the first of Ester the ninteenth verse If it seeme good to the king let a royall word goe forth from him that is Let a commandement by the kings authoritie be published In the second chapter of this Prophet the twelfth verse The decree went forth the wise men were slaine In the second booke of the Machabies the sixt chapter and eight verse Thorough the counsell of Ptolomie there went out a commandement into the next cities of the heathen against the Iewes to put such to death as were not conformable to the manners of the Gentiles In the second chapter of Luke the first verse there went out a decree from Augustus Caesar that all the world should be taxed To build againe Ierusalem In Hebrew to returne build Ierusalem Of this a little after toward the end of this verse Vnto Messias the Gouernour The worde Messias in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and with vs annoynted So these three in signification are all one Messias Christ Annoynted The Hebrew word in the holy Scripture attributed sometime specially to the persō of Christ Iesus our Lord as in the first of Iohn the 42. ver we haue found the Messias And in the second Psalme the second verse The Rulers tooke counsell together against the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and against his Messias or Christ that is against Christ Iesus our Lorde as the place is expounded in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Sometime more generally to any annoynted Priest as in the fourth chapter and fift verse of Leuit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Annoynted Priest shall take off the bullockes blood or to the annoynted Prophets Touch not mine annoynted doe my Prophets no harme Psa 105.15 Or lastlie to the kings and chiefe gouernours of the people Thus Saul in the first of Samuel the 24. chapter and 7. verse and Dauid in the 2. of Samuel the 19. chapter and 22. verse is called the annoynted of the Lord. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying any Ruler or Gouernour is vsed sometime of kinges as in the first of Samuel the tenth chapter the second verse where Saul is called the Gouernour of the Lords inheritance and in the second of Samuel the seauenth chapter Dauid is called the ruler of Gods people and Ezechias in the second booke of the Kings the 20. chapter and fifth verse In all those places this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vsed Sometime it is giuen to other inferiour rulers or gouernours as in the 2. of Chronicles the 11. chapter and 11. verse Hee repayred the strong holdes and set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Gouernours therin and in the 19. chapter and last verse of the same booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zebadias the Ruler of the house of Iuda shall be for the kings affaires and in the 11. chapter of this Prophet Daniel the 22 verse the Prince and chiefe gouernour of the Jewes is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So there is no let by the force and signification of the word but that it may bee well referred to the chiefe ruler of the Iewes common wealth in Ierusalem after the building thereof Seauen weekes It is great pittie that this message of the holy Angell contayning a most excellent Prophesie from Gods owne mouth should be so peruerted and depraued as it hath beene by those which picke out this sence as though hee said there should be from the out-going of the commaundement to Messias 69. weekes in all A strange interpretation such I dare boldly say it as by the Hebrew text can neuer bee vpheld That interpretation which I haue made leauing a stay or rest at seuen weekes as the halfe sentence being past and continuing the 62. weekes with the other part of the sentence following to the end of the verse and not referred to the former as part of one whole number with them by the Hebrew text is most sure and vndoubted and iustifiable against all the world contayning that which God himselfe in his owne wordes hath vttered neyther more nor lesse but the verie same which Gods Angell deliuered to Daniel by word and Daniel to the Church by writing in the holie tongue and this once againe it is From the going forth of the word to build againe Ierusalem vnto Messias the gouernour shall be seauen weekes and threescore and two weekes it shall be builded againe street and wall and in trouble some times Marke the wordes consider their order and weigh well the rests As I finde in the Hebrew so I haue Englished that is the truth of interpretation be it vnderstood as it may It shall be builded againe Word for word in the original tongue is written It shall returne and be builded which learned Hierome verie learned lie translated thus Iterum aedificabitur It shall bee builded againe This is a familiar phrase in the Hebrew peoples mouth For proofe whereof take a view of these places First of that in Malachie the first chapter and fourth verse We will returne build the desolate places It is as much to say as we wil build them againe also in the 26. chapter 18. verse of Genesis Isaak returned and digged the wels of water which beeing digged in the dayes of Abraham the Philistians after his death had stopped The meaning is therfore that he digged them againe rightly vnderstood by the Greeke interpreters called the 70. thus trāslating it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He digged againe Hierome agreeing thereunto rursus fodit In the sixt chapter of Zacharie the first verse I returned and lifted vp my eyes and saw which Tremellius verie wel translated thus Rursus attollens occulos meos vidi Againe lifting vp my eyes I saw That therefore which some interpreters here haue imagined concerning the returne of the people from the captiuitie of Babilon is to vse the old prouerbe nothing to Bacchus an interpretation farre from Daniels purpose The like reason is of that before written in this verse to returne and build Ierusalem being in sence the same which there I haue translated and Hierome long before me to build againe Ierusalem Moreouer it shall be builded importeth as much as if hee had said it shall continue builded or beeing once builded it shall so remaine by the space of 434. yeares before the desolation thereof come as Saadias and Gershoms sonne expounded the meaning of the word The 26. verse Shall Messias be cut off The signification of the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is much more large then to slay as by the most part of interpreters it is here taken and reacheth to any cutting off eyther by death or banishment or any other kinde of abolishing whereby a thing before in vse afterward ceaseth Ioel. 1.8 The new wine is cut off from your mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amos 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will cut off the inhabitant of
death for sorow hasted home with his head couered whereby some haue vnderstood nothing else but dust and ashes laied thereon which is a cerimonie indeed of sorow but not meant in those places The custome in those times was not onely to lay dust on the heade in token of griefe but also to enclose and shut vp as it were the head and face with some cloth or vaile from mens eyes As manie examples out of the Heathen Authors may easily shew Vlysses as Homer declareth hauing heard one Demodicus sing of the glorious worthy acts of the Grecians at Troy couered his head and face with a cloath and wept The souldiers of Aiax in Sophocles hearing of the wofull case of their Captaine for griefe of Vlysses prefermēt before him being bestraught of minde couered their heads with vailes Demaratus a King of Sparta by the subtill practising of his enemies was deposed of his kingdome as not of the Royall blood who after bearing Office in the Citie and opprobriously in way of scorne and derision beeing asked what it was to bee first a King and then an Officer tooke it to the heart and with these wordes vttered that that question should bee the cause either of much ioy or much woe to the Lacedaemonians couered his head and got him home This is recorded by Herodotus in Erato Xenophon in his Symposiō telleth of a certaine iester called Phillip who at a seast where Socrates with other graue cōpany was present assaying once or twice by his ridiculous iestes to mooue them to laughter but all in vaine mufled vp himselfe for sorrow and left his supper Demosthenes the famous Orator of Athens as Plutarch writeth in his life in a certaine Oration of his before the people beeing hissed at hied him home in great heauines with his head couered In his 4. booke It is recorded by Q. Curtius of Darius King of Persia that hearing of his wiues death Capite velato diu fleuit He wept a great while hauing his head couered That the couer was a cloath hiding the face as well as the heade appeareth immediatlye after in these wordes Manantibus adhuc lachrimis vesteque ab ore reiecta the teares yet trickling downe the cloth being cast away from his mouth he lift vp his handes to heauen Sisigambis that Kinges mother was a spectacle of rare miserie Shee lost her Father and foure score brethren all in one day most cruelly killed by Artaxerxes Ochus Her owne childe a mightie King the last Monarch of Persia shee saw twice ouercome by Alexander in the end traiterously slaine by his owne seruants the kingdome of Persia a ouerthrowne her selfe Captiue yet all these crosses she bare in some tollerable manner so long as Alexander liued who honoured her exceedingly as his owne mother But after his death bereaued of all comfort shee tare her haire cast her bodie on the grounde refused succour and wrapping vp her heade with a vaile euer after abstained from meat light till welcome death made an end of her woes Thus Dauid and Hamans couered heades by so manie examples of such as for extreame sorrow or shame of themselues not abiding mens sight muffled their faces are cleared of doubt And herby the vnderstanding of another place in the 53. Chapter of Esay not a little helped where our blessed Sauiour is compared to one hiding his face For this as hath beene prooued beeing an argument of an heart oppressed with griefe is effectuall and notable to declare that which immediatly before was spokē of Christ despised and refused of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefe whereunto the next wordes are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to interpret it aright and as it were hiding the face from vs. This here I may not pretermit that this ceremonie of the couered head is vsed sometimes in scripture and other where in another sence As in the 7. Chapter of Ester where wee reade of Hamans head couered by other against his will to signifie that now in the kings wrath hee was appointed to death For this likewise was an ancient custome vsed of diuers Nations to muffell vp the heads of men condemned to die or guiltie of some grieuous crime deseruing death Polixena king Priamus his daughter by the sentence of Agamemnon and other Princes of Greece adiudged to die was ledde to the slaughter of Vlisses with a vaile ouer her head As we read in the tragedie of Euripides called Hecuba Philotas the sonne of Parmenio one of the chiefe Princes of Alexander the great foūd guiltie of high treason against the king was brought before him to his answer Capite velato hauing his head couered saith Q. Curtius in his 6. booke Festus Pompeius in the word Nuptias saith that the Law commanded his head to bee couered who had killed his Parente Lastlye Cicero in his Oration for C. Rabirius bringeth the verie sentence of iudgement it selfe or verses as he termeth them vsed of Tarquinius superbus the last and most cruell king of Roome Caput obnubito arbori infaelici suspendito Couer his head hang him vp on a wofull tree Let me by thy patience gentle Reader proceed to one argument more in this kind and so an end That which is told by the Euangelist of Saint Iohn Baptist eating Locusts seemed incredible to some greatly doubting of that kind of meat and therefore supposing the place to haue been corrupted by the writers fault by some slip setting downe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though his meat had not bin locusts but choake peares Thus in their owne conceit they were wiser than God by ignorance of trueth witnessed in diuers prophane Authors Galen vpon Hipocrates his Aphorismes the 2. book the 18. Chapter is one declaring there the force which locustes being eaten haue to nourish Plinie in the 28 chap. of his 11. book saith that among the Parthians they were counted a pleasant meate Strabo in his 16. booke of Geographie maketh mention of a certaine people which liued of them Bellonius in the 2. booke of his obseruations the 88. chapter testifieth from the report of some Authors that in Africa they were eaten as dainties not for Phisicke but euen for nourishment Thereby proouing it a thing not vncredible that Iohn Baptist should eat locusts But Diodorus Siculus most fullie of all other declareth this in his 4. booke where hee telleth of certain Aethiopians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is locust eaters who neyther eat fish nor cattel but onely locusts continually which at the spring time of the yeare they get in great abundance and salt them vp to preserue them for meate Thus I haue giuen as it were a taste by this little out of Plinie Pausanias Solinus Horatius Homer Sophocles Herodotus Euripudes Xenophon Plutarch Quintus Curtius Festus Pompeius Cicero Galen Strabo how great seruice Heathen writers doe to the word of God for opening the true meaning thereof A taste
