in this all followed Calvin Their chiefest reason is the same which induced them to take the easterly Chanel for the Phison for that being laid it was a consequence of their opinion to say that the Gehon was the westerly Chanel They had another peculiar reason for it because they took the Province of Chus watered by that River for Arabia and knew none other of that name but Arabia and Aethiopia But I shall make it appear how much they were mistaken in that particular which would be enough to overthrow their opinion VII But it will be a more sure means to do it if we shew that the Gehon is the easterly Chanel of the two which divide the Euphrates and Tigris after their coming together Now as from the opinion of those who take the Phison for the easterly Chanel it follows that the Gehon is the westerly one it follows also from ours according to which the Phison is the westerly Chanel and Chavilah watered by the Phison the first Province that one meets on the West of the mouth of the Euphrates It follows I say from that System that the Gehon is the easterly Chanel and that the Province of Chus which the Gehon runneth through is the first Province that one meets at the East of the mouth of the Euphrates VIII That Chanel coming from the Euphrates as the Phison and falling into the same Sea is subject to the same Increases and Overflowings but yet not so great because its Banks are not so low By reason of those Overflowings it got the name of Gehon or as the Hebrews write and pronounce it Gichon from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guach which signifieth to slip away That little Brook near Jerusalem had the same name for the same reason because it watered the neighbouring Gardens It was called otherwise Siloë 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That word in the Gospel is rendred by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schaluach that is to say sent slipped away diverted led to water the Soils That is the reason why the Paraphrast Jonathan having found the word Gehon in the Hebrew Text of the first Book of Kings he rendred it by the word Siloa I shall not lose time in producing all the other Etymologies of that word which the Fathers the Interpreters and the Rabbins contrived I will only insist on that which Josephus mentions He expounds Gehon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is produced which runneth out of the East He adds that it is the Nile according to the Error of the Ancients who confounded the Indies and Aethiopia and supposed them to be as well as the Spring of the Nile at the East of Egypt He shewed in this place as in many others that though he was a Jew he was never the more skilled for that in the Hebrew Tongue for he derives the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nagah which signifies to shine to glitter whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nogah Lucifer the Morning Star and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noghi the day light and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giah brightness splendor and the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magaha the Aurora the Morning And from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giah Josephus supposed that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gehon was derived not knowing that the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gichon and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gihon or if he knew it yet he was ignorant that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gichon had a more natural and not so far fetched derivation However if this derivation takes place it will confirm my opinion and mark the Situation of that Chanel towards the East in respect to the Phison which is towards the West IX I have already said that Moses hath not affixed so many marks on the Gehon as on the Phison because this last being known the Situation of the others would be sufficient to make them known for the Phison being the first in respect to Arabia Petraea where Moses was writing the second which was the Gehon was necessarily the next to it viz. the easterly Chanel of the two into which the Euphrates is divided for it could not be looked for farther without contravening the words of Moses which do expresly declare that this River was joined with the three others in Paradise They were so perswaded of it that as I think nothing more induced Men to believe that the Nile came out of the Euphrates as Pausanias and Philostratus do assure us it was believed than the opinion which they held that the Gehon was the Nile and that besides it went for certain that the Gehon was a branch of the Euphrates The Gehon had perhaps been more easily known by the traces of its name if Posterity had kept them but it hath been hidden under the names of Phison and Pasitigris which spread themselves and covered it as I shewed before CHAP. XIII Continuation of the Explanation of the Thirteenth Verse I. The name of Chus is given to Aethiopia Arabia and Susiana Here is meant the last II. Which in Scripture is stiled Cutha and now-a-days Chuzestan III. We find some foot-steps of the word Chus in the names of the Cosseans and Cissians Inhabitants of Susiana IV. Why it was said that Memnon was an Aethiopian V. Of Memnon's Statue which they said spoke when the rising Sun shined upon it VI. The truth of Memnon's History VII Confirmed by the Testimony of some Ancients I. VErse 13. The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Chus This is the chiefest mark that Moses gave us to know the Gehon but this mark being peculiar it will be as good as a thousand more That we may shew it we must explain what is the meaning of Chus I find three Provinces of that name Aethiopia Arabia and Susiana These two first divided the name of Chus which is a general word comprehending the Countries that are on both sides of the Arabian Gulf commonly called the Red Sea M. Bochart pretended in his Phaleg that Aethiopia is no where in Scripture called Chus but I think I made good the contrary in my Observations on Origen This Region of Chus or Aethiopia was then divided into two parts along both the sides of the Arabian Gulf and even beyond its mouth called at present Babelmandâ—l the easterly one which made a part of the great Peninsula of Arabia and the westerly which is between that Gulf and the Nile Homer Herodotus and some others divided in this manner the Aethiopians who inhabited that Country and were neighbours to Egypt into easterly and westerly And Eustathius tells us the Ancients so understood the words of Homer This is the reason why the Homerites a People in Arabia situated on the southerly Coast are called Aethiopians by Stephanus the Geographer And Holstenius tho' he was a very learned Man yet because he knew not
Valley deserved the Name of Eden or rather of Beth-Eden that is to say House of Pleasure by reason of its Fertility and Pleasantness This induced some to believe That the earthly Paradise stood there and they were the more perswaded of it because they found in the Neighbourhood a Town called Paradise mentioned by Pliny and Ptolomy They sought also there the place where Adam was created and that where Cain killed his Brother and perswaded themselves to have found 'em there But all these Conjectures disappear when you go to compare 'em with the Text of Moses and all the Circumstances that are marked in it and when you find there neither Phison nor Gehon nor Chavilah nor Chus Such was Adana a Town in Cilicia so called by reason of the goodness of its Soil and the pleasantness of its Situation Such is also the Village of Eden near Tripoli in Syria on the way which leads unto Libanon where some have placed the earthly Paradise And finally such is that famous Port called Adana or Aden so much resorted to these many Hundred Years which for having been the most delightful place of a very delightful Country I mean of the Arabia Felix hath been called it self Arabia Felix as comprehending in it all the Beauties of that Country Tho' besides that Adana there was another in the middle of the same Country bearing the same Name with the first for the same Reason It is no wonder then that the Arabians who inhabited that Province believed that Paradise was amongst ' em VII Having as I think clearly demonstrated that the Name of Eden is the proper Name of a Place we must now endeavour to discover its Situation that we may know that of Paradise which was the noblest Part of it We read in the fourth Book of Kings and in Isaiah That Sennacherib King of Assyria designing to terrifie Ezechias who had rebelled against him boasts that he had destroyed the Countries of Gozan of Haran of Reseph and of the Children of Eden who were in Thelassar The Learned agree that Gozan is the Gauzanitis a Province in Mesopotamia that Haran and Reseph are Carrhae and Rescipha Cities in the same Land of Mesopotamia the first of which hath been famous by the overthrow of Crassus That Eden is the same Country where Moses hath placed Paradise and that Thelassar