because the Senate would not ratifie the Peacâ— which the said Consul and Tribunes had made with them Cicero lib. 3. de off Sextus Pompeius Pompey the Great 's Son having Wars with Antonius the Triumvir and meeting him at the Sea-side upon a Treaty of Peace invited him to Supper in his Galley giving him his Oath for his assurance and being demanded secretly by Metrodorus the Pirate whether he would have him weigh Anchor and set Sayl and so make himself the Lord of the World he answer'd That he was not used to forswear himself esteeming it neither honourable nor profitable to gain the Empire of the World by Perjury Plat. in Anton. Of no less Honour and Fidelity was Lycurgus Brother to Polydectes King of Lacedaemonâ—a whose Widow offering to stifle the Child in her Womb begotten by the late King Polydectes if Lycurgus would marry her he not only refused it but also proclaim'd the young Child his Nephew King so soon as it was born Plat. in Lyc. Also for the Honour of the Romans no less famous is that Story of Fabricius to whom his Enemy's Physician coming and offering to poyson the King his Master and thereby to render Fabricius victorious he not oâ—ly refused his Treason but also seized the Traytor and sâ—nt him bound in fetters to his Master with a full discovery of his treacherous intentions against him Eutrop. Brev. Romani Scelerum semper sprevêre ministros Noxia pollicitum domino miscere venena Fabricius regi nudat a fraude remisit Infesto quem Marte peâ—it bellumque negavit Per famuli paâ—rare nefas ductosque Camillus Trans murum pueros obsessae reddidit urbi Claud. de bello Gild. Cicero tells us that Fides est Fundamentum Iustitiae Wherefore we see how Plutarch inveighs against Alexander the Great for killing certain Indian Souldiers that had rendred themselves upon his word saying that that one act had spotted and stained all his glorious Conquests and other royal Vertues Plat. in Al. Also in Thucydides lib. 3. de bello Pelep We see how Paches the Athenian Captain is condemned for violating his Faith with Hippias So sacred were Oaths and Faith given among the Ancients that on many of their old Coyns for Testimonies of Faith kept we see two hands joyned together with this Inscription Fides Exercituum or Fides Legionum and sometimes Fides Romanorum The Stoicks say Faith is derived of the Verb facâ—re to do because all things that are faithfully promisâ—d ought to be executed But still provided there be no compulsion for if a Thief on the High-way should with a Sword or Pistol at my Throat make me swear to pay him on such a day all the Money I have in the World I think no man will presume to say this Oath is binding either in honour or conscience neither could I avoid taking it without running into a greater evil and rendring my self Felo de se. Quid si me Tonsor quum stricta novacula supra est Tunc libertatem divitiasque roget Promittam nec enim rogat illo tempore Tonsor Latro rogat res est imperiosa Timor Mart. Epig. lib. 11. Which may be thus paraphrased in imitation of Martial If Shaver Howard with Razor at my ear The Author of Bucks Ballad should enquire A Rogue not Howard imposes on my fear I 'de promise but not grant him his desire However for any man to violate his Faith or Oath when made upon just grounds nothing can be more dishonourable or more destructive to humane Society And if we believe Historians those violaters of Faith have been oftentimes severely punish'd for so doing First In sacred Writ we find how Simeon and Levi were cursed by their Father Iacob for violating their League with Sichem Gen. 49. How Saul's posterity were punish'd for his breach of the League with the Gibeonites 2 Kings ch 21. How Andronicus a Favourite of King Antiochus was punished for his Treachery to Onias the high-Priest 2 Machab. ch 4. Also we see the great regard that Ioshua had of his Oath and League with the Gibeonites saying when the Children of Israel murmur'd against it We have sworn unto them in the Name of the Lord God of Israel and therefore may we not touch them lest the wrath of God fall upon us for breaking our Oath Joshua 9. Neither is prophane History less filled with Examples of this nature for Plutarch to the same purpose instances in that Story of Cleomenes King of Lacedaemonia who making a Truce with the Argives for seven days set upon their Camp in the night excusing himself with this Equivocation that the Truce was made for the days and not for the nights however this perfidiousness was his ruine as the sequel of the Story shews Plut. in Apoth Lacedaem The same Author likewise tells us of one Calippus who being justly charged with a Conspiracy against Dion of Sicily and having denied it with many solemn Oaths in the Temple of Ceres was deservedly slain with the same Dagger wherewith Dion was killed before by his consent Plut. in Dion And many other notable Examples of this kind are recorded amongst the Writings of the Ethnicks who were highly sensible of that Vice in so much that when Tissaphernes the Persian broke his Truce which he had made with the Grecians Agesilaus rejoyced at it saying We are beholden to Tissaphernes for making the Gods his Enemies and our Friends wherefore let us boldly give him Battel which he did and overthrew him Polian lib. 2. Ah Miser si quis primo perjuria celat Sera tamen tacitis poena venit pedibus Tibull Eleg. 9. lib. 1. 6 Then Apollonius looking on him with a stern Countenance This Chapter gives not only a sufficient Testimony of Apollonius's great Chastity but also of his wonderful Patience when he returned so high an affront with so much modesty and gentleness rendring himself a fit pattern for all good Philosophers and Christians to imitate 7 Oh that pleasant day This expression as well here as throughout the History ever relates to the time to come 8 Archelaus King of Cappadocia There were several Kings of this Name one of Macedonia one of Iudea and two of Cappadocia whereof one was overthrown by Sylla and the other kept prisoner at Rome by Tiberius But the person mention'd here by Philostratus I take to be the same Archelaus mention'd by Iosephus in his Wars of the Iews lib. 1. ch 17. who married his Daughter to Alexander the Son of Herod and Mariamne There was also a Milesian Philosopher of this Name who was himself Scholar to Anaxagoras and Master to Socrates CHAP. X. Of the death of Apollonius's Parents and the plentiful Estate that his Father left him also by what means he reclaim'd his vicious Brother And lastly of his wonderful Chastity SO soon as he receiv'd intelligence of his Fathers death he went away to 1 Tyana and there with his own hands interred him near the Sepulcher of his Mother who died not
to be honour'd and worshipp'd with the same honour and worship which is due to the person whereof it is an Image Azor. Inst. Moral Tom. 1. lib. 9. ch 6. This made Ludovicus Viveâ— a learned Catholick confess that there could be found no other difference between Paganish and Popish worship before Images but only this that Names and Titles are changed Comment in Aug. Civit. Dei lib. 8. ch 27. for as the Italian Proverb hath it They are both one Broth only mutatis Nominibus so that when the Spaniards conquer'd the West-Indies they pull'd down one Idolatry to set up another and in my opinion the New was worse than the Old 2 Darius the Father of Cyrus and Artaxerxes this was Darius Nothus the 6 th King of the Persians and Son of Artaxerxes Longimanus as some say by a Concubine or as others say he was Longimaenus's Son-in-law by marrying of his Daughter Parysatis Philip Melancthon lib. 2. p. 137. and Sleidan believe that this Parysatis was the Sister of Longimanus and accordingly that Darius Nothus was by Marriage his Brother-in law But Plutarch in the Life of Artaxerxes writes that Parysatis was the Daughter of Longimanus and that she was incestuously married to her Brother Darius Nothus This Darius had two Brethren Xerxes and Sogdiaâ—us that reign'd before him but their Behaviour was so unworthy and their Reign so short ending within the compass of one year that there is little notice taken of them in History So that this third Brother who was at first call'd Ochus and afterwards Darius Nothus took possession of the Throne wherein he was no sooner seated but by the advice of his Wife Parysatis who was a Woman of great cunning and cruelty he endeavour'd to get into his possession another of his Brothers call'd Secundianus who was yet alive as thinking it his safest way to spend and destroy all such of the Blood Royal that might contend with him for Title Wherefore alluring Secundianus by fair promises and oaths he at last prevail'd with him to trust himself in his hands notwithstanding Mâ—nostanes the Eunuch had disswaded him from so doing Now Darius Nothus had no sooner gotten Secundianus into his power but he immediately put him to death This King had one policy beyond his Ancestors for seeing his Forces had been often routed he chose rather to bribe and conquer with the Purse than to fight upon an uncertainty with the Pike The old observation was that no Town is so strong but an Ass loaden with Gold might enter therein The corruption of mens Natures is so great that all honesty depends upon who bids most This will I fancy in time render all strong holds and fortifi'd places useless since if any one of the Officers within the same be dishonest and what principles can such men have who live upon Rapine Fire and Sword the place is lost Moreover if Princes consider'd the lives of their common Souldiers when lost in their service any more than dead Dogs or Crows they would all follow the example of this Darius and rather purchase a Fort with the Bribe of 10000 l. than with the loss of 10000 mens lives But of this more hereafter Now Darius by this means closed with the stout Lacedemonians and recover'd most of what his Predecessors lost in Asia In Scripture it is said that he promoted the building of the Temple which by his Father had been interrupted Ezra 6. His chief Favourites were three Eunuchs Artoxares Artibarxanes and Athous but his chiefest Counsellor was his Wife Parysatis by whom he had thirteen Children whereof only his Daughter Amistris and his three Sons Artaxerxes his first Cyrus his second and Oxendras his third outlived him Ctesias writes that Arsites the King 's own Brother together with Artyphius the Son of Megabyzus joyn'd with the Greeks in a revolt whereupon they were both taken by Darius's General Artasyras and immediately by Parysitis's advice put to death both being cast into ashes which manner of death Valerius Maximus saith was invented by Darius the Son of Hystaspes though others attribute it to this Darius Nothus Now soon after this Pâ—sathnes Governour of Lydia began another Rebellion which succeeded as the former for Darius's General Tissaphernes by corrupting with money some of Pisathnes's men took him Prisoner and cast him into ashes whereupon Darius bestow'd the Government of Lydia upon Tissaphernes Afterwards follow'd the Treason of Artoxares a great Favourite with Darius who conspired about killing him and transferring the Kingdom to himself for which purpose he being an Eunuch caus'd his Wife to disguise him with a counterfeit Beard but this Plot being detected Parysatis had him put to death At this time it was that Artaxerxes Darius's eldest Son married Statira the Daughter of Idarnes a man of great quality among the Persians and Terituchâ—es the Son of Idarnes married Amistris Darius's Daughter which cross Match proved very unhappy for Terituchmes falling in Love with his Sister Roxana a Woman of great Beauty and well skill'd in Shooting detested his Wife in so much as he resolv'd to murder her by the help of 300 men with whom he also practised to revolt In the mean while Vdiastes a man that had great power with him being promised a high reward if he could preserve Amistris from the danger of her Husband slew his Master Terituchmes but the Son of this Vdiastes who was Armour-bearer to Terituchmes and not present at his death after he had notice thereof cursed his Father and seizing upon the City Zaris deliver'd it up to Terituchmes's Son Thereupon Parysatis did bury alive the Mother Brethren and Sisters of Terituchmes also commanded Roxana to be cut in pieces alive Darius would have had her to have made away Statira his Daughter-in-law as well as all the rest but through the importunity of her Husband Artaxerxes she gave her her life of which Darius told her she would afterwards repent and it fell out accordingly Against this Darius Nothus the Medes rebell'd but were after some time reduced again into obedience At this time the States of Greece being embroyl'd in the Pâ—lâ—ponesian War he made great advantages by siding with the Lacedemonians against the Athenians who did him much hurt in Asia by their great skill in Navigation In the 17th year of his Reign he dispatch'd away his second Son Cyrus who was born since he came to the Government down to the Sea-side as Satrapa or Lievtenant-General over all his Forces which were used to muster at the Plains of Castolus with orders to assist the Lacedemonians in their War against the Athenians by whose assistance they recover'd all that they had formerly lost Cyrus had not continued in this Employ above a year or two before he grew so high that he kill'd his two Cosin-germans Autobaesaces and Mittraeus because they came not to him with their hands folded under their cloaths which Ceremony was only observ'd in the presence of a King Their
Parents making complaint of this Cruelty to the King his Father he summon'd Cyrus to come before him alledging he was not well Whereupon Cyrus leaving the Command of all his Cities Treasure and Tributes to Lysander the Spartan he began his journey taking along with him Tissaphernes as his Friend and 300 Greeks for his Guard under the Conduct of Xenias the Parrhasian His Father lived not long after his Arrival and in the time of his sickness Parysatis his Wife having ruled him all his life and loving her younger Son Cyrus above her eldest endeavour'd to make her Husband leave Cyrus his Successor as Darius the Son of Hystaspes did Xerxes for that he was born to him when he was a King and the other when he was but a private person However Darius not thinking it just refused to do it and therefore left Cyrus only those Cities whereof he had made him Governour but his Kingdom he left solely to his eldest Son Artaxerxes and so died after he had reign'd 19 years in the 4th year of the 93d Olympiad the 27th of the Peloponesian War then ending A. M. 3600. and 403 years before the Birth of Christ. From the 2d year of this Darius Nothus's Reign Sulpicius Severus Ioseph Scaliger Lively Iunius and other learned men reckon the beginning of the 70 weeks of Daniel Our Author Philostratus differs from all other Chronologers in making Darius possess the Kingdom of Aegypt 60 years Now as Apollonius here accuses Darius Nothus of his indiscreet education of his Children so Plato lib. 7 de Legib. did condemn Cyrus the Great and Darius Hystaspes for the same crime in that they educated their Children so weakly as gave occasion for their future Animosities and Wars 3 Cyrus and Artaxerxes this Artaxerxes the Son of Darius Nothus and Grandson of Artaxerxes Longimanus was in his minority call'd Arsaâ—es or as Plutarch hath it Darses but afterwards he receiv'd for his sirname Artaxerxes Mnemon Artaxerxes from the great vertue of his Grandfather and Mnemon or Memor so call'd from the excellency of his Memory He had many Wives and many Concubines We find mention in Story but of three of his Wives viz. Statira the Daughter of Idarnes Atossa and Amestris his own two Daughters The first of these Statira was poysoned by her Mother-in-law Parysatis for that she had been so great an enemy to her Son Cyrus as also had so great power with her Husband Artaxerxes His second Wife was Atossa his own Daughter whom being moved by the excitements of his own incestuous Lust as well as by the obsequious recommendations of his impious Mother Parysatis he married Plut. in Artax His third Wife was another of his own Daughters called Amestris who was at first married to one Tirabazus but afterwards to this her own Father Artaxerxes Mnemon Some will have this Prince to be the same with Ahasuerus and so give him Vasthi or Esther to Wife but Matthius and other Historians have sufficiently quash'd this erâ—our for Esther was divorced from Ahasuerus which none of Artaxerxes's Wives were Esth. ch 1.19 Also Queen Esther was an Hebrew by Birth which neither Statira Atossa nor Amestris were for they were all Persian Women Esth. 2.17 Plutarch Vitâ Artax writes that Artaxerxes had 360 Concubines whereof Aspasia being the most eminent for Beauty and Wit is the only one that is mention'd by Name she was at first his younger Brother Cyrus's Concubine but when he was dead the elder Brother receiv'd her into favour to the misfortune of his whole Court. Aelian lib. 12. ch 1. Artaxerxes Mnemon had many Children as well legitimate as illegitimate of those that were legitimate three Sons and five Daughters Darius the eldest Son who was executed for a Rebellion Ariaspes the second and Ochus the youngest Plâ—t in Artax Of his Daughters Atossa was the eldest whom afterwards he married Amestris the second whom he also married Sisygambis the third who married her natural Brother Arsames Rhodagune the fourth married to Orontes General of all the Land-Forces in Persia and Apame the fifth married to Pharnabazus Admiral of the Persian Navy Plut. in Artax Oâ— his illegitimate or natural Sons there were many Plutarch saith 160. and Iustin lib. 10. saith 115. whereof only Arsames is mention'd by Name The Ingratitude of his Sons was so great that when Artaxerxes had made his Son Darius King in his life-time thinking to make him sincerer to his paternal Interest nevertheless the same Darius was so inhumane to enter into a Conspiracy with 50 of his Brethren to kill their Father wherein as Iustin observes lib. 10. two things are most prodigious first the occasion of Darius's Conspiracy which was to commit Incest with Aspasia who had been formerly a Concubine to their Uncle Cyrus and was now the same to their Father Artaxerxes And the second thing remarkable is that in so great a number the Parricide should not only be agreed on but conceal'd and that amongst 50 of his own Children there was not one â—ound whom either the majesty of a King reverence of an ancient Man or indulgence of so kind a Father could recall from so horrible an act buâ— this execrable Treason being detected they were all most deservedly put to death together with their very Wives and Children Ne quod vestigium tanti sceleris extaret â—aith Iustin lib. 10. As for Aspasia when the old man first heard their demands he had put her into a Religious House call'd The Temple of the Sun which so exasperated Darius into this unnatural Revenge which soon after broke his Fathers heart Having thus therefore described the several Marriages and Children of Artaxerxes give me leave in the next place to acquaint you with the Dissentions betwixt his younger Brother Cyrus and him occasion'd as I said before by the Legacy of their Father Darius Nothus who bequeath'd to Artaxerxes his Kingdom and to Cyrus those Cities whereof he was before Lievtenant For Cyrus thinking this Legacy unequal as also being encouraged by his Mother Parysatis did secretly prepare to levy War against his Brother whereof Artaxerxâ—s having notice sent for him who pretending his great innocency immediately surrendred himself and was by his Brother bound in Chains of Gold also had been put to death had not his Mother interceded for him as having likewise design'd to have murder'd his Brother whilst he was shifting his Robes in the Temple whereof Tissaphernes was the discoverer But Cyrus being thus dismiss'd did now again begin to levy War upon his Brother not clandestinely but openly therefore with some Auxiliary Greeks to encourage his own Forces he marches up boldly to engage his Brother who was at the head of a far greater number yet nevertheless Cyrus his men and especially the Greeks had the better of the day till by the fatal wound and unhappy death of Cyrus the scales were turn'd some say he receiv'd the wound from Artaxerxes own hand but Ctesias Cnidius who was the King's
