this History out of Greek into Latin added two Books of his own and continued the History to the death of Theodosius the Emperour An. Christi CCCC But then in his Translation he took too great a liberty and in his own Addition he borrowed much from Eusebius and therefore Joseph Scaliger in the Appendix of his incomparable Work de Emendatione Temporum calls him a most silly Authour and perhaps no hurt will be done if our Student pass him by for the History of the same times is written more largely and accurately by Socrates Sozomen and Theodoret. These three were translated by Epiphanius Scholasticus into Latin at the request of the Great Aurelius Cassiodorus who made of these three one body of History and put it out under the name of the Tripartite Story But then David Chytraeus a famous Man who hath done great service to the World in relation both to the Civil and Ecclesiastical History doth admonish and exhort all studious Men that they should not onely reade those fragments which are thus patch'd together by Cassiodorus but also the intire Authours which are extant and carefully Printed both in Greek and Latin and that they should begin with Eusebius his Panegyrick on the Life of Constantine in which they will find an uninterrupted History of XXX years and the chief Edicts and Laws of that Prince concerning the Christian Religion carefully expounded in the IId IIId and IV th Books which are the Fountains whence Socrates Theodoret and Sozomen have drawn many things in the beginning of their Histories SECT XXXV In what times Socrates lived from whence and how far he has brought his History and of Theodoret also and what is contain'd in each of his Books The Censure of Photius on him Sozomen the Salamine continues the History to the year of Christ CCCCXXIII A place of St. Gregorie's against Sozomen consider'd and an Answer made to it The Candor of Sozomen the Testimony of Euagrius concerning him Euagrius follows the Tripartite History and continues it to the year DXCVII Theophilactus Simocatus continued it to the year DCI. SOcrates Born at Constantinople under Theodosius Junior the Son of Arcadius beginning his History about the end of that wrote by Eusebius with the Victory obtain'd by Constantine against Maxentius Anno Christi CCCXIII. or rather from that year in which he was first declared Emperour openly in Britain that is from the year of Christ CCCIX he deduced it to the XVII th Consulship of the aforesaid Theodosius Junior that is to the year of Christ CCCCXLI in VII Books written in a style that is not extraordinarily splendid the first of which Books contains the times of Constantine the Emperour the second those of Constantius the third the Reigns of Julian and Jovian the fourth those of Valentinian and Valens the fifth those of Gratian and Theodosius the first the sixth the times of Arcadius the seventh contains XXXII years of the Reign of Theodosius the younger the whole History represents the Church affairs of CXL years as he himself tells us in express words in the last Chapter of the VII th Book This last Boak saith he contains the space of XXXII years but the whole History which is divided into VII Books contains CXL years which begins with the first year of the Two hundereth seventy and first Olympiad in which Constantine was declared Emperour and ends in the second year of the Three hundreth and fifth Olympiad at the XVII th Consulship of Theodosius the Emperour It is clear from several places that he favoured the Faction of the Novatians for which is observed by the most Learned Jacob Billius he is extremely pleased not onely when he meets but when he can but pretend to have found an occasion of speaking much in favour of the Novatians and if any Man had out of a Pious Zeal more sharply treated the Novations Socrates would be sure to find some opportunity or other to traduce his Name and Reputation but so cunningly that to a Reader of an ordinary capacity he will seem rather to have done it out of a desire of speaking truth than out of a compliance with his own Anger and Resentment This I say is the Censure of J. Billius a very Learned Man upon Socrates the Authour of the Church History which I thought fit to insert here that our Lover of History might make use of the greater caution in the reading him Theodoret lived in the same times and was Bishop of Cyrus a City of Mesopotamia or Syria He wrote an Ecclesiastical History from the end of Eusebius his History and the rise of the Arrian Heresie which he hath also brought down to the times of Theodosius Junior wherein he gives somewhat a larger account of the Actions done in the second General Council than any other Historian that is extant In the first Book of his History he gives us the History of the Church under Constantine the Great in the second he expounds what happened under Constantius in the third he tells us the Church affairs under Julian the Apostate the fourth Book he attributed to Jovian Valentinian and Valens the fifth to Gratian Theodosius the Great and Arcadius and in the same Book he toucheth the beginning of the Reign of Theodosius the younger the Censure of Photius concerning the style of Theodoret is this That it is fitter for an History than that used by Socrates or that of Hermias Sozomen or that of Euagrius Ponticus and of the same opinion is that most Learned Man Gerardus Johannes Vossius Hermias Sozomenus was Bishop of Salamine a City of Cyprus and flourished also under Theodosius to whom he dedicated his History beginning at the Consulate of Crispus and Constantinus Anno Christi CCCXXIII he continued it to the death of Honorius An Christ. CCCCXXIII which space of time he comprehends in IX Books the two first of which repeat the things done in the times of Constantine the Great the third and fourth contain the transactions under the Three Children of Constantine the fifth and sixth comprehend the times of Valentinian and Valens the seventh those of Gratian and Theodosius the First the eighth the times of Arcadius the ninth runs through the times of Theodosius the Second as far as the death of Honorius Anno Christi CCCCXXIII which was the XVI year of the Reign of Theodosius Junior But then the See of Rome refuseth to receive this Historian too and these are the words of Gregory the Great that because he tells many Lies and commends Thedorus Mopsuestia too much and saith he was a Great Doctor of the Church to the day of his death I was directed to this place by George Hackwill Professor of Divinity a person of a various erudition and of a singular both piety and prudence But to this Melchior Canus long since replied That there is no such thing to be found in Sozomen concerning Theodorus Mopsuestia And that Gregorie ' s
good Commander the truth is he left the Profession of Philosophy and wrote his History when he was a Commander I shall omit that Elegant piece of his concerning the Institution of Cyrus because it belongs to the foregoing times of which Herodotus wrote nor is it as is supposed penned as a true History but as a representation of a just Empire or Government yet Scipio Africanus that admired Personage had so great an Esteem for this Piece that he never went without it about him but to return he Composed the History of his own times in seven Books the two first of which are to be read immediately after Thucydides because they contain the residue of the Peloponnesian War and where Thucydides ends there Xenophon as it were carrying on the Web begins and relates what passed betwixt the Athenians and Lacedemonians after that Naval Victory that was obtained at Abidus by Thrasybulus against Mindarus in the 2 year of the 92 Olympiad of which we have spoken before to the taking of Athens by Lysander in the 4 th year of the 93 Olympiad and in these Books here and there he represents some of the Medio-Persian affairs as how the Medes rebell'd against Darius King of Persia and afterwards submitted again to his Empire how Cyrus the younger Son of Darius went to his Father who was then sick in the Higher Asia having first sent money to Lysander for the use of the War against the Athenians how Darius Nothus Died and Artaxerxes Mnemon his Elder Son became his Successour In the end of the second Book he gives an account of the suppressing the XXX Tyrants who had raged for two years at Athens by Thrasybulus and also the Peace and Act of Oblivion which was confirmed by the Athenians amongst themselves by an Oath by which an end was put to the Peloponnesian War which Thucydides calls the most memorable War that had ever happened and the longest and so in truth it was for it was prolonged to the XXVII th or XXVIII th year as is manifested by Xenophon these things are contained as I said in the two first Books of the Grecian History of Xenophon which being read the Reader may pass to his seven Books of the Expedition of Cyrus the younger against Artaxerxes Mnemon his Elder Brother written by Xenophon also in which we have an account how Cyrus gathered Grecian Forces and went up with them against his Brother How he fought and was Slain then how the Grecian Captains were Massacred after the Fight contrary to the Faith given and how Xenophon who followed Cyrus in this Expedition after his Death was chosen General by the Grecian Souldiers and had the felicity to conduct them from the very heart of Persia though continually assaulted by the Barbarians and harassed with other miseries and inconveniencies into their own Countrey in the first year of the 95 Olympiad When the Reader has finished these he may then proceed to the rest of the Grecian History in which the affairs both of the Grecians and Persians are continued to the Mantinensian Battel in which the Thebans beat the Lacedemonians under the Conduct of Epaminondas who whilst he perform'd the parts not onely of a Commander but private Souldier being grievously wounded died soon after and with him the Glory and power of the Theban Common-wealth Expired in the second year of the 104 Olympiad So that the Son of Gryllus will furnish the Reader with an Elegant and rich History of the affairs of XLVIII years but this the Reader may enlarge and enrich too if as in reading Thucydides he took in Plutarch's Pericles Nicias and Alcibiades so here he take in the Lives of Lysander Agesilaus Artaxerxes Thrasybulus Chabrias Conon and Datames written by Plutarch and Nepos for all these flourished in that interval of time which is represented by Thucydides and Xenophon and afford a considerable addition to the Histories of those times the IV th V th and VI th Books of Justin and the XIII th XIV th and XV th Books of Diodorus Siculus belong to the same times and as to Diodorus he is the next Authour I shall commend to the Reader SECT XI The fair Elogie of Diodorus Siculus that he travelled over several Countries before he writ his History He continues the History of Xenophon about the end of his XV th Book then he gives an account of the actions of Philip King of Macedonia in his XVI th and from thence passeth to Alexander the Great and describes the Rise of the third Monarchy FOr though Diodorus Siculus is some centuries of years younger than Xenophon as who flourished in the times of Julius Caesar and Augustus about the CLXXXIII Olympiad yet in this our Series of Authours I desire he may immediately follow Xenophon being not one of the many but a celebrated Writer and so expert in Antiquities that Greece can scarce shew another that is his Equal which Judgment may be confirm'd by the Elogie which a Learned Divine of our Countrey a Reverend Bishop and excellently versed in this and all other sorts of Learning is pleased to bestow upon this Authour Diodorus Siculus saith he is an excellent Authour who with great Fidelity Immense Labour and a rare both diligence and ingenuity has collected an Historical Library as Justin Martyr calls it in which he has represented his own and the Studies of other men being the great reporter of humane Actions but as Diodorus himself stiles it the Common Treasury of things and an harmless or safe Mistress or Teacher of what is Usefull and Good Our Reverend Bishop might well call it an Immense Labour for he spent XXX years as he himself confesseth in writing this History travelling in the mean time over several Countries to inform himself running through many Dangers as usually happens Diodorus also does rightly stile it a Common Treasury of things for we have in his first five Books the Antiquities and Transactions of the Egyptians Assyrians Libyans Persians Grecians and other Nations before the Trojan War as we have noted above the five following Books that is from the V th to the XI th are lost but from the beginning of the XI th to the XVI th we have the History of the times written by Thucydides and Xenophon as I have already said written in a continued thread but then in the end of the XV th Book he seems to design a Continuation of Xenophon's History for he speaks expresly thus in the end of the second year of the 104 Olympiad In this year saith he Xenophon the Athenian concludes his Grecian History with the death of Epimanondas and so the Sicilian passeth to the III year of the same Olympiad in which he briefly unfolds the Story of the War of Artaxerxes with the Rebel Persians and Egyptians and the rest of the great Atchievements of Agesilaus together with the Deaths both of Agesilaus and Artaxerxes to whom Ochus succeeded in the Kingdom