is Talatha a City in Babylonia placed by Ptolomy upon the Canal of the Tigris and Euphrates join'd together And when Stephanus the Geographer speaks of a City on the Euphrates called Adana we are almost sure that he means some retired place of the Inhabitants of the Land of Eden which took its Name from it In the Prophecy of the Prophet Ezekiel about the destruction of Tyre when he enumerates the Nations with whom this powerful City used to Trade he puts Haran and Chene and Eden together Here is again Haran and Eden joined together which shews That the same places are to be understood as in the precedent Text that is Carrhae in Mesopotamia and the Country of Eden mentioned by Moses And the Interpreters agree to it Now in these Two places the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden is marked with Six Points which shews how vain is the forementioned distinction of the Rabbins betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden marked with Five Points and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden marked with Six The Land of Eden extended it self below yea perhaps also above the coming together of the Tigris and Euphrates and took up a good part of that vast Country which hath since been called Babylonia At first Babylonia ended at the joining together of the Tigris and Euphrates The Land which lies below that coming together as far as the Persian Gulf is called Iraque by Alferganus commonly called Alfragan by Abulfeda and other Arabian Geographers from the Name Erec which with Babylon and other places was the beginning of the Kingdom of Nimrod These are the Words of Moses Ere◠was a Town situated on the common Canal of the Tigris and Euphrates Babylon was situated on the Euphrates above the joining of the Two Rivers These Two Towns gave their Name to Two Provinces Babylonia extended it self as far as the joining of the Rivers and the Province of Erec or Iraque extended it self all along the common Canal of these two Rivers on the Right and the Left Hand from their joining together to their coming into the Sea Time hath altered these things Iraque hath extended it self to Babylonia Assyria and Media and gave 'em its Name and Babylonia possessed it self of the whole ancient Province of Iraque I say then that the earthly Paradise was situated in Eden a part of the Province of Babylonia or Iraque which extended it self all along the common Chanel of the Two great Rivers near the place where was the ancient Town of Erec or Aracca according to the Position of Ptolomy CHAP. III. A Continuation of the Explanation of the Eighth Verse I. New Ambiguity of this Verse in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 II. Mikkedem may signifie both Time and Place III. We might prove it by the ancient Custom of the Christians of turning their Churches Eastward IV. Moses makes constantly use of the Word Mikkedem to signifie a Place V. Moses meant here by the Word Mikkedem that Paradise was situated in the Eastern Part of Eden I. VErse 8. Eastward the Hebrew Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem which I render by this Word Eastward is the Cause of a great many new Ambiguities and diversity of Explanations For as it may signifie both Time and Place the Author of the Vulgar Translation who is no other here than St. Jerom the Graecian Translators Aquila Theodotion and Symmachus the Chaldaick Paraphrasts Onkelos and Jonathan and the Interpreters who make open Profession of following the Vulgar Translation have taken it in the first Sence and rendred it in the beginning This very Translation is ambiguous for some understand it as if this Garden had been planted before the Creation of the World The Author of the Fourth Book of Esdras Jonathan the Paraphrast and St. Jerom himself as I told you before are of that Opinion Some make it only as old as the World and the greatest part pretend that it was planted the Third Day of the Creation Those who believe that by the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem is meant a Place and not Time are not all of the same Mind for some are perswaded that it signifies the extremity of the East others and those more in number and of greater Learning maintain That the Word East is never given in Scripture to the Regions that are beyond the Persian Gulf but only to those that lie betwixt that Gulf and Judaea I mean Arabia Chaldaea Mesopotamia and Persia I shall add this Proof to theirs That the Chaldaeans who dwelt towards the lower part of the Euphrates were called Sabaeans
of Cilicia is the same as Pyramus 110 Gehon near Jerusalem called Siloe 10â— The old Geography is not very certain 41 74 Getulia Chavilath 84 Gezair why so called 147 Gichon a name of Nilus 105 Giulfal affordeth precious Stones 102 The Persian Gulf hath a great many Meers 77 Gordiaean Mountains 152 Adonis Gardens their origin 17 Alcinous's Gardens their origin 145 Hesperides Gardens their origin ibid. Jupiter's Gardens their origin ibid. Golden Garden given to Pompey by Aristobulus 17 Gardens of Syria 146 Gardens of the World four famous places of Asia 148 Gardens of Eastern Princes and their origin 17 H HAoula Ceilan 124 Hippopotames of Ganges 41 Hippopotames of the River Petzora ibid. Hydaspes Phison 72 Hyphasis Phison ibid. cureth Fevers ibid. bringeth forth the Clove-tree ibid. The Hebrew names of precious Stones are not understood I JAtsa in Hebrew signifieth a course of Waters 43 Jaxartes called Sichon 109 The Indies and Aethiopia confounded by the Ancients 114 The name of the Indies from Eden Indus Phison 72 Indoscythia 97 Josephus corrected 114 135 Jraqua a Province its Territories â—â— Happy Islands and their origin 145 Jupiter is Nilus according to the Egyptians 108 K KEdem or East Countries situated near the Eastern Bank of the Tigris 28 29 Kidmath and its signification 137 L LOvain Divines their opinion of Paradise 14 M MAhomet's opinion concerning the Rivers of the Earthly Paradise 49 Manna had the colour of Bedolach 92 Mausal confounded with Ninive 139 Melas and Melo names of the Nilus 106 Memnon born in Susiana 28 121 12â— The truth of the History of Memnon 127 Memnonian Walls of Sufa 121 Palaces of Susa ibid. way 128 Citadel of Susa 124 The Sea of the Indies 95 The Sea of Persia ibid. The Sea of Aethiopia ibid. Messene Island 56 64 Mocali a River N NAbathean Eastern 125 Nichal name of Nilus 106 Naharmalca a Chanel or Cut. 136 Naharfares Gehon 104 Naid See Nod. Nebuchadonozor did turn the Waters of Euphrates by many Chanels 58 Nebuchadonozor mastered the Violence of the Persian Sea 62 Nebuchadonozor or Baltasar named Lucifer Son of Aurora 122 Nilus why so named 105 106 hath its Spring in the Indies 2 cometh from Euphrates 42 Nilus Gehon 5 12 105 why said to fall from Jupiter 108 one of the Gods ibid. esteemed Holy ibid. Nilus black 107 compared to an Arrow its Overflowings 108 Ninive confounded with Mausal 139 Nod and Naid and its signification 149 Nozelim and its signification 52 Nuchul name of Nilus 107 O ONyx is the Sardonyx-stone 99 was only found in Arabia 102 Oroatis a River named Pasitigris by the Soldiers of Alexander 81 Oâ—â—s Nilus 108 Osiris Nilus ibid. Oxus Gehon 109 P PAllacopa a Chanel of Euphrates 61 The Terrestrial Paradise where situated 12 its Rivers supposed to run under ground Paradise of God what it is in the Scripture 145 a River of Cilicia 110 a City of Syria 21 Pasitigris 81 Pearls of the Persian Gulf. 93 Pontus Euxinus The Persians ignorant in Navigation 61 Persian words many in modern Languages 133 Pesilim stones in Syrias 144 Phasis Phison 73 Phison is the Western Chanel of Tigris and Euphrates 13 75 Phison why so named 76 hath given its name to other Rivers 81 Precious Stones in the Persian Gulf. 101 Two only in the Breast-plate of the Jewish High-Priest have kept their names 98 Pliny corrected ibid. Pluto's Meadows 145 Pyramus Gehon 101 R REgma City of Arabia 90 Rosch and its signification 51 S SChanged into t and th 120 Saba near Chavilah 101 Sabbi the Christians of St. John 125 Sabéans rich People 88 Sabéans a name common to many People 89 Sabéans People 88 Sabians Eastern People 124 Scaliger corrected 119 Schat el Arab a River 45 81 Schichor Nilus 106 Schoham what it signifieth 98 Scythia and Indoscythia part of the Southern Indies 97 Schirath is Syrias in Josephus 151 Sichon Cydnus 110 Siloâ— a Torrent why so named 113 114 Siris and Sirius names of Nilus 107 Solinus corrected 134 Sollax or Sulax Tigris and its origin 134 Solymi Pisidians 128 The Sun worshipped by many People 124 Sur a Mountain in the Western part of Arabia near the Holy Land 86 163 Susa why so named 120 Syrias and its Situation 144 Syria why so called 138 The Syrians Love Gardens 146 Schat-el-Arab a River of the Arabians 81 The Fortress of Spasines 63 The Sabians Book 124 The Wise Men câ—me from Saba to worship our Lord. 90 T THE Astronomical Tables of the Cananaeans 151 Taijaron and its signification 134 Talatha See Thelassar 23 Talisman's Images of the Sun 124 The Temple of Solomon why turned Westward 32 The Temples of the Romans set Westward and after