haue beene Therefore Plutarchs doubt for any thing that I can see had no reason at all but seemeth to sauour of an vsuall custome of the Academicall sect which was alwaies readie furnished to dispute on eyther side pro or contra eyther for the truth or against it For this is most certaine that hee followeth that reckoning by Olympiads himselfe in many places as giuing credit thereunto and making no doubt thereof In his treatise of the ten Orators he saith that Andocides was borne in the 78. Olympiad when Theogenides was gouernour of Athens And that Callias was gouernour in the 92. Olympiad and that Isocrates was borne vnder Lysimachus in the 86. Olymp. 22. yeares after Lysias whose birth he setteth in the second of the 80. Olympiad in the yeare of Philocles all which reckonings agree very perfectly to the ancient Olympick account and the Histories of Thucidides Xenophon and Diodorus Siculus Plinie in the fourth Chapter of his 36. booke hath these wordes Marmore scalpendo primi omnium inclaruerunt Dipoenus Scyllis geniti in Creta insula etiamnum Medis imperitantibus Priusquam Cyrus in Persis regnare inciperet hoc est Olympiade circiter quinquagesima The first of all other for grauing of marble were famous Dipoenus Scyllis born in the Iland of Creta whilst yet the Medes bare rule before Cyrus began to raigne in Persia that is about the 50. Olympiad Hereof Matthew Beroald in the second Chapter of his booke of Chronologie gathereth that Cyrus began in the 50. Olympiad by Plinies testimonie herein dissenting from other who placed his beginning in the 55 but whosoeuer commeth with an euen minde to the truth may easilie perceiue another meaning in Plinie that the words hoc est Olympiade circiter 50 ought not to be referred to that which is said of Cyrus priusquam regnare inciperet before he began to raigne but the former part of the sentence giuing vs this to vnderstand the time wherin Dipoenus Scyllis were famous engrauers in Marble to haue beene about the 50. Olympiad in the dayes of the Medes Soueraigntie before Cyrus had got it away from them to the Persians Thus no dissention at all betweene Plinie and other but great agreement is found Much other such like stuffe is brought of Beroaldus from diuers authors by cold coniectures not any sure knowledge all for the most part in that kind as maketh either against himselfe or nothing for him Pericles being a yong man was of some of the aged sort in Athens thought to fauor Pisistratus the tirant in countinance speech as Plutarch telleth in his life which could not bee as Beroaldus supposed except the old men who had knowne Pisistratus had at that time beene a hundred yeres old A thing in his iudgement vnlike to bee true It is not so vnlike as strange that a man of his learning and reading should iudge so of it seeing that we read of many examples of men of those yeares Valerius Corninus who was Consull of Rome six times liued full out a hundred yeares and likewise Metellus Pontifex Solinus in his Polihistor telleth that Masinissa begot his Sonne Methymnus at 86. yeres age In the time of Claudius Caesar one T. Fullonius of Bononia was found to be 150. yeres of age which in Lydia was a common thing as by Mutianus is reported Terentia the wife of Cicero liued 107. Clodia 115. Many other by Plinie are recorded in his seuenth booke the 48 49 50 Chapters in diuers countries betweene a hundred and a hundred and 50. yeares olde But of all other one Xenophilus liuing 105. yeares without anie disease or hurt of his bodie was wondred at That Gorgias Leontinus a famous Oratour much about that time with Pericles liued 109. yeares wee haue the testimonie of Appolodorus his Chronicles in Diogenes Laertius within one yere acknowledged also by Plinie Euen in this our age at home in our own countrie it is no strange thing to find examples of such as liued out that time which Beroaldus accounted so incredible that he could not perswade himselfe of it to be true but his incredulitie is no proofe to weaken the credit of credible writers But I will not strike with him for this to graunt it a thing vncredible let vs examine his reckoning Pericles died in the third yeare of the 87. Olimpiad not the 88. as Beroaldus saith before his death he had beene one of the chiefe gouernours of the Athenian common wealth fortie yeares This Cicero teacheth in his third booke de oratore so the beginning of his authoritie falleth to the three yeares not of the 78. as Beroaldus would but the 77. Olympiad About that time some olde men gaue this iudgement of him that he was like Pisistratus and might not that be done but of such as were then a 100 yeres old surely yes for Pisistratus died not past threescore yeares before whereof 22. had passed from the Marathon battaile and 20. more from the expelling of Hippias out of Athens declared by Thucidides and 18. before from the beginning of Hippias who succeded