the Coemeteries or burying-places of
the dead; for avoiding the danger of the persecution, and for want of Churches,
which were all thrown down: and after the persecution was over, continued that
practice in honour of the Martyrs, till new Churches could be built: and by use
affected it as advantageous to devotion, and for recovering the health of those
that were sick. It also appears that in these burying-places they commemorated
the Martyrs yearly upon days dedicated to them, and accounted all these
practices pious and religious, and anathematized those men as arrogant who
opposed them, or prayed in the Martyries of the hereticks. They also lighted
torches to the Martyrs in the day-time, as the heathens did to their Gods; which
custom, before the end of the fourth century, prevailed much in the West. They
sprinkled the worshipers of the Martyrs with holy-water, as the heathens did the
worshipers of their Gods; and went in pilgrimage to see Jerusalem and other holy
places, as if those places conferred sanctity on the visiters. From the custom
of praying in the Coemeteries and Martyries, came the custom of translating the
bodies of the Saints and Martyrs into such Churches as were new built: the
Emperor Constantius began this practice about the year 359, causing the bodies
of Andrew the Apostle, Luke and Timothy, to be translated into a new Church at
Constantinople: and before this act of Constantius, the Egyptians kept the
bodies of their Martyrs and Saints unburied upon beds in their private houses,
and told stories of their souls appearing after death and ascending up to
heaven, as Athanasius relates in the life of Antony. All which gave occasion to
the Emperor Julian, as Cyril relates, to accuse the Christians in this manner:
Your adding to that antient dead man, Jesus, many new dead men, who can
sufficiently abominate? You have filled all places with sepulchres and
monuments, altho you are no where bidden to prostrate yourselves to sepulchres,
and to respect them officiously. And a little after: Since Jesus said that
sepulchres are full of filthiness, how do you invoke God upon them? and in
another place he saith, that if Christians had adhered to the precepts of the
Hebrews, they would have worshiped one God instead of many, and not a man, or
rather not many unhappy men: And that they adored the wood of the cross, making
its images on their foreheads, and before their houses.

After the sepulchres of Saints and Martyrs were thus converted into places of
worship like the heathen temples, and the Churches into sepulchres, and a
certain sort of sanctity attributed to the dead bodies of the Saints and Martyrs
buried in them, and annual festivals were kept to them, with sacrifices offered
to God in their name; the next step towards the invocation of Saints, was the
attributing to their dead bodies, bones and other reliques, a power of working
miracles, by means of the separate souls, who were supposed to know what we do
or say, and to be able to do us good or hurt, and to work those miracles. This
was the very notion the heathens had of the separate souls of their antient
Kings and Heroes, whom they worshiped under the names of Saturn, Rhea, Jupiter,
Juno, Mars, Venus, Bacchus, Ceres, Osiris, Isis, Apollo, Diana, and the rest of
their Gods. For these Gods being male and female, husband and wife, son and
daughter, brother and sister, are thereby discovered to be antient men and
women. Now as the first step towards the invocation of Saints was set on foot by
the persecution of Decius, and the second by the persecution of Dioclesian; so
this third seems to have been owing to the proceedings of Constantius and Julian
the Apostate. When Julian began to restore the worship of the heathen Gods, and
to vilify the Saints and Martyrs; the Christians of Syria and Egypt seem to have
made a great noise about the miracles done by the reliques of the Christian
Saints and Martyrs, in opposition to the powers attributed by Julian and the
heathens to their Idols. For Sozomen and Ruffinus tell us, that when he opened
the heathen Temples, and consulted the Oracle of Apollo Daphnæus in the suburbs
of Antioch, and pressed by many sacrifices for an answer; the Oracle at length
told him that the bones of the Martyr Babylas which were buried there hinder’d
him from speaking. By which answer we may understand, that some Christian was
got into the place where the heathen Priests used to speak thro’ a pipe in
delivering their Oracles: and before this, Hilary in his book against
Constantius, written in the last year of that Emperor, makes the following
mention of what was then doing in the East where he was. Sine martyrio
persequeris. Plus crudelitati vestræ Nero, Deci, Maximiane, debemus. Diabolum
enim per vos vicimus. Sanctus ubique beatorum martyrum sanguis exceptus est, dum
in his Dæmones mugiunt, dum ægritudines depelluntur, dum miraculorum opera
cernuntur, elevari sine laqueis corpora, & dispensis pede fæminis vestes non
defluere in faciem, uri sine ignibus spiritus, confiteri sine interrogantis
incremento fidei. And Gregory Nazianzen, in his first Oration against the
Emperor Julian then reigning, writes thus: Martyres non extimuisti quibus
præclari honores & festa constituta, à quibus Dæmones propelluntur & morbi
curantur; quorum sunt apparitiones & prædictiones; quorum vel sola corpora idem
possunt quod animæ sanctæ, sive manibus contrectentur, sive honorentur: quorum
vel solæ sanguinis guttæ atque exigua passionis signa idem possunt quod corpora.
Hæc non colis sed contemnis & aspernaris. These things made the heathens in the
reign of the same Emperor demolish the sepulchre of John the Baptist in
Phoenicia, and burn his bones; when several Christians mixing themselves with
the heathens, gathered up some of his remains, which were sent to Athanasius,
who hid them in the wall of a Church; foreseeing by a prophetic spirit, as
Ruffinus tells us, that they might be profitable to future generations. The cry
of these miracles being once set on foot, continued for many years, and
encreased and grew more general. Chrysostom, in his second Oration on St.
Babylas, twenty years after the silencing of the Oracle of Apollo Daphnæus as
above, viz. A.C. 382, saith of the miracles done by the Saints and their
reliques [3]: Nulla est nostri hujus Orbis seu regio, seu gens, seu urbs, ubi
nova & inopinata miracula hæc non decantentur; quæ quidem si figmenta fuissent,
prorsus in tantam hominum admirationem non venissent. And a little after: Abunde
orationi nostræ fidem faciunt quæ quotidiana à martyribus miracula eduntur,
magna affatim ad illa hominum multitudine affluente. And in his 66th Homily,
describing how the Devils were tormented and cast out by the bones of the
Martyrs, he adds: Ob eam causam multi plerumque Reges peregrè profecti sunt, ut
hoc spectaculo fruerentur. Siquidem sanctorum martyrum templa futuri judicii
vestigia & signa exhibent, dum nimirum Dæmones flagris cæduntur, hominesque
torquentur & liberantur. Vide quæ sanctorum vitâ functorum vis sit? And Jerom in
his Epitaph on Paula, thus [4] mentions the same things. Paula vidit Samariam:
ibi siti sunt Elisæus & Abdias prophetæ, & Joannes Baptista, ubi multis
intremuit consternata miraculis. Nam cernebat variis dæmones rugire cruciatibus,
& ante sepulchra sanctorum ululare, homines more luporum vocibus latrare canum,
fremere leonum, sibilare serpentum, mugire taurorum, alios rotare caput & post
tergum terram vertice tangere, suspensisque pede fæminis vestes non defluere in
faciem. This was about the year 384: and Chrysostom in his Oration on the
Egyptian Martyrs, seems to make Egypt the ringleader in these matters, saying
[5]: Benedictus Deus quandoquidem ex Ægypto prodeunt martyres, ex Ægypto illa
cum Deo pugnante ac insanissima, & unde impia ora, unde linguæ blasphemæ; ex
Ægypto martyres habentur; non in Ægypto tantum, nec in finitima vicinaque
regione, sed UBIQUE TERRARUM. Et quemadmodum in annonæ summa ubertate, cum
viderunt urbium incolæ majorem quam usus habitatorum postulat esse proventum, ad
peregrinas etiam urbes transmittunt: cum & suam comitatem & liberalitatem
ostendant, tum ut præter horum abundantiam cum facilitate res quibus indigent
rursus ab illis sibi comparent: sic & Ægyptii, quod attinet ad religionis
athletas, fecerunt. Cum apud se multam eorum Dei benignitate copiam cernerent,
nequaquam ingens Dei munus sua civitate concluserunt, sed in OMNES TERRÆ PARTES
bonorum thesauros effuderunt: cum ut suum in fratres amorem ostenderent, tum ut
communem omnium dominum honore afficerent, ac civitati suæ gloriam apud omnes
compararent, totiusque terrarum ORBIS esse METROPOLIN declararent.--Sanctorum
enim illorum corpora quovis adamantino & inexpugnabili muro tutiùs nobis urbem
communiunt, & tanquam excelsi quidam scopuli undique prominentes, non horum qui
sub sensus cadunt & oculis cernuntur hostium impetus propulsant tantùm, sed
etiam invisibilium dæmonum insidias, omnesque diaboli fraudes subvertunt ac
dissipant.--Neque vero tantùm adversus hominum insidias aut adversus fallacias
dæmonum utilis nobis est hæc possessio, sed si nobis communis dominus ob
peccatorum multitudinem irascatur, his objectis corporibus continuo poterimus
eum propitium reddere civitati. This Oration was written at Antioch, while
Alexandria was yet the Metropolis of the East, that is, before the year 381, in
which Constantinople became the Metropolis: and it was a work of some years for
the Egyptians to have distributed the miracle-working reliques of their Martyrs
over all the world, as they had done before that year. Egypt abounded most with
the reliques of Saints and Martyrs, the Egyptians keeping them embalmed upon
beds even in their private houses; and Alexandria was eminent above all other
cities for dispersing them, so as on that account to acquire glory with all men,
and manifest herself to be the Metropolis of the world. Antioch followed the
example of Egypt, in dispersing the reliques of the forty Martyrs: and the
examples of Egypt and Syria were soon followed by the rest of the world. The
reliques of the forty Martyrs at Antioch were distributed among the Churches
before the year 373; for Athanasius who died in that year, wrote an Oration upon
them. This Oration is not yet published, but Gerard Vossius saw it in MS. in the
Library of Cardinal Ascanius in Italy, as he says in his commentary upon the
Oration of Ephræm Syrus on the same forty Martyrs. Now since the Monks of
Alexandria sent the reliques of the Martyrs of Egypt into all parts of the
earth, and thereby acquired glory to their city, and declared her in these
matters the Metropolis of the whole world, as we have observed out of
Chrysostom; it may be concluded, that before Alexandria received the forty
Martyrs from Antioch, she began to send out the reliques of her own Martyrs into
all parts, setting the first example to other cities. This practice therefore
began in Egypt some years before the death of Athanasius. It began when the
miracle-working bones of John the Baptist were carried into Egypt, and hid in
the wall of a Church, that they might be profitable to future generations. It
was restrained in the reign of Julian the Apostate: and then it spred from Egypt
into all the Empire, Alexandria being the Metropolis of the whole world,
according to Chrysostom, for propagating this sort of devotion, and Antioch and
other cities soon following her example. In propagating these superstitions, the
ring-leaders were the Monks, and Antony was at the head of them: for in the end
of the life of Antony, Athanasius relates that these were his dying words to his
disciples who then attended him. Do you take care, said Antony, to adhere to
Christ in the first place, and then to the Saints, that after death they may
receive you as friends and acquaintance into the everlasting tabernacles, Think
upon these things, perceive these things; and if you have any regard to me,
remember me as a father. This being delivered in charge to the Monks by Antony
at his death, A.C. 356, could not but inflame their whole body with devotion
towards the Saints, as the ready way to be received, by them into the eternal
Tabernacles after death. Hence came that noise about the miracles, done by the
reliques of the Saints in the time of Constantius: hence came the dispersion of
the miracle-working reliques into all the Empire; Alexandria setting the
example, and being renowned, for it above all other cities. Hence it came to
pass in the days of Julian, A.C. 362, that Athanasius by a prophetic spirit, as
Ruffinus tells us, hid the bones of John the Baptist from the Heathens, not in
the ground to be forgotten, but in the hollow wall of a Church before proper
witnesses, that they might be profitable to future generations. Hence also came
the invocation of the Saints for doing such miracles, and for assisting men in
their devotions, and mediating with God. For Athanasius, even from his youth,
looked upon the dead Saints and Martyrs as mediators of our prayers: in his
Epistle to Marcellinus, written in the days of Constantine the great, he saith
that the words of the Psalms are not to be transposed or any wise changed, but
to be recited and sung without any artifice, as they are written, that the holy
men who delivered them, knowing them to be their own words, may pray with us; or
rather, that the Holy Ghost who spake in the holy men, seeing his own words with
which he inspired them, may join with them in assisting us.

Whilst Egypt abounded with Monks above any other country, the veneration of the
Saints began sooner, and spred faster there than in other places. Palladius
going into Egypt in the year 388 to visit the Monasteries, and the sepulchres of
Apollonius and other Martyrs of Thebais who had suffered under Maximinus, saith
of them: Iis omnibus Christiani fecerunt ædem unam, ubi nunc multæ virtutes
peraguntur. Tanta autem fuit viri gratia, ut de iis quæ esset precatus statim
exaudiretur, eum sic honorante servatore: quem etiam nos in martyrio precati
vidimus, cum iis qui cum ipso fuerunt martyrio affecti; & Deum adorantes, eorum
corpora salutavimus. Eunapius also, a heathen, yet a competent witness of what
was done in his own times, relating how the soldiers delivered the temples of
Egypt into the hands of the Monks, which was done in the year 389, rails thus in
an impious manner at the Martyrs, as succeeding in the room of the old Gods of
Egypt. Illi ipsi, milites, Monachos Canobi quoque collocârunt, ut pro Diis qui
animo cernuntur, servos & quidem flagitiosos divinis honoribus percolerent,
hominum mentibus ad cultum ceremoniasque obligatis. Ii namque condita & salita
eorum capita, qui ob scelerum multitudinem à judicibus extremo judicio fuerant
affecti, pro Divis ostentabant; iis genua submittebant, eos in Deorum numerum
receptabant, ad illorum sepulchra pulvere sordibusque conspurcati. Martyres
igitur vocabantur, & ministri quidem & legati arbitrique precum apud Deos; cum
fuerint servilia infida & flagris pessimè subacta, quæ cicatrices scelerum ac
nequitiæ vestigia corporibus circumferunt; ejusmodi tamen Deos fert tellus. By
these instances we may understand the invocation of Saints was now of some
standing in Egypt, and that it was already generally received and practised
there by the common people.

Thus Basil a Monk, who was made Bishop of Cæsarea in the year 369, and died in
the year 378, in his Oration on the Martyr Mamas, saith: Be ye mindful of the
Martyr; as many of you as have enjoyed him in your dreams, as many as in this
place have been assisted by him in prayer, as many of you as upon invoking him
by name have had him present in your works, as many as he has reduced into the
way from wandering, as many as he has restored to health, as, many as have had
their dead children restored by him to life, as many as have had their lives
prolonged by him: and a little after, he thus expresses the universality of this
superstition in the regions of Cappadocia and Bithynia: At the memory of the
Martyr, saith he, the whole region is moved; at his festival the whole city is
transported with joy. Nor do the kindred of the rich turn aside to the
sepulchres of their ancestors, but all go to the place of devotion. Again, in
the end of the Homily he prays, that God would preserve the Church, thus
fortified with the great towers of the Martyrs: and in his Oration on the forty
Martyrs; These are they, saith he, who obtaining our country, like certain
towers afford us safety against our enemies. Neither are they shut up in one
place only, but being distributed are sent into many regions, and adorn many
countries.--You have often endeavoured, you have often laboured to find one who
might pray for you: here are forty, emitting one voice of prayer.--He that is in
affliction flies to these, he that rejoices has recourse to these: the first,
that he may be freed from evil, the last that he may continue in happiness. Here
a woman praying for her children is heard; she obtains a safe return for her
husband from abroad, and health for him in his sickness.--O ye common keepers of
mankind, the best companions of our cares, suffragans and coadjutors of our
prayers, most powerful embassadors to God, &c. By all which it is manifest, that
before the year 378, the Orations and Sermons upon the Saints went much beyond
the bounds of mere oratorical flourishes, and that the common people in the East
were already generally corrupted by the Monks with Saint-worship.

Gregory Nazianzen a Monk, in his sixth Oration written A.C. 373, when he was
newly made Bishop of Sasima, saith: Let us purify ourselves to the Martyrs, or
rather to the God of the Martyrs: and a little after he calls the Martyrs
mediators of obtaining an ascension or divinity. The same year, in the end of
his Oration upon Athanasius then newly dead, he thus invokes him: Do thou look
down upon us propitiously, and govern this people, as perfect adorers of the
perfect Trinity, which in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is contemplated and
worshiped: if there shall be peace, preserve me, and feed my flock with me; but
if war, bring me home, place me by thyself, and by those that are like thee;
however great my request. And in the end of the funeral Oration upon Basil,
written A.C. 378, he thus addresses him: But thou, O divine and sacred Head,
look down upon us from heaven; and by thy prayers either take away that thorn of
the flesh which is given us by God for exercise, or obtain that we may bear it
with courage, and direct all our life to that which is most fitting for us. When
we depart this life, receive us there in your Tabernacles, that living together
and beholding the holy and blessed Trinity more purely and perfectly, whereof we
have now but an imperfect view, we may there come to the end of our desires, and
receive this reward of the wars which we have waged or suffered: and in his
Oration upon Cyprian, not the Bishop of Carthage, but a Greek, he invokes him
after the same manner; and tells us also how a pious Virgin named Justina, was
protected by invoking the Virgin Mary, and how miracles were done by the ashes
of Cyprian.

Gregory Nyssen, another eminent Monk and Bishop, in the life of Ephræm Syrus,
tells how a certain man returning from a far country, was in great danger, by
reason all the ways were intercepted by the armies of barbarous nations; but
upon invoking Ephræm by name, and saying, Holy Ephræm assist me, he escaped the
danger, neglected the fear of death, and beyond his hope got safe home. In the
end of this Oration Gregory calls upon Ephræm after the following manner: But
thou, O Ephræm, assisting now at the divine altar, and sacrificing to the Prince
of life, and to the most holy Trinity, together with the Angels; remember us
all, and obtain for us pardon of our sins, that we may enjoy the eternal
happiness of the kingdom of heaven. The same Gregory, in his Oration on the
Martyr Theodorus written A.C. 381, thus describes the power of that Martyr, and
the practice of the people. This Martyr, saith he, the last year quieted the
barbarous tempest, and put a stop to the horrid war of the fierce and cruel
Scythians.--If any one is permitted to carry away the dust with which the tomb
is covered, wherein the body of the Martyr rests; the dust is accepted as a
gift, and gathered to be laid up as a thing of great price. For to touch the
reliques themselves, if any such prosperous fortune shall at any time happen;
how great a favour that is, and not to be obtained without the most earnest
prayers, they know well who have obtained it. For as a living and florid body,
they who behold it embrace it, applying to it the eyes, mouth, ears, and all the
organs of sense; and then with affection pouring tears upon the Martyr, as if he
was whole and appeared to them: they offer prayers with supplication, that he
would intercede for them as an advocate, praying to him as an Officer attending
upon God, and invoking him as receiving gifts whenever he will. At length
Gregory concludes the Oration with this prayer: O Theodorus, we want many
blessings; intercede and beseech for thy country before the common King and
Lord: for the country of the Martyr is the place of his passion, and they are
his citizens, brethren and kindred, who have him, defend, adorn and honour him.
We fear afflictions, we expect dangers: the wicked Scythians are not far off,
ready to make war against us. As a soldier fight for us, as a Martyr use liberty
of speech for thy fellow-servants. Pray for peace, that these publick meetings
may not cease, that the furious and wicked barbarian may not rage against the
temples and altars, that the profane and impious may not trample upon the holy
things. We acknowledge it a benefit received from thee, that we are preserved
safe and entire, we pray for freedom from danger in time to come: and if there
shall be need of greater intercession and deprecation, call together the choir
of thy brethren the Martyrs, and in conjunction with them all intercede for us.
Let the prayers of many just ones attone for the sins of the multitudes and the
people; exhort Peter, excite Paul, and also John the divine and beloved
disciple, that they may be sollicitous for the Churches which they have erected,
for which they have been in chains, for which they have undergone dangers and
deaths; that the worship of idols may not lift up its head against us, that
heresies may not spring up like thorns in the vineyard, that tares grown up may
not choak the wheat, that no rock void of the fatness of true dew may be against
us, and render the fruitful power of the word void of a root; but by the power
of the prayers of thyself and thy companions, O admirable man and eminent among
the Martyrs, the commonwealth of Christians may become a field of corn. The same
Gregory Nyssen, in his sermon upon the death of Meletius Bishop of Antioch,
preached at Constantinople the same year, A.C. 381, before the Bishops of all
the East assembled in the second general Council, spake thus of Meletius. The
Bridegroom, saith he, is not taken from us: he stands in the midst of us, tho we
do not see him: he is a Priest in the most inward places, and face to face
intercedes before God for us and the sins of the people. This was no oratorical
flourish, but Gregory’s real opinion, as may be understood by what we have cited
out of him concerning Ephræm and Theodorus: and as Gregory preached this before
the Council of Constantinople, you may thence know, saith [6] Baronius, that he
professed what the whole Council, and therewith the whole Church of those parts
believed, namely, that the Saints in heaven offer prayers for us before God.

Ephræm Syrus, another eminent Monk, who was contemporary with Basil, and died
the same year; in the end of his Encomium or Oration upon Basil then newly dead,
invokes him after this manner: Intercede for me, a very miserable man; and recal
me by thy intercessions, O father; thou who art strong, pray for me who am weak;
thou who art diligent, for me who am negligent; thou who art chearful, for me
who am heavy; thou who art wise, for me who am foolish. Thou who hast treasured
up a treasure of all virtues, be a guide to me who am empty of every good work.
In the beginning of his Encomium upon the forty Martyrs, written at the same
time, he thus invokes them: Help me therefore, O ye Saints, with your
intercession; and O ye beloved, with your holy prayers, that Christ by his grace
may direct my tongue to speak, &c. and afterwards mentioning the mother of one
of these forty Martyrs, he concludes the Oration with this prayer: I entreat
thee, O holy, faithful, and blessed woman, pray for me to the Saints, saying;
Intercede ye that triumph in Christ, for the most little and miserable Ephræm,
that he may find mercy, and by the grace of Christ may be saved. Again, in his
second Sermon or Oration on the praises of the holy Martyrs of Christ, he thus
addresses them: We entreat you most holy Martyrs, to intercede with the Lord for
us miserable sinners, beset with the filthiness of negligence, that he would
infuse his divine grace into us: and afterwards, near the end of the same
discourse; Now ye most holy men and glorious Martyrs of God, help me a miserable
sinner with your prayers, that in that dreadful hour I may obtain mercy, when
the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest. I am to day become to you,
most holy Martyrs of Christ, as it were an unprofitable and unskilful
cup-bearer: for I have delivered to the sons and brothers of your faith, a cup
of the excellent wine of your warfare, with the excellent table of your victory,
replenished with all sorts of dainties. I have endeavoured, with the whole
affection and desire of my mind, to recreate your fathers and brothers, kindred
and relations, who daily frequent the table. For behold they sing, and with
exultation and jubilee glorify God, who has crown’d your virtues, by setting on
your most sacred heads incorruptible and celestial crowns; they with excessive
joy stand about the sacred reliques of your martyrdoms, wishing for a blessing,
and desiring to bear away holy medicines both for the body and the mind. As good
disciples and faithful ministers of our benign Lord and Saviour, bestow
therefore a blessing on them all: and on me also, tho weak and feeble, who
having received strength by your merits and intercessions, have with the whole
devotion of my mind, sung a hymn to your praise and glory before your holy
reliques. Wherefore I beseech you stand before the throne of the divine Majesty
for me Ephræm, a vile and miserable sinner, that by your prayers I may deserve
to obtain salvation, and with you enjoy eternal felicity by the grace and
benignity and mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with the
Father and Holy Ghost be praise, honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. By
what has been cited out of Basil, the two Gregories and Ephræm, we may
understand that Saint-worship was established among the Monks and their admirers
in Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria and Cappadocia, before the year 378, this being the
year in which Basil and Ephræm died. Chrysostom was not much later; he preached
at Antioch almost all the time of Theodosius the great, and in his Sermons are
many exhortations to this sort of superstition, as may be seen in the end of his
Orations on S. Julia, on St. Pelagia, on the Martyr Ignatius, on the Egyptian
Martyrs, on Fate and Providence, on the Martyrs in general, on St. Berenice and
St. Prosdoce, on Juventinus and Maximus, on the name of Coemetery, &c. Thus in
his Sermon on Berenice and Prosdoce: Perhaps, saith he, you are inflamed with no
small love towards these Martyrs; therefore with this ardour let us fall down
before their reliques, let us embrace their coffins. For the coffins of the
Martyrs have great virtue, even as the bones of the Martyrs have great power.
Nor let us only on the day of this festival, but also on other days apply to
them, invoke them, and beseech them to be our patrons: for they have great power
and efficacy, not only whilst alive, but also after death; and much more after
death than before. For now they bear the marks or brands of Christ; and when
they shew these marks, they can obtain all things of the King. Seeing therefore
they abound with such efficacy, and have so much friendship with him; we also,
when by continual attendance and perpetual visitation of them we have insinuated
ourselves into their familiarity, may by their assistance obtain the mercy of
God.

Constantinople was free from these superstitions till Gregory Nazianzen came
thither A.D. 379; but in a few years it was also inflamed with it. Ruffinus [7]
tells us, that when the Emperor Theodosius was setting out against the tyrant
Eugenius, which was in the year 394, he went about with the Priests and people
to all the places of prayer; lay prostrate in haircloth before the shrines of
the Martyrs and Apostles, and pray’d for assistance by the intercession of the
Saints. Sozomen [8] adds, that when the Emperor was marched seven miles from
Constantinople against Eugenius, he went into a Church which he had built to
John the Baptist, and invoked the Baptist for his assistance. Chrysostom [9]
says: He that is clothed in purple, approaches to embrace these sepulchres; and
laying aside his dignity, stands supplicating the Saints to intercede for him
with God: and he who goes crowned with a diadem, offers his prayers to the
tent-maker and the fisher-man as his Protestors. And in [10] another place: The
cities run together to the sepulchres of the Martyrs, and the people are
inflamed with the love of them. This practice of sending reliques from place to
place for working miracles, and thereby inflaming the devotion of the nations
towards the dead Saints and their reliques, and setting up the religion of
invoking their souls, lasted only till the middle of the reign of the Emperor
Theodosius the great; for he then prohibited it by the following Edict. Humatum
corpus, nemo ad alterum locum transferat; nemo Martyrem distrahat, nemo
mercetur: Habeant verò in potestate, si quolibet in loco sanctorum est aliquis
conditus, pro ejus veneratione, quod Martyrium vocandum sit, addant quod
voluerint fabricarum. Dat. iv. Kal. Mart. Constantinopoli, Honorio nob. puero &
Euodio Coss. A.C. 386. After this they filled the fields and high-ways with
altars erected to Martyrs, which they pretended to discover by dreams and
revelations: and this occasioned the making the fourteenth Canon of the fifth
Council of Carthage, A.C. 398. Item placuit, ut altaria, quæ passim per agros
aut vias, tanquam memoriæ Martyrum constituuntur, in quibus nullum corpus aut
reliquiæ Martyrum conditæ probantur, ab Episcopis, qui illis locis præsunt, si
fieri potest, evertantur. Si autem hoc propter tumultus populares non sinitur,
plebes tamen admoneantur, ne illa loca frequentent, ut qui rectè sapiunt, nullâ
ibi superstitione devincti teneantur. Et omnino nulla memoria Martyrum
probabiliter acceptetur, nisi aut ibi corpus aut aliquæ certæ reliquiæ sint, aut
ubi origo alicujus habitationis, vel possessionis, vel passionis fidelissima
origine traditur. Nam quæ per somnia, & per inanes quasi revelationes
quorumlibet hominum ubique constituuntur altaria, omnimodè reprobentur. These
altars were for invoking the Saints or Martyrs buried or pretended to be buried
under them. First they filled the Churches in all places with the reliques or
pretended reliques of the Martyrs, for invoking them in the Churches; and then
they filled the fields and high-ways with altars, for invoking them every where:
and this new religion was set up by the Monks in all the Greek Empire before the
expedition of the Emperor Theodosius against Eugenius, and I think before his
above-mentioned Edict, A.C. 386. The same religion of worshiping Mahuzzims
quickly spred into the Western Empire also: but Daniel in this Prophecy
describes chiefly the things done among the nations comprehended in the body of
his third Beast.

Notes to Chap. XIV.

[1] Daniel 11:38-39 [2] Orat. de vita Greg. Thaumaturg. T. 3. p. 574.

[3] Vide Hom. 47. in. S. Julian.

[4] Epist. 27. ad Eustochium.

[5] Edit. Frontonis Ducæi, Tom. 1.

[6] Ad. an. 381, Sect. 41.

[7] Hist. Eccl. l. 2. c. 23.

[8] L. 4. c. 24.

[9] Hom. 66. ad. populum, circa finem. & Hom. 8, 27. in Matth. Hom. 42, 43. in
Gen. Hom. 1. in 1 Thess.

[10] Exposit. in Psal. 114. sub finem.


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  CHAPTER 21: 01.020.     PART II
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PART II.

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE APOCALYPSE OF St. JOHN.


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  CHAPTER 22: 01.021.     CHAPTER I
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CHAP. I.

Introduction, concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written.

Irenæus introduced an opinion that the Apocalypse was written in the time of
Domitian; but then he also postponed the writing of some others of the sacred
books, and was to place the Apocalypse after them: he might perhaps have heard
from his master Polycarp that he had received this book from John about the time
of Domitian’s death; or indeed John might himself at that time have made a new
publication of it, from whence Irenæus might imagine it was then but newly
written. Eusebius in his Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History follows Irenoeus;
but afterwards [1] in his Evangelical Demonstrations, he conjoins the banishment
of John into Patmos, with the deaths of Peter and Paul: and so do [2] Tertullian
and Pseudo-Prochorus, as well as the first author, whoever he was, of that very
antient fable, that John was put by Nero into a vessel of hot oil, and coming
out unhurt, was banished by him into Patmos. Tho this story be no more than a
fiction yet was it founded on a tradition of the first churches, that John was
banished into Patmos in the days of Nero. Epiphanius represents the Gospel of
John as written in the time of Domitian, and the Apocalypse even before that of
Nero. [3] Arethas in the beginning of his Commentary quotes the opinion of
Irenæus from Eusebius, but follows it not: for he afterwards affirms the
Apocalypse was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and that former
commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction. With the opinion
of the first Commentators agrees the tradition of the Churches of Syria,
preserved to this day in the title of the Syriac Version of the Apocalypse,
which title is this: The Revelation which was made to John the Evangelist by God
in the Island Patmos, into which he was banished by Nero the Cæsar. The fame is
confirmed by a story told by [4] Eusebius out of Clemens Alexandrinus, and other
antient authors, concerning a youth, whom John some time after his return from
Patmos committed to the care of the Bishop of a certain city. The Bishop
educated, instructed, and at length baptized him; but then remitting of his
care, the young man thereupon got into ill company, and began by degrees first
to revel and grow vitious, then to abuse and spoil those he met in the night;
and at last grew so desperate, that his companions turning a band of high-way
men, made him their Captain: and, saith [5] Chrysostom, he continued their
Captain a long time. At length John returning to that city, and hearing what was
done, rode to the thief; and, when he out of reverence to his old master fled,
John rode after him, recalled him, and restored him to the Church. This is a
story of many years, and requires that John should have returned from Patmos
rather at the death of Nero than at that of Domitian; because between the death
of Domitian and that of John there were but two years and an half; and John in
his old age was [6] so infirm as to be carried to Church, dying above 90 years
old, and therefore could not be then suppos’d able to ride after the thief. This
opinion is further supported by the allusions in the Apocalypse to the Temple
and Altar, and holy City, as then standing; and to the Gentiles, who were soon
after to tread under foot the holy City and outward Court. ’Tis confirmed also
by the style of the Apocalypse itself, which is fuller of Hebraisms than his
Gospel. For thence it may be gathered, that it was written when John was newly
come out of Judea, where he had been used to the Syriac tongue; and that he did
not write his Gospel, till by long converse with the Asiatick Greeks he had left
off most of the Hebraisms. It is confirmed also by the many false Apocalypses,
as those of Peter, Paul, Thomas, Stephen, Elias and Cerinthus, written in
imitation of the true one. For as the many false Gospels, false Acts, and false
Epistles were occasioned by true ones; and the writing many false Apocalypses,
and ascribing them to Apostles and Prophets, argues that there was a true
Apostolic one in great request with the first Christians: so this true one may
well be suppos’d to have been written early, that there may be room in the
Apostolic age for the writing of so many false ones afterwards, and fathering
them upon Peter, Paul, Thomas and others, who were dead before John. Caius, who
was contemporary with Tertullian, [7] tells us that Cerinthus wrote his
Revelations as a great Apostle, and pretended the visions were shewn him by
Angels, asserting a millennium of carnal pleasures at Jerusalem after the
resurrection; so that his Apocalypse was plainly written in imitation of John’s:
and yet he lived so early, that [8] he resisted the Apostles at Jerusalem in or
before the first year of Claudius, that is, 26 years before the death of Nero,
and [9] died before John.

These reasons may suffice for determining the time; and yet there is one more,
which to considering men may seem a good reason, to others not. I’ll propound
it, and leave it to every man’s judgment. The Apocalypse seems to be alluded to
in the Epistles of Peter and that to the Hebrews and therefore to have been
written before them. Such allusions in the Epistle to the Hebrews, I take to be
the discourses concerning the High-Priest in the heavenly Tabernacle, who is
both Priest and King, as was Melchisedec; and those concerning the word of God,
with the sharp two-edged sword, the [Greek: sabbatismos], or millennial rest,
the earth whose end is to be burned, suppose by the lake of fire, the judgment
and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries, the heavenly City
which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God, the cloud of witnesses,
mount Sion, heavenly Jerusalem, general assembly, spirits of just men made
perfect, viz. by the resurrection, and the shaking of heaven and earth, and
removing them, that the new heaven, new earth and new kingdom which cannot be
shaken, may remain. In the first of Peter occur these: [10] The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, twice or thrice repeated; [11] the blood of Christ as of a Lamb
foreordained before the foundation of the world; [12] the spiritual building in
heaven, 1 Peter 2:5 an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept unto the salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time, 1 Peter 1:4-5 [13] the royal Priesthood, [14] the
holy Priesthood, [15] the judgment beginning at the house of God, and [16] the
Church at Babylon. These are indeed obscurer allusions; but the second Epistle,
from the 19th verse of the first Chapter to the end, seems to be a continued
Commentary upon the Apocalypse. There, in writing to the Churches in Asia, to
whom John was commanded to send this Prophecy, he tells them, they have a more
sure word of Prophecy, to be heeded by them, as a light that shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts, that is,
until they begin to understand it: for no Prophecy, saith he, of the scripture
is of any private interpretation; the Prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Daniel
[17] himself professes that he understood not his own Prophecies; and therefore
the Churches were not to expect the interpretation from their Prophet John, but
to study the Prophecies themselves. This is the substance of what Peter says in
the first chapter; and then in the second he proceeds to describe, out of this
sure word of Prophecy, how there should arise in the Church false Prophets, or
false teachers, expressed collectively in the Apocalypse by the name of the
false Prophet; who should bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them, which is the character of Antichrist: And many, saith he, shall
follow their lusts [18]; they that dwell on the earth [19] shall be deceived by
the false Prophet, and be made drunk with the wine of the Whore’s fornication,
by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed; for [20] the Beast is
full of blasphemy: and thro’ covetousness shall they with feigned words make
merchandize of you; for these are the Merchants of the Earth, who trade with the
great Whore, and their merchandize [21] is all things of price, with the bodies
and souls of men: whose judgment--lingreth not, and their damnation [22]
slumbreth not, but shall surely come upon them at the last day suddenly, as the
flood upon the old world, and fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrha, when
the just shall be delivered [23] like Lot; for the Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment
to be punished, in the lake of fire; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh
in the lust of uncleanness, [24] being made drunk with the wine of the Whore’s
fornication; who despise dominion, and are not afraid to blaspheme glories; for
the beast opened his mouth against God [25] to blaspheme his name and his
tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. These, as natural brute beasts, the
ten-horned beast and two-horned beast, or false Prophet, made to be taken and
destroyed, in the lake of fire, blaspheme the things they understand not:--they
count it pleasure to riot in the day-time--sporting themselves with their own
deceivings, while they feast [26] with you, having eyes full of an [27]
Adulteress: for the kingdoms of the beast live deliciously with the great Whore,
and the nations are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. They are gone
astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness, the false Prophet [28] who taught Balak to cast a
stumbling-block before the children of Israel. These are, not fountains of
living water, but wells without water; not such clouds of Saints as the two
witnesses ascend in, but clouds that are carried with a tempest, &c. Thus does
the author of this Epistle spend all the second Chapter in describing the
qualities of the Apocalyptic Beasts and false Prophet: and then in the third he
goes on to describe their destruction more fully, and the future kingdom. He
saith, that because the coming of Christ should be long deferred, they should
scoff, saying, where is the promise of his coming? Then he describes the sudden
coming of the day of the Lord upon them, as a thief in the night, which is the
Apocalyptic phrase; and the millennium, or thousand years, which are with God
but as a day; the passing away of the old heavens and earth, by a conflagration
in the lake of fire, and our looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness.

Seeing therefore Peter and John were Apostles of the circumcision, it seems to
me that they staid with their Churches in Judea and Syria till the Romans made
war upon their nation, that is, till the twelfth year of Nero; that they then
followed the main body of their flying Churches into Asia, and that Peter went
thence by Corinth to Rome; that the Roman Empire looked upon those Churches as
enemies, because Jews by birth; and therefore to prevent insurrections, secured
their leaders, and banished John into Patmos. It seems also probable to me that
the Apocalypse was there composed, and that soon after the Epistle to the
Hebrews and those of Peter were written to these Churches, with reference to
this Prophecy as what they were particularly concerned in. For it appears by
these Epistles, that they were written in times of general affliction and
tribulation under the heathens, and by consequence when the Empire made war upon
the Jews; for till then the heathens were at peace with the Christian Jews, as
well as with the rest. The Epistle to the Hebrews, since it mentions Timothy as
related to those Hebrews, must be written to them after their flight into Asia,
where Timothy was Bishop; and by consequence after the war began, the Hebrews in
Judea being strangers to Timothy. Peter seems also to call Rome Babylon, as well
with respect to the war made upon Judea, and the approaching captivity, like
that under old Babylon, as with respect to that name in the Apocalypse: and in
writing to the strangers scattered thro’out Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia
and Bithynia, he seems to intimate that they were the strangers newly scattered
by the Roman wars; for those were the only strangers there belonging to his
care. This account of things agrees best with history when duly rectified. For
[29] Justin and [30] Irenæus say, that Simon Magus came to Rome in the reign of
Claudius, and exercised juggling tricks there. Pseudo-Clemens adds, that he
endeavoured there to fly, but broke his neck thro’ the prayers of Peter. Whence
[31] Eusebius, or rather his interpolator Jerom, has recorded, that Peter came
to Rome in the second year of Claudius: but [32] Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem,
Philastrius, Sulpitius, Prosper, Maximus Taurinensis, and Hegesippus junior,
place this victory of Peter in the time of Nero. Indeed the antienter tradition
was, that Peter came to Rome in the days of this Emperor, as may be seen in [33]
Lactantius. Chrysostom [34] tells us, that the Apostles continued long in Judea,
and that then being driven out by the Jews they went to the Gentiles. This
dispersion was in the first year of the Jewish war, when the Jews, as Josephus
tells us, began to be tumultuous and violent in all places. For all agree that
the Apostles were dispersed into several regions at once; and Origen has set
down the time, [35] telling us that in the beginning of the Judaic war, the
Apostles and disciples of our Lord were scattered into all nations; Thomas into
Parthia, Andrew into Scythia, John into Asia, and Peter first into Asia, where
he preacht to the dispersion, and thence into Italy. [36] Dionysius Corinthius
saith, that Peter went from Asia by Corinth to Rome, and all antiquity agrees
that Peter and Paul were martyred there in the end of Nero’s reign. Mark went
with Timothy to Rome, 2 Timothy 4:11. Colossians 4:10. Sylvanus was Paul’s
assistant; and by the companions of Peter, mentioned in his first Epistle, we
may know that he wrote from Rome; and the Antients generally agree, that in this
Epistle he understood Rome by Babylon. His second Epistle was writ to the same
dispersed strangers with the first, 2 Peter 3:1 and therein he saith, that Paul
had writ of the same things to them, and also in his other Epistles, 2 Peter
3:15-16. Now as there is no Epistle of Paul to these strangers besides that to
the Hebrews, so in Hebrews 10:11-12 we find at large all those things which
Peter had been speaking of, and here refers to; particularly the passing away of
the old heavens and earth, and establishing an inheritance immoveable, with an
exhortation to grace, because God, to the wicked, is a consuming fire, Hebrews
12:25-26, Hebrews 12:28-29.

Having determined the time of writing the Apocalyse, I need not say much about
the truth of it, since it was in such request with the first ages, that many
endeavoured to imitate it, by feigning Apocalypses under the Apostles names; and
the Apostles themselves, as I have just now shewed, studied it, and used its
phrases; by which means the style of the Epistle to the Hebrews became more
mystical than that of Paul’s other Epistles, and the style of John’s Gospel more
figurative and majestical than that of the other Gospels. I do not apprehend
that Christ was called the word of God in any book of the New Testament written
before the Apocalypse; and therefore am of opinion, the language was taken from
this Prophecy, as were also many other phrases in this Gospel, such as those of
Christ’s being the light which enlightens the world, the lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world, the bridegroom, he that testifieth, he that
came down from heaven, the Son of God, &c. Justin Martyr, who within thirty
years after John’s death became a Christian, writes expresly that a certain man
among the Christians whose name was John, one of the twelve Apostles of Christ,
in the Revelation which was shewed him, prophesied that those who believed in
Christ should live a thousand years at Jerusalem. And a few lines before he
saith: But I, and as many as are Christians, in all things right in their
opinions, believe both that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, and a
thousand years life at Jerusalem built, adorned and enlarged. Which is as much
as to say, that all true Christians in that early age received this Prophecy:
for in all ages, as many as believed the thousand years, received the Apocalypse
as the foundation of their opinion: and I do not know one instance to the
contrary. Papias Bishop of Hierapolis, a man of the Apostolic age, and one of
John’s own disciples, did not only teach the doctrine of the thousand years, but
also [37] asserted the Apocalypse as written by divine inspiration. Melito, who
flourished next after Justin, [38] wrote a commentary upon this Prophecy; and
he, being Bishop of Sardis one of the seven Churches, could neither be ignorant
of their tradition about it, nor impose upon them. Irenæus, who was contemporary
with Melito, wrote much upon it, and said, that the number 666 was in all the
antient and approved copies; and that he had it also confirmed to him by those
who had seen John face to face, meaning no doubt his master Polycarp for one. At
the same time [39] Theophilus Bishop of Antioch asserted it, and so did
Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Origen soon after; and their contemporary
Hippolytus the Martyr, Metropolitan of the Arabians, [40] wrote a commentary
upon it. All these were antient men, flourishing within a hundred and twenty
years after John’s death, and of greatest note in the Churches of those times.
Soon after did Victorinus Pictaviensis write another commentary upon it; and he
lived in the time of Dioclesian. This may surely suffice to shew how the
Apocalypse was received and studied in the first ages: and I do not indeed find
any other book of the New Testament so strongly attested, or commented upon so
early as this. The Prophecy said: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this Prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein. This
animated the first Christians to study it so much, till the difficulty made them
remit, and comment more upon the other books of the New Testament. This was the
state of the Apocalypse, till the thousand years being misunderstood, brought a
prejudice against it: and Dionysius of Alexandria, noting how it abounded with
barbarisms, that is with Hebraisms, promoted that prejudice so far, as to cause
many Greeks in the fourth century to doubt of the book. But whilst the Latins,
and a great part of the Greeks, always retained the Apocalypse, and the rest
doubted only out of prejudice, it makes nothing against its authority. This
Prophecy is called the Revelation, with respect to the scripture of truth, which
Daniel [41] was commanded to shut up and seal, till the time of the end. Daniel
sealed it until the time of the end; and until that time comes, the Lamb is
opening the seals: and afterwards the two Witnesses prophesy out of it a long
time in sack-cloth, before they ascend up to heaven in a cloud. All which is as
much as to say, that these Prophecies of Daniel and John should not be
understood till the time of the end: but then some should prophesy out of them
in an afflicted and mournful state for a long time, and that but darkly, so as
to convert but few. But in the very end, the Prophecy should be so far
interpreted as to convince many. Then, saith Daniel, many shall run to and fro,
and knowledge shall be encreased. For the Gospel must be preached in all nations
before the great tribulation, and end of the world. The palm-bearing multitude,
which come out of this great tribulation, cannot be innumerable out of all
nations, unless they be made so by the preaching of the Gospel before it comes.
There must be a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, before it can fall
upon the toes of the Image, and become a great mountain and fill the earth. An
Angel must fly thro’ the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach
to all nations, before Babylon falls, and the Son of man reaps his harvest. The
two Prophets must ascend up to heaven in a cloud, before the kingdoms of this
world become the kingdoms of Christ. ’Tis therefore a part of this Prophecy,
that it should not be understood before the last age of the world; and therefore
it makes for the credit of the Prophecy, that it is not yet understood. But if
the last age, the age of opening these things, be now approaching, as by the
great successes of late Interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement
than ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the Gospel be
approaching, it is to us and our posterity that those words mainly belong: [42]
In the time of the end the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall
understand. [43] Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this Prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein. The folly of
Interpreters has been, to foretel times and things by this Prophecy, as if God
designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed
themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into contempt. The design of God was
much otherwise. He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to
gratify men’s curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after
they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own
Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. For
the event of things predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing
argument that the world is governed by providence. For as the few and obscure
Prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming were for setting up the Christian
religion, which all nations have since corrupted; so the many and clear
Prophecies concerning the things to be done at Christ’s second coming, are not
only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and re-establishment of
the long-lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness. The
event will prove the Apocalypse; and this Prophecy, thus proved and understood,
will open the old Prophets, and all together will make known the true religion,
and establish it. For he that will understand the old Prophets, must begin with
this; but the time is not yet come for understanding them perfectly, because the
main revolution predicted in them is not yet come to pass. In the days of the
voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God
shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets: and then
the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ,
and he shall reign for ever, Revelation 10:7. Revelation 11:15. There is already
so much of the Prophecy fulfilled, that as many as will take pains in this
study, may see sufficient instances of God’s providence: but then the signal
revolutions predicted by all the holy Prophets, will at once both turn mens eyes
upon considering the predictions, and plainly interpret them. Till then we must
content ourselves with interpreting what hath been already fulfilled.

Amongst the Interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who hath
not made some discovery worth knowing; and thence I seem to gather that God is
about opening these mysteries. The success of others put me upon considering it;
and if I have done any thing which may be useful to following writers, I have my
design.

Notes to Chap. I.

[1] Dem. Evang. l. 3.

[2] Vid. Pamelium in notis ad Tertull. de Præscriptionbus, n. 215 & Hieron l. 1.
contra Jovinianum, c. 14. Edit.Erasmi.

[3] Areth. c. 18, 19.

[4] Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 23.

[5] Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum.

[6] Hieron. in Epist. ad Gal. l. 3. c. 6.

[7] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 28. Edit. Valesii.

[8] Epiphan. Hæres. 28.

[9] Hieron. adv. Lucif.

[10] 1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 1:13. 1 Peter 4:13. & 1 Peter 5:1.

[11] Revelation 13:8.

[12] Revelation 21:1-27.

[13] Revelation 1:6 & Revelation 5:10.

[14] Revelation 20:6.

[15] Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:12.

[16] Revelation 17:1-18.

[17] Daniel 8:15-16, Daniel 8:27 & Daniel 12:7-8.

[18] [Greek: aselgeias], in many of the best MSS.

[19] Revelation 13:7, Revelation 13:12.

[20] Revelation 13:1, Revelation 13:5-6.

[21] Revelation 18:12-13.

[22] Revelation 19:20.

[23] Revelation 21:3-4.

[24] Revelation 9:21 and Revelation 17:2.

[25] Revelation 13:6.

[26] Revelation 18:3, Revelation 18:7, Revelation 18:9.

[27] [Greek: moichalidos].

[28] Revelation 2:14.

[29] Apol. ad Antonin. Pium.

[30] Hæres. l. 1. c. 20. Vide etiam Tertullianum, Apol. c. 13.

[31] Euseb. Chron.

[32] Cyril Catech. 6. Philastr. de hæres. cap. 30. Sulp. Hist. l. 2. Prosper de
promiss. dimid. temp. cap. 13. Maximus serm. 5. in Natal. Apost. Hegesip. l. 2.
c. 2.

[33] Lactant de mortib. Persec. c. 2.

[34] Hom. 70. in Matt. c. 22.

[35] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 25.

[36] Euseb. Hist. l. 2. c. 25.

[37] Arethas in Proæm. comment. in Apoc.

[38] Euseb. Hist. l. 4. cap. 26. Hieron.

[39] Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 24.

[40] Hieron.

[41] Daniel 10:21. Daniel 12:4, Daniel 12:9.

[42] Daniel 12:4, Daniel 12:10.

[43] Revelation 1:3.


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  CHAPTER 23: 01.022.     CHAPTER II
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CHAP. II. Of the relation which the Apocalypse of John hath to the Book of the
Law of Moses, and to the worship of God in the Temple. The Apocalypse of John is
written in the same style and language with the Prophecies of Daniel, and hath
the same relation to them which they have to one another, so that all of them
together make but one complete Prophecy; and in like manner it consists of two
parts, an introductory Prophecy, and an Interpretation thereof. The Prophecy is
distinguish’d into seven successive parts, by the opening of the seven seals of
the book which Daniel was commanded to seal up: and hence it is called the
Apocalypse or Revelation of Jesus Christ. The time of the seventh seal is
sub-divided into eight successive parts by the silence in heaven for half an
hour, and the sounding of seven trumpets successively: and the seventh trumpet
sounds to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, whereby the kingdoms of
this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, and those are
destroyed that destroyed the earth. The Interpretation begins with the words,
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the
Ark of his Testament: and it continues to the end of the Prophecy. The Temple is
the scene of the visions, and the visions in the Temple relate to the feast of
the seventh month: for the feasts of the Jews were typical of things to come.
The Passover related to the first coming of Christ, and the feasts of the
seventh month to his second coming: his first coming being therefore over before
this Prophecy was given, the feasts of the seventh month are here only alluded
unto. On the first day of that month, in the morning, the High-Priest dressed
the lamps: and in allusion hereunto, this Prophecy begins with a vision of one
like the Son of man in the High-Priest’s habit, appearing as it were in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks, or over against the midst of them,
dressing the lamps, which appeared like a rod of seven stars in his right hand:
and this dressing was perform’d by the sending seven Epistles to the Angels or
Bishops of the seven Churches of Asia, which in the primitive times illuminated
the Temple or Church Catholick. These Epistles contain admonitions against the
approaching Apostacy, and therefore relate to the times when the Apostacy began
to work strongly, and before it prevailed. It began to work in the Apostles
days, and was to continue working till the man of sin should be revealed. It
began to work in the disciples of Simon, Menander, Carpocrates, Cerinthas, and
such sorts of men as had imbibed the metaphysical philosophy of the Gentiles and
Cabalistical Jews, and were thence called Gnosticks. John calls them
Antichrists, saying that in his days there were many Antichrists. But these
being condemned by the Apostles, and their immediate disciples, put the Churches
in no danger during the opening of the first four seals. The visions at the
opening of these seals relate only to the civil affairs of the heathen Roman
Empire. So long the Apostolic traditions prevailed, and preserved the Church in
its purity: and therefore the affairs of the Church do not begin to be
considered in this Prophecy before the opening of the fifth seal. She began then
to decline, and to want admonitions; and therefore is admonished by these
Epistles, till the Apostacy prevailed and took place, which was at the opening
of the seventh seal. The admonitions therefore in these seven Epistles relate to
the state of the Church in the times of the fifth and sixth seals. At the
opening of the fifth seal, the Church is purged from hypocrites by a great
persecution. At the opening of the sixth, that which letted is taken out of the
way, namely the heathen Roman Empire. At the opening of the seventh, the man of
sin is revealed. And to these times the seven Epistles relate. The seven Angels,
to whom these Epistles were written, answer to the seven Amarc-holim, who were
Priests and chief Officers of the Temple, and had jointly the keys of the gates
of the Temple, with those of the Treasuries, and the direction, appointment and
oversight of all things in the Temple.

After the lamps were dresed, John saw the door of the Temple opened; and by the
voice as it were of a trumpet, was called up to the eastern gate of the great
court, to see the visions: and behold a throne was set, viz. the mercy-seat upon
the Ark of the Testament, which the Jews respected as the throne of God between
the Cherubims, Exodus 25:2.. Psalms 99:1. And he that sat on it was to look upon
like Jasper and Sardine stone, that is, of an olive colour, the people of Judea
being of that colour. And, the Sun being then in the East, a rainbow was about
the throne, the emblem of glory. And round about the throne were four and twenty
seats; answering to the chambers of the four and twenty Princes of the Priests,
twelve on the south side, and twelve on the north side of the Priests Court. And
upon the seats were four and twenty Elders sitting, clothed in white rayment,
with crowns on their heads; representing the Princes of the four and twenty
courses of the Priests clothed in linen. And out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings, and voices, viz. the flashes of the fire upon the
Altar at the morning-sacrifice, and the thundering voices of those that sounded
the trumpets, and sung at the Eastern gate of the Priests Court; for these being
between John and the throne appeared to him as proceeding from the throne. And
there were seven lamps of fire burning, in the Temple, before the throne, which
are the seven spirits of God, or Angels of the seven Churches, represented in
the beginning of this Prophecy by seven stars. And before the throne was a sea
of glass clear as chrystal; the brazen sea between the porch of the Temple and
the Altar, filled with clear water. And in the midst of the throne, and round
about the throne, were four Beasts full of eyes before and behind: that is, one
Beast before the throne and one behind it, appearing to John as in the midst of
the throne, and one on either side in the circle about it, to represent by the
multitude of their eyes the people standing in the four sides of the peoples
court. And the first Beast was like a lion, and the second was like a calf, and
the third had the face of a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. The
people of Israel in the wilderness encamped round about the tabernacle, and on
the east side were three tribes under the standard of Judah, on the west were
three tribes under the standard of Ephraim, on the south were three tribes under
the standard of Reuben, and on the north were three tribes under the standard of
Dan, Numbers 2:1-34. And the standard of Judah was a Lion, that of Ephraim an
Ox, that of Reuben a Man, and that of Dan an Eagle, as the Jews affirm. Whence
were framed the hieroglyphicks of Cherubims and Seraphims, to represent the
people of Israel. A Cherubim had one body with four faces, the faces of a Lion,
an Ox, a Man and an Eagle, looking to the four winds of heaven, without turning
about, as in Ezekiel’s vision, Ezekiel 1:1-28. And four Seraphims had the same
four faces with four bodies, one face to every body. The four Beasts are
therefore four Seraphims standing in the four sides of the peoples court; the
first in the eastern side with the head of a Lion, the second in the western
side with the head of an Ox, the third in the southern side with the head of a
Man, the fourth in the northern side with the head of an Eagle: and all four
signify together the twelve tribes of Israel, out of whom the hundred forty and
four thousand were sealed, Revelation 7:4. And the four Beasts had each of them
six wings, two to a tribe, in all twenty and four wings, answering to the twenty
and four stations of the people. And they were full of eyes within, or under
their wings. And they rest not day and night, or at the morning and
evening-sacrifices, saying, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and
is, and is to come. These animals are therefore the Seraphims, which appeared to
Isaiah [1] in a vision like this of the Apocalypse. For there also the Lord sat
upon a throne in the temple; and the Seraphims each with six wings cried, Holy,
holy, holy Lord God of hosts. And when those animals give glory and honour and
thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the
four and twenty Elders go into the Temple, and there fall down before him that
sitteth on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast
their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created. At the morning and evening-sacrifices, so
soon as the sacrifice was laid upon the Altar, and the drink-offering began to
be poured out, the trumpets sounded, and the Levites sang by course three times;
and every time when the trumpets sounded, the people fell down and worshiped.
Three times therefore did the people worship; to express which number, the
Beasts cry Holy, holy, holy: and the song being ended, the people prayed
standing, till the solemnity was finished. In the mean time the Priests went
into the Temple, and there fell down before him that sat upon the throne, and
worshiped. And John saw, in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, a
book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals, viz. the book
which Daniel was commanded to seal up, and which is here represented by the
prophetic book of the Law laid up on the right side of the Ark, as it were in
the right hand of him that sat on the throne: for the festivals and ceremonies
of the Law prescribed to the people in this book, adumbrated those things which
were predicted in the book of Daniel; and the writing within and on the backside
of this book, relates to the synchronal Prophecies. [2] And none was found
worthy to open the book but the Lamb of God. And lo, in the midst of the throne
and of the four Beasts, and in the midst of the Elders, that is, at the foot of
the Altar, stood a lamb as it had been slain, the morning-sacrifice; having
seven horns, which are the seven Churches, and seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came, and took the book out
of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne: And when he had taken the
book, the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the
prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
and hast made us, unto our God, Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the
earth. The Beasts and Elders therefore represent the primitive Christians of all
nations; and the worship of these Christians in their Churches is here
represented under the form of worshiping God and the Lamb in the Temple: God for
his benefaction in creating all things, and the Lamb for his benefaction in
redeeming us with his blood: God as sitting upon the throne and living for ever,
and the Lamb as exalted above all by the merits of his death. And I heard, saith
John, the voice of many Angels round about the throne, and the Beasts and the
Elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard
I, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four Beasts said, Amen. And
the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth for ever and
ever. This was the worship of the primitive Christians.

It was the custom for the High-Priest, seven days before the fast of the seventh
month, to continue constantly in the Temple, and study the book of the Law, that
he might be perfect in it against the day of expiation; wherein the service,
which was various and intricate, was wholly to be performed by himself; part of
which service was reading the Law to the people: and to promote his studying it,
there were certain Priests appointed by the Sanhedrim to be with him those seven
days in one of his chambers in the Temple, and there to discourse with him about
the Law, and read it to him, and put him in mind of reading and studying it
himself. This his opening and reading the Law those seven days, is alluded unto
in the Lamb’s opening the seals. We are to conceive that those seven days begin
in the evening before each day; for the Jews began their day in the evening, and
that the solemnity of the fast begins in the morning of the seventh day. The
seventh seal was therefore opened on the day of expiation, and then there was
silence in heaven for half an hour. And an Angel, the High-Priest, stood at the
Altar, having a golden Censer; and there was given him much incense, that he
should offer it with the prayers of all Saints, upon the golden Altar which was
before the throne. The custom was on other days, for one of the Priests to take
fire from the great Altar in a silver Censer; but on this day, for the
High-Priest to take fire from the great Altar in a golden Censer: and when he
was come down from the great Altar, he took incense from one of the Priests who
brought it to him, and went with it to the golden Altar: and while he offered
the incense, the people prayed without in silence, which is the silence in
heaven for half an hour. When the High-Priest had laid the incense on the Altar,
he carried a Censer of it burning in his hand, into the most holy place before
the Ark. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the Saints, ascended
up before God out of the Angel’s hand. On other days there was a certain measure
of incense for the golden Altar: on this day there was a greater quantity for
both the Altar and the most holy Place, and therefore it is called much incense.
After this the Angel took the Censer, and filled it with fire from the great
Altar, and cast it into the earth; that is, by the hands of the Priests who
belong to his mystical body, he cast it to the earth without the Temple, for
burning the Goat which was the Lord’s lot. And at this and other concomitant
sacrifices, until the evening-sacrifice was ended, there were voices, and
thundrings, and lightnings, and an earthquake; that is, the voice of the
High-Priest reading the Law to the people, and other voices and thundrings from
the trumpets and temple-musick at the sacrifices, and lightnings from the fire
of the Altar. The solemnity of the day of expiation being finished, the seven
Angels found their trumpets at the great sacrifices of the seven days of the
feast of tabernacles; and at the same sacrifices, the seven thunders utter their
voices, which are the musick of the Temple, and singing of the Levites,
intermixed with the soundings of the trumpets: and the seven Angels pour out
their vials of wrath, which are the drink-offerings of those sacrifices. When
six of the seals were opened, John said: [3] And after these things, that is,
after the visions of the sixth seal, I saw four Angels standing on the four
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should
not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another Angel
ascending from the East, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a
loud voice to the four Angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the
sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed
the servants of our God in their foreheads. This sealing alludes to a tradition
of the Jews, that upon the day of expiation all the people of Israel are sealed
up in the books of life and death. For the Jews in their Talmud [4] tell us,
that in the beginning of every new year, or first day of the month Tisri, the
seventh month of the sacred year, three books are opened in judgment; the book
of life, in which the names of those are written who are perfectly just; the
book of death, in which the names of those are written who are Atheists or very
wicked; and a third book, of those whose judgment is suspended till the day of
expiation, and whose names are not written in the book of life or death before
that day. The first ten days of this month they call the penitential days; and
all these days they fast and pray very much, and are very devout, that on the
tenth day their sins may be remitted, and their names may be written in the book
of life; which day is therefore called the day of expiation. And upon this tenth
day, in returning home from the Synagogues, they say to one another, God the
creator seal you to a good year. For they conceive that the books are now sealed
up, and that the sentence of God remains unchanged henceforward to the end of
the year. The same thing is signified by the two Goats, upon whose foreheads the
High-Priest yearly, on the day of expiation, lays the two lots inscribed, For
God and For Azazel; God’s lot signifying the people who are sealed with the name
of God in their foreheads; and the lot Azazel, which was sent into the
wilderness, representing those who receive the mark and name of the Beast, and
go into the wilderness with the great Whore. The servants of God being therefore
sealed in the day of expiation, we may conceive that this sealing is synchronal
to the visions which appear upon opening the seventh seal; and that when the
Lamb had opened six of the seals and seen the visions relating to the inside of
the sixth, he looked on the backside of the seventh leaf, and then saw the four
Angels holding the four winds of heaven, and another Angel ascending from the
East with the seal of God. Conceive also, that the Angels which held the four
winds were the first four of the seven Angels, who upon opening the seventh seal
were seen standing before God; and that upon their holding the winds, there was
silence in heaven for half an hour; and that while the servants of God were
sealing, the Angel with the golden Censer offered their prayers with incense
upon the golden Altar, and read the Law: and that so soon as they were sealed,
the winds hurt the earth at the sounding of the first trumpet, and the sea at
the sounding of the second; these winds signifying the wars, to which the first
four trumpets sounded. For as the first four seals are distinguished from the
three last by the appearance of four horsemen towards the four winds of heaven;
so the wars of the first four trumpets are distinguished from those of the three
last, by representing these by four winds, and the others by three great woes.
In one of Ezekiel’s visions, when the Babylonian captivity was at hand, six men
appeared with slaughter-weapons; and a seventh, who [5] appeared among them
clothed in white linen and a writer’s ink-horn by his side, is commanded to go
thro’ the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that
sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the midst thereof: and then the
six men, like the Angels of the first six trumpets, are commanded to slay those
men who are not marked. Conceive therefore that the hundred forty and four
thousand are sealed, to preserve them from the plagues of the first six
trumpets; and that at length by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, they
grow into a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people and tongues: and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet
come out of the great tribulation with Palms in their hands: the kingdoms of
this world, by the war to which that trumpet sounds, becoming the kingdoms of
God and his Christ. For the solemnity of the great Hosannah was kept by the Jews
upon the seventh or last day of the feast of tabernacles; the Jews upon that day
carrying Palms in their hands, and crying Hosannah.

After six of the Angels, answering to the six men with slaughter-weapons, had
sounded their trumpets, the Lamb in the form of a mighty Angel cane down from
heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was
as it were the Sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, the shape in which Christ
appeared in the beginning of this Prophecy; and he had in his hand a little book
open, the book which he had newly opened; for he received but one book from him
that sitteth upon the throne, and he alone was worthy to open and look on this
book. And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth, and
cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. It was the custom for the
High-Priest on the day of expiation, to stand in an elevated place in the
peoples court, at the Eastern gate of the Priests court, and read the Law to the
people, while the Heifer and the Goat which was the Lord’s lot, were burning
without the Temple. We may therefore suppose him standing in such a manner, that
his right foot might appear to John as it were standing on the sea of glass, and
his left foot on the ground of the house; and that he cried with a loud voice,
in reading the Law on the day of expiation. And when he had cried, seven
thunders uttered their voices. Thunders are the voice of a cloud, and a cloud
signifies a multitude; and this multitude may be the Levites, who sang with
thundering voices, and played with musical instruments at the great sacrifices,
on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles: at which times the trumpets also
sounded. For the trumpets sounded, and the Levites sang alternately, three times
at every sacrifice. The Prophecy therefore of the seven thunders is nothing else
than a repetition of the Prophecy of the seven trumpets in another form. And the
Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to
heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, that after the seven
thunders there should be time no longer; but in the days of the voice of the
seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be
finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets. The voices of the
thunders therefore last to the end of this world, and so do those of the
trumpets. And the voice which I heard from heaven, saith John, spake unto me
again and said, Go and take the little book, &c. And I took the little book out
of the Angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and
as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must
prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. This is
an introduction to a new Prophecy, to a repetition of the Prophecy of the whole
book; and alludes to Ezekiel’s eating a roll or book spread open before him, and
written within and without, full of lamentations and mourning and woe, but sweet
in his mouth. Eating and drinking signify acquiring and possessing; and eating
the book is becoming inspired with the Prophecy contained in it. It implies
being inspired in a vigorous and extraordinary manner with the Prophecy of the
whole book, and therefore signifies a lively repetition of the whole Prophecy by
way of interpretation, and begins not till the first Prophecy, that of the seals
and trumpets, is ended. It was sweet in John’s mouth, and therefore begins not
with the bitter Prophecy of the Babylonian captivity, and the Gentiles being in
the outward court of the Temple, and treading the holy city under foot; and the
prophesying of the two Witnesses in sackcloth, and their smiting the earth with
all plagues, and being killed by the Beast; but so soon as the Prophecy of the
trumpets is ended, it begins with the sweet Prophecy of the glorious Woman in
heaven, and the victory of Michael over the Dragon; and after that, it is bitter
in John’s belly, by a large description of the times of the great Apostacy. And
the Angel stood, upon the earth and sea, saying, Rise and measure the Temple of
God and the Altar, and them that worship therein, that is, their courts with the
buildings thereon, viz. the square court of the Temple called the separate
place, and the square court of the Altar called the Priests court, and the court
of them that worship in the Temple called the new court: but the great court
which is without the Temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given to
the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two
months. This measuring hath reference to Ezekiel’s measuring the Temple of
Solomon: there the whole Temple, including the outward court, was measured, to
signify that it should be rebuilt in the latter days. Here the courts of the
Temple and Altar, and they who worship therein, are only measured, to signify
the building of a second Temple, for those that are sealed out of all the twelve
tribes of Israel, and worship in the inward court of sincerity and truth: but
John is commanded to leave out the outward court, or outward form of religion
and Church-government, because it is given to the Babylonian Gentiles. For the
glorious woman in heaven, the remnant of whole seed kept the commandments of
God, and had the testimony of Jesus, continued the same woman in outward form
after her flight into the wilderness, whereby she quitted her former sincerity
and piety, and became the great Whore. She lost her chastity, but kept her
outward form and shape. And while the Gentiles tread the holy city underfoot,
and worship in the outward court, the two witnesses, represented perhaps by the
two feet of the Angel standing on the sea and earth, prophesied against them,
and had power, like Elijah and Moses, to consume their enemies with fire
proceeding out of their mouth, and to shut heaven that it rain not in the days
of their Prophecy, and to turn the waters into blood, and to smite the earth
with all plagues as often as they will, that is, with the plagues of the
trumpets and vials of wrath; and at length they are slain, rise again from the
dead, and ascend up to heaven in a cloud; and then the seventh trumpet sounds to
the day of judgment. The Prophecy being finished, John is inspired anew by the
eaten book, and begins the Interpretation thereof with these words, And the
Temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of
the Testament. By the Ark, we may know that this was the first Temple; for the
second Temple had no Ark. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thundrings,
and an earthquake, and great hail. These answer to the wars in the Roman Empire,
during the reign of the four horsemen, who appeared upon opening the first four
seals. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the
Sun. In the Prophecy, the affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the
opening of the fifth seal; and in the Interpretation, they begin at the same
time with the vision of the Church in the form of a woman in heaven: there she
is persecuted, and here she is pained in travail. The Interpretation proceeds
down first to the sealing of the servants of God, and marking the rest with the
mark of the Beast; and then to the day of judgment, represented by a harvest and
vintage. Then it returns back to the times of opening the seventh seal, and
interprets the Prophecy of the seven trumpets by the pouring out of seven vials
of wrath. The Angels who pour them out, come out of the Temple of the
Tabernacle; that is, out of the second Temple, for the Tabernacle had no outward
court. Then it returns back again to the times of measuring the Temple and
Altar, and of the Gentiles worshiping in the outward court, and of the Beast
killing the witnesses in the streets of the great city; and interprets these
things by the vision of a woman sitting on the Beast, drunken with the blood of
the Saints; and proceeds in the interpretation downwards to the fall of the
great city and the day of judgment. The whole Prophecy of the book, represented
by the book of the Law, is therefore repeated, and interpreted in the visions
which follow those of sounding the seventh trumpet, and begin with that of the
Temple of God opened in heaven. Only the things, which the seven thunders
uttered, were not written down, and therefore not interpreted.

Notes to Chap. II.

[1] Isaiah 6:1-13.

[2] Revelation 5:1-14.

[3] Revelation 7:1-17 [4] Buxtorf in Synogoga Judaica, c. 18, 21.

[5] Ezekiel 9:1-11.