Eastward ibid. Teredon a City near the Chanel of Phison 65 97 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Golden Garden of Aristobulus 17 Thelassar or Talatha a City of Babylonia 23 Thor for Sor. 120 Tigris its Spring course and its divers Chanals 56 thought to have the same Spring as Euphrates 42 The Chanel of Tigris is very low 59 Tigris why so named 135 Tigris's false Origins Tigris a River and Tigre an Animal 133 Tigris Sollax and Sùlax 134 Tigris a common name to many Rivers 136 Tigris signifieth an Arrow in the Persian Tongue 133 Tithonus 127 Tojor an Arrow in the Persian Tongue 133 Trajan in danger in the Island which separateth the Tigris and Euphrates 62 65 Tylos Island now called Baharen 94 V A Good Version ought to represent all the Ambiguities of the original Hebrew 16 BOOKS Sold by James Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard THE Memoirs of Monsieur de Pontis who served in the French Army 56 Years under Henry IV. Lewis XIII and Lewis XIV Kings of France containing many remarkable Passages relating to the War the Court and the Government of those Princes Faithfully Englished at the Request of his Grace the late Duke of Ormond By Charles Cotton Esq Folio Lord Bacon's Essays Octavo Scrivener's Directions to a Holy Life Octavo Dr. Barrow of Contentment c. Octavo Sir William Temple's Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War in 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679. 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willingly did take upon me that Debt and should clear it one time or other I do it now Gentlemen and I 'll endeavour that it may be in good coin But to confess the truth in this I do not so much perform my Promise as I follow my Inclination And as I have had the honour for many years of being a Member of your Society and having been received amongst you in so favourable a manner I am very glad to give you publickly this mark of my Thankfulness and to shew the World that I glory in the title of being with you a Member of the Academy But above all I most passionately desire to express the great Veneration I have for a Society so famous for the Vertue Honour Politeness great Parts and great Learning of its Members and more to be valued for those Qualities which put it far out of the reach of Detraction and Envy than for the eminent Dignities of most of the Members of it II. But yet Gentlemen don't expect here an Elegancy of Speech nor Fineness of Thoughts You must on the contrary prepare your selves to a dry Reading to a thoâ—â—y Inquiry to the Tediousness of Citations and to hear some Greek and Hebrew Words A matter as dark as this is cannot be made clear but by these helps I call it dark for altho' the Wit and Learning of the Fathers of the Church of the Interpreters of Holy Scripture and of all sorts of learned Men hath been more employed about this matter than any other and altho' it hath produced an infinite number of Books yet there is hardly any certainty in it Their number will render my attempt excusable and if I do not succeed their example will merit pardon III. Nothing will shew more evidently how little the Situation of the Earthly Paradise is known than the variety of Opinions of those who inquired about it They placed it in the third Heaven in the fourth in the Orb of the Moon in the Moon it self upon a Mount near the Orb of the Moon in the middle Region of the Air out of the Earth upon the Earth under the Earth in a hidden place and far beyond the Knowledge of Men. They placed it under the artick Pole in Tartaria in the place where now is the Caspian Sea Others have placed it as far as the extremity of the South in the Land of Fire Many will have it to be in the East either along the sides of the River Ganges or in the Isle of Ceilan deriving also the name of Indies from the word Eden which is the name of the Province where Paradise stood They have placed it in China and beyond the East also in a place uninhabited Others in America others in Africa under the Aequator others in the Aequinoctial-East others upon the Mountains of the Moon from which they thought the Nile sprung The greatest part in Asia some in the great Armenia others in Mesopotamia or in Assyria or in Persia or in Babylonia or in Arabia or in Syria or in Palaestina Some also would have honoured with it our Europe and which is beyond the greatest Impertinency placed it at Hedin a City in Artois upon no other ground than the Affinity of that name with the word Eden I do not despair but some Adventurer to have it nearer to us will one day undertake to place it at Houdan IV. This variety of opinions is not only about the Situation of Paradise but also about those things which have any relation to it The Phison which was one of the branches of the River that did water it many think to be the Ganges others the Nile the Hyphasis the Cyrus the Danube also and in fine the eastern Channel through which the Tigris and Euphrates being joined discharge themselves into the Persian Gulf. They will have the Country of Chavilah through which this River passes to be the Indies they will have it to be the Susiana some a part of Arabia They are divided about the Bdellium which is to be found there and they do not know whether it is an aromatical Gum or a precious Stone or Pearls They are no less divided about the Onyx being uncertain whether it is really the Onyx or the Sardonyx or the Beryl or the Carbuncle or the Crystal The Gehon which was another branch of the same River that sprung out of Paradise is the Nile according to the most common opinion others will have it to be the Gehon a Brook near Jerusalem which the Scripture calls in other places Siloe others affirm that it is the Araxus and some more clear-sighted but yet not enough will have it to be the western mouth of the Tigris joyned with the Euphrates All do not agree that the Province which the Gehon crosses called Chus in the Hebrew Text and Aethiopia in the vulgar Translation be Aethiopia in Africa some being of opinion it is that other in Arabia V. I pass over many other questions which are treated of in the Books of Divines and even of the Fathers as that which is proposed by St. Austin viz. Whether Paradise be Spiritual or Material or both together As this other viz. Whether it was created before the World as St. Jerom seems to believe with the ancient Hebrews and the Author of the fourth Book of Esdras or Whether it was created on the third day with the Plants of the Earth or whether it was created in the order observed by Moses in speaking of it Such also as these are viz. What was its extent which some Interpreters have as boldly determined as if they had measured it some making it equal to that of the whole East others to that of Asia and Africa together some to that of the whole Earth and the Talmudists who set no bounds to their own Extravagancies making it threescore times larger Whether there were any living Creatures in it which some have denied forgetting the Serpent who seduced our first Parents and even not admitting in it the Bird of Paradise Whether it be still in being Whether Enoch Elias and St. John the Evangelist have been carried thither alive as into a place of Refuge against Death to continue there until the end of the World All these Questions do not belong to my subject and I only intend to inquire into the Situation of Paradise VI. Of late Mr. Bochart whom I look upon to have been one of the most learned Men of his Age did intend to treat of this matter This he declares in some places of his Writings and he speaks of it as if the work had been already finished and as if his Phaleg had been but a sequel of it Yet I heard from one of his Relations that after his Death they found nothing amongst his Papers but a very imperfect draught of his design which even doth not declare what opinion he was of It were to be wished that he had performed his Enterprize No body was more
