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 not altogether inough except we can learne in what part of that first yeare of the same Olympiad hee died For the knowledge of this we are beholding to Eusebius Whose words are these in his eight booke de demonstratione Euangelij 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English thus much Alexander ended his life in the beginning of the hundred fourteenth Olympiad Making then our account froÌ„ the fiue fiftieth Olympiad to the beginning of the hundred fourteenth wherein the light of Macedonia was put out wee finde the space of two hundred thirtie and sixe yeares between approued not by weake coniectures friuolous conceits or trifling toyes but a strong consent of writers which as Iosephus in his 1. book against Appian is a sure token of vndoubted truth when they all agree Six yeares and about three quarters before Alexanders death the Persians had beene by him subdued receiuing as great a blow as euer before other Nations had receiued from them their power now beeing brought to an end How is this proued The yeare is declared by Diodorus the second of the hundred and twelfth Olympiad the month by Arrhiâ—mes October the day by Plutarch is found the first of that month This was the vnhappie yeare of the Persian ouerthrow the wofull month of their fall and the sorrowfull day of king Darius his vndoing who after this victory was contemned of his men forsaken of his souldiers betraied by his seruants made a slaue to his Captaines in most base manner shut vp within a vile waggeÌ„ couered with filthie skins as it were in a prison and so carried about at their pleasure In the end they stabbed him with many woundes and left him for dead slew the waggener thrust the beasts through with darts which wanting a guide strayed from the high way about halfe a mile Where one of Alexanders souldiers going to drinke by chance espied the waggen comming vnto it found the king now drawing on who first craued of him a little water After he had drunke acknowledging this for the last miserie of his wretched estate that hee was not able to requite his kindnes and withall wishing well to Alexander for the great honour which hee had done to his wife and children hee ended his life in the third yeare of the hundred and twelfth Olympiad as appeareth by Diodorus Siculus and Arrhiames who further hath set downe the moneth Hecatombeon beeing the season of the Olympick sports and answering partly to our Iune and partly Iulie This was the tragicall end of that mightie king making proofe of the brickle estate of Princely pompe and the vnstayed stay of worldly glorie wherein he liued neere sixe yeares These limits thus bounded of the Persian Empire that is to say the fiue fiftieth Olympicke exercise for the beginning and the entrie of the third yere of the hundred and twelfth for the end giue sure euidence of the whole continuance to be two hundred and thirtie yeares if we begin from the fiftie and fiue Olympiad if from the end about nine or ten monethes after in the spring of the yeare when Cyrus began to raigne as is probable and likelie by that which before hath beene declared two hundred and nine and twentie yeares with two or three months And thus they are deuided among the Persian kinges Cyrus raigned thirtie yeares recorded by two auncient Historiographers liuing in the Persian times in their Persian Histories Dionisius and Ctesias Cicero also in his first booke De diuinatione Iustin Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Strom. Eusebius in his Chronicle Hierom on the seauenth of Daniel Beda in his book De sex aetatibus confirme the same and Orosius in his second booke against the Heathen bringeth Tomyris the Queene of Scythia after she had slaine Cyrus in battaile throwen his head into a vessell of blood insulting ouer him with this speech Now fill thy selfe with blood which could neuer yet satsifie thee this thirtie yeares This had been foreshewed to Cyrus by a dreame as Cicero from Dionisius reporteth VVherein the sunne appearing at his feete and Cyrus catching at it thrice with his handes euerie time it trowled it selfe away Which the skilfull Magi of Persia interpreted of thrice ten yeares raigne Cambyses succeeded him the time of whose raigne was seauen yeres fiue months which together with the seauen monethes more of Smerdis the vsurper and counterfait brother of Cambyses made vp eight yeares as Herodotus declareth in Thalia Darius Histaspis ruled by the space of full sixe and thirtie yeares as Herodotus writeth Eusebius in his Chronicles and Seuerus in his second booke Xerxes in the second yeare of his raigne subdued the Aegyptians and in the sixt inuaded Greece with an innumerable army yet driuen to flie by a few In the 16 yeare after and one and twentieth of his raigne being the last yere of the seauentie and eighth Olympiad as Diodorus Siculus declareth by his cowardise and corrupt life hee growing into contempt with his Nobles was slaine Many writers giue him one and twentie yeares Seuerus Beda Eusebius Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Stromatum hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twentie six for twentie one an easie slip in writing far from the enditers minde Artaxerxes the long handed was his sonne who held that Monarchie by the space of fortie yeares witnessed by Diodorus Siculus in his eleuenth and twelfth bookes Eusebius Hierom Isidorus Beda with other Xerxes and Sogdianus after him enioyed the Empire one yeare betweene them both The next was Darius Nothus holding the imperiall crowne ninteene yeares as Diodorus Siculus Tertullianus against the Iewes Eusebius Isidorus Seuerus Beda and other declare Artaxerxes Mnemon succeeded him and continued in his gouernment the longest of all other euen three and fortie yeares my Author is Diodorus in two places first in the ende of his thirteenth book and againe in his fifteenth who likewise witnesseth that Artaxerxes Ochus his successor ruled three twentie yeres which is confirmed by the testimonie of Sulpitius in his second booke The last but one was Arses continuing three yeares in his Empire by Sulpitius In whose death the bloud Royall from Cyrus was extinguished all his brethren and children by cruell treason beeing made away A iust reward of his father Ochus his Tigerlike and Woluish crueltie in murthering his Princesse The last of all was Darius Codomanus an vsurper rather than a lawfull heire
Maioraltie at Athens being the first of the 75. Olympiad as hath been sufficiently alreadie declared by the testimonies of Diodorus Siculus Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Diogenes Laertius and Suidas what doth it else but make further proofe of the same Herodotus his meaning against Scaliger But what shall we then say to the eclipse of the Sunne mentioned by Herodotus which as Scaliger writeth prooueth that warre to haue been sooner by one yeare H. Bunting dissolueth this doubt by acknowledging that eclips to haue happened in the spring time of that yeare wherein Xerxes went to Sardes which Herodotus by some error as he thinketh transposed to the yeare following when Xerxes went from Sardes into Greece an easie slip in Historie Now to come to Thucidides whereas hee writeth that the tenth yeare after the Persians ouerthrow at Marathon they came againe with a huge armie to subdue Greece he meaneth that yeare to be the tenth wherein Xerxes hauing gathered his armie together marched to Sardes which was the very beginning of that warre for that was the first leading of his armie against the Grecians and in that yeare he made a bridge from Asia to Europe for the passage of his armie ouer and digged downe the hill Atho to make the seas meete for his Ships to passe through and sent his Ambassadors into Greece to demaunde land and water which was a kinde of proclayming warre against such as refused to be subiect vnto him These things all were done in the tenth yeare after the Marathon fight and in the next which was the first of the 75. Olympiad were Xerxes his battailes fought at Thermopylae and other places of Greece being the eleuenth from that Marathon warre euen so acknowledged by Scaliger himselfe in that booke in the chapter of the Persians ouerthrowe at Marathon howsoeuer after he seemeth to be of another opinion and to make it the tenth not vnderstanding Thucidides aright Yea but Eratosthenes Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch three excellent writers referred the passage of Xerxes into Greece to the first yeare of the 75. Olympiad and so his battaile at Thermopylae to the second yeare thereof Eratosthenes indeede I graunt reckoning from the first Olympiad to Xerxes passing into Greece 297. yeares reacheth to the beginning of the second yeare of the 75. Olympiad and goeth a yeare further then other Yet so as if any thing be here amisse it is mended in his next account from Xerxes to the Peloponnesian warre the distance whereof he maketh 48. yeares which with the former 297. are in all 345. from the first Olympiad to the first summer of the Peloponnesian warre which is a most perfect reckoning receiued and agreed on so there is no great matter of difference Now touching Diodorus Siculus his words are so manifest against that assertion of Scaliger as maketh me meruaile that he should be so deceiued in mistaking them First the worde which he vseth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he warred or led his armie being much more large then he passed ouer Againe hauing described the yeare by the number of the Olympiad 75. the first yeare thereof and the chiefe officer of Athens Callias and the Romane Consuls he setteth downe for that yeare so described the battailes of Xerxes at Thermopylae at Artemysium at Salamis and his flying out of Greece and the leauing of Mardonius there with a great hoast And in the second yeare of that Olympiad being the yeare of Xantippus his Maioraltie at Athens he placeth the victory of Pausanias against Mardonius at Plateae and the departure of Xerxes from Sardes to Susa after the ouerthrow of his forces by sea and by land so that there is no doubt at all by Diodorus Siculus but that Xerxes his fighting at Thermopylae happened in the first yere of the 75. Olympiad according to the testimonies and consent of auncient Historiographers before declared As for Plutarch howsoeuer that is gathered of his wordes in one place there cited by Scaliger yet otherwhere he sheweth himselfe of another minde For in the life of Aristides the battell at Plateae which happened the very next yeare after Xerxes his discomfiture hee referreth to the second of that Olymp. that by the iudgement of Scaliger himselfe so expounding the place in his first booke treating of the Theban period If then the next yeare after Xerxes inuading Greece be the second of the 75. Olympiad by Plutarch needes must the yeare of Xerxes fighting in Greece by him bee the first which is agreeable to others Chronologie and the verie trueth The same Plutarch in the life of Numa maketh some doubt of the Olympick reckoning beeing committed to writing in regard of the beginning thereof verie late by Hyppias of Elis without any sure ground whereunto of necessitie we must yeeld credit This obiection is answered by Temporarius in his Chronologie that though it were graunted that Hyppias erred in setting downe the true and exact time of the first Olympiad yet that hindereth the true Chronologie and order of times following nothing at all which is very true for set the case that that Olympiad which Hyppias made the 40. in number was not so much but onely the 30. and so the first 40. yeares short at the least of his account It is not a pin matter The order and account of the times comming after for all that may be most perfect and sure without missing one minute which I wil declare by a familiar example The yeare wherein our gracious Queene began her happie raigne according to the computation of the Church of England was the 1558. of our Lorde but in truth the 1558. this yere by our account 1597. is in very indeed by exact reckoning 1598. The cause wherof was the errour of Dionysius called Paruus Abbas who was the first inuenter of this account supposing Christs birth to haue beene later by one yeare then indeede it was and so making that the first of our Lorde which was the second as is confessed and acknowledged of the best learned and most skilfull Chronologers of our age This error in the first yeare of Christ is no let at all to the exact reckoning of all the yeres following For there is the same distance of yeares from the 1558. to the 1597. by the vsuall account which is from the 1559 to the 1598. by the true account Yet to speake my minde howsoeuer Dionysius missed in the reckoning of the yeares of Christ I hold it out of controuersie that Hippias erred not vnto whose time the memory of the Olympiads had beene preserued from foure yeares to foure yeares from the beginning thereof in times of knowledge places of fame where was great concourse of people keeping the account therof not in their mindes onely but also in writinges as is most like And whether hee erred or no for the Persian times and after it is no matter as I haue declared before seeing the error in the first is constant in all the rest if any error