Artabanus whose Story we read in Tacituâ—â— his Annals lib. 6. lib. 11. Artabanus dying left behind him several Children viz. Arsaces Darius Bardanes Gotarzes Orodes Volâ—geses Pacores and Tiridates besides one Daughter whereof we have no farther mention Now Arsaces having the Government of Armenia given him by his Father was there kill'd by his own Subjects being suborn'd so to do by Mithridates and Pharasinâ—â— two Princes of Spain Darius was sent in Hostage to Rome to the Emperor Tiberius whereupon the third Son Bardanes of whom Philostratus here speaks came to the Crown by his Fathers Will by reason of his two older Brothers misfortune which happen'd to them during Bardanes's Life Of his Wars you may see an account at large in Tacitus as also of his unlucky death 3 Babylonish Wine Strabo lib. 16. speaking of the fertility of the Province of Babylon says that this Country produces greater store of Corn then any other in so much that it is said to render 300 for one and for all other necessaries requisite to the subsistance of man their Palms supply them with as Wine Honey Vinegar and Cloathing which they extract from the Palm-Tree together with Nuts which serve their Smiths and such as make use of Fire instead of Coals also these Nuts being steep'd in Water serve to fatten their Sheep and Oxen Plâ—ny lib. 14 writes that all the East used no other Wines but what are made of Palms Athenaeus lib. 14. ch 26. saith that the Persian Kings used only to drink the Calyboniaâ— Wine which as Possidonius affirms grew only in Damascus of Syria for that the Persians had there planted Vines He that would know more of this Subject let him peruse Pliny's 14 th Book as also Athenaeus wherein you may find all the several sorts of Wine extant in the World together with their original growth and encrease 4 Those Fruits are sweeter that grow wild Apollonius esteem'd them so as admiring the simple works of God and Nature beyond all the Art and improvement of Man How much sweeter are the wild Notes of the Nightingale than any Artificial ones which we teach our tame Birds How much more beautiful are the colours of the Rainbow than any we can imitate and we find by daily experience how much sweeter many of our Fruits are which grow of their own accord than such as we nurse up with our hot Beds in Gardens 5 Wormwood is call'd in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impotabile ob amaritudinem vel ingustabile quia illud non tangunt animalia in Depascendis herbis Dioscorides calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à profundo amarore Dioscorides and Galen make mention but of three sorts of Wormwood the one a common sort well known by all men whereof the best grows in Pontus and Cappadocia the other Sea-wormwood or Seriphium and the third Santonicum of the Country beyond the Alpes in France Nevertheless there hath since been found out many Herbs accounted to be kinds or sorts of them both for their likeness of Face and Virtues Absinthium vulgare or the common Wormwood is of an heating and binding property it purgeth Choler that cleaveth to the Stomach or Belly But of this see more in Parkinson's Theatrum Bâ—tanicum Tribe 1. ch 36. also Pliny lib. 27. ch 7. 6 Barbarous Language Charron who is but an imitator of Montaign wearing his Thoughts at second hand tells us in his Treatise of Wisdom that Speech is the interpreter and image of the Soul animi index speculum the Messenger of the heart the Gate whereby all that is within issueth forth in so much that an ancient Philosopher said once to a Child Speak that I may see thee that is to say the inside of thee As Vessels are known whether they be broken or whole full or empty by the sound and Metals by the touch so Man by the sound of his Tongue or Speech Of all the visible parts of the Body which shew themselves outward that which is nearest the Heart is the Tongue by the root thereof so that which comes nearest unto our Thought is our Speech for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Life and Death are in the power of the Tongue so that there is nothing better and nothing worse than the Tongue Hearing and Speech are the two Gates whereby the Soul does traffick at the one all things enter in and at the other all go forth But Hearing is the first Gate through which all must first pass for there can nothing come forth of the Soul but that which first entreth and therefore he that by Nature is born deaf the same is likewise dumb Now from the communication of these two as from the stroke of two Flints or Irons together there comes forth the sacred Fire of Truth The Tongue like other benefits of Nature is bestow'd upon us as a singular blessing yet nevertheless as with those Legs which are given us to walk about our necessary occasions we may leap into a River or off from a Steeple or with those Hands which are lent us by providence for our defence and service we may cut our own Throats so likewise our Tongues though an eminent gift of Nature may if irregularly managed prove our destruction as I have already shew'd in the 11th Chapter of this Book A man's wit should serve rather for a Buckler to defend himself by a handsom reply than a Sword to wound others though with never so facetious a Reproach remembring that a word cuts deeper than a sharper weapon and the wound it makes is longer in curing A sudden blow is the effect of an inconsiderate Passion but a disgraceful Speech is the result of a low and base esteem settled of the party in your Heart Therefore nothing blows up Anger into mischief like Bitterness of words especially if they be aculeate and proper for communia maledicta are little resented No sharp expressions are so much allow'd of as smart Repartees which being both ex tempore and on the defensive part are not only pardonable but commendable wherefore all applauded that Nobleman who being given the Lye by a Physician told him he had rather take that of him than Physick I must confess there is nothing for the which I have a greater aversion than foul words in so much that I can sooner Study with twenty Drums beating about my ears than with two people a Scolding for not only the noise but also the curiosity to hear what they say too much commands my attention and that out of an opinion I have that there is not so much Truth spoken any where as at Billinsgate when the Orange-wenches call one another Whore Thief c. 'T is the same reason induces me to peruse those Polemical Books which are written in a more refined Billinsgate Dialect such as the Friendly Debate its several Parts the Books in Answer to Mr. Hobbs Marvel's and Parker's several
in so much that Appion the Grammarian invoked his Ghost to come forth from the dead and declare which was his Countrey that so the Controversie might be ended Concerning his Countrey and Age there is so great variation amongst Authors that no Question about Antiquity seems more difficult to be resolved Some make him a Native of Aeolia and say that he was born about 168 years after the Siege of Troy Aristotle in 3. de Poetic affirms he was born in the Isle of Io Michael Glycas places him under Solomon's Reign but Cedrenus saith that he lived under both Solomon and David as also that the Destruction of Troy happen'd under Saul Nevertheless that Book of Homer's Life which follows the ninth Muse of Herodotus and whether composed by him or no is very ancient makes the Labour of those men very ridiculous who even at this day pretend to so much certainty of Homer's Countrey which was not then known But of this Leo Allatius hath written a distinct Treatise Neither is there less uncertainty concerning his Parentage Aristotle affiâ—ms he was begot in the Isle of Io by a Genius on the Body of a Virgin of that Isle who being quick with Child for shame of the deed retired into a Place call'd Aegina and there being seiz'd on by Thieves was brought to Smyrna to Maeon King of the Lydians who for her Beauty married her after which she walking near the Floud Meletes being on that shoar overtaken with the Throws of her Delivery she brought forth Homer and instantly died the Infant was receiv'd by Maeon and brought up as his own tiâ—l he himself likewise died Alex. Paphius saith Eustathius makes Homer to be born of Egyptian Parents Dmasagoras being his Father and Aetbra his Mother also that his Nurse was a certain Prophetess and the Daughter of Oris one of Isis's Priests from whose Breasts Honey often flow'd in the Mouth of the Infant after which in the night he is reported to utter nine several Notes or Voices of Birds viz. of a Swallow a Peacock a Dove a Crow a Partridge a Wren a Stare a Blackbird and a Nightingale also that being a little Boy he was found playing in his Bed with nine Doves Others make him the Son of Maeona and Ornithus and others the Off-spring of some Nymph as Gyraldus writes Hist. Poet. Dial. 2. But the opinion of many is that he was born of Critheis Daughter of Melanopus and Omyris who after her Father and Mothers death was left to a Friend of her Fathers at Cuma who finding she was with Child sent her away in high displeasure to a Friends House near the River Meles where at a Feast among other young Women she was deliver'd of a Son whose Name she call'd Melesigenes from the Place where he was born That Critheis went with her Son to Ismenias and from thence to Smyrna where she dressed Wooll to get a Livelyhood for her self and her Son at which Place the Schoolmaster Phemius falling in Love with her married her and took her Son into the School who by his sharpness of Wit surpass'd all the other Scholars in Wisdom and Learning in so much that upon the death of his Master Homer succeeded him in teaching the same School whereby he acquired great Reputation for his Learning not only at Smyrna but all the Countreys round about for the Merchants that did frequent Smyrna with Corn spread abroad his Fame in all Parts where they came But above all one Mentes Master of â— Leucadian Ship took so great a kindness for him that he perswaded him to leave his School and travel with him which he did and was plentifully maintain'd by Mentes throughout their Travels Their first Voyage was to Spain from thence to Italy and from Italy through several Countreys till at last they arrived at Ithaca where a violent Rheum falling into Homer's Eyes prevented his farther progress so that Mentes was fain to leave him with a Friend of his called Mentor a person of great Honour and Riches in Ithaca where Homer learn'd the principal Matters relating to Vlysses's Life but Mentes the next year returning back the same way and finding Homer recover'd of his Eyes took him along with him in his Travels passing through many Countreys till they arrived at Colophon where relapsing into his old Distemper he quite lost the use of his Eyes after which he addicted himself to Poetry when being poor he return'd back again to Smyrna expecting to find better Entertainment there whereof being disappointed he removed from thence to Cuma in which passage he rested at a Town called New-wall where repeating some of his Veâ—ses one Tichiâ— a Leather-seller took such delight to hear them that he entertain'd him kindly a long time Afterwards he proceeded on his Journey to Cuma where he was so well receiv'd that some of his Friends in the Senate did propose to have a Maintenance settled on him for Life though others opposed the rewarding so great a man Some will have it that at this Place he first receiv'd the Name of Homer Now being denied Relief at Cuma he removed from thence to Phocaea where lived one Thestorides a Schoolmaster who invited him to live with him by which means Thestorides procured some of his Verses which he afterwards taught as his own at Chios Whereupon Homer hearing how Thestorides had abused him immediately followed him to Chios and by the way falling into discourse with a Shepherd who was keeping his Master's Sheep the Shepherd was so taken with Homer that he reliev'd him and carried him to his Master where he lived some time and taught his Children till being impatient to discover Thestorides his Cheat he went to Chios which Place Thestorides left when he heard of Homer's coming who tarried there some time taught a School grew rich married and had two Daughters whereof one died young and the other he married to the Shepherd's Master that entertain'd him at Bollisus When he grew old he left Chios and went to Samos where he remain'd some time singing of Verses at Feasts and at new-Moons at great mens Houses From Samos he was going to Athens but as some say fell sick at Ios where dying he was buried on the Sea-shoar And long after when his Poems had gotten â—n universal Applause the people of Ios built him a Sepulchre with this Epitaph upon it â—s saith Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hac sacrum terra caput occultatâ—r Homeri Qui canere Heroum praestantia facta solebat Melancthon Or rather as Gyraldus renders it Sacrum hic terra caput divinum claudit Homerum Herâ—um atque virum cecinit qui fortia facta Hist. Poet. Dial. 2. This is the most rational account of his Death and not that he pined away upon the Riddle of the Fishermen as others would have it and so saith Herodotus or whoever it was that wrote that Book de Vita Homeri Ex hac aegritudine inquit extremum
where great Debates arise their Spirits grow warm and all Heaven is in a Mutiny only because Achilles's Mistress is taken from him which at the bottom is but a Trifle 'T is likewise by this great Art of Fiction that all the Voyages and indeed every step that Telemachus made in the Odysses to seek his Fatheâ— Vlysses became considerable because Minerva is of his Retinue and of his Council and all became remarkable by the â—mpression they receiv'd from the Conduct of a Deity that presides over Wisdom Rapin's Reflect on Arist. Poes But to conclude this point The greatest Excellency of Homer lyes in his Invention in his Moralâ—ty in the Elegancy of his Words in his Epithets and Adverbs wherein he surpasses all others Yet notwithstanding all this that hath been said some Exceptions have been rais'd against him ex gr that by the Fable of his Iliad he has disgraced his Countrey in taking for his Hero a person who occasion'd the destruction of so many gallant Officers whom he sacrificed to his grief and discontent That Homer's chief Hero Achilles is made subject to great weaknesses and imperfections below his Character when according to the Pourtraicture Horace hath left of him Achilles is a Bravo but withal hasty impetuous furious passionate violent unjust inexorable a contemner of Laws and one that places all his Reason in his Sword Impiger iracundus inexorabilis acer Iura negat sibi nata nihil non arrogat armis Horat. Arte Poet. Achilles is cruel even towards the Body of Hector so far as to take pleasure in exercising vengeance upon it and out of an unparallel'd Avarice sells to his afflâ—cted Father the Body of his Son I shall not say any thing of his quitting with a Lightness not to be pardon'd that great and generous Enterprize made by a general Combination of all Greece upon the occasion of a she-Slave for whom he abandons himself to tears and complaints with many discoveries of weakness That if the Action and principal Subject of Homer's Iliad be the War of Troy according to the judgement of Hâ—race who therefore calls him Trojâ—ni belli scriptorem then that Action is defective and imperfect in as much aâ— that War has not in the Iliad either beginning or end according to that Verse of the Poets Infaelix operis summa qui ponere totum Nesciat Horat. Epist. ad Pison But if the principal Subject be the Anger of Achilles as is more likely and as Homer himself acknowledges by his Proposition that Anger has indeed a beginning but neither end nor middle for it is thrust out of doors by another animosity of the same person against Hector for the death of Patroclus so as there are two Anger 's one upon the loss of his Friend the other upon the taking away of his Mistress But the greatest defect is that the rest of the Poem has no connection with that Anger and Homer during the space of 18 Books thinks no more of it as if he had clearly forgot his Proposition and Design but during that long Interval speaks only of Sieges Battels Surprizes Consultations of the Gods and all things that relate to the Siege of Troy which made Horace as I said before think that the Subject of the Iliad was the War of Troy according to the Name it goes under So that which way soever we look on that Poem it will in that part appear defective Neither is the Odyssey an Action more correct than that of the Iliad it begins with the Voyages of Telemachus and ends with those of Vlysses All is made for Telemachus in the four first Books Menelaus Nestor and the other Greciâ—n Princes relate to him the Adventures of Troy without any thought at all of Vlysses which is the principal Action so that the four first Books of the Odyssey are neither Episode nor part of Action nor have any connexion with the rest of the Work in so much that the Fable of the Odyssey is apparently double Take them as they are and one knows not what to make of them In the Representation of those Games and Pastimes which Achilles in the 23d Book of the Iliads makes upon the death of Patroclus there are abundance of things utterly incredible Also Homer introduces Miracles and Machines without any just occasion when Priamus hath lost Hector Iupiter sends the Goddess Iris his Messenger to caution him to take care of his Son's Body and redeem it from Achilles as if his Father who had so great a tenderness for his Son could not think of it himself without a Machine to put him in mind that he was a Father If Telemachus in the Odyssey go to find out Vlysses in the Courts of Greece he cannot stir a foot forsooth without the assistance of his Governess Minerva to lead him up and down by the Sleeves Nay this Machine hath not so much as any appearance of probability in as much as Minerva conducts Telemachus to seek for Vlysses all over Greece save only to the place where he is which she ought not to have been ignorant of upon the score of her Divinity from which nothing should be conceal'd And yet this is Homer's way to imploy the Gods upon all trifling matters as so many Porters without any regard to their rank thus Mercury becomes Coachman to Priamus as well as his Scout Again Homer's Episodes are forced His Kings and Princes speak as scurrilously of one another as so many Plowmen could do Thus Agamemnon in the Iliad treats Chryses the High-Priest as an extravagant impious person when he only demands with much respect nay and with Presents his own Daughter which Agamemnon had taken away from him by force In like manner the Priest forgetting all Charity did out of revenge implore Apollo to destroy the Greeks Vlysses whom Homer proposes as an exemplar of Wisdom suffers himself to be made drunk by the Pheacians for which Aristotle and Philostratus condemn the Poet. How extravagant was it in that accomplisht Sage so soon to forget so vertuous a Wife and Son for the dalliances of his Prostitute Calypso to run after the famous Sorceress Circe and being a King as he was so far to debase himself as to go to Fifty-cuffs with a rascally Beggar named Irus Priamus in the 24th Iliad does not speak like a Father when he wishes all his Children dead so Hector were alive again his grief might have been express'd some other way How barbarous was the Inhumanity of Achilles upon the dead Body of Hector How immodest and undecent was the long though accidental interview between Vlysses and the Daughter of Alcinous in the 6th of the Odysseys In fine There is but little observance of Decorum in Homer's Poems Fathers cruel and harsh Heroes weak and passionate Gods subject to miseries unquiet quarrelsom and mutinous c. What can be more ridiculous than the Discourse which Antilochus's Son Iliad 23. makes to his Father's Horses telling them His Father Nestor
white than if it had been wash'd with all the Water and Soap in Town 4 Perjury is the highest degree of Lying wherein we vouch God for the truth of what we say each mans Oath being recorded as well in Heaven as upon Earth A Prince that is made Mediator in any Treaty of Peace resents the violation of such a Peace for so high an affront to his Mediatorship that he immediately thinks his Honour engaged to fall upon them that first break it Even a private person receives it as a baffle and disrespect to elect him Arbitrator and afterwards to recede from his Arbitrement What then can we think of our selves when we dare to do that to God which we fear to do unto man Wherefore Montaign well observes that he who tells a Lye is bold towards God and a coward towards man for a Lye faces God and shrinks from man The Lord Bacon well observes that the mixture of falshood with truth is like an allay in gold or silver Coin which may make the Mettal work the better but still it embaseth it such winding and crooked courses being like the goings of the Serpent basely upon his belly and not on his feet No vice is so destructive to humane society as falshood nor would the greatest Lyar Iesuit or St. Omers Evidence but be ashamed to justifie that perjury which he so much practises In this late feign'd Presbyterian Plot how many worthy innocent Gentlemen had lost their Lives how many noble Estates had been unjustly forfeited and how many of the bravest Protestant Familiâ—s had been barbarously ruin'd and undone had not God of his mercy detected their Iesuitical forgery The Greeks who in opinions as well as honesty differ little from the Papists have almost undone one of the greatest Cities in the World viz. Grand-Cairâ— by their false Oaths which render all manner of Commerce with that place unsafe for Strangers that have any Wealth to lose in so much that the Turks were forced to make a Law that the Evidence of three Christians should but equal one Turk nor would it be unjust or unreasonable if we had the same Law here amongst us in reference to the Papists since by sad experience we find that their false Oaths are no less dangerous than their Daggers or Poyson Some will go to extenuate this Vice of Lying by softning its name and calling it breaking ones word however the thing is the same no better or worse a Lye Whoever is given to this Vice ought to have both prudence and memory leâ—t he saves other men the labour in giving himself the Lye The French as Montaigne writes receive not the Lye from any man without Duelling him as finding themselves more conscious of that Vice than any other Nation But now on the other side we must not lay down too general a Rule in this case in making all Falshoods alike when to pacifie my Children I tell them stories of a Cock and a Bull or when to illustrate my discourse I make use of a Fable in Esop or like the Holy Writers I mention some Parable for Argument sake I cannot think any of these Falshoods comprehended in the Ninth Commandment or equal to an Oath whereby I endanger my Neighbours Life Limb or Estate Nay if Christianity did not teach me otherwise I should think I might in some cases do evil that good might come of it and save my Friends life from a Murtlierer by denying even upon Oath if it be required that I know where he is Also that a King is not obliged