The Reader is here to know that in the Hebrew we haue word for word Seuentie weekes is determened A verbe singular being ioyned with a nowne plurall by an vsuall custome of the holy tongue when a thing spoken in generall is to bee applied to euerie part As in the twelft chapter of Iob the seuenth verse Aske the beastes and it shall teach thee that is euerie one of them shall teach thee And in the Prouerbes of Salomon the third chapter the 18. verse in their originall tongue They which holde wisdome is made blessed that is to saye they are made blessed euery one of them So here the same kinde of speech being vsed 70. weekes is determined importeth thus much that euerie one of those weekes particularlie from the first to the last shall bee precisely and absolutely complet Which force contained in these wordes I might not omitte In English thus it may be expressed Seuentie weekes euery one are determined vpon thy people Thy people that is thy countreymen the Iewes for this is a common speech often vsed in the hebrew tongue to call that people mine of which I am one As in the first chapter of Ruth the 15. verse the Moabites are called the people of Orpha a woman of Moab Thy sister is gone backe to her people So in the 10. verse of that chapter the Iewes are called Naomies people We will returne to thy people with thee And the same Ieremies people in the lamentations the 3. chapter and 14. verse where he complaineth that he was a laughing stocke to all his people Here then in like manner by Daniels people are vnderstoode the Iewes whereof he was And vpon thy holy citie The holy citie is Ierusalem mentioned in the nexte verse so called because it was the place consecrate to the holy worship of God Esa the 52. chapter 1. verse put on thy bewtifull garmentes O Ierusalem holy citie And in the 4. chapter of Math. the 5. verse the diuell caried him to the holy citie and set him vpon a pinacle of the temple But why is it called Daniels citie was it because God had forsaken it as though it were now to be called any others rather then Gods citie So the learned father Hierom thought but herein deceaued For being a holy citie it must nedes bee also Gods citie It was rather called Daniels citie ether of his birth or bringing vp therein As in the ninth chapter of Mathew Capernaum is called Christs citie because he dwelt in it And Rama in the first book of Samuel the first chapter is called the citie of Elcana and the citie of Samuel in the 28. chap. of that booke And Rogelim the citie of Barzillai in the second of Samuel the 19. the 38. verse Let me die sayeth he in my owne citie By this which I haue sayde of Daniels people and Daniels citie it may appeare howe wide Hierom shot from the marke with some other of the ancient fathers interpreting it as though God had forsaken both and giuen them ouer as well the Iewes as Ierusalem To end sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being as the Masorites terme it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keri of these wordes that is the true reading thereof signifieth properly to consume finish or end sinne And therefore Hieroms interpretation Vt finem accipiat peccatum that sin may haue an end is good Neither doe I se how that other of sealing vp sinnes can heere be warranted This abolishing and finishing of sinne was wrought and fulfilled by our blessed Lord and redeemer Christ Iesus He was that vnspotted lambe of God which tooke away the sinnes of the world the first of Iohn the 29. verse In the end of the world he once appeared to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe Hee was once offered to take away the sinnes of many Heb. 9.26.28 He washed vs from our sinnes in his blood In the first of the Reuelation the 3. ver He deliuered vs from sinne By him the bodie of sinne is destroied we are dead to sinne that it should not haue dominion ouer vs. See the 6. chapter to the Romans 6.11.14.18 verses Hee condemned sinne in the flesh Whosoeuer is borne of God can not sin Christ therefore fulfilled this heere spoken of by Daniell that is to say Rom 8.3 1. Ioh. 3.9 made an end of sinne two wayes first in iustifying vs from sinnes past and quitting vs from the guilte thereof And secondly in sanctifying vs from sinnes to come so as though wee afterward sinne yet wee cannot be seruantes vnto it Neither of them was or could bee performed by the lawe For the lawe causeth wrath Rom. 4. Heb. 10.1 Heb. 10.4.11 It could neuer sanctifie the commers thereunto The sacrifices thereof could not take awaye sinnes Iesus Christ onely was the fulfiller hereof according to the saying of Ezechiel the prophet in his 36. chapter the 35. verse I will powre cleane water vpon you and clense you from all your filthynesse A new harte also will I giue you and a new spirit will I put within you and J will take away the stonie hart out of your body and I will giue you a harte of flesh And I will cause you to walke in my statutes and ye shall keep my iudgements and doe them And to make reconciliation for iniquitie by appeasing and pacifiyng God his wrath against sinne Which was the effect of Christ his death offering vp him selfe an acceptable sacrifice to God for the sinnes of the world â—om 5.10 â—om 5.1 By his death we are reconciled to God VVe haue peace toward God through Christ To bring euerlasting righteousnesse The declaration hereof we haue in the epistle to the Hebrewes from the 12. ver of the 10. chap. vnto the end of the 18. verse of the same There wee are taught that by the sacrifice of Christ Iesus once offered remission of sinnes is obtained for euer so as after there can be no other propitiatorie oblation for them Here therefore the euerlasting righteousnes of Christ is opposed to the righteousnesse of the law to the obtaining whereof dayly sacrifices were offered But Christ hauing once made reconciliation for our sinnes by his blood therby purchased vnto vs euerlasting saluation and righteousnesse which in the 9. chapter and 12. ver of that Epistle is called euerlasting redemption The priesthood of christ is euerlasting Heb. 7.24 Heb. 9.11 Heb. 8.2 9.11.12 And of good thinges to come euerlasting His sacrifice once for all euerlasting And the sanctuarie into which he entred euerlasting And lastly the saluation redemption and righteousnesse which he purchased for vs is euerlasting So there is great difference betwene the Leuiticall priestes and Christ and betweene their oblations and his sacrifice Of this effect in bringing righteousnesse he hath this name to be called the Lorde our righteousnesse in the 23. chapter of the prophet Ieremie the reason whereof is giuen by the blessed Apostle in the first
Quo significatur annos earū hebdomadarū non esse ad longitudinem annorum solarium exigendos sed ad breuitatem lunarium coarctandos Whereby is signified that the yeares of those weekes are not to be driuen out to the length of the Sunne yeares but to bee drawne into the shortnes of the Moone yeares sayth Pererius I would it were the worst that might be said of this reason to call it absurd friuolous foolish It is all that and more euen derogatorie from God and his word which by this meanes is defaced and thrust out of doores and caused to giue place to the follie and error of a sillie man For the ground of it is a decree from the Councell of Trent establishing the authoritie of the olde Latin vulgar translation as the very authenticall word of God not to bee reiected or refused of any vpon any pretence whatsoeuer Hereof the Papists in their expositions alleadge that translation preferring it before the originall text it selfe receiued from heauen And hereof it is that Pererius in his exposition on this place standeth so much vpon the word abbreuiatae shortened vrging it greatly for proof of his short Moone yeares It is a proofe indeede from the bad interpretation of a man not warrantable from the mouth of GOD whose word in this place is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the holie tongue signifieth properly to cut In that sence it is often vsed by the Hebrew writers thereof calling a peece of a thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Camius in the second part of his Miclol and Elias in his Tishbi testifie where he declareth the true signification thereof by the Dutch and Italian tongues Wherein the words to those Hebrew answerable are in Dutch ein schint or ein stuck in Italian Pez or talio signifying any piece of a thing cut off It is so also expounded by the Greeke interpreter who here to expresse the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to cut The meaning is that so many yeares were determined and decreed by a speech borrowed from things cut out because that in determining and decreeing things the reason of mans minde sundring trueth from falshood good from bad doth by iudgement as it were cut out that which is conuenient and fit to bee done Whereunto a like example in the same word is read in the Chaldie paraphrasis of Ester the 4. chapter 5. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in English is thus much And Ester called for Daniel whose name was Hathac by the word of whose mouth the matters pertayning to the kingdome were cut out that is determined and appoynted And in other wordes of the same signification wee haue like examples In the second chapter of Ester the first verse King Assuerus remembred Vashti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that which was cut out vpon her that is decreed and by iudgemēt determined to come vpon her Also in the first booke of the Kings the 20. chapter and 40. