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A13576 Archaioplutos. Or the riches of elder ages Proouing by manie good and learned authours, that the auncient emperors & kings, were more rich and magnificent, then such as liue in these daies. Heereto is annexed, the honours of the braue Romaine souldiours; with the seauen wonders of the worlde. Written in French by Guil. Thelin, Lord of Gutmont and Morillonuilliers: and truely translated into English.; Archaioplutos. English Telin, Guillaume.; Munday, Anthony, 1553-1633. 1592 (1592) STC 23867; ESTC S100994 36,841 108

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to their successours for they had rather thus spend it among their people then any of their heyres should be aduantaged by their death inheriting theyr goods and money It is found also written that these Piramides serued for Sepulchers to the Kings and who so will consider the multitude of the Hebrew people that serued in Egypt by whom the Kings caused to be builded Citties and Fortresses they will not bee abashed heereat seeing it is a thing verie certaine that sixe hundred thousand men beside great multitude of women and young children endured the seruitude all which were imployed and serued in these meruaylous workes So then it is no matter of meruaile howe these buildings should be made for it is said that in Turnops Garlike and Scallions to maintaine this number of workmen were spent eighteene hundred Talents which valued the price of each daies worke a Million and four-score thousand Crownes Diodorus sayth that all the cōpasse therof and very farre about there was not so much as one little stone nor apparance that any person had beene there nor signe of any foundation but the Grauell verie small and fine as any salte so that it seemed this Piramides was there set by the hand of God and that it was naturally created the top therof resembling as if it touched heauen If wee set aside the old auncient Bookes yet shall we find witnesses in our owne later tymes for Peter Martyr of Millaine a man learned that was Ambassadour for the Princes Catholique Don Ferdinand and Dame Isabell to the Soldane of Egipt in the yeere one thousande fiue hundred and one made a booke of what he had seene done in his Embassade therein he reciteth as if it were by word of mouth that he sawe these Piramides and agreeth with what the auncient Authours haue written And particulerly he speakes of two which hee had seene that were of incredible height he sayth hee measured the squares of one and found each to be three hundred and fifteene paces and about thirteene hundred in compasse that on euery side there were such huge great stones as each one seemed a building of it selfe He sayth moreouer that certaine of hys company got vp on one of them by great labour and though in long tyme they reached the top saying that on the verie highest of all was one onelie stone so great and broade as thirty men might easily stand vppon it And when they were belowe they said they supposed themselues to haue been in a Clowde they were so high and they seemed to haue lost the light their braynes wheeling about and turning downe-warde Whereby he saith that the number of people is not to be doubted nor yet the expence which is saide to be consumed about these things The fourth wonder of the world THE fourth Miracle was that of Mausolus made by Artemisia wife to the said Mausolus king of Caria a Prouince of Asia the great This Queene according to Aulus Gellius in the tenth booke of his Ati Nox and diuers other Historians so deerely loued her husbande as euerie one sette her downe for a notable example both of loue chastitie The King dying for hys death she vsed teares and extreame complaints other then the custome of womē now is she would make him a Sepulcher conformable to the great loue she bare him such a one it was as it is placed among the seauen Wonders of the world The stone of all this building was of an excellent Marble which had the compasse and circuit of four hundred eleuen foote and twentie fiue cubits in height it had about it sixe and twentie pillers of stone cut with wonderfull cunning It was open on all sides hauing Arches of seauenty-three foote wide and it was made by the handes of the most exquisite work-men that coulde bee found The part toward the East was made and grauen by Scopas the North-side by Briax the South part by Timotheus and the West by Leochares The perfection of this worke was such and the building so faire and sumptuous as is was called Mausolus after the King for whom it was made so that all other Sepulchres that vntil this day haue