to keep his Covenant with a Foreign Prince when 't is to the ruine of his Kingdom for that he is intrusted only with the power of doing his People good but not with power to ruine them However let not any Prince break his word with hiâ— own People though he doth it with Foreigners because he must live by the one and not by the other To concludâ— this subject givâ— me leave to cite one story out of Exodus Chap 1. and that is of the two Hebrew Midwives Shiphrah and Puah who to save as well their own lives as the lives of the young male Children pacified King Pharaoh with a Lye whereupon it is said that those Midwives feared God and that God dealt well with them for so doing vers 20. This in my poor Judgment seems to make it lawful for any one to save an innocent persons life though by a false Testimony Perjury in the extremity cannot produce any thing worse than Murther wherefore Murther is the worst of the two and if so then Nature bids us of two Evils choose the least Also Self-preservation tells me 't is all one whether I cut my Friends throat with a Knife or with an Oath 5 Apollonius we see in this Chapter refuses that honourable Title which the people would confer upon him of being Iupiter's Son Now whether he did this out of modesty like Mahomet who says that God has no Sons whether out of a distrust of succeeding in this pretence thinking Iupiter's other Children might obstruct the same Trick from passing twice or whether out of Cowardice fearing lest he might be knockt on the head as Sarpedon was I shall leave my Reader to judge However his Parents were too rich and too well known to suffer such a Fiction to pass for nothing is so great an assistant to a Divine Birth as obscure and mean Parents this made Alexander the Great render himself ridiculous when he pretended himself of the Iupitrean Family because his Father Philip was so well known Nay the Iews were so wicked to make this objection against the true Son of God Christ Iesus saying Was not this the Carpenter's Son c. And Minuâ—ius Felix hath some notable passages upon this subject where Octavius decrying the Heathen Deities says Of those that dye none be Gods because God cannot dye and no Gods are born because whatsoever is born must dye and that only is Divine which hath neither birth nor death and if there were Gods born why are not some born in our days unless Iupiter be now grown old and Iuno left off Teeming CHAP. V. Apollonius being 14 years of age was by his Father brought first to Euthydemus the Rhetorician and afterwards to Euxenus WHen he was arrived to 14 years of age his Father brought him to 1 Tarsus there to be instructed by that famous Rhetorician Euthydemus the Phoenician Apollonius well approved of his Masters discipline but thought the manners of that City absurd and not fit for one to study Philosophy amongst in that the Citizens being very much addicted to Luxury Scoffing and Insolence resembled the Athenians only in their outward Garb but not in their Wisdom and Manners The River 2 Cydnus runneth thorow this City on whose Banks the Citizens are used to fit like Water-Fowl Apollonius therefore wrote to them in an Epistle that they should give over making themselves drunk with Water When having obtain'd leave of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At te Cydne canam tacitis qui leniter undis Caeruleus placidis per vada serpis aquis Ovid. 3. de Arte Am. Vel prope te nato lucide Cydne croco 3 Aesculapius is most commonly said to be the Son of Apollo and the Nymph Coronis he lived about the year of the World 2710. a little before the Trojan War He was so famous for his skill in Physick that he was worshipped for a God especially among the Epidauri from whence he was called Epidaurius Pausanias in his Corinthiac tells us that Phlegya the Father of Coronis not knowing that his Daughter Coronis had conceiv'd by Apollo carried her along with him to Peloponesus and that she being brought to bed of a Boy in the Confines of Epidaurus exposed the young Child in a Mountain which from that accident was afterwards called Titthias however others report this happen'd in the Fields of Telphusium in which place the Infant being suckled by a Goat was discover'd by a Dog that had wandred from the Flock which he was keeping whereupon the Master of the Flock returning and finding many of his Herd missing search'd all up and down the Pastures till at length he found both the Child the Goat and his Dog And that observing flashes of Fire to evaporate out of the head of the Infant he supposed it to be of a Divine extraction and soon spread the fame thereof all over those parts Some there be who report that when Coronis was with Child she lay with Ischyis the Son of Elaâ—us which Diana resenting as an high affront done to her Brother Apollo she put her to death for the same And that after she was dead either Mercury or Phoebus took Aesculapius out of his Mothers belly as the Poet mentions Non tulit in cineres labi sua Phoebus eosdem Semina sed natum flammis uteroque parentis Eripuit geminique tulit Chironiâ— in antrum Ovid. Met. lib. 2. Lactantius reports that he was born of unknown Parents and then being exposed was found by some Huntsmen and committed to Chiron's care who instructed him in Physick and that by Birth he was a Messenian but dwelt at Epidaurus From whence as St. Augustine writes he came to Rome that so expert a Physician might practise with the greater credit in so famous a City He was numbred amongst the Gods saith Celsus for adding such excellency and lustre to that Art which before was but rude and undigested The Epidaurians therefore consecrated a Temple unto him without the Walls of their City where he had his Statue in the form of a Physician holding his long Beard in one hand and a Staff involved with a Serpent in the other For the Serpent was sacred unto him not only as Macrobius says for the quickness of his sight but because he is so restorative and soveraign in Physick Serpens Epidaurius Horat. So the brazen Serpent the Type of our eternal Health erected by Moses cured those who beheld it And here Aesculapius is said to have converted himself into that form because by health men seem to renew their youth like a Snake that hath cast her Hackle In this shape saith Lactantius he sail'd to Rome and is said by Pherecides to have Serpentine feet He chose his Seat in the Isle of Tyber and then vanish'd out of sight where his Temple was built and his Festivals kept in the Calends of Ianuary And now in the Hortyards of St. Bartholomeus at Rome there is a Ship of Marble to be seen with a Serpent on the Hatches in memorial of his Transmigration Epidaurus a City in Peleponnesus was famous for the Shrine of Aesculapius to which all sick persons that did resort were as both Strabo and Iamblicus write inform'd in their sleep what Medicine would cure their Distemper When the Romans were afflicted with the Pestilence they sending Ogolenus to consult Apollo's Oracle at Delphos he directed them to his Son Aesculapius at Epidaurus with Orders to carry him to Rome but the Epidaures were unwilling to part with their God or rather his Image yet notwithstanding Aesculapius in the form of a Serpent went aboard one of the Roman Ships and so along with them to Rome Orpheus writes that Iupiter struck Aesculapius with his Thunderbolts because he had restored to life Hyppolitus who had been torn in pieces by his own Chariot-Horses when he fled from the fury of his Father as we may see in the Story of Theseus And that Apollo being much afflicted at the death of Aesculapius but not being able to revenge himself upon Iupiter he kill'd the Cyclops that had made the Thunderbolts wherewith his Son had been slain Orph. de Aesculapio in Hymn Heraclit de Incred The Moral of this is that Aesculapius was said to be begot by Apollo in that the Sun is the Author of Health 4 Heraclea Ponti the Metropolitan City of Bythinia called at this day Penderachi it lyes at the mouth of the Euxine Sea near the River Lycus It took its ancient Name from Hercules as Mela informs us And our Author distinguishes it by the Name of Ponti for that there are divers other Cities known by the same Name As for instance There is one in the Confines of Europe another in Italy between Siris and Aciris another in Sicily near Lilibaeum another in Narbon by the River Rhodanus another in Caria now by the Turks call'd Ergel another in Creete and another in Lydia from whence the Touchstone takes its Name of Heracleus Lapis All which several Towns were heretofore call'd Heraclea 5 Pontus a Kingdom of Asia the Less so called from a King whose Name was Pontus Strabo tells us that it is bounded on the West with the River Haly on the East with Colchos on the South with the Lesser Armenia and on the North with the Euxine Sea But Ptolomy lib. 5. says it is limited on the West with the Thracian Bosphorus on the South with Asia and on the North with part of the Euxine Sea· Sit. zon temp Clim This Countrey is famous for producing Poysons which gave occasion to Medea in the Fable to bring all her Poysons from hence Has herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena Ipse dedit Maeris nascuntur plurima Ponto Virg. Eccl. 8. 6 Philostratus tells us that Euxenus knew no more of Pythagoras's Philosophy than Birds do the sence of those words which they learn by rote And this is the very case of vulgar people in Religious matters who hold the Articles of their Faith like their temporal Estate from their Predecessors having a title of Tradition for the one and of Inheritance or Fee-simple for the other Most Men like Carriers Horses follow one another in a Track where if the fore-Horse goes wrong all the rest succeed him in his errour not considering that he who comes behind may take an advantage to avoid that pit which those that went before are fallen into If the primitive Christians had been
Persecuters like men always in a passion have seldom Reason on their side for the great God and giver of Reason is not to be found either in the Whirlwind of Passion or iâ— the Earthquake of Persecution but in the still voice of Love and mutual forbearance Grotius in his Book de Iure Belli Pacis saith It is unreasonable to punish any man for not assenting to the things of the Gospel since they cannot possibly be discover'd by the light of Nature but must be made known by Revelation As for us the very Revelation whereby we have a knowledge of them is not so clear as that a man should incur civil punishment for doubting of it since this Revelation though at first confirm'd by Miracles and so infallible to them that saw those Miracles yet is it not so to us for that both the Miracles and Doctrine come down to us only by Tradition And Christ says Had I not done these things among ye observe those words among ye your want of faith had not been imputed to you for sin To the same purpose speaks Salvianus Bishop of Marcelles who concerning the punishment of the Arrians for denying the Divinity of Christ saith They are Hereticks but against their knowledge they are so in our opinion but not in their own for they think themselves so far Catholick that they defame us with the title of Hereticks therefore what they are in our opinion we are in theirs We say they do wrong to the divine Generation in saying the Son is less than the Father and they believe we do wrong unto God the Father in saying the Son is equal unto him We say the Truth is with us but they say the Truth is with them The Honour of God is with us but they think they honour the Godhead more They are impious but they think it true Piety They err but they err with a good mind not out of hatred but out of affection to God believing that by this they honour and love the Lord Though they have not the right faith yet they think theirs the perfect love of God and how they are to be punish'd at the day of Judgment for this errour of a false Opinion none knows but the Judg himself In the mean time as God lends them his patience so may we lend them ours Tertullian tells us that nothing has more advantaged Christianity than Persecution for says he the Romans by every cruel act did but tempt others to come over to their Party the oftener they were mowed down the faster they sprang up again the bloud of Christians making the Churches soyl more fat and fertil Tertul. Apol. Nor is Persecution less powerful to advance a false Religion than a true There is no Religion saith Lactantius so erroneous which hath not somewhat of wisdom in it whereby they may obtain pardon having kept the chiefest duty of man if not in deed yet in intention Thirdly It does no ways advantage Religion for the Apostles themselves although they were infallibly assured of their Doctrine and could also make their Hearers assured of it by Miracles yet never desired that the Refractory should be compell'd to embrace it Therefore I could wish that men would use one another so charitably and so gently that no errour or violence tempt men to hypocrisie rendring sincerity both troublesom and unsafe For credulity breeds hatred and malice against unbelievers whereas incredulity does only pity believers so that by how much malice is worse than pity by so much is credulity worse than incredulity How vain a thing is it for men to pretend every Opinion necessary in so high a degree that if all said true or indeed any two of them in 500 Sects and for ought I know there may be 5000 it is 500 to one but that every man is damned for every Sect damns all but it self and that is damned of 499. and it is excellent fortune then if that escape For 't is natural to all Zealots to call their own enemy God Almighty's enemy and we may as well hang all men that are not like us in feature as in opinion CHAP. VI. Of Apollonius's Garment and of the wonderful Concourse of men that followed him after he had been commended by Esculapius Also of an Assyrian Youth whom Apollonius cured of a Dropsie AFter such a retrenchment of his 1 Diet he also regulates his 2 Habit so as to go bare-footed and to wear linen Clothing refusing all such as came of living Creatures he likewise suffer'd his 3 Hair to grow long spending most part of his time in the Temple where all the Officers and Priests admired him also Aesculapius himself rejoyced to have Apollonius a 4 witness of his Cures There resorted to Aegas the Cilicians and all such as dwelt round about those parts to see Apollonius in so much that it became a common Proverb amongst them Whither go you so fast to see the young man Here I conceive it will not be improper to relate what then happen'd in the Temple for that I have undertaken to give you a Narrative containing the Deeds of such a man as was in esteem with the very Gods themselves An Assyrian Youth that came to Aesculapius was riotous even whilst he was sick and liv'd or rather died in Drunkenness He was taken with a Dropsie but pleasing himself with his Drinking he took no care of curing his Drought Whereupon the God neglected him and would not so much as appear to him in a 5 Dream and when he complain'd of this hard usage Aesculapius appearing to him said If thou wilt consult Apollonius thou shalt have ease Accordingly the young man going to Apollonius demanded of him what benefit he might receive from his wisdom for saith he Aesculapius commanded me to come unto thee To whom Apollonius answer'd That he knew something would be much worth to him in that condition for that as he thought 't was only Health which he wanted Whereupon the man replied That indeed was the thing which Aesculapius did promise but not perform Be favourable in your words I pray said Apollonius for he always bestows Health upon such as are willing to have it but thou dost those things which are contrary to thy Disease for addicting thy self to Debauchery thou satiatest thy moist and almost rotten Entrails with delicious Food thereby adding Mud to the pre-existent Water And herein he deliver'd his mind plainer than the Wisdom of 6 Heraclitus who told one that came to him for the same Distemper That he must turn wet Weather into dry which words were obscure and difficult to be understood Whereas Apollonius did more easily explain his wise Advice and recover'd again the young man to his health Illustrations on Chap. 6. 1 CErtainly there is nothing doth more conduce to the Study of Philosophy than a thin spare Diet which gave the old rhyming Monks occasion for that jingling saying Impletus venter non vult studere libenter A full
cupit hic Regi proximus ipsi Senec. in Herc. The Envious imploreth Revenge like that hot angry Prophet who cursed the poor little Children and made them be destroyed with Bears only for calling him Bald-pate 2 Kings 2.23 The Lover prays to satisfie his Lust and he that hath purchased Bishops-Lands or Crown-Lands prays for the ruine of Episcopacy and Monarchy He that is possess'd of Abby-Lands prays devoutly for the downfall of Antichrist as I do my self upon the same occasion The Thief the Pyrate the Murderer nay and the Traytor all call upon God all implore his aid and all solicite him to give them courage in their Attempts and constancy in their Resolutions to remove all obstructions and difficulties that in any sort withstand their wicked Executions and sometimes they give him thanks if they have met with good success the one if he have met with a good booty the other if he return home rich the third if no man see him kill his Enemy and the last if his Treason took effect without discovery The Souldier if he goes to Fire a Town batter a Castle force a Religious House storm a Fort or enter a City that would not surrender to put Man Woman and Child to the Sword or any such villanous act before he attempt it prayeth to God for his assistance though his intentions and hopes are full of nothing but Cruelty Murder Covetousness Luxury Sacrilege and the like according to that of the Poet Da mihi fallere da justum sanctumque videri Noctem peccatis fraudibus objice nubem Hor. lib. 1. Ep. 16 59 Paraphrased Grant me to play the Rogue and act the Saint Conceal my Vices with Grimass and Cant. Margaret Queen of Navarre maketh mention of a young Prince who going about an amorous Assignation to lye with an Advocates Wife of Paris and his way lying through a Church he never pass'd by that Holy place either going or coming without offering up his prayers to God to be his help and furtherance He that calleth upon God for his assistance in such a sin does like that Cutpurse who should summon a Justice of Peace to his help or like those who produce God in witness of a Lye tacito mala vota susurro Conâ—ipimus Lucan lib. 5.94 There are few men would dare to publish to the World those secret requests they make unto God wherefore the Pythagoreans very wisely ordain'd them to be made in publick that all might hear them and that no man should dishonourably invoke God or require any undecent or unjust thing of him Now such kind of Petitioners were not only unsuccessful but many times severely punished for their impious requests We see how severely the Gods dealt with Oedipus in granting him his request for his prayer was that his Children might between themselves decide his succession by force of Arms and he was taken at his word Dr. Brown is of opinion that it is not a ridiculous Devotion to say a prayer before a Game of Tables because saith he in Sortiligies and matters of greatest uncertainty there is a settled and pre-ordered course of effects and so there is in Murder but yet I should think it a presumption to implore the Divine assistance either in one or the other Again some there are who without any evil intent but merely out of their own ignorance pray for such things which if granted would certainly prove their ruine This foolish desire of men the Poets signifyed by the Fable of Phaeton who having by his importunity obtain'd oâ— his Father Phoebus the conduct of his Chariot set both the World and himself in a flame Also Cicero expresseth the same by another Fable of Theseus who craved of Neptune three wishes whereof one was the dâ—struction of his own Son Hippolitus The same Moral may be likewise drawn from the Fiction of Midas to whom God Bacchus for restoring to him his Foster-Father Silenus granted his wish which afterwards proved his punishment in having all things that he touch'd converted into Gold Hic Deus optanti gratum sed inutile fecit Muneris aâ—bitrium gaudens altore reeepto Ille male usurus doniâ— aâ—t effice quâ—cquid Corpore contigero fulvum vertatur in aurum Annuit optanti nocituraque munera solvit Liber indoluit quod non melâ—ora petisset c. Ovid. Met. lib. 11. Now to prevenâ— any of these misfortunes let us always follow God and never go before him for which purpose I think the best of Christians may herein follow this Divine advice of the Poet Juv. Sat. 10. Nil ergo optabunt homines si consilium vis Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus quid Conveniat nobis rebusque si utile nâ—stris Nam pro jucundis ap issima quaeque dabunt Dii Charior est illis homo quam sibi nos animorum Impulsu coeca magnaque cupidine ducti Coâ—jugium petimus partumque uxoris At illis Notum qui pueri qualisque futura sit uxor Shall men wish nothing be advis'd referre That choice unto the Gods who cannot erre For better then our selves our wants they know And will instead of Toys things fit bestow Man's dearer to the Gods than to himself Mov'd by the strong impulse of Love or Wealth We Wife and Sons desiâ—e But only Jove Knows what this Wife and how those Sons may prove We are taught by many of the Ancients what requests we ought to make at prayer Solomon begg'd for Wisdom That best of Poets Iuvenal advises Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano But that learned Emperor Antoninus says Whereas one prayeth that he may compass his desire to lye with such a Woman pray thou that thou mayst not lust to lye with her Another how he may be rid of such a one pray thou that thou mayst so patiently bear with him as that thou have no such need to be rid of him Another that he may not lose his Child but pray thou that thou mayst not fear to lose him To this end and purpose let all thy prayers be and then see what will be the event Some few of the Heathens used no prayers at all as we may gather from that old verse of Ennius Desine fat a Deum flecti sperare precando or at least no other then Thy will be done and that rather by way of Acquiescence than Petition But all other enlargement of request they declined partly because they thought not the Deity flxanimous to be won by entreaty or bribed by Sacrifice and partly because they held it a presumption in man to direct God what to do and what to forbear thinking that such a boldness would be but slenderly excused by an additional clause of submission to his Will From hence Cardan took his Notion when he writes Deum non flecti precibus esset quasi unus è nobis passionibus doloribus obnoxius Of this boldness in directing God I know not any amongst us so
