A DISCOURSE ON THE HISTORY Of the whole WORLD Dedicated to his Royal Highness the Dauphin AND Explicating the Continuance of Religion with the Changes of States and Empires from the Creation till the Reign of Charles the Great Written Originally in French by JAMES BENIGNE BOSSVET sometimes Bishop of Condom and now of Meaux Counsellor of State to the most Christian King heretofore Tutor to the Dauphin and now Chief Almoner to the Dauphiness Faithfully Englished LONDON Printed for Matthew Turner at the Lamb in High-Hollorn MDCLXXXVI TO THE Dauphin The General Design of this Work THough History were little significant to other Men yet it ought to be read by Princes There is no better way to discover to them the various effects and consequences of Passions and Interests Times and Conjunctures good and evil Councils Histories are only composed and made up of such actions as they are engaged in and in them every thing seems to be done for their Vse If experience be necessary for them to obtain that prudence which may enable them to Reign well there can be nothing of greater advantage to their instruction than to join to the examples of former Ages their own daily experiences Whereas otherwise they most an end learn only to judge of the dangerous affairs that occur to them at the expence of both their own Subjects and Glory But by this Relief of History without hazarding any thing they inform their judgments by past Events When they see even into the most secret Vices of Princes notwithstanding all the deceitful Flatteries given them in their Lives exposed to the Eyes of all Men they blush at the vain Joys and Pleasures which such adulation raises in them and sensibly find that there can be no true honour but where there is a just merit Besides it would be a shame I do not say to a Prince alone but in general to any Man of sence and worth to be ignorant of humane kind and of the memorable Changes that have happened in the World through all the Succession of Time If we do not learn from History how to distinguish Times we shall represent Men under the Law of Nature or under the Written Law to be such as are under the Evangelick Law we shall speak of Persians conquered by Alexander as of those victorius Persians under Cyrus we shall make Greece as free in the time of Philip as in that of Themistocles or Miltiades the Roman People as fierce under the Emperors as under the Consuls the Church in as great Tranquillity under Dioclesian as under Constantine and France labouring under the Convulsions of their Civil Wars in the time of Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third as puissant as in the time of Lewis the Fourteenth which being reunited under so great a Monarch by it self triumphs over almost all Europe Now Sir it was to avoid these inconveniences that you have read so many Histories both Antient and Modern It was requisite in the first place to make you acquainted with the Sacred Pages and therein to read the History of the People of God which serves as a good Foundation to Religion Nor have you been suffered to be ignorant in the Greek or Roman History and which was most important to you you have been carefully instructed in the History of this great Kingdom which you are obliged to render happy But lest these Histories and those you are yet to learn should work any confusion in your mind there is nothing more necessary than distinctly to represent to you but as contractedly as we can all the whole Series of Ages This way of Vniuersal History is in regard to the Histories of every Country and People what a general Mapp is to the particular ones In the latter you see only the whole description one Kingdom or Province by it self but in the Vniuersal Mapp you learn how to situate those parts of the World in the whole You see what Paris or the Isle of France is in the Kingdom what the Kingdom is in Europe and what Europe is in the Vniverse So likewise particular Histories represent to you what things have happened to such or such a People with all their Circumstances but to understand the whole clearly you must know what relation every History can have to others which is done by such a way as this is in short where at one glance of your Eye as it were you may see all the order of time Such an Abridgment Sir gives you a very great sight You see all precedent Ages laid as I may say before you in a few hours You see how Empires have succeeded one the other and how Religion in iâ—s different Estates hath equally balanced and supported it self even from the beginning of the World to this present time 'T is the effect of these two things I mean that of Religion and that of Empires which ought to be deeply imprinted in your memory and as Religion and Political Government are the two hinges on which all humane Affairs do turn to see what concerns these things in a small abridged Volume and to discover by this means the exact order and event thereof is to comprehend in his thoughts whatsoever is great and glorious among Men and to hold as I may say the thread of all the Affairs of the World And as when you look upon an Vniversal Map you may presently go off from your own native Country and from the place which bounds you and run thro' all the habitable Earth with all its Seas and Countries which may give a great entertainment to your thoughts so by looking upon such a Chronological Abridgment you may go away from the narrow confinements of your own time and extend your self into all Ages But as to help ones memory in the knowledge of places we must keep in our minds certain chief Towns and Cities round which we are to place all the rest according to their several distances so in the order of Ages we must remember certain Times Memorable for some great event and action to which we are to bring all the other This we call an Epocha from a Greek word that signifies to pause upon because we stay our selves there to consider as at a place of rest whatsoever hath happened both before and since and by that means do avoid the Anachronisms that is to say that sort of Error which makes the confusion of time We must first fix but upon a small number of Epocha's such as in the times of antient History are Adam or the Creation Noah or the Deluge the calling of Abraham or the beginning of God's Alliance with Man Moses or the written Laws the taking of Troy Solomon or the building of the Temple Romulus or the founding of Rome Cyrus or the People of God delivered from the Captivity Babylon Scipio or Carthage overcome the nativity of our blessed Saviour Constantine or the peace of the Church Charlemaine or the Establishment of the new Empire
the World it was that Man so much below Moses in all things and superiour only to him by his name it was He I say who was to bring the People of God into the holy Land By the Victories of that great Man before whom Jordan was driven back the Walls of Jericho fell down of themselves and the Sun stood still in the midst of Heaven God established his Children in the Land of Canaan out of which by the same means he drove the abominable People By the hatred which his faithful ones had against them he inspired them with an extreme indignation of their wickedness and impiety and the punishment which was inflicted by their Ministry filled them themselves with fear of the Divine Justice of which they executed the Decrees One part of those People whom Joshua drove out ot their Land Procop. lib. 2. de bel Vand. went and planted themselves in Africa where was found a long time after in an ancient Inscription the Monument of their Flight and the Victories of Joshua After those miraculous Victories had put the Israelites in the possession of the greatest part of the Land which was promised to their Fathers Joshua and Eleazar the High Priest Jos 13 14. seq Numb 26.53.34.17 Jos 14 15. with the Heads of the twelve Tribes divided it among them according to the Law of Moses and assigned to the Tribe Judah time the first and the greatest Lot From the time of Moses it was set above the others in Number in Courage and in Dignity Joshua dyed and the People continued the Conquest of the Holy Land God would have the Tribe of Judah to march at the Head Numb 2.3.9.7.12.10.14 1 Chron. 5.2 Judg 1.1 2.4.8 and declared that he had delivered the Countrey into their hands In fine it overcame die Canaanites and took Jerusalem which was to be the holy City and the capital City of the People of God it was the ancient Salem where Melchisedek had reigned in Abraham's time Melchisedek that King of Righteousness Heb. 7.2 for that is the meaning of his Name and at the same time too King of Peace for that is King of Salem whom Abraham had owned for the greatest High-Priest in the World as if Jerusalem had then been destined for a holy City and the head of Religion That City was at first given to the Children of Benjamin who being weak and few in number could not drive out the Jebusites the ancient Inhabitants of Jerusalem but they dwelt among them Judg. 1.21 Under the Judges the People of God were variously treated according as they did well or ill After the death of the old men who had seen Miracles from the hand of God the remembrance of those mighty Works decayed and the universal inclination and bent of Mankind warp'd the People to Idolatry As often as they fell into it they were punish'd and as often as they repented they were delivered The Faith of Providence and the Truth of the Promise and the Threatnings of Moses was confirmed more and more in the hearts of the true Believers But God prepared also greater Examples of them The People demanded a King and God gave them Saul quickly reproved for his sins he at last resolved to establish a Royal Family from which e Messiah should come and he chose it in Judah David 1 Sam. 16.11.12 c. a young Shepherd sprung out of that Tribe the youngest of the Sons of Jesse whose merit neither his Father nor his Family knew but yet whom God found to be after his own heart was anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem which was his own Country Here the People of God IV. David the Kings and the Prophets to take up a Form more August and Magnificent the Kingdom was setled in the House of David That House began by two Kings of different Characters but both were admirable David a warlike and conquering Prince subdued the Enemies of the People of God whose Arms were dreaded over all the East and Solomon famous for his Wisdom both at home and abroad made that People happy by a profound Peace But the Progress of Religion does here require some particular Remarks upon the Lives of those two great Kingâ— David reigned at first over Judah mighty and victorious and afterwards he was owned over all Israel 2 Sam. 5.6 7 8 9. 1 Chron. 11.6 7 8. 1 Chron 2.16 He took from the Jebâ—sites the strong Hold of Zion which was the Citadel of Jerusalem Being Master of that Fortress he established there by the order of God the Sea of the Kingdom and that of Religâ—on and there he lived He built round about it and called it The City of David Joab his Sister 's built the rest of the City and Jerusalem took up a new form Those of Judah possessed all the Country and Benjamin being few in number dwelt together with them The Ark of the Covenant built by Moses where God dwelleth between the Cherubims and where the two Tables of the Decalogue were kept had then no fixed place David brought it in Triumph 2 Sam. 6.2 16 17. c. with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet into Zion which he had conquered by the Almighty help of God that so God might reign in Zion and that he might be acknowledged there as the Protectors of David 1 Chro. 16.39.21.29 of Jerusalem and of all the Kingdom But the Tabernacle wherein the People had worshipped God in the Wilderness was yet at Gibeon and there it was where they offered their Sacrifices upon the Altar which Moses had built It was but in expectation that there would be a Temple where the Altar should be re-united with the Ark and where should be performed all the Service When David had conquered all his Enemies and had extended his Victories even to Euphrates being at quiet and a mighty Conquerour he at all his thought upon the establishing of the Divine Worship and on the same Mountain where Abraham went to Sacrifice his only Son 2 Sam. 8.11 1 Chron. 18. 2 Sam. 24.25 1 Chron. 21.22 seq Jos an t 7.10 and was stopped by the hand of an Angel he designed by the appointment of God the place of the Temple He said down all his Designs he amassed mighty noâ— and precious Materials for it he dedicated all the Spoils of his conquered Kings and People to it But that Temple which was so designed by the Conquerour was not to be built but by his Son and Successor the peaceable Solomon He built it after the Model of the Tabernacle The Altar of the Holocausts 1 Kings 6,7 8. 2 Chron. 3 4 5 6 7. the Altar of Incense the golden Candlestick the Tables of Shew Bread and all the other consecrated Moveables of the Temple were taken from the like Pieces which Moses had caused to be made in the Wilderness Solomon only added magnificence and grandeur to them The Ark which the Man of God
event puts us above all the nice Punctualities of the Chronologâ—sts and the total Subversion of the Jews which so closely followed the Death of our Lord is sufficient to convince the most willfully blind that the Prophecy is accomplished There remains nothing more now but to observe to you one Circumstance of it Daniel discovers a new Mystery to us The Oracle of Jacob had told us that the Kingdom of Juda was to cease at the coming of the Messiah But it does not say that that Death should be the cause of the Downfal of that Kingdom God revealed that most necessary Secret to Daniel and he declared to him as you see that the Ruine of the Jews should be the Consequence of the death of Christ and of their Ingratitude If you observe the place the Course of Events will quickly make you an excellent Commentary You see what God shewed to the Prophet Daniel a little before the Conquests of Carus and the Re-building of the Temple In the time of the building of it he raised up the Prophets Haggai and Zachariah And presently after he sent Malachi who was to conclude the Prophecies of the antient People What was it that Zachariah did not see One could almost say that the very Book of God's Decrees was laid open to that Prophet and that there he read the whole History of the People of God from the time of the Captivity The Persecutions of the Kings of Syria and the Wars which they made upon Judah are all of them discovered to him in their very particulars Zach. 14.1 2 3 4 c. He saw Jerusalem taken and sack'd a dreadful Pillage and infinite Disorders the Peoples Flight into the Desart uncertain of their Condition whether Life or Death and at the very Vigil of its last Desolation there does all of a sudden a new Light appear to him The Enemies are vanquished the Idols are thrown down in all the Holy Land There is nothing but Peace and Plenty seen both in City and Country and the Temple is revered in all the East One remarkable Circumstance of those Wars is revealed to the Prophet and that is that Jerusalem shall be betrayed by her own Children Zach. 14.13 14 and that among her Enemies there shall a great many Jews be found Sometimes he sees a long Succession of Prosperity Judah is full of Strength the Kingdoms that oppressed it are humbled the Neighbours that were continually tormenting it Pâ—â—l 9.10.6 Zâ—â—â— 9.1.2.3 â— â— 6 7 8. are punished some are converted and incorporated into the People of God The Prophet sees that People blessed with divine Favours amongst which he relates to them the Triumph as modest as it was glorious Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Zion Ibid. 9. shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee He is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the Foal of an Ass After he had recounted their Prosperities he summs up from the beginning all the course of their Afflictions He sees all of a sudden Fire in the Temple all the Country in desolation with the capital City Murders Violences Zach. 11.1 2 c. and a King who countenances and encourages them But God hath pity on his forsaken People he becomes himself their Shepherd and his Protection sustains them At length he kindles civil Wars amongst them Ibid. 11.8 9. and the Face of things looks dismal The time of that Change is designed by a certain Character and three Princes degraded in one Month denote the beginning of their Troubles In the midst of these Calamities there appears yet another greater than all the rest A while after those Divisions and at the time of their