the third what Baronius his opinion of this Authour was appears in these words Any man saith he may easily see how much his mind was exasperated against the Holy Seat except those Reproaches were inserted by the Publisher which if they be taken out or excepted you may call the rest a Golden Commentary it being onely a transcript word for word of the publick Records most admirably put together and consolidated After Matthew Paris I desire Thomas Walsingham his Chronicle may follow he also was a Monk of St. Albans and began his History from Edward the first where the former ends and continues it down to the end of Henry the fifth or the year of Christ 1422. But as whilst we are reading Matthew Paris there is an History of Stephen written by an unknown hand which will amplifie and illustrate the History if taken in so if after the first Book of Walsingham's History about the year 1306 the Life and Death of Edward the Second written by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight a Servant of that King be also admitted it will enlarge that History As this Authour was dignified with the honour of Knighthood so he deserves no less esteem for his kindness to Posterity express'd by this History which deserves the more credit because he was intimately acquainted with that Prince and served under him in the Wars ADDITIONS As I took in in the end of the last Section an excellent Collection of ancient Latine Historians of the English Nation none of which are mentioned by our Authour so with the Reader 's permission I will here take in another which was printed this year at Oxon under the Title of the first Volume of the ancient Writers of the English affairs The first Authour in it is Ingulfus Croylandensis who though not taken notice of by our Authour was printed before but imperfect he wrote the History of his Monastery and in it relates many things concerning the Kings of England he begins at the year of Christ 626 with Penda King of Mercia and in the former impression it ended with the beginning of the Reign of William the Conquerour but in this latter Edition besides many Gaps in the body of it now supplied from a better Copy his History is continued by himself to the year 1089 which was the third year of William the second or William Rufus as he is commonly called This Authour was the Son of a Courtier of Edward the last King of the Saxon Race and he himself takes notice of some disputes he had in his Infancy with Edgitha the Noble Queen of King Edward he Studied first at Westminster and then at Oxon where he became an excellent Aristotelian Philosopher he was afterwards a Counsellour to William Duke of Normandy by whose good leave he went to Jerusalem in his way at Constantinople he waited upon Alexius the then Emperour and Sophronius the Patriarch returning into Normandy he became a Benedictine Monk and after William Duke of Normandy had Conquered England Ingulfus was made Abbat of Croyland he died in the year 1109 in the time of Henry the first I have transcribed all this out of Vossius onely to shew the Reader how great a man he was and how excellently qualified for an Historian The next Authour in the said Collection is Peter Blesensis his continuation of Ingulfus his History to the year 1117 which was the 17 th year of Henry the first though he mentions some things scatteringly done after that time this continuation is imperfect at the end and therefore the Publisher supposeth it to extend onely to the beginning of the Reign of King Stephen this Authour was not for Learning inferiour to Ingulfus he was first Archdeacon of Bath and afterwards of London and Vicechancellour to the King he wrote about the year 1190 and he died in the year 1200 his Life has been writ by those that published his other Works but this History was never printed before Thus far the Publisher goes in his account of him The next in this new Collection is the Chronicle of Mailros begun as the inscription tells us by the Abbat of Dundraynan from the year 735 and continued by several hands to the year one thousand two hundred and seventy which was the LIV th year of the Reign of Henry the third who this Abbat or who these Continuers were is not certainly known but this Abbie of Mailros from which this Chronicle has its Name was not that ancient Monastery placed upon the Banks of the River Tweed often taken notice of by Venerable Bede which as it seems was destroyed by the Danes who oppressed the Kingdom of Northumberland a great while but of a later date built in the same place by the Scots who under David their King had got possession of it about the year 1136 from whence perhaps a Colony of Monks were sent to Dundraynan in Galloway in Scotland in the year 1152 in which year also that Monastery was founded as this Chronicle bears witness which though for the most part it is very brief yet it affords many things that are worth the knowing especially the Series of the Kings of Scotland as also the Successions of the Princes Nobles Bishop and Abbats in those Northern parts thus far the Publisher In the year 1252 another silly Monk of Mailros began a new Collection in which he would needs bestow an Encomium upon Simon de Montefort the turbulent Earl of Leicester which is not continued for the rest is perhaps done by another hand but concludes with the Death of Henry the third so that there is onely two years added The next is the Chronicle of Burton in the beginning of which with the Reign of King John the Authour who is not known seems to have a design to continue Roger de Hoveden whom yet he calls Hugo and by his example hath collected many of the most memorable passages of that age and though some of them are also set forth by Matthew Paris yet there are many and those not common things which are not to be found either in Paris or any other printed Historian but this and the Authour whoever he was lived in the same time with Matthew Paris and so they two do mutually afford Light each to other and also at the same time bear witness to the same things onely let the Reader take notice we follow the impression of Paris printed at London in 1650 thus far the Publisher it begins Anno 1004 and it ends Anno 1263. The Last which is the continuation of the History of Croyland though in some places imperfect which the Transcriber perhaps observed not yet we saith the Publisher thought fit to add it not onely because the Authour or rather perhaps Authours designed a continuation of Ingulfus and Peter Blesensis but chiefly because the latter end of the Reign of Henry the sixth and the whole Reign of Edward
of his Chronology has made use of so great an industry that he has not omitted any thing by which the true time of Histories may be exquisitely known But then if after these Chronologers he is pleased to dwell a little longer on the Universal History and to enlarge his prospect JUSTIN may be read who is thought to have flourished under the Antonines about the year of Christ 140. Nor is there any one amongst the Latins who has more Politely and Elegantly contracted the History of so many Empires for he Comprehends the Actions of almost all Nations from Ninus to Augustus Then may Herodotus Diodorus Siculus and Polybius follow of all which we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter and after these some of the Modern Writers may be read amongst which Sir Walter Rawleigh our Countrey-man deserves the first place a man of great Fame and for his great both Valour and prudence worthy of a better Fate He has built up an Universal History from the Creation of the World to the fall of the Macedonian or III Monarchy out of the most approved Authours which is written in English with very great Judgment in a perspicuous method and an Elegant and Masculine style and the incomparable Gerardus Joannes Vossius some years since began an Universal History of all the foregoing Ages and Nations I heartily wish my Hearers that I may once see that Noble work and injoy it with you for what can be expected from so great a Treasure of Antiquity and History but what is most Excellent and above the reach of the Wits not onely of this but of many of the better Ages But however let the History of the Bible lead the way which is incontestably not onely the most ancient but the truest of all Histories and to this tends the grave reprehension of Carolus Sigonius of the common way of instituting or entering upon the Study of Antiquity In laying the Foundations of the knowledge of Ancient times and things as also in the beginning of almost all other Studies I know not how we are carried away with the impetuous torrent of an ill Custome and generally commit a very great Errour by beginning with those Monuments in which the Acute Grecians who were totally ignorant of the truth have comprehended their Traditions of the false Gods and the fictitious Actions of their feigned Heroes which we can neither make any good use of nor improve our selves thereby in the least in Piety when if there were any Sense that I may not say prudence in us we ought rather to begin with what is contain'd in the Holy writings of the Hebrews for if we search for the Origine of things we can begin no higher than the Creation of the World and the formation of man which is there treated of if we seek Truth there is no where so much of it as here where it is proclaimed by the mouth of the Living God if we seek grave things what is more magnificent than these illustrious Monuments in which the Holy Commands of God the saving Promises the certain Oracles and other helps to our Salvation are comprehended from whence can we derive more Excellent Examples of Vertue or sharper detestations of Vices or Actions worthy of memory than from these Monuments of the Hebrews in which onely it is apparently discovered how much mankind has been relieved by the powerfull and present Assistence of God Almighty in the Exercise of true Religion or in the neglect of it have been troden down and