Works which is the most winning way of engaging a Reader to undertake that task such Planes being a kind of Pictures or Landsckapes to shew the Reader what pleasing objects he may expect to meet with if he have the courage to proceed And if the Reader please but to peruse the 8th Section of the First Part where he gives an account of Herodotus his History he will then be able to judge for himself without taking my word for it Secondly By informing his Reader where every History begins and where it ends which has been done by few others and by no body with more exactness This too is a great invitation to a Reader to know in what Age of the World he is and how far his Authour will conduct him before he reads one word in him Thirdly He has acquainted his Reader with how much remains now extant and how much is lost of any History which hath not come down perfect and intire to us as very few of the more Ancient have done Fourthly He has told us when each Historian Wrote or Lived of what Countrey and Interest he was which are things of great use as to the advancing or abating the Credit of any Writer Fifthly He has represented the Styles Characters Virtues and Vices of each Historian which are notices of the greatest use and advantage to a Reader that is possible and of the greatest pleasure and delight Lastly He has not given us his own thoughts in all these onely but has taken the pains to search out and transcribe the very Words and Censures of the more ancient and latter Criticks of greatest fame and reputation which was a Work of great labour and difficulty So that upon the whole matter I am very much tempted to alter his Title and to call this Piece The History of the Greek and Latin Historians For so the first part of it does well deserve to be call'd The Addition in the middle of the First Part concerning the Historians of particular Nations and Places is a thing of great use and Learning though not equal to the exact care and diligence of this Authour as any Man that shall please to compare them together will soon find which I suppose was owing rather to the Authour 's great desire to be short than his want of industry or ability In the Latin Copy there is onely the two first Letters of his Name N. H. but I have been informed by a person of great worth who knew him that his Name was Nicholas Horseman and therefore I have put it so that his Memory may be preserved to Posterity The Authour of this Piece has not onely taken great care and pains to direct and encourage his Reader to that noble and usefull study of History by the best Method that ever was proposed in his First Part but he hath also in the Second and Third Parts taken an equal pains to fit and direct him how to reap the utmost advantage from his Readings both as to himself and as to others Which two Parts as he has handled them are not less usefull or delightfull than the First but they being both very short the Reader may much better satisfie himself by a perusal of the whole or of the Contents onely of the Chapters than be here troubled with a long discourse of mine upon them As this Piece was thus drawn with a mighty care and labour so it hath accordingly been valued in the World for besides the first impression of it which preceded this latter Twelve years as he tells us in his Preliminary Oration this has been Printed since the year 1637 three times and if I be not misinformed four times and yet now it is a scarce Book Nor is this any great wonder if we consider that besides the usefulness of the Subject the great Learning Candor Modesty and Industry of the Authour he spent almost two whole years in improving this small Discourse after a whole Impression of it had been sold off For his Preliminary Oration was made the 17th day of October 1635. and his Epistle Dedicatory to the University of Oxford bears date the first of July 1637. I should have been much pleased if I could have given the Reader the Life of this Great Man but that I cannot doe it having never been written by any Man to my knowledge and he being utterly unknown to me any otherwise than by this his Learned Work which I have had a great esteem for ever since I first read it which made me the willinger to run through the labour of Translating it which was no very easie task and also of adding some things to it as necessity required In the History of the University of Oxford p. lib. 2. p. 98. and in other places I find this short account given of him Degoreus Whear was born at Jacobstow in the County of Cornwall He was call'd from Broadgate Hall to Exon College in the same University to be made a Fellow there where he was afterwards examiner of the Lads in the year MDCII at which time he was Master of Arts. About six years after desiring to Travel he took his leave of the College and spending some time beyond the Seas returned into England with the Lord Chandois and lived with him in great esteem that Lord dying he came with his Wife to Oxford and took some Chambers in Glocester Hall which were not then employed for want of Students There he was not long before he became acquainted with one