Period 4259 on the tenth of Tisri which then was on the sixth day of October the sun being then in the seventh degree of Libra From whence to the beginning of Christs Ministery in the year of the said Period 4742. were 483 years which ended not on the sixth of October but on the third because the Sun was also then in the same point of heaven that he was at the first which third of October was now the second day of the Week and seventh day of the seventh Moneth After this was the middle of the last Week on the third day of Aprill in the year of the same Period 4746 for the third year of it ended on the third of October next before from whence if we account 182 dayes which make halfe a year we shall come to the third of April just middle of this last Week on which very day our Saviour suffered as afterwards shall be more fully proved And thus having respect to the motion of the Sun is this account so exact as I cannot but admire to find it so CHAP. IX Of the LXX years in the Prophecy of the Prophet Jeremiah HAving finished the proofes of the severall Periods so far as is necessary I come now to some other things pertinent also to Chronologie And first of the 70 years in Jeremy commonly called the LXX years of Judah's Captivity which some begin in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar at the destruction of the City and Temple because then was not onely a desolation of the Kingdome and People but of the Fields and Grounds which were to lie desolate untill the Land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath to fulfill threescore and ten years as is recorded in 2 Chron. 36.21 But against this may be excepted That they who reckon from hence may as well account from a time which is foure years after For if they stand upon it to prove that there must be a Desolation not onely of the People but of the Fields and Ground and that the Land was to lie desolate and keep a Sabbath free from all Inhabitants for the full and compleate time of 70 years and that thereupon the 70 years in Jeremy could not begin till such a Desolation if so then this I say must needs fall into the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar because the Land was not freed from all her Inhabitans till then nor the Desolations of Judah fully finished untill that year as may be seen in Jer. 52.30 Nor secondly doth that place in 2 Chron. 36.21 of keeping Sabbath 70 year prove a continuall Sabbath of so long time but rather sheweth that the Land during the years of her Desolation beginning from the absence of her inhabitants kept a Sabbath to fill up the number of 70 years To fill up the number that 's all The text therefore meaneth not as they would have that no part of that number was begun till then but that there should not be any people againe in the Land untill the whole number of 70 years formerly begun should be fully finished but where or when they began that text mentions not Others therefore reckon from the transmigration of Jechonia in the eighth year of Nebuchannezzar and they build cheifly upon two grounds The one because the Prophet Ezekiel accounts from thence calling the time after it The time of our Captivity Ezek. 40.1 The other is a proofe from the Prophet Jeremy who when he sent an Epistle to those who were carried away with Jechonia telleth them plainly that when 70 years are accomplished at Babylon that they shall returne againe Jer. 29.10 But here also may be excepted First that the Prophets did usually date their Prophecies from some remarkable accident or other and therefore this Prophet Ezekiel who was carried away with Jechonia and had Visions after he came to Babylon could doe no lesse then date them from the time of that Captivity For he not onely began to prophecy in the Land of Chaldea after he was carried away thither but also dated his Prophecies with respect to that time and calleth it Our Captivity because it had relation to those who were carried away at the same time when he was captivated This is all here therefore is no such absolute warrant for the beginning of the foresaid seventy yeares as some at the first may think And secondly for that Epistle which was sent to the Captives by Ieremiah it is true indeed that they to whom he wrote were carried away with Iechonia but for all that there is nothing in it to prove that the 70 years began but then For the Prophet in the letter to them doth not say that they should returne after they had accōplished 70 years at Babylon but without defining any beginning or time from whence after 70 years were accomplished By which it appeareth plainly enough that this alleaged cannot prove the beginning of the 70 years for we see there is no necessity to begin the reckoning of them when that Epistle was sent but rather from the time when Iudah first began to be a stranger in her owne Land and to bewaile her case at Babylon which was not begun in Iechonias but in Daniel and Iehoiakim with some other of the Kings seed together with part of the Vessels of the house of God Dan. 1.2 Which appeares further to be so in regard that the whole time of Babels Kingdome was but 70 years Esa 23.15 during which time not onely the Jews but the other neighbouring Nations were to serve the King of Babylon These Nations saith the Prophet Ieremy shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years and when seventy years are fulfilled I will make the Land of the Chaldeans a perpetuall desolation Ier. 25.11.12 And againe They shall serve him and his sons and his sons son Ier. 27.7 Which time among these that it was but 70 years is cleare by that before mentioning not onely how long the Nations were to serve the King of Babylon but also how long that Kingdome was to stand Esay therefore saith And it shall come to passe in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years according to the days of one King Esa 23.15 Which expression According to the dayes of one King is meant of one Kingdome as appeareth by a like phrase in Dan. 7.17.23 And this one Kingdom was sure enough the Kingdom of Babylon which was Nebuchadnezzars Kingdom continued only to him his son his sons son as already hath been said Beside When 70 years are accomplished at Babylon I will visite you saith the Lord in Ier 29.10 And if when 70 years be accomplished at Babylon then must the beginning be from the time of the Captivity of the first of the Jews that Nebuchadnezzar carried thither even in the beginning of his Kingdome And when was this but when God had given Iehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar with part of the vessels of the house of
God at which time not onely was Iehoiakim bound in fetters to be carryed to Babylon but Daniel with certaine more of the Children of Israel and of the Kings seed and of the Princes were brought thither by Ashpenaz the master of the Eunuches and taught there the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans Daniel 1.3 4. Nor doth the same Prophet elsewhere but understand the beginning of these yeares thus For I understood saith he by books the number of the yeares whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish 70 yeares in the desolations of Jerusalem Dan 9.2 In which text the word is plurall Desolations to shew that the 70 years must include all the Calamities which fell upon Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon beginning even from the first of them and were not ended untill the reign of the Kingdome of Persia namely when Cyrus King of Persia had conquered Babylon and thereupon could say All the Kingdomes of the Earth hath the Lord God of Heaven given me and hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem 2 Chron. 36.20.23 There is saith Petavius a double intervall of 70 yeares expressed in the Scriptures the one by the Prophet Jeremiah the other by the Prophet Zachary and is altogether strange and differing from the former The first intervall is from the first yeare of Nebuchadnezzar to the two and twentieth year of Cyrus when he tooke Babylon The second is from the Desolations of the Temple and City to the second yeare of Darius the sonne of Hystaspis Thus he in his twelfth booke and twenty fourth Chapter De Doctrina Temporum And certainly he was not farre from truth in all this as by that which I have already written may be seen I account I confesse a little otherwise but decline not his grounds for in the first seventy I come two years lower then the two and twentieth of Cyrus and begin not the second when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the City and burnt the Temple but when he laid his last siege against Jerusalem in the yeare of the Julian Period 4125. of which see more in the eighth Chapter and sixth Section And now of all in this Chapter hitherto this is the conclusion that Nebuchadnezzar being sent by his father upon an expedition into Egypt and Syria came against Jerusalem and besieged it in the third year of Jehoiakim by such time at his third year was ended and his fourth a little entred the Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God This was in the year of the Iulian Period 4107. in the ninth Moneth by reason whereof the Jews kept a Fast in that Moneth as is mentioned Ier. 36.9 The Scripture accounteth this for the first yeare of Nebuchadnezzars reigne as well it might for not only now was Nebuchadnezzar taken in as a consort with his father in the Empire but also whilst he was employed in this expedition his father died even in the twentieth year of his reigne as afterwards shall be proved And note that Iehoiakim being now taken by this rod of Gods anger to whom Judah and other Neighbouring Nations must be put in Subjection was bound in fetters to be carried to Babylon among the other Captives 2 Chron. 