appertaining unto those Idolatries as much esteemed of but more sumpeuous than those of Delphos The Grove about ten miles in circuit environed round with Cypresses and other trees so tall and close to one another that they suffered not the Sunne to enter in his greatest heats the ground perpetually covered with the choisest Tapestry of nature watered with many a pleasant stream derived from the Castalian founteins as it was given out and yielding the most excellent fruits both for taste and tincture to which the wind and air participating the sweetness of the place did adde a most delightfull influence A place devised for pleasure but abused to lust he being held unworthy of the name of a man who transformed not himself unto a Beast or trod on this unholy ground without his Curtezan insomuch as they which had a care of their good names did forbear to haunt it A fuller discription of it he that lists to see may find in the first Book and 18. chapter of Sozomens Ecclesiasicall History who is copious in it The Temple said to have been built by Seleucus also renowned for the Oracle there given by which Adrian was foretold of his being Emperour and therefore much resorted to by Julian the Apostata for that purpose also But the body of Babylas the Martyr and Bishop of Antioch being removed thither by the command of his Brother Galius then created Coesar by Constantius the Devil and his Oracles were both frighted away as the devill did himself confess to Julian Who being desirous to learn here the success of his intended expedition into Persia received this Answer that no Oracle could be given as long as those divine bones were so neer the Shrine Nor was it long after before the Idol and the Temple were consumed by a fire from Heaven as was avowed by those who observed the fall of it though Julian did impure it to the innocent Christians and in revenge caused many of their Churches to be burned to ashes 20. Anitoch situate in that part hereof which is called Casiotis first built oâ— began rather by Antigonus when Lord of Asia by whom named Antigonia but finished and enlarged by Seleucus after he had overthrown and slain him at the battell of Issus by the Jewes or Hebrew 's once called Reblatha Built neer the place and partly out of the ruines of an antient City in the second Book of Kings called Râ—blah in the Land of Hamath Hamath the Great in the sixt of Amos by Josephus and the Syrians Reblata Memorable in those daies for the Tragedies of Jehoahaz and Sedechias Kings of Judah the first of which was here deprived of his Crown and Liberty by Pharaoh Neco King of Egypt 2 Kings 23. 33. the other of his eyes and Children by the command of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon as was said before In following times it was by some Greek writers called Epidaphne from the neerness of it to that Grove as afterwards in the times of Chrictianity by the name of Theopolis or the City of God either from the many miracles there done in the Primitive times or from the great improvement which the Christian faith did here receive where the Disciples first obtained the name of Christians The Royall seat for many Ages of the Kings of Syria and in the flourish and best fortune of the Roman Empire the ordinary residence of the Praefect or Governour of the Eastern Provinces next of the Praefectus Praetorio Orientis who had not only the superintendency over the Diocese of the Orient though that large enough but also of the Dioceses of Egypt Asia Pontus Thrace extending so his Jurisdiction into all the parts of the then known World Honoured also with the residence of many of the Roman Emperours especially of Verus and Valens who spent here the greatest part of their times and from the first dawning of the Gospel with the Seat of the Patriarck A title of such eminency in all times of the Church the second in Accompt to the See of Rome till Constantinople being made the Imperiall City got precedence of it that there are at this time no less than four great Prelates which pretend unto it that is to say the true Patriarck governing the Christians of those parts whom they call Syrians or Melchites the Psâ—ndo-Patriarcks of the Jacobite and Maronite Sectaries both which for the greater credit to their Schism doe assume this title and finally a titular Patriarck nominated by the Pope who since the time that the Western Christians were possessed of these Eastern Countries hath assumed a power unto himself of nominating Patriarks for Alexandria Hierusalem and this City of Antioch The City seated on both sides of the River Orontis about twelve miles distant from the shores of the Mediterranean the River Parfar passing on the South-side of it By Art and Nature fortified even to admiration compassed with a double wall the outward most of which was stone the other of brick with four hundred and sixty Towers in the walls and an impregnable Castle at the East-end thereof and on the other side defended with high broken Mountains whereunto was adjoyning a deep Lake comming cut of the River Parfar before mentioned Adorned in former times with many sumptuous Palaces and magnificent Temples answerable to the reputation of so great a City till taken by the Saracâ—ns and after by the Turks and Mamalucks men careless of all State and beauty in their fairest Cities it began to grow into decay Recovered by the Western Christians from the power of the Turks after a siege of seven moneths June 3. Anno 1098. confirmed in their possession by a great and memorable Victory got in the very sight hereof within few daies after June 28. obtained against Corbanas Lieutenant to the Persian Sultan in which with the loss of four thousand and two hundred of their own they slew a hundred thousand of the Enemy The Town and territory given by the Conquerours to Bohemund a noble Norman and Prince of Tarentum who by practising with one Pyrâ—hus who had the command of one of the chief Towers thereof afterwards called Saint Georges Tower was secretly let into the City and so made way for all the rest Bohemund thus made the Prince or as some say King of Antioch left it to Bohemund his sonne about ten years after succeeded in this principate by Tancred and Roger Princes of great renown in those holy wars which last unfortunately slain by the Turks not far from Aleppo in the year 1120. Baldwin the second having revenged his death by a signall victory joyned this estate to the Kingdome of Hierusalem Betrayed about sixty years after this that is to say in the year 1188. it came into the power of Saladine the victorious King of Egypt and Damascus and therewithall no fewer than five and twenty Cities which depended on the fortunes of it the glories of this famous City so declining after this last Tragedy but whether laid desolate of
first-born who in all probabilitie gave name to the Town called Phalga situate on the River Euphrates not far from Seleucia Mention whereof is made by Stephanus in his Book de Urbibus and by Ptolomie in his Geography where it is placed right on the banks of Euphrates where the River Chaboras mingles waters with it but there corruptly called Pharga instead of Phalga But the great increase of Sems posteritie came by Jocktan the second Son of Eber the Father of no fewer than thirteen Sons whose names are on record in the tenth of Genesis where it is said that their dwelling was from Mesha as thou goest to Sephar a Mount in the East And here I must crave leave to differ from Bochartus who hath thronged Jocktan and his Sons into a little corner of Arabia Felix where I can find no room for them and less reason to place them For being that Chus the son of Cham and the Chiefs of his posteritie eight in number were planted in Arabia as himself confesseth it must needs be that they had spread themselves over all the Country before any of the sons of Jocktan were of age sufficient to be the Fathers of Families and lead Colonies thither Jocktan is credibly supposed not to have been born when such of Noahs posteritie as are mentioned Gen. 10. dispersed themselves into new Plantations but iâ— is evident from the Text that none of his children were then born if their Father were And this Bochartus doh acknowledge in two severall places First granting that neither Phaleg nor Jocktan were present at the building of Babel multo minus Jocktanis filii post aliquoâ— annos geniti much less the Sonnes of Joktan begot many yeares after Lib. 1. cap. 16. And Secondly affirming that Jocktan and his children came not within the curse of Confounded Languages quia nondum erant geniti because then unborn Cap. 15. Hereupon I conclude it to be very improbable that Jocktan and his children should find room in the best parts of Arabia Felix which Chus and his posteritie had inhabited so long before And as it is improbable that the Sons of Chus would plant themselves in the worst part of the Country for so many Ages and leave the best and richest of it for some new Adventurers So it is impossible that the Sons of Jocktan should either be removed so far from the rest of the house of Arphaxad who were all planted on the East of the River Tigris as was before shewed or that they should be able had they been so minded to break thorough the whole Countries of the Assyrians Chusites and other Nations to come unto the utmost corners of Arabia Felix He that believes they did or could must have a stronger Faith than mine but it shall never conduce any thing to his justification Nor am I moved at all with that which seems to me to be his weightiest Argument namely that the Arabians particularly Joseph Ben Abdallatif and Mahomet Ben Jacob two of their chief Writers affirm that Jocktan was the Founder of their Tongue and Nation no more than I am woved to think that the Saracens are derived from Sara the Wife and not from Hagar the Concubine and servant of Abraham because that people so report it for their greater glory And for the severall Nations of Arabia Felix whose original he ascribes to the sons of Jocktan I see so many transpositions of Syllables alterations even of Radicall Letters such and so many wrested Originations as by the like libertie of making quidlibet ex quolibet it were no difficult matter to find place for them in any Country whatsoever For how extorted and unnaturall are the derivations of the Allumaeotae from Almodad of the Manitae from Abimail of the Jobaritae from Jobab How impossible is it that Jarach should give name to the Isle which Prolomie calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insula Ieracum or Accipitrum as the Latin hath it that is to say the Isle of Hawks from the abundance of Hawks which are therein bred There being another Island of the same name neer unto Sardinia so called for the self same reason and a Town called Ierax in Hammoniaca a Region of Egypt to which Jarach might as well lay claim if that would carry it as to this Ieracum or Accipitrum in the Gulf of Arabia How improbable that Ophir should give name to Urphire a poor Isle of the Red Sea Obal to Sinus Avalites in Aethiopia on the other side of that Gulf Or that Dicla must be fixed in Arabia for no other reason but because the word signifieth a Palm-tree of which that Country yeelds good plenty as if some other Countries did not yeeld as much These and some other reasons hereafter following have made me bold to differ from that learned man in this particular whose industry and abilities I do otherwise honour and rather to look for Joktan and his sonnes in the East part of the World where the Scriptures place them than in the South with reference to the Wilderness or land of Madian in one of which the Book of Genesis was witten where Bochartus placeth them Yet so far I must yeeld to that learned man that some of the Descendants of Joktan in long tract of time moved with the rarities of the place might come from India and plant themselves upon the Sea-coasts of Arabia Felix as the Arabians at this day moved with the wealth and trade of India have possessed themselves of many of the Ports and peeces on the shores thereof Now the Text telleth us of the Sonnes of Joktan that their dwelling was from Mesha as thou goest to Sephar a Mount of the East so that by these two boundaries Mesha and Sephar their habitation must be found I know Bochartus wonld have Mesha to be Musa a noted Porâ—-Town on the South-West of Arabia Felix and Sephar to be the Citie of Saphar in the South-East of that Country that Citie giving name to some Mount adjoyning But being they both lie directly South of the place in which Moses wrote I cannot see how this position can agree with the word of Scripture and therefore we must look for both in some other place And first to find out Mesha we need go no further than Bochartus himself who maketh Mesh the last of the Sonnes of Aram the Sonne of Sem according to the generall opinion of most Writers else to be planted in the mountainous tracts of Mesopotamia from him called Mons Masius more of which before And then for Sephar which the Text calleth a Mount of the East if it be the Southern part of Mount Imaus by Ptolomy named Bitigo by the Moderns Gates extending from Mount Caucasus to the Cape Comari in the hither India as Postellus a right learned man doth conceive it to be We have without more difficulty found out the dwellings of the sonnes of Jocktan according to the bounds laid down in Holy Scripture But for fear this may not satisfie for
a more particular Enemy The English are enemies to the French the Scots to the English the Portugueze have the like inveterate hatred against the Spaniards The Princes of Italy enjoy great possessions without any good title but are continually opposed by the more potent Cities of Venice Florence Genoa and Luca. The Arragonian Kings of Naples have found perpetuall Enemies of the Dukes of Anjou as have the Dukes of Millain of the house of Orleans The Princes of Italy and the Florentines have a stich at Venice as the States of Genoa and Sienna have against the Florentines In Germany the Animosities have been great and of long continuance between the houses of Austria and Bavaria the hatred grown beyond all hopes of reconciliation which is between the Switzers and the Austrian Family The Dukes of Cleve and Gulick are alwaies upon ill terms with their neighbours of Gelderland And in the North the Cities on the Baltick Seas have their continuall quarrels with the Kings of Danemark Nor are the enmities any thing less if they be not greater which are discernable amongst the people of Asia and Africk than those that are above remembred So far and to this purpose saith that notable and judicious Writer The consideration of which points if there were no other were of it self sufficient to shew the necessary use of History and Geography as well for the understanding the affairs of the Ages past as for commerce and correspondency with the Nations present For had no Histories been written in the former times in what a dull ignorance had we lived of all those occurrences which do so much concern the whole state of Mankind and are our principall directors in life and action in which respect the Orator most truly calleth it Magistram vitae For upon the credit of this History the examples of our Ancestors the grounds of civill prudence and the fames of men do most especially depend And certainly to draw back the mind to the contemplation of matters long ago passed to search out with diligence and to deliver with faith freedom and the life of expression such things as are found out on a diligent search to repreâ—â—nt unto our eyes the changes of Times the characters of Persons the uncertainties of Counâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 Pretentions and the secrets of States 〈…〉 of a publicâ—â— use 〈…〉 great both pains and judgement Besides 〈…〉 eternitie to all such men who by their Counsels or Atchievements have de 〈◊〉 〈…〉 those Kingdoms and Common-wealths wherein they lived And thereupon the Orator doth not only call it Magistram vitae but Lucem veritatis Testem temporâ—s Nunciam 〈◊〉 Vitae memoriam According to which character I find these Verses set before a Châ—oniâ—â—â— of some Kings of England more worth than all the Book besides For though in these daies Miracles be fled Yet this shall of good Histories be sed They call back time that 's past and give life to the dead Nor want there other motives to indear unto us the use of History besides the light it give unto all the remarkable Actions of preceding times and the eternitie if I may say so which it conferreth on the Actors themselves by the preservation of their names from the ruins of Time and the pit of Oblivion For First it stirreth men to Vertue and deters them from Vice by shewing forth the glorious memories of vertuous men and the ill savour which is left behind men of ungodly life and especially keeps persons of most eminent place from letting loose the reins unto all licentiousness by representing this to their consideration that all their actions shall be laid open one day to the view of the Vulgar Secondly it hath been a principall Conserver of most Arts and Sciences by keeping on Record the Dictates and Opinions of so many of the old Philosophers out of which a perfect Body of Philosophy and others of the Liberall Arts hath been collected and digested Thirdly it is the best School-master in the Art of War and teacher of Stratagems and in that can practically afford more punctuall directions than can be otherwise obtained and is withall the best Assistant to the Statesman or Politician who from hence draw their Observations and Conclusions and become thereby serviceable to their Prince and Country though never travelled more than amongst their Books So Archimedes in his study and Demosthenes in his Orators gown endangered more the enemies of their severall Countries than the Athenians or Syracusans did by dint of sword And last of all besides these civill benefits and considerations and the great help which it affords in the way of discourse there is no particular branch of knowledge more usefull for the true and perfect understanding of holy Scripture than that of Ecclesiasticall and Profane History or which gives clearer light to many dark passages thereof especially in the Propheticall writings of either Testament This as it shews the necessary use and benefit which redounds from History so doth it serve to usher in that commendation which belongs to the study of Geography also without some knowledge wherein the study of History is neither so pleasant nor so profitable as a judicious Reader would desire to have it 'T is true Geography without History hath life and motion but very unstable and at random but History without Geography like a dead carkass hath neither life nor motion at all or moves at least but slowly on the understanding For what delight or satisfaction can any man receive from the reading of Story without he know somewhat of the places and the conditions of the people which are therein mentioned In which regard Ammianus Marcellinus the Historian hath deserved very well of all his Readers premising to the Actions of every Country some brief description of the place and chief Towns therein For though the greatness of the Action doth ennoble and adorn the place yet it is the knowledge of the place which addes delight and satisfaction unto the reading of the story which conveighs it to us History therefore and Geography like the two Fires or Meteors which Philosophers do Castor and Pollux if joyned together crown our reading with delight and profit if parted threaten both with a certain shipwrack and are like two Sisters dearly loving not without pitie I had almost said impiety to be kept asunder So as that which Sr. Phil. Sidney said of Argalus and Parthenia Her being was in him alone And she not being he was none may be as justly said of History and Geography as of those two Lovers And yet this is not all the benefit which redounds from the study of Geography which is exceeding usefull to the reading of the holy Scriptures as in discovering the situation of Paradise the bounds and borderâ— of those Countries which are therein mentioued especially wâ—th relation to the travels of the Patriarchs Prophets Evangelists and Apostles yea of Christ himself not otherwise to be comprehended and understood but by the help
danger of Fire also Yea and secured himself from all Night-tumults which carried with them though but small more terror and affrightment than greater Commotions in the day Never till now were the common people Masters of their own both lives and substance And now was travell in the Night as safe though not so pleasant as at Noon 32 The People and City thus setled his next study is to keep the Provinces in a liking of the Change But little Rhetorique needed to win their liking who had long desired the present form of Government mistrusting the Peoples Regiment by reason of Noblemens factions Covetousness of Magistrates the Laws affording no security being swayed hither and thither by ambition and corruption These Provinces when he first took the Government he thus divided Asia Africa Numidia Betica Narbonensis Sicilia Corsica Sardinia all Greece Crete Cyprus Pontus and Bithynia being quiet and peaceable Provinces of known and faithfull obedience he assigned unto the Senate But the new conquered Regions such as had not disgested their loss of liberty with whom any Rebellion or War was to be feared he retained under his own command Such were Tarraconensis Lusitanica Lugdunensis Germany Belgica Aquitanica Syria Silicae Egypt Dalmatia Mysia Pannonia c. And this he did as he gave out to sustain the danger himself alone leaving unto the Senate all the sweets of ease but the truth was to keep them without Arms himself alwaies strong and in a readiness The notable effects of which Counsell did not discover themselves only by the establishment of the Empire in his own person during life and the continuance of it in the house of the Caesars though men of most prodigious Vices after his decease but in some of the Ages following also For when the Family of the Caesars was extinct in Nero the Imperiall Provinces being so strong and perceiving the Consular so weak assumed to themselves the creating and establishing of the following Princes Thus Galba was made Emperour by the Spanish and French Legions Vitellius by the German Vespatian by the Syrian and Panonnian The Consular Provinces never stirring either to prevent their attempts or to revenge them And when they adventured once to advance Gordian to the Throne all they could doe was but to betray the poor old man and all his Family to a tragick end And yet he did not so impropriate those Provinces to the Senate but that they also as well as those which he reserved unto himself were specified particularly in his private Register In which the better to manage the affairs of the Empire he had set down what Tributes every of them payed what Presents they sent in what Customs in theâ— were levyed That book also comprehended the wealth of the publike Treasury and necessary charge issuing out of it What number of Citizens and Allies there were in Arms What strength there was by Sea with all other circumstances concerning the extent strength riches and particulars of his estate William of Normandy did the like at his first entrance into England when he composed that Censuall Roll of all this Kingdom which we call Dooms-day Book or the Roll of Winton according unto which Taxations were imposed and Ayds exacted The greatest Princes have not thought it a disparagement to be good Husbands to know the riches of their Crowns and have an eye to their Intrado 32. Britain was left out of this Bead-Roll either because from hence there neither was much hope of profit nor much fear of hurt or els because being more desirous to keep than inlarge the Monarchy he thought it most expedient to confine it within the bounds appointed by Nature Danubius on the North Mount Atlas on the South Euphrates on the East and the main Ocean on the West did both bound his Empire and defend it Some Kingdoms have their limits laid out by Nature and those which have adventured to extend them further have found it fatall The Persians seldom did attempt to stretch their Territory beyond Oxus but they miscarried in the action And what was that poor River if compared unto the Ocean Many who loved action or expected preferment by the Wars incited him unto the conquest and plantation of these Countreys Affirming That the barbarous people were naturally bad Neighbours and though for the present not very strong nor well skilled in Arms yet might a weak Enemy in time gather great strength That he ought to pursue the War for his Father Julius sake who first shewed that Iland to the Romans that it yeelded both refuge and supply to the Malecontents of Gaul and Enemies in Germanie That he would lose the benefit of a wealthy Country stored with all manner of provision and the command of a valiant Nation born as it were unto the Wars That it was an Apostacy from honor to lye still and add nothing to the conquest of his Ancestors That he was in all equity bound as far as in him was to reduce to Civility from Barbraism so many proper and able men But to these motives he replyed That he had already refused to wage war with the Parthian a more dangerous neighbour and far wose enemy than the Britains That he had waste and desart ground enough in his own Dominions for many a large Plantation when he saw it needfull That he had constantly refused though with great facility he might to conquer any more of the barbaâ—ous Nations That as in the Natâ—rall body a surfet is more dangerous than fasting so in the Body Politike too much is more troublesom than a little That the Roman Monarchy had already exceeded the Persian and Macedonian and to extend it further was the next way to make it totter and fall by its own weight That he had learned in the Fable not to lose the substance by catching at the shadow And finally that many puissant Nations lay in and about Britany against whom Garrisons must be kept and he feared the Revenue would not quit the Cost And so the enterprize of Britain was quite laid aside 33. For the assurance of the Provinces already conquered he dispersed into them 23. Legions with their Ayds whose pay onely besides provision of Corn and Officers wages amounting to five Millions and an half of our English pounds and somewhat more were so suddenly paid unto the Armies that we read seldom in the Histories of that Empire of any Mutiny among the souldiers for want of pay An happiness whereof these ages have been little guilty For the amassing of this treasure and defraying of this charge AUGVSTVS made not use onely of his own revenue Wars which are undertaken and Souldiers that are levied for the Common safety ought in all reason to be maintained on the Common purse The Grandour and security of an Empire concerns in all respects as much the People as the Prince For which cause he erected an Exchequer in the Citie which was called Aerarium militare or the Souldiers Treasury whereto
to the Crown of Aragon by Alfonso the 2d by Iames the first laid to the Kingdom of Majorca united to the Crown again by King Pedro the 4th after that sold or rather pawned by King Iohn the 2d to Lewis the 11th of France for the summe of 300000 Crowns Anno 1462. and freely returned back again to Ferdinand the second after called the Catholick by King Charles the 8th Anno 1493 conditioned that he should not hinder him in the Conquest of Naples â—oyning hereto as part of the Kingdom of Majorca was the Countrey of Sardaigne or Cerdagne the habitation of the Corretani in former times and afterwards accounted of as a part of Aragon The chief Town of those Cerretani called Iulia Libyca the principall now being hath the name of Cardono or Sardona as the Spaniards commonly pronounce it retaining some resemblance to the name of the Nation The Countrey lying in the Vallies of the Pyrenees and consequently in a corner somewhat out of the way was thought fit to be added to the Land of Rousillon for the better endowment of this Kingdom the fortunes of which it hath since followed as appendant on it pawned when that was unto the French and with that restored 2. The Earldom of MONTPELIER is situate in the Province of Languedoc adjoyning to the Land of Rousillon so called from Montpelier the chief Citie for the description whereof we must send the Reader back to France having spoken of it there already All I shall here repeat is this that Mary the Daughter of William the last Earl thereof brought it in mariage to her Husband Peter the 2d King of Aragon and that it was sold to Philip de Valoys the French King by Iames King of Majorca of that name the third 3 The Iland of MAIORCA is situate in the Mediterranean just over against Valentia from which distant about 60 miles about 300 miles in circuit the length above an hundred the breadth somewhat under the number of Inhabitants reckoned at 30000. The Land on all sides towards the Sea is somewhat mountainous and barren withall the In-lands more champian and fruitfull yeelding sufficient quantity of Oyl Corn Wines and Fruits for the use of its people The whole Iland is divided into 30 parts as so many Wapontakes in every one of which are reckoned from 300 to 600 Families No hurtfull Creatures are here bred except Conies only and those not hurtfull but by accident of which more anon Places of chief note in the former times were 1. Palma and 2. Pallentia which had the rights of Roman Citizens 3. Ciâ—ium and 4. Cunici which enjoyed the rights of the Latiues and 5. Bochri or Bochorum which was in the condition of a Town confederate besides divers others not so priviledged Of these none left at this day but Palma only vulgarly called Majorca by the name of the Iland a Bishops See the Seat of the Vice-Roy for these Isles and an Vniversity the birth-place of Raymundus Lullius a man of great wit and profound judgement the Author of some Books in the Art of Chymistrie whose Works are read and studied in that Vniversitie as Aristotles are in others This is the greater of the two Ilands called Baleares whence it had the name A joyning hereunto two others of inferiour note called Dragonera and Cabrera of which nothing memorable 4 MINORCA so called because it is the lesser of the Baleares is situate East-ward of Majorca from which distant neer 100 miles of about 60 miles in length and 150 miles in Circuit More fruitfull than the other though less in quantitie of a rich soyl which breedeth them great herds of Cattell and Mules of the largest size of any in Spain accommodated also with two convenient Havens the one called Maon the other Farnessus Other considerable places are 1 Minorca now so called by the name of the Iland but antiently known by the name of Mago situate in the East part thereof first Founded by the Carthaginians as the name imports And so was also 2 Iamno seated in the West Duo parva Oppida quibus à Poenis indita nomina saith Severus Bishop of these Isles An. 420 or thereabouts It is now called Citadella or the little Citie Here was also in the mid-land a third Town called Sanisera by Plinie of which I finde now no tract remaining 5 EBVSA now called YVICA lyeth between the main Land and the Baleares opposite to the Promontorie of Ferraria in the Realm of Valentia from which distant about 50 miles and neer an hundred miles in compass The Countrey plentifull of Corn and all manner of Fruits breeding no hurtfull Creature except Conies onely which many times destroy their Harvest The chief Town here is Yvica of old called Ebusus the Inhabitants of which make yearly great store of Salt wherewith they doe not only furnish Spain but some parts of Italie 6 FRVMENTERA so called from the plenty of Corn is distant ten miles from Yvica and about 60 miles from the main Land of Spain in circuit about 70 miles Not well inhabited by reason of the multitude of Serpents for which cause called by the Grecians 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 by the Latines Both Ilands antiently known by the name of Pityusâ— and Pityodâ—â— from the abundance of â—ines there growing About thâ—se Ilands are three others of little worth called 1. Veâ—ra 2 〈◊〉 and 3 Dâ—â—gorgo 4 Another called Moncolibre betwixt Mâ—jore and the influx of the River â—â—us 5 Alâ—aquâ—s lying in the very mouth of that River and 6 Soombâ—aria antiently called the Iland of Hercules over against Carthagena so named from a kind of Tuâ—â—ny in 〈◊〉 named Scomâ—ri of which great sâ—oales use to lye about it All these together with the 〈◊〉 make up the Province of the Ilands the 7th Province of â—paâ—n But the chief glory of these Ilands were the BALEARES so called as the generall conceit is from the Greek word 〈◊〉 which signifieth to throw because the people were so expert in throwâ—â—â— their Slings or Darts but as Bâ—chaâ—tus will needs have it to the same effect from 〈◊〉 a Punick or Proenician word signifying a mâ—ster in the Art of slinging An Art so naturall and innative to them that Parents used to give no meat unto their Children after some sit age but what they could hit down with their Slings from the top of a Beam Of their deâ—terity at this weapon there is much mention made in the Antient Writers as well Historiâ—ns as Poets And from this exercise they had the name also of Insulae 〈◊〉 or else because the people of it used to goe naked to the wars and possibly enough in those first Ages of the World and at other times also from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same with Nudâ—s in the Lâ—tire Nor were they good at Slinging only but at Swiming too an exercise not ordinarily performed but by naked People at which the very women are at this day expert 〈◊〉 reporting in
Masters or Commendadors as they call them of those severall Orders drawing after them such troopes of the Nobility Gentry and other dependants that their power began to be suspected by the Kings themselves By which addition there accreweth to the Crown besides the opportunity of preferring servants of the greatest merit above 150000 l. of yearly Rents As for his Casualties and extraordinary waies of raising money they are very great reckoned by the Author of the Generall Hâ—story of Spain to amount according to divers opinions to 14. 18. and 23 millions of Crowns For making up which sum he puts in the First Fruits and some part of the Tenthes of Rectories and other Church preferments amounting to 3 millions yearly And the Author of the Politique Dispute c. affirmeth the Pardons sent to the Indies given him by the Pope to be worth half a million of pounds yearly Adde hereunto the fall and disposall of all Offices which make up a good round sum and the free Gifts and Contributions of his Subjects which amount unto a good Revenue For the Kingdom of Naples presents him every third year with a million 20000 Crowns and Castile only at one time granted a Contribution of four millions to be paid in four years his Subjects generally being so well affected unto the Crown that he can demand nothing in reason of them which they are not ready to grant the King of Spain being called in that regard by the Emperor Maximilian the King of Men. And yet this great King is not counted to be rich in treasure his expences being very great First In keeping Forts and Garrisons in many parts of his Estates against the revolt of the Natives Secondly Maintaining so many Frontire places against sorein Invasions Thirdly In the continuall pay of an Armada for Conducting his Plate-Fleets from America And last of all the many and unprofitable Wars of King Philip the second so plunged the Crown in the Gulfes of Bankers and Money-Changers that much of the Revenues of it stand ingaged for payment to this very day There are in Spain Arch-Bishops 11. Bishops 52. Vniversities 18. i. e. 1 Sevill 2 Granadâ— 3 S. Iago 4 Toledo 5 Valladolit 6 Majorca 7 Salamanca 8 Alcala de Henares 9 Signenca 10 Ebora 11 Lisbon 12 Conimbre 13 Valentia 14 Lerida 15 Huesca 16 Saragossa 17 Tudela 18 Ossuna And so much for Spain OF THE OCEAN AND ISLES OF BRITAIN BEfore we can arive in Britain the Iast Western Diocese we must cross the OCEAN that ingens and infinitum pelagus as Mela calleth it in comparison of which the Seas before-mentioned are but as Ponds or Gullets a Sea in former times known more by fame than tryall and rather wondred at on the shore side than any more remote place of it The Romans ventured not on it with their Vessels unless in the passage from France to Britain and much famed is Alexander for his hazardous voyage on this unruly Sea he having sayled in all but 400 Furlongs from the shore The name and pedegree take here both from the Poëts an Etymologists The Poëts make Oceanus to be the Sonne of Coelum and Vesta or of Heaven and Earth They termed him the father of all things as Oceanumque patrem rerum in Virgil because moisture was necessarily required to the constitution of all bodies and usually painted him with a Buls head on his shoulders whence Euripides called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oceanus Tauriceps from the bellowing and furie of the Winds which from it come to the shore and to which it is subject As for the Children attributed unto him they are doubtless nothing but the clouds and vapours hence arising The name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oceanus some derive from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 celer because of its swiftness some from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 findo divido because it cleaveth and interlaceth the earth and others make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à celeriter fluendo which agreeth in meaning with the first Particular names it hath divers according to the name of the shore by which it passeth as Cantabricus Gallicus Britannicus c. The chief Isles of it appertaining to Europe besides those called the Azores or Isles of Tercera which we have spoken of when we were in Portugal those of the Aquitain Ocean described in our Historie of France those of the Netherlands and the Northern Seas which are to be described hereafter in their proper places are the British Ilands by many of the most antient and approved Writers called simply BRITAIN because united all in that common notion though afterwards distinguished into the particular Appellations of Great Britain Ireland and the rest Of which as lying in my way betwixt Spain and Germany or rather as the next Diocese of the Empire to France and Spain under the Praetorio Praefectus of Italy I am next to speak OF BRITAIN BRITAIN according to the largest latitude of that name and notion comprehendeth all those Ilands both great and less which lie in compass about Albion or Britain properly so called by Ptolomie called Britanniae in the plurall number For speaking of France he thus subjoyneth Ex adverso hujus Britannia Insula Albion ipsi nomen fuit cum Britanniae omnes vocarentur i. e. Opposite hereunto lieth the Iland of Britain which formerly by a more proper name was called Albion the name of Britain comprehending all the Iles adjoyning And in this Latitude and extent we now take the word the whole dominion of these Ilands distinguished into severall names being united in the person and under the command of the King of Great Britain that name including all the rest as appendants of it with reference to this called the Isles of Britain or the 〈◊〉 Ilands Thus Aristotle in his Book De Mundo if the Book be his Quo in mari duae Insulae Britannicae siâ—ae sunt quarum maximae Albion Ierna i.e. In which Sea there are situate two British Ilands of great note and compass Albion or Britain properly so called and Ireland Ptolomie goeth to work more punctually and he states it thus Complectitur prima haec Europae tabula duas Britannicas insulas quas Dionysius Bretanides vocat Hiberniam nempe Albionem cum minoribus alâ—quot adjacentibus iâ—sulis ut sunt Orcades Ebudae Thyle Mona et reliquae suis nominibus expressae that is to say This first Table of Europe comprehendeth the two Ilands of Britain which Dionysius calls the Bretanides namely Ireland and Albion with some lesser Ilands joyning to it as the O cades the Hebrides Thule Anglesey or Man and others called by distinct names By which we see first that the generall name of Britain or the British Ilands comprehendeth all those which are situate in the Britiâ— Ocean and secondly that the greatest and most famous of them more specially called Britain by the following Writers was antiently called Albion by its proper
have accompanied the Vandals in their on-fals into Gaul and Spain Of any expedition of theirs crosse the Baltick seas neâ—gry quidem nothing to be found in more antient Authors We must therefore reserve the originall of this people either to the Suiones or the Suethidi or perhaps to both both being antiently setled in these Northern Regions Of the Suiones wee read in the booke of Tacitus inscribed De Moribus Germanorum by whom reported to be strong in men armour and shipping and that they were inhabitants of Scandia appeares by two circumstances in that Authour 1 That the people were not permitted to weare weapons quia subitos hostium incursus prohibet Oceanus because the Ocean was to them a sufficient Rampart which could not be affirmed of the antient Suevians but agreeth very well with the situation of this present Countrey defended by the baltick and vast Northern Ocean from the sudden assaults of any enemy 2. Because the Sea which hemmed in that people was conceived to be the utmost bound of the World trans Suiones 〈◊〉 quo cingi claudique terrarum orbis fines as his words there are which wee know to hold good of this Countrey Adde unto these this passage of the old Annals of the Emperour Lewis the second where it is told us of the Danes 〈◊〉 patria apud Suiones exulabant that they were banished into the countrey of the Suâ—ones which cannot so well be understood of any place as of this Sweden being next neighbour unto Denmark And 4 that this people both by Munster and Crantzius are as well called Suiones as Suâ—â—i or Sueâ—i which sheweth what they conceived of their true Originall Then for the Suethans or the 〈◊〉 whom Jornandes speaks of in his book Deâ—ebus Gâ—ticiâ— they are by him placed in the Isle of Scandia for such this great 〈◊〉 was esteeâ—ed to be by most antient writers Now that these Suethidi are no other then the present Suethlanders appeareth 1. by the propinquity of the names 2 In that he maketh the Finni and Finnaithae the next neighbours to them and 3 in that they are affirmed by the same Authour to have furnished the Romans with rich Furs and the skins oâ— wilde Beasts with which commodities this countrey is aboundantly well stored Now to which of these two Nations either the Suiones or the Suethidi those of Sweden are most endebted for their originall will I conceive be no great controversie the Suethans and Suethidi of Jornandes being no other then a tribe of the Suiones though the greatest and most powerfull of all those triles placed therefore in the front to command the rest and so most like to give the name unto the whole Their government was antiently under Kings affirmed so to be by Tacitus who telleth us also that they were absolute and free nullis exceptionibus non precario jure regnandi not bound in Câ—venant with their people nor holding their Estates at the will of the Subject But their Historians have gone for Antiquity hereof beyond the story of Brute or the Trojan warre beyond which very few of that strain have dared to pretend as high as unto Magog the son of Japhet reigning here within 90 years after the flood But letting passe these dreams and dotages of the Monkish times certain it is that sometimes they were under the Danes sometimes under the Norwegians sometimes had distinct Kings of their owne and finally sometimes were comprehended with the Danes and Norwegians under the generall name of Normans conducted by one King or Captain upon forain actions Omitting therefore the succession of their former kings of whose very being there is cause to make great question we will begin our Catalogue of them with Jermanicus who entertained Harald King of Denmark and his brother Regenfride driven out of that kingdome by Gottricus or Godfrey the Contemporary of Charlemagne of whose successours Munster giveth us more certainty The KINGS of SWEDEN 1 Jermanicus 2 Frotho 3 Herotus 4 Sorlus 5 Biornus 6 Wichsertus 7 Ericus 8 Ostenus 9 Sturbiornus 10 Ericus II. 11 Olaus 12 Edmundus 13 Stinkalis 14 Halsienus 15 Animander 16 Aquinus 17 Magnus 1150 18 Sherco 13. 1160 19 Carolus 8. 1168 20 Canutus 54. 1222 21 Ericus III. 27. 1249 22 Bingerius 2. 1251 23 Waldemarus 26. 1277 24 Mognus II. 13. 1290 25 Birgerius II. 23. 1313 26 Magnus III. son to Ericus the brother of Byrgerius was also chosen King of Norwey 1326 27 Magnus IV. King of Sweden and Norwey which last he gave in his life time to Hayvin or Aquinus his second son and after the death of Ericus his eldest son his designed successour in this Crown was outed of this kingdome by the practise of 1463 28 Albert Duke of Mecklenburg son of Euphemia the sister of Magnus the fourth to the prejudice of Aquinus king of Denmark and Norwey made King of Sweden on that quarrell vanquished by Margaret Queen of Denmark and Norwey widow of Aquinus anno 1387. to whom desirous of liberty he resigned his Kingdom and dyed in his own countrey anno 1407. 1387 29 Margaret Queen of Denmark Sweden and Norwey the Semiramis of Germany having united the three Kingdomes under her command caused an Act of State to be passed in Colmar a chiefe town of Swethland for the perpetuation of this union unto her successours the Lawes and Priviledges of each Kingdome continuing as before they were 1411 30 Ericus IV. Duke of Pomeren adopted by Margaret of whose sister Ingelburgis he was descended was in her life time chosen King of the three Kingdomes into which he succeeds actually after her decease but outed of them all by a strong faction raised against him anno 1439. he dyed in a private estate in Pomeren anno 1559. 1439 31 Christopher Count Palatine and Duke of Bavier in title only son of the Lady Margaret sister of Ericus succeeded in all three Kingdomes After whose death the Swethlanders being weary of the Danish Government broke the agreement made at Colmar for the uniting of the three Kingdomes under one Prince and chose one Carolus Caâ—utus to be their King anno 1448. 1448 32 Carolus Canutus one of the meanest of the Nobility and not long pleasing to the great ones whose displeasure when he had incurred and feared the consequents thereof hee gathereth together all the treasure he could fled unto Dantzick and there ended his dayes 1455 33 Christiern King of Denmark and Norwey called in by a party of the Swedes and crowned King of Swethland but outed againe under colour that he had not kept conditions with them the kingdome governed after that for a time by Marshals 1458 34 John King of Denmark and Norwey the sonne of Christiern received king by the Swedes then overpowered by the Muscovite but their turne being served they expelled him againe returning to their former government under Marshals Of which Marshals descended from Steno Stur the Uncle of Carolus Canutus by his Mothers side there were three in
Arvadi Senari and Chamathi were planted here the other six inhabiting more towards the South and East in the Land of Palestine For further evidence whereof we may adde these reasons first that the same woman which in Saint Matthews Gospel chap. 15. v. 22. is named a Canaanite is by Saint Mark chap. 7. v. 26. called a Syro-Phoenician Secondly Where mention is made in the Book of Josuah of the Kings of Canaan the Septagint who very well understood the History and Language of their own Countrey call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Kings of Phoenicia Thirdly the Poeni or Carthaginians being beyond all dispute a Tyrian or Phoenician Colony when they were asked any thing of their Originall would answer that they were Channaei meaning as Saint Augustine that Countrey-man doth expound their words that they were Originally Chanaanites of the stock of Canaan And lastly from the Language of it which antiently was the old Hebrew Canaanitish or the Language of Canaan spoken both here and in Palestine also before that Countrey was possessed by the house of Jacob as appeareth plainly by those names by which the places and Cities of Canaan were called when and before the Israelites came first to dwell amongst them which are meerly Hebrew And so much as unto the Language is acknowledged by Bochartus also who in the entrance of his Book inscribed Chanaan declares what profit may ensue from that undertaking to the Hebrew tongue cujus Phoenicia lingua dialectus fuit of which the Phoenician language was a dialect onely The Counrrey of it self not great extended in a good length from the further side of mount Carmel where it joyns with Palestine to the River Volanus on the North by which parted from Syria but withall so narrow that it is litle more than a bare Sea-coast and therefore very rightly called terrarum angustissims by a modern Writer Rich rather by the benefit and increase of Trade to which no Nation under Heaven hath been more addicted than by the naturall Commodities which the Land afforded yet for the quantity there of no place could be more plentifully furnished with Oyl Wheat and the best fort of Balm and most excellent Honey the lower part hereof being designed for the Seat of Asher of whom Moses prophesied Dent. 33. v. 24. that he should dip his foot in Oyl So that the Countrey generally it was well conditioned lovely to look upon populous and adorned with more beautifull Cities than such a span of Earth could be thought to hold Of which thus writeth Ammianus Acclivis monti Libano Phoenicia Regio plena gratiarum venustatis urbibus decorata magnis pulchris c. i. e. Falling from Mount Libanus lieth the Countrey of Phoenicia full of all graces and elegancies adorned with great and beautifull Cities of which the most renowned for the fertility of their soyl and the same of their achievements are Tyre Sidon Eerytus c. The People antiently by reason of their Maritime situation were great Adventurers at Sea trading in almost all the Ports of the then known World and sending more Colonies abroad upon forreign Plantations than any Nations in the Earth An active and ingenuous People said to have been the first Navigators the first builders of Ships the first inventors of Letters of which hereafter more on some other occasion and the first authors of Arithmetick the first that brought Astronomy to an Art or Method and the first makers of Glass Defamed in holy Scripture for their gross Idolatries by which they laid a stumbling-block at the feet of the Israelites Astoroth or Asturte the Godess of the Sidonians but whether Juno Venus or some other I dispute not here being so highly prized amongst them that Solomon himself when he fell from God made this one of his Idols Once yearly as Eusebius telleth us they sacrificed some of their sonnes to Saturn whom in their language they called Moloch And in the inmost retreats of Libanus had a Temple to Venus defiled with the practice of most filthy lusts intemperately using the naturall Sex and most unnaturally abusing their own Nor could the purity and piety of the Christian Faith prevail so far as to extinguish these ungodly rites till Constantine finally destroyed both the Temples and Idols and left not any thing remaining of them but the shame and infamy St. Austin addeth that they did prostitute their Daughters unto Venus before they maried them and it is most likely to be true For the Phoenicians and Cypriots being so near neighbours and subject for a time to the same Princes also could not but impart their impure Rites and Ceremonies unto one another Rivers of note there can be none in so narrow a Region but what are common unto others and shall there be spoken of Most proper unto this is the River of Adonis now called Canis so named most probably from Adonis the Dearling of Venus whose rites are here performed with as much solemnity as they be in Cyprus His Obsequiâ—s celebrated yearly in the moneth of June with great howlings and Lamentations Lucian fabling that the River usually streameth blood upon that Solemnity as if Adonis were newly wounded in the Mountains of Libanus to give the better colour to their Superstitions But the truth is that this redness of the water ariseth onely from the winds which at that time of the year blowing very vehemently doe thereby carry down the stream a great quantity of Minium or red Earth from the sides of those hils wherewith the waters are discoloured Such use can Satan make of a naturall Accident to blind the eyes and captivate the understandings of besotted people Chief Mountains of this Countrey are 1. Libanus spoken of before which hath here its first advance or rising 2. Carmel which Ptolomy placeth in this Countrey of which it is the utmost part upon the South where it joyneth with Palestine Washed on the North-side with the Brook Chison on the West with the Mediterranean Sea steep of ascent and of indifferent altitude abounding with severall sorts of fruits Olives and Vines in good plenty and stored with herbs both medicinable and sweet of small The retreat sometimes of Elias when he fled from Jesabel whose habitation here after his decease was converted to a Jewish Synagogue To this place being then in the possession of the Kings of Israel did that Prophet assemble the Priests of Baal and having by a miraculous experiment confuted their Idolâ—trons follies caused them to be cut in peeces on the banks of the River Chison neer adjoyning to it Upon this visible declaring of the power and presence of the Almighty the Gentiles grew perswaded that Oracles were there given by God by Suetonius called the God Carmelus Where speaking of Vespafian who had then newly took upon him the Imperiall dignity he addeth Apud Iudaeam Carmeli Dei oracula consulentemâ— ta confirmavere sortes c. that consulting in Judaea with the Oracle of the God Carmelus