Mr. Thomas Allen By whose Recommendation the famous Mr. Camden designing then to settle a Reader of History in that University chose him the first Reader To this purpose this great Man gave to the University of Oxford out of the Manor of Bexley in the County of Kent One hundred and Forty pounds per Annum And after a certain term of years the Rents of that whole Manor which when it comes it will be worth about Four hundred pounds a year The Charter of this noble Grant bears date the Fifth of March 1621. The 17th of May 1622 this Donation was published in the Convocation-House of that University And the 16th of October of the same year our Learned Authour was declared Reader by the Founder And Brian Twyn a very Learned Man was declared his Successour if he survived him being then a Batchellor of Divinity but he died before Mr. Wheare It was a great Honour to him to be chosen by so great a Man as Mr. Camden and preferred before Brian Twyn And he soon made it appear that he well deserved the Honour that was done him in a very ingenuius Oration which he made in Latin in the Schools when he entered upon his Lectureship which is Printed in the end of this Piece in which he complains much That his long disuse of the Latin Tongue during his Sixteen years absence from the University had rendred him unable or at least very unapt to Discourse or Write that Language
than Caesar Salust Livy and the rest of the great Princes of the Senate of Historians in which the native Vigour and Spirit of the Roman Language exerts it self and in truth there are not many who aimed at the perfections of those middle Writers and they are yet more scarce who have attain'd to that degree of perfection and yet they are not to be persecuted or reprehended for this neither because they fell into this Misfortune more by the necessities of the times in which they Lived than by their own faults which is enough to bespeak their Pardon with all candid Readers In ancient Coins we regard the Weight and the Matter much more than the Neatness of the Stamp and so in those Authours which have been depressed by the iniquity of their times and thereby disabled from shewing their Vertues we ought rather to consider the weight and excellence of the things they have delivered than the brightness or sweetness of Discourse what Cicero said of the Philosophers if they bring with them Eloquence it is not to be despised but if they have it not it is not mightily to be desired is by us to be applied to an Historian But as to those who Wrote after the reviving of Learning and the restitution of the Just esteem of Eloquence as there is a Circulation of all things they I say have more illustrated History and treated it according to its Dignity so that the following Ages have many Historians which if I should presume to compare with the Ancient Writers I should not be destitute of the suffrage of the Greatest men for men of no mean Learning have heretofore thought that Guicciardin Comines and Aemilius were so far from being inferiour to Livy Salust and Tacitus that they might contest the Precedence with them ARTICLE II. The Historians of the Germans and of all those people which live betwixt the Alpes and the Baltick Sea and the Rhine and the Weissell to which is joyned the History of the Goths Vandals Hunnes Herulans Switzars Lombards Polonians Muscovites Danes and Swedes WE have a small piece of Tacitus of the Situation Manners and People of the Ancient Germans and it is resonable that we should believe he understood the affairs of those People very well because he was employed as a Souldier in the Wars against them and was Governour of the Low Countries under Hadrian the Emperour and he in his Annals frequently takes notice of the German affairs and especially of the Expedition of Caesar Germanicus and the Victory he obtained against Arminius General of the Châ—ruscians now call'd Mansfelders but there is none of those Historians which are now Extant which hath so largely described tâ—e Battel in which Arminius routed and totally destroyed Quintilius Varus and his Army as Dion Cassius in his LVIth Book Ammianus Marcellinus also who was a Souldier under Constantius and Julianus the Roman Emperours takes notice of many things concerning the Franks Alemans and other German Nations which are very true and worthy to be known Huldericus Mutius Hugwaldus who lived about the year of Christ 1551 Wrote XXXI Books of the Origine of the Germans their Manners Customs Laws and memorable Actions in Peace and War from their first beginning to the year of Christ 1539 which he collected out of their best Authours Conradus a Liechtenaw Abbas Urspergensis Wrote a Chronicle from Belus the first King of the Assyrians to the IXth year of Frederick the second that is to the year of Christ 1229 who in the affairs of others is very short but in what concerns the Germans in his own times and those that went just before him he is much larger and has as Vossius saith many things that may be read with great advantage Gaspar Hedio continued the latter from the year 1230 to the year 1537 adding many memorable things