been builded for the excellent workmanship of this one are likewise called Mausolaea Heerof made mention Plinie in his thirty-fiue booke and fifth Chapter Pomponius Mela in his first booke Herodotus and Strabo in his seauenth booke Aulus Gellius likewise heerof keepes memorie and many other Historians beside It is recorded that Artemisia after the death of her husbande liued continually in teares and pensiuenes and that she dyed before her work was finished hauing drunken in powder the bones of her husbande which shee caused to be burned for this purpose and so made him a Sepulchre of her owne body The fift Wonder of the World LIttle contention needeth about the fift of these Meruailes for that was the Temple of Diana whom the Gentiles thorow follie adored for a Goddesse and builded this Temple in the Citty of Ephesus in Asia in the Prouince of Ionia Plinie in his sixteene booke and thirtie foure Chapter writing of this Temple saith that it contained foure hundred and twentie fiue foote in length and two hundred and twentie in breadth The worke was of such meruailous cunning as it was two hundred and twentie yeeres in perfecting and it was builded in a Lake to preuent the danger of the earth-quaking on the foundation beeing layde harde powder of coales and there-vpon wooll to keepe the place moyst and marshie It had an hundred and twentie seauen Colloms of excellent Marble they beeing each one three-score and tenne foote in height and euery Collome was caused to be made by a seuerall King of Asia thirtie seauen of them was grauen with meruailous cunning skyll they all beeing of most choise Marble The principall Maister of this worke according to Pinie was Dresiphon and after Strabo in his four-teene booke Archiphron notwith-standing this diuersitie of opinion is to be borne withall considering how long time was required about it and therefore it had more then one Maister especially for the trymming by diuers in sundry times Solinus in hys fourteene Chapter and Pomponius Mela in his first booke say that the Amazones builded and dedicated thys Temple Moreouer Solinus saith that when the puissant King Xerxes went to the conquest of Greece and that hee burned all the Temples yet he reserued this onely All Historians doe agree that the Pyllers of this Temple helde vp the plauncher of wood so arteficially wrought as was possible to be doone and that it was couered with Cedar according to Plinie in his sixt booke and 49. chapter the Gates seelings beeing of Cipres Afterward a villaine seeing this sumptuous and admirable building he was desirous to burne it and so hee did when beeing taken for thys offence he confessed he dyd it for no other intent but to leaue a renowne of hymselfe to the world But Ualerius the great and
taking sixe-score and fiue paces to euerie Stade to three-score miles agreeing with Plinie Strabo in his sixteene booke affirmeth that they contained in length three hundred eightie fiue Stades and so large as so manie Chariots might passe ouer them as we haue already named without hindering each others way Beside these Authours declare a meruailous thing that the Gardens were vppon the Arches and Towers hauing Trees in them of wonderfull height Iulius Solinus confirmeth the same with Plinie and other Authours Some of these Writers record that without they were enclosed with Ditches full of water beeing so broade and deepe as an indifferent Riuer In thys Citty were an hundred Gates of Mettall very strange and for conclusion what-soeuer is written cōcerning the height and largenes of these walles is to be credited because in trueth it was the proudest Cittie in the worlde and long time held the vniuersall Monarchie which is no meane argument of the greatnesse declared by Aristotle in the thyrde Booke of hys Pollitiques saying that if any one were taken at one side by the enemie they which dwelt on the other side could not heare thereof in three daies space The second Wonder of the Worlde NExt in the seconde place and for the second Wonder of the VVorlde I poynt out the huge Colossus of the Sun which was in Rhodes being the statue or figure of a Man offered by the Gentiles to the Sunne some say to Iupiter It was made of Mettall the greatnes incredible the height as if it were a wondrous Tower so that it was to be admired howe it was there framed and erected Plinie who discourseth on all thinges sayth that it was seauentie cubits high and albeit for the making there were many good workmen busied about it yet vvas it twelue yeeres in perfecting and cost in value three hundred Talents he that vndertooke this worke was Cares the Indian the