to have been condemned by Joseph Scaliger for maintaining upon such good grounds that Darius of Medes was partner with Cyrus in his victories and not a Chaldean King by him subdued Neither was Josephus to be the lesse regarded for affirming that Belshazzar was destroyed by Darius of the Medes and his nephew Cyrus though herein he varied from Berosus and others whose authority elsewhere he gladly citeth For Josephus had no reason to beleeve any mans faith or knowledge of those times halfe so well as Daniels whom I beleeve that he understood as was needfull in this case Lawfull it was for him to alleage all Authours that had any mention though unperfect of the same things that were contained in the writings of the Jews to whose histories thereby he procured reputation in the Roman World where they were strangers and might seeme fabulous Even so Eusebius and other writers willingly embrace the testimonies of heathen bookes making for the truth in some particulars yet will they not therefore be tryed in generall by the same but leave them where they are against the truth as Josephus in this case hath left Berosus Thus that Knight And as for Belshazzar one word againe of him How is it possible that he could be the Labosardach of Berosus seeing Labosardach was but a childe and reigned only nine moneths whereas those things which are written of Belshazzar by the Prophet Daniel are pertinent to a man and one who had reigned severall years yea more then three which is the time that some give him For first Daniel had visions in the third year of Belshazzar and was then an officer in the Kings Court as himselfe declareth Dan. 8 1.17 and therefore must needs be knowne to the King Howbeit in that year which was the last of Belshazzar he was out of office and forgotten as may be seen at large in the fifth Chapter of the same Prophecy where the Queen first tels the King of him and the King also questioneth saying Art thou Daniel speaking to him as a stranger or as to one whom some long tract of time had made to be forgotten And secondly when this King Belshazzar made his great fatal * Xenophon mentions this Feast lib. 7. agreeing to Daniel Jeremiah Dan. 5. and Jer. 51.39 Herod lib. 1. Xenoph. lib. 7. Feast he had his Wives and Concubines present with him quae Puero minimè competunt as saith Pererius Neither doth Daniel obscurely shew that Belshazzar was slain by his owne people but rather by his enemies Or if by his owne people it was by Gadata and Gobryas who betrayed the City and brought in Cyrus his Army For the King had offended them before causing Gadata to be gelded and the son of Gobryas to be slain in hunting as Herodotus and Xenophon tell us And note whereas it is said in Jer. 51.31 that when the City was broken up there were Posts and Messengers which passed to and fro to inquire and bring the King the certaine newes thereof note I say that this was not because the King was in some remote place out of the City as Calvisius thinketh but because of the distance of the Palace from the place where the enemy entred the noyse of whose comming in was so sudden and unexpected that it could not be beleeved without posting to and fro to inquire and know it certainly Which even the Prophets words in the place alleaged well marked do declare For when the Posts and Messengers went to and fro to inquire it was to shew the King of Babylon that his City was taken at one end And at the 39 verse the very drunken feast is foretold at the which many were so overcome with wine that they slept yea slept they did and waked not for they were slain by the enemy before they awaked and so they slept a perpetual sleepe as there the Prophet saith Yea and to shew that Cyrus had it in his minde to set the Jews free if once the City was taken he caused Proclamation to be made at his very entrance into it that all who could speak the Syriacke tongue which the Jews could should keep within doores and so be safe as Xenophon sheweth lib. 7. By all which I see that they who reject Xenophon and Josephus in these passages to embrace Berosus and Megasthenes do runne upon the rocke of many a text in the assured word of God dellvered to us by the Prophets Esay Jeremy Daniel There be indeed in Xenophon many things spoken highly in commendation of Cyrus and much Rhetoricke used to garnish and set forth that History describing in Cyrus the pattern of a most Heoricall Prince yet neverthelesse the body and bulke thereof is founded upon