Pisistratus Yet some more besides these must bee added to the old mens age to haue knowledge of Pisistratus in his life time to deale liberally let that time be twentie yeres before the death of Pisistratus so their age is left foure score yeres very vsuall at this day in diuers lusty men although I would haue this obserued which Plutarch writeth that iudgement to haue bin giuen of Pericles when hee was a young man whereby some aduantage yet might farther be taken if it were a matter worth the standing vpō Aelianus in his third book the 21. chapter saith Beroaldus telleth of Themistocles that being a childe and as hee came from Schoole meeting Pisistratus the tyrant was willed by his ouerseer attending vpon him to goe out of the way which he refused to doe and asked if there were not roome enough for him besides Whereunto is repugnant that which Iustin telleth in his second booke that Themistocles was a young man at the Marathon war when he must needes be at the least 66. yeares olde if Aelianus say true for the sonnes of Pisistratus after their fathers death raigned 36. yeares witnessed by Herodotus in his fift booke then after were twentie more to the Marathon fight and before Themistocles could in such an answer shew so stoute a minde against the tirant it is like he was ten yeares of age Beroaldus here also in his account is deceiued mistaking Herodotus who in Terpsichore indeede affirmeth that the Pisistratan stocke raigned 36. yeares yet not meaning thereby as Beroaldus would faine haue it that Pisistratus his children raigned so long after their fathers death but that the whole time of father and sonne was in all so much This appeareth by Aristotle an author for credit very sufficicient in the fift booke of his politickes the twelft chapter making the whole raigne of the Pisistratan stocke 35. yeares that is 17.
their hauen Pyreus by the Lacedemonians and their associates Of this had gone a Prophesie long before in many mens mouthes which himself with his owne eares many times had heard that it should endure thrise nine yeares which is confirmed by Diodorus Siculus very plainely affirming that war to haue lasted 27. yeares in two places first in his twelfth booke treating of the beginning of that war and after in his thirteenth booke speaking of the last yeare thereof which hee saith was the last of the 93. Olympiad as in deede it was for 27. yeares added to the first of the 87. Olympiad wherein it began make an end of it in the fourth of the 93. After Thucidides followed Xenophon who from the one and twentie yeare of that warre where Thucidides left continued in writing the course of that Historie to the ende a man liuing in those dayes carefull of the truth and skilfull in Historie commended euen by Beroaldus himselfe though otherwise an aduersarie of the true ancient Chronologie and Historie of those times In the fifth Chapter of his fourth book Xenophon saith Beroaldus writeth that the gouernment of Athens was committed to a few in that Olympick yeare wherein Crocinus the Thessalian won the race but which Olympiad it was in number hee declareth not Which if he who then liued and prepared himselfe for seruice had done hee had rid vs of much trouble Let vs see therefore what help is giuen by this excellent writer to ease vs herein In his first booke of Greeke affaires this first hee setteth downe verie flatlie that the yeare wherein Enarchippus at Sparta and Enctemo at Athens were Maiors was the first of the 43. Olympiad wherein Eubotas the Cyrenian won the race and a new game of yoaked horses called Synoris was first ordayned at that time won by Enagoras of Elis where lest anie might think Xenophon to haue bin deceiued we haue for further warrant the testimonie of Pausanias in the first booke of Eliacx The running saith hee of two horses of ripe age called Synoris was instituted in the 93. Olympiad wherin Euagoras the Elian got the victorie Nowe this being made plaine by Xenophon that Enarchippus was gouernour of Sparta in the first yeare of the 93. Olympiad if it can bee further shewed by him in what yere of the Peloponnesian warre the same Enarchippus ruled at Sparta we shall easilie perceiue by euident direction from this worthie Author to what yeare of euery Olympiad the beginning midst ending and euery particular yeare of that war appertaineth To shew this we haue a Catalogue of all the chiefe Spartan Magistrates which bare Office in euery yeare of that warre called Ephori set downe by Xenophon in order by their names in the second booke of his Greeke Historie in these words The first saith Xenophon was Aenesias vnder whome the warre began in the 15. yeare of the 30. yeares league made after the taking of Eubaea After him succeeded these Borasidas Isanor Sostratidas Exarchus Agesistratus Agenidas Onomacles Zeuxippus Pityas Pleistolas Cleiomachus Ilarchus Leon Chaeridas Patesiades Cleosthenes