ouer to the sixtie and two seuens which follow which we will handle shortly least we be tedious The sixtie two seuens which succeede the seuen before spoken of begin from the twentie and one yeare of Artaxerxes Pius which is the fourth yeare of the ninetie two Olympiade from whence beginneth the eight of Daniels seuens But this time is ended and compassed in the beginning of the seuētieth seuen which falleth into the second yeare of the hundred one Olympiade when Quintus Tiberius Nero reigned in Rome after Octauius Augustus the yeare from the Citie built seuen hundred seauentie eight Now what was the state of the church in these seuentie two seuens is opened and taught by the visions of Daniel as before we haue said Therefore in the seuenth chapter of Daniel foure Monarchies are propounded vnder foure terrible beasts vnder whom the people of GOD was diuerslie afflicted Whom although earthlie and sen suall men desired to destroy consume yet they could neuer remooue the people of God from their constancie and faith God miraculouslie preseruing and defending his Church But the Iewes Commonwealth liued prosperouslie enough vnder Artaxerxes Pius when that Persian King vnto whom the rest of Asia and Syria obeyed cared for it and the people of God For hee after the death of Zorobabel compounded and established the Church causes as may be vnderstood by the Commentaries of Esdras and Nehemias After this Artaxerxes Pius wee haue taught the Empire of the East or the Persian Empire to succeed to Xerxes the terror of Graecia but from this Xerxes immediately to Alexander the great doth the Angel passe passing ouer the other Kings of Persia because they were inferiour in renowme to Xerxes neither greatlie regarded the causes of the Church but suffering them to passe according to the time being ouer seriouslie busied exacting and gathering vp of tributes and the yearely reuenue By the going downe of Alexander into Syria it might be thought that the Church of God should sustaine great dammage by reason of his warre against Tyrus and against Egypt for the going downe out of Phoenicia into Egypt is through Iudea and Alexander the great was verie angrie with the Iewes because they had denied him aid and prouision and because they tooke the Persians part whome they then obeyed Besides religion and true godlinesse dissenting from others who were idolaters prouoked wicked men and contemners of God against the people of God But God in whose hand are not onely the hearts of Kings but of all men reconciled Alexander to his people and brought the insolencie of a foolish and proud yong man intollerable through successe of his victories to a moderation and caused him to performe great signes and arguments of fauour to those with whom hee seemed to be most displeased Therefore in this Historie we may obserue the same which we vnderstand to haue fallen out in the first times of the Church of Israel betweene Laban and Iaacob Gen. 31. 24. For Laban with an exasperate minde and with a great band pursued Iaacob who fled from him in hope to finde Iaacob vnprouided to ouerthrow his substāce Yet this boldnesse of Laban God in a wonderfull manner kept vnder forbidding him not onely not to deale rashlie with Iaacob but not so much as to speake rashlie to him so God repressed this furious man and compelled him to seeke his friendship whom he went about to destroy In the same manner God made Alexander the great an insolent and proud king displeased with his people that is the Iewes whom in hope he had now deuoured and destroyed so quiet as a sheepe and brought him to wonder at thē and to preserue them whom he went to destroy But the Successors of Alexander some of whom ruled Asia some Egypt afflicted the Iewes afterwards with diuers miseries because when the one lay in waite for the others life wealth and Kingdome and destroyed thēselues through mutuall warres both of them aimed at Iudea as a reward of victoire These Histories which Daniel hath set downe in few words prophane Writers haue at large layde downe in their Writings from which wee vnderstand the word of God to be most true and all things to be gouerned by diuine decree and prouidence Neither doo we acknowledge the Church of God to bee subiect vnto the iniuries of tyrants without his certaine appointment And there are extant learned interpretations vpon Daniel not onely of auncient Diuines but also of later and of our time by the which his Visions and the Histories theretoo pertaining are expounded There are also added