36.6 but went not For afterwards in the way by an agreement of servitude he was released and sent home againe and so became his servant 2 Kin. 26.1 This was about the Spring time of the yeare of the Julian Period 4108. from whence the 70 years in Jeremy began as without all further scruple may be freely granted especially considering that the first draught must be given to Judah as may be seen in Jer. 25.18.29 CHAP. X. Of the time when Tyrus and Egypt were subdued and taken by Nebuchadnezzar according to the Prophecies of Esay Jeremiah and Ezekiel THat the Jews and other neighbouring Nations were delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in the first yeare of his Kingdome already hath been proved Jer. 25.9.11 and albeit they refused to beare his yoake yet by degrees he brought them all under Jerusalem he tooke and destroyed in the nineteenth yeare of his reigne at which time Tyrus thought her selfe safe and secure enough She therefore rejoyced at the fall of that great City and is thereupon threatned with destruction for the power and might of Nebuchadnezzar was to come against her This was spoken in the eleventh year of Jechoniah's Captivity which all men know was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar and therefore till after this time there was no siege laid against Tyrus witnessed by the Prophet Ezek. 26.1.2 and at the seventh verse most plainly For thus saith the Lord God Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon Where note that he was not yet come but was after this time to come against her Scaliger therefore casts his account amisse when he reckoned that Tyrus was besieged and taken before the time of this threatning That Tyrus was besieged thirteene years we have it from Iosephus in his first book against Apion who had it out of the Annals of the Phoenicians These eighteen yeares siege were in the reigne of Ithobalus and began in the seventh yeare of his reigne which was also the three and twentieth of Nebuchadnezzar as appeareth by accounting on to the 14 year of Irom from the 14 year of Irom must at least in some part of it fal into the first year of Cyrus as Ioseph here sheweth that is into his first year over Babylon and not into his first yeare over Persia And thus will this account agree wel with that already mentioned out of the 26. Chapter of Ezekiel although it differ much from that which Ioseph Scaliger mainly strives for And note also that from the time at which Tyrus began to be besieged to the death of Irom are 54 yeares which by this account is as right as can be I conclude therefore that Tyrus was taken in the end of the yeare of the Iulian Period 4141. or in the beginning of the next year whilst the seven and twentieth year of Iechoniah's Captivity was still running on for then doth Ezekiel mention the taking of it even after a long siege and service against it as may be seen Ezek. 29.17.18 After which Tyrus is to be forgotten till the end of those seventy yeares which were the date of Nebuchadnezzars Kingdome began from the beginning of the Captivity as the Peophet meaneth in Esa 23.15 A like Phrase is in Gen 11.32 and in Exod 12.40 as Philippus in his Chronologie upon that place in Esay hath observed In oblivione eris ô Tyre 70 annis Tyrus dicitur in oblivione futura 70 annis non quod totos illos annos oblivio tenuerit sed terminarit Thus he and thereupon referrs us to Gen. 11.32 and to Exod. 12.40 And thus we have the right time both for the besieging and taking of Tyrus A list of them that
but ninteen years the Marmora Arundelliana 28 Orosius 30 Ctesias 31 Julianus Toletanus 34 Herodotus 36 and Clemens of Alexandria 46. In which diversity all the helpe that we have is from Herodotus who though he give him 36 years doth neverthelesse declare that he dyed in the fifth year after the Marathon war which war was not till the second year of the seventy second Olympiad in which was the one and thirtieth year of his reigne And therefore the whole time of his reigne could be but 34 years compleate as Julianus Toletanus reckoneth And of these he reigned but 33 before his son Xerxes was taken in to reigne with him as in Herodotus again appeareth lib. 7. Xerxes therfore began in the year of the Julian Period 4226 and as Diodorus saith reigned something more then twenty years after whom Artabanus by whom Xerxes was slain continued seven moneths and at the end thereof Artabanus also being slain Artaxerxes Longimanus began to reigne alone and dyed not untill the seventh year of the Peloponnesian War in the winter time thereof viz in the year of the Julian Period 4289 almost finished as both Thucidides and Diodorus witnesse Thucid. lib. 4. Diodor. lib. 11. Ctesias therefore was right in giving 42 years to this King after the death of Artabanus But we are to note that this Artaxerxes had a twofold beginning to reigne The one some years before his Father Xerxes dyed The other after his Fathers death when he had slain Artabanus who slew his Father seven moneths before From the first he reigned 49 years and from the second but 42 as hath been shewed The first began in the year of the Julian Period 4240 towards the end thereof even before the beginning of the seventh moneth the other in the year of the same Period 4247. Thucidides hath an eye to the first of these and so have the holy Scriptures in accounting the years of this King but other old Authours generally account from the latter time when he began to reigne alone in which Diodorus a little differeth from Ctesias and hath therefore but 40 years in the stead of 42. But now why this King should begin in his Fathers life time and so soon as I have mentioned is in regard of what we finde storyed concerning the banishment of Themistocles the Athenian who being expelled out of Athens by his unthankfull Country-men and Citizens fled to the King of Persia for succour in the second year of the seventy seventh Olympiad as Diodorus casts the time and then we are sure Xerxes was living because the time of his reigne was something more then twenty years Diodorus hereupon saith that Themistocles came to Xerxes and so doe some others but Thucidides who was near those times as also Plutarch Charon Lampsacenus and Aemilius Probus have witnessed that he came to Artaxerxes of late having begun to reigne And if to Artaxerxes of late having begun to reigne it must needs follow that Artaxerxes had a beginning before the second year of the 77 Olympiad which as appeareth by the account of Daniels 70 Weeks was in the year of the Julian Period 4240 about the sixth moneth which among the Jews was called Elul and living after that till the seventh year of the Peloponnesian War must needs have a longer time of reigne from this beginning then either forty or two and forty years But for a more clear demonstration and so to reconcile these Authours that they may speak true on either side let me add out of Petavius namely That Themistocles being banished came to come to Xerxes King of Persia as Diodorus and diverse other Story-writers declare and finding Xerxes busied in some expedition or not in the City which was the seate of his Kingdome he sent letters to his son Artaxerxes who of late had began to reigne as Thucidides sheweth For in this respect Story-writers may indifferently relate that he fled as well to the one as the other and our conclusion from hence may be that he fled to the Persians Xerxes yet living when Artaxerxes was already taken in to reigne with him in the Empire as being the next that was to reigne alone after him Thus Xerxes also began to reigne before Darius dyed as hath been proved out of Herodotus Petay lib. 12. cap. 25. For according to a Law among the Persians when the King went to war abroad he did for the most part appoint and constitute one of his sons for his successour from which time some Authours account the years of such an ones reigne whilest others account but from the time of his Fathers death And in the Kingdome of Babylon Nebuchadnezzars reigne began after the same manner as by Berosus compared with holy Scripture may be seen This was usuall also among the Kings of Judah and Israel as by the Scripture alone is manifest which not observed hath caused many grosse mistakes concerning the right reckoning of their reignes Eusebius mentions the flight of Themistocles two years sooner then Diodorus doth who therefore casteth it into the fourth year of the seventy sixth Olympiad which was in the year of the Julian Period 4241 and then was the first year of Artaxerxes still running on by my account This of Eusebius I finde approved by a late learned writer Jacobus Armachanus in his Annals of holy Scripture who sayes that it agrees conveniently enough to the tradition of Thucidides which setteth the comming of Themistocles to Artaxerxes between the siege of Naxus and that noble victory gotten by Cimon over the Persians at Eurimedon and doth withall place the beginning of the reigne of Artaxerxes between those bounds For * viz. Thucidides he said Themistocles then sent letters to Artaxerxes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of late having begun to reigne by which he both desired his friendship and also promised his owne aide to him against the Greekes From which is found out the true beginning of the reigne of Artaxerxes and is from hence proved not to be so late by nine years as is commonly accounted Thus he in his Annals I say of holy Scripture which when I saw I was not a little confirmed in my judgment For though I accounted thus long before I ever read any thing of his in this kinde yet for my better confirmation herein I was glad to meete with the concurrence of so eminent a man from whom though I varie much in the ancient account of the Hebrew moneths and year as also in some other particulars yet here as in many things elsewhere I cannot but embrace him with much gladnesse and shall ever esteeme him as sure enough he is a man of excellent parts great industry piety and much learning worthy to be accounted among the number of those whose memories are precious after their deaths But to returne There is moreover a passage mentioned by Petavius out of Justin to shew the occasion of this beginning as may be seen in his Doctrina Temporum lib. 10.