Sebva or Sebviah one of the Companions of that Dosthai who though they kept all the publick festivals as the Jews and the other Samaritans did yet they kept them not at the same time transferring the Pâ—sseover to August the Pentecost to Autumn and the feast of Tabernacles to the time of the Passeovâ—r not suffered for that cause to worship in the Temple of Garizim 3. The Gortheni who kept the same Festivals and observed the same times of those Solemnities as the Law required but kept onely one of the seven dayes of those great Festivals and laid by the rest as dayes of ordinary labour In other points not differing from the other Samaritans who though at first possessed of all the land belonging to the ten Tribes of Israel were yet reduced at last to a narrower compass shut up betwixt Galilee and Judaea within the antient territories of the Tribe of Ephraim and the other half Tribe of Manasses on this side of the water 1. The half Tribe of MANASSES on this side of Jordan was situate betwixt Issachar on the North and the Tribe of Ephraim on the South extending from the Mediterranean to the banks of that River In which the places of most consequence and consideration 1. Beth-san environed almost with the land of Issachar situate neer the banks of Jordan where it beginneth again to streighten and be like it self having been almost lost in the Sea of Galilee first called Nysa and so called by Bacchus or Liber Pater the founder of it in memory of his Nurse there buried but the children of Manasses not being able to expel the natives out of it as in other places gave it the name of Beth-san or the house of an Enemy Afterwards when the Scythians invaded those parts of Asia and compelled some of the Jews to serve them against the rest whom notwithstanding their good service they put all to the sword they new-built this City called therefore by the Grecians Scythopolâ—s or the City of Scythians and by them reckoned as a City of â—oele-Syria Memorable in the old Testament for the hanging of the dead bodies of Saul and his sonnes on the walls hereof by the barbarous Philistims in the time of our Saviour for being the greatest of all the Decapolitan Region as afterwards in the flourishing times of Christianity for being the See of an Arch-Bishop now nothing but a desolate village or an heap of rubbish out of which many goodly Pillars and other peeces of excellent Marble are often digged 2. Terzah used by the Kings of Israel for their Regal Seat till the building of Samaria and the removal of it thither 3. Aâ—rabata the territory whereof called Acrabatena was after made one of the ten Toparchies of Judeâ— 4. Thebes not far from Samaria where the Bastard Abimelech was wounded with a stone which a woman threw at him from the wall and perceiving his death to be drawing on commanded his Page to slay him that it might not be said he perished by the hands of a woman 5. Ephra or Hophrâ— in which Gideon dwelt neer whereunto there stood an Altar consecrated to Baal defaced by Gideon and not farre off the fatal stone on which Abimelech slew 70 of his Brethren An heathenish cruelty and at this day practised by the Turks 6. Asophon an ignoble village made famous only for the great and notable defeat which Ptolomy Lathurus here gave to Alexander the King of the Jews which victory he used with so great barbarity that he slew all the Women as he passed along and caused young children to be sod in Caldronâ— 7 Bezek the City of the bloody Tyrant Adonâ—Bezek whose story touched upon before see at large in Judges chap. 1. By Josephus it is called Bala and seemeth to be the place in which Saul assembled the chief strength of Israel and Judah to the number of 330000. men for the relief of Iabesh Gilead then distressed by the Ammonites 8. Iezreel the Royal City of Ahab and the Kings of his race situate at the foot of the Mountains of Gilboa So neer unto the Borders of Issachar that some have placed it in that Tribe Memorable in sacred story for the stoning of Naboth by the procurement of Iezabel and the breaking of Iezabels neck by command of Iehu A City which gave name to the plains adjoyning called the valley or Plainâ— of Iezreel but by the name of Campus Magnus in the book of Maccabees lib. 1. cap. 12. extending from Sâ—â—thopolis to the Mediterranean famous for the great and many battels which have been fought in it as namely of Gideon against the Mâ—dianites of Saâ—l against the Philistims of Ahah against the Syâ—â—â—n of Jehu against Iehoram and finally of the Christians against the Saracens 9. Megiddo unfortunately observable for the death of the good King Iosiah slain hereabouts in a battel against Pharâ—oh Neâ—â— King of Egypt and before that of Ahaziah King of Iudah who received his death-wound at Gaber a Town adjoining when pursued by Iehu 11. Dora or Dor as the Scriptures call it on the Moditerranian not far from the Castle of Pilgrims in the tribe of Issachar a very strong and powerfull City and therefore chose by Try hon for his City of Refuge who having first treacherâ—sly taken and barbarously murdered Ionathan the Maccabaean after he had received 200 talents for his ransome and no less viâ—lanously slain Antiochus the sixt of Syria his Lord and Master whom he succeeded in his throne was by Antiochus the seventh with an Army of 120000 foot and 8000 horse besieged in this City and most deservedly put to death 12. Caesarea antiently called the Tower of Siraton from Straâ—â—â— a King of the Zidonians new built by Herod and by him not only beautified with a large Theatre and Ampâ—â—theatre both of polished Marble but with a fair and capacious haven which with incredible charge and pains he forced out of the Sea And having in twelve years brought it to perfection in honour of Drusus Caesar Sonne-in-Law of Augustus he caused one of the chief Towers thereof to be called Dâ—â—sus the City it self to be called Caesarea Palestinae In this City was Cornelius baptized by St. Peter here did St. Paul plead in defence of Christianity before Festus then the Roman President and finally here Herod Agrippa was smitten by an Angell and devoured by worms after his Rhetorical Oration which his Parasites called the voyce of God and not of man The Metropolis of all Palestine when one Province only as afterwards of Palestina Prima when by Constantine or some of his Successors cantoned into three the first Bishop hereof being said to be that Cornelius whom Saint Peter here initiated in the faith of CHRIST 13. Antipatris another City of Herods building in the place where Kapharsalama mentioned 1 Maccab. 7. 31. had sometimes stood who in honour of his Father Antipater gave it this new name Neer hereunto did Iudas Maccabaeus overthrew a part of Nicanors Army and
harken unto Sergius a Nestorian Monk who flying out of Syria for fear of punishment the heresies of Nestorius being newly both revived and censured came into Arabia where he found entertainment in the house of Abdalmuâ—alif the Master of Mahomet By his perswasions who found him a fit Instrument for the devil to work on he began to entertain the thoughts of hammering out a new Religion which might unite all parties in some common principles and bring the Christians Jews and Gentiles into which the world was then divided under one Professior Resolved on this he retired himself unto a Cave not farre from Mecca as if he there attended nothing but meditations Sergius in the mean time founding in the ears of the people both his parts and piety The people being thus prepared to behold the Pageant out-comes the principal Aetor with some parts of his Alcor in pleasing enough to sensual minds which he next professed to have received from the Angel Gabriel And finding that this edified to his expectation he next proclamed liberty to all staves and servants as a thing commanded him by God by whom the natural liberty of mankind was most dearly tendred which drew unto him such a rabble of unruly people that without out fear of opposition he dispersed his doctrines reducing them at last to a book or method The Book of this religion he calleth the Alcoran that is to say the Collection of Precepts the Originall whereof they feign to be written on a Table which is kept in Heaven and the Copy of it brought to Mahomet by the Angell Gabriel A Book so highly reverenced by the Mahometans that they write upon the cover of it let none touch this but he that is clean The body of it as it now standeth was composed by Osmen the fourth Caliph who seeing the Saracens daily inclining to divers heresies by reason of some false copies of Mahomets Lawes and that the Empire by the same means was likely to fall into civill dissention by the help of his wife who was Mahomets daughter he got a sight of all Mahomets papers which he reduced into four Volumes and divided into one hundred twenty and four Chapters commanding expresly upon pain of death that that book and that onely should be received as Canonicall through his Dominions The whole body of it is but an exposition and gloss on these eight Commandments 1. Every one ought to believe that God is a great God and one onely God and Mahomet is his Prophet They hold Abraham to be the friend of God Moses the messenger of God and Christ the breath of God whom they deny to be conceived by the Holy Ghost affirming that the Virgin Mary grew with child of him by smelling to a Rose and was delivered of him at her brests They deny the mystery of the Trinity but punish such as speak against Christ whose Religion was not they say taken away but mended by Mahomet And he who in his pilgrimage to Mecca doth not comming or going visit the Sepulchre of Christ is reputed not to have merited or bettered himself anything by his journey 2. Every man must mary to encrease the Sectaries of Mahomet Four wives he alloweth to every man and as many Concubins as he will between whom the Husband setteth no difference either in affection or apparrell but that his wives onely can enjoy his Sabbaths benevolence The women are not admitted in the time of their lives to come into their Churches nor after death to Paradise and whereas in most or all other Countries Fathers give some portions with their daughters the Mahometans give money for their wives which being once paid the contract is registred in the Cadies book and this is all their formality of Mariage More of this theme we shall speak when we are in TRECOMANIA 3. Every one must give of his wealth to the poor Hence you shall have some buy slaves and then manumit them buy birds and then let them flie They use commonly to free Prisoners release bondslaves build caves or lodgings in the waies for the relief of Passengers repair bridges and mend high-waies But their most ordinary almes consist in sacrifices of Sheep or Oxen which when the solemnity is performed they distribute among the poor to whom also on the first day of every year they are bound to give the tith or tenth part of their gettings in the year fore-going insomuch that you shall hardly find any beggers amongst them 4. Every one must make his prayers five times a day When they pray they turn their bodies towards Mecca but there faces sometimes one way sometimes another way believing that Mahomet shall come behind them being at their devotions The first time is an hour before Sun-rising the second at noon-day the third at three of the clock after noon the fourth at Sun-setting the first and last before they go to sleep At all these times the Cryers keep a balling in the steeples for the Turks and Saracens have no bells for the people to come to Church And such as cannot come must when they hear the voice of the Cryers fall down in the place where they are do their devotions and kiss the ground thrice 5. Every one must keep a Lent one moneth in a year This Lent is called Ramazan in which they suppose the Alcoran was given unto Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel This fast is only intended in the day time the law giving leave to frollick it in the night as they best please so they abstained from Wine and Swines flesh prohibited by their Law at all times but never so punctually abstained from as in the time of their Lent 6. Be obedient to thy Parents which law is the most neglected of any never any children being so unnatural as the Turkish 7. Thou shalt not kill and this they keep unviolated among themselves but the poor Christians are sure to feel the smart of their fury And as if by this law the actual shedding of bloud only were prohibited they have invented punishments for their offenders worse than death itself As first the Strappade which is hanging of them by the arms drawn backwards when they are so bound they are drawn up on high and let down again with a violent swing which unjoynteth all their back and armes Secondly they use to horse up their heels and with a great cudgell to give them three or four hundred blowes on the soles of their feet Thirdly it is ordinary to draw them naked up to the top of a Gibbit or Tower full of hooks and cutting the rope to let them fall down again But by the way they are caught by some of the hooks where they commonly hang till they die for hunger 8. Doe unto others as thou wouldest be done unto thy self To those that keep these Lawes he promiseth Paradise and a place of all delights adomed with flowry Fields watered with Chrystalline Rivers beautified with Trees of gold under whose cool
Turks and made the residence of some of their principal Officers taken by Mustapha Generall of the Turkish forces in the time of Amurath the 3d. and by him fortified as the Gate and entrance of this Countrey 7. Sumachia or Shamaki betwixt Ere 's and Derbent taken by Osman Bassa at the same time Anno 1578. and made the Residence of a Beglerbeg Anno 1583. Conceived to be the Cyropolis of Ptolomy by the Persinas called Cyreckbata bearing the name of Cyrus the great Persian Monarch by whom built or beautified Remarkable at the present for a Pillar of flint-stones inter-woven with the heads of many of the Persian nobility most barbarously slain by one of the late Sultans and this Pillar here erected for a terrour to others 2. MAJOR MEDIA or MEDIA specially so called is that part hereof which lieth on the South of the Mountain Taurus Commended by the Antients for one of the godliest Countries in all Asia the fields saith Ammianns yielding abundance of Corn and Wine for their fatness and fertility very rich and no less pleasent for fresh Springs and cleer veins of water where one may see plenty of green Meadows and in them a breed of generous horses which they call Nisoei mounted by as valiant and generous Riders who with great jollity use to go unto the warres and charge furiously upon the Enemy The men commended by Polybius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as well as the Countrey Cities of most note in it 1. Ecbatana of as great antiquity as Babylon for we find that Semiramis the wife of Ninus in a warre made against the Medes who had then rebelled taking an affection to the place caused water-courses to be made to it from the further side of the Mountain Orontes digging a passage thorow the hills with great charge and labour Destroyed by the injury of time it was re-edified by Deioces the sixt King of the Medes and afterwards much beautified and enlarged by Seleucus Nicanor Successor unto Alexander in his Asian Conquests For beauty and magnificence litle inferiour to Babylon or Ninive before described In compass 180 or 200 Furlongs which make about 24 Italian miles The walls thereof affirmed in the book of Judith to be 70. Cubits high 50. Cubits broad and the Towers upon the Gates 100 Cubits higher all built of hewn and polished stone each stone being six Cubits in length and three in breadth But this is to be understood only of the innermost wall there being seven in all about it each of them higher than the other and each distinguished by the colour of their severall Pinnacles which gave unto the eye a most gallant Prospect From which variety of colours it is thought to have the name of Agbatha or Agbathana In former times the ordinary residence of the Monarchs of the Medes and Persians in the heats of the summer as Susa the chief City of Susiana in the cold of winter The Royall Palace being about a mile in compass was built with all the cost and cuuning that a stately mansion did require some of the beams thereof of silver and the rest of Cedar but those of Cedar strengthned with Plates of Gold Said by Iosephus to be built by the Prophet Daniel Which must be understood no otherwise in the truth of Story than that he over-saw the Workmen or contrived the Model appointed to that office by Darius Medus to whom the building of the same is ascribed by others Neglected by the Kings of the Parthian race it became a ruin 2. Tauris situate in or neer the place of Echatana out of whose rubbish it was built Distanta 150 miles from the Caspian Sea under the shadow of Orontes now called Baronta but opening Southwards towards a large and spacious Campagn in compass about six miles and beautified on the South-west within a large and pleasant garden the work of Sultan Tamas who resided here often the buildings for the most part of brick which flat Roofs as generally in all the East well peopled as containing 200000 persons of all sorts and Sects Of great trading subdued by the Turks by whom it was thrice taken within very few years viz. by Selimus the first Anno 1514. by Solyman the Magnificent Anno 1530. and by Osman Bassa generall of Amarath the 3d. Anno 1585. But this last finding it too chargeable to be always garrisoned and nototherwise tenable but by force pulled down the walls and built a large and capacious Citadel both Town and Citadel recovered by Emir-Hamze Mirza Prince of Persia and father of Sultan Sofy Anno 1614. after it had been for a hundred years a continuall prey unto the Turks 3. Arsacia so named by Ptolomy and by the name conjectured to be built by some of the Parthian race Ruined long since but more beautifully revived than ever in the present 4. Casbin raised from the ruins of that Town Situate in a fair and open place on the banks of a litle River which serveth 〈◊〉 for houshold uses but not for trafick Exceedingly enriched by removall of the Court from Tauris hither in the time of Tamas partly invited thereunto by the richness of the soyl and the commodiousness of the place but chiefly that he might without danger attend the Turks who began to incroach on his dominions In compass about seven miles beautified with a large market-place many stately Mosques and the Sultans Palace this last adjoyning to the first convenient enough but neither of great state nor beauty 5. Rages or Raga mentioned in the book of Tobit so called from Ragas the sonne of Phaleg the founder of it situate neer the spacious Plain so memorable for the great breed of horses spoken of before and therefore in that book called the Plain of Rages Repaired afterwards by the Greeks it was named Europus and so stands in Ptolonty 6. Nassivan supposed by some to be the Artasata more probably the Nasman◠of the Antient Writers a place much aimed at by the Turks in their Persian warres 7. Ardoville on or neer the banks of the great lake Argis spoken of before the birth-place and chief Seat of Guine and Aider the first Authors of the Sophian Sect and the burrall place of Sultan Hysmael the first Persian Sultan of that line 8. Sultania about six dayes journey from Taurus environed with high Mountains the tops of which continually covered with snow may be seen farre off founded by Alyaptu the 8th King of the Sixt or Tartarian Dynasty and by him made the Royall Seat of the Persian Sultans whence it had the name But ruinated by the Tartars it retaineth nothing now of its former splendour but the Mosques or Temples one of them the fairest in the East which the Tartars spared 9. Tyroan in the Territory of Sultania situate in a large Plain but not farre from the Mountains beautified with a fair Market-place many pleasant Gardens of private men and one belonging to the King environed with a wall of greater Circuit than
Preface to my Microcosm had obliged my self And it is possible enough that in respect of that generall promise I may lie under the censure of incâ—nstancy and breach of Covenant in that I had solemnly declared in the aforesaid Preface that the Reader should not fear any further inlargements which might make him repent his then present Markets that it had received my last hand and that from thenceforth I would look upon it as a Stranger onely But it was meant withall and expressed accordingly unless it wâ—re for the amending of such Errors of which by the strength of mine own judgement or any ingenuous information I should be convicted Anâ— Errors I must needs say I have found so many on this last perusall and those not onely verball but materiall too as did not onely free me from that Obligation but did oblige me to a further Review thereof For being written in an age on which the pride of youth and self-opinion might have some predominancies I thought it freer from mistakes than I since have found it And those mistakes by running thorough eight Editions six of them without my perusall or super-vising so increased and multiplied that I could no longer call it mine or look upon it with any tolerable degree of patience So that in case the importunity of friends had not inforced me in a manner upon this Employment the necessity of consulting my own fame and leaving the Work faâ—r behind me to succeeding times would have perswaded me in the end to doe somewhat in it Which though the last was not the least of those inducements which inclined me to the undertaking of this present Work Having thus plainly and ingenuously laid down the reasons which did induce though not incourage me unto this performance It is now fit I should declare what I have done in it and what the Reader may expect from so great inlargements And first the Reader is to know that my design originally was onely to look over the former Book to give it a Review to purge it of the Errors which it had contracted and not so much â—o make a new Book as correct the old But when I had more seriously considered of it 〈◊〉 found sufficient reason to change that purpose to make it new both in form and matter 〈◊〉 to present it to the world with all those advantages which a new Book might carry with â—t The greater pains I took about it the greater I conceived would the benefit be which might from thence redound to those who should please to read it And I would willingly so fain comply with all expectations that the short Taper of my life should give light to others in the consuming of it self Non nobis solum nati sumus may well become a Christians mouth though an Heathen spake it But if all expectations be not satisfied in the completeness of the work as I fear they will not I desire it may not be ascribed unto any neglect or fault of mine but to the wants and difficulties which I was to struggle with Books I had few to help my self with of mine own nor live I neer so rich a Clergie most of the Benefices of these parts being poor and mean as to supply my self from them with such commodities The greatest helps I had was from Oxford-Librarie which though but nine or ten miles off from my present dwelling yet the charge and trouble of the journey with the loss of time made my visits to that place less frequent and consequently the Neighbourhood thereof less usefull to me than the generality of the design might well comport with So that when all things are considered as they ought to be it rather may be wondred at by an equall Reader how I could come to write so much with so little helps upon a subject of such a large and diffused variety than that in any part thereof I have writ too little And to say truth the work so prospered in my hand and swelled so much above my thought and expectation that I hope I may with modesty enough use those words of Jacob Voluntas Dei fuit ut citò occurreret mihi quod volebam The Lord God brought it to me as the English reads it In the pursuance of this Work as I have taken on my self the parts of an Historian and Geographer so have I not forgotten that I an English-man and which is somewhat more a Church-man As an English-man I have been mindfull upon all occasions to commit to memory the noble actions of my Countrey exployted both by Sea and Land in most parts of the World and represented on the same Theaters upon which they were acted And herein I have followed the example of the great Annalist Baronius Who pretending in that learned and laborious Work a sincere History of the Church and no more than so yet tells the Pope in his Epistle that he principally did intend the same Pro Sacrarum Traditionum Antiquitate Autoritate Romanae Ecclesiae to manifest therein the Antiquity of such Traditions and for defence of that Authority and Power which at this day are taught and exercised in the Church of Kome And so much I may also say of my self in this performance though without any by-design to abuse the Reader that though the Historie and Chorogrophie of the World he my principall business yet I have apprehended every modest occasion of recording the heroick Acts of my native Soil and filing on the Registers of perpetuall Fame the Gallantrie and brave Atchievements of the People of England Exemplified in their many victories and signall services in Italie France Spain Scotland Belgium in Palestine Cyprus Africk and America and indeed where not Nor have I pretermitted their great zeal and piety in converting to the Faith so many of the German and Northern Nations Franconians Thuringians Hassians Saxons Danes Frisons as also amongst the Scots and Picts together with those of Lituania and the people of Norwey by that means more inlarging Christs Kingdom than they did their own And as I have been zealous to record the Actions so have I been as carefull to assert the Rights of the English Nation inherent personally in their Kings by way of publick interess in the Subject also as the whole body doth partake of that sense and motion which is originally in the Head And of this kinde I reckon the true stating of the Title of the Kings of England to the Crown of France demonstrating the Vassallage of the Kingdom of Scotland to the Crown of England vouching the legal Interess of the English Nation in Right of the first Discovery or Primier Seisin to Estotiland Terra Corterialis New-found-Land Novum Belgium Guiana the Countries neer the Cape of good Hope and some other places against all Pretenders insinuating the precedency of the English Kings before those of Spain their Soveraignty and Dominion in the British Ocean with the great benefit which might from thence arise unto
very earnestly intreat me to lead the way till I had brought him past the Woods to the open Fields Which when I had refused to do as I had good reason alleging that I never had been there before and therefore that I could not tell which way to lead him That 's strange said he I have heard my old Master your Father say that you made a Book of all the World and canâ—ot you finde your way out of the Wood Which being spoken out of an honest simplicity not out of any pretence to wit or the least thought of putting a blunt jest upon me occasioned a great deal of merriment for a long time but I hope to meet with no such Readers The greatness of the bulk and consequently of the price makes me somewhat confident that none but men of judgement and understanding will peruse these Papers and such as they will look for no more particulars than the nature of a generall Discourse will fitly bear Perfection and exactness is to be expected in each kind of Science as is observed by Aristotle in the 2 d Book of his Ethicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as far forth as the condition of the Argument may be capable of it And so much if I have attained unto it is all which can with reason be expected from me To look foâ— more were as improper and absurd in the words of Aristotle as for an Artist to expect Tropes of Rhetorick from a Mathematician or Demonstrations from an Orator Lastly as an Historian I have traced the affairs of each severall Countrey from the first Inhabitants thereof such as the Latines call Aborigines and the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till these later times Which that I might be sure to do on a good foundation I have took more than common care to settle all the first Adventurers after the proud attempt at Babel in their right Plantations and that too in the way of an Introduction that I might the better know where I was to finde them and to go on with their affairs with the less disturbance The rest of their Occurrences I have summed into so short an Abstract as may be usefull to the learned in the way of a Remembrancer to the less knowing man in the way of a Tutor Brevity in this kinde I have much indeavoured but so as to avoid all obscurity also Nor have I only kept my self to the Storie of Kingdoms or of the greater Signiâ—uries Estates or Nations which are or have been of the greatest consideration in the sway of the world but looked on the Estates of such Dukes Earls and inferiour Princes as in their times have had the Government of those parts which gave Title to them whose actions and successions are distinctly specified and all such alterations noted as have hapned either in the ruin of such Estates or the translating of them from one House to anothâ—r The Catalogues and Successions of which royall and illustrious Families I have drawn down unto the yeer 1648. towards the expiring of which yeer I began to set my self upon this Imployment And there I fix as on the top of some dreadfull Precipice which one can neither venture down without danger nor look down without horror Some things there are of such a nature that either to speak of them or to hold our peace is alike unsafe In such a case it is best keeping at a distance For though Truth be the best Mistress which a man can serve Magis amica Veritas said the great Philosopher yet it is well observed withall that if a man follow her too close at the heels she may chance to kick out his teeth for his labour In this regard as also out of that compassionate affection which a true Englishman ought to bear his native Country although in my approaches towards these present times I have took notice in some other places of such battells sieges and successes in the chances of War as have hapned in these later dayes I have sorborn to take the least notice of those Tragedies of blood aud death which have been lately acted on the Stage of England I cannot but with grief confess that I might find variety of this kind enough in the late Wars amongst our selves in which there have been more pitched fields more strong pieces taken more notable traverses of State and exploits of war than all the world can parallel in an equall time But I have too much English bowels to please my self in the recitall or to look back on those unfortunate adventures which I should rather choose to cover with the Act of Oblivion or bury in the grave of perpetuall silence How gladly I could have recorded these exploits of war had they been exercised on a subject more proper for them my willingness to take notice upon all occasions of the actions and achievements of the English Nation will bear witness for me But the imploying of that valor against our selves as if not to be conquered but by one another strikes such horror in me that I cannot think thereof without much afrightment nor intimate thus much of it without great reluctancies I fear it may be said too truly of our late imbroilments as the Historian of the Civill Wars betwixt Caesar and Pompey Causa hujus Belli eadem quae omnium nimia felicitas that they were principally occasioned by a surfet of too much felicity But if we were grown weary of our own prosperities and that that prayer passage in the publick Liturgie Give peace in our time O Lord did not relish with us how happy had it been if we had found some other field to have tried our valour inâ— and made some forein Country that Aceldama which so fatally was made at home The dishonor which we suffered in the Isle of Re when beat thence ingloriously by the French the forcible and long detention of the Palatinate by the power of the Spaniard the barbarous butchery at Amboyna and the beating up of the Spanish Fleet within the protection of our Casiles by those of Holland the insolencies of the Scots and the rebellions of the Irish might well have stirred some indignation in an English brest And had we fought upon those scores or on none but them our victories had deserved the honor of a solemn triumph denied by the old Roman Laws to a Civill War But our infelicity as it seems was like that of Rome in following those unnaturall wars with such animosities when the unrevenged death of Craâ—â—is the blood of so many thousand of their slaughtered Citizens and the shamefull lâ—ss of so many of the Roman Ensigns should rather have invited them to the conquest of the Parthian Empire Of which thus feelingly the Poet Cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda Trophaeis Bella geri placuit nullos habit ura Triumphos And when proud Babylon should have been constrain'd To give us back our Ensigns lately gain'd We rather chose such Quarrells to
pursue For which no Triumph could be justly due But such is the condition and vicissitude of humane affairs that there is nothing permanent and much less of certainty The greatest Monarchies of the world the Babylonian Persian Grecian Roman have all had their periods nothing remaining of them now but the name and memory And what is now become of those mighty Cities of the East Ninive Babylon Ecbatana Susa with the rest mentioned in the Scriptures and in Classical Authors are not their very ruins now become invisible Where are the puissant Families of the Achaemenides of Persia the Seleucidae of Syria the Pharaohs and Ptolomies of Egypt the Caesars of Italy the Merovingians and Carolovingians of the Realm of France the Plantagenets of England are they not all extinct gone not to be found but by the benefit of story and some antient monuments And if it be so as it is with the greatest Monarchies the most mighty Cities of the world we must not think that smaller Kingdoms Estates can either be so evenly ballanced or so surely founded as not to be obnoxious also to the same vicissitudes And being that saying of Optatus is most undoubtedly true Ecclesia est in Republica that the Church is but a part of the Common-wealth we must not hope to finde it in a better posture than the Ciuill State in which it is and under the protection whereof it subsists and flourisheth The Church must needs miscarry in the ruin of the Civill State and may miscarry many times although the Civill State receive no such alterations Compared for this reason to the Moon by the antient Fathers who had observed her in her Prime in her Increases and her Full and finally had not only seen her in the Wane also but sometimes too under some horrible Ecclipses Which various condition of the Militant Church the Scriptures and succeeding Stories have set forth so fully that there need no better nor no clearer demonstrations of it The Ark of God taken by the Philistins the Temple destroyed by the Chaldaeans and prophaned by the Syrians the Apostacy of ten Tribes at once from the Law of their God and the extermination of the other two in a short time after abundantly declare the frail condition and estate of the Jewish Church And finde we not the same for the Christian also in the removing of the Candlestick from the Asian Churches and making them together with those of Greece and Egypt and all the flourishing Churches in the East and South to languish and decay remedilesly under the merciless incroachments of the Turks and Saracens He must be more than blind that sees not more savage than those merciless men that grieves not at their sad condition but a dead member at the most of Christs mysticall Body who feels not in himself the sufferings of those wretched Christians If now we look into the causes of that desolation which hath hapned in the Civill State of those mighty Empires to what can we impute it but their crying sins the pride of the Babylonians the effeminacy of the Persians the luxury of the Greeks and such an aggregation of vices amongst the Romans or Western Christians before the breaking in of the barbarous Nations that they were grown a scandall unto Christianity In nobis patitur Christus opprobrium in nobis patitur lex Christiana maledictum as the devout Salvian then complained Thus also in reference to the Church did not the Idolatries of the ten Tribes hasten in the Assyrians the shedding of the blood of so many Prophets by the other two as much accelerate the coming in of the Chaldaeans first and the Romans afterwards Do we not find the Arianism of the Eastern Churches to usher in the inundation of the Saracens the Donatism of the South to have set open a wide Door to let in the Vandals Did not the Saxons follow on the heels of Pelagianism as soon almost as entertained amongst the Britains If so as most undoubtedly it was in the dayes of old why should we think but that the Superstitions and Corruptions of the Church of Rome the sacrilege and faction of the Churches of the Reformation shall at the last receive the like Retribution Or that the Divine Justice is so fast asleep that our sins must cry as loud as the Priests of Baal did unto their God before it be awakened by us Assuredly we are no less sinners than any of those on whom the Tower of the Divine vengeance hath so heavily fallen whose blood the Pilates of all Ages have mingled with their solemn and religious sacrifices and therefore have no cause to hope but that unless we do repent we shall likewise perish The serious consideration of all these particulars hath made those alterations both in Church and State which have hapned here amongst our selves the less strange unto me For is there any of those things whereof it may be said Ecce hoc est novum Behold this is new Eccl. 1. 10. Have they not been already in the times before us Do we not finde it positively affirmed by the wisest man that ever was That which hath been is now and that which is to be hath already been Nihil enim novum est sub sole for there is no new thing under the Sun Eccl. 3. 15. 1. 11. And though I cannot tell what effect the reading of this following Book may produce in others yet I can warrantably say thus much of my self that the observation of the fall of so many great and puissant Empires the extirpation of so many mighty and renowned Families the desolation of so many flourishing Christian Churches as the composing of this Book did present me with though formerly no strangers to me in the course of my Studies did more conduce to the full humbling of my soul under the mighty hand of God than either the sense of my misfortune or any other morall consideration which had come before me And I could wish the Reader may receive so much benefit by it besides the profit and delight which Books of this nature carry with them that the mighty man may learn hereby not to glory in his great strength nor the wise to glory in his wisdoom or in the cunning carrying on of his great designs Let the great Leaders of these times in the Art of War consider the sad ends of Joab the Generall of David and of Belisarius the Commander of Justinians Armies whereof the one was slain ingloriously at the Horns of the Altar after all his services the other forced to beg his bread at the Gates of the Temple Let the great Masters of Wit and State-craft have before their eyes the unsuccesfull ends of Achitopel the Oracle of the times be lived in and of Caesar Borgias proposed by Machiavel for the Pattern of a Politick Prince of which the one laid violent hands upon himself because his Counsell was not followed the other after the defailment of all
time but God is infinite and eternall before all times but that it seemed good to him to create it at last as a thing most conducible to his praise and glory the Heavens declaring the glory of God and the Earth shewing his handy-work saith the Royall Psalmist Some measuring the God of Heaven by their own affections and finding nothing so agreeable to their own dispositions as to be in company conceive that God being at last weary of his owne solitudes did create the World that he might have the company of the Angels in Heaven and make a start into the Earth when he saw occasion to recreate himself with the sonnes of men Quae beata esse solitudo queat What happiness said Hortensius can there be in solitude To which Lactantius Lib. 1. cap. 7. not being furnished with a better doth return this Answer That God cannot be sayd to be alone habet enim Ministros quos vocamus Nuntios as having the society of the Angels But then Lactantius must suppose that the Angels were Co-eternal with God himself which were to make all Gods no God at all or else his Answer is no Answer as to that Objection How much more appositely might he have thus repliyed unto Hortensius That the supreme contentment possible to Almighty God is by reflecting on himself and in himself contemplating his owne infinite glories which being Co-eternall with himself even from all Eternity he needed no more company before the World was made than he hath done since Lactantius being himself a man of a very great reading though indeed a better Humanitian than Divine could not but know those sweet delights which a man habited in learning takes in contemplation and the good society he hath of his own dear thoughts when he is most retired from the sight of men And if the wise Gentile could affirm so sadly nunquam minus solum quam cum Solus esset that he was never lesse alone than when he was by himself what need can any rationall man suppose in Almighty God of having more company than himself to delight himself in If this suffice not for an answer to that needless question What God did before he made the World let him take that of Augustine on the like occasion who being troubled with the like curious and impertinent Caption is said to have returned this Answer fabricasse inferos curiosis that he made Hell for all such troublesome and idle Questionists Which resolution of that Father is by Sabinus a late Dutch Poet moulded into this handsome Epigram Dum Christum Lybicis Pater Augustinus in oris Asserit peragit munus in aede suum Dum miranda refert populo primordia mundi Esse docens verbo cuncta creata Dei Impius assurgit verbisque procacibus Afer Ergo Opifex rerum quid faciebat ait Aut quibus intentus fallebat tempora curis Mundus adhuo nondum cum fabricatus erat Praesul ad haec Lybicus fabricavit tartara dixit His quos scrutari talia mente invat Which may be Englished in these words When reverend Austin did in Africk preach And in Gods House the ruder people teach As he the Worlds Creation prov'd and taught That God made all things by his Word of nought A sawcy Swain upstarting needs would know How God before that did his time bestow And what to spend his thoughts upon he had When neither Heaven nor Earth nor Seas were made To which the Father tartly thus He then Made Hel for thee and such audacious men But not to spend more time in answering so vain a caption suffice it us to know that it pleased God at last when it seemed best unto his infinite and eternall Wisdome to create the World and all things visible and invisible in the same contained A time it had in which it first began to be which before was not This Moses calls Principium a beginning simply In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth in the first words of the Book of Genesis which is all one as if he had said the Heaven and Earth had a beginning or that this unformed Mass or Chaos which he entituleth there by the name of heaven and earth was the beginning of or first draught of those severall things which after were created in their proper times that is to say the first in order of time because made before them not in order of causality as the causes of them Coelum terra in principio i.e. ante omma facta sunt saith Simon Pottius in his Scholies on S. Johns Gospell So that whether we do expound those words that the Heaven and Earth had a beginning or that Moses by these words did mean that out of that matter which he calls Heaven and Earth as out of the beginning or first matter all things were created it comes all to one because it is thereby acknowledged that the first matter was created by Almighty God and therefore of necessity to have a beginning And to this truth we have not only the authority and consent of Scripture but of the greatest part of the old Philosophers guided thereto by this impossibility in nature that any visible work whether it be naturall or artificiall should either give it self a being or have that being which it hath from no cause precedent For from that Principle Tully argueth very rightly in his most excellent Book de Natura Deorum that as a man coming into a goodly house in which he found nothing but Rats and Mice could not conceive that either the house had built it self or had no other maker but those Rats and Mice which were nested in it so neither can it be imagned that either this World should be eternall of a self-existency or was composed by any naturall Agent of what sort soever And this is that which is more briefly and expresly said by the Apostle viz that every house is built by some man but he that built all things is God Heb. 3. v. 4. It is true that Aristotle being a very great enquirer into the works of Nature conceived the world to be eternall and yet was not alwaies constant unto that opinion But then it is as true withall that there was something else that inclined him to it than a meer admiration of the works of Nature Democritus and some others had been of opinion that the World was made in the beginning fortuitis atomorum concursionibus by the accidentall union or conjunction of those severall parcells of which the Universe consisted and that man himself was but voluntaria elementorum concretio a voluntary mixture of all the elements as Minutius hath observed out of their writings To which absurd opinion as it was no better though it found a generall imbracement amongst many of the old Philosophers when Aristotle knew not how to submit his most exquisite judgement and yet was destitute of such further light as might more fully have instructed him
in its true Criginall he rather chose to grant the world to be eternall than to be made of such ridiculous and unsound though eternall Atoms Et maluit hanc pulobram mundi faciem ab aeterno esse quam aliquando ex aeterna deformitate emersisse Valesius in his Book de Sacra Philosophia so pleads the case in his behalf and I thank him for it who am I must confess a great friend of Aristotles whom some account for the â—recursor of our Saviour Christ in rebus naturalibus as John the Baptist was in divinis Nor doth the Scripture and the light of Reason tell us onely this that the whole world had a beginning but by the help of Scripture and the workes of some learned men we are able to point out the time when it did begin or to compute how many years it is precisely from the first beginning without any notable difference in the calculation For though it be most truly said citius inter Horologias quam Chronologias that Clocks may sooner be agreed then Chronologers yet most Chronologers in this point come so neer one another that the difference is scarce observable From the beginning of the world to the Birth of Christ in the accompt of Beroaldus are 3928. yeers 3945. in the computation of the Genevians 3960. in the esteem of Luther and 3963. in the calculation of Melanchthon between whom and Beroaldus being the least and the greatest there is but 35. years difference which in so long a course of time can be no great matter Now if unto the calculation made by Beroaldus which I conceive to be the truest we add 1648. since the Birth of Christ the totall of the time since the worlds creation will be 5576. yeers neither more nor less A thing which I the rather have insisted on because that from this Epoche or Aera of the Worlds creation we shall compute the times of such Kings and Princes as reigned and flourished in the world before the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour It being then resolved as a thing undoubted that God made the World and that he made it in such time as himself best pleased let us next look upon the matter and the method which it pleased the Divine Majesty to make use of in this wondrous work First for the matter out of which all things were created I take it as before was said to be that which Moses in the first words of Genesis calls the Heaven and the Earth because they were so in potentia but after telleth us more explicitely that that which he calleth Earth was inanis et vacua without form and void and that which he called Heaven was but an overcast of darkness or tenebrae super faciem Abyssi as the vulgar reads it Of which Chaos or confused Mass we thus read in Ovid who questionless had herein consulted with the works of Moses being before his time communicated to the learned Gentiles Ante mare terras quod tegit omnia Coelum Vnus erat toto naturae vultus in Orbe Quem dixere Chaos rudis indigestaque moles Nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestaque eodem Non benc junctarum discordia semina rerum c. Which I shall English from G. Sandys with some little change Before the Earth the Sea and Heaven were framed One face had nature which they Chaos named An indigested lump a barren load Where jarring seeds of things ill-joyn'd abode No Sun as yet with light the world adorns Nor new Moon had repair'd her waining horns Nor hung the self-poiz'd Earth in thin Air plac'd Nor had the Ocean the vast Shores imbrac'd Earth Sea and Ayr all mixt the Earth unstable The Air was dark the Sea unnavigable No certain form to any one assign'd This that resists For in one body joyn'd The cold and hot the dry and humid fight The soft and hard the heavy with the light Out of this Chaos or first matter did God raise the world according to those severall patts and lineaments which we see it in not as out of any pre-existent matter which was made before and had not God for the Author or first Maker of it but as the first preparatory matter which himself had made including in the same potentially both the form and matter of the whole Creation except the soul of man onely which God breathed into him And therefore it is truly said that God made all things out of nothing not out of nothing as the matter out of which it was made for then that nothing must be something but as the terminus à quo in giving them a reall and corporall being which before they had not and did then first begin to have by the meer force and efficacy of his powerfull Word And though it be a Maxim in the Schools of Philosophie Ex nihilo nil fit that nothing can be made of nothing that every thing which hath a being doth require some matter which must be pre-existent to it yet this must either be condemned for erroneous Doctrine in the Chair of Divinity or else be limited and restrained to Naturall agents which cannot go beyond the sphere of their own activity Invisible and supernaturall Agents are not tied to Rules no not in the production of the works of Nature though Nature constituted and established in a certain course work every thing by line and measure as a certain Rule And so it was with God in the Worlds Creation he did not only make the world but he made it out of nothing by his Word alone Dixit et facta sunt he spake the word and they were made saith the royal Psalmist Ps 33. v. 9. There went no greater pains nor matter to the whole Creation but a Dixit Deus And this not only said by Moses but by David too Verbo Domini firmati sunt Coeli spiritu Oris ejus omnis virtus eorum v. 6. i.e. by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the Hosts thereof by the breath of his mouth In which it is to be observed that though the Creation of the World be generally ascribed to God the Father yet both the Son and the Holy Ghost had their parts therein Verbo Domini by the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made saith the Prophet David In the beginning was the Word all things were made by him and without him was nothing made saith S. Iohn the Apostle The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters saith Moses in the Book of the Law Et spiritu oris eius and by the breath or Spirit of his mouth were all the Hosts of Heaven created saith David in the Book of Psalms Made by his Word and yet not made together in one instant of time In the first day he laid the foundation and no more in the five next he raised the building and this he did to teach us men deliberation in our words and actions and to
All that the Scripture telleth us of it is that the Ark rested on the Mountains of Ararat but where those Mountains are that it telleth us not I know Iosephus and some other of more eminent note but such as ground themselves upon his authority affirm those Mountaines of Ararat to be the hills of Armenia which they doe chiefly on these Reasons First because Armenia is called Ararat in the Book of God as it is confessedly And secondly because of an old Tradition countenanced by Berosus and some others of the ancient Writers cited by Iosephus affirming that on the Gordiaean Mountains in Armenia Major some of the Relicks of the Ark were remaining in their times and used as a preservative against inchantments Which notwithstanding I incline rather to the opinion of Goropius Becanus who amongst many strange whimseys broached some notable truths by whom the Ark is said to rest on the top of Mount Caucasus in the Confines of Tartarie Persia and India His Arguments are many but I look on two as of greatest consequence the first whereof is grounded upon evident reason the second on plain Text of Scripture That which is grounded upon reason is the exceeding populosity of those Eastern Countreys into which none of those by whom the world was planted after the Confusion of Languages are yet reported to have travailed with their severall Colonies by any who have took most pains in this discovery Those infinite numbers which Staurobates one and but one of many of the Kings of the Indians brought into the field against Semiramis and the vast Army of Zoroaster the King of Bactria conducted out of that one Province against Ninus are proof enough that those Countries were of an elder Plantation than to be a second or third Castling of some other Swarm setled in Persia or Assyria after the Confusion For Ninus who was the Husband of Semiramis was but the Grandchild of Nimrod and I must needs look upon it as a thing impossible that those vast Armies which Semiramis was able to raise out of all her Dominions should be encountred by one King with an equall force and that of his own Subjects onely If that one King and those his Subjects had been some late Colonie of those new Plantations and not possessed of a Country peopled and inhabited before that Confusion Nor was it but upon some good ground that the Scythians who inhabited on the North of Mount Caucasus were generally esteemed the most antient Nation in the World and carried it away from the Egyptians Phrygians and all other Competitours with this publick Verdict Scytharum gens semper antiquissima which ground could be no other but the neighbourhood of the Ark unto them though perhaps that ground long since forgotten was not stood upon and the dwelling of Noah and hiâ— children near the place of the Ark till numbers and necessity compelled them to inlarge their border And in the inlarging of their Boâ—derâ— I shall make no question but that such parts as lay neâ—rest were peopled and possessed before those which lay furthest off according to the method of Plantations in all Ages since This though it be to me a convincing Argument yet it falls short of that which comes from the Text it self both in authority and weight where it is said of the Heads of those severall Families which afterwards joyned together in the building of Babel that As they went from the East they found a Plain in the land of Shinaar and there they abode Gen. 11. v. 2. If then they came from the East to the land of Shinaar as the Text saith plainly that they did it might well be that they came from those parts of Asia on the South of Caucasus which lie East of Shinaar though somewhat bending to the North impossible they should come from the Gordiaean Mountains in the greater Armenia supposed to be the Hills which the Ark did rest on which lie not onely full North of Shinaar but many degrees unto the West For Babylonia or Shinaar is situate in the Latitude of 35 and the Longitude of 79 and 80. the Latitude of the Gordiaean Mountains in 41 and their Longitude in 75. By which Accompt those Mountains are 6 Degrees more Northwards and 5 Degrees more Westwards than the Land of Shinaar by no means to be reckoned on the East of that Vallie except we make Moses whose hand God guided in his Books to speak Cod knows what or in plain terms to speak plain non sense And though this Scripture be so clear that it needs no Commentarie yet the perplexities I find amongst those of the other opinion in shifting out of the autor tie of so plain a Text doe adde in my conceit some moment and weight unto it For some will have the Mountains of Ararat to be indeed on the North of the Land of Shinaar but with some bending towards the East which were it true as nothing is more truly false Moses had never told us that they came from the East but from some Countries of the North which lay towards the East Others will have a double progress of the Heads of their severall Families First from the Mountains of Ararat or the Plains of Armenia to the Fields of Assyria and Susiana And secondly from thence to the land of Shinaar But of this first journey there is ne gry quidem nor so much as any one syllable in all the Scripture besides the needlesness of making them go so far about and to cross over the great Rivers Euphrates and Tigris whereas they had a shorter and an easier passage Capellus singular by himself quarrelleth with the Translation received without dispute by all other Criticks and will not have the Hebrew Kedem to be rendred East but to signifie that Region whatsoever it was which was inhabited by Kedem the son of Ismael of whom we find mention Gen. 25. 15. But then besides his quarrell with all other Translations he supposeth a former progress from the Mountains of Ararat to that land of Kedem and consequently falleth into a part of the Errour before refelled Bochartus finding if not fancying that the Assyrians called all those parts of their Empire beyond Tygris the Eastern and those on this side of it the Western Would thence conclude that these Heads may be said by Moses to have come from the East because they came from one of the Eastern Provinces of the Assyrian Empire Every way faulty in this point For besides that the greatest part of Armenia lieth on the North of Tygris and the least part of it on the West and therefore not within the compass of the Eastern Provinces and that Bochartus hath not proved nor indeed can prove that this division was in use in the time of Moses We may as rationally conclude and with less absurditie that the first Inhabitants of Britain might have been said by Ammianus Marcellinus or any Writer of that time to come out of the West though