Ruine God is prized at thirty pieces of Silver by his ungrateful People and the Prophet sees all Ibid. 12 13 c even to the Potters field about which that Money was employed From that time arise great Disorders among the Shepherds of the People at last they become Blind and their Power is destroyed What shall I say of the marvellous Vision of Zacharia who sees the Shepherd smitten and the Sheep scattered What shall I say of the regard which the People had for the God whom they have pierced Zach. 13.7.12.10 and of their mourning for him as one mourneth for his only Son and of their bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his First-born Zacharia saw all these things but that sight which is still greater is the promise of God's Presence and Love He that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of mine Eye Zach. 2.8 9 10 11 12 13. Sing and rejoyce O Daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord and many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my People and I will dwell in the midst of Thee c. Haggai says less things but what he says is very surprising Whilst the second Temple was building and the old men who had seen the Glories of the first were weeping and lamenting in comparing the Poorness of this last Building with the Magnificence of the other the Prophet who sees farther publishes the Glory of the second Temple Hag. 2.7 8 9. and prefers it to the first I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts The Glory of this latter shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts He explains from whence shall come the Glory of this new House in this that the desire of all Nations shall come That Messiah who was promised two thousand years before and from the beginning of the World as the Saviour of the Gentiles shall appear in this new Temple Peace shall be establis â— there all the astonished World shall bear Witness of the coming of this their Redeemer there was but a little while to wait and the times assigned for this waiting are in their last period At length the Temple was finished the Sacrifices were offered in it But the Covetous Jews prophaned it and brought thither that which was torn and the lawe and the sick so that the Offering was defective Malachi who reprov'd them for it was raised to a higher Consideration and upon the occasion of the unclean Sacrifices of the Jews he sees an Offering always pure and never sullied which shall be presented to God Mal. 2.11 13. no more so as it was in the Temple of Jerusalâ—m heretofore but from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same no more by the Jews but by the Gentiles among whom he prophesied that the name of God should be great He sees also like Haggai the Glory of the second Temple and the Messiah who honours it with his Presence But he sees at the same time that the Messiah is the God to whom
desolate without a Governor The King of Persia Chosroes II. under pretence of revenging Mauritius had attempted to destroy Phocas He push'd on his Conquests under Heraclius There was seen the Emperor beaten and the true Cross carryed away Years of J. C. 620 621. by the Infidels after by admirable return Years of J. C. 622 623 H raclius five times a Conqueror Persia over-run Years of J. C. 625 626. by the Romans Chosroes killed by his Son and the Holy Cross re-taken Whilst the Power of the Persians was so sharply repressed a worse mischief rose up both against the Empire and indeed against all Christianity Mahomet set himself up for a Prophet among the Saracens He was driven out from Mecha by his own People with his Flight commenced that memorable Hegyra from whence Years of J. C. 622 the Mahometans compute their Years This false Prophet gave his Conquests for all the sign of his mission In nine years he brought all Arabia under Subjection either on their own accord or by force and laid the Foundations of the Empire of the Caliphi To these Years of J. C. 629 Afflictions was superadded the Heresie of the Monothelites who through an almost inconceivable Blindness in owning two Natures in our Lord and Saviour would own that there was but one Will in him Man according to their Doctrine had nothing of Will in him and there was nothing in Jesus Christ but the sole Will of the Word These Hereticks concealed their Venom under ambiguous terms A false Love of Peace made them propose that there should be no speaking either of one or of two Wills By these Artifices they imposed upon Pope Years of J. C. 633 Honorius the First who entered with them into a very dangerous Menage and consented to that Silence whereby the Lye and the Truth were both equally suppressed And for the complement of all Afflictions some time after the Emperor Heraclius undertook Years of J. C. 639 to decide the Question by his Authority and proposed his Ecthesis or favourable Explication to the Monothelites but the Artifices of the Hereticks were at length discovered Pope John IV. condemned the Ecthesis Constance the Grandchild of Heraclius Years of J. C. 640 maintained the Edict of his Grandfather by his own called the Type The Years of J. C. 648 Holy See and Pope Theodoret opposed that Years of J. C. 649 attempt Pope St. Martyn I. assembled the Council of Lateran where he sentenced the Type and the Chiefs of the Monothelites to the Anathema St. Maximus celebrated over all the East for his Piety and his Learning leaves the Court which was infected with this new Heresie openly reproves the Emperors who had dared so to pronounce upon the Questions of Faith and suffers a world of Afflictions for the Catholic Years of J. C. 650. 654. Faith The Pope dragged from one Exile to another and always rudely treated by the Emperor at length dyes in the midst of his Sufferings without complaining nor remitting any thing he owed to the Function of his Ministery In the mean while the new English Church strengthened by the industrious Cares of the Popes Boniface V. and Honorius grew very famous over all the World Miracles abounded there with the Vertues as in the times of the Apostles and nothing was more splendid than the Years of J. C. 627 Sanctity of its Kings Edwin with all his Years of J. C. 634 Subjects embraced the Faith which had given him the Victory over his Enemies and converted his Neighbours Oswald served as an Interpreter to the Preachers of the Gospel and renowned by his Conquests he preferred the Glory of being a Christian to Years of J. C. 655 them all The Mercians were converted by the King of Northumberland Oswin Their Neighbours and their Successors followed their Steps and their good Works were infinite Every thing went to wrack in the East whilst the Emperors were destroying each other in Disputes about Religion and Years of J. C. 634 in inventing of Heresies the Saracens run Years of J. C. 635 through the Empire possessed themselves of Years of J. C. 636 Syria and Palestine the Holy City was subjected Years of J. C. 637 to them and Persia lay open to their Power by its Divisions so that they took that great Kingdom without any Resistance They entered into Africa in a posture of Years of J. C. 647 making it in a very little time one of their Years of J. C. 648 Provinces the Isle of Cyprus paid them Obedience and in less than thirty years they joyned all these Conquests to those of Mahomet Italy always unfortunate and forsaken groan'd under the Arms of the Lombards Constance despairing of his ever driving them out was resolved to ravage what he could no longer defend and was more cruel than the Lombards themselves He came not to Years of J. C. 663 Rome but to pillage the Treasures of it the Churches escaped not free from him He ruined Sardinia and Sicily and made himself odious to all the World and at last fell by the Hands of his own Servants Under Years of J. C. 668 his Son Constantine Pogonat that is to say Years of J. C. 671 the Bearded the Saracens possessed themselves Years of J. C. 672 of Cilicia and Lycia Constantinople Years of J. C. 678 was besieged and was saved even by a Miracle The Bulgari People that came from the mouth of Volga joyned with all those potent Enemies wherewith the Empire was infested and got themselves Masters of that part of Thrace called since Bulgaria which was the Antient Mysia The English Church was the Mother that brought forth new Churches and St. Wilfrid Bishop of York being expelled from his See converted Frieseland The whole Church received a new Light by the sixth general Council of * Alsted Chron. Years of J. C. 696 Constantinople where Pope St. Agatho presided by his Legats and explained the Years of J. C. 680 Catholic Faith by a most admirable Letter That Council anathematized one Bishop famous for his Learning one Patriarch of Alexandria four Patriarchs of Constantinople that is to say all the Authors of the Sect of the Monothelites without sparing Pope Honorius himself who had abetted and countenanced them After the Death of Agatho which happened during that Council Pope St. Leo II. confirmed their Decisions and received all their Anathema's Constantine Pogonat an imitator of the great Constantine and of Marcian entered into the Council after their Example and as he paid them the same Submissions they honoured him with the same Titles of Orthodox Religious and peaceful Emperor and the Restorer of Religion His Son Years of J. C. 585 Justinian II. succeeded to him then an Infant From his time the Faith increased and spread it self gloriously towards the North. Years of J. C. 586 St. Kylian sent by Pope Conon preached the Years of J. C. 589 Gospel in Franconia In the time of Pope Sergius Ceadwalla one of the Kings of England
for many Millions of years Plat. in Tim. Diod. 1. § 1. It was the Mother of both Men and Beasts which the Land of Egypt watered with the River Nilus had brought forth whilst all Nature besides was barren The Priests that composed the History of Egypt out of that vast continuance of Ages which they only filled with the Fables and Genealogies of their Gods did it â—o imprint into the minds of the People the Antiquity and Nobleness of their Country But their real History was circumscribed within reasonable Bounds and yet they found so much as to lose themselves in an infinite Abyss of Time which seemed to bring them near to Eternity But yet their love to their Country had more solid Foundations Egypt was in fine the most beautiful Country in the World the most plentiful by Nature the best cultivated by Art the richest the most commodious and the most adorned by the care and magnificence of her Kings There was nothing but what was very great in their Designs and in their Work What they made in Nilus is incredible It rained very seldom in Egypt but that River which watered it all by its orderly Flowings brought to it the Rains and the Snows of other Countreys For the multiplying of so beneficial a River Herod 2. Diod. 1. §. 2. Egypt was Traversed with an infinite number of Chanels of an incredible length and largeness Nilus carried fruitfulness every where with its wholsom Waters united Towns to one another and the great Sea to the red Sea kept up Commerce both within and our of the Kingdom and fortified it against the Enemy so that it was altogether both the Nourisher and the Defender of Egypt The Fields were swallowed up with it but the Towns that were set above by vast pains and labour and raised as Islands in the midst of the Waters joyful at such their advancements they beheld all the Plain overflown and at the same time made fruitful by the Nile When it swelled it self above Measure there were great Lakes cut hollow by the Kings that opened their Bosoms to the poured our Waters They have their discharges prepared great Sluces opened or shut them up as there was occasion and the Waters having thus their retreat tarried no longer on the Earth than just what was necessary to Marle and make 'em fertile Such was the use of this great Lake which was called the Lake of Myris or of Moeris Herod 10. Diod. ibid. It was the name of the King that had caused it to be made One would be astonished to read what notwithstanding is very certain that the Compass of it round was about a hundred and fourscore of our Leagues That too much of the good Land might not be lost by the cutting it hollow they extended it chiefly towards the Coast of Libya The Fishery was worth to the King vast Sums of Money and so when the Land did not produce any thing it yielded Treasures by being covered with the Waters Two Pyramids each of which bore upon a Throne two Colossus-like Statues the one of Myris the other of his Wife were raised three hundred Foot high in the midst of the Lake and were of an equal Depth under the Water So that they shewed that they were built before the Hollow was filled and that a Lake of that vast Extent was made by Man's Hand under one single Prince Those who do not know to what degree the Earth may be improved take for a Romance what is related of the number of the Towns in Egypt Herod 2. Diod. 1. 2. The Richness of them is no less incredible There was not one of them that had not magnificent Temples and most stately and august Palaces Architecture discovered there in all things such a noble Simplicity and Greatness that it took up the whole Imagination Diod. Ibid. The long Galleries exposed to every ones View such Sculptures in them as Greece took for Models Thebes was able to dispute it with the finest Cities of the Universe Her hundred Gates which Homer sung of are known to all the World She was as full of People as she was vast Pomp. Mel. 1. 9. and it was said she could at one time draw out ten thousand Combatants thro' each of her Gates Let there be if you please a little stretch in that Number yet it is most certain that her People were not to be numbered The Greeks and the Romans have celebrated their Magnificence and their Grandeur though they had only seen the Ruines of her Strab. 17. Tac. Ann. 2. 6. so extremely splendid were her Remains If our Travellers had got so far as where this City was built they would no doubt have yet found something incomparable in her Ruines For the Works of the Egyptians were made to hold out against the destruction of time Their Statues were Colosses Herod Diod. loc citat their Pillars vast Egypt aimed at Grandeur and to strike the Eyes at a distance but always to content by the Justice of the Proportions There were discovered in Sand or Salid you know very well that that is the name of Thebais Temples and Palaces almost yet entire Voyag pr. by M. Thevenot where those Pillars and Statues are innumerable One Palace is admired there above all the Remains of which seem only to continue to efface the Glory of all even the greatest Works Four Galleries whose Prospect lost our Sight bounded on each side by Sphinxes of as curious a Substance as their Greatness is remrkable serve as Avenues to four Portico's of such a hight as were an Astonishment to the Eyes What Magnificence and Extent was there As yet those that have described to us this prodigious Building have not had time of going round it nay and are not very sure they have seen above half of it but however all they have seen was very surprizing A Hall which seems to be placed in the middle of that stately Palace was supported by six score Pillars of thirty Foot in Compass proportionably high and intermixt with Obelisques which so many Ages have never been able yet to demolish Even the Colours that is to say that which rather tryed the Power of time are still preserved among the Ruines of that admirable Edifice ay and preserved in their Strength and Vivacity So skilled was Egypt in imprinting the Characters of Immortality on all her Works Now that the Name of the King is gone thro' all the unknown Parts of the World and that that Prince likewise extends his Researches as far as he hath caused to be made the most beautiful Works of Nature and of Art would it not be an Object worthy of so noble a Curiosity to discover the Beauties which Thebais locks up in her Desarts and to inrich our Architecture with the Inventions of Egypt What Power and what Art was it that could make such a Country to be the Wonder of the Universe And what Beauties might