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  CHAPTER 24: 01.023.     CHAPTER III
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CHAP. III. Of the relation which the Prophecy of John hath to those of Daniel;
and of the Subject of the Prophecy. The whole scene of sacred Prophecy is
composed of three principal parts: the regions beyond Euphrates, represented by
the two first Beasts of Daniel; the Empire of the Greeks on this side of
Euphrates, represented by the Leopard and by the He-Goat; and the Empire of the
Latins on this side of Greece, represented by the Beast with ten horns. And to
these three parts, the phrases of the third part of the earth, sea, rivers,
trees, ships, stars, sun, and moon, relate. I place the body of the fourth Beast
on this side of Greece, because the three first of the four Beasts had their
lives prolonged after their dominion was taken away, and therefore belong not to
the body of the fourth. He only stamped them with his feet. By the earth, the
Jews understood the great continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had
access by land: and by the Isles of the sea, they understood the places to which
they sailed by sea, particularly all Europe: and hence in this Prophecy, the
earth and sea are put for the nations of the Greek and Latin Empires. The third
and fourth Beasts of Daniel are the same with the Dragon and ten-horned Beast of
John, but with this difference: John puts the Dragon for the whole Roman Empire
while it continued entire, because it was entire when that Prophecy was given;
and the Beast he considers not till the Empire became divided: and then he puts
the Dragon for the Empire of the Greeks, and the Beast for the Empire of the
Latins. Hence it is that the Dragon and Beast have common heads and common
horns: but the Dragon hath crowns only upon his heads, and the Beast only upon
his horns; because the Beast and his horns reigned not before they were divided
from the Dragon: and when the Dragon gave the Beast his throne, the ten horns
received power as Kings, the same hour with the Beast. The heads are seven
successive Kings. Four of them were the four horsemen which appeared at the
opening of the first four seals. In the latter end of the sixth head, or seal,
considered as present in the visions, it is said, five of the seven Kings are
fallen, and one is, and another is not yet come; and the Beast that was and is
not, being wounded to death with a sword, he is the eighth, and of the seven: he
was therefore a collateral part of the seventh. The horns are the same with
those of Daniel’s fourth Beast, described above. The four horsemen which appear
at the opening of the first four seals, have been well explained by Mr. Mede;
excepting that I had rather continue the third to the end of the reign of the
three Gordians and Philip the Arabian, those being Kings from the South, and
begin the fourth with the reign of Decius, and continue it till the reign of
Dioclesian. For the fourth horseman sat upon a pale horse, and his name was
Death; and hell followed with him; and power was given them to kill unto the
fourth part of the earth, with the sword, and with famine, and with the plague,
and with the Beasts of the earth, or armies of invaders and rebels: and as such
were the times during all this interval. Hitherto the Roman Empire continued in
an undivided monarchical form, except rebellions; and such it is represented by
the four horsemen. But Dioclesian divided it between himself and Maximianus,
A.C. 285; and it continued in that divided state, till the victory of
Constantine the great over Licinius, A.C. 323, which put an end to the heathen
persecutions set on foot by Dioclesian and Maximianus, and described at the
opening of the fifth seal. But this division of the Empire was imperfect, the
whole being still under one and the same Senate. The same victory of Constantine
over Licinius a heathen persecutor, began the fall of the heathen Empire,
described at the opening of the sixth seal: and the visions of this seal
continue till after the reign of Julian the Apostate, he being a heathen
Emperor, and reigning over the whole Roman Empire. The affairs of the Church
begin to be considered at the opening of the fifth seal, as was said above. Then
she is represented by a woman in the Temple of heaven, clothed with the sun of
righteousness, and the moon of Jewish ceremonies under her feet, and upon her
head a crown of twelve stars relating to the twelve Apostles and to the twelve
tribes of Israel. When she fled from the Temple into the wilderness, she left in
the Temple a remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and had the
testimony of Jesus Christ; and therefore before her flight she represented the
true primitive Church of God, tho afterwards she degenerated like Aholah and
Aholibah. In Diocesian’s persecution she cried, travelling in birth, and pained
to be delivered. And in the end of that persecution, by the victory of
Constantine over Maxentius A.C. 312, she brought forth a man-child, such a child
as was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, a Christian Empire. And her
child, by the victory of Constantine over Licinius, A.C. 323, was caught up unto
God and to his throne. And the woman, by the division of the Roman Empire into
the Greek and Latin Empires, fled from the first Temple into the wilderness, or
spiritually barren Empire of the Latins, where she is found afterwards sitting
upon the Beast and upon the seven mountains; and is called the great city which
reigneth over the Kings of the earth, that is, over the ten Kings who give their
kingdom to her Beast. But before her flight there was war in heaven between
Michael and the Dragon, the Christian and the heathen religions; and the Dragon,
that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world, was
cast out to the earth, and his Angels were cast out with him. And John heard a
voice in heaven, saying, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of
our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye
heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe be to the inhabiters of the earth and
sea, or people of the Greek and Latin Empires, for the devil is come down
amongst you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time. And when the Dragon saw that he was cast down from the Roman throne, and
the man-child caught up thither, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the
man-child; and to her, by the division of the Roman Empire between the cities of
Rome and Constantinople A.C. 330, were given two wings of a great eagle, the
symbol of the Roman Empire, that she might flee from the first Temple into the
wilderness of Arabia, to her place at Babylon mystically so called. And the
serpent, by the division of the same Empire between the sons of Constantine the
great, A.C. 337, cast out of his mouth water as a flood, the Western Empire,
after the woman; that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. And
the earth, or Greek Empire, helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth,
and swallowed up the flood, by the victory of Constantius over Magnentius, A.C.
353, and thus the Beast was wounded to death with a sword. And the Dragon was
wroth with the woman, in the reign of Julian the Apostate A.C. 361, and, by a
new division of the Empire between Valentinian and Valens, A.C. 364, went from
her into the Eastern Empire to make war with the remnant of her seed, which she
left behind her when she fled: and thus the Beast revived. By the next division
of the Empire, which was between Gratian and Theodosius A.C. 379, the Beast with
ten horns rose out of the sea, and the Beast with two horns out of the earth:
and by the last division thereof, which was between the sons of Theodosius, A.C.
395, the Dragon gave the Beast his power and throne, and great authority. And
the ten horns received power as Kings, the same hour with the Beast. At length
the woman arrived at her place of temporal as well as spiritual dominion upon
the back of the Beast, where she is nourished a time, and times, and half a
time, from the face of the serpent; not in his kingdom, but at a distance from
him. She is nourished by the merchants of the earth, three times or years and an
half, or 42 months, or 1260 days: and in these Prophecies days are put for
years. During all this time the Beast acted, and she sat upon him, that is,
reigned over him, and over the ten Kings who gave their power and strength, that
is, their kingdom to the Beast; and she was drunken with the blood of the
Saints. By all these circumstances she is the eleventh horn of Daniel’s fourth
Beast, who reigned with a look more stout than his fellows, and was of a
different kind from the rest, and had eyes and a mouth like the woman; and made
war with the saints, and prevailed against them, and wore them out, and thought
to change times and laws, and had them given into his hand, until a time, and
times, and half a time. These characters of the woman, and little horn of the
Beast, agree perfectly: in respect of her temporal dominion, she was a horn of
the Beast; in respect of her spiritual dominion, she rode upon him in the form
of a woman, and was his Church, and committed fornication with the ten Kings.
The second Beast, which rose up out of the earth, was the Church of the Greek
Empire: for it had two horns like those of the Lamb, and therefore was a Church;
and it spake as the Dragon, and therefore was of his religion; and it came up
out of the earth, and by consequence in his kingdom. It is called also the false
Prophet who wrought miracles before the first Beast, by which he deceived them
that received his mark, and worshiped his image. When the Dragon went from the
woman to make war with the remnant of her seed, this Beast arising out of the
earth assisted in that war, and caused the earth and them which dwell therein to
worship the authority of the first Beast, whose mortal wound was healed, and to
make an Image to him, that is, to assemble a body of men like him in point of
religion. He had also power to give life and authority to the Image, so that it
could both speak, and by dictating cause that all religious bodies of men, who
would not worship the authority of the Image, should be mystically killed. And
he causeth all men to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead,
and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, or the name of the
Beast, or the number of his name; all the rest being excommunicated by the Beast
with two horns. His mark is [Cross] [Cross] [Cross], and his name [Greek:
LATEINOS], and the number of his name 666.

Thus the Beast, after he was wounded to death with a sword and revived, was
deified, as the heathens used to deify their Kings after death, and had an Image
erected to him; and his worshipers were initiated in this new religion, by
receiving the mark or name of this new God, or the number of his name. By
killing all that will not worship him and his Image, the first Temple,
illuminated by the lamps of the seven Churches, is demolished, and a new Temple
built for them who will not worship him; and the outward court of this new
Temple, or outward form of a Church, is given to the Gentiles, who worship the
Beast and his Image: while they who will not worship him, are sealed with the
name of God in their foreheads, and retire into the inward court of this new
Temple. These are the 144000 sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, and
called the two Witnesses, as being derived from the two wings of the woman while
she was flying into the wilderness, and represented by two of the seven
candlesticks. These appear to John in the inward court of the second Temple,
standing on mount Sion with the Lamb, and as it were on the sea of glass. These
are the Saints of the most High, and the host of heaven, and the holy people
spoken of by Daniel, as worn out and trampled under foot, and destroyed in the
latter times by the little horns of his fourth Beast and He-Goat.

While the Gentiles tread the holy city under foot, God gives power to his two
Witnesses, and they prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed
in sackcloth. They are called the two Olive-trees, with relation to the two
Olive-trees, which in Zechary’s vision, chap. iv. stand on either side of the
golden candlestick to supply the lamps with oil: and Olive-trees, according to
the Apostle Paul, represent Churches, Romans 11:1-36. They supply the lamps with
oil, by maintaining teachers. They are also called the two candlesticks; which
in this Prophecy signify Churches, the seven Churches of Asia being represented
by seven candlesticks. Five of these Churches were found faulty, and threatned
if they did not repent; the other two were without fault, and so their
candlesticks were fit to be placed in the second Temple. These were the Churches
in Smyrna and Philadelphia. They were in a state of tribulation and persecution,
and the only two of the seven in such a state: and so their candlesticks were
fit to represent the Churches in affliction in the times of the second Temple,
and the only two of the seven that were fit. The two Witnesses are not new
Churches: they are the posterity of the primitive Church, the posterity of the
two wings of the woman, and so are fitly represented by two of the primitive
candlesticks. We may conceive therefore, that when the first Temple was
destroyed, and a new one built for them who worship in the inward court, two of
the seven candlesticks were placed in this new Temple. The affairs of the Church
are not considered during the opening of the first four seals. They begin to be
consider’d at the opening of the fifth seal, as was said above; and are further
considered at the opening of the sixth seal; and the seventh seal contains the
times of the great Apostacy. And therefore I refer the Epistles to the seven
Churches unto the times of the fifth and sixth seals: for they relate to the
Church when she began to decline, and contain admonitions against the great
Apostacy then approaching. When Eusebius had brought down his Ecclesiatical
History to the reign of Dioclesian, he thus describes the state of the Church:
Qualem quantamque gloriam simul ac libertatem doctrina veræ erga supremum Deum
pietatis à Christo primùm hominibus annunciata, apud omnes Græcos pariter &
barbaros ante persecutionem nostrâ memoriâ excitatam, consecuta sit, nos certè
pro merito explicare non possumus. Argumento esse possit Imperatorum benignitas
erga nostros: quibus regendas etiam provincias committebant, omni sacrificandi
metu eos liberantes ob singularem, qua in religionem nostram affecti erant,
benevolentiam. And a little after: Jam vero quis innumerabilem hominum quotidiè
ad fidem Christi confugientium turbam, quis numerum ecclesiarum in singulis
urbibus, quis illustres populorum concursus in ædibus sacris, cumulatè possit
describere? Quo factum est, ut priscis ædificiis jam non contenti, in singulis
urbibus spatiosas ab ipsis fundamentis exstruerent ecclesias. Atque hæc
progressii temporis increscentia, & quotidiè in majus & melius proficiscentia,
nec livor ullus atterere, nec malignitas dæmonis fascinare, nec hominum insidiæ
prohibere unquam potuerunt, quamdiu omnipotentis Dei dextra populum suum, utpote
tali dignum præsidio, texit atque custodiit. Sed cum ex nimia libertate in
negligentiam ac desidiam prolapsi essemus; cum alter alteri invidere atque
obtrectare cæpisset; cum inter nos quasi bella intestina gereremus, verbis,
tanquam armis quibusdam hastisque, nos mutuò vulnerantes; cum Antistites
adversus Antistites, populi in populos collisi, jurgia ac tumultus agitarent;
denique cum fraus & simulatio ad summum malitiæ culmen adolevisset: tum divina
ultio, levi brachio ut solet, integro adhuc ecclesiæ statu, & fidelium turbis
liberè convenientibus, sensim ac moderatè in nos cæpit animadvertere; orsà
primùm persecutione ab iis qui militabant. Cum verò sensu omni destituti de
placando Dei numine ne cogitaremus quidem; quin potius instar impiorum quorundam
res humanas nullâ providentiâ gubernari rati, alia quotidiè crimina aliis
adjiceremus: cum Pastores nostri spretâ religionis regulâ, mutuis inter se
contentionibus decertarent, nihil aliud quam jurgia, minas, æmulationem, odia,
ac mutuas inimicitias amplificare studentes; principatum quasi tyrannidem
quandam contentissimè sibi vindicantes: tunc demùm juxta dictum Hieremiæ,
obscuravit Dominus in ira sua filiam Sion, & dejecit de cælo gloriam
Israel,--per Ecclesiarum scilicet subversionem, &c. This was the state of the
Church just before the subversion of the Churches in the beginning of
Dioclesian’s persecution: and to this state of the Church agrees the first of
the seven Epistles to the Angel of the seven Churches, [1] that to the Church in
Ephesus. I have something against thee, saith Christ to the Angel of that
Church, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou
repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which
I also hate. The Nicolaitans are the Continentes above described, who placed
religion in abstinence from marriage, abandoning their wives if they had any.
They are here called Nicolaitans, from Nicolas one of the seven deacons of the
primitive Church of Jerusalem; who having a beautiful wife, and being taxed with
uxoriousness, abandoned her, and permitted her to marry whom she pleased, saying
that we must disuse the flesh; and thenceforward lived a single life in
continency, as his children also. The Continentes afterwards embraced the
doctrine of Æons and Ghosts male and female, and were avoided by the Churches
till the fourth century; and the Church of Ephesus is here commended for hating
their deeds. The persecution of Dioclesian began in the year of Christ 302, and
lasted ten years in the Eastern Empire and two years in the Western. To this
state of the Church the second Epistle, to the Church of Smyrna, agrees. I know,
saith [2] Christ, thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich;
and I know the blasphemy of them, which say they are Jews and are not, but are
the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer:
Behold, the Devil shall call some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and
ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life. The tribulation of ten days can agree to no other
persecution than that of Dioclesian, it being the only persecution which lasted
ten years. By the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are
the synagogue of Satan, I understand the Idolatry of the Nicolaitans, who falsly
said they were Christians. The Nicolaitans are complained of also in [3] the
third Epistle, as men that held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast
a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to
Idols, and [4] to commit spiritual fornication. For Balaam taught the Moabites
and Midianites to tempt and invite Israel by their women to commit fornication,
and to feast with them at the sacrifices of their Gods. The Dragon therefore
began now to come down among the inhabitants of the earth and sea. The
Nicolaitans are also complained of in the fourth Epistle, under the name of the
woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a Prophetess, to teach and to seduce the
servants of Christ to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to Idols.
The woman therefore began now to fly into the wilderness. The reign of
Constantine the great from the time of his conquering Licinius, was monarchical
over the whole Roman Empire. Then the Empire became divided between the sons of
Constantine: and afterwards it was again united under Constantius, by his
victory over Magnentius. To the affairs of the Church in these three successive
periods of time, the third, fourth, and fifth Epistles, that is, those to the
Angels of the Churches in Pergamus, Thyatira, and Sardis, seem to relate. The
next Emperor was Julian the Apostate. In the sixth Epistle, [5] to the Angel of
the Church in Philadelphia, Christ saith: Because in the reign of the heathen
Emperor Julian, thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee
from the hour of temptation, which by the woman’s flying into the wilderness,
and the Dragon’s making war with the remnant of her seed, and the killing of all
who will not worship the Image of the Beast, shall come upon all the world, to
try them that dwell upon the earth, and to distinguish them by sealing the one
with the name of God in their foreheads, and marking the other with the mark of
the Beast. Him that overcometh, I will make a pillar in the Temple of my God;
and he shall go no more out of it. And I will write upon him the name of my God
in his forehead. So the Christians of the Church of Philadelphia, as many of
them as overcome, are sealed with the seal of God, and placed in the second
Temple, and go no more out. The same is to be understood of the Church in
Smyrna, which also kept the word of God’s patience, and was without fault. These
two Churches, with their posterity, are therefore the two Pillars, and the two
Candlesticks, and the two Witnesses in the second Temple.

After the reign of the Emperor Julian, and his successor Jovian who reigned but
five months, the Empire became again divided between Valentinian and Valens.
Then the Church Catholick, in the Epistle to the Angel of the Church of
Laodicea, is reprehended as lukewarm, and [6] threatned to be spewed out of
Christ’s mouth. She said, that she was rich and increased with goods, and had
need of nothing, being in outward prosperity; and knew not that she was inwardly
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. She is therefore spewed
out of Christ’s mouth at the opening of the seventh seal: and this puts an end
to the times of the first Temple.

About one half of the Roman Empire turned Christians in the time of Constantine
the great and his sons. After Julian had opened the Temples, and restored the
worship of the heathens, the Emperors Valentinian and Valens tolerated it all
their reign; and therefore the Prophecy of the sixth seal was not fully
accomplished before the reign of their successor Gratian. It was the custom of
the heathen Priests, in the beginning of the reign of every sovereign Emperor,
to offer him the dignity and habit of the Pontifex Maximus. This dignity all
Emperors had hitherto accepted: but Gratian rejected it, threw down the idols,
interdicted the sacrifices, and took away their revenues with the salaries and
authority of the Priests. Theodosius the great followed his example; and
heathenism afterwards recovered itself no more, but decreased so fast, that
Prudentius, about ten years after the death of Theodosius, called the heathens,
vix pauca ingenia & pars hominum rarissima. Whence the affairs of the sixth seal
ended with the reign of Valens, or rather with the beginning of the reign of
Theodosius, when he, like his predecessor Gratian, rejected the dignity of
Pontifex Maximus. For the Romans were very much infested by the invasions of
foreign nations in the reign of Valentinian and Valens: Hoc tempore, saith
Ammianus, velut per universum orbem Romanum bellicum canentibus buccinis, excitæ
gentes sævissimæ limites sibi proximos persultabant: Gallias Rhætiasque simul
Alemanni populabantur: Sarmatæ Pannonias & Quadi: Picti, Saxones, & Scoti &
Attacotti Britannos ærumnis vexavere continuis: Austoriani, Mauricæque aliæ
gentes Africam solito acriùs incursabant: Thracias diripiebant prædatorii globi
Gotthorum: Persarum Rex manus Armeniis injectabat. And whilst the Emperors were
busy in repelling these enemies, the Hunns and Alans and Goths came over the
Danube in two bodies, overcame and slew Valens, and made so great a slaughter of
the Roman army, that Ammianus saith: Nec ulla Annalibus præter Cannensem ita ad
internecionem res legitur gesta. These wars were not fully stopt on all sides
till the beginning of the reign of Theodosius, A.C. 379 & 380: but thenceforward
the Empire remained quiet from foreign armies, till his death, A.C. 395. So long
the four winds were held: and so long there was silence in heaven. And the
seventh seal was opened when this silence began.

Mr. Mede hath explained the Prophecy of the first six trumpets not much amiss:
but if he had observed, that the Prophecy of pouring out the vials of wrath is
synchronal to that of sounding the trumpets, his explanation would have been yet
more complete. The name of Woes is given to the wars to which the three last
trumpets sound, to distinguish them from the wars of the four first. The
sacrifices on the first four days of the feast of Tabernacles, at which the
first four trumpets sound, and the first four vials of wrath are poured out, are
slaughters in four great wars; and these wars are represented by four winds from
the four corners of the earth. The first was an east wind, the second a west
wind, the third a south wind, and the fourth a north wind, with respect to the
city of Rome, the metropolis of the old Roman Empire. These four plagues fell
upon the third part of the Earth, Sea, Rivers, Sun, Moon and Stars; that is,
upon the Earth, Sea, Rivers, Sun, Moon and Stars of the third part of the whole
scene of these Prophecies of Daniel and John. The plague of the eastern wind [7]
at the sounding of the first trumpet, was to fall upon the Earth, that is, upon
the nations of the Greek Empire. Accordingly, after the death of Theodosius the
great, the Goths, Sarmatians, Hunns, Isaurians, and Austorian Moors invaded and
miserably wasted Greece, Thrace, Asia minor, Armenia, Syria, Egypt, Lybia, and
Illyricum, for ten or twelve years together. The plague of the western wind at
the sounding of the second trumpet, was to fall upon the Sea, or Western Empire,
by means of a great mountain burning with fire cast into it, and turning it to
blood. Accordingly in the year 407, that Empire began to be invaded by the
Visigoths, Vandals, Alans, Sueves, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Heruli, Quadi,
Gepides; and by these wars it was broken into ten kingdoms, and miserably
wasted: and Rome itself, the burning mountain, was besieged and taken by the
Ostrogoths, in the beginning of these miseries. The plague of the southern wind
at the sounding of the third trumpet, was to cause a great star, burning as it
were a lamp, to fall from heaven upon the rivers and fountains of waters, the
Western Empire now divided into many kingdoms, and to turn them to wormwood and
blood, and make them bitter. Accordingly Genseric, the King of the Vandals and
Alans in Spain, A.C. 427, enter’d Africa with an army of eighty thousand men;
where he invaded the Moors, and made war upon the Romans, both there and on the
sea-coasts of Europe, for fifty years together, almost without intermission,
taking Hippo A.C. 431, and Carthage the capital of Africa A.C. 439. In A.C. 455,
with a numerous fleet and an army of three hundred thousand Vandals and Moors,
he invaded Italy, took and plundered Rome, Naples, Capua, and many other cities;
carrying thence their wealth with the flower of the people into Africa: and the
next year, A.C. 456, he rent all Africa from the Empire, totally expelling the
Romans. Then the Vandals invaded and took the Islands of the Mediterranean,
Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Ebusus, Majorca, Minorca, &c. and Ricimer besieged
the Emperer Anthemius in Rome, took the city, and gave his soldiers the plunder,
A.C. 472. The Visigoths about the same time drove the Romans out of Spain: and
now the Western Emperor, the great star which fell from heaven, burning as it
were a lamp, having by all these wars gradually lost almost all his dominions,
was invaded, and conquered in one year by Odoacer King of the Heruli, A.C. 476.
After this the Moors revolted A.C. 477, and weakned the Vandals by several wars,
and took Mauritania from them. These wars continued till the Vandals were
conquered by Belisarius, A.C. 534. and by all these wars Africa was almost
depopulated, according to Procopius, who reckons that above five millions of men
perished in them. When the Vandals first invaded Africa, that country was very
populous, consisting of about 700 bishopricks, more than were in all France,
Spain and Italy together: but by the wars between the Vandals, Romans and Moors,
it was depopulated to that degree, that Procopius tells us, it was next to a
miracle for a traveller to see a man. In pouring out the third vial it is [8]
said: Thou art righteous, O Lord,--because thou hast judged thus: for they have
shed the blood of thy Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to
drink, for they are worthy. How they shed the blood of Saints, may be understood
by the following Edict of the Emperor Honorius, procured by four Bishops sent to
him by a Council of African Bishops, who met at Carthage 14 June, A.C. 410.

Impp. Honor. &. Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric.

Oraculo penitus remoto, quo ad ritus suos hæreticæ superstitionis abrepserant,
sciant omnes sanctæ legis inimici, plectendos se poena & proscriptionis &
sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum, execrandâ sceleris sui temeritate
temptaverint. Dat. viii. Kal. Sept. Varano V.C. Cons. A.C. 410. Which Edict was
five years after fortified by the following.

Impp. Honor. & Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric.

Sciant cuncti qui ad ritus suos hæresis superstitionibus obrepserant sacrosanctæ
legis inimici, plectendos se poenâ & proscriptionis & sanguinis, si ultra
convenire per publicum exercendi sceleris sui temeritate temptaverint: ne quâ
vera divinaque reverentia contagione temeretur. Dat. viii. Kal. Sept. Honorio x.
& Theod. vi. AA. Coss. A.C. 415.

These Edicts being directed to the governor of Africa, extended only to the
Africans. Before these there were many severe ones against the Donatists, but
they did not extend to blood. These two were the first which made their
meetings, and the meetings of all dissenters, capital: for by hereticks in these
Edicts are meant all dissenters, as is manifest by the following against
Euresius a Luciferan Bishop.

Impp. Arcad. & Honor. AA. Aureliano Proc. Africæ.

Hæreticorum vocabulo continentur, & latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent
succumbere, qui vel levi argumento à judicio Catholicæ religionis & tramite
detecti fuerint deviare: ideoque experientia tua Euresium hæreticum esse
cognoscat. Dat. iii. Non. Sept. Constantinop. Olybrio & Probino Coss. A.C. 395.
The Greek Emperor Zeno adopted Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths to be his son,
made him master of the horse and Patricius, and Consul of Constantinople; and
recommending to him the Roman people and Senate, gave him the Western Empire,
and sent him into Italy against Odoacer King of the Heruli. Theoderic thereupon
led his nation into Italy, conquered Odoacer, and reigned over Italy, Sicily,
Rhætia, Noricum, Dalmatia, Liburnia, Istria, and part of Suevia, Pannonia and
Gallia. Whence Ennodius said, in a Panegyric to Theoderic: Ad limitem suum
Romana regna remeâsse. Theoderic reigned with great prudence, moderation and
felicity; treated the Romans with singular benevolence, governed them by their
own laws, and restored their government under their Senate and Consuls, he
himself supplying the place of Emperor, without assuming the title. Ita sibi
parentibus præfuit, saith Procopius, ut vere Imperatori conveniens decus nullum
ipsi abesset: Justitiæ magnus ei cultus, legumque diligens custodia: terras à
vicinis barbaris servavit intactas, &c. Whence I do not reckon the reign of this
King, amongst the plagues of the four winds. The plague of the northern wind, at
the sounding of the fourth trumpet, was to cause the Sun, Moon and Stars, that
is, the King, kingdom and Princes of the Western Empire, to be darkned, and to
continue some time in darkness. Accordingly Belisarius, having conquered the
Vandals, invaded Italy A.C. 535, and made war upon the Ostrogoths in Dalmatia,
Liburnia, Venetia, Lombardy, Tuscany, and other regions northward from Rome,
twenty years together. In this war many cities were taken and retaken. In
retaking Millain from the Romans, the Ostrogoths slew all the males young and
old, amounting, as Procopius reckons, to three hundred thousand, and sent the
women captives to their allies the Burgundians. Rome itself was taken and
retaken several times, and thereby the people were thinned; the old government
by a Senate ceased, the nobles were ruined, and all the glory of the city was
extinguish’d: and A.C. 552, after a war of seventeen years, the kingdom of the
Ostrogoths fell; yet the remainder of the Ostrogoths, and an army of Germans
called in to their assistance, continued the war three or four years longer.
Then ensued the war of the Heruli, who, as Anastasius tells us, perimebant
cunctam Italiam, slew all Italy. This was followed by the war of the Lombards,
the fiercest of all the Barbarians, which began A.C. 568, and lasted for thirty
eight years together; factâ tali clade, saith Anastasius, qualem à sæculo nullus
meminit; ending at last in the Papacy of Sabinian, A.C. 605, by a peace then
made with the Lombards. Three years before this war ended, Gregory the great,
then Bishop of Rome, thus speaks of it: Qualiter enim & quotidianis gladiis &
quantis Longobardorum incursionibus, ecce jam per triginta quinque annorum
longitudinem premimur, nullis explere vocibus suggestionis valemus: and in one
of his Sermons to the people, he thus expresses the great consumption of the
Romans by these wars: Ex illa plebe innumerabili quanti remanseritis aspicitis,
& tamen adhuc quotidiè flagella urgent, repentini casus opprimunt, novæ res &
improvisæ clades affligunt. In another Sermon he thus describes the desolations:
Destructæ urbes, eversa sunt castra, depopulati agri, in solitudinem terra
redacta est. Nullus in agris incola, penè nullus in urbibus habitator remansit.
Et tamen ipsæ parvæ generis humani reliquiæ adhuc quotidiè & sine cessatione
feriuntur, & finem non habent flagella coelestis justitiæ. Ipsa autem quæ
aliquando mundi Domina esse videbatur, qualis remansit Roma conspicimus
innumeris doloribus multipliciter attrita, defolatione civium, impressione
hostium, frequentiâ ruinarum.--Ecce jam de illa omnes hujus fæculi potentes
ablati sunt.--Ecce populi defecerunt.--Ubi enim Senatus? Ubi jam populus?
Contabuerunt ossa, consumptæ sunt carnes. Omnis enim sæcularium dignitatum ordo
extinctus est, & tamen ipsos vos paucos qui remansimus, adhuc quotidié gladii,
adhuc quotidié innumeræ tribulationes premunt.--Vacua jam ardet Roma. Quid autem
ista de hominibus dicimus? Cum ruinis crebrescentibus ipsa quoque destrui
ædificia videmus. Postquam defecerunt homines etiam parietes cadunt. Jam ecce
desolata, ecce contrita, ecce gemitibus oppressa est, &c. All this was spoken by
Gregory to the people of Rome, who were witnesses of the truth of it. Thus by
the plagues of the four winds, the Empire of the Greeks was shaken, and the
Empire of the Latins fell; and Rome remained nothing more than the capital of a
poor dukedom, subordinate to Ravenna, the seat of the Exarchs. The fifth trumpet
sounded to the wars, which the King of the South, as he is called by Daniel,
made in the time of the end, in pushing at the King who did according to his
will. This plague began with the opening of the bottomless pit, which denotes
the letting out of a false religion: the smoke which came out of the pit,
signifying the multitude which embraced that religion; and the locusts which
came out of the smoke, the armies which came out of that multitude. This pit was
opened, to let out smoke and locusts into the regions of the four monarchies, or
some of them. The King of these locusts was the Angel of the bottomless pit,
being chief governor as well in religious as civil affairs, such as was the
Caliph of the Saracens. Swarms of locusts often arise in Arabia fælix, and from
thence infest the neighbouring nations: and so are a very fit type of the
numerous armies of Arabians invading the Romans. They began to invade them A.C.
634, and to reign at Damascus A.C. 637. They built Bagdad A.C. 766, and reigned
over Persia, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, Africa and Spain. They afterwards lost Africa
to Mahades, A.C. 910; Media, Hircania, Chorasan, and all Persia, to the
Dailamites, between the years 927 and 935; Mesopotamia and Miafarekin to
Nasiruddaulas, A.C. 930; Syria and Egypt to Achsjid, A.C. 935, and now being in
great distress, the Caliph of Bagdad, A.C. 936, surrendred all the rest of his
temporal power to Mahomet the son of Rajici, King of Wasit in Chaldea, and made
him Emperor of Emperors. But Mahomet within two years lost Bagdad to the Turks;
and thenceforward Bagdad was sometimes in the hands of the Turks, and sometimes
in the hands of the Saracens, till Togrul-beig, called also Togra, Dogrissa,
Tangrolipix, and Sadoc, conquered Chorasan and Persia; and A.C. 1055, added
Bagdad to his Empire, making it the seat thereof. His successors Olub-Arflan and
Melechschah, conquered the regions upon Euphrates; and these conquests, after
the death of Melechschah, brake into the kingdoms of Armenia, Mesopotamia,
Syria, and Cappadocia. The whole time that the Caliphs of the Saracens reigned
with a temporal dominion at Damascus and Bagdad together, was 300 years, viz.
from the year 637 to the year 936 inclusive. Now locusts live but five months;
and therefore, for the decorum of the type, these locusts are said to hurt men
five months and five months, as if they had lived about five months at Damascus,
and again about five months at Bagdad; in all ten months, or 300 prophetic days,
which are years. The sixth trumpet sounded to the wars, which Daniel’s King of
the North made against the King above-mentioned, who did according to his will.
In these wars the King of the North, according to Daniel, conquered the Empire
of the Greeks, and also Judea, Egypt, Lybia, and Ethiopia: and by these
conquests the Empire of the Turks was set up, as may be known by the extent
thereof. These wars commenced A.C. 1258, when the four kingdoms of the Turks
seated upon Euphrates, that of Armenia major seated at Miyapharekin, Megarkin or
Martyropolis, that of Mesopotamia seated at Mosul, that of all Syria seated at
Aleppo, and that of Cappadocia seated at Iconium, were invaded by the Tartars
under Hulacu, and driven into the western parts of Asia minor, where they made
war upon the Greeks, and began to erect the present Empire of the Turks. Upon
the sounding of the sixth trumpet, [9] John heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden Altar which is before God, saying to the sixth Angel which had the
trumpet, Loose the four Angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates. And
the four Angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour and a day, and a
month and a year, for to slay the third part of men. By the four horns of the
golden Altar, is signified the situation of the head cities of the said four
kingdoms, Miyapharekin, Mosul, Aleppo, and Iconium, which were in a quadrangle.
They slew the third part of men, when they conquered the Greek Empire, and took
Constantinople, A.C. 1453. and they began to be prepared for this purpose, when
Olub-Arslan began to conquer the nations upon Euphrates, A.C. 1063. The interval
is called an hour and a day, and a month and a year, or 391 prophetic days,
which are years. In the first thirty years, Olub-Arslan and Melechschah
conquered the nations upon Euphrates, and reigned over the whole. Melechschah
died A.C. 1092, and was succeeded by a little child; and then this kingdom broke
into the four kingdoms above-mentioned.

Notes to Chap. III.

[1] Revelation 2:4, &c.

[2] Revelation 2:9-10.

[3] Revelation 2:14.

[4] Numbers 25:1-2, Numbers 25:18, & Numbers 21:16.

[5] Revelation 3:10, Revelation 3:12.

[6] Revelation 3:16-17.

[7] Revelation 8:7, &c.

[8] Revelation 16:5-6.

[9] Revelation 9:13, &c.


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  CHAPTER 25: 01.024.     ADVERTISEMENT
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Advertisement. The last pages of these Observations having been differently
drawn up by the Author in another copy of his Work; they are here inserted as
they follow in that copy, after the 22d line of the 261st page foregoing. And
none was found worthy to open the book till the Lamb of God appeared; the great
High-Priest represented by a lamb slain at the foot of the Altar in the
morning-sacrifice. And he came, and took the book out of the hand of him that
sat upon the throne. For the High-Priest, in the feast of the seventh month,
went into the most holy place, and took the book of the law out of the right
side of the Ark, to read it to the people: and in order to read it well, he
studied it seven days, that is, upon the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth,
ninth and tenth days, being attended by some of the priests to hear him perform.
These seven days are alluded to, by the Lamb’s opening the seven seals
successively.

Upon the tenth day of the month, a young bullock was offered for a sin-offering
for the High-Priest, and a goat for a sin-offering for the people: and lots were
cast upon two goats to determine which of them should be God’s lot for the
sin-offering; and the other goat was called Azazel, the scape-goat. The
High-Priest in his linen garments, took a censer full of burning coals of fire
from the Altar, his hand being full of sweet incense beaten small; and went into
the most holy place within the veil, and put the incense upon the fire, and
sprinkled the blood of the bullock with his finger upon the mercy-seat and
before the mercy-seat seven times; and then he killed the goat which fell to
God’s lot, for a sin-offering for the people, and brought his blood within the
veil, and sprinkled it also seven times upon the mercy-seat and before the
mercy-seat. Then he went out to the Altar, and sprinkled it also seven times
with the blood of the bullock, and as often with the blood of the goat. After
this he laid both his hands upon the head of the live goat; and confessed over
him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions
in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat; and sent him away
into the wilderness by the hands of a fit man: and the goat bore upon him all
their iniquities into a land not inhabited, Leviticus 4:1-35 & Leviticus
14:1-57. While the High-Priest was doing these things in the most holy place and
at the Altar, the people continued at their devotion quietly and in silence.
Then the High-Priest went into the holy place, put off his linen garments, and
put on other garments; then came out, and sent the bullock and the goat of the
sin-offering to be burnt without the camp, with fire taken in a censer from the
Altar: and as the people returned home from the Temple, they said to one
another, God seal you to a good new year. In allusion to all this, when he had
opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an
hour. And an Angel stood at the Altar having a golden Censer, and there was
given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
Saints, upon the golden Altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the
incense with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angel’s
hand. And the Angel took the Censer, and filled it with fire of the Altar, and
cast it to the earth, suppose without the camp, for sacrificing the goat which
fell to God’s lot. For the High-Priest being Christ himself, the bullock is
omitted. At this sacrifice there were voices and thundrings, of the musick of
the Temple, and lightnings of the sacred fire, and an earthquake: and synchronal
to these things was the sealing of the 144000 out of all the twelve tribes of
the children of Israel with the seal of God in their foreheads, while the rest
of the twelve tribes received the mark of the Beast, and the Woman fled from the
Temple into the wilderness to her place upon this Beast. For this sealing and
marking was represented by casting lots upon the two goats, sacrificing God’s
lot on mount Sion, and sending the scape-goat into the wilderness loaden with
the sins of the people.

Upon the fifteenth day of the month, and the six following days, there were very
great sacrifices. And in allusion to the sounding of trumpets, and singing with
thundring voices, and pouring out drink-offerings at those sacrifices, seven
trumpets are sounded, and seven thunders utter their voices, and seven vials of
wrath are poured out. Wherefore the sounding of the seven trumpets, the voices
of the seven thunders, and the pouring out of the seven vials of wrath, are
synchronal, and relate to one and the same division of the time of the seventh
seal following the silence, into seven successive parts. The seven days of this
feast were called the feast of Tabernacles; and during these seven days the
children of Israel dwelt in booths, and rejoiced with palm-branches in their
hands. To this alludes the multitude with palms in their hands, which appeared
after the sealing of the 144000, and came out of the great tribulation with
triumph at the battle of the great day, to which the seventh trumpet sounds. The
visions therefore of the 144000, and of the palm-bearing multitude, extend to
the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and therefore are synchronal to the times
of the seventh seal. When the 144000 are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of
Israel, and the rest receive the mark of the Beast, and thereby the first temple
is destroyed; John is bidden to measure the temple and altar, that is, their
courts, and them that worship therein, that is, the 144000 standing on mount
Sion and on the sea of glass: but the court that is without the temple, that is,
the peoples court, to leave out and measure it not, because it is given to the
Gentiles, those who receive the mark of the Beast; and the holy city they shall
tread under foot forty and two months, that is, all the time that the Beast acts
under the woman Babylon: and the two witnesses prophesy 1260 days, that is, all
the same time, clothed in sackcloth. These have power, like Elijah, to shut
heaven that it rain not, at the sounding of the first trumpet; and, like Moses,
to turn the waters into blood at the sounding of the second; and to smite the
earth with all plagues, those of the trumpets, as often as they will. These
prophesy at the building of the second temple, like Haggai and Zechary. These
are the two Olive-trees, or Churches, which supplied the lamps with oil,
Zechariah 4:1-14. These are the two candlesticks, or Churches, standing before
the God of the earth. Five of the seven Churches of Asia, those in prosperity,
are found fault with, and exhorted to repent, and threatned to be removed out of
their places, or spewed out of Christ’s mouth, or punished with the sword of
Christ’s mouth, except they repent: the other two, the Churches of Smyrna and
Philadelphia, which were under persecution, remain in a state of persecution, to
illuminate the second temple. When the primitive Church catholick, represented
by the woman in heaven, apostatized, and became divided into two corrupt
Churches, represented by the whore of Babylon and the two-horned Beast, the
144000 who were sealed out of all the twelve tribes, became the two Witnesses,
in opposition to those two false Churches: and the name of two Witnesses once
imposed, remains to the true Church of God in all times and places to the end of
the Prophecy. In the interpretation of this Prophecy, the woman in heaven
clothed with the sun, before she flies into the wilderness, represents the
primitive Church catholick, illuminated with the seven lamps in the seven golden
candlesticks, which are the seven Churches of Asia. The Dragon signifies the
same Empire with Daniel’s He-goat in the reign of his last horn, that is, the
whole Roman Empire, until it became divided into the Greek and Latin Empires;
and all the time of that division it signifies the Greek Empire alone: and the
Beast is Daniel’s fourth Beast, that is, the Empire of the Latins. Before the
division of the Roman Empire into the Greek and Latin Empires, the Beast is
included in the body of the Dragon; and from the time of that division, the
Beast is the Latin Empire only. Hence the Dragon and Beast have the same heads
and horns; but the heads are crowned upon the Dragon, and the horns upon the
Beast. The horns are ten kingdoms, into which the Beast becomes divided
presently after his separation from the Dragon, as hath been described above.
The heads are seven successive dynasties, or parts, into which the Roman Empire
becomes divided by the opening of the seven seals. Before the woman fled into
the wilderness, she being with child of a Christian Empire, cried travelling,
viz. in the ten years persecution of Dioclesian, and pained to be delivered: and
the Dragon, the heathen Roman Empire, stood before her, to devour her child as
soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who at length was to
rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God, and
to his throne in the Temple, by the victory of Constantine the great over
Maxentius: and the woman fled from the Temple into the wilderness of Arabia to
Babylon, where she hath a place of riches and honour and dominion, upon the back
of the Beast, prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1260 days. And
there was war in heaven, between the heathens under Maximinus and the new
Christian Empire; and the great Dragon was cast out, that old serpent, which
deceiveth the whole world, the spirit of heathen idolatry; he was cast out of
the throne into the earth. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman
which brought forth the man child, stirring up a new persecution against her in
the reign of Licinius. And to the woman, by the building of Constantinople and
equalling it to Rome, were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might flee
into the wilderness into her place upon the back of her Beast, where she is
nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent, upon the death of Constantine the great, cast out of his mouth
water as a flood, viz. the Western Empire under Constantine junior and Constans,
after the woman: that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And
the earth, the nations of Asia now under Constantinople, helped the woman; and
by conquering the Western Empire, now under Magnentius, swallowed up the flood
which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the Dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments
of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, which in that war were sealed
out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, and remained upon mount Sion with the
Lamb, being in number 144000, and having their father’s name written in their
foreheads. When the earth had swallowed up the flood, and the Dragon was gone to
make war with the remnant of the woman’s seed, John stood upon the sand of the
sea, and saw a Beast rise out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And
the Beast was like unto a Leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a Bear, and
his mouth as the mouth of a Lion. John here names Daniel’s four Beasts in order,
putting his Beast in the room of Daniel’s fourth Beast, to shew that they are
the same. And the Dragon gave this Beast his power and his seat and great
authority, by relinquishing the Western Empire to him. And one of his heads, the
sixth, was as it were wounded to death, viz. by the sword of the earth, which
swallowed up the waters cast out of the mouth of the Dragon; and his deadly
wound was healed, by a new division of the Empire between Valentinian and
Valens, An. 364. John saw the Beast rise out of the sea, at the division thereof
between Gratian and Theodosius, An. 379. The Dragon gave the Beast his power,
and his seat and great authority, at the death of Theodosius, when Theodosius
gave the Western Empire to his son Honorius. After which the two Empires were no
more united: but the Western Empire became presently divided into ten kingdoms,
as above; and these kingdoms at length united in religion under the woman, and
reign with her forty and two months. And I beheld, saith John, another Beast
coming up out of the earth. When the woman fled from the Dragon into the kingdom
of the Beast, and became his Church, this other Beast rose up out of the earth,
to represent the Church of the Dragon. For he had two horns like the Lamb, such
as were the bishopricks of Alexandria and Antioch: and he spake as the Dragon in
matters of religion: and he causeth the earth, or nations of the Dragon’s
kingdom, to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was healed, that is, to
be of his religion. And he doth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down
from heaven on the earth in the sight of men; that is, he excommunicateth those
who differ from him in point of religion: for in pronouncing their
excommunications, they used to swing down a lighted torch from above. And he
said to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the
Beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live; that is, that they should
call a Council of men of the religion of this Beast. And he had power to give
life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak,
and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be
killed, viz. mystically, by dissolving their Churches. And he causeth all both
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
band or in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had
the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name; that is, the mark
[Cross], or the name [Greek: LATEINOS], or the number thereof [Greek: chxs],
666. All others were excommunicated. When the seven Angels had poured out the
seven vials of wrath, and John had described them all in the present time, he is
called up from the time of the seventh vial to the time of the sixth seal, to
take a view of the woman and her Beast, who were to reign in the times of the
seventh seal. In respect of the latter part of time of the sixth seal, then
considered as present, the Angel tells John: The Beast that thou sawest, was and
is not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition; that is, he
was in the reign of Constans and Magnentius, until Constantius conquered
Magnentius, and re-united the Western Empire to the Eastern. He is not during
the reunion, and he shall ascend out of the abyss or sea at a following division
of the Empire. The Angel tells him further: Here is the mind which hath wisdom:
the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth; Rome being
built upon seven hills, and thence called the seven-hilled city. Also there are
seven Kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and
when he cometh, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is
not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Five
are fallen, the times of the five first seals being past; and one is, the time
of the sixth seal being considered as present; and another is not yet come, and
when he cometh, which will be at the opening of the seventh seal, he must
continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is not, even he is the
eighth, by means of the division of the Roman Empire into two collateral
Empires; and is of the seven, being one half of the seventh, and shall go into
perdition. The words, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet
come, are usually referred by interpreters to the time of John the Apostle, when
the Prophecy was given: but it is to be considered, that in this Prophecy many
things are spoken of as present, which were not present when the Prophecy was
given, but which would be present with respect to some future time, considered
as present in the visions. Thus where it is said upon pouring out the seventh
vial of wrath, that great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto
her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath; this relates not to the
time of John the Apostle, but to the time of pouring out the seventh vial of
wrath. So where it is said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and thrust in thy
sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap; and the time of the dead
is come, that they should be judged; and again, I saw the dead small and great
stand before God: these sayings relate not to the days of John the Apostle, but
to the latter times considered as present in the visions. In like manner the
words, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and the Beast
that was and is not, he is the eighth, are not to be referred to the age of John
the Apostle, but relate to the time when the Beast was to be wounded to death
with a sword, and shew that this wound was to be given him in his sixth head:
and without this reference we are not told in what head the Beast was wounded.
And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten Kings, which have received no
kingdom as yet, but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast. These have
one mind, being all of the whore’s religion, and shall give their power and
strength unto the Beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, at the sounding of
the seventh trumpet; and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords
and King of Kings; and they that are with him are called and chosen and
faithful. And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest where the whore
sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, composing her
Beast. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the
whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn
her with fire, at the end of the 1260 days. For God hath put in their hearts to
fulfil his will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the
words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest, is that great
city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth, or the great city of the
Latins, which reigneth over the ten Kings till the end of those days.

FINIS.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 26: 01.025       END
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========================================================================
  CHAPTER 27: 02.001. THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED
========================================================================

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended by
Isaac Newton

Title The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended To which is Prefix’d, A Short
Chronicle from the First Memory of Things in Europe, to the Conquest of Persia
by Alexander the Great Author: Isaac Newton Release Date: May 7, 2005 [EBook
#15784] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS
PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT *** Produced by Robert
Shimmin, Keith Edkins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 28: 02.002.     THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED
========================================================================

THE

CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS

AMENDED. To which is Prefix’d, A SHORT CHRONICLE from the First Memory of Things
in Europe, to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.

* * * * * By Sir ISAAC NEWTON.

* * * * *

LONDON:

Printed for J. TONSON in the Strand, and J. OSBORN and T. LONGMAN in
Pater-noster Row.

MDCCXXVIII.

* * * * *


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 29: 02.003.     PREFACE
========================================================================

TO THE QUEEN

MADAM, As I could never hope to write any thing my self, worthy to be laid
before YOUR MAJESTY; I think it a very great happiness, that it should be my lot
to usher into the world, under Your Sacred Name, the last work of as great a
Genius as any Age ever produced: an Offering of such value in its self, as to be
in no danger of suffering from the meanness of the hand that presents it. The
impartial and universal encouragement which YOUR MAJESTY has always given to
Arts and Sciences, entitles You to the best returns the learned world is able to
make: And the many extraordinary Honours YOUR MAJESTY vouchsafed the Author of
the following sheets, give You a just right to his Productions. These, above the
rest, lay the most particular claim to Your Royal Protection; For the Chronology
had never appeared in its present Form without YOUR MAJESTY’s Influence; and the
Short Chronicle, which precedes it, is entirely owing to the Commands with which
You were pleased to honour him, out of your singular Care for the education of
the Royal Issue, and earnest desire to form their minds betimes, and lead them
early into the knowledge of Truth. The Author has himself acquainted the
Publick, that the following Treatise was the fruit of his vacant hours, and the
relief he sometimes had recourse to, when tired with his other studies. What an
Idea does it raise of His abilities, to find that a Work of such labour and
learning, as would have been a sufficient employment and glory for the whole
life of another, was to him diversion only, and amusement! The Subject is in its
nature incapable of that demonstration upon which his other writings are
founded, but his usual accuracy and judiciousness are here no less observable;
And at the same time that he supports his suggestions, with all the authorities
and proofs that the whole compass of Science can furnish, he offers them with
the greatest caution; And by a Modesty, that was natural to Him and always
accompanies such superior talents, sets a becoming example to others, not to be
too presumptuous in matters so remote and dark. Tho’ the Subject be only
Chronology, yet, as the mind of the Author abounded with the most extensive
variety of Knowledge, he frequently intersperses Observations of a different
kind; and occasionally instills principles of Virtue and Humanity, which seem to
have been always uppermost in his heart, and, as they were the Constant Rule of
his actions, appear Remarkably in all his writings.

Here YOUR MAJESTY will see Astronomy, and a just Observation on the course of
Nature, assisting other parts of Learning to illustrate Antiquity; and a
Penetration and Sagacity peculiar to the great Author, dispelling that Mist,
with which Fable and Error had darkened it; and will with pleasure contemplate
the first dawnings of Your favourite Arts and Sciences, the noblest and most
beneficial of which He alone carried farther in a few years, than all the most
Learned who went before him, had been able to do in many Ages. Here too, MADAM,
You will observe, that an Abhorrence of Idolatry and Persecution (the very
essence and foundation of that Religion, which makes so bright a part of YOUR
MAJESTY’s character) was one of the earliest Laws of the Divine Legislator, the
Morality of the first Ages, and the primitive Religion of both Jews and
Christians; and, as the Author adds, ought to be the standing Religion of all
Nations; it being for the honour of God, and good of Mankind. Nor will YOUR
MAJESTY be displeased to find his sentiments so agreeable to Your own, whilst he
condemns all oppression; and every kind of cruelty, even to brute beasts; and,
with so much warmth, inculcates Mercy, Charity, and the indispensable duty of
doing good, and promoting the general welfare of mankind: Those great ends, for
which Government was first instituted, and to which alone it is administred in
this happy Nation, under a KING, who distinguished himself early in opposition
to the Tyranny which threatned Europe, and chuses to reign in the hearts of his
subjects; Who, by his innate Benevolence, and Paternal Affection to his People,
establishes and confirms all their Liberties; and, by his Valour and
Magnanimity, guards and defends them. That Sincerity and Openness of mind, which
is the darling quality of this Nation, is become more conspicuous, by being
placed upon the Throne; And we see, with Pride, OUR SOVEREIGN the most eminent
for a Virtue, by which our country is so desirous to be distinguished. A Prince,
whose views and heart are above all the mean arts of Disguise, is far out of the
reach of any temptation to Introduce Blindness and Ignorance. And, as HIS
MAJESTY is, by his incessant personal cares, dispensing Happiness at home, and
Peace abroad; You, MADAM, lead us on by Your great Example to the most noble use
of that Quiet and Ease, which we enjoy under His Administration, whilst all Your
hours of leisure are employed in cultivating in Your Self That Learning, which
You so warmly patronize in Others. YOUR MAJESTY does not think the instructive
Pursuit, an entertainment below Your exalted Station; and are Your Self a proof,
that the abstruser parts of it are not beyond the reach of Your Sex. Nor does
this Study end in barren speculation; It discovers itself in a steady attachment
to true Religion; in Liberality, Beneficence, and all those amiable Virtues,
which increase and heighten the Felicities of a Throne, at the same time that
they bless All around it. Thus, MADAM, to enjoy, together with the highest state
of publick Splendor and Dignity all the retired Pleasures and domestick
Blessings of private life; is the perfection of human Wisdom, as well as
Happiness. The good Effects of this Love of knowledge, will not stop with the
present Age; It will diffuse its Influence with advantage to late Posterity: And
what may we not anticipate in our minds for the Generations to come under a
Royal Progeny, so descended, so educated, and formed by such Patterns! The
glorious Prospect gives us abundant reason to hope, that Liberty and Learning
will be perpetuated together; and that the bright Examples of Virtue and Wisdom,
set in this Reign by the Royal Patrons of Both, will be transmitted with the
Scepter to their Posterity, till this and the other Works of Sir ISAAC NEWTON
shall be forgot, and Time it self be no more: Which is the most sincere and
ardent wish of

MADAM, May it please YOUR MAJESTY, YOUR MAJESTY’s most obedient and most dutiful
subject and servant,

John Conduitt.

* * * * *


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 30: 02.004.     INDEX
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THE CONTENTS. A Short Chronicle from the first Memory of Things in page 1
Europe, to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the

Great. The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended.

Chap. I. Of the Chronology of the First Ages of the page 43

Greeks.

Chap. II. Of the Empire of Egypt. page 191 Chap. III. Of the Assyrian Empire.
page 265 Chap. IV. Of the two Contemporary Empires of thepage 294 Babylonians
and Medes.

Chap. V. A Description of the Temple of Solomon. page 332 Chap. VI. Of the
Empire of the Persians. page 347 * * * * *


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 31: 02.005.     ADVERTISEMENT
========================================================================

Advertisement

Tho’ The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended, was writ by the Author many
years since; yet he lately revis’d it, and was actually preparing it for the
Press at the time of his death. But The Short Chronicle was never intended to be
made public, and therefore was not so lately corrected by him. To this the
Reader must impute it, if he shall find any places where the Short Chronicle
does not accurately agree with the Dates assigned in the larger Piece. The Sixth
Chapter was not copied out with the other Five, which makes it doubtful whether
he intended to print it: but being found among his Papers, and evidently
appearing to be a Continuation of the same Work, and (as such) abridg’d in the
Short Chronicle; it was thought proper to be added. Had the Great Author himself
liv’d to publish this Work, there would have been no occasion for this
Advertisement; But as it is, the Reader is desired to allow for such
imperfections as are inseparable from Posthumous Pieces; and, in so great a
number of proper names, to excuse some errors of the Press that have escaped.

* * * * *


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 32: 02.006.     INTRODUCTION
========================================================================

A SHORT CHRONICLE FROM THE First Memory of Things in Europe, TO THE Conquest of
Persia by Alexander the Great. The INTRODUCTION. The Greek Antiquities are full
of Poetical Fictions, because the Greeks wrote nothing in Prose, before the
Conquest of Asia by Cyrus the Persian. Then Pherecydes Scyrius and Cadmus
Milesius introduced the writing in Prose. Pherecydes Atheniensis, about the end
of the Reign of Darius Hystaspis, wrote of Antiquities, and digested his work by
Genealogies, and was reckoned one of the best Genealogers. Epimenides the
Historian proceeded also by Genealogies; and Hellanicus, who was twelve years
older than Herodotus, digested his History by the Ages or Successions of the
Priestesses of Juno Argiva. Others digested theirs by the Kings of the
Lacedæmonians, or Archons of Athens. Hippias the Elean, about thirty years
before the fall of the Persian Empire, published a breviary or list of the
Olympic Victors; and about ten years before the fall thereof, Ephorus the
disciple of Isocrates formed a Chronological History of Greece, beginning with
the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and ending with the siege of
Perinthus, in the twentieth year of Philip the father of Alexander the great:
But he digested things by Generations, and the reckoning by Olympiads was not
yet in use, nor doth it appear that the Reigns of Kings were yet set down by
numbers of years. The Arundelian marbles were composed sixty years after the
death of Alexander the great (An. 4. Olymp. 128.) and yet mention not the
Olympiads: But in the next Olympiad, Timæus Siculus published an history in
several books down to his own times, according to the Olympiads, comparing the
Ephori, the Kings of Sparta, the Archons of Athens, and the Priestesses of
Argos, with the Olympic Victors, so as to make the Olympiads, and the
Genealogies and Successions of Kings, Archons, and Priestesses, and poetical
histories suit with one another, according to the best of his judgment. And
where he left off, Polybius began and carried on the history. So then a little
after the death of Alexander the great, they began to set down the Generations,
Reigns and Successions, in numbers of years, and by putting Reigns and
Successions equipollent to Generations, and three Generations to an hundred or
an hundred and twenty years (as appears by their Chronology) they have made the
Antiquities of Greece three or four hundred years older than the truth. And this
was the original of the Technical Chronology of the Greeks. Eratosthenes wrote
about an hundred years after the death of Alexander the great: He was followed
by Apollodorus, and these two have been followed ever since by Chronologers. But
how uncertain their Chronology is, and how doubtful it was reputed by the Greeks
of those times, may be understood by these passages of Plutarch. Some reckon,
saith he, [1] Lycurgus contemporary to Iphitus, and to have been his companion
in ordering the Olympic festivals: amongst whom was Aristotle the Philosopher,
arguing from the Olympic Disc, which had the name of Lycurgus upon it. Others
supputing the times by the succession of the Kings of the Lacedæmonians, as
Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, affirm that he was not a few years older than the
first Olympiad. First Aristotle and some others made him as old as the first
Olympiad; then Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, and some others made him above an
hundred years older: and in another place Plutarch [2] tells us: The congress of
Solon with Croesus, some think they can confute by Chronology. But an history so
illustrious, and verified by so many witnesses, and (which is more) so agreeable
to the manners of Solon, and so worthy of the greatness of his mind and of his
wisdom, I cannot persuade my self to reject because of some Chronological
Canons, as they call them: which hundreds of authors correcting, have not yet
been able to constitute any thing certain, in which they could agree among
themselves, about repugnancies. It seems the Chronologers had made the
Legislature of Solon too ancient to consist with that Congress. For reconciling
such repugnancies, Chronologers have sometimes doubled the persons of men. So
when the Poets had changed Io the daughter of Inachus into the Egyptian Isis,
Chronologers made her husband Osiris or Bacchus and his mistress Ariadne as old
as Io, and so feigned that there were two Ariadnes, one the mistress of Bacchus,
and the other the mistress of Theseus, and two Minos’s their fathers, and a
younger Io the daughter of Jasus, writing Jasus corruptly for Inachus. And so
they have made two Pandions, and two Erechtheus’s, giving the name of
Erechthonius to the first; Homer calls the first, Erechtheus: and by such
corruptions they have exceedingly perplexed Ancient History. And as for the
Chronology of the Latines, that is still more uncertain. Plutarch represents
great uncertainties in the Originals of Rome: and so doth Servius. The old
records of the Latines were burnt by the Gauls, sixty and four years before the
death of Alexander the great; and Quintus Fabius Pictor, the oldest historian of
the Latines, lived an hundred years later than that King. In Sacred History, the
Assyrian Empire began with Pul and Tiglathpilaser, and lasted about 170 years.
And accordingly Herodotus hath made Semiramis only five generations, or about
166 years older than Nitocris, the mother of the last King of Babylon. But
Ctesias hath made Semiramis 1500 years older than Nitocris, and feigned a long
series of Kings of Assyria, whose names are not Assyrian, nor have any affinity
with the Assyrian names in Scripture. The Priests of Egypt told Herodotus, that
Menes built Memphis and the sumptuous temple of Vulcan, in that City: and that
Rhampsinitus, Moeris, Asychis and Psammiticus added magnificent porticos to that
temple. And it is not likely that Memphis could be famous, before Homer’s days
who doth not mention it, or that a temple could be above two or three hundred
years in building. The Reign of Psammiticus began about 655 years before Christ,
and I place the founding of this temple by Menes about 257 years earlier: but
the Priests of Egypt had so magnified their Antiquities before the days of
Herodotus, as to tell him that from Menes to Moeris (who reigned 200 years
before Psammiticus) there were 330 Kings, whose Reigns took up as many Ages,
that is eleven thousand years, and had filled up the interval with feigned
Kings, who had done nothing. And before the days of Diodorus Siculus they had
raised their Antiquities so much higher, as to place six, eight, or ten new
Reigns of Kings between those Kings, whom they had represented to Herodotus to
succeed one another immediately. In the Kingdom of Sicyon, Chronologers have
split Apis Epaphus or Epopeus into two Kings, whom they call Apis and Epopeus,
and between them have inserted eleven or twelve feigned names of Kings who did
nothing, and thereby they have made its Founder Ægialeus, three hundred years
older than his brother Phoroneus. Some have made the Kings of Germany as old as
the Flood: and yet before the use of letters, the names and actions of men could
scarce be remembred above eighty or an hundred years after their deaths: and
therefore I admit no Chronology of things done in Europe, above eighty years
before Cadmus brought letters into Europe; none, of things done in Germany,
before the rise of the Roman Empire.

Now since Eratosthenes and Apollodorus computed the times by the Reigns of the
Kings of Sparta, and (as appears by their Chronology still followed) have made
the seventeen Reigns of these Kings in both Races, between the Return of the
Heraclides into Peloponnesus and the Battel of Thermopylæ, take up 622 years,
which is after the rate of 36½ years to a Reign, and yet a Race of seventeen
Kings of that length is no where to be met with in all true History, and Kings
at a moderate reckoning Reign but 18 or 20 years a-piece one with another: I
have stated the time of the return of the Heraclides by the last way of
reckoning, placing it about 340 years before the Battel of Thermopylæ. And
making the Taking of Troy eighty years older than that Return, according to
Thucydides, and the Argonautic Expedition a Generation older than the Trojan
War, and the Wars of Sesostris in Thrace and death of Ino the daughter of Cadmus
a Generation older than that Expedition: I have drawn up the following
Chronological Table, so as to make Chronology suit with the Course of Nature,
with Astronomy, with Sacred History, with Herodotus the Father of History, and
with it self; without the many repugnancies complained of by Plutarch. I do not
pretend to be exact to a year: there may be Errors of five or ten years, and
sometimes twenty, and not much above.

* * * * *


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  CHAPTER 33: 02.007.     THE CHRONOLOGY...AMENDED
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A SHORT CHRONICLE FROM THE First Memory of things in Europe to the Conquest of
Persia by Alexander the great. The Times are set down in years before Christ.
The Canaanites who fled from Joshua, retired in great numbers into Egypt, and
there conquered Timaus, Thamus, or Thammuz King of the lower Egypt, and reigned
there under their Kings Salatis, Boeon, Apachnas, Apophis, Janias, Assis, &c.
untill the days of Eli and Samuel. They fed on flesh, and sacrificed men after
the manner of the Phoenicians, and were called Shepherds by the Egyptians, who
lived only on the fruits of the earth, and abominated flesh-eaters. The upper
parts of Egypt were in those days under many Kings, Reigning at Coptos, Thebes,
This, Elephantis, and other Places, which by conquering one another grew by
degrees into one Kingdom, over which Misphragmuthosis Reigned in the days of
Eli. In the year before Christ 1125 Mephres Reigned over the upper Egypt from
Syene to Heliopolis, and his Successor Misphragmuthosis made a lasting war upon
the Shepherds soon after, and caused many of them to fly into Palestine, Idumæa,
Syria, and Libya; and under Lelex, Æzeus, Inachus, Pelasgus, Æolus the first,
Cecrops, and other Captains, into Greece. Before those days Greece and all
Europe was peopled by wandring Cimmerians, and Scythians from the backside of
the Euxine Sea, who lived a rambling wild sort of life, like the Tartars in the
northern parts of Asia. Of their Race was Ogyges, in whose days these Egyptian
strangers came into Greece. The rest of the Shepherds were shut up by
Misphragmuthosis, in a part of the lower Egypt called Abaris or Pelusium. In the
year 1100 the Philistims, strengthned by the access of the Shepherds, conquer
Israel, and take the Ark. Samuel judges Israel.

1085. Hæmon the son of Pelasgus Reigns in Thessaly.

1080. Lycaon the son of Pelasgus builds Lycosura; Phoroneus the son of Inachus,
Phoronicum, afterwards called Argos; Ægialeus the brother of Phoroneus and son
of Inachus, Ægialeum, afterwards called Sicyon: and these were the oldest towns
in Peloponnesus. ’Till then they built only single houses scattered up and down
in the fields. About the same time Cecrops built Cecropia in Attica, afterwards
called Athens; and Eleusine, the son of Ogyges, built Eleusis. And these towns
gave a beginning to the Kingdoms of the Arcadians, Argives, Sicyons, Athenians,
Eleusinians, &c. Deucalion flourishes.

1070. Amosis, or Tethmosis, the successor of Misphragmuthosis, abolishes the
Phoenician custom in Heliopolis of sacrificing men, and drives the Shepherds out
of Abaris. By their access the Philistims become so numerous, as to bring into
the field against Saul 30000 chariots, 6000 horsemen, and people as the sand on
the sea shore for multitude. Abas, the father of Acrisius and Proetus, comes
from Egypt.

1069. Saul is made King of Israel, and by the hand of Jonathan gets a great
victory over the Philistims. Eurotas the son of Lelex, and Lacedæmon who married
Sparta the daughter of Eurotas, Reign in Laconia, and build Sparta.

1060. Samuel dies.

1059. David made King.

1048. The Edomites are conquered and dispersed by David, and some of them fly
into Egypt with their young King Hadad. Others fly to the Persian Gulph with
their Commander Oannes; and others from the Red Sea to the coast of the
Mediterranean, and fortify Azoth against David, and take Zidon; and the
Zidonians who fled from them build Tyre and Aradus, and make Abibalus King of
Tyre. These Edomites carry to all places their Arts and Sciences; amongst which
were their Navigation, Astronomy, and Letters; for in Idumæa they had
Constellations and Letters before the days of Job, who mentions them: and there
Moses learnt to write the Law in a book. These Edomites who fled to the
Mediterranean, translating the word Erythræa into that of Phoenicia, give the
name of Phoenicians to themselves, and that of Phoenicia to all the sea-coasts
of Palestine from Azoth to Zidon. And hence came the tradition of the Persians,
and of the Phoenicians themselves, mentioned by Herodotus, that the Phoenicians
came originally from the Red Sea, and presently undertook long voyages on the
Mediterranean.

1047. Acrisius marries Eurydice, the daughter of Lacedæmon and Sparta. The
Phoenician mariners who fled from the Red Sea, being used to long voyages for
the sake of traffic, begin the like voyages on the Mediterranean from Zidon; and
sailing as far as Greece, carry away Io the daughter of Inachus, who with other
Grecian women came to their ships to buy their merchandize. The Greek Seas begin
to be infested with Pyrates.

1046. The Syrians of Zobah and Damascus are conquered by David. Nyctimus, the
son of Lycaon, reigns in Arcadia. Deucalion still alive.

1045. Many of the Phoenicians and Syrians fleeing from Zidon and from David,
come under the conduct of Cadmus, Cilix, Phoenix, Membliarius, Nycteus, Thasus,
Atymnus, and other Captains, into Asia minor, Crete, Greece, and Libya; and
introduce Letters, Music, Poetry, the Octaeteris, Metals and their Fabrication,
and other Arts, Sciences and Customs of the Phoenicians. At this time Cranaus
the successor of Cecrops Reigned in Attica, and in his Reign and the beginning
of the Reign of Nyctimus, the Greeks place the flood of Deucalion. This flood
was succeeded by four Ages or Generations of men, in the first of which Chiron
the son of Saturn and Philyra was born, and the last of which according to
Hesiod ended with the Trojan War; and so places the Destruction of Troy four
Generations or about 140 years later than that flood, and the coming of Cadmus,
reckoning with the ancients three Generations to an hundred years. With these
Phoenicians came a sort of men skilled in the Religious Mysteries, Arts, and
Sciences of Phoenicia, and settled in several places under the names of Curetes,
Corybantes, Telchines, and Idæi Dactyli.

1043. Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and father of Æolus, Xuthus, and Dorus,
flourishes.

1035. Erectheus Reigns in Attica. Æthlius, the grandson of Deucalion and father
of Endymion, builds Elis. The Idæi Dactyli find out Iron in mount Ida in Crete,
and work it into armour and iron tools, and thereby give a beginning to the
trades of smiths and armourers in Europe; and by singing and dancing in their
armour, and keeping time by striking upon one another’s armour with their
swords, they bring in Music and Poetry; and at the same time they nurse up the
Cretan Jupiter in a cave of the same mountain, dancing about him in their
armour.

1034. Ammon Reigns in Egypt. He conquered Libya, and reduced that people from a
wandering savage life to a civil one, and taught them to lay up the fruits of
the earth; and from him Libya and the desert above it were anciently called
Ammonia. He was the first that built long and tall ships with sails, and had a
fleet of such ships on the Red Sea, and another on the Mediterranean at Irasa in
Libya. ’Till then they used small and round vessels of burden, invented on the
Red Sea, and kept within sight of the shore. For enabling them to cross the seas
without seeing the shore, the Egyptians began in his days to observe the Stars:
and from this beginning Astronomy and Sailing had their rise. Hitherto the
Lunisolar year had been in use: but this year being of an uncertain length, and
so, unfit for Astronomy, in his days and in the days of his sons and grandsons,
by observing the Heliacal Risings and Setting of the Stars, they found the
length of the Solar year, and made it consist of five days more than the twelve
calendar months of the old Lunisolar year. Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus
marries Xuthus the son of Hellen. Erechtheus having first celebrated the
Panathenæa joins horses to a chariot. Ægina, the daughter of Asopus, and mother
of Æacus, born.

1030. Ceres a woman of Sicily, in seeking her daughter who was stolen, comes
into Attica, and there teaches the Greeks to sow corn; for which Benefaction she
was Deified after death. She first taught the Art to Triptolemus the young son
of Celeus King of Eleusis.

1028. Oenotrus the youngest son of Lycaon, the Janus of the Latines, led the
first Colony of Greeks into Italy, and there taught them to build houses.

Perseus born.

1020. Arcas, the son of Callisto and grandson of Lycaon, and Eumelus the first
King of Achaia, receive bread-corn from Triptolemus.

1019. Solomon Reigns, and marries the daughter of Ammon, and by means of this
affinity is supplied with horses from Egypt; and his merchants also bring horses
from thence for all the Kings of the Hittites and Syrians: for horses came
originally from Libya; and thence Neptune was called Equestris. Tantalus King of
Phrygia steals Ganimede the son of Tros King of Troas.

1017. Solomon by the assistance of the Tyrians and Aradians, who had mariners
among them acquainted with the Red Sea, sets out a fleet upon that sea. Those
assistants build new cities in the Persian Gulph, called Tyre and Aradus.

1015. The Temple of Solomon is founded. Minos Reigns in Crete expelling his
father Asterius, who flees into Italy, and becomes the Saturn of the Latines.
Ammon takes Gezer from the Canaanites, and gives it to his daughter, Solomon’s
wife.

1014. Ammon places Cepheus at Joppa.

1010. Sesac in the Reign of his father Ammon invades Arabia Foelix, and sets up
pillars at the mouth of the Red Sea. Apis, Epaphus or Epopeus, the son of
Phroroneus, and Nycteus King of Boeotia, slain. Lycus inherits the Kingdom of
his brother Nycteus. Ætolus the son of Endymion flies into the Country of the
Curetes in Achaia, and calls it Ætolia; and of Pronoe the daughter of Phorbas
begets Pleuron and Calydon, who built cities in Ætolia called by their own
names. Antiopa the daughter of Nycteus is sent home to Lycus by Lamedon the
successor of Apis, and in the way brings forth Amphion and Zethus.

1008. Sesac, in the Reign of his father Ammon, invades Afric and Spain, and sets
up pillars in all his conquests, and particularly at the mouth of the
Mediterranean, and returns home by the coast of Gaul and Italy.

1007. Ceres being dead Eumolpus institutes her Mysteries in Eleusine. The
Mysteries of Rhea are instituted in Phrygia, in the city Cybele. About this time
Temples begin to be built in Greece. Hyagnis the Phrygian invents the pipe.
After the example of the common-council of the five Lords of the Philistims, the
Greeks set up the Amphictyonic Council, first at Thermopylæ, by the influence of
Amphictyon the son of Deucalion; and a few years after at Delphi by the
influence of Acrisius. Among the cites, whose deputies met at Thermopylæ, I do
not find Athens, and therefore doubt whether Amphictyon was King of that city.
If he was the son of Deucalion and brother of Hellen, he and Cranaus might Reign
together in several parts of Attica. But I meet with a later Amphictyon who
entertained the great Bacchus. This Council worshipped Ceres, and therefore was
instituted after her death.

1006. Minos prepares a fleet, clears the Greek seas of Pyrates, and sends
Colonies to the Islands of the Greeks, some of which were not inhabited before.
Cecrops II. Reigns in Attica. Caucon teaches the Mysteries of Ceres in Messene.

1005. Andromeda carried away from Joppa by Perseus. Pandion the brother of
Cecrops II. Reigns in Attica. Car, the son of Phoroneus, builds a Temple to
Ceres.

1002. Sesac Reigns in Egypt and adorns Thebes, dedicating it to his father Ammon
by the name of No-Ammon or Ammon-No, that is the people or city of Ammon: whence
the Greeks called it Diospolis, the city of Jupiter. Sesac also erected Temples
and Oracles to his father in Thebes, Ammonia, and Ethiopia, and thereby caused
his father to be worshipped as a God in those countries, and I think also in
Arabia Foelix: and this was the original of the worship of Jupiter Ammon, and
the first mention of Oracles that I meet with in Prophane History. War between
Pandion and Labdacus the grandson of Cadmus.

994. Ægeus Reigns in Attica.

993. Pelops the son of Tantalus comes into Peloponnesus, marries Hippodamia the
granddaughter of Acrisius, takes Ætolia from Ætolus the son of Endymion, and by
his riches grows potent.

990. Amphion and Zethus slay Lycus, put Laius the son of Labdacus to flight, and
Reign in Thebes, and wall the city about.

989. Dædalus and his nephew Talus invent the saw, the turning-lath, the wimble,
the chip-ax, and other instruments of Carpenters and Joyners, and thereby give a
beginning to those Arts in Europe. Dædalus also invented the making of Statues
with their feet asunder, as if they walked.

988. Minos makes war upon the Athenians, for killing his son Androgeus. Æacus
flourishes.

987. Dædalus kills his nephew Talus, and flies to Minos. A Priestess of Jupiter
Ammon, being brought by Phoenician merchants into Greece, sets up the Oracle of
Jupiter at Dodona. This gives a beginning to Oracles in Greece: and by their
dictates, the Worship of the Dead is every where introduced.