Lycarius Exeratus Onomantius Alexippidas Misgolaidas Isias Aracus Enarchippus Pantacles Piteas Archytas Endius In whose time Lysander hauing done the exploits before rehearsed sayled home By this Catalogue of the Lacedemonian Maiors it is manifest that Xenophon for account of time in this warre agreeth most exactly with Thucidides The war began in the nine months end of Aenesias the first Ephorus and ended at the pulling downe the walles of Pyreus 27. yeares after which reach to the nine months end of the 28. Ephorus so that from the beginning of the second Ephorus neere three months after the beginning of the warre to the end of the 28. Ephorus nere three months after the end of that war are likewise iust 27. yeares perfectly and fully compleat And is it not euen so by Xenophon doth not hee declare the throwing downe the walles in the hauen Pyraeus to haue happened toward the end of Archytas his gouernment at Sparta And are there not full and euen 27. yeares from the beginning of Brasidas the second Ephorus to the end of Architas who by Xenophons number in that Catalogue was the 28 Is there any beetle so blind which cannot perceiue this exact agreement betwixt Xenophon and Thucidides for the account of those yeares The Peloponnesian warre as may be gathethered by Thucidides begun with the spring about the first of Aprill toward the end of Aenesias his yere Brasidas succeeding him begun his yeare about the beginning of the next sommer beeing the first of that warre The second sommer fell to the third Ephorus and so in order with the rest The eleuenth Ephorus by Xenophons beadroule was Pleistolas for the tenth sommer which is verified also by Thucidides in his fift booke speaking of a league made betwixt the Athenians and the Lacedemonians in the end of Pleistolas his Maioraltie at Sparta before the sommer of the eleuenth yeare The 21. Ephorus recited by Xenophon for the 20. sommer is Alexippidas The trueth whereof is witnessed and confirmed by Thucidides likewise in his eight booke wherein hee telleth that in the twentieth yere of the Peloponnesian warre a peace was concluded betweene Tissaphernes Lieutenant of Asia and the Lacedemonians in the plaine of Meander Alexippidas then being Ephorus of Sparta The next after Alexippidas for the 21. yeare there named is Misgolaidas for the 22. Isias for the 23. Aracus Then after them followeth Enarchippus the fiue and twentieth Ephorus for the 24. yeres sommer This Enarchippus being first placed in the beginning of the 93. Olympiad and after by his Catalogue found in the 24. yeare of the Peloponnesian war leaueth this cleere by Xenophons meaning that the 24. yeare of that war beginning with sommer was the first of the 93. Olympiad The three Ephori after Enarchippus succeeding in the other three yeares of that Olympiad set downe by Xenophon in order not onely in his table but euen in the context of his Historie for three seuerall yeares are these Pantacles Pyteas Archytas in whose time the Athenians beeing conquered by Lysander were driuen to yeeld The next yeare after was the first of a new Olimpiad so acknowledged most truely and verie orderly by Xenophon himselfe in his second booke where hauing declared the thinges done vnder Archytas In the yeare following saith hee was that Olympiad wherin Crocinus the Thessalian won the race Endius then bearing office at Sparta and Pythodorus ruling at Athens Now if anye aske which Olympiad this was in number that most manifestlie appeareth by the former namely expressed to haue beene the 93 so that it needed not againe for the next expresly to say that it was the 94. which had bin nothing els but recocta crambe according to the prouerb Colworts sodden againe Furthermore Xenophon not far frō the begining of the 2. book writeth that the nauie of the Lacedemoniās was deliuered to Lysander Whē 25. yeres of the war
of Pisistratus himselfe and 18. after of his children And so is Herodotus to be vnderstoode giuing them 36. in all onely differing from Aristotle in a yeare Whereby it may be thought that Pisistratus raigned some few moneths more aboue 17. yeares so his reckoning comes short by almost twentie yeares Againe there was another Pisistratus the sonne of Hippias and Grand childe to the elder Pisistratus before spoken of who in the yeare of his Maioraltie dedicated in the market place at Athens the Altar of the twelue Gods as Thucidides writeth of him in his sixt booke And this in my iudgement is the man to whome that Historie in Aelianus may be fitly applied and stand very well with that which Iustin hath concerning Themistocles fighting at Marathon Yea but Plinie in his 34. booke writeth that the Athenians the same yeare wherein the kings of Rome were driuen out being the fourth of the 67. Olympiad set vp the images of Harmodius and Aristogiton who had killed Hipparchus the tyrant farre wide from that which Dionysius