by the Arabians and Jews that is to say Eastern and their Book concerning Husbandry so often quoted by Rabbi Maimonides was called the Easterly Book and that the Christians of St. John which live about Bassora which is a part of the ancient Chaldaea bear still that Name I shall add to this That besides the Regions just now named by me and called Eastern by the Sacred Authors those also that were situated along the easterly side of the Tigris are more especially called as by their proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kedem East And this hath given occasion to the Poets to feign that Memnon was the Son of Aurora or the Morning because he was born in Susiana a Province adjoining to that of Eden As the easterly side of the Trigris was called East so the Westerly was on the contrary called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ereb West from whence Arabia took its Name The Word East being thus a relative Term and seeing that one and the same place may be easterly and westerly if diversly considered Arabia hath been called East as also its neighbouring Provinces in respect to Judaea and West in respect to the Tigris Let us now return to the divers Expositions of the Text now in question Some presumed that as Moses wrote these Words in Arabia Petraea he had a regard to its proper Situation and called that East which was so in respect to the place where he then hapned to be Others think that as he wrote to the Hebrew Nation and in reference to that time to come when it should be established in the promised Land he only minded that Land And the most part pretend that this Word Eastward according to the Rules of Grammar refers to the immediately foregoing Words planted a Garden in Eden and that Moses meant that the Garden comprehended the easterly part of the Land of Eden For my part I suppose that the Province of Eden extended it self on both sides of the River and adjoined to Susiana and that therefore the part which was beyond the River did partake of the very Name Kedem East as also all the Lands that lay on the easterly side of it and that when Moses said that the Garden was Eastward he meant that it was in that part of the Province of Eden which was beyond the River and was called Kedem East Some Commentators by way of accommodation approving of the Two significations of Time and Place given to the Hebrew Text and which indeed may both stand together and desiring to reconcile the divers Translations maintain That the Holy Ghost inspired this ambiguous Word to Moses that we might understand that God planted this Garden in the East and planted it at the beginning of the World that is on the Third Day of the Creation II. I am not contrary to that Opinion and I grant that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem may signifie the time of the Creation of the Earthly Paradise provided that it be granted to me That it first and particularly doth signifie its Situation And indeed all things do convince us of this for if we come to reckon Suffrages we shall oppose to those that I produced in behalf of the signification of Time the Seventy Interpreters attended with all the Graecian Fathers and many of the Latin the Rabbins Aben Ezra David Kimchi and Selomoh Jarchi with David de Pomis the Oriental Translators and most of the Modern Interpreters and Grammarians To the Authority of the Vulgar Translation we shall oppose the old Italick Translation out of which St. Jerom did probably take the Text that we now examine as it is cited in his Hebraick Questions translated in these Words Et plantavit Dominus Deus Paradisum in Eden contra Orientem And the Lord God planted a Garden in Eden overagainst the East It is plain that only the respect he had for the Three ancient Graecian Interpreters Aquila Theodotion and Symmachus made him alter the Italick Translation in this Place and made him infer out of the Words they made use of That Paradise had been created by God before Heaven and Earth Nevertheless this Italick Translation from whom this place of our Vulgar Translation hath been taken was made use of even from the beginning of Christianity long before and after St. Jerom's time in the Church of Rome and in all the Churches of Italy before all the other Translations And as it was composed upon the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters and that the place alledged by St. Jerom follows them Word by Word I am not without good Ground brought to think that it was taken out of that old Translation III. To shew the universal Consent of the Church in giving to this Text the signification that I am for I could produce a Custom that was practised a long while in it and is not yet abolished to direct towards the East the Buildings of Churches and oblige Christians by that Situation to turn to the East in making their Prayers The chief Reason for it given by the Fathers is say they to put us in mind when we look toward that part of the World where that delicious Placo stood of the Happiness we have lost by the Sin of our first Father and of the Care we ought to take for the recovering of it But it seems more probable to me that the Church brought in this Custom to distinguish it self from the Religion of the Jews whose Temple was turned towards the West as it is likely that the Jews placed theirs so to distinguish themselves from their Neighbours who for the most part were Idolaters and Worshippers of the Sun and made their Prayers towards the East which Idolatry had crept in amongst the People of God and is condemned by Ezekiel And it is a remarkable thing that as the ancient Religion I mean the Jewish ordered that Prayers should be made towards the West and that afterwards the Christian Religion altered this Custom and prescribed that Prayers should be made towards the East So the ancient Romans did build their Temples toward the West which Custom was since abolished by disposing them towards the East before the time of Augustus himself As Vitruvius who lived at that time says and also Hygenus the Surveyor who did write in the time of Trajan the Rules of his Art IV. We can make no doubt that Moses made use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem in the sence I take it when we see that in the following Narrative he always made use of it in the same sence as when he says That God having turned Adam out of Paradise he dwelt on the East of that place For altho' St. Jerom translateth Ante Paradisum voluptatis he doth nevertheless denote the East which according to the Language of Scripture is the â—ore part of the World He takes it also in the same sence when he speaks of the confusion of Languages
but from the Euphrates alone before their joining The Arabians have hit the nail when they said that the Phison was the Canal of the Euphrates which runs not far from Bassora Some of them had given that name to the Nile as I already observed but others more clear sighted undeceived themselves and acknowledged the Truth Giggeius and Golius must be consulted upon that I know not where Father Kircher a Jesuit took the Geographical Map which he inserted in his Description of the Tower of Babel whether he had it from the Arabians or from his own Learning which was extraordinary great He describes in that Map the running of the four Rivers Phison Gehon Tigris and Euphrates and gives the name of Phison to the westerly Canal and the name of Gehon to the easterly one into which the Tigris and Euphrates are divided after their coming together Mr. Bochart who designed to declare his mind more plainly and at large upon this in his Treatise concerning the Earthly Paradise leaves us to guess at his opinion when he says by the bye in his Book concerning the Beasts of Holy Scripture that the Phison is that branch of the Euphrates of which Teixeira in the Book of his Travels from the Indies into Italy says that it runneth into the Persian Gulf towards Catif near Baharen Catif is a Town on the easterly Coast of Arabia that gave to the Persian Gulf the name of Elcatif-Sea as it is now called And Baharen is an Island of the same Gulf about ten Leagues off from Catif of which I shall have an occasion to speak hereafter Mr. Thevenot in the Books of his Travels describes this Canal He says that it runneth between the Country of Bassora and the Island Chader straight towards the South that the easterly Canal bears the same name with the Tigris and Euphrates joined together and is called Schattel-Arab that is to say the Arabian River and that these two Branches make the great Island Chader to which Teixeira gives above fourscore Leagues in length I believe that he meant Spanish Leagues which make about sixscore of ours The Canal which runs along that Island towards the West is probably the same that Alexander caused to be made in a stony Soil and more firm than the natural Canal through which one might sail toward Arabia which was not two Leagues distant from it This last which Moses speaketh of was easily shut up by the ebbing of the Sea its bottom being very soft and apt to be stirred did not make a great resistance It was truly this that was called Phison but because that of Alexander took its place and was very near it I gave it the same name according to ordinary use that alloweth not the names of Rivers to be altered when their Chanel or their mouth is altered no more than it doth the names of Towns when they alter their Situation XIV The name of Phison in Moses's time was peculiar to that westerly Canal that run towards Arabia but it hath been given since to the Tigris and Euphrates joined together and from the names of Phison and Tigris made but one came that of Pasitigris which was given since even to the easterly Canal So that the names of Tigris Euphrates and Pasitigris were almost indifferently given to all the parts of the Euphrates that are betwixt its joining with the Tigris and the Sea As now adays the name of Schattel-Arab that is to say Arabian River is given almost to all the same parts And to make it yet more intricate Alexander's Soldiers returning from the East gave to the River Oroatis which limiteth the Susiana on the East the name of Pasitigris which limiteth the same on the West Whether they mistook