983. Sisyphus, the son of Æolus and grandson of Hellen, Reigns in Corinth, and
some say that he built that city.

980. Laius recovers the Kingdom of Thebes. Athamas, the brother of Sisyphus and
father of Phrixus and Helle, marries Ino the daughter of Cadmus.

979. Rehoboam Reigns. Thoas is sent from Crete to Lemnos, Reigns there in the
city Hephoestia, and works in copper and iron.

978. Alcmena born of Electryo the son of Perseus and Andromeda, and of Lysidice
the daughter of Pelops.

974. Sesac spoils the Temple, and invades Syria and Persia, setting up pillars
in many places. Jeroboam, becoming subject to Sesac, sets up the worship of the
Egyptian Gods in Israel.

971. Sesac invades India, and returns with triumph the next year but one: whence
Trieterica Bacchi. He sets up pillars on two mountains at the mouth of the river
Ganges.

968. Theseus Reigns, having overcome the Minotaur, and soon after unites the
twelve cities of Attica under one government. Sesac, having carried on his
victories to Mount Caucasus, leaves his nephew Prometheus there, and Æetes in
Colchis.

967. Sesac, passing over the Hellespont conquers Thrace, kills Lycurgus King
thereof, and gives his Kingdom and one of his singing-women to Oeagrus the
father of Orpheus. Sesac had in his army Ethiopians commanded by Pan, and Libyan
women commanded by Myrina or Minerva. It was the custom of the Ethiopians to
dance when they were entring into a battel, and from their skipping they were
painted with goats feet in the form of Satyrs.

966. Thoas, being made King of Cyprus by Sesac, goes thither with his wife
Calycopis, and leaves his daughter Hypsipyle in Lemnos.

965. Sesac is baffled by the Greeks and Scythians, loses many of his women with
their Queen Minerva, composes the war, is received by Amphiction at a feast,
buries Ariadne, goes back through Asia and Syria into Egypt, with innumerable
captives, among whom was Tithonus, the son of Laomedon King of Troy; and leaves
his Libyan Amazons, under Marthesia and Lampeto, the successors of Minerva, at
the river Thermodon. He left also in Colchos Geographical Tables of all his
conquests: And thence Geography had its rise. His singing-women were celebrated
in Thrace by the name of the Muses. And the daughters of Pierus a Thracian,
imitating them, were celebrated by the same name.

964. Minos, making war upon Cocalus King of Sicily, is slain by him. He was
eminent for his Dominion, his Laws and his Justice: upon his sepulchre visited
by Pythagoras, was this inscription, [Greek: TOU DIOS] the Sepulchre of Jupiter.
Danaus with his daughters flying from his brother Egyptus (that is from Sesac)
comes into Greece. Sesac using the advice of his Secretary Thoth, distributes
Egypt into xxxvi Nomes, and in every Nome erects a Temple, and appoints the
several Gods, Festivals and Religions of the several Nomes. The Temples were the
sepulchres of his great men, where they were to be buried and worshipped after
death, each in his own Temple, with ceremonies and festivals appointed by him;
while He and his Queen, by the names of Osiris and Isis, were to be worshipped
in all Egypt. These were the Temples seen and described by Lucian eleven hundred
years after, to be of one and the same age: and this was the original of the
several Nomes of Egypt, and of the several Gods and several Religions of those
Nomes. Sesac divided also the land of Egypt by measure amongst his soldiers, and
thence Geometry had its rise. Hercules and Eurystheus born.

963. Amphictyon brings the twelve Gods of Egypt into Greece, and these are the
Dii magni majorum gentium, to whom the Earth and Planets and Elements are
dedicated.

962. Phryxus and Helle fly from their stepmother Ino the daughter of Cadmus.
Helle is drowned in the Hellespont, so named from her, but Phryxus arrived at
Colchos.

960. The war between the Lapithæ and the people of Thessaly called Centaurs.

958. Oedipus kills his father Laius. Sthenelus the son of Perseus Reigns in
Mycene.

956. Sesac is slain by his brother Japetus, who after death was deified in Afric
by the name of Neptune, and called Typhon by the Egyptians. Orus Reigns and
routs the Libyans, who under the conduct of Japetus, and his Son Antæus or
Atlas, invaded Egypt. Sesac from his making the river Nile useful, by cutting
channels from it to all the cities of Egypt, was called by its names, Sihor or
Siris, Nilus and Egyptus. The Greeks hearing the Egyptians lament, O Siris and
Bou Siris, called him Osiris and Busiris. The Arabians from his great acts
called him Bacchus, that is, the Great. The Phrygians called him Ma-fors or
Mavors, the valiant, and by contraction Mars. Because he set up pillars in all
his conquests, and his army in his father’s Reign fought against the Africans
with clubs, he is painted with pillars and a club: and this is that Hercules
who, according to Cicero, was born upon the Nile, and according to Eudoxus, was
slain by Typhon; and according to Diodorus, was an Egyptian, and went over a
great part of the world, and set up the pillars in Afric. He seems to be also
the Belus who, according to Diodorus, led a Colony of Egyptians to Babylon, and
there instituted Priests called Chaldeans, who were free from taxes, and
observed the stars, as in Egypt. Hitherto Judah and Israel laboured under great
vexations, but henceforward Asa King of Judah had peace ten years.

947. The Ethiopians invade Egypt, and drown Orus in the Nile. Thereupon Bubaste
the sister of Orus kills herself, by falling from the top of an house, and their
mother Isis or Astræa goes mad: and thus ended the Reign of the Gods of Egypt.

946. Zerah the Ethiopian is overthrown by Asa. The people of the lower Egypt
make Osarsiphus their King, and call in two hundred thousand Jews and
Phoenicians against the Ethiopians. Menes or Amenophis the young son of Zerah
and Cissia Reigns.

944. The Ethiopians, under Amenophis, retire from the lower Egypt and fortify
Memphis against Osarsiphus. And by these wars and the Argonautic expedition, the
great Empire of Egypt breaks in pieces. Eurystheus the son of Sthenelus Reigns
in Mycenæ.

943. Evander and his mother Carmenta carry Letters into Italy.

942. Orpheus Deifies the son of Semele by the name of Bacchus, and appoints his
Ceremonies.

940. The great men of Greece, hearing of the civil wars and distractions of
Egypt, resolve to send an embassy to the nations, upon the Euxine and
Mediterranean Seas, subject to that Empire, and for that end order the building
of the ship Argo.

939. The ship Argo is built after the pattern of the long ship in which Danaus
came into Greece: and this was the first long ship built by the Greeks. Chiron,
who was born in the Golden Age, forms the Constellations for the use of the
Argonauts; and places the Solstitial and Equinoctial Points in the fifteenth
degrees or middles of the Constellations of Cancer, Chelæ, Capricorn, and Aries.
Meton in the year of Nabonassar 316, observed the Summer Solstice in the eighth
degree of Cancer, and therefore the Solstice had then gone back seven degrees.
It goes back one degree in about seventytwo years, and seven degrees in about
504 years. Count these years back from the year of Nabonassar 316, and they will
place the Argonautic expedition about 936 years before Christ. Gingris the son
of Thoas slain, and Deified by the name of Adonis.

938. Theseus, being fifty years old, steals Helena then seven years old.
Pirithous the son of Ixion, endeavouring to steal Persephone the daughter of
Orcus King of the Molossians, is slain by the Dog of Orcus; and his companion
Theseus is taken and imprisoned. Helena is set at liberty by her brothers.

937. The Argonautic expedition. Prometheus leaves Mount Caucasus, being set at
liberty by Hercules. Laomedon King of Troy is slain by Hercules. Priam succeeds
him. Talus a brazen man, of the Brazen Age, the son of Minos, is slain by the
Argonauts. Æsculapius and Hercules were Argonauts, and Hippocrates was the
eighteenth from Æsculapius by the father’s side, and the nineteenth from
Hercules by the mother’s side; and because these generations, being noted in
history, were most probably by the chief of the family, and for the most part by
the eldest sons; we may reckon 28 or at the most 30 years to a generation: and
thus the seventeen intervals by the father’s side and eighteen by the mother’s,
will at a middle reckoning amount unto about 507 years; which being counted
backwards from the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, at which time Hippocrates
began to flourish, will reach up to the time where we have placed the Argonautic
expedition.

936. Theseus is set at liberty by Hercules.

934. The hunting of the Calydonian boar slain by Meleager.

930. Amenophis, with an army out of Ethiopia and Thebais, invades the lower
Egypt, conquers Osarsiphus, and drives out the Jews and Canaanites: and this is
reckoned the second expulsion of the Shepherds. Calycopis dies, and is Deified
by Thoas with Temples at Paphos and Amathus in Cyprus, and at Byblus in Syria,
and with Priests and sacred Rites, and becomes the Venus of the ancients, and
the Dea Cypria and Dea Syria. And from these and other places where Temples were
erected to her, she was also called Paphia, Amathusia, Byblia, Cytherea,
Salaminia, Cnidia, Erycina, Idalia, &c. And her three waiting-women became the
three Graces.

928. The war of the seven Captains against Thebes.

927. Hercules and Æsculapius are Deified. Eurystheus drives the Heraclides out
of Peloponnesus. He is slain by Hyllus the son of Hercules. Atreus the son of
Pelops succeeds him in the Kingdom of Mycenæ. Menestheus, the great grandson of
Erechtheus, Reigns at Athens.

925. Theseus is slain, being cast down from a rock.

924. Hyllus invading Peloponnesus is slain by Echemus.

919. Atreus dies. Agamemnon Reigns. In the absence of Menelaus, who went to look
after what his father Atreus had left to him, Paris steals Helena.

918. The second war against Thebes.

912. Thoas, King of Cyprus and part of Phoenicia dies; and for making armour for
the Kings of Egypt; is Deified with a sumptuous Temple at Memphis by the name of
Baal Canaan, Vulcan. This Temple was said to be built by Menes, the first King
of Egypt who reigned next after the Gods, that is, by Menoph or Amenophis who
reigned next after the death of Osiris, Isis, Orus, Bubaste and Thoth. The city,
Memphis was also said to be built by Menes; he began to build it when he
fortified it against Osarsiphus. And from him it was called Menoph, Moph, Noph,
&c; and is to this day called Menuf by the Arabians. And therefore Menes who
built the city and temple Was Menoph or Amenophis. The Priests of Egypt at
length made this temple above a thousand years older then Amenophis, and some of
them five or ten thousand years older: but it could not be above two or three
hundred years older than the Reign of Psammiticus who finished it, and died 614
years before Christ. When Menoph or Menes built the city, he built a bridge
there over the Nile: a work too great to be older than the Monarchy of Egypt.

909. Amenophis, called Memnon by the Greeks, built the Memnonia at Susa, whilst
Egypt was under the government of Proteus his Viceroy.

904. Troy taken. Amenophis was still at Susa; the Greeks feigning that he came
from thence to the Trojan war.

903. Demophoon, the son of Theseus by Phoedra the daughter of Minos, Reigns at
Athens.

901. Amenophis builds small Pyramids in Cochome.

896. Ulysses leaves Calypso in the Island Ogygie (perhaps Cadis or Cales.) She
was the daughter of Atlas, according to Homer. The ancients at length feigned
that this Island, (which from Atlas they called Atlantis) had been as big as all
Europe, Africa and Asia, but was sunk into the Sea.

895. Teucer builds Salamis in Cyprus. Hadad or Benhadad King of Syria dies, and
is Deified at Damascus with a Temple and Ceremonies.

887. Amenophis dies, and is succeeded by his son Ramesses or Rhampsinitus, who
builds the western Portico of the Temple of Vulcan. The Egyptians dedicated to
Osiris, Isis, Orus senior, Typhon, and Nephthe the sister and wife of Typhon,
the five days added by the Egyptians to the twelve Calendar months of the old
Luni-solar year, and said that they were added when these five Princes were
born. They were therefore added in the Reign of Ammon the father of these five
Princes: but this year was scarce brought into common use before the Reign of
Amenophis: for in his Temple or Sepulchre at Abydus, they placed a Circle of 365
cubits in compass, covered on the upper side with a plate of gold, and divided
into 365 equal parts, to represent all the days of the year; every part having
the day of the year, and the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars on that
day, noted upon it. And this Circle remained there ’till Cambyses spoiled the
temples of Egypt: and from this monument I collect that it was Amenophis who
established this year, fixing the beginning thereof to one of the four Cardinal
Points of the heavens. For had not the beginning thereof been now fixed, the
Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars could not have been noted upon the
days thereof. The Priests of Egypt therefore in the Reign of Amenophis continued
to observe the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars upon every day. And
when by the Sun’s Meridional Altitudes they had found the Solstices and
Equinoxes according to the Sun’s mean motion, his Equation being not yet known,
they fixed the beginning of this year to the Vernal Equinox, and in memory
thereof erected this monument. Now this year being carried into Chaldæa, the
Chaldæans began their year of Nabonassar on the same Thoth with the Egyptians,
and made it of the same length. And the Thoth of the first year of Nabonassar
fell upon the 26th day of February: which was 33 days and five hours before the
Vernal Equinox, according to the Sun’s mean motion. And the Thoth of this year
moves backwards 33 days and five hours in 137 years, and therefore fell upon the
Vernal Equinox 137 years before the Æra of Nabonassar began; that is, 884 years
before Christ. And if it began upon the day next after the Vernal Equinox, it
might begin three or four years earlier; and there we may place the death of
this King. The Greeks feigned that he was the Son of Tithonus, and therefore he
was born after the return of Sesac into Egypt, with Tithonus and other captives,
and so might be about 70 or 75 years old at his death.

883. Dido builds Carthage, and the Phoenicians begin presently after to sail as
far as to the Straights Mouth, and beyond. Æneas was still alive, according to
Virgil.

870. Hesiod flourishes. He hath told us himself that he lived in the age next
after the wars of Thebes and Troy, and that this age should end when the men
then living grew hoary and dropt into the grave; and therefore it was but of an
ordinary length: and Herodotus has told us that Hesiod and Homer were but 400
years older than himself. Whence it follows that the destruction of Troy was not
older than we have represented it.

860. Moeris Reigns in Egypt. He adorned Memphis, and translated the seat of his
Empire thither from Thebes. There he built the famous Labyrinth, and the
northern portico of the Temple of Vulcan, and dug the great Lake called the Lake
of Moeris, and upon the bottom of it built two great Pyramids of brick: and
these things being not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod, were unknown to them, and
done after their days. Moeris wrote also a book of Geometry.

852. Hazael the successor of Hadad at Damascus dies and is Deified, as was Hadad
before: and these Gods, together with Arathes the wife of Hadad, were worshipt
in their Sepulchres or Temples, ’till the days of Josephus the Jew; and the
Syrians boasted their antiquity, not knowing, saith Josephus, that they were
novel.

844. The Æolic Migration. Boeotia, formerly called Cadmeis, is seized by the
Boeotians.

838. Cheops Reigns in Egypt. He built the greatest Pyramid for his sepulchre,
and forbad the worship of the former Kings; intending to have been worshipped
himself.

825. The Heraclides, after three Generations, or an hundred years, reckoned from
their former expedition, return into Peloponnesus. Henceforward, to the end of
the first Messenian war, reigned ten Kings of Sparta by one Race, and nine by
another; ten of Messene, and nine of Arcadia: which, by reckoning (according to
the ordinary course of nature) about twenty years to a Reign, one Reign with
another, will take up about 190 years. And the seven Reigns more in one of the
two Races of the Kings of Sparta, and eight in the other, to the battle at
Thermopylæ; may take up 150 years more: and so place the return of the
Heraclides, about 820 years before Christ.

824. Cephren Reigns in Egypt, and builds another great Pyramid.

808. Mycerinus Reigns there, and begins the third great Pyramid. He shut up the
body of his daughter in a hollow ox, and caused her to be worshipped daily with
odours.

804. The war, between the Athenians and Spartans, in which Codrus, King of the
Athenians, is slain.

801. Nitocris, the sister of Mycerinus, succeeds him, and finishes the third
great Pyramid.

794. The Ionic Migration, under the conduct of the sons of Codrus.

790. Pul founds the Assyrian Empire.

788. Asychis Reigns in Egypt, and builds the eastern Portico of the Temple of
Vulcan very splendidly; and a large Pyramid of brick, made of mud dug out of the
Lake of Moeris. Egypt breaks into several Kingdoms.

Gnephactus and Bocchoris Reign successively in the upper Egypt; Stephanathis;
Necepsos and Nechus, at Sais; Anysis or Amosis, at Anysis or Hanes; and
Tacellotis, at Bubaste.

776. Iphitus restores the Olympiads. And from this Æra the Olympiads are now
reckoned. Gnephactus Reigns at Memphis.

772. Necepsos and Petosiris invent Astrology in Egypt.

760. Semiramis begins to flourish; Sanchoniatho writes.

751. Sabacon the Ethiopian, invades Egypt, now divided into various Kingdoms,
burns Bocchoris, slays Nechus, and makes Anysis fly.

747. Pul, King of Assyria, dies, and is succeeded at Nineveh by Tiglathpilasser,
and at Babylon by Nabonassar. The Egyptians, who fled from Sabacon, carry their
Astrology and Astronomy to Babylon, and found the Æra of Nabonassar in Egyptian
years.

740. Tiglathpilasser, King of Assyria, takes Damascus, and captivates the
Syrians.

729. Tiglathpilasser is succeeded by Salmanasser.

721. Salmanasser, King of Assyria, carries the Ten Tribes into captivity.

719. Sennacherib Reigns over Assyria. Archias the son of Evagetus, of the stock
of Hercules, leads a Colony from Corinth into Sicily, and builds Syracuse.

717. Tirhakah Reigns in Ethiopia.

714. Sennacherib is put to flight by the Ethiopians and Egyptians, with great
slaughter.

711. The Medes revolt from the Assyrians. Sennacherib slain. Asserhadon succeeds
him. This is that Asserhadon-Pul, or Sardanapalus, the son of Anacyndaraxis, or
Sennacherib, who built Tarsus and Anchiale in one day.

710. Lycurgus, brings the poems of Homer out of Asia into Greece.

708. Lycurgus, becomes tutor to Charillus or Charilaus, the young King of
Sparta. Aristotle makes Lycurgus as old as Iphitus, because his name was upon
the Olympic Disc. But the Disc was one of the five games called the
Quinquertium, and the Quinquertium was first instituted upon the eighteenth
Olympiad. Socrates and Thucydides made the institutions of Lycurgus about 300
years older than the end of the Peloponnesian war, that is, 705 years before
Christ.

701. Sabacon, after a Reign of 50 years, relinquishes Egypt to his son Sevechus
or Sethon, who becomes Priest of Vulcan, and neglects military affairs.

698. Manasseh Reigns.

697. The Corinthians begin first of any men to build ships with three orders of
oars, called Triremes. Hitherto the Greeks had used long vessels of fifty oars.

687. Tirhakah Reigns in Egypt.

681. Asserhadon invades Babylon.

673. The Jews conquered by Asserhadon, and Manasseh carried captive to Babylon.

671. Asserbadon invades Egypt. The government of Egypt committed to twelve
princes.

668. The western nations of Syria, Phoenicia and Egypt, revolt from the
Assyrians. Asserhadon dies, and is succeeded by Saosduchinus. Manasseh returns
from Captivity.

658. Phraortes Reigns in Media. The Prytanes Reign in Corinth, expelling their
Kings.

657. The Corinthians overcome the Corcyreans at sea: and this was the oldest sea
fight.

655. Psammiticus becomes King of all Egypt, by conquering the other eleven Kings
with whom he had already reigned fifteen years: he reigned about 39 years more.
Henceforward the Ionians had access into Egypt; and thence came the Ionian
Philosophy, Astronomy and Geometry.

652. The first Messenian war begins: it lasted twenty years.

647. Charops, the first decennial Archon of the Athenians. Some of these Archons
might dye before the end of the ten years, and the remainder of the ten years be
supplied by a new Archon. And hence the seven decennial Archons might not take
up above forty or fifty years. Saosduchinus King of Assyria dies, and is
succeeded by Chyniladon.

640. Josiah Reigns in Judæa.

636. Phraortes> King of the Medes, is slain in a war against the Assyrians.
Astyages succeeds him.

635. The Scythians invade the Medes and Assyrians.

633. Battus builds Cyrene, where Irasa, the city of Antæus, had stood.

627. Rome is built.

625. Nabopolassar revolts from the King of Assyria, and Reigns over Babylon.
Phalantus leads the Parthenians into Italy, and builds Tarentum.

617. Psammiticus dies. Nechaoh reigns in Egypt.

611. Cyaxeres Reigns over the Medes.

610. The Princes of the Scythians slain in a feast by Cyaxeres.

609. Josiah slain. Cyaxeres and Nebuchadnezzar overthrow Nineveh, and, by
sharing the Assyrian Empire, grow great.

607. Creon the first annual Archon of the Athenians. The second Messenian war
begins. Cyaxeres makes the Scythians retire beyond Colchos and Iberia, and
seizes the Assyrian Provinces of Armenia, Pontus and Cappadocia.

606. Nebuchadnezzar invades Syria and Judæa.

604. Nabopolassar dies, and is succeeded by his Son Nebuchadnezzar, who had
already Reigned two years with his father.

600. Darius the Mede, the son of Cyaxeres, is born.

599. Cyrus is born of Mandane, the Sister of Cyaxeres, and daughter of Astyages.

596. Susiana and Elam conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Caranus and Perdiccas fly
from Phidon, and found the Kingdom of Macedon. Phidon introduces Weights and
Measures, and the Coining of Silver Money.

590. Cyaxeres makes war upon Alyattes King of Lydia.

588. The Temple of Solomon is burnt by Nebuchadnezzar. The Messenians being
conquered, fly into Sicily, and build Messana.

585. In the sixth year of the Lydian war, a total Eclipse of the Sun, predicted
by Thales, May the 28th, puts an end to a Battel between the Medes and Lydians:
Whereupon they make Peace, and ratify it by a marriage between Darius Medus the
son of Cyaxeres, and Ariene the daughter of Alyattes.

584. Phidon presides in the 49th Olympiad.

580. Phidon is overthrown. Two men chosen by lot, out of the city Elis, to
preside in the Olympic Games.

572. Draco is Archon of the Athenians, and makes laws for them.

568. The Amphictions make war upon the Cirrheans, by the advice of Solon, and
take Cirrha. Clisthenes, Alcmæon and Eurolicus commanded the forces of the
Amphictions, and were contemporary to Phidon. For Leocides the son of Phidon,
and Megacles the son of Alcmæon, at one and the same time, courted Agarista the
daughter of Clisthenes.

569. Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt. Darius the Mede Reigns.

562. Solon, being Archon of the Athenians, makes laws for them.

557. Periander dies, and Corinth becomes free from Tyrants.

555. Nabonadius Reigns at Babylon. His Mother Nitocris adorns and fortifies that
City.

550. Pisistratus becomes Tyrant at Athens. The Conference between Croesus and
Solon.

549. Solon dies, Hegestratus being Archon of Athens.

544. Sardes is taken by Cyrus. Darius the Mede recoins the Lydian money into
Darics.

538. Babylon is taken by Cyrus.

536. Cyrus overcomes Darius the Mede, and translates the Empire to the Persians.
The Jews return from Captivity, and found the second Temple.

529. Cyrus dies. Cambyses Reigns,

521. Darius the son of Hystaspes Reigns. The Magi are slain. The various
Religions of the several Nations of Persia, which consisted in the worship of
their ancient Kings, are abolished; and by the influence of Hystaspes and
Zoroaster, the worship of One God, at Altars, without Temples is set up in all
Persia.

520. The second Temple is built at Jerusalem by the command of Darius.

515. The second Temple is finished and dedicated.

513. Harmodius and Aristogiton, slay Hipparchus the son of Pisistratus, Tyrant
of the Athenians.

508. The Kings of the Romans expelled, and Consuls erected.

491. The Battle of Marathon.

485. Xerxes Reigns.

480. The Passage of Xerxes over the Hellespont into Greece, and Battles of
Thermopylæ and Salamis.

464. Artaxerxes Longimanus Reigns.

457. Ezra returns into Judæa. Johanan the father of Jaddua was now grown up,
having a chamber in the Temple.

444. Nehemiah returns into Judæa. Herodotus writes.

431. The Peloponnesian war begins.

428. Nehemiah drives away Manasseh the brother of Jaddua, because he had married
Nicaso the daughter of Sanballat.

424. Darius Nothus Reigns.

422. Sanballat builds a Temple in Mount Gerizim and makes his son-in-law
Manasseh the first High-Priest thereof.

412. Hitherto the Priests and Levites were numbered, and written in the
Chronicles of the Jews, before the death of Nehemiah: at which time either
Johanan or Jaddua was High-Priest, And here Ends the Sacred History of the Jews.

405. Artaxerxes Mnemon Reigns. The end of the Peloponnesian war.

359. Artaxerxes Ochus Reigns.

338. Arogus Reigns.

336. Darius Codomannus Reigns.

332. The Persian Empire conquered by Alexander the great.

331. Darius Codomannus, the last King of Persia, slain.


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  CHAPTER 34: 02.008.     CHAPTER I
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THE

CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED.

CHAP. I. Of the Chronology of the First Ages of the Greeks.

All Nations, before they began to keep exact accounts of Time, have been prone
to raise their Antiquities; and this humour has been promoted, by the
Contentions between Nations about their Originals. Herodotus [3] tells us, that
the Priests of Egypt reckoned from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon, who put
Sennacherib to flight, three hundred forty and one Generations of men, and as
many Priests of Vulcan, and as many Kings of Egypt: and that three hundred
Generations make ten thousand years; for, saith he, three Generations of men
make an hundred years: and the remaining forty and one Generations make 1340
years: and so the whole time from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon was 11340
years. And by this way of reckoning, and allotting longer Reigns to the Gods of
Egypt than to the Kings which followed them, Herodotus tells us from the Priests
of Egypt, that from Pan to Amosis were 15000 years, and from Hercules to Amosis
17000 years. So also the Chaldæans boasted of their Antiquity; for Callisthenes,
the Disciple of Aristotle, sent Astronomical Observations from Babylon to
Greece, said to be of 1903 years standing before the times of Alexander the
great. And the Chaldæans boasted further, that they had observed the Stars
473000 years; and there were others who made the Kingdoms of Assyria, Media and
Damascus, much older than the truth.

Some of the Greeks called the times before the Reign of Ogyges, Unknown, because
they had No History of them; those between his flood and the beginning of the
Olympiads, Fabulous, because their History was much mixed with Poetical Fables:
and those after the beginning of the Olympiads, Historical, because their
History was free from such Fables. The fabulous Ages wanted a good Chronology,
and so also did the Historical, for the first 60 or 70 Olympiads. The Europeans,
had no Chronology before the times of the Persian Empire: and whatsoever
Chronology they now have of ancienter times, hath been framed since, by
reasoning and conjecture. In the beginning of that Monarchy, Acusilaus made
Phoroneus as old as Ogyges and his flood, and that flood 1020 years older than
the first Olympiad; which is above 680 years older than the truth: and to make
out this reckoning his followers have encreased the Reigns of Kings in length
and number. Plutarch [4] tells us that the Philosophers anciently delivered
their Opinions in Verse, as Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Empedocles,
Thales; but afterwards left off the use of Verses; and that Aristarchus,
Timocharis, Aristillus, Hipparchus, did not make Astronomy the more contemptible
by describing it in Prose; after Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales had wrote of it in
Verse. Solon wrote [5] in Verse, and all the Seven Wise Men were addicted to
Poetry, as Anaximenes [6] affirmed. ’Till those days the Greeks wrote only in
Verse, and while they did so there could be no Chronology, nor any other
History, than such as was mixed with poetical fancies. Pliny, [7] in reckoning
up the Inventors of things, tells us, that Pherecydes Syrius taught to compose
discourses in Prose in the Reign of Cyrus, and Cadmus Milesius to write History.
And in [8] another place he saith that Cadmus Milesius was the first that wrote
in Prose. Josephus tells us [9] that Cadmus Milesius and Acusilaus were but a
little before the expedition of the Persians against the Greeks: and Suidas [10]
calls Acusilaus a most ancient Historian, and saith that he wrote Genealogies
out of tables of brass, which his father, as was reported, found in a corner of
his house. Who hid them there may be doubted: For the Greeks [11] had no publick
table or inscription older than the Laws of Draco. Pherecydes Atheniensis, in
the Reign of Darius Hystaspis, or soon after, wrote of the Antiquities and
ancient Genealogies of the Athenians, in ten books; and was one of the first
European writers of this kind, and one of the best; whence he had the name of
Genealogus; and by Dionysius [12] Halicarnassensis is said to be second to none
of the Genealogers. Epimenides, not the Philosopher, but an Historian, wrote
also of the ancient Genealogies: and Hellanicus, who was twelve years older than
Herodotus, digested his History by the Ages or Successions of the Priestesses of
Juno Argiva. Others digested theirs by those of the Archons of Athens, or Kings
of the Lacedæmonians. Hippias the Elean published a Breviary of the Olympiads,
supported by no certain arguments, as Plutarch [13] tells us: he lived in the
105th Olympiad, and was derided by Plato for his Ignorance. This Breviary seems
to have contained nothing more than a short account of the Victors in every
Olympiad. Then [14] Ephorus, the disciple of Isocrates, formed a Chronological
History of Greece, beginning with the Return of the Heraclides into
Peloponnesus, and ending with the Siege of Perinthus, in the twentieth year of
Philip the father of Alexander the great, that is, eleven years before the fall
of the Persian Empire: but [15] he digested things by Generations, and the
reckoning by the Olympiads, or by any other Æra, was not yet in use among the
Greeks. The Arundelian Marbles were composed sixty years after the death of
Alexander the great (An. 4. Olymp. 128.) and yet mention not the Olympiads, nor
any other standing Æra, but reckon backwards from the time then present. But
Chronology was now reduced to a reckoning by Years; and in the next Olympiad
Timæus Siculus improved it: for he wrote a History in Several books, down to his
own times, according to the Olympiads; comparing the Ephori, the Kings of
Sparta, the Archons of Athens, and the Priestesses of Argos with the Olympic
Victors, so as to make the Olympiads, and the Genealogies and Successions of
Kings and Priestesses, and the Poetical Histories suit with one another,
according to the best of his judgment: and where he left off, Polybius began,
and carried on the History. Eratosthenes wrote above an hundred years after the
death of Alexander the great: He was followed by Apollodorus; and these two have
been followed ever since by Chronologers. But how uncertain their Chronology is,
and how doubtful it was reputed by the Greeks of those times, may be understood
by these passages of Plutarch. Some reckon Lycurgus, saith he, [16] contemporary
to Iphitus, and to have been his companion in ordering the Olympic festivals,
amongst whom was Aristotle the Philosopher; arguing from the Olympic Disc, which
had the name of Lycurgus upon it. Others supputing the times by the Kings of
Lacedæmon, as Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, affirm that he was not a few years
older than the first Olympiad. He began to flourish in the 17th or 18th
Olympiad, and at length Aristotle made him as old as the first Olympiad; and so
did Epaminondas, as he is cited by Ælian and Plutarch: and then Eratosthenes,
Apollodorus, and their followers, made him above an hundred years older. And in
another place Plutarch [17] tells us: The Congress of Solon with Croesus, some
think they can confute by Chronology. But a History so illustrious, and verified
by so many witnesses, and which is more, so agreeable to the manners of Solon,
and worthy of the greatness of his mind, and of his wisdom, I cannot persuade my
self to reject because of some Chronological Canons, as they call them, which
hundreds of authors correcting, have not yet been able to constitute any thing
certain, in which they could agree amongst themselves, about repugnancies. As
for the Chronology of the Latines, that is still more uncertain. Plutarch [18]
represents great uncertainties in the Originals of Rome, and so doth Servius
[19]. The old Records of the Latines were burnt [20] by the Gauls, an hundred
and twenty years after the Regifuge, and sixty-four years before the death of
Alexander the great: and Quintus Fabius Pictor, [21] the oldest Historian of the
Latines, lived an hundred years later than that King, and took almost all things
from Diocles Peparethius, a Greek. The Chronologers of Gallia, Spain, Germany,
Scythia, Swedeland, Britain and Ireland are of a date still later; for Scythia
beyond the Danube had no letters, ’till Ulphilas their Bishop formed them; which
was about six hundred years after the death of Alexander the great: and Germany
had none ’till it received them, from the western Empire of the Latines, above
seven hundred years after the death of that King. The Hunns, had none in the
days of Procopius, who flourished 850 years after the death of that King: and
Sweden and Norway received them still later. And things said to be done above
one or two hundred years before the use of letters, are of little credit.

Diodorus, [22] in the beginning of his History tells us, that he did not define
by any certain space the times preceding the Trojan War, because he had no
certain foundation to rely upon: but from the Trojan war, according to the
reckoning of Apollodorus, whom he followed, there were eighty years to the
Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus; and that from that Period to the
first Olympiad, there were three hundred and twenty eight years, computing the
times from the Kings of the Lacedæmonians. Apollodorus followed Eratosthenes,
and both of them followed Thucydides, in reckoning eighty years from the Trojan
war to the Return of the Heraclides: but in reckoning 328 years from that Return
to the first Olympiad, Diodorus tells us, that the times were computed from the
Kings of the Lacedæmonians; and Plutarch [23] tells us, that Apollodorus,
Eratosthenes and others followed that computation: and since this reckoning is
still received by Chronologers, and was gathered by computing the times from the
Kings of the Lacedæmonians, that is from their number, let us re-examin that
Computation. The Egyptians reckoned the Reigns of Kings equipollent to
Generations of men, and three Generations to an hundred years, as above; and so
did the Greeks and Latines: and accordingly they have made their Kings Reign one
with another thirty and three years a-piece, and above. For they make the seven
Kings of Rome who preceded the Consuls to have Reigned 244 years, which is 35
years a-piece: and the first twelve Kings of Sicyon, Ægialeus, Europs, &c. to
have Reigned 529 years, which is 44 years a-piece: and the first eight Kings of
Argos, Inachus, Phoroneus, &c. to have Reigned 371 years, which is above 46
years a-piece: and between the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and
the end of the first Messenian war, the ten Kings of Sparta in one Race;
Eurysthenes, Agis, Echestratus, Labotas, Doryagus, Agesilaus, Archelaus,
Teleclus, Alcamenes, and Polydorus: the nine in the other Race; Procles, Sous,
Eurypon, Prytanis, Eunomus, Polydectes, Charilaus, Nicander, Theopompus: the ten
Kings of Messene; Cresphontes, Epytus, Glaucus, Isthmius, Dotadas, Sibotas,
Phintas, Antiochus, Euphaes, Aristodemus: and the nine of Arcadia; Cypselus,
Olæas, Buchalion, Phialus, Simus, Pompus, Ægineta, Polymnestor, Æchmis,
according to Chronologers, took up 379 years: which is 38 years a-piece to the
ten Kings, and 42 years a-piece to the nine. And the five Kings of the Race of
Eurysthenes, between the end of the first Messenian war, and the beginning of
the Reign of Darius Hystaspis; Eurycrates, Anaxander, Eurycrates II, Leon,
Anaxandrides, Reigned 202 years, which is above 40 years a-piece.

Thus the Greek Chronologers, who follow Timæus and Eratosthenes, have made the
Kings of their several Cities, who lived before the times of the Persian Empire,
to Reign about 35 or 40 years a-piece, one with another; which is a length so
much beyond the course of nature, as is not to be credited. For by the ordinary
course of nature Kings Reign, one with another, about eighteen or twenty years
a-piece: and if in some instances they Reign, one with another, five or six
years longer, in others they Reign as much shorter: eighteen or twenty years is
a medium. So the eighteen Kings of Judah who succeeded Solomon, Reigned 390
years, which is one with another 22 years a-piece. The fifteen Kings of Israel
after Solomon, Reigned 259 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The eighteen Kings
of Babylon, Nabonassar &c. Reigned 209 years, which is 11-2/3 years a-piece. The
ten Kings of Persia; Cyrus, Cambyses, &c. Reigned 208 years, which is almost 21
years a piece. The sixteen Successors of Alexander the great, and of his brother
and son in Syria; Seleucus, Antiochus Soter, &c. Reigned 244 years, after the
breaking of that Monarchy into various Kingdoms, which is 15¼ years a-piece. The
eleven Kings of Egypt; Ptolomæus Lagi, &c. Reigned 277 years, counted from the
same Period, which is 25 years a-piece. The eight in Macedonia; Cassander, &c.
Reigned 138 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The thirty Kings of England;
William the Conqueror, William Rufus, &c. Reigned 648 years, which is 21½ years
a-piece. The first twenty four Kings of France; Pharamundus, &c. Reigned 458
years, which is 19 years a-piece: the next twenty four Kings of France;
Ludovicus Balbus, &c. 451 years, which is 18¾ years a-piece: the next fifteen,
Philip Valesius, &c. 315 years, which is 21 years a-piece: and all the sixty
three Kings of France, 1224 years, which is 19½ years a-piece. Generations from
father to son, may be reckoned one with another at about 33 or 34 years a-piece,
or about three Generations to an hundred years: but if the reckoning proceed by
the eldest sons, they are shorter, so that three of them may be reckoned at
about 75 or 80 years: and the Reigns of Kings are still shorter, because Kings
are succeeded not only by their eldest sons, but sometimes by their brothers,
and sometimes they are slain or deposed; and succeeded by others of an equal or
greater age, especially in elective or turbulent Kingdoms. In the later Ages,
since Chronology hath been exact, there is scarce an instance to be found of ten
Kings Reigning any where in continual Succession above 260 years: but Timæus and
his followers, and I think also some of his Predecessors, after the example of
the Egyptians, have taken the Reigns of Kings for Generations, and reckoned
three Generations to an hundred, and sometimes to an hundred and twenty years;
and founded the Technical Chronology of the Greeks upon this way of reckoning.
Let the reckoning be reduced to the course of nature, by putting the Reigns of
Kings one with another, at about eighteen or twenty years a-piece: and the ten
Kings of Sparta by one Race, the nine by another Race, the ten Kings of Messene,
and the nine of Arcadia, above mentioned, between the Return of the Heraclides
into Peloponnesus, and the end of the first Messenian war, will scarce take up
above 180 or 190 years: whereas according to Chronologers they took up 379
years. For confirming this reckoning, I may add another argument. Euryleon the
son of Ægeus, [24] commanded the main body of the Messenians in the fifth year
of the first Messenian war, and was in the fifth Generation from Oiolicus the
son Theras, the brother-in-law of Aristodemus, and tutor to his sons Eurysthenes
and Procles, as Pausanias [25] relates: and by consequence, from the return of
the Heraclides, which was in the days of Theras, to the battle which was in the
fifth year of this war, there were six Generations, which, as I conceive, being
for the most part by the eldest sons, will scarce exceed thirty years to a
Generation; and so may amount unto 170 or 180 years. That war lasted 19 or 20
years: add the last 15 years, and there will be about 190 years to the end of
that war: whereas the followers of Timæus make it about 379 years, which is
above sixty years to a Generation. By these arguments, Chronologers have
lengthned the time, between the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and
the first Messenian war, adding to it about 190 years: and they have also
lengthned the time, between that war and the rise of the Persian Empire. For in
the Race of the Spartan Kings, descended from Eurysthenes; after Polydorus,
reigned [26] these Kings, Eurycrates, Anaxander, Eurycratides, Leon,
Anaxandrides, Clomenes, Leonidas, &c. And in the other Race descended from
Procles; after Theopompus, reigned [27] these, Anaxandrides, Archidemus,
Anaxileus, Leutychides, Hippocratides, Ariston, Demaratus, Leutychides II. &c.
according to Herodotus. These Kings reigned ’till the sixth year of Xerxes, in
which Leonidas was slain by the Persians at Thermopylæ; and Leutychides II. soon
after, flying from Sparta to Tegea, died there. The seven Reigns of the Kings of
Sparta, which follow Polydorus, being added to the ten Reigns above mentioned,
which began with that of Eurysthenes; make up seventeen Reigns of Kings, between
the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and the sixth year of Xerxes: and
the eight Reigns following Theopompus, being added to the nine Reigns above
mentioned, which began with that of Procles, make up also seventeen Reigns: and
these seventeen Reigns, at twenty years a-piece one with another, amount unto
three hundred and forty years. Count these 340 years upwards from the sixth year
of Xerxes, and one or two years more for the war of the Heraclides, and Reign of
Aristodemus, the father of Eurysthenes and Procles; and they will place the
Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, 159 years after the death of
Solomon, and 46 years before the first Olympiad, in which Coræbus was victor.
But the followers of Timæus have placed this Return two hundred and eighty years
earlier. Now this being the computation upon which the Greeks, as you have heard
from Diodorus and Plutarch, have founded the Chronology of their Kingdoms, which
were ancienter than the Persian Empire; that Chronology is to be rectified, by
shortening the times which preceded the death of Cyrus, in the proportion of
almost two to one; for the times which follow the death of Cyrus are not much
amiss. The Artificial Chronologers, have made Lycurgus, the legislator, as old
as Iphitus, the restorer of the Olympiads; and Iphitus, an hundred and twelve
years, older than the first Olympiad: and, to help out the Hypothesis, they have
feigned twenty eight Olympiads older than the first Olympiad, wherein Coræbus
was victor. But these things were feigned, after the days of Thucydides and
Plato: for Socrates died three years after the end of the Peloponnesian war, and
Plato [28] introduceth him saying, that the institutions of Lycurgus were but of
three hundred years standing, or not much more. And [29] Thucydides, in the
reading followed by Stephanus, saith, that the Lacedæmonians, had from ancient
times used good laws, and been free from tyranny; and that from the time that
they had used one and the same administration of their commonwealth, to the end
of the Peloponnesian war, there were three hundred years and a few more. Count
three hundred years back from the end of the Peloponnesian war, and they will
place the Legislature of Lycurgus upon the 19th Olympiad. And, according to
Socrates, it might be upon the 22d or 23d. Athenæus [30] tells us out of ancient
authors (Hellanicus, Sosimus and Hieronymus) that Lycurgus the Legislator, was
contemporary to Terpander the Musician; and that Terpander was the first man who
got the victory in the Carnea, in a solemnity of music instituted in those
festivals in the 26th Olympiad. He overcame four times in those Pythic games,
and therefore lived at least ’till the 29th Olympiad: and beginning to flourish
in the days of Lycurgus, it is not likely that Lycurgus began to flourish, much
before the 18th Olympiad. The name of Lycurgus being on the Olympic Disc,
Aristotle concluded thence, that Lycurgus was the companion of Iphitus, in
restoring the Olympic games: and this argument might be the ground of the
opinion of Chronologers, that Lycurgus and Iphitus were contemporary. But
Iphitus did not restore all the Olympic games. He [31] restored indeed the
Racing in the first Olympiad, Coræbus being victor. In the 14th Olympiad, the
double stadium was added, Hypænus being victor. And in the 18th Olympiad the
Quinquertium and Wrestling were added, Lampus and Eurybatus, two Spartans, being
victors: And the Disc was one of the games of the Quinquertium. [32] Pausanias
tells us that there were three Discs kept in the Olympic treasury at Altis:
these therefore having the name of Lycurgus upon them, shew that they were given
by him, at the institution of the Quinquertium, in the 18th Olympiad. Now
Polydectes King of Sparta, being slain before the birth of his son Charillus or
Charilaus, left the Kingdom to Lycurgus his brother; and Lycurgus, upon the
birth of Charillus, became tutor to the child; and after about eight months
travelled into Crete and Asia, till the child grew up, and brought back with him
the poems of Homer; and soon after published his laws, suppose upon the 22d or
23d Olympiad; for he was then growing old: and Terpander was a Lyric Poet, and
began to flourish about this time; for [33] he imitated Orpheus and Homer, and
sung Homer’s verses and his own, and wrote the laws of Lycurgus in verse, and
was victor in the Pythic games in the 26th Olympiad, as above. He was the first
who distinguished the modes of Lyric music by several names. Ardalus and Clonas
soon after did the like for wind music: and from henceforward, by the
encouragement of the Pythic games, now instituted, several eminent Musicians and
Poets flourished in Greece: as Archilochus, Eumelus Corinthius, Polymnestus,
Thaletas, Xenodemus, Xenocritus, Sacadas, Tyrtæus, Tlesilla, Rhianus, Alcman,
Arion, Stesichorus, Mimnermnus, Alcæus, Sappho, Theognis, Anacreon, Ibycus,
Simonides, Æschylus, Pindar, by whom the Music and Poetry of the Greeks were
brought to perfection.

Lycurgus, published his laws in the Reign of Agesilaus, the son and successor of
Doryagus, in the Race of the Kings of Sparta descended from Eurysthenes. From
the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, to the end of the Reign of
Agesilaus, there were six Reigns: and from the same Return to the end of the
Reign of Polydectes, in the Race of the Spartan Kings descended from Procles,
there were also six Reigns: and these Reigns, at twenty years a-piece one with
another, amount unto 120 years; besides the short Reign of Aristodemus, the
father of Eurysthenes and Procles, which might amount to a year or two: for
Aristodemus came to the crown, as [34] Herodotus and the Lacedæmonians
themselves affirmed. The times of the deaths of Agesilaus and Polydectes are not
certainly known: but it may be presumed that Lycurgus did not meddle with the
Olympic games before he came to the Kingdom; and therefore Polydectes died in
the beginning of the 18th Olympiad, or but a very little before. If it may be
supposed that the 20th Olympiad was in, or very near to the middle time between
the deaths of the two Kings Polydectes and Agesilaus, and from thence be counted
upwards the aforesaid 120 years, and one year more for the Reign of ristodemus;
the reckoning will place the Return of the Heraclides, about 45 years before the
beginning of the Olympiads.

Iphitus, who restored the Olympic games, [35] was descended from Oxylus, the son
of Hæmon, the son of Thoas, the son of Andræmon: Hercules and Andræmon married
two sisters: Thoas warred at Troy: Oxylus returned into Peloponnesus with the
Heraclides. In this return he commanded the body of the Ætolians, and recovered
Elea; [36] from whence his ancestor Ætolus, the son of Endymion, the son of
Aethlius, had been driven by Salmoneus the grandson of Hellen. By the friendship
of the Heraclides, Oxylus had the care of the Olympic Temple committed to him:
and the Heraclides, for his service done them, granted further upon oath that
the country of the Eleans should be free from invasions, and be defended by them
from all armed force: And when the Eleans were thus consecrated, Oxylus restored
the Olympic games: and after they had been again intermitted, Iphitus their King
[37] restored them, and made them quadrennial. Iphitus is by some reckoned the
son of Hæmon, by others the son of Praxonidas, the son of Hæmon: but Hæmon being
the father of Oxylus, I would reckon Iphitus the son of Praxonidas, the son of
Oxylus, the son of Hæmon. And by this reckoning the Return of the Heraclides
into Peloponnesus will be two Generations by the eldest sons, or about 52 years,
before the Olympiads.

Pausanias [38] represents that Melas the son of Antissus, of the posterity of
Gonussa the daughter of Sicyon, was not above six Generations older than
Cypselus King of Corinth; and that he was contemporary to Aletes, who returned
with the Heraclides into Peloponnesus. The Reign of Cypselus began An. 2, Olymp.
31, according to Chronologers; and six Generations, at about 30 years to a
Generation, amount unto 180 years. Count those years backwards from An. 2,
Olymp. 31, and they will place the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus 58
years before the first Olympiad. But it might not be so early, if the Reign of
Cypselus began three or four Olympiads later; for he reigned before the Persian
Empire began.

Hercules the Argonaut was the father of Hyllus; the father of Cleodius; the
father of Aristomachus; the father of Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, who
led the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and Eurystheus, who was of the same age
with Hercules, was slain in the first attempt of the Heraclides to return:
Hyllus was slain in the second attempt, Cleodius in the third attempt,
Aristomachus in the fourth attempt, and Aristodemus died as soon as they were
returned, and left the Kingdom of Sparta to his sons Eurysthenes and Procles.
Whence their Return was four Generations later than the Argonautic expedition:
And these Generations were short ones, being by the chief of the family, and
suit with the reckoning of Thucydides and the Ancients, that the taking of Troy
was about 75 or eighty years before the return of the Heraclides into
Peloponnesus; and the Argonautic expedition one Generation earlier than the
taking of Troy. Count therefore eighty years backward from the Return of the
Heraclides into Peloponnesus to the Trojan war, and the taking of Troy will be
about 76 years after the death of Solomon: And the Argonautic expedition, which
was one Generation earlier, will be about 43 years after it. From the taking of
Troy to the Return of the Heraclides, could scarce be more than eighty years,
because Orestes the son of Agamemnon was a youth at the taking of Troy, and his
sons Penthilus and Tisamenus lived till the Return of the Heraclides.

Æsculapius and Hercules were Argonauts, and Hippocrates was the eighteenth
inclusively by the father’s side from Æsculapius, and the nineteenth from
Hercules by the mother’s side: and because these Generations, being taken notice
of by writers, were most probably by the principal of the family, and so for the
most part by the eldest sons; we may reckon about 28 or at the most about 30
years to a Generation. And thus the seventeen intervals by the father’s side,
and eighteen by the mother’s, will at a middle reckoning amount unto about 507
years: which counted backwards from the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, at
which time Hippocrates began to flourish, will reach up to the 43d year after
the death of Solomon, and there place the Argonautic expedition. When the Romans
conquered the Carthaginians, the Archives of Carthage came into their hands: And
thence Appian, in his history of the Punic wars, tells in round numbers that
Carthage stood seven hundred years: and [39] Solinus adds the odd number of
years in these words: Adrymeto atque Carthagini author est a Tyro populus. Urbem
istam, ut Cato in Oratione Senatoria autumat; cum rex Hiarbas rerum in Libya
potiretur, Elissa mulier extruxit, domo Phoenix & Carthadam dixit, quod
Phoenicum ore exprimit civitatem novam; mox sermone verso Carthago dicta est,
quæ post annos septingentos triginta septem exciditur quam fuerat extructa.
Elissa was Dido, and Carthage was destroyed in the Consulship of Lentulus and
Mummius, in the year of the Julian Period 4568; from whence count backwards 737
years, and the Encænia or Dedication of the City, will fall upon the 16th year
of Pygmalion, the brother of Dido, and King of Tyre. She fled in the seventh
year of Pygmalion, but the Æra of the City began with its Encænia. Now Virgil,
and his Scholiast Servius, who might have some things from the archives of Tyre
and Cyprus, as well as from those of Carthage, relate that Teucer came from the
war of Troy to Cyprus, in the days of Dido, a little before the Reign of her
brother Pygmalion; and, in conjunction with her father, seized Cyprus, and
ejected Cinyras: and the Marbles say that Teucer came to Cyprus seven years
after the destruction of Troy, and built Salamis; and Apollodorus, that Cinyras
married Metharme the daughter of Pygmalion, and built Paphos. Therefore, if the
Romans, in the days of Augustus, followed not altogether the artificial
Chronology of Eratosthenes, but had these things from the records of Carthage,
Cyprus, or Tyre; the arrival of Teucer at Cyprus will be in the Reign of the
predecessor of Pygmalion: and by consequence the destruction of Troy, about 76
years later than the death of Solomon.

Dionysius Halicarnassensis [40] tells us, that in the time of the Trojan war,
Latinus was King of the Aborigines in Italy, and that in the sixteenth Age after
that war, Romulus built Rome. By Ages he means Reigns of Kings: for after
Latinus he names sixteen Kings of the Latines, the last of which was Numitor, in
whose days Romulus built Rome: for Romulus was contemporary to Numitor, and
after him Dionysius and others reckon six Kings more over Rome, to the beginning
of the Consuls. Now these twenty and two Reigns, at about 18 years to a Reign
one with another, for many of these Kings were slain, took up 396 years; which
counted back from the consulship of Junius Brutus and Valerius Publicola, the
two first Consuls, place the Trojan war about 78 years after the death of
Solomon. The expedition of Sesostris was one Generation earlier than the
Argonautic expedition: for in his return back into Egypt he left Æetes in
Colchis, and Æetes reigned there ’till the Argonautic expedition; and Prometheus
was left by Sesostris with a body of men at Mount Caucasus, to guard that pass,
and after thirty years was released by Hercules the Argonaut: and Phlyas and
Eumedon, the sons of the great Bacchus, so the Poets call Sesostris, and of
Ariadne the daughter of Minos, were Argonauts. At the return of Sesostris into
Egypt, his brother Danaus fled from him into Greece with his fifty daughters, in
a long ship; after the pattern of which the ship Argo was built: and Argus, the
son of Danaus, was the master-builder thereof. Nauplius the Argonaut was born in
Greece, of Amymone, one of the daughters of Danaus, and of Neptune, the brother
and admiral of Sesostris: And two others of the daughters of Danaus married
Archander and Archilites, the sons of Achæus, the son of Creusa, the daughter of
Erechtheus King of Athens: and therefore the daughters of Danaus were three
Generations younger than Erechtheus; and by consequence contemporary to Theseus
the son of Ægeus, the adopted son of Pandion, the son of Erechtheus. Theseus, in
the time of the Argonautic expedition, was of about 50 years of age, and so was
born about the 33d year of Solomon: for he stole Helena [41] just before that
expedition, being then 50 years old, and she but seven, or as some say ten.
Pirithous the son of Ixion helped Theseus to steal Helena, and then [42] Theseus
went with Pirithous to steal Persephone, the daughter of Aidoneus, or Orcus,
King of the Molossians, and was taken in the action: and whilst he lay in
prison, Castor and Pollux returning from the Argonautic expedition, released
their sister Helena, and captivated Æthra the mother of Theseus. Now the
daughters of Danaus being contemporary to Theseus, and some of their sons being
Argonauts, Danaus with his daughters fled from his brother Sesostris into Greece
about one Generation before the Argonautic expedition; and therefore Sesostris
returned into Egypt in the Reign of Rehoboam. He came out of Egypt in the fifth
year of Rehoboam, [43] and spent nine years in that expedition, against the
Eastern Nations and Greece; and therefore returned back into Egypt, in the
fourteenth year of Rehoboam. Sesac and Sesostris were therefore Kings of all
Egypt, at one and the same time: and they agree not only in the time, but also
in their actions and conquests. God gave Sesac [Hebrew: mmlkvt h’rtsvt] the
Kingdoms of the lands, 2 Chron. xii. Where Herodotus describes the expedition of
Sesostris, Josephus [44] tells us that he described the expedition of Sesac, and
attributed his actions to Sesostris, erring only in the name of the King.
Corruptions of names are frequent in history; Sesostris was otherwise called
Sesochris, Sesochis, Sesoosis, Sethosis, Sesonchis, Sesonchosis. Take away the
Greek termination, and the names become Sesost, Sesoch, Sesoos, Sethos, Sesonch:
which names differ very little from Sesach. Sesonchis and Sesach differ no more
than Memphis and Moph, two names of the same city. Josephus [45] tells us also,
from Manetho, that Sethosis was the brother of Armais, and that these brothers
were otherwise called Ægyptus and Danaus; and that upon the return of Sethosis
or Ægyptus, from his great conquests into Egypt, Armais or Danaus fled from him
into Greece.

Egypt was at first divided into many small Kingdoms, like other nations; and
grew into one monarchy by degrees: and the father of Solomon’s Queen, was the
first King of Egypt, who came into Phoenicia with an Army: but he only took
Gezir, and gave it to his daughter. Sesac, the next King, came out of Egypt with
an army of Libyans, Troglodites and Ethiopians, 2 Chronicles 12:3 and therefore
was then King of all those countries; and we do not read in Scripture, that any
former King of Egypt; who Reigned over all those nations, came out of Egypt with
a great army to conquer other countries. The sacred history of the Israelites,
from the days of Abraham to the days of Solomon, admits of no such conqueror.
Sesostris reigned over all the same nations of the Libyans, Troglodites and
Ethiopians, and came out of Egypt with a great army to conquer other Kingdoms.
The Shepherds reigned long in the lower part of Egypt, and were expelled thence,
just before the building of Jerusalem and the Temple; according to Manetho; and
whilst they Reigned in the lower part of Egypt, the upper part thereof was under
other Kings: and while Egypt was divided into several Kingdoms, there was no
room for any such King of all Egypt as Sesostris; and no historian makes him
later than Sesac: and therefore he was one and the same King of Egypt with
Sesac. This is no new opinion: Josephus discovered it when he affirmed that
Herodotus erred, in ascribing the actions of Sesac to Sesostris, and that the
error was only in the name of the King: for this is as much as to say, that the
true name of him who did those things described by Herodotus, was Sesac; and
that Herodotus erred only in calling him Sesostris; or that he was called
Sesostris by a corruption of his name. Our great Chronologer, Sir John Marsham,
was also of opinion that Sesostris was Sesac: and if this be granted, it is then
most certain, that Sesostris came out of Egypt in the fifth year of Rehoboam to
invade the nations, and returned back into Egypt in the 14th year of that King;
and that Danaus then flying from his brother, came into Greece within a year or
two after: and the Argonautic expedition being one Generation later than that
invasion, and than the coming of Danaus into Greece, was certainly about 40 or
45 years later than the death of Solomon. Prometheus stay’d on Mount Caucasus
[46] thirty years, and then was released by Hercules: and therefore the
Argonautic expedition was thirty years after Prometheus had been left on Mount
Caucasus by Sesostris, that is, about 44 years after the death of Solomon.

All nations, before the just length of the Solar year was known, reckoned months
by the course of the moon; and years by the [47] returns of winter and summer,
spring and autumn: and in making Calendars for their Festivals, reckoned thirty
days to a Lunar month, and twelve Lunar months to a year; taking the nearest
round numbers: whence came the division of the Ecliptic into 360 degrees. So in
the time of Noah’s flood, when the Moon could not be seen, Noah reckoned thirty
days to a month: but if the Moon appeared a day or two before the end of the
month, [48] they began the next month with the first day of her appearing: and
this was done generally, ’till the Egyptians of Thebais found the length of the
Solar year. So [49] Diodorus tells us that the Egyptians of Thebais use no
intercalary months, nor subduct any days [from the month] as is done by most of
the Greeks. And [50] Cicero, est consuetudo Siculorum cæterorumque Græcorum,
quod suos dies mensesque congruere volunt cum Solis Lunæque ratione, ut
nonnumquam siquid discrepet, eximant unum aliquem diem aut summum biduum ex
mense [civili dierum triginta] quos illi [Greek: exairesimous] dies nominant.
And Proclus, upon Hesiod’s [Greek: triakas] mentions the same thing. And [51]
Geminus: [Greek: Prothesis gar ên tois archaiois, tous men mênas agein kata
selênên, tous de eniautous kath’ hêlion. To gar hypo tôn nomôn, kai tôn chrêsmôn
parangellomenon, to thyein kata g’, êgoun ta patria, mênas, hêmeras, eniautous:
touto dielabon apantes hoi Hellênes tôi tous men heniautous symphônôs agein tôi
hêliôi; tas de hêmeras kai tous mênas têi selênê. esti de to men kath’ hêlion
agein tous eniautous, to peri tas autas hôras tou eniautou tas autas thysias
tois theois epiteleithai, kai tên men earinên thysian dia pantos kata to ear
synteleithai; tên de therinên, kata to theros; homoiôs de kai kata tous loipous
kairous tou etous tas autas thysias piptein. Touto gar hypelabon prosênes, kai
kecharismenon einai tois theois. Touto d’ allôs ouk an dynaito genesthai, ei mê
hai tropai, kai hai isêmeriai peri tous autous topous gignointo. To de kata
selênên agein tas hêmeras, toiouton esti; to akolouthôs tois tês selênês
phôtismois tas prosêgorias tôn hêmerôn ginesthai. apo gar tôn tês selênês
phôtismôn hai prosêgoriai tôn hêmerôn katônomasthêsan. En hêi men gar hêmerai
nea hê selênê phainetai, kata synaloiphên neomênia prosêgoreuthê; en hêi de
hêmerai tên deuteran phasin poieitai, deuteran prosêgoreusan; tên de kata meson
tou mênos ginomenên phasin tês selênês, apo autou tou symbainontos dichomênian
ekalesan. kai katholou de pasas tas hêmeras apo tôn tês selênês phôtismatôn
prosônomasan. hothen kai tên triakostên tou mênos hêmeran eschatên ousan apo
autou tou symbainontos triakada ekalesan.] Propositum enim fuit veteribus,
menses quidem agere secundum Lunam, annos vero secundum Solem. Quod enim a
legibus & Oraculis præcipiebatur, ut sacrificarent secundum tria, videlicet
patria, menses, dies, annos; hoc ita distincte faciebant universi Græci, ut
annos agerent congruenter cum Sole, dies vero & menses cum Luna. Porro secundum
Solem annos agere, est circa easdem tempestates anni eadem sacrificia Diis
perfici, & vernum sacrificium semper in vere consummari, æstivum autem in
æstate: similiter & in reliquis anni temporibus eadem sacrificia cadere. Hoc
enim putabant acceptum & gratum esse Diis. Hoc autem aliter fieri non posset
nisi conversiones solstitiales & æquinoctia in iisdem Zodiaci locis fierent.
Secundum Lunam vero dies agere est tale ut congruant cum Lunæ illuminationibus
appellationes dierum. Nam a Lunæ illuminationibus appellationes dierum sunt
denominatæ. In qua enim die Luna apparet nova, ea per Synaloephen, seu
compositionem [Greek: neomênia] id est, Novilunium appellatur. In qua vero die
secundam facit apparitionem, eam secundam Lunam vocarunt. Apparitionem Lunæ quæ
circa medium mensis fit, ab ipso eventu [Greek: dichomênian], id est medietatem
mensis nominarunt. Ac summatim, omnes dies a Lunæ illuminationibus denominarunt.
Unde etiam tricesimam mensis diem, cum ultima sit, ab ipso eventu [Greek:
triakada] vocarunt. The ancient Calendar year of the Greeks consisted therefore
of twelve Lunar months, and every month of thirty days: and these years and
months they corrected from time to time, by the courses of the Sun and Moon,
omitting a day or two in the month, as often as they found the month too long
for the course of the Moon; and adding a month to the year, as often as they
found the twelve Lunar months too short for the return of the four seasons.
Cleobulus, [52] one of the seven wise men of Greece, alluded to this year of the
Greeks, in his Parable of one father who had twelve sons, each of which had
thirty daughters half white and half black: and Thales [53] called the last day
of the month [Greek: triakada], the thirtieth: and Solon counted the ten last
days of the month backward from the thirtieth, calling that day [Greek: enên kai
nean], the old and the new, or the last day of the old month and the first day
of the new: for he introduced months of 29 and 30 days alternately, making the
thirtieth day of every other month to be the first day of the next month. To the
twelve Lunar months [54] the ancient Greeks added a thirteenth, every other
year, which made their Dieteris; and because this reckoning made their year too
long by a month in eight years, they omitted an intercalary month once in eight
years, which made their Octaeteris, one half of which was their Tetraeteris: And
these Periods seem to have been almost as old as the religions of Greece, being
used in divers of their Sacra. The [55] Octaeteris was the Annus magnus of
Cadmus and Minos, and seems to have been brought into Greece and Crete by the
Phoenicians, who came thither with Cadmus and Europa, and to have continued
’till after the days of Herodotus: for in counting the length of seventy years
[56], he reckons thirty days to a Lunar month, and twelve such months, or 360
days, to the ordinary year, without the intercalary months, and 25 such months
to the Dieteris: and according to the number of days in the Calendar year of the
Greeks, Demetrius Phalereus had 360 Statues erected to him by the Athenians. But
the Greeks, Cleostratus, Harpalus, and others, to make their months agree better
with the course of the Moon, in the times of the Persian Empire, varied the
manner of intercaling the three months in the Octaeteris; and Meton found out
the Cycle of intercaling seven months in nineteen years. The Ancient year of the
Latines was also Luni-solar; for Plutarch [57] tells us, that the year of Numa
consisted of twelve Lunar months, with intercalary months to make up what the
twelve Lunar onths wanted of the Solar year. The Ancient year of the Egyptians
was also Luni-solar, and continued to be so ’till the days of Hyperion, or
Osiris, a King of Egypt, the father of Helius and Selene, or Orus and Bubaste:
For the Israelites brought this year out of Egypt; and Diodorus tells [58] us
that Ouranus the father of Hyperion used this year, and [59] that in the Temple
of Osiris the Priests appointed thereunto filled 360 Milk Bowls every day: I
think he means one Bowl every day, in all 360, to count the number of days in
the Calendar year, and thereby to find out the difference between this and the
true Solar year: for the year of 360 days was the year, to the end of which they
added five days. That the Israelites used the Luni-solar year is beyond
question. Their months began with their new Moons. Their first month was called
Abib, from the earing of Corn in that month. Their Passover was kept upon the
fourteenth day of the first month, the Moon being then in the full: and if the
Corn was not then ripe enough for offering the first Fruits, the Festival was
put off, by adding an intercalary month to the end of the year; and the harvest
was got in before the Pentecost, and the other Fruits gathered before the Feast
of the seventh month.

Simplicius in his commentary [60] on the first of Aristotle’s Physical Acroasis,
tells us, that some begin the year upon the Summer Solstice, as the People of
Attica; or upon the Autumnal Equinox, as the People of Asia; or in Winter, as
the Romans; or about the Vernal Equinox, as the Arabians and People of Damascus:
and the month began, according to some, upon the Full Moon, or upon the New. The
years of all these Nations were therefore Luni-solar, and kept to the four
Seasons: and the Roman year began at first in Spring, as I seem to gather from
the Names of their Months, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November,
December: and the beginning was afterwards removed to Winter. The ancient civil
year of the Assyrians and Babylonians was also Luni-solar: for this year was
also used by the Samaritans, who came from several parts of the Assyrian Empire;
and the Jews who came from Babylon called the months of their Luni-solar year
after the Names of the months of the Babylonian year: and Berosus [61] tells us
that the Babylonians celebrated the Feast Sacæa upon the 16th day of the month
Lous, which was a Lunar month of the Macedonians, and kept to one and the same
Season of the year: and the Arabians, a Nation who peopled Babylon, use Lunar
months to this day. Suidas [62] tells us, that the Sarus of the Chaldeans
contains 222 Lunar months, which are eighteen years, consisting each of twelve
Lunar months, besides six intercalary months: and when [63] Cyrus cut the River
Gindus into 360 Channels, he seems to have alluded unto the number of days in
the Calendar year of the Medes and Persians: and the Emperor Julian [64] writes,
For when all other People, that I may say it in one word, accommodate their
months to the course of the Moon, we alone with the Egyptians measure the days
of the year by the course of the Sun. At length the Egyptians, for the sake of
Navigation, applied themselves to observe the Stars; and by their Heliacal
Risings and Settings found the true Solar year to be five days longer than the
Calendar year, and therefore added five days to the twelve Calendar months;
making the Solar year to consist of twelve months and five days. Strabo [65] and
[66] Diodorus ascribe this invention to the Egyptians of Thebes. The Theban
Priests, saith Strabo, are above others said to be Astronomers and Philosophers.
They invented the reckoning of days not by the course of the Moon, but by the
course of the Sun. To twelve months each of thirty days they add yearly five
days. In memory of this Emendation of the year they dedicated the [67] five
additional days to Osiris, Isis, Orus senior, Typhon, and Nephthe the wife of
Typhon, feigning that those days were added to the year when these five Princes
were born, that is, in the Reign of Ouranus, or Ammon, the father of Sesac: and
in [68] the Sepulchre of Amenophis, who Reigned soon after, they placed a Golden
Circle of 365 cubits in compass, and divided it into 365 equal parts, to
represent all the days in the year, and noted upon each part the Heliacal
Risings and Settings of the Stars on that day; which Circle remained there ’till
the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses King of Persia. ’Till the Reign of Ouranus,
the father of Hyperion, and grandfather of Helius and Selene, the Egyptians used
the old Lunisolar year: but in his Reign, that is, in the Reign of Ammon, the
father of Osiris or Sesac, and grandfather of Orus and Bubaste, the Thebans
began to apply themselves to Navigation and Astronomy, and by the Heliacal
Risings and Settings of the Stars determined the length of the Solar year; and
to the old Calendar year added five days, and dedicated them to his five
children above mentioned, as their birth days: and in the Reign of Amenophis,
when by further Observations they had sufficiently determined the time of the
Solstices, they might place the beginning of this new year upon the Vernal
Equinox. This year being at length propagated into Chaldæa, gave occasion to the
year of Nabonassar; for the years of Nabonassar and those of Egypt began on one
and the same day, called by them Thoth, and were equal and in all respects the
same: and the first year of Nabonassar began on the 26th day of February of the
old Roman year, seven hundred forty and seven years before the Vulgar Æra of
Christ, and thirty and three days and five hours before the Vernal Equinox,
according to the Sun’s mean motion; for it is not likely that the Equation of
the Sun’s motion should be known in the infancy of Astronomy. Now reckoning that
the year of 365 days wants five hours and 49 minutes of the Equinoctial year;
the beginning of this year will move backwards thirty and three days and five
hours in 137 years: and by consequence this year began at first in Egypt upon
the Vernal Equinox, according to the Sun’s mean motion, 137 years before the Æra
of Nabonassar began; that is, in the year of the Julian Period 3830, or 96 years
after the death of Solomon: and if it began upon the next day after the Vernal
Equinox, it might begin four years earlier; and about that time ended the Reign
of Amenophis: for he came not from Susa to the Trojan war, but died afterwards
in Egypt. This year was received by the Persian Empire from the Babylonian; and
the Greeks also used it in the Æra Philippæa, dated from the Death of Alexander
the great; and Julius Cæsar corrected it, by adding a day in every four years,
and made it the year of the Romans.

Syncellus tells us, that the five days were added to the old year by the last
King of the Shepherds: and the difference in time between the Reign of this
King, and that of Ammon, is but small; for the Reign of the Shepherds ended but
one Generation, or two, before Ammon began to add those days. But the Shepherds
minded not Arts and Sciences. The first month of the Luni-solar year, by reason
of the Intercalary month, began sometimes a week or a fortnight before the
Equinox or Solstice, and sometimes as much after it. And this year gave occasion
to the first Astronomers, who formed the Asterisms, to place the Equinoxes and
Solstices in the middles of the Constellations of Aries, Cancer, Chelæ, and
Capricorn. Achilles Tatius [69] tells us, that some antiently placed the
Solstice in the beginning of Cancer, others in the eighth degree of Cancer,
others about the twelfth degree, and others about the fifteenth degree thereof.
This variety of opinions proceeded from the precession of the Equinox, then not
known to the Greeks. When the Sphere was first formed, the Solstice was in the
fifteenth degree or middle of the Constellation of Cancer: then it came into the
twelfth, eighth, fourth, and first degree successively. Eudoxus, who flourished
about sixty years after Meton, and an hundred years before Aratus, in describing
the Sphere of the Ancients, placed the Solstices and Equinoxes in the middles of
the Constellations of Aries, Cancer, Chelæ, and Capricorn, as is affirmed by
[70] Hipparchus Bithynus; and appears also by the Description of the Equinoctial
and Tropical Circles in Aratus, [71] who copied after Eudoxus; and by the
positions of the Colures of the Equinoxes and Solstices, which in the Sphere of
Eudoxus, described by Hipparchus, went through the middles of those
Constellations. For Hipparchus tells us, that Eudoxus drew the Colure of the
Solstices, through the middle of the great Bear, and the middle of Cancer, and
the neck of Hydrus, and the Star between the Poop and Mast of Argo, and the Tayl
of the South Fish, and through the middle of Capricorn, and of Sagitta, and
through the neck and right wing of the Swan, and the left hand of Cepheus; and
that he drew the Equinoctial Colure, through the left hand of Arctophylax, and
along the middle of his Body, and cross the middle of Chelæ, and through the
right hand and fore-knee of the Centaur, and through the flexure of Eridanus and
head of Cetus, and the back of Aries a-cross, and through the head and right
hand of Perseus.