how the Senate had likewise done several such Actions Pal. Tit. Liv. Cic. de Off. 3. c. how often they have delivered to their Enemies perjured Citizens that would not keep their word with them or that plaid Tricks with their Oaths how often they condemned evil Councils although they had met with happy Successes I shall only tell you that that august Company inspired nothing but what was great into the Roman People and upon all Occasions gave a very high Idea of their Councils being persuaded that the Reputation was strongest which was strengthened by the States 'T is easy to be believed that by a People so wisely directed Rewards and Punishments were assigned with great Consideration Besides that the Service and Zeal for the Weal publick were the surest means to raise them up to the first Offices in it The Military Actions had a thousand Recompences which cost the Publick nothing and which were extreamly esteemed by private Persons because thereby they had conferred upon them that Honour which was so dear to that martial and warlike People A Crown of very fine Gold and most commonly a Crown of Oak Leaves or of Laurel or some Herb or other that is viler yet was of inestimable Price among Souldiers that knew no marks more glorious than those of Vertue nor no Distinction more noble than that which came from Heroick Actions The Senate whose Approbation was the same thing as Reward understood very well how to commend and how to blame when there was occasion Immediately after Fighting the Consuls and the other Generals publickly gave to the Souldiers and to the Officers the Praise or the Blame as they deserved But for themselves they doubtfully waited for the Judgment of the Senate which judged by the Wisdom of their Councils and not suffered themselves to be dazeled by the Happiness of Events Their Commendations were highly valued because they were given with Understanding Their Reprimands went to the Hearts of the Free and Generous and kept the more Weak in their Duty The Chastisements which followed ill Actions kept the Souldiers in fear while in the mean time Rewards and Honours well dispensed raised them above themselves Those who can inspire into Peoples Minds Glory patience of Labours the Grandeur of the Nation and the Love of their Country may truly boast they have found out the most proper Constitution of State to produce great Men. 'T is without doubt great Men that make the Power of an Empire Nature doth never fail to bring forth in all Nations exalted Minds and Courages but yet they want the Assistance of being better formed and cultivated That which forms them and that which compleats 'em are strong Sentiments and noble Impressions which are scattered in all Minds and insensibly pass from one to the other What is it makes our Nobles so bold in fight and so daring in their enterprises 'T is an Opinion receiv'd at their Infancy and established by the unanimous sentiment of the Nation that a Cowardly Gentleman degrades himself and is not worthy to enjoy the common Air. All the Romans were bred up in that Opinion and the People disputed with the Nobles who should be the briskest Actors upon those vigorous Maxims Whilst Rome was at Peace the very Infancy was exercis'd in hardships there was nothing else heard discours'd of but the greatness of the Roman Name They were obliged to go to the War whenever the Republick required it and there to work perpetually to Camp Winter and Summer to Obey without Resistance to Dy or Conquer Those Fathers who brought not up their Children in those Maxims and as they ought to make them capable of serving the State were Summoned to Justice by the Magistrates and judg'd guilty of an attempt against the Publick When this way was first begun to be taken the great Men help'd to make one another so And if Rome hath bred more of them than any other City whatsoever of greater Antiquity it hath not been by accident but because the Roman State being constituted so as we have seen it was as I may say of a Temperament likely to be most fruitful in Hero's A Government that finds it self thus formed finds it self at the same time of an incomparable strength and never fancies it self without Recruit That shews us that they never despaired of Success neither when Porsenna King of Etrâ—ria famished them up in their Walls nor when the Gauls after they had burnt their City overwhelmed all their Country and kept them lock'd up in the Capitol nor when Pyrrhus King of Epirus as full of Address and Subtilty as Bold in his Undertakings frightned them by his Elephants and defeated all their Armies nor when Hannibal who had been already so often a Conqueror killed also above fifty thousand Men of them and their best Militia at the 〈…〉 'T was then that the Consul Terentius Varro who was but just come from losing through his own Fault so great a Battle was received at Rome as if he had been Victorious because only even in that very great Unhappiness he did not despair of the Affairs of the Republick The Senate gave him their publick Thanks for it and then they resolved according to their old Maxims not in that sad deplorable Estate to hearken to any Proposition of Peace The Enemy was astonished the People took Heart afresh and believed they â—ad new Recruits which the Senate knew of by their prudence In fine the constancy of the Senate amidst so many mischiefs that happened one on the heels of another proceeded not only from an obstinate resolution that they would never yield to Fortune but from a profound knowledge of the Roman Forces and of those of their Enemies Rome knew by her Census that is to say by the Roll of her Citizens evermore exactly continued from the time of Servius Tullius she knew I say all her number of Citizens that were capable of bearing Arms and what her expectations could be of the Youth which were growing up every day Thus she managed her Forces against an Enemy that came from the Borders of Africa that time would destroy every Man of them in a strange Country where Succors were so tardy and to whom their very Victories which cost them so much Blood were fatal Wherefore what ever loss happened the Senate always being informed what good Soldiers remained as also who protracted their time and never suffered them to be discomfited When by the defeat at Canna and by the Revolts that followed they saw the Forces of the Commonwealth so weakened that they could have scarce defended themselves if the Enemy had pressed them they kept themselves up by their Courage and without being troubled for their losses they set themselves to watch the motions of the Conquerour As soon as ever they perceived that Hannibaâ— instead of pursuing his Victory for some time only thought how he might enjoy it the Senate were secure for they fully saw that an Enemy
Figure of Future Time the Ark wherein God discovered himself to be present by his Oracles and in which the Tables of the Law were kept the Advancement of Aaron the Brother of Moses the High-Priest the Ceremonies of their Consecration and the Form of their mysterious Habits the Priests Functions the Sons of Aaron those of the Levites with the other Observances of Religion and that which is most beautiful and decent the Rules of good Manners the Policy and Government of his chosen People of whom he would be himself the Legislator This is what is observable in the Epocha of the Written Law Afterwards we see the Journey continued in the Wilderness the Revolts the Idolatries the Punishments and Consolations of the People of God whom this Almighty Legislator reduced by these means by degrees the Anointing of Eleazor Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1452 the High-Priest and the Death of his Years of the World 2552 Father Aaron the Zeal of Phineas the Son of Eleazor and the Priesthood secured to his Posterity by a particular Promise During this time the Aegyptians continued the Establishment of their Colonies in divers Places chiefly in Greece where Danaus the Aâ—gyptian was made King of Argos and dispossess'd the Ancient Kings that came Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1451 from Inachus Towards the end of the Israelites Years of the World 2553 Journying in the Wilderness we see the Beginnings of Wars which are rendred successful through the Prayers of Moses But he dies and leaves to the Israelites their whole History which he had carefully digested from the beginning of the World even to the time of his Death This History is continued by the command of Josuah and his Successors This afterwards was divided into several Books and hence it is that we have the Book of Josuah the Book of Judges and the Four Books of Kings The History which Moses wrote and in which all the Law was included was also divided into Five Books which are called the Pentateuch and which are the Ground of Religion After the Death of that Man of God we read of the Wars of Josuah Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1445 the Conquest and Division of the Holy Land Years of the World 2559 and the Rebellions of the People punished and re-established at divers times There Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1405 are likewise the Victories of Othoniel the Son Years of the World 2599 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1325 of Kenaz the Brother of Caleb who delivered Years of the World 2679 him from the Tyranny of Chausan-Rishathaim King of Mesopotamia and Eighty years after That of Ehud the Son of Gera Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1322 over Eglon King of Moab About this Years of the World 3682 time Pelops the Phrygian the Son of Tantalus reigned in Peloponnesus and called that famous Country by his Name Bel the King of the Chaldeans received from those People Divine Honours The ungrateful Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1305 murmuring Israelites fall again into Servitude Years of the World 1699 Jabin King of Chanaan subjecteth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1285 them but Deborah the Prophetess who Years of the World 2719 judged the People and Baruc the Son of Ahinoam overcame Sisera the General of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1245 that Kings Army Thirty years after this Years of the World 2759 Gideon that mighty Man of Valour even without fighting pursues and overcomes the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1236 Medianites Abimelech his Son usurped the Years of the World 2768 Authority by the Murther of his Brethren exercised it after a Tyrannical manner and Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1187 at last loseth it and his Life together Jephtha Years of the World 2817 makes his Victory bloody by a Sacrifice that was not to be excused but by a secret Order and Dispensation from Heaven concerning which it hath not pleased him to reveal any thing to us In this Age there hapned very remarkable things among the Gentiles Herod l. 1. c. 26. For according to Herodotus his Account which seems to be the most exact Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1267 we are to reckon for that time 514. years Years of the World 2737 before Rome Gen. x. 11. and from the time of Deborah Ninus the Son of Bel and the Foundation of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Court was established at Nineveh an Ancient City and then pretty Famous but it was made more Splendid and Glorious by Ninus Those who ascribe 1300 years to the first Assyrians have their Foundation from the Ancientness of the City and Herodotus who allows them but 500 speaks only of the Empires Duration since its beginning under Ninus the Son of Bel to extend it self into the Upper Asia A little after and in that Conqueror's Reign Jos xix 20. Joseph Antiq 8.2 we are to fix the Foundation or the Renewal of the ancient City of Tyre whose Navigation and whose Colonies rendred it so Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1252 considerable At last a little after Abimelech's Years of the World 2752 time we meet with the memorable Combates of Hercules the Son of Amphitryon and those of Theseus King of Athens who made but one great City of the twelve Towns of Cecrops and instituted a better Form of Government among the Atheninians During Jephtha's time whilst Semiramis who came from Ninus and was the Governess of Ninyas inlarged the Assyrian Empire by her Victories The Famous City of Troy already taken once by the Greeks under Laomedon its third King was Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 utterly reduced again by the Greeks under Years of the World 2820 Priam the Son of Laomedon after a Siege of ten years V. Epocha The Taking of Troy The fourth Age of the World This Epocha of the Ruin of Troy which hapned about the year 308. after the Departure out of Aegypt and 1164 years after the Deluge is very considerable as well because of the Importance of so great an Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 Event celebrated by two of the greatest Years of the World 2820 Poets of Greece and Italy as because that every thing may be brought to this Date which was most remarkable in those called the Fabulous or Hâ—roick Times the Fabulous by reason of the Fables in which the Histories of those Times are wrapt and Heroick by reason of those whom the Poets have called the Sons of the Gods and Heroes Their Lives were not far from this Overthrow For in the time of Laomedon the Father of Priam were all the Heroes of the Golden Fleece Jason Hercules Orpheus Castor and Pollux and all the others that are known to you and in the time of Priam likewise during the last Siege of Troy there were Achilles Agamemnon Menelaus Vlysses Hector Sarâ—edon the Son of Jupiter Aeneas the Son of Venus whom the Romans acknowledged for their Founder and several others from whom the most Illustrious Families and even
being come to an Agreement with Manahem he established him in the Throne that he went to Usurp by Violence and received by way of acknowledgment the Tribute of a thousand Talents Under his Son Sardanapalus and after Alcmaeon the last perpetual Archon of the Athenians that People whom his humour led insensibly to affect a popular Estate lessened the Power of their Magistrates and in ten years wholly overthrew the Archontick Administration The first of this way was Charops Romulus and Remus sprung from the antient Kings of Alba by their Mother Ilia re-established in the Kingdom of Alba their Grandfather Numitor of which his Brother Amilius had dispossest him and presently after they founded Rome whilst Jotham Reigned in Judah VII Epocha Romulus or Rome founded That City which was to be the Mistress of the World and in futurity the chief Seat of the Romish Religion was founded toward the end of the third year of the sixth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 754 Olympiad 430 years after the taking Years of the World 3250 of Troy from whence the Romans believed their Ancestors to be sprung and 753 years before Jesus Christ Romulus being bred up hardly with Shepherds and always Years of Rome 1 engaged in Warlike Exercises consecrated this City to the God of War who he Years be ∣ fore J. C. 748 said was his Father About the time of Years of Rome 6 Rome's Birth through the effeminate Luxury of Sardanapalus happened the Fall of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Medes a warlike People animated by the Discourses of Arbaces their Governour set an Example to all his Subjects of contemning and scorning him All were up in a general revolt against him and at length he perished in his chief City where he saw himself constrained to fling himself into the Fire with his Concubines his Eunuchs and his Riches Out of the Ruins of this Empire were seen to come three great Kingdoms Arbaces or Orbaces whom some call Pharnaces freed the Medes who after a very long Anarchy had three most puissant Kings Moreover presently after Sardanapalus there appeared a second Kingdom of the Assyrians Years be ∣ fore J. C. 747 of which Nineveh was the chief City Years of Rome 7 and a Kingdom of Babylon These two last Kingdoms are not unknown to prophane Authors and are much celebrated in the sacred History The second Kingdom of Nineveh is founded by Tilgath of Tiglath the Son of Phalaser called for this reason Tiglathphalesar to whom was also given the name of Ninus the younger Baladan whom the Greeks called Belasis established the Kingdom of Babylon which is known by the name of Nabonassar From thence the Aera of Nabonassar famous with Ptolomy and the antient Astronomers who reckoned their years by the Reign of that Prince It is fit to explain here the signification of this word Aera which is a number of Years began at a certain point of Time which some extraordinary Accident makes remarkable Wicked Years be ∣ fore J. C. 740 and Sinful Ahaz King of Judah oppressed Years of Rome 14 by Rezin King of Syria and by Pekah the Son of Remaliah King of Israel instead of having recourse to God who stirred him up those Enemies to punish him called Tiglathphalesar the first King of Assyria or Nineveh who brought the Kingdom of Israel to its last extremity and utterly destroyed that of Syria and at