omitted by Urspergensis and besides this Continuation he also Wrote a German Chronicle Lambertus Schafnaburgensis who flourished about the year of Christ 1077 Wrote one Volume of the History of Germany which he brought down to the year 1077 which as Trithemius expresseth himself is very well and pleasantly done and Justus Lipsius saith of this and Rodoricus Toletanus that they are as Good as that Age could possibly afford but the Commendation of the Learned Joseph Scaliger in his piece de Emendatione temporum is very illustrious in truth saith he I admire the Purity of this man's style and the exactness of his Computation in so barbarous an Age which is so great that he might put the Chronologers of our times to the blush if they had any sense of these things Nor will I conceal the censure of Melancthon I have not seen saith he any Writer of the German History that hath Written with greater industry though he hath also put in some private things which are unworthy of the knowledge of Posterity upon which account and for that his Fidelity is suspected in some things pertaining to the Controversie between Henry the 4th and Gregory the 7th he has been censured by some others A certain Monk of Erfurd has brought down the last named Authour to the year 1472 and has also Written an History of the Landgraves of Duringer the principal Town of which is Erfurd Marianus a Scot by Nation but a Monk of Fuld in Germany an Elegant Writer for the times as Sigebertus saith of him produced a Chronicle to his own times that is to the year 1073 in three Books which Dodechinus afterwards continued to the year 1200. Otto Frisingensis of Freising in Noricum and not of Friseland as Aeneas Sylvius insinuates descended of an imperial Family has Written a Chronicle from the beginning of the World to the times of Frederick the first that is to the year of Christ 1146 in VII Books for the VIIIth is not an History but a Dissertation concerning Antichrist the Resurrection of the Dead the end of the World and the last Judgment which is continued by an ancient Authour to the year 1210 and the same Otto Wrote the Life of Frederick the first his Cousin or Nephew Sirnamed Aenobarbus by the Command and Encouragement of this Prince in II Books which Radevicus another Writer by adding two Books more brought down to the year 1160. This Otto though he was Uncle to this Emperour Frederick yet that Relation did no way prejudice the truth as Aeneas Sylvius saith who was afterwards Pope by the Name of Pius Luitiprandus Ticinensis beginning from Arnolphus Emperour of Germany and the year 891 in which the Saracens took Frassinel a small Town upon the River Po in Italy Wrote in six Books the History of the principal Transactions of his own times in Europe in many of which he himself was present which ends Anno Christi 963. He was a privy Counsellour to Berengarius the second King of Italy and falling into his
Pyrenean Mountains THe principal Writers of the History of Gallia which the French now possess that I may say nothing of the most ancient Julius Caesar his VII Books of the Gallick War And Hirtius who continues him nor of Appianus his Celirks which belong to this Story are these Gregorius Turonensis Bishop of Tours in his first Book brings down the History from the beginning of the World to the Reign of Theodosius the first in the other nine Books he sets forth the Lives and actions of the Kings of France to his own times and the year of Christ 594 but the XIth Book which is supposed to have been added by Fredegarius ends in the Death of Charles the Great which happened Anno Christi 814. Paulus Aemilius Veronensis a man of a Livian style of whom mention is made above Sect. XXV as Reinerus Reineccius bears witness spent XXX years in the compiling his History of France after the Dissolution of the Roman Dominion and comes down to Philip and Charles his Brother Children of Luis that is from the year 420 to the year 1488 the opinion of J. Lipsius concerning this History is that if a few things were lightly Corrected he would be a person above the Learning of our Age and deserve the Commendations given to ancient Authours and Ludovicus Vivis saith his History is written with more Fidelity and truth than that of Gaguinus who has disclosed and intermixt his own affections in his History Paulus Jovius hath written the Reigns and Lives of Charles the 8th Luis the 12th and Francis the first King of France splendidly and elegantly Arnoldus Ferronius Burdegalensis hath continued the History of Aemilius to Henry the second Philippus Comines of whom mention is made above Sect. the 25th has woven the History of Luis the XIth and Charles the VIIIth his Son in a clear and elegant style and although Jacobus Mejerus avers in many places that he is mistaken yet he is in the judgment of the Learned Vossius a true and a prudent Historian and Johannes Sleidanns gives him this Elogie This Authour is in my judgment the nearest to the ancient Historians of all those that have wrote in or near our times both in prudence and veracity for he lays before us the grave deliberations that passed