70 years are accomplished at Babylon I will visit you Ier. 29.10 For I will rise up against them saith the Lord of hosts and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant both son and nephew saith the Lord. Esa 14.22 And againe When there commeth a Nation out of the North and layeth Babel wast then in those dayes and at that time saith the Lord the Children of Israel shall come weeping and enquiring the way to Sion Ier. 50.4 Now that no part of this could goe beyound the death of Belshazzar the third King is apparant out of Daniels prophecy For this saith he is the interpretation of the thing MENE God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finished it Dan. 5.26 Where note that if Nebuchadnezzars Kingdome were numbred and finished at the death of Belshazzar then must no part either of his Kingdome or of the 70 years be after that time for not onely were the years of the Kingdome but of the Captivity to end then their dates by Scripture depending each upon other It is therefore said in Esay that Tyrus which we know was one of them that was to bear Babels yoake shall be forgotten 70 years according the dayes of one King Esa 23.15 Which expression according to the dayes of one King is certainly meant of one Kingdome and is expounded so by a like phrase in Dan. 7.17 23. Of one Kingdome I say viz. The Kingdome of Babylon which was Nebuchadnezzars Kingdome continued onely to him his son and his sons son as was before mentioned out of Ier. 27.7 and Esay 14.22 Upon consideration of which sure it was Hist World lib. 3. c. 1. sect 4. that Sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the World could say They who meerly follow the authority of the Scripture without borrowing any helpe from others name onely three Kings viz. Nebuchadnezzar Evilmerodach and Belshazzar For which they have not onely the filence of Daniel for their warrant who names none other but even the promise of Ieremiah also precisely and in a manner purposely teaching the same Jer. 27.7 In which text be words expressing the continuance of the Chaldaean Empire and number of the Kings so as will hardly be qualified with any distinction And indeed I finde no other necessity of qualification to be used herein then such as may grow out of mens desire to reconcile the Scriptures unto prophane Authours Which desire were not unjust if the consent of all Histories were on the one side and the letter of the holy Text were single on the other side Thus he very gravely and judiciously and therefore without some handsome way of reconcilement I shall build no more upon the Authority of this Fragment of Berosus then I have hitherto done But perhaps a way may be found Suppose we then this to be propable That after Evilmerodach had reigned two years that then he gave himselfe to sloth and luxury and thereupon appointed Naragalrazar his sisters husband to be his Deputy which continued for the space of four years at the end whereof Evilmerodach either dyed or was slain by his Debuty who thereupon strove what he could to establish the Kingdome to his owne son Labosardach albeit he were a child But Nabonidus otherwise called Balthasar or Belshazzar impatient of such an injury prevailes against him For though for nine moneths space he was a little molested yet at the end thereof he was quietly possessed of his Fathers throne which he held for the space of seventeen years and was then slain at the taking of Babylon by King Cyrus who in the second year of his expedition took the City and so ended the time of Babels Kingdome in which the Nations were to serve Nebuchadnezzar his son and his sons son This I confesse would seeme something probable were all things correspondent but here is so short a time for the reign of these Kings that they will be all dead and gone before the Captivity was ended which can by no means be I remember therefore what is conjectured by the knight before mentioned in his History of the World lib. 3. cap. 1. sect 13. viz. That the seven years or six years and nine moneths given by Berosus to Evilmerodach Naragalrazar and Labosardach are not to be reckoned after the death of Nebuchadnezzar but rather before namely in the time of his Madnesse and living Wilde during which time Evilmerodach having expected the recovery of his Father about some three moneths reigned two years then Naragalrazar having put him downe rules four years and last of all Labosardach nine moneths in the end whereof Nebuchadnezzar is againe restored Which opinion though differing from that of Lyranus and Pererius who make Evilmerodach the sole Regent in his Fathers absence and is also differing from that of Josephus who speaking of Nebuchadnezzars madnesse saith none durst invade the Kingdome all those seven years yet for all that I think no wise man will lightly esteeme it for it serves better to reconcile Berosus to the Scriptures then any other opinion that hitherto hath been extant Scaliger in his Animadversions upon Eusebius expounds Berosus otherwise and saith Evilmerodach succeeded Nebuchadnezzar whom Naragalrazar slew thereby to advance his own son the nephew of Nebuchadnezzar to the Septer which himself swayed as Protectour in the minority of his son who was called Labosardach But Naragalrazar being dead and his son more fit for a Chamber then a Throne Nabonidus conspired against him slew him This Nabonidus saith Scaliger is Darius Medus and Labosardach is that Belshazzar mentioned by Daniel according to his interpretation of the Prophet out of Berosus and Megasthenes which indeed is but his interpretation who we know was in all thing singular and in most things peremptory and therefore though he scorneth all other Chronologers who subscribe not to his magisteriall Dictates yet are his bare words no warrant nor scornes good proofes to make us think his Tenets the onely true ones no not here in this now under question For the Oracle of the Prophet points us out no other then Nebuchadnezzar Evilmerodach and Belshazzar as already hath been proved Unto which let me add that Herodotus calleth the last King of Babylon Labynitus and who was this but Nabonidus in Berosus and who was Nabonidus but Belshazzar called by the Babylonians Naboandel as saith Josephus who was Belshazzar but he whom Cyrus conquered as Xenophon plainly with the Prophet Daniel beareth witnesse Note also further that Darius Medus was a Mede by birth and not a Babylonian being Darius of the seed of the Medes Dan. 9.1 And if a Mede by birth then how could Nabonidus be Darius Medus who even in Berosus himselfe is said to be a Babylonian And as Daniel is against him so also Esay shewing that he came not to his Kingdom by Election For behold I will stur up the Medes against thee Esa 13.17 The Medes therefore assaulted Babylon and took it together with the Persians not by favour but by
violence being assisted by Cyrus kinsman to Darius as Josephus writeth And good reason had Josephus for it Joseph antiq lib. 10. ca. 12. For the fall of Babylon was by the joynt forces of two as in another Chapter of the same Prophecy may be seen For thus hath the Lord said unto me Goe set a whatchman let him declare what he seeth And behold he saw a Charet with a couple of horses Esa 21.7 and at the ninth verse And behold here commeth a Charet of men and a couple of Horsemen and he answered and said Babylon is fallen is fallen But by whom is it fallen this the second verse sheweth in these words Goe up O Elam besiege O Media By which we see that the Elamites and Medians or the Persians and Medes united into one body but under two Commanders were the people foretold to come with joynt forces for the destruction of Babylon these being that Ram with two hornes in the eighth of Daniel For the Ram which thou sawest having two hornes are the Kings of Media and Persia Dan 8.20 And hereupon it came to passe that at the taking of Babylon and death of Belshazzar the Kingdome was divided among the Medes and the Persians Dan 5.28 Howbeit the chiefe authority and power might be in the Medes and therefore saith Jeremy Make bright the arrows gather the shields the Lord hath raised up the Spirit of the Kings of the Medes for his device is against Babylon to destroy it Jer. 51.11 Which though it were yet the dexterity in expediting this businesse and in using that Stratageme of * See Xenoph. in his Cyrop li. 7. and Jer. 51.36 dividing the great river Euphrates is ascribed by Xenophon unto Cyrus Nor doth Herodotus but name him the onely authour and beginner of this War the reason whereof is because by his valour and skill the victory was gotten Which being obtained Cyrus forthwith intitles Darius to the Kingdome both because he was his Uncle and also his Elder as Saint Jerom observeth and as Xenophon likewise gives a touch at telling us what Cyrus first said to Cyaxares after the taking of Babylon namely that there was provided for him in Babylon a choyce Palace with stately Edifices that if he come thither he might keep his Court there as in his owne Xenoph. lib. 8. Which is as if it should be said he had now conquered it for him and he might if he pleased freely receive it agreeing therein with the Prophet Daniel who saith that when Belshazzar was slain Darius Medus received the Kingdome being about threescore and two year old Dan. 5.30.31 But then again because at this victory there were Parsin parters to share the Empire not of Madai onely but also of Elam we must know that Cyrus King of Paras or Elam excluded not himselfe but was fellow in Empire with Darius and so the Kingdome was divided between the Medes and the Persians as in the hand-writing upon the wall was declared And so likewise the Jews which were to serve the Chaldeans during the time of their Kingdome which hath been already proved tobe 70 years served them till the reigne of the Persians 2 Chron. 