meere Historicall truth Putting therefore apart the Moral and Politique discours and examining but the History of things done it will easily appeare that Xenophon hath handled his undertaken subject in such sort that by beautyfying the face thereof he hath not in any sort corrupted the body as is gallantly observed by Sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the world lib. 3. c. 2. Section 3. I conclude therefore that the last King of this Monarchy was Belshazzar the first was Nebuchadnezzar the middlemost was Evilmerodach and that the whole time among these three was 70 yeares beginning from the time of Daniels Captivity and agreement of servitude which Iehoiakim made with Nebuchadnezzar 2 Kin. 26 1. Ier. 25.2 The first of these had 44 yeares as may be gathered out of Scripture the second 12 and the third 14 as Sulpitius Severus hath told us in the second booke of his sacred History affirming there that so he found it an old Anonymus wherein the times of the Kings of Babylon were recorded And why I say Nebuchadnezzar had 44 yeares as may be gathered out of Scripture is because Jechonia was carryed away Captive in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar 2 Kin. 24.12 and in the seven and thirtieth year after Evilmerodach began to reigne which because it was late in that yeare might make Nebuchadnezzars reigne to be some odd Moneths more then forty four years as may be seen 2 Kin. 25.27 Berosus gives to Nabonidus 17 years and him we have already proved to be Belshazzar Josephus therefore saith that Belshazzar was slain in the seventeenth year of his reign and if so then must Evilmerodach have about 9 years because 44 9 and 17 will make the full number of 70. They that like this last account better then the former may if they please embrace it Or whether this or that it is not much materiall for the Scriptures have told us that God gave the empire of Babylon for 70 yeares to Nebuchadnezzar his son and his sons son and therefore though there may be some small difference in the particulars yet doth that hinder nothing from being satisfied in the generall assured summe One thing more I would gladly touch at and this it is the death of Nabopollassar who was
year consisted of no more then two parts but because the year is divided into four quarters or Tekupha's called as I shall shew you afterward the returnes of the year I think it a more perfect answer to say It is called the end and returne of the year not because it met then with the naturall head thereof but because all the fruit of the year was gathered in and seed time began anew And so it is with us the Autumne is counted the beginning of the year for matters of husbandry and yet we in the computation of our years begin in the Spring at the Annuntiation The year of Jubilee indeed began now I meane at Autumne but for all that the moneth wherein it began is not called the first moneth but the seventh Levit. 25.10 And furthermore whereas it is usually objected that the trees were created with ripe fruits on them and that the world was therefore made in Autumne it is answered that in the Eastern parts of the world some fruits are ripe in the Spring as well as in Autumne as is seen by the Harvest of the Jews which was never long after Easter And without question Paradise had the preheminence to be the best place that the world afforded and might therefore have ripe fruits sooner then the Jews had their yearely Harvest To which may be added that the Arabians Syrians or Assyrians and Chaldeans do not begin their year from Autumn but from the Spring as Simplicius witnesseth upon the fifth book of Aristotles Physicks But they have further to object Object that the Law is divided into severall Sections which were all of them read over once every year the first whereof by an old ancient custome began alwayes from Autumne which was to shew that there was the right beginning of the year But to this learned Langius hath fully answered saying that neither was it ever defined of Moses nor of Joshua nor of any of the Judges how much of the Law should be read on any Sabbath nor from what time of the year the reading of the Law should begin againe It was indeed commanded of Moses that the people of Israel should have the words and book of the Law alwayes before their eyes but of that publique reading it in the Synagogues according to severall Sections Divisions he spake not a word King Jehosophat is found to be the first