in the Closets of Princes before they appeared in their Events abroad which very few have attempted to do fewer have been able to do it effectually and even those who could have done it have yet not dared to do it lest they should offend their Princes Johannes Frossardus has splendidly and elegantly written the History of those dreadfull Wars which passed betwixt the English and French from the year 1335 to the year 1400 who deserves the greater faith because he was a follower of the Courts of Kings and Princes especially of Philippa Daughter of the Count of Heynault Queen to Edward the third King of England nor did he relate any thing in his History but what he had seen with his own Eyes or heard from others who had seen them or had the chief Commands in the Wars Johannes Sleidanus hath excerpted the most material passages out of this History and turned them into Latine for it is Originally written in French and Sir John Bouchier Knight translated this intire History into English Enguerus Monstreletus hath continued Frossardus and brought down the French History to the Reign of Luis the XIIth Martinus Longaeus wrote a Commentary in X Books of the actions of Francis I. of Valoise King of France and Stephanus Doletus and Galeacius Capella have written the History of the Wars betwixt Charles the fifth and this Prince for the Dutchy of Milan from the year 1520 to the year 1530 the latter is followed by Gulielmus Paradinus who hath added the story of the succeeding years to the year 1555. A nameless person perhaps Franciscus Hottomanus has written the History of France during the Reigns of Henry the second Francis the second and Charles the IXth Rabutinus hath written the Expedition of Henry the second against Charles the Vth undertaken in the year 1552 on the behalf of the Princes of Germany Eusebius Philadelphus that is Theodorus Beza who by the Cloudiness of this name obscured himself has wrote the History of Charles the IXth and of his Mother Petrus Matthaeus a Lawyer the Royal Historian has writ the History of Henry the IV th King of France and of Navar in VII Books BESIDES these which we have mentioned there are several others which ought to be perused as Carolus Molinaeus who hath writ of the Rise and Progress of the French Kingdom and Monarchy and Hubertus Leonardus of the Origine of the French â—â—tion but then Hunibaldus Francus who has wrote the affairs of the Franks from the Wars of Troy to the times of Clodoneus is to be esteemed of the same nature with Annius his Berosus and the rest of those fabulous Writers in the judgment of the famous Vossius de Hist. lat lib. 2. c. 22. Aimoinus the Monk is to be better thought of who is an excellent Historian as the Authour de Regimine Principatus lib. 3. c. 21. calls him which work is commonly but very falsely ascribed to Aquinas he wrote the actions of the French from the year 420 to the year 826 in V Books for the proof of whose Fidelity these words of his make very much there was another Monk in the same Monastery a Priest and a professed Monk as well as he and his name was Audoaldus he was of the same age and in his Manners and Conversation very like him from whose Mouth we have received what is delivered and much more which we are confident is faithfully related Nor is Joannes Trithemius though a German to be lightly passed by who has writ III Books of the Origine Kings and affairs of France from the year of Christ 433 to the year 1500 which was the III year of Charles the VIII th Nor Nicholaus Gilius who hath Composed the Annals of France Hermannus Comes who writes of their affairs to the year 1525 or Robertus Gaguinus who has deduced their History from the most remote Antiquity to the time of the Expedition of Charles the VIII th into Italy Anno Christi 1493 though he has mixed his own affections with the History as Vivis saith and yet Mejerus is not to be admitted neither who calls him a frivolous Writer which is to be attributed to his disaffection to the French Nation and all their Historians for he saith of them in general the French do not use to relate their actions with more fidelity than they transact them and besides as Mejerus out of his too great affection to his Countrey has delivered many things done in his own times there very partially so in Foreign affairs he is not over much to be Credited Paulus Jovius affirming of