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is thy iudgement thy selfe hath cut it out that is thou hast by thy owne sentence determined it A phrase in Latin Authors vsuall enough as when Cicero in his 4. plea against Verres sayth Res ad eum defertur istiúsque mere deciditur The matter is referred to him and cut off after his manner that is determined Theodoretus in his exposition of this place taketh the Greeke word in the same sence they are cut that is appoynted and decreed Hereby it is cleere that Pererius his reason being taken from mans interpretation and not Gods worde can bee no good ground for the Moone yeares to stand vpon Let the Pope and twise so many Bishops more in their Councell set it vp as sure as they can God his word is more powerfull then they to pull it downe Furthermore though this were graunted vnto him that the Latin edition by the Councels decree hath diuine authoritie and therefore force sufficient to proue the yeres of the moone to be vnderstood in this place by the word abbreuiatae shortened yet for all that such was the mans blindnes euen those his short yeares are yet too short to fill vp the want before spoken of and to reach to the passion of Christ For 490. yeares of the Moone make but 475. of the Sunne which expire two full yeares at the least before Christ dyed I am not ignorant that Pererius would help out this matter by a distinction of inclusiuè and exclusiuè computation Jnclusiuè hee termeth when the first and last are included in the number Exclusiuè when they are left out and thinketh that the whole number in all should bee 490. Moone yeares or 477. of the Sunne with the first and last included and without them two onely 488. of the Moone and 475. of the Sunne betweene to be reckoned This is a ridiculous shift For the Prophet doth not namely speake of 490. yeares or 477. that is gathered by interpreters and not without some controuersie among them but of 70. weekes So that if the extreames first and last were to bee excluded they should bee weekes rather then yeares Indeede if the Prophet had sayd that there were 490. or 477. yeares from the yeare of the commandement to the yeare of Christs death it might peraduenture haue made some cause of wrāgling about this whether the first and last yeares should be excluded or no. But heere is no such matter The extreames here expressed are the commaundement to build Ierusalem for one and the other as it is vnderstood the death of Christ Now then if the Prophet say that from one of these extreames to the other are 490. or 477. yeares exclusiuely two dayes onely must bee excluded rather then two yeares For the commandement was giuen in a daye and the death of Christ happened in a daye It were strange to make each of them of one whole yeares continuance and farre from that exact reckoning which Daniel maketh of his 70. weekes first seuen then sixtie and two and last of all one Therfore Julius Africanus who as the chiefe author of these Moone yeares is alleadged by Pererius neuer once dreamed of any such exclusiue computation I must acknowledge that he taketh indeede this place to bee vnderstood of 490. Moone yeares which kinde of yeares the Hebrewes vsed as he saith But he could not stretch them any further then to the 16. yeare of Tiberius the Emperour of Rome which is short by two whole yeares of the time set by Pererius for the passion of our Lord in the 18. yeare of Tiberius And as they are short of his passion so they goe further then his baptisme For which cause that opinion of Africanus can no waye stande making an ende of Daniels weekes neither in the birth nor the baptisme nor the death of Iesus Christ Neither can that conceit of Africanus touching the Moone yeares hereto be vnderstood by
A TRVE CHRONOLOGIE OF THE TIMES OF THE PERSIAN Monarchie and after to the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romanes WHEREIN BY THE WAY briefly is handled the day of Christ his birth with a declaration of the Angel Gabriels message to Daniel in the end of his 9. chap. against the friuolous conceits of Matthew Beroald Written by EDVVARD LIVELIE Reader of the holie tongue in Cambridge AT LONDON Printed by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man John Porter and Rafe Iacson 1597. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD MY VERY HOnorable good Lord my Lord the Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace THE knowledge of former times most reuerend by prophane authors recorded for the great profit and delight thereof hath not without cause beene alwaies highlie esteemed of the best wisest men in Heathen common wealths guided only by natures law the word of life not knowne amongst them This keepeth the memorie of thinges done of old and in spite of death preserueth still in some sort as it were the life of Noble ancestors who by their prowesse and wisedome for guiding the course of mans life aright haue left most worthie examples and notable patternes of vertue behind them To Christians it hath this more to commend it selfe that it bringeth much light to the vnderstanding of God his worde and greatlie auaileth to the aduancement of that trueth wherby soules are wonne to the Lorde wherefore I cannot but meruaile at the shall I terme it follie or rather madnes of those men which for the continuance of the Persian Monarchie and the raigne of the seueral kings therin are bold to reiect the true histories of ancient writers who liuing in the times thereof haue set forth the same for the ages to come The cause and maine ground whereof is nothing else but their owne error in misunderstanding holie Scripture by wrested interpretation making flat contradiction betweene the spirite of God and prophane truth So not onelie wrong is done to those excellent men who by their paines haue deserued well but also euen the certaintie of Gods worde it selfe by this meanes is weakned made doubtfull and called into question For it is not possible that one truth should be repugnant to another Now because truth as Augustine writeth in his second booke de doctrina Christiana is the Lordes wheresoeuer it is found therefore euerie Christian in dutie bound to stand for the maintaining thereof against all aduersaries so farre forth as his strength will serue I haue according to my pore talent vndertaken the defence of the true Historie Chronologie of the Persian times against the aduersaries thereof and withall an exposition of the Angell Gabriels message to Daniel agreeable thereunto The one that is my account of the times in fast perswasion I hold so sure as that I stedfastlie beleeue scarse 2. yeres vnder or ouer if any at all will be easily disprooued which in so great a number were a small matter in regard of those mens conceipt who are bold at one dash to chop off no lesse then a hundred yeares For the other I meane my exposition by reasō of interpreters disagreement among themselues hauing not like euidence I referre my selfe to learnings skill the iudgement of cunning Linguists and sound Diuines In English rather then in Latine I haue chosen to set foorth this treatise for no other cause in the world but one That as my owne Countriemen in their natiue language by reason of Mathew Beroald the first brocher of the new Chronologicall History of the Persian Empire translated into English and some other bookes doe read the wrong in danger thereby to bee seduced So likewise in the same their mother tongue by this my paines they may see the right so hold themselues therein from going astray This my labour I am bolde to present vnto your Grace sundrie reasons moouing me thereunto For hauing in intent sought herein the vpholding of truth to the good of my Countrie and the benefitte of Christ his Church amongst vs the chiefe care wherof for these matters appertaineth vnto your Grace I feared not the checke of vnseemely boldnes if by the honour of your Graces name I should seeke to commend the same Your great loue of learning and kind good will to Students hartned me on But aboue all my especiall motiue hereunto was the earnest desire of my heart to shew some token of my dutifull remembrance of your great kindnes heretofore so many waies shewed vnto mee That I was first scholler and after fellow of Trinitie Colledge in Cambridge it proceeded of your louing minde and fauorable good wil vnto me besides other benefits many some greater then the forme which were too long to recite In regard whereof if it may please your Grace to accept of this acknowledgement of my dutie I shall account the same my duty doubled Thus with my hartie desire of your Graces happy estate long to cōtinue to the glory of God the good of his Church and the wealth of this land your own sounde comfort I most humbly take my leaue of your Grace this 24. day of Nouember in the 1597. yere of Christ our Lord. Your Graces most bounden EDVVARD LIVELIE A TRVE CHRONOLOGIE OF THE TIMES OF THE PERSIAN MONARCHIE CIcero if euer any other was one which verified that doctrine of the blessed Apostle Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians that the wisedome of God of the wisest of the world was accounted foolishnes The learning of the Grecians all artes pertaining to humanitie beeing held together to vse his owne tearme in a certaine kindred betweene themselues hee had in great price The knowledge thereof he admired the professors he honoured and by quicke conceit and sharp wit together with earnest trauaile and diligent study therein he grew to that ripenes of deepe knowledge and sweet speech wise counsell whereby he became the rare ornament of his countrie the precious iewell of his age and the great glorie of the world far beyond al before him neuer ouertooke of any after him But touching true diuinity the people of God with the word of life amongst them they were no better esteemed of him then Paul and his preaching was of the learned Philosophers of Athens being mocked for his labour and acounted a babling toole Let his owne mouth make proofe hereof in an Oration which he made for Lucius Flaccus beeing at that time accused amongst other matters for detayning great summes of gold sent yearely vpon deuotion by an vsuall custome out of Italie and some other prouinces of Rome to Ierusalem This action of his client withstanding the Iewes herein he greatly commendeth Ierusalem the holie and glorious seate of God his seruice hee calleth a suspitious and backebyting Citie The deuout worship of God and the holy religion of the Iewes he termeth barbarous superstition by great contempt in regard of the glorie and ancient customes of the Roman Empire in the end he concludeth
them a people not accepted of God because they had beene ouercome by the enemie and put to their tribute This was the reckoning which Tullie made of them who by diuine knowledge of God his worde were the onelie wise people in the world Deut 4. whereby it appeareth that in his eyes the prophane learning of men was deemed more excellent then the wisedome of God Amongst his sciences no place was left for diuinitie The knowledge of God his word was too base for that companie Much better was the doome of the ancient Fathers of the primitiue Church by the light of God his spirit who vsed all other artes and learning as helps and handmaids to the vnderstanding of diuine scripture beeing Ladie and Mistris of all to the which all humane wisedome oweth dutie and seruice Augustine a rare instrument for the benefite of GOD his Church came notably furnished with much other reading to the studie of diuinity His skill therein he prooued not onely by writing of the liberall sciences but also alleadging of Poets and other Authors and fitting their sayinges to the phrase of holy scripture to make it more plaine wherof one commeth now to my mind in his bookes of speeches taken out of a secular Author as hee termeth him Et scuta Latentia condunt They hide the priuie or secret lying shieldes meaning such as not before but after the hyding lay secret and hid This hee maketh serue for the vnderstanding of a like speech in the 25. chapter of Genesis in the Greeke bible of Esay and Iacob whose birth a little before was mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the young men grew They were new borne babes farre from that ripenes of yeares to bee called young men and therefore the action of growing in this place goeth before the young mens age to signifie that being little children At the length after much growing vp in age they became young men In his second booke De doctrina Christiana hee declareth at large that humane sciences and the learning of the gentiles and prophane histories are very helpfull and profitable to the vnderstanding of holy scripture The learned father Hierom also in many places bringeth much light great seruice from diuerse and sundry