who sent forth his Princes to whom he joyned Levits in Commission who going through all the Cities of Judah taught the people in the Law of God for they alwayes had the Book of the Law about them 2 Chro. 17.7 8 c. From whence is manifest that in those times there were no ordinary Praelections or Lectures thereof But after the Captivity more like it is that Esdars that expert Scribe divided the Law into parts and instituted that order of reading them which is still observed and because when he began to read it was the first day of the seventh moneth as may be seen Neh. 8.2 therefore ever after the reading began from thence and yet then to speak truely it is hard to say what precise proportion Ezra observed for one reading seeing as the third verse sheweth he read therein from morning untill mid-day and might therefore rather afterwards then now proportion the whole into severall parts if at all it were done by him I conclude therefore that notwithstanding the strongest and best objections to the contrary the world began at the Spring time of the year and that on the fourth day of the first Week the Sun was in the fourth degree of Aries which fourth day according to the Julian year was on the seven and twentieth day of April on which day the Sun was created and set in the Firmament of Heaven as shall be further shewed afterwards Omnia cum vireant tunc est nova temporis aetas Sic annus per ver incipiendus erit CHAP. III. That the Jews as well of old as of later Times accounted their Moneths by the course of the MOON IT is a plaine and manifest truth approved by testimony undeniable that in that age of the World in which our Saviour Jesus Christ lived the Jews reckoned their moneths by the course of the Moon and that on the fourteenth day of that Moone which they accounted for the first moneth their Pascha or Easter was This we have recorded by an authentique Author as ancient as those times I meane Philo Judaeus in his book of the life of Moses Who speaking there of the first moneth and of the Paschal solemnity observed in it saith as the words sound in the Latine Hoc ipso mense circa decimam quartam diem cum plenus jam orbis Lunae futurus est Paschatis solemne celebratur that is In this very moneth about the fourteenth day when the Moon shall be at the full the solemne feast of the Passeover is kept And in another place speaking of the time when the Moneths began he declareth that their beginning was from the first fight or vision of the Moon viz. cum Sol incipit sensibili splendore Lunam illustrare When the Sun begins to enlighten the Moon so as she may be perceived And so also he did in the place first mentioned calling that the Novilunium Quod Synodum Lunarem sive Novae cujusdam Lunae sequitur To this Authour I may joyne Josephus wherein is recorded that the fourteenth day of the first moneth of the year called * Here Josephus acknowledgeth Nisau to be the first moneth of the year Nisan was evermore while the Sun was in that signe of the Zodiack which is called Aries Antiq. lib. 3. cap. 10. And as this was the course and account of the Moneths in those times so in the dayes before for when Jesus the son of Syrach lived which was 230. years before Christ there was no other Index for the appointed Feasts on certaine and set dayes of the moneth but what the Moon afforded He therefore saith à Luna signum esse diei festi From the Moon is the signe of a feastivall day Ecclus 43.7 The Author of the third book of Esdras Ch. 1. goeth higher for speaking of Josiah's solemne Passeover he saith it was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first moneth according to the course of the Moon as in Hieroms Bible may be seen The like he repeateth afterwards of another Passeover Chap. 7. verse 10. Higher then thus goeth Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon affirming that the Moneths of the year were the Moneths of the Moon and that in Moses his time they were so accounted evermore begining as Philo before had noted from the first sight or vision of the Moon For the antient manner was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even till the yeare of Christ 500. about which time the Sapientes Gemarae ceased as Petavius noteth And hereupon it is that learned Langius saith Ritum hunc de sanctificanda Neomenia à temporibus antiquissimis Mosis