in it or did it on purpose affecting to give famous names to the places they conquered that they might increase the Fame of their Victories After this manner they gave the name of Caucasus to the Mount Parapamisâ—â— and the name of Tanais to the River Orexartes The Historians who afterwards did write Alexander's Conquests according to what these Soldiers related and did not distinguish the false Pasitigris I mean the Oroatis from the true one that is the Tigris made a new Pasitigris not only out of these two Rivers but also out of the Eulaeus which as some think is the Choaspes and according to others only receives it into its Chanel and having given to it the name of Pasitigris they gave it also the name of Tigris and that of Euphrates CHAP. VIII Continuation of the Explanation of the eleventh Verse I. Divers Opinions concerning the Land of Chavilah II. The true Situation of the Land of Chavilah through which the Phison runneth is shewn I. VErse 11. That it is which compasseth the whole land of Chavilah The surest marks whereby we may know the Phison are those that Moses gave of it when he said that it waters the Land of Chavilah that there are to be found in that Land good Gold Pearls or Bdellium and the Onyx-stone If then I can shew that these marks belong only to that River which I pretend to be the Phison no body will be able to contradict my opinion Those who inquired after the Situation of this River whose different opinions I mentioned before ought to have begun here for if having once found the Country of Chavilah where there was plenty of Gold Pearls and precious Stones they had also found in it a River that had any communication with the Gehon Tigris and Euphrates they had argued very rationally to inferr that that River was the Phison But instead of that they placed the Phison where they pleased and as it happened and then they called Chavilah that Land they had chosen to place the Phison in And as the two most common opinions are that the Phison is the Ganges or that it is the easterly Canal of those two which do divide the Tigris and Euphrates after their being joined so the two most common opinions concerning Chavilah are that it is that part of the Indies which the Ganges runneth through as most of the Fathers believed or that it is the Susiana which lieth on the East of that Canal Josephus followed by St Jerom and by many others imagined another Chavilah in Africa towards the West and gave that name to Getulia without giving any reason for it I do not see any other but the conformity there is betwixt the words of Chavilah and Getulia by transposing of the letters If this be a good proof we must receive all Anagrams as solid Arguments II. To find out Chavilah they should have followed the Foot-steps of the Sacred Writers In the tenth Chapter of Genesis where the dispersing of Nations that happened after the Confusion of Babel is very exactly described and where one may find the names of the Patriarchs and Founders of Nations which are almost all the same names with them of
those Nations there is mention made of two Chavilahs one the Son of Chus and the other the Son of Joctan M. Bochart who very learnedly explained that Chapter in his Phaleg sheweth that this last Chavilah is the Founder of the Nation that inhabits the Land of Chaulan situated on the easterly Coast of the Arabian Gulf on the West of Arabia Felix This Land hath no Affinity with that we look for but the other hath which took its name from Chavilah Son of Chus as the same M. Bochart doth tell us Moses and the Author of the Book of Samuel very plainly point at the Situation of this Land of Chavilah when in order to express the two Extremities of Arabia which lieth near the Holy Land they mention Chavilah and Sur. Sur was a Desart adjoining to Egypt towards the end of the Arabian Gulf. It follows then that Chavilah was on the other side of Arabia towards the end of the Persian Gulf that is to say beginning at the West of the mouth of the Canal which I pretend to be the Phison and extending it self towards the South along the westerly Coast of that Gulf as far as Catif And Josephus relating the same things that are spoken of in these places of Moses and of the Book of Samuel and having a mind to mark the same limits of that distance instead of Sur puts Peluse the first Town one meets going from Palaestina into Egypt along the Sea-shore and instead of Chavilah he puts the Erythrean or Red Sea plainly declaring by those words the Situation of Chavilah The Inhabitants of that Land were not unknown to Profane Authors They call them Chavlothéans Chablasians Chavlasians and Chaveléans which names are manifestly derived from Chavilah or Chavilath as it is written when it is conâ—â—â—ued and place them betwixt the Nabathéans and Agréans which were Ishmaelites by origin Inhabitants of Arabia Deserta pretty near the end of the Persian Gulf. Many learned Men amongst the Modern and especially Steuchus Beroaldus Grotius Hornius and Bochart have acknowledged this Situation of Chavilah and very well seen that these Nations which I named just now borrowed from it their Name and Situation Calathua a Town in Arabia Deserta which Ptolomy sets near the same places hath perhaps some relation to this CHAP. IX Continuation of the Explanation of the Eleventh Verse and a beginning of the Explanation of the Twelfth I. Gold of Arabia II. And especially of Chavilah I. THis is not all we must find here some Gold and that good too That will not be difficult for Authors both Sacred and Profane do very much commend the Gold and Riches of Arabia Diodorus writes that in Arabia was found natural Gold of so lively a colour that it was very much like the brightness of the Fire and so fixed that it wanted neither Fire nor Refining to be purified Towards the West of that Land there was such abundance of Gold in the Country of the Aliléans and Cassanites that they valued it less than Silver Brass and Iron One may judge how rich the Sabeans and other Arabians were by the Gifts that were made by the Queen of Saba and all the Kings of Arabia to Solomon and by many other Testimonies of Scripture and also by what Agatharchides hath written viz. That the Sabeans had filled Syria with Gold Many Nations in Arabia had the Name of Sabeans But to come to Chavilah that lies on the westerly and southerly Coast of the Persian Gulf it cannot be questioned but Ezekiel meant those that inhabited the same Coast when he says to the City of Tyre That the Merchants of Arabia Dedan and Cedar furnished it with their Commodities that those of Saba and Rhegma did trade there in Gold and precious Stones and in all sorts of Spices that Haran Chene and Eden Saba Assur and Chelmad sold there all kinds of Merchandices of a high value There was a great Communication betwixt all these Nations through the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf and we must particularly observe that the Prophet joins Eden a Region where Paradise was situated to Saba that lies in the Neighbourhood of Chavilah Of this Saba must also be understood the words of David directed to Jesus Christ under the name of Solomon in that Prophetical Psalm the 72 when he foretells him that the Kingâ— of Saba shall bring him Gifts and Gold out of their Country Which Prediction was fulfilled when the Wise Men that came from Arabia according to the most common opinion offered to our Saviour Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe Rhegma mentioned by Ezekiel was also a Town in Arabia situated on the same Gulf abounding in Gold and precious Stones II. Arabia being thus so silled with Riches and especially with Gold and very fine Gold no doubt but it very much dealt in it with the neighbouring Provinces situated along the Euphrates which was then the most populous Country in the World and the Province of Chavilah lying between those Countries besides the Gold of its own had to be sure a great deal also in its Ware-houses from the neighbouring Provinces by the Traffick and Entercourse of Merchants CHAP. X. Continuation of the Explanation of the twelfth Verse I. Divers Opinions concerning the signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bedolach II. The two most probable are that it signifies an Aromatical Gum or Pearls III. The most famous Fishing for Pearls in the World is near Chavilah IV. There was also found in the same Country abundance of Bdellium I. THE Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bedolach which is rendred by that of Bdellium is very variously translated by the Interpreters The Seventy Interpreters will have it to signifie here the Carbuncle and in the eleventh Chapter of Numbers the Crystal Most of the Greek and Latin Fathers agree with them in the first Exposition St. Jerom after Josephus and the three Greek Interpreters Aquila Theodotion and Symmachus renders this word by that of Bdâ—llium which is a sweet-smelling Gum and supposed by many to be the Anime Some think that it is Ebeny or the Pepper tree or the Clove-tree The Persian Translator will have it to be the Beryl The Arabian Translators and the Syriack some Rabbins and Saadias Gaon at the head of them followed by a great number of learned Men maintain it to be Pearls Other Rabbins will have it to be the Chrystal some the Diamond others the Jasper others the Emerald or some other precious Stone II. Of all these opinions the two most probable and which most divided the Learned are that which takes Bedolach for an Aromatical Gum and that which takes it for Pearls The place of the Book of Numbers which they quote in defence of this last opinion seemeth to be so plain and decisive that I cannot see what exception can be made against it for Moses intending to describe the Manna says that it was