the same time he ravaged that of Judah which had desired his Assistance Thus the Kings of Assyria took Years be ∣ fore J. C. 721 the way to the Holy Land and resolved Years of Rome 33 upon the Conquest of it They began with the Kingdom of Israel which Salmanasser the Son and Successor of Tilgath Pilneser utterly destroyed Osee King of Israel relied upon the succour of Sabacon otherwise called Sua or Soü◠King of Aethiopia who had invaded Aegypt But that mighty Conqueror could not get it out of the hands of Salmanassar The ten Tribes with whom the Worship of God was quite worn off were transported to Nineveh and being dispersed among the Gentiles they so lost themselves there that no farther tracing of them can be discovered There remained some of them who were mixed among the Jews and made a small part of the Kingdom Years be ∣ fore J. C. 715 of Judah At this time happened the Years of Rome 39 Death of Romulus He was always fighting and always victorious but in the midst of his Wars he notwithstanding laid the Foundation of Religion and Laws A Years be ∣ fore J. C. 714 long Peace gave Numa his Successor a good opportunity to finish that Work He formed Years of Rome 40 Religion and qualified the wild and extravagant Manners of the Romans In his time the Colonies that came from Corinth and several other Towns of Greece founded Syracuse in Sicily Crotona Tarentum and perhaps some other Towns in that part of Italy to which the most antient Greek Colonies which were spread over all the Country had already given the name of Great Greece In the mean time Hezekiah the most Pious and the justest of all the Kings Years be ∣ fore J. C. 710 ever since David reigned in Judah Sennacherib the Son and Successor of Salmanassar Years of Rome 44 besieged him in Jerusalem with a vast and prodigious Army which was in one night destroyed by the Hand of an Angel which went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five Thousand Hezekiah being delivered in so wonderful a manner served God with all his People more faithfully than ever But Years be ∣ fore J. C. 698 after that Prince his Death under his Son Years of Rome 56 Manasseh the ungrateful forgat their God and so disorders and calamities were multiplied Years be ∣ fore J. C. 687 upon them A popular State or commonwealth Years of Rome 67 was then formed among the Athenians and they began to elect annual Archontes or Governours the first of whom was Creon Whilst wickedness increased in the Kingdom of Judah the Power of the Kings of Assyria which were to be their avengers grew daily stronger under Esarhaddon Years be ∣ fore J. C. 681 the Son of Sennacherib He re-united the Years of Rome 73 Kingdom of Babylon to that of Nineveh and equalled in Great Asia the Power of the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 677 first Assyrians 2 Kings xvii 24. 1 Esd iv 2. In his Reign the Cuthians Years of Rome 77 People of Assyria since called Samaritans were placed in the City of Samaria instead of the Children of Israel These joined to that of Idolatry the Worship of God and obtained of Esarhaddon an Israelitish Priest who taught them the manner of the God of the Land that is to observe the Law of Moses God resolving not to have his Name utterly abolished in a Land that he had given to his People he left there his Law as an earnest and testimony 2 Kings xvii 27
28 c. But their Priest gave them only the Books of Moses which the revolted ten Tribes had retained during the time of their Schism The Scriptures composed by the Prophets who sacrificed in the Temple were by them detested and therefore the Samaritans have received no other than the Pentateuch even down to this day Whilst Esarhaddon and the Assyrians so firmly were setling themselves in greater Asia the Medes likewise began to be considerable Dejoces their first King named Arphaxad in Scripture founded the Great City Ecbatana and laid the Foundations of a great Empire They had set him on the Throne to reward his vertues and to put an end to the disorders which Anarchy had caused among them Conducted by so great a King Herod l. 1. c. 27. they supported themselves against their Neighbours but they did not enlarge their Years be ∣ fore J. C. 671 Dominions Rome daily grew but it was weakly Under Tullus Hostilius the Third Years of Rome 83 King and by the famous Battle between the Horatii and the Curatii Alba was conquered and ruined Its Citizens incorporated in that victorious Ville did mightily greaten and fortify it Romulus was the first who took that way to make it more flourishing where he received the Sabins and other vanquished People And they forgat their Overthrow and became most Faithful and Affectionate Subjects Rome in extending it's Conquests regulated it's Militia and it was under Tullus Hostilius that it began to learn that Noble Discipline which made it to be at last the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 670 Mistriss of the Universe The Kingdom Years of Rome 84 of Egyyt weakned by its long Divisions was re-established under Psammeticus That Prince who owed his Safety to the Ionians and Carians established them in Egypt then shut to Strangers About this time the Aegyptians began to commerce with the Greeks and since that time also the History of Aegypt down to the mingling of pompous Fables by the Artifice of the Priests began as Years be ∣ fore J. C. 657 Herodotus tells us Herod l. 2. c. 95. to have some certainty In the mean time the Kings of Assyria became more and more terrible to all the East Years of Rome 97 Saosduchin the Son of Esarhaddon called Nebuchadonosor in the Book of Judith in battle array defeated Arphaxad King the Medes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 656 Flushed with this Success he attempted to Years of Rome 98 conquer all the Land To compass this his design he passed the Euphrates and ravaged all as far as Judah The Jews had provoked God and given themselves up to Idolatry after the Example of Manassâ—h but they had repented with that Prince and God took them into his Protection The Conquests of Nebuchodonosor and Holofernes his General were upon a suddain stopt by the hand of a Woman Dejoces although he was beaten by the Assyrians left his Kingdom in a condition of growing greater under his Successors Whilst Phraortes his Son and Cyagorus the Son of Phraortes subdued Years be ∣ fore J. C. 643 Persia and pushed on their Conquests to lesser Years of Rome 111 Years of Rome 641 Asia even to the borders of Halys Judah Years of Rome 113 indured the detestable Reign of Amon the Son of Manasseh and Josiah the Son of Amon wise and prudent from his Childhood endeavoured to repair the Disorders that were caused by the wickedness and impiety of his Predecessor-Kings Rome when Ancus Martius was King brought some Latines under it's subjection and government and continuing to make Citizens of her Enemies she shut them up within her Walls The Veienses already weakened by Romulus Years be ∣ fore J. C. 626 suffered new Losses Ancus pushed on his Years of Rome 128 Conquests as far as to the Neighbouring Sea and built the City of Ostia at the Mouth of the River Tyber At this time the Kingdom of Babylon was invaded by Nabopolassar That Traitor whom Chinaladan otherwise called Sarac had made General of his Armies against Cyagorus King of the Medes joyned himself with Astyages the Son of Cyagorus took Chinaladan in Nineveh destroyed that great City so long a time the Mistriss of the East and set himself upon the Throne of his Master Under this ambitious Prince Babylon grew in Pride and haughtiness Judah whose Impiety waxed more Years be ∣ fore J. C. 624 and more had every thing to fear The pious Years of Rome 130 King Josiah for some small time by his great humility suspended the punishment which his people had deserved but the evil increased under his Childrens Reign Nebuchadonosor Years be ∣ fore J. C. 610 II. more terrible than his Father Years of Rome 144 Nebuchadonosor succeeded him This Years be ∣ fore J. C. 607 Prince bred up in Pride and always ingaged Years of Rome 147 in War made prodigious Conquests both in the East and West and Babylon threatned to bring all the Land into subjection and vassalage His Menaces had soon their effect upon the People of God Jerusalem was left wholely to this proud and mighty Conqueror who took it three times The first at the beginning of his Reign and in the fourth year of the Reign of Joachim from whence begins the 70 years of Babylon's Captivity taken notice of by the Prophet Jeremiah the second under Jechonias or Joachin the Son of Joachim Jer. xxv 11 12. c. xxix 10. and the last under Zeâ—ekiah when the City was utterly destroyed the Temple burnt and the King Years be ∣ fore J. C. 599 carried Captive to Babylon with Serajah the Years of Rome 155 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 598 High-Priest and the bâ—t part of the people Years of Rome 156 The most eminent of those Captives were the Prophets Ezekiel and Daniel with them also are reckoned the Three Children whom Nebuchadnezzar could not make to worship his Golden Image nor consume by his Fiery Furnace Greece was flourishing and its Seven Wise Men made themsâ—â—ves illustrious Years be ∣ fore J. C. 594 Some time before the last desolation of Jerusalem Years of Rome 160 Solon one of the Sevâ—â— prescribed Laws to the Athenians and established Liberty Years be ∣ fore J. C. 578 upon Justice The Phocians of Ionia Years of Rome 176 brought their first Colony to Marseilles Tarquin the Antient King of Rome after he had conquered a part of Tuscany and adorned the City of Rome with his Pompous and Magnificent Works finished his Reign In his time the Gauls led on by Bellovesus possessed in Italy all the Suburbs round about Years be ∣ fore J. C. 566 Po whilst that Segâ—vesus his Brother Years of Rome 188 carried far up into Germany another swarm of the Nation Servius Tullius Tarquin's successour established the Census or the List of Citizens that were distributed into certain Classes whereby that great City was regulated and ordered as a private Family Nebuchadnezzar beautifyed Babylon which was mightily inriched by the Spoils of Jerusalem and the
Eastern Country But it did not enjoy them long For that King who had illustrated it with such magnificence when he was dying saw the approaching ruin of that famous City His Son Evilmerodac Years be ∣ fore J. C. 562 whose Debauches had rendred him odious Years of Rome 192 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 560 lived not long for he was killed by Neriglissor Years of Rome 194 his Brother-in-Law Abyd apud Euseb l. 9. Praep. Ev. c. ult who usurped the Kingdom Pisistratus also in Athens usurp'd the Soveraign Authority which he understood very well how to keep for thirty years amidst several vicissitudes and afterwards left it to his Children Neriglissor could not bear with the power of the Medes which grew very great in the East and therefore declared war against them Whilst Astyages the Son of Cyagorus I. was preparing to resist him he dyed and left the War to be maintain'd by his Son Cyagorus II. called in Daniel Darius the Mede He appointed for the General of his Army Cyrâ—s the Son of Mandana his Sister and of Cambyses King of Persia who was subject to the Empire of the Medes The Reputation of Cyrus which had been signalized in divers Wars under Astyages his Grand-father re-united most of the Eastern Kings under the Standards of Cyagorus He Years be ∣ fore J. C. 548 took in his Capital City Croesus King of Lydia Years of Rome 206 and possest himself with his vast Estate and Riches he brought down the other Allies Years be ∣ fore J. C. 543 of the Kings of Babylon and extended Years of Rome 211 his Dominion not only over Syria but also very far in the lesser Asia At last he marches Years be ∣ fore J. C. 538 against Babylon takes it and submits it to Years of Rome 216 Cyagorus his Uncle who being no less affected with his Fidelity than his great Exploits gave him his only Daughter and Heiress in Years be ∣ fore J. C. 537 Marriage In the Reign of Cyagorus Daniel Years of Rome 217 already honoured under the precedent Reigns with several Visions from Heaven in which he saw pass before him in such plain and manifest Figures so many Kings and Empires learnt by a New Revelation those Seventy famous Weeks by which the Time of Jesus Christ and the Destiny of the Jewish People are explained It was the Weeks of Years and contain'd 490 Years and this way of computation was ordinary and familiar among the Jews who observed the Seventh Year as well as the Seventh Day with a Religious repose Years be ∣ fore J. C. 536 Some time after this Vision Cyagorus dyed Years of Rome 218 as well as Cambyses the Father of Cyrus and this great Man who succeeded them joined the Kingdom of Persia till then obscure unto the Kingdom of the Medes so mightily greatn'd by its Conquests Thus was He the quiet and peaceable Master of all the East and founded the greatest Empire that ever was in the World But that which is most remarkable for the continuance of our Epochas is that this great Conquerour in the first Year of his Reign gave his Decree for the Re-establishing of the Temple of God in Jerusalem and the Jews in Judea Here we ought a little to make a stop because it is the most entangled place of all the Antient Chronology by reason of the difficulty in conciliating the Prophane History with the Sacred No question but your Highness hath already observed that this account I have given you of Cyrus is much different from what you have read of him in Justin that he speaks nothing of the second Kingdom of the Assyrians nor of those famous Kings of Assyria and Babylon so memorable in the Sacred History and in short this Relation of mine is very incongruous to that which is reported by the Author of the three first Monarchies of that of the Assyrians ended in the Person of Sardanapalâ—s that of the Medes ended in Astyages the Grandfather of Cyrus and this of the Persians began by Cyrus and destroy'd by Alexander Your Highness may be pleased to add to Justin Diodorus with most of the Greek and Latin Authors whose Writings are yet extant who give you these Histories after quite another manner than this I have followed As to what belongs to Cyrus Hieron in Dan. the Prophane Authors are in no agreement among themselves about his History but I thought it best to follow rather Xenophon with St. Jerome than Ctesias a fabulous Author whom most of the Grecians have copy'd and written after as Justin and the Latins have follow'd the Grecians and I have preferred him even to Herodotus himself tho' he is a most excellent and judicious Reporter And that which hath determined me to this choice is that Xenophon's History the most probable and likely in it self hath also this great advantage that it is the most conformable to the Scriptures which by reason of its antiquity and the Relation of the Jewish Affairs to those of the Eastern People deserves to be esteemed beyond all the other Greek Histories tho' one did not know that it had been dictated by the Holy Spirit Plat. in Tim. As to the three first Monarchies what most of the Greek Authors have written of them seems very doubtful to the Sages of Greece Plato in general shews us that under the name of Egyptian Priests the Greeks were extreamly ignorant of Antiquities and Aristotle hath ranged among the fabulous Reporters Arist â—olit v. 10. those that have written of the Assyrians The Greeks have written very negligently and because they had a mind to please and divert by their Historical relating of their Antiquities Greece which was ever very curious about them they have taken up Reports upon confused and dark Memorandums and so satisfied themselves with putting them into an agreeable and delightful order without being at any great pains or care to search whether they were true or not And certainly the way which was commonly taken to rank the three first Monarchies is most apparently fabulous For after the downfal of the Empire of Assyria under Sardanapalus next appear the Medes and after them the Persians as if the Medes had been Successors to the mighty Power of the Assyrians and the Persians had established themselves upon the ruin of the Medes Whereas on the contrary it is most certain that when Arbaces abandoned the Medes against Sardanapalus he did only deliver them without any submitting of the Assyrian Empire to them Herodotus Herod l. 1. c. 26 27. followed herein by the most approved Chronologers mentions nothing of their first King Dejoces until 50. years after their revolt and it is the more to be credited because of the concurrent Testimony both of this great Historian and of Xenophon not to trouble you now with any others that during the time that is allotted to the Empire of the Medes Herod 1. Xenoph. Cyrop â— vi c. there were in Assyria such