36.20 Nor was this uniting but known to those Greeks in whom the Persian Armies are called Medes as I shall afterwards mention To whom the seventy Translaters applyed themselves when they put for the Hebrew text Paras the terme Medes in this text of the Chronicles And further as for Nabonidas formerly mentioned questionlesse he was the same with Belshazzar for neither doth Josephus nor Berosus attribute to either of them more then 17 years Nor doth Josephus tell us any other thing then that Belshazzar was by the Babylonians called Naboandel as before was noted a name not far differing from Nabonidus in Berosus but differing far enough from Darius Medus To which Josephus doth once again bear witnesse in saying that Darius together with Cyrus his allie destroyed the state of the Babylonians as before was also noted affirming moreover that he was the son of Astyages and is otherwise called by the Greeks And therefore in very truth Darius Medus was not Nabonidus but Cyaxares the second as Xenophon plainly and perspicuously hath related Beside all which this also may be added That the Babylonians would not be so simple to deliver their Empire to a man who was a Mede seeing they thought not so well of the Medes as of other Nations because the bounds of their Kingdome were enlarged far and trenched much upon the Chaldean greatnesse which made them therefore fearfull and suspicious over them To which opinion as saith Pererius Herodotus addes no little force Perer. on Da. Herodot lib. 1 writing that Nitocris Queen of Babylon and mother to Labynitus did greatly fortifie the City of Babylon against the forces and invasions of the Medes Nay more when the Lord rendred unto Babylon and to all the Inhabitants of Chaldea all their evill that they had done in Sion he then stirred up the Nations with the Kings of the Medes and the Captaines thereof and all the Land of his Dominion Jer. 51.24 28. and Esa 13.17 There is therefore more in it I see then the bare delivering of the Kingdome to a man born in Media and brought up in Babylon Hist World lib 3 cap. 2. sect 2.3 for as Sir Walter Raleigh truely gathered from hence the Medes were cheife actors in the subversion of the Babylonian Empire And though the Greeks saith he ascribe the conquest of Babylon to Cyrus alone yet the Scriptures teach uss that Darius was not onely King of Media and had the Persians to be his followers but that the Army victorious over Belshazzar was his being compounded of the strength of both Nations to wit the Medes and Persians with other the vassals of Darius which were all led under the conduct of Cyrus who was cheife General of the Army and had the honour of the victory wholly given to him who was the instrument preordained and forenamed by God himselfe for this action even for the sake of his Church Esa 45.1 2 3 4. And againe It is not saith he more certaine that Belshazzar Iost his life and Kingdome Ide lib. 3. ca. 1. sect 5. then that his Kingdome was divided and given to the Medes and Persians Neither did the Medes and Persians fall out about it as by supposing Nabonidus to have been Darius they should be thought to have done but these two Nations did compound the body of the Empire and were accounted Lords of the subject Provinces insomuch that the Greek Historians did commonly call those Wars which Darius and after him Xerxes made upon Greece The Wars of the Medes Dan. 8.20 yea to cleare this point saith the same authour still even Daniel himselfe resembles that King with whom Alexander fought unto a Ram with two hornes calling him the King of the Medes and the Persians Wherefore saith he the whole Nation of Chronologers were not
done then carefull to avoid the danger that might betide him he came under the dint of what was throwne whether Quoit or Ball of Lead and so was slain But I must now set downe the Kings already mentioned in their right times and present them in one List at once befor thee After which I shall proceed to the Kingdome of Mycenae in which I shall meet with difficultie more then ordinary because the Kings of that Kingdome are scarce rightly computed by any Author that I have seen Petavius in his Rat. Temp. comes nearest to truth as will be afterward shewed Yeares of the Julian Period when they beg Kings of Argos to the death of Acrisius ex Eusebio 2852. Inachus 50. Years of his reigne 2902. Phoroneus 60. Years of his reigne 2962. Apis 35. Years of his reigne 2997. Argus 70. Years of his reigne 3067. Criasus 54. Years of his reigne 3121. Phorbas 35. Years of his reigne 3156. Triopas 46. Years of his reigne 3202. Crotopus 21 Years of his reigne 3223. Stethnelas 11. Years of his reigne 3234. Danaus 50. Years of his reigne 3284. Lynceus 41. Years of his reigne 3325. Abas 23. Years of his reigne 3348. Praetus 17. Years of his reigne 3365. Acrisius 31. Years of his reigne 3396. In this yeare the Kingdome of Argos was ended through the untimely death of Acrisius 544. yeares after it began I come therefore now to that of Mycenae in the handling of which that I may account aright I shall crave a little leave to depart away from the common path For as is commonly accounted Perseus and Sthenelus had but eight yeares together whereas Perseus alone had not lesse then one and thirty yeares because mention is made of the two and thirtieth yeare of his reigne as may be seen in Eusebius his tenth Booke and his third Chapter De Praeparatione Evangelica After these two Euristheus reigned 38 say some 43. say others Then Atreus and Thyestes 65. and Agamemnon 15. After him Aegystus 7. Orestes 70. and last of all Tisamenus Penthilus and Cometes 3. among them the end whereof must be at 80. yeares after the destruction of Troy as Velleius sheweth lib. 1. cap 2. The years of these last after Agamemnon I think may passe as they are except with Sir Walter Raleigh I reckon six and not seven to Aegystus or else account some one of their years after Agamemnon to be but current And as for Agamemnon himselfe that he should have but 15 is contrary to what Eusebius writeth in the Chapter and book aforesaid where agreeing with Clemens of Alexandria he telleth us that Agamemnon reigned 18. yeares in the last whereof Troy was taken Then for Atreus and Thyestes that they together should have 65. yeares is nothing probable for as Petavius proveth out of Thucidides and Isocrates it is not to be doubted but that Eurystheus predecessor to them was slaine by the posterity of Hercules after Hercules himselfe was dead To which saith he Diodorus addeth saying the posterity of Hercules fought against Eurystheus having Theseus and Hyllus for their Captaines Have an eye then to the time when Theseus both began and ended his reigne and see whether the time of Eurystheus can possibly be thrust up so high as the 65. yeares of Atreus and Thyestes will croud it More like it is that they two between them had not above six yeares For the Scholiast of Thucidides sets downe the time of the Heraclidae's first eruption into Peloponnesus to be twenty yeares before the destruction of Troy and the latter to be 80. yeares after it was destroyed But saith Petavius their first comming in is to be taken two wayes For in the beginning thereof they with their Captains Jolaus Theseus and Hillus fought against Eurystheus and he being slaine they enjoyed Peloponnesus for about a yeare untill by pestilence they were driven out Then in the third yeare after they come againe even just twenty yeares before the destruction of Troy when Hyllus concluded with Atreus the successor of Eurystheus that if hee viz. Hyllus were overcome in single fight the Heraclidae should