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
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
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
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
changelinges Pererius reprooueth Annius his childish ignorance follie rashnesse arrogancie and the writinges themselues he termeth false erroneous fained lies deceits with this conclusion in the end Valeat igitur in perpetuū valeat haec Anniana Chronologia quae toties a viris doctis profligata iugulata est iaceat in posterum sempiterna hominum obliuione sepulta nec sit post hac qui eam exhumare ad fidem aliquam atque authoritatem quasi ad vitam reuocare audeat Sat sit adhuc eam cum non erat bene nota imposuisse multis nunc detectis atque in apertum prolatis fucatis eius mendaciis fallaciis si quem circumuenerit ac deceperit nimis profecto stupidū vecordemeum fore necesse est That is Let this Chronologie therfore of Annius farewell yea for euer let it farewell and that which hath often bin cast down and the throte thereof cut let it hereafter lie buried in euerlasting forgetfulnesse neither let any take it out of the graue and call it backe againe into credite authority as it were to life Let this be sufficient that it hath alreadie deceaued many whilest it was not thoroughlie known but now the coloured lyes and deceits thereof being detected and brought to light If hereafter any be deceaued thereby he must needes bee too too blockish and witlesse This is Pererius his censure no otherwise in my iudgement then such forgerie and falsehood hath deserued whereof take this as a manifest argument Iosephus in the tenth booke of his Antiquities the 11. Chapter writeth that Megasthenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the fourth book of his Indian affaires making mention of Nabugodonosor went about to prooue him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to haue passed Hercules in prowesse and greatnes of acts which place Peter Comestor in his Scholastical Historie vpon Daniel vsing to proue Nabugodonoserum fortitudine actuum magnitudine Herculem transcendisse that Nabugodonosor went beyond Hercules in valour and great acts citeth Megasthenes for it in his booke of Iudgements reading Iudiciorum by some corruption in the translation of Iosephus crept in for Indicorum Hereupon Annius transforming first Megasthenes into Metasthenes and then Indica that is Indian affaires into Iudicia which signifieth iudgements made this the title of his forged stuffe Metasthenes his booke of the iudgement of times This I hope is enough if any thing can bee enough to keepe men which haue eyes from taking hurt at this blocke An other much like vnto it hath bin the conceited fancie of Mathew Beroald in the thirde booke of his Chronologie the eight Chapter setting downe the Persian Kinges in this order The first Cyrus the next Assuerus Artaxerxes the third Darius Assirius the fourth Artaxerxes Pius the fift Xerxes And then after him the other sixe in order as they haue beene declared and named by other Of these eleuen Kinges how many yeares particularlie euerie one raigned it is vncertaine saith Beroaldus but generally the whole time of all was 130. yeares beginning with Cyrus in the 3. yeare of the 80. Olympiad the 295 of Rome This is Beroaldus his opinion for the kings and time of that Empire much like that of Annius In maner it is more honest beeing not fathered on other in matter as absurde and ridiculous if not more making more kinges and fewer yeares thrusting in such as neuer were knowne and fayning names which neuer were heard of For where was Assuerus Artaxerxes Darius Assirius and Artaxerxes Pius euer spoken of by any Author of credit diuine or prophane Who euer besides himself once dreamed of an Artaxerxes Pius to be Father to Xerxes Or that Xerxes made warre against Greece before his Fathers death Aeschilus a learned Poet who florished euen in those verie times in his Tragedie called Persa might soone haue taught him a better lesson raysing his father Darius long before dead out of his graue to tell newes Doeth not such stuffe as this deserue the tearmes of monsters dregs dreames lyes toyes as well as that opinion of Annius which euen Beroaldus himselfe reprooueth Is it not worthy of such a farewel as that wherewith Pererius biddeth Annius his Chronologie adew These be the opinions which in the course of Chronologie haue to diuers learned men been occasions of error The vanity whereof shall yet better appeare by that which followeth beeing layde vnto them For as diuers sorts of cloath compared together and held to the light are quickly by the eye discerned the course from the fine So the approoued true historie of ancient time beeing laied to these latter conceits will leaue an easie view for reason and the eye-sight as it were of the minde to iudge which is