prophane writers to the vnderstanding of God his woorde In his commentaries on Esay the thirteenth chapter declaring the true meaning of the prophets woordes there vttered concerning the desolation of Babylon which other leauing the truth of historie expounded allegorically hath these woordes Audiuimus Medos audiuimus Babylonem inclytam in superbia Chaldaeorum nolumus intelligere quod fuit quaerimus audire quod non fuit Et haec dicimus non quòd tropologicam intelligentiam condemnemus sed quòd spiritualis interpretatio sequi debeat ordinem historiae Quod plaerique ignorantes lymphatico in scripturis vagantur errore We haue heard saith he of the Medes wee haue heard of Babylon the glorious city of the Chaldeans we will not vnderstand that which hath bin but we seeke to heare that which hath not beene Neither say I this to condemne tropologicall vnderstanding but that spirituall interpretation ought to follow order of historie which the most parte being ignorante of by mad wandring doe range about in the scriptures The same father being by some blamed as too much addict to the study of Secular knowledge in an epistle of his to on Magnus a Roman Orator taketh vpon him the defence and commendation thereof by the examples of the best and most excellent christian fathers before him I must needes therefore greatly commend the wisedome of our forefathers in ordering our vniuersities VVhere young schollers are first trained vp in the studies of humanity before they enter into God his schoole that by that meanes comming furnished and ready stored with many helpes from their former learning they may find a more easie waye and speedy course in that most graue race of diuine knowledge which is yet behinde for them to runne And surely so it is and euery one shall finde the experience hereof in himselfe It is not to be spoken how much and how cleare light the diligent study and reading of Latin and Greeke writers yeeld to the knowledge of holy scripture Which by some few examples I will let the reader vnderstand The Eleans in time of pestilence brought vpon them by exceding great abundance of flies call vpon their God Myiagrus which being by sacrifice once appeased all those flies forthwith perish This Pline reporteth in his tenth booke the eight and twentith chapter Whereunto for confirmation may be added that which is recorded by Pausanias in the first booke of his Eliaca that Hercules sacrificing in Olympia was mightily troubled with a huge multitude of flies till such time as he had done sacrifice to Iupiter apomytos by whose power all those flies were soone after dispersed And hereof he sayth that the Eleans vse to sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to Iupiter Apomytos which driueth away flies Sotinus also in his Polyhistor the second chapter maketh mention of Hercules his chappell in the beefe market at Rome into the which after sacrifice and prayer made to the God Myiagrus hee entred by diuine power without flies All these testimonies serue to vnderstand the reason of the name Baalzebub in scripture giuen to the God of Ecron in the first chapter of the second booke of the Kings signifying the god of flies or the flies Iupiter If it be true that Augustine affirmeth in his questions vppon the booke of iudges that Baal is Iupiter so called as should seeme by those reportes of Plinie Pausanias and Solinus of the power which was attributed vnto him in driuing away flies whereof hee is termed Myiagrus that is a chaser of flies and Apomyius as it were a defender or preseruer from flies Horatius in his last Satyre telleth of one Rufus Nasidienus who had inuited to a great supper Mecaenas a chiefe Lord in the Emperour Augustus Caesars Court with many other noble men of Rome that whenas in the middest of supper the daintiest dishes being now set vpon the borde the hangings aloft by chance suddenly brake and daubed that honorable company with cobwebs and powdred the costly meates and wines with filth and filled all full of choaking dust Posito capite vt si filius immaturus obisset flere Holding downe his head he wept bitterly as it had been for the vntimely death of a deare sonne So then the casting downe of Cain his countenance in the fourth of Genesis argued sorrow And the virgins of Ierusalem at the destruction of their citie hanging downe their heads to the ground in the Lamentations of Ieremy the second chapter thereby declared their conceaued griefe The prophet Dauid at such time as he fled from his sonne Absolon and likewise all the men that were with him euery one couered his head and wept Haman also being made an instrument to honour Mardochaeus whome hee hated to the
originall tongue If wee faile in either of these there is no hope to knowne what Daniell meant by his weekes For neither good interpretation alone is enough without exact chronologie nor this without the other serueth much to purpose The sundring of these two things which must needes stand together hath beene the cause of such turning and tossing this excellent peece of Scripture in so many mens heades so many waies therefore in these two thinges especially shall be the imployment of my paines if happily thereby this noble text of Scripture may receaue some light to the clearer perceauing thereof Marcus Varro a learned Roman as Censorinus telleth in his booke De die natali measured all time by three spaces whereof one was from the beginning of men to the first flud for the ignorance of the things which happened therein called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnknown The second from that floud to the first Olympiad for many fables and tales therein reported tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fabulous The third last from the first Olympiad to his age containing more certaine truth of historie therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 historicall This was Varro his iudgement commended by Cicero also in his first booke of Academicall questions where speaking to Varro hee vseth these words Thou haste opened the age of thy countrey and ordering of times Vnto Varro herein agreed Iulius Affricanus in his third booke of Chronicles As Eusebius witnesseth in his tenth book De praeparatione Euangelica vntill the time of the Olimpiads saith Affricanus there is no sure knowledge in the Greeke Historie all thinges beeing confusedly written without agreement betweene themselues But the Olimpicke times haue beene exactly handled of the Grecians by reasō of regestring their acts and records therein of no longer time then euery foure yeares space Censorinus after him speaking of the time from the first Olimpiad In this space saith he was neuer any great dissentiō or controuersie among writers for computation of time except in some sixe or seauen yeares at the most And euen this little that was Varro himselfe by his great skill and diligent paines at the length discussed and founde out the truth and shewed cleare light by which the certaine number not of yeares onely but euen of daies might be perceaued The Grecians saith Chitraeus in his Chronicle haue no certaine computation of times and order of yeares before the Olimpiads This was the iudgement of the best learned in all times in all countries for all kinde of skill concerning the certaine accoūt of time by Olimpiads vsed of the Grecians receaued of the Romanes followed and commended of Christians euen the flower of thē the most ancient Fathers Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Hierome Orosius and other for knowledge of Gods worde most famous and renowned continued kept from age to age not contradicted with reason of anie Except peraduenture some to shew the finenesse of their wit by Sophistrie might cauill against it For the better vnderstanding of that which hath bin and shall hereafter be said of Olympiads it shal not be amisse here to shew what is meant thereby Olympia was a certaine place of Greece where games of running wrestling leaping such like were instituted by Hercules in honor of Iupiter Olympius wherof the place was called Olympia and the games Olympiads Olimpiac games the sports of Olympia which after Hercules for a long time beeing discontinued were at the length renewed againe by Iphitus King of that countrie about seauen hundred seauentie and fiue yeares before the birth of our Sauiour Christ Beeing so reuiued they were from that time forward continued by the space of a thousand yeres and more after euery foure yeares in sommer about the month of Iuly solemnized This foure yeares space was called Olympias By these Olympiads the Grecians numbred their yeares counting from that time wherein they were begun againe by Iphitus As appeareth by Velleius Paterculus Solinus Phlegon Pausanius Censorinus who all referre the beginning thereof to Iphitus neyther for this matter that I know of amongst writers is there any doubt at all Beyond Iphitus I cannot warrant any certaine account of yeeres among the heathen greatly meruailing at the folly of those men who busie themselues in searching for sure knowledge by ordered times many ages before A Christian Prince not long agoe standing much vpon his parentage by this kinde of men was seduced A trifling Courtier perceiuing his humor made him beleeue that his petigree in ancient race of royall blood might be fetched from Noa his Arke wherewith being greatly delighted forthwith he laid all busines aside and gaue himselfe wholly to the searche of this thing so earnestly that hee suffered none to interrupt him whosoeuer no not Embassadors themselues which were sent to him about most waightie affaires Many meruailed heereat but none durst speake their mind till at the length his Cooke whō he vsed sometime in stead of a foole told him that the thing which hee went about was nothing for his honor for now saith he I worship your Maiestie as a God but if we goe once to Noas Arke wee must there your selfe and I both be a kinne This saying of his foolish Cooke cast him in a dumpe and stayed the heat of his earnest studdy and brought him to a better mind from his vaine error in deceiueable times farre beyond the compasse of truth which as before hath bin shewed was limited from the first Olimpiad downeward within these limits of time by the testimonie of Varro Affricanus Censorinus the Iudgements of manie other learned men in all ages being certaine and void of error is the reach of Daniels weekes yea to come nearer home by 200 yeares and more within that part thereof which by the learning wisedome and knowledge of excellent men hath beene made most famous that is to say from the Persian Monarchie in the first yeare of Cyrus to the second of Vespasian Emperour of Roome wherein the Cittie of Ierusalem was destroyed and the Iewes common wealth ouerthrowne within the lists and compasse whereof the fulfilling of this Prophesie is contained euen Beroaldus himselfe though an aduersarie of the receaued Grecians Chronologie in his 2. booke and 2. chapter where hee saith that before the times of Cyrus the Greek Histories haue no certainty seemeth to acknowledge some truth of Historie afterward whereof he giueth this reason because in Cyrus his age were the 7. sages of Greece liuing together one of them beeing Colon the Athenian acquainted with Croesus King of Lydia who fought against Cyrus This whole space from the beginning of Cyrus his raigne to the destruction of the holy Cittie by Titus containeth 629. yeares from the Olimpiad wherein Cyrus began to the same season of that yeare wherein Ierusalem Temple and Citie was set on fire For the Persian kings raigned by the space of 230. yeares From the death of the last King of Persia to the birth of Christ