almost in the same words the Romans having Conquered the Kingdom of Macedonia brought the World under their Dominion yea as the same Polybius acquaints us the Nations submitted in great Numbers to them and made them the Arbitratours of Peace and War betwixt themselves which Florus also confirms for from henceforth saith he the Kings of the World and the Captains People and Nations sought Protection from this City And again Polybius Now it was confess'd by all necessity extorting from them this Declaration that the Romans must for the future be obeyed and their Commands submitted to To conclude Daniel the Prophet States here the beginning of the IVth Monarchy if the Learned Melancthon thinks right whose words are these when Daniel names and depaints the IV th Monarchy he does not begin it onely from Julius Caesar and Augustus but includes the time in which the City of Rome was possess'd of the Empire of the World even before their Civil Wars began And therefore if from hence we compute the time of its duration there is to the time of Julius Caesar 118 years from thence to Constantine the Great 356 years from thence to Augustulus who was forced by Odacrus King of the Heruli to resign the Empire are above 170 years and from thence to Charles the Great 325 years so that from the Conquest of Macedonia to Charles the Great are 978 years and from thence to Charles the V th are 720 years so that from the Overthrow of Perseus to the Reign of Charles the V th there is in all 1688 years SECT V. Why these four were call'd by way of Eminence the Monarchies I Am not Ignorant that many other Dynasties Kingdoms Empires and Commonwealths here and there flourished in the World during the times of the three first Monarchies but especially in the Ages of the first and second as for Example that of the Egyptians Cicyonians Spartans and Aethiopians and others frequent mention of which is made in ancient Historians and we reade that some of them had some times vast Dominions as Sesostris King of Egypt Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris Et Pharios currus Regum cervicibus egit Who saw the Western Shoars the bound of things And drove his Char'ots o'er the Necks of Kings As Lucan sings and Justin saith Vexoris King of Egypt extended his Empire to Pontus Strabo saith too that Tearchon the Aethiopian led an Army into Europe and Pliny writes that the Aethiopians were great and powerfull to the times of the Trojan Wars and the Reign of Memnon yet that the said IV Monarchies did much excell all these is too well known to need any proof for it is to be observed that we do not call these the IV great Monarchies as if they included all other Regions and Nations but because they were Masters of a great part of the World and had so much power that they could easily Curb and give Laws to all other Princes for therefore did God Erect Monarchies in the World that men might be Governed by Laws Justice and a good Discipline as Melancthon observes SECT VI. How the reading of History is to be begun good Epitomes not to be Condemn'd Synopsis of Histories Chronologers some other Compendiums commended by Name What Authours are principally to be consulted as to Universal History Rawleigh one of the best but the History of the Bible is the most ancient and first of all to be read WHerefore if any man desires to run over with advantage the History of these Monarchies or Empires and in them the History of the World I would advise him to begin with some short Compendium Chronology or Synopsis before he enter that vast Ocean because he may by that means learn at once the series of times and Ages the Successions of Empires and the greatest changes which have happened amongst Mankind and so he may if he please draw in his mind an Exemplar or Idea of the whole body of the Universal History which he may contemplate with ease as it were at once and this too was the advice of Lodovicus Vivis At first saith he choice is to be made of some Authour who begins with the remotest times and brings down from thence the chiefest heads of History in a constant thred to or near our times for although in truth it cannot be denied that Compendiums have some times done much mischief in the World and proved the ruine of some of the best ancient Authours yet we will not therefore despise those Epitomes which are made with reasonable Abreviations if they render the way to an improvement plain and easie For as Infants being led by the hand learn at first to go so I would by all means perswade young men to begin the Study of History with Epitomes and short Histories till the Foundations being well laid in process of time they may approach and try the very Fountains with good advantage It will be therefore usefull to begin with Beurerus his Synopsis or Sleidan's Compendium pendium of the IV great Monarchies which is written as Reineccius expresseth himself concerning it in an Elegant Polite manly Style and which may well be thought to be of the number of those Books which are attended with a long Liv'd Genius or if he please Melancthon's Chronicle which as one Stephanus tells us whoever has not tasted must be a mere Block it being the most Learned and Elegant Epitome of the History of almost the whole World There are other Books of equal worth which may as justly be recommended to the Reader As first Reinerus Reineccius his Syntagma of those Families which in the Monarchies have had the Government A laborious exquisite work by which the Reader being led as it were by the hand into the pleasant Fields of History shall perform his Journey with much the greater Ease Pleasure and Happiness I think also that Jacobus Capellus his Sacred and Exotick History adapted with great diligence to the order of times he being a man of much Learning is by no means to be deprived of its deserved Commendation it being worthy to be read seriously in the very first beginning of the Study of History and which I wish he had brought down to our times for it ends with the Birth of Augustus A. V. C. 696. But Dionysius Petavius a Jesuit has lately writ an excellent piece of the same Nature which he hath styl'd Temporum Rationarium in which the Sacred and Prophane History of all times from the Creation of the World to the year of Christ 1632 is shortly brought down and confirm'd with Chronological Proofs Amongst the more famous Chronologers if the Reader desires to perfect himself in Chronology which will be of Vast Advantage to him besides Capellus and Petavius both which I rank in that order he may reade Funccius Buntingus Helvicus or Sethus Calvitius who in a late Edition