ruin'd by his Anger SECT VII From whence the History of the Assyrio-Chaldean Monarchy is to be fetched Of Berosus Ctesias and Megasthenes and their supposititious Writings in the defect of these we must have recourse to Josephus The great loss in Diodorus Siculus to be supplied from elsewhere especially out of Josephus and the prophetick History Diogines Laertius commended BUt now if you are pleased to descend to the several Empires and to prosecute the Histories of them by parts and in their Order we have Berosus Ctesias and Megasthenes who give an account of the Affairs of the Assyrio-Chaldean Monarchy But did I say we have them No which is a very great affliction to the Historians we have them not we have some fragments of Ctesias which perhaps are not spurious but then those concern the Persian Empire onely for whatever he writ concerning the Chaldean is lost We have also some shreds of Megasthenes too and some Adulterated Rhapsodies imposed upon the World by the Viterbian Monk a deceitfull Merchant to which little Credit is to be given in the Opinion of very Learned men for as to Ctesias this is the opinion of Josephus Scaliger a very great Philosopher He is saith he a silly Greek and so he may but contradict Herodotus he cares not what he says he has committed many Errours through Humane Frailty many wilfully out of Envy and this appears clearly in Photius his Parietina Ctesias flourished in the times of Cyrus Junior and being taken by Artaxerxes in a Battel he was afterwards his Physician And Strabo disputes the fidelity of the very genuine History of Megasthenes which he often cites how much more reasonably then may Learned men question the truth of that fictitious piece which is ignorantly call'd by his Name but it is really the work of Annianus He lived under Seleucus Nicanor as we are told by Clemens Alexandrinus and that Impostor Annian And most of the Learned suppose that the Berosus which goes abroad in the World is of the same Stamp Will you please to hear what Lodovicus Vivis thinks of him There is a small Book which is stil'd Berosi Babylonii Antiquitates the Antiquities of Berosus the Babylonian but it is a figment that pleases unlearned idle men very much and of the same sort are Xenophon's Aequivoca and the fragments of Archilochus Cato Sempronius and Fabius Pictor which are patched together in the same Book by Annianus Viterbiensis and by his Additions rendered too much the more ridiculous not but that there are in it some things that are true for otherwise the thing could never have look'd abroad but yet the body of that History is fictitious and none of his whose Name it bears thus far the Learned Vivis and therefore he and other Learned men send us to Josephus Justin the Epitomizer of Trogus and Diodorus Siculus his Antiquities and well we might be turn'd over to him if he were intirely Extant which some of the Ancients call'd simply the LIBRARY and others the Libraries And Diodorus acquaints us himself in the Preface to his History what account he had given of ancient times his words are these Our first six Books give an account of what happened before the Trojan War and what is set forth concerning those Ages in Fables of which the three first contain the Barbarous Story and the three latter the Grecian and in the eleven
I have noted already Diodorus Dionysius and Dion Cassius who if they were now Extant intire we should then have a perfect memory of the Roman affairs from the building of that City to the thousandth year of its Age. But let us be content with what is left the Divine Providence has so ordered it that out of the Reliques of what remains the body of the Roman History may yet be beautifully built up the Picture of which in Little is most Artfully drawn by our L. Annaeus Florus SECT XV. From whence the course of the Roman Story is to be begun L. Annaeus Florus commended the judgments of Learned men concerning him he is not the same with the Epitomizer of Livy his Errours or mistakes excused how these Errours in probability crept in the Consular fasts of Sigonius and Onuphrius and also Pighius his Annals commended VEry Learned men and well acquainted with the Roman History exhort the Students of it with an intent eye and mind to run through look into and contemplate this curious Representation and not without good cause it being in the Judgment of Lipsius a Compendium of the Roman History written finely plainly and Eloquently Nor does he stop here but adds his Censure the accurateness and brevity of it are very often wonderfull and there are many shining Sentences like Jewels inserted here and there both with good Judgment and truth Nor does the Learned C. Colerus whom I have so often cited before decline from this opinion his words are these believe me you will with no less pleasure reade that terse piece than that with which you could see one of Apellis his Pictures it is so well compos'd and so Elegant I admire that Judgment which could insert SENTENCES with so great prudence and brevity in such a heap and variety of things The great and Learned Censor of Books in his Piece of teaching the Arts and Sciences led the way to both these where he affirms there can nothing of that kind be fansied more accurate and pleasant but in this Vivis and other Learned men are much deceived who think this our Florus the same with the Epitomizer of Livy and much more those who conceive he designed in this work to give us a Compendium of the Livian History whereas he neither observes the Livian method nor always agrees with him And others that they may abate his esteem accuse him of a great fault his confounding times and relating that first which ought to have been placed in the second place often also perturbing and confounding the Names and Employments of their Generals so that he who follows him must often be led out of his way I will not deny that there are many such Errours in this Authour nor can I say whether they happened through ignorance or negligence or want of care but my opinion is that in some he may be excused for as to the confusion of times objected they might have known that he digests his Relations by Heads and Species rather than times separating things of a like Nature from those of a different separating for Example Wars from Conspiracies and civil Discords from Military Expeditions in short what a great Antiquary has said for Paulus Diaconus I should willingly offer in the behalf of Annaeus Florus no man can be supposed so ignorant in Chronology as that he can expect to find in Florus an exact Series of the Fasts as if he were a sworn Accountant and as to what concerns the confounding Names and Offices who knows not that such failings happen frequently by the carelesness of Transcribers and the ignorance of the ancient Notes especially in the names of the Roman Generals and Magistrates and in transcribing the numbers of years nor am I unacquainted with the complaint of that very learned Man Andraeas Scotus It is not possible to express what darkness and confusions the affinity of Names and the great similitude of words have cast upon the History of the Roman Common-wealth and upon their Families and what an infinite trouble has from thence been given to the Students in Antiquities and the Interpreters of Books And therefore the Reader may in this if he please and I do most earnestly perswade him to it call in to his Assistence the Consulary and Triumphant Fasts of Carolus Sigonius or Onuphrius which are much more certain Guides than Florus for there he will find the Roman Story shortly and regularly Adumbrated Or the Annals of the Magistrates and Provinces of the Senate and People of Rome written by Stephanus Vinandus Pighius than which it is impossible to conceive a better Commentary can be made or wished not onely upon our Florus but also upon Livy Dionsius Halicarnassaeus Dion Cassius and upon all the other Writers of the Roman History as the before named Learned Jesuite Schotus affirms To conclude as the small imperfections which appear in the greatest beauties are easily pardon'd or obscured by the great perfections which attend them so I see no reason why we should not readily pardon the few Errours we meet in so usefull and delicate a piece as Florus is SECT XVI In what order the Reader should proceed in his Reading of the Roman History Dionysius Halicarnassaeus commended how many years his History contains the reason given why we assign him the first place and confirmed out of Bodinus WHen the Reader has attentively considered the shadow and Picture of the Roman History let him proceed to consider the body of it in all its parts in the following method and order of Authours if he is pleased to make use of my advice Dionysius Halicarnassaeus who flourished about 26 years before Christ Anno V. C. 725 is by the confession of all a grave Authour and a most accurate searcher into and describer of the Roman Antiquities and therefore I desire he may lead the way He in order to a clear Notice who the Romans were having given an account of what he had learned concerning the People call'd the Aborigines or the most ancient inhabitants of Italy not onely from Fables and the reports spread among the many but from the Books of Portius Cato Fabius Maximus and Valerius Anciatis and of many others then he continues a History in XX Books to the first Punick War which began the third or fourth year of the 128 Olympiad A. V. C. 488 but of those twenty Books which Photius tells us he left onely XI have been brought down to us in which we have the History of CCCXII years described with great fidelity and care nor have we rashly assigned the first place to Dionysius in this our Chain of Authours because he will be instead of a bright Torch to our lover of Histories who without him must often stick and blink and walk in a dark Night whilst he read onely Latine Historians Will you have the reason of this Joannes Bodinus will give you many and will also