israel 2 kings 11.4 7  3838 3129 2  136 2  8  3839 3130 3  137 3  9  3840 3131 4  138 4  10  3841 3132 5  139 5  11  3842 3133 6  140 6  12  3843 3134 7 6 141 7  13  3844 3135 1  142 8  14  3845 3136 2  143 9  15  3846 3137 3  144 10  16 Carthage built Ioseph 3847 3138 4  145 11  17  3848 3139 5  146 12  18  3849 3140 6  147 13  19  3850 3141 7 7 148 14  At the Autumn of this yeer the twelfth Jubilee began 20  3851 3142 1 Jub xii 149 15  21  3852 3143 2 150 16  22  3853 3144 3  151 17  23  3854 3145 4  152 18  24  3855 3146 5  153 19  25  3856 3147 6  154 20  26  3857 3148 7 1 155 21  27  3858 3149 1  156 22  28  3859 3150 2  157 23  1 Jehoahaz 17. he began in the 23 yeer of Ioash K. of Iudah 2 K. 13.1 the Syrians vexed him very much  3860 3151 3  158 24  2  3861 3152 4  159 25  3  3862 3153 5  160 26  4  3863 3154 6  161 27  5  Yeers of the Julian Period Yeers of the World Yeers of Rest and Jubilees Yeers of the Temple A Table of the Kings of JUDAH and ISRAEL during the time that the Temple stood     Kings of Judah Kings of Israel 3864 3155 7 2 162 28  6  3865 3156 1  163 29  7  3866 3157 2  164 30  8  3867 3158 3  165 31  9  3868 3159 4  166 32  10  3869 3160 5  167 33  11  3870 3161 6  168 34  12  3871 3162 7 3 169 35  13  3872 3163 1  170 36  14  3873 3164 2  171 37  15  3874 3165 3  172 38  16 1 Joash 16. he began in the latter part of the 37. yeer of Joash King of Judah 2 Kin. 13.10 3875 3166 4  173 39  17 2 3876 3167 5  174 40 1 Amaziah began in the latter part of the second yeer of Joash King of Israel and reigned 29 yeers 2 King 14.1 at the end whereof he is slain by the People of Lachish 27. yeers currant after Jeroboam's Father recovered the Kingdom of Israel from the Syrians and in that regard Azariah the son of this Amaziah is said to begin his reign in the 27 yeer of Jeroboam 2 K. 15.1 2. that is in the 27 yeer of Jeroboams Kingdom recovered which his father recovered from the Syrians about the sixt yeer of his reign according to the saying of Elisha 2 K. 13.14 Like to this is that  3 3877 3168 6  175 2  4 3878 3169 7 4 176 3  5  3879 3170 1  177 4  6 Here Joash recovers his Kingdom from the Syrians 2 K. 13.25 't is thought that going to this War he took in his son Jeroboam as partner with him in the Empire whereupon it came to passe that Azariah is said to begin his reign in the 27. yeer of Jeroboam 2 Kin. 15.1 Thus some But see the other column 3880 3171 2  178 5  7 3881 3172 3  179 6  8 3882 3173 4  180 7  9 3883 3174 5  181 8  10 3884 3175 6  182 9  11 3885 3176 7 5 183 10  12 3886 3177 1  184 11  13 3887 3178 2  185 12  14 3888 3179 3  186 13  15 3889 3180 4  187 14  16  3890 3181 5  188 15 1  Jeroboam the second 41 he began in the 15 yeer of Amaziah King of Judah 2 King 14.23 from which yeer he reigned 3891 3182 6  189 16 2  3892 3183 7 6 190 17 3  3893 3184 1  191 18 4  3894 3185 2  192 19 5  Yeers of the Julian Period Yeers of the World Yeers of Rest and Jubilees Yeeers of the Temple A Table of the Kings of JUDAH and ISRAEL during the time that the Temple stood Kings of Judah Kings of Israel 3895 3186 3  193 20 of the 36. yeer of Asa mentioned in the second Book of the Chronicles chap. 16 ver 1. where Baasa is alive and diverted from building of Ramah which if it be understood properly cannot be true 6 his 41. yeers ibid. See also Petav. De Doctr. Temp. l. 9. c. 55. 3896 3187 4  194 21 7 3897 3188 5  195 22 8 3898 3189 6  196 23 9  3899 3190 7 7 197 24 10 The XIII Iubilee 3900 3191 1 Jub xiii 198 25 11  3901 3192 2 199 26 12  3902 3193 3  200 27  13  3903 3194 4  201 28  14  3904 3195 5  202 29  15  3905 3196 6  203 1 Azariah began in this yeer he was otherwise called Vzziah and reigned 52. yeers 2 Kin. 15.1 16  3906 3197 7 1 204 2 17  3907 3198 1  205 3 18  3908 3199 2  206 4 19  3909 3200 3  207 5 20  3910 3201 4  208 6  21  3911 3202 5  209 7  22  3912 3203 6  210 8  23  3913 3204 7 2 211 9  24  3914 3205 1  212 10  25  3915 3206 2  213 11  26  3916 3207 3  214 12 If the 27th yeer of Ieroboam for the beginning of Azariah be taken properly for the 27th yeer of his own reign then must Azariah be 11 yeers of his 52 under tutours before he took upon him the administration of the 27  3917 3208 4  215 13 28  3918 3209 5  216 14 29  3919 3210 6  217 15 30  3920 3211 7 3 218 16 31  3921 3212 1  219 17 32  3922 3213 2  220 18 33  3923 3214 3  221 19 34  3924 3215 4  222 20 35  3925 3216 5  223 21 36  Yeers of the Iulian Period Yeers of the World Yeers of Rest and Jubilees Yeeers of the Temple A Table of the Kings of JUDAH and ISRAEL during the time that the Temple stood Kings of Judah Kings of Israel  3926 3217 6  224  22 Kingdom and so Codoman in his Chronology lib. 3. cap. 7. 37  3927 3218 7 4 225  23 38  3928 3219 1  226  24 39  3929 3220 2  227  25  40  3930 3221 3  228  26