Greece Pericles an Athenian began the Peloponnesian Years be ∣ fore J. C. 431 VVar during which Theramenes Thrasybulus Years of Rome 323 and Alcibiades Athenians made themselves famous and considerable Brasydas and Mindarus Lacedemonians dyed there in fighting for their Country This VVar lasted seven and twenty years and ended to the advantage of the Lacedemonians who had brought on their side Darius sirnamed the Bastard the Son and Successor of Artaxerxes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 404 Lysander General of the Lacedemonians Years of Rome 350 Fleet took Athens anc chang'd it's Government But Persia soon was sensible that it had made the Lacedemonians too powerful and therefore the Persians upheld the young Cyrus in his Revolt against Artaxerxes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 401 his eldest Brother called Mnemon because of Years of Rome 353 his great and admirable memory the Son and Successor of Darius This young Person being delivered both from prison and death by his Mother Parysatis resolves upon revenge gains the Noblemen to him by his infinitely obliging carriage traverses Asia the less and goes and offers battle to the King his Brother even in the heart of his Empire wounds him with his own hand and believing himself too soon a Conqueror he perished by his own rashness The ten thousand Greeks that served him make that astonishing retreat where at last commanded Xenophon that great Philosopher and great Captain who hath written the History of it The Lacedemonians continued their attacques Years be ∣ fore J. C. 396 upon the Persian Empire which Agesilaus the Years of Rome 358 King of Sparta made to tremble in the lesser Asia but the Divisions of Greece called him back into his own Country About this time the City of the Veji which almost equalled the glory of Rome after a ten years siege and a great many good Successes was taken by the Romans under the Conduct of Camillus His generosity gained him yet another Conquest Years be ∣ fore J. C. 394 The Falisci whom he besieged rendred Years of Rome 360 themselves to him being touched at what he had done in sending them back their Children whom a School-Master had delivered to him but Rome would not conquer by Treacheries nor take advantages from the perfidiousness of a wretch that turned the Obedience of an innocent Age into such an Abuse A little after the Gauls Senonians came into Italy and besieged Clusium Years be ∣ fore J. C. 391 and the Romans lost against them the famous Years of Rome 363 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 390 battle of Allia Their City was taken and Years of Rome 364 burnt And whilst they were defending themselves in the Capitol their Affairs were re-established by Camillus whom they had banished Polyb. l. 1. c. 6. l. 2. c. 18 22. The Gauls continued seven months Masters of Rome and being called away by other affairs they drew off but it was not without carrying away with them good store of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 371 spoil During the Commotions of Greece Years of Rome 383 Epaminondas a Theban made himself signal by his equity moderation and temper as much as by his Victories It was observed he held this for a constant Rule never to tell a Lye so much as in jest His Actions became dazling and illustrious in the last years of Mnemon and in the first of Ochus Under this so great a Captain the Thebans were victorious and the Power of Lacedemonia abated Years be ∣ fore J. C. 359 and grew less That of the Macedonian Years of Rome 395 Kings began with Philip the Father of Alexander the Great And notwithstanding all the oppositions of Ochus and Arses his Son Kings of Persia and the greater difficulties still which the Eloquence of Demosthenes that mighty Defender of Liberty raised against him in Athens the victorious Prince for twenty years together kept all Greece in Years be ∣ fore J. C. 338 subjection where the Battle of Cheronea Years of Rome 416 which he gained over the Athenians and their Allies gave him a most absolute Power At this famous Field whilst he was breaking the Athenians he had the joy and happiness to see Alexander at eighteen years of age rushing in upon the Theban Troops and among others upon that which they called The Sacred Troop of Friends which they look'd on as Invincible Thus being Master of Greece and supported by a Son of such great hopes his Designs must needs be high and he resolved on nothing less than the absolute Ruine of the Persians against whom he had declared himself Generalissmo But this was reserved for Alexander For in Years be ∣ fore J. C. 337 the midst of the Solemnities of a new Marriage Years of Rome 417 Philip was assassinated by Pausanias Years be ∣ fore J. C. 336 a young Man of a good Family to whom Years of Rome 418 he had not done Justice The Eunuch Bagoas the same year killed Arses King of Persia and caused Darius the Son of Arsames sirnamed Codomannus to succeed him in the Kingdom He deserves bv his Valour to be ranked according to the otherwise most probable Opinion which gives him his Extraction from the Royal Family So that there were two Couragious and Magnanimous Kings began their Reigns together Darius the Son of Arsames and Alexander the Son of Philip. They looked upon each other with Eyes of Jealousie and they seem as born to dispute the Empire of the World betwixt them But Alexander resolved to strengthen himself well before he would engage with his Rival He revenged the Death of his Father reduced those Rebellious People that Years be ∣ fore J. C. 335 contemned his Youth he overcame the Years of Rome 419 Greeks that vainly attempted to shake off their Yoke and ruined Thebes where he spared none but the House and descendant Issue of Pindarus whose Odes were the Admiration of Greece Mighty and Victorious Years be ∣ fore J. C. 334 he marched after these famous Exploits Years of Rome 420 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 333 at the Head of the Greeks against Years of Rome 421 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 331 Darius whom he overthrew in three several Years of Rome 423 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 330 Battels in Array enters triumphantly Years of Rome 424 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 327 into Babylon and Susa destroys Persepolis Years of Rome 427 an ancient Seat and Palace of the Kings of Persia pushes on his Conquests as far as Years be ∣ fore J. C. 324 the Indies and at last returns to die at Babylon Years of Rome 430 being but Three and thirty years of age In his time Manasses the Brother of Jaddus Years be ∣ fore J. C. 333 the High Priest raised Commotions Years of Rome 421 among the Jews He had married the Daughter of Sanballat the Samaritan whom Darius had made a Nobleman of that Country Rather than he would repudiate that beautiful Stranger to which the Council of Jerusalem and
paid what he never owed and acquits the Sinners of their debt for what could better cover our Sins than his Righteousness What better way could the Rebellion of Servants be expiated than by the obedience of the Son The iniquity of many is hid in one just One and the justice of One alone makes it that many are justified What then are we not to pretend to God commendeth has love towards us Rom. 5.8 9. in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Much more then being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath through him All was for us by Jesus Christ Grace holiness life glory blessedness the Kingdom of the Son of God is our Inheritance there is nothing above us provided only that we do not degenerate and make our selves vile Whilst Jesus Christ was filling up our desires and surpassing our hopes he finished the work of God which was begun under the Patriarchs and in the Law of Moses Then God resolved to make himself known by sensible Experiences he shewed himself very magnificent in Temporal Promises good in heaping upon his Children such Blessings as flattered the Senses powerful in delivering them from the hands of their Enemies faithful in leading them into the Land of Promise to their Fathers just by the Rewards and Punishments which he openly sent them according to their works All his marvellous Works prepared the way for the Truths which Jesus Christ came to teach If God be so good as to bestow on us what is agreeable to our Senses how much rather shall he give unto us what is agreeable to our Souls which were made after his own Image If he be so tender and beneficent towards his Children shall he shut up his love and his bounty in those few years which make up our life Will he give to those whom he loves only a shadow of Felicity a fertile Land in Corn and Oyl Will there not be a heavenly Country wherein he will abundantly recompence us with true and everlasting good things There will be one without all peradventure and Jesus Christ will come to shew it us For indeed the Almighty would do works very unworthy of himself if all his magnificence should terminate in Grandeurs that were only exposed to our weak and infirm Senses Whatsoever is not eternal is neither correspondent to the Majesty of an Eternal God nor does it answer the hopes of man to whom he hath made known his eternity and that unchangeable fidelity which he bears to his Servants will never have an Object proportionable to it until it be extended to something that is immortally permanent Therefore will Jesus Christ at last come and open the Heavens to us to disocover there to our Faith that abiding City Heb. 11.8.9 10 13 14 15 16. which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God where we are to be gathered together after this life He shews us that if God make Eternal to be one of his Titles the Name of the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob it is because those holy men are always living before him Matth. 22.32 Luke 20.38 For God is not the God of the dead but of the living It is below him to do only as men accompany his friends to the Grave without giving them any hope beyond and it would be if I may speak with reverence reproachable for him to call himself with so much of force and energy the God of Abraham if he had not founded in the Heavens an Eternal City wherein Abraham and his Children may be happy throughout all Generations 'T is thus therefore that these Truths of a Futurity were unfolded to us by Jesus Christ Heb. 11.14 15 16. He shewed them to us even under the Law the true Land of Promise was the heavenly Kingdom 'T was that blessed Country that Abraham Isaac and Jacob desired Palestine did not deserve to be the Boundary of their fervent Vows nor to be the sole object of so long an expectation of our Fathers Egypt from whence we were to come out the Wilderness through which we were to pass Babylon whose Prison-walls we were to break to enter or to return into our Country that was this World with all its delights and vanities for here it was that we were truly Captives and Pilgrims led astray by Sin and Concupiscence we were to shake off this Yoke to find in Jerusalem and in the City of our God true liberty and an House or Sanctuary not made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 eternal in the Heavens where the Glory of the God of Israel should be manifested to us By this Doctrine of Jesus Christ the Mystery of God was laid open to us the Law was all Spiritual its Promises were introductive of those of the Gospel and served as a Foundation to them One and the same light was visible throughout it arose under the Patriarchs under Moses and the Prophets it increased Jesus Christ who was greater than the Patriarchs who came with more Authority than Moses and who was more illuminated than all the Prophets discovered this unto us in his fulness To this Christ to this God-Man to this Man who held upon Earth as St. Austin speaks the place of The Truth and discovers it to be personally resident amongst us to him I say it was reserved to shew us all Truth that is to say so much of the Mysteries of the Vertues and of the Rewards as God had designed for those whom he really loved These were the Grandeurs which the Jews ought to have look'd for in their Messiah There is nothing so great and glorious as to carry in it self and to discover unto men Truth in its fulness and perfection which seeds them and directs them and clears up their eyes so as to make 'em capable of seeing God Now in this time when the Truth was to be discovered to men with that fulness it was also commanded to be promulged throughout all the Earth and at all times God gave to Moses but one single People and one determined time but all Ages and all the People of the World were given to Jesus Christ he hath his Elect every where and his Church extensive as the Universe shall never leave off her bringing them forth Go saith he therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father Matth. 28.19 20. and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World Amen VII The Descent of the Holy Ghost the Establishment of the Church The Judgements of God on the Jews and on the Gentiles To disperse into all Places and in all Ages such eminent Truths and to put such pure and admirable Practices in force amidst such Corruption there was need of a Vertue more than Humane Wherefore Jesus Christ promised to send the Holy
Ghost to fortifie his Apostles and eternally to inspire and invigorate the Body of the Church This power of the Holy Ghost to declare it self the more was to appear in weakness Behold I send saith Jesus Christ to his Apostles Luke 24.49 the promise of my Father upon you that is to say the Holy Ghost in the mean time tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem be quiet do not concern your self about any thing until ye be indued with power from on high And to shew their submission and conformity to that Order they continued shut up for forty days at the prefixed time the Holy Ghost descended Acts 2.3 cloven Tongues like as of fire falling upon the Disciples of our blessed Saviour do shew the efficacy of their preaching and so being filled with the Holy Ghost Id. 4. they began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance the Apostles bore witness of Jesus Christ they were all ready to suffer for the Testimony that they had seen him rise from the dead Miracles followed upon their preaching At two of St. Peter's Sermons eight thousand Jews were converted and bewailing their Errour and Blindness they were wâ—shed in the Blood which they had spilt Thus was the Church founded in Jerusalem and amongst the Jews and notwithstanding the perverse incredulity of the Gross of the Nation yet the Disciples of Jesus Christ made known unto the World a Charity a Power but tempered with so much sweetness and condescension as never had been seen in any Society before Persecution arose the Faith increased the Children of God began more and more to aspire towards Heaven the Jews by their obstinate and inveterate Malice drew upon themselves the just Vengeance of God and hastened on them the sad Calamities and Desolation wherewith they had been threatned their Estates and their Affairs grew worse and worse Whilst God was setting apart a great number of them whom he placed among his Elect St. Peter was sent to baptize Cornelius a Roman Centurion He learned first of all by a Heavenly Vision and afterwards by Experience that the Gentiles were called to the Knowledge of God Jesus Christ who was willing to have them converted speaks from on high to St. Paul who was to be their Doctor and by a Miracle till then unheard of from a Persecutor he is made not only a Defender but a zealous Preacher of the Faith The profound Secret of the Calling of the Gentiles by the Reprobation of the ungratefull Jews who were still made more and more unworthy of the Gospel was discovered to him St. Paul reached forth his hands to the Geniiles and treated upon those important Questions with a wonderful force and power that Christ should suffer Acts 26.23 and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should shew unto the People and to the Gentiles He proved the Affirmative by Moses and the Prophets and called Idolaters to the Knowledge of God in the Name of Jesus Christ that was risen They were converted by Multitudes St. Paul shewed that their Calling was an effect of Grace which made no distinction betwixt either Jew or Gentile Fury and Jealousie transported the Jews so as they laid terrible