scholler of Lysippus This statue was so vnreasonable great as it seemed the earth could not long tyme vphold it because according to Plinie Paulus Orosius it stoode but sixe and fifty yeres at the end of which time it fell by reason of a great trembling of the earth After the fall and the tyme named by Plinie many went to see this meruailous thing and few men were found saith he that coulde fadome or embrace the great fingers of this statue so that the very least of the fingers were bigger thē any other statue it selfe Yet speaketh he of an hundred other Colosses of lesse quantitie which likewise were in Rhodes but they are nothing to our purpose vnlesse some one perhaps will say because of the one great the other lesser the Rhodians should be named the Colossenses or Colossians Yet that opinion is not approued by Erasmus for he saith that the Colossians to whom S. Paule wrote were people of a Cittie in Phrigia named Colossas Returne we then to thys meruailous Colossus I say that it remained there ruined on the earth a long time euen vntil Pope Martin the first which was in the yeere six hundred when the Infidels and the Soldane of Egipt theyr Captaine came vpon the Rhodians and according as Platina writes in the life of Pope Martin and Anthonie Sabellicus in the third part of his booke they report that he found the Reliques of this Colossus and that nine hundred Camels were loden away with the Mettall thereof The other Colosses that were in Rhodes and other places not so great wee will not speake of them because in thys discourse wee must onely intreat on seauen Wonders of the World The third wonder of the world FOR the third I think meete to set downe the Piramides of Egipt which in truth if that which so many learned Historians haue written may be tearmed trueth was a thing very admirable These Piramides were certaine buildings which began in forme of a Quadrangle or foure square ascended so vp to the highest in large proportion according to the maner of a poynted Diamond yet were they of such greatnes and height containing such so many stones and in such perfection as it is very hard to be set downe but more hard to cause each one giue credite thereto notwithstanding they are so authorised by Authours both Christians and Gentiles and them that are the best approoued as none can deny what they haue written These Piramides then are like high Towers finishing at the top spire and sharpe the Etimologie of the name commeth of Pyr in Greeke which is to say fire because it seemeth that the highest of these building doe flash out flames of fire Amongst all other Piramides the Historians make particuler mention of three that were in Egipt neere the Cittie of Memphis which at this day is the Caire and the Ile that foundeth Nilus named Delta one of which three is placed in ranck among the seauen Meruailes of the world for it is saide that at the making thereof continually and dailie laboured three hundred and three-score thousand men for the space of twentie yeres together Many doe affirme this and particulerlie Plinie speaking amply thereof in his thirtie sixe booke and twelfth Chapter and for hys assuraunce alleadgeth twelue sounde Authours Beside Diodorus in his first Booke Strabo in his last booke Pomponius Mela in his first booke Herodotus in his seconde booke Amianus in his second booke and many other Some say that the plot and foundation of this Piramides spred foorth and couered eyght daies iourney of ground let me leaue to your imagination what space that may be Some other say seauen dayes iourney but the least yeeldeth to sixe and as much or rather more in height Plinie sayth that each square contained eyght hundred foure-score and three foote the stones were of Marble brought out of Arabia and Pomponius Mela saith that the most part of thē were three foote large Heereby may we easily gather that so many thousand men might be imployed some to carry stones some to hew and cut them and others to place them beside the multitude that wrought in the yron workes and about other necessary occasions Of the other Piramides it is thus saide the least of the two was made by the vanitie of the Kings of Egypt which were the richest in all the world as well by the fertility of the earth as also that in this Countrey no person possessed any thing in proper but the King onely And this was since the time that Ioseph the sonne of Iaacob councelled Pharao to preserue the Corne for 7. yeres aboundance regarding the time of famine during which space by the meanes of thys Corne hee had all the Countreyes his Vassailes Thinke then whether these Kinges were rich or no when they made theyr Subiects attend on them like seruaunts And the Historians say that the Kings in thys respect caused these Piramides to be builded because they would giue to eate to their people that laboured as also least they should leaue their riches