telleth in his sixt booke that Hipparchus was ruler at Athens in the 71. Olympiad What say you to that Nothing but that Beroaldus being belike ashamed of his follie in bringing such an argument calleth it in againe as it were by answering that it was another Hipparchus which Dionysius speaketh of Another argument he taketh from Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his fift booke making the warre at Marathon later by sixteene yeares then the death of Brutus thereby referring the yeare to the fourth of the 71. Olympiad which by Cicero seemeth cast to the 73. wherein Coriolanus a Senator of Rome made warre against it Here we haue nothing but vntrueth vpon vntrueth fit groundes for such a rotten building for sixteene yeares after that of the first Consuls which was by Dionysius the first of the 68. Olympiad in the end whereof Brutus was slaine reach not to the fourth of the 71. but to the second of the 72. Olympiad wherein the same Dionysius in plaine words placeth that warre As for that of Coriolanus against Rome it happened in deed in the first of the 73. Olympiad onely three yeares after the other And therefore Cicero in his Brutus affirming not that this of Coriolanus was at the same time with that other of the Persians but almost at that time speaketh a trueth dissenting nothing at all from Dionysius It followeth in Beroaldus the same Dionysius in his ninth booke Diodorus Siculus agreeing vnto him saith that Xerxes went to warre against Greece in the 75. Olympiad when Callias gouerned Athens that is twelue yeares after the Marathon fight being past to that of Xerxes at Salamis Glossa corrumpit textum the glosse here marreth the text with a manifest vntrueth for neither Dionysius nor Diodorus maketh aboue eleauen yeares distance betwixt those battailes the one placed in the second of the 72. Olympiad the other in the first of the 75 almost in the beginning thereof Now let any man count the distance betweene on his fingers ends and see if he can finde twelue yeares But to omit this and come to the purpose Gelo was at the time of Xerxes his warre by Pausanias and Herodotus tyrant of Syracusae And Gelo tyrant of Syracusae by Plutarch in the life of Lysias the Orator in the second of the 82. Olympiad So the war of Xerxes must by this reckoning come backe neere 30. yeares after the 75. Olympick sport Plutarchs words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English thus much Lysias an exceeding rich man was the sonne of Cephales grand childe of Lysanias the sonne of Cephales his father Cephales was a Syracusian borne and flitted to Athens for loue partly of the citie and partly of Pericles the sonne of Xanthippus who perswaded him thereto being his friend and host or as some say for that hee was driuen from Syracusae at such time as it was subiect to the tyrannie of Gelo. He meaneth that Lysias was borne Being borne at Athens vnder Philocles the next ruler after Phrasicles hee was first brought vp with the noblest children of the Athenians about the second yeare of the 83. Olympiad Afterward being fifteene yeares olde he went to Thuriae a citie of Italie Praxiteles then being Maior of Athens as followeth there in Plutarch Philocles was Maior at Athens in the second yeare of the 80. Olympiad as Diodorus declareth Then was Lysias borne and being about eyght yeres olde in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad he was brought vp with other noble mens children in Athens and therein continued till the yere of Praxiteles his gouernement which was the first of the 84. Olympiad as we reade in the same Diodorus and the fifteenth of Lysias his birth Where can Beroaldus now finde in this place of Plutarch that Gelo was tyrant of Syracusae in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad What meant he so cōfidently to burst forth into this cōplaint Tam incerta sunt apud aut hores rerum istarum tempora So vncertaine are the times of these matters what reason had hee for it For hee that vnderstandeth Greeke and compareth Plutarchs owne words with that which Beroaldus gathereth by them will bee ashamed I beleeue of such an interpreter being so blinded with conceited affection that hee seeth not what is written and careth not what he saith Plutarch doth notablie in this place confirme the receiued ancient Chronologie of the Greekes so farre he is by any disagreement from weakening their credite Let vs now examine one or two other places of Beroaldus concerning the time of Xerxes fighting in Greece In the eyght chapter of his third booke Pausanias sayth Beroaldus telleth in his Arcadikes that Xerxes then passed into Greece when Gelo gouerned at Syracuse which is likewise witnessed by Herodotus in his seuenth booke But that same Pausanias in his Eliaca affirmeth that Gelo held the gouernment of that citie in the second yeare of the 72. Olympiad Except it be a strange thing that