best First for the kinges of Persia who they were that raigned therein The name of the first to be Cyrus is agreed of all The second was Cambyses heire thereunto as wel by birth as his fathers will The next lawfull king after him was Darius whose father Histaspis as Seuerus Sulpitius in his second booke of the holy Historie writeth was cosen German to Cyrus The fourth king succeeding to the imperiall Crowne of Persia was Xerxes the sonne of the same Darius Then the other sixe in order of whom amongst writers that I know of there is no controuersie at all The first foure kinges here named in that order succeeding one another haue beene so recorded by those names vnto vs of most ancient Poets and noble Historiographers which eyther liued in the dayes of the said kinges or els came very neare vnto them and so haue bin deliuered from hand to hand and from age to age to this day continued by a long successiō of the most skilfull men for learning that euer haue beene whether rightly or no let reason scan First the dominion of the Persians was large and wide and contained manie countries A great part of India all Medea Parthia Babilonia Chaldea Hyrcania Armenia Arabia Mesopotamia Phaenicia all the land of Israell and Iuda all Egypt and much of Lybia all Syria and the lesse Asia wherein also they had their imperiall seate at Sardes a Cittie of Lydia the kinges of Persia oftentimes making their abode therein And continuallie theyr deputies in their absence most of the Kinges blood or alliance Besides Cyprus and manie other Ilands To be short it reached from Persia all a long so neare Greece and Europe that there was no land left to part them but the Sea called Aegeum And that in some place so narrow as a bridge hath beene made ouer it from brinke to brinke not a mile long with continual recourse and traffique betweene them These were the places of this Monarchie of all other for wisedome and prowesse most famous The times therof by the singuler knowledge vertues of excellent mē were no lesse noble The seauen wise men of Greece so renowmed Thales of Miletus Solon the Athenian Chilon the Lacedaemonian Pittacus of Mytilene Bias
of Priene Cleobulus of Lindia or Caria and Periander the Corinthian all much of one standing about the time of Cyrus Besides them Pherecides the Syrian and Pythagoras both for deepe knowledge wondered at Zenophanes Anaximander Heraclitus Anaximines Philosophers Aeschilus Anacreō Pindarus Simonides Poets Theagines Hecataeus Dionisius Herodotus Storie writers Partlie in the dayes of Cambyses and Darius partly in the time of Xerxes Then Socrates Thucidides Euripides Sophocles Democritus Hippocrates vnder Artaxerxes and his sonne Darius Nochus about the times of the Peloponesian war Plato and Xenophon were Socrates his schollers who continued towards the end of the Persiā Monarchie with Isocrates whose schollers were Theopompus and Ephorus both historiographers so contrarie one to another by their masters censure that the one needed a spur to set him on the other a bridle to hold him in Aristotle and Demosthenes saw the end Many of these were borne dwelling in those places which were vnder the Persian gouernment and payed tribute vnto them In these places and times so furnished and bewtified with these worthy ornaments marke the wayes and meanes whereby the kings of Persian made their names known preserued their memorie By proclamation whereof we haue an example in the first of Esra Thus sayeth Cyrus king of Persia and so forth By letters to and fro wherof are to be seene in the same book and Thucidides and other making mention by name who sent them and to whom By immunities priuiledges as in the seuenth of Esra By ambassage whereof manie examples are reade in Herodotus Cambyses sent to the Aethiopian king and Darius to the Grecians By leagues and couenants of peace as we read in Thucidides By coynes as the peeces of gold coyned by Darius Histaspis thereof called Darikes By erected monumentes The same king going to war against Scithia erected at Bosphorus two pillers with two inscriptions one in Greeke the other in the Assyrian language thereon engraued declaring the Nations which went with him And at the riuer Toarus in Thracia an other with this inscription HITHER CAME DARIVS THE SONNE OF HYSTASPES KING OF THE PERSIANS LEADING HIS ARMIE AGAINST THE SCYTHIANS as Herodotus declareth in Melpomine By Cities and Riuers called of their names Cyropolis of Cyrus Cambysene of Cambyses Xerxene of Xerxes Cyrus a riuer in Scythia Cambyses an other In Volaterranus Pomponius Mela Plinie Strabo by their pictures Mandrocles painted Darius sitting in a thorne after the manner of the Medes and conueying ouer his Armie which he dedicated to the Temple of Iuno with mention of Darius his name By their Images and those remayning many ages after Plutarch in Alexanders life telleth that