stand in greatest neede of your ayde and succour Let it then be your pleasure to take from me this charge and commaunde your Officers to make seasure on all and deliuer it into your hande to whom it appertaineth otherwise I shall fall downe vnder this burthenous and oppressing loade For I see the time is come when I ought recall to me my sences the neerest parts of my vnderstanding is not to be troubled with anie contrary thoughts These wordes spake Seneca onely to escape death yet Nero caused him be put to death as of long time hee had practised and sought the occasion to doe it Pallas a seruaunt to Nero in little while after he was at liberty knew himselfe to be worth three thousande times Sestertiaes as saith Cornelius Tacitus which value seauen Millions fiue hundred thousand crownes Suetonius speaking of the great prodigalitie of Nero sayth that the King Tyridates of Armenia came to see him in the Cittie of Rome to whom Nero gaue ordinarilie daie by daie for maintenaunce of his estate eyght hundred thousand Sestertiaes which amount to twenty thousand Crownes of the Crowne and gaue him at his departure thence two Millions fiue hundred thousand Crownes Cornelius Tacitus in the seauenteenth Booke of his Histories saith that during the fourteene yeeres while Nero was Emperour hee spent in vnreasonable gyfts and liberalities two and twentie thousand times Sestertiaes which amount to fiue and fiftie Millions of Crownes Galba the Emperour that succeeded him would haue made recall from such to whom Nero so prodigally had giuen the goods of the Empire and so haue left thē the te●thes but he found that they had spent all and followed their Maister in 〈◊〉 The prodigalitie of Tyberius SUetonius reciteth that Tyberius the successour of Augustus guyded by violent auarice and tyrannie gathered in twenty three yeeres while hee was in the Empyre seauen and twentie thousand times Sestertiaes which summe was asterward spent in one yeere by Calligula his next succeeder The aforesaid summe amounteth to three-score seauen Millions fiue hundred thousand Crownes of the Crowne Seneca in his Booke of Consolation speaking of the Emperor Calligula of his prodigalitie sayth that at one feast or banquet hee caused to be spent and hundred tymes Sestertiaes which value two hundred and fiftie thousand Crownes of the Crowne Of a Ladie called Lollia Paulina PLinie in the ninth Booke of his naturall Historie saith that hee sawe in Rome at a meane banquet a Ladie named Lollia Paulina who somtimes was wife to the Emperour Calligula that had her head her necke her breast and her hands couered with Pearles and Emeraldes knit and curiouslie laced together The least value heereof was iudged woorth foure hundred times Sestertiaes which is a Million of Crownes of the Crowne Of the houses that Calligula and Nero caused to be built about the Cittie of Rome PLinie in his sixe thirty booke saith We haue seene the Cittie of Rome to be enuironed and as it were walled about wyth houses by the two Emperours Calligula and Nero. But albeit theyr houses were full of cost great expence yet the Theater of Scaurus a Romaine Cittizen surmounted the excesse of theyr prodigalitie and yet it was made but for one Moneth onelie no longer then the tyme as the Playes endured This peece of workmanship defaced the magnificence and memorie not onely of the afore-named houses but beside it was found to be more sumptuous as also of farre greater statelines pompe cost then any building whereof memory is left The Scene of the Theater consifted of three Stages whereon were three hundred and three-score Marble pyllers of Africa They that were vnder-neath were also of one peece beeing eyght and thirty foote in height the Scence was crosse-parted with Marble and the Stage in the middest all of Glasse neuer was any thing so much talked of and wondred at The plaine place where the people were appointed was able to containe foure-score thousand persons three thousande Images of Copper did beautifie and adorne the place for Playes For the rest such was the wonderfull riches of apparell Tapistries of Gold Tables and auncient renowmed Pictures as the true report thereof would seeme incredible Suetonius and Plinie speaking of the golden house of Nero which commonlie was called the house of Golde saith that there were within the Galleries three Stages beeing each of them a