depart to the place from whence they came and not returne into Peloponnesus againe untill an hundred yeares after Now it so fell out that Hyllus was slain they thereupon depart as was agreed and returne not againe untill the time appointed which being an hundred yeares after and yet but 80. yeares after the fall of Troy must needs declare that Hyllus was slaine twenty yeares before Troy was destroyed viz. in the year of the Julian Period 3510 three years before which viz. in the yeare of the Julian Period 3507. Eurystheus was slaine In that yeare therefore of his death was the first yeare of Atreus who together with his Partner in reigne Thyestes could have but six yeares if Agamemnon have eighteen And that Agamemnon had eighteen rather then fifteene is witnessed as I said before by Clemens in Eusebius who saith that Troy was taken in the eighteenth yeare of his reigne Nor doth Eusebius himselfe but record so many yeares for the whole reigne of Agamemnon though he wrongfully coupleth his fifteenth with the fall of Troy which is indeed the onely reason why some Authors say that he had but fifteene years of reigne For if Troy was taken in his fifteenth yeare then must that be his last because at his returne from thence he was slain by Aegystus set on to do it by the suggestion of Clytemnestra Agamemnons owne Wife who in the absence of her Husband and whilst he was at the Seige of Troy committed Adultery with Aegystus and now together with him defileth her hands with Blood as before for the satisfying of her wicked lust she had filthily defiled her Husbands bed and so in conclusion adds murther and Adultery both together But it was not the fifteenth but eighteenth year of this gallant King when the Greekes tooke Troy according to the Testimony aforesaid and therefore we must not account lesse then eighteene yeares for Agamemnon And as for Perseus the first King of this Kingdome mention as I said before is made of the two and thirtieth years of his reigne but how much he reigned longer is uncertaine Onely that he began in the yeare of the Julian Period 3396. I am very confident and have reason for it For first Danaus was banished out of Egypt nine yeares after King Pharaoh was drowned in the Red-Sea which therefore makes his banishment to be in the yeare of the Julian Period 3233. and consequently his beginning to reigne in Argos in the year of the same Period 3234. Which time of Danaus being thus fixed serves well to direct us both to the beginning and end of the Kingdome of Argos and consequently for the beginning of the Kingdome of Mycenae whose first King was as already hath been said King Perseus Secondly the two and thirtieth yeare of Perseus before mentioned was 63. years before the expedition of the Argonauts and therefore in the yeare of
the just number of 430. years The fourth is from the comming out of Egypt till King Salomon began the building of the Temple in the fourth yeare of his reigne and is a Period of 479. years compleat or of 480. begunne The fifth is from the first founding of the Temple to the destruction thereof by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninteenth yeare of his reigne almost ended in the first yeare of the 48. Olympiad and is a Period of 423. yeares and about 103. dayes The sixth is from thence to the time that Zerobabell began againe to build it in the second yeare of Darius King of Persia and is a Period of 68. years and some dayes more The seventh is from thence to the beginning of Daniels LXX weeks in the twentieth yeare of Artaxerxes Longimanus when Jerusalem was againe fully restored and the wals thereof built up and finished by Nehemiah in a streight of time this being a Period of 65. years as shall be afterwards proved The eighth is from thence to the beginning of Christs Ministery in the seventie and fourth Julian yeare at the Autumne of the yeare of the Julian Period 4742. and is a Period of 483. years called by Daniel Seven weeks and Sixtie two weeks as is recorded Dan. 9.25 These seven and sixtie two make sixtie nine and end at Autumne but Christ was baptized on the sixth of January before In the beginning therefore of the seventieth or last week exactly betweene the first and second Passeover after his Baptisme when his Harbinger John had now finished his message and was cast into Prison a time precisely and purposely noted in the Evangelicall story Christ first began to preach in Galilee the Gospell of the Kingdome and proclaimed himselfe to be the MESSIAH For after John was put in Prison saith Marke 1.14 Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdome of God and saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time is fulfilled that is as Master Mede expounds it the last Week of the seventy is come and the Kingdome of God is at hand From that time saith Matthew cap. 4.17 Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand This was that day whereof Christ himselfe said at Nazareth that that Scripture was fulfilled The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach the Gospell to the poore c. and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4.18.19 This the time and place whence Saint Peter reckoned the beginning of Christs Prophecy in his Sermon to Cornelius That word saith he which was published through out all Judea and began from Galilee after the Baptisme which John preached c. Acts 10.37 Learned Scaliger also here hath well observed For though he expound Daniels Weekes otherwise then I have done yet this he saith Dimidium autem Septimanae pertinet ad praedicationem Messiae quod nemo ignorat Scal. De Emend temp lib. 6. edit 1. Praedicatio autem non a Baptismo incipit quod hactenus omnibus persuasum fuit sed à vinculis Johannis Baptistae Thus he Who hereupon accounteth from the imprisonment of John to the Resurrection of Christ three yeares and a halfe saying A vinculis Johannis praedicatione ad Resurrectionem anni tres cum semisse And againe Male hactenus tempus Praedicationis a Baptismo definitum Thus in his first Edition and in his second thus Hinc incipit saith he praedicatio Christi Meaning that from the imprisonment of John between the first and second Passeover was the beginning of Christs preaching The ninth is from hence to the Passion of Christ in the middle of this last week and is a Period of three years and six moneths For in the fourth year of this week three years and an halfe after Christ Jesus began his Prophecie being made our High Priest he offered himselfe upon the Crosse a Sacrifice for Sin was dead buried and rose again Then ascended up into heaven to be installed and to sit at the right hand of God and from thenceforth to reigne till he have subdued all his enemies under his feet The time of this Period is confessed even by some among the Jewes three years and a halfe the glory of God stood upon Mount Olivet and preached saying Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near as Rabbi Janna noteth The next to this is the tenth Period and is from the Passion of Christ to the end of the last Jubilee at the Autumne of the year foregoing the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans containing the number of thirty six years and and a halfe or thereabout This Rest or Jubilee was the last that ever the Jews saw in their owne Land for in the next year after it was ended their Temple and City was utterly destroyed and they themselves cast out even in the year of the World 4074. and year of the Julian Period 4783. Which year was also the seventieth year of Christ according to the common account the 115. Julian year the second year of Vespasian and year of Rome built 822. And surely the Providence of God herein is clearly seen for as they began their account for Rests and Jubilees in the last year of Moses six moneths before they passed over Jordan when they had conquered and began to possesse a part of that Land which God had given them for their Tribes to inherit So in like manner this reckoning ended with them when the time was at hand that it should be taken away from them and they cast out till the time of the fulnesse of the Gentiles come Luke 21.24 And to this in one place doth Scaliger well agree for though in his fifth book De emendatione Temporum he begins this reckoning in the seventh year after they came into Canaan yet afterward in his seventh book in his notes upon that Kalender called Computus Judaicus he plainely saith Ingressus Israelis in terram est primus annus Septimanae That is the entrance of Israel into the Land is the first year of the Week And so I account for the first year of the first Week was not ended untill the Autumne next after Joshua conducted the people of Israel over Jordan This last year of Moses was in the year of the Julian Period 3263. Num. 32.33 when the Kingdome of Sihon King of the Amorites and the Kingdome of Og King of Bashan was conquered and given to the children of Gad and to the children of Ruben and to halfe the tribe of Manasseth the Son of Joseph for a possession this conquest being about six moneths before Joshua passed over Jordan as Codoman noteth The seventh year from hence inclusively was therefore the beginning of the first year of Rest in the year of the Iulian Period * And was the yeare of the Jews Period 2317. 3269. And the seventh seven in like manner the first Iubilee in the year of