461 year after the building of Rome and yet before our Reader proceeds though perhaps he has attain'd a rich History of the first times of the Romans out of Dionysius Halicarnassaeus and the aforesaid Books of Livy yet in this place Plutarchs Romulus Numa Pompilius Valerius Poplicola Coriolanus and Camillus may not unprofitably be read not unprofitably did I say what is there in that Authour that can be read without great advantage and reward especially if he falls into the hands of a serious Reader that is apprehensive and of an experienced Judgment Treasures of Learning Wisedom and History may be found in Plutarch yea there are some that assert that his Monuments I mean his Parallel Lives and Morals are the Libraries or Collections of all the ancient Historians or rather Writers and of all that have either spoken or done any thing honourably rightly or wisely whether they were Grecians or Romans so that Theodorus Gaza answered not imprudently when being once asked what Authour he would chuse if he were to be deprived of all others he replied onely Plutarch and therefore we so often already have and hereafter shall recommend him to the Reader to be read by parts every part in its proper place By parts I say because as Lipsius saith he did not so properly write an History as certain Particles of History and appropriated to himself the Lives of Illustrious men and yet here if we may Acquiesce in the judgment of Colerius he observes all the Laws of History more than Suetonius or any other of those that have written Lives however in the opinion of Lipsius he truly deserves above all others to be styled the Prince of Writers who doth wonderfully form the judgment and in a diffused and plain way of Writing leads a man every where to Vertue and Prudence SECT XVIII The second Decade of T. Livy that is from the X th to the XXI Book is lost how and from whence the History may be supplied Appianus Alexandrinus what Learned men think of him BUt to proceed where we should have gone on in T. Livius the whole second Decade from his tenth Book to his XXI th is lost to wit the History of LXX years from the year of the City 461 to the year 531 in which space of time besides other very remarkable things the War with Pyrrhus King of Epirus call'd the Tarentine War the first Punick War and the Ligustick Illyrick and Gallican Wars are said to have happened for the supplying therefore this defect the arguments of these Books drawn by the Epitomizer of our Authour may be usefull and for the filling up and enlarging the story Plutarch's Pyrrhus and the XVII th XVIII th and XXII and XXIII Books of Justin to these may be added 14 Chapters of the IV th Book of Orosius who flourished 415 years after Christ and the IV first Chapters of the third Book of Paulus Diaconus his Historia Miscella who lived about 787 years after Christ and especially the first and second Books of Polybius in which though we have not a full History of the first Punick War yet we shall there find more of it than in all the Latine Historians that are now Extant and we may judge the same of the Wars the Romans made with the Galls inhabiting in Italy And here Plutarch's M. Marcellus and Fabius Maximus may be taken in who fought most Valiantly and succesfully against the Ligurians and Cisalpine Galls and as they afterwards did in the second Punick War against the Carthagineans for Fabius first broke Hannibal with delays and then Marcellus taught the World it was possible to beat him as the Authour de Viris Illustribus writes Chap. 45. Lastly Joannes Zonaras may perhaps afford some assistence for filling up this Gap in the Roman History who in the second Tome of his Annals has given a short account of the affairs of the Romans from the building of the City to the Reign of Constantine the Great and also Appianus Alexandrinus will afford some help in his Punic's and Illyric's A writer according to the censure of Photius studious of delivering the truth as far as possible a Discoverer of the Military Discipline above most others and he is one of those who hath as in a Table represented to us the Provinces Revenues Armies and in general the description of the whole Roman Empire as Johannes Bodinus hath observed And Josephus Scaliger in his Animadversions upon Eusebius supposeth him to have been a mere Child in History or else that many things had been tack'd to his Syriac's by others and the Learned Vossius affirms he took many things from Polybius and useth to transcribe Plutarch word for word and in truth Franc. Balduinus acknowledgeth that some passages of Plutarch in his Crassus concerning the Parthian War are repeated in the Books of Appianus but this is supposed to be done not by Appian who was contemporary with Plutarch but by some of his Transcribers that they might fill up some Chasme in his Commentaries This Authour flourished in the year of Christ 123. SECT XIX Where the remaining XXV Books of Livy are to be read what other Authours may confirm or illustrate that History the nine last Decades and an half are intirely lost whence that loss may be supply'd the History of Salust commended and also Caesar's Commentaries by the Learned of the more ancient and of the later times OUr Reader having thus furnished himself as well as he can is now to proceed to the XXI th Book of T. Livius that is to the third Decade and let him go on and diligently reade all that remain and are still Extant in order that is two Decades and an half in which he will find an uninterrupted History of LVI years to the year of Rome 587 but together with those XXV Books of Livy for just so many besides the first Decade have escaped this common Shipwreck and besides Plutarch's Fabius and Marcellus already mentioned let the Reader also peruse his Hannibal Scipio Africanus T. Quinctius Flaminianus Paullus Aemylius and his Cato Major or Censorius because every one of these flourished in that interval of time and Plutarch hath written their Lives very largely and clearly and in them the success of the Roman affairs From the XLV th Book of Livy nine Decades and an half for he writ XIV Decades that is 95 Books are perished in that common and deplorable Shipwreck that is the History of 157 years to the Death of Drusius Nero the Son-in-Law of Augustus Caesar who died whilst he was General in an Expedition against the Germans beyond the Rhine Anno V. C. 744. The Contents of these Books are yet Extant collected by the before mentioned Epitomizer for the improvement of which after Plutarch's Cato Major follow his two Gracchi's Marius Scylla Cato Minor or Uticensis Sertorius Lucullus Pompejus Magnus and Marcus
Chapter of the Gruterian Edition he will find the History intire from the Conquest of Perseus King of the Macedonians to the XVI th year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar and he may all along as he pleases joyn the Lives I have mentioned above in their order with Vellejus to enlarge the History and so he may pass on to the Writers of the Caesarian times The Authour having in the end of the XVIII th Section made onely a short mention of Appianus Alexandrinus I think it not amiss here to give somewhat a larger account of him because there is an excellent Version of his Works in English whereas Dion Cassius to my knowledge was never translated into our Language Henry Stephens in his Dedicatory Epistle before Appianus calls him the Companion of Dion Cassius and saith that these two were of great use to all those who desired to know the flourishing times of the Roman Common-wealth and to understand many passages in Cicero and others concerning the State of the Roman Republick for those Latine Historians who have come down to us cannot so well satisfie their Thirst as Dion and Appianus but if they do not leave their Reader wholly Thirsty yet we cannot deny but he will remain very unsatisfied And a little after saith he I shall mention another thing in which he is the Companion of Dion that is he relates not a few things that concern the change of the Roman State and the institution of their Princes and there is one thing in which he excells Dion and all the other Historians which is his ascribing those miseries which are attributed by all the rest to Fortune to the Providence of God thus far that Learned man speaks of him Vossius saith he writ the Roman History in XXIV Books beginning at Aeneas and the taking of Troy but with great brevity till the times of Romulus and then he wrote more accurately of all the succeeding times till Augustus adding some things here and there to the Reign of Trajan but then the manner of his dividing his Works and the Titles and Arguments of his Books may be best Learned saith he from Photius and from his own Preface of this vast work we have now extant nothing but his Punick Syrian Parthian Mithridatick Iberian and Illyrian Wars and 5 Books of the Civil Wars of the Romans and a fragment of the Celtick or German War Henry Stephens prefers him also before Dion Cassius and all the rest of the Historians because he reduced his History into certain Classes that though the whole was a Roman History yet the variety of the Titles which he placed before each Book seemed to promise the Reader a kind of new Subject and by that hope alured him to proceed not to mention saith he how much more easily any thing sought after may be found in this method of Writing in this Appianus has been very ingeniously imitated by Dr. Howell in his late Learned Universal History Photius gives this account of Appianus his History of the Civil Wars of the Romans these things are saith he contained in them first the Wars betwixt Marius and Sylla then those betwixt Pompey and Julius Caesar who contended against each other and fought many great Battels till fortune favouring Caesar Pompey turn'd his back and fled then the Wars of Antonius and Octavius Caesar who was afterwards call'd Augustus against the Murtherers of the first Caesar in which many of the greatest Romans were contrary to all Laws and Justice proscribed and Murthered then the Wars betwixt Antonius and Augustus themselves who had several sharp Fights to the destruction of great Armies till at last Victory smiling upon Augustus Antonius fled into Egypt having lost his Army and there Murthered himself which being the last Book of the Civil Wars shews also how Augustus took in Egypt and the Common-wealth of Rome became a Monarchy under Augustus He gives us also this account of the Authour Appianus was by Birth an Alexandrian and at first a Pleader of Causes at Rome afterwards he was a Praefect or Governour of some Provinces under the Emperours his Style is moderate and restrain'd but as far as is possible he is a lover of truth and an exact relatour of Military Discipline apt to put Life into the desponding Souldiery and to appease them when enraged and well able to describe and imitate any passion He flourished in the Reigns of Trajan and Adrian thus far Photius speaks of him That which prevailed upon me chiefly to insert this Addition in this place was Appianus his History of the Civil Wars in V Books written with great Clearness Elegance and Accurateness In which beginning with the Gracchian Sedition about the Agrarian Laws A. V. C. 622 or there abouts and continuing it down through all the various Seditions and Civil Wars of the Romans to the Death of Pompey the younger Anno V. C. 718. which was but five years before the fatal Battel of Actium and Augustus his settlement in the Empire a story that is not writ at large and intirely by any other but this Authour and Dion Cassius and is one of the best Supplements that is extant of the last Books in the end of Livy and one of the best Introductions too to the History of the Caesars and is one of the most lively Representations that is to be found in any History of the disorders of Common-wealths and the miseries that attend great changes in Governments and so of great use in this our unsetled Age. It is certain this History has lost its end for Photius gives an account that it reached much lower down in his times than it doth now ☞ There is now in the Press an excellent History of these times written Originally in French but made English wherein all these Greek and Latine Historians which have related the History of this great change in the Roman State are reduced into one Elegant body Intituled the History of the first and second Triumvirate Printed for Charles Brome SECT XXI The History of the Caesars is first to be fetched from Suetonius and Tacitus the great Honour shewn to both of them by the testimonies of very Learned men the judgment of the most famous Criticks concerning Tacitus various or rather contrary Light afforded both to Suetonius and Tacitus by Dion Cassius AS to the Writers of the Caesarian times let the Reader begin with Suetonius Tranquillus a most correct and candid Writer as Vopiscus stiles him He flourished under Trajan and Adrian Anno Christi 127 and was Secretary to Trajan he was an intimate friend to Pliny Secundus and he deserved his esteem being as Pliny saith in a Letter to Trajan an honest sincere Learned man And thence I conclude that the Testimonies of the later Criticks concerning him are true as that of Ludovicus Vivis Suetonius is the most diligent and impartial of all the Greek or Latine Writers he seems to me to have written