Plots against St. Paul being chiefly incensed that he preached up the Gentiles and brought them to the true God At last he was delivered to the Romans as they had before delivered up Jesus Christ to them All the Empire was in commotion against the rising Church and Nero the Persecutor of all Mankind was the first Persecutor of the Faithful That Tyrant put both St. Peter and St. Paul to death Rome was consecrated by their Blood and the Martyrdom of St. Peter chief of the Apostles established in the Capital City of the Empire the Principal See of Religion In the mean time the time drew on when the Divine Vengeance was to fall upon the Impenitent Jews Disorders grew up amongst them a false Zeal blinded them and made them odious to all men their false Prophets infatuated them by the Promâ—ses of an imaginary Kingdom Thus being seduced by their deceitful tricks and artifices they could no longer endure any legitimate Empire and so they were unlimited in their attempts God gave them up to a reprobate Sence They revolted against the Romans who overthrew them Titus himself that destroyed them confessed he only lent his hand to that God that was provoked against them Adrian made a full end of them Philost vit Apoll Tyan lib. 6. Joseph de bell Jud. lib. 7.16 They were cut off with all the marks of the Divine Vengeance driven out of their own Land and made Slaves to all the World they no longer had either Temple or Altar or Sacrifice or Country and there was seen in Judah not so much as a form of People But God had notwithstanding provided for the Eternity of his Government The Eyes of the Gentiles were opened and they were united in Spirit to the converted Jews By that means they were joined to the Race and Stock of Abraham and became his Children by Faith and so inherited the promises which had been made to him A new People were formed and the new Sacrifice so much celebrated by the Prophets began to be offered throughout all the World Thus was that antient Oracle or Jacob fulfilled to a tittle Judah from the beginning was multiplied more than all his Brethren and having always kept a certain Preheminence he at last received the Kingdom as Hereditary to him Afterwards the People of God were reduced to his single Race and shut up in his Tribe they were called by his Name In Judah were continued that great People who were promised to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob in him the other promises were perpetuated the worship of God the Temple the Sacrifices the possession of the promised Land which was only called Judah Notwithstanding all their several States the Jews continued always in a body of a regulated People and Kingdom making use of their Laws There were always seen to arise either Kings or Magistrates and Judges even till the Advent of the Messiah he came and the Kingdom of Judah quickly fell to ruin It was utterly destroyed and the Jewish People were driven without hope from the Land of their Fathers The Messiah was the expectation of the Nations and he reigned over a new People But to keep the Succession and the Perpetuity it was necessary to have this new people engrafted as I may so say upon the former and as St. Paul speaks if thou being a wild Olive tree were grafted in amongst then Rom. 11.17 and with them partakest of the root and fatnâ—â—s of the Olive-tree So it happened that the Church which was first established among the Jews at length received the Gentiles to make up one and the same Tree with them one and the same Body one and the same People and to make them partakers of her Graces and Promises What
to destroy Christianity and found no better way than to foment Factions wherewith it was torn To him succeeded a Valens as much an Arrian as Constantius but more violent Other Emperours protected other Heresies with as equal heat and fury The Church learnt by all these Experiences that she was likely to suffer no less under Christian Emperours than she had done under those that were Infidel and that she was to shed her Blood not only for the defence of all the Body of her Doctrine but of every particular Article of it Indeed there was not any but what she saw assaulted by her own Children A thousand Sects and Heresies that had come out of her Bosom were risen up against her But if according as Jesus Christ had foretold she saw them rise against her she likewise saw them fall before her according to his Promises though they were oft-times supported by Emperours and Kings Her true Sons as St. Paul says were known by this proof Truth the more it was confessed was thereby so much the more confirmed and the Church remained like the Building whose Foundation was on a Rock unshaken VIII Particular Reflections upon the punishment of the Jews and upon the Predictions of Jesus Christ who had taken notice of it Whilst I have been endeavouring to shew you in an uninterrupted thred of Discourse the Progress of the Councells of God in the Perpetuity of his People I have hastily passed over many things which deserved very profound Reflections Let me now have your permission to return again to them thâ—t I may not leave you in a loss of such great and important matters And first I would beg of your Highness to consider with a more particular attention the fall of the Jews all the Circumstances whereof bear Testimony to the Gospel Those Circumstances are unfolded to us by Infidel Authors by Jews and by Heathens who without understanding the course of the Councells and Decrees of God have reported to us the weighty matters of Fact by which he was pleased to declare it We have Josephus a Jewish Author a very faithful Historian and well versed in the affairs of his Nation the Antiquities of which he hath illustrated by an admirable Work He hath written the last War whereby it was destroyed after he had been present at all and had himself served his Country in it with a very considerable Command The Jews do also furnish us with other very antient Authors whose Testimonies you will see They have antient Commentaries upon the Books of the Scripture and among others the Chaldee Paraphrases which they Print with their Bibles They have their Book called the Talmud that is to say Doctrine which they have as high a reverence for as for the Scripture it self 'T is a Collection of the Treatises and Sentences of their antient Masters and tho' the parts whereof that great work is composed be not all of the same antiquity yet the last Authors who are cited there lived in the first Ages of the Church There among a multitude of impertinent Stories which seem for the most part to begin after the time of our Blessed Saviour we find very fair remains of the antient Traditions of the Jewish People and Proofs sufficient to convince them And first of all it is certain by the Confession of the Jews themselves that the Divine Vengeance was never more terribly nor more manifestly declared than it was in their last desolation 'T was a positive tradition attested in their Talmud and confirm'd by all the Rabbies that forty Years before the Destruction of Jerâ—salem which came pretty near to the time of the Death of Jesus Christ there were continually seen in the Temple strange things Every day some new Prodigies appeared there R. Johan the Son of Zachai Tr. de fest expiat so that one day a famous Rabbi cried out O Temple O Temple what is that which moves thee and why art thou afraid of thy self What was more observable than that frightful noise which was heard by the Priests in the Sanctuary on the day of Pentecost and that audible voice that came from the inmost part of that sacred place which said Let us depart hence let us depart hence The Holy Angels which were the Protectors of the Temple did loudly declare that they were leaving it because that God who had made his abode in it for so many Ages had then reprobated it Josephus and Tacitus have also recounted that Prodigy to us It was only perceived by the Priests But there was another Prodigy which startled the Eyes of all People and never had any other People seen the like before Joseph lib. 6. de bel Jud. c. 12. Tacit. Hist lib. 5. c. 13. Four years before the War was declared a Countryman says Josephus cryed out A voice is gone out from the East a voice is gone out from the West a voice is gone on from the four Winds a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple a voice against Men and Women that are newly Married a voice against all this People And from that time neither Night nor Day did he leave crying Wo Wo to Jerusalem He redoubled his Cries on Feast-days Not any other word was heard to come out of his Mouth Those who complained of him those who cursed him those who gave him meat never heard any thing else come from him beside that terrible voice Wo wo to Jerusalem He was taken interrogated and condemned to be scourged by the Magistrates to every demand and at every blow he answered without complaining Wo to Jerusalem Being let go as a Madman he run up and down all the Country continually repeating that heavy Prophecy And so he held on crying for seven years and his voice never waxed hoarse nor weary Till at the time of the last Siege of Jerusalem he shut himself up in the City and upon the Walls thereof with a loud Voice he uncessantly cried out Woe Woe to the City woe to the Temple woe to all the People and lastly he added Woe also to my self which words were no sooner uttered but a Stone slung out of an Engine carried him away Might not one almost say may it please your Highness that the divine Vengeance became visible in that Man who only subsisted to pronounce its Decrees that it had filled him with its Power that so he might equal the Calamities of the People by his Cries and that at last he should be destroyed by an effect of that Vengeance which he had for so long a time before declared to make it thereby the more sensible and the more present when he was to be not only the Prophet and the witness of it but also to fall a Sacrifice to it That Prophet of the woes of Jerusalem was called Jesus and was the Son of Ananâ—s It seems the Name of Jesus a Name of Salvation and Peace was turned to the Jews who despised it in the person of our Saviour to a
Souldiers to pillage rather than to consume so much Wealth and Riches a Souldier moved as Josephus says with some divine Fury was lifted up by his Fellows to a Window with a flaming Firebrand in his Hand and cast it into the golden Gate and so presently set fire on the Temple Titus at the News hereof runs in hast commanding his Souldiers to quench the growing Flames but it took hold of all in an Instant and so that admirable Building was burnt to Ashes Now if the Jews hardness of Heart under King Zedekiah was the most terrible effect and the most sure Sign of the Divine Vengeance what shall we say of the Blindness which was so apparent in the time of Titus In the first Ruine of Jerusalem the Jews did take part and joined one with another in the latter Jerusalem being besieged by the Romans was torn to pieces by three Factions Enemies If the Hatred they all had against the Romans went out even to Fury they were no less bloudy and cruel against one another the Battles without were less expensive of Jewish Blood than those that were within Presently after the Assaults maintained against the Stranger the Citizens fell together by the Ears among themselves Violence and Thievery was every where prevailing in the City It was destroyed and became but an open Field of dead Bodies and the Chiefs of the several Factions disputed only for the Empire of it Was not this a Representation of Hell where the Damned do no less hate one another than they hate the Devils that are their common Enemies and where every place is full of Pride Confusion and Rage Your Highness must confess then that the Justice which God brought on the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar was but a Shadow of that whereof Titus was the Minister What City ever saw destroyed eleven hundred thousand Men in seven Months time and in one only Siege And yet this the Jews beheld in the last Siege of Jerusalem The Chaldeans had never made them suffer the like Their Captivity under the Chaldeans lasted but seventy Years but it is sixteen hundred Years since they were made Slaves all over the World and as yet they do not find any mitigation of their Slavery It is not to be wondered at if Victorious Titus after the taking of Jerusalem would not receive the Congratulations of the neighbouring People nor the Crowns which they sent him in honour of his Conquest So many memorable Circumstances the Wrath of God which was so manifest and his Hand which he then saw was present kept him in a profound Astonishment and that made him say what you have already heard that he was not the Conqueror he was only a weak Instrument of the Divine Vengeance But he knew not all the Mysterie of it The Hour was not yet come that the Emperors were to confess Jesus Christ It was the time of the Humiliations and Persecutions of the Church Wherefore Titus tho' he was illuminated enough to understand that Juda was destroyed by a manifest effect of God's Justice yet he did not know what the Crime was that made God resolved so terribly to punish her But it was the greatest of all Crimes a Crime till then unheard of that is to say the Deicide which also brought down such a Vengeance as never before the World had seen any Example of But if we will a little open our eyes and consider the course of things we shall see that neither that Sin of the Jews nor their Punishment could be concealed from us Let us remember only what Jesus Christ had foretold them He had prophesied the absolute destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple when he said Matth. 24.1 2. Mark 13.1 2. Luke 21.5 6. Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down He had foretold the manner how that ungrateful City should be besieged and that dreadful Circumvallation which should begirt it he likewise foretold the dismal Famine which was to fall upon her Citizens and had not forgot to speak of the false Prophets by whom they should be seduced He had admonished the Jews that the time of their Misery was nigh at hand he had given certain particular signs which were to point out the precise moment of it he unfolded to them the long Chain of their Sins which would draw upon them so heavy and woful a Punishment In a word he had related the whole History of the Siege and of the Desolation of Jerusalem Your Highness may likewise be pleased to observe that he made them these Predictions but a little before his Passion that so they might the better understand the cause of all their Miseries His Passion was very near when he told them Behold Matth. 23 3â— 35 36 37. I send unto yoâ— Prophets and Wise-men and Scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucifie and some of them shall you scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the Earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias Son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altâ—r Verily I say unto yoâ— all these things shall come upon this Generation O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them who are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not behold your House is left unâ—o you desolate Thus you have the History of the Jews They persecuted their Messiah both in his own Person and in that of his Disciples and Followers they stirred up all the World against his Disciples and would not let them enjoy any quiet in any City they armed the Romans and Emperours against the growing Church they stoned St. Stephen killed the two S. Jameses whose holiness made them become venerable even among themselves sacrificed St. Peter and St. Paul by the Sword and by the hands of the Gentiles So that they must needs be destroyed for so much Blood mixt with that of the Prophets whom they had massacred cried aloud to Heaven for vengeance Their Houses and their City was to be desolate their destruction should be no less than their Crime Jesus Christ advertised them of it the time was very nigh Matth. 24.34 Mark 13 30. Luke 19.42 that Generation should not pass till all these things were fulfilled that is to say that those men who were then alive should be Witnesses of it But let us go on and hear out the rest of our blessed Saviour's Prophecies to them As he was making his Entrance into Jerusalâ—m some days before his Crucifixion being touched with a sense of the Calamities which his Death would bring upon that wretched City he beheld it with sorrowful and weeping eyes Ah said he Thou unhappy City if thou hadst known even thou Luk. 19.41