haue beene Therefore Plutarchs doubt for any thing that I can see had no reason at all but seemeth to sauour of an vsuall custome of the Academicall sect which was alwaies readie furnished to dispute on eyther side pro or contra eyther for the truth or against it For this is most certaine that hee followeth that reckoning by Olympiads himselfe in many places as giuing credit thereunto and making no doubt thereof In his treatise of the ten Orators he saith that Andocides was borne in the 78. Olympiad when Theogenides was gouernour of Athens And that Callias was gouernour in the 92. Olympiad and that Isocrates was borne vnder Lysimachus in the 86. Olymp. 22. yeares after Lysias whose birth he setteth in the second of the 80. Olympiad in the yeare of Philocles all which reckonings agree very perfectly to the ancient Olympick account and the Histories of Thucidides Xenophon and Diodorus Siculus Plinie in the fourth Chapter of his 36. booke hath these wordes Marmore scalpendo primi omnium inclaruerunt Dipoenus Scyllis geniti in Creta insula etiamnum Medis imperitantibus Priusquam Cyrus in Persis regnare inciperet hoc est Olympiade circiter quinquagesima The first of all other for grauing of marble were famous Dipoenus Scyllis born in the Iland of Creta whilst yet the Medes bare rule before Cyrus began to raigne in Persia that is about the 50. Olympiad Hereof Matthew Beroald in the second Chapter of his booke of Chronologie gathereth that Cyrus began in the 50. Olympiad by Plinies testimonie herein dissenting from other who placed his beginning in the 55 but whosoeuer commeth with an euen minde to the truth may easilie perceiue another meaning in Plinie that the words hoc est Olympiade circiter 50 ought not to be referred to that which is said of Cyrus priusquam regnare inciperet before he began to raigne but the former part of the sentence giuing vs this to vnderstand the time wherin Dipoenus Scyllis were famous engrauers in Marble to haue beene about the 50. Olympiad in the dayes of the Medes Soueraigntie before Cyrus had got it away from them to the Persians Thus no dissention at all betweene Plinie and other but great agreement is found Much other such like stuffe is brought of Beroaldus from diuers authors by cold coniectures not any sure knowledge all for the most part in that kind as maketh either against himselfe or nothing for him Pericles being a yong man was of some of the aged sort in Athens thought to fauor Pisistratus the tirant in countinance speech as Plutarch telleth in his life which could not bee as Beroaldus supposed except the old men who had knowne Pisistratus had at that time beene a hundred yeres old A thing in his iudgement vnlike to bee true It is not so vnlike as strange that a man of his learning and reading should iudge so of it seeing that we read of many examples of men of those yeares Valerius Corninus who was Consull of Rome six times liued full out a hundred yeares and likewise Metellus Pontifex Solinus in his Polihistor telleth that Masinissa begot his Sonne Methymnus at 86. yeres age In the time of Claudius Caesar one T. Fullonius of Bononia was found to be 150. yeres of age which in Lydia was a common thing as by Mutianus is reported Terentia the wife of Cicero liued 107. Clodia 115. Many other by Plinie are recorded in his seuenth booke the 48 49 50 Chapters in diuers countries betweene a hundred and a hundred and 50. yeares olde But of all other one Xenophilus liuing 105. yeares without anie disease or hurt of his bodie was wondred at That Gorgias Leontinus a famous Oratour much about that time with Pericles liued 109. yeares wee haue the testimonie of Appolodorus his Chronicles in Diogenes Laertius within one yere acknowledged also by Plinie Euen in this our age at home in our own countrie it is no strange thing to find examples of such as liued out that time which Beroaldus accounted so incredible that he could not perswade himselfe of it to be true but his incredulitie is no proofe to weaken the credit of credible writers But I will not strike with him for this to graunt it a thing vncredible let vs examine his reckoning Pericles died in the third yeare of the 87. Olimpiad not the 88. as Beroaldus saith before his death he had beene one of the chiefe gouernours of the Athenian common wealth fortie yeares This Cicero teacheth in his third booke de oratore so the beginning of his authoritie falleth to the three yeares not of the 78. as Beroaldus would but the 77. Olympiad About that time some olde men gaue this iudgement of him that he was like Pisistratus and might not that be done but of such as were then a 100 yeres old surely yes for Pisistratus died not past threescore yeares before whereof 22. had passed from the Marathon battaile and 20. more from the expelling of Hippias out of Athens declared by Thucidides and 18. before from the beginning of Hippias who succeded Pisistratus Yet some more besides these must bee added to the old mens age to haue knowledge of Pisistratus in his life time to deale liberally let that time be twentie yeres before the death of Pisistratus so their age is left foure score yeres very vsuall at this day in diuers lusty men although I would haue this obserued which Plutarch writeth that iudgement to haue bin giuen of Pericles when hee was a young man whereby some aduantage yet might farther be taken if it were a matter worth the standing vpō Aelianus in his third book the 21. chapter saith Beroaldus telleth of Themistocles that being a childe and as hee came from Schoole meeting Pisistratus the tyrant was willed by his ouerseer attending vpon him to goe out of the way which he refused to doe and asked if there were not roome enough for him besides Whereunto is repugnant that which Iustin telleth in his second booke that Themistocles was a young man at the Marathon war when he must needes be at the least 66. yeares olde if Aelianus say true for the sonnes of Pisistratus after their fathers death raigned 36. yeares witnessed by Herodotus in his fift booke then after were twentie more to the Marathon fight and before Themistocles could in such an answer shew so stoute a minde against the tirant it is like he was ten yeares of age Beroaldus here also in his account is deceiued mistaking Herodotus who in Terpsichore indeede affirmeth that the Pisistratan stocke raigned 36. yeares yet not meaning thereby as Beroaldus would faine haue it that Pisistratus his children raigned so long after their fathers death but that the whole time of father and sonne was in all so much This appeareth by Aristotle an author for credit very sufficicient in the fift booke of his politickes the twelft chapter making the whole raigne of the Pisistratan stocke 35. yeares that is 17.
of Pisistratus himselfe and 18. after of his children And so is Herodotus to be vnderstoode giuing them 36. in all onely differing from Aristotle in a yeare Whereby it may be thought that Pisistratus raigned some few moneths more aboue 17. yeares so his reckoning comes short by almost twentie yeares Againe there was another Pisistratus the sonne of Hippias and Grand childe to the elder Pisistratus before spoken of who in the yeare of his Maioraltie dedicated in the market place at Athens the Altar of the twelue Gods as Thucidides writeth of him in his sixt booke And this in my iudgement is the man to whome that Historie in Aelianus may be fitly applied and stand very well with that which Iustin hath concerning Themistocles fighting at Marathon Yea but Plinie in his 34. booke writeth that the Athenians the same yeare wherein the kings of Rome were driuen out being the fourth of the 67. Olympiad set vp the images of Harmodius and Aristogiton who had killed Hipparchus the tyrant farre wide from that which Dionysius telleth in his sixt booke that Hipparchus was ruler at Athens in the 71. Olympiad What say you to that Nothing but that Beroaldus being belike ashamed of his follie in bringing such an argument calleth it in againe as it were by answering that it was another Hipparchus which Dionysius speaketh of Another argument he taketh from Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his fift booke making the warre at Marathon later by sixteene yeares then the death of Brutus thereby referring the yeare to the fourth of the 71. Olympiad which by Cicero seemeth cast to the 73. wherein Coriolanus a Senator of Rome made warre against it Here we haue nothing but vntrueth vpon vntrueth fit groundes for such a rotten building for sixteene yeares after that of the first Consuls which was by Dionysius the first of the 68. Olympiad in the end whereof Brutus was slaine reach not to the fourth of the 71. but to the second of the 72. Olympiad wherein the same Dionysius in plaine words placeth that warre As for that of Coriolanus against Rome it happened in deed in the first of the 73. Olympiad onely three yeares after the other And therefore Cicero in his Brutus affirming not that this of Coriolanus was at the same time with that other of the Persians but almost at that time speaketh a trueth dissenting nothing at all from Dionysius It followeth in Beroaldus the same Dionysius in his ninth booke Diodorus Siculus agreeing vnto him saith that Xerxes went to warre against Greece in the 75. Olympiad when Callias gouerned Athens that is twelue yeares after the Marathon fight being past to that of Xerxes at Salamis Glossa corrumpit textum the glosse here marreth the text with a manifest vntrueth for neither Dionysius nor Diodorus maketh aboue eleauen yeares distance betwixt those battailes the one placed in the second of the 72. Olympiad the other in the first of the 75 almost in the beginning thereof Now let any man count the distance betweene on his fingers ends and see if he can finde twelue yeares But to omit this and come to the purpose Gelo was at the time of Xerxes his warre by Pausanias and Herodotus tyrant of Syracusae And Gelo tyrant of Syracusae by Plutarch in the life of Lysias the Orator in the second of the 82. Olympiad So the war of Xerxes must by this reckoning come backe neere 30. yeares after the 75. Olympick sport Plutarchs words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English thus much Lysias an exceeding rich man was the sonne of Cephales grand childe of Lysanias the sonne of Cephales his father Cephales was a Syracusian borne and flitted to Athens for loue partly of the citie and partly of Pericles the sonne of Xanthippus who perswaded him thereto being his friend and host or as some say for that hee was driuen from Syracusae at such time as it was subiect to the tyrannie of Gelo. He meaneth that Lysias was borne Being borne at Athens vnder Philocles the next ruler after Phrasicles hee was first brought vp with the noblest children of the Athenians about the second yeare of the 83. Olympiad Afterward being fifteene yeares olde he went to Thuriae a citie of Italie Praxiteles then being Maior of Athens as followeth there in Plutarch Philocles was Maior at Athens in the second yeare of the 80. Olympiad as Diodorus declareth Then was Lysias borne and being about eyght yeres olde in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad he was brought vp with other noble mens children in Athens and therein continued till the yere of Praxiteles his gouernement which was the first of the 84. Olympiad as we reade in the same Diodorus and the fifteenth of Lysias his birth Where can Beroaldus now finde in this place of Plutarch that Gelo was tyrant of Syracusae in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad What meant he so cōfidently to burst forth into this cōplaint Tam incerta sunt apud aut hores rerum istarum tempora So vncertaine are the times of these matters what reason had hee for it For hee that vnderstandeth Greeke and compareth Plutarchs owne words with that which Beroaldus gathereth by them will bee ashamed I beleeue of such an interpreter being so blinded with conceited affection that hee seeth not what is written and careth not what he saith Plutarch doth notablie in this place confirme the receiued ancient Chronologie of the Greekes so farre he is by any disagreement from weakening their credite Let vs now examine one or two other places of Beroaldus concerning the time of Xerxes fighting in Greece In the eyght chapter of his third booke Pausanias sayth Beroaldus telleth in his Arcadikes that Xerxes then passed into Greece when Gelo gouerned at Syracuse which is likewise witnessed by Herodotus in his seuenth booke But that same Pausanias in his Eliaca affirmeth that Gelo held the gouernment of that citie in the second yeare of the 72. Olympiad Except it be a strange thing that one king should continew his raigne by the space of twelue yeares This argument of Beroaldus is not worth a rush to proue disagreement betweene ancient writers referring Gelo his tiranie some to the second of the 72. Olympiad other to the first of the 75. when Xerxes passed into Europe for the beginning of his dominion was about the second of the 72. Olympiad as Dionisius Halicarnassaeus declareth in the seauenth booke of his Roman Antiquities And the end thereof in the 75. Olympiad the thirde yeare thereof as Diodorus witnesseth in the eleauenth booke of his Historicall librarie So both might stand together well enough Beroaldus hath yet more matter from Pausanias in his Eliaca who referreth the ouerthrow of Mardonius at Plateae the next yeare after Xerxes inuaded Greece to the 75. Olympiad whereas Diodorus Siculus saith that Xerxes in that Olympiad inuaded Greece both can not bee true The worde Olympias pertaineth sometime to the game itselfe celebrated euerie first yeare of