of but a short space of time yet it gives a great light to the most intricate part of that History and is of great credit as being Written by a Person of great fidelity who was an Eye-witness of all those Transactions and a very Elegant Writer Zosimus Writ the declension of the Empire in VI. Books beginning with Octavianus Caesar and ending in the taking of Rome by the Goths under Alaricus In the first Book he runs through all the first Emperours to Dioclesian with great brevity but in the other V. Books he gives a larger and fuller account He lived in the time of Theodosius the younger who began his Reign Anno Christi 407. and ended it Anno 449. his Style is short and clear pure and sweet as Photius represents it He was a Pagan and therefore reflects very often upon the Christian Princes and yet Leunclavius a Learned German doth not think it is fit for all that to call his fidelity too easily in question and he adds moreover That if any Man Reade him without prejudice he will find that his History which is almost totally made up of those things that were passed by and not taken notice of by the rest of the Historians is very pleasant and usefull to all Men who are employed in State Affairs Henry Stephens was of opinion That he industriously sought into the truth of Conceal'd things and carefully discover'd it This History is for the most part of it an Epitome of Eunapius who Wrote an History of the Caesars beginning where Herodian ends and continuing it to his own times he lived under Valentinian Valens and Gratian about the year of Christ 370. His History though said to be extant at Venice was never Printed But Photius saith Zosimus did almost Transcribe Eunapius as differing from him onely in this that he doth not reproach Stilicon as Eunapius did and that his style is shorter and more easie and that he rarely makes use of any Rhetorical Figures but Zosimus begins his History much Higher and continues it down much Lower Johannes Zonaras Wrote a General History from the beginning of the World to the death of the Emperour Alexius Comnenus Anno Christi 1118. in whose time he lived he divided it into Three Tomes in the First Tome he briefly Writes the History of the World from the Creation to the destruction of Jerusalem In the Second Tome he Writes the Roman History from the building of Rome to Constantine the Great but with great brevity The Third Tome gives an account of the Actions of all the Christian Emperours from Constantine the Great to the death of Alexius Comnenus From some or all of these therefore the History of the foresaid Emperours may be made more full and clear especially if to those things which are related by Zosimus as done by the Goths under Gallienus and the succeeding Emperours of Rome Jornandes may be called in as a Witness who will assure us That all which Zosimus hath related is true For as Leunclavius assures us What both these Historians have Written concerning the Goths do most exactly agree nor is there any other difference betwixt them but this that Jornandes is a little more full as not omitting the circumstances of things nor is it to be wondred at that these were not so well known to Zosimus as they were to Jornandes for the latter was a Goth or an Alan which Nation was nearly related to the Goths and understood the affairs of the Goths who were his own Countreymen much better than the Grecians did and joined the Gothick Historians with the Greek and Latin Writers as he himself confesseth Jornandes flourished about the year of Christ 540. and here let the Reader proceed immediately to the reading of Ammianus Marcellinus a Man of a clear Fidelity and Judgment in the esteem of the most rigid Censors By his own confession his Language is Military and Unpolished he was very famous about the year of Christ 375. He diligently prosecutes as a Souldier the account of Military Affairs and doth often digress in Relations and doth not seldom intermix Sentences as Justus Lipsius acquaints us And Balduinus goes on thus He is indeed a Souldier but a very Learned Souldier and so studious of Antiquities that there is scarce any thing which he hath not searched out To speak in one word he is a most diligent Writer his Latin indeed is rough for he was a Constantinopolitan but he is full of Learning and has included in his History a various manifold and uncommon Literature and has largely Wrote an History of those times that are not so well Written by any other thus and much more Balduinus relates of him Marcellinus Wrote XXXI Books from the beginning of Nerva to the death of Valens in whose Court he lived but of these the first XIII have perished in the common Shipwreck in those which are extant he begins with Gallus Caesar about the year of Christ 353. and largely describes the Actions and Lives of Constantius Caesar Julian Jovian Valentinian and Valens an Eye-witness of a great part of which things he was and he will bring down the Reader to the year of Rome 1128. which is the 378th year of Christ. His History was Translated into English by one Philemon Holland a Dr. of Physick and Printed at London in Folio in 1609. who before had Translated Livy Suetonius and L. Florus but this Authour was not then so well understood as he is now by the indefatigable industry of Henry and Hadrian Valesius and therefore 't is fit there should be a second and a more pleasant Version made of this excellent Authour SECT XXIV Paulus Diaconus his Miscellan History Jornandes his History of the Goths and Agathias may be here read or if the Reader please the III. Tome of Zonaras whom Nicetas Choniates follows and after him Nicephorus Gregoras or if this seems too long then the Reader may immediately after Zosimus begin Blondus Fortiniensis or after Vopiscus Carolus Sigonius his History of the Western Empire and from thence pass on to the VIIth or VIIIth Book of the first Decade of Blondus IF after Ammianus the Reader proceeds to Paulus Diaconus his Miscellan History and joins as companion with him Jornandes whom I just now mention'd his History of the Succession of Kingdoms and Times and also his History of the Goths he will observe from these not onely the Declining of the Roman Empire which Zosimus undertook to shew him but also the intire Ruine and Destruction of it And lest the repetition of what he was well acquainted with before should prove tedious and troublesome to him he may if he please begin with the XIIth Book and so go thorough with the rest in which he shall have a perfect History from Valentinian to the Deposition of Michael Curopolates that is to the year of Christ 812. and may also take in Jornandes when the times
Inhabitants are clearly demonstrated from that Nation many old Monuments illustrated and the Commerce with that People as well as the Greeks plainly set forth and Collected out of approved Greek and Latine Authours together with a Chronological History of this Kingdom from the first traditional beginning untill the year of our Lord 800 when the Name of BRITAIN was changed into ENGLAND faithfully Collected out of the best Authours and disposed in a better method than hath hitherto been done with the Antiquities of the Saxons as well as Phoenicians Greeks and Romans Printed in Folio in London in the year 1676 Volume the first I know very well some Learned men have taken great exceptions to this Piece and have affirmed many things in it to be fabulous and I will not contest for the truth of the whole and every part of it but then I will presume to say that I have found good Authority for some of those things which some have pretended Mr. Samms invented and if we are to stay for an History which all the World approves of before we reade one our Lives will end with as little knowledge of past times as of those that are to follow us when we are dead I know any ingenious person who shall reade this piece must reap much satisfaction pleasure and delight from it John Milton who was Latine Secretary to Oliver Cromwell a Learned ingenious but a very factious man wrote the History of Britain that part especially that is called England from the first traditional beginning of it to the Norman Conquest Collected out of the ancientest and best Authours as he saith it was printed 1670 and 1671 in Quarto and in 1678 in Octavo The style and composure of this History is delicate short and perspicuous and it is of the greater value because few of our English Writers begin to any purpose before the Norman Conquest passing over all those times that went before it with a slight hand Doctour John Heyward writ the History of the first Norman Kings William the Conquerour William Rufus and Henry the first he lived in the times of King James and was a Civilian and a very candid true and Learned Writer Samuel Daniel writ the Collection of the History of England where in making some short reflexions on the State of Britain and the Succession of the Saxons he descends to William the Conquerour and the Norman Kings and ends with the Reign of Edward the third Anno Domini 1376. It is written with great brevity and Politeness and his Political and Moral Reflexions are very fine usefull and instructive John Trussel continued this History with the like brevity and truth but not with equal Elegance till the end of the Reign of Richard the third Anno Domini 1484. In that Period or interval of time which Daniel hath written there are two Lives writ by two several Pens the first is the Life of Henry the third writ by that Learned wise and ingenious Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton Knight in a Masculine style with great labour and pains and with a Loyal design The Second is a piece which was lately Printed with this Title the History of the Life Reign and Death of Edward the II King of England and Lord of Ireland with the Rise and Fall of his great Favorites Gaveston and the Spencers written by E. F. in the year 1627 and Printed verbatim from the Original in the year 1680. Who this E. F. was I know not but that he was under the Dominion of a mighty Discontent is apparent by his short Preface to the Reader his first words there are these To out-run those weary hours of a deep and sad Passion my melancholy Pen fell accidentally saith he on this Historical Relation which speaks A King our own though one of the most unfortunate and shews the Pride and fall of his inglorious Minions If this Book was really written when pretended it may be probably conjectured this Male-Content had a mighty Spleen against the then Duke of Buckingham who being baited this year by the Commons in Parliament fell a Sacrifice to popular discontent the year following which with some other things to me unknown might occasion the suppressing this History then and it had been as well if it had never been Printed being partial to the highest degree and designed to encourage rather than suppress Rebellion Sedition and Treason and now why it was raked up out of the Dust and Printed when it was I shall leave the World to guess onely I cannot for bear observing the Authour was more ingenuous than the Publisher not onely because he concealed it but also because he had undoubtedly set down the causes of his discontent in the beginning of his Preface which are omitted in the Print for those weary hours must relate to something before exprest to perfect the nse Within this Period of time belonging to Trussel falls in the Life of Henry the IV th written by Dr. Heyward and also the Life of Edward the IV th written very Elegantly and Prudently by William Habington Esquire and the Life of Richard the third written by George Buck Gent. Francis Bioâ—di and Italian Gentleman and of the Privy Chamber to King Charles the first hath written in the Italian Tongue the Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster and York from King Richard the second to King Henry the VIII th translated Elegantly into English saith Sir Richard Baker by Henry Earl of Monmouth Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Albans writ the History of Henry the 7 th in a most Elegant style Edward Lord Herbert of Sherbury hath writ the Life of Henry the Eighth with great Exactness and Accuracy as he was a person of great industry and capacity He was put upon this Work by King Charles the first and consulted all our Records Dr. John Heyward wrote the Life of Edward the VIth very Elegantly and as much of that Prince's Reign and that of Queen Mary was spent in matters of Religion so Dr. Peter Heylin in his Ecclesia Anglicana Restaurata has given a very good account of their two Reigns and also Dr. Gilbert Burnet in his History of the Reformation in two Volumes in Folio which is excellently Epitomized by himself in Octavo Though these two chiefly intend the Ecclesiastical History of those times yet they have carefully intermixt the Civil History also especially Burnet who with his History hath published many Original Records of those times which do purely belong to the Civil History Sir William Dugdale one of the Kings of Arms in England hath writ two Books which he styles the Baronage of England being an excellent History of the Successions of all the noble Families of England which is of excellent use to the well understanding of the English History Sir Richard Baker hath written a Chronicle of the Kings of England from the times of the Romans Government unto the Death of King James to which the Reign of Charles the first