Geographia Sacra Out of whose learned labours and some Animadversions of mine own I shall here say somewhat concerning the Plantation of the World by the Sons of Noah leaving the more exact and punctuall description of it unto the History of those severall Lands and Countries which were planted by them First therefore to begin with the posterity of Sem as those who fixed themselves in Asia without wandring further we finde Sem to have had five sons that is to say Elam Assur Arphaxad Lud and Aram of whom there is no issue on Record in holy Scripture but onely of Arphaxad and Aram And of these two there are but four sonnes given to Aram viz Uz Hul Gether and Mesech and but one to Arphaxad which was Selah To Selah was born Heber to Heber Phales the Ancester of Abrabam and Ioktan the father of those thirteen sonnes whose names we shall rehearse hereafter if occasion be From Elam who is first named did descend the Elamites a people bordering on the Medes and therefore oft-times joyned together in the Scriptures as Go up O Elam besiege O Media Es 21. v. 2. And all the Kings of Elam all the Kings of the Medes Ier. 25. v. 25. And in the second of the Acts Parthians and Medes and Elamites march in rank and file as being Nations bordering upon one another The principall City of this people was called Elymais mention whereof is made in the second of Maccab. cap. 6. v. 2. Sufficiently famous for the rich and magnificent Temple which was there consecrated to Diana A City seated on the banks of the River Eulaeus and neighbouring close to Susiana which therefore is sometimes included in the name of Elam as Dan. 8. ver 2. I was saith he 〈…〉 not taken for the Province of the 〈…〉 but as it gave denomination unto all these Nations whom they after mastered 〈…〉 of Sem is Assur of whom there is no question made amongst the Learned but 〈…〉 was the Father of the Assyrians called Assyres in some old Greek Writers Not of the whole 〈◊〉 of that great and unwieldy Empire who sometimes generally passe by the name of Assyâ—â—â— but of the people of Assyria strictly and properly so called as it denotes the Country 〈…〉 the Regall City of that Empire which after was called Adiabene Iuxta hunc Circuicum Adiabene Assyria priscis temporibus vocata as in Ammianus Marcellinus lib. 33. Arphaxad comes next after Assur and him Iosephus makes to be the Father of the Chaldaeans called antiently Arphaxadaeâ— if he tell us true But others tells us and that more probably perhaps that he planted in that part of Assyria which was first called Arphaxitis afterwards Arrapachitis by which name it occurreth in the Tables of Ptolomie Lud the fourth son is generally said to be the Father of the Lydians a people of Asia the lesse the names of Lud and Lydi or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Grecians call them being much alike And it is possible enough that some of the posterity of this Lud might afterwards settle in those parts and call the Country by the name of Lud their common Ancestor as the posteritie of Abraham took unto themselves the name of Hebrews from Heber one of the Progenitors of their father Abraham But that Lud should in person go so far from the rest of the sonnes of Sem I cannot easily imagine For Aram the fift and last as they stand in order of the Text sets himself down close by his Brethren in the Land of Syria which in the Hebrew is called Aram and from thence the name of Aramites was given to the Inhabitants of it Of which and of the severall Provinces which were hence denominated we shall hereafter speak more fully when we come to Syria Onely take now this testimony and acknowledgment from the pen of Strabo Quos nos Syros vocamus ipsi Syri Aramenios Arameos vocant Those saith he which we now call Syrians do call themselves Arameans or Aramentans In and about the same parts did the four Sons of Aram set themselves and their Families Uz in that part of Syria which is called Syria Damascena or Aram Dammesek the building of the great Citie of Damascus being generally ascribed unto him and the Land of Uz bordering South upon Damascus taking denomination from him The like did Hul or Chul the next son of Aram whom both Josephus and St. Hierome setle in Armenia or Aramenia as in Strabo And that not improbably considering that there is a Region in Armenia which Stephanus calls Cholobetene and divers Cities in that tract which still preserve the Radicals of Hul or Chul as Cholus Cholnata Cholimna Colsa and Colana whereof mention is made in the Tables of Ptolomie For Gether the third son of Aram it is not yet agreed on where to find his dwelling Josephus contrary to all reason placeth him in Bactria and Mercer with as little in Caria a Province of the lesser Asia and Acarnania of Greece Junius sets him down in the Province of Cassiotis and Seleucis neer his Father Aram where Ptolomie placeth Gindarus and the Nation called by Plinie Gindareni Bochartus on the banks of the River Centrites which divides Armenia from the Carduchi as it is in Xenophon Which River if it were called originally Getri as he conjectureth it might be the controversie were at an end But being that we find in Ptolomie a City of Albania which bordererh on Armenia called Getara and a River of the same Country called Getras I see no cause why we should seek further for the seat of Gether though the Greek Copies more subject to corruption in the times of ignorance than the Latin were insteed of Getara read Gagara But if this be too far to set him we shall find Mas or Mesch the last Son planted neerer hand even in the Northern part of Syria towards Mesopotamia neer the Hill called Masius at the foot whereof there is a people which Stephanus calls Masieni and thereabouts a River which in Xenophon is named Masca Both which do evidently declare from what root they come Come we next to the second branch of the house of Sem derived from Arphaxad whom we left setled in the Region of Arrapachitis in or neer Assyria Not far from which in Susiana a Province of the Persian Empire there is a Citie of chief note called Sela mention of which is made both in Ptolomies Tables and the 23 Book of Ammianus Marcell nus Adde unto this the autoritie of Eustathius Antiochenus who briefly thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The People of Susiana came from Sala But this as I conceive must be understood onely of that part of this people which lived in and about the Citie of Sela and not of the whole Nation of the Susians or Susiani which borrowed their nomination from another root To Sela was born Heber from whom the people of the Hebraei or Hebrews do derive their name And to him Phaleg his
sonnes that is to say Cush Mizraim Phut and Canaan of which onely Phut the third Sonne hath no issue assigned him To Chush the eldest Sonne were born Seba and Havilah and Sabtah Nimrod Sabtecha and Raamah who was the Father of Sheba and Dedan And unto Mizraim the second Sonne were born Ludim and Amamim Lebabim Naphtuhim Paâ—hrusim Caphtorim and Casluhim who was the Father of Philistim Of Canaan and his issue we shall speak hereafter In the mean time we will dispose of these first branches of the stock of Cham beginning first with Chus the eldest and so descending to the rest of this first Line And first for Chush though it be generally said both by the Greek and Jewish Writers that he was the Father of the Aethiopians in the heart of Africa yet upon better search he is found to have gone no further than Arabia possessing himself of a good part of that which is called Petraea and some part of Arabia Felix For whereas Zipora the wife of Moses was daughter unto Jethro the Priest or Prince of Madian Exod. 2. v. 16. c. and yet is called an Aethiopian woman in the 12. of Num. v. 1. it must needs be that by Aethiopian in the last place must be meant an Arabian for Madian doubtless was a City of Arabia neer unto the Red Sea as is apparent by Josephus for the Jewes Ptolomie for the Grecians and S. Hierome for the Latine Writers But we shall canvass this more throughly in its proper place the strength of reason serving for a supplement of that one main defect which is that there is no remainder of the name of Chus in any of the Cities Promontories Hills or Rivers of all that Countrey by which his planting there might be made more evident Seba the eldest Sonne of Chus sets himself down on the shores of the Red Sea as neer his Father as he could becoming the Originall of the great and wealthy Nation of the Sabaeans the so much celebrated City of Saba memorable for abundance of the best Frankincense being their Metropolis or head City A Nation seated in the most Southern part of this Peninsula subject in Solomons time to that famous Lady called in the old Testament from her Country the Queen of Sheba and in the new Testament from the situation of it the Queen of the South the holy Spirit in both places giving her an ample and remarkable testimony For Havilah or Chavilah the second of the Sonnes of Chus most probable it is that he possessed himself of that part of Arabia which lay neerest unto Babylonia and that he gave name to that Land of Havilah which the River Pison is said to incompass Gen. 2. v. 2. Some footsteps of whose name remain in the Chaulotaei of Eratosthenes the Chaulasâ— of Festus Anicnus but more plainly in the Chavelei of Plinâ—e being all three but one people though thus diversly named and all of them planted towards the Persian Gulf and so to Babylon On the same shore of the Persian Gulf we are to look for Sabta the third sonne of Chus where Ptolomie informs us of a Citie called Saphta and of an Iland in the same Gulf called Sopththa also From whence in probabilitie some of this people might pass over into Persia on the other side of the Gulf and there give name to the Sabtaei which by the transposition of the letter T. are by Prolomie called the Stabaei That Nimrod the fourth sonne of Chus did first plant himself in Babylonia the Scripture is so plain and positive that nothing need be added to it Of Sabteca the fift sonne I confess I can find no tract in any of the antient Authors For why we should admit of so great a change as first of B. into M. and then of T. into D. which could not easily be done by very careless Transcribers and so finde Sabteca in Samydace a City or Country of the Carmanians on the Persian side of the Gulf I can see no reason And therefore rather chuse to mingle him and his posterity with the sonnes of Sabta and the children of his brother Regma all planted on the same shore of the Persian Gulf. For that Regma our English Bibles call him Raama was setled on the banks of the Bay of Persia hath so good authority that there is no dispute to be made of that Ptolomie placing there the City of Regma Regama it is called in the Latin Translation by which name it occurreth in Stephanus also in his Book De Urbibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Regma on the Persian Gulf as his words there are And not far thence we are to look for his sonne Sheba both being joyned together in the Book of God and both there said to busie and employ themselves in the trade of Merchandizing The Merchants of Shebah and Raamah saith the Text they were thy Merchants they occupied in thy Faâ—rs with chief of all Spices and with all precious Stones and Gold Ezek. 27. v. 22. So that the Nations of the Sabaeans though descended at the first from severall parents inhabited the lower parts of Arabia Felix from one Sea to the other as evidently appeareth by those words of Plinie where he informeth us most truly that the Sabaeans or Arabian people well known for their abundance of Frankincense ad utraque maria porrectis gentibus habitare had spread themselves over all the Country even from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Persia Finally in the same tract we find Dedan the other sonne of Regma and the last of all the sonnes of Chus there being on the mouth of the Persian Gulf but on the Arabian coast thereof not onely a City but a Province called by the name of Dedan which both Ortelius and some other late Geographers do take notice of And more than so the Prophet Ezekiel joyns him with his brother Sheba and makes them both to follow the same trade of Merchandise The men of Dedan were thy Merchants chap. 27. 15. Sheba and Dedan and the Merchants of Tarshish chap. 38. 13. They brought thee hornes of Ivorie and Ebonie saith the Prophet in the former Text. The head of the next house of the race of Cham was Mizraim the second sonne of whom it is generally affirmed that leaving his elder brother Chus and his posteritie in the rich and delectable Countries of Arabia Felix and the next parts to Babylonia or the land of 〈◊〉 he went with his own sonnes and his Brother Phut into Africa and there planted Egypt Oâ—th there is no question amongst the Learned though all the tracts and footstepâ— of 〈◊〉 be quite worn out unless any thing of it were preserved in the word Mesori by which the Aegyptians antiently called the first Moneth in the year or in that of Mesre by which name the Arabians call Egypt to this day But being Egypt is called Misraim in the Hebrew Bibles that onely is sufficient without further evidence And therefore leaving him in
sonnes they first possessed themselves of convenient dwellings in the greater and the lesser Asia Gomer himself first planting in the mountainous places of Albania where the Mountains called Cimmerini long retained his name and after changing that unpleasant and unfruitfull dwelling for the Plains of Phrygia in which the Citie Cimmeris in the daies of Plinie did preserve his memory For that the posteritie and people of Gomer called at first Gomerians came to take the name of Cimmerians as of Cimbri afterwards is generally agreed upon amongst the Learned Now then as Gomer fixt himself in the Greater Phrygia so did his eldest sonne Aschenaz in Phrygia minor and the Country of Troas spreading himself along upon the Hellespont and those Greekish Seas as far as Bithynnia In all which places there were left some memory of this Plantation For in Bithynnia there is a In all which places there were left some memory of this Plantation For in Bithynnia there is a Bay called Sinus Ascauius together with a River and a Lake of the same name also And in the Lesser Phrygia and the Country of Troas there was both a Citie and a Province adjoyning antiently known by the name of Ascania and the Ascaniae Insulae also on the coasts thereof Nor is it any thing unlikely but that in honour of this Aschenaz the Kings and great men of those parts took the name of Ascanius Of which name besides Ascamus the sonne of Aeneas we find a King mentioned in the second of Homers Ilâ—ads which came unto the aid of Priamus at the siedge of Troy In the same quarters of the World we find Riphath also the founder of the Ripher a people dwelling in the East parts of Bithynnia and spreading also over Paphlagonia In both which Provinces there are some remnants of his name to be found amongst the Antients For besides that Josephus saith expresly that the Paphlagonians antiently were called Riphei there is mention in Apollonius Argonauticks of the River Rhebaeus which rising in Bithynnia emptieth it self into the Pontus Euxinus neer to Paphlagonia of which River Plime also doth inform us and Stephanus doth not onely acquaint us with the River it self but tels us also of a Region of the same name and of a people thereabouts which is called Rhebaei Nor need we look much further to find out the seat of Togarma the third sonne of Gomer whom the Prophet Ezekiel not onely joyneth with his Father as two neighbouring Nations but makes both of them to lie Northwards of Judaea Gomer and all his bands the house of Togarma in the North quarters and all his bands cap. 38. 6. So that they do not guess amiss who place Togarma and his Progeny in Cappadocia a Country not onely bordering neer to the Plantations of Gomer and lying on the North of the land of Canaan but very well stocked with an excellent breed of Mules and Horses as Strabo testifieth in the 11 Book of his Geographic with which commodities they traded at the Fairs of Tyre as the same Prophet tels us of them cap. 27. 14. But for a more evident proof of this that Togarma's dwelling must be found in Cappadocia we must first know that the Greek Translators call him generally by the name of Torgama and then that antiently there was a people in Cappadocia and Galatia whom Strabo calleth Trocmi and Tully Trogmi by Stephanus they are named Trocmeni and Trogmades in the Councel of Chalcedon in which Cyriacus Bishop of the Trogmades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often mentioned Having thus done with Gomer and the sonnes of Gomer we will next pursue the rest of the sonnes of Japhet except Javan onely whom with his four sonnes we will keep together And the next sonne of Japhet is Magog concerning whom there hath been much dispute and difference amongst our Antiquaries some making him the Father of the Scythians some of the Goths and others finally of the Tartars all of them thinking that such terible names as Gog and Magog could not belong to any but such terrible Nations And possible enough it is that some of his posteritie in succeeding times finding their own seats too narrow for them might remove further Northwards and be founders of some Scythian and Tartarian Nations but that Magog himself in his first Plantation should wander so far out of the way from the rest of his brethren when he had elbow-room enough amongst them I cannot easily imagine When therefore I find a Region in Stephanus called Gogareus betwixt Iberia and Colchis and read in Plinie that the Citie of Câ—le Syria which the Grecians call Hierapolis was by the Syrians themselves called Magog I shall not trouble my self to look for Magog any where else than in those Countries where they have left such evident Land-marks to discern themselves by But this we shall the better see by looking out the dwellings of his two brethren Mesech and Tubal who being joyned together with God and Magog Ezek cap. 38. 2. 39. 1. are very unlike to have their dwellings far asunder or that they could concur in any publick Action against the Jews according to the scope and purpose of the holy Prophet Now it is probable if not more that Mosech whom the Antients named Mosoch seated himself on the North and North-East of Sâ—ria in the confines of Colchis and Armenia and so unto the Caspâ—an or Hyrcanian Sea For all along that tract runs a ridge of Hils which Plinie Ptolomic and Pomponius Mela call Montes Moschiâ—â— disterminating Colchis from Armonia and both from Iberia and most like to be the dwelling of Mesech or Mosoch and to take denomination from him And this I am the rather induced to think because Tubal whom the Scriptures generally joyn together with Mesech is by most Writers said to have setled himself in Iberia the next Province to it Josephus also telling us that antiently the Iberi were called Thobeli though called Iberians afterwards on some new occasion And hereunto the constant tradition of the Spaniards gives some good autoritie who boast of their descent from Tubal which can no otherwise be granted than as they were a Colonie of these Iberians from whence the Concinent of Spain was once called Iberia and where one of the principall Rivers is still called Iberus For Madai the third Sonne of Japhet it is most plain by the authority of Scripture were there no proof else that he was the Father of the Medes who in the book of Daniel and that of Hester are represented to us by no other name than that of Madai Thus having took a view of those who fixt themselves in either or in both the Asias let us look on Thyras Javan and the sonnes of Javan who not contented with their dwellings in the lossâ—r Asia filled all Europe by degrees with their numerous progenies And first beginning with Javan as the Elder brother most Authors make him the Originall of those Greek Nations which pass under the
treble use First that out of them drink may be afforded to man and beast Secondly that running thorough the earth as blood thorough the body by interlacing it and sometimes overwhelming it it might make the Earth able to produce those fruits which are necessary for the life of man The last use of Rivers is easiness and speediness of conduct and hereto are required four conditions First the depth because deep waters sustain the bigger burdens and on them navigation is more safe Secondly pleasantness whereby the passage is easie both with the stream and against it whereas in Rivers of a violent current or such as fall down by great locks or Cataracts the sayling or rowing up the water is as dangerous as laborious Thirdly the thickness of the water for by how much the more slimie and gross a water is by so much can it carry the heavier burdens So Tiber a River of more fame than depth or bredth is better for navigation by reason of its fatness than the pure and thin waters of the large and excellent River Niliu Fourthly the broadness of the channell that ships and other vessells may conveniently wind and turn and give way to each other Some of the old Philosophers reputed this conduct so dangerous that one of them being asked whether he thought the living or the dead were the greater number would not declare himself because he knew not in which rank to place such as were at Sea And Cato Major thought that men never committed greater folly in their lives than in venturing to go by water when they might have gone by land I am none of that Sect yet I cannot but hold with him that said Dulcissima est ambulatio prope aquas navigatio juxta terram The chief Rivers of Europe are Danubius and the Rhene of Africa Nilus and Niger of Asia Ganges and Euphrates of America Orenoque and Maragnan Of which and others more in its proper place Thus have we gone over these particulars both of Earth and Water which are considerable in Geographie and come within the compass of those Annexaries of each which Ptolomy calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And having so done may discover where the difference lieth between Geographie and Chorographie which to some men not rightly looking into the nature of both seem to be the same For howsoever a Chorographer doth describe a Countrey by the bounds rivers hills and most notable Cities yet it is still but the description of some place or Countrey and not of the whole Earth universally which is the proper work of a Geographer So that Chorography differeth from Geography as a part from the whole that being as Ptolomy doth very handsomely express it like the painting of an eye or an ear or some other member this as the picturing of the head or whole body of man But Geographie in its full latitude comprehendeth not Chorography only but Topographie and Hydrographie also Of these the last is the delineation of the Sea by its severall names Ports Promontories Creeks and other affections as also of great Lakes and Rivers Which is most necessary for the use of Mariners and is best done by Petrus de Medina Peter Nonnius in his Regulae Artis Navigandi and Johannes Aurigarius in his Speculum Nauticum the chief Writers in the Art of Pilotisme Topography is the description of some particular place or City of which kinde was the Book of Stephanas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or De Vrbius among the Antients and the Theatrum Vrbium written by Bruinus in these later times Stowes Book of the Survey of London the French Antiquities de Paris and such as these And of this kinde is the description of the Vale of Tempe in the greater Ortelius and those of the Elysian fields the gardens of Alcinous and the Hesperedes in the antient Poets 3. Chorographie as before was said is the exact description of some Kingdom Countrey or particular Province of the same unless this last may fall more properly under the notion of Chorographie Of this kinde the description of the severall estates of Greece written by Pausanias is of most use and reputation of all the Antients as that of Camden Glarenteux for the I le of Britain of Lewis Guicciardine for the Low Countreys Leander for Italy c. are amongst the Moderns Fourthly Geography finally is 〈◊〉 aggregate of all these together borrowing from 〈◊〉 the description of Seas and Waters From Topography that of Towns Cities and particular placâ— And from Chorography the delinâ—ation of Regions Provinces and Kingdoms which brought into a body make up that Portraiture oâ— Picture of the whole Earth and every considerable part thereof in writing which according to Ptolomies definition before mentioned is properly and truly called Geography In the advancement of which studies those which have took 〈◊〉 pains with the greatest benefit to Posteritie are the said Ptolomie Plime and Strabo for the elder times Mercator Maginus and Ortelius for the later Ages Of which the two first lived in the times of Antoninus Pius the Roman Emperour Anno Chr. 141. or hereabouts the other in the reign of Tiberius Caesar the unworthy Successor of Augustus the three last flourishing in the daies of our Fathers about some 80 years ago Thus have I briefly summed up those generall Praecognita which I conceive are necessary to the knowledge and understanding as well of History as of Geography Out of which two compounded and intermixt ariseth that universal Comprehension of Naturall and Civill story which by a proper and distinct name may be termed Cosmography And this may well be reckoned amongst mixed stories for it hath from Naturall History or Geography the Regions themselves together with their Sites and severall Commodities from Civill History Habitations Governments and Names and from the Mathematicks the Climates and Configurations of the Heavens under which the Coasts and Quarters of the World do lie Of the Utilitie and excellencie of which study I need say no more than what hath been already spoken of the severall parts whereof this is only the Result desiring pardon of the Reader that I have christened these imperfect and unworthy Papers by so noble a name which I desire they may deserve though I fear they will not However I will give the venture and make as speedy and as profitable a discovery as the times enable me of the whole World and the most observable things therein according to the best light which the reading of Histories and Geographicall discourses hath supplied me with beseeching him who made the World and ordereth all the Governments and Affairs thereof as to him seems best to bless me in the undertaking and furnish me with fit Abilities both of strength and judgement to go thorough with it Ipse enim est qui operatur in nobis velle perficere as the Scripture hath it And so on in Gods name COSMOGRAPHIE The First Book CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHIE AND HISTORIE OF ITALIE
them than pictures made when painting was in her infancy under which they were fain to write this is a Lyon and this is a Whale for fear the spectators might have taken one for a Cock and the other for a Cat. EUROPE though the least as being in length but 2800 in bredth but 1200 miles is yet of most renown amongst us First because of the temperature of the Air and fertilitie of the soyl Secondly from the study of Arts both ingenuous and mechanicall Thirdly because of the Roman and Greek Monarchies Fourthly from the puritie and sincerity of the Christian Faith Fiftly because we dwell in it and so first place it EUROPE is generally said to be so called from Europa the daughter of Agenor King of the Phoenicians brought thence by Jupiter as the Poets feign in the shape of a Bull or as some Histories say by a Cretan Captain named Taurus as others in a Ship whose Beak had the portraiture of a Bull upon it But why the bringing of that Lady into the I le of Crete should give denomination to the whole Continent of Europe whereof that Iland is so inconsiderable and so small a part I must confess I see no reason Goropius Becanus who holds the high Dutch to be the primitive language which was spoke in Paradise and loves to fetch all names from thence not thinking ic convenient that Europe being first inhabited by Gomerians or Cimbrians should be beholding to the Grecians for its name will have it called Europe quasi Ver-hop by the transposition of the two first letters Ver signifying excellent and Hop a multitude whence we use to say as thick as Hops because Europe contains a multitude of excellent people And on the other side Bochartus a French Writer loving as much to bring all names from the Phoenician or Punick tongue will have it called Europe from Ur-appa which signifieth in that language a beautifull countenance because the Europaeans much exceld the Africans in whiteness of skin and clearness of complexion But in my mind Herodotus hath best determined of the controversie who telleth us plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That it is utterly unknown both whence it had the name of Europe and who first called it so And yet considering there is a Province in Thrace called Europe whereof more hereafter why might not the Aâ—ratick give the name of Europe to this part of the World according to the name of that Province which lay neerest to them as the Romans did the name of Africk to the other part of the World after the name of that particular Province or part thereof which they first brought under their obedience Or as the Europaeans gave the name of Asia to the greatest of the three known parts of the World which properly and originally belonged unto Asia Minor as it since was called or rather to those parts thereof which lay next to Greece as shall be shewn hereafter in convenient place The first Inhabitants of Europe as hath been shewn in part already and shall be shewn more fully in its proper place were the sonnes of Japhet amongst whom as the Scripture telleth us the Isles of the Gentiles were divided Gen. 10. v. 5. which includes all the Continent of Europe and the Isles adjoyning For besides that it is compassed about with the Cyelades and other Isles in the Seas of Greece together with the Ilands of Candie Sicilie Sardinia Corsica the Isles of Britain and Zealand with their young ones adjacent Europe it self was formerly taken for an Iland as being invironed round with water saving where it is joyned on the North-East to Asia the great which very few of the Antients were acquainted with And what are the great Countreys of Anatolia Greece Spain and Italy all which did fall to the Posterity of Japhet but so many Peninsula's or Demy-Ilands invironed almost round with one Sea or other Nor was the name and memory of Japhet so much forgotten by the Children which descended of him but that the Greeks who were the first of their Europaean Plantations retained it a long time in their Iapetus whom they make to be the sonne of Coelum and Terra and the father of the wise Prometheus whom Ovid therefore calleth Satus Iapeto in the first Book of his Metamorphosiâ— So that we see how punctually the first part of Gods blessing was fulfilled upon him which was that he would inlarge the borders of Japhet Gen. 9. 27. The second part thereof that he should dwell in the tents of Sem though it was long before it came to the accomplishment yet it came at last and that both in the literall and mysticall sense First in the literall when the posterity of Japhet both Greeks and Romans made themselves Masters of Judaea or the Land of Canaan and the Eastern parts promised to and possessed by the seed of Sem Next in the mysticall when God was pleased to break down the partition-wall and to incorporate the Gentiles of the house of Japhet into the body of the Church which for a long time was restrained to the Line of Sem. Europe may be considered as it stands divided into the Continent and the Ilands the Continent lying altogether the Ilands as they are dispersed in the Greek Aegean Cretan and Ioniah Seas the Adriatick and the Mediterranean and in the British and Northern Ocean But in this work we shall discover them and discourse of them in this following order dividing Europe into 1. Italy 2. the Alpet 3. France 4. Spain 5. Britain 6. Belgium 7. Germany 8. Denmark 9. Swethland 10. Russia 11. Poland 12. Hungary 13. Sclavonia 14. Dacia and 15. Greece and speaking of the severall Ilands as they relate to some or other of these greater Countries In all which Countries and the Ilands belonging to them besides the Latine Tongue which is the now rather Sholasticall than Nationall and besides the Italian French and Spanish being but as so many corruptions of the Latine and besides the English which is a Compound of Dutch Latine and French there are in all 14. Mother-Tongues which owe nothing at all to the Roman that is to say 1. Irish spoken in Ireland and the West of Scotland 2. British or Welch in Wales and some parts of Cornwall 3. Cantabrian or Basquish in Biscay about the Pyrenean hills and neer to the Cantabrian Ocean 4. Arabick in the Mountains of Granada called Alpâ—xarras 5. Finnâ—ek in Finland and Lapland Provinces of the Crown of Sweden 6. Dutch though with different Dialects in Germany Belgium Denmark Norway Swethland 7. Cauchian which the East Friezlanders or Cauchi speak amongst themselves though to strangers they speak the Common Dutch 8. Sclavonish in Sclavonia Poland Hungarie and almost all the parts of the Turkish Empire 9. Illyrian on the East side of Istria and the I le of Veggia 10. Greek in most Provinces and Isles of Greece by the Greeks themselves 11. Hungarian and 12. Epirotique in the
Naples it is there parted into two horns or branches whereof the one runs out to the Mount of Gargano in the land of Otranto the other spreadeth it self as far as Calabria those being the most Eastern Provinces of this noble Continent Called the Apenninc as some say à Penna by which word the Latins used to signifie the top or summit of an Hill by reason of the height and sharp points thereof as others say quasi Alpes Poeninae because first overcome by Annibal and his Carthaginians whom the Roman Writers call by the name of Poeni The Inhabitants hereof by Virgil named Apenninicolae otherwise reducible to some of the neighbouring Provinces Of this large Mountain most of the Hils of Italy from Savona Eastwards are but the excursions which being of less note shall be spoken of as they lye before us in the way To proceed now to so much of the History of Italy as concerns the generalls we are to know that the first Inhabitants of it not to say any thing of the siction of Frier Annius under the name of Berosus who will needs have Noah himself come hither shortly after the Flood were doubtless of the race of Cittim or Kittim the fourth sonne of Javan one of the sonnes of Japhet Who being planted by their Father in that part of Greece which was since called Macedon and after spreading themselves further as their numbers increased peopled Aetolia and the Countries adjoyning to it From whence desirous of a warmer and more fertile soyl they came in tract of time to the Coasts of Dalmatia and thence to this Country since called Italy That they did spring originally from the seed of Cittim or Kittim as the Greek pronounce it wants not very good Authors For thus Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say from the Kitians or children of Kittim descended the Latins and the Romans The same occurs also in the Chronicon of Alexandria So also saith Cedrenus in his Annals but with more punctuality Telephus saith he the sonne of Hercules reigned in Italy and after him his sonne Latinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whom the Keteans were named Latins The same in other words saith Suidas Nor want there some remainders of this name in approved Writers besides these authorities there being a Town in Latium called Ketea mentioned in Dionysius Hallicarnasseus and a River named Ketus not far from Cumae whereof Aristotle speaketh in his book De Mirabilibus And that they came immediately from the Aetolians besides the other Arguments which Reineccius useth in this point the neerness or identitie rather of the names doth seem to intimate For Aetolia being written in the Greek Aitolia and the letter O being changed into A according to the Aeolick Dialect which was that used by the Aetolians the alteration of the name from Aiâ—olia and Aitolians to Italia and Italians will be thought very easie if not naturall the rather in regard there is an Iland neer Italie in the Tusoan Sea peopled originally by these very Aetolians which in antient times was called Aethalia And if by such an easie alteration of one Leâ—ter onely It alto may derive its first Plantation from the Aetolians as no doubt it may then may that Italus the Chieftain of whom Virgil speaks be no other than Aetolus some man of principall mark and eminencie amongst that people who had the conduct of this Colonie when they came for Italie And this I should believe much oâ—ther than that this Italus was the name of a King of Sicilie It being more probable that Sicilie should borrow its first planters out of Italie than Italâ—â— should borrow either name or people from so small a Kingdom especially considering that the name of Aitolus was famous in those parts of Greece ever since Aitolus the sonne of â— King of Eliâ— was founder of the Aetolian Kingdom The way thus shewen and the passages into Italie layd open it was not long before the Peâ—asgâ— another Greek Nation found the way into it after whom Saturn out of Crete and Evander out of Arcadia with their severall followers came and setled there Not to say any thing of those severall Colonies which comming out of Peloponnesus and the parts of Achaia planted themselves so thick in the East of Italie now called Calabria that of long time it had the name of Magna Grecia So that the Graciaâ—s made the main gross or body of the Italian people to which the comming of some Tuscans under the conduct of Tyrrhenus a Prince of Lydia in Asia minor served but as an Accsesary and altered nothing the Principall The last that setled here were some of the Relicts of Troy under the conduct of Aeneas who flying from their native Country and enraged Enemies were first cast upon the coasts of Africk where haning stayd a while to refresh his companies we shall hereafter take occasion to consider of the Fable of his loves with Dido he set sail for Italie being the place assigned him by the Gods for his feat and Empire whither he came with fifteen Ships which might contain according to the rate which Thucydides alloweth to the vessels then used to the number of 1200 men And there he landed as it proved in an happy hour For he was no sooner arrived but he was lovingly cherished and entertained by Latinus King of the Latins or of Latium whose chief Citie or Seat Royall was then called Laurentum who much esteeming of this Stranger as a man whose fame had been his Harbinger thought he could neither manifest his love sufficiently nor binde him fast enough unto him but by betrothing him unto Lavinia his only daughter Hence grew the Wars betwixt Aeneas and Turnus King of the Rutili a former Suter which being ended in the death of the Rutilian Rivall confirmed Aeneas and his Trojans in a sure possession For now growing with the Latins or Laurentini into a more constant bond of Friendship by many Inter-mariages and mutuall kindnesses they built the Town of Lavinium called so in honour of their Queen intending it for the Seat Royall of the Princes of the Trojan line But long it did not hold that state For Ascanius the sonne of Aeneas by his former Wife to avoyd all occasions of contention with his Mother-in-Law left her Aeneas being dead in possession of Lavinium and built Longa Alba which being surrendred by Iulus the sonne of Ascaniut to his half-brother Silvius became the constant habitation of the Silvian Kings till the building of Rome and finall ending of the race of the Latin Kings The names of whom for there occurs little of their actions we are next to shew taking along with us those few Kings which reigned in those parts of Italy before the comming of Aeneas The old Kings of Italy of the Aborigines 1 Janus the first King of the Aborigines who lived in the same time with Boax and Ruth He received Saturn flying out of Crete from Jupiter and left him
my self of these Furcae Caudinae and sport my self a while in the Plains of Calabria But I must note before I take my leave hereof that these two Provinces of Campania and Abruzzo make up the greatest richest and best peopled part of the Realm of Naples And therefore when the Kingdom was divided between the French and the Spaniards it was allotted to the French as having the priority both of claim and power The Provinces remaining although more in number yet are not comparable to these two for Wealth and Greatness and were assigned over to the Spaniard as lying most conveniently for the Realm of Sicilie Of these the first are the CALABRIAS so called from the Calabri an antient people of this tract which take up totally that Peninsula or Demi-Iland which lyeth at the South-East end of Italie near the Fare of Messana Amongst some of the Antient Writers the name Italie did extend no further than this Peninsula bounded by the two Bayes called Sinus Scilleticus and Sinus Lameticus because first peopled out of Greece or otherwise first known unto the old Writers of that Country For so saith Aristotle in his seventh Book of Politicks cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That part of Europe which is comprehended betwixt the Bay Scilleticus and Lameticus took the name of Italie and this Tradition he received as he there affirmeth from the best Antiquaries of that Country The like occurs in Dionysius Hallicarnasseus out of Antiochus Syracusanus a more antient Author the like in Strabo Lib. 6. But by what name soever it was called at first that of Calabria hath held longest and most constantly to it as being known by that name in the times of the Romans and so continuing to this day Ennius the old Poet being a native of this Country and so called by Ovid in his 3 d de Arte. Ennius emeruit Calabris in montibus hortos Old Ennias his Garden tills Among the steep Calabrian hils But leaving these matters of remote Antiquity let us behold the Country as it stands at the present and was the title of the eldest sonnes of the Kings of Naples who heretofore were called Dukes of Calabria divided of late times into inferior and superior in which distinct capacityes we shall look upon it Premising only by the way that this Country was the Title of the eldest sonnes of the Kings of Naples who were from hence called the Dukes of Calabria and that before it was subjected to those Kings it had a King of its own Holofernes whose daughter Flora was married unto Godfrey of Bovillon being King hereof An. 1098. 3 CALABRIA INFERIOR the habitation of the Brutii whom the Greek Writers generally call Bretti and their Country Brettania upon which ground some of our modern Criticks envying so great an honour to the I le of Great Britaine have transferred to this Province the birth of Constantine the first Christian Emperour These Brutii being first conquered by the Romans with the rest of Italie after the great defeat of Cannae took part with Carthage and was for a long time the retreat of Annibal whom the Romans had shut up in this corner It hath on the East a branch of the Adriatick Sea on the West that part of Campania which is called the Principate on the North Calabria superior and on the South the Tyrrhenian Seas and the streight of Messana A Country not much short in fruitfulness of the rest of the Kingdom and having the advantage of so much Sea is the better situate for Traffick At one extremity hereof is the Promontory called by Ptolomy Leuco-Petra now Cabo di Spartimento all along which especially in the moneth of May are taken yeerly great store of Tunnies a fish which much resembleth mans flesh which being barrelled up are sold to Mariners Here are two Rivers also of a very strange nature of which the one called Crathis makes a mans hair yellow and dies silk white the other named Busentus causeth both hair and silk to be black and swarthy The principall Cities of it are 1. Consensia an antient Town comprehending seven little hills and a Castle on the top of one of them which commandeth both the Town and the Countrey adjoyning It is built betwixt the said two Rivers and is still reasonably rich though not so wealthy now as in former times 2. Rhegium or Rhezo on the Sea shore opposite to Messana in the Isle of Sicilie which is supposed to have been broken off from the rest of Italie and that this Town had the name of Rhegium from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to break off or to tear asunder A Town in former times very well traded but left desolate in a manner since the yeer 1594. when it was fired by the Turks 3. Castrovillare seated upon the top of a very high Mountain 4. Belmont and 5. Altomont two very fair Towns whose names sufficiently express their pleasant and lofty situations 6. S. Euphemie from whence the Bay which antiently was called Sinus Lametinus or Lametirius is now called Golfâ— de S. Euphemie 7. Nicastro three miles from the Sea the same with Newcastle in Euglish On the West side of this Calabria and properly a part thereof standeth that mountainous Countrey which in the Subdivision of these Provinces by King Alfonsus was called the BASILICATE antiently the Seat of the Lucani A Countrey heretofore very unsafe for Travellers by reason of the difficult wayes and assured company of Theeves but now reduced to better order It containeth in it ninety three walled places and nine Towns or Cities the chief whereof are Possidonia or Pest a City situate in so clement and benign a Soyl that Roses grow there thrice a yeer 2. Poly Castrie on the Sea shore as the former is honoured with the Title of a Dukedom And 3. Dian or Dianum a more midland City neer which there is a valley twenty miles in length and four miles in bredth which for all manner of delights and fruitfulness yeelds to none in Naples 4. CALABRIA SUPERIOR called formerly Magna Graecia from many great and famous Cities founded there by the Graecians hath on the East the Adriatick on the West Campania from which it is divided by the Apennine and the River â—rathis on the North Sinus Tarentinus or the Gulf of Tarento and on the South and South-East Calabria inferior and Golfo de Chilaci of old called Sinus Scilleticus The principall Cities at this time are 1. Belcastro eight miles from the Sea where once stood Petilia 2. Bisignan the title of a Prince fortified with a very strong Castle and endowed with the best Revenues of any principality or other Nobleman of Title in all the Kingdom 3. Matera an Arch-Bishops See a rich Town and well peopled 4. Rosanum three miles from the Sea a well fortified City and situate in a very fruitfull and pleasant Soyl. 5. Altavilla which gives title also to a Prince 6. Terra Nova
2 d of Spain and th first of Naples 40. 1598. 25 Philip the 2 d of Naples 3 d of Spain 22. 1621. 26 Philip the 3 d of Naples 4. of Spain The Arms of this Kingdom are Azure Seme of Flower de Lyces Or a File of three Labels Gules The Revenues of it are two Millions and a half of Crowns whereof 20000 are due to the Pope for Chief-rent and the rest so exhausted in maintaining Garrisons upon the Natives and a strong Navy against the Turks that the King of Spain receiveth not a fourth part declare Here are in this Kingdom Arch-Bishops 20. Bishops 127. The Kingdom of SICILIA BEfore we can come into the I le of Sicilie we must first cross that branch of the MEDITERRANEAN Sea which is called the Fare or Streight of Messana where the passage is so strait and narrow that it exceedeth not in breadth a mile and an half In other parts as the Sea grows wider it is distant from the main land of Italie neer 300. miles that is to say from the Town of Drepaâ—â—m in Sicilie to the City of Naples As for the Mediterranean Sea it is so called because it interlaceth the middest of the earth extending from the Streights of Gibraltar on the West to the Coast of Palestine on the East and so dividing Africk both from Europe and Asia Minor In the Scriptures Joshna 1. 4. it is called by the name of Mare magnum or the great Sea great in comparison of the dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee lying on the other side of the land of Palestine but small enough if compared to the Ocean with which in probability the Writer of that Book might have no acquaintance Besides which generall name of the Medâ—erranean it hath also many particular names as the Adriatick Aegean Ionian and Carpâ—thian Sea where it bordereth upon Greece and Anatolia Mare Lybicum where it runneth by the shores of Africk with reference to Italie called in some places Mare Tyrrhenum in others Mare Ligusticum in some parts Mare Sicislum and in others Mare Sardoum Lybicum c. And as the Chameleon is said to apply it self to the colour of the nearest adjacent body so this Sea tâ—keth its particular denominations from the neerest shores These Seas are also called by some modern Writers in imitation of the French by the name of the Levant or the Seas of the Levant because in respect of France Spain Britain Germany c. they lie towards the East the word Levant signifying in the French a rising up after sleep and more especially the Sun-rising The principall Ilands of this Sea which relate to Italie for of others we shall speak in their proper places are those of Sicil Sardinia Corsica and some Isles adjoyning unto these SICILIE environed round with the lower or Tyrrhenian Sea contains seven hundred miles in compass and is supposed to have been joyned to Italie in former times being then a Peninsula or Demy-Iland such as Peloponnesus and joyned unto the Continent by as narrow an Isthmus The separating of it from the main Land of Italie is by the Poets ascribed to Neptune who with his three-forked Mace or Trident broke it off from the land in favour of Jocastus the sonne of Aeolus that so he might inhabit there with the greater safety being invironed round with waters Which though it be a Fable or Poeticall fiction yet with some help from the Mythologists may be made a story For if by Aeolus and Neptune we understand Winds and Seas it intimates that it was divided from the rest of Italie either by the fury of the Waves or by the violence of some Earthquakes to which this Iland is still subject which might in time consume and wear away the Earth Nor want there very good reasons for this supposition as 1. The narrowness of the Streight exceeding not a mile and a half insomuch as at the taking of Messana by the Carthaginians many of the people saved themselves by swimming over this streight into the opposite parts of Italie â—dly the shallowness of it being found upon a diligent sounding not to be above eight fathom deep Then 't is observed that the land on both sides is very brittle full of caves and chinks made in it by the working of the Sea on this separation and that on the Italian coast where the streight is narrowest there stands a City of old called Rhegium which signifieth a breach or a cutting off from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signiâ—ies to break off or violently to pull asunder and is supposed to be so called upon this occasion And indeed the violence of the Sea is so great and dangerous in this narrow channell so subject unto blustering winds issuing out of the hollow caverns of the earth that the breaking off of this Iland from the rest of Italie is a thing most credible Which dangerous nature of the passage being also full of Rocks and unsafe by reason of the Whirl-pools occasioned it to be called by Florus the Historian Fabulosis infaâ—â—e monstris fretum chiefly so called with reference to Scylla and Charybdis of which so many fabulous things are reported by the antient Poets Charybdis is a Gulf or Whirl-pool on Sicily side which violently attracting all vessels that come too nigh it devoureth them and casteth up their wrecks at the shore of Tauromeni not far from Catina Opposite to this in Italie standeth the dangerous Rock Scylla at the foot of which many little Rocks shoot out on which the water strongly beating make that noise which the Poets feign to be the barking of dogs The passage between these two being to unskilfull Mariners exceeding perillous gave beginning to the Proverb Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim Who seeks Charybdis for to shun Doth oftentimes on Scylla run But there are other things which made Sicilie famous in old times besides these two 〈◊〉 the punishment of the Giant Enceladus for his attempt against the Gods the frequent burnings of Aetna under which he is fabled to be shut up being supposed to proceed from his sulphurous breath Secondly the birth of Ceres in this Isle and Thirdly the Rape of Proserpine To these two last the Isle was consecrated in those days to Ceres in regard she first taught the people to sow Corn whence the word Ceres is often used in the Poets to signifie Breal and other necessary provisions for life as Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus To Proserpine because bestowed upon her by Pluto to please her after the Ravishment committed on her It is situate under the fourth Climate the longest day being 13 hours and an half And was once called Trinacria because it shoots forth into the Sea with three Capes or Promontories viz. 1 Pelorus now Capo de Foro to the North 2 Pachinus now Cape Passaro to the West and 3 Lâ—lybaeum now Capo Boii or Cabo Coro to the South This last looketh towards Carthage and the