he remooueth it two yeares off placing one whole yeare betwixt them as I doe yet differing herein that he placeth Pantacles in the 21. yere which was his error as more plainly by God his assistance shall appeare hereafter But the testimonie of Diodorus Siculus an auncient Historiographer is much more notable who in his thirteenth booke referreth these acts which heere in Xenophon begin after the 22. yeare of the warre to the 23. of the same two yeares before the Magistracie of Pantacles which by Diodorus is set downe in the 25. yere thereof which without all question is most vndoubtedly true and shewed by Xenophons table of the Spartan gouernours euidently and plainely as euery one whose sight is not dimme with a cauelling affection and wilfull wrangling may very clearely see it If any thing in the writing of Xenophons historie by corruptiō of numbers be amisse as for my part I thinke there is none at all if hee bee well vnderstood yet for one thing amisse another which is true must not bee forsaken Let that which is right be so still and not cast away for that which is wrong Xenophons table is sure and hath the consent of excellent Authors to approue it Thucidides from the Marathon war which by the learned is set in the second sommer of the 72. Olympiad to the end of the Peloponnesian warre maketh account of 87. yeares that is to say 10. to Xerxes inuading Greece and 50. thence to the Peloponnesian war with 27. more to the end thereof which from the second of 72. fill vp Xenophons number of 93. Olympiads In the last whereof by Xenophon were gouernours of Athens first Enctemo then Antigones next Callias the fourth and last Alexias Let vs here a little examine how Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in the seauenth booke of his Roman Antiquities agreeth to these there hee writeth that Callias ruled at Athens in the third yeare of that 93. Olympiad which is so by Xenophon Moreouer that the next before Callias for the second yere of that Olympiad was Antigenes found true in the like manner by Xenophon and lastlie from the second yere of the 72 Olympiad wherein the Marathon battell was fought to that yeare of Callias he gathereth 85. yeares which with that yeare of Callias the other following of Alexias make vp exactly the iust reckoning of Thucidides his 87. Diodorus Siculus for Xenophons meaning may take all doubt away end the controuersie who agreeing with Xenophon in the number as well of Olympiads as yeares of the Peloponnesian warre referreth the 24. of that war to the first of the 93. Olympiad as Xenophon doeth and in all the other yeares thereof writeth accordingly wherefore the opinion of Beroaldus concerning the corruption of Xenophons numbers I hold as true as his interpretation of 22. yeares for the next after 22. beeing past Now touching the second place of Xenophon making the warre of longer continuance then Thucidides doeth it no way hindereth the agreement of the Chronologie of those times if his wordes be well waied in the second booke of his Greeke Historie where after hee had declared in the last yeare of that warre the glorious victorie of Lysander against the Athenians at Gotes floud and the besiege of that City by sea and by land whereby they were driuen to yeeld and giue vp their shippes to the Lacedemonians and to throw downe their long wals in the hauen Pyreus hee addeth that the next yeare after happened that Olympiad wherein Crocinas the Thessalian won the race and Endius in Sparta Pythodorus in Athens were chiefe officers In which the fame of the Athenian common wealth was changed and the gouernment of the Cittie committed to thirtie who by their cruell tyrranie in the space of eight months killed more than before by warre had died in ten yeares This being done saith Xenophon Lysander sayled to Samus and tooke it and restored the old inhabitants and driue out the new after returned home to Lacedemonia with a great bootie in the end of summer 28. yeares and sixe months of that warre being then expired In which time were 29. Magistrates called Ephori The first of them being Aenesias vnder whō the war began the last Endius in whose time Lysander sayled home Here Xenophon fetcheth the beginning of that warre further than Thucidides euen from the beginning of the first Ephorus and for the end most apparantly goeth likewise beyond him to Lysanders winning of Samus setting order in it in the yeare of the 29. Ephorus yea further yet hee stretcheth it euen to Lysanders comming home vnto which time reckoning from the beginning of Aenesias wee finde 28. yeares and a halfe Againe Beroaldus obiecteth dissention of Authors touching the beginning of Dionysius his tyrranie some referring it to the third of the 93. Olympiad some to the fourth A waightie reason sure for a little difference of one yeare in Xenophon from other in one thing to ouerthrow the credit of all ancient writers in an other by vniuersall consent established agreed vpon and yet this little difference may bee rather in shew then indeede seeing it is a thing well knowne and confessed that diuers writers begin their yeares diuerslie some halfe a yeare some verie nere three quarters before other as Gerardus Mercator prooueth in his Chronologie but howsoeuer it were graunted that here in one yeare there were flatte contradiction betweene them yet it is a ridiculous toy by one yeres difference to cut off a hundred from the Persian Monarchie I but A. Gellius hath yet a contrarie opinion to both the former laying the gouernment of Dionysius on the 346. yere of Rome which was the second of that Olympiad In Gellius we reade not 346. but 347. so that if the 346. of Rome be the second of the 93. Olympiad then the 347. is the third thereof and therefore good agreement between the Storie writer of Halicarnassus and him The Attick nights were belike too dark for Beroaldus his eyes to see what the enditer layed vp in that place whereunto I haue giuen light before to perceiue his minde It followeth in Beroaldus It is reported of Euripides and Sophocles that they both died in one yeare that is the fourth of the 92. Olympiad whereof may be gathered the 30. tyrants set ouer Athens by Lysander and the ende of the Peloponnesian warre to haue beene in the first of the 93. because the death of Sophocles is knowne to haue happened about that time By whome is this reported It were to bee wished that he had beene named Manie I am sure they cannot be and I thinke no one ancient Author at all can be found who plainely hath said it so as it may appeare to haue proceeded of iudgement in him and againe if any can bee founde who of iudgement set them both together so high yet that might bee well enough without misplacing the thirtie tyrants from the first of the 94. Olympiad to the first of the 93.
is true yet making it the 72. of Christs birth he therein erreth and is at strife with himselfe for how can this possibly stand that the second sommer of the 212. Olympiad should be the 72. yere from the third winter of the 194 Olympiad wherein Christ was borne H. Bunting in his Chronologie did hit the marke right affirming that Ierusalem was destroyed in the 71. yeare of Christ the 822. of Rome Vespasian the second time and his Son Titus being Consull the second yere of the 212 Olympiad The day wherein the Temple was set on fire by Iosephus is obserued euen the 10. of August Conflagrante nouissimo templo numerabantur a nauitate Christi 70. anni cum diebus 221. From the natiuitie of Christ to the burning of the last Temple were 70. yeres and 200. and one and twentie dayes saith Laurence Codoman in his Chronicles of holy scripture which is most certainely true and confirmed of him againe in the fourth booke of his chronologie toward the end of the 29. chapter where notwithstanding he also hath his errour in numbring 105. yeres to that time from the beginning of Herods raigne at his taking of Ierusalem beeing at the least 106. full yeares with three weekes ouer For Ierusalem was taken of him about the beginning of the fourth yeare of the 185. Olympiad Wherein M. Agrippa and Canidius Gallus were Consuls the seauenteenth day of the Iewes fourth month called Tamuz answering in parte to our Iune and partlie to Iulie as appeareth by Iosephus in the end of his fourteenth book of antiquities compared with Ben Gorion his fourth booke the 23. chapter The Temple by Titus his souldiers was fired the ninth day of their next moneth called Ab as we read in the end of his seder olam rabba and the eight day of the next moneth following the Citie it selfe was set on fire by them Vnto which time Iosephus from Herods beginning before mentioned counteth 107. yeares in his 20. booke of Antiquities the eight chapter beeing no more but 106. yeres with seauen weekes more Therefore according to the vsuall custome of Historiographers he reckoneth a part of the last yeare for the whole and his meaning is that the burning of the citie hapned in the 107. yere after Herods beginning to raigne and that the distance betwixt the one and the other was 107. yeres running on so as the last of them was not yet compleat By that which hitherto hath beene prooued it appeareth that from the beginning of the Persian Monarchie and the first yeare of Cyrus to the end of the Iewes common wealth in the second of Vespasian were 628. yeares so much time more as had past partly before the second yeare of the 55. Olympiad to the beginning of Cyrus and partlie after the end of the first yeare of the 112. Olympiad to the eight of September following wherein the holie City of God Ierusalem was set on fire that if account be made from the entrie of that 55. Olympiad to the time wherein the Citie was burned the whole space is euen 629. yeres with some two monethes more or there abouts Thus I end my reckoning of the times within the compasse whereof Daniels weeks haue runne out their course which is the first help requisite to the vnderstanding of Daniels meaning The second now followeth that is a true interpretation of his wordes for though the fulfilling of those weekes is contained within the reach of those 629. yeares and odde monethes before spoken of yet in what time thereof they began or ended that is a controuersie to the discussing whereof this second help may happely bring some light THE NINTH CHAPTER OF DANIEL THE 24. verse Vers 24. Seuentie weekes are determined vpon thy people and vpon thy holy Citie to sinish wickednesse and to ende sinne and to make reconciliation for iniquitie and to bring righteousnesse euerlasting and to seale vp vision and Prophet and to annoynt the holy of holies Vers 25. Know then and vnderstand from the going forth of the worde to builde againe Ierusalem vnto Messias the Gouernour shall be seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes it shall be builded againe streete and wall and in troublesome times Vers 26. And after those threescore and two weeks shal Messias be cut off and he shal haue no being and the citie sanctuarie shall the people of the come gouernour destroy the end thereof shall be with a flood and vnto the ende of the warre shall be a precise iudgement of desolations Vers 27. And he shall make a sure couenant to many one weeke halfe that weeke he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease and for the ouerspreading of abominations shall be desolation which to vtter and precise destruction shall be powred vpon the desolate FOr the plainer vnderstanding and proofe of this interpretation I haue thought good to set downe cerraine annotations thereon where need shall require In the 24. verse weekes The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a weeke or as wee also terme it a sennet or seuenet which better fitteth the Hebrew hauing that force as likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and septimana in Latine all so called of the number of seauen but it is to bee obserued that the Hebrew word here vsed signifieth sometime the space of seauen dayes as here in this prophesie the tenth chapter and second verse where Daniel saith that hee mourned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three weeks or seuenets of dayes and in the sixteenth of Deuteronomie the ninth verse where commandement is giuen from Easter to Whitsontide to number seuen weeks or seuenets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And sometime it containeth seuen yeres as in the 29. chapter the 27 verse of Genesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulfill her seuenet and then shee also shall bee giuen vnto thee for the seruice which thou shalt serue me yet seuen yeares more The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in approued Authors is in like manner vsed not onelie for seauen dayes but also euen for seuen yeares space and namely in the end of the seauenth booke of Aristotles politikes where mention is made of such as deuided ages by seuenets of yeares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Varro also in his first booke of Images writing se iam duodecimam annorum hebdomadam ingressum esse That hee had now entred into the 12. sennet of yeares expresseth it more plainely and fullie In this signification I take the worde in this place vnderstanding by 70. seuenets 490. yeares hauing proofe thereof from holy Scripture and prophane writer As for those which stretch the worde further to a seuenet of tents or Iubilies or hundreds of yeeres as some haue done their opinion hath neither warrant from God his word nor any likelihood of trewth Are determined The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth properly to cut and by a metaphor from thence borowed to determine as hereafter I shal haue occasion to declare
to Nehemias ioyneth these two together the building of the walles and a king set ouer the Iewes It is reported saith Sanballat among the heathen that thou the Iewes thinke to rebell for which cause thou buildest the wall that thou mayest bee their king according to their wordes Thou hast also ordained Prophets to preach of thee in Ierusalem saying there is a king in Iuda These two thinges then begun together the Citie builded and the annoynted Gouernour thereof as also the end of both was at one time declared in the 26. verse After those 62. weekes shall Messias be cut off and the Citie and Temple shall the people of the come Gouernour destroy Thus whereas Daniel hath deuided his 70. weekes into three parts The first of them hath his true meaning by text and time approued from the decree to build Ierusalem to the same building finished and the established gouernment in it beeing the space of 49. yeares The second part containeth 62. weekes wherein Ierusalem so builded with the common wealth and state and princely gouernment thereof was to continue that is to say from the building of the Citie finished and the Prince or ruler appointed in the 32. of Artaxerxes Mnemon vnto such time as the ruine and fall of the same Citie began which was about the nine yeare of Nero For about that time Albinus the Roman Gouernour of Iudea Ierusalem by his great couetousnes and crueltie in most wofull manner oppressed the Iewes for bribes euen selling them to be spoyled and robbed of their goods at the will and pleasure of most lewd ruffins and bad persons As Josephus declareth in his second booke of the Iewes warre the thirteenth Chapter inferring thereof that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seedes of Ierusalems captiuitie approching was from that time sowne meaning that those troubles vnder Albinus were the beginnings of the Iewes thraldome and vndoing as indeede they were which in the twentieth booke of antiquities the eight chapter hee declareth more plainely where hauing spoken of the great miserie of the Iewes which they suffered by the mercilesse crueltie of Albinus hee vseth these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From that time forward saith Iosphus especially our Citie began to be sicke and all things going then more and more to decay The wofull calamities of Ierusalem euery day falling more and more to wracke after the gouernment of Albinus by a borrowed speech hee termeth sicknes In the beginning of that yeare at the feast of the Tabernacle it was that a certaine man of the common sort brought vp in the countrie called Iesus the sonne of Anani as a messenger by diuine motion from God to foreshew the vtter ruine and desolation of Ierusalem to come in that last weeke of the 70. which was yet behinde in the streetes of the Citie cryed day and night a voice from the East a voice from the West a voice from the foure windes a voice against Ierusalem and the Temple a