Now Chiron delineated [Greek: schêmata olympou] the Asterisms, as the ancient
Author of Gigantomachia, cited by [72] Clemens Alexandrinus informs us: for
Chiron was a practical Astronomer, as may be there understood also of his
daughter Hippo: and Musæus, the son of Eumolpus and master of Orpheus, and one
of the Argonauts, [73] made a Sphere, and is reputed the first among the Greeks
who made one: and the Sphere it self shews that it was delineated in the time of
the Argonautic expedition; for that expedition is delineated in the Asterisms,
together with several other ancienter Histories of the Greeks, and without any
thing later. There’s the golden RAM, the ensign of the Vessel in which Phryxus
fled to Colchis; the BULL with brazen hoofs tamed by Jason; and the TWINS,
CASTOR and POLLUX, two of the Argonauts, with the SWAN of Leda their mother.
There’s the Ship ARGO, and HYDRUS the watchful Dragon; with Medea’s CUP, and a
RAVEN upon its Carcass, the Symbol of Death. There’s CHIRON the master of Jason,
with his ALTAR and SACRIFICE. There’s the Argonaut HERCULES with his DART and
VULTURE falling down; and the DRAGON, CRAB and LION, whom he slew; and the HARP
of the Argonaut Orpheus. All these relate to the Argonauts. There’s ORION the
son of Neptune, or as some say, the grandson of Minos, with his DOGS, and HARE,
and RIVER, and SCORPION. There’s the story of Perseus in the Constellations of
PERSEUS, ANDROMEDA, CEPHEUS, CASSIOPEA and CETUS: That of Callisto, and her son
Arcas, in URSA MAJOR and ARCTOPHYLAX: That of Icareus and his daughter Erigone
in BOOTES, PLAUSTRUM and VIRGO. URSA MINOR relates to one of the Nurses of
Jupiter, AURIGA to Erechthonius, OPHIUCHUS to Phorbas, SAGITTARIUS to Crolus the
son of the Nurse of the Muses, CAPRICORN to Pan, and AQUARIUS to Ganimede.
There’s Ariadne’s CROWN, Bellerophon’s HORSE, Neptune’s DOLPHIN, Ganimede’s
EAGLE, Jupiter’s GOAT with her KIDS, Bacchus’s ASSES, and the FISHES of Venus
and Cupid, and their Parent the SOUTH FISH. These with DELTOTON, are the old
Constellations mentioned by Aratus: and they all relate to the Argonauts and
their Contemporaries, and to Persons one or two Generations older: and nothing
later than that Expedition was delineated there Originally. ANTINOUS and COMA
BERENICES are novel. The Sphere seems therefore to have been formed by Chiron
and Musæus, for the use of the Argonauts: for the Ship Argo was the first long
ship built by the Greeks. Hitherto they had used round vessels of burden, and
kept within sight of the shore; and now, upon an Embassy to several Princes upon
the coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas, [74] by the dictates of the
Oracle, and consent of the Princes of Greece, the Flower of Greece were to sail
with Expedition through the deep, in a long Ship with Sails, and guide their
Ship by the Stars. The People of the Island Corcyra [75] attributed the
invention of the Sphere to Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, King of the
Pheaces in that Island: and it’s most probable that she had it from the
Argonauts, who [76] in their return home sailed to that Island, and made some
stay there with her father. So then in the time of the Argonautic Expedition,
the Cardinal points of the Equinoxes and Solstices were in the middles of the
Constellations of Aries, Cancer, Chelæ, and Capricorn. In the end of the year of
our Lord 1689 the Star called Prima Arietis was in [Aries]. 28°. 51’. 00", with
North Latitude 7°. 8’. 58". And the Star called ultima caudæ Arietis was in
[Taurus]. 19°. 3’. 42", with North Latitude 2°. 34’. 5". And the Colurus
Æquinoctiorum passing through the point in the middle between those two Stars
did then cut the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 44’: and by this reckoning the
Equinox in the end of the year 1689 was gone back 36°. 44’. since the Argonautic
Expedition: Supposing that the said Colure passed through the middle of the
Constellation of Aries, according to the delineation of the Ancients. The
Equinox goes back fifty seconds in one year, and one degree in seventy and two
years, and by consequence 36°. 44’. in 2645 years, which counted back from the
end of the year of our Lord 1689, or beginning of the year 1690, will place the
Argonautic Expedition about 25 years after the Death of Solomon: but it is not
necessary that the middle of the Constellation of Aries should be exactly in the
middle between the two Stars called prima Arietis and ultima Caudæ: and it may
be better to fix the Cardinal points by the Stars, through which the Colures
passed in the primitive Sphere, according to the description of Eudoxus above
recited. By the Colure of the Equinoxes, I mean a great Circle passing through
the Poles of the Equator, and cutting the Ecliptic in the Equinoxes in an Angle
of 66½ degrees, the complement of the Sun’s greatest Declination; and by the
Colure of the Solstices I mean a great Circle passing through the same Poles,
and cutting the Ecliptic at right Angles in the Solstices: and by the Primitive
Sphere, that which was in use before the motions of the Equinoxes and Solstices
were known: now the Colures passed through the following Stars according to
Eudoxus. In the back of Aries is a Star of the sixth magnitude, marked [nu] by
Bayer: in the end of the year 1689, and beginning of the year 1690, its
Longitude was [Taurus]. 9°. 38’. 45", and North Latitude 6°. 7’. 56": and the
Colurus Æquinoctiorum drawn though it, according to Eudoxus, cuts the Ecliptic
in [Taurus]. 6°. 58’. 57". In the head of Cetus are two Stars of the fourth
Magnitude, called [nu] and [xi] by Bayer: in the end of the year 1689 their
Longitudes were [Taurus]. 4°. 3’. 9". and [Taurus]. 3°. 7’. 37", and their South
Latitudes 9°. 12’. 26". and 5°. 53’. 7"; and the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing
in the mid way between them, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 58’. 51". In the
extreme flexure of Eridanus, rightly delineated, is a Star of the fourth
Magnitude, of late referred to the breast of Cetus, and called [rho] by Bayer;
it is the only Star in Eridanus through which this Colure can pass; its
Longitude, in the end of the year 1689, was [Aries]. 25°. 22’. 10". and South
Latitude 25°. 15’. 50". and the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing through it, cuts
the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 7°. 12’. 40". In the head of Perseus, rightly
delineated, is a Star of the fourth Magnitude, called [tau] by Bayer; the
Longitude of this Star, in the end of the year 1689, was [Taurus]. 23°. 25’.
30", and North Latitude 34°. 20’. 12": and the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing
through it, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 18’. 57". In the right hand of
Perseus, rightly delineated, is a Star of the fourth Magnitude, called [eta] by
Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the year 1689, was [Taurus]. 24°. 25’. 27",
and North Latitude 37°. 26’. 50": and the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing through
it cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 4°. 56’. 40": and the fifth part of the summ
of the places in which these five Colures cut the Ecliptic, is [Taurus]. 6°.
29’. 15": and therefore the Great Circle which in the Primitive Sphere according
to Eudoxus, and by consequence in the time of the Argonautic Expedition, was the
Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing through the Stars above described; did in the end
of the year 1689, cut the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 29’. 15": as nearly as we
have been able to determin by the Observations of the Ancients, which were but
coarse. In the middle of Cancer is the South Asellus, a Star of the fourth
Magnitude, called by Bayer [delta]; its Longitude in the end of the year 1689,
was [Leo]. 4°. 23’. 40". In the neck of Hydrus, rightly delineated, is a Star of
the fourth Magnitude, called [delta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the
year 1689, was [Leo]. 5°. 59’. 3". Between the poop and mast of the Ship Argo is
a Star of the third Magnitude, called [iota] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end
of that year, was [Leo]. 7°. 5’. 31". In Sagitta is a Star of the sixth
Magnitude, called [theta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the same year
1689, was [Aquarius]. 6°. 29’. 53". In the middle of Capricorn is a Star of the
fifth Magnitude, called [eta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the same
year was [Aquarius]. 8°. 25’. 55": and the fifth part of the summ of the three
first Longitudes, and of the complements of the two last to 180 Degrees; is
[Leo]. 6°. 28’. 46". This is the new Longitude of the old Colurus Solstitiorum
passing through these Stars. The same Colurus passes also in the middle between
the Stars [eta] and [kappa], of the fourth and fifth Magnitudes, in the neck of
the Swan; being distant from each about a Degree: it passeth also by the Star
[kappa], of the fourth Magnitude, in the right wing of the Swan; and by the Star
[omicron], of the fifth Magnitude, in the left hand of Cepheus, rightly
delineated; and by the Stars in the tail of the South-Fish; and is at right
angles with the Colurus Æquinoctiorum found above: and so it hath all the
characters, of the Colurus Solstitiorum rightly drawn. The two Colures
therefore, which in the time of the Argonautic Expedition cut the Ecliptic in
the Cardinal Points, did in the end of the year 1689 cut it in [Taurus]. 6°.
29’; [Leo]. 6°. 29’; [Scorpio]. 6°. 29’; and [Aquarius]. 6°. 29’; that is, at
the distance of 1 Sign, 6 Degrees and 29 Minutes from the Cardinal Points of
Chiron; as nearly as we have been able to determin from the coarse observations
of the Ancients: and therefore the Cardinal Points, in the time between that
Expedition and the end of the year 1689, have gone back from those Colures one
Sign, 6 Degrees and 29 Minutes; which, after the rate of 72 years to a Degree,
answers to 2627 years. Count those years backwards from the end of the year
1689, or beginning of the year 1690, and the reckoning will place the Argonautic
Expedition, about 43 years after the death of Solomon. By the same method the
place of any Star in the Primitive Sphere may readily be found, counting
backwards one Sign, 6°. 29’. from the Longitude which it had in the end of the
year of our Lord 1689. So the Longitude of the first Star of Aries in the end of
the year 1689 was [Aries]. 28°. 51’. as above: count backward 1 Sign, 6°. 29’.
and its Longitude, counted from the Equinox in the middle of the Constellation
of Aries, in the time of the Argonautic expedition, will be [Pisces]. 22°. 22’:
and by the same way of arguing, the Longitude of the Lucida Pleiadum in the time
of the Argonautic Expedition will be [Aries]. 19°. 26’. 8": and the Longitude of
Arcturus [Virgo]. 13°. 24’. 52": and so of any other Stars.

After the Argonautic Expedition we hear no more of Astronomy ’till the days of
Thales: He [77] revived Astronomy, and wrote a book of the Tropics and
Equinoxes, and predicted Eclipses; and Pliny [78] tells us, that he determined
the Occasus Matutinus of the Pleiades to be upon the 25th day after the Autumnal
Equinox: and thence [79] Petavius computes the Longitude of the Pleiades in
[Aries]. 23°. 53’: and by consequence the Lucida Pleiadum had, since the
Argonautic Expedition, moved from the Equinox 4°. 26’. 52": and this motion,
after the rate of 72 years to a Degree, answers to 320 years: count these years
back from the time in which Thales was a young man fit to apply himself to
Astronomical Studies, that is from about the 41st Olympiad, and the reckoning
will place the Argonautic Expedition about 44 years after the death of Solomon,
as above: and in the days of Thales, the Solstices and Equinoxes, by this
reckoning, will have been in the middle of the eleventh Degrees of the Signs.
But Thales, in publishing his book about the Tropics and Equinoxes, might lean a
little to the opinion of former Astronomers, so as to place them in the twelfth
Degrees of the Signs.

Meton and Euctemon, [80] in order to publish the Lunar Cycle of nineteen years,
observed the Summer Solstice in the year of Nabonassar 316, the year before the
Peloponnesian war began; and Columella [81] tells us that they placed it in the
eighth Degree of Cancer, which is at least seven Degrees backwarder than at
first. Now the Equinox, after the rate of a Degree in Seventy and two years,
goes backwards seven Degrees in 504 years: count backwards those years from the
316th year of Nabonassar, and the Argonautic Expedition will fall upon the 44th
year after the death of Solomon, or thereabout, as above. And thus you see the
truth of what we cited above out of Achilles Tatius; viz. that some anciently
placed the Solstice in the eighth Degree of Cancer, others about the twelfth
Degree, and others about the fifteenth Degree thereof.

Hipparchus the great Astronomer, comparing his own Observations with those of
former Astronomers, concluded first of any man, that the Equinoxes had a motion
backwards in respect of the fixt Stars: and his opinion was, that they went
backwards one Degree in about an hundred years. He made his observations of the
Equinoxes between the years of Nabonassar 586 and 618: the middle year is 602,
which is 286 years after the aforesaid observation of Meton and Euctemon; and in
these years the Equinox must have gone backwards four degrees, and so have been
in the fourth Degree of Aries in the days of Hipparchus, and by consequence have
then gone back eleven Degrees since the Argonautic Expedition; that is, in 1090
years, according to the Chronology of the ancient Greeks then in use: and this
is after the rate of about 99 years, or in the next round number an hundred
years to a Degree, as was then stated by Hipparchus. But it really went back a
Degree in seventy and two years, and eleven Degrees in 792 years: count these
792 years backward from the year of Nabonassar, 602, the year from which we
counted the 286 years, and the reckoning will place the Argonautic Expedition
about 43 years after the death of Solomon. The Greeks have therefore made the
Argonautic Expedition about three hundred years ancienter than the truth, and
thereby given occasion to the opinion of the great Hipparchus, that the Equinox
went backward after the rate of only a Degree in an hundred years.

Hesiod tells us that sixty days after the winter Solstice the Star Arcturus rose
just at Sunset: and thence it follows that Hesiod flourished about an hundred
years after the death of Solomon, or in the Generation or Age next after the
Trojan war, as Hesiod himself declares. From all these circumstances, grounded
upon the coarse observations of the ancient Astronomers, we may reckon it
certain that the Argonautic Expedition was not earlier than the Reign of
Solomon: and if these Astronomical arguments be added to the former arguments
taken from the mean length of the Reigns of Kings, according to the course of
nature; from them all we may safely conclude that the Argonautic Expedition was
after the death of Solomon, and most probably that it was about 43 years after
it. The Trojan War was one Generation later than that Expedition, as was said
above, several Captains of the Greeks in that war being sons of the Argonauts:
and the ancient Greeks reckoned Memnon or Amenophis, King of Egypt, to have
Reigned in the times of that war, feigning him to be the son of Tithonus the
elder brother of Priam, and in the end of that war to have come from Susa to the
assistance of Priam. Amenophis was therefore of the same age with the elder
children of Priam, and was with his army at Susa in the last year of that war:
and after he had there finished the Memnonia, he might return into Egypt, and
adorn it with Buildings, and Obelisks, and Statues, and die there about 90 or 95
years after the death of Solomon; when he had determined and settled the
beginning of the new Egyptian year of 365 days upon the Vernal Equinox, so as to
deserve the Monument above-mentioned in memory thereof.

Rehoboam was born in the last year of King David, being 41 years old at the
Death of Solomon, 1 Kings 14:21 and therefore his father Solomon was probably
born in the 18th year of King David’s Reign, or before: and two or three years
before his Birth, David besieged Rabbah the Metropolis of the Ammonites, and
committed adultery with Bathsheba: and the year before this siege began, David
vanquished the Ammonites, and their Confederates the Syrians of Zobah, and
Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, and Damascus, and extended his Dominion over all
these Nations as far as to the entring in of Hamath and the River Euphrates: and
before this war began he smote Moab, and Ammon, and Edom, and made the Edomites
fly, some of them into Egypt with their King Hadad, then a little child; and
others to the Philistims, where they fortified Azoth against Israel; and others,
I think, to the Persian Gulph, and other places whither they could escape: and
before this he had several Battles with the Philistims: and all this was after
the eighth year of his Reign, in which he came from Hebron to Jerusalem. We
cannot err therefore above two or three years, if we place this Victory over
Edom in the eleventh or twelfth year of his Reign; and that over Ammon and the
Syrians in the fourteenth. After the flight of Edom, the King of Edom grew up,
and married Tahaphenes or Daphnis, the sister of Pharaoh’s Queen, and before the
Death of David had by her a son called Genubah, and this son was brought up
among the children of Pharaoh: and among these children was the chief or first
born of her mother’s children, whom Solomon married in the beginning of his
Reign; and her little sister who at that time had no breasts, and her brother
who then sucked the breasts of his mother, Song of Solomon 6:9 and Song of
Solomon 8:1, Song of Solomon 8:8 and of about the same Age with these children
was Sesac or Sesostris; for he became King of Egypt in the Reign of Solomon, 1
Kings 11:40; and before he began to Reign he warred under his father, and whilst
he was very young, conquered Arabia, Troglodytica and Libya, and then invaded
Ethiopia; and succeeding his father Reigned ’till the fifth year of Asa: and
therefore he was of about the same age with the children of Pharaoh
above-mentioned; and might be one of them, and be born near the end of David’s
Reign, and be about 46 years old when he came out of Egypt with a great Army to
invade the East: and by reason of his great Conquests, he was celebrated in
several Nations by several Names. The Chaldæans called him Belus, which in their
Language signified the Lord: the Arabians called him Bacchus, which in their
Language signified the great: the Phrygians and Thracians called him Ma-fors,
Mavors, Mars, which signified the valiant: and thence the Amazons, whom he
carried from Thrace and left at Thermodon, called themselves the daughters of
Mars. The Egyptians before his Reign called him their Hero or Hercules; and
after his death, by reason of his great works done to the River Nile, dedicated
that River to him, and Deified him by its names Sihor, Nilus and Ægyptus; and
the Greeks hearing them lament 0 Sihor, Bou Sihor, called him Osiris and
Busiris. Arrian [82] tells us that the Arabians worshipped, only two Gods,
Coelus and Dionysus; and that they worshipped Dionysus for the glory of leading
his Army into India. The Dionysus of the Arabians was Bacchus, and all agree
that Bacchus was the same King of Egypt with Osiris: and the Coelus, or Uranus,
or Jupiter Uranius of the Arabians, I take to be the same King of Egypt with His
father Ammon, according to the Poet:

Quamvis Æthiopum populis, Arabumque beatis Gentibus, atque Indis unus sit
Jupiter Ammon.

I place the end of the Reign of Sesac upon the fifth year of Asa, because in
that year Asa became free from the Dominion of Egypt, so as to be able to
fortify Judæa, and raise that great Army with which he met Zerah, and routed
him. Osiris was therefore slain in the fifth year of Asa, by his brother
Japetus, whom the Egyptians called Typhon, Python, and Neptune: and then the
Libyans, under Japetus and his son Atlas, invaded Egypt, and raised that famous
war between the Gods and Giants, from whence the Nile had the name of Eridanus:
but Orus the son of Osiris, by the assistance of the Ethiopians, prevailed, and
Reigned ’till the 15th year of Asa: and then the Ethiopians under Zerah invaded
Egypt, drowned Orus in Eridanus, and were routed by Asa, so that Zerah could not
recover himself. Zerah was succeeded by Amenophis, a youth of the Royal Family
of the Ethiopians, and I think the son of Zerah: but the People of the lower
Egypt revolted from him, and set up Osarsiphus over them, and called to their
assistance a great body of men from Phoenicia, I think a part of the Army of
Asa; and thereupon Amenophis, with the remains of his father’s Army of
Ethiopians, retired from the lower Egypt to Memphis, and there turned the River
Nile into a new channel, under a new bridge which he built between two
Mountains; and at the same time he built and fortified that City against
Osarsiphus, calling it by his own name, Amenoph or Memphis: and then he retired
into Ethiopia, and stayed there thirteen years; and then came back with a great
Army, and subdued the lower Egypt, expelling the People which had been called in
from Phoenicia: and this I take to be the second expulsion of the Shepherds. Dr.
Castel [83] tells us, that in Coptic this City is called Manphtha; whence by
contraction came its Names Moph, Noph.

While Amenophis staid in Ethiopia, Egypt was in its greatest distraction: and
then it was, as I conceive, that the Greeks hearing thereof contrived the
Argonautic Expedition, and sent the flower of Greece in the Ship Argo to
persuade the Nations upon the Sea Coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas to
revolt from Egypt, and set up for themselves, as the Libyans, Ethiopians and
Jews had done before. And this is a further argument for placing that Expedition
about 43 years after the Death of Solomon; this Period being in the middle of
the distraction of Egypt. Amenophis might return from Ethiopia, and conquer the
lower Egypt about eight years after that Expedition, and having settled his
Government over it, he might, for putting a stop to the revolting of the eastern
Nations, lead his Army into Persia, and leave Proteus at Memphis to govern Egypt
in his absence, and stay some time at Susa, and build the Memnonia, fortifying
that City, as the Metropolis of his Dominion in those parts.

Androgeus the son of Minos, upon his overcoming in the Athenæa, or quadrennial
Games at Athens in his youth, was perfidiously slain out of envy: and Minos
thereupon made war upon the Athenians, and compelled them to send every eighth
year to Crete seven beardless Youths, and as many young Virgins, to be given as
a reward to him that should get the Victory in the like Games instituted in
Crete in honour of Androgeus. These Games seem to have been celebrated in the
beginning of the Octaeteris, and the Athenæa in the beginning of the
Tetraeteris, then brought into Crete and Greece by the Phoenicians and upon the
third payment of the tribute of children, that is, about seventeen years after
the said war was at an end, and about nineteen or twenty years after the death
of Androgeus, Theseus became Victor, and returned from Crete with Ariadne the
daughter of Minos; and coming to the Island Naxus or Dia, [84] Ariadne was there
relinquished by him, and taken up by Glaucus, an Egyptian Commander at Sea, and
became the mistress of the great Bacchus, who at that time returned from India
in Triumph; and [85] by him she had two sons, Phlyas and Eumedon, who were
Argonauts. This Bacchus was caught in bed in Phrygia with Venus the mother of
Æneas, according [86] to Homer; just before he came over the Hellespont, and
invaded Thrace; and he married Ariadne the daughter of Minos, according to
Hesiod [87]: and therefore by the Testimony of both Homer and Hesiod, who wrote
before the Greeks and Egyptians corrupted their Antiquities, this Bacchus was
one Generation older than the Argonauts; and so being King of Egypt at the same
time with Sesostris, they must be one and the same King: for they agree also in
their actions; Bacchus invaded India and Greece, and after he was routed by the
Army of Perseus, and the war was composed, the Greeks did him great honours, and
built a Temple to him at Argos, and called it the Temple of the Cresian Bacchus,
because Ariadne was buried in it, as Pausanias [88] relates. Ariadne therefore
died in the end of the war, just before the return of Sesostris into Egypt, that
is, in the 14th year of Rehoboam: She was taken from Naxus upon the return of
Bacchus from India, and then became the Mistress of Bacchus, and accompanied him
in his Triumphs; and therefore the expedition of Theseus to Crete, and the death
of his father Ægeus, was about nine or ten years after the death of Solomon.
Theseus was then a beardless young man, suppose about 19 or 20 years old, and
Androgeus was slain about twenty years before, being then about 20 or 22 years
old; and his father Minos might be about 25 years older, and so be born about
the middle of David’s Reign, and be about 70 years old when he pursued Dædalus
into Sicily: and Europa and her brother Cadmus might come into Europe, two or
three years before the birth of Minos.

Justin, in his 18th book, tells us: A rege Ascaloniorum expugnati Sidonii
navibus appulsi Tyron urbem ante annum * * Trojanæ cladis condiderunt And
Strabo, [89] that Aradus was built by the men who fled from Zidon. Hence [90]
Isaiah calls Tyre the daughter of Zidon, the inhabitants of the Isle whom the
Merchants of Zidon have replenished: and [91] Solomon in the beginning of his
Reign calls the People of Tyre Zidonians. My Servants, saith he, in a Message to
Hiram King of Tyre, shall be with thy Servants, and unto thee will I give hire
for thy Servants according to all that thou desirest: for thou knowest that
there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like the Zidonians. The
new Inhabitants of Tyre had not yet lost the name of Zidonians, nor had the old
Inhabitants, if there were any considerable number of them, gained the
reputation of the new ones for skill in hewing of timber, as they would have
done had navigation been long in use at Tyre. The Artificers who came from Zidon
were not dead, and the flight of the Zidonians was in the Reign of David, and by
consequence in the beginning of the Reign of Abibalus the father of Hiram, and
the first King of Tyre mentioned in History. David in the twelfth year of his
Reign conquered Edom, as above, and made some of the Edomites, and chiefly the
Merchants and Seamen, fly from the Red Sea to the Philistims upon the
Mediterranean, where they fortified Azoth. For [92] Stephanus tells us: [Greek:
Tautên ektisen heis tôn epanelthontôn ap’ Erythras thalassês Pheugadôn]: One of
the Fugitives from the Red Sea built Azoth: that is, a Prince of Edom, who fled
from David, fortified Azoth for the Philistims against him. The Philistims were
now grown very strong, by the access of the Edomites and Shepherds, and by their
assistance invaded and took Zidon, that being a town very convenient for the
Merchants who fled from the Red Sea: and then did the Zidonians fly by Sea to
Tyre and Aradus, and to other havens in Asia Minor, Greece, and Libya, with
which, by means of their trade, they had been acquainted before; the great wars
and victories of David their enemy, prompting them to fly by Sea: for [93] they
went with a great multitude, not to seek Europa as was pretended, but to seek
new Seats, and therefore fled from their enemies: and when some of them fled
under Cadmus and his brothers to Cilicia, Asia minor, and Greece; others fled
under other Commanders to seek new Seats in Libya, and there built many walled
towns, as Nonnus [94] affirms: and their leader was also there called Cadmus,
which word signifies an eastern man, and his wife was called Sithonis a
Zidonian. Many from those Cities went afterwards with the great Bacchus in his
Armies: and by these things, the taking of Zidon, and the flight of the
Zidonians under Abibalus, Cadmus, Cilix, Thasus, Membliarius, Atymnus, and other
Captains, to Tyre, Aradus, Cilicia, Rhodes, Caria, Bithynia, Phrygia, Calliste,
Thasus, Samothrace, Crete, Greece and Libya, and the building of Tyre and
Thebes, and beginning of the Reigns of bibalus and Cadmus over those Cities, are
fixed upon the fifteenth or sixteenth year of David’s Reign, or thereabout. By
means of these Colonies of Phoenicians, the people of Caria learnt sea-affairs,
in such small vessels with oars as were then in use, and began to frequent the
Greek Seas, and people some of the Islands therein, before the Reign of Minos:
for Cadmus, in coming to Greece, arrived first at Rhodes, an Island upon the
borders of Caria, and left there a Colony of Phoenicians, who sacrificed men to
Saturn, and the Telchines being repulsed by Phoroneus, retired from Argos to
Rhodes with Phorbas, who purged the Island from Serpents; and Triopas, the son
of Phorbas, carried a Colony from Rhodes to Caria, and there possessed himself
of a promontory, thence called Triopium: and by this and such like Colonies
Caria was furnished with Shipping and Seamen, and called [95] Phoenice. Strabo
and Herodotus [96] tell us, that the Cares were called Leleges, and became
subject to Minos, and lived first in the Islands of the Greek Seas, and went
thence into Caria, a country possest before by some of the Leleges and Pelasgi:
whence it’s probable that when Lelex and Pelasgus came first into Greece to seek
new Seats, they left part of their Colonies in Caria and the neighbouring
Islands. The Zidonians being still possessed of the trade of the Mediterranean,
as far westward as Greece and Libya, and the trade of the Red Sea being richer;
the Tyrians traded on the Red Sea in conjunction with Solomon and the Kings of
Judah, ’till after the Trojan war; and so also did the Merchants of Aradus,
Arvad, or Arpad: for in the Persian Gulph [97] were two Islands called Tyre and
Aradus, which had Temples like the Phoenician; and therefore the Tyrians and
Aradians sailed thither, and beyond, to the Coasts of India, while the Zidonians
frequented the Mediterranean: and hence it is that Homer celebrates Zidon, and
makes no mention of Tyre. But at length, [98] in the Reign of Jehoram King of
Judah, Edom revolted from the Dominion of Judah, and made themselves a King; and
the trade of Judah and Tyre upon the Red Sea being thereby interrupted, the
Tyrians built ships for merchandise upon the Mediterranean, and began there to
make long Voyages to places not yet frequented by the Zidonians; some of them
going to the coasts of Afric beyond the Syrtes, and building Adrymetum,
Carthage, Leptis, Utica, and Capsa; and others going to the Coasts of Spain, and
building Carteia, Gades and Tartessus; and others going further to the Fortunate
Islands, and to Britain and Thule. Jehoram Reigned eight years, and the two last
years was sick in his bowels, and before that sickness Edom revolted, because of
Jehoram’s wicked Reign: if we place that revolt about the middle of the first
six years, it will fall upon the fifth year of Pygmalion King of Tyre, and so
was about twelve or fifteen years after the taking of Troy: and then, by reason
of this revolt, the Tyrians retired from the Red Sea, and began long Voyages
upon the Mediterranean; for in the seventh year of Pygmalion, his Sister Dido
sailed to the Coast of Afric beyond the Syrtes, and there built Carthage. This
retiring of the Tyrians from the Red Sea to make long Voyages on the
Mediterranean, together with the flight of the Edomites from David to the
Philistims, gave occasion to the tradition both of the ancient Persians, and of
the Phoenicians themselves, that the Phoenicians came originally from the Red
Sea to the coasts of the Mediterranean, and presently undertook long Voyages, as
Herodotus [99] relates: for Herodotus, in the beginning of his first book,
relates that the Phoenicians coming from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and
beginning to make long Voyages with Egyptian and Assyrian wares, among other
places came to Argos, and having sold their wares, seized and carried away into
Egypt some of the Grecian women who came to buy them; and amongst those women
was Io the daughter of Inachus. The Phoenicians therefore came from the Red Sea,
in the days of Io and her brother Phoroneus King of Argos, and by consequence at
that time when David conquered the Edomites, and made them fly every way from
the Red Sea; some into Egypt with their young King, and others to the Philistims
their next neighbours and the enemies of David. And this flight gave occasion to
the Philistims to call many places Erythra, in memory of their being Erythreans
or Edomites, and of their coming from the Erythrean Sea; for Erythra was the
name of a City in Ionia, of another in Libya, of another in Locris, of another
in Boeotia, of another in Cyprus, of another in Ætolia, of another in Asia near
Chius; and Erythia Acra was a promontory in Libya, and Erythræum a promontory in
Crete, and Erythros a place near Tybur, and Erythini a City or Country in
Paphlagonia: and the name Erythea or Erythræ was given to the Island Gades,
peopled by Phoenicians. So Solinus, [100] In capite Bæticæ insula a continenti
septingentis passibus memoratur quam Tyrii a rubro mari profecti Erytheam, Poeni
sua lingua Gadir, id est sepem nominarunt. And Pliny, [101] concerning a little
Island near it; Erythia dicta est quoniam Tyrii Aborigines eorum, orti ab
Erythræo mari ferebantur. Among the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus into
Greece, there were [102] Arabians, and [103] Erythreans or Inhabitants of the
Red Sea, that is Edomites; and in Thrace there settled a People who were
circumcised and called Odomantes, that is, as some think, Edomites. Edom,
Erythra and Phoenicia are names of the same signification, the words denoting a
red colour: which makes it probable that the Erythreans who fled from David,
settled in great numbers in Phoenicia, that is, in all the Sea-coasts of Syria
from Egypt to Zidon; and by calling themselves Phoenicians in the language of
Syria, instead of Erythreans, gave the name of Phoenicia to all that Sea-coast,
and to that only. So Strabo: [104] [Greek: Hoi men gar kai tous Phoinikas, kai
tous Sidonious tous kath’ hêmas apoikous einai tôn en tôi Ôkeanôi phasi,
prostithentes kai dia ti Phoinikes ekalounto, hoti kai hê thalatta erythra.]
Alii referunt Phoenices & Sidonios nostros esse colonos eorum qui sunt in
Oceano, addentes illos ideo vocari Phoenices [puniceos] quod mare rubrum sit.

Strabo [105] mentioning the first men who left the Sea-coasts, and ventured out
into the deep, and undertook long Voyages, names Bacchus, Hercules, Jason,
Ulysses and Menelaus; and saith that the Dominion of Minos over the Sea was
celebrated, and the Navigation of the Phoenicians who went beyond the Pillars of
Hercules, and built Cities there, and in the middle of the Sea-coasts of Afric,
presently after the war of Troy. These Phoenicians [106] were the Tyrians, who
at that time built Carthage in Afric, and Carteia in Spain, and Gades in the
Island of that name without the Straights; and gave the name of Hercules to
their chief Leader, because of his labours and success, and that of Heraclea to
the city Carteia which he built. So Strabo: [107] [Greek: Ekpleousin oun ek tês
hêmeteras thalattês eis tên exô, dexion esti touto; kai pros auto Kalpê
[Kartêia]] [108] [Greek: polis en tettarakonta stadiois axiologos kai palaia,
naustathmon pote genomenê tôn Ibêrôn; enioi de kai Êrakleous ktisma legousin
autên, hôn esti kai Timosthenês; hos Phêsi kai Êrakleian onomazesthai to
palaion; deiknysthai te megan peribolon, kai neôsoikous.] Mons Calpe ad dextram
est e nostro mari foras navigantibus, & ad quadraginta inde stadia urbs Carteia
vetusta ac memorabilis, olim statio navibus Hispanorum. Hanc ab Hercule quidam
conditam aiunt, inter quos est Timosthenes, qui eam antiquitus Heracleam fuisse
appellatam refert, ostendique adhuc magnum murorum circuitum & navalia. This
Hercules, in memory of his building and Reigning over the City Carteia, they
called also Melcartus, the King of Carteia. Bochart [109] writes, that Carteia
was at first called Melcarteia, from its founder Melcartus, and by an Aphæresis,
Carteia; and that Melcartus signifies Melec Kartha, the King of the city, that
is, saith he, of the city Tyre: but considering that no ancient Author tells us,
that Carteia was ever called Melcarteia, or that Melcartus was King of Tyre; I
had rather say that Melcartus, or Melecartus, had his name from being the
Founder and Governor or Prince of the city Carteia. Under Melcartus the Tyrians
sailed as far as Tartessus or Tarshish, a place in the Western part of Spain,
between the two mouths of the river Boetis, and there they [110] met with much
silver, which they purchased for trifles: they sailed also as far as Britain
before the death of Melcartus; for [111] Pliny tells us, Plumbum ex Cassiteride
insula primus apportavit Midacritus: And Bochart [112] observes that Midacritus
is a Greek name corruptly written for Melcartus; Britain being unknown to the
Greeks long after it was discovered by the Phoenicians. After the death of
Melcartus, they [113] built a Temple to him in the Island Gades, and adorned it
with the sculptures of the labours of Hercules, and of his Hydra, and the Horses
to whom he threw Diomedes, King of the Bistones in Thrace, to be devoured. In
this Temple was the golden Belt of Teucer, and the golden Olive of Pygmalion
bearing Smaragdine fruit: and by these consecrated gifts of Teucer and
Pygmalion, you may know that it was built in their days. Pomponius derives it
from the times of the Trojan war; for Teucer, seven years after that war,
according to the Marbles, arrived at Cyprus, being banished from home by his
father Telamon, and there built Salamis: and he and his Posterity Reigned there
’till Evagoras, the last of them, was conquered by the Persians, in the twelfth
year of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Certainly this Tyrian Hercules could be no older than
the Trojan war, because the Tyrians did not begin to navigate the Mediterranean
’till after that war: for Homer and Hesiod knew nothing of this navigation, and
the Tyrian Hercules went to the coasts of Spain, and was buried in Gades: so
Arnobius [114]; Tyrius Hercules sepultus in finibus Hispaniæ: and Mela, speaking
of the Temple of Hercules in Gades, saith, Cur sanctum sit ossa ejus ibi sepulta
efficiunt. Carthage [115] paid tenths to this Hercules, and sent their payments
yearly to Tyre: and thence it’s probable that this Hercules went to the coast of
Afric, as well as to that of Spain, and by his discoveries prepared the way to
Dido: Orosius [116] and others tell us that he built Capsa there. Josephus tells
of an earlier Hercules, to whom Hiram built a Temple at Tyre: and perhaps there
might be also an earlier Hercules of Tyre, who set on foot their trade on the
Red Sea in the days of David or Solomon.

Tatian, in his book against the Greeks, relates, that amongst the Phoenicians
flourished three ancient Historians, Theodotus, Hysicrates and Mochus, who all
of them delivered in their histories, translated into Greek by Latus, under
which of the Kings happened the rapture of Europa; the voyage of Menelaus into
Phoenicia; and the league and friendship between Solomon and Hiram, when Hiram
gave his daughter to Solomon, and furnished him with timber for building the
Temple: and that the same is affirmed by Menander of Pergamus. Josephus [117]
lets us know that the Annals of the Tyrians, from the days of Abibalus and
Hiram, Kings of Tyre, were extant in his days; and that Menander of Pergamus
translated them into Greek, and that Hiram’s friendship to Solomon, and
assistance in building the Temple, was mentioned in them; and that the Temple
was founded in the eleventh year of Hiram: and by the testimony of Menander and
the ancient Phoenician historians, the rapture of Europa, and by consequence the
coming of her brother Cadmus into Greece, happened within the time of the Reigns
of the Kings of Tyre delivered in these histories; and therefore not before the
Reign of Abibalus, the first of them, nor before the Reign of King David his
contemporary. The voyage of Menelaus might be after the destruction of Troy.
Solomon therefore Reigned in the times between the raptures of Europa and
Helena, and Europa and her brother Cadmus flourished in the days or David.
Minos, the son of Europa, flourished in the Reign of Solomon, and part of the
Reign of Rehoboam: and the children of Minos, namely Androgeus his eldest son,
Deucalion his youngest son and one of the Argonauts, Ariadne the mistress of
Theseus and Bacchus, and Phædra the wife of Theseus; flourished in the latter
end of Solomon, and in the Reigns of Rehoboam, Abijah and Asa: and Idomeneus,
the grandson of Minos, was at the war of Troy: and Hiram succeeded his father
Abibalus, in the three and twentieth year of David: and Abibalus might found the
Kingdom of Tyre about sixteen or eighteen years before, when Zidon was taken by
the Philistims; and the Zidonians fled from thence, under the conduct of Cadmus
and other commanders, to seek new seats. Thus by the Annals of Tyre, and the
ancient Phoenician Historians who followed them, Abibalus, Alymnus, Cadmus, and
Europa fled from Zidon about the sixteenth year of David’s Reign: and the
Argonautic Expedition being later by about three Generations, will be about
three hundred years later than where the Greeks have placed it.

After Navigation in long ships with sails, and one order of oars, had been
propagated from Egypt to Phoenicia and Greece, and thereby the Zidonians had
extended their trade to Greece, and carried it on about an hundred and fifty
years; and then the Tyrians being driven from the Red Sea by the Edomites, had
begun a new trade on the Mediterranean with Spain, Afric, Britain, and other
remote nations; they carried it on about an hundred and sixty years; and then
the Corinthians began to improve Navigation, by building bigger ships with three
orders of oars, called Triremes. For [118] Thucydides tells us that the
Corinthians were the first of the Greeks who built such ships, and that a
ship-carpenter of Corinth went thence to Samos, about 300 years before the end
of the Peloponnesian war, and built also four ships for the Samians; and that
260 years before the end of that war, that is, about the 29th Olympiad, there
was a fight at sea between the Corinthians and the Corcyreans which was the
oldest sea-fight mentioned in history. Thucydides tells us further, that the
first colony which the Greeks sent into Sicily, came from Chalcis in Euboea,
under the conduct of Thucles, and built Naxus; and the next year Archias came
from Corinth with a colony, and built Syracuse; and that Lamis came about the
same time into Sicily, with a colony from Megara in Achaia, and lived first at
Trotilum, and then at Leontini, and died at Thapsus near Syracuse; and that
after his death, this colony was invited by Hyblo to Megara in Sicily, and lived
there 245 years, and was then expelled by Gelo King of Sicily. Now Gelo
flourished about 78 years before the end of the Peloponnesian war: count
backwards the 78 and the 245 years, and about 12 years more for the Reign of
Lamis in Sicily, and the reckoning will place the building of Syracuse about 335
years before the end of the Peloponnesian war, or in the tenth Olympiad; and
about that time Eusebius and others place it: but it might be twenty or thirty
years later, the antiquities of those days having been raised more or less by
the Greeks. From the colonies henceforward sent into Italy and Sicily came the
name of Græcia magna.

Thucydides [119] tells us further, that the Greeks began to come into Sicily
almost three hundred years after the Siculi had invaded that Island with an army
out of Italy: suppose it 280 years after, and the building of Syracuse 310 years
before the end of the Peloponnesian war; and that invasion of Sicily by the
Siculi will be 590 years before the end of that war, that is, in the 27th year
of Solomon’s Reign, or thereabout. Hellanicus [120] tells us, that it was in the
third

Generation before the Trojan war; and in the 26th year of the Piesthood of
Alcinoe, Priestess of Juno Argiva: and Philistius of Syracuse, that it was 80
years before the Trojan war: whence it follows that the Trojan war and
Argonautic Expedition were later than the days of Solomon and Rehoboam, and
could not be much earlier than where we have placed them. The Kingdom of Macedon
[121] was founded by Caranus and Perdiccas, who being of the Race of Temenus
King of Argos, fled from Argos in the Reign of Phidon the brother of Caranus.
Temenus was one of the three brothers who led the Heraclides into Peloponnesus,
and shared the conquest among themselves: he obtained Argos; and after him, and
his son Cisus, the Kingdom of Argos became divided among the posterity of
Temenus, until Phidon reunited it, expelling his kindred. Phidon grew potent,
appointed weights and measures in Peloponnesus, and coined silver money; and
removing the Pisæans and Eleans, presided in the Olympic games; but was soon
after subdued by the Eleans and Spartans. Herodotus [122] reckons that Perdiccas
was the first King of acedon; later writers, as Livy, Pausanias and Suidas, make
Caranus the first King: Justin calls Perdiccas the Sucessor of Caranus; and
Solinus saith that Perdiccas succeeded Caranus; and was the first that obtained
the name of King. It’s probable that Caranus and Perdiccas were contemporaries,
and fled about the same time from Phidon, and at first erected small
principalities in Macedonia, which, after the death of Caranus, became one under
Perdiccas. Herodotus [123] tells us, that after Perdiccas Reigned Aræus, or
Argæus, Philip, Æropus, Alcetas, Amyntas, and Alexander, successively. Alexander
was contemporary to Xerxes King of Persia, and died An. 4. Olymp. 79, and was
succeeded by Perdiccas, and he by his son Archelaus: and Thucydides [124] tells
us that there were eight Kings of Macedon before this Archelaus: now by
reckoning above forty years a-piece to these Kings, Chronologers have made
Phidon and Caranus older than the Olympiads; whereas if we should reckon their
Reigns at about 18 or 20 years a-piece one with another, the first seven Reigns
counted backwards from the death of this Alexander, will place the dominion of
Phidon, and the beginning of the Kingdom of Macedon under Perdiccas and Caranus,
upon the 46th or 47th Olympiad, or thereabout. It could scarce be earlier,
because Leocides the son of Phidon, and Megacles the son of Alcmæon, at one and
the same time courted Agarista, the daughter of Clisthenes King of Sicyon, as
Herodotus [125] tells us; and the Amphictyons, by the advice of Solon, made
Alcmæon, and Clisthenes, and Eurolycus King of Thessaly, commanders of their
army, in their war against Cirrha; and the Cirrheans were conquered An. 2.
Olymp. 47. according to the Marbles. Phidon therefore and his brother Caranus
were contemporary to Solon, Alcmæon, Clisthenes, and Eurolycus, and flourished
about the 48th and 49th Olympiads. They were also contemporary in their later
days to Croesus; for Solon conversed with Croesus, and Alcmæon entertained and
conducted the messengers whom Croesus sent to consult the Oracle at Delphi, An.
1. Olymp. 56. according to the Marbles, and was sent for by Croesus, and
rewarded with much riches. But the times set down in the Marbles before the
Persian Empire began, being collected by reckoning the Reigns of Kings
equipollent to Generations, and three Generations to an hundred years or above;
and the Reigns of Kings, one with another, being shorter in the proportion of
about four to seven; the Chronology set down in the Marbles, until the Conquest
of Media by Cyrus, An. 4, Olymp. 60, will approach the truth much nearer, by
shortening the times before that Conquest in the proportion of four to seven. So
the Cirrheans were conquered An. 2, Olymp. 47, according to the Marbles, that is
54 years before the Conquest of Media; and these years being shortened in the
proportion of four to seven, become 31 years; which subducted from An. 4, Olymp.
60, place the Conquest of Cirrha upon An. 1, Olymp. 53: and, by the like
correction of the Marbles, Alcmæon entertained and conducted the messengers whom
Croesus sent to consult the Oracle at Delphi, An. 1, Olymp. 58; that is, four
years before the Conquest of Sardes by Cyrus: and the Tyranny of Pisistratus,
which by the Marbles began at Athens, An. 4, Olymp. 54, by the like correction
began An. 3, Olymp. 57; and by consequence Solon died An. 4, Olymp. 57. This
method may be used alone, where other arguments are wanting; but where they are
not wanting, the best arguments are to be preferred.

Iphitus [126] presided both in the Temple of Jupiter Olympius, and in the
Olympic Games, and so did his Successors ’till the 26th Olympiad; and so long
the victors were rewarded with a Tripos: but then the Pisæans getting above the
Eleans, began to preside, and rewarded the victors with a Crown, and instituted
the Carnea to Apollo; and continued to preside ’till Phidon interrupted them,
that is, ’till about the time of the 49th Olympiad: for [127] in the 48th
Olympiad the Eleans entered the country of the Pisæans, suspecting their
designs, but were prevailed upon to return home quietly; afterwards the Pisæans
confederated with several other Greek nations, and made war upon the Eleans, and
in the end were beaten: in this war I conceive it was that Phidon presided,
suppose in the 49th Olympiad; for [128] in the 50th Olympiad, for putting an end
to the contentions between the Kings about presiding, two men were chosen by lot
out of the city Elis to preside, and their number in the 65th Olympiad was
increased to nine, and afterwards to ten; and these judges were called
Hellenodicæ, judges for or in the name of Greece. Pausanias tells us, that the
Eleans called in Phidon and together with him celebrated the 8th Olympiad; he
should have said the 49th Olympiad; but Herodotus tells us, that Phidon removed
the Eleans; and both might be true: the Eleans might call in Phidon against the
Pisæans, and upon overcoming be refused presiding in the Olympic games by
Phidon, and confederate with the Spartans, and by their assistance overthrow the
Kingdom of Phidon, and recover their ancient right of presiding in the games.

Strabo [129] tells us that Phidon was the tenth from Temenus; not the tenth
King, for between Cisus and Phidon they Reigned not, but the tenth from father
to son, including Temenus. If 27 years be reckoned to a Generation by the eldest
sons, the nine intervals will amount unto 243 years, which counted back from the
48th Olympiad, in which Phidon flourished, will place the Return of the
Heraclides about fifty years before the beginning of the Olympiads, as above.
But Chronologers reckon about 515 years from the Return of the Heraclides to the
48th Olympiad, and account Phidon the seventh from Temenus; which is after the
rate of 85 years to a Generation, and therefore not to be admitted.

Cyrus took Babylon, according to Ptolomy’s Canon, nine years before his death,
An. Nabonass. 209, An. 2, Olymp. 60: and he took Sardes a little before, namely
An. 1, Olymp. 59, as Scaliger collects from Sosicrates: Croesus was then King of
Sardes, and Reigned fourteen years, and therefore began to Reign An. 3, Olymp.
55. After Solon had made laws for the Athenians, he obliged them upon oath to
observe those laws ’till he returned from his travels; and then travelled ten
years, going to Egypt and Cyprus, and visiting Thales of Miletus: and upon His
Return to Athens, Pisistratus began to affect the Tyranny of that city, which
made Solon travel a second time; and now he was invited by Croesus to Sardes;
and Croesus, before Solon visited him, had subdued all Asia Minor, as far as to
the River Halys; and therefore he received that visit towards the latter part of
his Reign; and we may place it upon the ninth year thereof, An. 3, Olymp. 57:
and the legislature of Solon twelve years earlier, An. 3, Olymp. 54: and that of
Draco still ten years earlier, An. 1, Olymp. 52. After Solon had visited
Croesus, he went into Cilicia and some other places, and died [130] in his
travels: and this was in the second year of the Tyranny of Pisistratus. Comias
was Archon when Solon returned from his first travels to Athens; and the next
year Hegestratus was Archon, and Solon died before the end of the year, An. 3,
Olymp. 57, as above: and by this reckoning the objection of Plutarch above
mentioned is removed. We have now shewed that the Phoenicians of Zidon, under
the conduct of Cadmus and other captains, flying from their enemies, came into
Greece, with letters and other arts, about the sixteenth year of King David’s
Reign; that Europa the sister of Cadmus, fled some days before him from Zidon
and came to Crete, and there became the mother of Minos, about the 18th or 20th
year of David’s Reign; that Sesostris and the great Bacchus, and by consequence
also Osiris, were one and the same King of Egypt with Sesac, and came out of
Egypt in the fifth year of Rehoboam to invade the nations, and died 25 years
after Solomon; that the Argonautic expedition was about 43 years after the death
of Solomon; that Troy was taken about 76 or 78 years after the death of Solomon;
that the Phoenicians of Tyre were driven from the Red Sea by the Edomites, about
87 years after the death of Solomon, and within two or three years began to make
long voyages upon the Mediterranean, sailing to Spain, and beyond, under a
commander whom for his industry, conduct, and discoveries, they honoured with
the names of Melcartus and Hercules; that the return of the Heraclides into
Peloponnesus was about 158 years after the death of Solomon; that Lycurgus the
Legislator Reigned at Sparta, and gave the three Discs to the Olympic treasury,
An. 1, Olymp. 18, or 273 years after the death of Solomon, the Quinquertium
being at that time added to the Olympic Games; that the Greeks began soon after
to build Triremes, and to send Colonies into Sicily and Italy, which gave the
name of Græcia magna to those countries; that the first Messenian war ended
about 350 years after the death of Solomon, An. 1, Olymp. 37; that Phidon was
contemporary to Solon, and presided in the Olympic Games in the 49th Olympiad,
that is, 397 years after the death of Solomon; that Draco was Archon, and made
his laws, An. 1, Olymp. 52; and Solon, An. 3, Olymp. 54; and that Solon visited
Croesus Ann. 3, Olymp. 57, or 433 years after the death of Solomon; and Sardes
was taken by Cyrus 438 years, and Babylon by Cyrus 443 years, and Echatane by
Cyrus 445 years after the death of Solomon: and these periods being settled,
they become a foundation for building the Chronology of the antient times upon
them; and nothing more remains for settling such a Chronology, than to make
these Periods a little exacter, if it can be, and to shew how the rest of the
Antiquities of Greece, Egypt, Assyria, Chaldæa, and Media may suit therewith.

Whilst Bacchus made his expedition into India, Theseus left Ariadne in the
Island Naxus or Dia, as above, and succeeded his father Ægeus at Athens; and
upon the Return of Bacchus from India, Ariadne became his mistress, and
accompanied him in his triumphs; and this was about ten years after the death of
Solomon: and from that time reigned eight Kings in Athens, viz. Theseus,
Menestheus, Demophoon, Oxyntes, Aphidas, Thymætes, Melanthus, and Codrus; these
Kings, at 19 years a-piece one with another, might take up about 152 years, and
end about 44 years before the Olympiads: then Reigned twelve Archons for life,
which at 14 or 15 years a-piece, the State being unstable, might take up about
174 years, and end An. 2, Olymp. 33: then reigned seven decennial Archons, which
are usually reckoned at seventy years; but some of them dying in their Regency,
they might not take up above forty years, and so end about An. 2, Olymp. 43,
about which time began the Second Messenian war: these decennial Archons were
followed by the annual Archons, amongst whom were the Legislators Draco and
Solon. Soon after the death of Codrus, his second Son Neleus, not bearing the
Reign of his lame brother Medon at Athens, retired into Asia, and was followed
by his younger brothers Androcles and Cyaretus, and many others: these had the
name of Ionians, from Ion the son of Xuthus, who commanded the army of the
Athenians at the death of Erechtheus, and gave the name of Ionia to the country
which they invaded: and about 20 or 25 years after the death of Codrus, these
new Colonies, being now Lords of Ionia, set up over themselves a common Council
called Panionium, and composed of Counsellors sent from twelve of their cities,
Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenæ, Phocæa,
Samos, Chios, and Erythræa: and this was the Ionic Migration.

[131] When the Greeks and Latines were forming their Technical Chronology, there
were great disputes about the Antiquity of Rome: the Greeks made it much older
than the Olympiads: some of them said it was built by Æneas; others, by Romus,
the son or grandson of Æneas; others, by Romus, the son or grandson of Latinus
King of the Aborigines; others, by Romus the son of Ulysses, or of Ascanius, or
of Italus: and some of the Latines at first fell in with the opinion of the
Greeks, saying that it was built by Romulus, the son or grandson of Æneas.
Timæus Siculus represented it built by Romulus, the grandson of Æneas, above an
hundred years before the Olympiads; and so did Nævius the Poet, who was twenty
years older than Ennius, and served in the first Punic war, and wrote the
history of that war. Hitherto nothing certain was agreed upon, but about 140 or
150 years after the death of Alexander the Great, they began to say that Rome
was built a second time by Romulus, in the fifteenth Age after the destruction
of Troy: by Ages they meant Reigns of the Kings of the Latines at Alba, and
reckoned the first fourteen Reigns at about 432 years, and the following Reigns
of the seven Kings of Rome at 244 years, both which numbers made up the time of
about 676 years from the taking of Troy, according to these Chronologers; but
are much too long for the course of nature: and by this reckoning they placed
the building of Rome upon the sixth or seventh Olympiad; Varro placed it on the
first year of the Seventh Olympiad, and was therein generally followed by the
Romans; but this can scarce be reconciled to the course of nature: for I do not
meet with any instance in all history, since Chronology was certain, wherein
seven Kings, most of whom were slain, Reigned 244 years in continual Succession.
The fourteen Reigns of the Kings of the Latines, at twenty years a-piece one
with another, amount unto 280 years, and these years counted from the taking of
Troy end in the 38th Olympiad: and the Seven Reigns of the Kings of Rome, four
or five of them being slain and one deposed, may at a moderate reckoning amount
to fifteen or sixteen years a-piece one with another: let them be reckoned at
seventeen years a-piece, and they will amount unto 119 years; which being
counted backwards from the Regifuge, end also in the 38th Olympiad: and by these
two reckonings Rome was built in the 38th Olympiad, or thereabout. The 280 years
and the 119 years together make up 399 years; and the same number of years
arises by counting the twenty and one Reigns at nineteen years a-piece: and this
being the whole time between the taking of Troy and the Regifuge, let these
years be counted backward from the Regifuge, An. 1, Olymp. 68, and they will
place the taking of Troy about 74 years after the death of Solomon. When
Sesostris returned from Thrace into Egypt, he left Æetes withpart of his army in
Colchis, to guard that pass; and Phryxus and is sister Helle fled from Ino, the
daughter of Cadmus, to Æetes soon after, in a ship whose ensign was a golden
ram: Ino was therefore alive in the fourteenth year of Rehoboam, the year in
which Sesostris returned into Egypt; and by consequence her father Cadmus
flourished in the Reign of David, and not before. Cadmus was the father of
Polydorus, the father of Labdacus, the father of Laius, the father of Oedipus,
the father of Eteocles and Polynices who slew one another in their youth, in the
war of the seven Captains at Thebes, about ten or twelve years after the
Argonautic Expedition: and Thersander, the son of Polynices, warred at Troy.
These Generations being by the eldest sons who married young, if they be
reckoned at about twenty and four years to a Generation, will place the birth of
Polydorus upon the 18th year of David’s Reign, or thereabout: and thus Cadmus
might be a young man, not yet married, when he came first into Greece. At his
first coming he sail’d to Rhodes, and thence to Samothrace, an Island near
Thrace on the north side of Lemnos, and there married Harmonia, the sister of
Jasius and Dardanus, which gave occasion to the Samothracian mysteries: and
Polydorus might be their son, born a year or two after their coming; and his
sister Europa might be then a young woman, in the flower of her age. These
Generations cannot well be shorter; and therefore Cadmus, and his son Polydorus,
were not younger than we have reckoned them: nor can they be much longer,
without making Polydorus too old to be born in Europe, and to be the son of
Harmonia the sister of Jasius. Labdacus was therefore born in the end of David’s
Reign, Laius in the 24th year of Solomon’s, and Oedipus in the seventh of
Rehoboam’s, or thereabout: unless you had rather say, that Polydorus was born at
Zidon, before his father came into Europe; but his name Polydorus is in the
language of Greece.

Polydorus married Nycteis, the daughter of Nycteus a native of Greece, and dying
young, left his Kingdom and young son Labdacus under the administration of
Nycteus. Then Epopeus King of Ægialus, afterwards called Sicyon, stole Antiope
the daughter of Nycteus, [132] and Nycteus thereupon made war upon him, and in a
battle wherein Nycteus overcame, both were wounded and died soon after. Nycteus
left the tuition of Labdacus, and administration of the Kingdom, to his brother
Lycus; and Epopeus or, as Hyginus [133] calls him, Epaphus the Sicyonian, left
his Kingdom to Lamedon, who presently ended the war, by sending home Antiope:
and she, in returning home, brought forth Amphion and Zethus. Labdacus being
grown up received the Kingdom from Lycus, and soon after dying left it again to
his administration, for his young son Laius. When Amphion and Zethus were about
twenty years old, at the instigation of their mother Antiope, they killed Lycus,
and made Laius flee to Pelops, and seized the city Thebes, and compassed it with
a wall; and Amphion married Niobe the sister of Pelops, and by her had several
children, amongst whom was Chloris, the mother of Periclymenus the Argonaut.
Pelops was the father of Plisthenes, Atreus, and Thyestes; and Agamemnon and
Menelaus, the adopted sons of Atreus, warred at Troy. Ægisthus, the son of
Thyestes, slew Agamemnon the year after the taking of Troy; and Atreus died just
before Paris stole Helena, which, according to [134] Homer, was twenty years
before the taking of Troy. Deucalion the son of Minos, [135] was an Argonaut;
and Talus another son of Minos, was slain by the Argonauts; and Idomeneus and
Meriones the grandsons of Minos were at the Trojan war. All these things confirm
the ages of Cadmus and Europa, and their posterity, above assigned, and place
the death of Epopeus or Epaphus King of Sicyon, and birth of Amphion and Zethus,
upon the tenth year of Solomon; and the taking of Thebes by Amphion and Zethus,
and the flight of Laius to Pelops, upon the thirtieth year of that King, or
thereabout. Amphion might marry the sister of Pelops, the same year, and Pelops
come into Greece three or four years before that flight, or about the 26th year
of Solomon.

[Sidenode p: Hygin. Fab. 14.] In the days of Erechtheus King of Athens, and
Celeus King of Eleusis, Ceres came into Attica; and educated Triptolemus the son
of Celeus, and taught him to sow corn. She [136] lay with Jasion, or Jasius, the
brother of Harmonia the wife of Cadmus; and presently after her death Erechtheus
was slain, in a war between the Athenians and Eleusinians; and, for the
benefaction of bringing tillage into Greece, the Eleusinia Sacra were instituted
to her [137] with Egyptian ceremonies, by Celeus and Eumolpus; and a Sepulchre
or Temple was erected to her in Eleusine, and in this Temple the families of
Celeus and Eumolpus became her Priests: and this Temple, and that which Eurydice
erected to her daughter Danae, by the name of Juno Argiva, are the first
instances that I meet with in Greece of Deifying the dead, with Temples, and
Sacred Rites, and Sacrifices, and Initiations, and a succession of Priests to
perform them. Now by this history it is manifest that Erechtheus, Celeus,
Eumolpus, Ceres, Jasius, Cadmus, Harmonia, Asterius, and Dardanus the brother of
Jasius, and one of the founders of the Kingdom of Troy, were all contemporary to
one another, and flourished in their youth, when Cadmus came first into Europe.
Erechtheus could not be much older, because his daughter Procris convers’d with
Minos King of Crete; and his grandson Thespis had fifty daughters, who lay with
Hercules; and his daughter Orithyia was the mother of Calais and Zetes, two of
the Argonauts in their youth; and his son Orneus [138] was the father of Peteos
the father of Menestheus, who warred at Troy: nor much younger, because his
second son Pandion, who with the Metionides deposed his elder brother Cecrops,
was the father of Ægeus, the father of Theseus; and Metion, another of his sons,
was the father of Eupalamus, the father of Dædalus, who was older than Theseus;
and his daughter Creusa married Xuthus, the son of Hellen, and by him had two
sons, Achæus and Ion; and Ion commanded the army of the Athenians against the
Eleusinians, in the battle in which his grandfather Erechtheus was slain: and
this was just before the institution of the Eleusinia Sacra, and before the
Reign of Pandion the father of Ægeus. Erechtheus being an Egyptian procured corn
from Egypt, and for that benefaction was made King of Athens; and near the
beginning of his Reign Ceres came into Attica from Sicily, in quest of her
daughter Proserpina. We cannot err much if we make Hellen contemporary to the
Reign of Saul, and to that of David at Hebron; and place the beginning of the
Reign of Erechtheus in the 25th year, the coming of Ceres into Attica in the
30th year, and the dispersion of corn by Triptolemus about the 40th year of
David’s Reign; and the death of Ceres and Erechtheus, and institution of the
Eleusinia Sacra, between the tenth and fifteenth year of Solomon.

Teucer, Dardanus, Erichthonius, Tros, Ilus, Laomedon, and Priamus Reigned
successively at Troy; and their Reigns, at about twenty years a-piece one with
another, amount unto an hundred and forty years: which counted back from the
taking of Troy, place the beginning of the Reign of Teucer about the fifteenth
year of the Reign of King David; and that of Dardanus, in the days of Ceres, who
lay with Jasius the brother of Dardanus: whereas Chronologers reckon that the
six last of these Kings Reigned 296 years, which is after the rate of 49-1/3
years a-piece one with another; and that they began their Reign in the days of
Moses. Dardanus married the daughter of Teucer, the Son of Scamander, and
succeeded him: whence Teucer was of about the same age with David.

Upon the return of Sesostris into Egypt, his brother Danaus not only attempted
his life, as above, but also commanded his daughters, who were fifty in number
and had married the sons of Sesostris, to slay their husbands; and then fled
with his daughters from Egypt, in a long ship of fifty oars. This Flight was in
the fourteenth year of Rehoboam. Danaus came first to Lindus, a town in Rhodes,
and there built a Temple, and erected a Statue to Minerva, and lost three of his
daughters by a plague which raged there; and then sailed thence with the rest of
his daughters to Argos. He came to Argos therefore in the fifteenth or sixteenth
year of Rehoboam: and at length contending there with Gelanor the brother of
Eurystheus for the crown of Argos, was chosen by the people, and Reigned at
Argos, while Eurystheus Reigned at Mycenæ; and Eurystheus was born [139] the
same year with Hercules. Gelanor and Eurystheus were the sons of Sthenelus, by
Nicippe the daughter of Pelops; and Sthenelus was the son of Perseus, and
Reigned at Argos, and Danaus, who succeeded him at Argos, was succeeded there by
his son in law Lynceus, and he by his son Abas; that Abas who is commonly, but
erroneously, reputed the father of Acrisius and Prætus. In the time of the
Argonautic expedition Castor and Pollux were beardless young men, and their
sisters Helena and Clytemnestra were children, and their wives Phoebe and Ilaira
were also very young: all these, with the Argonauts Lynceus and Idas, were the
grandchildren of Gorgophone, the daughter of Perseus, the son of Danae, the
daughter of Acrisius and Eurydice; and Perieres and Oebalus, the husbands of
Gorgophone, were the sons of Cynortes, the son of Amyclas, the brother of
Eurydice. Mestor or Mastor, the brother of Sthenelus, married Lysidice, another
of the daughters of Pelops: and Pelops married Hippodamia, the daughter of
Evarete, the daughter of Acrisius. Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, was the
daughter of Electryo; and Sthenelus, Mestor and Electryo were brothers of
Gorgophone, and sons of Perseus and Andromeda: and the Argonaut Æsculapius was
the grandson of Leucippus and Phlegia, and Leucippus was the son of Perieres,
the grandson of Amyclas the brother of Eurydice, and Amyclas and Eurydice were
the children of Lacedæmon and Sparta: and Capaneus, one of the seven Captains
against Thebes, was the husband of Euadne the daughter of Iphis, the son of
Elector, the son of Anaxagoras, the son of Megapenthes, the son of Prætus the
brother of Acrisius. Now from these Generations it may be gathered that Perseus,
Perieres and Anaxagoras were of about the same age with Minos, Pelops, Ægeus and
Sesac; and that Acrisius, Prætus, Eurydice, and Amyclas, being two little
Generations older, were of about the same age with King David and Erechtheus;
and that the Temple of Juno Argiva was built about the same time with the Temple
of Solomon; the same being built by Eurydice to her daughter Danae, as above; or
as some say, by Pirasus or Piranthus, the son or successor of Argus, and great
grandson of Phoroneus: for the first Priestess of that Goddess was Callithea the
daughter of Piranthus; Callithea was succeeded by Alcinoe, about three
Generations before the taking of Troy, that is about the middle of Solomon’s
Reign: in her Priesthood the Siculi passed out of Italy into Sicily: afterwards
Hypermnestra the daughter of Danaus became Priestess of this Goddess, and she
flourished in the times next before the Argonautic expedition: and Admeta, the
daughter of Eurystheus, was Priestess of this Juno about the times of the Trojan
war. Andromeda the wife of Perseus, was the daughter of Cepheus an Egyptian, the
son of Belus, according to [140] Herodotus; and the Egyptian Belus was Ammon:
Perseus took her from Joppa, where Cepheus, I think a kinsman of Solomon’s
Queen, resided in the days of Solomon. Acrisius and Prætus were the sons of
Abas: but this Abas was not the same man with Abas the grandson of Danaus, but a
much older Prince, who built Abæa in Phocis, and might be the Prince from whom
the island Euboea [141] was anciently called Abantis, and the people thereof
Abantes: for Apollonius Rhodius [142] tells us, that the Argonaut Canthus was
the son of Canethus, and that Canethus was of the posterity of Abas; and the
Commentator upon Apollonius tells us further, that from this Abas the
inhabitants of Euboea were anciently called Abantes. This Abas therefore
flourished three or four Generations before the Argonautic expedition, and so
might be the father of Acrisius: the ancestors of Acrisius were accounted
Egyptians by the Greeks, and they might come from Egypt under Abas into Euboea,
and from thence into Peloponnesus. I do not reckon Phorbas and his son Triopas
among the Kings of Argos, because they fled from that Kingdom to the Island
Rhodes; nor do I reckon Crotopus among them, because because he went from Argos,
and built a new city for himself in Megaris, as [143] Conon relates.

We said that Pelops came into Greece about the 26th year of Solomon: he [144]
came thither in the days of Acrisius, and in those of Endymion, and of his sons,
and took Ætolia from Aetolus. Endymion was the son of Aëthlius, the son of
Protogenia, the sister of Hellen, and daughter of Deucalion: Phrixus and Helle,
the children of Athamus, the brother of Sisyphus and Son of Æolus, the son of
Hellen, fled from their stepmother Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, to Æetes in
Colchis, presently after the return of Sesostris into Egypt: and Jason the
Argonaut was the son of Æson, the son of Cretheus, the son of Æolus, the son of
Hellen: and Calyce was the wife of Aëthlius, and mother of Endymion, and
daughter of Æolus, and sister of Cretheus, Sisyphus and Athamas: and by these
circumstances Cretheus, Sisyphus and Athamas flourished in the latter part of
the Reign of Solomon, and in the Reign of Rehoboam: Aëthlius, Æolus, Xuthus,
Dorus, Tantalus, and Danae were contemporary to Erechtheus, Jasius and Cadmus;
and Hellen was about one, and Deucalion about two Generations older than
Erechtheus. They could not be much older, because Xuthus the youngest son of
Hellen [145] married Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus; nor could they be much
younger, because Cephalus the son of Deioneus, the son of Æolus, the eldest son
of Hellen, [146] married Procris the daughter of Erechtheus; and Procris fled
from her husband to Minos. Upon the death of Hellen, his youngest son Xuthus
[147] was expelled Thessaly by his brothers Æolus and Dorus, and fled to
Erechtheus, and married Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus; by whom he had two
sons, Achæus and Ion, the youngest of which grew up before the death of
Erechtheus, and commanded the army of the Athenians, in the war in which
Erechtheus was slain: and therefore Hellen died about one Generation before
Erechtheus.

Sisyphus therefore built Corinth about the latter end of the Reign of Solomon,
or the beginning of the Reign of Rehoboam. Upon the flight of Phrixus and Helle,
their father Athamas, a little King in Boeotia, went distracted and slew his son
Learchus; and his wife Ino threw her self into the sea, together with her other
son Melicertus; and thereupon Sisyphus instituted the Isthmia at Corinth to his
nephew Melicertus. This was presently after Sesostris had left Æetes in Colchis,
I think in the fifteenth or sixteenth year of Rehoboam: so that Athamas, the son
of Æolus and grandson of Hellen, and Ino the daughter of Cadmus, flourished
’till about the sixteenth year of Rehoboam. Sisyphus and his successors
Ornytion, Thoas, Demophon, Propodas, Doridas, and Hyanthidas Reigned
successively at Corinth, ’till the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus:
then Reigned the Heraclides, Aletes, Ixion, Agelas, Prumnis, Bacchis, Agelas II,
Eudamus, Aristodemus, and Telestes successively about 170 years, and then
Corinth was governed by Prytanes or annual Archons about 42 years, and after
them by Cypselus and Periander about 48 years more.

Celeus King of Eleusis, who was contemporary to Erechtheus, [148] was the son of
Rharus, the son of Cranaus, the successor of Cecrops; and in the Reign of
Cranaus, Deucalion fled with his sons Hellen and Amphictyon from the flood which
then overflowed Thessaly, and was called Deucalion’s flood: they fled into
Attica, and there Deucalion died soon after; and Pausanias tells us that his
Sepulchre was to be seen near Athens. His eldest son Hellen succeeded him in
Thessaly, and his other son Amphictyon married the daughter of Cranaus, and
Reigning at Thermopylæ, erected there the Amphictyonic Council; and Acrisius
soon after erected the like Council at Delphi. This I conceive was done when
Amphictyon and Acrisius were aged, and fit to be Counsellors; suppose in the
latter half of the Reign of David, and beginning of the Reign of Solomon; and
soon after, suppose about the middle of the Reign of Solomon, did Phemonoë
become the first Priestess of Apollo at Delphi, and gave Oracles in hexameter
verse: and then was Acrisius slain accidentally by his grandson Perseus. The
Council of Thermopylæ included twelve nations of the Greeks, without Attica, and
therefore Amphictyon did not then Reign at Athens: he might endeavour to succeed
Cranaus, his wife’s father, and be prevented by Erechtheus.

Between the Reigns of Cranaus and Erechtheus, Chronologers place also
Erichthonius, and his son Pandion; but I take this Erichthonius and this his son
Pandion, to be the same with Erechtheus and his son and successor Pandion, the
names being only repeated with a little variation in the list of the Kings of
Attica: for Erichthonius, he that was the son of the Earth, nursed up by
Minerva, is by Homer called Erechtheus; and Themistius [149] tells us, that it
was Erechtheus that first joyned a chariot to horses; and Plato [150] alluding
to the story of Erichthonius in a basket, saith, The people of magnanimous
Erechtheus is beautiful, but it behoves us to behold him taken out: Erechtheus
therefore immediately succeeded Cranaus, while Amphictyon Reigned at Thermopylæ.
In the Reign of Cranaus the Poets place the flood of Deucalion, and therefore
the death of Deucalion, and the Reign of his sons Hellen and Amphictyon, in
Thessaly and Thermpolyæ, was but a few years, suppose eight or ten, before the
Reign of Erechtheus. The first Kings of Arcadia were successively Pelasgus,
Lycaon, Nyctimus, Arcas, Clitor, Æpytus, Aleus, Lycurgus, Echemus, Agapenor,
Hippothous, Æpytus II, Cypselus, Olæas, &c. Under Cypselus the Heraclides
returned into Peloponnesus, as above: Agapenor was one of those who courted
Helena; he courted her before he reigned, and afterwards he went to the war at
Troy, and thence to Cyprus, and there built Paphos. Echemus slew Hyllus the son
of Hercules. Lycurgus, Cepheus, and Auge, were [151] the children of Aleus, the
son of Aphidas, the son of Arcas, the son of Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon:
Auge lay with Hercules, and Ancæus the son of Lycurgus was an Argonaut, and his
uncle Cepheus was his Governour in that Expedition; and Lycurgus stay’d at home,
to look after his aged father Aleus, who might be born about 75 years before
that Expedition; and his grandfather Arcas might be born about the end of the
Reign of Saul, and Lycaon the grandfather of Arcas might be then alive, and dye
before the middle of David’s Reign; and His youngest son Oenotrus, the Janus of
the Latines, might grow up, and lead a colony into Italy before the Reign of
Solomon. Arcas received [152] bread-corn from Triptolemus, and taught his people
to make bread of it; and so did Eumelus, the first King of a region afterwards
called Achaia: and therefore Arcas and Eumelus were contemporary to Triptolemus,
and to his old father Celeus, and to Erechtheus King of Athens; and Callisto to
Rharus, and her father Lycaon to Cranaus: but Lycaon died before Cranaus, so as
to leave room for Deucalion’s flood between their deaths. The eleven Kings of
Arcadia, between this Flood and the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus,
that is, between the Reigns of Lycaon and Cypselus, after the rate of about
twenty years to a Reign one with another, took up about 220 years; and these
years counted back from the Return of the Heraclides, place the Flood of
Deucalion upon the fourteenth year of David’s Reign, or thereabout.