putat Angelus sexaginta duas Septimanas à principio septimanae primae sed à fine Septimae ut sensus sit Christum moriturum esse Septimana Septuagesima That is The Angel accounteth not the sixty and two Weekes from the beginning of the first Week but from the end of the seventh so that the sense is Christ was to dye in the seventieth Weeke But in what year of that Weeke is shewed afterwards Shall be slain The word in the Originall is Carath which signifyeth to cut off either by banishment or death In the first sense Christ was cut off when the Jews said We have no other King but Caesar Joh. 19.15 and in the other sense he was cut off when after their loud cryes of crucifie him crucifie him they put him to death But not for himselfe This is likewise true of Christ as the Prophet sheweth Esa 53.4 5 6. But whether it be the right reading of this place some make question and doe therefore render the words thus And there shall not be unto him that is He shall not be or not have any being but be extinct and gone Meaning that being slain or cut off by death he should have no longer being among the living and so also Esay saith He was cut off out of the Land of the living for the transgression of my people was the stroke upon him Esa 53.8 All which was certainly fulfilled when Christ tasting death was not onely buried but by his enemies shut in the Sepulcher least he should againe be seene in the Land of the living And the people of the Prince to come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary This is meant of the Romans under the Conduct of Titus the son of Vespasian Emperour of Rome by whom the City of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed which is here foretold as a judgement to come upon the Jews for their putting Christ to death And the end thereof shall be with a Flood Meaning that the Romane Army should be unto them as the overflowing of Waters in a Flood and should therefore prevaile against all the force that the forsaken Jews could make against them And unto the end of the War desolations are determined By which is meant that so long as the War continued should be nothing but desolations and destructions Which accordingly came to passe fast one upon another first in one place then in another till all was wasted as Iosephus hath at large declared in his seventh book of the Jews War at the first chapter in his sixt book at the first chapter likewise as also in some other places of his writings Whose relations doe excellently agree with the word desolations in the plurall number here foretold by the Angel in the words of this prophecy Ver. 27. One Weeke This is the last week of the seventy in which the Angel sheweth that though the Jewish Nation should be cast off and their City and Temple destroyed yet neverthelesse the Messiah should for one whole Week Offer himselfe unto them and gather many of them into the Covenant of the Gospel This Week was therefore wholly spent in preaching to those of the Circumcision in the forepart whereof Christ himselfe in his own person preached unto them and in the latter part he also preached unto them by his Apostles who went not unto the Gentiles till this Week was ended For as the 70 Weekes were cut out over the People of Israel and over the holy City but not over the Gentiles so also the confirming of the Covenant by Christ in this last Week of the 70 was cut out over the people of Israel and over the holy City but not over the Gentiles And that not without cause For though Christ by his death redeemed as well the Gentiles as the Jews Ioh. 11.52 yet because he was in the first place promised to the Jewish Nation and after a peculiar manner their Saviour it was consentaneous that in the first place he should offer Salvation unto them and confirm his Covenant with many of them before he caused his Gospell to be spread abroad and to take place among the Gentiles This appeareth by that Caveat which in this Week he gave to his Apostles when they had their first power to preach namely that they should not turn into the way of the Gentiles Mat. 10.5 It appeareth also by that which himselfe said to the woman of Canaan That he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Math. 15.24 And as they had this Caveat so they heeded it very