voice against Bridegroomes and Brides a voice against all the people The Magistrates and Nobles of the Citie not abiding his outcries brought him before Albinus who caused him with scourges to bee torne to the bones when the sillie wretch neyther wept nor craued anie mercie but at euery stroke answered woe woe to Ierusalem In this manner crying hee continued seuen yeres more without anie hoarsnes or wearines neyther cursing them that hurt him nor thanking them that releeued him At the length going on the walles with this crie woe woe to the Citie and the Temple the people hee added these wordes woe also to my selfe and was presently slaine with a stone hurled by an Engine at him from the enemie beseeging the Citie Thus the second part of this Prophesie foreshewing how long the Iewes common wealth after the ordering thereof should continue before it began to decay contained 62. weekes that is 434. yeares for the 32. of Artaxerxes Mnemon was the fourth yeare of the 101. Olympiad towards the end wherof the building of Ierusalem was finished and the Iewes common wealth appointed and the first yere of the last weeke was the second yeare of the 210. Olympiad beginning toward the end of it in the spring time of the yeare The space included containeth the full number before declared The third last part is one weeke euen the last of all the 70. wherein after the former 62. weekes expired Messias that is the last Ruler was cut off and the gouernement of the Citie quite extinct for when their last king Agrippa in the twelfth yeare of Nero foure yeares before the destruction of the Citie went about to perswade the people to obey Florus the Roman deputie by whose tyrannie they had beene incomparably more vexed and oppressed then in the time of Albinus his predecessor The people were so stirred against him that they could not containe themselues any longer but threw stones at him and droue him out of the Citie as Iosephus declareth in the sixteene chapter of the second booke of the Iewes war If any here obiect that Caius Caesar the Emperour of Rome after the death of this Agrippas father made Iudea a prouince to bee gouerned by a Roman Deputie and bestowed on this Agrippa the kingdome of Chalcis which pertained to his vncle Herod I answer that this Herod had his kingly Pallace in Ierusalem and obtained of C. Caesar for himselfe his successors not onely the rule and power ouer the Temple and whole treasurie but also authority of chusing the high Priests and deposing them at his pleasure and the calling of the iudges together and other matters pertaining to the seruice of the Leuites and Priestes in Gods Temple All which his Soueraignty dyed in this last weeke about foure yeres before the destruction of the Citie yea before in the time of Albinus in the beginning of this last weeke anarchie and vnrulie disorder begun to rise and good gouernment to fall which Iosephus immediatly before the worde concerning the seedes of Ierusalems thraldome sowen in the second booke of the Iewes war the thirteenth chapter before by me cited seemeth in this short speech to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tyrranie or vsurped gouernment was exercised by manie This beginning of misrule by little and little grew to further increase till at the length the king was driuen out and not long after al other magistracy of Ierusalem was likewise abolished all good gouernment ceased as Iosephus in plaine words declareth in the fourth booke and fift chapter of the Iewes warre that the citie was without a ruler to guide it And in the second chapter of the fift booke that all law of man was troden vnder foot and the law of God made a scorne and the lawes of nature it selfe disturbed All things were ordered by the will of lawlesse ruffians their pleasure stood for law A most pitifull disorder and tumultuous anarchie raigned amongst them by the wilfull malice of gracelesse rebels appoynting
A TRVE CHRONOLOGIE OF THE TIMES OF THE PERSIAN Monarchie and after to the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romanes WHEREIN BY THE WAY briefly is handled the day of Christ his birth with a declaration of the Angel Gabriels message to Daniel in the end of his 9. chap. against the friuolous conceits of Matthew Beroald Written by EDVVARD LIVELIE Reader of the holie tongue in Cambridge AT LONDON Printed by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man John Porter and Rafe Iacson 1597. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD MY VERY HOnorable good Lord my Lord the Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace THE knowledge of former times most reuerend by prophane authors recorded for the great profit and delight thereof hath not without cause beene alwaies highlie esteemed of the best wisest men in Heathen common wealths guided only by natures law the word of life not knowne amongst them This keepeth the memorie of thinges done of old and in spite of death preserueth still in some sort as it were the life of Noble ancestors who by their prowesse and wisedome for guiding the course of mans life aright haue left most worthie examples and notable patternes of vertue behind them To Christians it hath this more to commend it selfe that it bringeth much light to the vnderstanding of God his worde and greatlie auaileth to the aduancement of that trueth wherby soules are wonne to the Lorde wherefore I cannot but meruaile at the shall I terme it follie or rather madnes of those men which for the continuance of the Persian Monarchie and the raigne of the seueral kings therin are bold to reiect the true histories of ancient writers who liuing in the times thereof haue set forth the same for the ages to come The cause and maine ground whereof is nothing else but their owne error in misunderstanding holie Scripture by wrested interpretation making flat contradiction betweene the spirite of God and prophane truth So not onelie wrong is done to those excellent men who by their paines haue deserued well but also euen the certaintie of Gods worde it selfe by this meanes is weakned made doubtfull and called into question For it is not possible that one truth should be repugnant to another Now because truth as Augustine writeth in his second booke de doctrina Christiana is the Lordes wheresoeuer it is found therefore euerie Christian in dutie bound to stand for the maintaining thereof against all aduersaries so farre forth as his strength will serue I haue according to my pore talent vndertaken the defence of the true Historie Chronologie of the Persian times against the aduersaries thereof and withall an exposition of the Angell Gabriels message to Daniel agreeable thereunto The one that is my account of the times in fast perswasion I hold so sure as that I stedfastlie beleeue scarse 2. yeres vnder or ouer if any at all will be easily disprooued which in so great a number were a small matter in regard of those mens conceipt who are bold at one dash to chop off no lesse then a hundred yeares For the other I meane my exposition by reasō of interpreters disagreement among themselues hauing not like euidence I referre my selfe to learnings skill the iudgement of cunning Linguists and sound Diuines In English rather then in Latine I haue chosen to set foorth this treatise for no other cause in the world but one That as my owne Countriemen in their natiue language by reason of Mathew Beroald the first brocher of the new Chronologicall History of the Persian Empire translated into English and some other bookes doe read the wrong in danger thereby to bee seduced So likewise in the same their mother tongue by this my paines they may see the right so hold themselues therein from going astray This my labour I am bolde to present vnto your Grace sundrie reasons moouing me thereunto For hauing in intent sought herein the vpholding of truth to the good of my Countrie and the benefitte of Christ his Church amongst vs the chiefe care wherof for these matters appertaineth vnto your Grace I feared not the checke of vnseemely boldnes if by the honour of your Graces name I should seeke to commend the same Your great loue of learning and kind good will to Students hartned me on But aboue all my especiall motiue hereunto was the earnest desire of my heart to shew some token of my dutifull remembrance of your great kindnes heretofore so many waies shewed vnto mee That I was first scholler and after fellow of Trinitie Colledge in Cambridge it proceeded of your louing minde and fauorable good wil vnto me besides other benefits many some greater then the forme which were too long to recite In regard whereof if it may please your Grace to accept of this acknowledgement of my dutie I shall account the same my duty doubled Thus with my hartie desire of your Graces happy estate long to cōtinue to the glory of God the good of his Church and the wealth of this land your own sounde comfort I most humbly take my leaue of your Grace this 24. day of Nouember in the 1597. yere of Christ our Lord. Your Graces most bounden EDVVARD LIVELIE A TRVE CHRONOLOGIE OF THE TIMES OF THE PERSIAN MONARCHIE CIcero if euer any other was one which verified that doctrine of the blessed Apostle Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians that the wisedome of God of the wisest of the world was accounted foolishnes The learning of the Grecians all artes pertaining to humanitie beeing held together to vse his owne tearme in a certaine kindred betweene themselues hee had in great price The knowledge thereof he admired the professors he honoured and by quicke conceit and sharp wit together with earnest trauaile and diligent study therein he grew to that ripenes of deepe knowledge and sweet speech wise counsell whereby he became the rare ornament of his countrie the precious iewell of his age and the great glorie of the world far beyond al before him neuer ouertooke of any after him But touching true diuinity the people of God with the word of life amongst them they were no better esteemed of him then Paul and his preaching was of the learned Philosophers of Athens being mocked for his labour and acounted a babling toole Let his owne mouth make proofe hereof in an Oration which he made for Lucius Flaccus beeing at that time accused amongst other matters for detayning great summes of gold sent yearely vpon deuotion by an vsuall custome out of Italie and some other prouinces of Rome to Ierusalem This action of his client withstanding the Iewes herein he greatly commendeth Ierusalem the holie and glorious seate of God his seruice hee calleth a suspitious and backebyting Citie The deuout worship of God and the holy religion of the Iewes he termeth barbarous superstition by great contempt in regard of the glorie and ancient customes of the Roman Empire in the end he concludeth
I call it in regard of all that which for declaration of other matters might bee sayd herein which were the worke of a huge volume and great toyle These writers then for many partes of Scripture are diligently to be sought into and not as some rash braines imagine to bee cast away as vnprofitable in the Lordes schoole house but especially for Daniell aboue all In other places they may seeme profitable but heere they are necessary euen by Hieroms iudgement who in a preface to his commentaries on this booke affirmeth the manifold Histories of Greeke and Latine Authors to bee necessary for the vnderstanding of Daniels Prophesies These helpes therefore I minde to vse for vnfolding the 4. last verses of the 9. Chapter of Daniell containing an entire prophesie of the estate of the holy City after the Iewes returne from the building thereof vnto the vtter destruction of the same by Vespasian the Emperor of Rome and therein of the comming of Iesus Christ the Lord of life aboue 500. yeres before Which is a most certaine argument of Diuine wisedome in Daniell from heauen and a proofe of that which Balthasar had heard that the spirit of the holy Gods was in him whereby also he foreshewed many yeares before the destruction of the Babylonian Empire by the Medes and Persians the Persians ouerthrow by Alexander and the great troubles which long after that time the Iewes suffered vnder Antiochus Epiphanes All this skill came from God for the knowledge and foretelling of thinges to come is that which God onely hath left in his owne power and challengeth to himselfe in the Prophet Esay I make knowne those things saith God which haue not yet hapned The Heathen Poet Sophocles could see this thus writing in the Tragedie of Aiax the whip bearer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many things saith hee may bee knowne of men when they see them come to passe but of thinges to come yet vnseene there is no prophet I am not ignorant that Porphyrius a Tyrian Philosopher a wicked and vngodly Iew of the kindred and sect of the Sadduces an Infidell an enemie of Christ a hater of God and his word who wrote fifteene bookes against the Christians to weaken and extenuate the trueth and authoritie of Daniels Prophesie deuised this shift to say that the Iewes long afore Daniels time seeing these thinges done committed them to writing vnder Daniels name thereby to win credit to their bookes This fine deuise of Porphyrie is nothing else but a vaine cauill For it is well knowne that the comming of Christ is spoken of by Daniell in diuers places which can not bee saide to haue beene written by the Iewes who first had seene the comming of Christ seeing that they neyther at that time when hee came acknowledged him and euer since haue beene so farre from beleeuing in him that vsually to this day they euen curse his memorie Porphyrius herein hath beene answered at large by the learned Fathers Methodius Eusebius Caesariensis and Apolinarius withstanding his blasphemie And Hierome for learning as noble as any in one short sentence most wittily and pithilie turneth all his reasoning against Daniell for Daniell against himselfe Porphirii impugnatio testimonium veritatis est Tanta enim in hoc Propheta dictorum fides inuenta est vt propterea incredulis hominibus videatur non futura dixisse sed praeterita narrasse Porphyrie his impugning of Daniell saith Hierome is a testimonie of his trueth because the sayings of this Prophet haue beene found so certaine and of so great credit that therefore vnbeleeuers haue iudged him rather to tell things past thē to speak of things to come But if there were nothing else at all to be saide yet euen this one prophesie of Daniell which I haue in hande touching the