to Daniels writings certaine mens Cronicles by the which manie histories of Scripture are opened and explaned wherefore we neede not in this place be anie longer in the expounding of the Greeke and Romane Monarchies which are handled shortly in Daniels writings yet to those Monarchies Iudea became subiect euen as to the Persian Monarchy these sixtie and two seuens But we will onely by the way note this in this argument that the Greekish Monarchie is called that power of Alexander the great and his Successours which was afterwards ouerthrowen by the Romans as afterwards also the Romans which obscured all others was ouerthrowen by the Gothes But it is therefore callec the Greekish Monarchie because in the 8. of Daniel the 21. vers the Goate bucke which is Alexander the great is said to bee the King of the Graecians For by a common consent of all Graecia at a Councell helde at Corinth Alexander the great was declared Emperour of Graecia to pursue the Persians by warre Whereby it came to passe that the Macedonian Empire of Alexāder is named in Scripture the Graecian long before that Alexander was borne But Philip the Father of Alexander the great hauing ouercome the Graecians at Chaeronea commaunded himselfe to be called not the King but the Duke of Graecia as Iustine in his ninth booke declareth whose example Alexander the great following summoning the Cities of Graecia to appeare at Corynth after he had setled the state of the Kingdome hee caused himselfe to bee chosen Duke of Graecia in his fathers place as Iustine declareth in his eleuenth Therefore being chosen the Reuenger of Graecia so oftentimes inuaded by the Persians inuaded Asia which he subdued with that speede as the holie Oracles before opened to Daniel and had declared and denounced that those who meruaile at the felicitie of Alexander and as it is commonly called the fortune are to be sent to the diuine decrees ouer Kingdomes and to be admonished of the diuine will prouidence on which the condition state of all men dependeth Therefore what the Kingdome of Alexander the great was like to be how to bee diuided vnto maine it is easie to bee found out of Daniel In the which it is to be marked that by reason of the scituation of Iudea the Kings of the North are said to be the Kings of Asia and
first ioyned league with the Carthaginians After the Kings were exiled Rome the Consulls had ruled the Common-weale eight and twentie yeares before the first passage of Xerxes into Graecia But Rome was in subiection to Kings 243. yeare as Sextus Rufus maketh computation deducting the times of the Kings From that time if you reckon 28. yeare we shall come to the 3. yeare of the 74. Olympiade Now it is manifest and apparant by this that Pausanias and Diodorus Siculus as also Polybius moreouer Dionisius Halicarnasseus who is of their iudgment others who haue likewise noted these times vnto vs haue all erred because Cyrus Maior King of Persia ruled the Kingdome after Darius the Mede in the third yeare of the 80. Olympiade as the times determined by the testimonie of holie Scripture doo conclude And after Cyrus these three Kings succeeded in Persia Assuerus Artaxerxes Darius Assyrius and Artaxerxes Pius But the 20. yeare of Artaxerxes Pius the Temple was whollie restored and it is noted that the Citie Ierusalem was compassed with a wall as afterwards will appeare out of the historie of the seuen first seuens of Daniel But the seuenth seuē which is the limit of this time is ended in the third yeare of the 92. Olympiade Moreouer there is reckoned the 32. yeare of Artaxerxes Puis in the 13. of Nehem and the 6. vers which falleth out in the third yeare of the 95. Olympiade So it appeareth how farre these Writers are from the true obseruing of the times seeing it may seeme that the passing of Xerxes into Graecia was only about the 90. Olympiade because Artaxerxes Pius must haue reigned in Persia before Xerxes the terrour of Graecia as it is apparant out of the Prophecie of Daniel in whose eleuenth chaper and 2. verse it is plainlie said After Cyrus 3. Kings shall rule in Persia before Xerxes who shal trouble all Graecia Yet Xerxes might goe downe into Graecia vnder Artaxerxes Pius when hee was elected King For euen as vnder Cyrus reigned Assuerus so vnder Artaxerxes Xerxes might reigne and the Persian Monarchie euē as the Romanes at one time might haue manie Imperators By this it appeares that the errors admitted by prophane Historiographers and the Chronicles of our time in the supputation of times