Herodotus [153] tells us, that the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus brought many
doctrines into Greece: for amongst those Phoenicians were a sort of men called
Curetes, who were skilled in the Arts and Sciences of Phoenicia, above other
men, and [154] settled some in Phrygia, where they were called Corybantes; some
in Crete, where they were called Idæi Dactyli; some in Rhodes, where they were
called Telchines; some in Samothrace, where they were called Cabiri; some in
Euboea, where, before the invention of iron, they wrought in copper, in a city
thence called Chalcis some in Lemnos, where they assisted Vulcan; and some in
Imbrus, and other places: and a considerable number of them settled in Ætolia,
which was thence called the country of the Curetes; until Ætolus the son of
Endymion, having slain Apis King of Sicyon, fled thither, and by the assistance
of his father invaded it, and from his own name called it Ætolia: and by the
assistance of these artificers, Cadmus found out gold in the mountain Pangæus in
Thrace, and copper at Thebes; whence copper ore is still called Cadmia. Where
they settled they wrought first in copper, ’till iron was invented, and then in
iron; and when they had made themselves armour, they danced in it at the
sacrifices with tumult and clamour, and bells, and pipes, and drums, and swords,
with which they struck upon one another’s armour, in musical times, appearing
seized with a divine fury; and this is reckoned the original of music in Greece:
so Solinus [155] Studium musicum inde coeptum cum Idæi Dactyli modulos crepitu &
tinnitu æris deprehensos in versificum ordinem transtulissent: and [156]
Isidorus, Studium musicum ab Idæis Dactylis coeptum. Apollo and the Muses were
two Generations later.

Clemens [157] calls the Idæi Dactyli barbarous, that is strangers; and saith,
that they reputed the first wise men, to whom both the letters which they call
Ephesian, and the invention of musical rhymes are referred: it seems that when
the Phoenician letters, ascribed to Cadmus, were brought into Greece, they were
at the same time brought into Phrygia and Crete, by the Curetes; who settled in
those countries, and called them Ephesian, from the city Ephesus, where they
were first taught. The Curetes, by their manufacturing copper and iron, and
making swords, and armour, and edged tools for hewing and carving of wood,
brought into Europe a new way of fighting; and gave Minos an opportunity of
building a Fleet, and gaining the dominion of the seas; and set on foot the
trades of Smiths and Carpenters in Greece, which are the foundation of manual
trades: the [158] fleet of Minos was without sails, and Dædalus fled from him by
adding sails to his vessel; and therefore ships with sails were not used by the
Greeks before the flight of Dædalus, and death of Minos, who was slain in
pursuing him to Sicily, in the Reign of Rehoboam. Dædalus and his nephew Talus,
in the latter part of the Reign of Solomon, invented the chip-ax, and saw, and
wimble, and perpendicular, and compass, and turning-lath, and glew, and the
potter’s wheel; and his father Eupalamus invented the anchor: and these things
gave a beginning to manual Arts and Trades in Europe. The [159] Curetes, who
thus introduced Letters, and Music, and Poetry, and Dancing, and Arts, and
attended on the Sacrifices, were no less active about religious institutions,
and for their skill and knowledge and mystical practices, were accounted wise
men and conjurers by the vulgar. In Phrygia their mysteries were about Rhea,
called Magna Mater, and from the places where she was worshipped, Cybele,
Berecynthia, Pessinuntia, Dindymene, Mygdonia, and Idæa Phrygia: and in Crete,
and the Terra Curetum, they were about Jupiter Olympius, the son of the Cretan
Rhea: they represented, [160] that when Jupiter was born in Crete, his mother
Rhea caused him to be educated in a cave in mount Ida, under their care and
tuition; and [161] that they danced about him in armour, with great noise, that
his father Saturn might not hear him cry; and when he was grown up, assisted him
in conquering his father, and his father’s friends; and in memory of these
things instituted their mysteries. Bochart [162] brings them from Palestine, and
thinks that they had the name of Curetes from the people among the Philistims
called Crethim, or Cerethites: Ezekiel 25:16. Zephaniah 2:5. 1 Samuel 30:14, for
the Philistims conquered Zidon, and mixed with the Zidonians. The two first
Kings of Crete, who reigned after the coming of the Curetes, were Asterius and
Minos; and Europa was the Queen of Asterius, and mother of Minos; and the Idæan
Curetes were her countrymen, and came with her and her brother Alymnus into
Crete, and dwelt in the Idæan cave in her Reign, and there educated Jupiter, and
found out iron, and made armour: and therefore these three, Asterius, Europa,
and Minos, must be the Saturn, Rhea and Jupiter of the Cretans. Minos is usually
called the son of Jupiter; but this is in relation to the fable, that Jupiter in
the shape of a bull, the Ensign of the Ship, carried away Europa from Zidon: for
the Phoenicians, upon their first coming into Greece, gave the name of
Jao-pater, Jupiter, to every King: and thus both Minos and his father were
Jupiters. Echemenes, an ancient author cited by Athenæus, [163] said that Minos
was that Jupiter who committed the rape upon Ganimede; though others said more
truly that it was Tantalus: Minos alone was that Jupiter who was most famous
among the Greeks for Dominion and Justice, being the greatest King in all Greece
in those days, and the only legislator.

Plutarch [164] tells us, that the people of Naxus, contrary to what others
write, pretended that there were two Minos’s, and two Ariadnes; and that the
first Ariadne married Bacchus, and the last was carried away by Theseus: but
[165] Homer, Hesiod, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Strabo, knew but of one Minos;
and Homer describes him to be the son of Jupiter and Europa, and the brother of
Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon, and the father of Deucalion the Argonaut, and
grandfather of Idomeneus who warred at Troy, and that he was the legislator of
Hell: Herodotus [166] makes Minos and Rhadamanthus the sons of Europa,
contemporary to Ægeus: and [167] Apollodorus and Hyginus say, that Minos, the
father of Androgeus, Ariadne and Phædra, wasthe son of Jupiter and Europa, and
brother of Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon.

Lucian [168] lets us know that Europa the mother of Minos was worshipped by the
name of Rhea, the form of a woman sitting in a chariot drawn by lions, with a
drum in her hand, and a Corona turrita on her head, like Astarte and Isis; and
the Cretans [169] anciently shewed the house where this Rhea lived: and [170]
Apollonius Rhodius tells us, that Saturn, while he Reigned over the Titans in
Olympus, a mountain in Crete, and Jupiter was educated by the Curetes in the
Cretan cave, deceived Rhea, and of Philyra begot Chiron: and therefore the
Cretan Saturn and Rhea, were but one Generation older than Chiron, and by
consequence not older than Asterius and Europa, the parents of Minos; for Chiron
lived ’till after the Argonautic Expedition, and had two grandsons in that
Expedition, and Europa came into Crete above an hundred years before that
Expedition: Lucian [171] tells us, that the Cretans did not only relate, that
Jupiter was born and buried among them, but also shewed his sepulchre: and
Porphyry [172] tells us, that Pythagoras went down into the Idæan cave, to see
sepulchre: and Cicero, [173] in numbering three Jupiters, saith, that the third
was the Cretan Jupiter, Saturn’s son, whose sepulchre was shewed in Crete: and
the Scholiast upon Callimachus [174] lets us know, that this was the sepulchre
of Minos: his words are, [Greek: En Krêtê epi tôi taphôi tou Minôos epegegrapto,
MINÔOS TOU DIOS TAPHOS. tôi chronôi de tou Minôos apêleiphthê, hôste
perileiphthênai, DIOS TAPHOS. ek toutou oun echein legousi Krêtes ton taphon tou
Dios.] In Crete upon the Sepulchre of Minos was written Minois Jovis sepulchrum:
but in time Minois wore out so that there remained only, Jovis sepulchrum, and
thence the Cretans called it the Sepulchre of Jupiter. By Saturn, Cicero, who
was a Latine, understood the Saturn so called by the Latines: for when Saturn
was expelled his Kingdom he fled from Crete by sea, to Italy; and this the Poets
exprest by saying, that Jupiter cast him down to Tartarus, that is, into the
Sea: and because he lay hid in Italy, the Latines called him Saturn; and Italy,
Saturnia, and Latium, and themselves Latines: so [175] Cyprian; Antrum Jovis in
Creta visitur, & sepulchrum ejus ostenditur: & ab eo Saturnum fugatum esse
manifestum est: unde Latium de latebra ejus nomen accepit: hic literas
imprimere, hic signare nummos in Italia primus instituit, unde ærarium Saturni
vocatur; & rusticitatis hic cultor fuit, inde falcem ferens senex pingitur: and
Minutius Felix; Saturnus Creta profugus, Italiam metu filii sævientis
accesserat, & Jani susceptus hospitio, rudes illos homines & agrestes multa
docuit, ut Græculus & politus, literas imprimere, nummos signare, instrumenta
conficere: itaque latebram suam, quod tuto latuisset, vocari maluit Latium, &
urbem Saturniam de suo nomine. * * Ejus filius Jupiter Cretæ excluso parente
regnavit, illic obiit, illic filios habuit; adhuc antrum Jovis visitur, &
sepulchrum ejus ostenditur, & ipsis sacris suis humanitatis arguitur: and
Tertullian; [176] Quantum rerum argumenta docent, nusquam invenio fideliora quam
apud ipsam Italiam, in qua Saturnus post multas expeditiones, postque Attica
hospitia consedit, exceptus ab Jano, vel Jane ut Salii volunt. Mons quem
incoluerat Saturnius dictus: civitas quam depalaverat Saturnia usque nunc est.
Tota denique Italia post Oenotriam Saturnia cognominabatur. Ab ipso primum
tabulæ, & imagine signatus nummus, & inde ærario præsidet. By Saturn’s carrying
letters into Italy, and coyning money, and teaching agriculture, and making
instruments, and building a town, you may know that he fled from Crete, after
letters, and the coyning of money, and manual arts were brought into Europe by
the Phoenicians; and from Attica, after agriculture was brought into Greece by
Ceres; and so could not be older than Asterius, and Europa, and her brother
Cadmus: and by Italy’s being called Oenotria, before it was called Saturnia, you
may know that he came into Italy after Oenotrus, and so was not older than the
sons of Lycaon. Oenotrus carried the first colony of the Greeks into Italy,
Saturn the second, and Evander the third; and the Latines know nothing older in
Italy than Janus and Saturn: and therefore Oenotrus was the Janus of the
Latines, and Saturn was contemporary to the sons of Lycaon, and by consequence
also to Celeus, Erechtheus, Ceres, and Asterius: for Ceres educated Triptolemus
the son of Celeus, in the Reign of Erechtheus, and then taught him to plow and
sow corn: Arcas the son of Callisto, and grandson of Lycaon, received corn from
Triptolemus, and taught his people to make bread of it; and Procris, the
daughter of Erechtheus, fled to Minos the son of Asterius. In memory of Saturn’s
coming into Italy by sea, the Latines coined their first money with his head on
one side, and a ship on the other. Macrobius [177] tells us, that when Saturn
was dead, Janus erected an Altar to him, with sacred rites as to a God, and
instituted the Saturnalia, and that humane sacrifices were offered to him; ’till
Hercules driving the cattle of Geryon through Italy, abolished that custom: by
the human sacrifices you may know that Janus was of the race of Lycaon; which
character agrees to Oenotrus. Dionysius Halicarnassensis tells us further, that
Oenotrus having found in the western parts of Italy a large region fit for
pasturage and tillage, but yet for the most part uninhabited, and where it was
inhabited, peopled but thinly; in a certain part of it, purged from the
Barbarians, he built towns little and numerous, in the mountains; which manner
of building was familiar to the ancients: and this was the Original of Towns in
Italy.

Pausanias [178] tells us that the people of Elis, who were best skilled in
Antiquities, related this to have been the Original of the Olympic Games: that
Saturn Reigned first and had a Temple built to him in Olympia by the men of the
Golden Age; and that when Jupiter was newly born, his mother Rhea recommended
him to the care of the Idæi Dactyli, who were also called Curetes: that
afterwards five of them, called Hercules, Poeonius, Epimedes, Jasius, and Ida,
came from Ida, a mountain in Crete, into Elis; and Hercules, called also
Hercules Idæus, being the oldest of them, in memory of the war between Saturn
and Jupiter, instituted the game of racing, and that the victor should be
rewarded with a crown of olive; and there erected an altar to Jupiter Olympius,
and called these games Olympic: and that some of the Eleans said, that Jupiter
contended here with Saturn for the Kingdom; others that Hercules Idæus
instituted these games in memory of their victory over the Titans: for the
people of Arcadia [179] had a tradition, that the Giants fought with the Gods in
the valley of Bathos, near the river Alpheus and the fountain Olympias. [180]
Before the Reign of Asterius, his father Teutamus came into Crete with a colony
from Olympia; and upon the flight of Asterius, some of his friends might retire
with him into their own country, and be pursued and beaten there by the Idæan
Hercules: the Eleans said also that Clymenus the grandson of the Idæan Hercules,
about fifty years after Deucalion’s flood, coming from Crete, celebrated these
games again in Olympia, and erected there an altar to Juno Olympia, that is, to
Europa, and another to this Hercules and the rest of the Curetes; and Reigned in
Elis ’till he was expelled by Endymion, [181] who thereupon celebrated these
games again: and so did Pelops, who expelled Ætolus the son of Endymion; and so
also did Hercules the son of Alcmena, and Atreus the son of Pelops, and Oxylus:
they might be celebrated originally in triumph for victories, first by Hercules
Idæus, upon the conquest of Saturn and the Titans, and then by Clymenus, upon
his coming to Reign in the Terra Curetum; then by Endymion, upon his conquering
Clymenus; and afterwards by Pelops, upon his conquering Ætolus; and by Hercules,
upon his killing Augeas; and by Atreus, upon his repelling the Heraclides; and
by Oxylus, upon the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus. This Jupiter, to
whom they were instituted, had a Temple and Altar erected to him in Olympia,
where the games were celebrated, and from the place was called Jupiter Olympius:
Olympia was a place upon the confines of Pisa, near the river Alpheus. In the
[182] Island Thasus, where Cadmus left his brother Thasus, the Phoenicians built
a Temple to Hercules Olympius, that Hercules, whom Cicero [183] calls ex Idæis
Dactylis; cui inferias afferunt. When the mysteries of Ceres were instituted in
Eleusis, there were other mysteries instituted to her and her daughter and
daughter’s husband, in the Island Samothrace, by the Phoenician names of Dii
Cabiri Axieros, Axiokersa, and Axiokerses, that is, the great Gods Ceres,
Proserpina and Pluto: for [184] Jasius a Samothracian, whose sister married
Cadmus, was familiar with Ceres; and Cadmus and Jasius were both of them
instituted in these mysteries. Jasius was the brother of Dardanus, and married
Cybele the daughter of Meones King of Phrygia, and by her had Corybas; and after
his death, Dardanus, Cybele and Corybas went into Phrygia, and carried thither
the mysteries of the mother of the Gods, and Cybele called the goddess after her
own name, and Corybas called her priests Corybantes: thus Diodorus; but
Dionysius saith [185] that Dardanus instituted the Samothracian mysteries, and
that his wife Chryses learnt them in Arcadia, and that Idæus the son of Dardanus
instituted afterwards the mysteries of the mother of the gods in Phrygia: this
Phrygian Goddess was drawn in a chariot by lions, and had a corona turrita on
her head, and a drum in her hand, like the Phoenician Goddess Astarte, and the
Corybantes danced in armour at her sacrifices in a furious manner, like the Idæi
Dactyli; and Lucian [186] tells us that she was the Cretan Rhea, that is, Europa
the mother of Minos: and thus the Phoenicians introduced the practice of
Deifying dead men and women among the Greeks and Phrygians; for I meet with no
instance of Deifying dead men and women in Greece, before the coming of Cadmus
and Europa from Zidon. From these originals it came into fashion among the
Greeks, [Greek: kterizein], parentare, to celebrate the funerals of dead parents
with festivals and invocations and sacrifices offered to their ghosts, and to
erect magnificent sepulchres in the form of temples, with altars and statues, to
persons of renown; and there to honour them publickly with sacrifices and
invocations: every man might do it to his ancestors; and the cities of Greece
did it to all the eminent Greeks: as to Europa the sister, to Alymnus the
brother, and to Minos and Rhadamanthus the nephews of Cadmus; to his daughter
Ino, and her son Melicertus; to Bacchus the son of his daughter Semele,
Aristarchus the husband of his daughter Autonoe, and Jasius the brother of his
wife Harmonia; to Hercules a Theban, and his mother Alcmena; to Danae the
daughter of Acrisius; to Æsculapius and Polemocrates the son of Machaon, to
Pandion and Theseus Kings of Athens, Hippolytus the son of Theseus, Pan the son
of Penelope, Proserpina, Triptolemus, Celeus, Trophonius, Castor, Pollux,
Helena, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Amphiaraus and his son Amphilochus, Hector and
Alexandra the son and daughter of Priam, Phoroneus, Orpheus, Protesilaus,
Achilles and his mother Thetis, Ajax, Arcas, Idomeneus, Meriones, Æacus,
Melampus, Britomartis, Adrastus, Iolaus, and divers others. They Deified their
dead in divers manners, according to their abilities and circumstances, and the
merits of the person; some only in private families, as houshold Gods or Dii
Pænates; others by erecting gravestones to them in publick, to be used as altars
for annual sacrifices; others, by building also to them sepulchres in the form
of houses or temples; and some by appointing mysteries, and ceremonies, and set
sacrifices, and festivals, and initiations, and a succession of priests for
performing those institutions in the temples, and handing them down to
posterity. Altars might begin to be erected in Europe a little before the days
of Cadmus, for sacrificing to the old God or Gods of the Colonies, but Temples
began in the days of Solomon; for [187] Æacus the son of Ægina, who was two
Generations older than the Trojan war, is by some reputed one of the first who
built a Temple in Greece. Oracles came first from Egypt into Greece about the
same time, as also did the custom of forming the images of the Gods with their
legs bound up in the shape of the Egyptian mummies: for Idolatry began in
Chaldæa and Egypt, and spread thence into Phoenicia and the neighbouring
countries, long before it came into Europe; and the Pelasgians propagated it in
Greece, by the dictates of the Oracles. The countries upon the Tigris and the
Nile being exceeding fertile, were first frequented by mankind, and grew first
into Kingdoms, and therefore began first to adore their dead Kings and Queens:
hence came the Gods of Laban, the Gods and Goddesses called Baalim and Ashtaroth
by the Canaanites, the Dæmons or Ghosts to whom they sacrificed, and the Moloch
to whom they offered their children in the days of Moses and the Judges. Every
City set up the worship of its own Founder and Kings, and by alliances and
conquests they spread this worship, and at length the Phoenicians and Egyptians
brought into Europe the practice of Deifying the dead. The Kingdom of the lower
Egypt began to worship their Kings before the days of Moses; and to this worship
the second commandment is opposed: when the Shepherds invaded the lower Egypt,
they checked this worship of the old Egyptians, and spread that of their own
Kings: and at length the Egyptians of Coptos and Thebais, under Misphragmuthosis
and Amosis, expelling the Shepherds, checked the worship of the Gods of the
Shepherds, and Deifying their own Kings and Princes, propagated the worship of
twelve of them into their conquests; and made them more universal than the false
Gods of any other nation had been before, so as to be called, Dii magni majorum
gentium. Sesostris conquered Thrace, and Amphictyon the son of Prometheus
brought the twelve Gods from Thrace into Greece: Herodotus [188] tells us that
they came from Egypt; and by the names of the cities of Egypt dedicated to many
of these Gods, you may know that they were of an Egyptian original: and the
Egyptians, according to Diodorus, [189] usually represented, that after their
Saturn and Rhea, Reigned Jupiter and Juno, the parents of Osiris and Isis, the
parents of Orus and Bubaste. By all this it may be understood, that as the
Egyptians who Deified their Kings, began their monarchy with the Reign of their
Gods and Heroes, reckoning Menes the first man who reigned after their Gods; so
the Cretans had the Ages of their Gods and Heroes, calling the first four Ages
of their Deified Kings and Princes, the Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron Ages.
Hesiod [190] describing these four Ages of the Gods and Demi-Gods of Greece,
represents them to be four Generations of men, each of which ended when the men
then living grew old and dropt into the grave, and tells us that the fourth
ended with the wars of Thebes and Troy: and so many Generations there were, from
the coming of the Phoenicians and Curetes with Cadmus and Europa into Greece
unto the destruction of Troy. Apollonius Rhodius saith that when the Argonauts
came to Crete, they slew Talus a brazen man, who remained of those that were of
the Brazen Age, and guarded that pass: Talus was reputed [191] the son of Minos,
and therefore the sons of Minos lived in the Brazen Age, and Minos Reigned in
the Silver Age: it was the Silver Age of the Greeks in which they began to plow
and sow Corn, and Ceres, that taught them to do it, flourished in the Reign of
Celeus and Erechtheus and Minos. Mythologists tell us that the last woman with
whom Jupiter lay, was Alcmena; and thereby they seem to put an end to the Reign
of Jupiter among mortals, that is to the Silver Age, when Alcmena was with child
of Hercules; who therefore was born about the eighth or tenth year of Rehoboam’s
Reign, and was about 34 years old at the time of the Argonautic expedition.
Chiron was begot by Saturn of Philyra in the Golden Age, when Jupiter was a
child in the Cretan cave, as above; and this was in the Reign of Asterius King
of Crete: and therefore Asterius Reigned in Crete in the Golden Age; and the
Silver Age began when Chiron was a child: if Chiron was born about the 35th year
of David’s Reign, he will be born in the Reign of Asterius, when Jupiter was a
child in the Cretan cave, and be about 88 years old in the time of the
Argonautic expedition, when he invented the Asterisms; and this is within the
reach of nature. The Golden Age therefore falls in with the Reign of Asterius,
and the Silver Age with that of Minos; and to make these Ages much longer than
ordinary generations, is to make Chiron live much longer than according to the
course of nature. This fable of the four Ages seems to have been made by the
Curetes in the fourth Age, in memory of the first four Ages of their coming into
Europe, as into a new world; and in honour of their country-woman Europa, and
her husband Asterius the Saturn of the Latines, and of her son Minos the Cretan
Jupiter and grandson Deucalion, who Reigned ’till the Argonautic expedition, and
is sometimes reckoned among the Argonauts, and of their great grandson Idomeneus
who warred at Troy. Hesiod tells us that he himself lived in the fifth Age, the
Age next after the taking of Troy, and therefore he flourished within thirty or
thirty five years after it: and Homer was of about the same Age; for he [192]
lived sometime with Mentor in Ithaca, and there learnt of him many things
concerning Ulysses, with whom Mentor had been personally acquainted: now
Herodotus, the oldest Historian of the Greeks now extant, [193] tells us that
Hesiod and Homer were not above four hundred years older than himself, and
therefore they flourished within 110 or 120 years after the death of Solomon;
and according to my reckoning the taking of Troy was but one Generation earlier.

Mythologists tell us, that Niobe the daughter of Phoroneus was the first woman
with whom Jupiter lay, and that of her he begat Argus, who succeeded Phoroneus
in the Kingdom of Argos, and gave his name to that city; and therefore Argus was
born in the beginning of the Silver Age: unless you had rather say that by
Jupiter they might here mean Asterius; for the Phoenicians gave the name of
Jupiter to every King, from the time of their first coming into Greece with
Cadmus and Europa, until the invasion of Greece by Sesostris, and the birth of
Hercules, and particularly to the fathers of Minos, Pelops, Lacedæmon, Æacus,
and Perseus. The four first Ages succeeded the flood of Deucalion; and some tell
us that Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, the son of Japetus, and brother of
Atlas: but this was another Deucalion; for Japetus the father of Prometheus,
Epimetheus, and Atlas, was an Egyptian, the brother of Osiris, and flourished
two generations after the flood of Deucalion.

I have now carried up the Chronology of the Greeks as high as to the first use
of letters, the first plowing and sowing of corn, the first manufacturing of
copper and iron, the beginning of the trades of Smiths, Carpenters, Joyners,
Turners, Brick-makers, Stone-cutters, and Potters, in Europe; the first walling
of cities about, the first building of Temples, and the original of Oracles in
Greece; the beginning of navigation by the Stars in long ships with sails; the
erecting of the Amphictyonic Council; the first Ages of Greece, called the
Golden, Silver, Brazen and Iron Ages, and the flood of Deucalion which
immediately preceded them. Those Ages could not be earlier than the invention
and use of the four metals in Greece, from whence they had their names; and the
flood of Ogyges could not be much above two or three ages earlier than that of
Deucalion: for among such wandering people as were then in Europe, there could
be no memory of things done above three or four ages before the first use of
letters: and the expulsion of the Shepherds out of Egypt, which gave the first
occasion to the coming of people from Egypt into Greece, and to the building of
houses and villages in Greece, was scarce earlier than the days of Eli and
Samuel; for Manetho tells us, that when they were forced to quit Abaris and
retire out of Egypt, they went through the wilderness into Judæa and built
Jerusalem: I do not think, with Manetho, that they were the Israelites under
Moses, but rather believe that they were Canaanites; and upon leaving Abaris
mingled with the Philistims their next neighbours: though some of them might
assist David and Solomon in building Jerusalem and the Temple.

Saul was made King [194], that he might rescue Israel out of the hand of the
Philistims, who opressed them; and in the second year of his Reign, the
Philistims brought into the field against him thirty thousand chariots, and six
thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore for
multitude: the Canaanites had their horses from Egypt; and yet in the days of
Moses all the chariots of Egypt, with which Pharaoh pursued Israel were but six
hundred, Exodus 14:7. From the great army of the Philistims against Saul, and
the great number of their horses, I seem to gather that the Shepherds had newly
relinquished Egypt; and joyned them: the Shepherds might be beaten and driven
out of the greatest part of Egypt, and shut up in Abaris by Misphragmuthosis in
the latter end of the days of Eli; and some of them fly to the Philistims, and
strengthen them against Israel, in the last year of Eli; and from the Philistims
some of the Shepherds might go to Zidon, and from Zidon, by sea to Asia minor
and Greece: and afterwards, in the beginning of the Reign of Saul, the Shepherds
who still remained in Egypt might be forced by Tethmosis or Amosis the son of
Misphragmuthosis, to leave Abaris, and retire in very great numbers to the
Philistims; and upon these occasions several of them, as Pelasgus, Inachus,
Lelex, Cecrops, and Abas, might come with their people by sea from Egypt to
Zidon and Cyprus, and thence to Asia minor and Greece, in the days of Eli,
Samuel and Saul, and thereby begin to open a commerce by sea between Zidon and
Greece, before the revolt of Edom from Judæa, and the final coming of the
Phoenicians from the Red Sea.

Pelasgus Reigned in Arcadia, and was the father of Lycaon, according to
Pherecydes Atheniensis, and Lycaon died just before the flood of Deucalion; and
therefore his father Pelasgus might come into Greece about two Generations
before Cadmus, or in the latter end of the days of Eli: Lycaon sacrificed
children, and therefore his father might come with his people from the Shepherds
in Egypt, and perhaps from the regions of Heliopolis, where they sacrificed men,
’till Amosis abolished that custom. Misphragmuthosis the father of Amosis, drove
the Shepherds out of a great part of Egypt, and shut the remainder up in Abaris:
and then great numbers might escape to Greece; some from the regions of
Heliopolis under Pelasgus, and others from Memphis and other places, under other
Captains: and hence it might come to pass that the Pelasgians were at the first
very numerous in Greece, and spake a different language from the Greek, and were
the ringleaders in bringing into Greece the worship of the dead.

Inachus is called the son of Oceanus, perhaps because he came to Greece by sea:
he might come with his people to Argos from Egypt in the days of Eli, and seat
himself upon the river Inachus, so named from him, and leave his territories to
his sons Phoroneus, Ægialeus, and Phegeus, in the days of Samuel: for Car the
son of Phoroneus built a Temple to Ceres in Megara, and therefore was
contemporary to Erechtheus. Phoroneus Reigned at Argos, and Aegialeus at Sicyon,
and founded those Kingdoms; and yet Ægialeus is made above five hundred years
older than Phoroneus by some Chronologers: but [195] Acusilaus, [196] Anticlides
and [197] Plato, accounted Phoroneus the oldest King in Greece, and [198]
Apollodorus tells us, Ægialeus was the brother of Phoroneus. Ægialeus died
without issue, and after him Reigned Europs, Telchin, Apis, Lamedon, Sicyon,
Polybus, Adrastus, and Agamemnon, &c. and Sicyon gave his name to the Kingdom:
Herodotus [199] saith that Apis in the Greek Tongue is Epaphus; and Hyginus,
[200] that Epaphus the Sicyonian got Antiopa with child: but the later Greeks
have made two men of the two names Apis and Epaphus or Epopeus, and between them
inserted twelve feigned Kings of Sicyon, who made no wars, nor did any thing
memorable, and yet Reigned five hundred and twenty years, which is, one with
another, above forty and three years a-piece. If these feigned Kings be
rejected, and the two Kings Apis and Epopeus be reunited; Ægialeus will become
contemporary to his brother Phoroneus, as he ought to be; for Apis or Epopeus,
and Nycteus the guardian of Labdacus, were slain in battle about the tenth year
of Solomon, as above; and the first four Kings of Sicyon, Ægialeus, Europs,
Telchin, Apis, after the rate of about twenty years to a Reign, take up about
eighty years; and these years counted upwards from the tenth year of Solomon,
place the beginning of the Reign of Ægialeus upon the twelfth year of Samuel, or
thereabout: and about that time began the Reign of Phoroneus at Argos;
Apollodorus [201] calls Adrastus King of Argos; but Homer [202] tells us, that
he Reigned first at Sicyon: he was in the first war against Thebes. Some place
Janiscus and Phæstus between Polybus and Adrastus, but without any certainty.

Lelex might come with his people into Laconia in the days of Eli, and leave his
territories to his sons Myles, Eurotas, Cleson, and Polycaon in the days of
Samuel. Myles set up a quern, or handmill to grind corn, and is reputed the
first among the Greeks who did so: but he flourished before Triptolemus, and
seems to have had his corn and artificers from Egypt. Eurotas the brother, or as
some say the son of Myles, built Sparta, and called it after the name of his
daughter Sparta, the wife of Lacedæmon, and mother of Eurydice. Cleson was the
father of Pylas the father of Sciron, who married the daughter of Pandion the
son of Erechtheus, and contended with Nisus the son of Pandion and brother of
Ægeus, for the Kingdom; and Æacus adjudged it to Nisus. Polycaon invaded
Messene, then peopled only by villages, called it Messene after the name of his
wife, and built cities therein.

Cecrops came from Sais in Egypt to Cyprus, and thence into Attica: and he might
do this in the days of Samuel, and marry Agraule the daughter of Actæus, and
succeed him in Attica soon after, and leave his Kingdom to Cranaus in the Reign
of Saul, or in the beginning of the Reign of David: for the flood of Deucalion
happened in the Reign of Cranaus. Of about the same age with Pelasgus, Inachus,
Lelex, and Actæus, was Ogyges: he Reigned in Boeotia, and some of his people
were Leleges: and either he or his son Eleusis built the city Eleusis in Attica,
that is, they built a few houses of clay, which in time grew into a city.
Acusilaus wrote that Phoroneus was older than Ogyges, and that Ogyges flourished
1020 years before the first Olympiad, as above; but Acusilaus was an Argive, and
feigned these things in honour of his country: to call things Ogygian has been a
phrase among the ancient Greeks, to signify that they are as old as the first
memory of things; and so high we have now carried up the Chronology of the
Greeks. Inachus might be as old as Ogyges, but Acusilaus and his followers made
them seven hundred years older than the truth; and Chronologers, to make out
this reckoning, have lengthened the races of the Kings of Argos and Sicyon, and
changed several contemporary Princes of Argos into successive Kings, and
inserted many feigned Kings into the race of the Kings of Sicyon.

Inachus had several sons, who Reigned in several parts of Peloponnesus, and
there built Towns; as Phoroneus, who built Phoronicum, afterwards called Argos,
from Argus his grandson; Ægialeus, who built Ægialea, afterwards called Sicyon,
from Sicyon the grandson of Erechtheus; Phegeus, who built Phegea, afterwards
called Psophis, from Psophis the daughter of Lycaon: and these were the oldest
towns in Peloponnesus then Sisyphus, the son of Æolus and grandson of Hellen,
built Ephyra, afterwards called Corinth; and Aëthlius, the son of Æolus, built
Elis: and before them Cecrops built Cecropia, the cittadel of Athens; and Lycaon
built Lycosura, reckoned by some the oldest town in Arcadia; and his sons, who
were at least four and twenty in number, built each of them a town; except the
youngest, called Oenotrus, who grew up after his father’s death, and sailed into
Italy with his people, and there set on foot the building of towns, and became
the Janus of the Latines. Phoroneus had also several children and
grand-children, who Reigned in several places, and built new towns, as Car,
Apis, &c. and Hæmon, the son of Pelasgus, Reigned in Hæmonia, afterwards called
Thessaly, and built towns there. This division and subdivision has made great
confusion in the history of the first Kingdoms of Peloponnesus, and thereby
given occasion to the vain-glorious Greeks, to make those kingdoms much older
than they really were: but by all the reckonings abovementioned, the first
civilizing of the Greeks, and teaching them to dwell in houses and towns, and
the oldest towns in Europe, could scarce be above two or three Generations older
than the coming of Cadmus from Zidon into Greece; and might most probably be
occasioned by the expulsion of the Shepherds out of Egypt in the days of Eli and
Samuel, and their flying into Greece in considerable numbers: but it’s difficult
to set right the Genealogies and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages of the Greeks,
and I leave these things to be further examined.

Before the Phoenicians introduced the Deifying of dead men, the Greeks had a
Council of Elders in every town for the government thereof, and a place where
the elders and people worshipped their God with Sacrifices: and when many of
those towns, for their common safety, united under a common Council, they
erected a Prytaneum or Court in one of the towns, where the Council and People
met at certain times, to consult their common safety, and worship their common
God with sacrifices, and to buy and sell: the towns where these Councils met,
the Greeks called [Greek: dêmoi], peoples or communities, or Corporation Towns:
and at length, when many of these [Greek: dêmoi] for their common safety united
by consent under one common Council, they erected a Prytaneum in one of the
[Greek: dêmoi] for the common Council and People to meet in, and to consult and
worship in, and feast, and buy, and sell; and this [Greek: dêmos] they walled
about for its safety, and called [Greek: tên polin] the city: and this I take to
have been the original of Villages, Market-Towns, Cities, common Councils,
Vestal Temples, Feasts and Fairs, in Europe: the Prytaneum, [Greek: pyros
tameion], was a Court with a place of worship, and a perpetual fire kept therein
upon an Altar for sacrificing: from the word [Greek: Hestia] fire, came the name
Vesta, which at length the people turned into a Goddess, and so became
fire-worshippers like the ancient Persians: and when these Councils made war
upon their neighbours, they had a general commander to lead their armies, and he
became their King. So Thucydides [203] tells us, that under Cecrops and the
ancient Kings, untill Theseus; Attica was always inhabited city by city, each
having Magistrates and Prytanea: neither did they consult the King, when there
was no fear of danger, but each apart administred their own common-wealth, and
had their own Council, and even sometimes made war, as the Eleusinians with
Eumolpus did against Erechtheus: but when Theseus, a prudent and potent man
obtained the Kingdom, he took away the Courts and Magistrates of the other
cities, and made them all meet in one Council and Prytaneum at Athens. Polemon,
as he is cited by [204] Strabo, tells us, that in this body of Attica, there
were 170 [Greek: dêmoi], one of which was Eleusis: and Philochorus [205]
relates, that when Attica was infested by sea and land by the Cares and Boeoti,
Cecrops the first of any man reduced the multitude, that is the 170 towns, into
twelve cities, whose names were Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelia, Eleusis,
Aphydna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephissia, and Phalerus; and
that Theseus contracted those twelve cities into one, which was Athens. The
original of the Kingdom of the Argives was much after the same manner: for
Pausanias [206] tells us, that Phoroneus the son of Inachus was the first who
gathered into one community the Argives, who ’till then were scattered, and
lived every where apart, and the place where they were first assembled was
called Phoronicum, the city of Phoroneus: and Strabo [207] observes, that Homer
calls all the places which he reckons up in Peloponnesus, a few excepted, not
cities but regions, because each of them consisted of a convention of many
[Greek: dêmoi], free towns, out of which afterward noble cities were built and
frequented: so the Argives composed Mantinæa in Arcadia out of five towns, and
Tegea out of nine; and out of so many was Heræa built by Cleombrotus, or by
Cleonymus: so also Ægium was built out of seven or eight towns, Patræ: out of
seven, and Dyme out of eight; and so Elis was erected by the conflux of many
towns into one city.

Pausanias [208] tells us, that the Arcadians accounted Pelasgus the first man,
and that he was their first King; and taught the ignorant people to built
houses, for defending themselves from heat, and cold, and rain; and to make them
garments of skins; and instead of herbs and roots, which were sometimes noxious,
to eat the acorns of the beech tree; and that his son Lycaon built the oldest
city in all Greece: he tells us also, that in the days of Lelex the Spartans
lived in villages apart. The Greeks therefore began to build houses and villages
in the days of Pelasgus the father of Lycaon, and in the days of Lelex the
father of Myles, and by consequence about two or three Generations before the
Flood of Deucalion, and the coming of Cadmus; ’till then [209] they lived in
woods and caves of the earth. The first houses were of clay, ’till the brothers
Euryalus and Hyperbius taught them to harden the clay into bricks, and to build
therewith. In the days of Ogyges, Pelasgus, Æzeus, Inachus and Lelex, they began
to build houses and villages of clay, Doxius the son of Coelus teaching them to
do it; and in the days of Lycaon, Phoroneus, Ægialeus, Phegeus, Eurotas, Myles,
Polycaon, and Cecrops, and their sons, to assemble the villages into [Greek:
dêmoi], and the [Greek: dêmoi] into cities. When Oenotrus the son of Lycaon
carried a Colony into Italy, he [210] found that country for the most part
uninhabited; and where it was inhabited, peopled but thinly: and seizing a part
of it, he built towns in the mountains, little and numerous, as above: these
towns were without walls; but after this Colony grew numerous, and began to want
room, they expelled the Siculi, compassed many cities with walls, and became
possest of all the territory between the two rivers Liris and Tibre: and it is
to be understood that those cities had their Councils and Prytanea after the
manner of the Greeks: for Dionysius [211] tells us, that the new Kingdom of
Rome, as Romulus left it, consisted of thirty Courts or Councils, in thirty
towns, each with the sacred fire kept in the Prytaneum of the Court, for the
Senators who met there to perform Sacred Rites, after the manner of the Greeks:
but when Numa the successor of Romulus Reigned, he leaving the several fires in
their own Courts, instituted one common to them all at Rome: whence Rome was not
a compleat city before the days of Numa. When navigation was so far improved
that the Phoenicians began to leave the sea-shore, and sail through the
Mediterranean by the help of the stars, it may be presumed that they began to
discover the islands of the Mediterranean, and for the sake of trafic to sail as
far as Greece: and this was not long before they carried away Io the daughter of
Inachus, from Argos. The Cares first infested the Greek seas with piracy, and
then Minos the son of Europa got up a potent fleet, and sent out Colonies: for
Diodorus [212] tells us, that the Cyclades islands, those near Crete, were at
first desolate and uninhabited; but Minos having a potent fleet, sent many
Colonies out of Crete, and peopled many of them; and particularly that the
island Carpathus was first seized by the soldiers of Minos: Syme lay waste and
desolate ’till Triops came thither with a Colony under Chthonius: Strongyle or
Naxus was first inhabited by the Thracians in the days of Boreas, a little
before the Argonautic Expedition: Samsos was, at first desert, and inhabited
only by a great multitude of terrible wild beasts, ’till Macareus peopled it, as
he did also the islands Chius and Cos. Lesbos lay waste and desolate ’till
Xanthus sailed thither with a Colony: Tenedos lay desolate ’till Tennes, a
little before the Trojan war, sailed thither from Troas. Aristæus, who married
Autonoe the daughter of Cadmus, carried a Colony from Thebes into Cæa, an island
not inhabited before: the island Rhodes was at first called Ophiusa, being full
of serpents, before Phorbas, a Prince of Argos, went thither, and made it
habitable by destroying the serpents, which was about the end of Solomon’s
Reign; in memory of which he is delineated in the heavens in the Constellation
of Ophiuchus. The discovery of this and some other islands made a report that
they rose out of the Sea: in Asia Delos emersit, & Hiera, & Anaphe, & Rhodus,
saith [213] Ammianus: and [214] Pliny; claræ jampridem insulæ, Delos & Rhodos
memoriæ produntur enatæ, postea minores, ultra Melon Anaphe, inter Lemnum &
Hellespontum Nea, inter Lebedum & Teon Halone, &c.

Diodorus [215] tells us also, that the seven islands called Æolides, between
Italy and Sicily, were desert and uninhabited ’till Lipparus and Æolus, a little
before the Trojan war, went thither from Italy, and peopled them: and that Malta
and Gaulus or Gaudus on the other side of Sicily, were first peopled by
Phoenicians; and so was Madera without the Straits: and Homer writes that
Ulysses found the Island Ogygia covered with wood, and uninhabited, except by
Calypso and her maids, who lived in a cave without houses; and it is not likely
that Great Britain and Ireland could be peopled before navigation was propagated
beyond the Straits. The Sicaneans were reputed the first inhabitants of Sicily,
they built little Villages or Towns upon hills, and every Town had its own King;
and by this means they spread over the country, before they formed themselves
into larger governments with a common King: Philistus [216] saith that they were
transplanted into Sicily from the River Sicanus in Spain; and Dionysius [217],
that they were a Spanish people who fled from the Ligures in Italy; he means the
Ligures [218] who opposed Hercules when he returned from his expedition against
Geryon in Spain, and endeavoured to pass the Alps out of Gaul into Italy.
Hercules that year got into Italy, and made some conquests there, and founded
the city Croton; and [219] after winter, upon the arrival of his fleet from
Erythra in Spain, sailed to Sicily, and there left the Sicani: for it was his
custom to recruit his army with conquered people, and after they had assisted
him in making new conquests to reward them with new seats: this was the Egyptian
Hercules, who had a potent fleet, and in the days of Solomon sailed to the
Straits, and according to his custom set up pillars there, and conquered Geryon,
and returned back by Italy and Sicily to Egypt, and was by the ancient Gauls
called Ogmius, and by Egyptians [220] Nilus: for Erythra and the country of
Geryon were without the Straits. Dionysius [221] represents this Hercules
contemporary to Evander. The first inhabitants of Crete, according to Diodorus
[222] were called Eteocretans; but whence they were, and how they came thither,
is not said in history: then sailed thither a Colony of Pelasgians from Greece;
and soon after Teutamus, the grandfather of Minos, carried thither a Colony of
Dorians from Laconia, and from the territory of Olympia in Peloponnesus: and
these several Colonies spake several languages, and fed on the spontaeous fruits
of the earth, and lived quietly in caves and huts, ’till the invention of iron
tools, in the days of Asterius the son of Teutamus; and at length were reduced
into one Kingdom, and one People, by Minos, who was their first law-giver, and
built many towns and ships, and introduced plowing and sowing, and in whose days
the Curetes conquered his father’s friends in Crete and Peloponnesus. The
Curetes [223] sacrificed children to Saturn and according to Bochart [224] were
Philistims; and Eusebius faith that Crete had its name from Cres, one of the
Curetes who nursed up Jupiter: but whatever was the original of the island, it
seems to have been peopled by Colonies which spake different languages, ’till
the days of Asterius and Minos; and might come thither two or three Generations
before, and not above, for want of navigation in those seas. The island Cyprus
was discovered by the Phoenicians not long before; for Eratosthenes [225] tells
us, that Cyprus was at first so overgrown with wood that it could not be tilled,
and that they first cut down the wood for the melting of copper and silver, and
afterwards when they began to sail safely upon the Mediterranean, that is,
presently after the Trojan war, they built ships and even navies of it: and when
they could not thus destroy the wood, they gave every man leave to cut down what
wood he pleased, and to possess all the ground which he cleared of wood. So also
Europe at first abounded very much with woods, one of which, called the
Hercinian, took up a great part of Germany, being full nine days journey broad,
and above forty long, in Julius Cæsar’s days: and yet the Europeans had been
cutting down their woods, to make room for mankind, ever since the invention of
iron tools, in the days of Asterius and Minos.

All these footsteps there are of the first peopling of Europe, and its Islands,
by sea; before those days it seems to have been thinly peopled from the northern
coast of the Euxine-sea by Scythians descended from Japhet, who wandered without
houses, and sheltered themselves from rain and wild beasts in thickets and caves
of the earth; such as were the caves in mount Ida in Crete, in which Minos was
educated and buried; the cave of Cacus, and the Catacombs in Italy near Rome and
Naples, afterwards turned into burying-places; the Syringes and many other caves
in the sides of the mountains of Egypt; the caves of the Troglodites between
Egypt and the Red Sea, and those of the Phaurusii in Afric, mentioned by [226]
Strabo; and the caves, and thickets, and rocks, and high places, and pits, in
which the Israelites hid themselves from the Philistims in the days of Saul, 1
Sam. xiii. 6. But of the state of mankind in Europe in those days there is now
no history remaining. The antiquities of Libya were not much older than those of
Europe; for Diodorus [227] tells us, that Uranus the father of Hyperion, and
grandfather of Helius and Selene, that is Ammon the father of Sesac, was their
first common King, and caused the people, who ’till then wandered up and down,
to dwell in towns: and Herodotus [228] tells us, that all Media was peopled by
[Greek: dêmoi], towns without walls, ’till they revolted from the Assyrians,
which was about 267 years after the death of Solomon: and that after that revolt
they set up a King over them, and built Ecbatane with walls for his seat, the
first town which they walled about; and about 72 years after the death of
Solomon, Benhadad King of Syria [229] had two and thirty Kings in his army
against Ahab: and when Joshuah conquered the land of Canaan, every city of the
Canaanites had its own King, like the cities of Europe, before they conquered
one another; and one of those Kings, Adonibezek, the King of Bezek had conquered
seventy other Kings a little before, Judges 1:7 and therefore towns began to be
built in that land not many ages before the days of Joshuah: for the Patriarchs
wandred there in tents, and fed their flocks where-ever they pleased, the fields
of Phoenicia not being yet fully appropriated, for want of people. The countries
first inhabited by mankind, were in those days so thinly peopled, that [230]
four Kings from the coasts of Shinar and Elam invaded and spoiled the Rephaims,
and the inhabitants of the countries of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and the Kingdoms of
Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim; and yet were pursued and beaten by Abraham
with an armed force of only 318 men, the whole force which Abraham and the
princes with him could raise: and Egypt was so thinly peopled before the birth
of Moses, that Pharaoh said of the Israelites; [231] behold the people of the
children of Israel are more and mightier than we: and to prevent their
multiplying and growing too strong, he caused their male children to be drowned.

These footsteps there are of the first peopling of the earth by mankind, not
long before the days of Abraham; and of the overspreading it with villages,
towns and cities, and their growing into Kingdoms, first Smaller and then
greater, until the rise of the Monarchies of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media,
Persia, Greece, and Rome, the first great Empires on this side India. Abraham
was the fifth from Peleg, and all mankind lived together in Chaldea under the
Government of Noah and his sons, untill the days of Peleg: so long they were of
one language, one society, and one religion: and then they divided the earth,
being perhaps, disturbed by the rebellion of Nimrod, and forced to leave off
building the tower of Babel: and from thence they spread themselves into the
several countries which fell to their shares, carrying along with them the laws,
customs and religion, under which they had ’till those days been educated and
governed, by Noah, and his sons and grandsons: and these laws were handed down
to Abraham, Melchizedek, and Job, and their contemporaries, and for some time
were observed by the judges of the eastern countries: so Job [232] tells us,
that adultery was an heinous crime, yea an iniquity to be punished by the
judges: and of idolatry he [233] saith, If I beheld the sun when it shined, or
the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly inticed, or my
mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the
judge: for I should have denied the God that is above: and there being no
dispute between Job and his friends about these matters, it may be presumed that
they also with their countrymen were of the same religion. Melchizedek was a
Priest of the most high God, and Abraham voluntarily paid tythes to him; which
he would scarce have done had they not been of one and the same religion. The
first inhabitants of the land of Canaan seem also to have been originally of the
same religion, and to have continued in it ’till the death of Noah, and the days
of Abraham; for Jerusalem was anciently [234] called Jebus, and its people
Jebusites, and Melchizedek was their Priest and King: these nations revolted
therefore after the days of Melchizedek to the worship of false Gods; as did
also the posterity of Ismael, Esau, Moab, Ammon, and that of Abraham by Keturah:
and the Israelites themselves were very apt to revolt: and one reason why Terah
went from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran in his way to the land of Canaan; and why
Abraham afterward left Haran, and went into the land of Canaan, might be to
avoid the worship of false Gods, which in their days began in Chaldea, and
spread every way from thence; but did not yet reach into the land of Canaan.
Several of the laws and precepts in which this primitive religion consisted are
mentioned in Job 1:5, and Job 31:1-40, viz. not to blaspheme God, nor to worship
the Sun or Moon, nor to kill, nor steal, nor to commit adultery, nor trust in
riches, nor oppress the poor or fatherless, nor curse your enemies, nor rejoyce
at their misfortunes: but to be friendly, and hospitable and merciful, and to
relieve the poor and needy, and to set up Judges. This was the morality and
religion of the first ages, still called by the Jews, The precepts of the sons
of Noah: this was the religion of Moses and the Prophets, comprehended in the
two great commandments, of loving the Lord our God with all our heart and soul
and mind, and our neighbour as our selves: this was the religion enjoyned by
Moses to the uncircumcised stranger within the gates of Israel, as well as to
the Israelites: and this is the primitive religion of both Jews and Christians,
and ought to be the standing religion of all nations, it being for the honour of
God, and good of mankind: and Moses adds the precept of being merciful even to
brute beasts, so as not to suck out their blood, nor to cut off their flesh
alive with the blood in it, nor to kill them for the sake of their blood, nor to
strangle them; but in killing them for food, to let out their blood and spill it
upon the ground, Genesis 9:4, and Leviticus 17:12-13. This law was ancienter
than the days of Moses, being given to Noah and his sons long before the days of
Abraham: and therefore when the Apostles and Elders in the Council at Jerusalem
declared that the Gentiles were not obliged to be circumcised and keep the law
of Moses, they excepted this law of abstaining from blood, and things strangled
as being an earlier law of God, imposed not on the sons of Abraham only, but on
all nations, while they lived together in Shinar under the dominion of Noah: and
of the same kind is the law of abstaining from meats offered to Idols or false
Gods, and from fornication. So then, the believing that the world was framed by
one supreme God, and is governed by him; and the loving and worshipping him, and
honouring our parents, and loving our neighbour as our selves, and being
merciful even to brute beasts, is the oldest of all religions: and the Original
of letters, agriculture, navigation, music, arts and sciences, metals, smiths
and carpenters, towns and houses, was not older in Europe than the days of Eli,
Samuel and David; and before those days the earth was so thinly peopled, and so
overgrown with woods, that mankind could not be much older than is represented
in Scripture.


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  CHAPTER 35: 02.009.     CHAPTER II
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THE

CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED.

CHAP. II Of the Empire of Egypt. The Egyptians anciently boasted of a very great
and lasting Empire under their Kings Ammon, Osiris, Bacchus, Sesostris,
Hercules, Memnon, &c. reaching eastward to the Indies, and westward to the
Atlantic Ocean; and out of vanity have made this monarchy some thousands of
years older than the world: let us now try to rectify the Chronology of Egypt;
by comparing the affairs of Egypt with the synchronizing affairs of the Greeks
and Hebrews.

Bacchus the conqueror loved two women, Venus and Ariadne: Venus was the mistress
of Anchises and Cinyras, and mother of Æneas, who all lived ’till the
destruction of Troy; and the sons of Bacchus and Ariadne were Argonauts; as
above: and therefore the great Bacchus flourished but one Generation before the
Argonautic expedition. This Bacchus [235] was potent at sea, conquered eastward
as far as India returned in triumph, brought his army over the Hellespont;
conquered Thrace, left music, dancing and poetry there; killed Lycurgus King of
Thrace, and Pentheus the grandson of Cadmus; gave the Kingdom of Lycurgus to
Tharops; and one of his minstrells, called by the Greeks Calliope, to Oeagrus
the son of Tharops; and of Oeagrus and Calliope was born Orpheus, who sailed
with the Argonauts: this Bacchus was therefore contemporary to Sesostris; and
both being Kings of Egypt, and potent at sea, and great conquerors, and carrying
on their conquests into India and Thrace, they must be one and the same man. The
antient Greeks, who made the fables of the Gods, related that Io the daughter of
Inachus was carried into Egypt; and there became the Egyptian Isis; and that
Apis the son of Phoroneus after death became the God Serapis; and some said that
Epaphus was the son of Io: Serapis and Epaphus are Osiris, and therefore Isis
and Osiris, in the opinion of the ancient Greeks who made the fables of the
Gods, were not above two or three Generations older than the Argonautic
expedition.

Dicæarchus, as he is cited by the scholiast upon Apollonius, [236] represents
them two Generations older than Sesostris, saying that after Orus the son of
Osiris and Isis, Reigned Sesonchosis. He seems to have followed the opinion of
the people of Naxus, who made Bacchus two Generations older than Theseus, and
for that end feigned two Minos’s and two Ariadnes; for by the consent of all
antiquity Osiris and Bacchus were one and the same King of Egypt: this is
affirmed by the Egyptians, as well as by the Greeks; and some of the antient
Mythologists, as Eumolpus and Orpheus, [237] called Osiris by the names of
Dionysus and Sirius. Osiris was King of all Egypt, and a great conqueror, and
came over the Hellespont in the days of Triptolemus, and subdued Thrace, and
there killed Lycurgus; and therefore his expedition falls in with that of the
great Bacchus.

Osiris, Bacchus and Sesostris lived about the same time, and by the relation of
historians were all of them Kings of all Egypt, and Reigned at Thebes, and
adorned that city, and were very potent by land and sea: all three were great
conquerors, and carried on their conquests by land through Asia as far as India:
all three came over the Hellespont and were there in danger of losing their
army: all three conquered Thrace, and there put a stop to their victories, and
returned back from thence into Egypt: all three left pillars with inscriptions
in their conquests: and therefore all three must be one and the same King of
Egypt; and this King can be no other than Sesac. All Egypt, including Thebais,
Ethiopia and Libya, had no common King before the expulsion of the Shepherds who
Reigned in the lower Egypt; no Conqueror of Syria, India, Asia minor and Thrace,
before Sesac; and the sacred history admits of no Egyptian conqueror of
Palestine before this King.

Thymætes [238] who was contemporary to Orpheus, and wrote a poesy called
Phrygia, of the actions of Bacchus in very old language and character, said that
Bacchus had Libyan women in his army, amongst whom was Minerva a woman born in
Libya, near the river Triton, and that Bacchus commanded the men and Minerva the
women. Diodorus [239] calls her Myrina, and saith that she was Queen of the
Amazons in Libya, and there conquered the Atlantides and Gorgons, and then made
a league with Orus the son of Isis, sent to her by his father Osiris or Bacchus
for that purpose, and passing through Egypt subdued the Arabians, and Syria and
Cilicia, and came through Phrygia, viz. in the army of Bacchus to the
Mediterranean; but palling over into Europe, was slain with many of her women by
the Thracians and Scythians, under the conduct of Sipylus a Scythian, and Mopsus
a Thracian whom Lycurgus King of Thrace had banished. This was that Lycurgus who
opposed the passage of Bacchus over the Hellespont, and was soon after conquered
by him, and slain: but afterwards Bacchus met with a repulse from the Greeks,
under the conduct of Perseus, who slew many of his women, as Pausanias [240]
relates, and was assisted by the Scythians and Thracians under the conduct of
Sipylus and Mopsus; which repulses, together with a revolt of his brother Danaus
in Egypt; put a stop to his victories: and in returning home he left part of his
men in Colchis and at Mount Caucasus, under Æetes and Prometheus; and his women
upon the river Thermodon near Colchis, under their new Queens Marthesia and
Lampeto: for Diodorus [241] speaking of the Amazons who were seated at
Thermodon, saith, that they dwelt originally in Libya, and there Reigned over
the Atlantides, and invading their neighbours conquered as far as Europe: and
Ammianus, [242] that the ancient Amazons breaking through many nations, attack’d
the Athenians, and there receiving a great slaughter retired to Thermodon: and
Justin, [243] that these Amazons had at first, he means at their first coming to
Thermodon, two Queens who called themselves daughters of Mars; and that they
conquered part of Europe, and some cities of Asia, viz. in the Reign of Minerva,
and then sent back part of their army with a great booty, under their said new
Queens; and that Marthesia being afterwards slain, was succeeded by her daughter
Orithya, and she by Penthesilea; and that Theseus captivated and married Antiope
the sister of Orithya. Hercules made war upon the Amazons, and in the Reign of
Orithya and Penthesilea they came to the Trojan war: whence the first wars of
the Amazons in Europe and Asia, and their settling at Thermodon, were but one
Generation before those actions of Hercules and Theseus, and but two before the
Trojan war, and so fell in with the expedition of Sesostris: and since they
warred in the days of Isis and her son Orus, and were a part of the army of
Bacchus or Osiris, we have here a further argument for making Osiris and Bacchus
contemporary to Sesostris, and all three one and the same King with Sesac. The
Greeks reckon Osiris and Bacchus to be sons of Jupiter, and the Egyptian name of
Jupiter is Ammon. Manetho in his 11th and 12th Dynasties, as he is cited by
Africanus and Eusebius names these four Kings of Egypt, as reigning in order;
Ammenemes, Gesongeses or Sesonchoris the son of Ammenemes, Ammenemes who was
slain by is Eunuchs, and Sesostris who subdued all Asia and part of Europe.
Gesongeses and Sesonchoris are corruptly written for Sesonchosis; and the two
first of these four Kings, Ammenemes and Sesonchosis, are the same with the two
last, Ammenemes and Sesostris, that is, with Ammon and Sesac; for Diodorus saith
[244] that Osiris built in Thebes a magnificent temple to his parents Jupiter
and Juno, and two other temples to Jupiter, a larger to Jupiter Uranius, and a
less to his father Jupiter Ammon who reigned in that city: and [245] Thymætes
abovementioned, who was contemporary to Orpheus, wrote expresly that the father
of Bacchus was Ammon, a King Reigning over part of Libya, that is, a King of
Egypt Reigning over all that part of Libya, anciently called Ammonia. Stephanus
[246] saith [Greek: Pasa hê Libyê houtôs ekaleito apo Ammônos;] All Libya was
anciently called Ammonia from Ammon: this is that King of Egypt from whom Thebes
was called No-Ammon, and Ammon-no the city of Ammon, and by the Greeks
Diospolis, the city of Jupiter Ammon: Sesostris built it sumptuously, and called
it by his father’s name, and from the same King the [247] River called Ammon,
the people called Ammonii, and the [248] promontory Ammonium in Arabia fælix had
their names. The lower part of Egypt being yearly overflowed by the Nile, was
scarce inhabited before the invention of corn, which made it useful: and the
King, who by this invention first peopled it and Reigned over it, perhaps the
King of the city Mesir where Memphis was afterwards built, seems to have been
worshipped by his subjects after death, in the ox or calf, for this benefaction:
for this city stood in the most convenient place to people the lower Egypt, and
from its being composed of two parts seated on each side of the river Nile,
might give the name of Mizraim to its founder and people; unless you had rather
refer the word to the double people, those above the Delta, and those within it:
and this I take to be the state of the lower Egypt, ’till the Shepherds or
Phoenicians who fled from Joshuah conquered it, and being afterwards conquered
by the Ethiopians, fled into Africa and other places: for there was a tradition
that some of them fled into Afric; and St. Austin [249] confirms this, by
telling us that the common people of Afric being asked who they were, replied
Chanani, that is, Canaanites. Interrogati rustici nostri, saith he, quid sint,
Punice respondentes Chanani, corrupta scilicet voce sicut in talibus solet, quid
aliud respondent quam Chanaanæi? Procopius also [250] tells us of two pillars in
the west of Afric, with inscriptions signifying that the people were Canaanites
who fled from Joshuah: and Eusebius [251] tells us, that these Canaanites flying
from the sons of Israel, built Tripolis in Afric; and the Jerusalem Gemara,
[252] that the Gergesites fled from Joshua, going into Afric: and Procopius
relates their flight in this manner. [Greek: Epei de hêmas ho tês historias
logos entauth’ êgagen. epanankes eipein anôthen, hothen te ta Maurousiôn ethnê
es Libyên êlthe, kai hopôs ôikêsanto. Epeidê Hebraioi ex Aigyptou anechôrêsan,
kai anchi tôn Palaistinês horiôn egenonto; Môsês men sophos anêr, hos autos tês
hodou hêgêsato, thnêskei. diadechetai de tên hêgemonian Iêsous ho tou Nauê pais;
hos es te tên Palaistinên ton leôn touton eisêgage; kai aretên en tôi polemôi
kreissô hê kata anthrôpou physin epideixamenos, tên chôran esche; kai ta ethnê
hapanta katastrepsamenos, tas poleis eupetôs parestêsato, anikêtos te pantapasin
edoxen einai. tote de hê epithalassia chôra, ek Sidônos mechri tôn Aigyptou
horiôn, Phoinikê xympasa ônomazeto. basileus de eis to palaion ephestêkei;
hôsper hapasin hômologêtai, hoi Phoinikôn ta archaiotata anegrapsanto. entauth’
ôkênto ethnê polyanthrôpotata, Gergesaioi te kai Iebousaioi, kai alla atta
onomata echonta, hois dê auta hê tôn Hebraiôn historia kalei. houtos ho laos
epei amachon ti chrêma ton epêlytên stratêgon eidon; ex êthôn tôn patriôn
exanastantes, ep’ Aigypton homorou ousês echôrêsan. entha chôron oudena sphisin
hikanon enoikêsasthai heurontes, epei en Aigyptô polyanthrôpia ek palaiou ên; es
Libyên mechri stêlôn tôn Hêrakleous eschon; entautha te kai es eme têi Phoinikôn
phônêi chrômenoi ôikêntai]. Quando ad Mauros nos historia deduxit, congruens nos
exponere unde orta gens in Africa sedes fixerit. Quo tempore egressi Ægypto
Hebræi jam prope Palestinæ fines venerant, mortuus ibi Moses, vir sapiens, dux
itineris. Successor imperii factus Jesus Navæ filius intra Palæstinam duxit
popularium agmen; & virtute usus supra humanum modum, terram occupavit,
gentibusque excisis urbes ditionis suæ fecit, & invicti famam tulit. Maritima
ora quæ a Sidone ad Ægypti limitem extenditur, nomen habet Phoenices. Rex unus
[Hebræis] imperabat ut omnes qui res Phoenicias scripsere consentiunt. In eo
tractatu numerosæ gentes erant, Gergesæi, Jebusæi, quosque aliis nominibus
Hebræorum annales memorant. Hi homines ut impares se venienti imperatori videre,
derelicto patriæ solo ad finitimam primum venere Ægyptum, sed ibi capacem tantæ
multitudinis locum non reperientes, erat enim Ægyptus ab antiquo foecunda
populis, in Africam profecti, multis conditis urbibus, omnem eam Herculis
columnas usque, obtinuerunt: ubi ad meam ætatem sermone Phoenicio utentes
habitant. By the language and extreme poverty of the Moors, described also by
Procopius and by their being unacquainted with merchandise and sea-affairs, you
may know that they were Canaanites originally, and peopled Afric before the
Tyrian merchants came thither. These Canaanites coming from the East, pitched
their tents in great numbers in the lower Egypt, in the Reign of Timaus, as
[253] Manetho writes, and easily seized the country, and fortifying Pelusium,
then called Abaris, they erected a Kingdom there, and Reigned long under their
own Kings, Salatis, Boeon, Apachnas, Apophis, Janias, Assis, and others
successively: and in the mean time the upper part of Egypt called Thebais, and
according to [254] Herodotus, Ægyptus, and in Scripture the land of Pathros, was
under other Kings, Reigning perhaps at Coptos, and Thebes, and This, and Syene,
and [255] Pathros, and Elephantis, and Heracleopolis, and Mesir, and other great
cities, ’till they conquered one another, or were conquered by the Ethiopians:
for cities grew great in those days, by being the seats of Kingdoms: but at
length one of these Kingdoms conquered the rest, and made a lasting war upon the
Shepherds, and in the Reign of its King Misphragmuthosis, and his son Amosis,
called also Tethmosis, Tuthmosis, and Thomosis, drove them out of Egypt, and
made them fly into Afric and Syria, and other places, and united all Egypt into
one Monarchy; and under their next Kings, Ammon and Sesac, enlarged it into a
great Empire. This conquering people worshipped not the Kings of the Shepherds
whom they conquered and expelled, but [256] abolished their religion of
sacrificing men, and after the manner of those ages Deified their own Kings, who
founded their new Dominion, beginning the history of their Empire with the Reign
and great acts of their Gods and Heroes: whence their Gods Ammon and Rhea, or
Uranus and Titæa; Osiris and Isis; Orus and Bubaste: and their Secretary Thoth,
and Generals Hercules and Pan; and Admiral Japetus, Neptune, or Typhon; were all
of them Thebans, and flourished after the expulsion of the Shepherds. Homer
places Thebes in Ethiopia, and the Ethiopians reported that [257] the Egyptians
were a colony drawn out of them by Osiris, and that thence it came to pass that
most of the laws of Egypt were the same with those of Ethiopia, and that the
Egyptians learnt from the Ethiopians the custom of Deifying their Kings. When
Joseph entertained his brethren in Egypt, they did eat at a table by themselves,
and he did eat at another table by himself; and the Egyptians who did eat with
him were at another table, because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the
Hebrews; for that was an abomination to the Egyptians, Genesis 43:32. These
Egyptians who did eat with Joseph were of the Court of Pharaoh; and therefore
Pharaoh and his Court were at this time not Shepherds but genuine Egyptians; and
these Egyptians abominated eating bread with the Hebrews, at one and the same
table: and of these Egyptians and their fellow-subjects, it is said a little
after, that every Shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians: Egypt at this
time was therefore under the government of the genuine Egyptians, and not under
that of the Shepherds.

After the descent of Jacob and his sons into Egypt, Joseph lived 70 years, and
so long continued in favour with the Kings of Egypt: and 64 years after his
death Moses was born: and between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses,
there arose up a new King over Egypt, which knew not Joseph, Exodus 1:8. But
this King of Egypt was not one of the Shepherds; for he is called Pharaoh,
Exodus 1:11, Exodus 1:22 and Moses told his successor, that if the people of
Israel should sacrifice in the land of Egypt, they should sacrifice the
abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and the Egyptians would stone
them, Exodus 8:26 that is, they should sacrifice sheep or oxen, contrary to the
religion of Egypt. The Shepherds therefore did not Reign over Egypt while Israel
was there, but either were driven out of Egypt before Israel went down thither,
or did not enter into Egypt ’till after Moses had brought Israel from thence:
and the latter must be true, if they were driven out of Egypt a little before
the building of the temple of Solomon, as Manetho affirms.

Diodorus [258] saith in his 40th book, that in Egypt there were formerly
multitudes of strangers of several nations, who used foreign rites and
ceremonies in worshipping the Gods, for which they were expelled Egypt; and
under Danaus, Cadmus, and other skilful commanders, after great hardships, came
into Greece, and other places; but the greatest part of them came into Judaea,
not far from Egypt, a country then uninhabited and desert, being conducted
thither by one Moses, a wise and valiant man, who after he had possest himself
of the country, among other things built Jerusalem, and the Temple. Diodorus
here mistakes the original of the Israelites, as Manetho had done before,
confounding their flight into the wilderness under the conduct of Moses, with
the flight of the Shepherds from Misphragmuthosis, and his son Amosis, into
Phoenicia and Afric; and not knowing that Judaea was inhabited by Canaanites,
before the Israelites under Moses came thither: but however, he lets us know
that the Shepherds were expelled Egypt by Amosis, a little before the building
of Jerusalem and the Temple, and that after several hardships several of them
came into Greece, and other places, under the conduct of Cadmus, and other
Captains, but the most of them Settled in Phoenicia next Egypt. We may reckon
therefore that the expulsion of the Shepherds by the Kings of Thebais, was the
occasion that the Philistims were so numerous in the days of Saul; and that so
many men came in those times with colonies out of Egypt and Phoenicia into
Greece; as Lelex, Inachus, Pelasgus, AEzeus, Cecrops, AEgialeus, Cadmus,
Phoenix, Membliarius, Alymnus, Abas, Erechtheus, Peteos, Phorbas, in the days of
Eli, Samuel, Saul and David: some of them fled in the days of Eli, from
Misphragmuthosis, who conquered part of the lower Egypt; others retired from his
Successor Amosis into Phoenicia, and Arabia Petraea, and there mixed with the
old inhabitants; who not long after being conquered by David, fled from him and
the Philistims by sea, under the conduct of Cadmus and other Captains, into Asia
Minor, Greece, and Libya, to seek new seats, and there built towns, erected
Kingdoms, and set on foot the worship of the dead: and some of those who
remained in Judaea might assist David and Solomon, in building Jerusalem and the
Temple. Among the foreign rites used by the strangers in Egypt, in worshipping
the Gods, was the sacrificing of men; for Amosis abolished that custom at
Heliopolis: and therefore those strangers were Canaanites, such as fled from
Joshua; for the Canaanites gave their seed, that is, their children, to Moloch,
and burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire to their Gods, Deuteronomy
12:31. Manetho calls them Phoenician strangers.

After Amosis had expelled the Shepherds, and extended his dominion over all
Egypt, his son and Successor Ammenemes or Ammon, by much greater conquests laid
the foundation of the Egyptian Empire: for by the assistance of his young son
Sesostris, whom he brought up to hunting and other laborious exercises, he
conquered Arabia, Troglodytica, and Libya: and from him all Libya was anciently
called Ammonia: and after his death, in the temples erected to him at Thebes,
and in Ammonia and at Meroe in Ethiopia, they set up Oracles to him, and made
the people worship him as the God that acted in them: and these are the oldest
Oracles mentioned in history; the Greeks therein imitating the Egyptians: for
the [259] Oracle at Dodona was the oldest in Greece, and was set up by an
Egyptian woman, after the example of the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon at Thebes. In
the days of Ammon a body of the Edomites fled from David into Egypt, with their
young King Hadad, as above; and carried thither their skill in navigation: and
this seems to have given occasion to the Egyptians to build a fleet on the Red
Sea near Coptos, and might ingratiate Hadad with Pharaoh: for the Midianites and
Ishmaelites, who bordered upon the Red Sea, near Mount Horeb on the south-side
of Edom, were merchants from the days of Jacob the Patriarch, Genesis 37:28,
Genesis 37:36 and by their merchandise the Midianites abounded with gold in the
days of Moses, Numbers 31:50-52 and in the days of the judges of Israel, because
they were Ishmaelites, Judges 8:24. The Ishmaelites therefore in those days grew
rich by merchandise; they carried their merchandise on camels through Petra to
Rhinocolura, and thence to Egypt: and this trafic at length came into the hands
of David, by his conquering the Edomites, and gaining the ports of the Red Sea
called Eloth and Ezion-Geber, as may be understood by the 3000 talents of gold
of Ophir, which David gave to the Temple, 1 Chronicles 29:4. The Egyptians
having the art of making linen-cloth, they began about this time to build long
Ships with sails, in their port on those Seas near Coptos, and having learnt the
skill of the Edomites, they began now to observe the positions of the Stars, and
the length of the Solar Year, for enabling them to know the position of the
Stars at any time, and to sail by them at all times, without sight of the shoar:
and this gave a beginning to Astronomy and Navigation: for hitherto they had
gone only by the shoar with oars, in round vessels of burden, first invented on
that shallow sea by the posterity of Abraham, and in passing from island to
island guided themselves by the sight of the islands in the day time, or by the
sight of some of the Stars in the night. Their old year was the Lunisolar year,
derived from Noah to all his posterity, ’till those days, and consisted of
twelve months, each of thirty days, according to their calendar: and to the end
of this calendar-year they now added five days, and thereby made up the Solar
year of twelve months and five days, or 365 days. The ancient Egyptians feigned
[260] that Rhea lay secretly with Saturn, and Sol prayed that she might bring
forth neither in any month, nor in the year; and that Mercury playing at dice
with Luna, overcame, and took from the Lunar year the 72d part of every day, and
thereof composed five days, and added them to the year of 360 days, that she
might bring forth in them; and that the Egyptians celebrated those days as the
birth-days of Rhea’s five children, Osiris, Orus senior, Typhon, Isis, and
Nephthe the wife of Typhon: and therefore, according to the opinion of the
ancient Egyptians, the five days were added to the Lunisolar calendar-year, in
the Reign of Saturn and Rhea, the parents of Osiris, Isis, and Typhon; that is,
in the Reign of Ammon and Titaea, the parents of the Titans; or in the latter
half of the Reign of David, when those Titans were born, and by consequence soon
after the flight of the Edomites from David into Egypt: but the Solstices not
being yet settled, the beginning of this new year might not be fixed to the
Vernal Equinox before the Reign of Amenophis the successor of Orus junior, the
Son of Osiris and Isis. When the Edomites fled from David with their young King
Hadad into Egypt, it is probable that they carried thither also the use of
letters: for letters were then in use among the posterity of Abraham in Arabia
Petraea, and upon the borders of the Red Sea, the Law being written there by
Moses in a book, and in tables of stone, long before: for Moses marrying the
daughter of the prince of Midian, and dwelling with him forty years, learnt them
among the Midianites: and Job, who lived [261] among their neighbours the
Edomites, mentions the writing down or words, as there in use in his days, Job
19:23-24 and there is no instance of letters for writing down sounds, being in
use before the days of David, in any other nation besides the posterity of
Abraham. The Egyptians ascribed this invention to Thoth, the secretary of
Osiris; and therefore Letters began to be in use in Egypt in the days of Thoth,
that is, a little after the flight of the Edomites from David, or about the time
that Cadmus brought them into Europe.