were about 328. yeares and a halfe And thence to the desolation of Ierusalem set on fire 70. and a halfe with two monthes or there about The proofe of these three partes in this order I minde to follow But before I come to the right path as it were of the Persian times It shall be requisite first to take certaine stumbling blockes out of the readers way whereof one is the opinion of the Hebrewe writers who by great reason should haue been skilfull in these matters in regard of their deliuerance from slauish captiuitie and many other benefits graunted vnto them by the Persian Kinges Some of these writers reading in the 11. of Daniell of a fourth king to raigne in Persia and presently after a prophesie of the ouerthrow of that Empire by Alexander the great thought there could not possibly be any more than foure in all The names forsooth of these foure they gather from Esdras making mention in his fourth chapter of Cyrus Assuerus Artaxerxes Darius then after in his seuenth chapter of another Artaxerxes Now lest that Esdras should seeme by fiue names to dissent from Daniell speaking onely of foure kings they make the first Artaxerxes to be all one with Assuerus and because the last king of Persia ouercome by Alexander in the Histories of diuers nations was knowne by the name Darius to make all good they say he had likewise two names one Artaxerxes the other Darius This was Aben Ezras opinion one of the wittiest best learned amongst them R. Moses a Spaniard and Priest came somewhat nearer to the trueth parting these two names Assuerus and Artaxerxes mentioned in the 4. of Ezra betwixt two seuerall Kinges and so by his iudgement they were fiue in number Others as R. Sadiah and Abraham Dauison counting Daniels fourth king not from Cyrus but from Darius the Mede inclusiuely leaue onely three kinges for the Persian Monarchie to runne out vnder them that is first Cyrus and after him Assuerus the third and last Darius the supposed Sonne of Ester by Assuerus But howe can this agree with Esdras in whome fiue names of the Persian Emperours are recorded Well enough say they for Assuerus the first Artaxerxes were one and the same And likewise Darius and the second Artaxerxes by Abraham Dauisons opinion Now concerning the yeares of their raigne Aben Ezra maketh this reckoning of his three former kinges yeares Cyrus to haue continued three yeares Assuerus foureteene Darius twelue the rest of that Monarchie expired in Artaxerxes whose 32. is mentioned in scripture but Dauison giueth to Cyrus three to Assuerus sixteene to Darius 32. In whose second as he sayeth the Temple was builded and himselfe slaine 30. yeares after by Alexander But the most generall and receaued opinion seemeth to bee that which is declared in their Hebrew Chronicles Rabba and Zota that the whole time of the Persian kingdome was 52. yeares counted from the first of Darius the Mede whereof 18. were spent before the building of the Temple and 34. after This is the Rabbinicall stuffe of the chiefe Masters of the Hebrewes being at ods betwixt themselues dissenting from others therefore not without cause doth Pererius in his commentaries vppon Daniell speaking of this chronologie of theirs say that it is false fained full of faultes toyes ignorance absurditie and vnconstancie and altogether ridiculous as it is indeede Temporarius is more sharpe bitter against them The Thalmudists Cabbalists and Rabbines saith he are blinde in the Persian times and the writinges of the Iewes herein plaine proofes of pittifull ignorance in them who can reade the chronologies of the Rabbines their Seder Olam Rabba their Seder Olam Zota their Historicall Cabbala without laughing Therefore the knowledge of times is not to bee fetched from the dotings of these men being more blinde than moules All this which they say is true I confesse The Church of God for other matters is much beholding to the Hebrew Rabbines beeing great helps vnto vs for vnderstanding holy scripture in many places as well of the new testament as the olde but touching the knowledge of the Persian Empire wherein they should haue bin most cunning they were as blinde as beetles no light herein amongst them for knowledge to be seene but darkenes for ignorance enough and too much The reason whereof is that they wanted the key as it were of prophane Histories and secular learning to vnlocke the shut hid meaning of Daniels oracles Without the which by scripture alone it cā neuer be opened Some of them not disdaining to read the Latine and Greeke histories by the direction of these guides went not so far astray Iosephus in his Antiquities prooueth it This may suffice to cleare the right way from the first stumbling blocke Annius Viterbiensis hath been another to the downfall of many setting forth certaine ancient chronicles vnder the names of Berosus Manetho and Philo and together with them one other of the Persian Monarchie fathered vpon Metasthenes an ancient Persian Wherein he reckoneth the kinges of the Persian Monarchie eight in number in this order First Cyrus then ancient Artaxerxes Assuerus After him Darius with the long hande the fourth Darius Nothus the fift great Artaxerxes Darius Meneon the sixt Artaxerxes Ochus the seuenth Arses the eight last an other Darius The whole time of these kings he maketh 190 yeres These books thus commended with such glorious titles of noble and ancient Historiographers were in great request and much followed of many learned men and excellent Diuines for a long time embracing thē as the only true Chronologie of all other and alleadging their authorities as oracles from heauen vndoubted and sure beeing indeede nothing else but masking counterfaites couered with the glorious titles of auncient and famous writers At the length they were found out and detected by the cunning of diuers skilfull men who searched vnto them and sifted them nearely Volaterranus in his fourteenth book giueth no credit vnto them Lewes Viues in his preface to the eighteenth booke of Augustine de ciuitate dei calleth them monsters and dregges friuolous bookes of vncertaine Authors Gerardus Mercator counteth of them no better than Fables and false and forged writinges Ioseph Scaliger inueyeth sharply against them in many places terming them lies dreames forged and fained stuffe And the Author thereof himselfe he calleth vnlearned and shameles Iohannes Vargara Beatus Rhenanus Functius Beroaldus Pererius and Temporarius All these haue vncased these counterfait Authors and taken the visardes from their faces But especiallie aboue all the rest the two last named Pererius Temporarius haue laied thē open to the wide world to appeare that which in very deed they were That is not the true Berosus Mauetho Metasthenes Philo thēselues But all false and forged out of Annius his shop of lies Whome Temporarius therefore calleth a triffeler a iugler a deceauer and the books so set forth by him toyes lyes legerdemaine witcherie bastards
their hauen Pyreus by the Lacedemonians and their associates Of this had gone a Prophesie long before in many mens mouthes which himself with his owne eares many times had heard that it should endure thrise nine yeares which is confirmed by Diodorus Siculus very plainely affirming that war to haue lasted 27. yeares in two places first in his twelfth booke treating of the beginning of that war and after in his thirteenth booke speaking of the last yeare thereof which hee saith was the last of the 93. Olympiad as in deede it was for 27. yeares added to the first of the 87. Olympiad wherein it began make an end of it in the fourth of the 93. After Thucidides followed Xenophon who from the one and twentie yeare of that warre where Thucidides left continued in writing the course of that Historie to the ende a man liuing in those dayes carefull of the truth and skilfull in Historie commended euen by Beroaldus himselfe though otherwise an aduersarie of the true ancient Chronologie and Historie of those times In the fifth Chapter of his fourth book Xenophon saith Beroaldus writeth that the gouernment of Athens was committed to a few in that Olympick yeare wherein Crocinus the Thessalian won the race but which Olympiad it was in number hee declareth not Which if he who then liued and prepared himselfe for seruice had done hee had rid vs of much trouble Let vs see therefore what help is giuen by this excellent writer to ease vs herein In his first booke of Greeke affaires this first hee setteth downe verie flatlie that the yeare wherein Enarchippus at Sparta and Enctemo at Athens were Maiors was the first of the 43. Olympiad wherein Eubotas the Cyrenian won the race and a new game of yoaked horses called Synoris was first ordayned at that time won by Enagoras of Elis where lest anie might think Xenophon to haue bin deceiued we haue for further warrant the testimonie of Pausanias in the first booke of Eliacx The running saith hee of two horses of ripe age called Synoris was instituted in the 93. Olympiad wherin Euagoras the Elian got the victorie Nowe this being made plaine by Xenophon that Enarchippus was gouernour of Sparta in the first yeare of the 93. Olympiad if it can bee further shewed by him in what yere of the Peloponnesian warre the same Enarchippus ruled at Sparta we shall easilie perceiue by euident direction from this worthie Author to what yeare of euery Olympiad the beginning midst ending and euery particular yeare of that war appertaineth To shew this we haue a Catalogue of all the chiefe Spartan Magistrates which bare Office in euery yeare of that warre called Ephori set downe by Xenophon in order by their names in the second booke of his Greeke Historie in these words The first saith Xenophon was Aenesias vnder whome the warre began in the 15. yeare of the 30. yeares league made after the taking of Eubaea After him succeeded these Borasidas Isanor Sostratidas Exarchus Agesistratus Agenidas Onomacles Zeuxippus Pityas Pleistolas Cleiomachus Ilarchus Leon Chaeridas Patesiades Cleosthenes Lycarius Exeratus Onomantius Alexippidas Misgolaidas Isias Aracus Enarchippus Pantacles Piteas Archytas Endius In whose time Lysander hauing done the exploits before rehearsed sayled home By this Catalogue of the Lacedemonian Maiors it is manifest that Xenophon for account of time in this warre agreeth most exactly with Thucidides The war began in the nine months end of Aenesias the first Ephorus and ended at the pulling downe the walles of Pyreus 27. yeares after which reach to the nine months end of the 28. Ephorus so that from the beginning of the second Ephorus neere three months after the beginning of the warre to the end of the 28. Ephorus nere three months after the end of that war are likewise iust 27. yeares perfectly and fully compleat And is it not euen so by Xenophon doth not hee declare the throwing downe the walles in the hauen Pyraeus to haue happened toward the end of Archytas his gouernment at Sparta And are there not full and euen 27. yeares from the beginning of Brasidas the second Ephorus to the end of Architas who by Xenophons number in that Catalogue was the 28 Is there any beetle so blind which cannot perceiue this exact agreement betwixt Xenophon and Thucidides for the account of those yeares The Peloponnesian warre as may be gathethered by Thucidides begun with the spring about the first of Aprill toward the end of Aenesias his yere Brasidas succeeding him begun his yeare about the beginning of the next sommer beeing the first of that warre The second sommer fell to the third Ephorus and so in order with the rest The eleuenth Ephorus by Xenophons beadroule was Pleistolas for the tenth sommer which is verified also by Thucidides in his fift booke speaking of a league made betwixt the Athenians and the Lacedemonians in the end of Pleistolas his Maioraltie at Sparta before the sommer of the eleuenth yeare The 21. Ephorus recited by Xenophon for the 20. sommer is Alexippidas The trueth whereof is witnessed and confirmed by Thucidides likewise in his eight booke wherein hee telleth that in the twentieth yere of the Peloponnesian warre a peace was concluded betweene Tissaphernes Lieutenant of Asia and the Lacedemonians in the plaine of Meander Alexippidas then being Ephorus of Sparta The next after Alexippidas for the 21. yeare there named is Misgolaidas for the 22. Isias for the 23. Aracus Then after them followeth Enarchippus the fiue and twentieth Ephorus for the 24. yeres sommer This Enarchippus being first placed in the beginning of the 93. Olympiad and after by his Catalogue found in the 24. yeare of the Peloponnesian war leaueth this cleere by Xenophons meaning that the 24. yeare of that war beginning with sommer was the first of the 93. Olympiad The three Ephori after Enarchippus succeeding in the other three yeares of that Olympiad set downe by Xenophon in order not onely in his table but euen in the context of his Historie for three seuerall yeares are these Pantacles Pyteas Archytas in whose time the Athenians beeing conquered by Lysander were driuen to yeeld The next yeare after was the first of a new Olimpiad so acknowledged most truely and verie orderly by Xenophon himselfe in his second booke where hauing declared the thinges done vnder Archytas In the yeare following saith hee was that Olympiad wherin Crocinus the Thessalian won the race Endius then bearing office at Sparta and Pythodorus ruling at Athens Now if anye aske which Olympiad this was in number that most manifestlie appeareth by the former namely expressed to haue beene the 93 so that it needed not againe for the next expresly to say that it was the 94. which had bin nothing els but recocta crambe according to the prouerb Colworts sodden againe Furthermore Xenophon not far frō the begining of the 2. book writeth that the nauie of the Lacedemoniās was deliuered to Lysander Whē 25. yeres of the war