same Period 4126. which space is thus gathered namely by the time after the fourth yeare of King Salomon to the first yeare of Jeroboam the sonne of Nebat who made Israel to sinne Ezek. 4.5 after which were 390. yeares taught us by Ezekiel in the fourth Chapter of Ezekiel his Prophecie at the end whereof the Land is left desolate of all her Inhabitants in the three and twentieth yeare of Nebuchadnezzar almost 427. yeares after the Temple began to be built For the first yeare of Jeroboam was * Because K. Salomon reigned 40. years and but 3 before he began to build the Temple 37 yeares after King Salomon began to lay the foundation to which if we add 390. we have 427. Now out of this number we must deduct 4 because the Temple was burnt in the nineteenth yeare of Nebuchadnezzar as appeares 2 King 25.8.9 and then there will remain 423. the whole time of the years that the Temple stood And as for the Moneths and dayes that were more they were I say three Iulian Moneths and about eight dayes for King Salomon laid the foundation on the last day of Aprill and on the eighth of August it was destroyed And then againe that there were 37 years from the fourth of King Salomon to the beginning of the 390. yeares of Ezekiel in the first yeare of Ieroboam when he concluded for the setting up of his Idolatry is true for indeed there were 37 yeares threesore dayes and one For as I said before King Salomon laid the foundation of the Temple on the last day of Aprill in the yeare of the Iulian Period 3703. and Ieroboam concluded with his Councill for the the setting up of his Idolatry on the last day of Iune which was the three and twentieth day of the third month in the year of the Period Iulion 3740 from whence to the last of June in the year of the Iulian Period 4130 were 390 years In that year therefore 4130 about the later end of Iune before the full end of the 23 year of Nebuchadnezzar the 390 years of the sin of Israel and the 40 years of the sin of Iudah ended For we may not think that these 390 began precisely on the fifteenth day of the eighth moneth when Ieroboam instituted a Feast for the worship of his golden Calves but rather before in the same year viz. when he and his Councill had concluded for the making of them or being made when he first set them in open view and said Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt 1 Kin. 12.28 which without scruple I take to be on the 23 day of the third moneth as is aforesaid on which day the Jews fast because of this which Ieroboam did And note further that the reason why I say these 390 years end not untill near four years after the Temple was destroyed is because Nebuchadnezzar had not done all that he was to do against Ierusalem untill the 23 year of his reign at which time that small remnant which was left in the Land with Gedaliah Joseph Antiq. lib. 10. c. 11. was carryed away the number then carryed being 745 as is recorded Jer. 25.15 For now at this time being about four years after the Temple was burnt Nebuzaradan a Captain of the guard was sent by Nebuchadnezzar to carry all away which he did and so there was none of the posterity of Israel left remaining in the Land to provoke the Lord either by their sins which they learned of Manasses or by their sins of that Idolatry which they learned of Ieroboam 390 years before For albeit the Kingdome of Israel ceased to be in the ninth year of Hoshea yet there this reckoning of 390 may not end but is still accounted till a full end be made and that the Lord * 2 Kin. 23.27 remove Iudah out of his sight as well as Israel some reliques of Israel remaining among those of Iudah till the whole number of 390 was accomplished beyound which time God in that holy Land of Promise would not endure the sin of Israel any more which comming from Ieroboam had infected even them of Iudah too 2 Kings 17.16.19 and therefore could not be throughly rooted out untill all as well of Iudah as of Israel were carryed out of that good Land given to their Fathers many hundred yeares before This againe is proved by another number Ezek. 4.6 a number of 40 years taught us also by Ezekiel For albeit the number of 390 as it is whole hath relation to both houses yet 40 years of that reckoning are in more particular pertinent onely to the house of Iudah the thirtieth year whereof agreeth with the fifth year of Zedechia Ezekiel 1.1 and therefore the last must needs reach to the 23 of Nebuchadnezzar and the first begin in the eighteenth of Iosiah from which year the whole number of these 40 years are undoubtedly to be accounted For in that year Huldah the Prophetesse did foretell the inevitable destruction of Iudah 2 Kin. 22 3 15 16 c. Then did Iosiah celebrate a solemne Passeover then was it that the book of the Law which had been lost was found and read at the hearing whereof the good King wept the people for their Sins being threatned with Captivity But from that evill to come Josiah had a promise to be taken away before it came whose Godly courses should have moved his godlesse Subjects But they though bad before growing then to be worse and worse are fitly said to begin this burden of their 40 years sin declining so far from a wished Conversion that finally they fell into a dismall destruction Yea then was it that the Altar in Bethel was destroyed and so as the 390 years began in that year when Jeroboham caused the said Altar to be built in like manner these 40 years began in that year wherein Josiah caused it to be beaten down For though it were a time of Reformation in respect of what Josiah did yet not being followed on by the people and Kings after him though threatned by Huldah with destruction it is of all things herein the most probable that Ezekiel was moved to have respect thereunto when he was commanded to set apart 40 years from his 390 and appropriate them to Judah in more particular then when he joyned the sins of Israel and Judah both together All which is likewise seen in the fifth Chapter of Ezekiel for the Prophet there by shaving his head and parting the haire sheweth Judah's case One part he burnt with fire another part he cut with a sword a third part he scattered into the winde One part he bound up and soone after he burnt even that part also So Jerusalem with her Inhabitants should perish by fire sword with other miserable destructions And albeit a small remnant was left for a while with Gedaliah yet soone after they also shall be brought to nothing
 183 27 20   4267 3558 4  2 28 21   4268 3559 5  3 29 22   4269 3560 6  4 30 23   4270 3561 7 4 184 31 24   4271 3562 1  2 32 25   4272 3563 2  3 33 26   4273 3564 3  4 34 27   4274 3565 4  185 35 28   4275 3566 5  2 36 29 Yeers of the Peloponnesian War  4276 3567 6  3 37 30  4277 3568 7 5 4 38 31  4278 3569 1  186 39 32  4279 3570 2  2 40 33  4280 3571 3  3 41 34  4281 3572 4  4 42 35  4282 3573 5  187 43 36  4283 3574 6  2 44 37 1 This was the first yeer of the Peloponnestan War it began at the Spring witnesse that great Eclipse of the Sun which was on the fourth of August next after This War lasted 27. yeers  4284 3575 7 6 3 45 38 2  4285 3576 1  4 46 39 3  4286 3577 2  188 47 40 4  4287 3578 3  2 48 41 5  4288 3579 4  3 49 42 6  4289 3580 5  4 2m 8m 7 Xerxes the 2 d two moneths after whom Sogdianus 8 m. 4290 3581 6  189 1 ¶ 8 In this yeer Darius Nothus began and reigned 19 yeers SECT VIII Of Daniels seventy Weekes in the ninth Chapter of his Prophecy at the 24.25.26 and 27. Verses I Shall need to say nothing of the seventh Period more then what hath been already in the former Section and Table annexed to it I come therefore to the eighth which takes beginning the 20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus in the year of the Julian Period 4259 and endeth at the beginning of Christs Ministery in the year of the same Period 4742. This is a Period of 69 Weeks Petavius De Doctr. Temp. lib. 12. c. 35. or of 483 years accounted from the Execution of the Decree for the restoring and building of Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince vers 25. Of which Petavius speaketh excellently in these words saying