like the Seed of Coriander and of the colour of Bedolach Now it is evident by another description of the same Manna which is to be found in Exodus that it was white according to the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters which is proper to Pearls as also is the roundness of Manna and in no wise to the Bdellium Hence it is that the Talmudists as Mr. Bochart learnedly observed mentioning this description of Manna as it is in the Book of Numbers instead of saying that it was of the colour of Bdellium said that it was of the colour of Pearls I shall take no part in this dispute It will be enough for my purpose to shew that whether the Hebrew word Bedolach be taken for Pearls or for Bdellium both are proper to the Land of Chavilah III. For as for Pearls it is most certain that there is no place in the World that produceth so fine ones and in so great a quantity as the Sea about Baharen an Island in the Persian Gulf ten Leagues off from Catif that is to say the Sea that waters the Coasts of Chavilah and into which the mouth of the Phison emptieth it self I shall not load this Treatise with a vast number of Citations to shew how great a quantity of Pearls there is in the Persian Gulf and how much they are valued both by ancient and modern Authors I have formerly writ on this subject at large enough in my Observations on Origen and produced the Testimonies of Antiquity Nevertheless that the Reader may not think I desire to be trusted for want of Money to pay him I will name some few of those whose Authority cannot be excepted against Nearchus one of Alexander's Captains that conducted his Fleet from the Indies as far as the Persian Gulf speaketh of an Island in that Gulf abounding in Pearls of great value Isidorus of Charax who lived a little after says the same thing Pliny having commended the Pearls of the Indian Seas adds that such as are fished towards Arabia in the Persian Gulf deserve most to be praised And in another place he takes notice of the Island of Tylos as being the place of that fishing which many suppose to be the Island of Baharen Arrian the Author of the Periplus of the Red Sea sets a greater value upon the Pearls of Arabia than upon those of the Indies Aelian describes exactly enough how they were fished and how much they were valued Origen affirms that Indian Pearls far exceed all others in value and that amongst all Indian Pearls those of the Red Sea are of the greatest value We may see by these words that he made the Persian Sea a part of that of the Indies Pliny doth the same And indeed they divided all that great Sea that incompasseth the southerly Coast of Asia and Africa into two Seas the Indian and Aethiopian Sea and the Indian Sea even near the Indies was called also Red or Erythrean Sea From thence we may inferr that the Praises given by the Ancients to the Indian Pearls might be given to those of Arabia but what hath been said of the Pearls of Arabia could by no means be attributed to those of the Indies because what belongs to the whole belongeth to every part proportionably but what belongs to every part doth not belong to the whole The Rabbi Benjamin a Navarrer who lived five hundred and fifty years ago being at Catif informed himself about the fishing of Pearls that is made there every year and about the manner observed in making of it and inserted it in the History of his Travels which he hath left us Teixeira a Portuguese another Traveller hath yet more exactly described this fishing He says the Pearls of that Sea are finer and weightier than those of other places and that there is yearly sold of them in the Island of Ormuz for above five hundred thousand Ducats Add to it the Testimony of the other modern Travellers Balby Linscot Vincent le Blanc of the famous Tavernier and of Mr. Thevenot who by his Travels and Writings shewed himself so worthy of the name he beareth Besides the fishing of Baharen he also hath described that of Carâ—k another Island in the same Gulf nearer the mouth of the Phison Many other places of this Sea afford Pearls as doth the whole Coast of Arabia from Maseate to Catif This last place did belong to an Arabian Emir The Bassi of Bassora possessed himself of it Baâ—aren belongs to the King of Persia IV. Those that maintain that Bedolach is the Bdellium a Gum may also find some in Arabia Dioscorides expresly testifies it and he sets a greater value upon the Bdellium of the Saracens than upon that of the Indies Isidorus and Sylvaticus are of the same opinion And Galen comparing the Bdellium of Arabia with that of Scythia that is to say with the Bdellium of the Indies for a part of the Meridional Indies is called Scythia and Indoscythia gives some advantages to the first which he denies to the second Pliny preferrs the Bdellium of the Bactriana to that of Arabia but he values that of Arabia above all the rest He will have that Tree to grow in the Sands of the Persian Gulf which the slux of the Sea covereth with its Tides and I do not know whether it be not the same which Strabo describes without naming it upon Nearchus's information when he says that it grows in the Islands that are before the Euphrates that it smells as Frankincense and that out of its broken Roots drops this sweet-smelling Juice Now let the place of Arabia from which it came be which it will all that which was to be transported into the Countries situated along the Tigris and Euphrates and into the rest of the Northerly Asia must needs have been carried into the Land of Chavilah And upon that account Arrian says there was made a great Sale of Spices and all Arabian Drugs in the City of Diridotis which is the same with Teredon the Ruins whereof are yet now to be seen near the mouth of the Phison CHAP. XI A Continuation of the Exposition of the Twelfth Verse I. Divers Opinions about the signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schoham II. Arabia was formerly the most abounding Land in the World in precious Stones III. The Ancients believed the Onyx-stone was no where else to be found but in Arabia I. I Followed the vulgar Translation and rendred the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schoham by that of Onyx-stone although perhaps it is not the best and could be better translated by the word Beryl All agree that the true signification of the Hebrew names of precious Stones is unknown and it hath been observed that amongst the twelve Stones that were in the High-Priest's Breast-plate none but the Sapphire and Jasper kept their names I could add that no body is well
this was grosly mistaken â—hen he changed the words of Stephanus and put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to that commendable Custom of the Criticks to alter in the Works of the Ancients all what they do not understand That part of the Province of Chus that lies towards Arabia did not extend it self much from the Gulf and from the Sea which is beyond the mouth of the Gulf and was really a border and there would be no reason to extend it to the easterly side of Arabia and to the westerly mouth of the Euphrates in order to countenance the opinion that taketh that mouth for the Gehon The Limits of the Arabian Chus were never extended so far and it is a decisive proof against that opinion concerning the Gehon as on the contrary if I make good that Susiana had that name and hath it still at present it will be a most evident proof that the Gehon is the easterly mouth of the Euphrates II. All the Journals of Travellers do inform us that Susiana is now called Chuzestan a name made up of the word Chuz and the Persical Termination Benjamin of Navarre says that the great Province of Elam whereof Susa is the Metropolis and which the Tigris waters is called so That Province of Elam is Elymais which extendeth it self as far as the Coast of the Persian Gulf at the East of the mouth of the Euphrates The Nubian Geographer and some other Arabians call it Churestan but it is probably an oversight of the Copiers who did not distinguish the letter r from z of the Arabians which only differ by one point The Inhabitants of the Land call it absolutely Chus if we will believe Marius Niger The same Region is called Cutha in the Book of Kings according to the variety of Dialects and it is partly from thence that Salmanasar transported a Colony into Samaria to fill the room of its Inhabitants and of the Ten Tribes which he had turned