Helladius [262] tells us, that a man called Oes, who appeared in the Red Sea
with the tail of a fish, so they painted a sea-man, taught Astronomy and
Letters: and Hyginus, [263] that Euhadnes, who came out of the Sea in Chaldaea,
taught the Chaldaeans Astrology the first of any man; he means Astronomy: and
Alexander Polyhistor [264] tells us from Berosus, that Oannes taught the
Chaldaeans Letters, Mathematicks, Arts, Agriculture, Cohabitation in Cities, and
the Construction of Temples; and that several such men came thither
successively. Oes, Euhadnes, and Oannes, seem to be the same name a little
varied by corruption; and this name seems to have been given in common to
several sea-men, who came thither from time to time, and by consequence were
merchants, and frequented those seas with their merchandise, or else fled from
their enemies: so that Letters, Astronomy, Architecture and Agriculture, came
into Chaldaea by sea, and were carried thither by sea-men, who frequented the
Persian Gulph, and came thither from time to time, after all those things were
practised in other countries whence they came, and by consequence in the days of
Ammon and Sesac, David and Solomon, and their successors, or not long before.
The Chaldaeans indeed made Oannes older than the flood of Xisuthrus, but the
Egyptians made Osiris as old, and I make them contemporary. The Red Sea had its
name not from its colour, but from Edom and Erythra, the names of Esau, which
signify that colour: and some [265] tell us, that King Erythra, meaning Esau,
invented the vessels, rates, in which they navigated that Sea, and was buried in
an island thereof near the Persian Gulph: whence it follows, that the Edomites
navigated that Sea from the days of Esau; and there is no need that the oldest
Oannes should be older. There were boats upon rivers before, such as were the
boats which carried the Patriarchs over Euphrates and Jordan, and the first
nations over many other rivers, for peopling the earth, seeking new seats, and
invading one another’s territories: and after the example of such vessels,
Ishhmael and Midian the sons of Abraham, and Esau his grandson, might build
larger vessels to go to the islands upon the Red Sea, in searching for new
seats, and by degrees learn to navigate that sea, as far as to the Persian
Gulph: for ships were as old, even upon the Mediterranean, as the days of Jacob,
Genesis 19:13. Judges 5:17 but it is probable that the merchants of that sea
were not forward to discover their Arts and Sciences, upon which their trade
depended: it seems therefore that Letters and Astronomy, and the trade of
Carpenters, were invented by the merchants of the Red Sea, for writing down
their merchandise, and keeping their accounts, and guiding their ships in the
night by the Stars, and building ships; and that they were propagated from
Arabia Petraea into Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Asia minor, and Europe, much about
one and the same time; the time in which David conquered and dispersed those
merchants: for we hear nothing of Letters before the days of David, except among
the posterity of Abraham; nothing of Astronomy, before the Egyptians under Ammon
and Sesac applied themselves to that study, except the Constellations mentioned
by Job, who lived in Arabia Petraea among the merchants; nothing of the trade of
Carpenters, or good Architecture, before Solomon sent to Hiram King of Tyre, to
supply him with such Artificers, saying that there were none in Israel who could
skill to hew timber like the Zidonians.

Diodorus [266] tells us, that the Egyptians sent many colonies out of Egypt into
other countries; and that Belus, the son of Neptune and Libya, carried colonies
thence into Babylonia, and seating himself on Euphrates, instituted priests free
from taxes and publick expences, after the manner of Egypt, who were called
Chaldaeans, and who after the manner of Egypt, might observe the Stars: and
Pausanias [267] tells us, that the Belus of the Babylonians had his name from
Belus an Egyptian, the son of Libya: and Apollodorus; [268] that Belus the son
of Neptune and Libya, and King of Egypt, was the father of AEgyptus and Danaus,
that is, Ammon: he tells us also, that Busiris the son of Neptune and Lisianassa
[Libyanassa] the daughter of Epaphus, was King of Egypt; and Eusebius calls this
King, Busiris the son of Neptune, and of Libya the daughter of Epaphus. By these
things the later Egyptians seem to have made two Belus’s, the one the father of
Osiris, Isis, and Neptune, the other the son of Neptune, and father of AEgyptus
and Danaus: and hence came the opinion of the people of Naxus, that there were
two Minos’s and two Ariadnes, the one two Generations older than the other;
which we have confuted. The father of AEgyptus and Danaus was the father of
Osiris, Isis, and Typhon; and Typhon was not the grandfather of Neptune, but
Neptune himself.

Sesostris being brought up to hard labour by his father Ammon, warred first
under his father, being the Hero or Hercules of the Egyptians during his
father’s Reign, and afterward their King: under his father, whilst he was very
young, he invaded and conquered Troglodytica, and thereby secured the harbour of
the Red Sea, near Coptos in Egypt, and then he invaded Ethiopia, and carried on
his conquest southward, as far as to the region bearing cinnamon: and his father
by the assistance of the Edomites having built a fleet on the Red Sea, he put to
sea, and coasted Arabia Faelix, going to the Persian Gulph and beyond, and in
those countries set up Columns with inscriptions denoting his conquests; and
particularly he Set up a Pillar at Dira, a promontory in the straits of the Red
Sea, next Ethiopia, and two Pillars in India, on the mountains near the mouth of
the rivers Ganges; so [269] Dionysius:

[Greek: Entha te kai stelai, Thebaigeneos Dionysou] [Greek: Hestasin pymatoio
para rhoon Okeanoio,] [Greek: Indon hystatioisin en ouresin; entha te Ganges]
[Greek: Leukon hydor Nyssaion epi platamona kylindei.] Ubi etiamnum columnae
Thebis geniti Bacchi Stant extremi juxta fluxum Oceani Indorum ultimis in
montibus: ubi & Ganges Claram aquam Nyssaeam ad planitiem devolvit.

After these things he invaded Libya, and fought the Africans with clubs, and
thence is painted with a club in his hand: so [270] Hyginus; Afri & AEgyptii
primum fustibus dimicaverunt, postea Belus Neptuni filius gladio belligeratus
est, unde bellum dictum est: and after the conquest of Libya, by which Egypt was
furnished with horses, and furnished Solomon and his friends; he prepared a
fleet on the Mediterranean, and went on westward upon the coast of Afric, to
search those countries, as far as to the Ocean and island Erythra or Gades in
Spain; as Macrobius [271] informs us from Panyasis and Pherecydes: and there he
conquered Geryon, and at the mouth of the Straits set up the famous Pillars.

[272] Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris.

Then he returned through Spain and the southern coasts of France and Italy, with
the cattel of Geryon, his fleet attending him by sea, and left in Sicily the
Sicani, a people which he had brought from Spain: and after his father’s death
he built Temples to him in his conquests; whence it came to pass, that Jupiter
Ammon was worshipped in Ammonia, and Ethiopia, and Arabia, and as far as India,
according to the [273] Poet:

Quamvis AEthiopum populis, Arabumque beatis Gentibus, atque Indis unus sit
Jupiter Ammon. The Arabians worshipped only two Gods, Coelus, otherwise called
Ouranus, or Jupiter Uranius, and Bacchus: and these were Jupiter Ammon and
Sesac, as above: and so also the people of Meroe above Egypt [274] worshipped no
other Gods but Jupiter and Bacchus, and had an Oracle of Jupiter, and these two
Gods were Jupiter Ammon and Osiris, according to the language of Egypt. At
length Sesostris, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, came out of Egypt with a great
army of Libyans, Troglodytes and Ethiopians, and spoiled the Temple, and reduced
Judaea into servitude, and went on conquering, first eastward toward India,
which he invaded, and then westward as far as Thrace: for God had given him the
kingdoms of the countries, 2 Chronicles 12:2-3, 2 Chronicles 12:8. In [275] this
Expedition he spent nine years, setting up pillars with inscriptions in all his
conquests, some of which remained in Syria ’till the days of Herodotus. He was
accompanied with his son Orus, or Apollo, and with some singing women, called
the Muses, one of which, called Calliope, was the mother of Orpheus an Argonaut:
and the two tops of the mountain Parnassus, which were very high, were dedicated
[276] the one to this Bacchus, and the other to his son Apollo: whence Lucan;
[277] Parnassus gemino petit aethera colle, Mons Phoebo, Bromioque sacer. In the
fourteenth year of Rehoboam he returned back into Egypt; leaving AEetes in
Colchis, and his nephew Prometheus at mount Caucasus, with part of his army, to
defend his conquests from the Scythians. Apollonius Rhodius [278] and his
scholiast tell us, that Sesonchosis King of all Egypt, that is Sesac, invading
all Asia, and a great part of Europe, peopled many cities which he took; and
that AEa, the Metropolis of Colchis, remained stable ever since his days with
the posterity of those Egyptians which he placed there, and that they preserved
pillars or tables in which all the journies and the bounds of sea and land were
described, for the use of them that were to go any whither: these tables
therefore gave a beginning to Geography.

Sesostris upon his returning home [279] divided Egypt by measure amongst the
Egyptians; and this gave a beginning to Surveying and Geometry: and [280]
Jamblicus derives this division of Egypt, and beginning of Geometry, from the
Age of the Gods of Egypt. Sesostris also [281] divided Egypt into 36 Nomes or
Counties, and dug a canal from the Nile to the head city of every Nome, and with
the earth dug out of it, he caused the ground of the city to be raised higher,
and built a Temple in every city for the worship of the Nome, and in the Temples
set up Oracles, some of which remained ’till the days of Herodotus: and by this
means the Egyptians of every Nome were induced to worship the great men of the
Kingdom, to whom the Nome, the City, and the Temple or Sepulchre of the God, was
dedicated: for every Temple had its proper God, and modes of worship, and annual
festivals, at which the Council and People of the Nome met at certain times to
sacrifice, and regulate the affairs of the Nome, and administer justice, and buy
and sell; but Sesac and his Queen, by the names of Osiris and Isis, were
worshipped in all Egypt: and because Sesac, to render the Nile more useful, dug
channels from it to all the capital cities of Egypt; that river was consecrated
to him, and he was called by its names, AEgyptus, Siris, Nilus. Dionysius [282]
tells us, that the Nile was called Siris by the Ethiopians, and Nilus by the
people of Siene. From the word Nahal, which signifies a torrent, that river was
called Nilus; and Dionysius [283] tells us, that Nilus was that King who cut
Egypt into canals, to make the river useful: in Scripture the river is called
Schichor, or Sihor, and thence the Greeks formed the words Siris, Sirius,
Ser-Apis, O-Siris; but Plutarch [284] tells us, that the syllable O, put before
the word Siris by the Greeks, made it scarce intelligible to the Egyptians.

I have now told you the original of the Nomes of Egypt and of the Religions and
Temples of the Nomes, and of the Cities built there by the Gods, and called by
their names: whence Diodorus [285] tells us, that of all the Provinces of the
World, there were in Egypt only many cities built by the ancient Gods, as by
Jupiter, Sol, Hermes, Apollo, Pan, Eilithyia, and, many others: and Lucian [286]
an Assyrian, who had travelled into Phoenicia and Egypt, tells us, that the
Temples of Egypt were very old, those in Phoenicia built by Cinyras as old, and
those in Assyria almost as old as the former, but not altogether so old: which
shews that the Monarchy of Assyria rose up after the Monarchy of Egypt; as is
represented in Scripture; and that the Temples of Egypt then standing, were
those built by Sesostris, about the same time that the Temples of Phoenicia and
Cyprus were built by Cinyras, Benhadad, and Hiram. This was not the first
original of Idolatry, but only the erecting of much more sumptuous Temples than
formerly to the founders of new Kingdoms: for Temples at first were very small;

Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in aede.

Ovid. Fast. l. 1.

Altars were at first erected without Temples, and this custom continued in
Persia ’till after the days of Herodotus: in Phoenicia they had Altars with
little houses for eating the sacrifices much earlier, and these they called High
Places: such was the High Place where Samuel entertained Saul; such was the
House of Dagon at Ashdod, into which the Philistims brought the Ark; and the
House of Baal, in which Jehu slew the Prophets of Baal; and such were the High
Places of the Canaanites which Moses commanded Israel to destroy: he [287]
commanded Israel to destroy the Altars, Images, High Places, and Groves of the
Canaanites, but made no mention of their Temples, as he would have done had
there been any in those days. I meet with no mention of sumptuous Temples before
the days of Solomon: new Kingdoms begun then to build Sepulchres to their
Founders in the form of Sumptuous Temples; and such Temples Hiram built in Tyre,
Sesac in all Egypt, and Benhadad in Damascus. For when David [288] smote Hadad
Ezer King of Zobah, and slew the Syrians of Damascus who came to assist him,
Rezon the son of Eliadah fled from his lord Hadad-Ezer, and gathered men unto
him and became Captain over a band, and Reigned in Damascus, over Syria: he is
called Hezion, 1 Kings 15:18 and his successors mentioned in history were
Tabrimon, Hadad or Ben-hadad, Benhadad II. Hazael, Benhadad III. * * and Rezin
the son of Tabeah. Syria became subject to Egypt in the days of Tabrimon, and
recovered her liberty under Benhadad I; and in the days of Benhadad III, until
the reign of the last Rezin, they became subject to Israel: and in the ninth
year of Hoshea King of Judah, Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria captivated the
Syrians, and put an end to their Kingdom: now Josephus [289] tells us, that the
Syrians ’till his days worshipped both Adar, that is Hadad or Benhadad, and his
successor Hazael as Gods, for their benefactions, and for building Temples by
which they adorned the city of Damascus: for, saith he, they daily celebrate
solemnities in honour of these Kings, and boast their antiquity, not knowing
that they are novel, and lived not above eleven hundred years ago. It seems
these Kings built sumptuous Sepulchres for themselves, and were worshipped
therein. Justin [290] calls the first of these two Kings Damascus, saying that
the city had its name from him, and that the Syrians in honour of him worshipped
his wife Arathes as a Goddess, using her Sepulchre for a Temple.

Another instance we have in the Kingdom of Byblus. In the [291] Reign of Minos
King of Crete, when Rhadamanthus the brother of Minos carried colonies from
Crete to the Greek islands, and gave the islands to his captains, he gave Lemnos
to Thoas, or Theias, or Thoantes, the father of Hypsipyle, a Cretan worker in
metals, and by consequence a disciple of the Idaei Dactyli, and perhaps a
Phoenician: for the Idaei Dactyli, and Telchines, and Corybantes brought their
Arts and Sciences from Phoenicia: and [292] Suidas saith, that he was descended
from Pharnaces King of Cyprus; Apollodorus, [293] that he was the son of
Sandochus a Syrian; and Apollonius Rhodius, [294] that Hypsipyle gave Jason the
purple cloak which the Graces made for Bacchus, who gave it to his son Thoas,
the father of Hypsipyle, and King of Lemnos: Thoas married [295] Calycopis, the
mother of AEneas, and daughter of Otreus King of Phrygia, and for his skill on
the harp was called Cinyras, and was said to be exceedingly beloved by Apollo or
Orus: the great Bacchus loved his wife, and being caught in bed with her in
Phrygia appeased him with wine, and composed the matter by making him King of
Byblus and Cyprus; and then came over the Hellespont with his army, and
conquered Thrace: and to these things the poets allude, in feigning that Vulcan
fell from heaven into Lemnos, and that Bacchus [296] appeased him with wine, and
reduced him back into heaven: he fell from the heaven of the Cretan Gods, when
he went from Crete to Lemnos to work in metals, and was reduced back into heaven
when Bacchus made him King of Cyprus and Byblus: he Reigned there ’till a very
great age, living to the times of the Trojan war, and becoming exceeding rich:
and after the death of his wife Calycopis, [297] he built Temples to her at
Paphos and Amathus, in Cyprus; and at Byblus in Syria, and instituted Priests to
her with Sacred Rites and lustful Orgia; whence she became the Dea Cypria, and
the Dea Syria: and from Temples erected to her in these and other places, she
was also called Paphia, Amathusia, Byblia, Cytherea Salaminia, Cnidia, Erycina,
Idalia. Fama tradit a Cinyra sacratum vetustissimum Paphiae Veneris templum,
Deamque ipsam conceptam mari huc appulsam: Tacit. Hist. l. 2. c. 3. From her
sailing from Phrygia to the island Cythera, and from thence to be Queen of
Cyprus, she was said by the Cyprians, to be born of the froth of the sea, and
was painted sailing upon a shell. Cinyras Deified also his son Gingris, by the
name of Adonis; and for assisting the Egyptians with armour, it is probable that
he himself was Deified by his friends the Egyptians, by the name of Baal-Canaan,
or Vulcan: for Vulcan was celebrated principally by the Egyptians, and was a
King according to Homer, and Reigned in Lemnos; and Cinyras was an inventor of
arts, [298] and found out copper in Cyprus, and the smiths hammer, and anvil,
and tongs, and laver; and imployed workmen in making armour, and other things of
brass and iron, and was the only King celebrated in history for working in
metals, and was King of Lemnos, and the husband of Venus; all which are the
characters of Vulcan: and the Egyptians about the time of the death of Cinyras,
viz. in the Reign of their King Amenophis, built a very sumptuous Temple at
Memphis to Vulcan, and near it a smaller Temple to Venus Hospita; not an
Egyptian woman but a foreigner, not Helena but Vulcan’s Venus: for [299]
Herodotus tells us, that the region round about this Temple was inhabited by
Tyrian Phoenicians, and that [300] Cambyses going into this Temple at Memphis,
very much derided the statue of Vulcan for its littleness; For, saith he, this
statue is most like those Gods which the Phoenicians call Pataeci, and carry
about in the fore part of their Ships in the form of Pygmies: and [301] Bochart
saith of this Venus Hospita, Phoeniciam Venerem in AEgypto pro peregrina
habitam. As the Egyptians, Phoenicians and Syrians in those days Deified their
Kings and Princes, so upon their coming into Asia minor and Greece, they taught
those nations to do the like, as hath been shewed above. In those days the
writing of the Thebans and Ethiopians was in hieroglyphicks; and this way of
writing seems to have spread into the lower Egypt before the days of Moses: for
thence came the worship of their Gods in the various shapes of Birds, Beasts,
and Fishes, forbidden in the second commandment. Now this emblematical way of
writing gave occasion to the Thebans and Ethiopians, who in the days of Samuel,
David, Solomon, and Rehoboam conquered Egypt, and the nations round about, and
erected a great Empire, to represent and signify their conquering Kings and
Princes, not by writing down their names, but by making various hieroglyphical
figures; as by painting Ammon with Ram’s horns, to signify the King who
conquered Libya, a country abounding with sheep; his father Amosis with a
Scithe, to signify that King who conquered the lower Egypt, a country abounding
with corn; his Son Osiris by an Ox, because he taught the conquered nations to
plow with oxen; Bacchus with Bulls horns for the same reason, and with Grapes
because he taught the nations to plant vines, and upon a Tiger because he
subdued India; Orus the son of Osiris with a Harp, to signify the Prince who was
eminently skilled on that instrument; Jupiter upon an Eagle to signify the
sublimity of his dominion, and with a Thunderbolt to represent him a warrior;
Venus in a Chariot drawn with two Doves, to represent her amorous and lustful;
Neptune with a Trident, to signify the commander of a fleet composed of three
Squadrons; AEgeon, a Giant, with 50 heads, and an hundred hands, to signify
Neptune with his men in a ship of fifty oars; Thoth with a Dog’s head and wings
at his cap and feet, and a Caduceus writhen about with two Serpents, to signify
a man of craft, and an embassador who reconciled two contending nations; Pan
with a Pipe and the legs of a Goat, to signify a man delighted in piping and
dancing; and Hercules with Pillars and a Club, because Sesostris set up pillars
in all his conquests, and fought against the Libyans with clubs: this is that
Hercules who, according to [302] Eudoxus, was slain by Typhon; and according to
Ptolomaeus Hephaestion [303] was called Nilus, and who conquered Geryon with his
three sons in Spain, and set up the famous pillars at the mouth of the Straits:
for Diodorus [304] mentioning three Hercules’s, the Egyptian, the Tyrian, and
the son of Alcmena, saith that the oldest flourished among the Egyptians, and
having conquered a great part of the world, set up the pillars in Afric: and
Vasaeus, [305] that Osiris, called also Dionysius, came into Spain and conquered
Geryon, and was the first who brought Idolatry into Spain. Strabo [306] tells
us, that the Ethiopians called Megabars fought with clubs: and some of the
Greeks [307] did so ’till the times of the Trojan war. Now from this
hieroglyphical way of writing it came to pass, that upon the division of Egypt
into Nomes by Sesostris, the great men of the Kingdom to whom the Nomes were
dedicated, were represented in their Sepulchers or Temples of the Nomes, by
various hieroglyphicks; as by an Ox, a Cat, a Dog, a Cebus, a Goat, a Lyon, a
Scarabaeus, an Ichneumon, a Crocodile, an Hippopotamus, an Oxyrinchus, an Ibis,
a Crow, a Hawk, a Leek, and were worshipped by the Nomes in the shape of these
creatures. The [308] Atlantides, a people upon mount Atlas conquered by the
Egyptians in the Reign of Ammon, related that Uranus was their first King, and
reduced them from a savage course of life, and caused them to dwell in towns and
cities, and lay up and use the fruits of the earth, and that he reigned over a
great part of the world, and by his wife Titaea had eighteen children, among
which were Hyperion and Basilea the parents of Helius and Selene; that the
brothers of Hyperion slew him, and drowned his son Helius, the Phaeton of the
ancients, in the Nile, and divided his Kingdom amongst themselves; and the
country bordering upon the Ocean fell to the lot of Atlas, from whom the people
were called Atlantides. By Uranus or Jupiter Uranius, Hyperion, Basilea, Helius
and Selene, I understand Jupiter Ammon, Osiris, Isis, Orus and Bubaste; and by
the sharing of the Kingdom of Hyperion amongst his brothers the Titans, I
understand the division of the earth among the Gods mentioned in the Poem of
Solon. For Solon having travelled into Egypt, and conversed with the Priests of
Sais; about their antiquities, wrote a Poem of what he had learnt, but did not
finish it; [309] and this Poem fell into the hands of Plato who relates out of
it, that at the mouth of the Straits near Hercules’s Pillars there was an Island
called Atlantis, the people of which, nine thousand years before the days of
Solon, reigned over Libya as far as Egypt; and over Europe as far as the
Tyrrhene sea; and all this force collected into one body invaded Egypt and
Greece, and whatever was contained within the Pillars of Hercules, but was
resisted and stopt by the Athenians and other Greeks, and thereby the rest of
the nations not yet conquered were preserved: he saith also that in those days
the Gods, having finished their conquests, divided the whole earth amongst
themselves, partly into larger, partly into smaller portions, and instituted
Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves; and that the Island Atlantis fell to the
lot of Neptune, who made his eldest Son Atlas King of the whole Island, a part
of which was called Gadir; and that in the history of the said wars mention was
made of Cecrops, Erechtheus, Erichthonius, and others before Theseus, and also
of the women who warred with the men, and of the habit and statue of Minerva,
the study of war in those days being common to men and women. By all these
circumstances it is manifest that these Gods were the Dii magni majorum gentium,
and lived between the age of Cecrops and Theseus; and that the wars which
Sesostris with his brother Neptune made upon the nations by land and sea, and
the resistance he met with in Greece, and the following invasion of Egypt by
Neptune, are here described; and how the captains of Sesostris shared his
conquests amongst themselves, as the captains of Alexander the great did his
conquests long after, and instituting Temples and Priests and sacred Rites to
themselves, caused the nations to worship them after death as Gods: and that the
Island Gadir or Gades, with all Libya, fell to the lot of him who after death
was Deified by the name of Neptune. The time therefore when these things were
done is by Solon limited to the age of Neptune, the father of Atlas; for Homer
tells us, that Ulysses presently after the Trojan war found Calypso the daughter
of Atlas in the Ogygian Island, perhaps Gadir; and therefore it was but two
Generations before the Trojan war. This is that Neptune, who with Apollo or Orus
fortified Troy with a wall, in the Reign of Laomedon the father of Priamus, and
left many natural children in Greece, some of which were Argonauts, and others
were contemporary to the Argonauts; and therefore he flourished but one
Generation before the Argonautic expedition, and by consequence about 400 years
before Solon went into Egypt: but the Priests of Egypt in those 400 years had
magnified the stories and antiquity of their Gods so exceedingly, as to make
them nine thousand years older than Solon, and the Island Atlantis bigger than
all Afric and Asia together, and full of people; and because in the days of
Solon this great Island did not appear, they pretended that it was sunk into the
sea with all its people: thus great was the vanity of the Priests of Egypt in
magnifying their antiquities. The Cretans [310] affirmed that Neptune was the
man who set out a fleet, having obtained this Praefecture of his father Saturn;
whence posterity reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and
mariners honoured him with sacrifices: the invention of tall Ships with sails
[311] is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in Africa, as Herodotus
[312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for his eldest son
Atlas, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island Atlantis, but also
Reigned over a great part of Afric, giving his name to the people called
Atlantii, and to the mountain Atlas, and the Atlantic Ocean. The [313] outmost
parts of the earth and promontories, and whatever bordered upon the sea and was
washed by it, the Egyptians called Neptys; and on the coasts of Marmorica and
Cyrene, Bochart and Arius Montanus place the Naphthuhim, a people sprung from
Mizraim, Genesis 10:13; and thence Neptune and his wife Neptys might have their
names, the words Neptune, Neptys and Naphthuhim, signifying the King, Queen, and
people of the sea-coasts. The Greeks tell us that Japetus was the father of
Atlas, and Bochart derives Japetus and Neptune from the same original: he and
his son Atlas are celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the Gods
of Egypt; as when Lucian [314] saith that Corinth being full of fables, tells
the fight of Sol and Neptune, that is, of Apollo and Python, or Orus and Typhon;
and where Agatharcides [315] relates how the Gods of Egypt fled from the Giants,
’till the Titans came in and saved them by putting Neptune to flight; and where
Hyginus [316] tells the war between the Gods of AEgypt, and the Titans commanded
by Atlas. The Titans are the posterity of Titaea, some of whom under Hercules
assisted the Gods, others under Neptune and Atlas warred against them: for which
reason, saith Plutarch, [317] the Priests of Egypt abominated the sea, and had
Neptune in no honour. By Hercules, I understand here the general of the forces
of Thebais and Ethiopia whom the Gods or great men of Egypt called to their
assistance, against the Giants or great men of Libya, who had slain Osiris and
invaded Egypt: for Diodorus [318] saith that when Osiris made his expedition
over the world, he left his kinsman Hercules general of his forces over all his
dominions, and Antaeus governor of Libya and Ethiopia. Antaeus Reigned over all
Afric to the Atlantic Ocean, and built Tingis or Tangieres: Pindar [319] tells
us that he Reigned at Irasa a town of Libya, where Cyrene was afterwards built:
he invaded Egypt and Thebais; for he was beaten by Hercules and the Egyptians
near Antaea or Antaeopolis, a town of Thebais; and Diodorus [320] tells us that
this town had its name from Antaeus, whom Hercules slew in the days of Osiris.
Hercules overthrew him several times, and every time he grew stronger by
recruits from Libya, his mother earth; but Hercules intercepted his recruits,
and at length slew him. In these wars Hercules took the Libyan world from Atlas,
and made Atlas pay tribute out of his golden orchard, the Kingdom of Afric.
Antaeus and Atlas were both of them sons of Neptune both of them Reigned over
all Libya and Afric, between Mount Atlas and the Mediterranean to the very
Ocean; both of them invaded Egypt, and contended with Hercules in the wars of
the Gods, and therefore they are but two names of one and the same man; and even
the name Atlas in the oblique cases seems to have been compounded of the name
Antaeeus and some other word, perhaps the word Atal, cursed, put before it: the
invasion of Egypt by Antaeus, Ovid hath relation unto, where he makes Hercules
say, Saevoque alimenta parentis

Antaeo eripui. This war was at length composed by the intervention of Mercury,
who in memory thereof was said to reconcile two contending serpents, by casting
his Ambassador’s rod between them: and thus much concerning the ancient state of
Egypt, Libya, and Greece, described by Solon. The mythology of the Cretans
differed in some things from that of Egypt and Libya: for in the Cretan
mythology, Coelus and Terra, or Uranus and Titaea were the parents of Saturn and
Rhea, and Saturn and Rhea were the parents of Jupiter and Juno; and Hyperion,
Japetus and the Titans were one Generation older than Jupiter; and Saturn was
expelled his Kingdom and castrated by his son Jupiter: which fable hath no place
in the mythology of Egypt.

During the Reign of Sesac, Jeroboam being in subjection to Egypt; set up the
Gods of Egypt in Dan and Bethel; and Israel was without the true God, and
without a teaching Priest and without law: and in those times there was no peace
to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all
the inhabitants of the countries; and nation was destroyed of nation, and city
of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 2 Chronicles 15:3, 2
Chronicles 15:5-6. But in the fifth year of Asa the land of Judah became quiet
from war, and from thence had quiet ten years; and Asa took away the altars of
strange Gods, and brake down the Images, and built the fenced cities of Judah
with walls and towers and gates and bars, having rest on every side, and got up
an army of 580000 men, with which in the fifteenth year of his Reign he met
Zerah the Ethiopian, who came out against him with an army of a thousand
thousand Ethiopians and Libyans: the way of the Libyans was through Egypt, and
therefore Zerah was now Lord of Egypt: they fought at Mareshah near Gerar,
between Egypt and Judaea, and Zerah was beaten, so that he could not recover
himself: and from all this I seem to gather that Osiris was slain in the fifth
year of Asa, and thereupon Egypt fell into civil wars, being invaded by the
Libyans, and defended by the Ethiopians for a time; and after ten years more
being invaded by the Ethiopians, who slew Orus the son and successor of Osiris,
drowning him in the Nile, and seized his Kingdom. By these civil wars of Egypt,
the land of Judah had rest ten years. Osiris or Sesostris reigned long, Manetho
saith 48 years; and by this reckoning he began to Reign about the 17th year of
Solomon; and Orus his son was drowned in the 15th year of Asa: for Pliny [321]
tells us, AEgyptiorum bellis attrita est AEthiopia, vicissim imperitando
serviendoque, clara & potens etiam usque ad Trojana bella Memnone regnante.
Ethiopia, served Egypt ’till the death of Sesostris, and no longer; for
Herodotus [322] tells us that he alone enjoyed the Empire of Ethiopia: then the
Ethiopians became free, and after ten years became Lords of Egypt and Libya,
under Zerah and Amenophis. When Asa by his victory over Zerah became safe from
Egypt, he assembled all the people, and they offered sacrifices out of the
spoils, and entered into a covenant upon oath to seek the Lord; and in lieu of
the vessels taken away by Sesac, he brought into the house of God the things
that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, Silver and
Gold, and Vessels. 2 Chronicles 15:1-19. When Zerah was beaten, so that he could
not recover himself, the people [323] of the lower Egypt revolted from the
Ethiopians, and called in to their assistance two hundred thousand Jews and
Canaanites; and under the conduct of one Osarsiphus, a Priest of Egypt, called
Usorthon, Osorchon, Osorchor, and Hercules AEgyptius by Manetho, caused the
Ethiopians now under Memnon to retire to Memphis: and there Memnon turned the
river Nile into a new channel, built a bridge over it and fortified that pass,
and then went back into Ethiopia: but after thirteen years, he and his young son
Ramesses came down with an army from Ethiopia, conquered the lower Egypt, and
drove out the Jews and Phoenicians; and this action the Egyptian writers and
their followers call the second expulsion of the Shepherds, taking Osarsiphus
for Moses.

Tithonus a beautiful youth, the elder brother of Priamus, went into Ethiopia,
being carried thither among many captives by Sesostris: and the Greeks, before
the days of Hesiod, feigned that Memnon was his son: Memnon therefore, in the
opinion of those ancient Greeks, was one Generation younger than Tithonus, and
was born after the return of Sesostris into Egypt: suppose about 16 or 20 years
after the death of Solomon. He is said to have lived very long, and so might die
about 95 years after Solomon, as we reckoned above: his mother, called Cissia by
AEschylus, in a statue erected to her in Egypt, [324] was represented as the
daughter, the wife, and the mother of a King, and therefore he was the son of a
King; which makes it probable that Zerah, whom he succeeded in the Kingdom of
Ethiopia, was his father.

Historians [325] agree that Menes Reigned in Egypt next after the Gods, and
turned the river into a new channel, and built a bridge over it, and built
Memphis and the magnificent Temple of Vulcan: he built Memphis over-against the
place where Grand Cairo now stands, called by the Arabian historians Mesir: he
built only the body of the Temple of Vulcan, and his successors Ramesses or
Rhampsinitus, Moeris, Asychis, and Psammiticus built the western, northern
eastern, and southern portico’s thereof: Psammiticus, who built the last portico
of this Temple, Reigned three hundred years after the victory of Asa over Zerah,
and it is not likely that this Temple could be above three hundred years in
building, or that any Menes could be King of all Egypt before the expulsion of
the Shepherds. The last of the Gods of Egypt was Orus, with his mother Isis, and
sister Bubaste, and secretary Thoth, and unkle Typhon; and the King who reigned
next after all their deaths, and turned the river and built a bridge over it,
and built Memphis and the Temple of Vulcan, was Memnon or Amenophis, called by
the Egyptians Amenoph; and therefore he is Menes: for the names Amenoph, or
Menoph, and Menes do not much differ; and from Amenoph the city Memphis built by
Menes had its Egyptian names Moph, Noph, Menoph or Menuf, as it is still called
by the Arabian historians: the necessity of fortifying this place against
Osarsiphus gave occasion to the building of it. In the time of the revolt of the
lower Egypt under Osarsiphus, and the retirement of Amenophis into Ethiopia,
Egypt being then in the greatest distraction, the Greeks built the ship Argo,
and sent in it the flower of Greece to AEetes in Colchis, and to many other
Princes on the coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean seas; and this ship was
built after the pattern of an Egyptian ship with fifty oars, in which Danaus
with his fifty daughters a few years before fled from Egypt into Greece, and was
the first long ship with sails built by the Greeks: and such an improvement of
navigation, with a design to send the flower of Greece to many Princes upon the
sea-coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean seas, was too great an undertaking to
be set on foot, without the concurrence of the Princes and States of Greece, and
perhaps the approbation of the Amphictyonic Council; for it was done by the
dictate of the Oracle. This Council met every half year upon state-affairs for
the welfare of Greece, and therefore knew of this expedition, and might send the
Argonauts upon an embassy to the said Princes; and for concealing their design
might make the fable of the golden fleece, in relation to the ship of Phrixus
whose ensign was a golden ram: and probably their design was to notify the
distraction of Egypt, and the invasion thereof by the Ethiopians and Israelites,
to the said Princes, and to persuade them to take that opportunity to revolt
from Egypt, and set up for themselves, and make a league with the Greeks: for
the Argonauts went through [326] the Kingdom of Colchis by land to the
Armenians, and through Armenia to the Medes; which could not have been done if
they had not made friendship with the nations through which they passed: they
visited also Laomedon King of the Trojans, Phineus King of the Thracians,
Cyzicus King of the Doliones, Lycus King of the Mariandyni, the coasts of Mysia
and Taurica Chersonesus, the nations upon the Tanais, the people about
Byzantium, and the coasts of Epirus, Corsica, Melita, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia,
and Gallia upon the Mediterranean; and from thence they [327] crossed the sea to
Afric, and there conferred with Euripylus King of Cyrene: and [328] Strabo tells
us that in Armenia and Media, and the neighbouring places, there were frequent
monuments of the expedition of Jason; as also about Sinope, and its sea-coasts,
the Propontis and the Hellespont, and in the Mediterranean: and a message by the
flower of Greece to so many nations could be on no other account than
state-policy; these nations had been invaded by the Egyptians, but after this
expedition we hear no more of their continuing in subjection to Egypt. The [329]
Egyptians originally lived on the fruits of the earth, and fared hardly, and
abstained from animals, and therefore abominated Shepherds: Menes taught them to
adorn their beds and tables with rich furniture and carpets, and brought in
amongst them a sumptuous, delicious and voluptuous way of life: and about a
hundred years after his death, Gnephacthus one of his successors cursed him for
it, and to reduce the luxury of Egypt, caused the curse to be entered in the
Temple of Jupiter at Thebes; and by this curse the honour of Menes was
diminished among the Egyptians. The Kings of Egypt who expelled the Shepherds
and Succeeded them, Reigned I think first at Coptos, and then at Thebes, and
then at Memphis. At Coptos I place Misphragmuthosis and Amosis or Thomosis who
expelled the Shepherds, and abolished their custom of sacrificing men, and
extended the Coptic language, and the name of [Greek: Aia Koptou], Aegyptus, to
the conquest. Then Thebes became the Royal City of Ammon, and from him was
called No-Ammon, and his conquest on the west of Egypt was called Ammonia. After
him, in the same city of Thebes, Reigned Osiris, Orus, Menes or Amenophis, and
Ramesses: but Memphis and her miracles were not yet celebrated in Greece; for
Homer celebrates Thebes as in its glory in his days, and makes no mention of
Memphis. After Menes had built Memphis, Moeris the successor of Ramesses adorned
it, and made it the seat of the Kingdom, and this was almost two Generations
after the Trojan war. Cinyras, the Vulcan who married Venus, and under the Kings
of Egypt Reigned over Cyprus and part of Phoenicia, and made armour for those
Kings, lived ’till the times of the Trojan war: and upon his death Menes or
Memnon might Deify him, and found the famous Temple of Vulcan in that city for
his worship, but not live to finish it. In a plain [330] not far from Memphis
are many small Pyramids, said to be built by Venephes or Enephes; and I suspect
that Venephes and Enephes have been corruptly written for Menephes or Amenophis,
the letters AM being almost worn out in some old manuscript: for after the
example of these Pyramids, the following Kings, Moeris and his successors, built
others much larger. The plain in which they were built was the burying-place of
that city, as appears by the Mummies there found; and therefore the Pyramids
were the sepulchral monuments of the Kings and Princes of that city: and by
these and such like works the city grew famous soon after the days of Homer; who
therefore flourished in the Reign of Ramesses.

Herodotus [331] is the oldest historian now extant who wrote of the antiquities
of Egypt, and had what he wrote from the Priests of that country: and Diodorus,
who wrote almost 400 years after him, and had his relations also from the
Priests of Egypt, placed many nameless Kings between those whom Herodotus placed
in continual succession. The Priests of Egypt had therefore, between the days of
Herodotus and Diodorus, out of vanity, very much increased the number of their
Kings: and what they did after the days of Herodotus, they began to do before
his days; for he tells us that they recited to him out of their books, the names
of 330 Kings who Reigned after Menes, but did nothing memorable, except Nitocris
and Moeris the last of them: all these Reigned at Thebes, ’till Moeris
translated the seat of the Empire from Thebes to Memphis. After Moeris he
reckons Sesostris, Pheron, Proteus, Rhampsinitus, Cheops, Cephren, Mycerinus,
Asychis, Anysis, Sabacon, Anysis again, Sethon, twelve contemporary Kings,
Psammitichus, Nechus, Psammis, Apries, Amasis, and Psammenitus. The Egyptians
had before the days of Solon made their monarchy 9000 years old, and now they
reckon’d to Herodotus a succession of 330 Kings Reigning so many Generations,
that is about 11000 years, before Sesostris: but the Kings who Reigned long
before Sesostris might Reign over several little Kingdoms in several parts of
Egypt, before the rise of their Monarchy; and by consequence before the days of
Eli and Samuel, and so are not under our consideration: and these names may have
been multiplied by corruption; and some of them, as Athothes or Thoth, the
secretary of Osiris; Tosorthrus or AEsculapius a Physician who invented building
with square stones; and Thuor or Polybus the husband of Alcandra, were only
Princes of Egypt. If with Herodotus we omit the names of those Kings who did
nothing memorable, and consider only those whose actions are recorded, and who
left splendid monuments of their having Reigned over Egypt, such as were
Temples, Statues, Pyramids, Obelisks, and Palaces dedicated or ascribed to them,
these Kings reduced into good order will give us all or almost all the Kings of
Egypt, from the days of the expulsion of the Shepherds and founding of the
Monarchy, downwards to the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses: for Sesostris Reigned
in the Age of the Gods of Egypt: being Deified by the names of Osiris, Hercules
and Bacchus, as above; and therefore Menes, Nitocris, and Moeris are to be
placed after him; Menes and his son Ramesses Reigned next after the Gods, and
therefore Nitocris and Moeris Reigned after Ramesses: Moeris is set down
immediately before Cheops, three times in the Dynastys of the Kings of Egypt
composed by Eratosthenes, and once in the Dynasties of Manetho; and in the same
Dynasties Nitocris is set after the builders of the three great Pyramids, and
according to Herodotus her brother Reigned before her, and was slain, and she
revenged his death; and according to Syncellus she built the third great
Pyramid; and the builders of the Pyramids Reigned at Memphis, and by consequence
after Moeris. Now from these things I gather that the Kings of Egypt mentioned
by Herodotus ought to be placed in this order; Sesostris, Pheron, Proteus,
Menes, Rhampsinitus, Moeris, Cheops, Cephren, Mycerinus, Nitocris, Asychis,
Anysis, Sabacon, Anysis again, Sethon, twelve contemporary Kings, Psammitichus,
Nechus, Psammis, Apries, Amasis, Psammenitus.

Pheron is by Herodotus said to be the son and successor of Sesostris.

He was Deified by the name of Orus.

Proteus Reigned in the lower Egypt when Paris sailed thither; that is at the end
of the Trojan war, according to [332] Herodotus: and at that time Amenophis was
King of Egypt and Ethiopia: but in his absence Proteus might be governor of some
part of the lower Egypt under him; for Homer places Proteus upon the sea-coasts,
and makes him a sea God, and calls him the servant of Neptune; and Herodotus
saith that he rose up from among the common people, and that Proteus was his
name translated into Greek, and this name in Greek signifies only a Prince or
President. He succeeded Pheron, and was succeeded by Rhampsinitus according to
Herodotus; and so was contemporary to Amenophis.

Amenophis Reigned next after Orus and Isis the last of the Gods; he Reigned at
first over all Egypt, and then over Memphis and the upper parts of Egypt; and by
conquering Osarsiphus, who had revolted from him, became King of all Egypt
again, about 51 years after the death of Solomon. He built Memphis and ordered
the worship of the Gods of Egypt, and built a Palace at Abydus, and the Memnonia
at This and Susa, and the magnificent Temple of Vulcan in Memphis; the building
with square stones being found out before by Tosorthrus, the AEsculapius of
Egypt: he is by corruption of his name called Menes, Mines, Minaeus, Mineus,
Minies, Mnevis, Enephes, Venephes, Phamenophis, Osymanthyas, Osimandes,
Ismandes, Imandes, Memnon, Arminon.

Amenophis was succeeded by his son, called by Herodotus, Rhampsinitus, and by
others Ramses, Ramises, Rameses, Ramesses, [333] Ramestes, Rhampses, Remphis.
Upon an Obelisk erected by this King in Heliopolis, and sent to Rome by the
Emperor Constantius, was an inscription, interpreted by Hermapion an Egyptian
Priest, expressing that the King was long lived, and Reigned over a great part
of the earth: and Strabo, [334] an eye-witness, tells us, that in the monuments
of the Kings of Egypt, above the Memnonium were inscriptions upon Obelisks,
expressing the riches of the Kings, and their Reigning as far as Scythia,
Bactria, India and Ionia: and Tacitus [335] tells us from an inscription seen at
Thebes by Caesar Germanicus, and interpreted to him by the Egyptian Priests,
that this King Ramesses had an army of 700000 men, and Reigned over Libya,
Ethiopia, Media, Persia, Bactria, Scythia, Armenia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and
Lycia; whence the Monarchy of Assyria was not yet risen. This King was very
covetous, and a great collector of taxes, and one of the richest of all the
Kings of Egypt, and built the western portico of the Temple of Vulcan.

Moeris inheriting the riches of Ramesses, built the northern portico of that
Temple more sumptuously, and made the Lake of Moeris, with two great Pyramids of
brick in the midst of it: and for preserving the division of Egypt into equal
shares amongst the soldiers, this King wrote a book of surveying, which gave a
beginning to Geometry. He is called also Maris, Myris, Meres, Marres, Smarres;
and more corruptly, by changing [Greek: M] into [Greek: A, T, B, S, YCH, L], &c.
Ayres, Tyris, Byires, Soris, Uchoreus, Lachares, Labaris, &c.

Diodorus [336] places Uchoreus between Osymanduas and Myris, that is between
Amenophis and Moeris, and saith that he built Memphis, and fortified it to
admiration with a mighty rampart of earth, and a broad and deep trench, which
was filled with the water of the Nile, and made there a vast and deep Lake for
receiving the water of the Nile in the time of its overflowing, and built
palaces in the city; and that this place was so commodiously seated that most of
the Kings who Reigned after him preferred it before Thebes, and removed the
Court from thence to this place, so that the magnificence of Thebes from that
time began to decrease, and that of Memphis to increase, ’till Alexander King of
Macedon built Alexandria. These great works of Uchoreus and those of Moeris
savour of one and the same genius, and were certainly done by one and the same
King, distinguished into two by a corruption of the name as above; for this Lake
of Uchoreus was certainly the same with that of Moeris.

After the example of the two brick Pyramids made by Moeris, the three next
Kings, Cheops, Cephren and Mycerinus built the three great Pyramids at Memphis;
and therefore Reigned in that city. Cheops shut up the Temples of the Nomes, and
prohibited the worship of the Gods of Egypt, designing no doubt to have been
worshipped himself after death: he is called also Chembis, Chemmis, Chemnis,
Phiops, Apathus, Apappus, Suphis, Saophis, Syphoas, Syphaosis, Soiphis,
Syphuris, Anoiphis, Anoisis: he built the biggest of the three great Pyramids
which stand together; and his brother Cephren or Cerpheres built the second, and
his son Mycerinus founded the third: this last King was celebrated for clemency
and justice; he shut up the dead body of his daughter in a hollow ox, and caused
her to be worshipped daily with odours: he is called also Cheres, Cherinus,
Bicheres, Moscheres, Mencheres. He died before the third Pyramid was finished,
and his sister and successor Nitocris finished it.

Then Reigned Asychis, who built the eastern portico of the Temple of Vulcan very
splendidly, and among the small Pyramids a large Pyramid of brick, made of mud
dug out of the Lake of Moeris: and these are the Kings who Reigned at Memphis,
and spent their time in adorning that city, until the Ethiopians and the
Assyrians and others revolted, and Egypt lost all her dominion abroad, and
became again divided into several small Kingdoms.

One of those Kingdoms was I think at Memphis, under Gnephactus, and his son and
successor Bocchoris. Africanus calls Bocchoris a Saite; but Sais at this time
had other Kings: Gnephactus, otherwise called Neochabis and Technatis, cursed
Menes for his luxury, and caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of
Jupiter at Thebes; and therefore Reigned over Thebais: and Bocchoris sent in a
wild bull upon the God Mnevis which was worshipped at Heliopolis. Another of
those Kingdoms was at Anysis, or Hanes, Isaiah 30:4 under its King Anysis or
Amosis; a third was at Sais, under Stephanathis, Nechepsos, and Nechus; and a
fourth was at Tanis or Zoan, under Petubastes, Osorchon and Psammis: and Egypt
being weakened by this division, was invaded and conquered by the Ethiopians
under Sabacon, who slew Bocchoris and Nechus, and made Anysis fly. The Olympiads
began in the Reign of Petubastes, and the AEra of Nabonassar in the 22d year of
the Reign of Bocchoris, according to Africanus; and therefore the division, of
Egypt into many Kingdoms began before the Olympiads, but not above the length of
two Kings Reigns before them.

After the study of Astronomy was set on foot for the use of navigation, and the
Egyptians by the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars had determined the
length of the Solar year of 365 days, and by other observations had fixed the
Solstices, and formed the fixt Stars into Asterisms, all which was done in the
Reign of Ammon, Sesac, Orus, and Memnon; it may be presumed that they continued
to observe the motions of the Planets; for they called them after the names of
their Gods; and Nechepsos or Nicepsos King of Sais, by the assistance of
Petosiris a Priest of Egypt, invented Astrology, grounding it upon the aspects
of the Planets, and the qualities of the men and women to whom they were
dedicated: and in the beginning of the Reign of Nabonassar King of Babylon,
about which time the Ethiopians under Sabacon invaded Egypt, those Egyptians who
fled from him to Babylon, carried thither the Egyptian year of 365 days, and the
study of Astronomy and Astrology, and founded the AEra of Nabonassar; dating it
from the first year of that King’s Reign, which was the 22d year of Bocchoris as
above, and beginning the year on the same day with the Egyptians for the sake of
their calculations. So Diodorus [337]: they say that the Chaldaeans in Babylon,
being Colonies of the Egyptians, became famous for Astrology, having learnt it
from the Priests of Egypt: and Hestiaeus, who wrote an history of Egypt,
speaking of a disaster of the invaded Egyptians, saith [338] that the Priests
who survived this disaster, taking with them the Sacra of Jupiter Enyalius, came
to Sennaar in Babylonia. From the 15th year of Asa, in which Zerah was beaten,
and Menes or Amenophis began his Reign, to the beginning of the AEra of
Nabonassar, were 200 years; and this interval of time allows room for about nine
or ten Reigns of Kings, at about twenty years to a Reign one with another; and
so many Reigns there were, according to the account set down above out of
Herodotus; and therefore that account, as it is the oldest, and was received by
Herodotus from the Priests of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis, three principal
cities of Egypt, agrees also with the course of nature, and leaves no room for
the Reigns of the many nameless Kings which we have omitted. These omitted Kings
Reigned before Moeris, and by consequence at Thebes; for Moeris translated the
seat of the Empire from Thebes to Memphis: they Reigned after Ramesses; for
Ramesses was the son and successor of Menes, who Reigned next after the Gods.
Now Menes built the body of the Temple of Vulcan, Ramesses the first portico,
and Moeris the second portico thereof; but the Egyptians, for making their Gods
and Kingdom look ancient, have inserted between the builders of the first and
second portico of this Temple, three hundred and thirty Kings of Thebes, and
supposed that these Kings Reigned eleven thousand years; as if any Temple could
stand so long. This being a manifest fiction, we have corrected it, by omitting
those interposed Kings, who did nothing, and placing Moeris the builder of the
second portico, next after Ramesses the builder of the first. In the Dynasties
of Manetho; Sevechus is made the successor of Sabacon, being his son; and
perhaps he is the Sethon of Herodotus, who became Priest of Vulcan, and
neglected military discipline: for Sabacon is that So or Sua with whom Hoshea
King of Israel conspired against the Assyrians, in the fourth year of Hezekiah,
Anno Nabonass. 24. Herodotus tells us twice or thrice, that Sabacon after a long
Reign of fifty years relinquished Egypt voluntarily, and that Anysis who fled
from him, returned and Reigned again in the lower Egypt after him, or rather
with him: and that Sethon Reigned after Sabacon, and went to Pelusium against
the army of Sennacherib, and was relieved with a great multitude of mice, which
eat the bow-strings of the Assyrians; in memory of which the statue of Sethon,
seen by Herodotus, [339] was made with a Mouse in its hand. A Mouse was the
Egyptian symbol of destruction, and the Mouse in the hand of Sethon signifies
only that he overcame the Assyrians with a great destruction. The Scriptures
inform us, that when Sennacherib invaded Judaea and besieged Lachish and Libnah,
which was in the 14th year of Hezekiah, Anno Nabonass. 34. the King of Judah
trusted upon Pharaoh King of Egypt, that is upon Sethon, and that Tirhakah King
of Ethiopia came out also to fight against Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18:21 & 2 Kings
19:9 which makes it probable, that when Sennacherib heard of the Kings of Egypt
and Ethiopia coming against him, he went from Libnah towards Pelusium to oppose
them, and was there surprized and set upon in the night by them both, and routed
with as great a slaughter as if the bow-strings of the Assyrians had been eaten
by mice. Some think that the Assyrians were smitten by lightning, or by a fiery
wind which sometimes comes from the southern parts of Chaldaea. After this
victory Tirhakah succeeding Sethon, carried his arms westward through Libya and
Afric to the mouth of the Straits: but Herodotus tells us, that the Priests of
Egypt reckoned Sethon the last King of Egypt, who Reigned before the division of
Egypt into twelve contemporary Kingdoms, and by consequence before the invasion
of Egypt by the Assyrians. For Asserhadon King of Assyria, in the 68th year of
Nabonassar, after he had Reigned about thirty years over Assyria, invaded the
Kingdom of Babylon, and then carried into captivity many people from Babylon,
and Cuthah, and Ava, and Hamath, and Sepharvaim, placing them in the Regions of
Samaria and Damascus: and from thence they carried into Babylonia and Assyria
the remainder of the people of Israel and Syria, which had been left there by
Tiglath-pileser. This captivity was 65 years after the first year of Ahaz,
Isaiah 7:1, Isaiah 7:8 & 2 Kings 15:37 & 2 Kings 16:5 and by consequence in the
twentieth year of Manasseh, Anno Nabonass. 69. and then Tartan was sent by
Asserhadon with an army against Ashdod or Azoth, a town at that time subject to
Judaea, 2 Chronicles 26:6 and took it, Isaiah 20:1 : and this post being
secured, the Assyrians beat the Jews, and captivated Manasseh, and subdued
Judaea: and in these wars, Isaiah was saw’d asunder by the command of Manasseh,
for prophesying against him. Then the Assyrians invaded and subdued Egypt and
Ethiopia, and carried the Egyptians and Ethiopians into captivity, and thereby
put an end to the Reign of the Ethiopians over Egypt, Isaiah 7:18 & Isaiah 8:7 &
Isaiah 10:11-12, & Isaiah 19:23 & Isaiah 20:4. In this war the city No-Ammon or
Thebes, which had hitherto continued in a flourishing condition, was miserably
wasted and led into captivity, as is described by Nahum, Nahum 3:8-10; for Nahum
wrote after the last invasion of Judaea by the Assyrians, Nahum 1:15; and
therefore describes this captivity as fresh in memory: and this and other
following invasions of Egypt under Nebuchadnezzar and Cambyses, put an end to
the glory of that city. Asserhadon Reigned over the Egyptians and Ethiopians
three years, Isaiah 20:3-4 that is until his death, which was in the year of
Nabonassar 81, and therefore invaded Egypt, and put an end to the Reign of the
Ethiopians over the Egyptians, in the year of Nabonassar 78; so that the
Ethiopians under Sabacon, and his successors Sethon and Tirhakah, Reigned over
Egypt about 80 years: Herodotus allots 50 years to Sabacon, and Africanus
fourteen years to Sethon, and eighteen to Tirhakah. The division of Egypt into
more Kingdoms than one, both before and after the Reign of the Ethiopians, and
the conquest of the Egyptians by Asserhadon, the prophet Isaiah [340] seems
allude unto in these words: I will set, saith he, the Egyptians against the
Egyptians, and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one
against his neighbour, city against city, and Kingdom against Kingdom, and the
Spirit of Egypt shall fail.--And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of
a cruel Lord [viz. Asserhadon] and a fierce King shall Reign over them.--Surely
the Princes of Zoan [Tanis] are fools, the counsel of the wise Councellors of
Pharaoh is become brutish: how long say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the
ancient Kings.--The Princes of Zoan are be come fools: the Princes of Noph
[Memphis] are deceived,--even they that were the stay of the tribes thereof.--In
that day there shall be a high-way out of Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians
shall serve the Assyrians.

After the death of Asserhadon, Egypt remained subject to twelve contemporary
Kings, who revolted from the Assyrians, and Reigned together fifteen years;
including I think the three years of Asserhadon, because the Egyptians do not
reckon him among their Kings. They [341] built the Labyrinth adjoining to the
Lake of Moeris which was a very magnificent structure, with twelve Halls in it,
for their Palaces: and then Psammitichus, who was one of the twelve, conquered
all the rest. He built the last Portico of the Temple of Vulcan, founded by
Menes about 260 years before, and Reigned 54 years, including the fifteen years
of his Reign with the twelve Kings. Then Reigned Nechaoh or Nechus, 17 years;
Psammis six years; Vaphres, Apries, Eraphius, or Hophra, 25 years; Amasis 44
years; and Psammenitus six months, according to Herodotus. Egypt was subdued by
Nebuchadnezzar in the last year but one of Hophra, Anno Nabonass. 178, and
remained in subjection to Babylon forty years, Jeremiah 44:30 & Ezekiel
29:12-14, Ezekiel 29:17, Ezekiel 29:19 that is, almost all the Reign of Amasis,
a plebeian set over Egypt by the conqueror: the forty years ended with the death
of Cyrus; for he Reigned over Egypt and Ethiopia, according to Xenophon. At that
time therefore those nations recovered their liberty; but after four or five
years more they were invaded and conquered by Cambyses, Anno Nabonass. 223 or
224, and have almost ever since remained in servitude, as was predicted by the
Prophets. The Reigns of Psammitichus, Nechus, Psammis, Apries, Amasis, and
Psammenitus, set down by Herodotus, amount unto 1461/2 years: and so many years
there were from the 78th year of Nabonassar, in which the dominion of the
Ethiopians over Egypt came to an end, unto the 224th year of Nabonassar, in
which Cambyses invaded Egypt, and put an end to that Kingdom: which is an
argument that Herodotus was circumspect and faithful in his narrations, and has
given us a good account of the antiquities of Egypt, so far as the Priests of
Egypt at Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis, and the Carians and Ionians inhabiting
Egypt, were then able to inform him: for he consulted them all; and the Cares
and Ionians had been in Egypt from the time of the Reign of the twelve
contemporary Kings.

Pliny [342] tells us, that the Egyptian Obelisks were of a sort of stone dug
near Syene in Thebais, and that the first Obelisk was made by Mitres, who
Reigned in Heliopolis; that is, by Mephres the predecessor of Misphragmuthosis;
and that afterwards other Kings made others: Sochis, that is Sesochis, or Sesac,
four, each of 48 cubits in length; Ramises, that is Ramesses, two; Smarres, that
is Moeris, one of 48 cubits in length; Eraphius, or Hophra, one of 48; and
Nectabis, or Nectenabis, one of 80. Mephres therefore extended his dominion over
all the upper Egypt, from Syene to Heliopolis, and after him, Misphragmuthosis
and Amosis, Reigned Ammon and Sesac, who erected the first great Empire in the
world: and these four, Amosis, Ammon, Sesac, and Orus, Reigned in the four ages
of the great Gods of Egypt; and Amenophis was the Menes who Reigned next after
them: he was Succeeded by Ramesses, and Moeris, and some time after by Hophra.

Diodorus [343] recites the same Kings of Egypt with Herodotus, but in a more
confused order, and repeats some of them twice, or oftener, under various names,
and omits others: his Kings are these; Jupiter Ammon and Juno, Osiris and Isis,
Horus, Menes, Busiris I, Busiris II, Osymanduas, Uchoreus, Myris, Sesoosis I,
Sesoosis II, Amasis, Actisanes, Mendes or Marrus, Proteus, Remphis, Chembis,
Cephren, Mycerinus or Cherinus, Gnephacthus, Bocchoris, Sabacon, twelve
contemporary Kings, Psammitichus, * * Apries, Amasis. Here I take Sesoosis I,
and Sesoosis II, Busiris I, and Busiris II, to be the same Kings with Osiris and
Orus: also Osymanduas to be the same with Amenophis or Menes: also Amasis, and
Actisanes, an Ethiopian who conquered him, to be the same with Anysis and
Sabacon in Herodotus: and Uchoreus, Mendes, Marrus, and Myris, to be only
several names of one and the same King. Whence the catalogue of Diodorus will be
reduced to this: Jupiter Ammon and Juno; Osiris, Busiris or Sesoosis, and Isis;
Horus, Busiris II, or Sesoosis II; Menes, or Osymanduas; Proteus; Remphis or
Ramesses; Uchoreus, Mendes, Marrus, or Myris; Chembis or Cheops; Cephren;
Mycerinus; * * Gnephacthus; Bocchoris; Amasis, or Anysis; Actisanes, or Sabacon;
* twelve contemporary Kings; Psammitichus; * * Apries; Amasis: to which, if in
their proper places you add Nitocris, Asychis, Sethon, Nechus, and Psammis, you
will have the catalogue of Herodotus. The Dynasties of Manetho and Eratosthenes
seem to be filled with many such names of Kings as Herodotus omitted: when it
shall be made appear that any of them Reigned in Egypt after the expulsion of
the Shepherds, and were different from the Kings described above, they may be
inserted in their proper places.

Egypt was conquered by the Ethiopians under Sabacon, about the beginning of the
AEra of Nabonassar, or perhaps three or four years before, that is, about three
hundred years before Herodotus wrote his history; and about eighty years after
that conquest, it was conquered again by the Assyrians under Asserhadon: and the
history of Egypt set down by Herodotus from the time of this last conquest, is
right both as to the number, and order, and names of the Kings, and as to the
length of their Reigns: and therein he is now followed by historians, being the
only author who hath given us so good a history of Egypt, for that interval of
time. If his history of the earlier times be less accurate, it was because the
archives of Egypt had suffered much during the Reign of the Ethiopians and
Assyrians: and it is not likely that the Priests of Egypt, who lived two or
three hundred years after the days of Herodotus, could mend the matter: on the
contrary, after Cambyses had carried away the records of Egypt, the Priests were
daily feigning new Kings, to make their Gods and nation look ancient; as is
manifest by comparing Herodotus with Diodorus Siculus, and both of them with
what Plato relates out of the Poem of Solon: which Poem makes the wars of the
great Gods of Egypt against the Greeks, to have been in the days of Cecrops,
Erechtheus and Erichthonius, and a little before those of Theseus; these Gods at
that time instituting Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves. I have therefore
chosen to rely upon the stories related to Herodotus by the Priests of Egypt in
those days, and corrected by the Poem of Solon, so as to make these Gods of
Egypt no older than Cecrops and Erechtheus, and their successor Menes no older
than Theseus and Memnon, and the Temple of Vulcan not above 280 years in
building: rather than to correct Herodotus by Manetho, Eratosthenes, Diodorus,
and others, who lived after the Priests of Egypt had corrupted their Antiquities
much more than they had done in the days of Herodotus.


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  CHAPTER 36: 02.010.     CHAPTER III
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CHAP. III. Of the ASSYRIAN Empire. As the Gods or ancient Deified Kings and Princes of Greece, Egypt, and Syria of Damascus, have been made much ancienter than the truth, so have those of Chaldaea and Assyria: for Diodorus [344] tells us, that when Alexander the great was in Asia, the Chaldaeans reckoned 473000 years since they first began to observe the Stars; and Ctesias, and the ancient Greek and Latin writers who copy from him, have made the Assyrian Empire as old as Noah’s flood within 60 or 70 years, and tell us the names of all the Kings of Assyria downwards, from Belus and his feigned son Ninus, to Sardanapalus the last King of that Monarchy: but the names of his Kings, except two or three, have no affinity with the names of the Assyrians mentioned in Scripture; for the Assyrians were usually named after their Gods, Bel or Pul; Chaddon, Hadon, Adon, or Adonis; Melech or Moloch; Atsur or Assur; Nebo; Nergal; Merodach: as in these names, Pul, Tiglath-Pul-Assur, Salman-Assur, Adra-Melech, Shar-Assur, Assur-Hadon, Sardanapalus or Assur-Hadon-Pul, Nabonassar or Nebo-Adon-Assur, Bel Adon, Chiniladon or Chen-El-Adon, Nebo-Pul-Assur, Nebo-Chaddon-Assur, Nebuzaradon or Nebo-Assur-Adon, Nergal-Assur, Nergal-Shar-Assur, Labo-Assur-dach, Sheseb-Assur, Beltes-Assur, Evil-Merodach, Shamgar-Nebo, Rabsaris or Rab-Assur, Nebo-Shashban, Mardocempad or Merodach-Empad. Such were the Assyrian names; but those in Ctesias are of another sort, except Sardanapalus, whose name he had met with in Herodotus. He makes Semiramis as old as the first Belus; but Herodotus tells us, that she was but five Generations older than the mother of Labynetus: he represents that the city Ninus was founded by a man of the same name, and Babylon by Semiramis; whereas either Nimrod or Assur founded those and other cities, without giving his own name to any of them: he makes the Assyrian Empire continue about 1360 years, whereas Herodotus tells us that it lasted only 500 years, and the numbers of Herodotus concerning those ancient times are all of them too long: he makes Nineveh destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians, three hundred years before the Reign of Astibares and Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed it, and sets down the names of seven or eight feigned Kings of Media, between the destruction of Nineveh and the Reigns of Astibares and Nebuchadnezzar, as if the Empire of the Medes, erected upon the ruins of the Assyrian Empire, had lasted 300 years, whereas it lasted but 72: and the true Empire of the Assyrians described in Scripture, whose Kings were Pul, Tiglath-pilesar, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Asserhadon, &c. he mentions not, tho’ much nearer to his own times; which shews that he was ignorant of the antiquities of the Assyrians. Yet something of truth there is in the bottom of some of his stories, as there uses to be in Romances; as, that Nineveh was destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians; that Sardanapalus was the last King of the Assyrian Empire; and that Astibares and Astyages were Kings of the Medes: but he has made all things too ancient, and out of vainglory taken too great a liberty in feigning names and stories to please his reader. When the Jews were newly returned from the Babylonian captivity, they confessed their Sins in this manner, Now therefore our God, ---- let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our Kings, on our Princes, and on our Priests, and on our Prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the Kings of Assyria, unto this day; Nehemiah 9:32 that is, since the time of the Kingdom of Assyria, or since the rise of that Empire; and therefore the Assyrian Empire arose when the Kings of Assyria began to afflict the inhabitants of Palestine; which was in the days of Pul: he and his successors afflicted Israel, and conquered the nations round about them; and upon the ruin of many small and ancient Kingdoms erected their Empire, conquering the Medes as well as other nations: but of these conquests Ctesias knew not a word, no not so much as the names of the conquerors, or that there was an Assyrian Empire then standing; for he supposes that the Medes Reigned at that time, and that the Assyrian Empire was at an end above 250 years before it began.

However we must allow that Nimrod founded a Kingdom at Babylon, and perhaps
extended it into Assyria: but this Kingdom was but of small extent, if compared
with the Empires which rose up afterwards; being only within the fertile plains
of Chaldaea, Chalonitis and Assyria, watered by the Tigris and Euphrates: and if
it had been greater, yet it was but of short continuance, it being the custom in
those early ages for every father to divide his territories amongst his sons. So
Noah was King of all the world, and Cham was King of all Afric, and Japhet of
all Europe and Asia minor; but they left no standing Kingdoms. After the days of
Nimrod, we hear no more of an Assyrian Empire ’till the days of Pul. The four
Kings who in the days of Abraham invaded the southern coast of Canaan came from
the countries where Nimrod had Reigned, and perhaps were some of his posterity
who had shared his conquests. In the time of the Judges of Israel, Mesopotamia
was under its own King, Judg. iii. 8. and the King of Zobah Reigned on both
sides of the River Euphrates ’till David conquered him, 2 Sam. viii, and x. The
Kingdoms of Israel, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Philistia, Zidon, Damascus, and Hamath
the great, continued subject to other Lords than the Assyrians ’till the days of
Pul and his successors; and so did the house of Eden, Amos 1:5. 2 Kings 19:12
and Haran or Carrhae, Genesis 12:1-20. 2 Kings 19:12 and Sepharvaim in
Mesopotamia, and Calneh near Bagdad, Genesis 10:10. Isaiah 10:9, 2 Kings 17:31.
Sesac and Memnon were great conquerors, and Reigned over Chaldaea, Assyria, and
Persia, but in their histories there is not a word of any opposition made to
them by an Assyrian Empire then standing: on the contrary, Susiana, Media,
Persia, Bactria, Armenia, Cappadocia, &c. were conquered by them, and continued
subject to the Kings of Egypt ’till after the long Reign of Ramesses the son of
Memnon, as above.

Homer mentions Bacchus and Memnon Kings of Egypt and Persia, but knew nothing of
an Assyrian Empire. Jonah prophesied when Israel was in affliction under the
King of Syria, and this was in the latter part of the Reign of Jehoahaz, and
first part of the Reign of Joash, Kings of Israel, and I think in the Reign of
Moeris the successor of Ramesses King of Egypt, and about sixty years before the
Reign of Pul; and Nineveh was then a city of large extent, but full of pastures
for cattle, so that it contained but about 120000 persons. It was not yet grown
so great and potent as not to be terrified at the preaching of Jonah, and to
fear being invaded by its neighbours and ruined within forty days: it had some
time before got free from the dominion of Egypt, and had got a King of its own;
but its King was not yet called King of Assyria, but only King of Nineveh, Jonah
3:6-7 and his proclamation for a fast was not published in several nations, nor
in all Assyria, but only in Nineveh, and perhaps in the villages thereof; but
soon after, when the dominion of Nineveh was established at home, and exalted
over all Assyria properly so called, and this Kingdom began to make war upon the
neighbouring nations, its Kings were no longer called Kings of Nineveh but began
to be called Kings of Assyria.