as also his Eyes drawn awry with squinting at Heaven his Nose shrivled up with speaking the godly Dialect is the true Character of the peoples Favourite who think Gravity and Goodness always go together This made not only Philostratus but also the wise Florentine Secretary write that nothing is more conducive to appease a popular Tumult than some grave person of Authority appearing amongst them and so sings Virgil Tum pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem Conspexere silent arrectisque auribus adstant If in their Tumults a grave man appears All 's hush'd and nothing stirring but their ears He therefore who commands in a mutinous Army or seditious City and desires to appease either the one or the other ought in my judgment to present himself with the most grace and advantage that he can adorn'd with all the ornaments of his dignity and whatever else may render him venerable to the people Thus in the year 1505. Pope Iulius the 11th marching unarm'd into Bologna being accoutred with all his Pontifical habits accompanied by his Cardinals array'd in scarlet and carrying along with him the holy Sacrament did with that Formality and Ceremony overcome the wickedest of men Iohn Pagolo Baglione who had been guilty both of Parricide and Incest for notwithstanding his Guards were sufficient to have resisted the Pope yet were not his resolutions strong enough to withstand the solemnity of that Ceremony because as Machiavil observes Men are as seldom perfectly bad as perfectly good Machiav discours lib. 1. ch 27. 7 A City oppress'd with Famine it is no easie matter to appease c. The Causes of Seditions and Tumults saith the Lord Bacon are Innovation in Religion Taxes alteration of Laws and Customs breaking of Priviledges general Oppression advancement of unworthy persons Strangers disbanded Souldiers Factions grown desperate and Dearths or Famines Bacon's Essays ch 15. Now of all these Famine is the most prevailing Motive and that is occasion'd three ways either by War Weather or ill Government First By War when an Army or City through a long siege is reduced to that scarcity of Provisions as necessitates them to feed upon Dogs Cats Rats Mice man's Flesh and the like as we read of the City of Ierusalem when besieged by Titus wherein a bushel of Corn was sold for a Talent and Sinks raked to find old dung of Oxen to eat Also of a certain Noblewoman that sod her own Child for meat Of which you may read more at large in Iosephus de bellâ— Iud. lib. 6. ch 7 8 9 10 11. Also of the Famine amongst the Carthaginian Army Titi Livii Decad. 3. lib. 9. The Famine amongst the Africans Câ—s. Câ—â— lib. 1. The Famine in Câ—esar's Army Câ—es Comment lib. 7. The Famine of the Roâ—ans besieged in the Capitol Livius lib. 5. And many others as well ancient as modern such as was at the siege of Colchester in our late Civil Wars wherein I have heard a great Officer say he once dined at an Entertainment where the greatest delicacy was roasted Horse-flesh a Starch Pudding and a dish of fryed Mice to so great extremities does War oftentimes reduce Secondly Unnatural Seasons or Weather does often produce a scarcity of Bread-Corn even to a Famine In King Numa's Reign the Poet assures us that the Earth answer'd not the labour of the Husbandman but miscarried sometimes by reason of an excessive drought and at other times by reason of too much wet Rege Numa Fructu non respondente Labori Irrita dâ—câ—pti vâ—ta colentis erant Nam mâ—dâ— siccus erat gelidis Aquilonibus annus Nunc ager assidua luxuriabat aqua Ovid. lib. 4. Fast. During the Reign of Valentinian there was so sharp a Famine throughout Italy that Fathers were forced to sell their Sons Vt discrimen mortis effugerent Nov. Titl 11. apud Cod. Theod. Under the Emperor Honorius so great was the scarcity of Victuals even in Rome it self that the cry of the Market was Ponâ— pretium huâ—anâ— Carni Set a price upon man's Flesh. Zozimus 6. Annal. lib. 4. And long before when L. Minutius was first made Overseer of the Corn Livy reports Multos è plebe ne diutinâ fame cruciarentur capitibus oâ—voluâ—is sese in Tyberim praecipitasse What a miserable Deâ—rth was that in Aegypt held by the Ancients to be the Granary of the World when for want of Bread their greatest Noblemen were forced to sell not only their Estates but themselves and become Bondslaves to Pharaoh Gen. 47.23 How universal was that which Agabus predicted and came to pass under Claudius Caesar whereof both Dion and Suetonius bear record with St. Luke Acts 11.28 Also here in England though being an Island Droughts can never much hurt us yet have excessive Rains produced as ill effects for A. D. 1314 about the beginning of Edward the Second's Reign there was so universal a Dearth over â—his Land that a Parliament was fain to be summon'd on purpose to moderate the prices of Victuals and upon St. Laurence-Eve there was scarcely Bread to be gotten for the King 's own Family Also the year following it increas'd so violently that Horses Dogs yea Men and Children were stolen for Food and what was more terrible the Thieves newly brought into Goals were torn in pieces and presently eaten half alive by such as had been longer there Thomas de la Moor. Likewise in the year 1317. in the 10th year of the same King as well the Famine as a general Murrain amongst all kind of Cattel continued no less violent than before Sam. Daniel But to conclude this Tragical Discourse the third and last thing which produces a Famine and scarcity of Victuals is many times the ill Government wherein Monopolies are suffer'd by which means some few rich men engrossing all the rest are left to perish for want as was the case of the poor Aspendians mention'd in this Chapter Wherefore above all things care should be taken that the Treasures Moneys and Manufactures of a Kingdom be not gather'd into a few hands for otherwise a State may have a great Stock and yet starve for Money like Muck is not good except it be spread Now this is done by suppressing or at the least keeping a strait hand over the devouring Trades of Usury Ingrossing great Pasturages and the like Bac. Essays ch 15. 8 Aspendus the third mosâ— eminent City of Pamphylia suâ—ated upon the River Eurymedon was built by the Argives The Inhabitants of this City used to offer up Swine in Sacrifice to Venus because Mopsus at his arrival there vowing to offer up the first thing he met it happen'd to be a Sow Stephanus as also Dionysius vers 851. write that this Town was founded by one Aspendus from whom it derives its Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot signifie Maritimum as Hen. Stephens renders it unless there be manifest in the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For
who were the Founders of their Rites and Customs as also how long they had continued in that discipline and then endeavour'd to perswade them to change for the better Afterwards applying himself to his Disciples he commanded them to ask whatsoever they would and told them that whosoever would Philosophize so as he did should in the morning first converse with the Gods then as the day grew on discourse concerning the Gods and last of all consult of humane Affairs Now when he had answer'd all such Questions as were asked him by his Companions and was satisfied with their Converse he would then apply himself to the multitude yet never in the forenoon but only towards the evening And when he had discours'd with them so much as he thought convenient he would be 6 anointed and afterwards being rubbed he went into cold Water saying that 7 Hot Baths were the old age of Mankind from which when the Antiochians were expell'd for their enormous vices Apollonius said the King hath granted to you long life for your wickedness Also the 8 Ephesians being about to stone the Master of the Baths for not making them hot enough Apollonius said unto them Ye accuse the Bath-master because you do not bathe well but I accuse you for that you bathe at all Illustrations on Chap. 12. 1 ANtioch sirnamed the Great There were divers Cities among the Ancients which bore this Name One the chief City of Pisidia lying in the lesser Asia and now by the Turks called Versacgeli Long. 61 20. Lat. 39 36. Another upon the Mountain Cragus being a City of the Cilician shore bordering upon Pisidia and Pamphylia and lying between Selinuntes and Nephelis two adjacent Cities Long. 62 30. Lat. 38 30. Another of Margiana which as Pliny writes was called by some Alexandria by others Seleucia but at this day named Indion Another in Caria now called Pythopolis Another near the Mountain Taurus a Bishop's See Long. 68 40. Lat. 39 20. This City took its Name from Antiochus the Great who fled from Syria to that place when he was overcome by the Romans herein St. Luke the Evangelist was born Another which is the Metropolitan City of Mesopotamia call'd at this day Nisibis founded by King Seleucus who therefore Christned it after the name of his Father Antiochus it stands upon the River Tigris There were likewise seven other Cities called by the Ancients after this name which being inconsiderable I shall here omit But Antioch the Great mention'd in this place by Philostratus was a famous City of Syria built by Seleucus Nicanor to whom in honour of his memory in Mount Casius they observed sacred Solemnities as to a Demi-god this was sometimes the Seat of the Syrian Kings third City of the Roman Empire third Seat of the Christian Patriarchs and place where the first Council wâ—s held also wherein men first receiv'd the name of Christians Long. 68.10 Lat. 36.20 This City was called by some Epiphanâ— by others Reblatha or Rebla by others Theopolis or the City of God and by others the Daphnean Antioch because it is but five miles distant from the Sacred Daphne Villonovanus calleth it Aleppo upon which indeed it bordereth and by others it is named Alexandria however in our common Maps they appear to be three distinct Cities bordering upon one another Strabo in his Geography lib. 16. tells us that there were four Cities viz. Antioch near Daphne Seleucia in Pieria Apamea and Laodicea which by reason of their concord were called Sisters he saith that all four were built by Seleucus Nicanor who named the first Antioch the Great from his Father Antiochus the second Seleucia from his own name the third Apamea from his Wives and the fourth Laodicea from his Mothers No City was more famous amongst the Ancients than this of Antioch and none at present more desolate and ruinous Boterus calls it the Sepulchre of it self and Niger a great Wilderness being left but a small Village in the midst of its own Walls 2 Apollo-Daphnaeus so call'd from that Fable of Daphne which you may read at large in Ovids Metamorph. lib. 1. Daphne was the Daughter of the River Paneus or Ladon with whom Apollo being violently in Love and she refusing his unchast embraces he pursued her to ravish her by force whereupon Daphne being unable to outrun him pray'd to her Father the River that by some Transformation he would rescue her from Apollo's violence who immediately thereupon transform'd her into a Laurel Vix prece finita torpor gravis occupat artus Mollia cinguntur tenui praecordia libro In frondem crines in ramos brachia crescunt Pes modo tam velox pigriâ— radicibus haeret Ora cacumen habent remanet nitor unus in illa Ovid. Metam lib. 1. Having pray'd a numbness all her Limbs possest And slender films her softer sides invest Hair into Leaves her Arms to Branches grow And late swift Feet are standing Roots below Her graceful Head a leafie Top sustains One beauty throughout all her form remains Thus Daphne is said to be changed into a never-withering Tree as an Emblem of what immortal honour a Virgin obtains by preserving her Chastity inviolable She is call'd the Daughter of Paneus because the Banks of that River abound with Laurel to be beloved of Apollo in that the fairest grew about his Temple of Delphos to fly his pursuit in that they affect the shadow and to resist the Fire of Lust in not being scorched by the Sun nor by Lightning About five miles from Antioch as I said before stood this fair and sacred Daphne which Ortelius in his Theatre hath presented to the view of his Spectators with a peculiar description thereof Sozom. lib. 5. ch 18. It was ten miles about being on all sides environed with many stately Cypresses and other Trees which suffer'd not the Sun to salute the Earth It was replenish'd with variety of Flowers according to the Season and with great diversity of Waters One Spring there was deriving as men suppose her water from the Castalian Fountains to which Superstitious Antiquity attributed a Divining faculty with like name and force to that of Delphos Here were erected sumptuous Buildings the Temple of Apollo Daphneus with a stately Image therein the Work as was thought of Seleucus also Diana's Chappel and Sanctuary Niceph. lib. 10. ch 18. Evagr. lib. 1. ch 16. Strabo lib. 16. Iulius Capitolinus writeth that Verus a voluptuous Emperor spent four Summers here and Winter'd in Laodicea and Antioch Severus put to death certain Tribunes by whose negligence several Souldiers were suffer'd to Riot here The Oracles added great renown to this place which were deliver'd out of these Daphnean Waters by a certain breathing wind From hence is Hadrian the Emperor reported to have receiv'd the faculty of Divining by dipping a Cypress-leaf in that Fountain and for the same purpose Iulian did frequently resort hither also before he began his War against the Persians he
Reason being in most things of a dull and stupid Apprehension except in Merchandize and matters of gain wherein they understand nothing but their advantage The Turks give them the Name of Bokegees and the Iews esteem them to have been of the ancient Rac◠of the Amalekites being a people whom they envy because they will not easily be cheated Many ascribe their heaviness of Complexion to the Air of their Countrey which is imprison'd in the vast Mulberry Woods as also thicken'd by the Vapours of their Fens and Marshes and Winds from the Caspian Sea together with the ungrateful steams arising from the Cauldrons wherein they boyl their Silk-worms As for the Rites and Ceremonies of this Church whilst subjected to the Roman Empire they were the same with the Grecian maintaining the same Doctrine and acknowledging the Patriarch of Constantinople for the Head of their Church till afterwards Differences arising in Government have divided them both in Doctrine and Discipline The Armenian Church as Mr. Ricaut informs us is at present govern'd by four Patriarchs whereof the chiefest resides at Etchmeasin in Persia the second at Sis in Armenia minor the third at Canshahar and the fourth at Achtamar for those Armenian Patriarchs which remain at Constantinople are only titular made to please the Turks As for the Doctrine of the Armenian Church they allow and accept of the Articles of Faith in the Council of Nice they also make use of the Apostles Creed Notwithstanding they have made a Creed or confession of Faith of their own which is as follows I confess that I believe with all my heart in God the Father uncreated and not begotten and that God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost were from all eternity the Son begotten of the Father and the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father I believe in God the Son increated and begotten from eternity The Father is eternal the Son is eternal and equal to the Father whatsoever the Father contains the Son contains I believe in the Holy Ghost which was from eternity not begotten of the Father but proceeding three Persons but one God Such as the Son is to the Deity such is the Holy Ghost I believe in the holy Trinity not three Gods but one God one in Will in Government and in Judgment Creator both of visible and invisible I believe in the holy Church in the remission of sins and the communion of Saints I believe that of those three Persons one was begotten of the Father before all eternity but descended in time from Heaven unto Mary of whom he took bloud and was form'd in her Womb where the Deity was mix'd with the Humanity without spot or blemish He patiently remain'd in the Womb of Mary nine months and was afterwards born as Man with Soul Intellect Judgment and Body having but one Body and one Countenance and of this mixture or union resulted one composition of Person God was made Man without any change in himself born without humane Generation his Mother remaining still a Virgin And as none knows his Eternity so none can conceive his Being or Essence for as he was Jesus Christ from all eternity so he is to day and shall be for ever I believe in Jesus Christ who convers'd in this World and after thirty years was baptized according to his own good will and pleasure his Father bearing witness of him and said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and the Holy Ghost in form of a Dove descended upon him he was tempted of the Devil and overcame was preached to the Gentiles was troubled in his Body being wearied enduring hunger and thirst was crucified with his own will died corporally and yet was alive as God was buried and his Deity was mixed with him in the Grave his Soul descended into Hell and was always accompanied with his Deity he preach'd to the Souls in Hell whom after he had releas'd he arose again the third day and appear'd to his Apostles I believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did with his Body ascend into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God and that with the same Body by the determination of his Father he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead and that all shall rise again such as have done good shall go into Life eternal and such as have done evil into everlasting Fire This is the sum of the Armenian Faith which they teach their young Children and Scholars also is repeated by them in the same manner as our Apostles Creed is in our Divine Service But he that would read more of their Fasts Feasts Ceremonies Penances c. let him peruse that late excellent Treatise call'd The present State of the Armenian Church written by the ingenious Mr. Paul Ricaut who conversed sometime amongst them 7 Arabia is called by the Hebrews Arab wherefore some derive the Name Arabia from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arabah which signifies a Desert for that Arabia is full of Deserts Others ascribe the Name to Arabus the Son of Apollo and Babylonia Some will have it that Homer call'd the Arabians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. nigros But of this see Strabo and Magnum Etymologicum Arabia is a very large Countrey of Asia lying between two Bays or Gulfs of the Sea the Persian on the East and that which from hence is call'd the Arabian on the West on the South is the Ocean and on the North is Syria and Euphrates it confines on Iudaea on the one hand and Aegypt on the other Now Arabia is commonly divided into three parts Petraea Deserta and Faelix And the forged Berosus of Annius telleth that Ianus Pater sent one Sabus into Arabia Faelix Arabus into Arabia Deserta and Petreius into Petraea all Nephews of Cham or rather Sons of Annius his Brain Arabia Faelix call'd at this day by some Aimon but by the Turks Gemen or Giamen comprehends the Southerly parts of Arabia and receiv'd the Epithet Faelix from its fertility Arabia Petraea call'd by Pliny and Strabo Nabathae but now at this day Barraah or Bengaucal receiv'd the Name of Petraea as saith Arrias Mont. from Petra the Seat Royal afterwards call'd Arach of Aretas the Arabian King Lastly Arabia Deserta now known by the Name of Beriara was so call'd from the nature of the place being in great part without Inhabitants by reason of the barrenness of the Soyl as is also great part of that which is call'd Petraea Of this read at large in Purchas his Pilgrimage lib. 3. ch 1. This Countrey is famous for rich odoriferous Spices and Unguents Arabia odorum fertilitate nobilis Regio says Curtius lib. 5. Likewise all the ancient Poets express the same 8 Barbarous Nations that were unsubdued by the Romans For the Romans professing themselves to be the only Masters of Humanity did as we may find by their Historians esteem all