out and sent into another place This new Colony which was afterwards known under the name of Samaritans kept also the name of its origin and was called the Cutheans Scaliger with all his great Learning was grosly mistaken when he said that the Samaritans were called Cutheans from a City in Colchis called Cytaea whither Salmanasar transported the Ten Tribes The Samaritans were called Cutheans from the Province Cutha whence they came and the Ten Tribes were not transported into Colchis but into Assyria and tho' they had been transported into Colchis it would be ridiculous to think that the Samaritans have taken their name from a City whence they did not come and where they did not live but meerly because the Ten Tribes whose Country they possessed went to live there I know not where Josephus found that River Cuthus which he says is the original of Cutha a name given to that Province of Persia The word Cutha or Cuth came from the word Chus the last letter whereof is often changed by the Chaldaeans into a t or th giving it a harder and less whistling sound as Dion hath observed So they said Thor for Sor Attyria for Assyria Yet we must not give credit to what some Men imagined that the name of the City of Susa which was the Metropolis of that Land comes from Chus It took its name from the Lilies whereof there is a great plenty in that Soil and the Lily is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Susan in the Hebrew Tongue The Graecians were not ignorant of that Etymology and many amongst them observ'd it III. There are yet many other marks of the word Chus found in Susiana We find there the Cosseans neighbours to the Uxians according to the Position of Pliny Ptolomy and Arrian Schickard was under a mistake when he supposed that those Cosseans had given their name to the Province of Chuzestan The name of Chuzestan and that of the Cosseans come from the same root to wit from Chus and not one from the other The name of Cissia and of the Cissians come also from thence It was a little Province of Susiana which gave its name to all the Susians The Poet Aeschylus taketh also notice of a City of that name situated in the same Land and which is remarkable he doth distinguish it by its Antiquity He calls also the Mother of Memnon Cissia that is to say Aurora Memnon was the Son of Tithonus and Aurora Titâ—onus was a Brother to Priam King of Troy and he was thought to have founded the City of Susa Metropolis of Susiana From the name of Memnon his Son the Cittadel was called Memnonium the Palace and Walls Memnonians and Susa it self the City of Memnon by reason of the great esteem they had for him It is that Memnon who came to succour the Trojans from whom he descended and was slain by Achilles When the Graecians feigned that he was Son of Aurora they meant that he came from the East according to a common expression of the Hebrew Tongue and very familiar to the Prophets who call the People of the East Sons of the East for those Countries which the Euphrates run through towards its mouth were properly called the East Many Interpreters think that in the same sence Isaiah called Nabuchodonozor or Balthasar Luciser Son of Aurora IV. I know very well that most of the ancient Authors said that Memnon was an Aethiopian Their mistake is a consequence of that by which Chus that signifieth Susiana hath been confounded with Chus that signifies the Countries situated on the shores of the Arabian Gulf I mean Aethiopia and Arabia and the Gehon with the Nile thus one mistake draws another after it and when we once miss the right way all the following steps are but so many wanderings The Egyptians and Aethiopians adopted very willingly that Hero and thought it would be a great Honour to them to have for their Countryman such an illustrious Person But finding nothing of it in their Archives nor in their Histories they put his Person Name and Deeds upon such of their Kings whose Life was most like to his Amenophis seemed to them very proper to serve their turn tho' he lived long before the War of Troy He had been warring in Asia he had been in Phrygia and had lived at Susa This agreeableness and likeness of names betwixt Memnon and Amenophis seemed to them a sufficient ground to say that they were one and the same They built him Temples in many places and especially in the great City Thebes they offered him Sacrifices and worshipped him as a God They shewed in that City and other places some Palaces which they called Memnonians as were those of Susa And there they set up to him that marvellous Statue which made a merry and loud noise when the Sun-rising shined upon it and seemed to groan and shed Tears when the night drew near Many supposed it had been
erected to Amenophis or Sesostris The Rabbi Benjamin tells a thing in the Journal of his Voyage which perswades me that the Aethiopians set up that Statue to imitate the Susians He says that he went from Catif and came in seven days to Haeula Some learned Men hold that Haoula is the Isle of Ceilan contrary to all probability since he could not have gone thither in seven days He adds that it is situated on the entrance of that Country where the Posterity of Chus worship the Sun that they have upon their Altars some Circles or Globes like to that of the Sun and that at the rising of the Sun those Globes turn with a great noise I judge by that account that those Nations were Susians or their Off-spring and that they learned of them the Art to make such Solar-Statues which were a kind of Talismans which some perswade themselves to be what the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chammanim and there is no doubt but that of Memnon was of that kind V. No body is ignorant in what Honour and Veneration the Sun was amongst the Persians Assyrians Babylonians and especially the Sabians of whom I have spoken before This People used to set up Statues to the Sun and to the other Planets They imagined the Stars did impart to them by their Influences the Faculty of Hearing Speaking and declaring to Men things to come Their name Sabians signifies in the Arabian Tongue easterly The proof hereof is this Their Book concerning Husbandry which the Rabbins quote under the name of the easterly Book was intitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hahaboda Hannabathiia the Nabathean Husbandry that is to say easterly witness this Verse of Ovid's Eurus ad Auroram Nabathaeáque Regâ—a recessit Eurus the East Wind went toward Aurora and the Nabathéan Kingdoms The Sabians were called easterly because all that Land which lieth betwixt the Persian Gulf and Judaea was called the East as I already said They dwelt at first Chaldaea and their Books say that Abraham a Chaldaean by Birth was persecuted by one of their Kings for not complying with the Religion that was in use in that Country and refusing to worship the Sun They dwelt also farther below along the Euphrates where they left some marks of their name behind them for they call at present Sabbi the Christians of St. John that dwell about the City of Bassora which was built in the second year of the Hegira by Omar the second Caliph and is about two days Journey from the joining of the Tigris and Euphrates at the same distance from the Sea and betwixt the 30 and 31 degree These Sabians spread themselves afterwards through all the East and their name became at last the name of a Sect rather than of a Nation and that Sect was still the same with that of the ancient Chaldaeans The learned Rabbi Moses Son of Maimon meaning that Abraham had been bred up in the Land of the Sabians says that he had been bred up in the Land of Cutha that is to say in the Land of Chus which is Susiana And if because the Aethiopians worshipped also the Sun one should apply to them Benjamin's words the distance of the places would not suffer it for how could he have gone in seven days from Catif into Aethiopia But besides that the Series of his Narrative sheweth that he went towards the East and Aethiopia lies on the West Strabo a Man of good Sense and very honest having followed Aelius Gallus as far as Thebes in Egypt saw and heard that Statue at the rising of the Sun Yet he dares not affirm that none of those that were present did imitate that noise for the honour of their Country Germanicus saw it also Pliny says it was made out of a stone called Basalta by the Egyptians because it hath the colour and hardness of Iron That word is without question derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barzel which signifies Iron for the Egyptian Tongue had some affinity with the Hebrew VI. What we may most probably suppose concerning Memnon's Expedition may be taken out of Diodorus and some others The Kingdom of Troy was subject to the Empire of Assyria Tithonus a Brother to Priam who possessed that Kingdom went to the Court of the King of Assyria who gave him the Government of Susiana He married there being already old and because his Wife was of a Country situated on the East of Graecia and Troy the Graecians who used to turn all Histories into Fictions said that he had