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
following Books we deliver the History of what passed throughout the World to the Death of Alexander the Great Thus far the Sicilian But alas the five Books which follow his fifth Book which he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Book of Isles because in it he treats of the Islands are to the deplorable injury of ancient History perished For in them was contain'd all the Oriental Antiquities which might have afforded much light to the Old Testament as the Learned Josephus Scaliger observes We should think this great Loss the less if Theopompus Euphorus Callisthenes Timaeus and the rest from whom Diodorus had with incredible industry compiled those five Books were still Extant Concerning which you may Consult Vossius his piece of the Greek Historians We cannot deny but some have blamed the Sicilian for those five Books that are Extant which we have recommended as first to be read and amongst them Lodovicus Vivis who admires how Pliny could say that Diodorus was the first of the Grecians who left off Trifling when saith he there is nothing more Idle But we reply that Learned Censor did not well consider that Diodorus himself owns that the History of those times was mixt with many Fables and delivered very variously by the Ancients but he was content to relate what seem'd most agreeable to Truth and yet at last he did not desire they should be taken for solid Truths but that he thought it was better to have the best knowledge we could of those Ancient times than to be altogether ignorant of them as Gerardus Joh. Vossius a man of a peircing judgment has well observed in his second Book of the Greek Historians chap. the second In the defect therefore of those Authours we have mentioned and to repair as well as we may the loss sustain'd in the former Books of the Sicilian helps are to be fetched in from Eusebius his Chronicon where we shall find many Antiquities pointed at from Plutarch's Theseus Licurgus and Solon from Pausanius his description of ancient Greece from the first Book of Orosius and especially from the Prophetick History in which onely are all those things that happened after the Death of Sardanapalus which are of certain and undoubted Faith to be found concerning the Assyrians and Chaldeans even to the beginning of the Medio-Persian Empire and a little farther and no where else amongst the Ancients if you except Josephus his Antiquities is there any thing to be found concerning these times and the Jewish State then for he indeed there treats of their State too from the times in which the Scriptures end to the XIII th year of the Reign of Domitius Caesar and LVI th year of his own Life But of Josephus we shall discourse more at large in his proper place there may also be many things worth the taking notice of observed in Diogenes Laertius his Lives of the Philosophers which will Embelish the History of the first Monarchy Especially the History of the last Century of it in which the VII wise men of Greece flourished and that famous man Pythagoras and many others whose Lives Laertius wrote in that Golden Book as H. Stephen in that most usefull Book and more valuable than Gold as the most Learned Vossius doubts not to call it SECT VIII Where Herodotus began his History and where he Ended it his Commendation in what time he flourished the Rise of the Second Monarchy the Contents of the several Books of Herodotus why the Names of the IX Muses were given them from what Authours his History may be inriched or illustrated HErodotus the Father of the Heathen History begins where the Prophetick History ends which is owing to the Goodness and Providence of God that as it were in the self same moment where the History of the Bible Concludes Herodotus Halicarnassensis should begin his For when the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures had related what seemed more worthy of the care of the Holy Ghost from the beginning of the World to Cyrus Herodotus beginning with Gyges King of Lydia Contemporary with Hezechias and Manassa Kings of Judah about the year of the World 3238 about CL years before Cyrus his Reign in Persia immediately descends to CYRUS the Great Founder of the Medio-Persian Empire and so deduceth the History of the Medes and Persians in a smooth Style which flowes like a quiet and pleasant River as