Taracina in the place thereof seated upon a Mâ—â—ntain but neer the Sea which it 〈◊〉 like a Half Moon it is now called the Bay of Mola this City lying on the one horn thereof 〈◊〉 the very extremity of the Popes Dominions and that of Caseta on the other which is the first Port-Town of the Realm of Naples The Country hereabouts hath most pleasant Orchards of Citrons Oranges and Limons the Oranges having at the same time both ripe and green Fruits and represents a kind of Summer in the dead of Winter Such other things as are remarkable in this Campagna heretofore called Latium but more by what they have been than they are at the present are 1 Tusculum a village which belonged to Tullie who here composed his excellent Book called the Tusculan Questions 2 Formiae built by the Laconians heretofore the delight and solace of the antient Romans now visible only in its ruins 3 Prâ—vernum once the chief City of the Volsci and the seat of Camilla a noble Amazonian Lady who aided Turnus the Rutilian in his sharp war against Aeneas and the Troâ—ans where she lost her life 4 Circe an old City in the place whereof now stands S. Felix the habitation of Circe that so much celebrated Sorceress of whom and her chanting of Ulysses and his companions there is so much upon record in the antient Poets Neer to which is the head-land called the Circaean Promontory the repercussion of the Waves by whose Southern Basit makes a dreadfull noise and gave occasion to the fabulous inventions of the roaring of Lyons hoâ—ling of Dogs c. which were heard about that Witches dwelling But the great glory of Latium and indeed of Italie was that the famous City of Rome was seated in it being built on the East side of Tiber now much inlarged by the increase of 42 leâ—â—er streams or Rivers It is distant from the sea about 15 miles first built as Fryer Leander a great Italian Antiquary is of opinion by Roma Daughter or Wife to one of the Latin Kings But being forsaken and forlorn by reason of the unwholsom air comming from the Fens was rebuilt by Romulus much pleased with the naturall strength of the situation and therefore like to make a good town of war And this tradition I should rather subscribe unto than that it was called Rome from Romulus who had he pleased to challenge the honour to himself might better have caused it to be called Romulea of which name there was a Town among the Samnites than to call it Roma But whatsoever greatness it did after come to it was small enough God knows at first the City comprehending the Mount Palatine only and therefore not a mâ—le in compass the Territory not extending as Strabo witnesseth above six miles from the City and the Inhabitants thereof at the first generall Muster amounting at the most to 3300 men So inconsiderable they were as well in quality as numbers that their neighbours thought it a disparagement to bestow their daughters on them and therefore they were fain to get themselves wives by a slight of wit proclaming solemn Playes and Pastimes to be held in Rome and ravishing the women which came thither to behold the sports The Kings succeeding much enlarged it Mount Aventine and the hill Janiculum on the other side of the water being walled and added to it by Ancus Martius as Quirinalis Esquilinus and Viminalis were by Servius Tullus Capitolinus and Mount Coelius came not in till afterwards But at the last it was improved to such an height that in the flourishing times of that Commonwealth the men increased to the number of 463000 and the compass of the Town unto 50 miles there being on and about the walls 740 Turrets And in this number of 463000 men I reckon neither servants women nor children but men able to bear Arms Free Denizens and such as were inrolled into Cense or the Subsidie Books To which if we should adde their wives children and servants we cannot probably conjecture them to have been fewer than three or four Millions and so Lipsiâ—s is of opinion his Tract de Magnitudine Romana The most memorable buildings of it were 1 the Capitol founded by Tarquinius Superbus and beautified with the spoyles of their conquered Neighbours saved from the fury of the Galls by the cackling of Geese Tacitus calleth this house Sedem Jovis optimi maximi asupicatò à majoribus pignus imperii conditum It was twice burnt once in the Civill Wars of Sylla and Marius and again in the wars of Vespasian and Vâ—tellius In the third building of it Vespasian carried the first basket of earth after him the Nobility did the like to make the people more forward in the service and perhaps the custom of laying the first stone in a building or driving the first nayl in a timber-work by him whose edifice it is hath from hence if not beginning yet growth 2 Here was the Temple of Janus open in the time of wars and shut in the time of peace which during all their Monarchy hapned but thrice namely during the reign of Augustus after the Punick war and in the time of Numa 3 Here was the Bridge called Pons Sublicius on which Horatius Cocles resisted the whole Army of King Porsena Tarquin and the Tuscans till the Citizens behind had broken down the bridge received him swimming to the bank with joyfull acclamations and saved their City from present ruin Here lived the famous Warriers so much renowned in the stories of elder times here flourished the exact Martiall discipline so memorized by ancient Historiographers and finally here were layd up the spoyles and Tropheys of all Europe ROME as now it standeth lower on the bank of Tyber upon Campus Martius where it was built after the inundation of the Gothes and Vandals is in compass about eleven miles within which compass is not a little wast ground The Inhabitants of all sorts reckoned to amount to 200000 two parts whereof are Clergy-men and Courtiers that is to say such as have their dependance on the Court of Rome either by holding offices and places of employment under the Popes or by attending on his person or waiting on the Cardinals and eminent Prelates who are there abiding or otherwise being of the retinue of such Forein Ambassadors aâ— are alwaies commorant in the City to follow the Negotiations of their severall Masters all which must needs amount to a very great number It was first built on the East side of the River in the Territory of Latium but now there is little lest of the old City but the goodly ruins and here and there some Churches and scattered houses except it be a little on the North-East of the River from the Gate called Del Populo to the Iland of Tiber the rest especially towards the South being taken up with Pastures and sields of Corn. The main body of the City as now it stands is on the West side
of the water and the Holy Iland consisting of three distinct parts or members Of these the least is that which they call La Isola but antiently the Holy Iland first made an Iland by the Corn Straw and other Goods of the Tarquins which the Senate not vouchsafing to convert to any publick or private use commanded to be flung into the River where it sunk and setled to an Iland and after called the Holy Iland from a Temple herein built unto Esculapius brought hither from Epidaurus in the shape of a Serpent This Iland is not above a quarter of a mile in length and hardly half so much in bredth but full of stately Churches and beautifull houses Next to this is that which they call Trastevere or Trans-Tiberina but of old Janiculo from the mountain of that name included in it called also Civitas Ravennatium or the City of the men of Ravenna of the Souldiers which Augustus kept at Ravenna against Antonius and after placed in this out-part of the City which by reason of the unwholsomeness of the air is inhabited onely by Artizans and poor people yet compassed about with walls except on that side next the water and adorned with many goodly Churches and some handsome buildings But the chief glory of the City conâ—isteth in that part of it which is called Il Borgo lying on the North side of the other but disjoyned from it compassed about with walls by Pope Leo the 4. and from thence called Civitas Lâ—onina For in this part there are 1 the Churcb of S. Peter which were it once finished would be one of the rarest buildings in all the World 2 The Castle of S. Angelo impregnable unless by Famin. 3 The Popes Palace called Belvidere which with the Gardens thereof was compassed about with a very high wall by Pope Nicolas the fift and had this name from the fair prospect which it hath in the same sence as Belvoir Castle here in England the Barony and Mansion of the Earls of Rutland A Palace of magnificence and receipt enough 4 The Library of the hill Vatican properly called the Palatine but more commonly the Vatican Library a Library was founded by Sixtus the 4th who not only stored it with the choicest books he could pick out of Europe but allowed also a large revenue for the perpetuall augmentation of it Bibliothecam Palatinam in Vaticano toto terrarum orbe celebrem advectis ex omni Europa libris construxit proventusque certos c. So Onuphrius When the Duke of Burbon sacked Rome An. 1527 it was much defaced and ransacked but by the succeeding Popes it hath been again recovered to its former fame and beauty Rome is now an University which was founded by Urban the fourth at whose request Thomas Aquinas professed here Pope Nicholas the fifth was a speciall Benefactor to the same and after him Leo the tenth who revived the Greek learning and language which were in these parts almost forgotten And finally to this place are brought all the treasures of those parts of Christendom subject to the Popes authority partly for the expence of strangers which do there remain on their severall pleasures or occasions and partly for the expeditions which are there obtained for the Investitures of Bishopricks and Buls of Benefices Indulgences and other matters of Court-holy-water and partly in the Pensions which are payd there to the Cardinals and other Ministers of those Kings and Princes which know best how to make their ends of the Popes Ambitions So that it may be truly sayd there came not more Tributes into Old Rome from the conquered Provinces than hath been bronght into the New from the subject Churches which have submitted to the power of the Roman Prelates and that they have as great command now under the pretence of Religion as ever they had formerly by force of Arms. So truly was it sayd by Prosper of Aquitane if my memory fayl not Roma caput mundi quicquid non possidit Armis Religione tenet This is to say What Rome subdu'd not with the Sword She holds by colour of the Word But yet there wants the Genius of the antient City the power and naturall courage of the old Inhabitants which held the same against the bravery and assaults of all Forein Enemies this City during the time of the antient Romans being never took but by the Galls but since Pontificall it hath been made a Prey to all Barbarous Nations and never was besieged by any that did not take it In a word the city of Rome as now it standeth is but the carcass of the old of which it retains nothing but the ruins and the cause of them her sins The Popes much brag of the foundation of their Church and the authority of S. Peter whose being there is indeed constantly attested by most antient Writers insomuch that Calvin though no friend to the Popes of Rome yet propter Scriptorum consensum in regard of the unanimous consent of the primitive times did not think fit to controvert it The silence of the Scriptures is a Negative Argument and concludes nothing to the contrary against so great a Cloud of unquestioned Witnesses as soberly and positively have affirmed the same And yet I would not have it thought by the captious Remanists that I conceive that it makes any thing at all for the Popes Supremacy because he siâ—s in Peters seat no more than it did make for Vibius Rufus as Dion doth relate the Story to attain Tullies eloquence or Caesars power because he maried Tullies widow and bought Caesars chair though the poor Gentleman did befool himself with this opinion that he should be Master of them both Of which see Lib. LVII And yet the Popes relie so much upon this fancy of being the direct heirs of S. Peter and all his preheminences that all things which they say or do must be entituled to S. Peter Their Throne must be S. Peters Chair their Church S. Peters Ship their Lands S. Peters Patrimony their Tributes and exactions must be called Peter-pence their Excommunications â—ulminated in S. Peters name and all their Buls and Faculties sealed Annulo Piscatoris with S. Peters Signet Nay they went so far at the last that Pope Steven not being contented to be Peters Successor did take upon him in plain terms to be Peter himself For being distressed by Astulphus King of the Lombards he sends for aid unto King Pepin in this following stile Petrus Apostolus JESU CHRISTI c. i.e. Peter the Apostle of JESUS CHRIST to you the most illustrious King Pepin and to all Bishops Abbots c. I the Apostle Peter whose adopted sonnes you are admonish you that you presently come and defend this City c. And doubt you not but trust assuredly that I my self as if I stood before you do thus exhort you c. and that I Peter the Apostle of God will at the last day yeeld you mutuall kindnesses and prepare you Tabernacles
own family as before is sayd and to that end called in the French who after made such fowl work in Italie 29 Julio the second had more in him of the Souldier than the Prelate recovering many Towns unto the Church which had been formerly usurped being taken from the Occupants by Caesar Borgias and keeping Italie in his time in continuall wars This is the Pope who passing over the bridge of Tiber brandished his Sword and threw his Keyes into the River saying that if Peters Keyes would not serve his turn then Pauls Sword should do it 30 Leo the tenth was indeed a great Favourer of Learning but of great prodigalitie and vast expence For maintainance whereof he sent his saleable Indulgences into France and Germany which business being indiscreetly handled by his Ministers occasioned Luther in Germany and Zuinglius amongst the Switzers first to write against them and afterwards to question many points of Popish Doctrin In pursuance of which quarrell the Pope of Rome burnt Luthers Books whom he declared for an Heretick and Luther did the like at Wittenberg with the Popes Canon Law whom he declared to be a Persecutor a Tyrant and the very Antichrist Which flame increased so fast and inlarged so far that it burnt down a great part of the Papall Monarchy 31 Pius the fourth continued the Councill formery called at Trent by Pope Paul the third but interrupted and layd aside from on Pope to another and having brought it to an end and thereby setled and confirmed the Interess of the Church of Rome caused it to be received as Oecumenicall though the Italian Bishops being most of them the Popes creatures did more than double the number of all the rest and yet some of the rest also were but meerly Titulars He added also a new Creed consisting of twelve Articles to be added to that of the Apostles by all who lived in the Communion of the Church of Rome But of the words and actions of these Ghostly Fathers we have said enough if not too much I will therefore end with that of the Painter who being blamed by a Cardinall for giving to S. Peters picture too much of the red replyed that he had made him so as blushing at the lives of those who were called his Successours As for the Temporall power and greatness of the Popes of Rome there is a pretended Donation of the Emperor Constantine by which the City of Rome it self most part of Italie and Africk and all the Ilands of those Seas are conferred upon them the forgery whereof is very learnedly shewn by our learned Cracanthorp in his discourse upon that subject But that Donation might most justly be suspected of Fraud and Forgery though no body had took the pains to detect the same considering how fearfull the Popes are grown to have the truth thereof disputed insomuch that many leaves are razed out of Guicciardine by the Inquisition where it had been questioned For in that place the Historian not only denieth the sayd feigned Donation but affirmes that divers learned men reported that Constantine and Silvester to whom it is sayd to have been made lived in divers Ages Then sheweth how base and obscure the Authority of the Pope was in Rome it self during the time that the barbarous Nations made havock of Italie 2 That in the institution of the Exarchate the Popes had nothing to do with the Temporall Sword but lived as subject to the Emperors 3 They were not very much obeyed in matters Spirituall by reason of the corruption of their manners 4 That after the overthrow of the Exarchate the Emperors now neglecting Italie the Romans began to be governed by the advice and power of the Popes 5 That Popin of France and his sonne Charles having overthrown the Kingdom of the Lombards gave unto the Popes the Exarchate Urbine Ancona Spoteto and many other Towns and Territories about Rome 6 That the Popes in all their Buls and Charters expressed the date of them in these formall words Such a one the Lord our Emperour reigning 7 That long after the translation of the Empire from France to Germany the Popes began to make open protestation that the Pontificiall dignity was rather to give Laws to the Emperors than receive any from them 8. That being thus raised to an earthly power they forgot the salvation of souls sanctity of life and the Commandments of God propagation of Religion and Charity towards men And that to raise arms to make war against Christians to invent new devices for getting of money to prophane sacred things for their own ends and to inrich their kindred and children was their only study And this is the substance of Guicciardine in that place an Author above all exception He was a man whom the Popes imployed in many businesses of principall importance so that no hate to them but love to the truth made him write thus much As for the City of Rome so unlikely is it to have been given by Constantine that neither Pepin nor Charles his sonne though more beholding to the Popes than that Emperor was could be induced to part with it Lewis surnamed Pius is said to have been the first Donor of it and a Copy of his Donation is found in the third Book of Volaterran subscribed by the Emperor his three sonnes ten Bishops eight Abbots fifteen Earls and the Popes Library-Keeper yet notwithstanding it is thought by many very learned and judicious men that really there was no such matter but that all this was forged by Anastasius the Popes Bibliothecarian or Library-Keeper who is cited as a witness to the Donation And yet to put the matter further out of question let us next hear what that great Politician and States-man the Recorder of Florence Nic. Machiavel hath observed in this case Rome saith he was always subject to the Lords of Italie till Theodorick King of the Gothes removed his Seat to Ravenna for thereby the Romans were inforced to submit themselves to the Bishops An. 430. or thereabouts And talking of the estate of the Popedom An. 931. he states it thus In Rome were elected yeerly out of the Nobility two Consuls who according to the antient Custom ruled that Citie Under them was appointed a Judge to minister justice to the people There was also a Counsell of twelve men which gave Governors unto the Towns subject to Rome And for the Pope he had in Rome more or less Authority according to the favour which he found with the Emperors or others then most mighty but the leaving of Italie by the German Emperors setled the Pope in a more absolute Soveraignty over the City And yet it seems they were not of such absolute power but that the Romans tugged hard with them for their Liberties Concerning which he tells us in another place That the ambition of the people of Rome did at that time viz. An. 1010. make much war with the Popes and that having helped the Pope to drive
of King Henry the third of France by Jaques Clement are full proofs of this 3. Then followeth their allowance of Mariages prohibited both by God and Nature the issue of which cannot but uphold the Popes Authority without which their birth would be illegitimate and consequently themselves uncapable of the estates they are born unto And by this means they do more strengthen themselves by the unlawfull Mariages of others than ever Prince could do by the lawfull Mariage of his own Nothing more fastened Queen Mary of England to the See of Rome than the question that was raised about the Mariage of her Mother to King Henry the eight the lawfulness of which depended chiefly on the dispensation of Pope Julio the second 4. Then cometh in their dispensing with the Oaths of Princes when they conceive themselves induced upon reason of State to flie off from those Leagues and break off those Treaties which have been solemnly made and sworn betwix them and their Neighbours By means whereof such Princes think themselves not perjured because dispensed with by the Pope and commonly get something in advantage or point of profit for which they cannot be unthankfull unto the Papacy Examples of this kind are obvious in all times and stories 5. Next comes the chosing of the younger sonnes of great Princes into the rank of Cardinalls which obligeth the whole Stock on Familie to the Papall Throne that being a means whereby young Princes are preferred without charge to their Fathers or any diminution of the Regall Patrimony 6. And as by these courses he holds in with all Christian Princes generally which are of the Religion of the Church of Rome so hath he fastned more particularly on the King of Spain whereof we shall speak further when we come to that Countrey 2. Concerning the second So it is that their Estate hath the firmest foundation of any as being built on the consciences of men possessed with an opinion of their Infallibility and that undoubted power they pretend unto not only in Heaven and upon Earth but also over Hell and Purgatory 2. Then comes the innumerable Preferments at their disposing for men of all humours and affections as having in their power the disposing of almost all the Benefices and Bishopricks in Italie half of those in Spain divers in Germany and France which keepeth the Clergy and all such as are that way studied in a perpetuall dependance upon that See especially injoying by it many notable Privileges which those of the Temporalty are not capable of 3. Consider next the multitude of Monks and Friers whose very being depends wholly upon his Authority every Monastery and Convent being a Garrison as it were to defend the Papacy and train up a Militia of Spirituall Janisaries men most affectionately devoted to his See and Service Of these it is conceived that there are no fewer than a Million one half whereof at least may be fit for action and all maintained at other mens cost themselves not disbursing a penny towards it 4. Their Pardons and Indulgences are a great increase to their Revenue some of them as unlimited as that of Pope Boniface the eighth which was for 82000. yeers to all that could say such a Prayer of S. Augustines and that for every day Toties quoties 5. Their practising on Penitents whom they perswade in the very agony of their souls that there is no salvation for them but by giving part of their estates unto the Church 6. Nor have they found any small advantage to their Power and Patrimony by the invention of Spirituall Fraternities which are Appurtenances as it were to the Orders of Friers and may in number perhaps equall them Into these the Lay-people of all sorts men and women maried and single desire to be inrolled as hereby injoying the spirituall prerogatives of Indulgences and a more speedy dispatch out of Purgatory 3. Concerning the third 1. They deter the people from reading the Scripture alleging unto them the perills they may incur by mis-interpretation 2. They breed an Antipathy between the Papists and the Protestants insomuch that a Papist may not say Amen unto a Protestants Deo Gratias 3. They debar them from all sound of the Religion in prohibiting the Books of the Reformed Writers and hiding their own Treatises in which the Tenent of the Protestants is recited only to be confuted insomuch that in all Italie you shall seldom meet with Bellarmines works or any of the like nature to be sold 4. They have under pain of Excommunication prohibited the Italians from Travell and Traffick with Hereticall Countreys or such places where those contagious sounds and sights as they term them might make them return infected 5. The Severity or Tyranny rather of the Inquisition of which we shall speak more at large when we come to Spain crusheth not onely the beginnings but the smallest suspitions of being this way addicted And 6ly The people thus restrained from Travell are taught to believe that the Pritestants are Blasphemers of God and all his Saints that in Englard Churches are turned to Stables the people are grown barbarous and eat young children that Geneva is a professed Sanctuary of Roguery and the like We have yet two later examples of their dealing in this kind First the gross slander of the Apostacy or as they call it the Reconciliation unto their Church of the Right Reverend Father in God Dr. King not long since the Lord Bishop of London a Prelate of too known a faith and zeal to give occasion for such a calumny The second a book by them published and commonly sold in Italie and France containing a relation of Gods Judgements shown on a sort of Protestant Hereticks by the fall of an house in St. Andrews Parish in London in which they were assembled to hear a Geneva Lecture Octob. 26. A. D. 1623. By which dealing the simple people are made to believe that to be a judgment on us of the Protestant party which the Authors of that Pamphlet well know to be a calumnie in regard of us and a sad chance I will not say a judgment which befell their own by a fall of a Chamber in Black-Friers where they were met to hear the Sermon of one Druris a Popish Priest and that too on the fift of November in their own accompt being the 26. of October before mentioned The Popedom being thus cunningly and strongly founded it cannot be if the Popes had been chosen young or of the same Family so that the Successor had not often crossed the designs of his Predecessor but that this new Monarchie had been greater and better established than ever the old Roman Empire was in her greatest glory And to say truth I have oft wondred with my self that some of the more active Popes especially such as were chosen young and had the happiness to descend of noble Families did never seek the setling of this Estate in their own Posterity especially considering the good Precedents
Minores and gave name to the place neer the Tower-hill in London where they had their house called from them the Minories 2. S. Brigit was a Queen of Swethland and coming to Rome on devotion obtained of Pope Urban the third Ano. 1370. or thereabouts that Friers and Nuns might in some places live together For being a Woman and a Widow she knew best as it seemeth what was good for both Sexes and so devised such a Rule as contented both But little needed this cohabitation or living together under the shelter of the same roof For they had formerly been joyned in carnall affections though parted by walls neither were the visitations of the Friers so fruitless but that the Nuns did fructifie by them These Friers and Nuns though they lived under the same roof are prohibited from coming to one another but on speciall occasions the Foundress so ordering it that the Nuns should lie in the upper rooms and the Friers in the lower The Confessor also is denied access into their chambers but shriveth them though an Iron-Grate by which his lodging is parted from the Lady Abesse's And herein lyeth the Mystery of Iniquity For Robinson whom before I named tells us that at the time of his service in the English Nunnery at Lisbon he was shewed a way by which this uncharitable Grate which seemed to keep the Friers from the company of their female friends might be and was on such occasions usually removed and the access made free and open to each others beds Which if it be truly said of these may be suspected also in all the rest of this Order and in most also of the others And now I return unto my Friers which besides the maintenance which by their Founders is allotted for their present subsistence are kept in a continuall hope and possibility of attaining to the highest honours which that Church can give if they continue constant in their due obedience For there is not one of them which hopeth not to be the Prior of his Convent 2. Provinciall of his Order in that Countrey where he liveth 3. and then the Generall of his Order Next none more likely than the Generalls to be chosen Cardinalls and out of the Cardinalls one of necessity must be chosen and why not he as well as any of the pack to be Pope of Rome So firm and sweet a Companion of man is Hope that being the last thing which leaves him it makes all toyls supportable all difficulties conquerable The Popedom containeth Arch-bishops 3. Bishops 54. The Dukedom of URBINE ENvironed on all sides with the Lands of the Church save where it coasteth on the Adriatick lies the Dukedom of URBINE having on the East Marca Anconitana on the West Romagna or Romandiola on the North the Adriatick Sea on the South the Apennine It is in length about sixty miles and some thirty five miles in the bredth within which round lie intermixt some Estates of the Church of which the Duke is a Fendatary and to which he payeth 2240. Crowns for a quit-rent yeerly The soyl is very fruitfull of Corn Wine and Oyl plentifull of Figs and other fruits of most pleasant tast and in a word affording all things necessary for the life of man But the air is generally unwholesom especially about Pesaro and Fossombrune by reason of the low flats and over-flows of the water The principal commodities which they vend abroad are the wines of Pesaro sold in great abundance to the Venetians and dryed figs which they vend unto Bologue and other places The most famous River is Metaurus now called Metremo and a famous one it is indeed by reason of that great battell fought on the banks thereof betwixt Asdrubal the brother of Annibal and his Carthaginians and the two Consuls Livius and Cl. Nero in which after a long and hot dispute the victory fell unto the Romans there being 56000. of the Carthaginians slain as Livie writeth and 5400. taken prisoners Polybius speaks of a less number both slain and taken and like enough it is that Livie to advance the honor of that Family might inlarge a little But whatsoever was the truth in this particular certain it is that this victory turned the tide of the Roman Fortune which from this time began to flow amain upon them the Citizens of Rome beginning at this time to trade and traffick to follow their affairs and make contracts and bargains with one another which they had long forborn to do and that with as secure a confidence as if Annibal were already beaten out of Italie This famous River riseth in the Apennine hills and passing by Fossombrune a Town of this Dukedom falls into the Adriatick There are reckoned in this Dukedom seven Towns or Cities and three hundred Castles The principall of which are 1. Urbine one of the most antient Cities of Italie which both Tacitus and Plinie mention a fair Town well built and the Dukes ordinary seat in Summer It is seated at the foot of the Apennine hills in a very rich and pleasant soyl built in the fashion of a Miter and therefore called Urbinas quod urbes binas continere videbatur Francisco Ubaldi the first Duke built here a very sumptuous Palace and therein founded a most excellent Library replenished with a great number of rare Books covered and garnished with gold silk and silver all scattered and dispersed in the time that Caesar Borgia seized on the Estate Polydore Virgil the Author of the History of England which passeth under his name was a Native here an History of worth enough as the times then were except onely in such passages as concernthe Pope the Collector of whose Peter-pence he then was in England whose credit and authority he preferreth somtimes before truth it self 2. Pisaurum now called Pesara the strongest town of all the Dukedom two miles in compass and fortified according to the modern art of war the fortifications of it being first begun by Francisco Maria and perfected by Guido Ubaldi his sonne and successor the ordinary seat of the Duke in winter well garrisoned and therefore trusted with the publick Armorie It is seated neer the shore of the Adriatick at the mouth or influx of the River Isaurus which parts it from Romagna populous of handsom buildings and a very strong wall the soyl exceeding rich but the air so bad that partly in regard of that and partly by their eating of too much fruits nothing is more frequent here than Funeralls especially in the moneth of August few of the Inhabitants living to be fifty yeers old 3. Senogaille called antiently Sena Gallica a strong and well-fenced City neer the River Metaurus over which there is a Bridge consisting of eighty Arches made of that length not so much in regard of the breadth of the Channell as the frequent over-flowings of that turbulent water 4. Fossombrune called in old Authors Forum Sempronii for air and soyl of the same nature with Pisaurum bought
second Sonne of Alan Stewart Earl of Lennox in Scotland for his many Signal Services against the English and is still the hnourarie title and possession of the second Branch of that noble and illustrious Familie But as for Berry it self and the fortunes of it we may please to know that in the time of Hugh Capet one Godfrey was Governour of this Province whose Posteritie enjoyed that Office under the Kings of France till the daies of King Henry the first of whom the Inheritance and Estate was bought by Harpiâ— one of the Descendants of that Godfrey But long he had not held it as Proprietarie in his own right when desirous to make one in the Holy Wars he sold it back again to King Philip the first the better to furnish himself for that expedition Anno 1096. to be united to the Crown after his decease Since which time the Soveraigntie of it hath been alwayes in the Crown of France but the possession and Revenue sometimes given with the title of Duke for a portion to some of the Kings younger Sonnes to be holden of them in Appennage under the Soveraigntie and command of the Donor and his Successors the last which so enjoyed it being Charles the Brother of Lewis the 11th after whose death it was united to the Crown never since separated from it save that it gave the title of Duchesse to the Ladie Margaret sister of Francis the first maried after to the Duke of Savoy 9 The Dukedom of BOVRBON THE Dukedom of BOVRBON in the full power and extent thereof comprehended 〈◊〉 Fâ—rrest Beauâ—jolois and auvergâ—e all now reverted to the Crown 1 BOVRBONOIS hath on the East the Dukedom of Burgunay on the West 〈◊〉 on the North La Beausse and a corner of Gastinâ—is on the South Auvergne The Countrie very well wooded and of excellent pasturage which makes the people more intent to grazing and seeding Cattel than they are to tillage and is watered with the Rivers of Loire Yonne and 〈◊〉 which are counted navigable besides Aron Acolin Lixentes Lanbois and some lesser streames The antient Inhabitants were the Hedâ—i who being wasted in their Wars against the Romans a great part of their Countrie was by Julius Caesar conferred on the Bou a German Nation who coming with the Helvetians into Gaule and unwilling upon their defeat to go home again were by him planted in this tract It is divided into the Higher and the Lower In the Higher which is more mountainous and hilly there is no other Town of note than that of Montaigne situate in the Countie of Combraille the Signencie as I take it of that Michâ—el de Montaigne the Authour of the Book of Essaies But in the Lower Bourbonoâ—s are 1 Molins esteemed the Center of all France situate on the Allâ—er Bailliage and the chief Town of this Countrie the River yielding great plenty of Fish but of Salmons specially the Town adorned with a fair Castle and that beautified with one of the finest Gardens in France in which are many Trees of Limmons and Oranges 2 Bourbon Archenband and 3 Bourbon Ancie the former of the two seated upon the Loâ—re and giving name to the whole Province of great resort by reason of its medicinal waters 4 S. Porcin and 5 Varennes Ganat upon the frontiers of Auvergn 6 Chancelle 7 Charroux 8 â—alisse 9 Souvigni 10 St. Amand c. In the North part of Bourbonois but not accounted any part or member of it lieth the Town of Nevers in Latine Nivernium from whence the Countrie round about is called NIVERNOIS A Town of good esteem but not very great the reputation which it hath proceeding partly from some mines of Iron interspersed with silver which are found therein and partly for the Earls and Dukes from hence denominated The first whereof was Landri of the house of Bourgogne Anno 1001. Passing through many Families it came at last again to the house of Bourgogne and from that unto the Earles of Flanders by the mariage of Yoland of Bourgogne to Robert of Bethune Earl of Flanders Anno 1312 whose Sonne named Lewis maried the Heir of Rethel Together with the rest of the rights of Flanders it came again by mariage to the Dukes of Burgundie conveied by Elizabeth Daughter and Heir of Iohn of Bourgogne Earl of Nevers second Sonne of Philip the good Duke of Burgundie to Adâ—lph Duke of Cleves her Husband Anno 1484 and by Henrietta Sister and Heir of Francis de Cleves the second Duke of Never and the last of that Familie to her Husband Lewis de Gonzaga third Sonne of Frederick Duke of Mantua Anno 1563. whose Sonne Charles succeeded his Father and Mother in the Dukedom of Nevers and Vincent of Genzaga his Cousen german in the Dukedom of Mantua The Armes of these Dukes Azure within a Border Compone Gules and Argent 3 Flower de Lyces Or. 2 FORREST is bounded on the East with Beau-jolois on the West with Auvergne on the North with Bourbonois and on the South with a part of Languedock The Countrie populous and large but not very fruitful hillie and mountainous much of the nature of the Wood-Lands The Air a little of the coldest to afford good Wines but that sufficiently recompensed by abundance of pitcoal by which they have good fires at a very cheap rate The people are conceived to be none of the wisest but withall very greedy and covetous of gain The chief Towns in it are 1 Mont-Brison seated on the Loyre 2 Feurs seated on the same River called antiently Forum Segusianorum the chief Citie of the Segusiani or Scrusiani whom Caesar and others mention in this part of Gaule 3 St. Stephen or Estienne in Feurian neer the head of that River 4 St. Germans 5 St. Rombert 6 St. Bâ—nnet le Chastean 7 St. Guermier c. of which little memorable This Countrie of Forrest was anciently a part of the Earldome of Lyons dismembred from it at or about the same time with Beau-jolois and was held by a long succession of Earls Proprietaries of it as a state distinct till Regâ—aud Lord of Forrest the Sonne of Earl Guy by the mariage of Isabel Daughter and heir of Humbert Earl of Beau-jeu joyned them both together which was about the year 1265 parted again after his decease Anno 1â—80 Guy being his eldest Sonne succeeding in Forrest and Lewis his second in Beau-jeu How they became united in the house of Burbon we shall see anon 3 BEAV-JOLOIS so called from Beau-jeu the chief Town hereof taketh up the tract of ground betwixt the Loire and the Soasne and betwixt Lionois and Forrest A Countrie of no great extent but verie remarkeable for the Lords and Princes of it who have been men of great eminence in their severall times The chief Town of it is Beau-jeu beautified with a goodly Caâ—tle pleasantly seated on the brow of a rising Mountain from whence perhaps it took the name as the great Keep in Farnham Castle was in
of France was Duke of Burgundy in right of his Wife the Daughter of Giâ—bert 976. 4 Henry the Brother of Otho 1001. 5 Robert King of France Sonne of Hugh Capet succeeded in the Dukedom on the death of his Vncle Henry 1004. 6 Robert II. Sonne of this Robert and Brother of Henry King of France 1075. 7 Hugh the Nephew of Robert by his Sonne Henry became afterwards a Monk of Clugny 1097. 8 Odo or Otho II. Brother of Hugh 1102. 9 Hugh II. Sonne of Otho the 2d 1124. 10 Odes or Otho III. Sonne of Hugh the 2d 1165. 11 Hugh III. the Companion but great Enemy of our Richard the first in the Wars of the Holy-Land 1192. 12 Odes or Otho IV. Sonne of Hugh the 3d. 1218. 13 Hugh IV. an Adventurer with King Lewis the 9th in the Holy-Land 1273. 14 Robert III. Sonne of Hugh the 4th which Robert was the Father of Joan the Wife of Philip de Valois French King and Grandmother of Philip the Hardie after Duke of Burgundy 1308. 15 Hugh V. Sonne of Robert the 3d. 1315. 16 Eudes the Brother of Hugh was Earl of Burgundie also in right of his Wife 1349. 17 Philip the Grand-child of Eudes by his only Sonne Philip Duke and Earl of Burgundie by descent and Earl of Flanders and Artois in right of his Wife the last Duke of this Line 1363. 18 Philip II. surnamed the Hardie Sonne of Iohn King of France Sonne of Philip de Valois and Ioan Daughter of Robert the 3d. by Charls the 5th his Brother in whom the right of this Dukedom did them remain was made Duke of Burgundy and maried to the Heir of Flanders and the County of Burgundy 1404. 19 Iohn surnamed the Proud Sonne of Philip the 2d Duke and Earl of Burgundie and Earl of Flanders and Artois 1419. 20 Philip III. surnamed the Good who added most of the Netherlands unto his Estate 1467. 21 Charls the Warlike Earl of Charolois Sonne of Philip the Good After whose death slain by the Switzers at the battell of Nancie Lewis the 11th seized upon this Dukedom Anno 1476. pretending an Escheat thereof for want of Heires males uniting it for ever to the Crown of France Of the great wealth and potency of these last Dukes of Burgundie we shall speak further when we come to the description of Belgium the accession whereof to their Estates made them equall to most Kings in Christendom But for their Arms which properly belonged to them as Dukes of Burgundie they were Bendwise of Or and Azure a Border Gules Which Coat is usually marshalled in the Scutchions of the Kings of Spain that of the Earldom being omitted though in their possession The reasons of which are probably for I go but by guess partly because this being the older and Paternal Coat comprehends the other and partly to keep on foot the memory of his Title to the Dukedom it self in right of which he holdeth such a great Estate 19 The County of BVRGVNDIE THe County of BVRGVNDIE hath on the East the Mountain Iour which parts it from Switzerland on the West the Dntohie of Burgundie from which divided by the Soasne on the North a branch of the Mountain Vauge which runneth betwixt it and Lorreine on the the South La Bresse It is reckoned to be 90 miles in length about 60 in bredth and with the provinces of Daulphine La Bresse and Provence made up the Dukedom of Burgundie beyond the Soasne on the Eastern side of which it is wholly situate This part thereof now generally called the Frenche Comtè or the Free County because not under the command of the French Kings but living in a more free Estate than any Subjects of that Kingdom The Country in some parts very Mountainous but those Mountains yielding excellent Vineyards and having in recompence of a little barrenness an intermixture of most pleasing and fruitfull vallies swelling with plenty of all naturall commodities usefull unto the life of man and for variety of fresh streams and delightful Riverets inferiour only to the Dutchie The principall Towns and Cities of it are 1 Besanson called by Caesar Vesontio then the chief Citie of the Sequani as afterwards the Metropolis of the Province entituled Maxima Sequanorum by consequence an Archbishops See Seated betwixt two Mountains on the banks of the River Doux by which it is almost encompassed such artificiall Fortifications being added to it as make it very strong both by art and nature But this is an imperiall City not subject to the Government and Command of the Earls of Burgundie honoured with a small Universitie founded here Anno 1540. by Pope Iulio the 2d and Charles the fifth 2 Dole seated on the same River Doux for riches strength and beauty to be preferred before any in all the County of which it is the Parliament City and consequently of most resort for dispatch of business Antiently it was an University for the study of the Civill Lawes but now the University is devoured by a College of Iesuites who fearing lest the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches might creep in amongst the people not only have debarred them the use of the Protestants Books but have expresly forbid them to talk of GOD either in a good sort or in a bad 3 Salins so called from its salt fountains out of which came the greatest part of the Earls Revenue honoured for a while with the seat of the Parliament removed hither from Dole by King Lewis the 11th at such time as he held this Country beholding to him being a wise and politick Prince for many wholsome Ordinances still observed amongst them 4 Poligni the Bailliage of the Lower as 5 Vescal is of the Higher Burgundy 6 Arboise noted for the best Wines and 7. Laxoal for medicinable Bathes 8 Nazareth on the borders of Switzerland fortified with a very strong Castle the ordinary seat and retreat from business of the first Princes of Orange of the house of Chalons who had great possessions in this Country 9 Gray and 10 Chastel-Chalon 11 Quingey 12 Orgelet Here is also the great and famous Abbie of Clugny neer the Town of Beaum out of which so many Monasteries in the Western Church had their first Originall The old Inhabitants of this Countie were the Sequant a potent name contending with the Hedui and Arverni for the Soveraignty of Gaul till the strife was ended by the Romans under whom it made together with Switzerland the Province of Maxima Sequanorism In the declining of which Empire it fell to the Burgundians and by Rodolph the last King of the French Kingdom of Burgundy was given to Conrade the 2d Emperour of Germaneâ—e After that reckoned as a part of the German Empire governed by such Earls or Provinciall Officers as those Emperours lent hither Othâ— of Flanders Sonne to a Sister of the Emperour Conrade was the first that held it as Proprietarie the other three whom Paradine sets before him in his Catalogue of the
torture that it is counted the greatest tyrannie and severest kind of persecution under Heaven Insomuch that many Papists who would willingly die for their Religion abhor the very name and mention of it and to the death withstand the bringing in of this slavery among them This is it that made the people of Aragon and Naples rebel Countries where the people are all of the Papal side and this was it which caused the irremediable revolt of the Low-countries the greatest part of that Nation at the time of their taking Arms being Romish Catholicks Yet is it planted and established in Spain and all Italy Naples and Venice excepted the managing thereof committed to the most zealous fierie and rigorous Friers in the whole pack The least suspition of heresie affinitie or commerce with Hereticks reproving the lives of the Clergy keeping any books or Editions of books prohibited or discoursing in matters of Religion are offences sufficient Nay they will charge mens consciences under pain of damnation to detect their nearest and dearest friends if they doe but suspect them to be herein culpable Their proceedings are with great secrecie and security for 1. the parties accused shall never know their Accuser but shall be constrained to reveal their own thoughts and affections 2. If they be but convinced of any errour in any of their opinions or be gainsayed by two witnesses they are immediatly condemned 3. If nothing can be proved against them yet shall they with infinit tortures and miseries be kept in the house divers yeers for a terrour to others and 4. If they escape the first brunt with many torments and much anguish yet the second questioning or suspition brings death remediless And as for torments and kinds of death Phalaris and his Fellow-tyrants come far short of these-blood-hounds The Administration of this Office for the more orderly Reglement and dispatch thereof distributed into twelve Courts or Supreme Tribunals for the severall Provinces of Sâ—ain no one depending on another in which those of the Secular Clergy sit as Iudges the Friers being only used as Promoters to inform the Court and bring more Grist unto the Mill. Of those Inquisitors every one hath the Title of Lord and are a great terrour to the neighbouring Peasants I here goeth a Tale how one of their Lordships desirous to eat of the Pears which grew in a poor mans Orchard not far off sent for the man to come unto him which put the poor soul into such a fright that he fell sick upon it and kept his bed Being afterwards informed that all his Lordships busines with him was to request a Dish of his Pears he pulled the tree up by the roots and carried it unto him with the Fruit upon it And when he was demanded the reason of that rash and improvident action he returned this Answer that he would never keep that thiâ—â— in his house which should give any of their Lordships cause to send further after him Certain it is that by this means the people of this kingdom are so kept under that they dare not hearken after any other Religion than what their Priests and Friers shall be pleased to teach them or entertain the truth if it come amongst them or call in question any of those palpable and gross â—mpostures which every day are put upon them But to return unto the Moores most of which by the terrour of this Inquisition proâ—â—ssed in shew the Christian Faith But being Christians only in the outward shew and practising on all occasions against the State the Kings of Spain resolved long agoe on their Exterminatâ—on but never had opportunity to effect it till the yeer 1609. At what time Philip the third having made a peace with England and a truce with Holland and finding the Moores of Africk 〈…〉 in wars that they were not able to disturb him put that extreme rigour in execution which had before been thought of in their consultations 1100000 of them being forced to quit this 〈◊〉 and provide new dwellings under colour that they went about to free themselves from the 〈◊〉 and to recover their old Liberty lost so long before The Forces which the Kings of Granada in the times of their greatest power were able to 〈◊〉 were far beyond the Ameasurement and extent of their kingdom not above 700 miles in 〈◊〉 as before is said but so exceeding populous and well accommodated wâ—â—hall manner 〈◊〉 necessaries that within two dayes space the King hereof was able to draw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Horse and 200000 Foot for defence of the Kingdom The Armes whereof were Or a Pomgranat or Apple of Granada slipped Vert. 8 MVRCIA MVRCIA is bounded on the West with Granada on the East with Valentia on the North with Valentia and a part of Granada and on the South with the Mediterranean Seas so called from Murcia the chief Citie In former times esteemed a rich and wealthy Countrey stored with all sorts of fruits and so abounding in Silver Mines that when the Romans were Lords of it they kept continually 400 men at work and received 2500 Drachmas of daily profit now for the most part barren and but ill inhabited Cities of note there are not many in so small a Countrey The principal 1 Murcia by Ptolomiâ— called Menâ—alâ—a seated upon the River Segura a Bishops See situate in a pleasant and delightfull Plain planted with Pomgranats and other excellent fruits From this the Countrey had the name of the Kingdom of Murcia 2 Carthagena or Nova Carthago first built by Asdâ—ubal of Carthage the Brother of Annibal for the better receiving of such aids both of men and money as should come from Africa Situate in a Demi-Iland in the very jawes of the Mediterranean by which and by a deep Marish on the West side of it so impregnably fortified that if Scipiâ— afterwards called Asricanus who then lay at the siege thereof had not been shewed a way over that Marish at a dead low Water by some poor Fisher-men of Tarragon who knew the secret he had there lost both his time and Honour Nothing more memorable in the sackâ—ge and spoyl thereof though there was found abundance of Armes and Treasure than the vertue of Scipio who finding there many Spanish Ladies of great birth and beauties left there as Hostages for the Spaniards with the Carthaginians would not permit any of them to be brought before him for fear it should betray him to some inconvenience Being reedified it was made a Roman Colonie and one of the seven Iuridicall Resorts of Tarraconensiâ— by Constantine made a chief Citie of the new Province of Carthaginensis which was hence denominated Afterwards twice sacked by the Gothes and Vandals it lay for a long time buried in its own ruins And though again new built and peopled it is still but smal containing at the most but 600 Housholds and would be utterly abandoned but for the safety of the place and the strength thereof garrison'd and fortified very
instrumentall in the Reformation should be so headily received in some Kingdoms and so importunately and clamorously desired in others The most valorous Souldiers of this Countrey when possessed by the Britains were 1 Cassibâ—lane who twice repulsed the Roman Legions though conducted by Caesar and had not a party here at home been formed against him he had for ever done the like 2 Pratusagus King of the Iceni 3 Constantine the Great 4 Arthur one of the Worlds nine Worthies In the times of the Saxons 5 Guy Earl of Warwick and 6 King Edmund Ironside and 7 Canutus the Dane Vnder the Normans of most note have been 1 William surnamed the Conquerour 2 Richard and 3 Edward both the first of those names so renowned in the wars of the Holy-Land 4 Edward the 3d and 5 Edward the Black Prince his Sonne Duo fulmina belli as famous in the warres of France 6 Henry the fift and 7 Iohn Duke of 〈◊〉 his Brother of equall gallantry with the other 8 Montacute Earl of Salisbury 9 S. 〈◊〉 Fastolf and 10 S. Iâ—hn Hawkwood of great esteem for valour in France and Italy not to descend to later times And for Sea Captains those of most note have been Hâ—wkins 〈◊〉 Burrought Jenkiâ—sâ—r Drake Frobisher Cavendish and Greenvile of some of which we have spoke already and of the rest may have an opportunity to say more hereafter Scholars of most renown amongst us 1 Alcuinus one of the Founders of the Vniversity of 〈◊〉 2 Bâ—dâ— who for his Pietie and Learning obtained the Attribute or Adjunct of Venerabilis Câ—nâ—erning which the Legends tels us that being blind his Boy had knavishly conducted him to preach to an head of stones and that when he had ended his Sermon with the Gloria Patri the very Stones concluded saying Amen Amen Venerabilis Bedâ— But other of the Monkish writers do assign this reason and both true alike that at his death some unlearned Priest intending to honour him with an â—piâ—aph had thus farre blundered on a verse viz. Hic sunt in fossa Bedae ossa but becauâ—e the verse was yet imperfect he went to bed to consider of it leaving a space betwixt the two last words thereof which in the morning he found filled up in a strange Character with the word Venerabilis and so he made his Verse and Beda pardon this diversion obtainâ—d that Attribute 3 Anselm and 4 Bradwardin Arch-bishops of Canterbury men famous for the times they lived in 5 Alexander of Hales Tutor to Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure 6 Thomas of Walden the professed enemy of Wâ—â—lef against whom he writ 7 Iohn Wiclef parson of Lâ—â—terworth in the County of Leicester who so valiantly opposed the power and Errors of the Church of Rome though he vented many of his own Then since the times of the Reformation 1 Iohn Iewel Bishop of Salisbury to whose learned and industrious labours in defence of the Religion here by law established we are still beholding 2 Dr. Iohn Reynolds and 3 Mr. Richard Hooker both of Corpus Christi Colledg in Oxon the first a man of infinite reading the second of as strong a judgment 4 Dr. Whitakers of Cambridge the Autagonist of the famous Bellarmine 5 Dr. Thomas Bilson and 6 Dr. Lancelot Andrews both Bishops of Winchester the Ornaments of their severall times 7 Bishop Montagne of Norwich a great Philologer and Divine 8 Dr. Iohn Wâ—itguâ—ft and 9 Dr. William Laud Arch-Bishops of Canterbury Of which last and his discourse against Fisher the Iesuite Sir Edward Dering his professed enemy hath given this Character that in that Book of his he had muzled the Iesuits and should strike the Papists under the fift rib when he was dead and gone and that being dead wheresoever his grave should be PAVLS whose reparation he endeavoured and had almost finished would be his perpetuall Monument and his own Book his lasting Epitaph And as for those who have stood up in maintenance of the Church of Rome those of most note were 1 Dr. Harding the Antagonist of Bishop Iewel 2 Nic. Sanders and 3 Dr. Tho. Stapleton to whose writings the great Cardinal Bellarmine doth stand much indebted 4 Champian and 5 Parsons both Iesuâ—es 6 and William Rainolds a Seminary Priest and the Brother of Dr. Iohn Rainolds spoken of before Of which two Brothers by the way it is very observeable that William was at first a Protestant of the Church of England and Iohn trained up in Popery beyond the Seas William out of an honest zeal to reduce his Brother to this Church made a journey to him where on a conference betwixt them it so fell out that Iohn being overcome by his brothers Arguments returned into England where he became one of the more strict or rigid sort of the English Protestants and William being convinced by the reasons of his Brother Iohn staid beyond the Seas where he proved a very violent and virulent Papist Of which strange accident Dr. Alabaster who had made triall of both Religions and amongst many notable whimsees had some fine abilities made this following Epigram which for the excellency thereof and the rareness of the argument I shall here subjoin Bella inter geminos plusquam Civilia Fratres Traxerat ambiguus Religionis apex Ille Reformatae Fidei pro partibus instat Iste reformandum denegat esse fidem Propositis causae rationibus alterutrinque Concurrere pares cecidere pares Quod fuit in votis Fatrem capit alter-uterque Quod fuit in fatis perdit uterque fidem Captivi gemini sine captivante fuerant Et Victor victi transuga castra petit Quod genus hoc pugnae est ubi victus gaudet uterque Et tamen alter-uter se superasse dolet Which excellent Epigram though not without great disadvantage to the Latine Originall I have thus translated In points of Faith some undetermin'd jars Betwixt two Brothers kindled Civill wars One for the Churches Reformation stood The other thought no Reformation good The points proposed they traversed the field With equall skill and both together yield As they desired his Brother each subdue's Yet such their Fate that each his Faith did loose Both Captive's none the prisoners thence to guide The Victor flying to the Vanquisht side Both joy'd in being Conquer'd strange to say And yet both mourn'd because both won the day And then for men of other Studies 1 Lindwood the Canonist 2 Cosins and 3 Cowel eminent in the studies of the Civill Lawes 4 Bracton and 5 Briton of old times 6 Dier and 7 â—ook of late days as eminent for their knowledge in the Lawes of England 8 Iohannes de Sacro Bosco the Author of the Book of the Spher and 9 Roger Bacon a noted Mathematician in the darker times 10 Sir Francis Bacon the learned Viscount of S. Albans of whom more hereafter 11 Sr. Tho. More Lord Chancellor one of the Restorers of Learning to the Isle of great Britain 12 Sr. Henry Savil of Eaton the reviver