thousand paces long Also there was a Ponde so great as it seemed to be a Sea enuironed with buildings resembling in euery poynt a goodly Cittie Of the Treasure found● in Tolosa IN the Cittie of Tolosa as Strabo sayth was founde fifteene thousande Talents in golde and siluer beside the vessels which amount to nine Millions of Crownes So likewise reciteth Posidonius and there were founde the hallowed Nets wherewith neuer anie man fished to preuent that the rich Pyllers should not be discouered The Romaines sold the fish of these Nets after they had subiected the Countrey notwithstanding they were dedicated to the Gods the Merchants by this occasiō found the Gold which therein had beene cast in a mighty masse or heape Cicero in his third Booke of the nature of the Gods sayth that it was decreed by the Senate that punishment should be inflicted on such as had taken away the treasure from the Tolosians Iustin in his two and thirty Booke sayth that it was Cepio a Consul of Rome who had committed this sacriledge and that all they of his companie which shared or had portion in thys Gold dyed very miserably Hee sayth more-ouer that among thys Treasure was found beside an hundred and ten thousand pounds of Gold and fifteene hundred thousand pounds of siluer which is as it were a treble summe to that before named Aulus Gellius in the third booke of hys Uigillia Attica sayth that when any one fell into some notorious or detestable mis-fortune or dyed an euill death they would presently say vnto him Hee tooke parte of the bootie in Tolosa Of the condemnation of Gabinius CIcero sayth in one of his Orations that Gabinius a Cittizen of Rome was condemned in tenne thousande Talents to the Common-wealth which doe amount to the summe of sixe Millions of Crownes Of the Emperour Adrian ADrian the Emperour gaue to to his Legionaries three thousand tymes Sestertiaes which are seauen Millions and fiue hundred thousande Crownes Budaeus sayth that in the life of Adrian is made mention howe hee gaue vnto them tenne Millions of Golde The reuenue of Crassus CRassus a Cittizen of Rome had as his reuenue yeere by yere according to the description of Plinie two hundred and fiftie thousand Crownes The reuenue of the Kingdome of Egipt STrabo a Greeke Authour in the seauenteenth booke of his Cosmographie and discription of the worlde declareth that the reuenue of the Kingdome of Egipt which afterwarde was brought into a Prouince by Augustus valued in the tyme of Ptolome sirnamed the Fluter twelue thousande and fiue
Aulus Gellius in his second booke say that to spoyle this villaines desire of renowne it was forbidden vnder great and greeuous paine that none should write his name to the ende he might faile of the fame and glory he expected But thys serued to small purpose for Solinus and Strabo say that he was named Erostratus of him came the Prouerbe that when anie one would be famous for a vicious acte they would say This is the renowne of Erostratus Againe it may bee spoken for a notable thing that the same day the Temple was burnt Alexander the great was borne who conquered all Asia Heereof are Authours Plutarch in the life of Alexander and Cicero in his seconde Booke of the nature of the Gods there it is reported in many places likewise in the booke of Diuination and it is said that while the Temple burned the Sages prognosticated the destruction of all Asia as afterwarde it happened by Alexander Some say the Temple was re-edified againe farre more great and excellent then it was before and that the Maister of the work was named Democrates The sixt Wonder of the World COncerning the sixt meruaile it was the Idoll or Image of Iupiter Olimpus which was in his Temple in Achaia betweene the Citties of Elis and Pisa the place being named Olimpia and likewise the Temple because of Iupiter Olimpus of whom Strabo in his eyght booke and Pomponius Mela in his seconde booke say that thys statue or Image which was in the Temple was renowned as well for the perfection and admirable workmanship as also for the greatnesse thereof It was made of Porphire some say Iuory by the hande of Phidias the most excellent Engrauer and Image-maker that euer was Plinie in hys thirty fiue and thirtie sixe bookes makes mention of it so doe manie other beside Strabo sayth the excellencie thereof was in the greatnesse and that which makes it more admirable is that it was of Porphiry cut in an infinite number of peeces It is saide that Phidias was toucht with one onely imperfection which was that hee had not well compassed the proportion of the Image with the Temple because it was in such sort placed and so huge