one king should continew his raigne by the space of twelue yeares This argument of Beroaldus is not worth a rush to proue disagreement betweene ancient writers referring Gelo his tiranie some to the second of the 72. Olympiad other to the first of the 75. when Xerxes passed into Europe for the beginning of his dominion was about the second of the 72. Olympiad as Dionisius Halicarnassaeus declareth in the seauenth booke of his Roman Antiquities And the end thereof in the 75. Olympiad the thirde yeare thereof as Diodorus witnesseth in the eleauenth booke of his Historicall librarie So both might stand together well enough Beroaldus hath yet more matter from Pausanias in his Eliaca who referreth the ouerthrow of Mardonius at Plateae the next yeare after Xerxes inuaded Greece to the 75. Olympiad whereas Diodorus Siculus saith that Xerxes in that Olympiad inuaded Greece both can not bee true The worde Olympias pertaineth sometime to the game itselfe celebrated euerie first yeare of
them a people not accepted of God because they had beene ouercome by the enemie and put to their tribute This was the reckoning which Tullie made of them who by diuine knowledge of God his worde were the onelie wise people in the world Deut 4. whereby it appeareth that in his eyes the prophane learning of men was deemed more excellent then the wisedome of God Amongst his sciences no place was left for diuinitie The knowledge of God his word was too base for that companie Much better was the doome of the ancient Fathers of the primitiue Church by the light of God his spirit who vsed all other artes and learning as helps and handmaids to the vnderstanding of diuine scripture beeing Ladie and Mistris of all to the which all humane wisedome oweth dutie and seruice Augustine a rare instrument for the benefite of GOD his Church came notably furnished with much other reading to the studie of diuinity His skill therein he prooued not onely by writing of the liberall sciences but also alleadging of Poets and other Authors and fitting their sayinges to the phrase of holy scripture to make it more plaine wherof one commeth now to my mind in his bookes of speeches taken out of a secular Author as hee termeth him Et scuta Latentia condunt They hide the priuie or secret lying shieldes meaning such as not before but after the hyding lay secret and hid This hee maketh serue for the vnderstanding of a like speech in the 25. chapter of Genesis in the Greeke bible of Esay and Iacob whose birth a little before was mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the young men grew They were new borne babes farre from that ripenes of yeares to bee called young men and therefore the action of growing in this place goeth before the young mens age to signifie that being little children At the length after much growing vp in age they became young men In his second booke De doctrina Christiana hee declareth at large that humane sciences and the learning of the gentiles and prophane histories are very helpfull and profitable to the vnderstanding of holy scripture The learned father Hierom also in many places bringeth much light great seruice from diuerse and sundry prophane writers to the vnderstanding of God his woorde In his commentaries on Esay the thirteenth chapter declaring the true meaning of the prophets woordes there vttered concerning the desolation of Babylon which other leauing the truth of historie expounded allegorically hath these woordes Audiuimus Medos audiuimus Babylonem inclytam in superbia Chaldaeorum nolumus intelligere quod fuit quaerimus audire quod non fuit Et haec dicimus non quòd tropologicam intelligentiam condemnemus sed quòd spiritualis interpretatio sequi debeat ordinem historiae Quod plaerique ignorantes lymphatico in scripturis vagantur errore We haue heard saith he of the Medes wee haue heard of Babylon the glorious city of the Chaldeans we will not vnderstand that which hath bin but we seeke to heare that which hath not beene Neither say I this to condemne tropologicall vnderstanding but that spirituall interpretation ought to follow order of historie which the most parte being ignorante of by mad wandring doe range about in the scriptures The same father being by some blamed as too much addict to the study of Secular knowledge in an epistle of his to on Magnus a Roman Orator taketh vpon him the defence and commendation thereof by the examples of the best and most excellent christian fathers before him I must needes therefore greatly commend the wisedome of our forefathers in ordering our vniuersities VVhere young schollers are first trained vp in the studies of humanity before they enter into God his schoole that by that meanes comming furnished and ready stored with many helpes from their former learning they may find a more easie waye and speedy course in that most graue race of diuine knowledge which is yet behinde