Iohn expelled the invading French out of England and by a Composition with King Lewis the 9th was restored unto the Dukedom of â—â—yenne held by his Successors till the reign of K. Henry the sixt Exhausted by the Pope and oppressed a long time by his factious and unruly Barons but at last victorious 56. 1274. 9 Edward the Sonne of Henry awed France subdued Wales brought Scotland into subjection of whose King and Nobility he received homage 34. 1308. 10 Edward II. Sonne of Edward the first a dissolute Prince hated of the Nobles and contemned by the vulgar for his immeasurable love to Pierce Gaveston and the Sâ—eucers was twice shamefully beaten by the Scots and being deposed by a strong Faction raised against him by his Queen and Roger Lord Mortimer was barbarously murdered in Barkley Castle 19. 1327. 11 Edward III. Sonne of Edward the 2d a most vertuous and valorous Prince brought the Scots to obedience overthrew the French in two great Battails took the Town of Callice and many fair Possessions in that Kingdom 50. 1377. 12 Richard II. another of our unfortunate Kings lost many of his Peeces in France and at last being over-awed by his two great Vncles of Lâ—ncaster and Glecester and taken Prisoner by his Cosin the Duke of Hereford he was forced to resign his Crown and afterwards was murdered at Pomfret Castle The Lancastrian Line 1399. 13 Henry IV. Sonne to Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the fourth Sonne to Edward the 3d was by the power of the Sword but with the consent of the people setled in the Throne and spent his whole Reign in suppressing home-bred Rebellions 15. 1414. 14. Henry V. the mirrour of Magnificence and Pattern of true vertue pursued the Title of France and won it being ordained Heir apparent to the French Crown but lived not to possesse it 9. 1423. 15 Henry VI. a pious but unfortunate Prince was crowned K. of France in Paris which he held during the life of his Vncle Iohn of Bedford and Humphrey of Glocester after whose deaths he not only lost France to the French but England and his life to the Yorkish Faction 38. The Yorkish Line 1461. 16 Edward IV. Sonne of Richard Duke of York the Sonne of Richard Earl of Cambridge and Grand-Sonne of Edmund of Langley Duke of York the fift Sonne of King Edward the third challenged the Crown in right of the Lady Anne his Grandmother Daughter of Roger Mortimer Earl of March the Sonne of Edmund Mortimer Earl of March and of Philippa his Wife sole Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Sonne of the said King Edward and Elder Brother of Iohn of Gaunâ— The claim first set on foot by his Father the Duke of York who lost his life in pursuance of it at the Battail of Wakefeild with better fortune and success pursued by King Edward himself who finally after 9 bloody Battails fought between the Houses especially that of Towton in which were slain 36000 English was quickly seated in the possession of England and Ireland 23. 1484. 17 Edward V. his Sonne was before his Coronation murdered by his Vncle Richard in the Tower of London 1484. 18 Richard III. Brother of Edward the 4th a most wicked and tyrannicall Prince to make way unto the Diadem murdered King Henry the 6th and Prince Edward his Sonne 3. George Duke of Clarence his Brother 4 Hastings a saithfull servant to King Edward 5 Rivers Vaughan and Grey the Queens kindred 6 Edward the 5th his Soveraign with his young Cousin Richard 7 Henry Duke of Buckingham his dear Friend and greatest Coadjutor in these his ungodly Practices and his Wife Anne so to make way to an incestuous mariage with his Neece Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th but before the solemnity he was slain at Bosworth 3. The Vnion of the Families 1487 19 Henry VII Earl of Richmund Heir to the House of Lancaster as Sonne of Margaret Daughter of Iohn Duke of Somerset Sonne of Iohn Earl of Somerset Sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster after the overthrow of Richard maried Elizabeth Daughter and Heir to Edward 4th uniting by that mariage the divided Families He was also extracted from the British and French Royall blood as being Sonne to Edmund â—ndor Earl of Richmund Sonne to Owen Tudor descended from Cadwalladar the last of the Britans and Katharine of France Widdow of Henry the 5th His whole wars was against home-bred Rebels the chief being Lambert and the Followers and Fautors of Perken Warbeck 23. 1509. 20 Henry VIII Heir to both Families between which were fought for the Diadem 17 pitched Feids in which perished 8 Kings and Princes 40 Dukes Marquesses and Earls 200000 of the common people besides Barons and Gentlemen This King banished the usurped Supremacie of the Popes and began the Reformation of Religion though formerly he had writ a Book against Luther for which the Pope gave him the honourable Title oâ— The Defender of the Faith afterwards made Hereditarie by Act of Parliament to his Heirs and Successors A Prince of great vices but or greater vertues 38. 1547. 21 Edward VI. the Sonne of Henry the 8th by Iane Seymour his 3d Wife out of whose womb he was fain to be cut to come into the World as Caesar was but he had neither Caesars Fortune nor length of life dying very young and his affairs conducted by divided Counsels though otherwise of great hopes and of a pregnancie of judgement above his yeers 6. 1553. 22 Mary the Daughter of King Henry the 8th by Katharine of Spain the Widow of his Brother Arthur restored the Popes Supremacy banished by her Father with the whole mass of Popery abolished in her Brothers Reign To which Religion so addicted that in the short time of her Reign there was more blood shed than in the whole 44 yeers of her Sister Elizabeth In the last yeer of her Reign she lost Calice to the French which proved the loss of her life also as it was supposed 5. 1558. 23 Elizabeth the Daughter of King Henry the 8th by the Ladie Anne Bullein his second Wife a most gracious and Heroick Princess was by the divine providence of God preserved from the practices of her Enemies in her Sisters reign to sway the Scepter of the kingdom She pursued the Reformation of Religion begun in the times of her Father and Brother refined the corrupt coin brought in by her Father furnished the Royall Navy with all kind of warlike Ammunitions encreased the Revenue of the Universities by the Statute of Provisions succoured the Scots against the French the French Protestants against the Papists and both against the Spaniard defended the Netherlands against the attempts of Spain commanded the whole Ocean entred League with the Moscovite and was famous for her prudence and government amongst the â—urks Persians and Tartars yea her very Enemies Finally she died in the 45 yeer of her reign and the 70th of her life on the 24th of
man in Basil In that part thereof which is called North-Holland lying betwixt the middle channel of the Rhene and the Zuider-See the towns or Cities of most importance are 1. Alamar encompassed with deep sens and marishes a rich town in regard of the great plenty of butter and cheese which is made about it more then in any place in Holland and famous for the defeat which the Duke of Alva received before it For he in the beginning of the Low-countrey troubles having with the losse of 20000 of his own men forced Harlem laid his siege round about this town Had he left any way for the souldiers to have fled thence the town had been abandoned but having environed them round he put them to such a resolution or desperation choose you whether that manfully they resisted three of his assaults and in the end made him depart with great losse as well of his souldiers as his reputation 2. Amsterdam a very fair Haven Town where divers times at one tide 1000 ships of all sorts have been seen to goe out and in So truly said a modern Poet Quod Tagus atque Hermus vehit Pactolus in unum Vere hunc congestum dixeris esse locum What Tagus Hormus and Pactolus beare One would conjecture to be heap'd up here The people thereby made so rich that if a fleet of 300 sail should come into the Port fraught with all kinde of commodities in five or six dayes they would be ready to buy all the lading Situate it is on the Gulph called the Tie and the dike or channell called Amstell whence it hath the name of Amsteldam in Latine Amstelodunum built uon piles like Venice and resembling it in so many points that it may be justly called the Northern Venice First fortified with Towers and ramparts by Giselbert of Amstell about 300 yeares agone But being burnt through the envy of its neighbours it began to be walled anno 1482. Grown to this wealth since the diverting of the trade from Antwerp hither and for that cause inhabited by men of all Nations and of all Religions and those not onely tolerated and connived at in private but openly and freely exercised without any dislike A greater Confusion in my minde then that of Babel this being of Religions that of Languages only 3. Harlem on the Lake called Harlem-meere the greatest Town of all Holland and the second for dignity well built and very pleasantly situated amongst many goodly meadowes near a delightfull forrest and round about environed with wealthy Villages famous for the invention of printing invented here but perfected at Mentz in higher Germany the first book which was ever printed being Tullies Offices 4. Naerden on the Zuider-See fortified with a strong Castle held of the Earles of Holland by the Dukes of Brunswick to whom it antiently belonged 5. Enchuisen on the very point of the Gulph of Zuider-See opposed to Friseland from which not distant above two leagues A town of great consequence to the prince of Orange in the first revolting of these Countries from the King of Spain For siding with him in that war and standing conveniently to obstruct the passages by Sea unto Amsterdam it compelled that City in short time by stopping all supply of victuals and other necessaries to yeeld it selfe unto the Prince 6. Hoorn on the same Gulf also a rich town with a very good Haven and of so great strength by reason of the multitude of Dikes and channels which are round about it that it seemes impregnable 7. Edam upon the same Gulfe or Zuider-See remarkable for the great number of ships which are built yeerly in it and an incredible number of the best Holland Cheeses made in the Countrey round about it 8. Medemblick on the Ocean seated in the best Countrey of Holland for the feeding of Cattell unwalled but enjoying all the priviledges which a walled town hath and fortified with a right strong Castell The chief of the Holland Villages is the Hague or Graven Hague in Latine Haga Comitis because formerly the Court and residence of the Earls of Holland who had here a very large and beautifull Palace founded by Earl William King of the Romans and therein a chief and excellent Library gathered together by John Harie a Canon Regular of this place and by him given to Charles the fift In former time the residence of the Councill for the Province of Holland as it is now of the Commissioners or Delegates of the confederate Provinces called by the name of the States-Generall Now much increased in buildings of what it was and yet so great in the time of Lewis Guicciardin that it then contained 2000 housholds The Inhabitants will not wall it as desiring to have it rather accounted the chief Village in Europe then the second City The other Villages of note 2. Egmond 3. Brederode 4. Wassenar which anciently gave name to three Noble families of which none but that of Brederode now left for ought I can learn Neer to the last stood the famous Fortresse called Arx Britannica built by Caligula in memory of his great battel upon this Shore For making shew of a voyage into Britain to subdue that Island he borded his Galley embattelled his souldiers caused his Trumpets to sound gave them them the Signall and then commanded them to gather Cockles Which Tower or Fortresse was at the fall of the Roman Empire overwhelmed by the Sea the ruins whereof at a dead low water are still to be seen Besides these places on the firm land or Continent there are some Islands which pertain to the State of Holland called by the generall name of Voorn because situate directly against Holland Voorn signifying as much as before or in old English Bevorne but known by their distinct and more proper names of Somersdike 2. Gaurode 3. Rierschille so called of their principall towns and 4. Voorn specially so named the chief of them all being of a fat and fruitfull soil plentifull of most sorts of grain The principall townes whereof are 1. Briel which we call the Brill a strong town and the first which revolted against the Spaniard An. 1572. Cautionarie to the English with the town of Flushing chosen by them in regard of the great command it hath upon the passage to Gertrudenberg and the rest of Brabant 2. Gerulit a small town but having a jurisdiction over many villages There are also on the North side of Holland the Isles Wyerengeh and Texel of which little memorable One speciall accident concerning Holland I cannot over passe in silence namely how Margaret Countesse of Hennenberg and sister to William King of the Romans being of the age of 42 years was delivered at one birth of 365 children the one half males the other females the odde one an hermaphrodite christened at the Church of Losdune not far from the Hague by the names of John and Elizabeth in two Basins still to be seen the said Church by Guido the Suffragan
all Germany within the Rhene together with the Belgick Provinces before described the Counties of Flanders and Artois excepted only the Kingdome of Germany taking up the rest For by Ludovicus Pius the son of Charles the great Empire of his Father was parcelled out into many members as Italie France Burgundie Lorrain and Germany distributed amongst his sons and nephews with the title of Kings By means whereof the Kingdomes of Germany and Lorrain united in the person of Lewis the Ancient in little time were alien'd from the house of Charles and left off to be French possessed by the great Princes of Lorrain Saxonie Schwaben and Bavaria by whom dismembred into many principalities and inferiour states all passing under the accompt and name of the Dutch or Germans The Kings and Emperours of which here follow The KINGS and EMPEROURS of GERMANIE Anno Chr. 801 1 Charles the Great Emp. K. of France and Germanie 815 2 Ludovicus Pius King of France Germanie and Emperour of the Romans 841 3 Lewis surnamed the Ancient second son of Ludovious Pius King of Germanie to which anno 876. he united that of Lorrain also 4 Charles the Grosse son of Lewis the Ancient reigned joyntly with Caroloman and Lewis his elder Brethren after their deaths sole King of Germany Anno 880. he succeeded Ludovicus vitus Baâ—bus in the title of Emperour continued unto his Successours and during the minoritie of Charls the Simple by a faction of the French Nobility was chosen King of France the whole estate of Charls the Great becoming once again united in the person of one Soveraign Prince 891 5 Arnulph the naturall son of Caroloman the brother of Charls King of Germanie and Emp. 903 6 Lewis or Ludovicus IV. Lewis the brother of Charls and Caroloman being reckoned for one King of Germanie and Emperour 913 7 Conrade the son of Conrade the brother of Lewis the 4. the last Prince of the issue of Charls the Great After whose death the Francones and Saxons seeing Charls the Simple King of France overlaid by the Normans took that advantage to transferre the Empire to themselves and they made choice of Henry Duke of Saxony to be their Emperour A worthy Prince by whom some Nations of the Sclaves the Hungarians and part of Lorrain were subdued or added to the Empire 920 6 Henricus surnamed Auceps or the Fowler Duke of Saxonie 12. 938 9 Otho surnamed the Great the son of Henry Emperour and King of Italie 36. 974 10 Otho II. son of Otho the first Emperour and King of Italie 10. 984 11 Otho III. son of Otho the 2. Duke of Saxonie and the last of that house which had the title of Emperour and King of Italie After whose death all right of succession being disclaimed the Emperours became Elective but for the most part wholly ingrossed or Monopolized since the Failer of the house of Saxonie by the Dukes of Franconia Suevia Bavaria and Austria notwithstanding the libertie or freedom of Election pretended to by the Electors The businesse first projected in the Court of Rome to make the Emperours lesse powerfull and distract the Germans whom they feared into sides and factions confirmed by a decree of Pope Gregory the fifth being a Native of that Country The Electors only six in number that is to say 1. The Archbishop of Mentz Chancellour of the Empire 2. The Archbishop of Colen Chancellour of Italie 3. The Archbishop of Triers Chancellour of France 4. The Count Palatine of the Rhene Arch-Sewer 5. The Duke of Saxonie Lord Marshall And 6. The Marquesse of Brandâ—nburg Lord Chamberlain Upon equalitie of voices the Duke but now King of Bohemia was to come in for the 7. who by Office was to be Cup-bearer at the Coronation For upon Coronation dayes or dayes of like solemnitie these Offices are performed only and then performed in this manner Before the Palace gate standeth an heap of Oats so high that it reacheth to the brest of the horse on which the Duke of Saxonie rideth bearing in his hand a silver wand and a silver measure both which together weigh 200 marks then sitting still upon his horse he filleth up the measure with oates sticketh his wand in the Remainder delivereth the measure of Oats to some of his servants which stand next him and so attendeth the Emperour into the Court. The Emperour being entred and sate down at the Table the three spirituall Electors standing orderly together say Grace before him Then cometh the Marquesse of Brandenburg on horse-back also with a silver basin in his hand full of water the basin of the weight of 12 marks of silver and a fine clean towell on his arm which alighting down he holdeth forth unto the Emperour Then comes the Count Palatine of the Rhene mounted on his horse with four silver Platters full of meat every one of the weight of three marks which alighting also he carrieth and setteth down upon the table And finally the Duke or King of Bohemia on horse-back as the others were with a Napkin on his Arm and a covered cup of the weight of 12 marks entreth the Great-hall alighteth from his horse and giveth the cup unto the Emperour to drink But we must know that these services are seldome or never especially of late times performed by the Electours in person It is enough if they send their Embassadours to do it or substitute some one or other of the Emperours Court to perform it for them The election is usually holden at Francfort on Maenus whither the Electours or their deputies come upon the day appointed by the Bishop of Ments whose office it is to assemble the Princes In their passage into Francfort they are guarded by every Prince through whose territories they passe Their attendants must not exceed the number of 200 horse-men whereof 50 only must be armed When they are all met they goe to 8. Bartholomews Church where after Masse said the spiritual Electors laying their hands on their breast and the temporall on the book shal swear to choose a fit temporall head for the people of Christendom If in the space of 30 days they have not agreed then must they eat nothing but bread and water nor by any means go out of the citie til the greater part have agreed on a man who shall forthwith be acknowledged King of the Romans The Election being finished the partie chosen the inauguration was anciently holden 1. at Aken in Gulick where the new elected Emperor received the silver crown for Germany 2. at Millain where he received his iron crown for Lombardie 3. at Rome where he received the golden crown for the Empire But those journeys unto Rome and Millain have been long laid by the Emperours holding their Election to be strong enough to make good their Title to that honour being meerly titular The form of which Election the priviledges of the Princes Electours and other fundamentall constitutions of the German Empire we find summed up in the
with the famous Rivers of the Rhene and the Neccar Chief Towns hereof 1. Mâ—spach a pretty neat town on the banks of the Neccar and a Prefecture not far from the borders of Wirtenberg 2. Ladenberg neer the influx of the same River into the Rhene the moiety whereof was bought by Rupertus Emperour and Palatine of the Earls of Hohenloe anno 1371. the other moiety belonging to the Bishop of Wormes 3. Winhâ—ime a small town not far from Ladeberg belonging once to the Arch-bishop of Mentz but on some controversie arising about the title adjudged unto the said Rupertus and his heires for ever 4. Scriessen in the same tract well seated but not very large sold with the Castle of Straluberg to the said Rupertus by Sifride or Sigifride of Straluberg the right heir thereof anno 1347. 5. Heidelberg on the right shore of the Neccar going down the water compassed on three sides with Mountains and lying open onely towards the West which makes the air hereof to be very unhealthy The chief beauty of it lyeth in one long street extended in length from East to West on the South-east side whereof is a fair and pleasant Market-place and not far off a very high mountain called Koningstall that is to say the Kingly Seat upon the middle ascent whereof is the Castle where the Princes Electours use to keep their Courts and on the very summit or top thereof the ruines of an old Tower blown up with gun-powder A town of no great bignesse nor very populous there being but one Church in it which was used in the time of my Author for Prayer and Preaching the rest being either ruined or imployed unto other uses if not repaired again since the Spaniards became masters of it for more frequent Masses Howsoever it hath the reputation of being the chief City of this Palatinate not long since furnished with a great and gallant Library which for choice and number of Books especially Manuscripts was thought not to be fellowed in all Europe till matched if not over-matched by the famous Bodleian Library of Oxford most of them to the great prejudice of the Protestant cause being carryed to Rome and other places of that party when the town was taken by the Spaniards anno 1620. Finally for the town it self it was once part of the possessions of the Bishop of Wormes from whom it was taken by the Palatines it is now famous for being the seat of the Palsgraves the sepulchre of Rodolphus Agricola and for an University founded by the Emperour and Palatine Rupertus anno 1346. 6. Baccharach on the banks of Rhene so called quasi Bacchi ara for the excellent wines 7. Coub on the other side of the water near unto which is the old and fair Castle called Psalts from whence the name Psalts-grave or Palsgrave seemeth to some to have been derived 8. Openheim a strong town which together with Keisers Lauterne and Ingelheim were given to the Palatines by Wenceslaus and after setled on them by Rupertus the Emperour and Palatine for 100000 Florens anno 1402. 9. Cruintznacke called antiently Stauronesus 10. Frankendale lately a Monastery onely but being peopled by such of the Netherlands which to avoid the fury of Duke Alva fled hither is now a town of principall strength 11. Germersheim and 12. Manheim a well fortified town seated on the confluence of Rhene and Neccar On the Eastern part of the Country standeth 13 Laden situate on the little River Tiberus the furthest bound of the Palatinate towards the North-east there adâ—oyning to the rest of Frankenland And on the west side the Townes of 14 Newstat 15 Keisars Lautern in Latine called Caesarea Lutra once a town Imperiall from which and from its situation on the River Luter it received this name 16. Sweibrueken the title of a younger house of the â—saltsgraves whom the Latine writers call Prinâ—lpes Bipontani the French the Princes of Deuxponâ—s 17. Sinâ—neren on the north-west point of it where it meets with the District of Triers the title of another Branch of the Palatine Family called the Dukes of Sinâ—neren In all there are contained within this Palatinate 24 walled Towns and 12 fair Palaces of the Prince most of which they have added to their estate within little more then 400 yeers Such excellent managers have they been of their own estates so potent in ordering the affaires of the Empire both in war and peace and so ingrafled themselves into the most noble Families of Germany that I may well say with Irenicus Non est alia Germaniae familia cui plus debeat nobilitas Within the limits of this Country and intermingled with the lands of the Princes Palatine are the Bishopricks of Spires and Wormes both ancient and of great Revenue but feudataries for a great part of their estates to these Electors Of these more towards the head of the Rhene stands the City of Spires by Ptolomy called Neâ—magus from the newnesse of the building when that name was given by Antoninus Civitas Nemetum from the Nemetes who possessed this tract and sometimes Spira by which name it doth still continue A town Imperiall and antiently a Bishops See Tessis the Bishop hereof subscribing to the Acts of the Councell of Colen anno 347. A neat Town and very delectably seated Of great resort by reason of the Imperiall Chamber the soveraign Court of Judicature of all the Empire capable of Appeals from the Tribunals of all the Princes and free States thereof A Court which first followed the Emperour in all his Removes as antiently the Kings Bench in England by Maximilian the Emperour first made Sedentary and fixt at Frankfort removed after to Wormes and finally to this City by Charles the fift Sufficiently famous in that the name of Protestants was here taken up given to the Princes and free Cities following the Reformed Religion upon their legall Protestation here exhibited More down the water in the same shore thereof stands the City of Wormes one of those built upon the Rhene for defence of Gaul against the Germans by Ptolomy called Borbegomagus by Antonine Civitas Wormensis whence the modern name but generally Civitas Vangionum from the Vangiones the old inhabitants of those parts whose chief City it was A town Imperiall as the former and a See Episcopall as that is and as ancient too Victor the Bishop hereof subscribing to the Acts of the Councel of Colen before mentioned A town to be observed for the first appearance which Luther made before Charles the fift the Imperiall Chamber then being holden in this City who being disswaded from that journey by some of his friends returned this resolute answer to them That goe he would though there were as many devills in the town as there were tiles on the houses Chief towns belonging to these Bishops are 1 Vdenheim a town belonging to the Bishop of Spires whose residence it sometimes is conveniently seated for the command of the Country and therefore upon some
Kingdome of whom we shall say more in the close of all first taking a survey of the Baltick Ilands and such Provinces on the main land of Scandia as properly make up the Kingdome of Denmark 2 The BALTICK ILANDS The BALTICK ILANDS are in number 35. and are so called because they lie dispersed in the Baltick Ocean At this day it is called by the Germans De Oost zee antiently by some Mare Suevicum by Pomponius Mela Sinus Codanus by Strabo Sinus Venedicus but generally Mare Balticum because the great Peninsula of Scandia within which it is was by some Writers of the middle and darker times called Balthia It beginneth at the narrow passage called the Sound and interlacing the Countries of Denmark Sweden Germany and Poland extendeth even to Livonia and Lituania The reasons why this sea being so large doth not ebbe and flow are 1 the narrownesse of the strait by which the Ocean is let into it and 2 the Northern situation of it whereby the Celestiall Influences have lesse power upon it The principall of this great shole of Ilands are 1 Seland 2 Fuinen or Fionia 3 Langeland 4 Lawland 5 Falstre 6 Azze 7 Alen 8 Tosinge 9 Wheen 10 Fimera and 11 Bornholim Some others of lesse note we shall onely name and so passe them over 1 SELAND the greatest Iland of the Baltick Seas is situate neer the main land of Scandia from which parted by a narrow Strait or Fretum not above a Dutch mile in breadth commonly called by the name of the Sundt or Sound A Straight thorow which all ships that have any trading to or from the Baltick must of necessity take their course all other passages being barred up with impassable Rocks or otherwise prohibited by the Kings of Denmark upon forfeiture of all their goods So that being the onely safe passage which these Seas afford one may sometimes see two or three hundred Ships in a day passe thorow it all which pay a toll or imposition to the King according to their bils of lading And to secure this passage and command all Passengers there are two strong Castles the one in Scandia called Helsinbourg whereof more anon the other in this Iland which is called Croneberg But before we come unto this Castle we must view the other parts of the Iland being in length two dayes journey and almost as much in breadth the soil so fertile that without any manuring or charge at all it yeildeth plenty of all necessaries for the life of man It was anciently called Codonania and containeth in it 15 Cities or walled Townes and 12 Royall Castles The principall whereof are 1 Hassen or Hafnia the Metropolis of the Ilands by the Dutch called Copenhagen or the Haven of Merchants situate near the Sea with an handsome Port the Isle of Amager which lyeth on the East-side of the Town making a very safe road for all kindes of shipping The town of an orbicular forme and reasonably well fortified but the buildings mean for the most part of clay and timber onely to be commended for a spacious Market-place Yet herein as the chief town of all the Kingdome and situate in the heart of these dominions is the Palace Royall built of Free stone in form of a Quadrangle but of no great beauty or magnificence Most memorable for the Vniversity here founded by Henry or Ericus the ninth but perfected by King Christiern the first by whom and the succeeding Princes liberally endowed 2 Fredericksburg amongst woods of Beech built for a place of pleasure by Frederick the second where the King hath a fine House and a little Park in which amongst other forein Beasts are some fallow Deer transported hither out of England in the 24 year of Queen Elizabeth 3 Roschild not walled but counted for a City as a See Episcopall the Bishops whereof have anciently had the honour of Crowning and inaugurating the Kings of Danemark In the Cathedrall Church whereof are to be seen the Tombs of many of the Danish Kings some of them very fair and sumptuous the most mean and ordinary 4 Sore of old times beautified with a goodly Monastery the Revenues whereof at the alteration of Religion were converted to the maintenance of a Free-Schoole built here by Frederick the first But in the yeer 1623 Christiern the fourth adding hereunto the Revenues of two other dissolved Monasteries the one in the I le of Lawland and the other in Juitland founded here a new Vniversity for the greater supply of learned Ministers for the Churches of Denmark and Norway which before could not be provided for out of Copenhagen and furnished it with men of eminence in all Arts and Sciences for its first Professours 5 Elsinure or Helsingore a village onely but much frequented by Sea-faring men as their ships passe by the Sound upon which it is Near unto which is 6 the strong and magnificent Castle of Croneberg built with incredible charge and paineâ— by King Frederick the second the foundation of it being laid on huge stones sunk into the Sea and so fastned together that no storme or tempest how violent soever is able to shake it Well fortified as well as founded and mixt of a Palace and a Fort being since the first building of it the most constant residence of the Kings of Danemark who from hence may easily discern each ship which sailes thorow the Sundt each of which addeth more or lesse unto his Revenues A profitable and pleasing prospect By the Commodity of this and the opposite Castle the King doth not onely secure his Customes but very much strengthen his Estate the Castles being so near and the Strâ—it so narrow that by the addition of some few Ships he may keep the greatest Navy that is from passing by him Unto the Government and Jurisdiction of this Iland belong many others the principall whereof are 1 Amigria or Amagger which helpes to make up the Port or Road of Copenhagen spoken of before planted with Hollanders brought hither by the procurement of Christiern the second 2 Mund or Moem-land the chief town whereof is called Stegoe 3 Huene or WHEEN a little South of Croneberg Castle a Dutch mile in length but not quite so broad remarkable onely for the studies of that famous Astronomer Tycho Brahe to whom Frederick the second gave this Iland that living in a private and solitary place removed from all company but his own Family onely he might with more convenience attend his Books At this day most observable for the Castle of Vranopolis or Vrenbourg in which the greatest part of his Mathematicall instruments are preserved in safety III. FIONIA or FVINEN the second Iland of accompt in all the Baltick is situate betwixt Seland and Juitland from which last parted by a Strait called Middelfar Sundt so narrow and of so small a Sea that the Iland and the Chersonese seemed joyned together A Country of a pleasant and delightfull situation and as fruitfull withall containing twelve Dutch miles in length
Archbishops 2. Bishops 6. Universities 4. viz. Cracow Vilna Dantzick Regimont And so much for POLAND THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS IN our way from Poland unto Hungarie whither now we goe wee must of necessity passe over the CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS the ancient boundarie of Sarmatia Europaea from the rest of Europe A long and craggie ledge of hils which beginning near the Citie of Presburg and the borders of Austria passe on in a continuall course till they come to the very Euxine Sea and by that means not only divide Hungary from Poland specially so called but parting Transylvania and Moldavia two Dacian Regions from Russia Nigra and Podolia Provinces of the Polonian Kingdom By Ptolemie in his second Book they are called Montes Sarmatici Sarmaticae Rupes by Solinus because disterminating the Sarmatian Nations who possessed the mos part of it from Germanie and the more Southern parts of Europe and in his third booke by one name Carpates or Mons Carpatus so called as some think from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Fruit from the fruitfulnesse of it compared with other Mountaines in those Northerne Countries At the present known by divers names according to the Provinces and people which it passeth by By the Dutch generally called Wurtzgarten or a Garden of Herbs which alludeth to the name of Carpatus by the Hungars Tarchzall Betwixt Moravia and Hungaria where it is at the highest it is called in the Sclavonian tongue by the name of Tatri in the German Schneberg where it parteth Transylavania from Russia Nigra the Rosses call it Biescid and the Dutch men Crapack A chaine of hils of more length then fame not much observable in storie but for the shutting up the Hungari Sclaves and others of those Northern Nations which afterward invaded the Roman Provinces nor of much notice at the present but for giving an Originall to many of the principall Rivers which water the Countries lying on both sides of it And therefore having nothing more to detain us here we will passe them over and descend into the Plains of Hungarie OF HUNGARIE HVNGARIE is bounded on the East with Transylvania and Walachia on the West with Stiria Austria and Moravia on the North with the Carpathian Mountains which divide it from Poland and on the South with Sclavonia and some part of Dacia Extended in length from Presburg along the Danow to the borders of Transylvania for the space of 300 English miles and 190 of the same miles in breadth The reason of the name we shall have anon It lyeth in the Northern temperate Zone betwixt the middle Parallels of the 7. and 9. Climates so that the longest Summers day in the Southern parts is but 15 houres and an half and not above 16 houres in the parts most North taking up all that tract of ground on the North side of Danubius possessed by the Iazyges Metanasiae a Sarmatian people and part also of Panonnia Superior and Pannonia Inferior both on the South of that River But being it passeth generally under the name of Pannonia we are to know that the Romans having made themselves Masters of all Pannonia divided it into four Provinces part of the Diocese of Illyriâ—um Occidentale that is to say Pannonia Superior bordering on Noricum and containing part of the Higher Austria and the most Western parts of the present Hungarie on the South side of the Danow 2 Pannonia Inferior containing the Eastern parts of Hungarie on the same side of the River 3 Valeria anciently part of Pannonia Superior comprehending Stiria or Stiermark in the Archdukedome of Austria And 4 Savia so called of the River Savus anciently part of Pannonia Inferior now called Windeschland one of the Provinces or Subdivisions of Sclavonia But the name of Pannonia falling with the Roman Empire and this Countrie being fallen into the hands of other Masters it took a new name from the Nations who possessed themselves of it and was called Hungaria quasi Hunni-Avaria by a mixt name made of the Hunni and Avares two Scythian Nations who either successively or conjunctly were possessed thereof or from the Hungari another race of Scythians mentioned by Jornandes in his Book De Rebus Geticis drawn into this Countrie by the Emperour Arnulph to aid him in his war against Suantobogius King of the Moravians This last I look on as most probable the first as more probable then that of Aventine and others of our later Writers who finding a poor Province in the most North-east point of the Russian Empire called Jugra and by them Jugaria would have the name of Hungarie to be thence derived The people are strong of body and rude of behaviour respecting neither the liberall Arts nor mechanick Trades The greatest aspersion is the name of a coward which cannot be wiped off without the killing of a Turk after which they are priviledged to wear a feather and by the number of their feathers to shew how many Turks they have slain in battell They desire wars and like no trade better being naturally slothfull like the Irish and therefore best approve of that course of life whereby they may rather live upon other mens labour then take pains for their living Extremely covetous yet having rather desire then art to enrich themselves permitting the Dutch to ingrosse all their trading and manage such commodities as the Country yeeldeth which is the cause seconded by the oppressions of the Turk and the Austrian Princes under whom they are that none of them rise to any considerable wealth And for such as have estates in land they grow every day more poor then others For though the Females be excluded from inheriting their fathers possessions to whom they give no portion but new Cloaths on the wedding day yet being the sons do equally inherit the Estate as such who hold in Gavelkinde do here in England it must needs be that by so many divisions and subdivisions the greatest patrimonie that is will be brought to nothing Both Sexes in the way of their education are inured to hardnesse not suffered to lie in beds till the night of their marriage The Christian faith was first planted here in the time of Stephen surnamed the Saint the first King of this Country invited thereunto by the speciall means and procurement of the Emperour Henry the 2. giving him upon that condition his sister Gisla in marriage and through the preaching and industrie of Albert Archbishop of Prague anno 1016. or thereabouts Since which time Christianitie hath continued here without interruption defended gallantly and couragiously against the Turks but broken into fractions and subdivisions among themselves some pertinaciously adhering to the Church of Rome some following the doctrine of Luther others that of Calvin and some new fancies and opinions disavowed by all the rest yet all these different parties doe agree in this to punish adulterie and fornication with no lesse a punishment then death the father forcing his daughter the husband his wife
part of Illyricum and on the South with the Sea Ionian So that it is in a manner a Peninsula or Demy-Island environed on three sides by the Sea on the fourth only united to the rest of Europe But this is only in relation to the present extent hereof the name being anciently restrained within narrower bounds Confined at first to Attica and the parts adjoining ab Isthmi angustiis Hellas incipit as it is in Plinie and took the name of Hellas from Hellen the son of Deucalion as that of Greece or Graecia from Graecus the son of Cecrops the first King of Athens Communicated afterwards to Peloponnesus then to Thessalie also and finally when the Macedonian Empire had inlarged it selfe over the petit Common-wealths and Estates hereof it came to be communicated to that Countrie also The people for this cause known by divers names by some Achivi by others Myrmidones sometimes Pelasgi Danai Argivi c. But the name whereby they are best known in sacred Writers is that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called from Hellas the more proper and genuine name of Greece in the strictest notion and acception A name used frequently and familiarly in the Book of God both absolutely to denote this Nation as where it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Greeks seek wisdome 1 Cor. 1. 22. and relatively as in opposition to the Jews the Barbarians and the Hellenists or Graecizing Jews First with relation to the Jews and then it signifieth the whole bodie of the Gentiles generally of which the Gâ—ecians were the most eminent and famous people as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Rom. 11. 9 10. Give none offence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles 1 Cor. 10. 32. and elsewhere frequently In which and all other places of that kinde where the Antiâ—esis lyeth between the Jews and other Nations we are to understand the Gentiles the whole body of them though many times our Translators I know not why render it literally the Greeks as Rom. 1. 16. 10. 12. c. Secondly with reference to all other Nations not so well versed in the learning and 〈◊〉 of that Age as the Grecians were whom by a common name of scorn they called Barbarians according unto that of Strabo Barbarae sunt omnes Nationes praeter Graecos the Romans themselves though then the great Lords of the World being included in the reckoning And so the word is taken Rom. 1. 14. I am a debtour saith S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both to the Greeks and the Barbarians to the wise and unwise in which as well the Romans as those of other Nations have the name of Barbarians Last of all for the Graecizing Jews whom the Vulgar Latine calleth Graecos and our English Grecians they were such of the Jews who living dispersed amongst the Gentiles used the translation of the Septuagint making that the Canon both for life and doctrine Which difference betwixt them and the Jews inhabiting in Judaea who kept themselves unto the Scriptures in their mother-tongue and used the Hebrew only in all sacred actions occasioned many jars amongst them which sometimes brake out into to open violence insomuch as R. Eliezer brake into the Synagogue of the Alexandrians at Hierusalem and therein committed many outrages Of this unfriendlinesse between them mention is made Act 6. 1. where it is said that there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews c. In which place though the English and Vulgar Latine use the name of Grecians yet ought they more properly to be rendred Hellenists or Graecizing Jews as in all other places viz. Acts 9. 29. 11. 20. c. where they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Originals But to proceed to our description of the Country we finde it situate in the Northern temperate Zone under the fift and sixt Climats the longest day being 15 hours inhabited by a people which were once brave men of war sound Scholars addicted to the love of vertue and civill behaviour A Nation once so excellent that their precepts and examples do still remain as approved rules and Tutors to instruct and direct the man that endeavoureth to be vertuous famous for government affectors oâ— freedome every way noble For which vertues in themselves and want of them in other all their neighbours and remote Nations were by them scornfully called Barbarians a name now most fit for the Grecians themselves being an unconstant people dâ—stitute of all learning and the means to obtain it Vmversities uncivill riotous and so lazie that for the most part they endeavour their profit no further then their belly compels them and so perfidious withall in all their dealings especially towards the Western Christians that it is grown into a Proverb amongst the Italians Chi fida in Grego sara in trigo i. e. He that trusts to a Greek is sure to be cousened When they meet at foasts or banquets they drink small draughts at the beginning which by degrees they increase till they come to the height of intemperancie at which point when they are arrived they keep no rule or order whereas before to drink out of ones turn is accounted a point of incivility Hence as I beleeve sprung our by word As merry as a Greek and the Latine word Graecari The women for the most part are brown-complexioned exceedingly well favoured and excessively amorous Painting they use very much to keep themselves in grace with their husbands for when they once grow wrinckled they are put to all the drudgeries of the house Both sexes generally in their habit and outward garb apply themselves to the State under which they live such as are subject to the Turk conforming unto the dresse and fashions of the Turks as those who live under the Venetians do to that of Venice The Christian Faith was first here planted by S. Paul invited by the Spirit to come over into Macedonia Acts 16. 12. passing from thence to Thessalonica the chief Citie of Mygdonia ch 17. 1. from thence to Athens in Achaia v. 16. then unto Corinth the Metropolis of Peloponnesus ch 18. 1. watering the greatest part of Greece with the dew of heaven and planting Bishops in most Churches where he preached the Gospell as Dionysius the Areopagite at Athens Aristarchus at Thessalonica Epaphroditus at Philippi Silas at Corinth and Titus in the Isle of Crete The like he did in many other Countries also accounted members of the Greek Church though not of Greece the name of the Greek Church extending over all the Provinces of the Eastern Empire governed by the 4 Patriarchs 1 Of Alexandria who presided over Egypt and Arabia 2 Of Hierusalem whose Patriarchate erected only in regard of our Saviours passion in that Citie and the great opinion which by that means accrewed unto it confined within the bounds of Palestine 3 Of
those Petit Princes yet being unable to hold out against the Conquerour they became his tributaries But falling out amongst themselves and neglecting then to send in the tribute agreed upon gave Mahomet the Great occasion to invade the Countrey and under colour of aiding one brother against the other to destroy them both as he did accordingly Demetrius being carryed Prisoner to Constantinople and Thomas forced to abandon Pelopennesus and flee to Italie anno 3457. Such towns hereof as belonged unto the State of Venice followed the same fortune also in the time of Bajazet by whom all taken at the last and the whole Countrie brought under his obedience anno 1500 or thereabouts Governed ever since that time by a Turkish Zanziack under the Beglerbeg of Greece who hath his residence at Macedon a Regiment of 1000 Horse to secure the Countrie and 700000 Aspers that is to say 14000 Crowns a year for his entertainment 2 ACHAIA ACHAIA is bounded on the East with the Aegean Sea on the West with Epirus on the North with Thessalie and on the South with Peloponnesus and the Seas thereof Called antiently Hellas from Helles the sonne of Deucalion but whence it had the name of Achaia is not yet agreed on though sure I am that from hence the Inhabitants of it were called Achivi a name communicated afterwards to all the Grecians to difference them from the Achoei of Achaia Propria The countrey famous in the Authours of elder times more for the gallantry of the men then any great goodnesse of their countrey yet that sufficiently memorable for the hill Hymettus swarming with Bees plentifull of the sweetest honey and rich in mines of excellent marble as also for the River Cephisus which runneth almost through the whole length hereof divided into two main streams of which the one is called Asopus the other retaineth its first name Upon the banks hereof stood the Temple of Themis to which Deucalion did repair to be directed in the restauration of mankinde as the Poets fable It was divided antiently into these seven parts viz. 1 Attica 2 Megaris 3 Boeotia 4 Phocis 5 Locris 6 Doris and 7 Aetolia A division now as much disused as the name of Achaia changed by the Turkes into that of Levadia of which more anon 1 ATTICA hath on the West Megaris and some part of Boeotia on all other parts compassed with the Sea so called from Athens the chief City The soile for the most part very barren and craggy yet by the armes and industry of the people made both rich and famous insomuch as the yearly revenues of the State of Athens were 1200 Talents The money currant in this countrey was commonly stamped with an Oxe whence came the By-word Bos in lingua applyed to such Lawyers as were bribed to say nothing in their Clients cause Not much unlike to which was the Proverb rising from the coin of Aegina an Isle adjoining stamped with the figure of a Snail viz. Virtutem sapientiam vincunt Testudines Places of most observation in it 1 Philae a strong Fortresse on the Borders of Boeotia surprized by Thrasibulus and others of the banished Athenians during the Government of the 30 Tyrants the taking whereof was the first step towards their own and their countries libertie which soone after followed 2 Eleusis on the borders of Megaris almost impregnably fortified by the 30 Tyrants when they had the command of Athens by whom designed for their retreat in all times of danger But having withdrawn hither on the taking of Philae and Piraeus by the Thrasybulians they found strong wals a weak defence for so much wickednesse being trained out as to a parlie and so deprived of the place and their power together It was first built by one Eleusius who entertained Ceres as she was in quest of her daughter Proserpine who to reward him taught him the use of Agriculture and he in honour of her built here a Temple Hence Ceres in the Poets is called Eleusina and her sacrifices sacra Eleusinia and sometimes the City also Cerealis Eleusis so called by Ovid in the 7 book of the Metamerphesis 3 Rhamnus upon the River Asous famous for the Temple of Amphiaraus and the Statua of the Goddesse Nemesis hence called Rhamnusia in the Poets this Nemesis or Rhamnusia being the Goddesse of indignation punishing those who made themselves unworthy of their present fortunes 4 Trichoritum of more Antiquity then fame 5 Marathon on the southside of the River Asopus opposite to Rhamnus of great note for the discomfiture given by Miltiades the Athenian to the numerous Army of Darius consisting of 200000 Foot and 10000 Horse the Emulation of which noble victory startled such brave resolves in the brest of Themistocles As memorable in the Poets of those elder times for the Marathonian Bull there slain by Theseus 6 Pyroeus the Port-Town to Athens and the ordinary Station for their shipping the Haven hereof being capable of 400 saile distant from the City about two miles but joined unto it by two long wals reaching from the one to the other for securing the conveyance of their Merchandise to and from the Sea The Port it self impregnably fortified by the advice of Themistocles But as these long walls were broken down by the command of the Spartans when the City of Athens was taken by them so were the fortifications of Pyraeus it self demolished by the command of Sylla in his war against Mithridates King of Pontus the better to keep under the Athenians 7 Panormus a Seat-Town also and of very good trade but not of such importance as the other was 8 ATHENS one of the eyes of Greece and the chiefe of Attica situate from the Sea two miles as before was said the Haven of Pyroeus serving it with all commodities which came from other parts by shipping First built by Cecreps the first King of it by whom called Cecropia A. M. 2409. repaired afterwards by Theseus and furnished with good Lawes by Solon and finally thus named from Minerva whom the Greekes call Athene to whom then dedicated and in whose honour there were yearly kept some solemn Games called Panathencia A City heretofore adorned with all those excellencies of strength and beauty which Art or cost could adde unto it Renowned as for many things so for three especially 1 For the inviolable faith of the Citizens in all their Leagues and most firm affection to their friends so that Fides Attica grew in the end unto an Adage 2 For the famous scholars which here taught and flourished this being so happy a Nursery of the choicest wits and so fitly seated for the Muses that the very Natives being in other countries could sensibly perceive some want of that naturall vigour which at home was resiant in their spirits It a ut corpora istius gent is separata sent in alias Regiones ingenia vero solis A theniensium muris clausa esse existimes as Velleius hath it Yea and to say the