Amos prophesied in the Reign of Jeroboam the Son of Joash King of Israel, soon
after Jeroboam had subdued the Kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath, that is, about
ten or twenty years before the Reign of Pul: and he [345] thus reproves Israel
for being lifted up by those conquests; Ye which rejoyce in a thing of nought,
which say, have we not taken to us horns by our strength? But behold I will
raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of
Hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entring in of Hamath unto the river
of the wilderness. God here threatens to raise up a nation against Israel; but
what nation he names not; that he conceals ’till the Assyrians should appear and
discover it. In the prophesies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah,
Nahum, Zephaniah and Zechariah, which were written after the Monarchy grew up,
it is openly named upon all occasions; but in this of Amos not once, tho’ the
captivity of Israel and Syria be the subject of the prophesy, and that of Israel
be often threatned: he only saith in general that Syria should go into captivity
unto Kir, and that Israel, notwithstanding her present greatness, should go into
captivity beyond Damascus; and that God would raise up a nation to afflict them:
meaning that he would raise up above them from a lower condition, a nation whom
they yet feared not: for so the Hebrew word [Hebrew: mqm] signifies when applied
to men, as in Amos 5:2. 1 Samuel 12:11. Psalms 113:7. Jeremiah 10:20, Jeremiah
50:32. Habakkuk 1:6. Zechariah 11:16. As Amos names not the Assyrians; at the
writing of this prophecy they made no great figure in the world, but were to be
raised up against Israel, and by consequence rose up in the days of Pul and his
successors: for after Jeroboam had conquered Damascus and Hamath, his successor
Menahem destroyed Tiphsah with its territories upon Euphrates, because they
opened not to him: and therefore Israel continued in its greatness ’till Pul,
probably grown formidable by some victories, caused Menahem to buy his peace.
Pul therefore Reigning presently after the prophesy of Amos, and being the first
upon record who began to fulfill it, may be justly reckoned the first conqueror
and founder of this Empire. For God stirred up the spirit of Pul, and the spirit
of Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria, 1 Chronicles 5:20. The same Prophet Amos, in
prophesying against Israel, threatned them in this manner, with what had lately
befallen other Kingdoms: Pass ye, [346] saith he, unto Calneh and see, and from
thence go ye to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistims. Be
they better than these Kingdoms? These Kingdoms were not yet conquered by the
Assyrians, except that of Calneh or Chalonitis upon Tigris, between Babylon and
Nineveh. Gath was newly vanquished [347] by Uzziah King of Judah, and Hamath
[348] by Jeroboam King of Israel: and while the Prophet, in threatning Israel
with the Assyrians, instances in desolations made by other nations, and mentions
no other conquest of the Assyrians than that of Chalonitis near Nineveh; it
argues that the King of Nineveh was now beginning his conquests, and had not yet
made any great progress in that vast career of victories, which we read of a few
years after. For about seven years after the captivity of the ten Tribes, when
Sennacherib warred in Syria, which was in the 16th Olympiad, he [349] sent this
message to the King of Judah: Behold, thou hast heard that the Kings of Assyria
have done to all Lands by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered?
Have the Gods of the nations delivered them which the Gods of my fathers have
destroyed, as Gozan and Haran and Reseph, and the children of Eden which were in
[the Kingdom of] Thelasar? Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arpad,
and the King of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivah? And Isaiah [350]
thus introduceth the King of Assyria boasting: Are not my Princes altogether as
Kings? Is not Calno [or Calneh] as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not
Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the Kingdoms of the Idols, and whose
graven Images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not as I have
done unto Samaria and her Idols, so do to Jerusalem and her Idols? All this
desolation is recited as fresh in memory to terrify the Jews, and these Kingdoms
reach to the borders of Assyria, and to shew the largeness of the conquests they
are called all lands, that is, all round about Assyria. It was the custom of the
Kings of Assyria, for preventing the rebellion of people newly conquered, to
captivate and transplant those of several countries into one another’s lands,
and intermix them variously: and thence it appears [351] that Halah, and Habor,
and Hara, and Gozan, and the cities of the Medes into which Galilee and Samaria
were transplanted; and Kir into which Damascus was transplanted; and Babylon and
Cuth or the Susanchites, and Hamath, and Ava, and Sepharvaim, and the Dinaites,
and the Apharsachites, and the Tarpelites, and the Archevites, and the
Dehavites, and the Elamites, or Persians, part of all which nations were led
captive by Asserhadon and his predecessors into Samaria; were all of them
conquered by the Assyrians not long before. In these conquests are involved on
the west and south side of Assyria, the Kingdoms of Mesopotamia, whose royal
seats were Haran or Carrhae, and Carchemish or Circutium, and Sepharvaim, a city
upon Euphrates, between Babylon and Nineveh, called Sipparae by Berosus,
Abydenus, and Polyhistor, and Sipphara by Ptolomy; and the Kingdoms of Syria
seated at Samaria, Damascus, Gath, Hamath, Arpad, and Reseph, a city placed by
Ptolomy near Thapsacus: on the south side and south east side were Babylon and
Calneh, or Calno, a city which was founded by Nimrod, where Bagdad now stands,
and gave the name of Chalonitis to a large region under its government; and
Thelasar or Talatha, a city of the children of Eden, placed by Ptolomy in
Babylonia, upon the common stream of Tigris and Euphrates, which was therefore
the river of Paradise; and the Archevites at Areca or Erech, a city built by
Nimrod on the east side of Pasitigris, between Apamia and the Persian Gulph; and
the Susanchites at Cuth, or Susa, the metropolis of Susiana: on the east were
Elymais, and some cities of the Medes, and Kir, [352] a city and large region of
Media, between Elymais, and Assyria, called Kirene by the Chaldee Paraphrast and
Latin Interpreter, and Carine by Ptolomy: on the north-east were Habor or
Chaboras, a mountainous region between Assyria and Media; and the Apharsachites,
or men of Arrapachitis, a region originally peopled by Arphaxad, and placed by
Ptolomy at the bottom of the mountains next Assyria: and on the north between
Assyria and the Gordiaean mountains was Halah or Chalach, the metropolis of
Calachene: and beyond these upon the Caspian sea was Gozan, called Gauzania by
Ptolomy. Thus did these new conquests extend every way from the province of
Assyria to considerable distances, and make up the great body of that Monarchy:
so that well might the King of Assyria boast how his armies had destroyed all
lands. All these nations [353] had ’till now their several Gods, and each
accounted his God the God of his own land, and the defender thereof, against the
Gods of the neighbouring countries, and particularly against the Gods of
Assyria; and therefore they were never ’till now united under the Assyrian
Monarchy, especially since the King of Assyria doth not boast of their being
conquered by the Assyrians oftner than once: but these being small Kingdoms the
King of Assyria easily overflowed them: Know ye not, saith [354] Sennacherib to
the Jews, what I and my fathers have done unto all the People of other
lands?--for no God of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out
of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God
deliver you out of mine hand? He and his fathers therefore, Pul,
Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser, were great conquerors, and with a current of
victories had newly overflowed all nations round about Assyria, and thereby set
up this Monarchy.

Between the Reigns of Jeroboam II, and his son Zachariah, there was an
interregnum of about ten or twelve years in the Kingdom of Israel: and the
prophet Hosea [355] in the time of that interregnum, or soon after, mentions the
King of Assyria by the name of Jareb, and another conqueror by the name of
Shalman; and perhaps Shalman might be the first part of the name of Shalmaneser,
and Iareb, or Irib, for it may be read both ways, the last part of the name of
his successor Sennacherib: but whoever these Princes were, it appears not that
they Reigned before Shalmaneser. Pul, or Belus, seems to be the first who
carried on his conquests beyond the province of Assyria: he conquered Calneh
with its territories in the Reign of Jerboam, Amos 1:1. Amos 6:2 & Isaiah 10:8-9
and invaded Israel in the Reign of Menahem, 2 Kings 15:19 but stayed not in the
land, being bought off by Menahem for a thousand talents of silver: in his Reign
therefore the Kingdom of Assyria was advanced on this side Tigris: for he was a
great warrior, and seems to have conquered Haran, and Carchemish, and Reseph,
and Calneh, and Thelasar, and might found or enlarge the city of Babylon, and
build the old palace.

Herodotus tells us, that one of the gates of Babylon was [356] called the gate
of Semiramis, and than she adorned the walls of the city, and the Temple of
Belus, and that she [357] was five Generations older than Nitocris the mother of
Labynitus, or Nabonnedus, the last King of Babylon; and therefore she flourished
four Generations, or about 134 years, before Nebuchadnezzar , and by consequence
in the Reign of Tiglath-pileser the successor of Pul: and the followers of
Ctesias tell us, that she built Babylon, and was the widow of the son and
successor of Belus, the founder of the Assyrian Empire; that is, the widow of
one of the sons of Pul: but [358] Berosus a Chaldaean blames the Greeks for
ascribing the building of Babylon to Semiramis; and other authors ascribe the
building of this city to Belus himself, that is to Pul; so Curtius [359] tells
us; Semiramis Babylonem condiderat, vel ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia
ostenditur: and Abydenus, who had his history from the ancient monuments of the
Chaldaeans, writes, [360] [Greek: Legetai Belon Babylona teichei peribalein; toi
chronoi de toi ikneumenoi aphanisthenai. teichisai de authis Nabouchodonosoron,
to mechri tes Makedonion arches diameinan eon chalkopylon.] ’Tis reported that
Belus compassed Babylon with a wall, which in time was abolished: and that
Nebuchadnezzar afterwards built a new wall with brazen gates, which stood ’till
the time of the Macedonian Empire: and so Dorotheas [361] an ancient Poet of
Sidon;

[Greek: Archaie Babylon, Tyriou Beloio polisma.] The ancient city Babylon built
by the Tyrian Belus; That is, by the Syrian or Assyrian Belus; the words Tyrian,
Syrian, and Assyrian, being anciently used promiscuously for one another:
Herennius [362] tells us, that it was built by the son of Belus; and this son
might be Nabonassar. After the conquest of Calneh, Thelasar, and Sippare, Belus
might seize Chaldaea, and begin to build Babylon, and leave it to his younger
son: for all the Kings of Babylon in the Canon of Ptolemy are called Assyrians,
and Nabonassar is the first of them: and Nebuchadnezzar [363] reckoned himself
descended from Belus, that is, from the Assyrian Pul: and the building of
Babylon is ascribed to the Assyrians by [364] Isaiah: Behold, saith he, the land
of the Chaldeans: This people was not ’till the Assyrian founded it for them
that dwell in the wilderness, [that is, for the Arabians.] They set up the
towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof. From all this it seems
therefore that Pul founded the walls and the palaces of Babylon, and left the
city with the province of Chaldaea to his younger son Nabonassar; and that
Nabonassar finished what his father began, and erected the Temple of Jupiter
Belus to his father: and that Semiramis lived in those days, and was the Queen
of Nabonassar, because one of the gates of Babylon was called the gate of
Semiramis, as Herodotus affirms: but whether she continued to Reign there after
her husband’s death may be doubted.

Pul therefore was succeeded at Nineveh by his elder son Tiglath-pileser, at the
same time that he left Babylon to his younger son Nabonassar. Tiglath-pileser,
the second King of Assyria, warred in Phoenicia, and captivated Galilee with the
two Tribes and an half, in the days of Pekah King of Israel, and placed them in
Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and at the river Gozan, places lying on the western
borders of Media, between Assyria and the Caspian sea, 2 Kings 15:29, & 1
Chronicles 5:26 and about the fifth or sixth year of Nabonassar, he came to the
assistance of the King of Judah against the Kings of Israel and Syria, and
overthrew the Kingdom of Syria, which had been seated at Damascus ever since the
days of King David, and carried away the Syrians to Kir in Media, as Amos had
prophesied, and placed other nations in the regions of Damascus, 2 Kings 15:37,
& 2 Kings 16:5, 2 Kings 15:9. Amos 1:5. Joseph. Antiq. l. 9. c. 13. whence it
seems that the Medes were conquered before, and that the Empire of the Assyrians
was now grown great: for the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul King of
Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria to make war, 1
Chronicles 5:26.

Shalmaneser or Salmanasser, called Enemessar by Tobit, invaded [365] all
Phoenicia, took the city of Samaria, and captivated Israel, and placed them in
Chalach and Chabor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes; and
Hosea [366] seems to say that he took Arbela: and his successor Sennacherib said
that his fathers had conquered also Gozan, and Haran or Carrhae, and Reseph or
Resen, and the children of Eden, and Arpad or the Aradii, 2 Kings 19:12.

Sennacherib the son of Shalmaneser in the 14th year of Hezekiah invaded
Phoenicia, and took several cities of Judah, and attempted Egypt; and Sethon or
Sevechus King of Egypt and Tirhakah King of Ethiopia coming against him, he lost
in one night 185000 men, as some say by a plague, or perhaps by lightning, or a
fiery wind which blows sometimes in the neighbouring deserts, or rather by being
surprised by Sethon and Tirhakah: for the Egyptians in memory of this action
erected a statue to Sethon, holding in his hand a mouse, the Egyptian symbol of
destruction. Upon this defeat Sennacherib returned in haste to Nineveh, and
[367] his Kingdom became troubled, so that Tobit could not go into Media, the
Medes I think at this time revolting: and he was soon after slain by two of his
sons who fled into Armenia, and his son Asserhadon succeeded him. At that time
did Merodach Baladan or Mardocempad King of Babylon send an embassy to Hezekiah
King of Judah.

Asserhadon, [368] called Sarchedon by Tobit, Asordan by the LXX, and Assaradin
in Ptolomy’s Canon, began his Reign at Nineveh, in the year of Nabonassar 42;
and in the year 68 extended it over Babylon: then he carried the remainder of
the Samaritans into captivity, and peopled Samaria with captives brought from
several parts of his Kingdom, the Dinaites, the Apharsachites, the Tarpelites,
the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites,
the Elamites, Ezra 4:2, Ezra 4:9 and therefore he Reigned over all these
nations. Pekah and Rezin Kings of Samaria and Damascus, invaded Judaea in the
first year of Ahaz, and within 65 years after, that is in the 21st year of
Manasseh, Anno Nabonass. 69, Samaria by this captivity ceased to be a people,
Isaiah 7:8. Then Asserhadon invaded Judaea, took Azoth, carried Manasseh captive
to Babylon, and [369] captivated also Egypt, Thebais, and Ethiopia above
Thebais: and by this war he seems to have put an end to the Reign of the
Ethiopians over Egypt, in the year of Nabonassar 77 or 78. In the Reign of
Sennacherib and Asserhadon, the Assyrian Empire seems arrived at its greatness,
being united under one Monarch, and containing Assyria, Media, Apolloniatis,
Susiana, Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and
part of Arabia, and reaching eastward into Elymais, and Paraetacene, a province
of the Medes: and if Chalach and Chabor be Colchis and Iberia, as some think,
and as may seem probable from the circumcision used by those nations ’till the
days of Herodotus, we are also to add these two Provinces, with the two
Armenia’s, Pontus and Cappadocia, as far as to the river Halys: for [370]
Herodotus tells us, that the people of Cappadocia as far as to that river were
called Syrians by the Greeks, both before and after the days or Cyrus, and that
the Assyrians were also called Syrians by the Greeks.

Yet the Medes revolted from the Assyrians in the latter end of the Reign of
Sennacherib, I think upon the slaughter of his army near Egypt and his flight to
Nineveh: for at that time the estate of Sennacherib was troubled, so that Tobit
could not go into Media as he had done before, Tobit i. 15. and some time after,
Tobit advised his son to go into Media where he might expect peace, while
Nineveh, according to the prophesy of Jonah, should be destroyed. Ctesias wrote
that Arbaces a Mede being admitted to see Sardanapalus in his palace, and
observing his voluptuous life amongst women, revolted with the Medes, and in
conjunction with Belesis a Babylonian overcame him, and caused him to set fire
to his palace and burn himself: but he is contradicted by other authors of
better credit; for Duris and [371] many others wrote that Arbaces upon being
admitted into the palace of Sardanapalus, and seeing his effeminate life, slew
himself; and Cleitarchus, that Sardanapalus died of old age, after he had lost
his dominion over Syria: he lost it by the revolt of the western nations; and
Herodotus [372] tells us, that the Medes revolted first, and defended their
liberty by force of arms against the Assyrians, without conquering them; and at
their first revolting had no King, but after some time set up Dejoces over them,
and built Ecbatane for his residence; and that Dejoces Reigned only over Media,
and had a peaceable Reign of 54 years, but his son and successor Phraortes made
war upon his neighbours, and conquered Persia; and that the Syrians also, and
other western nations, at length revolted from the Assyrians, being encouraged
thereunto by the example of the Medes; and that after the revolt of the western
nations, Phraortes invaded the Assyrians, but was slain by them in that war,
after he had Reigned twenty and two years. He was succeeded by Astyages.

Now Asserhadon seems to be the Sardanapalus who died of old age after the revolt
of Syria, the name Sardanapalus being derived from Asserhadon-Pul. Sardanapalus
was the [373] son of Anacyndaraxis, Cyndaraxis, or Anabaxaris, King of Assyria;
and this name seems to have been corruptly written for Sennacherib the father of
Asserhadon. Sardanapalus built Tarsus and Anchiale in one day, and therefore
Reigned over Cilicia, before the revolt of the western nations: and if he be the
same King with Asserhadon, he was succeeded by Saosduchinus in the year of
Nabonassar 81; and by this revolution Manasseh was set at liberty to return home
and fortify Jerusalem: and the Egyptians also, after the Assyrians had harrassed
Egypt and Ethiopia three years, Isaiah 20:3-4 were set at liberty, and continued
under twelve contemporary Kings of their own nation, as above. The Assyrians
invaded and conquered the Egyptians the first of the three years, and Reigned
over them two years more: and these two years are the interregnum which
Africanus, from Manetho, places next before the twelve Kings. The Scythians of
Touran or Turquestan beyond the river Oxus began in those days to infest Persia,
and by one of their inroads might give occasion to the revolt of the western
nations. In the year of Nabonassar 101, Saosduchinus, after a Reign of twenty
years, was succeeded at Babylon by Chyniladon, and I think at Nineveh also, for
I take Chyniladon to be that Nabuchodonosor who is mentioned in the book of
Judith; for the history of that King suits best with these times: for there it
is said that Nabuchodonosor King of the Assyrians who Reigned at Nineveh, that
great city, in the twelfth year of his Reign made war upon Arphaxad King of the
Medes, and was then left alone by a defection of the auxiliary nations of
Cilicia, Damascus, Syria, Phoenicia, Moab, Ammon, and Egypt; and without their
help routed the army of the Medes, and slew Arphaxad: and Arphaxad is there said
to have built Ecbatane and therefore was either Dejoces, or his son Phraortes,
who might finish the city founded by his father: and Herodotus [374] tells the
same story of a King of Assyria, who routed the Medes, and slew their King
Phraortes; and saith that in the time of this war the Assyrians were left alone
by the defection of the auxiliary nations, being otherwise in good condition:
Arphaxad was therefore the Phraortes of Herodotus, and by consequence was slain
near the beginning of the Reign of Josiah: for this war was made after
Phoenicia, Moab, Ammon, and Egypt had been conquered and revolted, Jdt 1:7-9 and
by consequence after the Reign of Asserhadon who conquered them: it was made
when the Jews were newly returned from captivity, and the Vessels and Altar and
Temple were sanctified after the profanation, Jdt 4:3 that is soon after
Manasseh their King had been carried captive to Babylon by Asserhadon; and upon
the death of that King, or some other change in the Assyrian Empire, had been
released with the Jews from that captivity, and had repaired the Altar, and
restored the sacrifices and worship of the Temple, 2 Chronicles 33:11, 2
Chronicles 33:16. In the Greek version of the book of Judith, Jdt 5:18 it is
said, that the Temple of God was cast to the ground; but this is not said in
Jerom’s version; and in the Greek version, Jdt 4:3, and Jdt 16:20, it is said,
that the vessels, and the altar, and the house were sanctified after the
prophanation, and in both versions, Jdt 4:11, the Temple is represented
standing.

After this war Nabuchodonosor King of Assyria, in the 13th year of his Reign,
according to the version of Jerom, sent his captain Holofernes with a great army
to avenge himself on all the west country; because they had disobeyed his
commandment: and Holofernes went forth with an army of 12000 horse, and 120000
foot of Assyrians, Medes and Persians, and reduced Cilicia, Mesopotamia, and
Syria, and Damascus, and part of Arabia, and Ammon, and Edom, and Madian, and
then came against Judaea: and this was done when the government was in the hands
of the High-Priest and Antients of Israel, Jdt 4:8 and Jdt 7:23 and by
consequence not in the Reign of Manasseh or Amon, but when Josiah was a child.
In times of prosperity the children of Israel were apt to go after false Gods,
and in times of affliction to repent and turn to the Lord. So Manasseh a very
wicked King, being captivated by the Assyrians, repented; and being released
from captivity restored the worship of the true God: So when we are told that
Josiah in the eighth year of his Reign, while he was yet young, began to seek
after the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year of his Reign began to
purge Judah and Jerusalem from Idolatry, and to destroy the High Places, and
Groves, and Altars and Images of Baalim, 2 Chronicles 34:3 we may understand
that these acts of religion were occasioned by impending dangers, and escapes
from danger. When Holofernes came against the western nations, and spoiled them,
then were the Jews terrified, and they fortified Judaea, and cryed unto God with
great fervency, and humbled themselves in sackcloth, and put ashes on their
heads, and cried unto the God of Israel that he would not give their wives and
their children and cities for a prey, and the Temple for a profanation: and the
High-priest, and all the Priests put on sackcloth and ashes, and offered daily
burnt offerings with vows and free gifts of the people, Jdt 4:1-15 and then
began Josiah to seek after the God of his father David: and after Judith had
slain Holofernes, and the Assyrians were fled, and the Jews who pursued them
were returned to Jerusalem, they worshipped the Lord, and offered burnt
offerings and gifts, and continued feasting before the sanctuary for the space
of three months, Judith xvi. 18, and then did Josiah purge Judah and Jerusalem
from Idolatry. Whence it seems to me that the eighth year of Josiah fell in with
the fourteenth or fifteenth of Nabuchodonosor, and that the twelfth year of
Nabuchodonosor, in which Phraortes was slain, was the fifth or sixth of Josiah.
Phraortes Reigned 22 years according to Herodotus, and therefore succeeded his
father Dejoces about the 40th year of Manasseh, Anno Nabonass. 89, and was slain
by the Assyrians, and succeeded by Astyages, Anno Nabonass. 111. Dejoces Reigned
53 years according to Herodotus, and these years began in the 16th year of
Hezekiah; which makes it probable that the Medes dated them from the time of
their revolt: and according to all this reckoning, the Reign of Nabuchodonosor
fell in with that of Chyniladon; which makes it probable that they were but two
names of one and the same King.

Soon after the death of Phraortes [375] the Scythians under Madyes or Medus
invaded Media, and beat the Medes in battle, Anno Nabonass. 113, and went thence
towards Egypt, but were met in Phoenicia by Psammitichus and bought off, and
returning Reigned over a great part of Asia: but in the end of about 28 years
were expelled; many of their Princes and commanders being slain in a feast by
the Medes under the conduct of Cyaxeres, the successor of Astyages, just before
the destruction of Nineveh, and the rest being soon after forced to retire. In
the year of Nabonassar 123, [376] Nabopolassar the commander of the forces of
Chyniladon the King of Assyria in Chaldaea revolted from him, and became King of
Babylon; and Chyniladon was either then, or soon after, succeeded at Nineveh by
the last King of Assyria, called Sarac by Polyhistor: and at length
Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, married Amyite the daughter of Astyages
and sister of Cyaxeres; and by this marriage the two families having contracted
affinity, they conspired against the Assyrians; and Nabopolasser being now grown
old, and Astyages being dead, their sons Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxeres led the
armies of the two nations against Nineveh, slew Sarac, destroyed the city, and
shared the Kingdom of the Assyrians. This victory the Jews refer to the
Chaldaeans; the Greeks to the Medes; Tobit, Polyhistor, Josephus, and Ctesias to
both. It gave a beginning to the great successes of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxeres,
and laid the foundation of the two collateral Empires of the Babylonians and
Medes; these being branches of the Assyrian Empire: and thence the time of the
fall of the Assyrian Empire is determined, the conquerors being then in their
youth. In the Reign of Josiah, when Zephaniah prophesied, Nineveh and the
Kingdom of Assyria were standing, and their fall was predicted by that Prophet,
Zephaniah 1:1, and Zephaniah 2:13 and in the end of his Reign Pharaoh Nechoh
King of Egypt, the successor of Psammitichus, went up against the King of
Assyria to the river Euphrates, to fight against Carchemish or Circutium, and in
his way thither slew Josiah, 2 Kings 23:29. 2 Chronicles 35:20 and therefore the
last King of Assyria was not yet slain. But in the third and fourth year of
Jehoiakim the successor of Josiah, the two conquerors having taken Nineveh and
finished their war in Assyria, prosecuted their conquests westward, and leading
their forces against the King of Egypt, as an invader of their right of
conquest, they beat him at Carchemish, and [377] took from him whatever he had
newly taken from the Assyrians: and therefore we cannot err above a year or two,
if we refer the destruction of Nineveh, and fall of the Assyrian Empire, to the
second year of Jehoiakim, Anno Nabonass. 140. The name of the last King Sarac
might perhaps be contracted from Sarchedon, as this name was from Asserhadon,
Asserhadon-Pul, or Sardanapalus.

While the Assyrians Reigned at Nineveh, Persia was divided into several
Kingdoms; and amongst others there was a Kingdom of Elam, which flourished in
the days of Hezekiah, Manasseh, Josiah, and Jehoiakim Kings of Judah, and fell
in the days of Zedekiah, Jeremiah 25:25, and Jeremiah 49:34, and Ezekiel 32:24.
This Kingdom seems to have been potent, and to have had wars with the King of
Touran or Scythia beyond the river Oxus with various success, and at length to
have been subdued by the Medes and Babylonians, or one of them. For while
Nebuchadnezzar warred in the west, Cyaxeres recovered the Assyrian provinces of
Armenia, Pontus, and Cappadocia, and then they went eastward against the
provinces of Persia and Parthia. Whether the Pischdadians, whom the Persians
reckon to have been their oldest Kings, were Kings of the Kingdom of Elam, or of
that of the Assyrians, and whether Elam was conquered by the Assyrians at the
same time with Babylonia and Susiana in the Reign of Asserhadon, and soon after
revolted, I leave to be examined.


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  CHAPTER 37: 02.011.     CHAPTER IV
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CHAP. IV. Of the two Contemporary Empires of the Babylonians and Medes. By the
fall of the Assyrian Empire the Kingdoms of the Babylonians and Medes grew great
and potent. The Reigns of the Kings of Babylon are stated in Ptolemy’s Canon:
for understanding of which you are to note that every King’s Reign in that Canon
began with the last Thoth of his predecessor’s Reign, as I gather by comparing
the Reigns of the Roman Emperors in that Canon with their Reigns recorded in
years, months, and days, by other Authors: whence it appears from that Canon
that Asserhadon died in the year of Nabonassar 81, Saosduchinus his successor in
the year 101, Chyniladon in the year 123, Nabopolassar in the year 144, and
Nebuchadnezzar in the year 187. All these Kings, and some others mentioned in
the Canon, Reigned successively over Babylon, and this last King died in the
37th year of Jechoniah’s captivity, 2 Kings 25:27 and therefore Jechoniah was
captivated in the 150th year of Nabonassar. This captivity was in the eighth
year of Nebuchadnezzar’s Reign, 2 Kings 24:12 and eleventh of Jehoiakim’s: for
the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s Reign was the fourth of Jehoiakim’s, Jeremiah
25:1 and Jehoiakim Reigned eleven years before this captivity, 2 Kings 23:36. 2
Chronicles 36:5, and Jechoniah three months, ending with the captivity; and the
tenth year of Jechoniah’s captivity, was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s
Reign, Jeremiah 32:1 and the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in which Jerusalem was
taken, was the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 52:5, Jeremiah 52:12 and
therefore Nebuchadnezzar began his Reign in the year of Nabonassar 142, that is,
two years before the death of his father Nabopolassar, he being then made King
by his father; and Jehoiakim succeeded his father Josiah in the year of
Nabonassar 139; and Jerusalem was taken and the Temple burnt in the year of
Nabonassar 160, about twenty years after the destruction of Nineveh. The Reign
of Darius Hystaspis over Persia, by the Canon and the consent of all
Chronologers, and by several Eclipses of the Moon, began in spring in the year
of Nabonassar 227: and in the fourth year of King Darius, in the 4th day of the
ninth month, which is the month Chisleu, when the Jews had sent unto the house
of God, saying, should I weep in the fifth month as I have done these so many
years? the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, speak to all the people
of the Land, and to the Priests, saying; when ye fasted and mourned in the fifth
and seventh month even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me? Zech.
vii. Count backwards those seventy years in which they fasted in the fifth month
for the burning of the Temple, and in the seventh for the death of Gedaliah; and
the burning of the Temple and death of Gedaliah, will fall upon the fifth and
seventh Jewish months, in the year of Nabonassar 160, as above. As the Chaldaean
Astronomers counted the Reigns of their Kings by the years of Nabonassar,
beginning with the month Thoth, so the Jews, as their Authors tell us, counted
the Reigns of theirs by the years of Moses, beginning every year with the month
Nisan: for if any King began his Reign a few days before this month began, it
was reckoned to him for a whole year, and the beginning of this month was
accounted the beginning of the second year of his Reign; and according to this
reckoning the first year of Jehojakim began with the month Nisan, Anno Nabonass.
139, tho’ his Reign might not really begin ’till five or six months after; and
the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and first of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the
reckoning of the Jews, began with the month Nisan, Anno Nabonass. 142; and the
first year of Zedekiah and of Jeconiah’s captivity, and ninth year of
Nebuchadnezzar, began with the month Nisan, in the year of Nabonassar 150; and
the tenth year of Zedekiah, and 18th of Nebuchadnezzar, began with the month
Nisan in the year of Nabonassar 159. Now in the ninth year of Zedekiah,
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea and the cities thereof and in the tenth month of
that year, and tenth day of the month, he and his host besieged Jerusalem, 2
Kings 25:1, Jeremiah 34:1, Jeremiah 39:1, and Jeremiah 52:4. From this time to
the tenth month in the second year of Darius are just seventy years, and
accordingly, upon the 24th day of the eleventh month of the second year of
Darius, the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah,--and the Angel of the Lord
said, Oh Lord of Hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on
the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation, these threescore
and ten years, Zechariah 1:7, Zechariah 1:12. So then the ninth year of
Zedekiah, in which this indignation against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah
began, commenced with the month Nisan in the year of Nabonassar 158; and the
eleventh year of Zedekiah, and nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, in which the city
was taken and the Temple burnt, commenced with the month Nisan in the year of
Nabonassar 160, as above. By all these characters the years of Jehoiakim,
Zedekiah, and Nebuchadnezzar, seem to be sufficiently determined, and thereby
the Chronology of the Jews in the Old Testament is connected with that of later
times: for between the death of Solomon and the ninth year of Zedekiah wherein
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea, and began the Siege of Jerusalem, there were 390
years, as is manifest both by the prophesy of Ezekiel, chap. iv, and by summing
up the years of the Kings of Judah; and from the ninth year of Zedekiah
inclusively to the vulgar AEra of Christ, there were 590 years: and both these
numbers, with half the Reign of Solomon, make up a thousand years. In the [378]
end of the Reign of Josiah, Anno Nabonass. 139, Pharaoh Nechoh, the successor of
Psammitichus, came with a great army out of Egypt against the King of Assyria,
and being denied passage through Judaea, beat the Jews at Megiddo or Magdolus
before Egypt, slew Josiah their King, marched to Carchemish or Circutium, a town
of Mesopotamia upon Euphrates, and took it, possest himself of the cities of
Syria, sent for Jehoahaz the new King of Judah to Riblah or Antioch, deposed him
there, made Jehojakim King in the room of Josiah, and put the Kingdom of Judah
to tribute: but the King of Assyria being in the mean time besieged and subdued,
and Nineveh destroyed by Assuerus King of the Medes, and Nebuchadnezzar King of
Babylon, and the conquerors being thereby entitled to the countries belonging to
the King of Assyria, they led their victorious armies against the King of Egypt
who had seized part of them. For Nebuchadnezzar, assisted [379] by Astibares,
that is, by Astivares, Assuerus, Acksweres, Axeres, or Cy-Axeres, King of the
Medes, in the [380] third year of Jehoiakim, came with an army of Babylonians,
Medes, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites, to the number of 10000 chariots, and
180000 foot, and 120000 horse, and laid waste Samaria, Galilee, Scythopolis, and
the Jews in Galaaditis, and besieged Jerusalem, and took King Jehoiakim alive,
and [381] bound him in chains for a time, and carried to Babylon Daniel and
others of the people, and part of what Gold and Silver and Brass they found in
the Temple: and in [382] the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the twentieth
of Nabopolassar, they routed the army of Pharaoh Nechoh at Carchemish, and by
pursuing the war took from the King of Egypt whatever pertained to him from the
river of Egypt to the river of Euphrates. This King of Egypt is called by
Berosus, [383] the Satrapa of Egypt, Coele-Syria, and Phoenicia; and this
victory over him put an end to his Reign in Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, which he
had newly invaded, and gave a beginning to the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar there:
and by the conquests over Assyria and Syria the small Kingdom of Babylon was
erected into a potent Empire.

Whilst Nebuchadnezzar was acting in Syria, [384] his father Nabopolassar died,
having Reigned 21 years; and Nebuchadnezzar upon the news thereof, having
ordered his affairs in Syria returned to Babylon, leaving the captives and his
army with his servants to follow him: and from henceforward he applied himself
sometimes to war, conquering Sittacene, Susiana, Arabia, Edom, Egypt, and some
other countries; and sometimes to peace, adorning the Temple of Belus with the
spoils that he had taken; and the city of Babylon with magnificent walls and
gates, and stately palaces and pensile gardens, as Berosus relates; and amongst
other things he cut the new rivers Naarmalcha and Pallacopas above Babylon and
built the city of Teredon.

Judaea was now in servitude under the King of Babylon, being invaded and subdued
in the third and fourth years of Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim served him three
years, and then turned and rebelled, 2 Kings 24:1. While Nebuchadnezzar and the
army of the Chaldaeans continued in Syria, Jehojakim was under compulsion; after
they returned to Babylon, Jehojakim continued in fidelity three years, that is,
during the 7th, 8th and 9th years of his Reign, and rebelled in the tenth:
whereupon in the return or end of the year, that is in spring, he sent [385] and
besieged Jerusalem, captivated Jeconiah the son and successor of Jehoiakim,
spoiled the Temple, and carried away to Babylon the Princes, craftsmen, smiths,
and all that were fit for war: and, when none remained but the poorest of the
people, made [386] Zedekiah their King, and bound him upon oath to serve the
King of Babylon: this was in spring in the end of the eleventh year of
Jehoiakim, and beginning of the year of Nabonassar 150.

Zedekiah notwithstanding his oath [387] revolted, and made a covenant with the
King of Egypt, and therefore Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth year of Zedekiah [388]
invaded Judaea and the cities thereof, and in the tenth Jewish month of that
year besieged Jerusalem again, and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the 4th
and 5th months, after a siege of one year and an half, took and burnt the City
and Temple.

Nebuchadnezzar after he was made King by his father Reigned over Phoenicia and
Coele-Syria 45 years, and [389] after the death of his father 43 years, and
[390] after the captivity of Jeconiah 37; and then was succeeded by his son
Evilmerodach, called Iluarodamus in Ptolemy’s Canon. Jerome [391] tells us, that
Evilmerodach Reigned seven years in his father’s life-time, while his father did
eat grass with oxen, and after his father’s restoration was put in prison with
Jeconiah King of Judah ’till the death of his father, and then succeeded in the
Throne. In the fifth year of Jeconiah’s captivity, Belshazzar was next in
dignity to his father Nebuchadnezzar, and was designed to be his successor, Bar
1:2, Bar 1:10-12, Bar 1:14, and therefore Evilmerodach was even then in
disgrace. Upon his coming to the Throne [392] he brought his friend and
companion Jeconiah out of prison on the 27th day of the twelfth month; so that
Nebuchadnezzar died in the end of winter, Anno Nabonass. 187.

Evilmerodach Reigned two years after his father’s death, and for his lust and
evil manners was slain by his sister’s husband Neriglissar, or Nergalassar,
Nabonass. 189, according to the Canon.

Neriglissar, in the name of his young son Labosordachus, or Laboasserdach, the
grand-child of Nebuchadnezzar by his daughter, Reigned four years, according to
the Canon and Berosus, including the short Reign of Laboasserdach alone: for
Laboasserdach, according to Berosus and Josephus, Reigned nine months after the
death of his father, and then for his evil manners was slain in a feast, by the
conspiracy of his friends with Nabonnedus a Babylonian, to whom by consent they
gave the Kingdom: but these nine months are not reckoned apart in the Canon.

Nabonnedus or Nabonadius, according to the Canon, began his Reign in the year of
Nabonassar 193, Reigned seventeen years, and ended his Reign in the year of
Nabonassar 210, being then vanquished and Babylon taken by Cyrus.

Herodotus calls this last King of Babylon, Labynitus, and says that he was the
son of a former Labynitus, and of Nitocris an eminent Queen of Babylon: by the
father he seems to understand that Labynitus, who, as he tells us, was King of
Babylon when the great Eclipse of the Sun predicted by Thales put an end to the
five years war between the Medes and Lydians; and this was the great
Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel [393] calls the last King of Babylon, Belshazzar, and
saith that Nebuchadnezzar was his father: and Josephus tells us, [394] that the
last King of Babylon was called Naboandel by the Babylonians, and Reigned
seventeen years; and therefore he is the same King of Babylon with Nabonnedus or
Labynitus; and this is more agreeable to sacred writ than to make Nabonnedus a
stranger to the royal line: for all nations were to serve Nebuchadnezzar and his
posterity, till the very time of his land should come, and many nations should
serve themselves of him, Jeremiah 27:7. Belshazzar was born and lived in honour
before the fifth year of Jeconiah’s captivity, which was the eleventh year of
Nebuchadnezzar’s Reign; and therefore he was above 34 years old at the death of
Evilmerodach, and so could be no other King than Nabonnedus: for Laboasserdach
the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar was a child when he Reigned.

Herodotus [395] tells us, that there were two famous Queens of Babylon,
Semiramis and Nitocris; and that the latter was more skilful: she observing that
the Kingdom of the Medes, having subdued many cities, and among others Nineveh,
was become great and potent, intercepted and fortified the passages out of Media
into Babylonia; and the river which before was straight, she made crooked with
great windings, that it might be more sedate and less apt to overflow: and on
the side of the river above Babylon, in imitation of the Lake of Moeris in
Egypt, she dug a Lake every way forty miles broad, to receive the water of the
river, and keep it for watering the land. She built also a bridge over the river
in the middle of Babylon, turning the stream into the Lake ’till the bridge was
built. Philostratus saith, [396] that she made a bridge under the river two
fathoms broad, meaning an arched vault over which the river flowed, and under
which they might walk cross the river: he calls her [Greek: Medeia], a Mede.

Berosus tells us, that Nebuchadnezzar built a pensile garden upon arches,
because his wife was a Mede and delighted in mountainous prospects, such as
abounded in Media, but were wanting in Babylonia: she was Amyite the daughter of
Astyages, and sister of Cyaxeres, Kings of the Medes. Nebuchadnezzar married her
upon a league between the two families against the King of Assyria: but Nitocris
might be another woman who in the Reign of her son Labynitus, a voluptuous and
vicious King, took care of his affairs, and for securing his Kingdom against the
Medes, did the works above mentioned. This is that Queen mentioned in Daniel,
Daniel 5:10.

Josephus [397] relates out of the Tyrian records, that in the Reign of Ithobalus
King of Tyre, that city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar thirteen years together:
in the end of that siege Ithobalus their King was slain, Ezekiel 28:8-10 and
after him, according to the Tyrian records, Reigned Baal ten years, Ecnibalus
and Chelbes one year, Abbarus three months, Mytgonus and Gerastratus six years,
Balatorus one year, Merbalus four years, and Iromus twenty years: and in the
fourteenth year of Iromus, say the Tyrian records, the Reign of Cyrus began in
Babylonia; therefore the siege of Tyre began 48 years and some months before the
Reign of Cyrus in Babylonia: it began when Jerusalem had been newly taken and
burnt, with the Temple, Ezekiel 26:1-21 and by consequence after the eleventh
year of Jeconiah’s captivity, or 160th year of Nabonassar, and therefore the
Reign of Cyrus in Babylonia began after the year of Nabonassar 208: it ended
before the eight and twentieth year of Jeconiah’s captivity, or 176th year of
Nabonassar, Ezekiel 29:17 and therefore the Reign of Cyrus in Babylonia began
before the year of Nabonassar 211. By this argument the first year of Cyrus in
Babylonia was one of the two intermediate years 209, 210. Cyrus invaded
Babylonia in the year of Nabonassar 209; [398] Babylon held out, and the next
year was taken, Jeremiah 51:39, Jeremiah 51:57 by diverting the river Euphrates,
and entring the city through the emptied channel, and by consequence after
midsummer: for the river, by the melting of the snow in Armenia, overflows
yearly in the beginning of summer, but in the heat of dimmer grows low. [399]
And that night was the King of Babylon slain, and Darius the Mede, or King of
the Medes, took the Kingdom being about threescore and two years old: so then
Babylon was taken a month or two after the summer solstice, in the year of
Nabonassar 210; as the Canon also represents. The Kings of the Medes before
Cyrus were Dejoces, Phraortes, Astyages, Cyaxeres, or Cyaxares, and Darius: the
three first Reigned before the Kingdom grew great, the two last were great
conquerors, and erected the Empire; for AEschylus, who flourished in the Reigns
of Darius Hystaspis, and Xerxes, and died in the 76th Olympiad, introduces
Darius thus complaining of those who persuaded his son Xerxes to invade Greece;
[400]

[Greek: Toigar sphin ergon estin exeirgasmenon] [Greek: Megiston, aieimneston
hoion oudepo,] [Greek: To d’ asty Souson exekeinosen peson;] [Greek: Ex houte
timen Zeus anax tend’ opasen] [Greek: En andra pases Asiados melotrophou]
[Greek: Tagein, echonta skeptron euthynterion] [Greek: Medos gar en ho protos
hegemon stratou;] [Greek: Allos d’ ekeinou pais tod’ ergon enyse;] [Greek:
Phrenes gar autou thymon oiakostrophoun.] [Greek: Tritos d’ ap’ autou Kyros,
eudaimon aner,] &c.

They have done a work The greatest, and most memorable, such as never happen’d,
For it has emptied the falling Sufa: From the time that King Jupiter granted
this honour, That one man should Reign over all fruitful Asia, Having the
imperial Scepter. For he that first led the Army was a Mede; The next, who was
his son, finisht the work, For prudence directed his soul; The third was Cyrus,
a happy man, &c. The Poet here attributes the founding of the Medo-Persian
Empire to the two immediate predecessors of Cyrus, the first of which was a
Mede, and the second was his son: the second was Darius the Mede, the immediate
predecessor of Cyrus, according to Daniel; and therefore the first was the
father of Darius, that is, Achsuerus, Assuerus, Oxyares, Axeres, Prince Axeres,
or Cy-Axeres, the word Cy signifying a Prince: for Daniel tells us, that Darius
was the son of Achsuerus, or Ahasuerus, as the Masoretes erroneously call him,
of the seed of the Medes, that is, of the seed royal: this is that Assuerus who
together with Nebuchadnezzar took and destroyed Nineveh, according to Tobit:
which action is by the Greeks ascribed to Cyaxeres, and by Eupolemus to
Astibares, a name perhaps corruptly written for Assuerus. By this victory over
the Assyrians, and subversion of their Empire seated at Nineveh, and the ensuing
conquests of Armenia, Cappadocia and Persia, he began to extend the Reign of one
man over all Asia; and his son Darius the Mede, by conquering the Kingdoms of
Lydia and Babylon, finished the work: and the third King was Cyrus, a happy man
for his great successes under and against Darius, and large and peaceable
dominion in his own Reign.

Cyrus lived seventy years, according to Cicero, and Reigned nine years over
Babylon, according to Ptolemy’s Canon, and therefore was 61 years old at the
taking of Babylon; at which time Darius the Mede was 62 years old, according to
Daniel: and therefore Darius was two Generations younger than Astyages, the
grandfather of Cyrus: for Astyages, according to both [401] Herodotus and
Xenophon, gave his daughter Mandane to Cambyses a Prince of Persia, and by them
became the grandfather of Cyrus; and Cyaxeres was the son of Astyages, according
[402] to Xenophon, and gave his Daughter to Cyrus. This daughter, [403] saith
Xenophon, was reported to be very handsome, and used to play with Cyrus when
they were both children, and to say that she would marry him: and therefore they
were much of the same age. Xenophon saith that Cyrus married her after the
taking of Babylon; but she was then an old woman: it’s more probable that he
married her while she was young and handsome, and he a young man; and that
because he was the brother-in-law of Darius the King, he led the armies of the
Kingdom until he revolted: so then Astyages, Cyaxeres and Darius Reigned
successively over the Medes; and Cyrus was the grandson of Astyages, and married
the sister of Darius, and succeeded him in the Throne.

Herodotus therefore [404] hath inverted the order of the Kings Astyages and
Cyaxeres, making Cyaxeres to be the son and successor of Phraortes, and the
father and predecessor of Astyages the father of Mandane, and grandfather of
Cyrus, and telling us, that this Astyages married Ariene the daughter of
Alyattes King of Lydia, and was at length taken prisoner and deprived of his
dominion by Cyrus: and Pausanias hath copied after Herodotus, in telling us that
Astyages the son of Cyaxeres Reigned in Media in the days of Alyattes King of
Lydia. Cyaxeres had a son who married Ariene the daughter of Alyattes; but this
son was not the father of Mandane, and grandfather of Cyrus, but of the same age
with Cyrus: and his true name is preserved in the name of the Darics, which upon
the conquest of Croesus by the conduct of his General Cyrus, he coyned out of
the gold and silver of the conquered Lydians: his name was therefore Darius, as
he is called by Daniel; for Daniel tells us, that this Darius was a Mede, and
that his father’s name was Assuerus, that is Axeres or Cyaxeres, as above:
considering therefore that Cyaxeres Reigned long, and that no author mentions
more Kings of Media than one called Astyages, and that AEschylus who lived in
those days knew but of two great Monarchs of Media and Persia, the father and
the son, older than Cyrus; it seems to me that Astyages, the father of Mandane
and grandfather of Cyrus, was the father and predecessor of Cyaxeres; and that
the son and successor of Cyaxeres was called Darius. Cyaxeres, [405] according
to Herodotus, Reigned 40 years, and his successor 35, and Cyrus, according to
Xenophon, seven: Cyrus died Anno Nabonass. 219, according to the Canon, and
therefore Cyaxeres died Anno Nabonass. 177, and began his Reign Anno Nabonass.
137, and his father Astyages Reigned 26 years, beginning his Reign at the death
of Phraortes, who was slain by the Assyrians, Anno Nabonass. 111, as above. Of
all the Kings of the Medes, Cyaxeres was greatest warrior. Herodotus [406] saith
that he was much more valiant than his ancestors, and that he was the first who
divided the Kingdom into provinces, and reduced the irregular and undisciplined
forces of the Medes into discipline and order: and therefore by the testimony of
Herodotus he was that King of the Medes whom AEschylus makes the first conqueror
and founder of the Empire; for Herodotus represents him and his son to have been
the two immediate predecessors of Cyrus, erring only in the name of the son.
Astyages did nothing glorious: in the beginning of his Reign a great body of
Scythians commanded by Madyes, [407] invaded Media and Parthia, as above, and
Reigned there about 28 years; but at length his son Cyaxeres circumvented and
slew them in a feast, and made the rest fly to their brethren in Parthia; and
immediately after, in conjunction with Nebuchadnezzar, invaded and subverted the
Kingdom of Assyria, and destroyed Nineveh. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim,
which the Jews reckon to be the first of Nebuchadnezzar, dating his Reign from
his being made King by his father, or from the month Nisan preceding, when the
victors had newly shared the Empire of the Assyrians, and in prosecuting their
victory were invading Syria and Phoenicia, and were ready to invade the nations
round about; God [408] threatned that he would take all the families of the
North, that is, the armies of the Medes, and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon,
and bring them against Judaea and against the nations round about, and utterly
destroy those nations, and make them an astonishment and lasting desolations,
and cause them all to drink the wine-cup of his fury; and in particular, he
names the Kings of Judah and Egypt, and those of Edom, and Moab, and Ammon, and
Tyre, and Zidon, and the Isles of the Sea, and Arabia, and Zimri, and all the
Kings of Elam, and all the Kings of the Medes, and all the Kings of the North,
and the King of Sesac; and that after seventy years, he would also punish the
King of Babylon. Here, in numbering the nations which should suffer, he omits
the Assyrians as fallen already, and names the Kings of Elam or Persia, and
Sesac or Susa, as distinct from those of the Medes and Babylonians; and
therefore the Persians were not yet subdued by the Medes, nor the King of Susa
by the Chaldaeans; and as by the punishment of the King of Babylon he means the
conquest of Babylon by the Medes; so by the punishment of the Medes he seems to
mean the conquest of the Medes by Cyrus.

After this, in the beginning of the Reign of Zedekiah, that is, in the ninth
year of Nebuchadnezzar, God threatned that he would give the Kingdoms of Edom,
Moab, and Ammon, and Tyre and Zidon, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of
Babylon, and that all the nations should serve him, and his son, and his son’s
son until the very time of his land should come, and many nations and great
Kings should serve themselves of him, Jer. xxvii. And at the same time God thus
predicted the approaching conquest of the Persians by the Medes and their
confederates: Behold, saith he, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their
might: and upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of
heaven, and will scatter them towards all those winds, and there shall be no
nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come: for I will cause Elam to be
dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life; and I will
bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the
sword after them ’till I have consumed them; and I will set my throne in Elam,
and will destroy from thence the King and the Princes, saith the Lord: but it
shall come to pass in the latter days, viz. in the Reign of Cyrus, that I will
bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 49:35, &c. The
Persians were therefore hitherto a free nation under their own King, but soon
after this were invaded, subdued, captivated, and dispersed into the nations
round about, and continued in servitude until the Reign of Cyrus: and since the
Medes and Chaldaeans did not conquer the Persians ’till after the ninth year of
Nebuchadnezzar, it gives us occasion to enquire what that active warrior
Cyaxeres was doing next after the taking of Nineveh. When Cyaxeres expelled the
Scythians, [409] some of them made their peace with him, and staid in Media, and
presented to him daily some of the venison which they took in hunting: but
happening one day to catch nothing, Cyaxeres in a passion treated them with
opprobrious language: this they resented, and soon after killed one of the
children of the Medes, dressed it like venison, and presented it to Cyaxeres,
and then fled to Alyattes King of Lydia; whence followed a war of five years
between the two Kings Cyaxeres and Alyattes: and thence I gather that the
Kingdoms of the Medes and Lydians were now contiguous, and by consequence that
Cyaxeres, soon after the conquest of Nineveh, seized the regions belonging to
the Assyrians, as far as to the river Halys. In the sixth year of this war, in
the midst of a battel between the two Kings, there was a total Eclipse of the
Sun, predicted by Thales; [410] and this Eclipse fell upon the 28th of May, Anno
Nabonass. 163, forty and seven years before the taking of Babylon, and put an
end to the battel: and thereupon the two Kings made peace by the mediation of
Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and Syennesis King of Cilicia; and the peace was
ratified by a marriage, between Darius the son of Cyaxeres and Ariene the
daughter of Alyattes: Darius was therefore fifteen or sixteen years old at the
time of this marriage; for he was 62 years old at the taking of Babylon. In the
eleventh year of Zedekiah’s Reign, the year in which Nebuchadnezzar took
Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, Ezekiel comparing the Kingdoms of the East
to trees in the garden of Eden, thus mentions their being conquered by the Kings
of the Medes and Chaldaeans: Behold, saith he, the Assyrian was a Cedar in
Lebanon with fair branches,--his height was exalted above all the trees of the
field,--and under his shadow dwelt all great nations,--not any tree in the
garden of God was like unto him in his beauty:--but I have delivered him into
the hand of the mighty one of the heathen,--I made the nations to shake at the
sound of his fall, when I cast him down to the grave with them that descend into
the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that
drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth: they also went
down into the grave with him, unto them that be slain with the sword, and they
that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen,
Ezekiel 31:1-18. The next year Ezekiel, in another prophesy, thus enumerates the
principal nations who had been subdued and slaughtered by the conquering sword
of Cyaxeres and Nebuchadnezzar. Asthur is there and all her company, viz. in
Hades or the lower parts of the earth, where the dead bodies lay buried, his
graves are about him; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused their
terrour in the land of the living. There is Elam, and all her multitude round
about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down
uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terrour in
the land of the living: yet have they born their shame with them that go down
into the pit.--There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude [411]; her graves
are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they
caused their terrour in the land of the living.--There is Edom, her Kings, and
all her Princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the
sword.--There be the Princes of the North all of them, and all the Zidonians,
which with their terrour are gone down with the slain, Ezekiel 32:1-32. Here by
the Princes of the North I understand those on the north of Judaea, and chiefly
the Princes of Armenia and Cappadocia, who fell in the wars which Cyaxeres made
in reducing those countries after the taking of Nineveh. Elam or Persia was
conquered by the Medes, and Susiana by the Babylonians, after the ninth, and
before the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar: and therefore we cannot err much
if we place these conquests in the twelfth or fourteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar:
in the nineteenth, twentieth, and one and twentieth year of this King, he
invaded and [412] conquered Judaea, Moab, Ammon, Edom, the Philistims and Zidon;
and [413] the next year he besieged Tyre, and after a siege of thirteen years he
took it, in the 35th year of his Reign; and then he [414] invaded and conquered
Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya; and about eighteen or twenty years after the death of
this King, Darius the Mede conquered the Kingdom of Sardes; and after five or
six years more he invaded and conquered the Empire of Babylon: and thereby
finished the work of propagating the Medo-Persian Monarchy over all Asia, as
AEschylus represents.

Now this is that Darius who coined a great number of pieces of pure gold called
Darics, or Stateres Darici: for Suidas, Harpocration, and the Scholiast of
Aristophanes [415] tell us, that these were coined not by the father of Xerxes,
but by an earlier Darius, by Darius the first, by the first King of the Medes
and Persians who coined gold money. They were stamped on one side with the
effigies of an Archer, who was crowned with a spiked crown, had a bow in his
left hand, and an arrow in his right, and was cloathed with a long robe; I have
seen one of them in gold, and another in silver: they were of the same weight
and value with the Attic Stater or piece of gold money weighing two Attic
drachms. Darius seems to have learnt the art and use of money from the conquered
Kingdom of the Lydians, and to have recoined their gold: for the Medes, before
they conquered the Lydians, had no money. Herodotus [416] tells us, that when
Croesus was preparing to invade Cyrus, a certain Lydian called Sandanis advised
him, that he was preparing an expedition against a nation who were cloathed with
leathern breeches, who eat not such victuals as they would, but such as their
barren country afforded; who drank no wine, but water only, who eat no figs nor
other good meat, who had nothing to lose, but might get much from the Lydians:
for the Persians, saith Herodotus, before they conquered the Lydians, had
nothing rich or valuable: and [417] Isaiah tells us, that the Medes regarded not
silver, nor delighted in gold; but the Lydians and Phrygians were exceeding
rich, even to a proverb: Midas & Croesus, saith [418] Pliny, infinitum
possederant. Jam Cyrus devicta Asia [auri] pondo xxxiv millia invenerat, praeter
vasa aurea aurumque factum, & in eo folia ac platanum vitemque. Qua victoria
argenti quingenta millia talentorum reportavit, & craterem Semiramidis cujus
pondus quindecim talentorum colligebat. Talentum autem AEgyptium pondo octoginta
capere Varro tradit. What the conqueror did with all this gold and silver
appears by the Darics. The Lydians, according to [419] Herodotus, were the first
who coined gold and silver, and Croesus coined gold monies in plenty, called
Croesei; and it was not reasonable that the monies of the Kings of Lydia should
continue current after the overthrow of their Kingdom, and therefore Darius
recoined it with his own effigies, but without altering the current weight and
value: he Reigned then from before the conquest of Sardes ’till after the
conquest of Babylon. And since the cup of Semiramis was preserved ’till the
conquest of Croesus by Darius, it is not probable that she could be older than
is represented by Herodotus. This conquest of the Kingdom of Lydia put the
Greeks into fear of the Medes: for Theognis, who lived at Megara in the very
times of these wars, writes thus, [420] [Greek: Pinomen, charienta met’
alleloisi legontes,] [Greek: Meden ton Medon deidiotes polemon.] Let us drink,
talking pleasant things with one another, Not fearing the war of the Medes. And
again, [421]

[Greek: Autos de straton hybristen Medon aperyke] [Greek: Tesde poleus, hina soi
laoi en euphrosynei] [Greek: Eros eperchomenou kleitas pempos’ hekatombas,]
[Greek: Terpomenoi kithare kai eratei thaliei,] [Greek: Paianonte chorois,
iachosi te, son peri bomon.] [Greek: E gar egoge dedoik’, aphradien esoron]
[Greek: Kai stasin Hellenon laophthoron; alla sy Phoibe,] [Greek: Hilaos
hemeteren tende phylasse polin.]

Thou Apollo drive away the injurious army of the Medes From this city, that the
people may with joy Send thee choice hecatombs in the spring, Delighted with the
harp and chearful feasting, And chorus’s of Poeans and acclamations about thy
altar. For truly I am afraid, beholding the folly And sedition of the Greeks,
which corrupts the people: but thou Apollo, Being propitious, keep this our
city. The Poet tells us further that discord had destroyed Magnesia, Colophon,
and Smyrna, cities of Ionia and Phrygia, and would destroy the Greeks; which is
as much as to say that the Medes had then conquered those cities. The Medes
therefore Reigned ’till the taking of Sardes: and further, according to Xenophon
and the Scriptures, they Reigned ’till the taking of Babylon: for Xenophon [422]
tells us, that after the taking of Babylon, Cyrus went to the King of the Medes
at Ecbatane and succeeded him in the Kingdom: and Jerom, [423] that Babylon was
taken by Darius King of the Medes and his kinsman Cyrus: and the Scriptures tell
us, that Babylon was destroyed by a nation out of the north, Jerem. l. 3, 9, 41.
by the Kingdoms of Ararat Minni, or Armenia, and Ashchenez, or Phrygia minor,
Jeremiah 51:27 by the Medes, Isaiah 13:17, Isaiah 13:19 by the Kings of the
Medes and the captains and rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion,
Jeremiah 51:11, Jeremiah 51:28. The Kingdom of Babylon was numbred and finished
and broken and given to the Medes and Persians, Daniel 5:26, Daniel 5:28 first
to the Medes under Darius, and then to the Persians under Cyrus: for Darius
Reigned over Babylon like a conqueror, not observing the laws of the
Babylonians, but introducing the immutable laws of the conquering nations, the
Medes and Persians, Daniel 6:8, Daniel 6:12, Daniel 6:15; and the Medes in his
Reign are set before the Persians, Daniel 5:28, & Daniel 8:20 as the Persians
were afterwards in the Reign of Cyrus and his successors set before the Medes,
Esther 1:3, Esther 1:14, Esther 1:18-19. Daniel 10:1, Daniel 10:20 and Daniel
11:2 which shews that in the Reign of Darius the Medes were uppermost.

You may know also by the great number of provinces in the Kingdom of Darius,
that he was King of the Medes and Persians: for upon the conquest of Babylon, he
set over the whole Kingdom an hundred and twenty Princes, Daniel 6:1 and
afterwards when Cambyses and Darius Hystaspis had added some new territories,
the whole contained but 127 provinces. The extent of the Babylonian Empire was
much the same with that of Nineveh after the revolt of the Medes. Berosus saith
that Nebuchadnezzar held Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia and Arabia: and Strabo adds
Arbela to the territories of Babylon; and saying that Babylon was anciently the
metropolis of Assyria, he thus describes the limits of this Assyrian Empire.
Contiguous, [424] saith he, to Persia and Susiana are the Assyrians: for so they
call Babylonia, and the greatest part of the region about it: part of which is
Arturia, wherein is Ninus [or Nineveh;] and Apolloniatis, and the Elymaeans, and
the Paraetacae, and Chalonitis by the mountain Zagrus, and the fields near
Ninus, and Dolomene, and Chalachene, and Chazene, and Adiabene, and the nations
of Mesopotamia near the Gordyaeans, and the Mygdones about Nisibis, unto Zeugma
upon Euphrates; and a large region on this side Euphrates inhabited by the
Arabians and Syrians properly so called, as far as Cilicia and Phoenicia and
Libya and the sea of Egypt and the Sinus Issicus: and a little after describing
the extent of the Babylonian region, he bounds it on the north, with the
Armenians and Medes unto the mountain Zagrus; on the east side, with Susa and
Elymais and Paraetacene, inclusively; on the south, with the Persian Gulph and
Chaldaea; and on the west, with the Arabes Scenitae as far as Adiabene and
Gordyaea: afterwards speaking of Susiana and Sitacene, a region between Babylon
and Susa, and of Paraetacene and Cossaea and Elymais, and of the Sagapeni and
Siloceni, two little adjoining Provinces, he concludes, [425] and these are the
nations which inhabit Babylonia eastward: to the north are Media and Armenia,
exclusively, and westward are Adiabene and Mesopotamia, inclusively; the
greatest part of Adiabene is plain, the same being part of Babylonia: in same
places it borders on Armenia: for the Medes, Armenians and Babylonians warred
frequently on one another. Thus far Strabo. When Cyrus took Babylon, he changed
the Kingdom into a Satrapy or Province: whereby the bounds were long after
known: and by this means Herodotus [426] gives us an estimate of the bigness of
this Monarchy in proportion to that of the Persians, telling us that whilst
every region over which the King of Persia Reigned in his days, was distributed
for the nourishment of his army, besides the tributes, the Babylonian region
nourished him four months of the twelve in the year, and all the rest of Asia
eight: so the power of the region, saith he, is equivalent to the third part of
Asia, and its Principality, which the Persians call a Satrapy, is far the best
of all the Provinces.

Babylon [427] was a square city of 120 furlongs, or 15 miles on every side,
compassed first with a broad and deep ditch, and then with a wall fifty cubits
thick, and two hundred high. Euphrates flowed through the middle of it
southward, a few leagues on this side Tigris: and in the middle of one half
westward stood the King’s new Palace, built by Nebuchadnezzar; and in the middle
of the other half stood the Temple of Belus, with the old Palace between that
Temple and the river: this old Palace was built by the Assyrians, according to
[428] Isaiah, and by consequence, by Pul and his son Nabonassar, as above: they
founded the city for the Arabians, and set up the towers thereof, and raised the
Palaces thereof: and at that time Sabacon the Ethiopian invaded Egypt, and made
great multitudes of Egyptians fly from him into Chaldaea, and carry thither
their Astronomy, and Astrology, and Architecture, and the form of their year,
which they preserved there in the AEra of Nabonassar: for the practice of
observing the Stars began in Egypt in the days of Ammon, as above, and was
propagated from thence in the Reign of his son Sesac into Afric, Europe, and
Asia by conquest; and then Atlas formed the Sphere of the Libyans, and Chiron
that of the Greeks, and the Chaldaeans also made a Sphere of their own. But
Astrology was invented in Egypt by Nichepsos, or Necepsos, one of the Kings of
the lower Egypt, and Petosiris his Priest, a little before the days of Sabacon,
and propagated thence into Chaldaea, where Zoroaster the Legislator of the Magi
met with it: so Paulinus, Quique magos docuit mysteria vana Necepsos: And
Diodorus, [429] they say that the Chaldaeans in Babylonia are colonies of the
Egyptians, and being taught by the Priests of Egypt became famous for Astrology.
By the influence of the same colonies, the Temple of Jupiter Belus in Babylon
seems to have been erected in the form of the Egyptian Pyramids: for [430] this
Temple was a solid Tower or Pyramid a furlong square, and a furlong high, with
seven retractions, which made it appear like eight towers standing upon one
another, and growing less and less to the top: and in the eighth tower was a
Temple with a bed and a golden table, kept by a woman, after the manner of the
Egyptians in the Temple of Jupiter Ammon at Thebes; and above the Temple was a
place for observing the Stars: they went up to the top of it by steps on the
outside, and the bottom was compassed with a court, and the court with a
building two furlongs in length on every side. The Babylonians were extreamly
addicted to Sorcery, Inchantments, Astrology and Divinations, Isaiah 47:9,
Isaiah 47:12-13. Daniel 2:2 & Daniel 5:11 and to the worship of Idols, Jeremiah
50:2, Jeremiah 50:40 and to feasting, wine and women. Nihil urbis ejus
corruptius moribus, nec ad irritandas illiciendasque immodicas voluptates
instructius. Liberos conjugesque cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium
flagitii detur, parentes maritique patiuntur. Convivales ludi tota Perside
regibus purpuratisque cordi sunt: Babylonii maxime in vinum & quae ebrietatem
sequuntur effusi sunt. Faeminarum convivia ineuntium in principio modestus est
habitus; dein summa quaeque amicula exuunt, paulatimque pudorem profanant: ad
ultimum, honos auribus sit, ima corporum velamenta projiciunt. Nec meretricum
hoc dedecus est, sed matronarum virginumque, apud quas comitas habetur vulgati
corporis vilitas. Q. Curtius, lib. v. cap. 1. And this lewdness of their women,
coloured over with the name of civility, was encouraged even by their religion:
for it was the custom for their women once in their life to sit in the Temple of
Venus for the use of strangers; which Temple they called Succoth Benoth, the
Temple of Women: and when any woman was once sat there, she was not to depart
’till some stranger threw money into her bosom, took her away and lay with her;
and the money being for sacred uses, she was obliged to accept of it how little
soever, and follow the stranger. The Persians being conquered by the Medes about
the middle of the Reign of Zedekiah, continued in subjection under them ’till
the end of the Reign of Darius the Mede: and Cyrus, who was of the Royal Family
of the Persians, might be Satrapa of Persia, and command a body of their forces
under Darius; but was not yet an absolute and independant King: but after the
taking of Babylon, when he had a victorious army at his devotion, and Darius was
returned from Babylon into Media, he revolted from Darius, in conjunction with
the Persians under him; [431] they being incited thereunto by Harpagus a Mede,
whom Xenophon calls Artagerses and Atabazus, and who had assisted Cyrus in
conquering Croesus and Asia minor, and had been injured by Darius. Harpagus was
sent by Darius with an army against Cyrus, and in the midst of a battel revolted
with part of the army to Cyrus: Darius got up a fresh army, and the next year
the two armies fought again: this last battel was fought at Pasargadae in
Persia, according to [432] Strabo; and there Darius was beaten and taken
Prisoner by Cyrus, and the Monarchy was by this victory translated to the
Persians. The last King of the Medes is by Xenophon called Cyaxares, and by
Herodotus, Astyages the father of Mandane: but these Kings were dead before, and
Daniel lets us know that Darius was the true name of the last King, and
Herodotus, [433] that the last King was conquered by Cyrus in the manner above
described; and the Darics coined by the last King testify that his name was
Darius. This victory over Darius was about two years after the taking of
Babylon: for the Reign or Nabonnedus the last King of the Chaldees, whom
Josephus calls Naboandel and Belshazzar, ended in the year of Nabonassar 210,
nine years before the death of Cyrus, according to the Canon: but after the
translation of the Kingdom of the Medes to the Persians, Cyrus Reigned only
seven years, according to [434] Xenophon; and spending the seven winter months
yearly at Babylon, the three spring months yearly at Susa, and the two Summer
months at Ecbatane, he came the seventh time into Persia, and died there in the
spring, and was buried at Pasargadae. By the Canon and the common consent of all
Chronologers, he died in the year of Nabonassar 219, and therefore conquered
Darius in the year of Nabonassar 212, seventy and two years after the
destruction of Nineveh, and beat him the first time in the year of Nabonassar
211, and revolted from him, and became King of the Persians, either the same
year, or in the end of the year before. At his death he was seventy years old
according to Herodotus, and therefore he was born in the year of Nabonassar 149,
his mother Mandane being the sister of Cyaxeres, at that time a young man, and
also the sister of Amyite the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, and his father Cambyses
being of the old Royal Family of the Persians.


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  CHAPTER 38: 02.012.     CHAPTER V
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CHAP. V. A Description of the TEMPLE of Solomon.

[435] The Temple of Solomon being destroyed by the Babylonians, it may not be
amiss here to give a description of that edifice. This [436] Temple looked
eastward, and stood in a square area, called the Separate Place: and [437]
before it stood the Altar, in the center of another square area, called the
Inner Court, or Court of the Priests: and these two square areas, being parted
only by a marble rail, made an area 200 cubits long from west to east, and 100
cubits broad: this area was compassed on the west with a wall, and [438] on the
other three sides with a pavement fifty cubits broad, upon which stood the
buildings for the Priests, with cloysters under them: and the pavement was faced
on the inside with a marble rail before the cloysters: the whole made an area
250 cubits long from west to east, and 200 broad, and was compassed with an
outward Court, called also the Great Court, or Court of the People, [439] which
was an hundred cubits on every side; for there were but two Courts built by
Solomon: and the outward Court was about four cubits lower than the inward, and
was compassed on the west with a wall, and on the other three sides [440] with a
pavement fifty cubits broad, upon which stood the buildings for the People. All
this was the [441] Sanctuary, and made a square area 500 cubits long, and 500
broad, and was compassed with a walk, called the Mountain of the House: and this
walk being 50 cubits broad, was compassed with a wall six cubits broad, and six
high, and six hundred long on every side: and the cubit was about 211/2, or
almost 22 inches of the English foot, being the sacred cubit of the Jews, which
was an hand-breadth, or the sixth part of its length bigger than the common
cubit. The Altar stood in the center of the whole; and in the buildings of [442]
both Courts over against the middle of the Altar, eastward, southward, and
northward, were gates [443] 25 cubits broad between the buildings, and 40 long;
with porches of ten cubits more, looking towards the Altar Court, which made the
whole length of the gates fifty cubits cross the pavements. Every gate had two
doors, one at either [444] end, ten cubits wide, and twenty high, with posts and
thresholds six cubits broad: within the gates was an area 28 cubits long between
the thresholds, and 13 cubits wide: and on either side of this area were three
posts, each six cubits square, and twenty high, with arches five cubits wide
between them: all which posts and arches filled the 28 cubits in length between
the thresholds; and their breadth being added to the thirteen cubits, made the
whole breadth of the gates 25 cubits. These posts were hollow, and had rooms in
them with narrow windows for the porters, and a step before them a cubit broad:
and the walls of the porches being six cubits thick, were also hollow for
several uses. [445] At the east gate of the Peoples Court, called the King’s
gate, [446] were six porters, at the south gate were four, and at the north gate
were four: the people [447] went in and out at the south and north gates: the
[448] east gate was opened only for the King, and in this gate he ate the
Sacrifices. There were also four gates or doors in the western wall of the
Mountain of the House: of these [449] the most northern, called Shallecheth, or
the gate of the causey, led to the King’s palace, the valley between being
filled up with a causey: the next gate, called Parbar, led to the suburbs Millo:
the third and fourth gates, called Asuppim, led the one to Millo, the other to
the city of Jerusalem, there being steps down into the valley and up again into
the city. At the gate Shallecheth were four porters; at the other three gates
were six porters, two at each gate: the house of the porters who had the charge
of the north gate of the People’s Court, had also the charge of the gates
Shallecheth and Parbar: and the house of the porters who had the charge of the
south gate of the People s Court, had also the charge of the other two gates
called Asuppim.