may be espied and in some part amended But it is requisite for vs for this time to pretermit that care to referre it vnto some other time least by handling of other matters we may seeme to haue forgot our own purpose These things haue been thus laid downe by vs out of the holie Scriptures concerning the Persian Monarchie and the Monarchs of Persia to lay open in some part the truth of the Persian Historie and to purge it from fables But now we are to come to the seuens of Daniel which in the chapter going before we haue taught to haue been deuided by the Angell into three parts yet so as he hath selected seuen out of them hath appointed them to the restoring of the Temple and the Citie Then he dooth enumerate sixtie two in the which the Church of God was afflicted diuerslie In the third place the last which is the seuentieth hath been set downe which hath with it the conclusion and end of all the ceremoniall of the lawe But the seuen forenamed seuens in the first place because they signifie a yearely time doo make fortie and nyne yeres for that number seuen times seuen doth amount vnto the Historie whereof the writings of Nehemias and Esdras doo conteine which the Latins comprehend in one volume so as the booke of Nehemias they call the second booke of Esdras And Ierome in his Episle to Paulinus concerning the books of holy scripture saith that Esdras Nehemias were streightned into one volume from the which this present Historie of seuen seuens or weeks is to be deriued And in the first chapter of Esdras the Edict of Cyrus is laid downe by the which the people of God is restored to his libertie after 70. yeares captiuitie in Babylon The people being returned into their Country the third chapter teacheth that the Altare was first built in the which they offered sacrifices to God which giueth vs also to vnderstand that in the second yeare after the returne into their Countrey the foundations of the temple were laid by Zorobabel the sonne of Salathiel Prince of Iuda and by Iosua the sonne of Iosedeck the high Priest In the fourth chapter Esdras teacheth that the building of the Temple was hindred by the commandement of Assuerus Artaxerxes nor begun again to be builded before the second yeare of Darius Assyrius But in the sixt chapter he sheweth the Temple was finished in the sixt yeare of Darius Assyrius Zorobabel and Iosua imploying and busying themselues chiefely about it being thereunto incited by the Prophets Aggey and Zacharie The Temple being restored and almost finished Zorobabel Prince of Iudea may be thought to die because Esdras is sent to Iuda from the King of Persia as Viceroy with agreat companie of voluntarie Iewes who remained in Chaldea after the Edict of Cyrus and the departure of their Countrey men who beeing by God awakened had rather leaue their wealth in Babylon to liue in their owne countrey than by enioying it to liue in a strange Countrey Yet Esdras is sent to Iudea chiefly to constitute Rulers Iudges who might minister iustice to the people thereby to establish the state of the Iewes Commonweale which is done in the seuenth yeare of Artaxerxes Pius as it is in Esdr the 4. the 24. After Esdras the same Artaxerxes Pius sendeth as his Embassador Nehemias with authoritie and commaundement for couering the gates of the Temple that is for finishing the building of the Temple as also for walling the Citie Ierusalem as it is in 2. Nehem and the 8. Now Nehemias had this Embassage in the twentieth yeare of Artaxerxes Pius as it is in the first verse of the 8. chapter which was 13. yeres after Esdras was sent Embassador to Iuda Yet Nehemias was ruler and protector ouer Iuda 12. yeares as it is declared in the 5. chap. and 14. verse But how great paines Nehemias tooke in fortefying the Citie Ierusalem and compassing it with a wal is declared from the second chapter to the seauenth And in the 6. chapter and 15. vers is declared the great diligence which both hee and the Iewes vsed in fortefying the Citie Ierusalem so great a worke being finished within fiftie and two dayes being the fiue twentieth of the moneth Elul which in our account is August And thus we haue the first seuen seuens fullie ended that is in the twentieth yeare of Artaxerxes Pius in the which Nehemias came to Iuda For so the Angel foretold Dan. chap. 9. verse 25. that to the building againe of streete and walls should be seuen seuens and that in a troublesome time The hostile attempts of the aduersaries of the people of