the fatal hour Again if I knew I should dye at such a Relations House this might terrifie me from visiting him for fear of making his Habitation my Sepulchre So that the All wise disposer of all things who doth nothing in vain hath for the good of mankind conceal'd this prescience from us 3 Eretrians were the Inhabitants of Eretria which was a famous City of Euboea They are said to take their name from Eretrius the Son of Phaeton Herodotus lib. 6. speaking of these Eretrians says that Datys and Artaphernes being arrived in Asia took these Eretrians Prisoners and sent them away captive to Susa for that they had exasperated Darius in making War upon him wiâ—â—out any provocation where being presented before Darius he planted them at Anderica in Cissia about 210 furlongs distant from Susa. 4 By Darius This Darius was the Son of Hystaspes who got the Crown of Persia by the Neighing of his Horse at Sun-rising for his Groom Oebares having the Night before let his Horse cover a Mare at that place the Horse was no sooner brought thither the next morning but he immediately fell a Neighing in remembrance of his past pleasure and by that means won his Master the Crown after the death of Cambyses He married Atossa the Daughter of Cyrus for the strengthning of his Title He recover'd Rebellious Babylon by a Stratagem of Zopyrus one of his Noblemen who cutting off his own Lips and Nose and miserably disfiguring himself got in with the Babylonians to be their Leader against the Tyrant his Master who as he pretended had so martyr'd him which done he betray'd to his Master Darius After this he march'd against the Scythians who in derision presented him with a Bird a Frog a Mouse and Five Arrows which by Hieroglyphical interpretation signified that if the Persians did not speedily depart from them flying as Birds in the Air or ducking themselves as Frogs in a Marsh or creeping as Mice into Holes then they should have their Arrows in their sides to send them packing which was soon done with shame Upon his being defeated by the Scythians the Greeks rebell'd against him and were subdued which encouraging him to think of conquering all Greece and thereupon marching with 600000 men against it he was shamefully overthrown by Miltiades the Athenian who brought but 10000 against him in the Field of Marathon and register'd as Plutarch saith by almost 300 Historians In this Fight Themistocles the Athenian gave sufficient proofs of his valour wherein also one Cyneris a common Souldier was so fierce that when both his hands were cut off he fasten'd his Teeth upon a flying Ship of the Persians as if he meant to stay it Afterwards Darius thinking to repair this ignominious loss the Rebellion of the Aethiopians and quarrel between his Sons for the Succession brought him to his end for Artabazanes his eldest Son claimed it as Heir but in regard he was born whilst his Father was but a Subject the younger Son Xerxes carried away the Crown he being Grandchild to Cyrus by Atossa Of this Prince you may read at large in Herodotus lib. 3 4 5 6. also in Iustin lib. 1 2. in Valerius Maximus Aelian and others He began his Reign An. Mund. 3431. 5 Euboea an Isle in the Aegean Sea on the side of Europe over against Chios it is sever'd from Achaia by a little Euripus by the Ancients it was sometimes called Macra Macris Chalcis Chalcodontis Aesopis Oche Ellopia and by Homer Abantis and the Inhabitants Abantes It is now called Negropontâ— or Egriponte and by the Turks who won it from the Venetians An. Chr. 1470. Egribos and Eunya 6 Clazâ—menian Sophist so called from Clazomenae a City of Ionia in Asia built by Paralus it was afterwards called Gryna it lies near Smyrna This Clazomenae was the Country of Anaxagoras it borders upon Colophon 7 Sophist a Sophism is a cunning evading Argument or Oration in Logick it is when the form of a Syllogism is not legally framed or false matter introduced under colour of Truth whence a Sophist is in plain English but a subtle Caviller in words Thus we read that Protagoras the Disciple of Zeno as also of Democritus wanting Solidity endeavour'd to be Subtle and coming short of a Philosopher set up for a Sophist 8 Nomades were a certain people of Scythia Europaea said to be descended from those that follow'd Hercules in his Expedition into Spain Salust They were called Nomades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is à pascendo in that they spent their time chiefly in feeding Cattel and lying amongst them Dionys. vers 186. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Also Virgil mentions the same Aen. lib. 4. 8. They are also thought to be people nigh Polonia and Russia as likewise of Numidia in Africk otherwise called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Numida Also people of Asia by the Caspian Sea now call'd Daae and Parni 9 Caphareus a high Mountain of Euboea towards Hellespont by which place the Greeks Navy were sore afflicted for the death of Palamedes Son of Nauplius King of that place who was slain by Vlysses Homer Odys 4.11 and Ovid Met. lib. 14. represent to us a famous Shipwrack which the Grecian Navy suffer'd in their return from Troy Euboicae cautes ultorque Caphareus Virg. Aen. 11. 10 Forum So call'd by the Romans was a Market-place or Common Hall wherein they kept their Courts of Judicature 11 Xerxes This Xerxes was the Son of Darius Hystaspes who in the third year of the third Olympiad succeeded his Father to the Crown and was the 4 th King of the Empire drawing his Title thereunto from Cyrus his Grandfather by the side of his Mother Atossa Now his Father Darius having at the time of his death prepared all things in readiness for a War with the Aegyptians his Son Xerxes had nothing left to do but to begin his March wherefore his first Expedition was against the rebellious Aegyptians who had revolted from his Father wherein proving successful he returns and makes that great Feast mention'd in the Book of Esther who becomes his Queen in place of Vasthi His second Undertaking was to revenge his Fathers Quarrel upon Greece against which he is said to have led the most numerous Army that ever was yet heard of consisting as Herodotus writes of 1700000 Foot and 80000 Horse besides Camels and Chariots Diodorus writes of 800000 Foot Trogus Iustin and Orosius mention 1000000 in all also 1207 Ships of War all which numerous Army was entertain'd by one Pythius at Sardis who besides presented Xerxes himself with 2000 Talents in Silver and in Gold four millions Now having from Sardis sent into Greece to demand Earth and Water in token of subjection he afterwards march'd from thence with his Forces making Mount Athos an Island for the convenient passage of his Fleet also passing his Army over the Hellespont by a Bridge of Boats which Bridge happening one time to be broken by
lib. 3. ch 4. Herodotus Pliny Solinus and our Philostratus say that these Walls of Babylon were 480 Furlongs in compass being situate in a large four-square Plain environ'd with a broad and deep Ditch full of Water Strabo saith the compass of the Wall was 380 Furlongs and Curtius will have it but 358. whereof only 90 Furlongs inhabited and the rest allotted to Husbandry Again Concerning the thickness and heighth of the Walls they also disagree The first Authors affirm the heighth 200 Cubits and the thickness 50. and they which say least cut off but half that sum so that well might Aristotle esteem it rather a Countrey than a City being of such greatness that some part of it was taken three days by the Enemy before the other heard of it Lyranus out of Ierom upon Esay affirmeth that the four-squares thereof contained 16 miles apiece wherein every man had his Vineyard and Garden to his degree wherewith to maintain his Family in time of Siege The Fortress or principal Tower belonging to this Wall was saith he that which had been built by the Sons of Noah and not without cause was it reckon'd among the Wonders of the World It had an 100 brazen Gates and 250 Towers This Bridge which Philostratus mentions was 5 Furlongs in length The Walls were made of Brick and Asphaltum a shiny kind of Pitch which that Countrey yieldeth She built two Palaces which might serve both for Ornament and Defence one in the West which environed 60 Furlongs with high Brick Walls within that a less and within that also a less Circuit which containeth the Tower These were wrought sumptuously with Images of Beasts wherein also was the game and hunting of Beasts display'd this had three Gates The other in the East on the other side the River contain'd but 30 Furlongs In the midst of the City she erected a Temple to Iupiter Belus saith Herodot lib. 2. with brazen Gates and four-square which was in his time remaining each square containing two Furlongs in the midst whereof is a solid Tower of the heighth and thickness of a Furlong upon this another and so one higher than another eight in number In the highest Tower is a Chappel and therein a fair Bed cover'd and a Table of Gold without any Image Neither as the Chaldaean Priests affirm doth any abide here in the night but one Woman whom this God Belus shall appoint and she I presume a very handsom one because his Priests had the custody of her some say the God himself used to lye there which Report I conceive was given out only to make way for such another Story as was that of Paulina in the Temple of Isis recorded by Iosephus and which I shall mention hereafter at large where if she was modest they lay with her in the dark and heightned her fancy with the conceit that 't was God Belus himself had gotten her Maidenhead and if she happen'd to conceive her spurious Issue was honour'd with the title of a young Iupiter But to proceed Diodorus affirms that in regard of the exceeding heighth of this Temple the Chaldaeans used thereon to make their Observations of the Stars He also addeth that Semiramis placed on the top thereof three golden Statues one of Iupiter 40 foot long weighing a 1000 Babylonian Talents till his time remaining another of Ops weighing as much sitting in a golden Throne with two Lions at her feet and just by her side many huge Serpents of Silver each of 30 Talents the third Image was of Iuno standing in weight 800 Talents her right hand held the Head of a Serpent and her left a Scepter of Stone To all these was in common one Table of Gold 40 foot long in breadth 12. in weight 50 Talents also two standing Cups of 30 Talents and two Vessels for Perfumes of like value likewise three other Vessels of Gold whereof one dedicated to Iupiter weigh'd 1200 Babylonian Talents all which Riches the Persian Kings took away when they conquer'd Babylon Of this see more in Herodot lib. 2. Pliny lib. 6. ch 26. Solin ch 60. Diodor Sic. lib. 3. ch 4. Strab. lib. 16. Quint. Curtius lib. 5. Aristot. Polit. lib. 3. ch 2. Daniel 4. 2 A Woman of the Median Race who this Woman was is already expounded by Herodotus when speaking of the Kings of Babylon he saith there were many Kings who contributed to the adorning of Babylon both in its Walls and Temples and amongst them two eminent Women whereof the first was called Semiramis who reign'd five Ages before Nitocris the other and from a Level raised a most magnificent and stupendious Wall which encompassing the City round did very much preserve it from those frequent Inundations of Water wherewith it was before infested Herod lib. 1. Likewise Ovid confirms the same saying Coctilibus Muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem Concerning the Original of Semiramis Historians vary Reineccius in his Syntagmate Herâ—ico p. 47 will have her to be the Daughter of Sem. But Diodorus Siculus writes that she was born at Ascalon a Town in Syria and presents us lib. 3. ch 2. with this Fable of her Original There is saith he in Syria a City named Ascalon and not far from it runs a Lake well stored with Fish near unto which stands the Temple of the Goddess Derceto who having the Face of a Woman is all over her Body like a Fish the occasion whereof is by the Inhabitants fabulously related to be thus viz. that Venus meeting one day with this Goddess Derceto made her fall in Love with a beautiful young man that sacrificed unto her who begot on her a Daughter but the Goddess asham'd of her misfortune banish'd the Father from her sight and exposed the Child in a desart place full of Rocks and Birds of whom by divine providence the Child was nourish'd Yet however the Mother being conscious to her self of what she had done went and drown'd her self in the Lake where she was metamorphosed into a Fish for which very reason the Assyrians have says Diodorus even to our time abstain'd from eating those kind of Fishes adoring them as Gods Furthermore they tell another miraculous Narration viz. that the Birds sustaining the Child on their wings fed her with Curds which they stole from the Shepherds adjoyning Cottages and that when the Child was a year old in regard that she then stood in need of more substantial meat they nourish'd her with Cheese taken from the same Cottages which the Shepherds having discover'd by the continual pecking of their Cheeses they soon found out the Child which they had educated amongst them and afterwards for her exceâ—lent beauty presented her to Simma the King 's Superintendent over the Shepherds of that Province who having no Children of his own with great care educated her as his own Daughter calling her Semiramis after the name of those Birds which had fed her and which in the Syrian Tongue are so called and were from that time
own Physician writes that it was given him by a Caunian of mean condition Now Cyrus being thus slain Artaxerxes commanded his Head and his right Hand to be cut off after which marching to plunder his Camp he there â—eiz'd on his Brother's Phocâ—an Concubine Aspasâ—a and took her for his own as I have already shew'd After this the King beginning his March homewards and Parysatis the Queen-Mother being inform'd of her beloved Son Cyrus's death mediâ—ated upon nothing else but how to be revenged on those that were the chief Instruments of it Wherefore the Caunian and one Mithridates being both condemn'd to die each of them for bragging that they had kill'd Cyrus with their own hands because thereby they robb'd the King of that honour which he pretended unto himself Parysatis begg'd to have the torturing of them which Artaxerxes granting her she perform'd with such feminine cruelty that they were 17 days in dying The next Tragedy she acted was upon Megates the Eunuch whom having won of Artaxerxes at Dice she caused to be fâ—ea'd alive for that he was the person who cut off the Head and Hands of her Son Cyrus Afterwards her Revenge fasten'd upon the Queen Statira with whom although she carried it fair outwardly yet she hated mortally partly by reason of her former enmity to Cyrus partly for her great interest with the King her Husband and partly upon the account that she had put to death many of those who by Parysatis's means had formerly murder'd her Brother Terituchmes and her other Relations wherefore being at Supper together Parysatis cutting a Bird in the middle with a Knife that was poyson'd on one side gave that part which was next the Poyson to Statira who seeing Parysatis her self eat of the same Bird suspected nothing nevertheless Statira died of the same with great Torment and Convulsions some time before she died she began to suspect the true cause of her illness and acquainted the King with it who knowing the implacable malice of his Mother soon credited it and thereupon tortured her nearest Servants but she kept one Gygis a waiting Woman who had been accessary to the fact and would not deliver her up to him till at length having notice that she design'd to escape by night he surpriz'd and condemn'd her to have her Head bruis'd to pieces between two Stones which is the Persian Law for Poysoners As for his Mother Parysatis he hurt her not in the least either in word or deed but she desiring to go to Babylon he sent her only with this farewell that then he would not see that City so long as she lived And this is the true state of the domestick Affairs of Artaxerxes Plut. in Artax Xenoph. exped Cyri lib. 6. lib. 7. Artaxerxes after the overthrow of Cyrus sent down Tissaphernes and not Pharnabazus as Diodorus writes to the Sea-coasts to recover them again into his power which belonged to him both by Inheritance from his Father and by Conquest from his Brother all which readily submitted to his Summons Soon after the Greek Cities under Thymbro their Captain-General declared against the King and from a small power grew very considerable and successful chiefly from an Emulation and Dissention between the two Persian Generals Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus which produced frequent Miscarriages abroad and Accusations at home one of another to the King till at last Agesilaus obtaining a considerable Victory over the Persians near the River Pactolus for want of their Foot which was occasion'd by Tissaphernes's absence they accused him to the King of Treachery which Accusation being vigorously prosecuted by Parysatis who bore him a mortal grudge upon the account of her Son Cyrus Artaxerxes made Tithraustes General in his stead with a particular Commission to put to death Tissaphernes which accordingly was done for Ariaeus alluring him to Colossus in Phrygia under pretence of a new Commission for him did there seize Tissaphernes in the Baths and send him Prisoner to Tithraustes who forthwith cut off his Head and sent it to the King also the King sent it as a Present to his Mother Parysatis who greatly rejoyced at the sight Of this read more in Plutarch Xenophon Diodorus and Pausanias Now concerning this King's Reign Historians vary Plutarch makes his Rule to be 62 years others say 55 years others 49. and others 43. or 44. but the most credible opinion is that of Beda in his six Ages of the World and of Eusebius in his Chronicle who say that Artaxerxes for grief of his Sons wickedness died in the 43 d. year of his Reign being Anno Mundi 3610. ante Christi Nativit 361. 4 Artaxerxes the Son of Xerxes whose sirname was Longimanus so call'd à Longitudine manus for that as Strabo tells us lib. 15. his Hands and Arms were so long that standing straight and upright with his Body his Hands reach'd down below his Knees But Plutarch Vita Artaxerx saith that he had one Hand longer than the other excepting which blemish he was the most beautiful man of his time Xerxes the Father of this Prince being murder'd by his Uncle Artabanus left behind him three Sons viz. Darius Hystaspes and Artaxerxes Longimanus at the time of Xerxes's death the eldest and the youngest were resident in his Court but Hystaspes was absent as being then Governour of Bactria Now Artabanus having murder'd their Father went immediately in the dead time of the night to Artaxerxes the third Son and made him believe that his elder Brother Darius was the person that had kill'd his Father out of an ambition to reign himself as also that he had a design upon his life whereupon Artabanus promising him the assistance of his Guards if he would kill his Brother Darius Artaxerxes giving credit to all that he had said did forthwith put Darius to death When this was done Artabanus calling his Sons together told them that if ever they thought to obtain the Kingdom then was the time and that it could only be done by Artaxerxes's death Hereupon they drawing their Swords with a design to kill him Artaxerxes receiving but one slight wound defended himself so bravely that he slew Artabanus on the place as some will have it though others with more reason defer the time of Artabanus's death to whom also seven months in the Empire are attributed by Eusebius Now by this means Darius being slain Artaxerxes came to the Empire in his youth being the 4th year of the 78th Olympiad or in the beginning of the 79th Lysitheus being then Archon at Athens A.M. 3540. and 463 years before the Birth of Christ. Those Authorâ— who write that Artabanus survived his first Conflict say also that he made a second Attempt upon Artaxerxes's Life which design he communicated to Megabyzus who had married the Daughter of Xerxes and for her loose life was fallen into a discontent which Artabanus did as thinking nothing would make a man more valiant and desperate than an ill Wife accordingly Megabyzus