as when one considered what might be the height thereof ifhe were vnderneath vpon hys feete he would imagine nothing more could be contained within the Temple Notwithstanding the renowne of this Image was highly aduaunced and made the Temple more known then otherwise it would haue beene because in that place was the sports and Games called Olimpia hence it came that they accounted the yeeres by Olimpiades whereof they madè fiue yeeres in fiue yeres The games were first instituted by Hercules afterward when they had left them off they were restored and re-established by Emonies after some Authours by Sphyron four or fiue yeeres after the destruction of Troy according to Eusebius there beginneth the yeere of the s●st Olimpiade The seauenth Wonder of the World LAstly for the seauenth wonder some say that it was the Tower in the Ile of Pharos neere to the Cittie of Alexandria in Egipt Pharos was a little Ile long and straite seated on the coast of Egipt directly against the mouth of Nylus which in times past as saith Pomponius Mela in his second booke and Plinie in his fift was altogether inclosed with firme Lande and afterwarde to the times of the selfe same Authours it was embraced wyth the mayne Sea saue onely a bridge wherby they passed from the one Ile to the other In this firme Land is the great Cittie of Alexandria builded by Alexander the great which Cittie was afterwarde a Colonie to Iulius Caesar. In this Ile called Pharos after the name of a great Pilot to Menelaus who was there buried the Kings of Egipt caused to be builded a Tower of Marble meruailous in height and work-manship vpon a Mountaine enuironed with water The laboure thereon bestowed was such as it cost eyght hundred Talents which value foure hundred and four-score thousand Crownes according to the computation of Budaeus and it was builded for no other purpose then to alight a fire in the night on the top thereof for guyde and direction to the shyppes that came to take port there Thys Tower according to the most great opinion was builded by Ptolomeus Philodelphus King of Egipt and the chiefe Archetect that made it was named Sistrates as we are certified by Plinie in his fiue and thirty Booke Caesar in his Comentaries greatly commendeth the height worke of thys Tower and sayth it was called Pharos taking name of the Ile so saith Amianus Marcellinus in his first booke treating of the Historie of thys Tower and Solinus in his Polyhistor in the end of the thirty foure Chapter that al Towers which were made afterward were named Pharos after this one as was the Pharos of Messina and else where Againe I thinke that the fires which are ordinarily carried in Ships to guide them in the night from others by thys occasion are named Pharos Thus thys Tower is the last of these seauen VVonders albeit that by many it is not placed among the number of them but in sted thereof is named the high grounded Gardens of Babilon whereof already wee haue spoken Lactantius Firmianus holdeth so saith that these Gardens were vppon the Arches and Towers admirable in greatnes with a number of Fountaines the forme of which building is amply set downe by Diodorus the Scicilian Caelio the Rhodian discoursing on the seauen Wonders agrees not that this seauenth is the Tower of Pharos or the high hanging Gardens but the Obelisque of Semiramis which was made after the same fashion and structure of the Piramides for it began so in a Quadrangle and finished in a sharpe point nor was there any difference between the Obelisque and the Piramides but that the Obelisque was onely of one peece and therfore could be nothing so high as the Piramides It is found written that certaine of them were so great as Towers and of a very faire stone there is one at this day in Rome named Caesars Needle which was brought out of Egipt and is a very meruailous thing to beholde as well for the greatnesse and to consider the manner howe it was brought thether Of the Obelisque of Semiramis which Caelio as I haue said numbreth amongst the seauen Meruailes it is iustified in wryting that it was an hundred fifty foote high as also four and twenty foote broade in a quadrangle so that the whole compasse thereof was ninety foote And this stone so beeing whole sound was taken from the Mountaines in Armenia and by the commaundement of Semiramis brought into Babilon Caldea but in trueth when we consider how it was drawne carried and lifted vp it seemeth altogether a matter incredible if the tymes of antiquitie had not like thinges or more strange whereof we are truely certified by Authours worthy of credite and other very great Obelisques which the