Alexander seeing the Image of Xerxes throwen downe by the company pressing into the kinges Pallace of Persia stayed at it and spake vnto it as it had beene aliue Lastly by their Tombes testifying their names to the worlde after their death being a thing desired of al euen of meane account and willinglie yeelded of kinde posteritie that the memorie of their name may endure and not die with themselues Strabo in the fifteenth booke of his Geographie from Aristobulus and Onesicritus recordeth that the toombe of Cyrus was found by Alexander so many yeares after his death preserued with an inscription testifying who he was And that Darius also had the like memoriall The names then of the Persian kings could not possibly bee hid by so many meanes being made knowne in flourishing times and learned ages and places of knowledge and withall their Courtes frequented with many noble Grecians for vertue and birth Hippias and Demaratus whereof the one had been king of Sparta the other tyrant of Athens Metiochus the eldest sonne of Miltiades Democedes a famous Phisition of Croton in Italie who healed king Darius and his wife Atossa of grieuous paines and diuers other which were too long to rehearse to omit many braue soldiers of Greece seruing them in their warres Now let the Reader vse his skill for choice of the names and number of the kinges betwixt Cyrus and Xerxes Whether with Beroaldus he wil haue these three Assuerus Artaxerxes Darius Assyrius and Artaxerxes Pius in so many ages neuer knowne or read of in any author of reckoning or only these two Cambyses and Darius Histaspis from Theagines of Rhegium and Hecateus of Miletus storie writers the one vnder Cambyses the other vnder Darius deliuered vnto vs by continual succession from age to age by the space of two thousand yeares and more by the carefull diligence of the best historiographers that euer haue bin in the world without any disagreement or controuersie amongst them Thus much for the kings now concerning their yeares That the beginning of Cyrus was the first yeare of the 55. Olympiad is agreed of all the first yeare of Cyrus sayeth Codomon in his chronicles of all writers is applied to the first of the 55. Olympiad Ioseph Scaliger prooueth it by two testimonies in his fift booke de emendatione temporum How manie ancient and learned writers so euer saith Scaliger haue accounted times euery one of them hath cast the first of Cyrus to the first of the 55. Olympiad Diodorus Siculus Thallus Castor Polybius Phlegon as the most auncient and learned Author Tatianus writeth Africanus also in Eusebius testifieth the same in these wordes After the 70. yeres of captiuitie Cyrus raigned ouer the Persians that yeare wherin the 55. Olympiad was celebrated as may appeare by the Libraries of Diodorus and the Histories of Thallus and Castor and besides of Polybius and Phlegon yea of other also who regarded Olympiads for the time is agreed vpon of all This therefore for the beginning of the Persian Monarchie beeing so generally testified may suffice If any here doe aske in what part of that yeare Cyrus began to raigne it is gathered from the same Africanus probablie in the third booke of his Chronicles where as Eusebius testifieth of him in his tenth booke de praeparat Euang. hee reckoned from the first Olympiad to Cyrus 217. yeres Which is not otherwise true except Cyrus begin toward the end of that yeare Againe in the fift booke of his Chronicles making the fourth yeare of the 83. Olympiad the fifteenth of the Persian Monarchie as we read in the same Eusebius his eight booke de demonstrat Euang. he leaueth the beginning of Cyrus to the first yeare of the 55. Olympiad nere the end thereof as euery one may easily perceiue The beginning thus made manifest wee are now further to search the end of that Empire Which beeing once likewise founde maketh knowne the continuance thereof Alexander the great was the man which ouerthrew that Empire whose death by the testimonies of Diodorus Siculus in the seuenteenth book of his Historicall Liberarie Arrhianus in his seuenth booke and Eusebius in his Chronicles is set in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad What say I Diodorus Arrhiamus Eusebius when as all whosoeuer wrote of those times agree herein by Gerardus
Mercator his report in his Chronicles The death of Alexander saith he of all writers is noted to haue happened in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad when Hegesias was chiefe ruler at Athens If this testimonie of Mercator be of lesse importance in regard of the late time wherein he liued Iosephus an ancient Author of credit and skill in his first book against Appian beareth him record very constantly affirming this to be verified by the vniuersall consent of all writers that Alexander died in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad This is somewhat but