They came through the four western gates into the Mountain of the House, and
[450] went up from the Mountain of the House, to the gates of the People’s Court
by seven steps, and from the People’s Court to the gates of the Priest’s Court
by eight steps: [451] and the arches in the sides of the gates of both courts
led into cloysters [452] under a double building, supported by three rows of
marble pillars, which butted directly upon the middles of the square posts, ran
along from thence upon the pavements towards the corners of the Courts: the axes
of the pillars in the middle row being eleven cubits distant from the axes of
the pillars in the other two rows on either hand; and the building joining to
the sides of the gates: the pillars were three cubits in diameter below, and
their bases four cubits and an half square. The gates and buildings of both
Courts were alike, and [453] faced their Courts: the cloysters of all the
buildings, and the porches of all the gates looking towards the Altar. The row
of pillars on the backsides of the cloysters adhered to marble walls, which
bounded the cloysters and supported the buildings: [454] these buildings were
three stories high above the cloysters, and [455] were supported in each of
those stories by a row of cedar beams, or pillars of cedar, standing above the
middle row of the marble pillars: the buildings on either side of every gate of
the People’s Court, being 1871/2 cubits long, were distinguished into five
chambers on a floor, running in length from the gates to the corners or the
Courts: there [456] being in all thirty chambers in a story, where the People
ate the Sacrifices, or thirty exhedras, each of which contained three chambers,
a lower, a middle, and an upper: every exhedra was 371/2 cubits long, being
supported by four pillars in each row, [457] whose bases were 41/2 cubits
square, and the distances between their bases 61/2 cubits, and the distances
between the axes of the pillars eleven cubits: and where two [458] exhedras
joyned, there the bases of their pillars joyned; the axes of those two pillars
being only 41/2 cubits distant from one another: and perhaps for strengthning
the building, the space between the axes of these two pillars in the front was
filled up with a marble column 41/2 cubits square, the two pillars standing half
out on either side of the square column. At the ends of these buildings [459] in
the four corners of the Peoples Court, were little Courts fifty cubits square on
the outside of their walls, and forty on the inside thereof, for stair-cases to
the buildings, and kitchins to bake and boil the Sacrifices for the People, the
kitchin being thirty cubits broad, and the stair-case ten. The buildings on
either side of the gates of the Priests Court were also 371/2 cubits long, and
contained each of them one great chamber in a story, subdivided into smaller
rooms, for the Great Officers of the Temple, and Princes of the Priests: and in
the south-east and north-east corners of this court, at the ends of the
buildings, were kitchins and stair-cases for the Great Officers; and perhaps
rooms for laying up wood for the Altar. In the eastern gate of the Peoples
Court, sat a Court of Judicature, composed of 23 Elders. The eastern gate of the
Priests Court, with the buildings on either side, was for the High-Priest, and
his deputy the Sagan, and for the Sanhedrim or Supreme Court of Judicature,
composed of seventy Elders. [460] The building or exhedra on the eastern side of
the southern gate, was for the Priests who had the oversight of the charge of
the Sanctuary with its treasuries: and these were, first, two Catholikim, who
were High-Treasurers and Secretaries to the High-Priest, and examined, stated,
and prepared all acts and accounts to be signed and sealed by him; then seven
Amarcholim, who kept the keys of the seven locks of every gate of the Sanctuary,
and those also of the treasuries, and had the oversight, direction, and
appointment of all things in the Sanctuary; then three or more Gisbarim, or
Under-Treasurers, or Receivers, who kept the Holy Vessels, and the Publick
Money, and received or disposed of such sums as were brought in for the service
of the Temple, and accounted for the same. All these, with the High-Priest,
composed the Supreme Council for managing the affairs of the Temple. The
Sacrifices [461] were killed on the northern side of the Altar, and flea’d, cut
in pieces and salted in the northern gate of the Temple; and therefore the
building or exhedra on the eastern side of this gate, was for the Priests who
had the oversight of the charge of the Altar, and Daily Service: and these
Officers were, He that received money of the People for purchasing things for
the Sacrifices, and gave out tickets for the same; He that upon sight of the
tickets delivered the wine, flower and oyl purchased; He that was over the lots,
whereby every Priest attending on the Altar had his duty assigned; He that upon
sight of the tickets delivered out the doves and pigeons purchased; He that
administred physic to the Priests attending; He that was over the waters; He
that was over the times, and did the duty of a cryer, calling the Priests or
Levites to attend in their ministeries; He that opened the gates in the morning
to begin the service, and shut them in the evening when the service was done,
and for that end received the keys of the Amarcholim, and returned them when he
had done his duty; He that visited the night-watches; He that by a Cymbal called
the Levites to their stations for singing; He that appointed the Hymns and set
the Tune; and He that took care of the Shew-Bread: there were also Officers who
took care of the Perfume, the Veil, and the Wardrobe of the Priests. The exhedra
on the western side of the south gate, and that on the western side of the north
gate, were for the Princes of the four and twenty courses of the Priests, one
exhedra for twelve of the Princes, [462] and the other exhedra for the other
twelve: and upon the pavement on either side of the Separate Place [463] were
other buildings without cloysters, for the four and twenty courses of the
Priests to eat the Sacrifices, and lay up their garments and the most holy
things: each pavement being 100 cubits long, and 50 broad, had buildings on
either side of it twenty cubits broad, with a walk or alley ten cubits broad
between them: the building which bordered upon the Separate Place was an hundred
cubits long, and that next the Peoples Court but fifty, the other fifty cubits
westward [464] being for a stair-case and kitchin: these buildings [465] were
three stories high, and the middle story was narrower in the front than the
lower story, and the upper story still narrower, to make room for galleries; for
they had galleries before them, and under the galleries were closets for laying
up the holy things, and the garments of the Priests, and these galleries were
towards the walk or alley, which ran between the buildings.

They went up from the Priests Court to the Porch of the Temple by ten steps: and
the [466] House of the Temple was twenty cubits broad, and sixty long within; or
thirty broad, and seventy long, including the walls; or seventy cubits broad,
and 90 long, including a building of treasure-chambers which was twenty cubits
broad on three sides of the House; and if the Porch be also included, the Temple
was [467] an hundred cubits long. The treasure-chambers were built of cedar,
between the wall of the Temple, and another wall without: they were [468] built
in two rows three stories high, and opened door against door into a walk or
gallery which ran along between them, and was five cubits broad in every story;
So that the breadth of the chambers on either side of the gallery, including the
breadth of the wall to which they adjoined, was ten cubits; and the whole
breadth of the gallery and chambers, and both walls, was five and twenty cubits:
the chambers [469] were five cubits broad in the lower story, six broad in the
middle story, and seven broad in the upper story; for the wall of the Temple was
built with retractions of a cubit, to rest the timber upon. Ezekiel represents
the chambers a cubit narrower, and the walls a cubit thicker than they were in
Solomon’s Temple: there were [470] thirty chambers in a story, in all ninety
chambers, and they were five cubits high in every story. The [471] Porch of the
Temple was 120 cubits high, and its length from south to north equalled the
breadth of the House: the House was three stories high, which made the height of
the Holy Place three times thirty cubits, and that of the Most Holy three times
twenty: the upper rooms were treasure-chambers; they [472] went up to the middle
chamber by winding stairs in the southern shoulder of the House, and from the
middle into the upper.

Some time after this Temple was built, the Jews [473] added a New Court, on the
eastern side of the Priests Court, before the King’s gate, and therein built
[474] a covert for the Sabbath: this Court was not measured by Ezekiel, but the
dimensions thereof may be gathered from those of the Womens Court, in the second
Temple, built after the example thereof: for when Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed
the first Temple, Zerubbabel, by the commissions of Cyrus and Darius, built
another upon the same area, excepting the Outward Court, which was left open to
the Gentiles: and this Temple [475] was sixty cubits long, and sixty broad,
being only two stories in height, and having only one row of treasure-chambers
about it: and on either side of the Priests Court were double buildings for the
Priests, built upon three rows of marble pillars in the lower story, with a row
of cedar beams or pillars in the stories above: and the cloyster in the lower
story looked towards the Priests Court: and the Separate Place, and Priests
Court, with their buildings on the north and south sides, and the Womens Court,
at the east end, took up an area three hundred cubits long, and two hundred
broad, the Altar standing in the center of the whole. The Womens Court was so
named, because the women came into it as well as the men: there were galleries
for the women, and the men worshipped upon the ground below: and in this state
the second Temple continued all the Reign of the Persians; but afterwards
suffered some alterations, especially in the days of Herod. This description of
the Temple being taken principally from Ezekiel’s Vision thereof; and the
ancient Hebrew copy followed by the Seventy, differing in some readings from the
copy followed by the editors of the present Hebrew, I will here subjoin that
part of the Vision which relates to the Outward Court, as I have deduced it from
the present Hebrew, and the version of the Seventy compared together.

Ezekiel 40:5, &c.

[476] And behold a wall on the outside of the House round about, at the distance
of fifty cubits from it, aabb: and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits
long by the cubit, and an hand-breadth: so he measured the breadth of the
building, or wall, one reed, and the height one reed. [477] Then came he unto
the gate of the House, which looketh towards the east, and went up the seven
steps thereof, AB, and measured the threshold of the gate, CD, which was one
reed broad, and the Porters little chamber, EFG, one reed long, and one reed
broad; and the arched passage between the little chambers, FH, five cubits: and
the second little chamber, HIK, a reed broad and a reed long; and the arched
passage, IL, five cubits: and the third little chamber LMN, a reed long and a
reed broad: and the threshold of the gate next the porch of the gate within, OP,
one reed: and he measured the porch of the gate, QR, eight cubits; and the posts
thereof ST, st, two cubits; and the porch of the gate, QR, was inward, or toward
the inward court; and the little chambers, EF, HI, LM, ef, hi, lm, were outward,
or to the east; three on this side, and three on that side of the gate. There
was one measure of the three, and one measure of the posts on this side, and on
that side; and he measured the breadth of the door of the gate, Cc, or Dd, ten
cubits; and the breadth of the gate within between the little chambers, Ee or
Ff, thirteen cubits; and the limit, or margin, or step before the little
chambers, EM, one cubit on this side, and the step, em, one cubit on the other
side; and the little chambers, EFG, HIK, LMN, efg, hik, lmn, were six cubits
broad on this side, and six cubits broad on that side: and he measured the whole
breadth of the gate, from the further wall of one little chamber to the further
wall of another little chamber: the breadth, Gg, or Kk, or Nn, was twenty and
five cubits through; door, FH, against door, fh: and he measured the posts, EF,
HI, and LM, ef, hi, and lm, twenty cubits high; and at the posts there were
gates, or arched passages, FH, IL, fh, il, round about; and from the eastern
face of the gate at the entrance, Cc, to the western face of the porch of the
gate within, Tt, were fifty cubits: and there were narrow windows to the little
chambers, and to the porch within the gate, round about, and likewise to the
posts; even windows were round about within: and upon each post were palm trees.

Then he brought me into the Outward Court, and lo there were chambers, and a
pavement with pillars upon it in the court round about, [478] thirty chambers in
length upon the pavement, supported by the pillars, ten chambers on every side,
except the western: and the pavement butted upon the shoulders or sides of the
gates below, every gate having five chambers or exhedrae on either side. And he
measured the breadth of the Outward Court, from the fore-front of the
lower-gate, to the fore-front of the inward court, an hundred cubits eastward.

Then he brought me northward, and there was a gate that looked towards the
north; he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof, and the little
chambers thereof, three on this side, and three on that side, and the posts
thereof, and the porch thereof, and it was according to the measures of the
first gate; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth was five and twenty:
and the windows thereof, and the porch and the palm-trees thereof were according
to the measures of the gate which looked to the east, and they went up to it by
seven steps: and its porch was before them, that is inward. And there was a gate
of the inward court over against this gate of the north, as in the gates to the
eastward: and he measured from gate to gate an hundred cubits. A Description of
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON [Illustration: Plate I. p. 346.] ABCD. The Separate Place
in which stood the Temple.

ABEF. The Court of y^{e} Priests.

G. The Altar.

DHLKICEFD. A Pavement compassing three sides of the foremention’d Courts, and
upon which stood the Buildings for the Priests, with Cloysters under them.

MNOP. The Court of the People.

MQTSRN. A Pavement compassing three sides of the Peoples Court, upon which stood
the Buildings for the People, with Cloysters under them.

UXYZ. The Mountain of the House. aabb. A Wall enclosing the whole. c. The Gate
Shallecheth. d. The Gate Parbar. ef. The two Gates Assupim. g. The East Gate of
the Peoples Court, call’d the Kings Gate. hh. The North and South Gates of the
same Court. iiii. The chambers over the Cloysters of the Peoples Court where the
People ate the Sacrifices, 30 Chambers in each Story. kkkk. Four little Courts
serving for Stair Cases and Kitchins for the People. l. The Eastern Gate of the
Priests Court, over which sate the Sanhedrin. m. The Southern Gate of the
Priests Court. n. The Northern Gate of the same Court, where the Sacrifices were
flea’d &c. opqrst. The Buildings over the Cloysters for the Priests, viz six
large Chambers (subdivided) in each Story, whereof o and p were for the High
Priest and Sagan, q for the Overseers of the Sanctuary and Treasury, r for the
Overseers of the Altar and Sacrifice and s and t for the Princes of the twenty
four Courses of Priests. uu. Two Courts in which were Stair Cases and Kitchins
for the Priests. x. The House or Temple which (together with the Treasure
Chambers y, and Buildings zz on each side of the Separate Place) is more
particularly describ’d on the second Plate.

* * * * * A Description of the Inner Court & Buildings for the Priests in
Solomons Temple.

[Illustration: Plate II. p. 346.] ABCD. The Separate Place.

ABEF. The Inner Court, or Court of the Priests, parted from the Separate Place,
and and Pavement on the other three sides, by a marble rail.

G. The Altar.

HHH. The East, South, & North Gates of the Priests Court.

III. &c. The Cloysters supporting the Buildings for the Priests.

KK. Two Courts in which were Stair Cases and Kitchins for the Priests.

L. Ten Steps to the Porch of the Temple.

M. The Porch of the Temple.

N. The Holy Place.

O. The most Holy Place.

PPPP. Thirty Treasure-Chambers, in two rows, opening into a gallery, door
against door, and compassing three sides of the Holy & most Holy Places.

Q. The Stairs leading to the Middle Chamber.

RRRR. &c. The buildings for the four and twenty Courses of Priests, upon the
Pavement on either side of the Separate Place, three Stories high without
Cloysters, but the upper Stories narrower than the lower, to make room for
Galleries before them. There were 24 Chambers in each Story and they opend into
a walk or alley, SS. between the Buildings.

TT. Two Courts in which were Kitchins for the Priests of the twenty four
Courses.

* * * * * A Particular Description of one of the Gates of the Peoples Court,
with part of the Cloyster adjoyning.

[Illustration: Plate III. p. 346.] uw. The inner margin of the Pavement
compassing three sides of the Peoples Court. xxx. &c. The Pillars of the
Cloyster supporting the Buildings for the People. yyyy. Double Pillars where two
Exhedrae joyned, and whose interstices in the front zz were filled up with a
square Column of Marble.

Note The preceding letters of this Plate refer to the description in pag. 344
345.


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  CHAPTER 39: 02.013.     CHAPTER VI
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CHAP. VI. Of the Empire of the Persians.

Cyrus having translated the Monarchy to the Persians, and Reigned seven years,
was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who Reigned seven years and five months, and
in the three last years of his Reign subdued Egypt: he was succeeded by Mardus,
or Smerdis the Magus, who feigned himself to be Smerdis the brother of Cambyses.

Smerdis Reigned seven months, and in the eighth month being discovered, was
slain, with a great number of the Magi; so the Persians called their Priests,
and in memory of this kept an anniversary day, which they called, The slaughter
of the Magi. Then Reigned Maraphus and Artaphernes a few days, and after them
Darius the son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsamenes, of the family of Achaemenes,
a Persian, being chosen King by the neighing of his horse: before he Reigned his
[479] name was Ochus. He seems on this occasion to have reformed the
constitution of the Magi, making his father Hystaspes their Master, or
Archimagus; for Porphyrius tells us, [480] that the Magi were a sort of men so
venerable amongst the Persians, that Darius the son of Hystaspes wrote on the
monument of his father, amongst other things, that he had been the Master of the
Magi. In this reformation of the Magi, Hystaspes was assisted by Zoroastres: so
Agathias; The Persians at this day say simply that Zoroastres lived under
Hystaspes: and Apuleius; Pythagoram, aiunt, inter captivos Cambysae Regis [ex
AEgypto Babylonem abductos] doctores habuisse Persarum Magos, & praecipue
Zoroastrem, omnis divini arcani Antistitem. By Zoroastres’s conversing at
Babylon he seems to have borrowed his skill from the Chaldaeans; for he was
skilled in Astronomy, and used their year: so Q. Curtius; [481] Magi proximi
patrium carmen canebant: Magos trecenti & sexaginta quinque juvenes sequebantur,
puniceis amiculis velati, diebus totius anni pares numero: and Ammianus;
Scientiae multa ex Chaldaeorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres. From his
conversing in several places he is reckoned a Chaldaean, an Assyrian, a Mede, a
Persian, a Bactrian. Suidas calls him [482] a Perso-Mede, and saith that he was
the most skilful of Astronomers, and first author of the name of the Magi
received among them. This skill in Astronomy he had doubtless from the
Chaldaeans, but Hystaspes travelled into India, to be instructed by the
Gymnosophists: and these two conjoyning their skill and authority, instituted a
new set of Priests or Magi, and instructed them in such ceremonies and mysteries
of Religion and Philosophy as they thought fit to establish for the Religion and
Philosophy of that Empire; and these instructed others, ’till from a small
number they grew to a great multitude: for Suidas tells us, that Zoroastres gave
a beginning to the name of the Magi: and Elmacinus; that he reformed the
religion of the Persians, which before was divided into many sects: and
Agathias; that he introduced the religion of the Magi among the Persians,
changing their ancient sacred rites, and bringing in several opinions: and
Ammianus [483] tells us, Magiam esse divinorum incorruptissimum cultum, cujus
scientiae seculis priscis multa ex Chaldaeorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit
Zoroastres: deinde Hystaspes Rex prudentissimus Darii pater; qui quum superioris
Indiae secreta fidentius penetraret, ad nemorosam quamdam venerat solitudinem,
cujus tranquillis silentiis praecelsa Brachmanorum ingenia potiuntur; eorumque
monitu rationes mundani motus & siderum, purosque sacrorum ritus quantum
colligere potuit eruditus, ex his quae didicit, aliqua sensibus Magorum infudit;
quae illi cum disciplinis praesentiendi futura, per suam quisque progeniem,
posteris aetatibus tradunt. Ex eo per saecula multa ad praesens, una eademque
prosapia multitudo creata, Deorum cultibus dedicatur. Feruntque, si justum est
credi, etiam ignem coelitus lapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodiri, cujus
portionem exiguam ut faustam praeisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus dicunt: Hujus
originis apud veteres numerus erat exilis, ejusque mysteriis Persicae potestates
in faciendis rebus divinis solemniter utebantur. Eratque piaculum aras adire,
vel hostiam contrectare, antequam Magus conceptis precationibus libamenta
diffunderet praecursoria. Verum aucti paullatim, in amplitudinem gentis solidae
concesserunt & nomen: villasque inhabitantes nulla murorum firmitudine
communitas & legibus suis uti permissi, religionis respectu sunt honorati. So
this Empire was at first composed of many nations, each of which had hitherto
its own religion: but now Hystaspes and Zoroastres collected what they conceived
to be best, established it by law, and taught it to others, and those to others,
’till their disciples became numerous enough for the Priesthood of the whole
Empire; and instead of those various old religions, they set up their own
institutions in the whole Empire, much after the manner that Numa contrived and
instituted the religion of the Romans: and this religion of the Persian Empire
was composed partly of the institutions of the Chaldaeans, in which Zoroastres
was well skilled; and partly of the institutions of the ancient Brachmans, who
are supposed to derive even their name from the Abrahamans, or sons of Abraham,
born of his second wife Keturah, instructed by their father in the worship of
ONE GOD without images, and sent into the east, where Hystaspes was instructed
by their successors. About the same time with Hystapes and Zoroastres, lived
also Ostanes, another eminent Magus: Pliny places him under Darius Hystaspis,
and Suidas makes him the follower of Zoroastres: he came into Greece with
Xerxes, and seems to be the Otanes of Herodotus, who discovered Smerdis, and
formed the conspiracy against him, and for that service was honoured by the
conspirators, and exempt from subjection to Darius. In the sacred commentary of
the Persian rites these words are ascribed to Zoroastres; [484] [Greek: Ho Theos
esti kephalen echon hierakos. houtos estin ho protos, aphthartos, aidios,
agenetos, ameres, anomoiotatos, heniochos pantos kalou, adorodoketos, agathon
agathotatos, phronimon phronimotatos; esti de kai pater eunomias kai
dikaiosynes, autodidaktos, physikos, kai teleios, kai sophos, kai hierou
physikou monos heuretes.] Deus est accipitris capite: hic est primus,
incorruptibilis, aeternus, ingenitus, sine partibus, omnibus aliis
dissimillimus, moderator omnis boni, donis non capiendus, bonorum optimus,
prudentium prudentissimus, legum aequitatis ac justitiae parens, ipse sui
doctor, physicus & perfectus & sapiens & sacri physici unicus inventor: and the
same was taught by Ostanes, in his book called Octateuchus. This was the Antient
God of the Persian Magi, and they worshipped him by keeping a perpetual fire for
Sacrifices upon an Altar in the center of a round area, compassed with a ditch,
without any Temple in the place, and without paying any worship to the dead, or
any images. But in a short time they declined from the worship of this Eternal,
Invisible God, to worship the Sun, and the Fire, and dead men, and images, as
the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Chaldaeans had done before: and from these
superstitions, and the pretending to prognostications, the words Magi and Magia,
which signify the Priests and Religion of the Persians, came to be taken in an
ill sense.

Darius, or Darab, began his Reign in spring, in the sixteenth year of the Empire
of the Persians, Anno Nabonass. 227, and Reigned 36 years, by the unanimous
consent of all Chronologers. In the second year of his Reign the Jews began to
build the Temple, by the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, and finished it in
the sixth. He fought the Greeks at Marathon in October, Anno Nabonass. 258, ten
years before the battel at Salamis, and died in the fifth year following, in the
end of winter, or beginning of spring, Anno Nabonass. 263. The years of Cambyses
and Darius are determined by three Eclipses of the Moon recorded by Ptolemy, so
that they cannot be disputed: and by those Eclipses, and the Prophesies of
Haggai and Zechariah compared together, it is manifest that the years of Darius
began after the 24th day of the eleventh Jewish month, and before the 24th day
of April, and by consequence in March or April.

Xerxes, Achschirosch, Achsweros, or Oxyares, succeeded his father Darius, and
spent the first five years of his Reign, and something more, in preparations for
his Expedition against the Greeks: and this Expedition was in the time of the
Olympic Games, in the beginning of the first year of the 75th Olympiad, Callias
being Archon at Athens; as all Chronologers agree. The great number of people
which he drew out of Susa to invade Greece, made AEschylus the Poet say [485]:

[Greek: To d’ asty Souson exekeinosen peson.] It emptied the falling city of
Susa. The passage of his army over the Hellespont began in the end of the fourth
year of the 74th Olympiad, that is in June, Anno Nabonass. 268, and took up a
month; and in autumn, after three months more, on the 16th day of the month
Munychion, at the full moon, was the battel at Salamis; and a little after that
an Eclipse of the Moon, which by the calculation fell on Octob. 2. His first
year therefore began in spring, Anno Nabonass. 263, as above: he Reigned almost
twenty one years by the consent of all writers, and was murdered by Artabanus,
captain of his guards; towards the end of winter, Anno Nabonass. 284.

Artabanus Reigned seven months, and upon suspicion of treason against Xerxes,
was slain by Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Xerxes.

Artaxerxes began his Reign in the autumnal half year, between the 4th and 9th
Jewish months, Nehemiah 1:1 & Nehemiah 2:1, & Nehemiah 5:14 and Ezra 7:7-9 and
his 20th year fell in with the 4th year of the 83d Olympiad, as Africanus [486]
informs us, and therefore his first year began within a month or two or the
autumnal Equinox, Anno Nabonass. 284. Thucydides relates that the news of his
death came to Athens in winter, in the seventh year of the Peloponnesian war,
that is An. 4. Olymp. 88. and by the Canon he Reigned forty one years, including
the Reign of his predecessor Artabanus, and died about the middle of winter,
Anno Nabonass. 325 ineunte: the Persians now call him Ardschir and Bahaman, the
Oriental Christians Artahascht.

Then Reigned Xerxes, two months, and Sogdian seven months, and Darius Nothus,
the bastard son of Artaxerxes, nineteen years wanting four or five months; and
Darius died in summer, a little after the end of the Peloponnesian war, and in
the same Olympic year, and by consequence in May or June, Anno Nabonass. 344.
The 13th year of his Reign was coincident in winter with the 20th of the
Peloponnesian war, and the years of that war are stated by indisputable
characters, and agreed on by all Chronologers: the war began in spring, Ann. 1.
Olymp. 87, lasted 27 years, and ended Apr. 14. An. 4. Olymp. 93. The next King
was Artaxerxes Mnemon, the son of Darius: he Reigned forty six years, and died
Anno Nabonass. 390. Then Reigned Artaxerxes Ochus twenty one years; Arses, or
Arogus, two years, and Darius Codomannus four years, unto the battel of Arbela,
whereby the Persian Monarchy was translated to the Greeks, Octob. 2. An.
Nabonass. 417; but Darius was not slain untill a year and some months after.

I have hitherto stated the times of this Monarchy out of the Greek and Latin
writers: for the Jews knew nothing more of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian
Empires than what they have out of the sacred books of the old Testament; and
therefore own no more Kings, nor years of Kings, than they can find in those
books: the Kings they reckon are only Nebuchadnezzar, Evilmerodach, Belshazzar,
Darius the Mede, Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius the Persian; this last Darius they
reckon to be the Artaxerxes, in whose Reign Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem,
accounting Artaxerxes a common name of the Persian Kings: Nebuchadnezzar, they
say, Reigned forty five years, 2 Kings 25:27. Belshazzar three years, Daniel 8:1
and therefore Evilmerodach twenty three, to make up the seventy years captivity;
excluding the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, in which they say the Prophesy of
the seventy years was given. To Darius the Mede they assign one year, or at most
but two, Daniel 9:1 to Cyrus three years incomplete, Daniel 10:1 to Ahasuerus
twelve years ’till the casting of Pur, Esther 3:7 one year more ’till the Jews
smote their enemies, Esther 9:1 and one year more ’till Esther and Mordecai
wrote the second letter for the keeping of Purim, Esther 9:29 in all fourteen
years: and to Darius the Persian they allot thirty two or rather thirty six
years, Nehemiah 13:6. So that the Persian Empire from the building of the Temple
in the Second year of Darius Hystaspis, flourished only thirty four years, until
Alexander the great overthrew it: thus the Jews reckon in their greater
Chronicle, Seder Olam Rabbah. Josephus, out of the sacred and other books,
reckons only these Kings of Persia; Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes,
Artaxerxes, and Darius: and taking this Darius, who was Darius Nothus, to be one
and the same King with the last Darius, whom Alexander the great overcame; by
means of this reckoning he makes Sanballat and Jaddua alive when Alexander the
great overthrew the Persian Empire. Thus all the Jews conclude the Persian
Empire with Artaxerxes Longimanus, and Darius Nothus, allowing no more Kings of
Persia, than they found in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; and referring to the
Reigns of this Artaxerxes, and this Darius, whatever they met with in profane
history concerning the following Kings of the same names: so as to take
Artaxerxes Longimanus, Artaxerxes Mnemon and Artaxerxes Ochus, for one and the
same Artaxerxes; and Darius Nothus, and Darius Codomannus, for one and the same
Darius; and Jaddua, and Simeon Justus, for one and the same High-Priest. Those
Jews who took Herod for the Messiah, and were thence called Herodians, seem to
have grounded their opinion upon the seventy weeks of years, which they found
between the Reign of Cyrus and that of Herod: but afterwards, in applying the
Prophesy to Theudas, and Judas of Galilee, and at length to Barchochab, they
seem to have shortned the Reign of the Kingdom of Persia. These accounts being
very imperfect, it was necessary to have recourse to the records of the Greeks
and Latines, and to the Canon recited by Ptolemy, for stating the times of this
Empire. Which being done, we have a better ground for understanding the history
of the Jews set down in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and adjusting it; for
this history having suffered by time, wants some illustration: and first I shall
state the history of the Jews under Zerubbabel, in the Reigns of Cyrus,
Cambysis, and Darius Hystaspis. This history is contained partly in Ezra 1:1-11,
Ezra 2:1-70, Ezra 3:1-13 and Ezra 4:1-5; and partly in the book of Nehemiah,
Nehemiah 7:5-73, Nehemiah 8:1-18, Nehemiah 9:1-38, Nehemiah 10:1-39, Nehemiah
11:1-36, Nehemiah 12:1-9 : for Nehemiah copied all this out of the Chronicles of
the Jews, written before his days; as may appear by reading the place, and
considering that the Priests and Levites who sealed the Covenant on the 24th day
of the seventh month, Nehem. x. were the very same with those who returned from
captivity in the first year of Cyrus, Nehem. xii. and that all those who
returned sealed it: this will be perceived by the following comparison of their
names. The Priests who returned.The Priests who sealed.

Nehemiah. Ezra 2:2. Nehemiah.

Serajah. Serajah.

* Azariah.

Jeremiah. Jeremiah.

Ezra. Ezra. Nehem. 8.

* Pashur.

Amariah. Amariah.

Malluch: or Melicu, Neh. Malchijah. xii. 2, 14.

Hattush. Hattush.

Shechaniah or Shebaniah, Shebaniah. Neh. xii. 3, 14.

* Malluch.

Rehum: or Harim, ib. 3, Harim. 15.

Meremoth. Meremoth.

Iddo. Obadiah or Obdia.

* Daniel.

Ginnetho: or Ginnethon, Ginnethon. Neh. xii. 4, 16.

* Baruch.

* Meshullam.

Abijah. Abijah.

Miamin. Mijamin.

Maadiah. Maaziah.

Bilgah. Bilgai.

Shemajah. Shemajah.

Jeshua. Jeshua.

Binnui. Binnui.

Kadmiel. Kadmiel.

Sherebiah. [Hebrew: shrbjh]. Shebaniah. [Hebrew: shbnjh].

Judah: or Hodaviah, Hodijah. Ezra ii. 40. & iii. 9. [Greek: Odouia]; Septuag.
The Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Hodaviah or Judah, here mentioned, are
reckoned chief fathers among the people who returned with Zerubbabel, Ezra 2:40
and they assisted as well in laying the foundation of the Temple, Ezra 3:9 as in
reading the law, and making and sealing the covenant, Nehemiah 8:7 & Nehemiah
9:5 & Nehemiah 10:9-10.

Comparing therefore the books of Ezra and Nehemiah together; the history of the
Jews under Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis, is that they returned from
captivity under Zerubbabel, in the first year of Cyrus, with the Holy Vessels
and a commission to build the Temple; and came to Jerusalem and Judah, every one
to his city, and dwelt in their cities untill the seventh month; and then coming
to Jerusalem, they first built the Altar, and on the first day of the seventh
month began to offer the daily burnt-offerings, and read in the book of the Law,
and they kept a solemn fast, and sealed a Covenant; and thenceforward the Rulers
of the people dwelt at Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots, to dwell
one in ten at Jerusalem, and the rest in the cities of Judah: and in the second
year of their coming, in the second month, which was six years before the death
of Cyrus, they laid the foundation of the Temple; but the adversaries of Judah
troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them all the days of
Cyrus, and longer, even until the Reign of Darius King of Persia: but in the
second year of his Reign, by the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, they
returned to the work; and by the help of a new decree from Darius, finished it
on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of his Reign, and kept the
Dedication with joy, and the Passover, and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now this Darius was not Darius Nothus, but Darius Hystaspis, as I gather by
considering that the second year of this Darius was the seventieth of the
indignation against Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, which indignation
commenced with the invasion of Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah by
Nebuchadnezzar, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, Zechariah 1:12. Jeremiah 34:1,
Jeremiah 34:7, Jeremiah 34:22 & Jeremiah 39:1 and that the fourth year of this
Darius, was the seventieth from the burning of the Temple in the eleventh year
of Zedekiah, Zechariah 7:5 & Jeremiah 52:12 both which are exactly true of
Darius Hystaspis: and that in the second year of this Darius there were men
living who had seen the first Temple, Haggai 2:3 whereas the second year of
Darius Nothus was 166 years after the desolation of the Temple and City. And
further, if the finishing of the Temple be deferred to the sixth year of Darius
Nothus, Jeshua and Zerubbabel must have been the one High-Priest, the other
Captain of the people an hundred and eighteen years together, besides their ages
before; which is surely too long: for in the first year of Cyrus the chief
Priests were Serajah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Malluch, Shechaniah, Rehum,
Meremoth, Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah, Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, Shemajah, Joiarib,
Jedaiah, Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah: these were Priests in the days of
Jeshua, and the eldest sons of them all, Merajah the son of Serajah, Hananiah
the son of Jeremiah, Meshullam the son of Ezra, &c. were chief Priests in the
days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua: Nehem. xii. and therefore the High
Priest-hood of Jeshua was but of an ordinary length.

I have now stated the history of the Jews in the Reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, and
Darius Hystaspis: it remains that I state their history in the Reigns of Xerxes,
and Artaxerxes Longimanus: for I place the history of Ezra and Nehemiah in the
Reign of this Artaxerxes, and not in that of Artaxerxes Mnemon: for during all
the Persian Monarchy, until the last Darius mentioned in Scripture, whom I take
to be Darius Nothus, there were but six High-Priests in continual succession of
father and son, namely, Jeshua, Joiakim, Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan, Jaddua, and
the seventh High-Priest was Onias the son of Jaddua, and the eighth was Simeon
Justus, the Son of Onias, and the ninth was Eleazar the younger brother of
Simeon. Now, at a mean reckoning, we should allow about 27 or 28 years only to a
Generation by the eldest sons of a family, one Generation with another, as
above; but if in this case we allow 30 years to a Generation, and may further
suppose that Jeshua, at the return of the captivity in the first year of the
Empire of the Persians, was about 30 or 40 years old; Joiakim will be of about
that age in the 16th year of Darius Hystaspis, Eliashib in the tenth year of
Xerxes, Joiada in the 19th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Jonathan in the 8th
year of Darius Nothus, Jaddua in the 19th year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, Onias in
the 3d year of Artaxerxes Ochus, and Simeon Justus two years before the death of
Alexander the Great: and this reckoning, as it is according to the course of
nature, so it agrees perfectly well with history; for thus Eliashib might be
High-Priest, and have grandsons, before the seventh year of Artaxerxes
Longimanus, Ezra 10:6 and without exceeding the age which many old men attain
unto, continue High-Priest ’till after the 32d year of that King, Nehemiah
13:6-7 and his grandson Johanan, or Jonathan, might have a chamber in the Temple
in the seventh year of that King, Ezra 10:6 and be High-Priest before Ezra wrote
the sons of Levi in the book of Chronicles; Nehemiah 12:23 and in his
High-Priesthood, he might slay his younger brother Jesus in the Temple, before
the end of the Reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon: Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7. and
Jaddua might be High-Priest before the death of Sanballat, Joseph. ib. and
before the death of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 12:22 and also before the end of the
Reign of Darius Nothus; and he might thereby give occasion to Josephus and the
later Jews, who took this King for the last Darius, to fall into an opinion that
Sanballat, Jaddua, and Manasseh the younger brother of Jaddua, lived till the
end of the Reign of the last Darius: Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7, 8. and the said
Manasseh might marry Nicaso the daughter of Sanballat, and for that offence be
chased from Nehemiah, before the end of the Reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus;
Nehemiah 13:28. Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7, 8. and Sanballat might at that time
be Satrapa of Samaria, and in the Reign of Darius Nothus, or soon after, build
the Temple of the Samaritans in Mount Gerizim, for his son-in-law Manasseh, the
first High-Priest of that Temple; Joseph. ib. and Simeon Justus might be
High-Priest when the Persian Empire was invaded by Alexander the Great, as the
Jews represent, Joma fol. 69. 1. Liber Juchasis. R. Gedaliah, &c. and for that
reason he might be taken by some of the Jews for the same High-Priest with
Jaddua, and be dead some time before the book of Ecclesiasticus was writ in
Hebrew at Jerusalem, by the grandfather of him, who in the 38th year of the
Egyptian AEra of Dionysius, that is in the 77th year after the death of
Alexander the Great, met with a copy of it in Egypt, and there translated it
into Greek: Sir 50:1-29 & in Prolog. and Eleazar, the younger brother and
successor of Simeon, might cause the Law to be translated into Greek, in the
beginning of the Reign of Ptolemaus Philadelphus: Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. c. 2.
and Onias the son of Simeon Justus, who was a child at his father’s death, and
by consequence was born in his father’s old age, might be so old in the Reign of
Ptolemaeus Euergetes, as to have his follies excused to that King, by
representing that he was then grown childish with old age. Joseph. Antiq. l.
xii. c. 4. In this manner the actions of all these High-Priests suit with the
Reigns of the Kings, without any straining from the course of nature: and
according to this reckoning the days of Ezra and Nehemiah fall in with the Reign
of the first Artaxerxes; for Ezra and Nehemiah flourished in the High Priesthood
of Eliashib, Ezra 10:6. Nehemiah 3:1 & Nehemiah 13:4, Nehemiah 13:28. But if
Eliashib, Ezra and Nehemiah be placed in the Reign of the second Artaxerxes,
since they lived beyond the 32d year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah 13:28, there must
be at least 160 years allotted to the three first High-Priests, and but 42 to
the four or five last, a division too unequal: for the High Priesthoods of
Jeshua, Joiakim, and Eliashib, were but of an ordinary length, that of Jeshua
fell in with one Generation of the chief Priests, and that of Joiakim with the
next Generation, as we have shewed already; and that of Eliashib fell in with
the third Generation: for at the dedication of the wall, Zechariah the son of
Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, was one of the Priests, Nehemiah 12:35, and
Jonathan and his father Shemaiah, were contemporaries to Joiakim and his father
Jeshua: Nehemiah 12:6, Nehemiah 12:18. I observe further that in the first year
of Cyrus, Jeshua, and Bani, or Binnui, were chief fathers of the Levites,
Nehemiah 7:7, Nehemiah 7:15 & Ezra 2:2, Ezra 2:10 & Ezra 3:9 and that Jozabad
the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, were chief Levites in the
seventh year of Artaxerxes, when Ezra came to Jerusalem, Ezra 8:33 so that this
Artaxerxes began his Reign before the end of the second Generation: and that he
Reigned in the time of the third Generation is confirmed by two instances more;
for Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel, and Azariah the son
of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, were fathers of their houses at the repairing
of the wall; Nehemiah 3:4, Nehemiah 3:23 and their grandfathers, Meshazabeel and
Hananiah, subscribed the covenant in the Reign of Cyrus: Nehemiah 10:21,
Nehemiah 10:23. Yea Nehemiah, this same Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah, was the
Tirshatha, and subscribed it, Nehemiah 10:1, & Nehemiah 8:9, & Ezra 2:2, Ezra
2:63 and therefore in the 32d year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, he will be above 180
years old, an age surely too great. The same may be said of Ezra, if he was that
Priest and Scribe who read the Law, Nehem. viii. for he is the son of Serajah,
the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, &c. Ezra 7:1 and
this Serajah went into captivity at the burning of the Temple, and was there
slain, 1 Chronicles 6:14. 2 Kings 25:18 and from his death, to the twentieth
year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, is above 200 years; an age too great for Ezra.

I consider further that Ezra 4:1-24 names Cyrus, *, Darius, Ahasuerus, and
Artaxerxes, in continual order, as successors to one another, and these names
agree to Cyrus, *, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Longimanus, and to
no other Kings of Persia: some take this Artaxerxes to be not the Successor, but
the Predecessor of Darius Hystaspis, not considering that in his Reign the Jews
were busy in building the City and the Wall, Ezra 4:12 and by consequence had
finished the Temple before. Ezra describes first how the people of the land
hindered the building of the Temple all the days of Cyrus, and further, untill
the Reign of Darius; and after the Temple was built, how they hindered the
building of the city in the Reign of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and then returns
back to the story of the Temple in the Reign of Cyrus and Darius; and this is
confirmed by comparing the book of Ezra with the book of Esdras: for if in the
book of Ezra you omit the story of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and in that of
Esdras you omit the same story of Artaxerxes, and that of the three wise men,
the two books will agree: and therefore the book of Esdras, if you except the
story of the three wise men, was originally copied from authentic writings of
Sacred Authority. Now the story of Artaxerxes, which, with that of Ahasuerus, in
the book of Ezra interrupts the story of Darius, doth not interrupt it in the
book of Esdras, but is there inferred into the story of Cyrus, between the first
and second chapter of Ezra; and all the rest of the story of Cyrus, and that of
Darius, is told in the book of Esdras in continual order, without any
interruption: so that the Darius which in the book of Ezra precedes Ahasuerus
and Artaxerxes, and the Darius which in the same book follows them, is, by the
book of Esdras, one and the same Darius; and I take the book of Esdras to be the
best interpreter of the book of Ezra: so the Darius mentioned between Cyrus and
Ahasuerus, is Darius Hysaspis; and therefore Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes who
succeed him, are Xerxes and Artaxerxes Longimanus; and the Jews who came up from
Artaxerxes to Jerusalem, and began to build the city and the wall, Ezra 4:13 are
Ezra with his companions: which being understood, the history of the Jews in the
Reign of these Kings will be as follows.

After the Temple was built, and Darius Hystaspis was dead, the enemies of the
Jews in the beginning of the Reign of his successor Ahasuerus or Xerxes, wrote
unto him an accusation against them; Ezra 4:6 but in the seventh year of his
successor Artaxerxes, Ezra and his companions went up from Babylon with
Offerings and Vessels for the Temple, and power to bestow on it out of the
King’s Treasure what should be requisite; Ezra vii. whence the Temple is said to
be finished, according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes
King of Persia: Ezra 4:14. Their commission was also to set Magistrates and
Judges over the land, and thereby becoming a new Body Politic, they called a
great Council or Sanhedrim to separate the people from strange wives; and they
were also encouraged to attempt the building of Jerusalem with its wall: and
thence Ezra saith in his prayer, that God had extended mercy unto them in the
sight of the Kings of Persia, and given them a reviving to set up the house of
their God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give them a WALL in
Judah, even in Jerusalem. Ezra 9:9. But when they had begun to repair the wall,
their enemies wrote against them to Artaxerxes: Be it known, say they, unto the
King, that the Jews which came up from thee to us, are come unto Jerusalem,
building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and
joined the foundations, &c. And the King wrote back that the Jews should cease
and the city not be built, until another commandment should be given from him:
whereupon their enemies went up to Jerusalem, and made them cease by force and
power; Ezra iv. but in the twentieth year of the King, Nehemiah hearing that the
Jews were in great affliction and distress, and that the wall of Jerusalem, that
wall which had been newly repaired by Ezra, was broken down, and the gates
thereof burnt wth fire; he obtained leave of the King to go and build the city,
and the Governour’s house, Nehemiah 1:3 & Nehemiah 2:6, Nehemiah 2:8, Nehemiah
2:17 and coming to Jerusalem the same year, he continued Governor twelve years,
and built the wall; and being opposed by Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, he
persisted in the work with great resolution and patience, until the breaches
were made up: then Sanballat and Geshem sent messengers unto him five times to
hinder him from setting up the doors upon the gates: but notwithstanding he
persisted in the work, until the doors were also set up: so the wall was
finished in the eight and twentieth year of the King, Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c.
5. in the five and twentieth day of the month Elul, or sixth month, in fifty and
two days after the breaches were made up, and they began to work upon the gates.
While the timber for the gates was preparing and seasoning, they made up the
breaches of the wall; both were works of time, and are not jointly to be
reckoned within the 52 days: this is the time of the last work of the wall, the
work of setting up the gates after the timber was seasoned and the breaches made
up. When he had set up the gates, he dedicated the wall with great solemnity,
and appointed Officers over the chambers for the Treasure, for the Offerings,
for the First-Fruits, and for the Tithes, to gather into them out of the fields
of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the Priests and Levites;
and the Singers and the Porters kept the ward of their God; Nehemiah 12:1-47 but
the people in the city were but few, and the houses were unbuilt: Nehemiah 7:1,
Nehemiah 7:4 and in this condition he left Jerusalem in the 32d year of the
King; and after sometime returning back from the King, he reformed such abuses
as had been committed in his absence. Nehem. xiii. In the mean time, the
Genealogies of the Priests and Levites were recorded in the book of the
Chronicles, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan, and Jaddua, until the
Reign of the next King Darius Nothus, whom Nehemiah calls Darius the Persian:
Nehemiah 12:11, Nehemiah 12:22-23 whence it follows that Nehemiah was Governor
of the Jews until the Reign of Darius Nothus. And here ends the Sacred History
of the Jews. The histories of the Persians now extant in the East, represent
that the oldest Dynasties of the Kings of Persia, were those whom they call
Pischdadians and Kaianides, and that the Dynasty of the Kaianides immediately
succeeded that of the Pischdadians. They derive the name Kaianides from the word
Kai, which, they say, in the old Persian language signified a Giant or great
King; and they call the first four Kings of this Dynasty, Kai-Cobad, Kai-Caus,
Kai-Cosroes, and Lohorasp, and by Lohorasp mean Kai-Axeres, or Cyaxeres: for
they say that Lohorasp was the first of their Kings who reduced their armies to
good order and discipline, and Herodotus affirms the same thing of Cyaxeres: and
they say further, that Lohorasp went eastward, and conquered many Provinces of
Persia, and that one of his Generals, whom the Hebrews call Nebuchadnezzar, the
Arabians Bocktanassar, and others Raham and Gudars, went westward, and conquered
all Syria and Judaea, and took the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it: they seem
to call Nebuchadnezzar the General of Lohorasp, because he assisted him in some
of his wars. The fifth King of this Dynasty, they call Kischtasp, and by this
name mean sometimes Darius Medus, and sometimes Darius Hystaspis: for they say
that he was contemporary to Ozair or Ezra, and to Zaradust or Zoroastres, the
Legislator of the Ghebers or fire-worshippers, and established his doctrines
throughout all Persia; and here they take him for Darius Hystaspis: they say
also that he was contemporary to Jeremiah, and to Daniel, and that he was the
son and successor of Lohorasp, and here they take him for Darius the Mede. The
sixth King of the Kaianides, they call Bahaman, and tell us that Bahaman was
Ardschir Diraz, that is Artaxerxes Longimanus, so called from the great extent
of his power: and yet they say that Bahaman went westward into Mesopotamia and
Syria, and conquered Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and gave the Kingdom
to Cyrus his Lieutenant-General over Media: and here they take Bahaman for
Darius Medus. Next after Ardschir Diraz, they place Homai a Queen, the mother of
Darius Nothus, tho’ really she did not Reign: and the two next and last Kings of
the Kaianides, they call Darab the bastard son of Ardschir Diraz, and Darab who
was conquered by Ascander Roumi, that is Darius Nothus, and Darius who was
conquered by Alexander the Greek: and the Kings between these two Darius’s they
omit, as they do also Cyrus, Cambyses, and Xerxes. The Dynasty of the Kaianides,
was therefore that of the Medes and Persians, beginning with the defection of
the Medes from the Assyrians, in the end of the Reign of Sennacherib, and ending
with the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. But their account of this
Dynasty is very imperfect, some Kings being omitted, and others being confounded
with one another: and their Chronology of this Dynasty is still worse; for to
the first King they assign a Reign of 120 years, to the second a Reign of 150
years, to the third a Reign of 60 years, to the fourth a Reign of 120 years, to
the fifth as much, and to the sixth a Reign of 112 years. This Dynasty being the
Monarchy of the Medes, and Persians; the Dynasty of the Pischdadians which
immediately preceded it, must be that of the Assyrians: and according to the
oriental historians this was the oldest Kingdom in the world, some of its Kings
living a thousand years a-piece, and one of them Reigning five hundred years,
another seven hundred years, and another a thousand years.

We need not then wonder, that the Egyptians have made the Kings in the first
Dynasty of their Monarchy, that which was seated at Thebes in the days of David,
Solomon, and Rehoboam, so very ancient and so long lived; since the Persians
have done the like to their Kings, who began to Reign in Assyria two hundred
years after the death of Solomon; and the Syrians of Damascus have done the like
to their Kings Adar and Hazael, who Reigned an hundred years after the death of
Solomon, worshipping them as Gods, and boasting their antiquity, and not
knowing, saith Josephus, that they were but modern. And whilst all these nations
have magnified their Antiquities so exceedingly, we need not wonder that the
Greeks and Latines have made their first Kings a little older than the truth.


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  CHAPTER 40: 02.014.     NOTES
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Notes.

[1] _In the life of_ Lycurgus.

[2] In the life of _Solon_.

[3] Herod. l. 2.

[4] Plutarch. de Pythiae Oraculo.

[5] Plutarch. in Solon [6] Apud Diog. Laert. in Solon p. 10.

[7] Plin. nat. hist. l. 7. c. 56.

[8] Ib. l. 5. c. 29.

[9] Cont. Apion. sub initio.

[10] In [Greek: Akousilaos].

[11] Joseph. cont. Ap. l. 1.

[12] Dionys. l. 1. initio.

[13] Plutarch. in Numa.

[14] Diodor. l. 16. p. 550. Edit. Steph.

[15] Polyb. p. 379. B.

[16] In vita Lycurgi, sub initio.

[17] In Solone.

[18] Plutarch. in Romulo & Numa.

[19] In AEneid. 7. v. 678.

[20] Diodor. l. 1.

[21] Plutarch. in Romulo.

[22] Lib. I. in Proaem.

[23] Plutarch. in Lycurgo sub initio.

[24] Pausan. l. 4. c. 13. p. 28. & c. 7. p. 296 & l. 3. c. 15. p. 245.

[25] Pausan. l. 4. c. 7. p. 296.

[26] Herod. l. 7.

[27] Herod. l. 8.

[28] Plato in Minoe.

[29] Thucyd. l. 1. p. 13.

[30] Athen. l. 14 p. 605 [31] Pausan. l. 5. c. 8.

[32] Pausan. l. 6. c. 19.

[33] Plutarch. de Musica. Clemens Strom. l. 1. p. 308.

[34] Herod. l. 6. c. 52.

[35] Pausan. l. 5. c. 4.

[36] Pausan. l. 5. c. 1, 3, 8. Strabo, l. 8, p. 357.

[37] Pausan. l. 5. c.4.

[38] Pausan. l. 5. c.18.

[39] Solin. c. 30.

[40] Dionys. l. 1. p. 15.

[41] Apollon. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 101.

[42] Plutarch. in Theseo.

[43] Diodor. l. 1. p. 35.

[44] Joseph. Antiq. l. 4. c. 8 [45] Contra Apion. l. 1.

[46] Hygin. Fab. 144.

[47] Gen. i. 14. & viii. 22. Censorinus c. 19 & 20. Cicero in Verrem.

Geminus c. 6.

[48] Cicero in Verrem.

[49] Diodor. l. 1.

[50] Cicero in Verrem.

[51] Gem. c. 6.

[52] Apud Laertium, in Cleobulo.

[53] Apud Laertium, in Thalete. Plutarch. in Solone.

[54] Censorinus c. 18. Herod. l. 2. prope initium.

[55] Apollodor l. 3. p. 169. Strabo l. 16. p. 476. Homer. Odyss. [Tau]. v.

179.

[56] Herod. l. 1.

[57] Plutarch. in Numa.

[58] Diodor. l. 3. p. 133.

[59] Diodor. l. 1. p. 13.

[60] Apud Theodorum Gazam de mentibus.

[61] Apud Athenaeum, l. 14.

[62] Suidas in [Greek: Saroi].

[63] Herod. l. 1.

[64] Julian. Or: 4.

[65] Strabo l. 17. p. 816.

[66] Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.

[67] Plutarch de Osiride & Iside. Diodor. l. 1. p. 9.

[68] Hecataeus apud Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.

[69] Isagoge Sect. 23, a Petavio edit.

[70] Hipparch. ad Phaenom. l.2. Sect. 3. a Petavio edit.

[71] Hipparch. ad Phaenom. l.1. Sect. 2.

[72] Strom. 1. p. 306, 352.

[73] Laertius Proem. l. 1.

[74] Apollodor. l. 1. c. 9. Sect. 16.

[75] Suidas in [Greek: Anagallis].

[76] Apollodor. l. 1. c. 9. Sect. 25.

[77] Laert. in Thalete. Plin. l. 2. c. 12.

[78] Plin. l. 18. c. 23.

[79] Petav. Var. Disl. l. 1. c. 5.

[80] Petav. Doct. Temp. l. 4. c. 26.

[81] Columel. l. 9. c. 14. Plin. l. 18. c. 25.

[82] Arrian. l. 7.

[83] In Moph.

[84] Euanthes apud Athenaeum, l. 67. p. 296.

[85] Hyginus Fab. 14.

[86] Homer. Odyss. l. 8. v. 292.

[87] Hesiod. Theogon. v. 945.

[88] Pausan. l. 2. c. 23.

[89] Strabo l. 16.

[90] Isaiah 23:2, Isaiah 23:12.

[91] 1 Kings 5:6 [92] Steph. in Azoth.

[93] Conon. Narrat. 37.

[94] Nonnus Dionysiac l. 13 v. 333 [alpha] sequ.

[95] Athen. l. 4. c. 23.

[96] Strabo. l. 10. p. 661. Herod. l. 1.

[97] Strabo. l. 16.

[98] 2 Chronicles 21:8, 2 Chronicles 21:10 & 2 Kings 8:20, 2 Kings 8:22.

[99] Herod. l. 1. initio, & l. 7. circa medium.

[100] Solin. c. 23, Edit. Salm.

[101] Plin. l. 4. c. 22.

[102] Strabo. l. 9. p. 401. & l. 10. p. 447.

[103] Herod. l. 5.

[104] Strabo. l. 1. p. 42.

[105] Strabo. l. 1. p. 48.

[106] Bochart. Canaan. l. 1. c. 34.

[107] Strabo. l. 3. p. 140.

[108] Vid. Phil. Transact. No. 359.

[109] Canaan, l. 1. c. 34. p. 682.

[110] Aristot. de Mirab.

[111] Plin. l. 7. c. 56.

[112] Canaan. l. 1. c. 39.

[113] Philostratus in vita Apollonii l. 5. c. 1. apud Photium.

[114] Arnob. l. 1.

[115] Bochart. in Canaan. l. 1. c. 24.

[116] Oros. l. 5. c. 15. Florus l. 3. c. 1. Sallust. in Jugurtha.

[117] Antiq. l. 8. c. 2, 5. & l. 9. c. 14.

[118] Thucyd. l. 6. initio. Euseb. Chr.

[119] Thucyd. ib.

[120] Apud Dionys. l. 1. p. 15.

[121] Herod. l. 8. c. 137.

[122] Herod. l. 8.

[123] Herod. l. 8. c. 139.

[124] Thucyd. l. 2. prope finem.

[125] Herod l. 6. c. 127.

[126] Strabo. l. 8. p. 355.

[127] Pausan. l. 6. c. 22.

[128] Pausan. l. 5. c. 9.

[129] Strabo. l. 8. p. 358.

[130] Phanias Eph. ap. Plut. in vita Solonis.

[131] Vid. Dionys. Halicarnass. l. 1. p. 44, 45.

[132] Pausan. l. 2. c. 6.

[133] Hygin. Fab. 7 & 8.

[134] Homer. Iliad. [Omicron].

[135] Homer. Odys. [Eta]. Diodor. l. 5. p.237.

[136] Diodor. l. 1. p.17.

[137] Pausan. l. 2. c. 25.

[138] Apollodor. l. 2. Sect. 5.

[139] Herod l. 7.

[140] Bochart. Canaan part. 2. cap. 13.

[141] Apollon. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 77.

[142] Conon. Narrat. 13.

[143] Pausan. l. 5. c. 1. Apollodor. l. 1. c. 7.

[144] Pausan. l. 7. c. 1.

[145] Pausan. l. 1. c. 37. & l. 10. c. 29.

[146] Pausan. l. 7. c. 1.

[147] Hesych. in [Greek: Kranaos].

[148] Themist. Orat. 19.

[149] Plato in Alcib. 1.

[150] Pausan. l. 8. c. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

[151] Pausan. l. 8. c. 4. Apollon. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 161.

[152] Pausan. l. 8. c. 4.

[153] Herod. l. 5. c. 58.

[154] Strabo l. 10. p. 464, 465, 466.

[155] Solin. Polyhist. c. 11.

[156] Isidor. originum. lib. xi. c. 6.

[157] Clem. Strom. l. 1.

[158] Pausan. l. 9. c. 11.

[159] Strabo l. 10. p. 472, 473. Diodor. l. 5. c. 4.

[160] Strabo l. 10. p. 468. 472. Diodor. l. 5. c. 4.

[161] Lucian de sacrificiis. Apollod. l. 1. c. 1. sect. 3. & c. 2. sect. 1.

[162] Boch. in Canaan. l. 1. c. 15.

[163] Athen. l. 13. p. 601.

[164] Plutarch in Theseo.

[165] Homer Il. [Nu]. & [Xi]. & Odys. [Lambda]. & [Tau].

[166] Herod. l. 1.

[167] Apollod. l. 3. c. 1. Hygin. Fab. 40, 41, 42. 178.

[168] Lucian. de Dea Syria.

[169] Diodor. l. 5. c. 4, [170] Argonaut. l. 2. v. 1236.

[171] Lucian. de sacrificiis.

[172] Porphyr. in vita Pythag.

[173] Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 3.

[174] Callimac. Hymn 1. v. 8.

[175] Cypr. de Idolorum vanitate.

[176] Tert. Apologet. c. 10.

[177] Macrob. Saturnal. lib. 1. c. 7.

[178] Pausan. l. 5. c. 7, vid. et. c. 13. 14. & l. 8. c. 2.

[179] Pausan. l. 8. c. 29.

[180] Diodor. l. 5. p. 183.

[181] Pausan. l. 5. c. 8. 14.

[182] Herod. l. 2. c. 44.

[183] Cic. de natura Deorum. lib. 3.

[184] Diodor. p. 223.

[185] Dionys. l. 1. p. 38, 42.

[186] Lucian. de saltatione.

[187] Arnob. adv. gent. l. 6. p. 131.

[188] Herod. l. 2. initio.

[189] Diodor. l. 1. p. 8.

[190] Hesiod. opera. v. 108.

[191] Apollon. Argonaut. l. 4. v. 1643.

[192] Vita Homeri Herodoto adfer.

[193] Herod. l. 2.

[194] 1 Sam. ix. 16. & xiii. 5. 19, 20.

[195] Clem. Al. Strom. 1. p. 321.

[196] Plin. l. 7.

[197] Plato in Timaeo.

[198] Apollodor. l. 3. c. 1.

[199] Herod. l. 2.

[200] Hygin. Fab. 7.

[201] Apollodor. l. 3. c. 6.

[202] Homer. Il. [Gamma]. vers 572.

[203] Thucyd. l. 2. p. 110. & Plutarch. in Theseo.

[204] Strabo. l. 9. p. 396.

[205] Apud Strabonem, l. 9. p. 397.

[206] Pausan. l. 2. c. 15.

[207] Strabo. l. 8. p. 337.

[208] Pausan. l. 8. c. 1. 2.

[209] Plin. l. 7. c. 56.

[210] Dionys. l. 1. p. 10.

[211] Dionys. l. 2. p. 126.

[212] Diodor l. 5. p. 224. 225. 240.

[213] Ammian. l. 17. c. 7.

[214] Plin. l. 2. c. 87.

[215] Diodor. l. 5. p. 202. 204.

[216] Apud Diodor. l. 5. p. 201.

[217] Dionys. l. 1. p. 17.

[218] Dionys. l. 1. p. 33. 34.

[219] Dionys. ib.

[220] Ptol. Hephaest. l. 2.

[221] Dionys. l. 2. p. 34.

[222] Diodor. l. 5. p. 230.

[223] Ister apud Porphyr. abst. l. 2. s. 56.

[224] Bochart. Canaan. l. 1. c. 15.

[225] Apud Strabonem. lib. 14. p. 684.

[226] Strabo. l. 17. p. 828.

[227] Diodor. l. 3. p. 132.

[228] Herod. l. 1.

[229] 1 Kings 20:16.

[230] Genesis 19:1-38. Deuteronomy 2:9, Deuteronomy 2:12, Deuteronomy 2:19-22.

[231] Exodus 1:9, Exodus 1:22.

[232] Job 31:11.

[233] Job 31:26.

[234] 1 Chronicles 11:4-5. Judges 1:21. 2 Samuel 5:6.

[235] Vide Hermippum apud Athenaeum, I.

[236] Argonaut. l. 4. v. 272.

[237] Diodor. l. 1. p. 7.

[238] Apud Diodorum l. 3. p. 140.

[239] Diodor. l. 3. p. 131. 132.

[240] Pausan. l. 2. c. 20. p. 155.

[241] Diodor. l. 3. p. 130 & Schol. Apollonii. l. 2.

[242] Ammian. l. 22. c. 8.

[243] Justin. l. 2. c. 4.

[244] Diodor. l. 1. p. 9.

[245] Apud Diodor. l. 3. p. 141.

[246] Step. in [Greek: Ammonia].

[247] Plin. l. 6. c. 28.

[248] Ptol. l. 6. c. 7.

[249] D. Augustin. in exposit. epist. ad Rom. sub initio.

[250] Procop. de bello Vandal. l. 2. c. 10.

[251] Chron. l. 1. p. 11.

[252] Gemar. ad tit. Shebijth. cap. 6.

[253] Manetho apud Josephum cont. Appion. l. 1. p. 1039.

[254] Herod. l. 2.

[255] Jeremiah 44:1. Ezekiel 29:14.

[256] Menetho apud Porphyrium [Greek: peri apones**] l. 1. Sect. 55. Et.

Euseb. Praep. l. 4. c. 16. p. 155.

[257] Diodor. l. 3. p. 101.

[258] Diodor. apud Photium in Biblioth.

[259] Herod. l. 2.

[260] Plutarch. de Iside. p. 355. Diodor. l. 1. p. 9.

[261] Augustin. de Civ. Dei. l. 18. c. 47.

[262] Apud Photium, c. 279.

[263] Fab. 274.

[264] Apud Euseb. Chron.

[265] Plin. l. 6. c. 23, 28. & l. 7. c. 56.

[266] Diodor. l. 1. p. 17.

[267] Pausan. l. 4. c. 23.

[268] Apollodor. l. 2. c. 1.

[269] Dionys. in Perie. v. 623.

[270] Fab. 275.

[271] Saturnal. l. 5. c. 21.

[272] Lucan. l. 10.

[273] Lucan. l. 9.

[274] Herod. l. 1.

[275] Diodor. l. 1. p. 35. Herod. l. 2 c. 102, 103, 106.

[276] Pausan. l. 10. Suidas in [Greek: Parnasioi].

[277] Lucan l. 5.

[278] Argonaut. l. 4. v. 272.

[279] Herod. l. 2. c. 109.

[280] In vita Pythag. c. 29.

[281] Diodor. l. 1. p. 36 [282] Dionys. de situ Orbis.

[283] Diodor. l. 1. p. 39.

[284] Plutarch. de Iside & Osiride.

[285] Diodor. l. 1. p. 8.

[286] Lucian. de Dea Syria [287] Exodus 34:13. Numbers 33:52. Deuteronomy 7:5 &
Deuteronomy 12:3.

[288] 2 Samuel 8:10 & 1 Kings 11:23.

[289] Antiq l. 9. c. 2.

[290] Justin. l. 36.

[291] Diodor. l. 5. p. 238.

[292] Suidas in [Greek: Sardanapalos].

[293] Apollod. l. 3.

[294] Argonaut. l. 4. v. 424. & l. 1. v. 621.

[295] Homer Odyss. [Theta]. v. 268. 292. & Hymn. 1. & 2. in Venerem. &

Hesiod. Theogon. v. 192.

[296] Pausan. l. 1. c. 20.

[297] Clem. Al. Admon. ad Gent. p. 10. Apollodor. l. 3. c. 13. Pindar.

Pyth. Ode 2. Hesych. in [Greek: Kinyradai]. Steph. in [Greek: Amathous].

Strabo. l. 16, p. 755.

[298] Clem. Al. Admon. ad Gent. p. 21. Plin. l. 7. c. 56.

[299] Herod. l. 2.

[300] Herod. l. 3. c. 37.

[301] Bochart. Canaan. l. 1. c. 4.

[302] Apud Athenaeum l. 9. p. 392.

[303] Ptol. l. 2.

[304] Diod. l. 3. p. 145.

[305] Vas. Chron. Hisp. c. 10.

[306] Strabo l. 16. p. 776.

[307] Homer.

[308] Diodor. l. 3. p.132, 133 [309] Plato in Timaeo. & Critia.

[310] Apud Diodor. l. 5. p. 233.

[311] Pamphus apud Pausan. l. 7. c. 21.

[312] Herod. l. 2. c. 50.

[313] Plutarch in Iside.

[314] Lucian de Saltatione.

[315] Agatharc. apud Photium.

[316] Hygin. Fab. 150.

[317] Plutarch. in Iside.

[318] Diodor. l. 1. p. 10.

[319] Pindar. Pyth. Ode 9.

[320] Diodor. l. 1. p. 12.

[321] Plin. l. 6. c. 29.

[322] Herod. l. 2. c. 110.

[323] Manetho apud Josephum cont. Apion. p. 1052, 1053.

[324] Diodor. l. 1. p. 31.

[325] Herod. l. 2.

[326] Strabo. l. 1. p. 48.

[327] Pindar. Pyth. Ode 4.

[328] Strabo. l. 1. p. 21, 45, 46.

[329] Diodor. l. 1. p. 29.

[330] Manetho [331] Herod. l. 2 [332] Herod. l. 2.

[333] Ammian. l. 17. c. 4.

[334] Strabo. l. 17. p. 817.

[335] Annal. l. 2. c. 60.

[336] Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.

[337] Diodor. l. 1. p. 51.

[338] Joseph. Ant. l. 1. c. 4.

[339] Heordot. l. 2. c. 141.

[340] Isaiah 19:2, Isaiah 19:4, Isaiah 19:11, Isaiah 19:13, Isaiah 19:23.

[341] Herod. l. 2. c. 148, &c.

[342] Plin. l. 36. c. 8. 9.

[343] Diodor. l. 1 p. 29, &c.

[344] Diodor. l. 2, p. 83.

[345] Amos 6:13-14.

[346] Amos 6:2.

[347] 2 Chronicles 26:6.

[348] 2 Kings 14:25.

[349] 2 Kings 19:11.

[350] Isaiah 10:8.

[351] 1 Chronicles 5:26. 2 Kings 16:9 & 2 Kings 17:6, 2 Kings 17:24 & Ezra 4:9.

[352] Isaiah 22:6.

[353] 2 Kings 17:24, 2 Kings 17:30-31 & 2 Kings 18:33-35. 2 Chronicles 32:15.

[354] 2 Chronicles 32:13, 2 Chronicles 32:15.

[355] Hosea 5:13 & Hosea 10:6, Hosea 10:14.

[356] Herod. l. iii. c. 155.

[357] Herod. l. i. c. 184.

[358] Beros. apud Josep. contr. Appion. l. 1.

[359] Curt. l. 5. c. 1.

[360] Apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 41.

[361] Doroth. apud Julium Firmicum.

[362] Heren. apud Steph. in [Greek: Bab.] [363] Abyden apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9.
c. 41.

[364] Isaiah 33:13.

[365] Tob 1:13. Annal. Tyr. apud Joseph. Ant. l. 9. c. 14.

[366] Hosea 10:14.

[367] Tob 1:15.

[368] Tob 1:21. 2 Kings 19:37. Ptol. Canon.

[369] Isaiah 20:1, Isaiah 20:3-4.

[370] Herod. l. 1. c. 72. & l. 7. c. 63.

[371] Apud Athenaeum l. xii. p. 528.

[372] Herod. l. 1. c. 96. &c.

[373] Athenaeus l. 12. p. 529, 530.

[374] Herod. l. 1. c. 102.

[375] Herod. l. 1. c. 103. Steph. in [Greek: Parthyaioi.] [376] Alexander
Polyhist. apud Euseb. in Chron. p. 46 & apud Syncellum. p.

210.

[377] 2 Kings 24:7. Jeremiah 46:2. Eupolemus apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 35.

[378] 2 Kings 23:29, &c.

[379] Eupolemus apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 39. 2 Kings 25:2, 2 Kings 25:7.

[380] Daniel 1:1.

[381] Daniel 1:2. 2 Chronicles 36:6.

[382] Jeremiah 46:2.

[383] Apud Joseph. Antiq. l. 10. c. 11.

[384] Beros. apud Joseph. Ant. l. 10. c. 11.

[385] 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:14. 2 Chronicles 36:10.

[386] 2 Kings 24:17. Ezekiel 17:13, Ezekiel 17:17, Ezekiel 17:16.

[387] Ezekiel 17:15.

[388] 2 Kings 25:1-2, 2 Kings 25:8. Jeremiah 32:1, & Jeremiah 39:1-2.

[389] Canon. & Beros.

[390] 2 Kings 25:27.

[391] Hieron. in Isa. xiv. 19.

[392] 2 Kings 25:27, 2 Kings 25:29, &c.

[393] Daniel 5:2.

[394] Jos. Ant. l. 10. c. 11.

[395] Herod. l. 1. c. 184, 185.

[396] Philost. in vita Apollonii. l. 1. c. 15.

[397] Jos. cont. Apion. l. 1. c. 21.

[398] Herod. l. 1. c. 189, 190, 191. Xenoph. l. 7. p. 190, 191, 192. Ed.

Paris.

[399] Daniel 5:30-31. Joseph. Ant. l. 10. c. 11.

[400] AEsch. Persae v. 761.

[401] Herod. l. 1. c. 107, 108. Xenophon Cyropaed. l. 1. p. 3.

[402] Cyropaed. l. 1. p. 22.

[403] Cyropaed. l. viii. p. 228, 229.

[404] Herod. l. 1. c. 73.

[405] Herod. l. 1. c. 106, 130.

[406] Herod. l. 1. c. 103.

[407] Herod. ib.

[408] Jeremiah 25:1-38.

[409] Herod. l. 1. c. 73, 74.

[410] Herod. Ibid. Plin. l. 2. c. 12.

[411] _The _Scythians_._ [412] Jeremiah 28:3, Jeremiah 28:6. Ezekiel 21:19-20 &
Ezekiel 25:2, Ezekiel 25:8, Ezekiel 25:12.

[413] Ezekiel 26:2 & Ezekiel 29:17, Ezekiel 29:19.

[414] Ezekiel 29:19 & Ezekiel 30:4-5.

[415] Suid. in [Greek: Dareikos] & [Greek: Dareikous]. Harpocr. in [Greek:

Dareikos]. Scoliast in Aristophanis. [Greek: Ekklesiazouston. v. 598.] [416]
Herod. l. 1. c. 71.

[417] Isaiah 13:17.

[418] Plin. l. 33. c. 3.

[419] Herod. l. 1. c. 94.

[420] Theogn. [Greek: Gnomai], v. 761.

[421] Ibid. v. 773.

[422] Cyrop. l. 8.

[423] Comment. in Dan. v.

[424] Strabo. l. 16. initio.

[425] Strab. l. 16. p. 745.

[426] Herod. l. 1. c. 192.

[427] Herod. l. 1. c. 178, &c.

[428] Isa. xxiii. 13.

[429] Diod. l. 1. p. 51.

[430] Herod. l. 1. c. 181.

[431] Suidas in [Greek: Aristarchos]. Herod. l. 1. c. 123, &c.

[432] Strabo. l. 15. p. 730.

[433] Herod. l. 1. c. 127, &c.

[434] Cyrop. l. 8. p. 233.

[435] See Plate I. & II.

[436] Ezekiel 41:13-14.

[437] Ezekiel 40:47.

[438] Ezekiel 40:29, Ezekiel 40:33, Ezekiel 40:36.

[439] Ezekiel 40:19, Ezekiel 40:23, Ezekiel 40:27. 2 Kings 21:5. 2 Chronicles
4:9.

[440] Ezekiel 40:15, Ezekiel 40:17, Ezekiel 40:21. 1 Chronicles 28:12.

[441] Ezekiel 40:5, Ezekiel 42:20, & Ezekiel 45:2.

[442] 2 Kings 21:5.

[443] Ezekiel 40:1-49.

[444] Plate III.

[445] Plate I.

[446] 1 Chronicles 26:17.

[447] Ezekiel 46:8-9.

[448] Ezekiel 44:2-3.

[449] 1 Chronicles 26:15-18.

[450] Ezekiel 40:22, Ezekiel 40:26, Ezekiel 40:31, Ezekiel 40:34, Ezekiel 40:37.

[451] Plate II & III.

[452] 1 Kings 6:36 & 1 Kings 7:13. Ezekiel 40:17-18.

[453] Ezekiel 40:10, Ezekiel 40:31, Ezekiel 40:34, Ezekiel 40:37.

[454] Plate I.

[455] 1 Kings 6:36, & 1 Kings 7:12.

[456] Ezekiel 40:17.

[457] Plate III.

[458] Plate I & II.

[459] Ezekiel 46:21-22.

[460] Ezekiel 40:34.

[461] Ezekiel 40:39, Ezekiel 40:41-42, Ezekiel 40:46.

[462] Plate II.

[463] Ezekiel 42:1-4, Ezekiel 42:6, Ezekiel 42:8, Ezekiel 42:13-14.

[464] Ezekiel 46:19-20.

[465] Ezekiel 42:5-6.

[466] 1 Kings 6:2. Ezekiel 41:2, Ezekiel 41:4, Ezekiel 41:13-14.

[467] 1 Kings 6:3. Ezekiel 41:13.

[468] Ezekiel 41:6, Ezekiel 41:11.

[469] 1 Kings 6:6.

[470] Ezekiel 41:6.

[471] 2 Chronicles 3:4.

[472] 1 Kings 6:8.

[473] 2 Chronicles 20:5.

[474] 1 Kings 16:18.

[475] Ezra 6:3-4.

[476] Plate I [477] Plate III.

[478] Plate I.

[479] Valer. Max. l. 9. c. 2.

[480] Porph. de Abstinentia, lib. 4.

[481] Q. Curt. Lib. iii. c. 3.

[482] Suidas in [Greek: Zoroastres].

[483] Ammian. l. 23. c. 6.

[484] Euseb. Praep. Evang. l. 1. c. ult.

[485] AEsch. Persae v. 763.

[486] Apud. Hieron in Dan. viii.


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