carefully even after his death and Passion insomuch that Peter abstained from preaching to any but the Jews untill he was taught by Vision that the Gentiles also pertained to the society of the Church Acts 10.1 In a word Paul was converted about six moneths after the Passion of Christ three years after which he returned to Ierusalem that he might see Peter from whence after he had stayed 15 dayes he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and preached there to the Gentiles Gal. 1.18 By which it appeareth that it was full three years and an half after Christ's Passion before they began to preach to any but the Jews and at that time this One Weeke was ended For as it followeth Christs death was in the middle of this very Week And in the midst of the Weeke he shall cause Sacrifice and Oblation to cease This was certainly done by Christs death For in the former verse it was said That after threescore and two Weeks Messiah should be slain and now in this verse is shewed the very precise time of his death viz. That it was in the middle of this Weeke for then was Christ to cause the Sacrifices and Oblations to cease Yea all the Sacrifices of the old Testament and the whole Legall and Typicall service was then at an end by that one Oblation of Christ upon the Crosse for nothing but the death of Christ was of efficacie to abolish the Sacrifices and Legall figures which were but figures of him and of his Sacrifice as may be seen by that which St Paul writeth to the Hebrewes in the ninth and tenth Chapters He taketh away the first that he may establish the second saith the Apostle there Chap. 10. verse 9. Not that the Jewish Sacrifices did actually then cease Peta De Doct. Temp. lib. 12. cap. 35. but that they were de jure or in very deed and truth then abolished as Petavius noteth Which also not onely the last voyce of Christs dying saying It is finished but even the vaile of the Temple being rent in twaine from the top to the bottome declared Mat. 27.51 For by that Symbol Christ witnessed that he by his death abolished all the Sacrifices and all the legall worship For as Lansbergius well observeth so long as that Shadowie service of the Jews remained Lansberg in his Chronol lib. 2. cap. 11. the vaile was between in the
was sometimes called Herod of Palestine or Herod Archelaus which is nothing strange because others of the same stocke had the like Praenomen or forename As for Example his name who was the Tetrarch of Galilee when the Baptist was beheaded and under whom our Saviour suffered was Antipas howbeit he was also called Herod Luke 23.8 Also Agrippa sonne of Aristobulus had not only the name of Agrippa but of Herod Act. 12.19 and so I do not doubt but that Archelaus was also sometimes called by the name of Herod Secondly Josep an t lib. 18 cap. 6. Philip dyed in the twentieth year of Tiberius and in the seven thirtieth year after his Father The twentieth of Tyberius began in the 78 Iulian year on the nineteenth day of August and ended not until the same time in the next year the death of Philip therefore was in the 79 Iulian yeare before the nineteenth of August and consequently the death of Herod in the three and fortieth yeare as at the first was proved Scaliger did somewhat sticke at these things whereupon his conjecture was that there might be some fault in Josephus and that for the 20 yeare of Tyberius we ought to read the 22 which he found warranted by Ruffinus an ancient interpreter of Josephus Kep Silva Chronol But Kepler answereth that the Greeke Copies of Iosephus are of better credit and that the fault therefore is in the Latine which we may not preferre above the Greeke because the one is the Translation the other the Originall Thirdly after Philip had gotten the Tetrachship of Galile Iosephus telleth us that he built a Towne and in the honour of Iulia the Daughter of Augustus called it Iuliada which certainely he did whilst Iulia was in favour otherwise he had transgressed against the Emperour but Iulia was out of favour and banished for her foule adultery in the foure and fortieth Iulian year And therefore Herod could not be alive in the beginning of the next year as Scaliger would have him because this Towne was not built by Philip till after his Fathers death And as for the banishment of Iulia Dion lib. 48. that it was in the yeare aforesaid is thus proved She was born saith Dion when Marcus Censorinus and Calvisius Sabinus were Consuls and from thenceforth