an excellent Authour in the Opinion of Melchior Canus a Man of an approved Faith and a grave Historian But in the esteem of the most Learned Casaubon and Vossius he is a Spurious Pretending and Suppositious and in short an Authour of no Antiquity or at least quite another Man from that Noble Hegesippus who lived near the times of the Apostles and was Contemporary with Justin Martyr and Athenagoras of whom frequent mention is made by Eusebius and St. Hierome and yet after all this there are some who think he is no contemptible or unprofitable Authour in his first Book he has given an Account of the Wars of the Jews from the times of the Maccabees to the Birth of Christ and the death of Herod the Great And in his Second Book he brings down the History to the Expedition of Vespasian into Judaea Anno Christi 69. and then in his IIId IVth and Vth Books he has Consecrated to the memory of Posterity the Story of the total devastation of Judaea and the utter Ruine of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his Son Titus which happened Anno Christi 72. But then saith Bodinus This may be better and more truely Learned from Josephus who was not onely present in these Wars but was a Commander for some time and being made a Captive obtain'd from Vespasian and Titus the Privilege of being made a Citizen of Rome and the Flavian Sir-name which was that of their own Family and also a Statue And then the Princelike Virtues of an Historian an exalted erudition a rare integrity and a great experience shone clearly in that person And it is farther objected against this fictitious Hegesippus that he doth not treat of the Affairs of the Church but onely of those of the Jews from the time of the Maccabees to the ruine of Jerusalem But we may Answer Bodinus in the first place that this Hegesippus has shortly and elegantly comprehended in that Work what Josephus hath more copiously related in his VII Books of the Wars of the Jews and scatteringly in his Antiquities And in the next place that this Authour doth no less religiously than truely set forth some things concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ which are either altogether passed by by Josephus or onely slightly mention'd by him because perhaps he had an aversion for our Religion And he also sets down in a few words the causes of the War doth Learnedly shew the sources of those great Calamities and why that People which alone was chosen by God and beloved very much was thus consum'd why Jerusalem was destroy'd which was not onely the most Celebrated City of all the East as Pliny calls it but if we consider the extraordinary Favours of God of the whole World Why the Temple was rased their Sacred Rites abolished and the Politick Government of that Nation which had subsisted so many Ages was for ever taken away For the serious consideration of these things will yield the pious and prudent Reader a plenty of the most Excellent Fruits which History can afford him Or if our Reader of History is better pleased to pass by this suppositious Authour and will not be discouraged to go back again and after the Reading the Holy Bible and the Antiquities of Josephus and to câ—ntemplate at one view the whole image of the Sacred History from the Creation of the World to the Birth of Christ and so on to the Fourth Centery of the Second Interval then let him here take in Sulpitius Severus his Sacred History which he begins with the Creation of the World and ends with the Synod of Bordeaux Anno Christi 386. He was a Man of much learning and prudence and a most Polite Writer His style is so pure and elegant that Josephus Scaliger calls him The most Pure Writer of the Church History But I cannot forbear confirming the Judgment of this great Man by the more Prolix and yet not less elegant testimony of Victor Giselin a Physician and Antiquary of a most accomplish'd Erudition He writes thus The blessed Sulpitius hath with great brevity compris'd and with an exact distinction of times shortly deduced to the Age in which he lived the Memory of those things which are contained in the Holy Scriptures from the beginning of the World Now whether any Age hath produced Another Work that is more excellent more noble and more usefull to the Christian Church than this small Piece I shall willingly leave to the Judgment of those who have better abilities than I to determine of it But as to the Elegance of it I dare undertake and I think I may safely affirm that it is not inferiour in any thing to the best of all the Church Historians but then as to all other Works which are of the same nature it hath so great advantages over them that they do not deserve to be compared with it That which I have said of it is great and may perhaps seem to most men incredible But yet what I say has so much truth in it that I am confident the veracity of the thing will prevail so much that my testimony may be spared especially as to those who will take the Pains to compare all the parts of this Authour with Orosius Florus Eutropius and the rest of the Writers of Epitomes He seems to me to have obtain'd the Garland onely by the imitation of C. Salustius a florid Writer of the Roman Story For observing that many things in him passed for excellencies which would become no other Man and were scarce possible to be imitated as his abrupt way of speaking which slips insensibly by the Reader or Hearer and doth not stay till a Man comes to it but as Seneca saith his Sentences come pouring in and his words surprize by their unexpected falls these I say be left to Salust as his sole personal excellencies And he studiously avoided his obsolete words which as Augustus said he collected out of Cato ' s Books de Originibus But then as to his spruce brevity tempered with significant Words and adapted in the highest degree to his design he imitated that Great Historian with so much Art that we may well say he rather emulated him and strove to out-doe him For he did not think it sufficient to follow his style and to divide circumscribe and cut it and make just such transitions from one thing to another except he made the same entrances to his Books the other did but with this difference that whereas he as Fabius saith chose such as had no relation to History Sulpitius accommodated his a little better to his subject All which things in History at least appear glorious as any Man may observe at the first Glance For it was written as I have said in the flower of his Age before his passionate love to Eloquence had been mortified by the severe discipline of the Monastery of Tours Thus far Giselinus The Elzivers two Dutch Printers put out this
seriously to have applied their Minds and Pens to the illustrating this subject Let us cast our eyes upon the third Centery which with the two which follow it may justly in his esteem be call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Flower and Golden Age of the Church As in that Age Theological Studies flourished every where so the Church History which till then was almost totally unknown began to sprought up and grow verdant The first that set out in that Race as far as is known to us was Eusebius Pamphili who took his Sir Name from Pamphilus the Martyr who was his intimate Friend as St. Hierome acquaints us he was Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine in the Reign of Constantine the Great who as Cedrenus tells us was a Great Historian and a general Scholar and without controversie he was then thought the most Learned Man of the Age. He I say as he himself affirmeth in the entrance of his first Book was the first who applied himself to Write an Universal History of the Catholick Church Beginning therefore with the Birth of Our LORD and proceeding accurately through all the times of the Tyrants he describes the Series of the Affairs of the Church the Successions of the Apostles and other Illustrious Doctours in the Church The Doctrine of the Gospel the Persecutions which Tyrants moved against the Church and the Martyrdoms that followed in them and the perverse Doctrines of Hereticks all which he dednced with a mighty industry in Ten Books to his own times Eusebius also Wrote the Life of Constantine in Four Books which are now extant and acknowledged to be genuine by Photius But then as he followed the Example of Xenophon who described the Institution and Encomium of Cyrus more that he he might propose to our Contemplation the Image of a good Prince than that he might give a true History of him so Eusebius did not so much dress up the History of the Life of Constantine as a Panegyrick of the Praises of that Prince and his glorious Actions And therefore Photius call'd that Piece An Encomium in four Books And certainly he has therein represented to our eyes the Lively Picture of an excellent Prince which the most potent Kings and Princes may contemplate to their great advantage as Grynaeus rightly observeth And the Reverend Bishop of Chichester observes also that Eusebius collected the History of the Martyrs out of the Archives or Registers of the Churches and the Commentaries of the Publick Notaries and the common Tables or Catalogues Nor was it saith he onely a Brevary designed for the reciting their Names of the same Nature with the Martyrologie which is now in use in the Church of Rome drawn up by Bede Usuardus or other such like Authours or like the Greeks Menologies but they were Historical Narratives of the things that happened and Commentaries Written at large as the Reverend Prelate proves out of Eusebius himself Where speaking of Apollonius he saith If any person is desirous exactly to know his words spoken before the Judge and what Answer he gave to the Questions of Perennius and his Apologetick Oration which he made before the Senate Let him be pleased to Read the Book which we compos'd of the Actions of the Ancient holy Martyrs But that Work of Eusebius and many others of which St. Hierome makes mention amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers are lost and have not fallen into the hands of the Men of these later Ages But there is not a few who detract