for them to runne And surely so it is and euery one shall finde the experience hereof in himselfe It is not to be spoken how much and how cleare light the diligent study and reading of Latin and Greeke writers yeeld to the knowledge of holy scripture Which by some few examples I will let the reader vnderstand The Eleans in time of pestilence brought vpon them by exceding great abundance of flies call vpon their God Myiagrus which being by sacrifice once appeased all those flies forthwith perish This Pline reporteth in his tenth booke the eight and twentith chapter Whereunto for confirmation may be added that which is recorded by Pausanias in the first booke of his Eliaca that Hercules sacrificing in Olympia was mightily troubled with a huge multitude of flies till such time as he had done sacrifice to Iupiter apomytos by whose power all those flies were soone after dispersed And hereof he sayth that the Eleans vse to sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to Iupiter Apomytos which driueth away flies Sotinus also in his Polyhistor the second chapter maketh mention of Hercules his chappell in the beefe market at Rome into the which after sacrifice and prayer made to the God Myiagrus hee entred by diuine power without flies All these testimonies serue to vnderstand the reason of the name Baalzebub in scripture giuen to the God of Ecron in the first chapter of the second booke of the Kings signifying the god of flies or the flies Iupiter If it be true that Augustine affirmeth in his questions vppon the booke of iudges that Baal is Iupiter so called as should seeme by those reportes of Plinie Pausanias and Solinus of the power which was attributed vnto him in driuing away flies whereof hee is termed Myiagrus that is a chaser of flies and Apomyius as it were a defender or preseruer from flies Horatius in his last Satyre telleth of one Rufus Nasidienus who had inuited to a great supper Mecaenas a chiefe Lord in the Emperour Augustus Caesars Court with many other noble men of Rome that whenas in the middest of supper the daintiest dishes being now set vpon the borde the hangings aloft by chance suddenly brake and daubed that honorable company with cobwebs and powdred the costly meates and wines with filth and filled all full of choaking dust Posito capite vt si filius immaturus obisset flere Holding downe his head he wept bitterly as it had been for the vntimely death of a deare sonne So then the casting downe of Cain his countenance in the fourth of Genesis argued sorrow And the virgins of Ierusalem at the destruction of their citie hanging downe their heads to the ground in the Lamentations of Ieremy the second chapter thereby declared their conceaued griefe The prophet Dauid at such time as he fled from his sonne Absolon and likewise all the men that were with him euery one couered his head and wept Haman also being made an instrument to honour Mardochaeus whome hee hated to the
Let vs goe on to the rest Solinus telleth that Pythagoras came into Italie in the time of the first Consuls Gellius in the time of Tarquinius superbus which might bee the yeare before Dionysius saith that hee taught in Italie after the 50. Olympiad which dissenteth neyther from that former saying of Solinus nor the other of Gellius because the times by them named were both after the 50. Olympiad Diogenes Laertius writeth that hee flourished in the 60. Olympiad All this touching the time of Pythagoras wherein he liued taught may stand well enough without disagreement Plinie putteth him backe from the time named by Solinus an hundred yeares and more And Beroaldus bringeth him as many or more forward euen to the Peloponnesian warre by his opinion begun about the 94. Olympiad which beeing so needes must Cyrus also bee pulled forwarde in some proportion from the 55. Olympiad to the 80. Betweene these two extreamities of opinion concerning the age of Pythagoras the one of Plinie the other of Beroaldus in my iudgement medium tenuêre beati the merry meane is best as we see especially beeing approoued by a farre greater number of the learned But let vs examine his proofe that Pythagoras was so late His first reason is brought from the authoritie of Eusebius who in his tenth book De praeparatione Euangelica writeth that Xenophons and Pythagoras were in the same times with Anaxagoras who came within the compasse of the Peloponnesian war If an old man may liue at the same time with a young man this is no good proofe to bring Pythagoras to the Peloponnesian warre because Eusebius sayde that Anaxagoras in whose time Pythagoras liued was in it Let Eusebius bee his owne interpreter in his Chronicles where hee putteth the matter out of doubt setting the death of Pythagoras threescore and foure yeres at the least before the beginning of the Peloponnesian war yet withall making Anaxagorus who saw that war to flourish in his dayes Another