And this was the end of that one part of the third and Grecian Monarchy call'd Macedonia A. M. 3803. II. The Kings of Asia Minor were 1. Antigonus Philip of Macedon's Natural Son 2. Demetrius Poliorcetes who was expell'd this Kingdom by his Son-in-law Seleucus Nicanor after which this Asia Minor was annex'd to the Kingdom of Syria A. M. 3683. III. The Kings of Syria were 1. Sâ—leucus Nicanor 2. Antiochus Sâ—ter the Son of Seleucus Nicanor 3. Antiochus the second sirnamed Theos 4. Seleuchus â—â—llinichus the Son of Theos 5. Seleucus Ceraunus the Son of Callinicus 6. Antiochus Magnus the Brother of Ceraunus 7. Seleucâ—s Philopater or Soter the Son of Antiochus M. 8. Antiochus Epiphanes the Brother of Seleucus Epiphanes 9. Antiochus Eupator the Son of Antiochus Epiphanes â—0 Demetrius Soter 11. Alexander Bala or Veles 12. Demetrius Nicanor the Son of Demetrius Soter 13. Antiochus Entheus 14. Tryphon 15. Antiochus Sideteâ— alias Soter the Son of Demetrius Nicanor 16. Demetrius II. Nicanor redux 17. Alexander Zebenna 18. Antiochus Grypus the Son of Demetrius 19. Antiochus Cyzicenus Seleucus the 5th Antiochus Eusebes Philippus and Demetrius were all the Sons of Grypus who being at variance amongst themselves became a prey to Tigranes of Parthia 20. Tigranes himself was soon after subdued likewise by Pompey and Syria made a Province by the Romans A. M. 3890. IV. The Kings of Aegypt were 1. Ptolemaeus Lagus Philip of Macedon's Natural Son 2. Ptol. Philadelphus that married his own Sister Arsinoe 3. Ptol. Evargetes 4. Ptol. Philopator 5. Ptol. Epiphanes 6. Ptol. Philometor 7. Ptol. Physcon 8. Ptol. Lathurus or Lamyrus 9. Ptol. Alexander 10. Ptol. Lathurus recall'd again from Banishment 11. Ptol. Auletes 12. Ptol. Dionysius 13. Cleopatra the Daughter of Ptol. Auletes was at first the beloved Mistress of Iulius Caesar and afterwards of Mark Anthony whose overthrow at Actium broke her heart so that she voluntarily threw away her own life with the biting of an Asp after which Aegypt was reduced into a Roman Province whereby the third Monarchy did totally expire Wherefore the Roman Power having in this manner swallow'd up the four several Divisions of the third Monarchy the fourth Monarchy must by consequence take its beginning at Rome and so we find it for Iulius Caesar is reckon'd to be the first Founder of this fourth Empire which derives its Name of Roman from the City of Rome it self Plutarch speaking of the greatness of this Empire saith Romanum imperium velut Anchora fuit fluctuanti Mundo The City of Rome was call'd the Head of the World and the Romans the Lords of the Universe Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma Cuâ— par est nihil nihil secundum Mart Also Propertius Omnia Romanae cedant miracula terrae Natura hic posuit quicquid ubique fuit Again Ovid Gentibus est aliâ—s Tellus datalimite certo Romanae spatium est urbis orbis idem Lib. 2. Fast. Likewise Petronius Arbit Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat Qua mare qua terre qua sidus currit utrumque This Roman Empire is divided into several Periods whereof the first which comprehends all the Heathen Emperors and lasts about 355 years is reckon'd from Iulius Caesar to Constantine the Great the second from Constantine the Great to Iustinian the third from Iustinian to Charles the Great and the fourth from Charles the Great down to our present Times therein containing the Government of the Western Franks But for as much as Philostratus lived long before any of these late Periods so that I can have no occasion to mention any part of their History I shall therefore at this time descend no lower than the first Period of this fourth Monarchy which begins with Iulius Caesar and ends in Constantius Câ—lâ—â—us the Father of Constantine the Great and so conclude The Succession of this Empire was thus 1. Caius Iulius Caesar. 2. Octavianus Caesar Augustus 3. Cl. Tiberius Nero. 4. Cajus Caligula 5. Claudius Tiberius Drusus 6. Cl. Domitius Nero. 7. Sergius Galba 8. Salvius Otho 9. Aulus Vitellius 10. Flavius Vespasianus 11. Titus Vespasianus 12. Fl. Domitianus 13. Nerva Cocceius 14. Ulpius Traianus 15. Aelius Hadrianus 16. Antoninus Pius 17. M. Aur. Antoninus Philosoph 18. Aurelius Commodus 19. P. Aelius Pertinax 20. Didius Iulianus 21. Septimius Severus 22. Antoninus Bassianus Caracalla 23. Opilius Macrinus 24. Heliogabalus 25. Aur. Alex and. Severus 26. Maximinus Thrax 27. Gordianus Father and Son 28. Pupienus and Balbinus 29. Gordianus the third 30. Philippios Arabs and his Son 31. Decius and his Son 32. Treâ—onianus Gallus 33. P. Licinius Valerianus 34. P Licinius Gallienus 35. Claâ—dâ—us 36. Valerius Aurâ—lianus 37. M. Claudius Tacitus 38. M. Aurelius Probus 39. M. Aurel. Caâ—us 40. Valerius Dioâ—lerianus and 41. Constantius Chlorus the Father of Constantine the Great This compendious Scheme of History is what I some years since composed for my own private use as an assistant to my bad memory and whereby I have found no small benefit in my reading ancient Story for without some such general knowledge of the Succession as well of Empires as Kings at first obtain'd a man will find himself at a great loss when he reads any one Prince's Life which generally relates to former Occurrences whâ—reof he is ignorant as also not so well able to digest and remember what he then reads To be first well acquainted with the Rise Progress Declension and final Subversion of an Empire is above all things the greatest help to him that shall afterwards read the Lives of its several Princes he that knows how the first Assyrian Monarchy was founded by Nimrod enlarged by Ninus and Semiramis divided upon the death of Sardanapalus and destroy'd by Cyrus may afterwards launch with pleasure and confidence into the Chronicles of that first Monarchy He that understands how Cyrus by the defeat of Belsazer and by his Uncle Darius Medus's death possessed himself of the whole Assyrian and Babylonian Monarchy and translating the same into Persia did there begin the second Monarchy how Cyrus's Family extinguishing in his Son Cambyses Darius Hystaspes won the Empire by his Horse's neighing and how it continued in his Family till by Darius Codomanus's Luxury this second Monarchy was subverted and translated into Greece by Alexander the Great shall very easily acquaint himself with all other parts of the Persian Story Also he that is at first acquainted with the beginning of this third Grecian Monarchy by Alexander the Great his Victory over Darius with the division of the same by his death into four several Kingdoms and how each of those four Kingdoms were afterwards subdued by the Romans will be able the more easily to inform himself not only of the several Decays and final Ruine of the third Empire but likewise of the many Advances which the Romans made to the fourth till at last it began under Iulius Caesar and extended its first Period to Constantine the Great So that nothing is a
It was sometimes appropriated to Bacchus besides there was Dionysius Alexandrinus a Grammarian under Trajan Dionysius Milesius an Historian that wrote the Transactions of Persia after Darius Dionysius Halicarnasseus who flourish'd in the time of Augustus a famous Historian and Orator Dionysius a Philosopher of Heraclea and one of Zeno's Scholars who being tormented with the Stone exclaim'd against his Master for teaching that pain was no â—vil Dionysius Atticus of Pergamus the Disciple of Apollodorus and a great Familiar of Augustus's Dionysius Periegetes who lived at the same time and wrote Geography in Heâ—ameter Greek Verses which are at this day extant Dionysius Areopagita who being in Egypt where he beheld the unnatural and wonderful Eclipse of the Sun at the Passion of our Saviour cry'd out Aut Deus Naturae patitur aut Mundi machina dissolvetur Either the God of Nature suffereth or the frame of the World will be dissolved There were also besides many others two eminent Tyrants of Sicily whereof the latter who was banish'd to Corinth is the person Apollonius here cites for that Laertius as I have already shew'd tells us how Aeschines continued with him till the time of his Exile Now this Dionysius the younger having heard that his Father in the time of his sicknesâ— was contriving with Dion how to impede his sole Succession conspired with the Physicians to get him poysoned which being effected the Government devolved solely upon him At the beginning of his Reign the people promised themselves much happiness under him for he recalled back Plato from Banishment as if he meant to follow his Advice and Instructions but in a short time fell out with him and sent him back to his Friends at Tarentum in Italy Plato being thus dismiss'd the next thing Dionysius did was the striking up a dishonourable Peace with the Carthaginians upon whom his Father had begun a War which his Son's Sloth and Luxury permitted him not to prosecute He likewise banish'd his Uncle Dion to Corinth for being the peoples Favourite which occasion'd the falling out betwixt Plato and him for that Dion had been Plato's Disciple Now Dion remaining thus discontented at Corinth rais'd an Army of Mercenaries and invaded Sicily where pretending he came to vindicate the ancient Liberties of the people they flockt into his assistance from all parts in so much that he took the principal City Syracuse with little or no opposition Hereupon Dionysius retired into a strong Castle of the Island from whence being likewise forced he afterwards fled into Italy Nevertheless the Citizens of Syracuse falling into Distractions for want of Money and growing weary of Dion's Government several Plots were laid against him whereof one through the Treachery of his pretended Friend Callicrates cost him his Life Now after Dion's death Callicrates first and then several others possess'd the Government of Sicily for some few months till at length Dionysius coming unawares upon them in the 10th year of his Expulsion recover'd again Syracuse and the whole Principality which he had formerly lost Now as the Restoration of a Prince may be esteem'd the more secure when the people having so lately tasted of the Ruines of a Civil War will be the less apt to run speedily into the same again so on the other side there is always left remaining some of the old leaven that will be ready to set things into the old Fermentation upon any slight occasion And thus it fared with Dionysius who being no sooner return'd to his old Dominions but likewise beginning his old Extravagancies was in less than four years time after his Restoration banish'd by Timoleon a second time to Corinth where being very poor and necessitous he turned Paedagogue for his livelihood and so ended his Life in great poverty and disgrace being the 2d year of the 109th Olympiad and A. M. 3661 Plutarch Vitâ Dionys. Aelian Var. Hist. Iustin. It is said of this Dionysius that an old Woman praying very much for his Life and he asking her why she did so her Answer was I can remember saith she one cruel Tyrant and I would ever be wishing his Death then came another and he was worse then camest thou who art worse than all the former and if thou wert gone I wonder what would become of us if we should have a worse From this Prince's Misfortune came the old Proverb Dionysius Corinthi which signifies any one that is fallen from high Honours into Contempt 3 Charybdis is a Gulf in the Straits of Sicily now called Golofaro it is very dangerous by reason of the whirling Streams flowing contrary each to other it is situated over against Scylla no less dangerous for its Rocks The Moral of this Fable teaches us Mediocrity to avoid running out of one extream into another wherefore Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim is no more than our common English Proverb To fall out of the Frying-pan into the Fire Charybdis is saith Bochartus no other than Chor-obdan i. e. Foramen perditionis The Poets feign this Charybdis to have been a Woman of a savage Nature that ran upon all Passengers to rob them Also that having stolen the Oxen of Hercules Iupiter kill'd her with his Thunderbolts and afterwards converting her into a furious Monster he cast her into a Gulf which bears her Name See more of this in Homer's Odyss 12. Ovid Met. lib. 7 8. Ovid Pontic 4. and Virgil Aen. 3. 4 Aristippus the Cyrenean a Disciple of Socrates and Son of Aretades after the death of his Master Socrates returned home into his own Countrey Cyrene in Africa from whence the Doctrine which his Scholars retain'd had the Name of Cyrenaick Suidas and Laertius Whilst he was under the Instruction of Socrates he resided at Athens afterwards he dwelt sometime at Aegina where he became acquainted with Lais the famous Corinthian Courtezan who came there once a year to the Feast of Neptune and with whom Athenaeus writes he return'd to Corinth Deipn 13. To Corinth Love the Cyrenean led Where he enjoy'd Thessalian Lais Bed No Art the subtil Aristippus knew Whereby he might the power of Love subdue Deipnos 13. We read in Laertius of his Voyage to Dionysius's Court which Philostratus here mentions he soon became a Favourite with Dionysius being of such an humour as could conform it self to every place time and person acting any part and construing whatever happen'd to the best as Horace speaks of him Omnis Aristippum decuit color status res Lib. 1. Ep. 17. When Dionysius spit upon him he took it patiently for which being reproved Fishermen saith he suffer themselves to be wet all over that they may catch a Gudgeon and shall I be troubled at a little Spittle who mean to take a Tyrant This servile compliance rendred him more acceptable to Dionysius than all the other Philosophers He begg'd money of Dionysius who said to him You told me A wise man wanted nothing Give it me first said he and
first a rawish austere taste which afterwards turns to be more sweet and pleasant There is found within this Tree a kind of Cane or Reed full of this Juyce Next to this Storax of Syria great esteem is had of that which cometh out of Pifidia from Sidon Cyprus and Cilicia but least reckoning is made of that Storax which comes from Candy That which is brought from Mount Amanus in Syria is good for Physicians but better for the Perfumers and Confectioners From what Nation soever it comes the best Storax is that which is red and somewhat glutinous by reason of the fattiness The worst is that which hath no consistence and tenacity but crumbles like Bran being so mouldy that it is overgrown with a white hoary Moss The Merchants use to sophisticate this Drug with the Rosin of Cedar CHAP. II. Of Prometheus and the Bonds wherewith he is said to be bound Why the Inhabitants of Caucasus scare away Eagles Of men of four and five Cubits and of a Hag chased away with Execrations Anaxagoras used to contemplate in Mimas Thales in Mycale and others in Athos Also how men ought rightly to contemplate THe Barbarians relate many Fables concerning that Mountain which are also chanted by the Greeks namely how 1 Prometheus for the kindness which he shew'd to men was there bound And that one 2 Hercules not he that was born at Thebes being troubled at this sad spectacle shoâ— the 3 Eagle that fed on the Entrails of Prometheus Now some say that Prometheus was bound in a Cave that is shewn at the foot of the Hill where also according to the Relation of Damis you may yet see the Chains fastned to the Rocks nor is it easie to tell of what matter they are made Others say that he was bound on the top of the Hill which is double and therefore that one hand was fastned to one top and the other to the other top so great was his 4 stature the space between the two tops being no less than a furlong The Inhabitants of Caucasus esteem Eagles as their Enemies burning their Nests as many as they make among the Hills and to that end shoot fiery Arrows at them Moreover they set snares to take them saying that by so doing they revenge Prometheus so much are they addicted to the Fable But as they passed over Caucasus they report how they met with black men of four cubits high and saw others of five 5 cubits when they came to the River Indus Also in their Iourney to that River they found these things worthy rehearsing As they travell'd in a clear Moon-shine they saw the Apparition of an Empusa one while turning her self into this shape another while into that and sometimes vanishing away into nothing But Apollonius knowing what it was both reproved the Empusa himself and commanded his Companions to do the same as being the proper Remedy for such an Occurrence whereupon the Apparition fled away with a shriek like a Ghost When they were got to the top of the Mountain and were walking thereupon where it was very steep Apollonius ask'd Damis saying Where were we yesterday Damis answer'd In the Plain Apollonius ask'd him again But where are we to day Damis answer'd On Caucasus unless I have forgotten my self When therefore were you in a lower place said Apollonius This is not worth the asking reply'd Damis for yesterday we passed through a hollow Vale whereas to day we are near to Heaven Think you then said he Oh Damis that yesterdays Iourney was beneath and to days above Yes said Damis unless I am out of my Wits Do you imagine then reply'd Apollonius that these Walks do one exceed the other or that you have something more excellent to day than you had yesterday I conceive so said Damis for yesterday I went where the many use to go but to day I travel where few Passengers ever come Even in a City said Apollonius you may turn aside out of the common Road and go where few men pass Whereto Damis answer'd I did not speak to this purpose because yesterday travelling through Towns and Villages we convers'd amongst men but to day we ascend into a divine Countrey untrodden by men for even now you heard our Guide say how the Barbarians report that this place is the Seat of the Gods And with this word he erected his eyes to the top of the Mountain Wherefore Apollonius bringing him back to the first demand said unto him Can you Damis alledg any thing that you have understood of the divine Nature since you came nearer to Heaven Whereto he answer'd I can produce nothing But you ought said Apollonius in as much as you are mounted on so vast and so divine a Frame to utter some clearer Opinions touching the Heaven the Sun and the Moon for you imagined your self to have come so near to the Heavens as that you could touch them with a Wand Damis answer'd What Opinions I had yesterday concerning divine things the same have I also to day nor have I made an addition of any new one Then you are still beneath said Apollonius and have received no new Light from so great an Altitude and are as far from Heaven as you were yesterday wherefore the Question that I first proposed to you is pertinent for you thought I made a ridiculous Enquiry Certainly said Damis I thought I should come down far wiser in as much as I have heard that Anaxagoras the Clazomenian was used to contemplate of the things in Heaven from 6 Mimas a Mountain of Ionia and 7 Thales the Milesian from Mycale that is not far from thence Likewise some are reported to have made use of 8 Pangeum to the same purpose and others of Athos but I being gotten up into a Mountain higher than all these am like to come down never a whit the wiser Neither did they answer'd Apollonius for such watch-Towers may perhaps shew the Heavens more blue the Stars greater and the Sun arising out of the Night which things are manifest even to the Swains and Shepherds but how God taketh care of Mankind and how he delighteth to be worshipped by them and what Vertue what Iustice what Temperance is neither will Athos shew to those that ascend up thither nor the Olympus so much renown'd of the Poets unless the Soul contemplate and pry into those things which will if it come pure and untainted to such Contemplation rise higher in my opinion than this Caucasus Illustrations on Chap. 2. 1 PRometheus was there bound c. This Prometheus is by the Poets feign'd to be the Father of Deucalion and Son of Iapetus and Clymenes or Asia as Herodotus calls her lib. 4. Prometheus is said to have been the first that made Man of Clay and therefore called the Father of Men. Fertur Prometheus addere Principi Limo coactus particulam undiq Desectam insani Leonis Vim Stomacho apposuisse nostro Horat. Having artificially composed Man of
certain parts taken from other Creatures and Minerva being delighted with his Invention promis'd to grant him any thing that was in Heaven for the perfection of his Work whereupon Prometheus being by her means convey'd up into Heaven and there observing how all things were animated with Souls of heavenly Fire did with a bundle of Sticks which he kindled at the flames of the Sun bring down Fire upon Earth and therewith infused Life and Soul into the man that he had form'd of Clay That crawling Insect which from mud began Warm'd by my beams and kindled into man This Robbery is often mention'd in the ancient Writers of Poetical Fictions as Horace Lib. 1. Od. 3. Post ignem aethere â domo Subductum c. Also Virgil in Sileno Caucaseasque refert volucres furtumque Promethei After this it is said that Iupiter being offended at Prometheus for his Theft thought to be revenged on him by laying some grievous affliction upon Mankind in the forming of which he so much boasted for which purpose Iupiter commanded Vulcan to frame a beautiful Woman which being done every one of the Gods bestow'd a Gift on her who thereupon was call'd Pandora to this Woman they gave in her hand a goodly Box full of all Miseries and Calamities only in the bottom of it they put Hope with this Box she went first to Prometheus thinking to catch him if peradventure he should accept the Box at her hands and so open it which he nevertheless with good providence and foresight refused Whereupon she goes to Epimetheus the Brother of Prometheus and offers this Box to him who rashly took it and opened it but when he saw that all kind of Miseries came fluttering about his ears being wise too late he with great speed and earnest endeavour clapt on the Cover and so with much ado retained Hope sitting alone in the bottom At last Iupiter laying many and grievous Crimes to Prometheus his charge cast him into Chains and doom'd him to perpetual Torment whereupon by Iupiter's Command Prometheus was fast bound and fetter'd to a Pillar of the Mountain Caucasus as our Author here mentions Also that there came an Eagle every day who sate feeding upon his Liver which as it was devoured in the day so grew again in the night that matter for Torment to work upon might never decay nevertheless 't is said there was an end of his punishment for Hercules crossing the Ocean in a Cup which the Sun gave him came to Caucasus and set Prometheus at liberty by shooting the Eagle with an Arrow Moreover in some Nations there were instituted certain Games of Lamp-bearers in honour of Prometheus in which they that strove for the Prize were wont to carry Torches lighted which who so suffer'd to go out yielded the place and victory to those that follow'd so that whosoever came first to the Mark with his Torch burning won the Prize Now concerning the Theogeny and Parallel of Prometheus Vossins makes him to be the same with Noah De Idololat lib. 1. ch 18. The Patriarch Noah says he is adumbrated to us not only in Saturn but also in Prometheus c. 1. Because as under Noah so also under Prometheus the great Floud was supposed to happen for so saith Diodâ—rus lib. 1. That Nilus having broken down its bounds overwhelm'd a great part of Aegypt especially that part where Prometheus reign'd which destroy'd the greatest part of men in his Territory nevertheless if the Floud were universal this Parallel holds not 2. Prometheus is said to restore Mankind after the Floud which say they exactly answers to Noah the Father of Mankind c. 3. Herodotus lib. 4. tells us that Prometheus's Wife was called Asia and indeed Noah's Wife was no other than Asia or Asiatica an Asiatick Again Bochartus makes Prometheus to be Magog the Son of Iapetus or Iaphet 1. In that he is styled the Son of Iapetus as Magog was the Son of Iaphet 2. From the eating of Prometheus's Heart which Fable sprang from the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magog which being applied to the Heart implies its consumption or wasting away 3. Prometheus is said to have his Seat in Caucasus because Magog and his Posterity planted themselves there 4. They feign that Fire and Metals were invented by Prometheus as well as by Vulcan because there are many subterraneous Fires and Metals in these places Boch Phaleg lib. 1. Of this see more in Stillingfleet's Origin Sâ—c lib. 3. ch 5. and in Gale's Court of the Gentiles lib. 2. ch 6. part 1. 