flourished and lived in her Fathers favour and in the favour of the people of Rome Macrob. Sat. lib. 2. cap. 5. untill as saith Macrobius the eighth and thirtieth yeare of her age These men were Consuls in the seventh Iulian year the eight and thirtieth from whence was sure enough the foure and fortieth in which year Cesar himselfe was the thirteenth time Consul Fourthly Iosephus also testifieth that after Herod was dead the sonnes of Herod contended before Augustus concerning their Fathers Heritage and then Cajus was at Rome and sat in judgement but Cajus was absent and gone into Syria in the same year that Iulia was banished And therefore Herod must needes be dead before that time And that Cajus went so soone into Syria may thus be proved He was borne as Dion sheweth in that year when Apuleius and Nerva were Consuls which was in the six and twentieth Iulian year in the nineteenth year after he went into Syria and afterwards into Armenia returning no more for he died in the 49 Iulian year when Sex Aelius and Sentius were Consuls as is testified by Paterculus Tacitus saith Quirinus was made an Overseer to Cajus Cesar not being twenty yeares old when he went to Warres in Armenia Ovid de Arte amandi lib. 1. Ovid gives him the same age which his Father had when he also began to be famous and enter into the Warres which was about nineteene according to what is found in an old Monument recording the famous deeds done by Augustus Annos undeviginti natus exercitum privato concilio privataque impensa câ—mparavi Where the word undeviginti sheweth that he wanted one of twenty But what need I urge these two last proofes thus far seeing those before them are sufficient I conclude therefore that Herod dyed in the forty three Iulian yeare about the six and twentieth day of February which was three and thirty dayes before Easter for that he dyed so long before Easter appeareth by the great Pompe and State at his Funerall together with some other circumstances mentioned by Iosephus Three and thirty dayes before that 's the least it might perhaps be forty which will therefore make his death to be on the nineteenth day of February feria tertia that being the fift day of the twelfth Moneth Adar thirty seven yeares compleat from his first beginning to reigne and thirty four current from the death of Antigonus when he and Socius tooke Ierusalem There is no objection of moment that can be made against it howbeit because something is objected I shall not be wanting to give an answer Our Country-man Lydiat hath greatly taxed Iosephus as if herein he had reckoned amisse but it was an unjust censure For questionlesse those things wherein he blameth him and would make the world thinke him to be faulty would never have been forgotten by his adversarie Apion if in them he had been worthy of blame The greatest Cavill which I suppose can be urged is out of the fourteenth booke of his Antiquities at the beginning of the seventeenth Chapter where Herod is said to be of the age of fifteene yeares in the time of the Pharsalian battell which was in the year of the City 705 and yeare of the Iulian Period 4666. from whence he lived untill he was about seventy yeares old testified also by the same Author in the 17th Booke of his Antiquities at the eight Chapter and in his first Booke De bello Iudaico at the last Chapter From whence it followeth that Herod dyed not till the year of the Iulian Period 4720. which was the 52 Iulian year when A. Licinius and Q. Caeeilius were Consuls Which if it be true then must not the beginning of his reigne be untill the first year of the Actium fight where Iosephus setteth the seventh yeare of his reigne and not the first even the seventh of his 34 yeares accounted from the taking of Ierusalem by him and Socius Some indeed and among them Cardinall Baronius and our Country-man Lydiat begin the thirty seven years of his reigne but then grounding chiefly upon this That that fight being ended and the Victory falling on the side of Augustus Herod who had taken part with Antonius against him came as a suppliant laid downe his Crowne and had never more taken it up if Augustus the Conqueror had not been favourable and given him leave againe to weare it so that receiving his Crowne at that time from the hands of Augustus he at that time began the 37 years of his reign A weake argument I dare boldly say for this at the most was but the pardoning of his offence and thereupon the confirming of him in his