of Pisistratus himselfe and 18. after of his children And so is Herodotus to be vnderstoode giuing them 36. in all onely differing from Aristotle in a yeare Whereby it may be thought that Pisistratus raigned some few moneths more aboue 17. yeares so his reckoning comes short by almost twentie yeares Againe there was another Pisistratus the sonne of Hippias and Grand childe to the elder Pisistratus before spoken of who in the yeare of his Maioraltie dedicated in the market place at Athens the Altar of the twelue Gods as Thucidides writeth of him in his sixt booke And this in my iudgement is the man to whome that Historie in Aelianus may be fitly applied and stand very well with that which Iustin hath concerning Themistocles fighting at Marathon Yea but Plinie in his 34. booke writeth that the Athenians the same yeare wherein the kings of Rome were driuen out being the fourth of the 67. Olympiad set vp the images of Harmodius and Aristogiton who had killed Hipparchus the tyrant farre wide from that which Dionysius telleth in his sixt booke that Hipparchus was ruler at Athens in the 71. Olympiad What say you to that Nothing but that Beroaldus being belike ashamed of his follie in bringing such an argument calleth it in againe as it were by answering that it was another Hipparchus which Dionysius speaketh of Another argument he taketh from Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his fift booke making the warre at Marathon later by sixteene yeares then the death of Brutus thereby referring the yeare to the fourth of the 71. Olympiad which by Cicero seemeth cast to the 73. wherein Coriolanus a Senator of Rome made warre against it Here we haue nothing but vntrueth vpon vntrueth fit groundes for such a rotten building for sixteene yeares after that of the first Consuls which was by Dionysius the first of the 68. Olympiad in the end whereof Brutus was slaine reach not to the fourth of the 71. but to the second of the 72. Olympiad wherein the same Dionysius in plaine words placeth that warre As for that of Coriolanus against Rome it happened in deed in the first of the 73. Olympiad onely three yeares after the other And therefore Cicero in his Brutus affirming not that this of Coriolanus was at the same time with that other of the Persians but almost at that time speaketh a trueth dissenting nothing at all from Dionysius It followeth in Beroaldus the same Dionysius in his ninth booke Diodorus Siculus agreeing vnto him saith that Xerxes went to warre against Greece in the 75. Olympiad when Callias gouerned Athens that is twelue yeares after the Marathon fight being past to that of Xerxes at Salamis Glossa corrumpit textum the glosse here marreth the text with a manifest vntrueth for neither Dionysius nor Diodorus maketh aboue eleauen yeares distance betwixt those battailes the one placed in the second of the 72. Olympiad the other in the first of the 75 almost in the beginning thereof Now let any man count the distance betweene on his fingers ends and see if he can finde twelue yeares But to omit this and come to the purpose Gelo was at the time of Xerxes his warre by Pausanias and Herodotus tyrant of Syracusae And Gelo tyrant of Syracusae by Plutarch in the life of Lysias the Orator in the second of the 82. Olympiad So the war of Xerxes must by this reckoning come backe neere 30. yeares after the 75. Olympick sport Plutarchs words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English thus much Lysias an exceeding rich man was the sonne of Cephales grand childe of Lysanias the sonne of Cephales his father Cephales was a Syracusian borne and flitted to Athens for loue partly of the citie and partly of Pericles the sonne of Xanthippus who perswaded him thereto being his friend and host or as some say for that hee was driuen from Syracusae at such time as it was subiect to the tyrannie of Gelo. He meaneth that Lysias was borne Being borne at Athens vnder Philocles the next ruler after Phrasicles hee was first brought vp with the noblest children of the Athenians about the second yeare of the 83. Olympiad Afterward being fifteene yeares olde he went to Thuriae a citie of Italie Praxiteles then being Maior of Athens as followeth there in Plutarch Philocles was Maior at Athens in the second yeare of the 80. Olympiad as Diodorus declareth Then was Lysias borne and being about eyght yeres olde in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad he was brought vp with other noble mens children in Athens and therein continued till the yere of Praxiteles his gouernement which was the first of the 84. Olympiad as we reade in the same Diodorus and the fifteenth of Lysias his birth Where can Beroaldus now finde in this place of Plutarch that Gelo was tyrant of Syracusae in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad What meant he so cōfidently to burst forth into this cōplaint Tam incerta sunt apud aut hores rerum istarum tempora So vncertaine are the times of these matters what reason had hee for it For hee that vnderstandeth Greeke and compareth Plutarchs owne words with that which Beroaldus gathereth by them will bee ashamed I beleeue of such an interpreter being so blinded with conceited affection that hee seeth not what is written and careth not what he saith Plutarch doth notablie in this place confirme the receiued ancient Chronologie of the Greekes so farre he is by any disagreement from weakening their credite Let vs now examine one or two other places of Beroaldus concerning the time of Xerxes fighting in Greece In the eyght chapter of his third booke Pausanias sayth Beroaldus telleth in his Arcadikes that Xerxes then passed into Greece when Gelo gouerned at Syracuse which is likewise witnessed by Herodotus in his seuenth booke But that same Pausanias in his Eliaca affirmeth that Gelo held the gouernment of that citie in the second yeare of the 72. Olympiad Except it be a strange thing that one king should continew his raigne by the space of twelue yeares This argument of Beroaldus is not worth a rush to proue disagreement betweene ancient writers referring Gelo his tiranie some to the second of the 72. Olympiad other to the first of the 75. when Xerxes passed into Europe for the beginning of his dominion was about the second of the 72. Olympiad as Dionisius Halicarnassaeus declareth in the seauenth booke of his Roman Antiquities And the end thereof in the 75. Olympiad the thirde yeare thereof as Diodorus witnesseth in the eleauenth booke of his Historicall librarie So both might stand together well enough Beroaldus hath yet more matter from Pausanias in his Eliaca who referreth the ouerthrow of Mardonius at Plateae the next yeare after Xerxes inuaded Greece to the 75. Olympiad whereas Diodorus Siculus saith that Xerxes in that Olympiad inuaded Greece both can not bee true The worde Olympias pertaineth sometime to the game itselfe celebrated euerie first yeare of
is testified by olde marble monuments digged out of the ground and as Solinus writeth was confirmed euen by the publike acts registers of Rome wherein the 207. Olympiad was recorded to be in the 801. yeare of Rome when Pompeius Gallus and Q. Veranius were Cousuls this Beroaldus himselfe acknowledgeth and bringeth reason for it By this account then the third of the 194. Olympiad wherein the birth of Christ is put should be the 751. of Rome let vs now examaine whether this be so or no. The yeare after Caesars death wherein Hersius and Pansa were Consuls Augustus began his raigne as Eusebius in his Chronicles Ioseph Scaliger in his fift book De emendatione temporum declare was the 710. of Rome so witnessed not onely by Solinus in his Polyhistor but euen the very ancient Marble monuments also wherein was engrauen his record at the 710 yeare of the Citie In Pansae occisi locum factus est C. Iulius C.F.C.N. Caesar Qui posteà imperator Caesar Augustus appellatus est That is in the place of Pansa being slaine Caius Iulius Caesar the sonne of Caius the grandchild of Caius was made Consull who after was called the Emperour Caesar Augustus In the 42. yeare of Augustus his raigne the first thereof beeing that 710. of Rome was our Sauiour borne This wee are taught by Eusebius not onely in his Chronicles but also very plainly in the second chapter of the first booke of his Ecclesiasticall historie It is verified also by Epiphanius and Onuphrius 51. Haeresi setting the time of Christ his birth in the thirteenth Consulship of Augustus with M. Plantius Silanus which was iust the 42. yeare from the beginning of that wherein Hersius and Pansa were Consuls and Augustus began his raigne as the Roman histories with great agreement declare adding then these 42. of Augustus to 709. more past before to the building of Rome wee haue that which by examination we sought that is the birth of Christ in the 751. yeare of Rome agreeably to the Olympicke reckoning from which 423. before Darius his death being deducted there remaines 328. yeres from the Persian Monarchie to Iesus Christ with some fiue or sixe months more betwixt the sommer season wherein Darius died and the time of winter wherein Christ was borne An other proofe we haue from learned writers in Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Strom. accounting 294. yeares from the death of Alexander to the victorie of Augustus Caesar against Antonius when he slew himselfe and Augustus nowe the fourth time was Consull which wordes by them are there added for distinctions sake to make it knowne what victorie they spake of For when as now a long time Augustus and Antonius had together gouerned the Roman Empire at the length falling at variance they made open warre one against another and fought betweene them by sea that famous battail at Actium a promontorie of Epirus nere Greece the second day of September from fiue of the clocke in the morning to seauen at night wherein Antonius with his glorious wife Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt was discomfited and fled This was done in the 722 yeare of Rome and the second of the 187. Olympiad and the time of Augustus Caesars third Consulship with Valerius Messala Coruinus The next yeare after Caesar nowe the fourth time beeing Consull with M. Licinius Crassus went against Antonius and Cleopatra into Aegypt where with happy successe he won from him a Citie of Egypt nere Lybia called Paraetonium and againe a little after ouercame him at Pharus and once againe euen in that fight wherein hee put great