are said in the beginning of the reigne of Assuerus to haue written an accusation against the Inhabitants of Iuda and Ierusalem whereby it came to passe that thorough the Edict of the same Assuerus to whom wee haue added the surname of Artaxerxes because afterward the scripture nameth him by the same name the worke of the house of God ceased Now there is often and vsuall mention of this Assuerus Artaxerxes in the booke of Ester whoÌ„ by this we vnderstand to succeede immediâ—â—lie Cyrus in gouernment because in the 4. of Esdr the 5. vers the work of the house of the Lord is said to be hindred vnder Assuerus all the dayes of Cyrus King of Persia euen to the reigne of Darius the King of Persia Now that this Assuerus succeeded Cyrus in gouernment whose Viceroy before he had been in Persia and Vicegerent in Cyrus name we may gather out of the beginning of the first of Ester Where in the first chapter and third verse according to the Hebrew it is said that the strength of Persia and Media was before him and it is said that there were in presence before him in his Court Noble men and Princes or Rulers ouer Prouinces 127. ouer whom hee gouerned whome many moneths he entertained with princely entertainment But the greater and more able part of the strength of Persia and Media which was then said to be in the Court of Assuerus was before in expedition with Cyrus the greater Now after Assuerus wee place Darius whom we haue named Assyrius for a difference from others who are called in the said Monarchie Darius because in the 6. of Ezra the 11. the Iewes are said to haue kept a solemn feast of sweete bread seuen dayes in mirth because the Lord had made their hearts glad and had turned the hart of the King of Assur towards them to helpe their hands in the work of the house of the God of Israel But this Darius Assyrius is mentioned in the beginnings of the prophecies of Aggey and Zacharie vnder whom the building of the temple of God was begun anew Whose praise is that the building of the temple intermitted vnder Assuerus Artaxerxes by his authority was begun againe and finished Which we gather from the Prophecie of Aggey and Zacharie but chieflie we vnderstand it from the historie of Esdras for in the fourth chapt 24. verse it is said that the house of the Lord was intermitted vnder Asserus nor begun againe before the 2. yeare of Darius the King of Persia but in the 6. chapt 14. vers it is thus spoken of the house of God built vnder Darius Assyrius But the Elders of Iuda built and prospered according to the prophecie of Aggey the prophet and Zacharie the sonne of Addo and they edified and built the God of Israel commaunding them and Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes Kings of Persia Now he in this verse who is in the last place called Artaxerxes seemeth to be Assuerus Artaxerxes by whom it hath been saide before the worke of the Lord was hindred vnlesse our coniecture deceiue vs because by reason of Hester and Mardochey he fauoured the proceedings of the people of GOD the which before he greatly misliked For peraduenture when he now waxed old Darius Assyrius beeing consorted in gouernment with him he also commaunded the temple of God to be built Darius chieflie busying himselfe thereabouts as the diuine Oracles haue witnessed to vs. Also that Artaxerxes may be he whom we name Pius vnder whome by Nehemias the Citie was compast about with a wal and the temple obtained his ornaments Others referre the word Artaxerxes to Darius Assyrius as if and were put in stead of of that is to say because the surname of Artaxerxes was proper to the kings of Persia as Caesar was a common name to the Emperours of Rome and Pharao to the auncient Kings of Egypt as after Alexander the great the name of Ptolomey was attributed to all the Kings of Egypt till Egypt was reduced to the form of a prouince by the Romanes But to Darius Assyrius wee adioyned in succession Artaxerxes Pius of whoÌ„ there is mention made as it were in a new historie in the seuenth chapter and first verse after this manner After these words In the kingdome of Artaxerxes the King of Persia Esdras the sonne of Seraias there is added This Esdras went vp from Babilon and he was a sleight Scribe in the lawe of Moses which the Lord God gaue to Israel And the King gaue vnto him all his request according to the hand of the Lord which was vpon him For as it shalbe touched afterwards Iudea did then seeme Zorobabel being dead to want a Ruler For which cause in the seuenth yeare of Artaxerxes Pius Esdras is sent into Iudea with commaundement