Sexaginta novem hebdomades desinunt in Christum Ducem non nanscentem quidem sed in lucem apertumque prodeuntem seque ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accingentem hoc est in Baptismum ipsius qui anno primo septuagesimae hebdomadis incurrit Meaning in effect the same that I doe for though he applyes the end of the 69 Weekes to the Baptisme of Christ yet he saith as well that they end at Messiah the Prince namely not at the time when he was borne but when he came abroad and shewed himselfe openly beginning to dispose of his hid treasures and to preach the Gospel in the Synagogues of Galilee which was not untill the very end of these 69 Weekes made up of seven and sixty two and beginning of the seventieth For as before I noted in the fifth Chapter after John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospell of the Kingdome of God and saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time is fulfilled that is the last Week of the seventy is come and the Kingdome of God is at hand Mar. 1.14 In the middle of which last week the Messiah Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour was slain vers 26. And by the end of it the Covenant was confirmed with many of the Jews verse 27. Immediately after which time the Apostles turne to the Gentiles Acts 10.1 and Acts 11.18 They were all of them Weeks not of Days but of years according to the custome of Prophetical Dayes and years of Jubilee there being seven Weeks in 49 years as is seen in Levit. 25.8 Whereupon it followeth that in seventy Weekes are 490 years There can be no doubt of this I may therefore goe on and for the more cleare understanding of what I have already briefly touched set downe the words of the text in each verse at large Ver. 24. Seventy Weekes is cut out upon thy people and upon thy holy Cities to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse and to seale up Vision and Prophet and to annoint the Most Holy Ver. 25. Know therefore and understand that from the Out-going of the word to returne and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven Weekes and threescore and two Weekes it shall be built againe Street and Wall even in the strait of times Ver. 26. And after the threescore and two Weekes shall Messiah be slain but not for himselfe wherefore the Princes people to come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a Flood and unto the end of the War desolations are determined Vers 27 But in one weeke he shall confirme the Covenant with many and in the midst of the weeke he shall cause the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease and by a Wing of abominations making desolate he shall flow upon the desolate even untill the Consummation determined These be the words of the Prophecie carefully translated which in the next place I thinke fit to open and explain noting upon them as followeth Vers 24. Seventy weekes is cut out By which phrase is meant that the full and just number of 70 weekes is cut out For when a Verb singular is joyned to a Substantive plurall it teacheth in Hebrew that an exact account is then in every part thereof fully intended Thy people that is Thy Country men the Jewes as may be seen in the first Chapter of Ruth at the tenth verse where the Jewes are called Naomies people The like is also in the third Chapter of the Lamentations at the fourteenth verse where Jeremy complaining saith He was a laughing stock to all his people Thy Holy City this meanes Jerusalem Esa 52.1 Matth. 4.5 so called because it was the speciall place consecrate to the holy worship of God This Prerogative of being called The holy City it was to retaine as here appeareth untill the full end of these 70. weekes And therefore when Christ came Salvation was first tendred to the Jewes They in generall made light of it and put Christ to death howbeit the covenant of the Gospell was confirmed with many of them during the time of the last week which being ended their Prerogative ceased and thereupon the Apostles turne to the Gentiles to whom the Gospell began not to be preached untill three yeares and an halfe after Christs Passion at which time every one of the Seventy weekes were fully ended Now this holy City was called Daniels City either because he was born there or because that was the place of his bringing up or in which he dwelt till he was carryed away Captive Thus Capernaum is called Christs City because he dwelled in it Matth. 9.1 and
parts of Europe Syria and Egypt and these things done with such celerity that he might well appear to Daniel in one of his Visions with * Quia nihil fuit velocius Alexandri victoria as Saint Hierom observeth wings on his backe Dan. 7.6 Apelles knew no such Prophecie and yet to signifie his great swiftnesse and agility he added to his Picture a Thunderbolt and Lysippus another painter drew him in this fashion looking up towards Heaven and as it were uttering these words Jupiter asserui terram mihi tu assere coelum Jupiter I have taken the earth to my selfe do thou take the Heaven Which Poesie pleased him and gave him great content insomuch that none afterwards might take his Picture except Lysippus at length growing to be more and more taken with an itch of vaine glory he called himselfe the son of Jupiter arrogating such a worship to be due unto him as was conferred on the Gods which when Callisthenes refused to give he caused him to be killed Howbeit before he had glutted himselfe with the pleasures of Asia he was more milde and better-minded for as Josephus hath recorded meeting Jaduah the high Priest of the Jewes in his Pontificall robes Joseph Antiq. lib. 11. cap. 8. he fell down before him and gave him reverence and being asked by Parmenio why he did so he answereth I worship not the man but God in the man who in the same habit had appeared to him and gave him encouragement to go forward in that enterprise concerning the conquest of Asia And indeed upon this appearance he grew confident went on couragiously and with good successe untill the time came that he must be broken off which was in the first year of the 114 Olympiad as most Authours reckon aster which foure other hornes sprang up in his stead CHAP. XIV Of the four Hornes which came up in stead of the great Horne broken off as was prophecyed Dan. 8.8.21.22 As also the beginning of that Date of the Kingdome of the Greekes so often mentioned in the Bookes of the Maccabees and in Josephus THese foure Hornes were the four successours of Alexander or rather the foure Kingdomes into which his great and mighty Monarchy was divided after him not instantly or immediately after he was dead but by the time that his whole stocke and posterity were rooted out And for this we have the warrant of Daniel in another place of his prophecy namely in the eleventh Chapter at the fourth verse in which place is said His Kingdome shall be divided towards the foure windes of Heaven but not to his posterity This was not untill twelve yeares after the death of Alexander for then none of his posterity being left alive neither Mother Brother Wife nor child his Captaines composed the differences that were between them by entring into a League among themselves and began to reigne bringing the dominion of the whole for which they strove into four Heads and so there were foure Kingdomes though not according to the dominion which he ruled nor in such power as he had Daniel sheweth it Dan. 8.22 and Dan. 11.4 The most eminent among these and which had most to do with the Jews was the Kingdome of the Syro-Grecians or the Kingdome of the Greekes in Syria and Babylon For Ptolomy the sonne of Lagus obtained Egypt and is called he and his successours after him the King of the South In the North Antigonus held Asta minor In the West Cassander possessed the Kingdome of Macedonia and in the East Seleucus Nicanor obtained the Kingdome of Babylon and Syria in whose first yeare that date so often mentioned in the Bookes of the Maccahees and in Josephus tooke beginning That in the first Booke of Maccabees on the thirteenth day of March in the yeare of the Iulian Period 4402. That in the second Booke of the Maccabees at the Spring time of the next yeare between both which was another beginning on the sixth day of September in the same yeare with the first And thus we have the severall heads of this Aera of Seleucus The first is called Minjan staros that is Aera Contractuum Eusebius calleth it Aera Edessenorum and others the Aera of the author of the first Booke of Maccabees and is followed by Josephus They that cast it into the 436. yeare of Nabonassar are right if they marke how they account it which must be thus The 436. yeare of Nabonassar began in the yeare of the Iulian Period 4401 on