more then 20 horse and 50 foot he assaulteth Mustapha in his Camp in which 5000 Turkes were slain and 300 taken with whom encountring not long after in the open field he slew 10000 of his men took many prisoners and Mustapha himself for one whom he ransomed for 25000 Ducats Falling upon the Host of Amurath then besieging Croia he killed Ferisses Bassa hand to hand in a single combaâ—â—and in the time of Mahomet who succeeded Amurath vanquished Isaac the great Bassa routed his whole army had the spoil of his Camp took 20 of his fairest Ensignes and slew 30000 of his souldiers Not to instance in the rest of his noble actions it is reported that in the course of his war against the Turkes he killed no fewer then 3000 of them with his own hands using a Turkish Scymitar in all his fights of great weight and bignesse Which when Mahomet on a peace between them had desired to see and afterwards returned againe with this censure of it that he saw nothing in it more then ordinary the gallant Prince sent back this answer that the vertue of the weapon depended on the strength of his Arm which hee could not send him for that he did reserve it for the death of his Enemies Finally having held his Cards against Amurath and Mahomet two most fortunate Gamesters for the space of 24 yeares he set up his rest at last a winner dying in peace at Lyssa then belonging to the State of Venice Jan. 17. an 1466. and was there honourably interred At the taking of which Town by the Turkes about nine years after his body was digged up by them not in spight but honor that man accompting himself happy who could get any of his bones to preserve as a relick supposing that as long as he had it about him he should be invincible But with him died the liberty of his Countrey also not long after subdued by the Turkes and made a Province of that Empire as it still continueth the name of Albania being by them extended over all Epirus and so much of Dalmatia also as is under their power The armes of this kingdome or rather of the Kings thereof were Gules an Eagle Sable 5 MACEDONIA MACEDONIA is bounded on the East with the Aegean Sea on the West with Albania on the North with Moesia Superior and part of Thrace and on the South with Epirus and Achaia It was first called Aemonia from Mount Haemus which shutteth up that side hereof which is towards Moesia after Aemathia from a King of it callled Aemathus Macedonia from Macedo the son of Deucalion and the Father of Caranaus the first King of the line of Alexander and finally Kittim or the Land of Kethim whereof see Maccab. c. 1. v. 1 cap. 8. v. 5. from Kittim the sonne of Javan and Grandchild of Japhet who was planted here Antiently of more large extent then it is at the present extending from the Aegean Sea unto the Adriatick till the taking of Albania cut of it which hath strained it upon that side but the rest as formerly The Countrey taking it together is very fruitfull and pleasant though on the outward parts thereof begirt with rough mountaines and thick forrests in former times much celebrated for its mines of gold and silver but long since exhausted It contained formerly the Provinces of Aemathia Pierla Pelasgia Fstiotis Phiniotis Thessalie Mygdonia Amphaxitis Paraxia Edonis and many others of lesse note inhabited by 152 severall Nations now principally divided besides Albania into Thessalie 2 Macedon specially so called and 3 Mygdonia which the Turkes call Jamboli 1 THESSALIE hath on the East the Aegean Sea on the West Albania on the North Macedon and Mygdonia on the South Achaia A sweet and delectable countrey the pleasures and delights whereof inclined the people to be very effeminate and dissolute in their course of life in love with luxury and ease and much like the Persians in behaviour whose entrance into Greece they did therefore favour Yet notwithstanding this debauchednesse they were esteemed the best Horsemen of all the Grecians by their excellent managing of which creature as if they had been one peece with it and either lent the Horse their mindes or borrowed his body they gave occasion unto the fiction of the Centaures halfe men half beasts It is now called Comenolitati and of old was very famous for many things especially for the hill Olympus of so great height that it seemeth to transcend the clouds and therefore frequently by the Poets tooke for Heaven it selfe 2 For the hill Othrys inhabited by the Lapithoe over whom Pirithous was King 3 For the Mountaines of Pelion and Ossa the dwelling places of the Centaures who intending to ravish Hippodame the Bride of Pirithous on her wedding day were flaine by Hercules and the Lapithoe 4 For the delectable Valley of Tempe situate betwixt Ossa and Olympus extending in length six miles and five in breadth so beautified with Natures gifts that it was supposed to be the Garden of the Muses 5 And lastly for the Dolopes and Myimidones who did here inhabit over whom Achilles had command at the fiege of Troy these last by reason that they were a laborious and thristy people being fabled by the Poets to have first been Emmets transformed unto men at the prayers of Aeacus when he wanted souldiers Mores quos ante tenebant Nune quoque babent parcum genus est patiensque laborum Quaesitique tenax quod quaesita reservet The custome they of Emmets still retain A sparing Folk and unto Labour set Strangely addicted to all kinde of gain And wary Keepers of what ere they get Places of most observation in it 1 Tricea the Episcopall See of Heliodorus the Authour of that ingenious peece called the Aethiopick History which he so prized that hee chose rather to lose his Bishoprick then consent to the burning of his Booke which a Provinciall Synod had adjudged to the Fire A peece indeed of rare contexture and neat contrivances without any touch of loose or lascivious language honest and chast affection being the subject of it not such as old or modern Poets shew us in their Comedies or other Poems For here we have no incestuous mixture of Fathers and daughters no Pandarism of old Nurses no unseemely action specified where heat of bloud and opportunity doe meet nor indeed any one passage unworthy of the chastest Ear. 2 Lamia where the Athenians after the death of Alexander hoping to recover their freedomes besieged Antipater which was the last honourable enterprise undertaken by that great and renowned City known in old Histories by the name of Bellum Lamiacum 3 Larissa situate on the South of Demetrias but on the same Bay memorable for the birth of Achilles from hence called frequently in the Poets I arissaeus Achilles 4 Demetrias situate on the Bay called Sinus Pelasgicus now the Golf of Armenia of very great strength by Art and Nature Which being held
called from Antigonus a King of Macedon the first founder of it 2 Xilopolis 3 Terpillus 4 Physco 5 Assorus all mentioned by Ptolemie but not else observable 6 Apollonia for distinction sake called Apollonia Mygdoniae to difference it from Apollonia in Albania then a part of Macedon famous for the studies of Augustus Caesar who here learnt the Greek tongue For Amphaxitis there was 7 Arethusa 8 Stagira now called Nicalidi renowned for the birth of Aristotle hence named Stagirites 9 Thessalonica situate on the bottome of Sinus Thermaicus now called the Bay of Salonichi by the name of the town Anciently the Metropolis or head Citie of Macedon the seat of the Praefectus Praetoria for Illyricum after the removall thereof from Sirmium as also of the Primate of the Greek Church who resided here To the people of this Citie did S. Paul write two of his Epistles continuing in great power and credit till the fall of the Consiantinopolitan Empire into the hands of the Latines at which time it was bestowed first on Boniface Marquesse of Moniferrat the new King of Thessalie after whose death it fell unto the State of Venice who held it till the year 1432. when forced by Amurath the 2. to become Turkish Which notwithstanding it still preserves the reputation of a beautifull and wealthy Citie inhabited by rich Merchants who drive here a great trade especially for the commodities of the Indies for beauty riches and magnificence little inferiour unto Naples and though the Turks and Jews make the greatest number of Inhabitants yet here are reckoned 30 Churches for the use of Christians As for the Jews they swarm here in such great abundance that in this Citie and that of Constantinople only there are reckoned 160000 of them but generally hated and contemned by all sorts of people 10 Syderocaspae of old called Chrysites remarkable for its mines of gold and silver so beneficiall to the Turk that he receiveth hence monthly 18000 and sometimes 30000 crowns de claro Next for Chalcidice there was 11 Panormus a Port town 12 Stratonice in the Peninsula of Mount Athos 13 Athos or Athosa in the same Peninsula with a Promontorie of the same name nigh which it stood 14 Acanthus now called Eryssa on the Bay of the Holy Mountain And finally in Paraxia we have 15 Ampelus 16 Torone giving name to the Bay adjoining called anciently Sinus Toronicus now Golfo di Aiomama 17 Cassandria on the Sea â—ide so called from C assander King of Macedon who repaired and beautified it being before named Potidea 18 Derris 19 Merillus 20 Pallene situate in the Chersonese or Demy-Island called Petalene and by some Petalia formerly consecrated to the Muses but before that infamous for the war which the Giants are sabled to have made here against the Gods at what time it was called Phlegra the fields adjoyning Campi Phlegraei in which this great battell is supposed to be fought The occasion of the Fable was as both Theagenes and Eudoxus do expound the same that the Inhabitants hereof in those elder times being men of a most impious and insolent life got the name of Giants whom when Hercules endeavoured to subdue and reduce to reason it happened that there fell a great tempest of thunder and lightning by which they were constrained to flee and submit themselves Hence the report that those Giants made war against the Gods Others have placed these Phlegraean fields in Thessalie and perhaps more probably Certain I am that some place nearer to the hils of Pelion Ossa and Olympus doth agree best with it if at least Ovid were not out in his narration who makes those Mountains to be heaped upon one another for their better reaching to the skies and fighting upon even ground as the saying is For thus that Poet Affectasse ferunt regnum coeleste Gigantes Altaque congestos struxisse ad sydera Montes At pater omnipotens misso perfregit Olympum Fulmine excussit subjectum Pelion Ossae Which may be Englished in these words The Giants once the Throne of heaven affected And hils on hils unto the Stars erected Till Jove with thunder high Olympus brake And Pelion did from under Ossa take But from those Fables to proceed to more reall stories this Country was first peopled by Cittâ—m the son of Javan passing over out of Asia Minor in memorie whereof here was not only a town called Cuium spoken of by Liviel 42. but the whole land of Macedon is in the book of Maccabees called the land of Keium Maccab. 1. v. 1. and the inhabitants hereof called Citims in the 8 chapter of the same book v. 5. spreading in tract of time from one Sea to the other from the Aegean to the Adriatick some Colonies of them passed from hence to Italie and first inhabited that Countrie as hath there been said Such as continued in these parts divided into severall tribes as in all parts else became in time to be united in the name of Macedons a people not much taken notice of in the former times living a poor and painfull life Goatherds and Shepherds for the most part scarceable to defend their own Mountains from the next invader much lesse to dream of conquering either Greece or Persia And therefore Alexander told them and not much unfitly though by him spoke in passion and to their disgrace that his father Philip had first made them Gentlemen For Philip having learned the Eudiments of war under Epaminondas being then an Hostage with the Thebans and by that means acquainted with the temper and state of Greece not only freed his own Kingdome from the Ilâ—yrians Thracians and other barbarous Nations who had gained upon it but taking advantage of the factions raised amongst the Grecians which he knew how to feed and cherish for his own improvement brought them at first wholly to rely upon him and after to be subject to him Insomuch that never any Monarchy had a swifter growth nor a more speedy dissolution there passing not ful 40 years from the first of Philip to the last of Alexander in which space it was both begun perfected and broke to pieces For the foundation being laid in murder perjurie and treason as at first it was was never likely to be blessed with a long continuance The KINGS of MACEDON A. M. 3155 1 Caranaus 28 3183 2 Coenus 12 3195 3 Tirimas 38 32â—3 4 Perdiceas 51 3284 5 Argaeus 38 3322 6 Philippus 38 3360 7 Europus 26 3386 8 Alcetas 29 3415 9 Amintas 50 3465 10 Alexander 43 3508 11 Perdiceas II. 28 3536 12 Archelaus 24. 3560 13 Orestes 5 3563 14 Archelaus II. 4 3567 15 Paâ—sanias 1 3568 16 Amintas II. 6 3574 17 Argaeus II. 357d 18 Amintas III. 19 3594 19 Alexander II. 1 3595 20 Alorites 4 3599 21 Perdiccas III 6 3605 22 Philip II. 24 3629 23 Alexander the Great Of these 23 Kings only six are famous viz. Caranaus the first King originally of Argos of the race of Hercules
heaps of silver and other moneys 2 Lipsius relateth how Benjamin a Jew in his discourse of Europe saith that the custome due to the Emperours out of the victuals and merchandize sold at Constantinople only did amount to 20000 crowns daily 3 We find that at the sack of Constantinople there was found an invaluable masse of gold silver plate and jewels besides that which was hid in the earth For so the covetous Citizens chose rather to employ their wealth then afford any part of it to the Emperour who with tears in his eyes went from door to door to beg and borrow mony wherewith he might wage more souldiers for the desence of the town The arms of the Empire were Mars a crosse Sol between four Greek Beta's of the second the four Beta's signifying as Bodin saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It may perchance be expected that we should here make an additionall Catalogue of those Turkish Emperours who have reigned in Constantinople since the taking of it and being they are possessed of Greece and do now inhabit it that we should here also speak of the Turks themselves their customs forces policies originall and proceedings But the discourse of those things we intend to reserve for Turcomania a Province of Asia from whence they made their first inundation into Persia and afterwards into other parts of the world now subject to them the only Province which retains any thing of their name And though the Peninsula called anciently Taurica Chersonesus now part of Tartaria Prâ—â—opensis be within the bounds of Europe also yet we will deserre the description and story of it till we come to the affairs of the Tartars and will here conclude our discourse of Europe and prepare for Asia And so much for GREECE the last of the Provinces of EUROPE A TABLE OF THE LONGITUDE and LATITUDE OF THE CHIEF TOWNS and CITIES Mentioned in this BOOK A  Long. Lat. AMsterdam 27.39 52.40 Antwerp 24.30 51.48 Athens 46.10 40 Ausburg 32.30 48.20 Aulona 51.20 41.30 Arras 24. 51 Anslo 36.30 59.20 B BAmberg 39.15 50.10 Belgrade 45 47.40 Bergen 34.16 61.25 Bern 29.45 46.25 Brandenburg 35.30 52.36 Breme 30.20 53.23 Bruges 24.36 51.30 Brunswick 32.40 52.30 Brussels 26.42 51.24 Buda 42 47.20 Boden 52.30 45.30 Bornholm 40.50 55.30 C CLeve 29.35 51.58 Constantinople 56 43.5 Confsluentz 27.30 50.30 Constance 28.30 47.30 Copenhagen 34.50 56 Corinth 54.20 39 Colen 27.40 51 Cracow 42.40 50.12 Cephalone 52 38.30 Casan 96.10 35.10 Corfu 42 39.30 D DAntzick 45 54.50 Darsaw 63 48.40 Deventer 33.25 51.50 Dort 26 52 Doway 25 51 Dresden 36 51.3 E EMden 28.26 53.34 Erford 34.30 51.10 Elsenore 36.30 57 F FLensberg 36.40 55 Franeker 27 54 Frankford ad Moen 30 50.30 Frankford ad Oderam 24 52.30 Friburg 20 48.1 G GLogaw 43.50 51.25 Gran 42.30 48 Gratz 34 48 Grodesk 56.30 51.30 Gaunt 30.20 50.40 Guesna 42 52.40 Groyningen 32.10 53 H HAdersleve 35.5 60.50 Hallar 3 67.14 Halberstat 32.40 52.10 Heidelberg 28 49.35 Hamburg 30 54.30 I JEne 34 52 Ingolstad 32.10 48.40 Inspruch 32.50 44.55 Juliers 27.30 52 L LArissa 70 33 Leige 22 50.50 Leopolis 52.50 49 Lipsich 30.30 51.20 Lubeck 31.20 54.48 Lucern 29.53 46.42 Lunemburg 32.18 53.27 Luden 26 53 Luxenburg 28 50 M MAgdeburg 37.50 52.18 Marpurg 30.10 51 Mentz 27.30 50.30 Metz 27.40 49.9 Madleburg 25 52 Minden 31.30 52.58 Munchen 32.50 48 Munster 29.10 52 Montz 26 51 Mosco 70.30 55.40 Melvin 48 54.50 N NAncie 28.45 49.20 Norlingen 33 49 Nurenberg 31.30 49.30 Nimmegen 28 52 Novogrod Magn. 62.50 60.30 Novogrod Infer 80 55.20 Nicopolis 56.30 40 Negropont 56.10 41 S. Nicolas 69 64 O OLmuntz 41 40.30 Osnabrug 29.36 52.29 â—â—ant 43.30 57 P PRague 39.15 50.10 Preslaw 46 51.10 Pasnaw 42 52.48 Presburg 40 48.26 Plescow 59.10 59 Pechora 66.50 67 Pernow 53.30 58.40 Plâ—tzcow 57.30 57.40 R RAb 40.35 48.50 Ragusi 44.40 42.30 Regeâ—berg 32.15 48.59 Rostoch 34.18 54.20 Rustow 72.50 57 Rugen 40.20 55.10 Râ—ga 53.30 58 Regiment 49.10 55.30 S SAltsburg 35.40 47.40 Schalholt 3.14 65.42 Schleâ—stat 28.6 48.22 Sleswick 31.20 55.15 Spires 27.40 49.20 Stetin 37.40 54 Stockholm 42 60.15 Sibiore 99.20 59.30 Slowada 86.30 58.50 Strasburg 27.50 48.44 Stagira 55.30 43.30 T THessalonica 53.40 44.20 Triers 26 49.30 Trent 33.40 45.20 Tubing 30.30 48.40 T wer 68.10 57.10 U VAlenciennes 26.29 50.10 Ulme 32.30 48.20 Vienna 37.45 48.20 Vilna 54.30 55 Upsal 40.30 60.52 Vsting 79.30 61.30 Vtrecht 27.33 52.10 Vicegrod 61.30 51.30 Vesalia 31.30 51.30 W Wiburg 55.58 63.6 Witteberg 35.10 50.55 Wismar 33.30 54.14 Wologda 74.30 60 Wormes 28 49.45 Woortzburg 30.10 49.57 Wardhuys 50.30 70.30 Z ZAra 46.25 45.40 Zemla Nova 83.30 74 The End of the second Book The Emendation of the chief Errata in this second Book FOl. 9. l. 14 for Bern r. Pern 12. 55. for Porter r. Prior 21. 64. for 142 r. 1421 fol. 22. 7. for Over-water r. Oudewater ib. 28. for Alemar r. Alkmar 24. 44. for Soferes r. Bofereres 33. 35. for S. Luys r. Sluys 45. 62. for battels r. broils 56. 8. for Halto r. Hatto 42. 37. for Cretius r. Cetius 61. 3. for Gebwiser r. Gebwiler ib. 17. for Malz-munster r. Masz-Munster 75 30. for Tega r. Teya 76. 17. for Richard the 3. r. Richard the 1. 78. 22. for Ostaar r. Ottacar 79. 34. for holy r. whole 80. 7. for have r. being 83. 31. for Provinces r. Princes 93. 15. for Antonius r. Antoninus 98. 34. for street r. strait 101. 59. for Woods r. Woâ—d 107. 14. for Persia r. Tartarie ib. 16. for Pasacasons r. Sacasons ib. 35. for regent r. present 117. 5. for in time r. infinite 124. 12. r. also added 137. 7 8. d. Knight of the Garter 152. 3. for pleasure r. displeasure 157. 4. for son r. successour 154. 15. for 1600 r. 600. 161. 53. for weak r. weaker 172. 6. for from r. five 178. 24. for only and r. and only 179. 62. for 100000 r. 10000 180. 39. for all the time r. till the time ib. 44. for all r. at 183. 59. for ulns r. vines 187. 66. for Hungari r. Hunugari 186. 56. for 200 r. 206 192. 11. d. which ib. 17. d. whole 193. 52. for East parts with r. East parts of ib. 56. for are in it r. in it are 201. 16. for subdued r. subducted 206. 12. for The other work The other was the work ib. 20. d. up 210. 412. for Persian r. Asian 214. 7. for Scominus r. Scombrus 217. 6. for Cynus r. Cyrus 221. 11. for Conro r. Coron 222. 3. for of which r. which of 224. 29. for mutually r. finally 225. 65. for this being r. that being 228. 29. for Macedon r. Modone 235. 54. for Attica r. Achaia 237. 57. for into r. up in COSMOGRAPHIE The Third Book CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHIE and HISTORIE OF THE LESSER and GREATER ASIA AND ALL THE PRINCIPALL Kingdomes Provinces Seas and Isles thereof By PETER HEYLIN JUSTIN HIST. I. 1. Imperium Asyrii qui postea Syri dictisunt annos
MCCC tenuerunt Imperium ab Asyriis ad Medos Arbaces transfert SENECA EPIST. 17. Omnes quae usquam rerum potiuntur urbes ubi fuerint aliquando quaeretur vario exitii genere tollentur LONDON Printed for Henry Seile 1652. ASIAE Descriptio Nova Impensis HENRICI SEILE JohanÌ„ Goddard sculpÌ„ 1652 COSMOGRAPHIE The Third Book CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHIE and HISTORIE of the Lesser and Greater ASIA And all the principall Kingdomes Provinces Seas and Isles thereof OF ASIA ASIA is bounded on the West with the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas the Hellespont Propontis Thracian Bosphorus and the Euxine Sea the Palus Maeotis the Rivers Tanais and Duina a line being drown from the first of the two said Rivers unto the other by all which parted from Europe On the North it hath the main Scythick Ocean on the East the Streits of Aman if such there be the Indian Ocean and Mare Del Zur by which separated from America on the South the Mediterranean or that part of it which is called the Carpathian washing the shores of Anatolia and the main Southern Ocean passing along the Indian Persian and Arabian coasts and finally on the South-west the Red Sea or Bay of Arabia by which parted from Africk Environed on all sides with the Sea or some Sea-like Rivers except a narrow Isthmus in the South-west which joynes it to Africk and the space of ground whatsoever it be betwixt Duina and Tanais on the North-west which unites it to Europe It took this name as some will have it from Asia the daughter of Oceanus and Thetis the wife of Japetus by him mother to Prometheus as others say from Asius the son of Atis a King of Lydia from whence that Conntrey first afterwards all Anaâ—olia or Asia Minor and finally the whole Continent had the name of Asia Others again but more improbably derive the name from Asius the Philosopher who gave the Palladium unto the Trojans in memory whereof that Countrey first and after the whole Continent did receive this name But these Originations being very uncertain Bochartus out of his great affection to the Punick or Phoenician language will have it called so from Asiâ— a Phanician word signifying Mâ—aium or the middle because Anatolia or the Lesser Asia which gives name as he conceiveth to the Greater also lieth in the middle as it were betwixt some parts of Europe and Africa And so farre the Conjecture doth find countenance from some antient writers that Asia is said by Plinie to be inter Africam Europan to be betwixt Africa and Europe by Mela Medium nostris oequoribus excipt to be embraced in the middle of two Seas he meaneth Pontus Euxinus and the Mediterranean and finally by Eustathius conceive them all of Anatolia or the Lesser Asia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a middle situation betwixt Europe and Africa But by what name and on what grounds soever it be called by the Greeks and Latines it is otherwise and with better reason called in holy Scriptures by the name of Semia as being that portion of the world wherein the whole posterity of Sem had their seates and dwellings If the observation of Maginus be of any weight It is situate East and West from the 52. to the 169 degree of Longitude and North and South from the 82 degree of Latitude to the very Aequator some onely of the Islands lying on the South of that 〈◊〉 so that the longest Summers day in the Southern parts is but twelve houres onely but in the most Northern parts hereof for almost four whole moneths together no night at all And for a measurement by miles it stretches in length 5200. and in bredth 4560. miles This Countrey hath heretofore been had in especiall honour 1. For the Creation of man who had his first making in this part of the world 2. Because in this part of it stood the garden of Eden which he had for the first place of his habitation 3. Because here flourished the four first great Monarchies of the Assyrian Babylonianâ— Mâ—dâ—s and Persians 4. Because it was the Scene of almost all the memorable actions which are recorded by the pen-men of the holy Scriptures 5. Because that here our Saviour CHRIST was borâ— here wrought he most divine miracles and here accomplished the great work of our Redemption 6. And finally because from hence all Nations of the World had their first beginning on the dispersion which was made by the sonnes of Noal after their vain attempt at Babel The chief Mountains of this great Continent not limited within the bounds of any one Province for of those we are to speak in their severall places are 1. Mount Taurus which having its beginning in 〈◊〉 a Province of Anâ—iolâ—â— passeth directly East-wards to the Indian Ocean and reckoning in its severall wind â—gs turnings with its spurs and branches every way is said to be 6250. miles long and 357 m. broad This Mountain or rather Ridge of hils divideth the Greater Asia as the Aequator doth the World into North and South memorable for three difficult passages from the one to the other the first out of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 into Ciliciae called Pylae Ciliciae the second out of Scythia or Tarterie into Turcomaâ—â— called 〈◊〉 Portae and the third out of Scythia into Persia called Portae Caspia Of which and of the whole course of this Mountain more at large hereafter 2. Imaus which beginning neere the sheres of the Northern Ocean runneth directly towards the South dividing the Greater Asia as the Meridian doth the World into East and West and crossing Mount Taurus in right Angles in or about the Longitude of 140. This on the North of Taurus hath no other name among the Latines then Imaus onely and by that name divide â— Scythia into Scythia intra Imaum and Scythia extra Imaum but by the Tartars is called Altay by some writers Belgion And on the South-side of that Mountain is known in Ptolomy by the name of Bâ—â—â—go extending from Mount Caucasus or some other Branch of the Taâ—rus to the Cape of Câ—mari in the Southern Ocean supposed by some to be Mount Sephar mentioned Gen. 10. v. 30. of which we shall say more also when we come into India The estate of Christianity in this vast Continent is in ill condition discountenanced and oppressed though noâ— quite extinguished For all the great Princes and Commanders of it being either Mahometans or Pagans the most that can be hoped for of the Christian Faith is a toleration or connivence and that not found but with an intermixture of such afflictions as commonly attend discountenanced and disgraced Religions Yet is not Christianity so over-powered either by Mahomet â—nisme or Paganisme but that in Asia the Lesser Syria Palestine and Armenia a great part of the inhabitants do retain the Gospel under their severall Paâ—â—â—â—chs and Metropolitans differing in some few points from one another but in many from the Church of Rome with which
Pontick Diocese lying within Anatolia or Asia Minor converted to the Christian faith by the two great Apostles of Jews and Gentles as appeareth by Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians and Saint Peter's to the Sâ—rangers dispersed in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynnta 7. ASIA PROPRIA COme we now to the ASIAN Diocese and first to that part thereof which Ptolomie and others for the reasons spoken of before call Asia Propria Antiently the most rich and flourishing part of all this 〈◊〉 and so affirmed to be by Tullie who telleth us that the tributes which the Romans had from other places hardly sufficed to defray the publick charges for defence thereof Asia vero tam opinia est sâ—rulâ—s ut ubert 〈◊〉 agrorum varictate fructuum magnitudine pastionis multitudine carum rerum quae exportentur facile omnibus terris antecellit But as for Asia saith he it is so fertile and so rich that for the fruitfulnesse of the fields variety of fruites largenesse of pasture-grounds and quantity of commodities which were brought from thence it very easily excelled all other Countreys The fortunes of the severall Provinces we shall see anon Brought under the command of the Persians they continued subject to that Crown for some generations but at last taken from them by the Grecions under the prosperous ensignes of victorious Alexander After whose decease the Empire being divided among his Captains Asia fell to the share of Antigonus whose sonne Demetrius seized on the Kingdome of Macedonia and left Asia to Seleucus Nicanor King of Syria and the East being also one of Alexander's heires The sixt from this Seleucus was Antiochus called the Great who waging warre with young Prolomy Philopaters King of Egâ—â—t committed by his father to the protection of the Romans and otherwise practâ—ing against their estate provoked the Sen ite of Rome to send Scipio sirnamed from his 〈◊〉 victories Aâ—â—aticus against him who compelled him to forsake Asia which the Romans presently took into their possions But finding it agreeable to the present estate of their Affaires the Kingdome of Macâ—denia standing in their way to make further use of Eumeneâ— King of Pergamus and the people of Rhodes who had been aiding to them in the former warre they gave unto Eumenes the Provinces of Lâ—caonia Phrygia Mysia Ionia Lydia Lycia and Caria to the Rhodians knowing full well that they could easily take them back again when they saw occasion More hereof in the story of the Kings of Pergamus on the decease of Artalus the last King thereof these Provinces returning fully to the power of the Romans It contained only after the accompt of Cicero the Provinces of Phrygia Mysia Caria Lydia as he reck oneth them up in his Oration for Flaccus computing the two Phrygia's for one Province only and comprehending Aeolis and Ionia under that of Lydia But for our more punctuall and particular proceeding in it we will consider it as divided into 1. Phrygia Minor 2. Phrygia Mayor 3. Mysia 4. Aeolis and Ionia or Asia more especially so called 5. Lydia and 6. Caria 8. PHRYGIA MINOR PHRYGIA MINOR is bounded on the East with Mysia interposing betwixt it and the Greater Phrygia on the West with the Hellespont on the North with the Proponis on the Sourh with the Aegean Sea Called Phrygia from Phryx a River in the Greater Phrygia or as some say from Phryxus the sonne of Athamas King of Thebes who flying from the treacherous snares of his Mother in law did here seat himself Minor was added to it to distinguish it from the other Phrygia which being the bigger of the two had the name of Major It was also called Phrygia Hellespontiaca from its situation on that Streit and Troas from Troas the chief City of it by which name it occurreth in the book of the Acts. It was called also Epictetus but the reason of the name I finde not except it came from the Epicteti a People dwelling on the East parts of Bithynnia and consequently neere this place Chief Rivers of it 1. Scamander on whose Bankes stood the renowned Citie of Troy honoured by Hesiod with the title of Divine Scamander in which the Virgins of this Countrey a litle before they were to be married used to bath themselves and to say these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Take O Scamander my Virginity Which opportunity Cimon an Athenian taking clapped a Coroner of Reeds upon his head like a River-god and so deflowred Callirhoe a noble Virgin then betrothed to another occasioning thereby the leaving off of this foolish custome It was also called Xanthus by the Poets Xanthúmque bibissent as in Virgil and watered a litle Region called Lycia of which more anon 2. Aesopus parting this litle Region from the Lesser Mysia the boundary of it on the North as the Promontory called Lectium is the furthest point of it towards the South 3. Simoeis now called Simores falling into the Hellespent not far from the Promontorie called Rhateuni memorable for the Statue and Sepulchre of A ax but rising out of Mount Ida an hill of this Region on which Paris being by his Father exposed to the fury of wild Beasts judged the controversy of the golden ball in favour of Venus respecting neither the great riches of Juno nor the divine wisdome of Pallas but transported with a sensuall delight fatall in the end to the whole Countrey Cities of most observation in it 1. Dardâ—num or ' Dardania the Town and Patrimony of Aeneas 2. Assus mentioned Acts 20. v. 13. by Plinie called Apollonia who telleth us that the earth about it is of such a nature that it will consume a dead body in fourty daies 3. Trajanopolis whose name declareth its founder 4. Sigaeum the Port-town to Troy neere a noted Promontory of the same name 5. Troy situate on the River Scamander the beauty and glory of the East called Ilium and Pergamus for the reason to be shewn anon A famons Town from the people whereof all Nations desâ—e to fetch their originall The beauty of it may be as some write yet seen in the ruines which with a kind of majesty entertain the beholder the walls of large circuit consisting of a black hard stone cut four-square some remnants of the Turrets which stood on the walls and the fragments of great Marble Tombes and monuments of curious workmanship But certainly these are not the ruines of that Ilium which was destroyed by the Grecians but 6. Troas or New Troy built some four miles from the situation of the old by Lysimachus one of Alexanders Captains who peopled it from the neighbouring Cities and called it Alexandria or Troas Alexandri in honour of Alexander the Great who begun the work but lived not to bring it to any perfection In following times called Troas onely and by that name mentioned Acts 20. v. 6. then the Metropolis of this Province now a ruine onely but every day made more ruinous
of the Greeks with it than gravity the better sort of people both in apparrel and manners coming neer the Genoese once the Lords of this Island the common fort continuing their old Greek humour of mirth and jollity not sensible of the Turkish thraldome under which they suffer with as much licenciousness as ever And though this intermixture hath so corrupted their language that neither the Greek nor the Italian be here rightly spoken but a compound tongue made up of both yet keep they their Religions still distinct and separate as if they had never known another Here are reckoned in it six and thirty Towns and villages the principall whereof are I. S. Elias in the North. 2. Pigrine in the midest hereof and 3. Chios it self now called Sio as is all the Island one of the seven Cities contending for the birth of Homer whose Sepulchre they pretend to shew in an old Castle neer the Mount and Town of S. Elias which were it his would be a better argument for his buriall here than it is for his birth The Town situate in the most pleasant and fruitfull part of the Countrey to which both industry and Art have given great advantage here being few houses without Orchards of excellent fruits as Oringes Limons Pomegranats Citrons and a kind of Fig much praised for their quickness of tast by the antient Romans It standeth on the East-side opposite to the Shores of Asia stretched along the bottom of the Haven and on the West-side backed with a rocky Mountain upon which it formerly did stand The Buildings ordinary the Streets narrow and the Haven every day decaying though otherwise secure once entred and for directing of the entrance a Lantern advanced by the Genoese when Lords hereof to give light by night and serve for a land-mark in the day Fortified on the North-side by a large and strong Castle environed with deep ditches well furnished with munition and a Turkish Garrison And because the Island is on all parts accessible not naturally fortified with rocks and dangerous precipices as many others besides this Castle they have all along the Coast small Watch-toâ—rs which with smoke by day and fire by night give notice unto one another of such Vessels as they see approaching the Guards about the Castle being so intent also about their charge that every minute of the night there goeth a word about the walls to declare their vigilancie The Chians were at first a free people governing themselves as a Commonwealth and by reason of their many harbours able to furnish out a Navy of 80 Sayl which gave them the Lordship of those Seas till ecclipsed by the Rhodians Besieged by Philip the Father of Perseus with his utmost power who when he could not get it by force proclamed freedome to the Slaves of which here were many and liberty to maâ—y with their Masters wives if they would rebell against their Masters And when this policy would not do it the Town being held out with greater heat of indignation he gave over the siege At last they became subject to the Romans with the rest of Greece and followed punctually the same change of fortunes as did those of Lesâ—os which we have spoken of before till given by Andronicus Paloeologus one of the last Greek Emperours to the Justinians a noble Genoesian Family assistant to him in his wars Under them it continued as tribut tries to the Turks after the Turks had made themselves masters of Constantinople to whom they annually paid eighteen thousand Ducats till the year 1566. When Solyman the Magnificent picking a quarrell with them for some suspected correspondency with the Knights of Malta commanded Pial one of his greatest Bassas to seize the Island And he accordingly presenting himself before the City with a strong Fleet of eighty Gallies did so astonish and amaze the Inhabitants of it that without any other summons than the fight of his Navy they surrendred themselves unto his disposing upon Easter-day being the same day he came before it since that it hath continued Turkish all save their Religion enjoyed by them with like liberty as in former times 4. SAMOS is on the South-east of Chios distant about five miles from the shores of Ionia 〈◊〉 eighty or eighty seven in compass environed for the most part especially on the North-west with inâ—â—able but beautified with a fair and capacious Haven of little use by reason of the Pirates 〈…〉 s. The soyl sufficiently enriched with most kind of fruits abundantly plentifull 〈◊〉 Oly and Olives but of Vines altogether unfurnished which is the more to be admired in regard all the Islands and shores about it produce them in so great a plenty It stretcheth from the East to the West and on the South part of it stood the City Samia neer unto the Haven before spoken of In former times populous and well inhabited as was the rest of the Iland now wholly desolate in a manner because of the Pirates and in most places very much over-grown with woods becoming thereby very usefull to those publick enemies who find here Timber enough for Shipping and can upon the sudden put a ship to Sea for pursuit of their Robberies The chief commodity it affordeth besides those above is a medicinall Earth usefull for Chirurgery and Physick of which in former times were those Vessels made called Vasa Samia in great request amongst the Romans Antiently it had the names of Dryusa Anathemusa Melamphylas and Ciparissa out-worn by that of Samos which it still retaineth Memorable in old times for the birth of Juno of one of the Sibyls hence called Samia and finally of the wise-man Pythagoras a wiser than any of the seven wise Masters so renowned amongst them who first brought Philosophy into Greece and from thence into Italy Once a free Common-wealth of no small esteem the Institutes whereof are mentioned by Heraclides in his Books of the severall Commonwealths then being afterwards made subject to the Tyrant Polycrates a man so fortunate that for a long time he never fell into any mischance Fearing lest such a long calm would bring on a tempest he let fall into the Sea a most precious Ring by him deservedly esteemed that so it might be said he had some mis-fortunes Which after he had found again in the belly of a fish brought accidentally to his table he was overcome by Orontes a Persian and brought to a miserable death Leaving a notable example that fortune is certain in nothing but uncertainties and like a Bee with a sharp sting hath alwaies some misery following in the train of a long concatenation of felicity From this time forwards it ran the same fortune with the rest of these Ilands subject successively to the great Monarchies in former times as of late times to the Venetians Greeks and Turks who do now enjoy it 5. ICARIA now called Niceria lyeth not far from Samos to the West-ward of it narrow but extended out in length the whole compass
accordingly Recovering once again both her riches and beauties she became a confederate of the Romans in the growth of their fortunes endued by them with the privileges of their City for her great fidelity Made in the best times of Christianity the Metropolitan See for the Province of Phoenicia the Bishop hereof having under him fourteen Suffragan Bishops Subjected to the Saracens in the year six hundred thirty and six and having groaned under that yoke for the space of fourhundred eighty and eight years was at the last regained by Guarâ—mund Patriarck of Hierusalem in the Reign of the second Baldwin the Venetians contributing their assistance in it Anno 1124. In vain attempted afterwards by victorious Saladine but finally brought under the Turkish thraldome Anno 1289. as it still continueth Now nothing but an heap of ruines but the very ruines of it of so fair a prospect as striketh both pity and amazement into the beholders shewing them an exemplary pattern of our humane frailty Subject at the present to the Emir or Prince of Sidon and beautified with a goodly and capacious Haven one of the best of the Levant but of no great trading 3. Sarepta by the Hebrews called Sarphath situate on the Sea-Coast betwixt Tyre and Sidon Memorable in holy writ for the miracle here performed by the Prophet Elijah in raising the poor Widows Sonne in Heathen writers for the purest Wines little inferiour unto those of Falernum in Italy or Chios in Greece Of which thus the Poet. Vina mihi non sunt Gazetica Chia Falerna Quaque Sareptano palmite missa bib as In English thus I have no Chian or Falernian wines Nor those of Gazas or Sarept as vines 4. Sidoâ— the antientest City of all Phoenicia and the most Nothern of all those which were assigned for the portion of the sonnes of Aser beyond which the Countrey of Phoenicia having been hitherto nothing but a bare Sea-coast beginneth to open towards the East in a fine rich vally having Libanus upon the North and the Anti-Libanus on the South once closed up from the rest of Syria with a very strong wall long since demolished It was so called from Zidon one of the sonnes of Canaan who first planted here not as some say from Sida the daughter of Belus once a King hereof this City being mentioned in the Book of Josuah when no such Belus was in being Situate in a fertile and delightful soyl defended with the Sea on one side and on the other by the Mountains lying betwixt it Libanus from whence descended those many Springs with which they watered and enriched their most pleasant Orchards The Inhabitants hereof are said to be the first makers of Christall Glass the materials of the work brought hither from the Sands of a River running not far from Ptolomais and onely made fusible in this City And from hence Solomon and Zorobabel had their principall workmen both for Stone and Timber in their severall buildings of the Temple The People hereof so flourishing in Arts and Trades that the Prophet Zechariah chap. 9. v. 2. calleth them the wise Sidonians A City which at severall times was both the Mother and Daughter of Tyre the Mother of it in the times of Heathenism Tyre being a Colony of this People and the Daughter of it when instructed in the Christian faith acknowledging the Church of Tyre for its Mother-Church The City in those times very strong both by Art and Nature having on the North-side a Fort or Citadell mounted on an inaccessible Rock and invironed on all sides by the Sea which when it was brought under the command of the Western Christians was held by the Order of the Duch Knights and another on the South-side of the Port which the Templars guarded Won by the Turks with the rest of this Countrey from the Christians and ruined by those often interchanges of fortune it onely sheweth now some markes of the antient greatness the present Sidon standing somewhat West of the old and having little worth a particular description The Haven decayed or serving at the best for Gallies with a poor Block-house rather for shew than service the walls of no greater strength and as little beauty and the buildings ordinary but that the Mosque the Bannia of Bathes and the Cane for Merchants are somewhat fairer than the rest yet gives a title at this time to the Emir of Sidon one of the greatest Princes of all this Countrey of whom more hereafter 5. Berytus originally called Geris from Gergeâ—hi the fift Sonne of Canaan took this new name from Berith a Phoaenician Idol herein worshipped and now called Barutti Destroyed by Tryphon in the warres of the Syrians against the Jews it was re-edified by the Romans by whom made a Colonie and honoured with the name of Julia Felix Augustus giving it the Privileges of the City of Rome By Herod and Agrippa Kings of the Jews much adorned and beautified and of no mean esteem in the time of the Christians when made an Episcopall See under the Metropolitan of Tyre Being a place of no great strength nor aimed at by every new Invader it hath sped better than the rest of these Cities though stronger than this retaining still her being though not all her beauties well stored with merchandize and well frequented by the Merchant Nigh to this Town is a fair and fruitful Valley which they call Saint Georges in which there is a Castle and in that an Oratory of the same name also All sacred to Saint George the Martyr who hereabouts is fabled to have killed the Dragon and thereby delivered a Kings daughter but what Kings I know not nor they neither 6. Biblis sometimes the habitation of Hevi the fourth Sonne of Canaan and then called Hevaea afterwards made the Regal Seat of Cinyras Father and Grand father of Adonis by his Daughter Myrrha whereof we have already spoken when we were in Cyprus Of such esteem in the Primitive times of Christianity that it was made a Bishops See desolate and of no repute since it lost that honour and became thrall unto the Turks 7. Orthosia called also Antaradus because opposite to Aradus another old City of this tract but in after ages called Tortosa and by that name well known in the Histories of the Holy Warre undertaken by the Western Christians To whom it made such stout and notable resistance that though besieged on all sides with united forces the whole Army formerly divided sitting down before it yet after three monâ—ths hard siege they were fain to leave the Town behind them and content themselves with spoiling the adjoining Country 8. Tripolis seated in a tich and delightful plain more fruitful than can be imagined one of which fruits they called by the name of Amazza Franchi i.e. Kill-Frank because the Western Christians whom they call by the name of French died in great numbers by the intemperate eating of them A Valley which is said to have yielded yearly to the Counts
the second Sonne of Saladine succeeded upon this Exchange in the Realm of Damascus murdered not long after by his Uncle Saphradine 8. Saphradine the Brother of Saladine having barbariously murdered eight of the Sonnes of Saladine the youngest called Saphradine escaping onely who was after Sultan of Aleppo possessed himself of the Kingdome of Damascus left at his death to Corradine his Sonne or Nephew 9. Corradine Sonne or Nephew to the Tyrant Saphradine was by him at his death left Sultan of Damascus to which all Syria and Palestine were then made Provincials But the treacheries and murders of Saphradine crying loud for vengeance Haulon the Tartar in the year 1262. having taken the King of Damascus Prisoner but whether Corradine or some other I am not able to say brought him before the walls of the City threatning to kill him in the sight of his people if they did not deliver it unto him Which the Citizens refusing to do the wretched King was torn in peeces and the City taken by assault the Kingdome by the Conquerors conferred upon Agab the Sonne of Haalon And so ended the Selzuccian family of the Kings of Damascus in the person of Corradine or the Sonne of Corradine most miserably murdered by the Tartars as it had done in Egypt 17 years before in the person of Melechsela and Elmutam the Sonne of Meledine as villainously disposed and murdered by the Mamalucks So slippery is the foundation of those Kingdomes which are laid in blood Nor did this Kingdome hold long in the hands of the Tartars recovered from them in short time by the Mamalucise then Kings of Egypt from them once more regained by the furious Tamerlane who in the year 1400. besieged Damascius with an Army of 1200000. men if the number be not mistaken and one Cypher added more than should in pursuite whereof he filled up the ditches with his Prisoners put all the people to the sword and with great art raised three Towers as a trophey of his victory built with the heads of those whom he had so slaughtered A man so strangely made up of vice and vertues that it is hard to say which had the predominancie But the violence of this tempest being overblown the Mamalucks from whom he had also conquered the Kingdome of Egypt recovered Syria by degrees and repaired Damascus continuing in their power till the year 1516 when Selimus the first discomsited amâ—sâ—n Gaurus the Aegyptian Sultan in the fields of Aleppo Upon the newes whereof the Citizens of Damascus fearing the spoil of their rich City then of very great trading set open their Gates unto the Victors as did all the other Cities and Towns of Syria by their Example By means whereof without any more blows the Turks became Lords of all this Country as the next year of Egypt also by the vanquishment and death of Tonombeius who succeeded Campson so rooting out the name and government of the Mamalucks and adding those rich Kindomes to the Turkish Empire And so much for Syria MOVNT HERMON IN our passage out of Coele-Syria into Palestine we must cross Mount Hermon a ledge of hills which beginning at the East point of the Anti-Libanus bend directly South in different places and by several Nations called by divers names By Ptolomy called Alsadamus by the Amorites Samir by the Phoenicians Syrion by that name remembered in the book of Psadmes But Alsadamus they are called onely where they border upon Coele-Syria Where they begin to part the Region of Traconitis from Arabis-Deserta they are called by Moses and the Scriptures Hermon part of the Kingdome of Og the King of Basan as is said Josuah chap. 12. ver 6. Syrion by the Sidonians as is affirmed Deut. chap. 3. v. 9. Running farther after this unto the South they are called Gilead or Galaad by Strabo Trachonitae after the name of the Region along which they pass and are conceived to be the highest part of all Mount Labanus or rather of that long Ridge of Mountains which there take beginining And so we are to understand the words of the Prophet Jeremie saying Galaad tu mihi caput Libani as the Vulgar readeth it That is to say that as the head is the highest part of a man so these hills or this part of them was the highest of all the branches or spurres of Livanus Called Galeed by Jacob from that heap of stones which was there laid by Laban and Jacob to be a witness of the Covenant which was made betwixt them Con. 31 ver 27. the word signifying in the Original an heap of Witnesses And Laban said this heap 〈◊〉 between me and thee this day therefore was the name of it called Galeed ver 28. By these hills and the main body of the Anti-Libanus lying on the North and the Mountaines of Phoenicia and lanmaea on the West the land of Palestine is so shut up on every side that no Foretress can be stronger by wit or Art than that Countrey by Nature the passages in some parts so narrow as hardly to afford passage for a single person Clauditur undig montibus hinc abruptis rupibus et profundis vallibus concursu Torrentium inde altis et implexis anfractibus sic contractis ut per angustos colles vix pateat transitus viatori as my Author hath it I forgot to adde that that part of these hills which commonly is known in Scripture by the name of Hermon is in one place thereof called Sihon as Deut 4 ver 48. where it is said that the Israelites possessed the Land from Aroer on the bank of the River Arnon even to Mount Sion which is Hermon as also that one of the highest tops or Summits of it had the name of Amana alluded to by Solomon in the fourth of the Canticles by some mistaken for Amanus a branch of Taurus which divides Syria from Cilicia in the Lesser Asia with which Solomon had but small or no acquaintance And so having cleared our selves of so much of this Mountain as lay before us in our way we palestine where we shall meet with it again or rather with the Western parts and branches of it under the names of Gilead and Trachonitis as a part of that Country OF PALESTINE PALESTINE is bounden on the East with the Hills last mentioned by which parted from Coelo-Syria and Arabia-Deserta on the West with the Mediterranean Sea and some part of Phoenicia on the North with the Anti-Libanus which divides 〈◊〉 from Syria and the rest of Phoenicia and on the South with some part of Arabia Petraea It was first called Palestine from the Philistims the most potent Nation of those parts A name first found in the History of Herodotus but generally used in times succeeding by the Greeks Romanâ— And this I look on as the proper and adaequate name of the whole Countrey according to the bounds before laid down the others by which commonly called being more restrained and properly belonging to so much