confidence of his goodly horses he was put to a shamefull foyle His onely refuge now left whereby hee hoped to stand was his nauie which when Antonius the first day of August betimes in the morning was now preparing to battell all fel away from him to Caesar whereat Antonius conceauing deadly griefe hasted to his Pallace and a little after seeing Caesar comming flat against him the citie troubled slew himselfe Cleopatra also not obtaining so much fauour of Augustus as she eyther looked for or desired opened her left arme to the byting of a poysonfull Serpent and so ended her life Augustus his enemies now being slain got Alexandria and the rest of Egypt with no great adoe and thenceforth had the whole gouernment of all the Roman Soueraigntie before the end of the same month which thereof was named Augustus beeing before that time called Sextilis of the number beeing the sixt from March Augustus Caesar saith Xiphilinus called the moneth Sextilis by the newe name of Augustus because hee was first made Consull got many victories therein But in Macrobius more plainely and especially amongst other causes of that moneth so to be termed in the honor of Augustus this is one set downe that therein Egypt was first subdued to the Romans These be the victories then which those ancient Chronologists in Clemens Alexandrinus make the end of 294. yeres from the death of Alexander respecting their beginning with the moneth of August and somewhat before For Alexander died towardes the end of Iulie in the verie entrie of the 114. Olympiad So that to and fro the same season of the yeare the distance being reckoned was iust so much that is to say 294. yeares which is likewise verified by an eye witnesse of those times whereof hee writeth and flourishing in them that is Dionysius Halicarnassaeus who in the Preface to his Roman antiquities telleth not by hearesay but of knowledge that he came into Italy when Augustus Caesar had made an ende of ciuill warres about the middest of the 187. Olympiad The time which he meaneth was that before declared of Augustus Caesars conquest ouer Antonius in Egypt in the moneth of August not farre from the beginning of the third yere of that Olimpiad which he nameth being indeed as hee saith neere the middest of that foure yeares Olympick space vnto which accounting from the first yere of the 114. wherein Alexander died we finde that number of the former Authors in Clemens euen 294. yeres The truth hereof is yet further confirmed by Ptolomie for exact accoūt of times exceeding skilfull who in the third book of his Almagest maketh the distance betweene the death of Alexander and the Monarchie of Augustus 294. Egyptian yeares The account whereof began with the beginning of their first moneth called Toth as Censorinus declareth in his booke de die natali and Ioseph Scaliger in diuers places which at that time fell about the twelfth day of our Nouember So long after the sommer season wherein Alexander died the Egyptians began their account of yeares after his death These 294. Egyptian yeres from the twelfth of Nouember expire not in the twelfth of Nouember againe but in the 29. day of August before and reach iust as farre as the same number of Roman yeares doth being begun from the 29. day of August before going The cause whereof is this that the Egyptian
fourteenth yeare of Augustus in the moneth of August yet the yeares of his Monarchie after the manner of the Romans began to bee reckoned from Ianuarie following in the beginning of the next yeare being his fifteenth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustus the king of the Romanes attayning the fifteenth yeare of his raigne got Egypt and the rest of the world saith Eusebius in his eyght booke de demonstratione Euangelij And in his Chronicles likewise hee beginneth the Monarchie of Augustus from the same his fifteenth yeare For foureteene yeares then past being added to 28. following the number is 42. The same beginning of Augustus his Monarchie from that yeere is confirmed by Paulus Orosius in the sixt booke of his Historie against the Gentiles Where hauing declared in the nineteenth chapter of that booke that Antonius and Cleopatra now forsaken of their nauie which in the beginning of August had turned to Caesar for griefe slew themselues And that Caesar after passed from thence into Syria by land and then into Asia and at length by Greece into Italie in the next chapter immediatly he addeth that Augustus Caesar in the yeare following wherein himselfe now the fift time and L. Apuleius were Consuls the sixt daye of Ianuarie entred into Rome with three triumphes Atque ex eo die summa rerum ac potestatem penes vnum caepit esse mansit quod Graeci Monarchiam vocant And from that daye saith Orosius the soueraigntie and cheefe power called of the Grecians a Monarchie begun to be in one mans hand and so remained Ioseph Scaliger I can but maruaile at in his sixt book de emendatione temporum affirming that Christ our Lorde was borne in the seuen and twentie yeare after the victorie at Actium which is short of the time by mee set for his birth in the 42. of Augustus by two yeares and more For the yeare of Christs birth was the 30. at the least after the Actiac victorie 29. full yeares beeing past and almost foure moneths Now touching the moneth and daye of our Sauiours birth I see no cause why we ought to referre that constant opinion of ancient Fathers that it was the 25. of December receaued of Augustine Orosius Chrysostom and other from them continued nowe by many ages to this daye except direct proofe can be brought to the contrarie Which Beroaldus after his wonted manner goeth about in the second chapter of his fourth booke of Chronicles affirming in plaine words that our Lorde Iesus Christ was borne in the middest of the moneth September when the daye and night is of one length His reason to proue that assertion of his is in this manner Christ preached three yeares and a halfe before his death this is prooued by the words of Daniel in his ninth chapter Hee shal confirme the couenant to many one weeke and halfe that weeke shall abolish sacrifice and offering which saith Beroaldus is to be vnderstoode of Christ preaching three yeares and a halfe from his baptizing to his death Now that his baptisme begun together with the 30. yeere of his age is testified by Luke in his third chapter the 23. verse where Christ is sayd to haue entred the 30. yeere of his age when he was baptized The end of the last halfe yeere wherein Christ dyed being the 14. day of the Iewes Nisan and of our March Leaue as well the begining thereof as consequently the birth of Christ to the 14. of September In deede if those his interpretations of Daniel and Luke in these places were both of them certaine and cleare as he sayeth they are his proof were good but if either of them faile his reason is not worth a strawe And so farre they are from being both certaine that neither of them both is sure Scaliger maketh it an vndoubted thing that they are otherwise to bee vnderstood referring the wordes of Daniell to the beseging and warre against Ierusalem by the Romanes and making the time of Christes preaching not three yeeres and a halfe but full foure Beda and Ignatius made it onely three yeeres after his baptisme And Apollinaris with diuers other eyther on or two at the most And as for the wordes of Luke a precise exact beginning of the thirtie yeere of Christes age can not be gathered of them Seeing hee vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing a doubtfull and imperfect number wherevnto somewhat more or lesse may be added or taken away and signifying that Christ begunne to bee about thirtie yeeres of age at the time of his baptisme As in our English bible it is well translated and so vnderstood by Epiphanius and Iustinus Martir and Augustine with some other of the ancient fathers Wherfore this his best reason is too weake to pull backe the receaued time of Christes birth from the 25. day of December to the 14. of September An other argument of his is taken from the custome of the Greeke and the Egyptian churches beginning their yeare from September Whence also the indictions haue their begining This saith Beroaldus they did because they knew that Christ was borne in the middest of September And how proueth he that Beroaldus for sooth sayth so The mans bare yea was enough belike to perswade the simple and vnskilfull Other reason he bringeth none at all either from authoritie or otherwise Neither in deed do I see how he could possibly bring any For it is a thing held without controuersie that the cause of the yeres beginning in the midst of September was the memorie not of Christes birth but of the glorious conquest of Alexander against Darius at Gaugamela retained long after euen in the Greeke church Which Scaliger out of Epiphanius declareth in his second booke De emendatione temporum the chapter of Calippus his period beginning in Autumne and also in his fift booke the chapter of the councell of Nice which by Socrates was set downe to haue bene in the 636. yeere of Alexander But what shall we need goe further then to Beroaldus himselfe for confirmation hereof who euen in the verie next Chapter before going had prooued by the Greeke Canons the first Tome of councels printed at Paris that the Greeke church counted their yeres from Alexander If the Greeke church counted frō Alexander and that accompt of Alexanders yeeres begun in the Equinoctiū of Autumne as Scaliger teacheth about mid September how can the cause and custome of this reckoning be referred to Christs natiuitie as for the Egyptians the first month of their yeere called Thoth before they were subdewed by Augustus went through all the monthes and seasons of the yere some times in Februarie after in Ianuarie and so in order to Februarie againe But after Antonius and Cleopatra were ouerthrowen and Egipt made one of the Roman prouinces won by Augustus Caesar in the month of August the first of their Thoth was not the 14. of September nor any part of it but the 29. of August and that in
is true yet making it the 72. of Christs birth he therein erreth and is at strife with himselfe for how can this possibly stand that the second sommer of the 212. Olympiad should be the 72. yere from the third winter of the 194 Olympiad wherein Christ was borne H. Bunting in his Chronologie did hit the marke right affirming that Ierusalem was destroyed in the 71. yeare of Christ the 822. of Rome Vespasian the second time and his Son Titus being Consull the second yere of the 212 Olympiad The day wherein the Temple was set on fire by Iosephus is obserued euen the 10. of August Conflagrante nouissimo templo numerabantur a nauitate Christi 70. anni cum diebus 221. From the natiuitie of Christ to the burning of the last Temple were 70. yeres and 200. and one and twentie dayes saith Laurence Codoman in his Chronicles of holy scripture which is most certainely true and confirmed of him againe in the fourth booke of his chronologie toward the end of the 29. chapter where notwithstanding he also hath his errour in numbring 105. yeres to that time from the beginning of Herods raigne at his taking of Ierusalem beeing at the least 106. full yeares with three weekes ouer For Ierusalem was taken of him about the beginning of the fourth yeare of the 185. Olympiad Wherein M. Agrippa and Canidius Gallus were Consuls the seauenteenth day of the Iewes fourth month called Tamuz answering in parte to our Iune and partlie to Iulie as appeareth by Iosephus in the end of his fourteenth book of antiquities compared with Ben Gorion his fourth booke the 23. chapter The Temple by Titus his souldiers was fired the ninth day of their next moneth called Ab as we read in the end of his seder olam rabba and the eight day of the next moneth following the Citie it selfe was set on fire by them Vnto which time Iosephus from Herods beginning before mentioned counteth 107. yeares in his 20. booke of Antiquities the eight chapter