signifies an Idol and who does not know that the Roman Armies bore in their Ensigns the Images of their Gods and of their Caesars who were had in greater Reverence than all their Gods Those Ensigns were to the Souldiers an Object of worship and because Idols according to God's Decrees were never to appear in the holy Land the Roman Ensigns were banished from thence Also we see in Histories that whilst among the Romans there remained any tho' never so little Consideration for the Jews the Roman Ensigns were never seen in Judea Therefore it was that Vitellius when he went into that Province to carry the War into Arabia caused his Troops to march without any Colours for the Jewish Religion was at that time had in Reverence Joseph l. 18. c. 7. and they would not force that People to indure things that were so contrary to their Law But in the time of the last Jewish War it is very much to be believed that the Romans did not any whit spare a People whom they were resolved utterly to destroy So that when Jerusalem was besieged it was surrounded with as many Idols as there were Roman Ensigns in the Army and the Abomination did never appear so great standing where it ought not that is to say in the holy Land and round about the Temple Was this then may some say that great Sign that Jesus Christ was to give Was it then high time to fly when Titus besieged Jerusalem and when he so closely blâ—cked up the Avenues that there was no place left for them to make their escape at This was the Marvel of the Prophecy Jeruâ—alem was besieged twice in those times The first by Cestius the Governor of Syria in the sixty eighth Year of our Saviour the second by Titus four Years after that is to say in the Year seventy two Joseph 2. de beâ— Jud. c. 23 24. Ibid. l. 6 7. In the last Siege there was no possible Means of saving themselves Titus made that War with so much heat and violence he surprized all the Nation being then in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles and not one made their escape and that formidable Circumvallation which he made round the City put its Inhabitants out of all manner of Hopes But there was no such thing in the Siege of Cestius who was incamped fifty Furlongs that is to say six Miles from Jerusalem His Army was dispersed all round it but without making any Intrenchments Joseph lib. 2. c. 23 24. and he managed the War so negligently that he slipt the Opportunity of taking the City tho' their Terror Seditions and even their Intelligences open'd the Gates to him At that time so far was their Retreat from being impossible Joseph Ibid. that the History expresly takes notice that many of the Jews did retire into the Towers and other Places of Safety and Defence Then it was that they ought to have made their Flight That was the Signal which the Son of God gave to his own People So likewise did he most exactly distinguish the two Sieges The one was When their Enemies should cast a Tren h about them and compass them round Luke 19.23.21.20 21. and keep them in on every side then nothing but Death was to be expected by those who should be shut up in the City The other was when it should be only compassed with Armies and rather Invested than really Besieged then was it that they were to flee and retire unto the Mountains The Christians obeyed the Command of theâ—r Messias Tho' there were many Thousands of them both in Jerusalem and in Judea we do not read either in Josephus Euseb 3. Hist Ecâ—les c. 5. Epiph. Haer. 7. Nazar lib. de ponâ— mensur or in the other Histories that one of them was found in the City when it was taken On the contrary it is positively affirmed in the Eâ—clesiastical Histories and in all the Monuments of our Ancestors that they did withdraw into a little City call'd Pella in a mountainous Country near to the Desart towards the Confines of Judea and Arabia We may be by that satisfied how exactly they were forewarned of it and there is nothing more remarkable than that separation of the incredulous Jews from those Jews who were converted to Christianity the one remaining in Jerusalem to undergo the Punishment of their Infidelity and the others being retired as Lot was from Sodom to a small City where with trembling they considered of the Effects of the divine Vengeance from which Almighty God had been pleased to rescue and preserve them Besides the Predictions of Jesus Christ there were likewise several others from many of his Disciples and among the rest those of St. Peter and St. Paul As they were dâ—agging to their Deaths those two faithful Witnesses of Jesus Christ's being risen they declared openly to the Jews who should deliver them to the Gentiles their approaching Ruine telling them That Jerusalem was utterly to be destroyed Lact. divin Instit l. 4. c. 21. that they should dye with Famine and Despaire that they should be for ever banished from the Land of their Fathers and sent into Captivity thro' all the World that the time was nigh at Hand and all those Miseries should come upon them for having with so many cruel Reproaches insulted over the well-beloved Son of God who had declared himself to them by so many Miracles Pious Antiquity has preserved to us this Prediction of the Apostles which was to be attended with so close and sudden an Accomplishment St. Peter had given them several others either from a particular Inspiration Phleg. l. 13 14. Chron. apud Orig l. 2. cont Cels or from his explaining the Words of his Master And Phlegon a Heathen Author whose Testimony Origen produces hath written that all this Apostle had foretold was to a tittle accomplished uppon them So that nothing befel the Jews but what was before hand prophesied of them The Cause of their Ruine is clearly painted out to us in the Contempt they cast upon Jesus Christ and his Disciples The time of Grace was past and their Destruction was ineviâ—able Your Highness may see therefore that it was in vain for Titus to attempt to save Jerusalem and the Temple The Decree was gone out from on high there was not to be one Stone left upon another And if one Roman Emperor vainly attempted to hinder the Ruine of the Temple another Roman Emperor did yet more vainly attempt to rebuild it Julian the Apostate after he had declared War against Jesus Christ thought himself powerful enough to frustrate his Predictions In the design he had of raising up on all sides Enemies to the Christians he stooped so low as to seek to the Jews who were the Refuse and Off-scowring of the World He excited them to build their Temple he gave them vast sums of Mony and assisted them with all the Power of the Empire But hearken to
that Egypt hath been very Martial She hath had a great many Troops well disciplined and kept she hath often exercised them for a Shew in Military Services and as it were had the Images and resemblances of Combats but it is only War and downright Fighting that makes Men Warriors Egypt loved Peace because she loved Justice and had only Soldiers for her Defence Beiâ—g contented with her own Country which had plenty of all things she never thought of enlarging it by Conquests She did it after another way by sending her Colonies all the World over and with them politeness and Laws The most celebrated Cities came to learn in Egypt their Antiquities Plat. in Tim. and the first beginning of their most excellent Institutions They consulted her on all sides in the Rules of Wisdom When those of Elis had set up the Olympick Games the most famous of all Greece they sought by a Solemn Embassy the approbation of the Egyptians and learnt from them new ways of incouraging the Combatants Egypt reigned by her Councels and that Government of Understanding appeared to her more noble and glorious than that she established by her Arms. Although the Kings of Thebes were incomparably the most puissant of all the Kings of Egypt yet they never attempted upon the neighbouring Dynasties which they only enjoyed when they had been invaded by the Arabians so that to speak truly they rather chose to get from Strangers than were willing to Lord it over their own natural Country-men But when they concerned themselves with being Conquerours they surpassed all others I do not speak of Osiris the Conqueror of the Indians probably that was Bacchus or some other Hero as fabulous Diod. l. 1. §. 2. The Father of Sesostris the Learned will have him Amenophis otherwise Memnon either through instinct or humour or as the Egyptians say by the Authority of an Oracle first thought of making his Son a Conquerour He followed the way of the Egyptians in it that is to say with great deliberation All Children that were born the same day as Sesostris were brought to Court by the King's Command He bred them up as if they were his own and with the same care as Sesostris near whom they were bred He could not give him either more faithful Ministers or more zealous Companions for his Battels When he was somewhat grown up he made him serve his Apprenticeship in a War against the Arabians That young Prince there learnt to be patient of Hunger and Thirst and brought that Nation into Submission which till then was untameable Being accustomed to Warlike labours by that Conquest his Father made him turn to the East of Egypt he attacked Libya and a great part of that vast Region was subjugated About this time his Father dyed leaving him in a condition of undertaking all things He formed no less a Design than that of the Conquest of the World but before he went out of his Kingdom he provided for his own security in it in gaining the affections of all his People by his Liberalâ—ty and Justice Diod. ibid. and also so by regulating the Government with an extream Prudence In the mean while he was making his Preparations he levied Soldiers and gave than for their Captaiâ—s those young men which his Father had caused to be bred up with him There were seventeâ—n hundred of them able to inspâ—re into all the Army Courage Discipline and the Love of their Prince That done he entred into Ethiopia which he made Tributary to him He went on with his Victories in Asia Jerusalem was the first that felt the force of his Arms. Rash and violent Rehoboam could not resist him so that Sesostris carried away the Riches of Solomon God by a just Judgment had delivered them into his hands He travelled into the Indies further than Hercules or Bacchus Ibid. and further than ever was done since Alexander for he subjugated the Country beyond Ganges You may therefore judge if the more neighbouring Countries withstood him The Scythians obeyed him even to Tanais Armenia and Cappadocia became his Subjects He left a Colony in the ancient Kingdom of Colchos where the Customs of Egypt have always continued since Herodotus hath seen in lesser Asia from one Sea to the other the Monuments of his Victories with the proud Inscriptions of Sesostris King of Kings and Lord of Lords There were some of them even in Thrace and he extended his Empire from Ganges to the Danube The difficulty of getting Victuals kept him from entring any further into Europe He returned after nine years loaden with the Spoils of all the conquered People Some of them had very couragiously defended their liberty others yielded without resistance Sesostris took care to mark out in his Monuments the difference of those in Hieroglyphick Figures after the manner of the Egyptians To describe his Empire he found out Geographical Cards A hundred famous Temples erected to the honour of the Tutelary Goâ—s of all the Towns were the first as well as the most beautiful Tokens of his Conquests and he was very careful to publish in the Inscriptions that those great Works had been accomplished without any fatigue to his Subjects Herod 10. Diod. ib. He made it his glory to govern them discreetly and not to make any but his Captives to assist at the Monuments of his Victories Solomon had given him the Example of it 2 Chron. 8.9 That wise Prince imployed only his Tributary People in the great Works which rendred his Reign Immortal The Citizens were ingaged in more noble Exercises they were men of War and chief of his Captains Sesostris could not regulate himself by a more perfect Model He reigned thirty three years and a long time enjoyed his Triumphs Diod. 1. §. 2. much more worthy of Honour and Glory if his Vanity had not made him to be drawn in his Chariot by vanquished Kings It seems he scorned to meet Death as other men for being become blind in his old Age he was his own Executioner in giving himself death and so leaving Egypt rich for ever His Empire however did not exceed the fourth Generation But there remained yet in the time of Tâ—â—erius very magnificent Monuments which sufficiently shewed the Extent of it as well as the Quantity of his Tributes Egypt soon returned to her own peaceful Humour Ticit Ann. 2. It has been writ that Sesostris was the first that after his Conquests softened the Tempers of the Egyptians into the fear of Revolting If we may believe so it could only be a Precaution he took up for his Successors Nymphod l. 12. rer barb post Herod wise and absolute as he was what could be seen that might make him fearful of his Subjects who adored him Besides such a Thought as that was unworthy so great a Prince and it was an ill Provision for the Security of his Conquests to suffer the Courage of his Subjects to be weakned and
the Riches of that opulent and voluptuous City So much were Riches then despised Cic. Offic. l. 2. The Moderation and the Innocence of the Roman Generals filled the conquer'd People with Admiration And yet notwithstanding that great Love of Poverty the Romans never spared for any thing that could contribute to the Grandeur and Beauty of their City From the very beginning their publick Works were such that Rome hath not yet blushed to see them tho' at the same time she beheld her self Mistress of the World Tit. Liv. 1.53 55 56. C. 5. Dion Hal. 3.4 Tac. Hist 3.72 Plin. 36.15 The Capitol built by Tarquin the proud and the Temple he erected to Jupiter in that Fortress were worthy then of the Majesty of the greatest of the Gods and of the future Glory of the Roman People Every thing else was answerable to that Greatness The principal Temples the Markets the Baths the publick Places the great Ways the Aqueducts the very common Shores and the Kennells of the City had a Magnificence that seems almost incredible but that all Historians do testify it and the Remains we now see of it do so plainly confirm it What shall I say of the Pomp of their Triumphs Dion Hal. 7. of the Ceremonies of Religion of Plays and Spectacles which they gave to the People In a Word whatsoever could be of any Service to the Publick and whatsoever could give the People a great Idea of their common Country was done with Profuseness as much as the time would permit it Thrift and good Husbandry was only to be seen in private Houses He who increased his Revenues and made his Lands most Fertile by his Industry and great Labour who was the best Governor and took the greatest Share on himself was accounted the most Free the most Powerful and the most Happy There was nothing at a greater distance from this kind of Living than Effeminacy Every thing rather tended to excess on the other hand I mean to Hardship Also the Manners of the Romans had naturally something in 'em which was not only harsh and rigid but savage and cruel But they forgot nothing that might bring them under the Power of good Laws and they were a People the most jealous of their Liberty the World ever saw and yet at the same time they were the most submissive to their Magistrates and lawful Powers The Militia of such a People could not but be very admirable seeing there was so ready and so exact an Obedience joyned to resolute Courages and as vigorous Bodies The Laws of that Militia were hard but necessary The Victory was dangerous and oft-times mortal to those who gained it contrary to their Orders It was a capital Crime not only flying throwing down their Arms and going from their Ranks but also stirring as I may say and moveing tho' never so little without the Command of their General He that laid down his Arms before the Enemy that chose rather to be taken than to die gloriously for his Country was adjudged unworthy of all manner of Assistance Generally Prisoners were not reckoned any thing by the Citizens but they were left to the Enemy as Members cut off from the Common-Wealth You have seen in Florus and in Cicero the History of Regulus Cic. de Offic. 3. Flor. 2. 2. who persuaded the Senate at the expence of his own Life to leave the Prisoners to the Carthaginians Polyb. 6. 56. Tit. Liv. 22. 