desolation of Ierusalem the trueth and certaintie whereof was at the length verified by the euent it selfe at such time as Titus destroyed the Temple and Citty were enough to stoppe the aduersaries mouthes Yea though all the Infidell Porphyries in the world with all their cunning shifting stand together they shall neuer be able to auoid the force of this prophesie but that it must needes argue a diuine spirit in Daniell For they cannot here say that the Iewes after they had seene the Temple destroyed by the Romanes forged a prophesie thereof in Daniell his name Because euen Christ himselfe in the 24. of Matthew alleadgeth this prophesie of Daniel concerning the desolation of the holy Citie in the flourishing time thereof about 37. yeares before it was fulfilled Whereby it is euident that this prophesie was commonly knowne read in the Church of God among the Iewes as written by Daniell long before the euent had shewed the trueth thereof So Daniell yet standeth a diuine prophet of the Lord inspired with heauenly knowledge of thinges to come from aboue and seeing that in one thing truely foretold this is prooued of him there is no cause at all to doubt of the rest This is a sure foundatiō of diuinitie a sound stay of religion a strong prop of faith to be reposed in the vndoubted trueth of GOD his word a mightie vpholder of the prouidence of God against all the Atheistes and Epicures of the world Which Josephus verie well perceiuing and in the end of his 10. booke of antiquities disputing against this kind of men fetcheth his reason from the sure truth of Daniels Prophesies The errour saith hee of the Epicureans hereby is reprooued which take Gods prouidēce in gouerning things out of this life beleeuing the world to be carried by his owne force without a guide or ouerseer Wherefore considering Daniels prophesies I cannot but condemne the foolishnes of those men which deny that God hath any care of mens affaires For how could it come to passe that the euent should answere his prophecies if all thinges in the world were done by chance Caluin also in the first book of his institutions Doth not Daniell saith he so prophesie of thinges to come by the space of 600. yeares as though he wrote an Historie of things alreadie done and commonly knowne Good men by the diligent meditation hereof shall bee abundantly furnished to quiet the barking of the vngodly for this euidence is clearer then that it can be subiect to any cauils This was the iudgement of Iosephus Caluin against Atheists and prophane Epicures to their shame and ouerthrow taken from the certaintie of Daniels foreshewing things to come Euen this one prophecie of Daniels weekes is a verie hammer to beate them downe to the ground and a wier scourge as it were to teare them all in peeces And therefore of all true Christians to be had in great reuerence and the vnderstanding therof to bee desired as pearles and diligently sought for as hid treasure To the finding out hereof two thinges are most requisite the one is a iust account of the times the other a true interpretation of the wordes in the
originall tongue If wee faile in either of these there is no hope to knowne what Daniell meant by his weekes For neither good interpretation alone is enough without exact chronologie nor this without the other serueth much to purpose The sundring of these two things which must needes stand together hath beene the cause of such turning and tossing this excellent peece of Scripture in so many mens heades so many waies therefore in these two thinges especially shall be the imployment of my paines if happily thereby this noble text of Scripture may receaue some light to the clearer perceauing thereof Marcus Varro a learned Roman as Censorinus telleth in his booke De die natali measured all time by three spaces whereof one was from the beginning of men to the first flud for the ignorance of the things which happened therein called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnknown The second from that floud to the first Olympiad for many fables and tales therein reported tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fabulous The third last from the first Olympiad to his age containing more certaine truth of historie therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 historicall This was Varro his iudgement commended by Cicero also in his first booke of Academicall questions where speaking to Varro hee vseth these words Thou haste opened the age of thy countrey and ordering of times Vnto Varro herein agreed Iulius Affricanus in his third booke of Chronicles As Eusebius witnesseth in his tenth book De praeparatione Euangelica vntill the time of the Olimpiads saith Affricanus there is no sure knowledge in the Greeke Historie all thinges beeing confusedly written without agreement betweene themselues But the Olimpicke times haue beene exactly handled of the Grecians by reasō of regestring their acts and records therein of no longer time then euery foure yeares space Censorinus after him speaking of the time from the first Olimpiad In this space saith he was neuer any great dissentiō or controuersie among writers for computation of time except in some sixe or seauen yeares at the most And euen this little that was Varro himselfe by his great skill and diligent paines at the length discussed and founde out the truth and shewed cleare light by which the certaine number not of yeares onely but euen of daies might be perceaued The Grecians saith Chitraeus in his Chronicle haue no certaine computation of times and order of yeares before the Olimpiads This was the iudgement of the best learned in all times in all countries for all kinde of skill concerning the certaine accoūt of time by Olimpiads vsed of the Grecians receaued of the Romanes followed and commended of Christians euen the flower of thē the most ancient Fathers Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Hierome Orosius and other for knowledge of Gods worde most famous and renowned continued kept from age to age not contradicted with reason of anie Except peraduenture some to shew the finenesse of their wit by Sophistrie might cauill against it For the better vnderstanding of that which hath bin and shall hereafter be said of Olympiads it shal not be amisse here to shew what is meant thereby Olympia was a certaine place of Greece where games of running wrestling leaping such like were instituted by Hercules in honor of Iupiter Olympius wherof the place was called Olympia and the games Olympiads Olimpiac games the sports of Olympia which after Hercules for a long time beeing discontinued were at the length renewed againe by Iphitus King of that countrie about seauen hundred seauentie and fiue yeares before the birth of our Sauiour Christ Beeing so reuiued they were from that time forward continued by the space of a thousand yeres and more after euery foure yeares in sommer about the month of Iuly solemnized This foure yeares space was called Olympias By these Olympiads the Grecians numbred their yeares counting from that time wherein they were begun againe by Iphitus As appeareth by Velleius Paterculus Solinus Phlegon Pausanius Censorinus who all referre the beginning thereof to Iphitus neyther for this matter that I know of amongst writers is there any doubt at all Beyond Iphitus I cannot warrant any certaine account of yeeres among the heathen greatly meruailing at the folly of those men who busie themselues in searching for sure knowledge by ordered times many ages before A Christian Prince not long agoe standing much vpon his parentage by this kinde of men was seduced A trifling Courtier perceiuing his humor made him beleeue that his petigree in ancient race of royall blood might be fetched from Noa his Arke wherewith being greatly delighted forthwith he laid all busines aside and gaue himselfe wholly to the searche of this thing so earnestly that hee suffered none to interrupt him whosoeuer no not Embassadors themselues which were sent to him about most waightie affaires Many meruailed heereat but none durst speake their mind till at the length his Cooke whō he vsed sometime in stead of a foole told him that the thing which hee went about was nothing for his honor for now saith he I worship your Maiestie as a God but if we goe once to Noas Arke wee must there your selfe and I both be a kinne This saying of his foolish Cooke cast him in a dumpe and stayed the heat of his earnest studdy and brought him to a better mind from his vaine error in deceiueable times farre beyond the compasse of truth which as before hath bin shewed was limited from the first Olimpiad downeward within these limits of time by the testimonie of Varro Affricanus Censorinus the Iudgements of manie other learned men in all ages being certaine and void of error is the reach of Daniels weekes yea to come nearer home by 200 yeares and more within that part thereof which by the learning wisedome and knowledge of excellent men hath beene made most famous that is to say from the Persian Monarchie in the first yeare of Cyrus to the second of Vespasian Emperour of Roome wherein the Cittie of Ierusalem was destroyed and the Iewes common wealth ouerthrowne within the lists and compasse whereof the fulfilling of this Prophesie is contained euen Beroaldus himselfe though an aduersarie of the receaued Grecians Chronologie in his 2. booke and 2. chapter where hee saith that before the times of Cyrus the Greek Histories haue no certainty seemeth to acknowledge some truth of Historie afterward whereof he giueth this reason because in Cyrus his age were the 7. sages of Greece liuing together one of them beeing Colon the Athenian acquainted with Croesus King of Lydia who fought against Cyrus This whole space from the beginning of Cyrus his raigne to the destruction of the holy Cittie by Titus containeth 629. yeares from the Olimpiad wherein Cyrus began to the same season of that yeare wherein Ierusalem Temple and Citie was set on fire For the Persian kings raigned by the space of 230. yeares From the death of the last King of Persia to the birth of Christ
who of all the rest had the hardest hap in his imperiall state receiued by wrong continued in toyle ended in woe after sixe yeares which by Eusebius Isidorus Hierom and others was the time of his raigne The whole number and generall summe of all from first to last is two hundred and thirtie yeares so by this reckoning of euerye seuerall kings raigne is found nine or ten monethes in the whole aboue the Olympick account from the end of the first yeare of the 55. Olympiad These months must bee taken partly from the one and twentieth of Xerxes beeing not fullie expired as appeareth by Diodorus Siculus giuing him not ful one twentie yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more than twentie And partlye from Arses whome Bagous a faithles Eunuche poysoned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is nowe raigning the third yeare saith Diodorus about the beginning of his seuenteenth book thereby signifying that it was not fully compleat and partly also from the sixt of the last Darius which was not whollie perfectly finished For Artaxerxes Mnemon begun his raigne in the end of the Peloponnesian warre or a little after in the month of Aprill as may bee gathered by Diodorus Siculus in the end of his thirteenth booke compared with Thucidides Thucidides saith it begun in the beginning of the spring two months before the yeares end which time by Codoman and others skill fell to the first of Aprill It lasted saith Thucidides seuen and twentie yeares and some few dayes more Darius died after the peace made betweene the Athenians and the Lacedemonians saith Diodorus Siculus meaning that peace which made an end of the warre Giuing therefore him three and fortie and Ochus three and twentie and Arses three all perfect they must end about that season in the first yeare of the hundred and eleuenth Olympiad Arses I graunt reached to that yeare yet not to that moneth of Aprill by a good while For Philip king of Macedonia was slaine by Pausanias in that hundred and eleuenth Olympiad the first yeare thereof witnesses Arrhiames and Diodorus and that in winter about the foure and twentie of Ianuarie as Chitraeus affirmeth in his Chronologie But Arses was poysoned and Darius had succeeded him while Philip was yet a liue and had purposed to haue made warre against him as Diodorus writeth Hereby it is euident that neither Arses his three yeares nor Codomans sixe yeares could be fully ended seeing that he was slaine in summer about the beginning of the third yeare of the hundred and twelfth Olympiad as appeareth by Arrhiames Thus are found from the beginning of the fiue and fiftieth Olympiad to the death of the last Monarch of Persia two hundred and thirtie yeares And from Cyrus thither two hundred and nine and twentie yeares and more by gesse about two or three moneths And lastly from Cyrus to Darius now the second time by Alexander vanquished in which conquest many make an ende of the Persian Empire two hundred and eyght and twentie yeares and a halfe These times of the Persian Monarchie being I know not by what mishap brought into question and great controuersie among the learned and withall of great importance for the vnderstanding of God his word haue neede to bee strengthened with all force that may bee And therefore I will yet make further search for stayes and props as it were to vpholde them Eusebius in his tenth booke de Preparatione Euangelica saith that the second yeare of Darius Hystaspis was the first of the threescore and fift Olympiad so found iust by the former reckoning The warre of Xerxes that Darius his sonne and Nephew to Cyrus of all other was the most famous Who led against Greece the greatest armie that euer was heard of before or after of twentie hundred thousand fighting souldiers for the huge multitude thereof drinking running riuers drie and as Cicero saith walking vpon the Seas and sayling on the land because that hee digged through great mountaines to make the seas meete for his nauie to passe And in other places of the sea made bridges to goe ouer a foote Leonides a valiant king of Sparta to the wonder of all ages following onely with foure thousand men encountred resisted and fought with that powerfull hoste at the straights of Thermopylae Xerxes at the first sent fifteene thousand then twentie thousand and last of all fiftie thousand against them At euery time making choyce of better men then before First begun the Medes