married Aurora From that Marriage came Memnon and Emathion The War of Troy coming afterwards Priam begged some Succour of Teutamus King of Assyria He granted him twenty thousand Men and two hundred Chariots of War Diodorus says that that Succor consisted of ten thousand Aethiopians and ten thousand Susians falling into the common Error again and confounding Chus of Aethiopia with that of Susiana In order to make this Succour more useful Teutamus gave the command of it to Memnon a young Prince of a Trojan Family and therefore concerned in the Preservation of Troy He kept Tithonus by him by reason of his Wisdom which made him very necessary in his Counsels and by reason of his old Age unfit for that Expedition Memnon found some resistance in his way The Solymi amongst others who since were called Pisidians would needs dispute his passage but he routed them and all that opposed him He made all passages clean he repaired the ways and deserved by that long and dangerous march that that high-way should have his name and be called Memnonian He very valiantly fought against the Graecians before Troy but he was at last slain by Achilles They talk very variously of the place of his burying for without taking notice of Philostratus who says he had no Grave and was changed into that miraculous stone Troas Phaenicia and Susiana contend for it amongst themselves and above all Aethiopia altho it hath no other claim to his burying nor to his Birth than that given it by the equivocation of the word Chus VII But notwithstanding the Obscurity that equivocation brought into this History Philostratus George Syncellus that is to say Coadjutor of the Church of Constantinople and Suidas who had read and copied good Authors tho' he often did it not very judiciously give yet Testimony to truth the first by saying that Memnon the Aethiopian that is to say Amenophis never came to Troy and was without ground confounded with Memnon the Trojan And could not imagine how Memnon could have brought a Succour from so remote a Country to the Trojans nor also by what chance Tithonus could have setled himself in Aethiopia and become King of it The second by exactly distinguishing Amenophis King of Thebes in Egypt who is also called Memnon and the speaking stone from Memnon Son of Tithonus whom he places amongst the Kings of Assyria and
little Rivers made by the Industry of Men. One is called the River of Abulla and the other the River of Mocali There are four places in Asia which for their pleasantness sake the Inhabitants call the Gardens of the World and are in the same repute amongst them as the Tempe of Thessaly were amongst the Graecians One is in Persia and its name is the River of Bavan the other is in Bactriana near Samarcanda the third is the Orchard of Damascus and the fourth is the Territory of Bassora which they call the River of Abulla It is assuredly that Island which the Indian Pilpay in his Book of Lights describes and represents about Bassora so delightful covered with a very pleasant Wood injoying an extraordinary good and sweet Air and watered by many Springs the Rills whereof make many turnings All the Country that lies between the Islands of Chader and Gezair which is the Land of the Earthly Paradise is as pleasant and beautiful as those Islands themselves For Travellers assure us that the Grand Seignior hath no better Countries than those that lie betwixt Bagdad and Bassora And if there remain some untilled and barren that must be imputed to the solitude of the Land or to the Idleness of the Inhabitants II. My opinion about the Situation of the Earthly Paradise may yet be solidly proved from this because it was the first Land inhabited We have very few marks of it left but those that are left sufficiently agree to make it good The first is that City built by Cain on the East of Eden and to which he gave the name of his Son Eâ—â—ch Ptolomy in the description of Susiana places a City called Anuchtha exactly on the East of the place where I set Paradise It is known that the Syllable tha which endeth that word is a Termination pretty ordinary to the Feminine Nouns in the Chaldaick Tongue and is no part of the names themselves It then only remains Anuch which is without difficulty the same thing as Enoch And so here is certainly the most ancient City in the World III. There is no remains left of the word Nod which is thought to have been the name of the Land where Cain retired and where he built that City of Anuchtha and it is not certain that the words of the Hebrew Text ought to be translated thus and he lived in the Land of Nod or according to the Seventy Interpreters in the Land of Naid and that from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nad which is translated Vagabond such as was Cain the Land where he retired took its name as it was fansied that Latium was called so from the word Lateo I am hidden because Saturn did hide himself there when he was turned out of Heaven I had rather follow St. Jerom's opinion who rejects that Translation and I am apt to believe that Nod in this place doth only signifie a Eugitive one that is banished which expresseth the condition wherein Cain was I would not add to that Exposition as St. Jerom doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vagabond for this does not agree with a Man that fixes his dwelling by building a City to inhabit it and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nah which Moses adds to that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is rendred Vagus in the vulgar Translation may signifie inwardly moved and agitated The Seventy Interpreters understood it so translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sighing and trembling And it may be also that St. Jerom meant nothing else by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IV. Josephus doth relate that the Posterity of Seth knowing by Adam's Predictions that the World should first perish by Water and then by Fire and being desirous that After ages should know the Discoveries they had made in Astronomy they ingraved them upon two Columns one of Stone to resist the Water the other of Brick to resist the Fire and that they placed those Columns in Syrias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I formerly very much troubled my self to discover what was that Syrias and to find the two Columns there M. Vossius was more lucky than I and he shewed that Josephus calleth Syrias the place which is called Sehirath in the Book of Judges That place was in Gilgal in the Territory of Jericho and there was some ingraved Figures to be seen there Those Figures are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Happesilim in the Hebrew Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Seventy Interpreters It is very likely that those Ingravings were the Astronomical Tables which were said to have been ingraved upon Stones by the Posterity of Seth. And from thence one might inferr that Adam and his Posterity had dwelt in Judaea as many Fathers of the Church believed which would not agree with our System But it is a meer Fable to adscribe the Fabrick of those Columns to the Posterity of Seth and to think them even older than the Deluge It was rather a work of the ancient Inhabitants of the Land of Canaan who had a great Skill in Astronomy following in this the Example and Instructions of the Egyptians and Chaldaeans their Neighbours Nations whom the nature of their flat and open Country had invited to the Contemplation of Stars and which a very long use had rendred very learned in it They also after the Egyptians example ingraved their Science upon Stones that the Memory and Profit of it might be communicated to Posterity and those Inscriptions both of the Cananaeans and Egyptians gave occasion to many Fables Nothing then can be concluded from those Columns whereby the dwelling place of the first Men might be known V. But one may at least guess at it from the place where the Ark rested after the Deluge Moses says that it rested on the Mountains of Ararat that is to say according to the best Interpreters on the Gordiaean Mountains which lie near the Spring of the Tigris and great Armenia and extended pretty far to the East and to the South towards Assyria Now since the Deluge was not only caused by Rains but also by the Overflowings of the Ocean as the Scripture tells us saying that all the Fountains of the great deep were broken up this overflowing which came from the Persian Sea commonly very boisterous in that Gulf running from the South and meeting the Ark about the place where I set Paradise carried it away to the North towards the Gordiaean Mountains whose Meridian is not far from that of Paradise To which if you add the Violence of the rainy Winds of the South which probably blew then and contributed to the moving of the Waters it will be very easie to conceive that the Ark by reason of its Figure not fit for Navigation and of its heaviness which made it to draw much Water went but one League and a half a day towards the North. For if it be so we shall find that going