57 58. In Hannibal's War and after the loss of the Battle at Cannae that is to say at a time when Rome was drained by her so many Losses and wanted Souldiers most the Senate chose rather against their Custom to arm eight thousand Slaves than to redeem eight thousand Romans which would not have cost them more than what the new Militia stood them in which was to be raised But in that necessity of Affairs they asserted more than ever Cic. Off. 3. as a Law inviolable that a Roman Souldier either ought to conquer or to die By which Maxim the Roman Armies tho' deseated and broken fought and rallied even to the last Extremity And as Sallust observes there were found among the Romans more Persons punished for having fought without first receiving Orders Sallust de Bell. Catil 9. than for having lost Ground and quit their Post So that their Courage stood more in need of being suppressed than their fear of being excited To their Valour they joyned Address and Invention and besides their being of themselves Subtle and Ingenious they admirably well understood how to take Advantage of every thing they saw in other People that was useful any ways either for Encampments for the ordering of their Battles for the sorting of their Arms in a Word for facilitating as well the Attack as the Defence You have seen in Sallust and in other Authors what the Romans have learnt of their Neighbours and of their very Enemies Who knows not that they have learnt from the Carthaginians the Invention of Gallies by which they have beat them and in short that they have taken from all Nations they have known those things by which they have subdued them In fine 't is certain by their own Acknowledgment that the Gauls exceeded them in strength of Body and yielded not to them neither in Courage Polib 2. c. Polybius shews us that in one decisive Rencounter the Gauls besides their being stronger in number shewed more Stoutness than the Romans how resolute soever they were and yet we see in that very Rencounter those Romans inferior in all other things to get the better of the Gauls because they knew how to choose better Arms to rank themselves in better order and to make a better use of their time in the Fight This you may be able one day to see more exactly in Polybius and you have oft-times observed your self in Caesar's Commentaries that the Romans commanded by that great Man have subdued the Gauls but more yet by their Addresses and Stratagems in the Military Art than by their Valour The Macedonians who were so jealous of keeping up the antient Order of their Militia formed by Philip and Alexander thought their Phalanx invincible and they could not be persuaded that human Wit was capable of finding any thing out that was more firm and strong And yet the same Polybius Polyb. 17. in excerp c. 24 seq Tit. Liv. 9. 19. 31. 39 c. and Titus Livius alter him have demonstrated that only by considering the nature of the Roman Armies and those of the Macedonians the latter could not fail of being beaten at the last because the Macedonian Phalanx which was but a great four square Battalion very thick every where could not move but all of a piece whereas the Roman Army divided into several little Bodies was more ready active and disposed for all sorts of Motions The Romans therefore found or else quickly learnt the Art of dividing their Armies
who was capable of breaking his Fortune and letting himself be dazled with his great Successes was not born to overcome the Romans From that time Rome made great Enterprises every day and Hannibal as couragious and victorious as he was could not hold up against her 'T is easy to judge by that single event to whom at last all the Advantage was likely to come Hannibal swollen with his mighty Successes thought the taking of Rome was very easy and therefore gave himself some intermission Rome in the midst of all her Calamities neither lost her Courage nor her Confidence and undertook greater things than ever It was presently after the Defeat at Cannae that she besieged Syracuse and Capua the one unfaithful to Treaties and the other rebellious Syracuse could not defend her self neither by her Fortifications nor by the inventions of Archimedes The victorious Army of Hannibal came in vain to the help of Capua But the Romans forced that Captain to raise the Siege at Nola. A while after the Carthaginians defeated and slew in Spain the two Scipio's In all that War nothing fell out more sensible nor more fatal to the Romans Their loss obliged them to make their last efforts Young Scipio the Son of one of those Generals being not satisfied with his having relieved the Affairs of Rome in Spain went and waged War with the Carthaginians in their own City and gave the last blow to their Empire The state of that City did not permit Scipio to find there the same resistance as Hannibal found from Rome and you will be enough convinced of that if you do but a little look into the constitution of those two Cities Rome was in her strength Polyb. 1 3â—.6.49 c. and Carthage which was beginning to fall was kept up only by Hannibal Rome had her Senate united and that was exactly the time when that Concert was which is so much commended in the Book of the Maccabees The Senate of Carthage was divided by old irreconcileable Factions and the loss of Hannibal had been the rejoicing of the most considerable part of the great Lords Rome although poor and engaged in Agriculture yet bred up an admirable Militia which only aimed at glory and to aggrandize the Roman name Carthage enriched by her trading beheld all her Citizens set upon their wealth and not at all dâ—sciplin'd in War whereas the Roman Armies were almost all made up of Citizens Carthage on the contrary held it for a Maxime not to have any but strange Troops oft-times as much to be feared by those that pay them as by those that they are imployed against These defects came partly from the first Institutiâ—n of the Common-wealth of Carthage and partly were introduced by time Carthage always loved wealth Arist Pol. 2.2 And Aristotle accuses her for so much being set upon it as to suffer the Citizens to prefer it to Vertue By that means a Republick wholly made for War as the same Aristotle observes at last neglected the exercise of it That Philosopher does not blame her for having only strange Militias and therefore it is believed that it fell not into that defect till a long while after But Riches brought thither naturally a Merchandizing Republick they loved to enjoy their wealth and thought to find every thing in their Mony Carthage fancied her self strong because she had a great many Soldiers and never could be brought to understand by all the Revolts she had seen befallen her in the latter times that there is nothing more unhappy than a State which could only be supported by strangers wherein there can be found neither Zeal nor Security nor Obedience Polyb. 11.17 'T is true the great Genius of Hannibal seemed to have supplied and remedied the defects of his Republick It is looked on as a Prodigy that in a strange Country and for full sixteen years there should never be seen I do not say any Sedition but so much as a murmur in an Army all made up of divers people who without understanding one another agreed so well in understanding the orders of their General But Hannibal's ability could not support Carthage when being attacked within her Walls by such a General as Scipio she was found without Forces Then was Hannibal to be recalled but he had with him only such Troops as were weakened more by their own Victories than by those of the Romans and which compleated their own ruine by the length of the Voyage Thus Hannibal was beaten and Carthage formerly the Mistress of all Afric of the Mediterranean Sea and of all the Commerce of the World was forced to undergo the Yoke that Sâ—ipio put upon her This was the glorious fruit of the Roman patience People who hardened and fortified themselves by their unhappinesses had good reason to believe they might save all provided they did not lose their hopes And Polybiâ—s hath very rightly concluded That Carthage would at last be obedient to Rome by the very nature of the two Republicks And if the Romans made use of those great Politick and Military Qualities only to preserve their State in Peace or to protect their opprest Allies as they made such a pretension to do we must as much commend their Equity as their Valour and their Prudence But when they had tasted the sweetness of Victory they then resolved to make every thing yield to them and pretended to nothing less than to put first their Neighbours and afterwards all the World under their Laws To attain that end they perfectly knew how to preserve their Allies to unite them among themselves to throw division and jealousie among their Enemies to penetrate into their Councils to discover their Intelligences and to prevent their Undertakings They not only observed the marches of their Enemies but also all the Progresses of their Neighbours and they were above all things curious either in dividing or in Counter-balancing by some other way the powers that became too formidable or which put too great obstacles to their Conquests Therefore the Greeks were to blame for imagining in the time of Polybius Polyb. 1.63 that Rome aggrandized her self rather by hazard than by conduct they were too fond of their own Nation and too jealous of those People they saw raised above them Or peradventure that seeing at a distance the Roman Empire to advance so quickly without penetrating into the Councils which ordered the motions of that great Body they attributed to chance as the custom of Men is the Effects of which the Causes were not known to them But Polybius whose strict familiarity with the Romans made him get so far into the secret of Affairs and nearly to observe the Roman Polity during the Punick Wars hath been more just and equitable than the other Greeks and hath seen that the Conquests of Rome were the consequence of a well form'd and understood design For he saw the Romans in the midst of the Mediterranean Sea to have their Eyes
there not be found if we come yet unto this Royal City since that at so great a Distance from it such Marvels are discovered But it is Egypt's Glory alone to erect Monuments for Posterity Her Obelisques even at this day as well by their Beauty as their heighth do make up the chief Ornaments of Rome and the Roman Power despairing of ever equalling the Egyptian thought it would pretty well contribute to their Greatness by borrowing the Monuments of their Kings Egypt had not yet seen any great Buildings besides the Tower of Babel when she invented her Pyramids which as well by their Figures as by their Grandeur triumphed over Time and Barbarians The good Judgment of the Egyptians made them then to be in love only with things truly Solid and Regular Whether Nature of her self brought it to that simple Air to which it is so hard to return when the Judgment was vitiated by Novelties and extravagant attempts however it be the Egyptian have only loved regular attempts they have only aimed to be new and surprising in the infinite variety of Nature and boasted that they only like the Gods had made Immortal Works The Inscriptions of the Pyramids were no less noble than the work it self They spake to the Beholders One of those Pyramids built with Brick by its Title admonished all lookers on how they did compare her with the rest saying that she was as much above all the other Pyramids as Jupiter was above all the other Gods But whatsoever the efforts of Men were there nothing was visible in every thing Those Pyramids were only Tombs and yet the Kings who built them Herod ibid. Diod 1 Sect. 2. have not been able to get an Interâ—ment in them and they have not enjoyed their Sepulchre I should not speak of that Beautiful Palace called the Labyrinth if Herodotus who saw it did not assure us that it was more surprising than the Pyramids Herod ibid. Diod. 1 Sect. 2. It was built on the side of the Lake of Myris and a prospect was given to it proportionably to the Grandeur of it Otherwise it was not so much one single Palace as a Magnificent Pile of twelve Palaces regularly disposed and which had as it were one Communication Fifteen hundred Chambers joined to Terass Walks were all ranged round a dozen Halls and all those that came to visit them were at a loss how to find their way out again The Building was as large under ground Those lower Fabricks were designed for the Sepulchre of Kings and who can mention it without grâ—ef and Shame and deep deploring the Blindness of Mankind yet withal to nourish consecrated Crocodiles which were the Gods of a Nation in all things else so great and wise You would be astonished to see so much Magnificence in the Sepulchres of Egypt For besides that they erected them as sacred Monuments to bear to future Ages the Memory of those great Princes they looked upon them over and above as Eternal Habitations The Houses were called Inns where we were only to be en passant and for a Life too short to finish our designs in Diod. ibid. but the true Houses were the Tombs which we were to dwell in to infinite Ages But Egypt laid not out its utmost efforts on inanimate things Her more noble works and her most delicate art lay in forming the Manners of Men. Greece was so convinced of it that her greatest Men such as Homer Pythagoras Plato Lycurgus also and Solon those two great Legislators and others needless here to mention went to learn Wisdom in Egypt God would even that Moses should be learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Act. 7.20 21 22. and by that came he to be Mighty in Words and in Deeds True Wisdom makes use of every thing and God will not have those whom he inspires to neglect humane means which do also in their way come from him Those Sages of Egypt had studied Rule and Government which made their Minds solid their Bodies robust their Wives fruitful and their Children strong and vigorous By which means the People increased in number and in Force The Country was naturally healthful but Philosophy had taught them that Nature required Assistance There is an art in forming Bodies as well as Minds This Art which by Negligence we have lost was very well known to the Antients and Egypt had found it Diod. 1. Sect. 1. It principally made use of Frugality and Exercises for a good Design In a great Field of War which Herodotus saw Herod 3. the Sculls of the Persians easy to be pierced and those of the Egyptians more hard than the Stones with which they were mingled plainly shewed the softness of the one and the robust Constitution which a frugal Dyet and vigorous Exercises gave to the other Courses on Foot Races on Horseback and in Chariots were much practised in Egypt and with an admirable Address and there were not in all the World better Horsemen than the Egyptians When Diodorus tells us Lu Diod 1. Sect. 2. they despised the Lute as an Exercise which had a dangerous Strength and was but of a short Continuance he would be understood of the Lute broken by the Wrestlers which Greece her self who Crowned it in her Games had Condemned as but very little agreeable to free Persons but with a certain moderation it was very well becoming Gentlemen and Diodorus himself informs us that the Mercury of the Egyptians had invented the Rules of it as well as the Art of forming Bodies The same must be understood also in what that Author says concerning Musick That which he makes the Egyptians to despise Id. Sect. 2. as being apt to soften and debase the Courage was doubtless that soft and Effeminate Musick which only provoked them to Pleasures and to a false and Womanish tenderness For as for that generous Musick whose noble Concords raise the Mind and Heart the Egyptians never slighted that seeing as Diodorus himself tells us their Mercury had invented it Id. 1. Sect. 1. and had also invented the gravest sorts of Musical Instruments In the solemn Procession of the Egyptians where the Books of Trismegistus were carried in Pomp there was seen the Chanter at the Head holding in his Hand a Symbol of Musick I know not what it was and the Book of the sacred Hymns Clem. Alex Strom. lib. 6. In short Egypt forget nothing that might polish Mind ennoble the Heart and fortifie the Body Four hundred Thousand Soldiers which she maintained were those of her Citizens which she exercised with the exactest Care The Laws of the Militia were easily kept and as it were by themselves because the Parents instructed their Children in them for the Profession of War went from Father to Son as other Professions did and next to the Priestly Families those that were accounted the most Illustrious were as among us the Families designed for Arms. But yet I will not say