bearing hatefull mindes against the Grecians with desire of reuenge for the slaughter of their kinsemen a little before at Marathon Next after them fought the Persian souldiers themselues in whom the Persian king of all other nations vnder him reposed most confidence Yea of these Persians were chosen the most valiant men amongst them all called the immortals because their number neuer decayed Last of all was a choyce companie of the chiefest men of all the whole hoast for stoutenes valour and courage picked out from the rest And they also stirred vp by great promises of rich rewards All these fighting against that handfull of the Grecians had like successe a great number was slaine many wounded the rest put to flight Xerxes maugred thus stayed by a few from passing further into Greece was at his wits ende till such time as one of that countrey had informed him of another way by which some of the armie came vpon the backe of Leonides and so inclosed him on both sides which Leonides hauing intelligence of by a secret friend a little before sent all the rest of his companie home sauing fiue hundred These he encouraged and the more to enable them for battell exhorted them to dine before with resolued mindes to take their supper among the dead Which done and night come they inuaded the Persian campe came to the kings Pauilion slew all that were in it wandred to and fro seeking the king who a little before had got himselfe away and killing on both sides as they went The Persians in the darke not discerning the matter were greatly amazed ran out of their tents they wist not whether fearing nothing so much as this that the whole power of Greece had set vpon them In this hurlie burlie they slew one another till the day light bewrayed the trueth when Leonides with his souldiers fought still At the length wearied with ouercomming and oppressed on euery side with mayne force of that powerfull number they dyed in the middest of their enemies with glorie hauing slaine to the number of twentie thousand The battailes wherein Xerxes had this welcome into Greece many olde writers with great agreement refer to the beginning of the seuentie and fiue Olympiad Diodorus in his eleuenth booke writeth that Xerxes warred against Greece in the first yeare of the seuentie and fiue Olympiad Callias then being Maior of Athens Dyonisius Halicarnassaeus in the beginning of his ninth booke agreeth hereunto naming that very yeare of the same Olympiad and the
the foure as where Solinus telleth that the 207. Olympias was in the publike acts recorded to be in the 801. yeare of Rome wherein Pompeius Gallus Q. Veranius were Consuls and Eratosthenes in Clemens Alexandrinus accounteth from the first Olympiad to the passage of Xerxes into Greece 297. yeares Xenophon also in his Historie of the Greeke affaires writeth that the next yeare after Dionysius had got the kingdome of Syracusae happened that Olympias wherein Pythodorus was Maior at Athens In all these places Olympias is taken for one yeare onely and that the first of the foure in which sence Diodorus vsed it where hee saith that Xerxes inuaded Greece in the 75. Olympiad Now because that from one Olympias to another were foure yeares complete the word is also vsuallie taken for that whole space of foure yeares betwixt one and another not much vnlike that which we read in blessed Lukes gospell of the proude Pharisie boasting of his fasting twice in a sabboth taking one day of the weeke for all the weeke from the beginning to the end So it is vsed of Solinus writing that Rome was builded in the first yeare of the seauenth Olympiad and when the seauenth Olympiad began and Iosephus in the last chapter of his fourteenth booke of Antiquities saith that Herode tooke Ierusalem in the 185. Olympiad hee meaneth the whole foure yeares space of that Olympiad for that was done in the last yeare thereof In this sence that saying of Pausanias is true concerning Mardonius his ouerthrow at Plateae in the 75 Olympiad and so no discord proued As for Polybius from whom hee gathereth the warre of Xerxes to haue been in the third yeare of the 74. Olympiad there is no such matter Beroaldus was deceiued in his reckoning I haue brought the place of Polybius before and declared his meaning Oebotas a man of Achaea wonne the race in the sixt Olympiad who for so glorious a victorie receiuing not that honour of his countriemen which he looked for at their hands and in his owne iudgement had deserued conceaued such discontentment thereat that hee euen cursed them praying that neuer any of the Achaeans more might win any Olympicke game againe which so fell out for a long time till at the length by the councell of Apollo his Oracle they had in honour of Oebotas erected a piller for an eternall monument of his vertue with an inscription testifying the same which was performed vnto him in the 80. Olympiad as Pausanias telleth in his Achaica and Eliaca who for that cause meruaileth at the report of some Grecians who saide that Oebotas fought against Mardonius in the 75. Olympiad and thinketh it vncredible as hee might well enough that a man hauing wonne the race in the sixt Olympiad should bee a fighting Souldier neere two hundred and fourescore yeares after What is here now in Pausanias to be seene which in his owne perswasion doth not confirme the trueth of the Olympicke Chronologie rather then make against it any way For the great credite which he put therein nothing doubting of the true reckoning of so many yeares betweene bred that meruailing in him and made him think that Oebotas which fought against Mardonius in the 75. Olympiad to haue been some other of that name rather then the ancient race winner in the sixt Olympiad It was true that by some they were supposed one and the same but by such as Pausanias iudged fooles for their labour Their folly stirred him neuer a whit from the true receiued account of Olympicke yeares Of the certaintie whereof what a setled and grounded perswasion he had may appeare by this that in diuers places he maketh mention of Olympicke recordes and registers which himselfe saw and read wherein he testifieth the memorie of the Olympiads to haue been preserued by the Eleans in whose countrie those games were kept and that with such care and diligence that from the first in Iphitus his time to the Emperor Nero not one of them all was missing this hee witnesseth in his Phocica much auayling to the credite of that account Another obiection in Beroaldus is concerning the time of the Peloponnesian warre of which saith he both beginning and end is vncertaine by the dissention of authors betweene themselues Plinie referreth the time of it to the fourth of the 81. Olympiad and A. Gellius to the first of the 89. and Diodorus Siculus to the third of the 87. So saith Beroaldus If truelie there is great ods between them Plinies words in the thirtie booke and first chapter are these Plenumque miraculi hoc pariter vtrasque artes effloruisse medicinam dico magicenque eadem aetate illam Hipocrate hanc Democrito illustrantibus circa Peloponnesiacum Graeciae bellum quod gestum est a 300. vrbis nostrae anno This also saith Plinie is much to bee meruailed at that both the arts flourished together I meane Phisicke and Magick in the same age Hippocrates teaching the one and Democritus the other about the Peloponnesian warre in Greece which was made since the 300. yeare of the Cittie That warre began about the 32. yeare of Rome and therefore Plinie saying that it was after the 300. saith that which is true not purposing there to set downe by a straight and exact account the verie iust yere wherein it began but to gesse much about the time by an euen readie number keeping within the compasse of truth In A. Gellius the 21. chapter of his seauenteenth booke wee reade Bellum inde in terra Graeciae maximū Peloponnensiacum quod Thucidides memoriae mandauit caeptum est circa annum fere post conditam Romans trecentesimum vigesimum nonum That is Afterwarde the great war of the Peloponnesians in the land of Greece which Thucidides committed to memorie began here about the 329. yeares after the building of Rome What is the cause of this difference betwixt Gellius and other Surely not any fault of the authors iudgement but onely a slippe of the writers pen putting vigesimum nonum in stead of decimum nonum 29. for 19. as may bee prooued by two reasons First because immediatlie after those wordes Gellius together with the beginning of that warre yoketh the yeare wherein A. Posthumius was Dictator of Rome who killed his own son for that with great courage he went somewhat further in fighting against the enemie thā his father had appointed This yeare of A. Posthumius his Dictatorship by Liuie is the 323. of Rome but by A. Gellius some other setting the building of that Cittie in the second yeare of the seauenth Olympiad and the first Consuls in the 242. of Rome it is the 320. running together with the first yeare of the Peloponnesian war for the greatest part of it though not wholly because the war began somewhat before in the 319. Another reason may bee taken from that which followeth a little after in the same chapter concerning the time of the new gouernment of the Athenian common wealth
Let vs goe on to the rest Solinus telleth that Pythagoras came into Italie in the time of the first Consuls Gellius in the time of Tarquinius superbus which might bee the yeare before Dionysius saith that hee taught in Italie after the 50. Olympiad which dissenteth neyther from that former saying of Solinus nor the other of Gellius because the times by them named were both after the 50. Olympiad Diogenes Laertius writeth that hee flourished in the 60. Olympiad All this touching the time of Pythagoras wherein he liued taught may stand well enough without disagreement Plinie putteth him backe from the time named by Solinus an hundred yeares and more And Beroaldus bringeth him as many or more forward euen to the Peloponnesian warre by his opinion begun about the 94. Olympiad which beeing so needes must Cyrus also bee pulled forwarde in some proportion from the 55. Olympiad to the 80. Betweene these two extreamities of opinion concerning the age of Pythagoras the one of Plinie the other of Beroaldus in my iudgement medium tenuêre beati the merry meane is best as we see especially beeing approoued by a farre greater number of the learned But let vs examine his proofe that Pythagoras was so late His first reason is brought from the authoritie of Eusebius who in his tenth book De praeparatione Euangelica writeth that Xenophons and Pythagoras were in the same times with Anaxagoras who came within the compasse of the Peloponnesian war If an old man may liue at the same time with a young man this is no good proofe to bring Pythagoras to the Peloponnesian warre because Eusebius sayde that Anaxagoras in whose time Pythagoras liued was in it Let Eusebius bee his owne interpreter in his Chronicles where hee putteth the matter out of doubt setting the death of Pythagoras threescore and foure yeres at the least before the beginning of the Peloponnesian war yet withall making Anaxagorus who saw that war to flourish in his dayes Another reason of his much like to the former is this Pythagoras with diuers of his acquaintance beeing in the house of Milo certaine enemies in desire of reuenge vppon some conceiued griefe burned it ouer their heads where Lysis Archytas two of Pythagoras his schollers at that time escaped This Lysis after became teacher of Epaminondas the valiant Theban Captaine who fighting at Mantine in the second yeare of the 104. Olympiad aboue 40. yeres after the Peloponnesian war was slaine And what of all this I know his conclusion that this being so late an age wherein Epaminondas died whose master was Lysis one of Pythagoras his schollers It must needes be that Pythagoras himselfe reached to the time of the Peloponnesian warre somewhat nere to Epaminondas and when was that warre the end of it if we may beleeue Beroaldus was about the 100. Olympiad and by that meanes Pythagoras must bee brought to the 94. at the least wherein it began not much aboue 40. yeares before the raigne of king Phillip of Macedonia the Father of Alexander the great If I should stand to number all the absurdities which would follow of this position according to that which Aristotle saith that one absurde thing graunted many other follow vppon it it were a tedious thing to write or read except peraduenture that beeing so ridiculous in themselues the moouing of laughter might some way ease the readers toyle But leauing this I will declare that the distance of time made by auncient writers betweene Pythagoras his teaching and Epaminondas his learning of Lysis can no way hinder but that Pythagoras may stand well enough still in that place where they haue set him His death by Eusebius is put in the last yere of the 70. Olympiad At which time Lysis his scholler might bee 16. yeares of age and liue fourescore and eight yeares after till hee was 104. yeares old in the beginning of the 93. Olympiad When Epaminondas might be of the age of sixteene yeares instructed before of Lysis in his old age What one thing is there heere incredible or not vsuall in those times Gorgias Leontinus much about the same times with Lysis liued a hundred and nine yeares which before hath beene shewed with diuers other like examples and Aemilius Probus in the life of Epaminondas testifieth of him that beeing a yong man hee was instructed in Philosophie by Lysis in the time of his graue and seuere old age Philosophiae praeceptorem habuit Lysim Tarentinum Pythagoreum cui quidem sic fuit deditus vt adolescens tristem seuerum senem omnibus aequalibus suis in familiaritate anteposuerit saith Aemilius Thus Beroaldus his sharpe assault against the Chronologicall forte of the Grecians account hath not so preuailed to batter it but that it can defend it selfe against the enemie Let vs now see with what successe hee hath oppugned the Latine Storie against this hee fighteth with two weapons one taken from the Roman Decemuirs the other borrowed of the Frenchmen at their sacking of Rome in the 302. yeare of Rome wherein L. Menenius P. Sestius were Consuls towardes the ende of their COnsulship certaine Commissioners called Decemuiri were chosen by the people to the gouernment of the Citie and the making of Lawes against the next yere now approching beeing the 303. of the Citie Hereof is that difference and dissention of some Authors betweene themselues alleadged by Beroaldus some referring the Decemuirs to the 302. yeare of Rome respecting the time wherein they were elected as Solinus and Liuie some to the 303. because that was the yeare wherein they first executed that new authoritie beeing appointed and chosen vnto it in the end of the former yeare As Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his eleuenth booke declareth Besides Varro Onuphrius As for A. Gellius and some other naming the 300. yeare of Rome for the Decemuirs the cause thereof is manifest that some make the time of the kings of Rome not 244. but onely 241. yeres and those began from the second of the seauenth Olympiad not the first that is from the end of the building of Rome when Romulus tooke vpon him to be king By their opinion there are two yeres fewer than other account of so that their 300. is the 302. of other whereof I haue spoken before by reason of some like examples in Gellius who followed that reckoning so there is no difference betweene these indeed but onely in shew and diuers respects These ten Commissioners held that authority by the space of two whole yeres In the latter whereof being the 304. of the Citie Virginia a beautifull maide of Rome was slaine by her own Father with a butchers knife taken from his stall in the open streete rather then that shee should satisfie the filthie lust of Appius Claudius one of the ten who by great violence and open wrong went about it Cicero in his second booke de finibus writeth that this happened in the threescore yeare after the beginning of the first Consuls