hereof as was in the possession of the Tribes of Israel And of this sort are 1. Canaan oâ— the Land of Canaan so called from Canaan the Sonne of Cham by whom first peopled after the flood 2. The Land of Promise because by God promised to Abraham and his feed for an habitation 3. Israel from the Israelites or Sonnes of Jncob whose surname was Israel 4. Judaea and by us Jewry from the Jews or people of the Tribe of Jadah the most prevalent of the Tribes of Israel And 5. Terrâ—s Sancta or the Holy Land because the subject of the greatest part of the Holy Scripture and that the work of our Redemption was herein accomplished by our Lord and Saviour Which notwithstanding we must know that though these names do many times by a Synechdoche express the whole Countrey of Palestineâ— yet neither the Canaanites or the Israelites were ever Masters of the whole except onely in the times of David and of some of the Maccabean Princes as also in some part of the reign of Herod the Great all which had the good fortune to command it totally But being the most considerable People of it were the Tribes of Israel we will first look upon the Countrey People under that capacity And for so much hereof as was held by them it is situate between the third and fourth Climats the longest day being fourteen hours and a quarter the whole length but 200 miles and not above 80 in the breadth yet was of such a fruitful soil that before the comming in of the Israelites it had 30 Kings and after the comming in of that people so extreamly populous that David numbred on Million and 300000 fighting men besides those of the Tribes of Levi and Benjamiâ— But of the fruitfulness hereof more shortly As for the People they were by composition of a midle stature but strong of bodie in their best times a murmuring and stiff-necked genneration never well pleased either with God or man with their Priests or Princes seldome conform unto the Commandments of their God nor very much constant to themselves So crippled in their goings betwixt superstitions and Idolatry that they knew not how to walk uprightly Idolatrous above measure and incorrigible in it till their coming back from the Captivity of Babylon and after that as superstitious and severe in the point of their Sabbath as they had formerly been exorbitant in the worship of Idols No Medium on either side but extream in both Divided antiently into these four ranks that is to say 1. Jews 2. Hellenists 3. Proselytes and 4. Samaritans all of them pretending a right unto this Countrey though not all of them dwelling in it Of these the first called Jews from Judah the predominant Tribe and Hebrews from Heber the Sonne of Sela grand-sonne of Sem and one of the Ancestors of Abraham were such as naturally descended of the Tribes of Israel and lived for the most part in their own Countrey adhering to the Law of Moses and embracing the whole Canon of the Old Testament from the book of Genesis to the book of the Prophet Malachi Called also Israelites because descended from the loins of their Father 〈◊〉 to whom God gave the name of Israel for his greater honour but after the ten Tribes were carryed away by Salmâ—inassar to an endlesse captivity and the two tribes with the remainder of the rest returned from that temporary one which they found in Babylon the name of Israelites was laid by and that of Jâ—â—s assumed as more proper to them These read the Scriptures and executed all Divine Offices in their natural Hebrew 2. The Hellenists were such as were Jews by parentage but lived dispersed in most Provinces of the Roman Empire called by that name we may English it the Graecizing Jews because they read the Scriptures in the Greek or Septuagints translation and performed all publique offices in that lanquage also In other things as superstitious in their Sabbaths as tenacious of their Circumcision and others of the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses as the Jews of Palestine and for that reason scorned and derided by the Genâ—iles amongst whom they lived Credit Indaerus apella saith one of their Poets relating to their circumcising Recuâ—ing Sabbat a palles saith another of them with scorn enough unto their Sabbaths Noviâ—illie ritus coetets mortalibus conâ—rarâ— saith Tacitus a graver Author of the whole body of their Rituals or Acts of worship 3. The Proselytes were such as not being Iews by birth or discent of parentage conformed themselves unto their customes and desired to be admitted into their Religion And these were also of two sorts the one called Proselyri Portae and the other Proselyti foederis The first of these admitted by the Iews to the worship of God and instructed in the hopes of the life to come were onely tied to those precepts which the Hebrew Doctors call the Precepts of the sonnes of Noah but were neither circumcised nor otherwise conform to the Law of Moses Which Precepts of the Sonnes of Noah so called because supposed to be given by Noah unto his Sonnes when he came out of the Ark were seven in number that is to say 1. That they dealt uprightly with every man 2. That they blessed and magnified the name of God 3. That they worshipped not any false Gods but to abstain from Idolatry 4. To refrain from all unlawful lusts and copulations 5. To keep themselves from theft and robbery 6. From shedding bloud And 7. not to eat the flesh or member of any beast taken from it when it was alive by which all cruelty was forbidden These though they were admitted to the worship of God and might repair unto the Temple yet because of their Uncircumcision they were not suffered to converse with the Iews nor to come into the same Court of the Temple with them but were accounted as unclean and had their Court apart assigned them in the worship of God which was called Atriam Gentium or Immundoruâ— and was the outermost of all The other Proselytes which were called Proselyti foederis conformed in all things to the Iews as in Circumcision Sabbath-keeping and all other Ceremonies and were accounted of as adopted Iews privileged as they were to worship in the Inner Court bound as they were from eating or drinking with a Gentile and in a word partakers with them in all things both divine and humane and different in nothing from them but their race or parentage These last in the New Testament called simply Proselytes without any addition the former by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the worshipping Gentiles of which see Acts 16. v. 14. chap. 17. v. 4. 17. chap. 18. v. 4. c. 4. As for the Samaritans they possessed a great part of this Countrey which the Proselytes did not yet were not so much Iews as they But of these more anon when we come to Samaria the proper place
ordinary residence of their Princes absolute of themselves at first as in other places but at the time when Moses and Iosuah led the people into their possessions subjected unto Sehon King of the Amorites whose Dukes their five Kings or Princes are said to be Iosuah 13. 21. A people whom the Israelites had neither commission or intent to make warre upon if they had not causelesly provoked them at the request of the Moabites by sending amongst them as Balaam the false prophet had advised the most beautiful of all their women not only to entice them to prohibited mixtures but to allure them to the worship of their Idols also A mischievous and successfull plot but alike dangerous to both parties God sending a sierce plague amongst the Israelites which cost them the lives of 24000 persons besides such as perished by the sword and giving a command to Moses to avenge him of the Midianites who had so provoked him On which commission Moses culled out 12000 men and sent them under Phineas against the Midianites by whom all their Princes were slain their Cities and goodly Castles burnt with fire their men women and male-children put unto the sword as is related in the one and thireieth Chapter of the Book of Numbers Yet notwithstanding this great slaughter they recovered their former power if not a greater and after the death of Barac the Judge of Israel did for the space of four years so afflict that people that they were fain to hide themselves in the Caves and strongholds of the Mountains as is said Iudg. 6. 2. their enemies having left them neither sheep oxe nor asse or any sustenance at all v. 4. But Gideon being raised up by God for their deliverance encountred with their tour Kings and put them to flight of which four Oreb and Zeb were taken and slain by the Ephraimites at the passage of Iordan Zebah and Salmanah taken by Gideon himself and executed by his own hand as the story telleth us In this war there are said to have perished of this people and their Confederates no fewer than 120000 persons by which so weakned that we hear no more of them from this time forwards in any action of importance their name and Countrey being first incorporated into that of the Edomites and after into that of the Ismaelites and other the Inhabitants of Arabia Petraea 2. The MOABITES possessed all the Countrey from the Midianites in the South as far as to Esebon in the North on both sides of the River Arnon having Iordan on the West and the hills of Abarin on the East Possessed at the first by the Emmims a race of Giants whole chief City was Sheneth Kiriathaim But these being vanquished and broken by Cherdorlaomer and his Associates of which see Gen. 14. 5. their forlom seats were taken up by the Moabites descended from Moab one of the Sonnes of Lot who lived herein great prosperity till the time of Vaheb Grand-father unto Baalac the Sonne of Zippor from whom Sehon King of the Amorites had taken all the parts of Moab on the North of the River Arnom and made that River which before was the middle of Moab to be the North bound or border of it In which estate it stood in the time of Moses Chief Cities of it at that time were 1. Rabbar the Regall seat of Baalac the King of Moab the Rhalmathum of Pâ—olomy 2. Diblatham destroyed with the rest of Moab by Nabuchadnezzer as is said Ier. 48. 22. 3. Gallim the principality of Phalti the Sonne of Laish to whom Saul gave his Daughter Michael formerly married unto David 1. Sam. 25. 44. 4. Muthana and 5. Nashaliel thorow which the Israelites passed after they had left the well called Beer 6. Bamath where Moses was encamped when he sent to Sehon to demand a passage thorow his Countrey Numbers 21. 19. c. 7. Mizpah the City of Refuge to the Father and Mother of David in the time of his troubles under Saul 8. Hor the chief City of Moab not medled with by Moses in his march this way the Lord himself forbidding him to touch upon it or distress it because it had been given by him for an inheritance to the Children of Lot Deut. 2. 9. Which prohibition was not onely for this place particularly though this particularly their mentioned but for all the lands and terretories then in their possession 9. Kir-hasareth of chief note for the barbarous and inhumane fact of Mesha the Moabitish King who being besieged herein by the Kings of Judah Israel and Edom without hope of escape sacrificed his own eldest Sonne on the wall hereof which so moved the Kings of Judah and Edom that they forsook the King of Israel whos 's the quarrel was So the siege was raised 2 Kings 3. 27. Now as Moses did not at the present disobey Gods Order in leaving the Moabites in quiet so neither did the Moabites on their parts provoke him to it giving him a free and open passage in his march for Caâ—aan out of an hope that when the Amorites were subdued they should be put into possession of their lost estates And though they were deceived of that expectation the Israelites looking on the Countrey which they had conquered as the spoiles of the Amorites and given it for a possession to the Tribe of Reuben yet durst they not do any thing in the way of Annes but sent for Baalam the false Prophet to cast them by his curses and incantations into some diseases whereby their strength and courage might be taken from them Balaac the Sonne of Zippor was at this time King After whom we find not the name of any other till we come to Eglon who with the help of Ammon and Amalek over-mastered Israel and for the space of eighteen years tyrannized amongst them when slain in his own house and afterwards 10000 of his people by the hand of Ehad But this indignity was in the times succeeding revenged by Saul in some part who made warre upon them but more by David who subdued them and made them Tributaries And not so onely but subjected them to the vilest offices as is intimated in that form of Speech Moab is my wash-pot Psal 60. 8. Taking their opportunity they withdrew themselves from the house of David and put themselves under the command of the Kings of Israel to whom they paid for tribute in the time of Ahab 100000 Lambs and 200000 Rams with their fleeces on but quickly weary of those payments and revolting from the house of Ahab also they were invaded by Jehoram aided herein by the Kings of Judah and Idumaea by whom being vanquished Mesha their King was fain to shut himself up in Kir-hasareth as was said before After this joining with the Ammonites and the Idumaeans or Sonnes of Edom they invaded Jehosophat King of Judah to whom God gave a memorable and signall victory without blow or battel the Ammonites first setting upon the Edomites and after upon one
with Zedechias that when Nabuchadnezzar had taken Zedechias with him unto Babylon and left Gedaliah as his Deputy to command the Countrey Ismael one of the blood of the Kings of Iudah was sent by Baulis to slay him But he paid dear for his attempt his Countrey being shortly conquered by the Babylonians and the name of Ammonite forgotten changed by the Grecians when they came to Lord it over them to those of Gileaditis and Philadelphia according to the new name of their principal City and the old one of the Mountains and hills adjoining 4. The REVBENITES took name from Reuben the eldest of Jacobs sonnes by Leah of whom in the first muster which was made of them at Mount Sinai there were found 46000. fighting men and 43700. at the second muster when they passed over Iordan Their dwelling was on the East of that famous River having the Gadites on the North the Desart Arabia on the East and the Land of Moab on the South from which parted by the River Arnon Places of most observation here 1. Abel-Sittim seated in that part of the Countrey which was called the Plains of Moab the last incamping place of Moses afterwards by the Iews called simply Sittim memorable for the wood so often mention in the Scriptures of which the ark of the Lord was made In after times by the Greeks and Romans it was called Abila mistook by some for that Abila or Abilene whereof Lysanias was Tetrarch that Town and territory as Iosephus doth affirm expressely being situate amongst the spurres and branches of Libanus farre enough from hence 2. Bethabora or Beth-Bara where Iohn baptized and Moses made his last and most divine exhortations to the Tribes of Israel contained in Deuteronomy 3. Machaerus the strongest in-land City and Castle in those parts of the world standing alost upon a Mountain every way unaccessible first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus King of the Iews as a frontire Town against the Arabians and afterwards demolished by Gabinius one of Pompeys Lieutenants in the warre against Aristobulus Unfortunately remarkable for the death of Iohn Baptist where murdered by the command of Herod the Tetrarch of Galilee and Lord of this Countrey of Peraea 4. Lasa or Leshah of which Gen. 10. 19. by the Greeks called Challirhâ—e by reason of the fair fountains rising from the Hills adjoyning out of which issue springs both of hot and cold waters as also bitter and sweet all which soon after joined into one stream make a wholesome Bath especially for convulsions and contraction of sinewes 5. Medeba famous for the defeat given to the Syrians and Ammonites by the conduct of Ioab 1 Chron. 19. 7. 6. Bosor or Bozra a City of Refuge and one of those that were assigned unto the Levites on that side of the water 7. Levias a Town new built by Herod in honour of Livia the mother of Tiberius Caesar different from that which the Geographers call 8. Libias though by some confounded the same with Laban mentioned Deut. 1. 1. 9. Kedemoth another City of the Levites giving name unto the adjoining Desart from whence Moses sent his Ambassage to Sehon King of the Ammorites 10. Bamath-Baal the chief City of the worshippers of Baal to which Balaam was brought by Balaac to curse the Israelites 11. Hesbon the Regal City of Sehon King of the Ammorites 11. Adam or the City Adam Ios 3. 17. where the Tribes passed drie-foot over Iordan opposite unto Gilgal in the Tribe of Benjamin Within this Tribe is the Mountain Nobo from which Moses took a view of the land of Canaan an hill as it seemeth of two tops whereof that which looketh towards Iericho is called Pisgah that which looketh toward Moth being called Hnir Here is also an high hill named Peor where the filthy Idol Baal was worshipped also who hath hence the addition of Baal-Peor 5. The GADITES were so called from Gad the seventh sonne of Jacob begot on Zilphah the hand-maid of Lea of whom were found at the first muster when they came out of Egypt forty five thousand five hundred and fifty fighting men and at the second when they entred the land of Canaan forty five thousand bearing armes Their situation was betwixt the Rubenites on the South and the balfe Tribe of Manasses upon the North the River Iordan on the West and the Mountains of Arnon on the East by which last parted from the dwellings of the Children of Ammon Cities of most observation 1. Aroer on the banks of the River Arnon the principall Citie of the Gadites 2. Dihon more towards Jordan of great note in the time of Josuah and of no small accompt in the time of Saint Hieroeme 3. Beth-nimah of which Esay prophesied that the waters thereof should be dried up seated upon the Arnon also 4. Nattoroth more in the body of the Tribe 5. Beth-haram mentioned by Josuah chap. 13. v. 27. by Josephus called Betaramptha new built by Herod Antipas and called Livias in honour of Livia the wife of Augustus Caesar translated into the Julian family who also laid unto it fourteen villages to make it of the greater power and jurisdiction 6. Beth-ezob by Josephus called Vetezabra the habitation of Miriam who in the fiege of Hierusalem when destroyed by Titus was compelled by famine to eat her own sonne 7. Succoth not far from the River Jordan so called from the Tents or Booths which Jacob fet up there in his passage from Mesopetamis to the land of Canaan the People of which Town having denied reliefe to Gedeon as he followed the chace of Zeba and Zalmanah were by him miserably tortured at his return under a tribulum or threshing carre wherewith he tore their flesh and bruised their bodies 8. Jahzoz another of the Regall Seats of Sehon King of the Amorites first taken by Moses after recovered by the Moabites as appearech Esay 6. 8. then possessed by the Ammonites and finally from them regained by Judas Maccabeus 1 Macc. 5. 8. 9. Mahanaijm so called from the Army of Angels which appeared to Iacob Ger. 32. 2. as ready to defend him against all his Enemies the word in the originall importing a double Army A place of very great strength and safety and therefore made by Abner the feat Royall of Ishboseâ—h the Sonne of Saul during the warre he had with David as afterwards the retiring place of David during the rebellion of his Son Absolom 10. Rogelim the City of Barzillai the Gileadite so faithfull to David in that warre 11. Ramoth or Ramoth Gilead so called from the situation of it neer the Mountains of Gilead a Town of specialll note in the Book of God particularly for the pacification here made betwixt Iacob and Laban for the death of Ahab King of Israel who lost his life in the recovery of it from the hands of the Syrians and finally for the Election of Iehu to the Crown of Israel Anointed at the Siege hereof by a Son of the Prophets 12. Penuel so called
towards Palmyrens or Aram-Zobah that of Beth-Rehob confederate in the same war also with the other Syrians mention whereof is made in the second book of Sam. chap. 10. ver 6. Which whether they belonged to Syria or to those North-parts of Ituraea is of no great certainty and as little consequence For after their greatest and last exploit we hear no more news of them swallowed up not long after as it seems by the Kings of Damascus To return therefore into Gessur as more certainly within the limits of Palestine the places of most observation in it were 1. Gessur then the chief City of it and giving name unto the whole 2. Mahaeath or Macuti as some call it conceived to be that Maacha mentioned 1 Chron. 19. 6. But of this we have already spoken in Comagena 3. Chauran or Hauran mentioned by the Prophet Ezekul chap. 47. whence these Northen parts of Palestine were called Auranitis 4. Chaisar-Hevan there mentioned by that Prophet also 5. Vs neer the borders of Damascus the first habitation of Vs the Sonne of Aram and Grand-child of Sem by whose name so called supposed to be the founder of Damascus also and that more probably than that the Countrey thereabouts should be the Land of Hus enabled by the dwelling and story of Iob. 6. Sueta mentioned by Brochardus and by some conceived to be the habitation 〈◊〉 surnamed the Shuchite one of Iobs three friends mentioned in that story but both of him and Iob himself and the Land of Hus we shall speak more at large when we come to Arabia More certainly remarkable for a Fort of great strength and use for the commanding of the Countrey recovered from the 〈◊〉 in the time of Baldwin the second by digging with incredible labour thorow the very rock upon which it was seated As for the fortunes of this part the Tribes on that side of Iordan were led captive into Assyria and the Kingdome of Damascus subverted by Tiglah-Phalassar it followed the fortune of the Babylonian and Perâ—ian Empires together with which it came to the Macedonian Kings of the race of Seleucus In the declining of that house but the time I find not it made up the greatest part of the Kingdome of Chalcis possessed by Ptolomy the Sonne of Mennaeus in the beginning of Herods greatness who dying left unto Lysanias his eldest Sonne murdered about seven years after by Marc. Antonie on the suggestions of Cleopatra who presently seized on his estates But Antonie and Cleopatra having left the Stage Lysanias a Sonne of the murdered Prince entreth next upon it by the permission of Augustus During whose time Zenodorus Lord of the Town and territory of Paneas farming his demeasnes and paying a very grat Rent for them not only suffered the Trachonites to play the Robbers and infest the Merchants of Damascus but received part of the booty with them Augustus on complaint hereof giveth the whole Countrey of Trachonites Batanea Gaulonitis and Auranitis to Herod the Ascalonite before created King of Iewrie that by his puissance and power he might quell those Robbers and reduce the Countrie into order Leaving unto Lysanias nothing but the City of Abila of which he was the natural Lord whereof and of the adjoining territory he was afterwards created Tetrarch by the name of the Tetrarch of Abilene mentioned Luke 3. Nor did Herods good fortune end in this For presently on the death of Zenodorus not long after following Augustus gave him also the district of Paneas of which we shall speak more when we come to Galilee which with the Countries formerly taken from Lysanias made up the Tetrarchie of Philip his youngest Sonne affording him the yearly Revenue of 100. Talents which make 37500 l. of English money On Philips death his Tetrarchy was by Cains Calâ—gula conferred on Agrippa the Nephew of Herod by his Sonne Aristobulus whom he had also dignified with the title of King after whose death and the death of Agrippa Minor who next succeeded his estates escheated to the Romans and have since had the same fortune with the rest of Palestine 3. GALILEE GALILEE is bounden on the East with Batanea and part of the halfe Tribe of Manasses on that side of Iordan on the West with the Sea-coast of Phoenicia on the Mediterranean on the North with Anti-Libanus on the South with Samâ—ria So called as some say from Geliloth a Phoenician word signifying as much as borders because the bordering Countrey betwixt them and the Iews The Countrey not so large as that on the other side of the River but far more fertile naturally fruitfull of it self every where producing excellent fruits without much pains to the Husbandman and so well cultivated in old times that there was hardly any wast ground to be found in it Thick set with Cities Towns and Villages in the time of Iosephus and those so populous and rich that the smallest Village in it is affirmed by that Author to comprehend no fewer than 15000 Inhabitants A number beyond all parallel if reported rightly and not mistaken in the transcripts The people from their childhood very stout and warlike not daunted for fear of want or deard of penury which seconded by their vast and almost incredible numbers made them experimentally known for a tough peece of employment when subdued by Titus And this together with their zeal to the Iewish Religion makes it more than probable that there was something in them of the antient Israelite and that they were not meerly of an Assyrian either stock or spirit but intermixt with such remainders of the Tribes as had saved themselves either by flying to the Mountains or hiding themselves in Caves and Defarts or otherwise were inconsiderable for strength and numbers in the great transplantation of them made by Salmanassar And in this I am the more confirmed by their speech or language which was the same with that of the natural Iews differing no otherwise from it than in tone and dialect as our Northern English doth from that which is spoke in London as appeareth by the communication which the Damosel had with Saint Peter in the High-Priests Hall in which she plainly understood him but so that she pronounced him for a Galilean For had the Transplantation been so universal as some think it was and that both sick and sound old and young had been caried away and none but Colonies of the Assyrians to fill up their places it must needs be that those New-comers would have planted their own language there as the Saxons did on the extirpation of the Briâ—â—â— on this side of the Severn The like may be affirmed of the other Tribes on this side of Iordan especially Simeon and Dan which either bordering upon Iudah or having their lands and Cities intermingled with it continued in great numbers in their former dwellings under the Patronage or subjection or the Kings thereof Divided it was antiently into the Higher and the Lower The Higher so called from its
ground soever Esau left the possession of the land of Canaan to his brother Iacob certain it is he did it not without some strong impulsions from the spirit of God by whom the possession of that Land was desigued for Iacob to whom the blessing the birth-right had been both preferred And though Esau over-ruled by Almighty God seemed to have forgotten all displeasure against his brother yet the quarrel began by them in the womb of Rebecca brake out more violently in the times of their posterity Insomuch that Moses could by no means obtain a passage thorow Edom into the Promised Land though he sought it by a fair address and pressed it by all those motives and inducements which a wise and understanding man could have set before them For though the King of Edom then being seemed to pretend nothing but the safety of himself and his people both which he might have hazarded in all humane Reason by opening the closures of his Mountains and letting in a Nation mightier than his own yet it is possible there might be as much of stomach as worldly policy and that aswell the buying of the birth-right for so sleight a trifle as the getting of the blessing by such fraudulent means might not be forgotten Forhe not onely denyed them passage and sent back word expressely they should not go thorow but came against them with much people and a strong band as is said Numbers 20. 20. But the Edomites could not for all this prevent their destiny ' or make the word of God to be ineffectuall by which it had been signified when they were yet in their mothers womb that the elder should serve the younger Not verified in Esaus person for Iacob called him his Lord Esau professed himself to be his Servant and willingly submitted to his superierity but in the issues of them both then specially when David had subdued the Edomites and made them Homagers and Vassals to the Crown of Judah 2 Sam. 8. 14. Nor is less intimated in those words of the 60 Psalm where it is said Over Edom will I cast my shooe it being a custome of old times to fling their shooes upon a Countrey conquered or designed for conquest Pro ectio calceamenti super Regionem aliquam denotat subiicere as my Author hath it And in allusion unto this there is a story in the Chronicles of the Kings of Man how Magnus King of the Isles sent his Ambassadours to Murchard a King in Ireland commanding him on the next Christmas day to carry openly the shooes of King Magnus upon his shoulders in testimony saith the story that he was his Vassal The casting of the Shooe on a conquered Countrey or the treading of it under feet another ceremony of this nature mentioned Deut. 33. 29. do come both to one and signifie that vassallage or bondage which such a captivated Country was reduced unto But on the other side there was another part of the heavenly Oracle which made for Edom Isaac had signified to Esau that though the blessing given to Jacob could not be revoked and that he must content himself with being a servant to his brother for a certain in season yet there should one day come a time in which he should not onely break that yoke from off his neck but obtain the dominion over him Gen. 27. 40. The first part verified when the Edomites revolted from the Kings of Judah in the time of Joram or Jehoram the Sonne of Jehosophat and instead of a Vice-Roy sent unto them from the Court of Hierusalem set up a King of their own Nation never returning after that to the house of David For though foram made war presently upon them and got the victory yet he did not prosecute it unto any effect nor beat them out of any of their strong holds nor reduce any of their Cities unto his obedience as if he had got honour enough in the eye of the world by being master of the Field or shewing his abilities in command of a greater Army than the Edomites could bring against him The like errour was committed also by Amaziah who by a vast Army of 300000 fighting men did no greater wonders than the killing of 10000 and the taking of as many Edomites but neither left garrisons in any of their defensible places nor reduced any part of their Countrey under his obedience And for the later part thereof it was as punctually fulfilled in the time of Antipater an Idumaean Herod the Ascalonite his Sonne and their Successors who in the decrepit age of the house of Iacob became Kings of the Iews and lorded over them with insolence and contempt enough Mean time to look upon the intermediate passages of their State and story it seemeth that at the first they were governed by Dukes each having the command of those severall families of which they were the heads or Princes But as ambition and power did prevail among them the most potent having vanquished or awed the rest took to himself the name of King which by the names of their Fathers and their several Cities in which they reigned seem to have been chosen by election or otherwise to come in by strong hand as the sword could carry it The names of which are thus set down in the book of Genesis The Kings of Edom. 1. Bela the Sonne of Beor 2. Iobab the Sonne of Zerah 3. Hasham of the Land of Temani 4. Hadad the Sonne of Bedad who warred against the Midianites and vanquished them in the fields of Moab Gen. 36. 35. 5. Samlah of Masrekah 6. Saul of Rehoboth by the River Euphrates 7. Baal-Hanan the Sonne of Achbor 8. Hadar the Sonne perhaps of Baal-Hanan for I find no mention of his Father After whose death the heads of the severall Families resumed the Government again ruling over their own Tribes without any one Soveraign or Supreme And all these Kings they had before there reigned any King in Israel Gen. 36. 31. that is to say before any form of Supreme Government was established amongst them in the person of Moses called by the name of a King in the book of Deut. chap. 35. v. 5. But this distracted Government did not long continue the Edomites being under a King again at such time as the Children of Israel came out of Egypt for it was unto the King of Edom that Moses sent Messengers from Kadesh to desire a passage thorow his Countrey Which being denied and the Edomites in Armes to defend their passes Moses forbore to force his way though the neerest for him partly because he had no mind to spend those forces in fighting with hills and desarts which were designed for the conquest of another Countrey but principally because God commanded him not to medle with them or to take so much as a foot of their Countrey from them Deut. 2. 5. But David upon whom lay no such obligation having vanquished the Syrians and other Nations round about him followed his fortunes
the Greek Copies called Eeganna Of any Town of note now being more than this and Scmiseasac before named I find nothing certain The first Inhabitants of this Countrey of whom there is any certain Constat were the posterity of Huz the Sonne of Nachor and the Sonnes of Abraham by Keturah of whose being setled in these parts we had before good testimony from the Book of God and intermixt with them lived some of the descendants of Ismael also For if the Adubeni whom Ptolomy calleth the Agubeni fetch their originall from Adheel the third and the Raubeni from Mishma the fift sonne of Ismael as some say they doe I see no reason but the whole Countrey might be called Kedar from Kedar the second Sonne as well as from the tawny complexions of the people of it From them descended the Tribes or Nations spoken of by Ptolomy that is to say the Orcheni Chaucabeni Ausitae Masoni Materni and Agrai besides the Adubeni and Raubeni already specified But being a dis-joynted people not under any setled form of Covernment nor possessed of any thing worth looking after they were either held not worth the conquering in regard of their penury or else unconquerable in respect of their Countrey impassable for great Armies by reason of the rolling Sands and want of all things Yet I coneeive that lying so near to the Chaldeans they followed the fortunes of that mighty Monarchy subjects unto it whilst it stood and after Tributaries unto those who successively possessed themselves of the Supreme power Not looked at by the Romans or regarded by them who aimed at wealth as well as honour in their expeditions nor otherwise subject to the Turk at this present time than as they can make use of him and his protection in their frequent robberies Though counted of as a part of the Turkish Empire because the more civill Arabians are indeed his subjects 2. ARABIA PETRAEA ARABIA PETRAEA now called Barra Baraab and Barthalaba hath on the East Arabia Deserta and part of Sinus Persicus or the Bay of Persia on the West the Isthmus which joineth Africa to Asia and part of the Red Sea or Gulf of Arabia on the North Palestine and on the South a long ridge of Mountains which divide it from Arabia Felix It had this name either from the rockiness of the soil hereof or more properly from Petra the chief City of it called also by Aethicus Sicaria but I know not why by the Hebrews Chus generally translated Ethiopia by Willian of Tyre Arabia Secunda Felix being reckoned for the first By Strabo Ptolomy and Plâ—ny it is called Nabathaea which name it had from Nabaioth the eldest of the twelve Sonnes of Ismael though properly that name belonged only to those parts which lay next Judaea fruitfull though joining to the Desarts and thus remembred by the Poet as an Eastern Countrey Eurus ad Auroram Nabathaeaque regna recessit Eurus unto the East did flie Where fruitful Nabathe doth lie The Countrey much of the same nature with the other but in some parts thereof more fertile if well manured and in the time of Marcellinus affirmed to be a rich land flourishing with variety of trade and trafick But for the most part full of untravellable Desarts except to those which carry their provisions with them for fear of starving and goe in great companies or Carvans for fear of robbing and yet much travelled by Merchants who trafick into Egypt and Babylonia the commodities whereof they lay of Camels which are the ships of Arabia as their Seas the Desarts For upon one of these Camels they will lay ordinarily 600. and sometimes 1000. pound weight yet not afford him water above once in four days not oftner in fourteen if there be occasion So that the Camel carrying so great a burden and seldome fewer than 500 going in one voyage the Merchant if he scapeth robbing makes a rich return Of these Desarts the most memorable are those of Sin and Pharan in which the Israelites so long wandred not beautified with grass nor adorned with trees the Palm onely excepted nor furnished with water but by rain or miracle The people of it for the most part descended of the sonnes of Chus and Ismael intermixed with the Madianites descending from Abraham by Keturah and the Amalekites descended probably from Amalek the Grand-sonne of Esau mentioned Gen. 36. but all united at the last in the name of Saracens This name derived as some think from Sarra signifying a desart and saken which signifieth to inhabit because they live for the most part in these desart places as others say from Sarak signifying a Thief or Robber agreeable to that of Arabia before delivered This last most suitable to their nature and best liked by Scaliger Saraceni à vicinis dicuntur ab Elsarak i.e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod rapinis victitent So he in his second book de Emend Temp. A people not reckoned of in the former times till made remarkable by their conquest of a great part of the world but always counted warlike and martial men Of whom take this Character out of Marcellinus The Saracens saith he whom we are neither to wish for our friends or enemies are a martiall people half-naked clad as far as the groin with painted Cassocks ranging up and down on Camels and swift horses as well in peace as troublesome times Not used unto the Plough to plant trees or get their livings by tillage they wander from one place to another without house or home or any constant dwelling place or the use of laws nor can they long endure the same either Air or Soyl the manner of their lives being alwayes flitting like ravenous kites which if they chance to spie a prey snatch it up in their flight or if they chance to fasten on it as it leith on the ground they make no long stay Their food is chiefly upon Venison and store of milk herbs which they gather from the ground and birds which they get by fowling but altogether ignorant of corn and wine Their wives they hire onely for a time though for a shew of Matrimony they present their husbands with a spear and a tent as in way of dowrie but they part with them when they please Both Sexts most extremely given to carnal lusts the women as rambling as the men maried in one place and brought to bed in another leaving their children where they fall without more care of them So farre and to this purpose he Rivers of note here are not many The principall are 1. That called Trananus amnis or the River of Tranan which passing thorow this Country endeth his course in the Red Sea 2. Rhtnocorura called in Scripture the torrent of Aegypt which rising in this Countrey and passing by the borders of Idumaea hath its fall in the lake of Sirbon and together with the waters thereof loseth it self at last in the Mediterranean With Mountains it is better stored and those
to inlarge their dominions but they received some notable overthrow at the hand of the Scythians and when the Tartars made over it under the conduct of Saba the Cham of Zagathay for the invasion of Persia they were shamefully beat back again by Hysmael Sophie Nor is it less memorable in old stories for the famous passage of Alexander over it in pursute of the murderers of Darius For having followed Bessus to the banks of this River and not knowing how to pass over his men there being neither ships upon it nor timber neer at hand to build them he caused a great number of bags and bladders to be stuffed with straw and so in 3 daies transported his Army So that I may truely say with his own Historian Unum id Consilium quod necessit as subjecerat iniit necessity is the best Author of fine inventions 4. Zioberis in Hyrcania which rising out of the same mountainous tract as the two last-mentioned after a long course above ground in the open light hideth himself again for the space of 38 miles and then breaketh out at a new fountain and falleth into 5. Rhadaga another chief River of those parts And this Alexander the Great found to be true by casting two Oxen into the River Zioberis which by the current of the stream were carryed under the ground and brought to light where the River had its rise again 6. Hidero by what name known unto the Antients I am not able to say but of great note amongst modern Travellers for the fall thereof into the Sea so steep and strong that the people are said to sacrifise or banket under the fall thereof the stream so violently shooting over their heads that it never wetteth them Mountains of most note are those which pass by the name of Tanrus which having left Media on the West passeth thorow the Northern Provinces of the Persian Empire dividing Parthia from Hyrcania and Paropamisus from Bactria and Aria from Margiana Known by the names of Coronus the Scriphian hills Paropamisus Caucasus whereof more as occasion serveth in their proper places It is divided into the particular Provinces of 1. Susiana 2. Persis 3. Carmania 4. Ormuz 5. Gedrosia 6. Drangiana 7. Aria 8. Parthia 9. Arachosia 10. Paropamisus 11. Hyrcania and 12. Margians Which we will severally survey in the Chorography and story till we have joined them altogether in the Persian Monarchy and then pursue the history as conjunct and fashioned into the body of one Empire 1. SVSIANA SVSIANA is bounded on the East with Persis on the West with Babylonia or Chaldea one the North with Assyria on the South with a branch of the River Tigris and some part of the Gulf of Persia It was so called quasi Cusiana or the Land of the Chusites from Chus the eldest sonne of Ham and the grandsonne of Noah by whose sonne Havilah it was first peopled and therefore called in Scripture the land of Havilah this being that land of Havilah which the River Pison is said to incompass in the Book of Genesis The difference betwixt them is that that land of Havilah lay on both sides of the River Euphrates which the Countrey of Susiana doth not and was the Eastern bound of the Ismaelites Amalekites and other Nations intermingled in those parts of Arabia For whereas Saul is said in the first of Sam. chap. 15. ver 7. to have smitten the Amalekites from Sur to Havilah that is say from the Red Sea to the gulf of Persia it must be understood of Havilah in the first extent but neither of Havilah in the East Indies so called from a sonne of Jocktan or of that part of Havilah which lay on the East side of Euphrates and is that Susiana in which now we are it being no where found that Saul was so great a Traveller as to see the Indies or of such puissance as to force a passage thorow the Countreys of the Chaldeans and Babylonians But the name of Havilah being lost that of Cusiana or Susiana did still remain preserved to this day in that of Chusestan by which now called The Countrey memorable in the Scriptures for Gold Bdellium and the Onyx-stone which doth abundantly set forth the richness and commodities of it Bdellium being a Tree for of the other two nothing need be said about the bigness of an Olive yielding a certain Gum very sweet to smell to but bitter of tast which in time hardneth to a Pearl as Eugubinus and Beroaldus have delivered to us Divided antiently into many particular Regions or at least known by severall names in its severall quarters For where it bordered upon Tigris it was called Melitene Cabandone where it touched upon Persis where it confined on the Elymeans it had the name of Cissia and neer the wall or Ditch called Fallum Pasini it was called Characene Watered besides Eulaeus and Tigris before spoken of with the Rivers Orontes and Masaeus with that branch of the River Tigris which Ptolomy called Basilius Curtius Pasi-Tigris and the Scriptures Pison Chief Cities hereof 1. Aracca spoken of by Ptolomy the same which the Scriptures call Erech and one of the four which Nimrod built in the first beginning of his Empire Gen. 11. Remembred by Tibullus for the fountains of Naphtah of which the Medians made their oyl spoken of before a bituminous liquor easily taking fire but not easily quenched Of which thus the Poet Audet Areccaeis aut unda perhospita Campis Where by unda perhospita he meaneth that bituminous liquor called Napthta issuing from the fields of Erech as the learned Salmasius hath observed in his notes on Solinus 2. Susa the Shusan of the book of Hester and Nehemiah honoured with the residence of the Persian Monarchs in winter as Ecbatana in summer Situate on the River Eulaeus by the Prophet Daniel called Ulai Built as some say by Memnon the sonne of Tithonus slain by the Thessalonians in the Trojan warres the walls whereof as Cassiodorus hath reported cemented with Gold But howsoever it was doubtless a magnificent City and of infinite wealth Alexander finding in it 50000 Talents of gold uncoined besides silver wedges and Jewels of inestimable value Memorable for the great feast here made by Ahasuerus of 180 dayes continuance for his Lords and Princes imitated by the Persian Sultans to this very day who with a Royal Feast of the like continuance do annually entertain their Nobles Now nothing but a ruine and perhaps not that 3. Elymais the chief City of the Elymaei by Ptolomy unless his Copies be corrupted mistakingly called Eldimaei Situate on the banks of Eulaeus also neer the border of Persis the Nation of the Elamites or Elymaei taking part of both Provinces Of great note antiently for a sumptuous Temple of Diant sacrilegiously ransacked by Antiochus of which see 1 Mac. 6. 2. and of such wealth by reason of the concourse of Pilgrims thither that Severus Sulpitius calleth it Oppidum opulentissimum a most opulent
with incredible pains and labour he had caused their woods to be cut down at sight whereof the People who supposed the King had too much other business and of more importance than to put himself unto that trouble did submit unto him Falling to the share of Scleucus they were the first people that were gained by Arsaces and joined with him in recovering their former liberty though they got nothing by the bargain but the change of their Master In all times since they have been looked upon as Members of the Persian Empire till the conquest of it by the Tartars in the distractions of whose great Empire after Tamerlanes death it fell to some Princes of his house who governed here under the vassallage and protection of the Tartars of Zagathay Recovered not long since to their old obedience by Sultan Abas who for the better setling the affairs hereof removed the Seat Royall from Spawhawn to which before he had transferred it from the City of Casbin to Ashtrasse then a small town now the chief of this Countrey 12. MARGIANA MARGIANA is bounded on the West with Hyrcania on the East with Bactria on the North with part of Tartary from which severed by the River Oxus on the South with Aria divided from it by the Mountains So called from the River Margus which runnes throw the Countrey but is now named Tremigen The Countrey environed with Mountains and in most places of it full of sandy Desarts But where it is watered with the Rivers Arias and Margus it is very fruitfull streching it self into a large and spacious plain containing in the circuit neer 200 miles The Plain once compassed with a wall by Antiochus Soter King of Syria more memorable for the huge stocks of Vines which are said to be in it as big in bulk as two men can fathom and sometimes bearing branches of grapes two Cubits long The more to be admired in regard there is no other place neer unto it where the vine will grow And if the Ark rested on the top of Mount Caucasus as it is most probable it did why may not this be some of the remainder of that first Vineyard which was planted by Noah when he descended from these Mountains as is affirmed by the constant tradition of the people which inhabit here The people mixt of Scythian and Persian breed partaking of the fierceness of the one and the behaviour of the other Conform unto the Persians in Religion language and apparell distinguished from them in the colour of their Turbants onely which are commonly Green and therefore by the Persians called Ieselbas or Green-caps the Turbants of the Persian being alwayes Red. Chief Rivers of this Countrey are 1. Margus the peculiar River of it which rising out of the foot of the Mountains and passing thorow the middest of the Province receiveth into its channell the River 2. Arias hastning out of Aria and so together lose themselves in 3. Oxus dividing the Margians from the Tartars Out of the joint streams of which several Rivers is made a large Lake now called Sabacamber but antiently Palus Oxiana from the principall River Places of most observation in it 1. Alexandria or Alexandria Margiana for distinction sake one of the fix towns built by Alexander for defence of this Countrey called afterwards Seleucia from Seleucus next Antiochia from Antiochus Soter King of Syria by whom fortified with a very strong wall It is now called Indion and esteemed for the chief of the Countrey 2. Jasonium seated on the confluence of Margus with a nameless River issuing from the Seriphian Mountains 3. Nigaea as the printed books of Ptolomy call it but mistook for Nissa or Nysaea 4. Argadina 5. Rhea of which nothing memorable 6. Maran neer to which Ismael the first of the Sophian race discomfited the forces of Saba the Cham of Zagathay The old Inhabitants here of were the Massagetes and the Parni taking up the midlands the Derbiceae bordering upon Oxus and the Tapyri dwelling towards the East United by the name of Margians they were subdued by the Kings of Persia from whom won by Alexander to his Empire who to assure himself hereof built fix Cities in it two towards the South and four towards the East all situate on the tops of hills and built at such convenient neerness that they might afford succour to each other as occasion served After this nothing singular in the story of them involved in the same fortunes with the rest of Persia till Persia was conquered by the Tartars Since which time though the rest of the Persian Provinces were freed from the Tartarian yoak by Gempsas the Soldan of Parthia and King of Persia for a time yet part of this Province and of Bactriana are still subject to them 13. BACTRIA BACTRIA or BACTRIANA is bounded on the West with Margiana on the East North with the River Oxus dividing it from Sogdiana on the South with Paropamisus from which parted by the hills so named and the Mountain Caucasus It took this name from Bactra the chief City of it and is now called Chorassin but by some named Batter The Countrey towards the River Oxus is for the most part well manured and affordeth plenty of Wheat and all sorts of fruits excepting Olives rich metals and some precious stones as Emeralds Chrisolites and Jacinthes Plenty of pastures there be also well stored with Cattell and those of bigger bulk than in other places But the greatest part hereof to the South and West is nothing but a sandy Desart and by reason that the sands are driven up and down by contrary winds no tract or beaten way is to be discerned insomuch as Travellers rest all day and take their journey in the night that they may guide themselves by the course of the Stars as upon the Sea not without great danger of being lost or buried whilst alive in that sandy Ocean The people heretofore a puissant and warlike nation not without great difficulty conquered by the Assyrians nor with less by the Persians alwaies in armes cruel and resembling the Scythians whose neer neighbours they were and which may very well pass for their greatest vertue multum à Persarum luxu abhorrentes abhorting naturally from the Persian luxuries But withall unnaturall to their Parents whom when old they cast unto their dogs kept for that purpose and called Canes Sepulchrales or buriall dogs The women gorgeous in apparell and proud of gesture but prodigall of their bodies to their meanest slaves The men to this day do retain their antient stoutness but hard beset betwixt the Persians and the Tartars who severally pretend a dominion over them No Province of the Persian Empire hath so many Rivers The principall of which are 1. Artamis and 2. Zariaspes mingling streams together as do also 3. Ochus and 4. Orgomanes all four contributing their waters to the River Oxus Of Oxus being rather a boundary betwixt the Persian and the Tartar than rightly proper unto
to his estate 8. Mango Cham to whom Haiton an Armenian Prince and the chief Compiler of the Tartarian History went for ayd against the Caliph of Bagdt By whose perswasion the said Mango Cham is said to have been christned with all his houshold and many nobles of both sexes 9. Cublay Cham the sonne of Mango 10. Tamor Cham the Nephew of Cablay by his sonne Cingis 11. Demâ—r Cham the great Cham of Cathay in the year 1540 or thereabouts What the names of the Chams are who have since reigned we cannot learn nor what memorable acts have been done among them The great distance of Countries and difficulty of the journey have hindred further discoveries For the great Cham and his next neighbour the King of China will neither suffer any of their subjects to travell abroad nor permit any foreiners to view their dominions or enter into them unless either Embassadours or Merchants and those but sparingly and under very great restraints to avoid all giving of intelligence touching their affairs The government is tyrannicall the great Cham being Lord of all and in his tongue besides which they have almost no laws consisteth the power of life or death He is called by the simple vulgar the shadow of spirits and sonne of the immortall God and by himself is reputed to be the Monarch of the whole world For this cause every day assoon as he hath dined he causeth his trumpets to be sounded by that sign giving leave to the other Kings and Princes of the earth to go to dinner A fine dream of universal Monarchy At the death of the Cham the seven chief Princes assemble to crown his sonne whom they place on a black coarse cloth telling him if he reign well heaven shall be his reward if ill he shall not have so much as a corner of that black cloth to rest his body on then they put the crown on his head and kissing his feet swear unto him fealty and homage And at the funerall of these great Monarchs they use to kill some of his guard-Soudiers whereof he hath 12000 in continuall pay saying unto them Itâ— domino nostro seâ—vâ—â—e in â—â—ia vita Paulus Venetus reporteth that at the obsequies of Manâ—o Cham no fewer than 10000 were slain on this occasion There Chams are for the most part severe justicers and punish almost every small fact with sudden death but theft especially Insomuch that a man in Cambalu taking a paâ—l of milk from a womans head and beginning to drink thereof upon the womans out-cry was apprehended and cut a sunder with a sword so that the blood and the milk came out together Nor are Adultery or lying punished with less than death and so ordained to be by the lawes of Cingis their first Emperour a wiser man than possibly could be expected from so rude a Countrey and of so little breeding in the knowledge of books or business the Tartars being utterly without the use of letters till the conquest of the Huyri a Cathaian nation but of Christian faith What forces the Great Chams in the height of their power were able to draw into the field may be conjectured at by the Army of Tamerlaâ—e consisting of 1200000 horse and foot as was said before And looking on them as confined within Cathar we shall find them not inferiour to the greatest Princes For Cublaâ— Cham long after the division of this great estate which was made by Tamerlane had in the field against Naian his Unkle and one Caidu who had then rebelled an Army of 100000 foot and 360000 horse there being 500000 horse on the other side Which made almost a million of men in both Armies And this is probable enough if report be true touching the Chams of Zagathay and those of â—urchestan before reduced under the obedience of the other of which the first is said to have been able to raise 300000 horse and the last an hundred thousand more For standing forces he maintaiâ—s 12000 horse distributed amongst four Captains for the guard of his person besides which he hath great forces in every Province and within four miles of every City ready to come upon a call if occasion be so that he need not fear any outward invasion and much less any homebred rebellions Of the Revenues of the Cham I can make no estimate but may conclude them to be what he list himself he being the absolute Lord of all the Subject without any thing he can call his own But that which ordinarily doth accrew unto him is the tenth of wooll Silk hemp coâ— and Cattel Then doth he draw into his own hands all the gold and silver which is brought into the Countrey which he causeth to be melted and preserved in his treasurie imposing on his people instead of money in some places Cockle-shels in others a black coin made of the bark of trees with his stamp upon it And besides this hath to himself the whole trade of Pearl-fishing which no body upon pain of death dare fish for but by leave from him So that his Treasury is conceived to be very rich though his Annual in-come be uncertain or not certainly known And so much for Tartary OF CHINA CHINA is bounded on the East with the Orientall Ocean on the West with India on the North with Tartary from which separared by a continued chain of hills part of those of Ararat and where that chain is broken off or interrupted with a great wall extended 400 Leagues in length built as they say by Tzaintzon the 117th King hereof and on the South partly with Cauâ—hin-China a Province of India partly with the Ocean It was called antiently Sine or Sinarum Regio by which name it is still called at the present by our modern Lâ—â—inistâ— and from whence that of China seems to be derived By Paulus Venetâ—s called Mangi by the neighbouring Countries Sanglai by the natives Taine and Taybinâ—o which last signifies no other than a Realm or by way of excellence the Realm By the Arabians it is called Tzinin and the inhabitants call themselves by the name of â—angis It is said to contain in circuit 69516 Dâ—ez of China measure which reduced to our Europaean measure will make a compass in the whole of 3000 Leagues the length thereof extended from the borders of India to Colâ—m one of the Northern Provinces of this Continent 1800 Leagues But they that say so speak at randome For besides that 1800 Leagues in length must needs carry a greater compass than 3000 Leagues they make it by this reckoning to be bigger than Europe which I think no sober man will granâ— And answerable to this vast compass it is said also to contain no fewer than 15. Provinces every one of which is made to be of a greater Continenâ—â—han the greatest Realm we know in Europe Yet not a Continent of wast ground or full of unhabitable Desarâ—s as in other places but full of goodly Towns and Cities The names of which