beeing no more but 106. yeres with seauen weekes more Therefore according to the vsuall custome of Historiographers he reckoneth a part of the last yeare for the whole and his meaning is that the burning of the citie hapned in the 107. yere after Herods beginning to raigne and that the distance betwixt the one and the other was 107. yeres running on so as the last of them was not yet compleat By that which hitherto hath beene prooued it appeareth that from the beginning of the Persian Monarchie and the first yeare of Cyrus to the end of the Iewes common wealth in the second of Vespasian were 628. yeares so much time more as had past partly before the second yeare of the 55. Olympiad to the beginning of Cyrus and partlie after the end of the first yeare of the 112. Olympiad to the eight of September following wherein the holie City of God Ierusalem was set on fire that if account be made from the entrie of that 55. Olympiad to the time wherein the Citie was burned the whole space is euen 629. yeres with some two monethes more or there abouts Thus I end my reckoning of the times within the compasse whereof Daniels weeks haue runne out their course which is the first help requisite to the vnderstanding of Daniels meaning The second now followeth that is a true interpretation of his wordes for though the fulfilling of those weekes is contained within the reach of those 629. yeares and odde monethes before spoken of yet in what time thereof they began or ended that is a controuersie to the discussing whereof this second help may happely bring some light THE NINTH CHAPTER OF DANIEL THE 24. verse Vers 24. Seuentie weekes are determined vpon thy people and vpon thy holy Citie to sinish wickednesse and to ende sinne and to make reconciliation for iniquitie and to bring righteousnesse euerlasting and to seale vp vision and Prophet and to annoynt the holy of holies Vers 25. Know then and vnderstand from the going forth of the worde to builde againe Ierusalem vnto Messias the Gouernour shall be seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes it shall be builded againe streete and wall and in troublesome times Vers 26. And after those threescore and two weeks shal Messias be cut off and he shal haue no being and the citie sanctuarie shall the people of the come gouernour destroy the end thereof shall be with a flood and vnto the ende of the warre shall be a precise iudgement of desolations Vers 27. And he shall make a sure couenant to many one weeke halfe that weeke he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease and for the ouerspreading of abominations shall be desolation which to vtter and precise destruction shall be powred vpon the desolate FOr the plainer vnderstanding and proofe of this interpretation I haue thought good to set downe cerraine annotations thereon where need shall require In the 24. verse weekes The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a weeke or as wee also terme it a sennet or seuenet which better fitteth the Hebrew hauing that force as likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and septimana in Latine all so called of the number of seauen but it is to bee obserued that the Hebrew word here vsed signifieth sometime the space of seauen dayes as here in this prophesie the tenth chapter and second verse where Daniel saith that hee mourned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three weeks or seuenets of dayes and in the sixteenth of Deuteronomie the ninth verse where commandement is giuen from Easter to Whitsontide to number seuen weeks or seuenets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And sometime it containeth seuen yeres as in the 29. chapter the 27 verse of Genesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulfill her seuenet and then shee also shall bee giuen vnto thee for the seruice which thou shalt serue me yet seuen yeares more The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in approued Authors is in like manner vsed not onelie for seauen dayes but also euen for seuen yeares space and namely in the end of the seauenth booke of Aristotles politikes where mention is made of such as deuided ages by seuenets of yeares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Varro also in his first booke of Images writing se iam duodecimam annorum hebdomadam ingressum esse That hee had now entred into the 12. sennet of yeares expresseth it more plainely and fullie In this signification I take the worde in this place vnderstanding by 70. seuenets 490. yeares hauing proofe thereof from holy Scripture and prophane writer As for those which stretch the worde further to a seuenet of tents or Iubilies or hundreds of yeeres as some haue done their opinion hath neither warrant from God his word nor any likelihood of trewth Are determined The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth properly to cut and by a metaphor from thence borowed to determine as hereafter I shal haue occasion to declare
then he yet so as he hath likewise done that for other which Scaliger did for him that is left somewhat behind to bee vnderstood of other which himselfe neuer attained Especially in the 26. verse where it is said that after those 62. weekes Messias shall be cut off Where Master Iunius vseth some wresting by turning the future tence into the preterperfect and leauing out some coniunctions and changing other thereby making the accusatiue case of the nominatiue reiecting the ancient interpretations Greeke and Latin without any cause These inconueniences they are of force driuen vnto who by the word Messias doe not with Eusebius and the Hebrew expositors vnderstand the anointed gouernours Some may here say vnto mee Is it not plaine by the 24. verse that Daniel in this prophesie speaketh of Iesus Christ the redeemer of the worlde of whose death so many singular and notable effects are declared therein of abolishing sinne of reconciling sinners vnto the fauour of God and bringing euerlasting righteousnesse and fulfilling whatsoeuer had been foretold by the former Prophets of him I answere to this that of all other places in the old Testament touching the comming of Christ whereof there is great store that verse of Daniel is most excellent and cleere yet withall I deny that by the name of Messias in the verses following Christ our Sauiour is vnderstood For neither the true account of yeares will suffer it nor the text of holie Scripture beare it But how then is it here sayd that 70. weekes were decreed for abolishing sinne and making attonement if Christ came not in the ende of those 70. weekes The meaning is that within the space of those 70. weekes Christ by his passion should worke that redemption and saluation from sinne and wrath to the world As Tertullian speaketh in his booke against the Iewes where writing of the passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ he saith that it was perfected in the time of Tiberius Caesar Intra tempora septuaginta hebdomadarum within the times of the seuentie weekes I am not ignorant that by the Hebrew writers it is a thing acknowledged and granted that Christ came in the verie ende of those weekes For they held that their Messias should begin to raigne at the destruction of Ierusalem And therefore Rabbi Leui ben Gershom expounding those wordes of this text to bring euerlasting righteousnesse and to seale vp vision and prophet referreth the fulfilling thereof to the kingdome of Christ which hee calleth the fift kingdome because it was to succeede the other foure spoken of before in the second and seuenth chapters of this prophesie It was an olde tradition amongst the Hebrews of auncient time receiued from the schoole of Elias declared in their Talmud in the treatise Sanhedrim the eleuenth chapter and diuers other places that the world should endure sixe thousand yeres whereof two thousand should bee voyd without the lawe two thousand vnder the law and two thousand the time of Christ Whereby the iudgement appeareth concerning the comming of Christ that it should be at the desolation of the holie citie immediatly after the ceasing of the law For the law then ceased and all the ceremonies thereof ended when Ierusalem the seat of God his worship according to that lawe was destroyed by Titus and neither place nor people there left anie longer for the law-seruice of God Diuers such testimonies of the auncient Hebrewes are recorded by Philip of Morney Lord of Plessie in his book of the truth of Christian Religion the 29. and 30. chapters wherby he gathereth that it was a common opinion among them that the Messias should come about the destruction of the Temple R. Hama the sonne of Hauina in the same chapter of the Talmudicall treatise before alleadged sayd that the sonne of David should not come so long as any soueraigne authoritie were it neuer so small remained in Israel Also R. Mili alleadging Rabbi Eliezer the sonne of Simeon sayd that Christ should not come vntill there were a cleane riddance of all Iudges Magistrates in Israel And R. Moses Haddarsan vpon the 49. of Genesis gaue this iudgement of the Iewes Senate consisting of seuentie Elders or Iudges called Sanhedrim that they were not to cease before the comming of the Messias Let vs then examine when the authoritie of those Iudges and all gouernment ceased in Ierusalem that thereby wee may know the time of Christ his comming by the Hebrew writers opinion That honorable Lord of Plessie in his booke before mentioned hauing cited the testimonie of Philo in his booke of Times to proue that Herod slew al the Sanhedrim about the 30. yeare of his raigne affirmeth that to be the time wherein the soueraigntie and iurisdiction of Iuda did cease not for a few dayes or yeares but for a continual time How this may stand for trueth I cannot perceiue For to say nothing of that fained Philo an author forged in the shop of Annius his toying braine it is well knowne that the common-wealth of Ierusalem and Iewrie flourished with princely rule and other gouernment of Magistrates yea of the very Sanhedrim themselues aboue three score and ten yeares after that time euen to Ierusalems desolation Christ in the 30. yeare of Herod was yet vnborne who about the 33. yeare of his age in the sixteenth of Matthew foretold to his Disciples what he was to suffer of the Elders and chiefe Priests and Scribes All these were gouernours and rulers of the citie and by the name of Elders the best interpreters haue especially vnderstood those Sanhedrim hauing great reason for it For these Sanhedrim were nothing els but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 70. Elders of the great Consistorie or iudgemeat place in Ierusalem As by Elias Leuita they are described in his Tishbi The old Rabbins in their Talmud haue borowed from the Greeke tongue many words whereof this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanhedrim is one signifying a sitting of Iudges or Senatours together in councell or iudgement So it is taken in the 107. Psalme the 32. verse by the Chaldie interpreter where for these Hebrew wordes there vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let thē praise him in the sitting that is the assemblie of the Elders The Targum hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Let them praise him in the sitting together of the wise expressing the word of sitting by Sanhedrim as Synedrion in Greeke is taken Christ therefore in the fift of Matthew saying Whosoeuer calleth his brother Raca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be bound ouer to a sessions or sitting meaneth the sitting in iudgement of the Sanhedrim applying his speech to the manner of the ciuill iudgements in Ierusalem Iosephus in his 20. booke of Antiquities the eight chapter telleth that when Festus the Romane gouernour was dead Ananus the high priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made the assemblie of the Iudges to sit by whom Iames the brother of Christ was adiudged to be stoned This happened