Aristotle which was by a rumor and vncertaine reporte noysed abroad the cause thereof might bee that they were the same people then vanquished who before had taken it So it is true in regarde of the men One argument more is yet behinde reserued as may seeme to the last place as of all the rest most forcible to disturbe the set boundes of the Peloponnesian warre and thereby those of the Persian Empire The force of this argument in the conceite of Beroaldus is so strong and pythie as that it cannot possibly suffer the ancient accounte of those times to stand Let vs saith Beroaldus first set downe that which is reported by Polybius a graue author in his first booke that the Lacedemonians hauing gotten the soueraigne Empire of Greece by their victorie against the Athenians in the ende of the Peloponnesian warre scarse held it by the space of twelue yeares after In the next place this wee are to knowe that the same Lacedemonians were spoyled of that their Empire by the Thebans in the famous battaile fought betweene them at Leanctra in the second yeare of the 102. Olympiad whereof this for a certaintie followeth that the Peloponnesian warre ended about the time of the 100. Olympiad For it is manifest by Xenophon that the ende of it was in an Olympicke yeare This is the reason of all other so sure vndoubted and strong in the opinion of Beroaldus but in very deede as friuolous ridiculous and childish as euer any was framed To make good my saying let the author himselfe speake with his owne words which be these not farre from the beginning of his first booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lacedemonians sayth Polybius striuing many yeares for the soueraignetie of Greece after they had once gotten it kept it scarselie twelue yeares entire without trouble and losse Indeede if Polybius had sayde that the Lacedemonians had quite and cleane lost their whole dominion within twelue yeares after they had obtained it as Beroaldus maketh him say the reason which hee vseth had been good to bring the ende of the Peloponnesian warre within three yeares of his reckoning so much hee is wide after his wonted manner for they were wholie spoyled of that cheeftie by Epaminondas generall of the Theban armie in the second of the 102. Olympiad From which the twelfth yeare backward is the third before the 100. Olympiad and the second of the 99. But there is as much difference betwixt the authors word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interpretation of Beroaldus as betweene breaking a mans head and killing him out right It is true and that which Polybius ment that the Lacedemonians about twelue yeares after Lysanders victorie against the Athenians at Aegos Potamoi whereby they became Lordes of Greece lost much of their dominion by the valour of Conon an Athenian Captaine who ouercame the Lacedemonians in a battel by sea toke fiftie of their shippes and 500 of their men whereby diuers Cities fell from the Lacedemonians vnto him as Diodorus Siculus declareth in his fourteenth booke yet for all this they stood still recouered much again afterward til at the length they were vtterly dispossessed of all by the Thebans who gaue them a deadly blow Heereby it appeareth that it was no part of Polybius his meaning to make only twelue yeares from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the Lacedemonians vtter ouerthrow but to that conquest of Conon ouer them by sea fight before spoken of And if this bee not enough to make that appeare sufficiently Polybius himselfe yet once againe shall make it manifest and all gainesayers as dumbe as a fish which would gather by his testimonie that the fielde at Leuctra was fought within 12. yeares after the Peloponnesian warre for within one leafe after the former sentence he declareth that the battaile at Leuctra was nor twelue but 34. yeares after that other at Aegos Potamoi whereby they won the soueraigntie of Greece that is to say 18. to the Frenchmens taking of Rome and sixteene more afterwarde to the fight at Leuctra and that not obscurely or in a riddle but very flatly in plaine words though not vnderstood by the Bishop of Sipontū who for these words of Polybius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is after the battaile by sea at Aegos Potamoi translated Post Xerxem a Cymone superatum After Xerxes was ouercome by Cymon which was long before the time spoken of by Polybius and no part of his meaning at all By this one place may bee seene what intolerable shifting hath beene vsed of Beroaldus to make his matter good affirming Authors to say that which they neuer meaned yea which they are as flat and plaine in manifest words against as may be But euery vaine color deceiueable shew is good enough for such as are disposed to wrangle out new deuises by cauelling Sophistrie As for that which followeth out of Xenophon to prooue that assertion of Beroaldus it hath neyther head nor foote and is vnworthie of an answere and therefore I purpose not to trouble the reader with my confuting such paltrie stuffe except peraduenture some will professe to frame it into an argument of some shew or color at the least then will I also professe my skill to answere it and to turne all against him for the truth as knowing Xenophon to haue nothing for his conceited opinion but much against it Hitherto I haue particularly answered all the Sophisticall elcnchs and reasonlesse reasons vnproouing proofes of Beroaldus out of prophane Histories one by one wherewith to the trouble of God his Church and the darkening of his worde hee hath stuffed so many papers without leauing any one to my knowledge vnanswered except the last out of Xenophon for the cause before declared Touching his scripture proofe so often vrged against the auncient Chronologers of the Persian times it shall by God his assistance appeare hereafter how vain it is And thus much touching the first part concerning the chronologie of the Persian Monarchie Now followeth the second contayning 328. yeares and a halfe not much vnder or ouer from the death of the last king of Persia to our Sauiour Iesus Christ the proofe hereof is good for that Christ our blessed Redeemer was borne in the third yeare of the 194. Olympiad Eusebius to omit the testimonies of other Fathers declareth in his Chronicles at this yeare and Olympiad writing thus Iesus Christ the sonne of God was borne in Bethleem of Iuda in which yeare the saluation of Christians began which therefore is also counted the first yeare of the Christians saluation Darius the last king of the Persians was slaine neere the beginning of the third yeare of the 112. Olympiad The distance is the number before declared The same is prooued by the Chronologicall Historie of the yeares of Rome the building whereof by Solinus Dionysius Eratost henes and other learned Authors is set in the first yeare of the seauenth Olympiad the trueth whereof
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
Bikeathauen him that holdeth the Scepter out of Betheden and the people of Aram shall goe into captiuitie vnto Kir saith the Lord. And hee shall haue no beeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there shall not bee vnto him that is hee shall not be He shall haue no beeing he shall be extinct and gone Much like hereunto is that in the 42. of Genesis the 36. verse Simeon is not Ioseph is not where the meaning is that neither of them was remaining aliue or had any being Ieremie 31. Rachel mourned for her children because they were not Genesis 5.24 Enoch was not because the Lord tooke him away That is hee had no longer being among the liuing a speach vsed in prophane authours Homer 2. Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is For the sons of valiant Oeneus were not any lōger neither was he himself yet And more plainly in the Tragedie of Euripides called Hecuba where she bewailing the death of her son Polydorus I vnderstand now saith she the dreame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I saw touching thee my child not being anie longer in the light of heauen Therefore the Hebrew scholiast Solomon Iarchi thinking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here to be alone with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in other places of all other interpreters iudged best and the same which my selfe approoued before euer I read it in him or any other As likewise master Fox in a sermon of his entituled De Oliua Euangelica vnderstandeth it so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith hee is an Hebrew phrase whereby is signified mans life taken away and therefore he giueth this interpretation thereof Et vita priuabitur Hee shall be depriued of life His iudgement touching the force of the worde to bee all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall not be is all one with mine and that of Rabbi Solomon yet as I vnderstand the word of cutting off somewhat more largelie of thinges abolished otherwise then by death So this not beeing may bee referred to the gouernment ceasing and extinguished of the gouernour taken away though not dead Of the come Gouernour A come gouernour I call Presidem aduenam a deputie stranger called here in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ruler which is come for in the times before the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans there were two rulers of the Citie one of their owne people a Iew by profession or birth after their manner annointed to the gouernment of the common wealth amongst them here named in the verse afore going 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the annointed Prince the other a stranger appointed Deputy by the Roman Emperour called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ruler not borne in the country or one of the same Nation but a stranger come from another place In which sence the same worde seemeth sometime otherwhere to be vsed In the 42. of Genesis the fift verse The sonnes of Israell came to buy foode 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the commers meaning other strangers which were come to Egypt In the second booke of Chronicles the 30. chapter and 25. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strangers which were come frō the Isralites are opposed to the inhabitants of Iudea Also in the fift of Nehemias the 17. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commers of the gentiles are set against such as were Iewes borne With a floud Vespasians hoste the mightie power of the Roman enemies with great force inuaded and went through the whole land of Israell and Iuda and as it were ouerflowing waters ouerwhelmed all A metaphor taken from flouds as in the 11. of this prophesie the 40 verse The king of the north shall come against him with Chariots and Horsemen ouerflow and passe through Vnto the end of the warre shall bee a precise iudgement of desolations In the time and continuance of that warre partly by the forraine enemies partly by the ciuill dissentions within the citie a great desolation of Ierusalem Iuda was made many of the Iewes for the intollerable miserie of those times leauing their Citie and flying as far as their legges could beare them from their owne natiue countrie into strange landes which likewise happened in the former destruction of that land and Citie by Nabugodonosor and the Chaldeans Ierem. 42.14 We will goe into Egypt that wee may see no more war nor heare the sound of the Trumpet nor haue hunger of bread and there wil we dwell This is it which the same Prophet bewaileth in his Lamentations the first chapter and third verse Iudah went away because of affliction and great seruitude Besides these which fled many were slaine a great number perished by famine All the places about the Temple were burnt vp and the Citie was made a Wildernesse and a solitarie floore as Iosephus writeth who knew it so well as no man liuing better The same Author testifieth that the land which before had beene beautified with goodlie trees and pleasant gardens and orchards became so desolate that none which had seene Iudea before with the faire buildings therein at the sight of such a wofull change thereof could haue contained himselfe from weeping and lamenting For all the beautifull ornaments had beene destroyed by warre so that if any which had knowne the place before comming then againe vnto it on a suddaine could not haue knowne it but would haue asked where Ierusalem was though present in it This wee read in Iosephus his seuenth booke of the Iewes war the first chapter and the sixt book the first chapter some other places therfore the speaking of desolations in the plurall number here wanteth not his force to note the multitude thereof They were manifold comming fast one vpon an other first in one place then in another till all was wasted The 27. verse One weeke This seemeth to pertaine not only to the couenant confirming next before in this verse mentioned but also to all the thinges spoken of in the former verse touching Messias to be cut off and the enemies wasting of the Citie by continuall war to the vtter desolation and ruine thereof All these thinges came to passe in the last weeke of the 70. Halfe of that weeke That is of that last weeke mentioned in the next wordes afore going and not a new halfe of an other weeke besides the 70. For this cause the demonstratiue Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ha is set before the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie no other but the same weeke spoken of before according to the Hebrewes custome and manner of speaking obserued also and retained in the Greeke tongue as the learned knowe A like example wee had in the beginning of the next verse afore going in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing the same Article and referring vs to those same 62. weekes before spoken of and no other Touching this couenant sacrifices abolished I will by God