reason of his much like to the former is this Pythagoras with diuers of his acquaintance beeing in the house of Milo certaine enemies in desire of reuenge vppon some conceiued griefe burned it ouer their heads where Lysis Archytas two of Pythagoras his schollers at that time escaped This Lysis after became teacher of Epaminondas the valiant Theban Captaine who fighting at Mantine in the second yeare of the 104. Olympiad aboue 40. yeres after the Peloponnesian war was slaine And what of all this I know his conclusion that this being so late an age wherein Epaminondas died whose master was Lysis one of Pythagoras his schollers It must needes be that Pythagoras himselfe reached to the time of the Peloponnesian warre somewhat nere to Epaminondas and when was that warre the end of it if we may beleeue Beroaldus was about the 100. Olympiad and by that meanes Pythagoras must bee brought to the 94. at the least wherein it began not much aboue 40. yeares before the raigne of king Phillip of Macedonia the Father of Alexander the great If I should stand to number all the absurdities which would follow of this position according to that which Aristotle saith that one absurde thing graunted many other follow vppon it it were a tedious thing to write or read except peraduenture that beeing so ridiculous in themselues the moouing of laughter might some way ease the readers toyle But leauing this I will declare that the distance of time made by auncient writers betweene Pythagoras his teaching and Epaminondas his learning of Lysis can no way hinder but that Pythagoras may stand well enough still in that place where they haue set him His death by Eusebius is put in the last yere of the 70. Olympiad At which time Lysis his scholler might bee 16. yeares of age and liue fourescore and eight yeares after till hee was 104. yeares old in the beginning of the 93. Olympiad When Epaminondas might be of the age of sixteene yeares instructed before of Lysis in his old age What one thing is there heere incredible or not vsuall in those times Gorgias Leontinus much about the same times with Lysis liued a hundred and nine yeares which before hath beene shewed with diuers other like examples and Aemilius Probus in the life of Epaminondas testifieth of him that beeing a yong man hee was instructed in Philosophie by Lysis in the time of his graue and seuere old age Philosophiae praeceptorem habuit Lysim Tarentinum Pythagoreum cui quidem sic fuit deditus vt adolescens tristem seuerum senem omnibus aequalibus suis in familiaritate anteposuerit saith Aemilius Thus Beroaldus his sharpe assault against the Chronologicall forte of the Grecians account hath not so preuailed to batter it but that it can defend it selfe against the enemie Let vs now see with what successe hee hath oppugned the Latine Storie against this hee fighteth with two weapons one taken from the Roman Decemuirs the other borrowed of the Frenchmen at their sacking of Rome in the 302. yeare of Rome wherein L. Menenius P. Sestius were Consuls towardes the ende of their COnsulship certaine Commissioners called Decemuiri were chosen by the people to the gouernment of the Citie and the making of Lawes against the next yere now approching beeing the 303. of the Citie Hereof is that difference and dissention of some Authors betweene themselues alleadged by Beroaldus some referring the Decemuirs to the 302. yeare of Rome respecting the time wherein they were elected as Solinus and Liuie some to the 303. because that was the yeare wherein they first executed that new authoritie beeing appointed and chosen vnto it in the end of the former yeare As Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his eleuenth booke declareth Besides Varro Onuphrius As for A. Gellius and some other naming the 300. yeare of Rome for the Decemuirs the cause thereof is manifest that some make the time of the kings of Rome not 244. but onely 241. yeres and those began from the second of the seauenth Olympiad not the first that is from the end of the building of Rome when Romulus tooke vpon him to be king By their opinion there are two yeres fewer than other account of so that their 300. is the 302. of other whereof I haue spoken before by reason of some like examples in Gellius who followed that reckoning so there is no difference betweene these indeed but onely in shew and diuers respects These ten Commissioners held that authority by the space of two whole yeres In the latter whereof being the 304. of the Citie Virginia a beautifull maide of Rome was slaine by her own Father with a butchers knife taken from his stall in the open streete rather then that shee should satisfie the filthie lust of Appius Claudius one of the ten who by great violence and open wrong went about it Cicero in his second booke de finibus writeth that this happened in the threescore yeare after the beginning of the first Consuls