to compound the causes of the people of God For so in the said 7. chap. 24. vers it is said But thou Esdras according to the wisedome of thy God which is in thy hand appoint Iudges and Gouernours to iudge the people which is beyond the Riuer to wit those that knowe the Lord yet also teach freelie those which are ignorant From the same Artaxerxes Pius afterwards Nehemias is sent into Iudea to compound ecclesiasticall causes in the tweÌ„tieth yeare as it is largely expounded in the second of Nehemias Seeing therefore Artaxerxes Pius is thus knowen vnto vs out of the Historie of Esdra Nehemia we haue made him to succeede Darius Assyrius Wherefore we know from the holie Scripture these Kings to wit Cyrus Maior Assuerus Artaxerxes Darius Assuerus Artaxerxes Pius whom Xerxes the terrour of Graecia succeedeth the fifth in succession from Cyrus Maior And thus we haue named the former kings of Persia staying our selues vpon the authoritie of holie Scripture carelesse in the meane while of Herodotus and Ctesias and of others who follow Herod or Ctesias of whom we wil speake afterwardes Now who those Kings were who succeeded this Xerxes in Persia we collect out of the prophane storie Xerxes was the sonne of Artaxerxes Macrochir that is the long handed whome hee succeeded in the Kingdome From whose twentie yere they who reckon the beginning of Daniels Seuens may now perceiue how far they are from the truth when they take this Artaxerxes Longimanus the sonne of Xerxes for Artaxerxes Pius who peraduenture was the grandfather of Artaxerxes Longimanus But after Artaxerxes Longimanus Darius Nothus begotten by him succeeded in the Kingdom Artaxerxes Mnemon that is by surname the Rememberer succeeded Darius Nothus beeing his bastard whose brother was Cyrus called the lesser famous in the Greeke historie and in Xenophon who was fellow in Armes with him against Artaxerxes After Artaxerxes Mnemon Ochus his sonne reigned ouer the Persians Then Arses the sonne of Ochus who being destroyed with his whole familie had for his successor Darius the last king of Persia whom Diodorus Siculus in his 17. booke sayth to be
the sonne of Arsanes who was the brother of Ochus yet Iustine in his 10. booke nameth him Codomanus Against this Darius Alexander the great made warre hauing transferd to him the power and Monarchie of the Persians according as it was appointed by God and foretolde to come to passe in Daniels visions that we may thinke no change in gouernments nor in the rest of our life to bee without the prouidence of God These therefore are the Kings of Persia knowen vnto vs partly out of the holie Scripture partly out of the prophane Historie of Herodotus Thucidides Xenophon Ctesias Diodorus Siculus whom also Eusebius doth otherwise order and name wee will yet neuerthelesse stand to the iudgement of those forenamed authors and will insist in this description and Catalogue From the holie Scripture acknowledged these are the fiue former Kings of Persia 1 Cyrus Maior 2 Assuerus Artaxerxes 3 Darius Assyrius 4 Artaxerxes Pius 5 Xerxes the terror of Graecia The rest from prophane stories are made knowen to vs vnder these names 6 Artaxerxes Longimanus 7 Darius Nothus 8 Artaxerxes Memor 9 Ochus 10 Arses who also is Arsanes 11 Darius Codomanus the sonne of Arsanes the brother of Ochus These eleuen Kings gouerned the Persian Monarchie for a hundred and thirtie yeares as before hath been declared But to these Kings we doo not adde their yeares because we want the certaine knowledge of the Persian historie For albeit in the holy scriptures certaine yeares are reckoned of the former Kings to wit of Cyrus Assuerus Artaxeres Darius Assyrius and Artaxerxes Pius yet we cannot from these certainlie define the yeares of their gouernment because that is not the purpose of the Scripture to teach how long they reigned therefore it is not greatly necessarie to enquire more curiouslie after them But because our time vseth much Iosephus in these histories as also Metasthenes and I know what fragments added to him of incertain authors scarce of good credite therefore they are especiallie to bee admonished of those errors which Iosephus admitteth in this Historie in the eleuenth booke of his antiquities or old affaires For partly out of Herodotus who did not so much purpose to write a historie as to reteine and recreate the Reader with pleasant narrations partlie out of authors I know not what for they are almost infinite who haue handled Persian affaires they reckon the Persian Kings