what they can from the Authority of Eusebius and say That his Church History was rejected by Pope Gelasius in a Council and pronounced an Apochryphal Book But for the Asserting the Authority of Eusebius it is sufficient that Gelasius himself tells us in the beginning of that Censure that the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea and his Ecclesiastical History are not to be intirely rejected for the rare and excellent Knowledge they afford us Which is aiso said by Volaterranus in the Decretals Eusebius his Chronicle and Church History onely are received But if any body thinks otherwise let the confirmation of Melchior Canus be considered his words are these It is sufficiently apparent that all the rest of Eusebius his Church History pleased Gelasius and the Council in that they are pleased to acquaint us with what displeased them and therefore if you take out the Fable of Abgarus and the Commendations of Origen they say in a manner that all the rest of his History is worthy of our credit and beliefe The Judgment of Scultotus pleaseth me as to this very much which he unfolds in these words Those Books which contain the History of the Church do sufficiently demonstrate that that Story of the Primitive Church is true which is fetched from the Genuine Writings of the Orthodox Fathers for as long as Eusebius in his History follows Justin Irenaeus Origen Tertullian Cyprian Clemens Alexandrinus and such other Fathers of approved faith he is an Historian worthy of our belief and trust But whenever he quotes Tradition and appeals to things that were reported but not written then he mixeth many things that are Fabulous Thus far Scultetus The truth is the Papists do frequently reprehend Eusebius with great bitterness and fiercely fall upon him but above all others Cardinal Baronius as the same Scultetus observes discovers his hatred of Eusebius for which he had no other reason than this viz. He being the Historian who hath prosecuted so largely the Commendations and Donations of Constantine to the Church has not onely not mentioned his Grant to the See of Rome but has plainly intimated it to be false in Writing that Constantine was not baptized by the Pope at Rome but by another at Nichomedia But they pretend too that he was infected with Arianisme and that he ever favoured the Arian Party and therefore he is sometimes accused of Partiality That he was infected with that Heresie before the Council of Nice is in truth too apparent to be denied but then some write that after that time he willingly imbraced the Authority of the Holy Fathers of that Council and lived most holily and piously in the Catholick Doctrine Yea it is reported amongst the Greeks as George Trapezunce bears witness that at the command of the holy Fathers he drew up the Nicene Creed which he composed in such words that he delivered to the Fathers in Writing that Form The Son of God was begotten and not made being of the same Substance with the Father by which words that Heresie was without controversie condemn'd And it is most certain that he did by Letters give a most full and perfect account to his Citizens of what was done in that Convention which Letters are still exstant as Donatus Veronensis writes But to proceed the History of Eusebius reacheth to the year CCCXXV And Ruffinus a Presbyter of Aquileia an Emulatour of St. Hierome translating
memory fail'd him whilst instead of Theodoret he Wrote Sozomen for the words he mentions are Theodoret ' s and Cardinal Baronius supplies us with another Answer by saying That Sozomen the Commender of Theodorus Mopsuestia is not received by the See of Rome as to that particular But in all the rest he speaking the truth how could he be rejected and besides it is apparent that Sozomen was not rejected by Gelasius the Pope whom no man can in the opinion of the Cardinal disown such was his Authority and Learning but rather esteem'd to be of more credit than Eusebius of Caesarea and his History is accordingly more valued by Phocius than that of Socrates And Canus farther answereth That the Testimony of Sozomen was made use of and approved in the Council of Florence in which the Emperour Palaologus was present However we may think candidly of him not onely by reason of the sincerity and veracity which he pretends to in his first Chapter and promiseth throughout for when he was to relate the contentions quarrels and perfidy of many Orthodox Men and many other foul actions done by them he deprecates the opinion of a malevolent humour as is observed by the Learned Casaubon For he saith he does not write these things out of any pleasure he takes in them but whether he would or no because what was done could not be undone but on the other side to be silent as to those things which were done was to betray the truth and break the Laws of a good History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is fit to take care of truth in order to the preservation of the sincerity of History and again An Historian should esteem truth above all other things But also for the sake of that Judgment Euagrius has given of him whose words are these Eusebius Sozomen Theodoret and Socrates have accurately committed to Writing the coming of our most Mercifull Saviour into the World his Ascension into Heaven the Acts of the holy Apostles the Martyrdoms of the holy Martyrs and whatever else has been done worthy of commendation or blame to the Reign of Theodosius and somewhat farther this I say is the judgment of Euagrius Scholasticus a very famous Historian of those times and the first Orthodox Church Historian that wrote if we will believe Baronius or at least his Epitomizer And here Euagrius himself follows the Writers of the Tripertite History and begins his Story where Socrates and Theodoret end theirs that is from the calling of the Council at Ephesus by the authority of Theodosius the younger about the year of Christ CCCCXXXI in which Nestorius was condemn'd and he continues his History to the XII th year of the Reign of Mauritius which is the DXCVII year of Christ and he flourished mostly under this Emperour and his Successour Tiberius the Second This History of Euagrius consists of VI. Books in the first of which he comprehends the times of Theodosius the younger in the IId those of Martian and Leo the Thracian as he is commonly call'd in the IIId those of Zeno and Anastasius in the IVth those of Justin and Justinian in the Vth those of Justin the Second and Tiberius the Second in the VIth he goes on to the XIIth year of Mauritius who was Son-in-Law to Tiberius the Second and is by some call'd the Cappadocian And this was the year of Christ 597 as I have said above And with the same times that Euagrius hath thus written concur the Histories of Procopius Agathias and Jornandes of the affairs of the Goths and the Miscellane History of Diaconus from the XIIth to the XVIIIth Book and to conclude a great part of C. Sigonius his History of the Western Empire which I thought fit to tell the Reader here that he might know where to find an enlargement of the Histories of those times Theophilactus Simocatus was famous about the year of Christ DCXII. and is a delicate Writer amongst those of the latter Greek Historians he wrote VIII Books of the Actions of Mauritius which the Reader is to begin when he has read Euagrius Nor is it possible he should repent of this small Labour because he brings the History to the year of Christ DCI. to the very Murther of Mauritius and that not perfunctorily but accurately and elaborately so that others have deduced their borrowed streams from him as from a River as Pontanus the Jesuite saith His temper is soft and exceeding honest and his Writings discover and testifie a learning above the ordinary pitch And now if the Reader please let us take a stand a while and look back and see how much of our designed Journey is expedited and let us consider how and by what means we are arrived at the end of the VIth Century after Christ. Eusebius comprehends in his History somewhat above CCC years Socrates Theodoret and Sozomen have added to this CXL years more and then the History is brought down about CXL years farther by Euagrius and Simocatus makes up the rest of the time as is said above to the Six hundred and first year after Christ in which year Mauritius the Emperour with his Wife and Children was Murthered by Phocas who succeeded him in the Empire ADDITION All these Church Historians were a few years since put out in Greek and Latin by Valesius a Frenchman with excellent Notes and a new Version of his own in three Volumes in Folio which were soon after translated into English and put out in one Folio And they are very exactly translated and indeed somewhat the less delightfull to the Reader for being so nicely true and curious SECT XXXVI In the VII th Century and two or three which follow it those Writers of Church History who could treat it as it deserved were very rare The Legends of the Saints Oceans of Miracles and Wonders The times of Rotomantados and Ignorance THe Authours above recited have brought us to the VII th Century which if any Man search diligently with two or three which follow it I believe he will hardly find any one Authour who has handled the History of the Catholick Church according to its dignity There were indeed in those ages some who wrote the Lives and Legends of some of the Saints and the Acts and Passions of the Martyrs but then they swarm with fables and obtrude upon credulous and superstitious Men whole bed-rolls of Miracles And as Bellarmine himself saith of Simeon Metaphrastes who flourished Anno 859. they add many things of their own invention and write them not as they were but as they might have been done in the times of Damascen and German the Constantinopolitan amongst the Greeks saith our Reverend Bishop and in the times of George the Dialogist and the other George of Tours and in the times of our venerable Bede the Ocean of Miracles and Wonders burst in upon the