his help in that which followeth declare what I thinke Shall be desolation So I interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantiuelie as the Greeke and Latine interpreters here and the 31. verse of the 11. chapter haue taken it though otherwise it seemeth to haue the forme of a Participle Wee haue like examples in the fift chapter of this booke and twelft verse where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth an exposition and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a loosing or dissoluing so that this need not seeme strange Vtter and precise destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is in proprietie of signification some difference betweene these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a perfect desolation of that which is vtterlie wholie destroyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is referred to the resolute and precise determination of that vtter destruction to come When it is precisely and certainly decreed all hope of recalling the same being quite cut off One respecteth the greatnes the other the certaintie of God his vengeance to come Esa 10.22 The Lord in the middest of the land shall make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vtter desolation and precise waste past all calling backe Hauing thus made first a true account and reckoning of the times wherein the fulfilling of Daniels prophecie is contained by the helpe of prophane writers testifying the certaine truth thereof and secondly a true interpretation of Daniels wordes according to the originall tongue It now remaineth by applying the one to the other to search and examine where the beginning and end of those 70. weekes may be found The greatest part of those who haue laboured for the vnderstanding of this Prophesie haue vnderstood the Messias here spoken of to be Iesus Christ and first seauen weekes then 62. that is 69. in all to bee the distance betwixt the commandement and him referring the end of those yeares eyther to his birth or his baptisme or his death and the beginning eyther to Cyrus who first gaue leaue for the returne of the people and the building of the temple or to Darius Hystaspis who confirmed the same by a new decree in the second yeare of his raigne as they take it mentioned in the sixt of Esdras or lastlie to Artaxerxes the long handed supposing him to be the Artaxerxes mentioned in the seauenth of Esdras and the second of Nehemias who in the twentie yeare of his raigne gaue a new commandement for the building of the walles of the Citie and sent Nehemias about it Though some reckō from his seuenth yeare wherein Esdras was sent to Ierusalem by the Kinges authoritie with great priuiledges graunted Touching their opinion which bring the time of their yeares from Cyrus to Christ it is with good reason confuted by Iulius Affricanus in the fift booke of his Chronicles because that from Cyrus to Christ are many yeares aboue that time that the compasse of Daniels weeks can reach to which may be likewise obiected against Darius Histaspis his second yeare from which to Christs birth are aboue 500. yeares But all this reasoning of Africanus toucheth Beroaldus no whit at all bringing Cyrus downe from the 55. Olympiad to the 80. within the reach of these weeks and so Darius Hystaspis in proportion if euer there were anie such Darius among the Persian kings For Beroaldus reckoning them al by their names hath no one of this name amongst thē to bee found but other in his stead I know not who such as were neuer heard of before If these fancies had beene broched before the dayes of Africanus his answere I beleeue would haue beene as is vsed amongst the learned contra negantes principia against such as denie principles and grounds not with words but eyther with silence or hissing as Aristo Pyrrho were serued for making no difference betwixt riches and pouertie Either of these answeres is good enough for him who going against the streame of al antiquity learning neither acknowledgeth any Cyrus before the 80. Olympiad nor any king of Persia by the name of Xerxes in proper person as king to haue inuaded Greece so for mee it shall rest The true time of Cyrus his age and the Persian Monarchie which the Reader may safely leane to is alreadie declared The last opinion is of such as referre the beginning of the 490. yeres of Daniels Prophesie to Artaxerxes the longhanded some reckning them from his seaūenth yeare to the death and passion of Christ Iesus as Functius and some other The seuenth of that Artaxerxes was the second yeare of the 80. Olympiad and our Sauiour suffered in the last of the 202. The distance betweene is 490. yeares so that in regard of the time and space of yeares this opinion would in some sort agree if other things were answerable but this is certaine that Esdras was in that seauenth yeare of Artaxerxes sent to Ierusalem by the kings authoritie with letters and many priueledges graunted vnto him and great summes of monie for offerings and vses of the Temple yet no decree made for the building of the Citie eyther Temple which had bin finished before or walles which were made vp after by Nehemias by speciall commandement Moreouer if the decree to build the Citie had beene then published in the seauenth yeare of Artaxerxes we must from thence to Messias onelie account seauen yeares and sixtie two as the Angell in plaine wordes declareth which expire seauen yeeres before the death of Christ Lastlie this opinion disagreeth from the Historie of Ezra where we read of an other Artaxerxes before this vnder whom Ezra came to Ierusalem which had forbidden the Iewes to proceed in the building of God his Temple therefore this could not bee the long handed Artaxerxes before whome there was no king of Persia called by that name Which reason likewise serueth to improue the next opinion here following for manie goe somewhat lower to the 20. yere of the same Artaxerxes wherin a newe decree went out for the building of the walles of Ierusalem as we reade in the second chapter of Nehemias This twentieth yeare of Artaxerxes was for the most part of it answerable to the 4. of the 83. Olympiad and the commandement giuen in the first moneth in the beginning of the spring as wee reade in the second of Nehemias From which time to the death and passion of our Sauiour in the spring time of the last yeare of the 202. Olympiad were 477. yeares full and no more So there wants of Daniels number thirteene yeares To supply this want two waies haue bin deuised One by Iulius Africanus Beda Rupertus Comestor Pererius and other who thought the yeares of the Moone to bee vnderstood in this place Which opinion as of all other most fitlie agreeing to the true interpretation of this place Pererius on the 9. of Daniel embraceth and bringeth reason for it because it is sayd in the Latin translation 70. Hebdomadae abbreuiatae sunt that is 70. weekes are shortened
Quo significatur annos earū hebdomadarū non esse ad longitudinem annorum solarium exigendos sed ad breuitatem lunarium coarctandos Whereby is signified that the yeares of those weekes are not to be driuen out to the length of the Sunne yeares but to bee drawne into the shortnes of the Moone yeares sayth Pererius I would it were the worst that might be said of this reason to call it absurd friuolous foolish It is all that and more euen derogatorie from God and his word which by this meanes is defaced and thrust out of doores and caused to giue place to the follie and error of a sillie man For the ground of it is a decree from the Councell of Trent establishing the authoritie of the olde Latin vulgar translation as the very authenticall word of God not to bee reiected or refused of any vpon any pretence whatsoeuer Hereof the Papists in their expositions alleadge that translation preferring it before the originall text it selfe receiued from heauen And hereof it is that Pererius in his exposition on this place standeth so much vpon the word abbreuiatae shortened vrging it greatly for proof of his short Moone yeares It is a proofe indeede from the bad interpretation of a man not warrantable from the mouth of GOD whose word in this place is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the holie tongue signifieth properly to cut In that sence it is often vsed by the Hebrew writers thereof calling a peece of a thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Camius in the second part of his Miclol and Elias in his Tishbi testifie where he declareth the true signification thereof by the Dutch and Italian tongues Wherein the words to those Hebrew answerable are in Dutch ein schint or ein stuck in Italian Pez or talio signifying any piece of a thing cut off It is so also expounded by the Greeke interpreter who here to expresse the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to cut The meaning is that so many yeares were determined and decreed by a speech borrowed from things cut out because that in determining and decreeing things the reason of mans minde sundring trueth from falshood good from bad doth by iudgement as it were cut out that which is conuenient and fit to bee done Whereunto a like example in the same word is read in the Chaldie paraphrasis of Ester the 4. chapter 5. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in English is thus much And Ester called for Daniel whose name was Hathac by the word of whose mouth the matters pertayning to the kingdome were cut out that is determined and appoynted And in other wordes of the same signification wee haue like examples In the second chapter of Ester the first verse King Assuerus remembred Vashti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that which was cut out vpon her that is decreed and by iudgemēt determined to come vpon her Also in the first booke of the Kings the 20. chapter and 40. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is thy iudgement thy selfe hath cut it out that is thou hast by thy owne sentence determined it A phrase in Latin Authors vsuall enough as when Cicero in his 4. plea against Verres sayth Res ad eum defertur istiúsque mere deciditur The matter is referred to him and cut off after his manner that is determined Theodoretus in his exposition of this place taketh the Greeke word in the same sence they are cut that is appoynted and decreed Hereby it is cleere that Pererius his reason being taken from mans interpretation and not Gods worde can bee no good ground for the Moone yeares to stand vpon Let the Pope and twise so many Bishops more in their Councell set it vp as sure as they can God his word is more powerfull then they to pull it downe Furthermore though this were graunted vnto him that the Latin edition by the Councels decree hath diuine authoritie and therefore force sufficient to proue the yeres of the moone to be vnderstood in this place by the word abbreuiatae shortened yet for all that such was the mans blindnes euen those his short yeares are yet too short to fill vp the want before spoken of and to reach to the passion of Christ For 490. yeares of the Moone make but 475. of the Sunne which expire two full yeares at the least before Christ dyed I am not ignorant that Pererius would help out this matter by a distinction of inclusiuè and exclusiuè computation Jnclusiuè hee termeth when the first and last are included in the number Exclusiuè when they are left out and thinketh that the whole number in all should bee 490. Moone yeares or 477. of the Sunne with the first and last included and without them two onely 488. of the Moone and 475. of the Sunne betweene to be reckoned This is a ridiculous shift For the Prophet doth not namely speake of 490. yeares or 477. that is gathered by interpreters and not without some controuersie among them but of 70. weekes So that if the extreames first and last were to bee excluded they should bee weekes rather then yeares Indeede if the Prophet had sayd that there were 490. or 477. yeares from the yeare of the commandement to the yeare of Christs death it might peraduenture haue made some cause of wrāgling about this whether the first and last yeares should be excluded or no. But heere is no such matter The extreames here expressed are the commaundement to build Ierusalem for one and the other as it is vnderstood the death of Christ Now then if the Prophet say that from one of these extreames to the other are 490. or 477. yeares exclusiuely two dayes onely must bee excluded rather then two yeares For the commandement was giuen in a daye and the death of Christ happened in a daye It were strange to make each of them of one whole yeares continuance and farre from that exact reckoning which Daniel maketh of his 70. weekes first seuen then sixtie and two and last of all one Therfore Julius Africanus who as the chiefe author of these Moone yeares is alleadged by Pererius neuer once dreamed of any such exclusiue computation I must acknowledge that he taketh indeede this place to bee vnderstood of 490. Moone yeares which kinde of yeares the Hebrewes vsed as he saith But he could not stretch them any further then to the 16. yeare of Tiberius the Emperour of Rome which is short by two whole yeares of the time set by Pererius for the passion of our Lord in the 18. yeare of Tiberius And as they are short of his passion so they goe further then his baptisme For which cause that opinion of Africanus can no waye stande making an ende of Daniels weekes neither in the birth nor the baptisme nor the death of Iesus Christ Neither can that conceit of Africanus touching the Moone yeares hereto be vnderstood by