2 Not that Hercules that was born at Thebes there were several men of 〈◊〉 Name the Ancients using to call all men of wonderful strength Hercules Diodorus lib. 4. reckons up three of this Name Arnobius six and Cicero de Nat. Deor. as many but Varro saith there were forty three several men so call'd whereof the most famous was Hercules of Thebes the Son of Iupiter and Alcmena for Alcmena his Mother having married Amphitrion a Theban Prince upon condition that he would revenge the Massacre of her Brother whilst Amphitrion was imploy'd in a War for that purpose amorous God Iupiter gave a Visit to Alcmena in Amphitrion's shape and that he might enjoy the satisfaction of her company the longer without discovery he made that night to continue longer than any other Alcmena was then big with Iphiclus she did nevertheless conceive Hercules from Iupiter's Acquaintance and was brought to bed of them both together but notwithstanding Amphitrion was not the Father of Hercules yet is he by the Poets call'd Amphitrioniades Thus when Alcmena did her Bed defame The lech'rous God bely'd bore all the shame Cuckold or Bastard was a glorious Name Some say that Iuno being earnestly solicited by Pallas was so far reconciled to her Husband Iupiter that she gave his spurious Son Hercules suck with her own Milk and that the little Hercules having spilt some of her Milk out of his mouth he whited all that part of the Sky which we call The milkie way Afterwards when Hercules was come of age the Oracle inform'd him it was the will of the Gods that he should pass through twelve eminent Dangers or Labours which were these 1. He slew a great Lion in the Wood Nemoea whose Skin he ever after wore Theocrit Idys 25. And 2. he slew the monstrous Serpent Hydra in the Fens of Lerna near Argos whose many Heads he cut off and then burnt his Body lib. 2. Apollod 3. He slew the wild Boar of Erymanthus which had wasted Arcadia 4. He slew the Amazâ—nian Centaurs 5. He took a Stag running on foot in the Mountain Menâ—laus after a whole years pursuit the Deer's Feet being made of Brass and Horns of Gold 6. He slew the Birds Stymphalides which were so numerous and of so prodigious greatness that they darken'd the Air and hinder'd the Sun from shining upon men where-ever they flewâ— nay they did often devour men 7. As Virgil informs us he
them by Nature in that they learned it not as they have done many other things from men having never lived amongst them but receiv'd it from Nature so to love their young ones Say not this Oh Damis only of Elephants for this 2 Beast I rank next after men for Vnderstanding and Prudence but I consider likewise how â—â—en Beasts exceeding other Beasts in fierceness do yet suffer any thing for their Cubs also how 3 Wolves being continually intent on their prey make the Female keep the Whelps whilst the Male for the preservation of her young bringeth her in food The like may be observ'd of Panthers who by reason of their heat rejoyce to become Dams for that they then rule over the Males and govern the House whilst the Males in the mean â—ime suffer all things for their Whelps sake As for Lionesses this Story is related of them that they draw the 4 Leopards to love them and take them into the Bed of the Lions in the Champain Fields but afterwards when the time of their Delivery 〈◊〉 come they run away to the Mountains and to the dens of the Leopards For the young ones which they then bring forth being spotted they secretly nourish them in the Woods making 〈◊〉 if they absented themselves from the Males that they may â—unt for if the Lions happen to spy the Whelps they tear them in pieces as an adulterate Brood You have also observ'd in some of 5 Homer's Lions how sterâ—ly they will look and summon up their strength to fight for their Whelps Furthermore they report that a 6 Tyger being a most fierce Creature will in this Countrey as also about the Red-sea run to the very Ships to fetch back their young ones and having gotten them will returâ— with much joy when if the Sea man sail away with them she will howl most grievously on the shoar and sometimes die for grief Who likewise doth not observe the Manners of Birds how Eagles and 7 Storks never build their Nests but they place in them the 8 Eagle-stone and the Stork the Lamp-stone both being to fâ—rther the laying and hatching of their Eggs as weâ—â— as to keep away Serpents But if we reflect on the living Creatures in the Sea we shall not admire that 9 Dolphins being naturally very kind love their young ones But how shall we not admire at 10 Whales 11 Sea-calves and those kinds that bring forth living young ones when as in the Island Aege I saw â— Seâ—-calf taken by Fishermen so exceedingly to bewâ—â—â— her dead young one whom she had brought forth in the House that for three 〈◊〉 â—ogether she abstain'd from food though she 〈◊〉 otherwise a most ravenouâ— Creatâ—â—e Likewise the Whale hideth her young ones in the Cavities of her Throat if she fly from a greater Fish and a Viper hath been also seen to lick the young Serpents which she had brought forth and so to pollish them with her Tongue Illustrations on Chap. 7. 1 WHether the Love of Parents in theâ—r yoâ—ng be natural Can a Mother forget her Child It was lookt upon as a thing impossible and yeâ— we see there are too many evil-disposed Parents in â—his World who conâ—â—th themselves no further than with the getting of them Such of old were those unnatural Law-makers amongst the Româ—ns as Romuluâ— who â—nacted that all Children who were any ways lame or imperfecâ— should be put to death Dionys Halicarâ—â—ss Also the Father in Apuleius who going to travel when his Wife was big with Child commanded her is it proved a Girl to destroy it Sâ— sexus sequipris edidisset faetus protinuâ— qâ—â—dâ—sset editiâ—â— necareâ—ur The same Command doth Chreâ—es give to Sâ—straâ—â— in Terâ—â—ce Autâ—interficâ—â—e 〈◊〉 exponere Either to kill them or expose them to wild Beasts Heaâ—ront Act. 4. Scen. 2. So frequent a practice waâ— this amongsâ— them that the Christian Emperors Valentinian Vâ—lens and Graâ—ian were 〈◊〉 to interdict it by a severe penal Law Si qâ—is nâ—candi infantis piaculum aggressus aggressâ—ve â—it â—r it capitale istud malum which Law is extant in both the Codes as well of Tâ—eodâ—sius as Iustinâ—â—n Of private Instances there were many amongst them to the same purpose as Lucius Iuniâ—â— Brutus who caused his own Sons to be beheaded for that they favour'd Tâ—rqâ—inâ— and Cassius who put his own Son to death out of a jealousie that he affectâ—d the Kingdom Titus Manlius Torquatus upon a complaint made by the Macedonian Ambassadors against his own Son Silaâ—us condemn'd him to be put to death at which unkind seâ—tence of his Father's the Son in discontent hanged himself M. Scaurâ—s being put to flight by the 〈◊〉 his Father commanded him to fall upon his own Sword ratheâ— than outlive that shame which accordingly he did in like manner did A. Fâ—lâ—iâ—s put his own Son to death for joyning with Catiline iâ— the Conspiracy against his Countrey Valer. 〈◊〉 lib. 5. The Cruelty of these was mix'd with somewhat of Gallantry but amongst us we have many no less cruel only out of selfishness and ill nature who boaâ—â—â—ng that they will not put off their Clâ—aths before they be ready to go to Bed keep their Children often starving till they be as fit for a Bed 〈◊〉 their Parents Commonly we are better pleas'd with the little prattling of our Childâ—en which we so often repeat to others for wit and with the apish gestures of their Infancy than with the actions of their riper years as if we only loved them for our pastimes as we do Parrots and Monkeys How often have I heard a fond Father or affected Mother persecute a whole meals conversation in venting to the company their own wittiness as coming from young Master or Missâ— with a thousand times more care and pains than they take to provide them Poâ—tions Many that liberally furniâ—â—t them with Toys and Ratiâ—es while they be Children will gâ—udge at every small expence for Necessaries for them when they be Men and Women Some grieve to see their Children follow them so close at their heels as if they solicited their deaths Others envy them to think that they must enjoy the World after them as if since we must bequeath our Estates to some body we had not better bestow it on a piece of our selves than on a Stranger It is says Montaign a meer piece of Injustice to see an old crazy Sinew-shrunk and half-dead Father sitting alone in a Chimney corner to enjoy so much Riches as would suffice for the preferment of many Children when in the mean while for want of Estate he suffers them to lose their best days and years without introducing them into any publick Employ or Acquaintance whereby oftentimes being cast into despair they seek by any means how unlawful soever to supply their own necessary Wants this forces them to ply Women and Drink which are the most frequent and fatal ruines that attend the young Gentry of this Nation Tyranny in a Parent is no lesâ—
greatness of their feet whereas the lesser are no whit prejudicial to the passage of the bigger in that they make a less Cavity in the River Furthermore I have found in the Writings of Juba how the Elephants help one another in their being hunted and defend him that fainteth when if they bring him off they stand about him and anoint him with the tears of Aloes as if thâ—y were Physicians Many such like things they Philosophically discours'd of together taking occasion from such passages as seem'd most worthy their remark As for the things related by 3 Nearchus and Pythagoras concerning the River 4 Arcesinus how running into the River Indus it beareth Serpents of seventy cubâ—â—â— length they say they are so as 't is by them reported But we will adjourn the Relation of this Matter to that place where we intend to speak of Dragons of whom Damis discourseth shewing in what manner they are taken Now being arrived near the Banks of Indus and ready to pass the River they ask'd the Babylonian their Guide whether he was acquainted with the Passage who answer'd He had never forded over it nor knew where it was fordable Why then said they did yoâ— not hire a Guide There is one answer'd he bâ—ne present who will direct you which having said he shew'd them a Letter that should do it for which they say Vardanes was much admired for his kindness and care of them in as much as he had written this Letter to the Governour that was set over the River Indus although he was not in subâ—ection to his Iurisdiction recounting therein the many Favours he had shew'd him but not desiring any recompence for that 't was not his custom so to do only telling him that if he did entertain Apollonius and â—onvey him whithâ—rsoever he pleas'd he should acknowledge the courtesie He had also given Gold to the Gâ—ide that if he perceiv'd Apollonius stood in need of any thing he should furnish him with it that so he might not be put to ask it of others Wherefore the Indian receiving the Letter said he did much esteem it and that he woâ—ld shew no less respect to Apollonius than if he had been recommended to him by the King of the Indians Accordingly he sent his own Barge wherein he himself was used to be wasâ—ed together with Vessels to câ—rry over his Camels He likewise furnish'd him with a Guide for all that Countrey which Hydraotes boundeth and wrote to his own King that he would be pleas'd to shew as much courtesie towards this Greek who was a wise and divine man as King Vardanes had done By this means therefore they passed the River Indus whose breadth where it is navigable reacheth about forty Furlongs Concerning this River it is thus related that it riseth out of Mount Caucasus and runneth with a greater Current than anâ— River in Asia in his passage receiving in many Rivers thaâ— are navigable likewise thâ—â— iâ— 5 oveâ—floweth India like to Nilus leaving a grâ—at deal of Mud on the Land which gives opportunity to the Indians to sâ—we their Seed after the manner of the Egyptians Illustrations on Chap. 8. VIpâ—rs â—re bred c. The Viper hath a Body long and slender like an Eel or Snake a broad Head with red flaming Eyes As for his Teeth they be enclosed as it were 〈◊〉 little Bladder in which he carryeth his Poyson from thence infusing it into the Wound 〈◊〉 he hath bitten Pliny lib. 10. ch 62. writes that when the Vipers ingender â—he Male puâ—teth his Head into the Females Mouth which â—he being overcome with the pleasure of Copulation biteth off affirming moreover that their young use to gnaw themselves out of their Dams Belliâ—s which put an end both to Male and Female the one â—n time of Conception the other in time of Birth and are therefore called Vipers a vi pa riendo Nevertheless Aristotle Hist. Animal lib. â— cap. ultim â—aith that the Viper putteth forth her young ones infolded in a Membrane which breaketh forth the third dayâ— and that also sometimes those which are within the Belâ—y issue forth having gnawn asunder the foreâ—aid Membrane Nicholâ—us Damascenus as also Strabo make mention of Vipers sixteen Cubits long Of this Serpent is made that excellent cordial Wine called Viper-Wine so effectual in curing Leprosies Surfeits c. Of the Viper's manner of Birth see Brown's Vulg. Err lib. 3. 2 To commend Euripides the Verse which Andromache speaks is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning this Tragedy of Andromache in Euripides the Intrigue is That this Princesâ— after she had lost her Husband Hector had seen her Father Priam murther'd and the chief City of his Kingdom burâ—t became a Slave to Neopâ—olâ—mus Now Hermione the Wife of this Prince being enraged with jealousie against Andromache determin'd to kill her whereupon Menelaus Father of Hermione causes her with her Son Astyaâ—ax to be dragg'd to Execution And this is the Result of the Plot. As for Euripides he was the Son of one Mnesarchus and Clito and had not as some have reported a seller of Herbs for his Mother Suidas vindicates him from the disparagement of so mean a Descent asserting that he was of noble Birth as Philochorus well demonstrates He was born on that very day wherein Xerxes was defeated by the Athenians He flourish'd in the time of Archelaus King of Macedon by whom he was highly esteem'd He was at first a Painter but afterwards became most eminent in writing Tragedies For Rhetorick he was the Scholar of Prodicus and for Philosophy the Auditor both of Socrates and Anaxagoras He sometimes disputed with Plato and travell'd into Egypt to be inform'd of the Wisdom of their Priests as Laertius testifies His Name Euripides he took from Euripus but for his Austerity they call'd him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a hater of Women for as Suidas â—ffirms he was a married man and had two Wives being divorced from the first for her Unchastity neither found he the second more loyal to his Bed He died in the 75th year of his Age being the 93d Olympiad and was torn in pieces by Dogs as Valerius Maximus and Gellius write or rather as Suidas hath it was devoured in the night by barbarous and bloudy Women The Athenians grievously lamented his death He wrote 75 Tragedies for every year he lived a Tragedy whereof he obtained five Victories four in his life-time and one after his death his Brother's Son being the Actor of that Tragedy It is a great Question which was the better Poet he or Sophocles though they went a different way Quintilian says That all moral Philosophy iâ— comprehended in the Verses of Euripides And Heinsiâ—s speaking of him saith Omnium Oratorum non minus Pater quam optimus Poeta Aeschylus Sophocles and Euripides were the three chief Princes of the Tragick Style who exhibited to the people every year their Poems at some publick Solemnities striving who should get the victory by the approbation
the Daughter of Germanicus and if it be said that this proceeded meerly from the spight of Messalina why then did she not cause him to be put to death as well as she did the other who was her Husba d's Neece But 't is most certain what-ever his Life were he had paginam Lâ—scivam as 〈◊〉 appear by what he hath written de Speculorum usu l. 1. Nat. Qu. cap. 16. which admitting it may in a Poet yet how it should be excused in a Philosopher I know not In his exile he wrote his Epistle de Consolatione to Polybius Claudius's Creature and as honest a man as Pallas or Narcissus wherein he extolls him and the Emperor to the skyes seeking a discharge of his exile by so fordid a means whereby he lost much of his Reputation Upon Claudius's Marriage with Agrippina he was recall'd from Banishment by her means and made Praetor when having no need of him he forgets the Emperor labouring all he can to depress him and the hopeful Brittanicus also procured his Pupil Nero to be adopted Successor and the Emperor 's own Son to be disinherited likewise against the Emperor whom he so much prais'd when he had need of him after his Death he writes a scurrilous Libel In Nero's Court how ungratefully doth he behave himself towards Agrippina who although she were a wicked Woman yet she deserved well of him Also towards Nero himself what a treacherous part did he play in becoming an associate in Piso's Conspiracy Noâ— must we here omit his vast Riches and Avarice Moreover He doth in extremo actu deficâ—re when he must needs perswade his excellent Lady Paulina to die with him which according to his opinion for he believ'd not the Souls Immortality could be no advantage to her Last of all The Philosopher Theodorus who was honour'd with the title of a God deliver'd iâ— as his opinion that wise men would not stick to give their minds to Thieving Adultery or Sacriledge when they found a seasonable opportunity that none of these are evil by Nature and that setting aside the vulgar opinion there is no Reason but a Philosopher might go publickly to a Whore without Reproof Many more Instances could I produce to shew not only the ill precepts which were taught but likewise the evil Lives which were led by many of the ancient Philosophers whose practices have continually run counter to their Theory Now from hence it is that the wisest Governments grew to manage the Peoples Conscience rather by Religion than Philosophy since the terrors of Hell and hopes of Paradise would more effectually reform mankind than any Philosophical Notions And whereas the Philosophers were so multiply'd into Sects as St. Austin out of Varrâ— reports them to have been almost 300. and in effect each giving the other the Lye now Religion seemed likely to be more agreeable to its own Doctrine and more united in it self Yet in after Ages even that divided into so many Schisms as made a kind of necessity of setting up one supream Judge whose Dictates right or wrong should decide all Controversies about Religion and regulate the manners of the Clergy this rais'd the Pope over the Christians and Mafti over the Mahometans Yet in both of these so prone is flesh and bloud to corruption that many times the greatest Doctors are forced to bid men do as they teach and not as they do which nevertheless is apt to discredit the very Doctrines themselves among vulgar people who are more inclin'd to believe what they see than what they hear But to speak as a moral man their pretended Religion and Philosophy consisted in this Compositum Ius fasque Animi Sanctosque recessus Mentis incoctum generâ—so pectus honesto Pers. CHAP. XIII The Narration of King Phraotes touching his Parents and himself namely how his Father being in his youth cast out of his Kingdom studied Philosophy amongst the wise men and how he himself being instructed by his Father in the Greek Tongue was sent to the same wise men to be taught Philosophy but after the death of his Father was recall'd by his Father's Friends to the Kingdom AS for my self this is the History of what hath befallen me I am descended of a Grandfather who was a King and of the same Name with me but my Father was a private man for being left very young two of his near kindred were according to the Laws of India made his Guardians and managed the Government for him very tyrannically Whereupon they appear'd grievous to the Subjects and the Government was evil spoken of in so much that many of the Nobility conspiring together against them did at the great Solemnity when they were sacrificing to the River Indus set upon them and kill them when seizing on the Government they shared it amongst themselves Wherefore my Father's kinsmen being very solicitous of his safety when he was not yet 16 years old sent him to the King that reigneth near the River Hyphasis which Kingdom is far greater than that which I possess and the Countrey much more pleasant When the King would have adopted him his Son my Father refused it saying that he was unwilling to strive against Fortune who had already deprived him of Rule Wherefore he entreated the King to give leave that he might be brought up in Philosophy by the wise men of that Countrey which would make him the better undergo his domestick evils Now when the King was willing to restore him to his own Kingdom my Father answer'd If you perceive me to be a true and genuine Philosopher you shall restore me if not suffer me to continue as I am When the King heard this he himself went with him to the wise men promising to bestow no small Benefits on them if they used their utmost diligence in educating that Youth who was by nature so generous They discerning something more than ordinary in him very freely assented to communicate their Wisdom to him and readily instructed him who was as fully intent upon Learning After 7 years were expired the King falling sick of a Disease which ended his Life sendeth for my Father and maketh him co-partner with his own Son in the Kingdom giving him his Daughter then marriageable to Wife But he when he perceived the King's Son to be overcome by Flatterers Drinking and such like Vanities as also to have a suspicious eye over him said to him Take your Estate to your self and order it how you please for it is a ridiculous thing that he who is not able to recover his own Kingdom should boldly intrude into anothers grant 〈◊〉 only your Sister for this alone of all your Estate will satisfie me Wherefore taking his Wife he withdrew into those Places that are near to the wise men wherein he had 7 very pleasant Towns which the King gave to his Sister for her privy Purse Now I being sprung from this Marriage and my Father having instructed me in the Greek Learning he