began in the year 1545. continued to the year 1563. the History of which Council written by Pietro Soave Polano a Venetian of the Order of the Servi a Man of admired Learning of an exquisite Judgment of an Indefatigable Industry and of a modesty and integrity that is scarce to be equall'd is in truth of more value than any Gold I think I may say then any Jewels and like to out-live the most lasting Monuments Which commendation is given deservedly to this Historian by that worthy and learned Person who faithfully translated this History into English who also was the first person who brought this pretious Jewel into these Western parts and to the great good of the Church first published it and in the preliminary Epistle has thus represented the Authour's Character and that not without good cause for he having had a Learned Intercourse with him and for some time conversed familiarly with him knew him throughly Yea the work it self confirms the truth of all this which was extracted out of the Memoires and Commentaries of Ambassadours out of the Letters of Princes and Commonwealths and from the Writings of the Prelates Divines and of the very Legates who were present in the Council which Writings had till then been carefully kept and out of them this History was extracted with so much labour accuracy study and fidelity as the said most learned and famous Knight has there observed that it may equal the best of all the ancient or Modern Histories of that Nature Neither are you my Hearers to conceive that this is the testimony of one single Person concerning either the Work or the Authour Be pleased then to accept a second and like testimony concerning both from the Latin Translatour also a person of the same degree with the former and for his great Ingenuity and Erudition of a flourishing Name Who writes thus of that Authour Nor doth he stand in any need of my Commendation his Work speaking him a person of an happy Ingenuity and of a great and right judgment liberally endowed with all sorts of Learning and abundantly adorn'd both with Divine and Humane Knowledge and that as well Moral as Political or Civil whereby he has attain'd a high degree both of Probity and Sweetness of Mind And of the Work it self he speaks thus As to what concerns the structure of this History whether you consider the things themselves or his Language and in the things if you observe the order of times the Counsels the things done the events and in the management of affairs if you desire not onely what was done or said should be discoursed but also in what manner and that when the event is told at the same time all the causes should be unfolded and all the accidents which sprung from wisedom or folly All these and a multitude of other such like things which the great Masters of History require in a good Historian he has performed so fully and exactly that in forming the History of one Council he hath represented all the Perfections of History and upon this account deserves to be numbered amongst the most noble Historians Jacobus Augustus Thuanus a Man of Noble Birth of great Learning and Dignity and worthy of the principal place amongst the Historians of this Age as we have observed above wrote the affairs of this Century as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the year 1546 to the year 1608 with great exactness which History we have lately continued to the year 1618. Besides all these which I have named the Books of the Learned and Famous Gerardus Johannes Vossius concerning the Greek and Latin Historians will supply the Reader with the Names of a vast number of other both Civil and Ecclesiastical Historians out of which any Man that is not pleased with the choice I have made may choose out others at his pleasure But thus I think and that I have spoken enough concerning the First Part of my Method THE METHOD and ORDER OF Reading Histories Part the Second Concerning a Competent Reader SECT I. A young Man is as well to be thought an unqualified or incompetent Reader of History as of Moral Philosophy What things are required to both The end and scope of Reading The disagreeing opinions of the most Learned Vossius and Keckerman concerning this Question WE have finished the First Part in which we have represented the Authours both of the CIVIL and ECCLESIASTICAL History And we have made choice of those which we esteem'd the best of both sorts and have also shewn in what order they are to be Read And now in the Second Place we must inquire who is a competent Reader of them And we shall doe this with as much brevity as is possible Aristotle disputing in the first Book and third Chapter of his Ethicks concerning the competent and well-qualified hearer of those Doctrines he was to deliver there concludes thus A young Man is not a well-qualified hearer of Civil Knowledge or Morality because he is not experienced in the Actions which concern this life Because youth being ignorant in judging doth easily despise good advices and imbrace bad Counsels by which it is deluded and deceived But now if our Master has given a right sentence in this case what reason can be given why we may not pass the same sentence in our disquisition concerning a fit and competent Reader of Histories Seeing Wise Men have observed that History is nothing but Moral Philosophy cloathed in Examples In the Hearer of Ethicks or Politicks there is required in the first place judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may judge well concerning the Rules of Actions And in the next place is required a well-disposed Mind that he may with dexterity endeavour to bring into use the Precepts he hath received And in the self-same manner it is necessary for the Reader of Histories to have the faculty of Apprehending whatever Examples he Reads and judging well of them And then that he should have an inclination and propensity of Mind to follow what is Good and to shun and avoid what is Evil and of turning all he meets with to his use and advantage For the principal end of History is Practice and not Knowledge or Contemplation And therefore we must learn not onely that we may know but that we may doe well and live honestly And therefore there are some Men of very great Learning who assert there is hardly any sort of study which seems to require more Sagacity Judgment Experience and Prudence than in reading History which is the best Mistress of Civil Conversation And therefore I have ever wondered that Gerardus Johannes Vossius who deserves to be numbred amongst the Princes of Learning in this Age should in his Elegant Book de Arte Historica of the Historick Art stifly maintain that this sort of study is fit for young Men and reject the opinions and confute and take off the arguments of Bartolomaeus
here omnis doctrinae Auctor An Improver of all sorts of Learning For saith he this is too great a Commendation for Scipio and therefore I would write onely Fautor A favourer for that better befits a Great and a Military Man to which I reply O Lipsius there is no need of a change here For it was well deserved by him because he with a very few others is reported to have first brought all sorts of Learning into the City of Rome And why may we not conjecture that Polybius wrote his History and Panaetius his Books of Offices at the instigation of Scipio Will any Man say that this conjecture is absurd when Vellejus himself writes they were his perpetual Companions and when also the writings of Terence are ascribed to Scipio as Fabius testifieth and when Donatus saith there is a strong report that Terence was assisted by Laelius and Scipio to which may be added what Vellejus subjoins here Whenever he obtain'd any respit from the Affairs of the State and Camp he exercised his mind in Learning for from this very passage that Praise of Scipio's is made more probable and indeed is not to be thought too great as Lipsius thinketh Nor is this Elogy too great neither for a great or a Military Man For you see what Cornelius Nepos or Aemilius Prâ—â—us say of Hannibal This Great Man saith that Authour though he were distracted with such great Wars spent some part of his time in Learning for there are some Books extant which he wrote in Greek and in those to the Rhodians he writes the History of the Actions of Cn. Manlius Vulso in Asia And In the last place the Philologer will observe the Elegance and Propriety of his words his ingenious Allusions and his apt and clear Translations as in these words Neque enim quisquam hoc Scipione Elegantius intervalla negotiorum dispunxit For whether he alluded to that of Cato in the beginning of his Origins where he affirms That there ought to be an account given not onely of the Actions of Famous and very Great Men but also how they spent their times of leisure and repose or whether he reflects upon that expression of Scipio's when he said Se nunquam minus otiosum esse quam cum otiosus neque minus solum quam cum solus esset That he was never less idle than when he seemed to be so nor less alone than when he was so Now Vellejus seems to me to have here very elegantly taken in and expressed both these Elogies Which that it may more clearly appear the Philologer will observe that there is a two-fold leisure opposed to business and labour one of which is perfect sloth and idleness without any action the other is very active And this place saith Scipio was ever for the latter sort for in his leisure and times of rest he was never careless of the Publick Affairs nor gave himself up to idleness but either thought of his business or entertained himself with Books or the conversations of wise Men. For this is the meaning of that phrase Intervalla negotiorum otio dispungere The last word of which is borrowed from the usage of Men concerned in pecuniary affairs and accountants as the Philologer will presently observe And signifies the balancing or comparing what is received with what is paid for so saith Ulpian Or as the common expression is to examine the account Percontandas atque examinand as rationes dispungendas atque discutiendas saith Ulpian The Account is to be inquired into and examined and to be crossed out or reviewed and therefore it seems to me that Vellejus is here to be understood as if he had thus expressed himself No man did ever balance his Publick Employments more exactly with his private studies comparing them each with the other with the same care as an Accomptant would do the sum received with that which was paid For you must know that what was approved or allowed on both sides in giving their Votes or in calling over their Souldiers or Officers was usually marked with pricks that so they might proceed to examine the remainder And these things were said to be dispuncta pricked or crossed out And on the contrary what were passed by or rejected and to be refused were said to be expuncta marked or branded and so discarded Souldiers were styl'd expuncti In short the Authour seems to speak as if he would have said No Man ever took more care that both his employments and retirements should be alike usefull and salutary And let thus much suffice concerning what may be observed upon the XIII th Chapter of the first Book of Vellejus Paterculus I promised another Example on this Head of Philologie and I will be as good as my word but then I have resolved to be as short in this second as I have been long in the first Cornelius Tacitus in the IIId Book of his Annals and 65 th Chapter shall be the Subject of it Where describing the corruption of the times under Tiberius thus he delivers it Those times saith he were so infected and corrupted with Flattery that not onely the Principal Men of the City whose greatness was to be protected or covered by submissions but all these who had been Consuls or Pretors and also Pedarii Senatores the Foot Senatours arose in great numbers and made base and excessive low and flattering Votes Thus far Tacitus From which passage the Philologers and Grammarians will observe that those are here call'd Primores civitatis the Principal Men of the City which Capitolinus calls the Optimates the Great Men and Aurelius Victor Nobilium optimos the best of the Nobility And which Tacitus himself calleth very often Proceres the Nobless And in some others they are styl'd Principes Civitatis or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Princes or Prime Men of the City In the next place that the Consulares here are the same with those who are elsewhere call'd Ex Consules or those who had passed the Consulship and Ex Praetorii those who had been Praetors and all the other Magistratus Curules Chair Magistrates who had a right of coming to the Senate and Voting And from this place also the Philologer will observe in the last place the several distinctions or degrees of Senatours that some of them were Patricians or No lemen by Birth others Conscripti or Chosen Men And lastly that others were Pedarii Foot-Senatours The first of these Orders were the descendants of those Hundred Fathers which the Builder of the City elected to be Senatours the second sort were those who were Elected by the decrees of their Kings Consuls or Censors The third sort were call'd Foot-Senatours because whereas the rest were carried into the Senate in a Chair of State these went thither on foot as some think or because they were to follow the Opinion or Vote of others by passing from side to side as it was order'd to shew