in this sort first Cyrius then Cābises the sonne of Cyrus then Magus after him Darius the sonne of Histaspis then Xerxes after Xerxes they name another Cyrus whome he will haue to be the sonne of Xerxes who amongst the Graecians is said to be Artaxerxes vnder whom hee saith the historie of Ester fell out From thence he passeth to Alexander the great who subdued Darius the last King of the Persians which how discordant they be from holy scripture is manifest from those things which before haue been spoken that there neede be no stay made to confute this Furthermore as before we haue said neither Herodotus nor Ctesias or they from who these broached their stories we haue followed in the enumeration of the former Kings of Persia because we haue certaine testimonies out of the Scriptures of these kings who reigin Persia vnto Xerxes So after Cyrus we doo not name Cambyses nor after him Magus nor after him Darius Histaspis which names because they are neuer found in Scripture by vs are pretermitted For we must wholly rest in the authoritie of holie Scripture which handleth the historie of these times neither to Herodotus nor anie other whosoeuer hee bee that saith he bringeth a true Historie from the Persian Records as Ctesias is bolde to professe of himselfe Who being taken in the warre of Cyrus the lesser by Artaxerxes Memor because he was a Phisician was admitted into the Kings Court in the which liuing long he grew more skilfull as he himselfe saith of the Persian estate than either Herodotus or any other who before him intreated of the Persian affaires yet he after Xerxes nameth Artaxerxes the sonne of Xerxes whom they call Longimanus after whom they reckon Xerxes the sonne of Longimanus who when he reigned some moneths was slaine by the treacherie of Secundianus another sonne of Artaxerxes but a bastard who therefore reigned after Xerxes the second but yet a short time because another sonne of Artaxerxes Longimanus called Darieus or Darius made him away by the same pollicie as he made away his brother For they say that Darius the sonne of Artaxerxes by his concubine trusting to the learning of the Persians contended for the Kingdome with Isogeus the legitimate sonne of Artaxerxes Longimanus and that both of them referred the cause to the Councell of Persia in the which Darius Nothus or bastard became victor and got the vpper hand from whom afterwards the Persian Kings are lineallie deriued For Artaxerxes was the sonne of this Darius Nothus named Memor for a difference from the other called Longimanus then Ochus the sonne of Artaxerxes Memor whō Arses succeeded surnamed by Iustine Codomanus as before we haue said In the rehearsing of the genealogie of the Kings of Persia wee haue pretermitted Xerxes the second and Secundianus whom some cal Sogdianus because either of them reigned but a few moneths although Diodorus Siculus remembreth thē out of Ctesias whom neuerthelesse others passe ouer The yeares of these Kings vncertaine ill reckoned in prophane historie we haue not particularlie remembred because the Historiographers confound them Therefore we are cōtent with the somme of their yeares which they reigned in all which wee haue obserued to be certain from those things which before haue been propounded But before we giue ouer this historie of the Kings of Persia because there is nothing in it so illustrious as Xerxes going downe into Graecia let vs see in what Olympiade he by war inuaded Graecia for this is handled by manie Greeke Historiographers but how truely that we are now to see Pausanias setteth down in Arcadie that then Xerxes passed ouer into Graecia with that infinit hoast which the Historians report of that the Medes at one dinner dranke vp all the Riuers when Gelon gouerned in Syracusa whom the Athenians and the Laced aemonians by their Embassadors sollicited to take part with them against Xerxes as it is in Herodotus in his 7. booke The same Pausanias in Eliac affirmeth the same Gelon to haue obtained the gouernement of Syracusa in the second yeare of the seuentie two Olympiade Moreouer he affirmeth in his Eliac that those Persians which Xerxes left behinde him in Graecia with Mardonius were ouerthrowen at Platea in the 75. Olympiade But Diodorus Siculus in the eleuenth booke of his Librarie affirmeth Xerxes to haue mooued war against the Graecians in the 75. Olympiade in which time he saith Gelon gouerned in Syracusa Polybius Megapolitanus is of the same opinion in his 5. booke with Diodorus Siculus who saith that the Romanes