brought me to the wise men sooner perhaps than was fitting for I was but 12 years old however they took me and bred me up as their own Child for they shew far greater kindness to such as are skill'd in the Greek Tongue before they receive them in as much as they are more capable of their Instructions My Parents afterwards dying soon after one another the wise men brought me to my Towns that I might look to my own Affairs as being now about 19 years of age But my good Vncle had by this time taken away the 7 Towns so that he did not so much as leave me the Fields which my Father had purchased saying that they all belong'd to his Kingdom and that it was a favour he suffer'd me to live Wherefore having gather'd up a small stock from my Mothers freed men I lived poorly having but four Attendants In this condition as I was reading the Tragedy called Heraclidae there came a Messenger to me from this Place bringing a Letter from a certain Friend of my Father's who bade me pass over the River Hydraotes and consult with him about recovering this Kingdom for there were great hopes for me that I might easily attain it if I were not wanting to my self I thinking that some of the Gods had brought that Tragedy into my thoughts follow'd the Presage Now when I had cross'd the River I heard that one of them who had usurped the Kingdom was dead and that the other was besieg'd in his Palace Wherefore complying with these things I came with open mouth in all the Towns wheresoever I pass'd crying out that I was the Son of such a one and that I came to possess my own Government Whereupon they received me with very great joy and thinking me to be very like my Grandfather embraced me and accompanied me with Swords and Bows in great numbers which continually increas'd Wherefore coming to the Gate of the City those that were here receiv'd me so chearfully that they lighted Torches at the Altar of the Sun wherewith came to the Gates and conducted me hither singing praises of my Father and Grandfather As for that Drone within they thrâ—w him over the Walls notwithstanding I interceded for him that they would not put him to such a death Illustrations on Chap. 13. 1 TO strive against Fortune c. It is a very faâ—nâ— Opinion for any man although Fortune hath given him one shrewd Blow 〈◊〉 to despond or though in a great Design his second or third Attempt be â—oyl'd yet the works of Destiny are kept so secret from us till enlighten'd by time as for ought we know that success which is deny'd to our first second or third Attempt may be reserv'd to a fourth nothing is more â—â—â—ally seen than in the sealing the Walls of strong Placeâ— after one or two desperate repulses an obstinate perseverance carries them and so in mens civil Undertakings perseveranti dabitur for in persevering many times strange and unthought of Accidents are found to come in by means whereof the success is beyond what could have been imagined for God does as well disappoint our Fears as our Hopes Therefore in the old Roman way of such as slew themselves if they did it out of scorn to endure any base disgrace then it was set upon the score of Magnanimity or if it was to ease them of some grievous paiâ— then it excused it self upon that Dictate of Nature Of Evils choose the least but if in case of adverse Fortune and an over-hasty Despair it was certainly then the effect of a pusillanimous Spirit which had not courage enough to hold out till a better condition might appear 2 The Tragedy of Heraclidae this Tragedy was written by Euripides 3 I would not be wanting to my self c. The main Reason why there are so few gallant Exploits done among men and how it comes to pass that they suffer such base Oppressions as they do is for the most part because they are wanting to themselves that is they either see not the opportunities they have of helping themselves or else they want the courage to undertake them The Reason of the first is not so much the daily diversion of their minds upon pleasures or other impertinencies as a meer thoughtlessness and stupidity wherein we pass most of our time in thinking seriously upon nothing This perhaps is a great cause of publick Quiet in not observing those Emergencies which more vigilant and hot Heads would lay hold of for turbulent Attempts and therefore in our Institutions is not censured but Mahomet has by an express Edict prohibited it as a mortal sin and I am of opinion that his strict Injunction for such perpetual Meditation and Advertency is one great cause of the daily growth and progress of his Church and Empire Yet indeed were I a Prince especially if I did not exactly govern as the Peoples good required I should not much fancy my thinking Subjects lest observing things too narrowly their thoughts might not be to my advantage The second way wherein men usually fall is want of Courage Magnis conatibus obstat impunitatis â—â—pido If man were not a Creature as timid as he is crafty and malicious how could one man or a few enslave a whole Nation Yet most certainly it was the great wisdom of God to plant this fear of Death in the heart of man without which the poor would rifle the rich the People would disobey their Governors and every superstitious Fool would to escape Purgatory murder whomsoever his Confessor bid him Now besides these two Deficiencies men are wanting to themselves in many other Points but above all in Industry how many appear in the Streets half naked and begging for a farthing when others as feeble as they support themselves by Labour and others who lye tortured with Diseases have usually fail'd themselves in point of Temperance when rather than restrain their Gluttony or Drunkenness they choose as the easier to fall a praying Poscis opem nerviâ— corpusque fidele senectae Esto age sed patinae grandes Tucetaque crassâ— Annuere his superos vetuere Iovemque morantur Thus in all kind of Afflictions that men endure upon a severe scrutiny they shall find that their endurance or at least their long endurance proceeds from their being wanting to themselves one way or other 4 Receiv'd me with great joy c. The Case in brief was thus This King Phraotes his Father came young to the Crown which being by some great men usurp'd from him he not long after dying they still detaâ—n'd it from his young Son Phraotes who thereby was constrained to live poor in exile till after that the Usurpers had with much oppression for some years exasperated the People they then revolted from the Usurpers and sent for the right Heir Phraotes and settled him in the Throne of his Ancestors The People are so basely in love with their own ease and safety as they many
Tabernacle and Priests of the Old Testament however it is not known who was the first deviser of them Pliny and Solinus report that Alexander when he wan the Camp of Darius found among other Jewels and Spoils a Cask of rich Oyntments that very much delighted him But Herodotus doth declare that it was in frequent use before Darius's time For Cambyses Son to Cyrus sent Embassadors to Aethiopus King of the Macrobians with great Presents whereof a Box of Oyntments was one I know not the certain time when they were first introduced into Rome but we read in Pliny lib. 13. ch 3. Nat. Hist. that the 565 th year of that City Antiochus being vanquished and all Asia subdued P. Livinius Crassus and Iulius Caesar being then Censors commanded that no Foreign Confection of Oyntments should be sold in the City of Rome Pancirollus tells us that the Romans derived this custom of Anointing themselves from the Greeks who after they had washed the Body with Water ever anointed it over with perfumed Oyntments kept in a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vessel so call'd which they had for that purpose Now the reason of this was as the Scholiast in Aristoph hath it to close up the pores again after they had been opened by the hot weather or by anointing before they went into cold Water to keep out the cold as we see Apollonius did We read also that both Greeks and Romans used to anoint their Heads habent unctae mollia serta comae Ovid. which they did either to keep out any Fumes ascending thither from drink or to open the pores that so they might evacuate the sooner wherefore it was generally used at great Entertainments He that would read more concerning the virtue several kinds and manner of using these Oyntments let him look into Athenaeus Dipnos lib. 3. ch 14 15 c. 7 Baths were used by our Forefathers as constantly before Meals as we use Water to wash our hands nor was there any extravagancy wherein the Ancients did more excell than in that of their Baths So magnificent were the Roman Baths so stately and glorious were their Fabricks that they resembled so many Cities But above all the two most famous were the Antoninian and Dioclesian the Antoninian Baths as Palladius in his Antiq. Vrb. Rom. saith were built by Alexander being of a prodigious height and adorned with great Marble Pillars the Dioclesian which were also of a vast height had 140000 men employ'd for many years together in building them These Baths alone were so capacious as they contain'd for the use of washing 1600 several Seats and those all of polished Marble an accurate description whereof is already given us by Vitruvius lib. 5. ch 10. Agrippa as witnesseth Pliny built during his Aedilship for the free use of the Publick one hundred and seventy Baths and the same Author likewise adds that at Rome in his time their number was infinite And for the largeness some of them saith Olympiâ—dorus were ingenti or as Cassiodorus writes mirabili magnitudine Ammianus lib. 16. saith that their Baths were in modum Provinciarum extructa built in the manner of Provinces Neither were their insides less glorious than their outsides for Seneca in his 86 Ep. lib. 13. describes the common Bathing-rooms to be rather like the Palaces of Princes than places only for the washing off sweat and filth of their Bodies and accordingly Statius agrees in this his description of them Nil ibi plebeium nunquam Temesaea notabis Aera sed argento foelix propellitur unda Argentoque cadit labrisque nitentibus instat Delicias mirâ—ta suas in balneo Etrâ—sci Rosinus in his Chapter de Thermis affirms they used to anoint the very Walls of their Baths with rich odoriferous Unguents and that even of such Baths that were but for the use of Servants Rosin Antiq. Rom. But as Dr. Hakewell observes the most considerable expence about their baths was the charge which they were at in heating the Water especially being so large that one of them contain'd at least ten times so much in compass as the Kings Bath in Bathe and that to be heated so hot as they could hardly endure their Bodies in it which Plutarch testifieth in the 8th Book and 9 th Chapter of his Symposiachs Hakewelâ— Apol. for Provid lib. 4 ch 8. Moreover Plutarch saith that while they were in them they drew in Air that was mingled as it were with Fire and Water whereas in ancient times men could sleep eat and drink in their Baths without over-heating their Bodies Now however some few among them used Bathing for their health sake yet Artemidorus tells us that a Bath in his time was little else but a passage to Supper so as they which eat often wash'd as often it being therefore observed of Commodus the Emperor how often he eat by his Bathing seven or eight times in one day And among the Christians Sisinius a Bishop was censured as intemperate for washing twice in a day Many there have been saith Plutarch in his Precepts of Health who have brought themselves to this pass that they could neither eat nor drink unless they had first either Bathed or sweat in a Stove among whom Titus the Emperor was one as they did testifie who had the cure of him when he lay sick And in the same Book he bringeth in Zeuxippus giving precepts of Diet and perswading men not to think it strange if they come now and then to the Table without having been at the Bath or Hot-house before so common a thing was it in those days at Rome to make use of their Baths before they came to their Meals Many have declaimed against Bathing in excess and some have preferr'd hot Baths and others cold Baths as we see Apollonius did but few have ever decry'd them altogether Clemens Alexandrinus reckons up the several good effects of Bathing as cleansing warming and comforting the Body besides the great pleasure of it Suidas says that Baths are uncertain cures for pains but certain guides to pleasure which agrees with that old Inscription which was written over the Baths Balnea Vina Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra Sed vitam faciunt Balnea Vina Venus Coel. Rhod. lib. 28. Camerarius in his Hor. Succisiv lib. 2. ch 14. demonstrates that the Pagans have been more modest in their Stoves and Baths than many of the Christians were for though under the Rule of that monster Heliogabalus the Baths of Rome were open both to men and women promisâ—uously yet both before and since it was a thing prohibited by the Roman Laws and was then only practised for a time Regis ad exemplum for Romulus the first King of the Romans ordained that whatever man should suffer himself to be seen naked by a woman should dye Plutarch speaking of the modesty of M. Cato writeth That in old time Fathers were ashamed to bathe before their Children and the Father-in-Law before his Sons-in-Law he further addeth that
Cato was as much ashamed to utter an unhandsom word in his Sons presence as in presence of the Vestal Virgins that they never bathed together for that the Sons-in-Law being out of countenance to uncover their Bodies before them never met in Baths or common Stoves with their Fathers-in-Law To this we may annex the Speech of Cyrus to his Sons a little before his death If any of you saith Cyrus desire to take me by the hand or to see my eyes let him come while the breath is in me for after I am dead and cover'd I command you my Sons not to let my Body be uncover'd or looked on either by your selves or any one else Xenoph. lib. 8. And as I have been inform'd Maximilian the first Emperor of that name did the same It is written that the Emperor Adrian made a Law That men should have their Baths apart from the women which Law was confirm'd by Alexander Severus and afterwards followed by Iustinian Moreover the ancient Canons admitted not of this ignominy for in them it is forbidden that men should bathe and wash with women because the very Pagans were against it notwithstanding to our shame we see it allow'd amongst the Christians of this Age. Finally now to conclude this discourse of Baths let me not be unmindful of those hot ones at Bath which providence hath furnish'd this Nation with and which by relation are no way inferiour to any of the Ancients curing many distempers of all sorts and that as well inward as outward especially since they take to drinking them which of late years they have done in so much that Nechams Verses may as justly be verified of their goodness at this present as they were 400 years since about which time he is said to have written them in these words Bathoniae Thermis vix praefero Virgillanas Confecto prosunt Balnea nostra Seni. Prosunt attritis câ—llisis invalidisque Et quorum morbis frigida causa subest 8 Ephesians a people of Asia the less and Inhabitants of that great and famous City Ephesus which is now called Altâ— Luoco but of this more hereafter CHAP. XIII What kind of speech Apollonius used and what Answer he made to the Question of a Logician Also of his departure from Antioch to the Indies and how coming to the City Ninus he there met with Damis who admiring Apollonius became his perpetual Companion intending accurately to commit to writing all his Sayings and Deeds APollonius used a kind of speech neither 1 Dithyrambical or swelling with Poetical expressions nor on the contrary very Refined and 2 Hyperattick for he esteem'd such expressions unpleasing as exceeded the 3 Attick mediocrity Neither in his discourse did he affect curious niceties No man ever heard him speak 4 Ironically or act the 5 Peripatetick to his hearers but as out of the 6 Tripos when he discours'd he said This I know or Thus it seemeth to me To what purpose are these things You must know c. His sentences were compendious and smart his words very significant and fitted to the things themselves also what he utter'd carried the sound of Authority with it as if enacted by the Scepter Being asked by a certain Logician why he did not seek and enquire his answer was That he sought when he was a Youth and that now it became him no longer to seek but to teach the things which he had found When he further ask'd him how therefore a wise man ought to speak he answer'd as a Law-giver for a Law-giver must make those things Injunctions to the people which he himself is first perswaded of This was the manner of his behaviour at Antioch whereby he drew unto him even those that were the least given to Learning Afterwards he resolved to take a longer Iourney and go to the Indies that he might there talk with those wise men who are called 7 Brachmans and Hyrcanians for he said that it chiefly concerned Young men to Travel abroad into the World He likewise expected to learn many things by the way of the Magicians of Babylon and 8 Susa and therefore discover'd his resolution to his disciples who were seven in number They endeavour'd to divert him from it but he said unto them I have consulted with the Gods about this affair and told you now what I resolved upon only to try whether you be hardy enough to undergo the same things with me therefore since ye discover your selves to be soft and effeminate farewell do you study Philosophy but I must go whither both Wisdom and the Gods lead me Thus having finish'd his discourse he departed from Antioch with only two Servants who were his Country men one of which could write a very swift and the other a very fair hand with whom he travell'd along to the ancient City of 9 Ninus wherein he beheld a Statue erected after a barbarous fashion it was 10 To the Daughter of Inachus having little horns ready to shoot out on both sides her forehead Now as he was admiring this Statue and variously contemplating about that and other things which he had heard from the Priests and Prophets there came to him one Damis a Citizen of Ninus whom I before mentioned in the beginning of this discourse saying that he travell'd together with Apollonius and was a partner with him in his trading for all kind of Philosophy as also one that committed to writing many of his remarkable ' Deeds and Sayings Now this Damis admiring Apollonius also having a desire to travel with him he said unto him Oh Apollonius let us travel together thou following God and I following Thee Moreover thou mayst think me worthy of esteem for though I should know nothing else yet am I well acquainted with the way to Babylon knowing both how many Cities there be and the Towns wherein the best accommodation is to be had it being not long since I return'd from thence Likewise how many 11 Languages are spoken by the Barbarians such as the Armenian Median Persian and Cadusian all which I understand perfectly well To this Apollonius replied My Friend I am well skill'd in all these notwithstanding I never learned any one of them Damis being in admiration at this Apollonius said further to him Do not wonder that I pretend to 12 understand all the Languages of men for I can tell even those things which they conceive in their very thoughts When the Assyâ—ian heard this he pray'd unto him and respected him as a God also resigning up himself to his discipline committed to memory all that he could learn This Assyrian had a reasonable Talent of expressing himself though no great Elegancy in writing being educated amongst the Barbarians but for discourse converse and whatsoever he saw or heard he could well enough describe and compose Memoirs thereof being practised therein as appears by the Books which he composed of the Acts and Sentences of Apollonius wherein he omitted none of those things that were