the ninth day of November and on the thirteenth day of March next after whilst the same yeare of Nabonassar was still running on the first yeare of the Greekes began This first yeare therefore of the Kingdome of the Greekes began in the yeare of the Iulian Period 4402. as at the first was said on the thirteenth day of March at the Summer time of which year entred in the first year of the 117 Olympiad The second is called Aera Antiochena seu Alexandrea sive * Id est a duobus coâ—â—bus seu duobus imperiis quae ex uno orientali Alexandrino enata sunt Orig De temp p. 24. Lydiat De emend tem pag. 83.84 Dilkarnaim beginning on the sixth of September in the same year with the former The third is Aera Chaldaica seu Macedonica beginning in the Spring time of the following year falling therefore into the yeare of the Iulian Period 4403. and is called the Aera of the Author of the second Booke of Maccabees followed as I conceive by Ptolomy Lib. magni operis 11. cap. 7. who beginneth his account in the yeare of Nabonassar 437. In the 148 year of this Kingdome according to the first account Judas Maccabeus purged the Temple and the holy places which the Heathen had polluted and defiled building a new Altar and restoring the Sacrifices as is recorded in 1 Macc. 4.52 53. This was in the year of the Julian Period 4549 and year of the World 3840 on the 25 day of Casleu If this year were annus Embolimaeus then must the 25 day of Casleu be on the two and twentieth or three and twentieth of November as Calvisius reckoneth But as I account it was not annus Embolimaeus and therefore the 25 of Casleu was on the * Because the first of Nisan was April 6. f. 1. and so it must be by reason of the Equinox two and twentieth day of December f. 2. In the year next after was the beginning of a year of Rest on the 21 day of September and is mentioned after the death of Antiochus when Eupator beseiged Jerusalem 1 Macc. 6.48 49. In the yeare therefore of the Julian Period 4550 this Sabbathical year began and reached to the seventh moneth of the next year In the year of the same Period 4578 began another and in the year 4676 another All of them spoken of in Josephus and two of them in the History of the Maccabees CHAP. XV. Of the little
Gurginius 3.  4535. Merian 2.  * He was buried at Ikaldown or as we now call it Jekelton in Cambridgesheir For so I find it in a very old Chronicle of England * He built Cambride and Grantham * He built the Towne of Pickering Yeares of the Julian Period when they beg The continuation of the former List or Catalogue of the British Kings   4537. Bladunc 2.  4539. Capb 1.  4540. Ovinus 2.  4542. Cicill 2.  4544. Bledgebred 20.  4564. Archemall 14.  4578. Eldelus 4.  4582. Rodianus 32.  4614. Hertir or Redarius 5.  4619. Samulius 2.  4621. Penisellus 3.  4624. Pyrrhus 6.  4630. Caporus 7.  4637. Dinellus 3.  4640. Helius * 1. * The Isle of Eley was named after his name and the town thereof built by him 4641. Lud 11.  4652. Cassibelan 19.  4659. In this year being the eighth of Cassibelan Cesar came first against Britaine but was repulsed and made no Conquest here till the next yeare   4660. This was that next the ninth of Cassibelan the 699. of Rome and the third yeare of the 181. Olympiad it was also the 4660. yeare of the Julian Period and yeare oâ— the World 3951. And now had the Britaines reigned 1055. yeares current when Cesar made this conquest   4671. Theomantius reigned next 23.  4694. Cymbeline 35. In his time Christ was born 4729. Guiderius 28. He denied to pay the Romans their tribute whereupon the Emperour Claudius raised a great Army and came against him in the yeare of our Lord 43. * He is said by some to rule 60. yeares and that the yeares of the Kings before him ever since the death of Elidure are uncertain in his time Cherry-Trees was first planted in this Iland as Master Isâ—â—cson writeth in his Chronology pag. 171. The next after Guiderius was Arviragus he reigned 28. yeares and began in the yeare of the Julian Period 4757. In the last yeare but one of his reigne Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus the sonne of Vespasian even in the year of the Julian Period 4783. And thus I have prosecuted this History of the British Kings thus farre and listed them in their right times and order as neare as I can and have as you see taken my first Rise from the arrivall of their first King Brutus who comming out of France came into this Land then called Albion and found no other Inhabitants in it but some Gyants which dwelled in Moutaines and Caves these were vanquished by him and his men the chiefest whereof was Corin one of Brutes strongest Champions by whom the Gyant Gogmagog was slaine But if this Island were once a Continent to France as Verstegan proveth in his * chap 4. restitution of decayed Antiquities then I do suppose the most ancient name thereof was Samothea Afterward being made an Island by the Sea eating through that little Isthmus or neck of Land between Dover and Calice it was called Albion from Albion a Son of Neptune as some have said by whom and whose posterity it was inhabited untill Brute made conquest of it which as is commonly accounted was in the year before Christ 1108. And there I have fixed it even in the yeare of the Iulian Period 3606. and yeare of the World by my account 2897. CHAP. XI Containing the Dynasties of severall other Kingdomes THe Kingdomes which next offer themselves to be considered are the Kingdomee of Lacedemon and Corinth which began at the last descent of the Heraclidae fourscore yeares after the destruction of Troy as before in the end of the fifth Chapter was shewed Some begin them both in one yeare whilst others make a yeares difference which I doe beleeve ariseth from this that Automenes is sometimes reckoned for the last King of Corinth and sometimes for the first Annuall Officer after the end of the second Dynastie But I for my part shall reckon Automenes for the * and so Eusebius also reckons last King after whom were Annuall Officers or Princes for 124. yeares as is accounted by Helvicus in his Chronologie At the end of which yeares Cypselus began to reigne and reigned 28. yeares Some say that he was a Tyrant but by Sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the World lib. 2. cap. 28. Sect. 5. he is mentioned not as a Tyrant but as a quiet Prince who notwithstanding by expelling the race of the Bachidae made himselfe Lord of Corinth After Cypselus was Periander who was indeed a Tyrant and reigned 44. yeares according to Aristotle dying in the fourth year of the 48. Olympiad as saith Laertius The death therefore of this Tyrant and end of the Kingdome of Corinth fell into the yeare of the Julian Period 4129. for then was the fourth yeare of the 48. Olympiad And as for the beginning of it that must be in the yeare of the same Period 3610. foure score yeares after the fall of Troy as already hath been said See now the List Years of the Iulian Period when they beg A List of the Kings of Corinth ex Euseb all fixed in their right times  3610. Athletes or Alethes 35. Dynastie 1. 3645. Ixion 37. Dynastie 1. 3682. Agilaus 37. Dynastie 1. 3719. Pryminas 35. Dynastie 1. Years of the Iulian Period when they beg The Dynastie of the Bachidae in Corinth ex Eusebio  3754. Bachis 35. Dynastie 2 3789. Agelas 30. Dynastie 2 3819. Eudemus 25. Dynastie 2 3844. Aristemedes 35. Dynastie 2 3879. Egemnon 16. Dynastie 2 3895. Alexander 25. Dynastie 2 3920. Phelesteus 12. Dynastie 2 3932. Automenes 1. Dynastie 2 3933. Annuall Officers began and continued one hundred twenty foure yeares  4057. Cypselus 28. 4085. Periander 44. 4129. The death of Periander and fourth year of the forty eight Olympiad  Years of the Iulian Period when they beg A List or Catalogue of the Lacedemonian Kings taken out of Eusebius and fitted to their right times  3610. Euristheus 42. 3652. Agis 1. 3653. Archestratus 35. 3688. Labotes 37. 3725. Doristus 29. 3754. Agesilaus 44. 3798. Archelaus 60. 3858. Telechus 40. 3898. Alcamenes 37. 3935. Here was the end of this List or Catalogue in in which were seven Kings and they among them reigned 325. yeare  The next that I shall mention The reigns of the Lydians were the Kings of Lydia and the time of their Dynasties the first of which I must passe over as not knowing how to reckon it The second began in the yeare of the Julian Period 3492. and lasted as saith Herodotus 505. yeares even till the beginning of Gyges but we want a continued Series of the Kings for the space of 426. yeares even till the first yeare of Ardysus who reigned 36. yeares Alyattes 14. Meles 12. Candaules 17. After Candaules the third Dynastie began and had in it 170 * not compleat but current years divided among five Kings