Kingdom of Habassia only and perhaps not that none where the Christians are intermingled with Mahâ—metans but only Egypt nor where mingled with Idolaters but in Longo and Angola and some few Towns upon those Coasts in the hands of the Portugals So little benefit have those Nations gotten by our late Discoveries it being Gain not Godlinesse which the Merchant aims at The Nations inhabiting this Country or dispersed in it may be reduced to Africans properly so called Egyptians Habassines Arabians Jewesâ— and some Europaean Christians the Europaean Christians only in their Forts and Garrisons the Jewes in all the good Towns where Trade is stirring the Arabians chiefly on the Sea-coasts bordering on the Red-Sea but wandering in great herds or companies all about the Country with their wives and children the Habassines and Egyptians in their severall kingdoms The Africans again subdivided into Moors and Caferes of which the Moors are wholly under the Law of Mahomet the Caferes dwelling in the inland and more Southern parts not discovered antiently in their wonted Gentilisme Accordingly the Languages herein spoken are different also The Portugal or Spanish being used by the Europaeans 2. The Chaldee or Syriack by the Iewes 3. The Arabick by those of that Nation and in all Barbary except Morocco only 4. The Habassine and 5. The Egyptian in those Kingdoms 6. That called Aquel-amarig or the Noble language supposed to be the natural and original language of the Roman Africans intermixt with some Arabian words and spoken generally in Morocco and so amongst some of the inhabitants of Barbary nearest to Mount Atlas 7. That named Sungai used in Tombutum Guinea and others of the people of the Land of Negroes and 8. That called Gubeo spoke by those of Aithiopia inferior and such of the Land of Negroes as lie next unto it In reference to the State of the Roman Empire it contained only the Dioceses of Egypt Africk and part of the Diocese of Spain The Diocese of Egypt subdivided into the Provinces of 1. Libya superior 2. Libya inferior 3. Thebais 4. Augustanica 5. Arcadia and 6. Aegyptus specially so called distinguished by other names in the Nicene Council That of Africk into Tripolitana 2. Byzacena 3. Zeugitana 4. Numidia 5. Mauritania Caesariensis 6. and Mauritania Sitifensis that other part of Mauritania called Tingitana being laid to the Diocese of Spain The rest of this Peninsula as they never conquered so it never was much taken into consideration But being more perfectly discovered now then in former times though not so perfectly as that I can be able to promise an exact accompt of it it is divided commonly into these seven parts 1. Egypt 2. Barbary or the Roman Africk 3. Numidia 4. Libya neither of which the same with those of the antient Romans 5. Terra Nigritarum 6. Aethiopia superior and 7. Aethiopia inferior Such of the Islands as do properly belong unto any of these shall make up the eighth In the Descriptions whereof we will follow the Method of Plautanus and begin with Egypt as being peopled and possessed before all the residue OF EGYPT EGYPT is bounded on the East with Idumaea and the Bay of Arabia on the West with Barbary Numidia and part of Libya on the North with the Mediterranean Sea on the South with Aethiopia Superior or the Abassine Empire This Country in the holy Scriptures is called Misraim from Misraim the son of Chus and grandson of Cham by whom first planted after the flood the footsteps of which name do remain amongst the Arabians who still call it Misre Named in the same regard in the Book of Psalms the Land of Ham a name retained in some of the sacred offices of the old Egyptians where as Plutarch witnesseth it was called Chemia for Chamia no doubt as that from Cham or Ham the first stock of their nation In Prophane Authors it hath had the several names of 1. Aeria from the serenity of the Aire which is never clouded 2. Potamia from the propinquitie of the Sea washing two sides of it 3. Ogygia from Ogyges a supposed king thereof 4. Melampodus from the black colour of the soil 5. Osiria from their God Osiris here in high esteem and finally 6. Aegyptus which in the end prevailed over all the rest either from Aegyptus the Brother of Danaus once King hereof in the stories of this Nation better known by the name of Rameses or from Aegyptus the old name of the River Nilus by whose annual overflowings made both rich and famous and of the soil and rubbish which that River brought with it from the higher Countries it was by some supposed to have been raised into firm land and gained out of the sea Called therefore in some Writers by the name of Nili donum or the gift of Nilus Yet some there be who would have it called Aegyptus for Aigupthus and that derived from Ai and Coptus which signifieth the Land or Country of Coptus that being supposed to have been antiently the chief City of it And some again will have the name derived from Chioth by which the Aegyptians call themselves to this very day It conteineth in length from the Mediterranean to the City of Asna or Syâ—â—e bordering on Aethiopia 562 Italian miles in breadth exclusively of Cyrene and Libya from Rosetta unto Damiata or from the most Westerly Branch of Nilus to the farthest East 160 of the same miles to which the adding of those two Provinces make a great accession Situate under the second and fiâ—t Climates so that the longest day in Summer is but 13 houres and an half By reason of this Southernly situation of it the Air is here very hot and offensive so that to avoid the insupportable heats thereof and to have the benefit of some fresh wind the Inhabitants are accustomed to build high Towers in all their Towns on which they use to solace and refresh themselves The soyl made fruitfull by the overflowings of Nilus whereof more anon is so exceeding plentifull of all sorts of Grain that it was called Horreum populi Romani the Granarie or Store-house of the People of Rome which Citie it did annually furnish with four moneths provision insomuch that it was said by Plinie that the greatness of the Roman Empire could not long continue without the corn and wealth of Egypt the plenty or famine of that City depending wholly on this Country It abounds also with rich Pastures in which they feed great store of Camels Horses Asses Oxen Sheep and Goats greater of growth then usually in most places else and by reason of the moorishness of the Country they have great store of Fowls Of Poultrie they have also good numbers about their houses hatched in a different manner from all other Countries not by the sitting of the Hen but the heat of Furnaces or Ovens in which their eggs are orderly laid in dung and by a gentle heat brought to animation It is also liberally furnished with great plenty of
Forerunner to a following dearth but prognosticateth some ensuing mischief to the Prince and State Confirmed by the testimony of good and creditable Authors who have told us that in the 10. and 11. years of Cleopatra the River increased not at all that it was noted as a Foreteller of the Fall of those two great but unfortunate Princes Cleopatra her Sweetheart Antonius A second commodity which ariseth from the over-flowings of Nilus is the health which it bringeth with it in most parts of the Country the Plague which oftentimes miserably rageth upon the first day of the flood abating instantly insomuch that whereas 500. may die of that disease in the City of Caire but the day before there dieth not one of it on the day following A third wonder in this River is that keeping its waters united in a body together after it falleth into the Sea it changeth the colour of the Mediterranean further then any part of it can be seen from the shore Add unto these the many living creatures which the slime thereof engendreth on the withdrawing of the River to its natural channel whereof Ovid thus Sic ubi deseruit madidos septemfluus agros Nilus antiquo sua flumina reddidit alveo Plurima Cultores versis Animalia glebis Inveniunt Which I English thus So when the Seven-mouth'd Nile the fields forsakes And to his ancient Channel him betakes The Plough-men many living Creatures find By turning up the mud that 's left behind Amongst which Creatures so ingendered are said to be such innumerable heaps of Frogs that if Nature or Divine Providence rather did not furnish this Country with a proportionable number of Storks by whom they are greedily devoured the Plague of Frogs would come a second time upon them to their utter destruction Now because Nilus runneth in its certain Channels and that the People have no other water to make use of for all necessities there are many By-trenches and deep Ditches cut in convenient places by the care and munificence of their Kings to receive its waters and to communicate them to the People who know almost no other drink then the waters hereof and indeed they need not the water of this River being of such excellent both taste and vertue that when Pescominus Niger saw his Souldiers murmure for want of Wine What said he do you grumble for wine having the waters of Nile to drink On the banks of the River stood that famous Labyrinth built by Psamniticus which we have touched upon before situate on the South of the Pyramides and North of Arsinoe or the City of Crocodiles It contained within the compasse of one continued wall a thousand houses and twelve Royal Palaces all covered with Marble and had only one entrance but innumerable turnings and returnings sometimes one over another and all in a manner invious to such as were not well acquainted with them The building more under the ground then above the Marble stones laid with such art that neither Wood nor Cement was imployed in any part of the Fabrick the Chambers so disposed that the Doors upon their opening did give a report no lesse terrible then a crack of Thunder the main Entrance all of White-marble adorned with stately Columns and most curious Imagerie The end at length being attained a pair of Stairs of 90 steps conducted into a gallant Portice supported with Pillars of Theban stone which was the entrance into a fair and spacious Hall the place of their generall Conventions all of polished Marble set out with the Statues of their Gods A work which afterwards was imitated by Daedalus in the Cretane Labyrinth though that fell as short of the glories of this as Minos was inferior unto Psamniticus in power and riches On the Banks of this River also grew those sedgie Weeds called Papyri of which Paper was made in former times They divided it into thin flakes into which it naturally parteth then laying them on a Table and moyst'ning them with the glutinous waters of the River they prested them together and after dryed them in the Sun By means of this Invention Books being easier to be transcribed and reserved then formerly Ptolomie Philadelphus made his excellent Library at Alexandria and understanding how Attalus King of Pergamus by the benefit of this Egyptian Paper strived to exceed him in that kind of magnificence prohibited the carrying of it out of Egypt Hereupon Attalus invented the use of Parchments made of the skins of Calves and Sheep from the materials called Membranae and Pergamena from the place where they were invented The convenience whereof was the cause that in short time the Egyptian Paper was worn out of use in place whereof succeeded our Paper made of Rags the Authors of which excellent Invention our Progenitors have forgotten to commit to memory Before the use of these Papers and Parchments were first made known I observe three wayes of writing amongst the Antients I hope I shall be pardoned this short digression 1. On the inward side of the Bark of a Tree which is in Latine called Liber and whence Books have the name of Libri 2. On Tables framed out of the main body of a Tree which being called Caudex gave the Latines occasion to call a Book Codex 3. They used to cover their Tables over with Wax and thereon to write what they had to signifie from whence a Letter-carrier was named Tabellarius The Instrument wherewith they wrote was a sharp-pointed Iron which they called Stylus a word now signifying the Original derived from hence the peculiar kind of Phrase which any man useth as Negligens stylus in Quintilian and Exercitatus stylus in Cicero I should have also noted that they used sometimes to write in Leaves That the Sibyls Oracles being so written and scattered abroad had the name of Sibyllae Folia and that from thence we have the phrase of a Leaf of Paper But of this Argument enough Having thus done with the Rarities concerning Nilus and that great increase of wealth which accrued thereby to all the Country in the improvement of the natural commodities of the Earth let us next look on the Red-Sea and the great Riches which that brought unto this Kingdom in the way of Trading A Sea whereof we have spoke already as to the reason of the name the extent thereof and the several Islands contained in it and therefore shall not need to repeat it here That which is proper to this Country and to this alone is the fame it hath for the miraculous passage of the Israelites through it as upon dry-land and the drowning of Pharaohs Cenchres and all his people at large commemorated in the books of Holy Scriptures as also for that through it the Spices of India and Arabia were brought to Alexandria and thence by the Venetians dispersed through all Europe Africa and Asia I suppose I shall not do amisse to set down historically out of Galuano a relation of the
beginning continuance and period of the Traffick through this Sea by which all Europe formerly received so great commodity Know then saith he that Ptolomie Philadelphus 277 years before the Incarnation was the first that set on foot this Navigation Cosir of old called Myos-Hormos on the sea-side being the ordinary Haven out of which they hoysed sail for India and into which they returned full fraught with their commodities From hence they were by land conveighed to Coptus and so down the Nile to Alexandria by which Traffick the City grew exceeding rich insomuch that the Custom-house there yielded Ptol-Auletes 7 millions and an half of gold yearly The Romans being Lords of Egypt enhansed the Customs to double that sum they sent into India every year as Plinie witnesseth 120 ships whose lading was worth 1200000 Crowns and there was made in return of every Crown 100. When the Vandals Lombards Goths and Moors had torn in peeces the Roman Empire all commerce between Nations began to cease At last perceiving the inconvenience they began anew conveighing the Indian commodities partly by land partly by water unto Capha in Taurica Chersonesus belonging to the Genoese Next Trabezond was made the Mart-town then Sarmachand in Zagatate where the Indian Turkish and Persian Merchants met to barter wares the Turks conveighing their merchandise to Damascus Baratti and Aleppo from whence the Venetians transported it to Venice making that the common Emporium of Christendome Once again viz. Anno 1300. the Soldans of Egypt restored the passage by the Red-Sea which having continued more then 200 years is now discontinued by the Portugals Spaniards English and Dutch which bring them to their several homes by the back side of Africk So that not only the Traffick of Alexandria is almost decayed and the Riches of the Venetians much diminished but the Drugs and Spices have lost much of their vertue as impaired by too much moisture So much saith he touching the course and alteration of this Trading to which I shall take leave to adde That for the better and more quick return of such Commodities as were usually brought into this Sea some of the Kings of Egypt attempted formerly to cut a main Channel from it to the River Nilus passable by Ships of greatest burden the marks of whose proud attempts are remaining still Sesostris was the first who designed the work having before with good successe cut many Trenches from the River and some Navigable into many places of the Country by which unprofitable Marishes were drained the Country strengthened Trade made easie and the People better furnished with water then in former times Darius the great Persian Monarch seconded the same Project so did one of the Ptolomies The like is said of a Capricious Portugal in these later times But they all gave it over on the same consideration which was a fear lest by letting in the Red-Sea they might drown the Country and perhaps make a second Deluge in the parts of Greece and Asia Minor which lay nearest to them that Sea being found to be much higher then the Mediterranean and the flats of Egypt But here we are to understand that all which hitherto hath been spoken concerning Egypt relates to Egypt strictly and specially so called containing only so much of the Country of Egypt as lieth upon the Banks and Channels of the River Nilus and not to all that tract of ground which lay betwixt the Red-Sea and the borders of Libya which was reckoned in the compasse of the kingdom of Egypt much lesse as comprehending Libya and Cyrene also though now accounted Members of that great Body and antiently parts or Provinces of the Diocese of it For Egypt in the largest sense and acception of the word may be and generally is divided into these three parts viz. 1. Egypt in the general notion or the Kingdom of Egypt extended on the Mediterranean from the borders of Idumaea to the the Roman Libya or Marmarica lying Westward of the mouth of Nilus called Heracleoticum and on the borders of Aethiopia Superior from the said Red-Sea to the Country of Libya Interior 2. Libya or Marmarica lying betwixt Egypt properly so called and the Province of Cyrene or Pentapolis And 3. Cyrene or Pentapolis reaching from that Libya to the greater Syrtis where it bordered with that part of the African Diocese which is now called the Kingdom of Tunis And in this first acception of it we shall now proceed to a Survey of the Mountains and chief Cities which done we shall describe the other in their proper places and then unite them all in the Generall Story As for the Mountains of this Country there are very many there were no living else for the people in the time of the overflowings of the River The principal of these 1. Those called Montes Libyei lying in a long chain on the West of Nilus 2. Alabastrinus 3. Porphyritus 4. Troigus 5. Basanitus on the East thereof Betwixt these Hils the course of the River is so hemmed in on both sides that at the upper part of the stream where it first entreth into Egypt the space betwixt the Mountains is not above four miles broad enlarging afterwards to eight then about Caire to thirty seven thence opening wider and wider till we come to the breaches of the Delta as the Country doth increase in breadth On these and other of the Mountains and lesser Hils stand most part of the Towns the receptacles of the Country-people in the time of the Flood rising when least to fifteen cubits or seven yards and an half Rivers of note here are none but Nilus nor indeed any one but that that being sufficient of it self to enrich this Country which otherwise would be nothing but a Sandy Desart But what they want in Rivers is supplied with Lakes and Trenches which serve for watering their Cattel tempering of mortar for their buildings and other such inferior uses sometimes perhaps for drink for the poorer sort who cannot be conveniently furnished with the waters of Nile Amongst the Trenches which were many as before was said those of most estimation were the Works of Ptolomie and the Emperor Trajan the first falling into that branch of the Nile which maketh the Isle called Heracleotis the other into the main body of it not far from Caire These two by reason of the many fresh springs which fall into them have the name of Rivers in old Authors and betwixt these was seated the Land of Goshen extending from Nilus to the Red-Sea on the East and West The chief of note amongst the Lakes were those called 1. Mareotis not far from Alexandria by Plinie called Arapotes Maria by Ptolomie all which names are now lost and changed into that of Lagodi Antacon from a Town of that name near unto it 2. Laccus supposed to be the same which in the book of Maccabees is called Asphar lib. 1. cap. 9. And 3. Moeris now called Buchaira more memorable then the rest in compasse 3500
of Streets the number of which said to be 18000. every one of them fortified with a Gate at each end which being well barred made every several street an impregnable fortresse Found so by Selymus the first when he conquered Egypt who spent three dayes in forcing his way through it with his numerous Army The private buildings very mean the publique specially the Mosques beyond thought magnificent Visited every seventh year with a dreadful Pestilence yet still so populous that it is conveived to be in good health if there die not above a thousand in a day or 300000 within that year Adorned with many delicate Orchards both within the City and without full of variety of contentments and neighboured by a pleasant Lake but made more pleasant by the company which meet there in Boats for their mutual solace and delights Fortified at the South end with a stately Castle the Palace of the Mamaluck Sultans situate on the top of a Mountain overlooking the City and a great part of the Country also So large that it seemeth a City of it self immured with high walls divided into many partitions or several Courts in times past the places of exercise and entred by dores of iron Destroyed for the most part by Selimus for fear of giving opportunity to some rebellion or envying the Mamalucks the glory of having been the Masters of so brave a Mansion that which is left now serving for the habitation of the Turkish Bassa who hath the Government of this Kingdom 4. Matared or Matarea not far from Caire the soile whereof is said to be so rich and fertile that the People are fain to cover it with sand or gravel so moderating the extreme ranknesse of it 5. Arsinoe on the West side of the Nile and somwhat South of the famous Labyrinth before described called also to difference it from another of the same name on the shores of the Red-Sea the City of Crocodiles in regard of the divine honours there done that Monster 6. Nilopolis or Nili Civitas in the Island called Heracleotis made by the imbracements of the River most memorable for being the Episcopal See of Cheraemon a right godly Prelate of whom see Eusebius in the 6 Book and 34 Chap. of his Ecclesiastical History 7. Troia on the Eastern stream which makes that Island not much observable but for giving name to the Montes Troici lying neer unto it out of which were digged the stones which made the Pyramides 8. Cynopolis in a little Island up the water 9. Hermopolis or the City of Mercurie called also Hermopolis magna to difference it from another of that name not far from Alexandria to which they give the Adjunct of Parva 10. Antinous now Antius founded by Adrian the Emperor in honour of Antinous his especial favourite the most Southern City of this Province on the banks of the Nile 11. Dionysias or the City of Bacchus situate on the Southern end of the Lake of Moeris in the Nomus or Division called Oasis parva 12. Clysma upon the shores of the Golf a Roman Garrison Cities of most note in the Province of Thebais 1. Panopolis the Panos of Antoninus one of the greatest of this part 2. Ptolomais the foundation of one of the Ptolomies and the goodliest City of this Province succeeding unto Thebe both in power and greatnesse 3. Saiet a fair and large Town six dayes journy from Caire going up the water but by what name called amongst the Antients I do nowhere find Affirmed erroneously I think to be the dwelling-place of Joseph and Mary when they fled with CHRIST our Saviour from the fury of Herod Beautified with a goodly Temple but now somwhat ruinous of the foundation of Helena the mother of Constantine The City much resorted to on the strength of this Tradition only by many aged Christian Cophties who desire to die there 4. Diospolis or the City of Jupiter all of them on the banks of the River 5. Tentyra in a little Isle so called made by the circlings of the Nile The inhabitants whereof were the onely men who durst encounter the Crocodile A creature of a terrible name but a cowardly nature of which it is said by Ammianus Marcellinus that it assaulteth those which flie from it and flieth from those who do assault it In that point very like the Devil of whom it is said by the Apostle James 4 7. that if he be resisted he will flie from us Or as the good old Poet hath it Est Leo si fugias si stas quasi Musca recedit Give ground a Lyon he will be Stand to it and away flies he 6. Coptos upon the head of a Trench or water-course which falleth into the Nilus on the South of Tentyra but on the other side of the River in old times a most noted Emporie for Indian and Arabian wares from whence not only the Christians of this Country are thought to have the name of Cophties but the whole Country to be originally called Aegyptus from Ai-Coptus or the land of Coptus 7. Thebe the residence and foundation of that great Tyrant Busiris in compass 140 furlongs or 17 miles and an half called also Hecatompylae from the number of an hundred Gates which were said to be in it So beautified with Colosses Temples Palaces the Sepulchres of the old Egyptian Pharaohs and other Ornaments of State that it was thought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the Nonesuch of the world Decayed on the removing of the Court to Memphis it became a ruine so long since that there was nothing left of it in the time of Iuvenal as he telleth us saying Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis Old Thebe yielding to the Fates Lies buried with its hundred Gates 8. Abydus now called Abutick once the seat-royal of Memnon from thence called Memnonium renowned for the Temple of Osiris more for the Statue of Memnon which though made of stone did at the rising of the sun yield a vocal sound 9. Elephantis on the banks of Nile neighboured by Crophi and Mophi two sharp Rocks betwixt which the River falling-down with a violent current makes the Lesser Cataract of which and of the greater we shall speak more fully in Aethiopia The City seated in an Island of the River Nile on the borders of Aethiopia sub Aegypto as the Antients called it known unto Ptolomie by the name of Elephantina but to our Ecclesiastical writers by the name of Tabenna Memorable in times of Heathenism for the Town and Temple of Onuphis wherein stood the Nilometrium or standing-pillar by which they did observe the increase of the River removed since to the Castle of Michias two miles from Caire in times of Christianity for the dwellings of infinite numbers of Monks and Hermits called from this place Tabenisiotae 10. Syene now Asna a little North of Elephantis situate directly under the Tropick of Cancer and memorable for a deep Well there digged by some Astronomers which when
the Sun entred into that Sign was wholly enlightened with his beams without any shadow so perpendiculary did the body of it stand over the pit This the last City of Egypt towards Aethiopia And now I should proceed according to my Method in other places to the Storie of Egypt but being that Libya and Cyrene are now accompted Members of it the fortunes whereof they have also followed in all or most of the mutations of State Government I shall first take a view of them as the limbs of this body and shew you how they were united under that one Head by which now directed 2. MARMARICA 2. LIBRA or MARMARICA hath on the East Egypt properly so called on the West Cyrene on the North that part of the Mediterranean Sea which was hence called Mare Libycum and sometimes Parthenium and on the South some part of Aethiopia Superior It had the name of Libya from the old Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying black agreeable to the complexion of the people which is black and swarthie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antiqua lingua Graca niger saith a learned Writer or possibly enough from Lub an Arabian word signifying thirst as suitable unto the nature of the soile which is drie and sandie in which respect called by the Greeks Xero-Libya or Libya sicca From hence the South-wind blowing from these Coasts towards Greece and Italy had the name of Lybs and the Promontorie in Sicilie opposite unto it that of Lilybaeum It was also called Marmarica perhaps from the Marmaridae a chief People of it though placed by Ptolomie in Cyrene and sometimes Barca from Barce a chief City in it of late times Barca Marmarica by both names united The Country for the most part very dry and barren and but meanly peopled insomuch as Alexander passing through part of it towards the Temple of Iupiter Hammon in the space of four dayes saw neither Man Beast Bird Tree nor River Covered over in most places with a thick light sand which the winds remove up and down continually turning vallies into hils and hils into vallies Found by Cambyses to his cost who as basely esteeming of the Gods as he did of his Subjects sent part of his Army into this Country to destroy the Temple above mentioned but in the passage towards that prohibited place fifty thousand of them were overwhelmed and smothered in a storm of sand the rest with much adoe escaping Called therefore Xero-Libya or Libya Sicca as before was noted and Libya sitiens thirsty Libya per calidas Libyae sitientis arenas in that Verse of Lucan The people neighbours unto Egypt and consequently much of the same condition Said by Herodotus by whom they are called Adyrnachidae to be governed by the like Lawes and Customs as the Egyptians were but to differ from them in their habit Of colour dark and black of constitution lean and dry and inclining to Melancholy angry on every light occasion very litigious and eager prosecutors of their dues By an old observation among themselves they abstained both from Beef and Hog-meat So obstinate in denying their accustomed Tributes that he who could not shew the marks of his sufferings for it either black or blue was accompted no body And so resolved to conceal any thing disgraceful to them that if any of them were apprehended for a Robbery no torment could compell him to tell his name At this time little differing in person temper or condition from the Egyptians Moors and Arabes intermixt amongst them Converted to the faith of Christ with or not long after the rest of Egypt of which then reckoned for a Province it became part of the Patriarchate of Alexandria whose jurisdiction over it was confirmed by the Council of Nice to the calling of which famous Council this Country occasionally concurred by bringing into the World that wretched Arius who with his Heterodexies and contentious Cavils had disturbed the Church His Heresie condemned in that famous Council but his Person by the Divine justice of God reserved to a more remarkable punishment Being sent for by the Emperor Constantine to make a Recantation of his former Heresies he first writ out a Copy of his own Opinions which he hid in his bosom and then writing out the Recantation expected from him took oath that he did really mean as he had written which words the Emperor referred to the Recantation he to the Paper in his bosom But God would not be so cozened though the Emperor was For as he passed in triumph through the streets of Constantinople he drew aside into a private house of Ease where he voided his guts into the draught and sent his soul as an Harbinger to the Devil to make room for his body Not more infamous for the birth of this Miscreant who denied the Divinity of Christ then famous for the birth of one of the Sibyls hence sirnamed Libyca by whom the same had been foreshewn Which Sibyls seem to have taken denomination from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Iovis consiliorum consciae They were in number ten viz. 1. Persica 2. Libyca 3. Delphica 4. Cumaea 5. Samia 6. Hellespontiaca 7. Tiburtina 8. Albunea 9. Erythraea and 10. Cumana which last is affirmed to have written the Nine books of the Sibyls They were all presented by an old woman to Tarquinius Superbus but he not willing to pay so great a sum of mony as was demanded denied them whereupon the old women burnt three of them requiring as much mony for the other six as for all which being denied she also burnt the other three asking as much for the three remaining as for the rest which Superbus amazed gave and the old Trot vanquished These books contained manifest tokens of the kingdom of Christ his name his birth and death They were burned by the Arch-traitor Stilico So that those Prophecies of theirs which are now extant are for the most part only such as had been extracted out of other writings where their authority had been quoted Concerning which though Causabon and some other of out great Philologers conceive them to be piae fraudes composed of purpose by the Fathers of the Primitive times to win credit to the Faith of CHRIST yet dare I not so far disparage those most godly men as to believe they would support so strong an edifice with so weak a prop or borrow help from falshood to evict a truth Or if they durst have been so impudently venturous how easie had it been for their learned Adversaires Porphyrie Julian and the rest of more eminent note to have detected the Imposture and silenced the Christian Advocates with reproach and scorn But of this enough here more at large elswhere Rivers of note I find not any 'T is well if in a Country so full of sands there be any at all some Lakes I meet with in my Authors the principal of which 1 Laccus 2 Lacus Lacomedis now Linxamo 3 Cleartus sufficient to preserve their few
Fez begun in the person of Idris of the blood of Mahomet by Hali and his daughter Fatima who persecuted by the opposite faction fled into Mauritania where he grew into such reputation that in short time he got both swords into his hands Dying about the 185 year of the Hegira he left his power unto his son of the same name with his father the first founder of Fesse Opposite whereunto on the other side of the water one of his sons but his name I find not built another City which in time grew into emulation with it and raising by that means a faction in the house of Idris gave opportunity to Joseph the son of Teifin or Telephine of the house of Luntune then famous for bridling the Arabians and founding the City of Morocco to suppress that family who killing the Princes of that line and 30000 of their subjects brake down the wals which parted the two Cities from one another united them by bridges and so made them one Drawn into Spain by the diffention of the Saracens there amongst themselves he added all which they held in that kingdom unto his dominions held by his successors as long as they were able to hold Morocco the Catalogue of which Princes called the house or family of the Almoravides with that of the Race of the Almohades is this which followeth The Kings or Miramomolims of Morocco 1 Teifin or Telephine the first of the Almoravides that reigned in Africk 2 Joseph sirnamed Telephinus the son of Teifin founded Morocco subdued the Kingdom of Fesse and added the Estate of the Moors in Spain unto his Dominions 3 Hali the son of Joseph 4 Albo-Halis the son of Hali supposed to be the publisher of the Works now extant in the name of Avicenne compiled at his command by some of the most learned Arabian Doctors vanquished and slain by 5 Abdelmon or Abdel-Mumen the first of the Almohades of obscure parentage but raised to so great power by the practises of Almohad a jugling Prophet of those times that he overthrew the king and obtained the kingdom of the Almoravides both in Spain and Africk An. 1150. to which he also added the Realm of Tunis and Cairoan 6 Joseph II. or Aben-Joseph the son of Abdelmon 7 Jacob or Aben-Jacob sirnamed Almansor a puissant and prudent Prince of whom much before son of Joseph II. 8 Mahomet sirnamed Enaser or the Green the brother of Almansor Discomfited by the Christians of Spain at the battel of Sier-Morena An. 1214. lost his dominions there being slain in this battel 200000 of the Moors as some Writers say who adde that the Spaniards for two dayes to-gether burnt no other fewel but the Pikes Lances and Arrows of their slaughtered Enemies yet could not consume the one half of them 9 Caid Arrax Nephew of Mahomet Enaser by his son Buxaf slain at the siege of Tremezezir a Castle of Tremesin which was held against him 10 Almorcada a kinsman of Caid Arrax outed of his estate and slain by Budebuz of the same house of the Almohades 11 Budebuz the last of the house of the Almohades setled in this Estate by the aid and valour of Jacob Aben Joseph the new King of Fesse but dealing faithlesly and ungratefully with him he was warred on by the said Jacob Ben Joseph vanquished and slain in battel the soveraignty by that means translated unto those of the Marine family An. 1270. or thereabouts But before I do proceed further with this Marine family I must again look back upon Mahomet Enaser whom I conceive the putation of the time being so agreeable to be the Admiralius Murmelius mentioned by Matthew Paris to whom our king John An. 1214. is said to have sent such a degenerous and unchristian Embassage Which strange name of Admiralius Murmelius was by that good Writer unhappily stumbled at instead of Miramomolim which also is corrupted from Amir Elmumenim that is to say Princeps Fidelium an Attribute which the great kings of the Saracen-Moors did much affect and retained it long time amongst them The story this King John being overlaid by his Barons wars and the invasions of the French sent Ambassadors to this great Prince then ruling over a great part of Spain and Barbary for aid against them offering to hold his kingdom of him and to receive withall the Law of Mahomet The Moor exceedingly offended at it told the Ambassadors that he had lately read the book of Pauls Epistles which he liked so well that were he now to choose a Religion he would have imbraced Christianity before any other But every man saith he ought to die in his own Religion the greatest thing which he disliked in that Apostle being as he said the changing of the Faith in which he was born This said he called unto him Robert of London Clark one of the Ambassadors a man ill chose for such an Errand if the tale be true of whom he demanded the form of the English Government the situation and wealth of the Country the manners of the people the life and person of the king in which being satisfied he grew into such a dislike of that King that ever after he abhorred the mention of him This is the substance of the story in Matthew Paris But you must know he was a Monk to which brood of men King John was held for a mortal Enemy and therefore this Relation not to passe for Gospel But whatsoever opinion King John might have of the power of this King to whom t is possible enough he might send for aide certain it is that he was grown so low in his Reputation after the loss of that great battell in Siera Morena that not onely the Spanish Moors withdrew their obedience from him as a Prince unable to support them but those of Africk did revolt also from the Crown of Morocco extreamly weakned by that blow after his decease For Comoranca Aben Zein of the house of Abdaluad seized upon Tremesen in the time of Caid Arrax his Successour as Bucar Aben Merin of the noble Marine Family descended from a Christian stock did the like at Fez. Setled in his estate by the vanquishment of Almorcada the Miramomolim he left it to Hiaja his son under the governance and protection of a Brother of his called Jacob Ben Joseph But the young Prince dying shortly after left his new Kingdom to his Uncle who aiding Budebuz before mentioned dispossed Almorcada of the Realm of Morocco and afterwards having just cause of quarrell against this Budebuz invaded his Dominions overcame and slew him and once again transferred the Imperial seat from Morocco to Fez. In him began the Empire of the Marine Family who held their Residence in Fez as the first seat of their power Morocco being Governed by an under-King the rest of the Provinces of that Kingdom Cantonned into several States the Sea-coasts in some tract of time being gained by the Portugals And in his line but with great confusions the Royall
Glauconis with a City of the same name in it now called Goza and subject to the Knights of Malta 11 Aethusa by some called Aegusa and consequently mistaken for Aegates which lieth neer Sicily Of more note are the five that follow viz. 1. COSYRA now called Pantalaria equally distant from Africk and the Isle of Sicil 60 miles from each In length about thirty miles and in breadth not above ten Mountainous for the most part and full of a black kind of Stone the soyl not very proper for Corn and void of Rivers but plentiful of Figs Melons and Cotton-wool well stored with Kine and Oxen but without Horses The People poor by Religion Christians and subject to the King of Spain very good Swimmers of both sexes and in their speech and habit coming neer the Moors It hath a Town in it of the same name with the Island situate on the Sea-side in the Northern part of it defended with a very strong Castle 2. CERCINA now with little difference called Carchana situate neer the coast of Africk at the entrance as it were of the lesser Syrtis In length 25 miles in breadth half as much but in some places not above five Exceeding fruitfull in old times able to furnish as they did the wants of Caesar and his Army when he warred in Africk Magno frumenti numero Cercinae invento naves onerarias quarum ibi satis magna copia complet atque in castra ad Caesarem mittit are the words of the History It hath a Town of the same name Of no great note in way of story but for an handsom piece of wit here shewed by Annibal Who flying from Carthage met here some Merchants of that City who had there some shipping in the Haven and standing in some doubt leâ—t by their discovery of his flight he might be pursued pretended a Sacrifice to Hercules the Tyrian Deity to which he invited all the Sailers and borrowed all their Sails to set up a tent for their entertainment which having got into his hands and leaving them asleep he made on for Asia secure enough not to be pursued untill out of danger 3. LOTOPHAGITIS now called Zerby and by some Gerbe is situate in the bottom of the Bay of Tripolis divided from the main Land by a narrow Ford. The Iland full of Bogs and Marishes without other water and in the midst of it somewhat hilly indifferently fruitfull yielding Dates Olives Barley Mill and the like commodities inhabited by 30000 men dwelling in low Cottages and but simply apparelled It had in it anciently two Cities 1 Meninx which sometimes gave name unto the Iland called Meninx by some elder Writers 2 Gerrapolis both now destroyed instead whereof there is now one of more note then the rest called by the same name with the Iland and fortified with a very strong Castle Subject unto the Turks but governed by a poor King of its own Both Fort and Iland taken by the Christian Fleet in the year 1559. for the King of Spain to whom Caravanus the King thereof did submit himself conditioning to pay the yeerly Tribute of 6000. Crowns one Camel four Ostriches four Sparrow Hawks and four Falcons But the Christians were scarce warm in their new possession when besieged in the Castle by Pial Bassa to whom after some extremities they were fain to yield there perishing in this unfortunate Action by sword famine and sickness 15000 Christians 4. GAVLOS or GAVDVS by the Inhabitants called Gaudica is distant about five miles from the Isle of Malta to the Knights whereof it doth belong given to them by the bounty of Charles the fift The Iland 30 miles in compass well watered and very fruitfull So great an Enemy to Serpents and all venemous Creatures that they neither breed here nor will live here brought from other places The People Christians but they speak the same Language with the neighbouring Saracens The chief Town is of the same name with the Iland beautified with a Capacious Haven lying betwixt the West and South and strongly fortified Cruelly pillaged by the Turks in the year 1551. who carried hence 3000 Souls into endless thraldom 5. MALTA the chief of the African Ilands lieth betwixt Tripolis in Barbary and the Isle of Sicil distant from this last about 60 miles and from the other 180. In circuit about sixty miles in length 20 and in breadth 12. situate in the beginning of the fourth Clime and eighth Parallell so that the longest day in Summer is but 14 hours Anciently it was called Melite and by that name occurreth not only in Ptolomy and other Writers but also in the Book of the Acts in the story of St. Pauls Ship-wrack this being the place where he and all his company were cast on land in memory whereof was built a little Chappell in the place of his Landing So called most probably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the abundance of honey which it yielded in former times Cicero charging it on Verres that he came home loaded with 400 measures of honey and store of Melitensian Rayments I am non quaero unde 400 amphoras mellis habueris unde tantum Melitensium Vestium saith that famous Orator The joyning of which two together declare that he had robbed the same place for both this Island being a neer neighbour of Sicil which Verres governed then as Praetor Nor is it strange that an Island of the coast of Africk and using for the most part the Phocinian or Punick Language should borrow its Appellation from the Greek many of that Nation coming hither from the Isle of Sicil and inhabiting here and the whole Island sometimes subject to the power of the Sicilian Greeks though for the most part under the command of the State of Carthage It is situate wholly on a Rock being not above three foot deep in earth by consequence of no great fertility the want of which is supplied with the plenties of Sicil. Yet have they here no small store of Pomegranats Citrons Oranges Melons and other excellent fruits both for taste and colour They have also great abundance of Cotten Wool Gossypium the Latinists call it which they sowe as we do our Corn the growth and ordering of this Wool hath been shewn already when we were in Syria For the commoditie of this Wool and the cloth made of it the Romans had this Iland in great esteem thinking themselves happy when they gained it from the Carthaginians The natural Inhabitants of it are said to be churlish and uncivil of the African Language and complexion but followers of the Church of Rome the Religion whereof these Knights are sworn to defend The Women fair but hating company and going covered The whole number of both Sexes supposed to be 20000. possessed of 90 Villages and four Cities Places of note 1 Malta so called by the name of the Iland in the middle of which it is situate built on an hill but counted of no great importance the strength
Guoga 55.0 22.0 Goyami 57.0 14.0 A. Gualata 13.30 23.30 Guber 29.20 10.40 H Holy Port 10.0 32.30 L Lanserot 11.40 29.30 M Madagascar 77.0 19.0 A. Midazo 78.0 5.10 Malta 46.0 35.30 Manicongo 47.20 7.0 A. Morocco 20.0 30.30 Melinde 71.20 3.20 A. Meroe 68.20 16.15 Mezzata 47.4 30.40 Mina 28.50 6.20 Mombaza 72.0 4.50 A. Mosambique 70.20 14.40 Memphis   N Nubia 60.0 17.40 O Oran 29.40 35.0 P Palma 6.20 28.0 Pascar 59.40 1.20 A. Q Quiloa 69.50 8.56 R Rameses 68.30 30.30 S Sabaim 68.20 8.40 Septa 22.0 35.40 Suachem 72.40 18.40 Sus 27.30  Salla   T Tangier 30.50 35.0 Tefethne 16.10 30.0 Tegnit 27.40 28.10 Teient 17.0 30.30 Tenariffe 8.10 27.30 Thesset 20.0 29.10 Telesine 29.0 34.10 Tigremahon 65.0 6.0 Tombuto 20.50 15.0 Tunis 40.0 36.0 Thebes in Egypt   V Vella 77.0 13.0 Utâ—ca   Z Zacatera 88.0 12.50 Zegreg 36.40 14.40 Zeila 80.0 11.20 Zigec 45.50 40.50 Zimbaus 59.0 25.20 A. A is the Mark of a Southern Latitude The End of the First Part of the Fourth Book COSMOGRAPHIE The Fourth Book PART II. CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHY HISTORY OF AMERICA AND ALL THE PRINCIPAL Kingdoms Provinces Seas and Ilands of it By PETER HEYLIN Matth. 24. 14. Et praedicabitur hoc Evangelium regni in universo Orbe in testimonium omnibus Gentibus tunc veniet consummatio S. Hieronym in locum Signum Dominici adventus est Evangelium in toto Orbe praedicari ut nullus sit excusabilis quod aut jam completum aut brevi cernimus complendum LONDON Printed for Henry Seile 1652. AMERICAE Descriptio Nova Impensis HENRICI SEILE Will Trevethen sculpÌ„ 1652 COSMOGRAPHIE Lib. IV. Part. II. CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHY HISTORY OF AMERICA And all the principal Kingdoms Provinces Seas and Isles thereof OF AMERICA AMERICA the fourth and last part of the World is bounded on the East with the Atlantick Ocean and the Vergivian Seas by which parted from Europe and Africa which Seas the Mariners call Mare del Nort on the West with the Pacifique Ocean by the Mariners called Mare del Zur which divides it from Asia on the South with some part of Terra Australis Incognita from which separated by a long but narrow Streit called the Streits of Magellan the North bounds of it hitherto not so well discovered as that we can certainly affirm it to be Iland or Continent It is called by some and that most aptly THE NEW WORLD New for the late Discovery and World for the vast greatness of it The most usual and yet somewhat the more improper name is that of America because Americus Vespacius an Adventurous Florentine discovered a great part of the Continent of it But since the first light he had to finde out those parts came from the directions and example of Columbus who first led the way and that Sebastian Cabot touched at many places which Americus Vespacius never saw it might as properly have been called Columbana Sebastiana or Cabotia The most improper name of all and yet not much lessured then that of America is the West Indies West in regard of the Western situation of it from these parts of Europe and Indies either as mistook for some part of India at the first Discovery or else because the Seamen used to call all Countries if remote and rich by the name of India Many are of opinion but rather grounded on conjectural presumptions then Demonstrative Arguments that America was known long before our late Discoveries Their Reasons drawn 1. From the Doctrine of the Antipodes which being maintained by many of the Ancient Writers inferreth as they think a knowledge of these parts of the World which are opposite to us But unto this it may be answered that the knowledge of the Antipodes amongst the Antients was by supposition at the best by Demonstration only and not in fact or thusâ— that it was known that there were Antipodes but the Antipodes were not known 2ly It is said that Hanno a noble 〈◊〉 discovered a great Iland in the Western Ocean and after a long voyage returned home again not wanting Sea-room but Victuals as he told the Senate But he that writ the actions of Hanno in this famous Voyage which some conceive to be Hanno himself informs us that he sailed not Westwards but more towards the South and therefore this great Iland whatsoever it was whether Madera or some one of the Fortunate Ilands I determine not could not be America 3. It is alleaged that Plato in his Timaus speaks of a great Iland of the Atlantick Ocean Libyam Africam adaquans as out of him Tertullian hath it as big as Libya and Africk properly so called which he confesseth to be drowned long before his time and therefore possibly never extant but in some mens fancies 4. That Aristotle in the Book de Mundo if that Book be his speaks of an Iland very fruitful and full of navigable Rivers discovered by the Carthaginians and by them forbidden to be planted upon pain of death Which Iland being affirmed by that Author to be Multorum dierum itinere a Gadibus remota hath made some men conceive it to be this America or some of the great Ilands of it As if it might not be as well one of the Azores or perhaps Madera or some other of the Ilands in the Road of Hannos voyage Certain I am that one of the best friends the Phoenicians have who would not gladly lose such an opportunity of ennobling their performances in Navigation could any thing be built upon it doth wave the whole Relation as of doubtful credit and knoweth of no such place as is there described by that Author whosoever he were 5. Some have produced these Verses of Seneca to inferre a knowledge of this Country amongst the Antients Viz. Venient annis secula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet ingens pateat tellus Novosque Typhis detegat Orbes Nec sit Terris ultima Thule Which may be Englished in these words In the last dayes an Age shall come Wherein the all-devouring Fome Shall lose its former bounds and shew Another Continent to view New-Worlds which Night doth now conceal A second Typhis shall reveal And frozen Thule shall no more Be of the Earth the furthest Shore But this Argument can bring no necessary nor so much as a probable inference of any such Continent as this then known to Seneca the Poet in that Chorus shewing as well the continual dangers as the possible effects of Navigation that there might be not that there were more Lands discovered then those formerly known 6. Some hold this Country to be the Land of Ophir to which Solomon is said in the holy Scriptures to have sent for Gold But Ezion-Geber which is there also said to be the station where his Navie lay was situate in the bottom of the Red Sea or Bay of Arabia whereas if he had sent this way his shipping must have lain