Cicero in his Orator expresses it well to the time of the wretched flight of Xerxes out of Greece Which happened in the Second year of the LXXV Olympiad in the year of the World 3471. in which time Herodotus flourished and lived to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War Which Dionysius his Countrey-man relates in these words Herodotus Halicarnassaeus being born a little before the Persian Expedition lived till the Peloponnesian War That is from the first year of the LXXIV Olympiad to the Second year of the LXXXVII Olympiad for so the Great Scaliger computes his Age making him to have Lived precisely the space of XIII Olympiads that is LII years For so long Lived the sweetest Muse of Jonica as he calls him and then goes on thus He is the most ancient Writer in Prose who is now Extant the Treasury of the Grecian and Barbarian Antiquities an Authour never to be out of the hands of the Learned nor to be touched by the half Learned the Pedagogues and the Apes of Learning But however Herodotus might live somewhat longer yet it is sure he brought not his History beyond the times of Xerxes He has contained in Nine Books which he distinguished by the Names of the Nine Muses a continued History of CCXXXIV years Will you have the Contents of his several Books I will give you them shortly In his first Book besides what he relates of Gyges and the succeeding Kings of Lydia to Croesus of the ancient Jonia of the manners of the Persians Babylonians and some others he gives an Elegant account of the Birth of Cyrus the Authour of the Medio-Persian Monarchy and then of his Miraculous Preservation of his Education and Actions In his Second Book he describes all Egypt to the Life declares the Customs of the Egyptians and Commemorates the Succession of their Kings In his third Book he weaves the History of Cambyses and of Smerdis the Mage which simulated Cyrus and so Reigned VII Months and Explicates the fraud and the Discovery Then he subjoyns the Election of Darius Histaspis and then enumerates the Provinces of the Persian Empire and gives an account of the taking of Babylon by the faithfull industry of Zopirus in the praises of whom he ends it In his fourth Book he presents us with an exact Description of Scythia to which he adds the unfortunate Expedition of Darius against the Scythians and there we reade the History of the Mynians and the City of Cyrene built by them in Libya and the Description of the People of those
of Persia Anno Mundi 3588. In his XVI th Book he gives an account of the actions of Philip of Macedonia the Son of Amyntas from his entrance into his Kingdom to the end of his Life And in the same Book takes notice of other things which happened then in other parts of the known World The History of this XVI th Book may be made much more clear and large by reading the Lives of Chabrias Dion Iphicrates Timotheus Phocion and Timoleon written by Cor. Nepos The actions of these great Commanders made these times very famous from the CV th to the CXI th Olympiad from the second year of which Olympiad the XVI th Book begins to shew the Noble actions of Alexander the Great and to teach us how he gave a beginning to the third great Monarchy in the 112 th Olympiad SECT XII Many Historians have written of the Actions of Alexander the Great Arrianus and Quintus Curtius their Elogies in what time they flourished Diodorus prosecutes the History of the Successours of Alexander to which usefull Additions may be made from other Authours BUt others both Grecians and Romans have written the History of that great Monarch more at large viz. Plutarch in the Life of Alexander and in two other Books which he writ concerning the Fortune of Alexander and Arrianus the Nicomedian in VII Books written in an Elegant and Xenophontean Style I say in VII Books because the VIII th which is usually added to them concerning the Indian Expedition of Alexander is a piece by it self as appears both in Photius and in the end of the VII th Book as the Learned Vossius observes these two writ in Greek And in Latine Justin in his X and XI th Book and Q. Curtius Rufus an excellent and a subtile Writer but his History has lost its beginning by the injury of men or times or both Both Arrian and Q. Curtius are florid Writers saith Colerus but Curtius is the brighter and sweeter than any Honey he does rather weary than satiate his Reader he abounds with direct and oblique Sentences by which the Life of man is strangely illustrated Justus Lipsius gives the same judgment of Q. Curtius he is saith he in my opinion an honest and true Historian if any such there have been there is a strange felicity in his Style and a pleasantness in his Relations he is contracted and fluent subtile and clear careless and yet accurate true in his Judgments subtile in his Sentences and in his Orations Eloquent above what I can express Accidalius thus speaks of him Q. Curtius a Latine writer of the actions of Alexander the Great is more diligent than any of the Grecians a true candid and most upright Writer if we have any writer of Integrity The Learned Vossius in a prolix discourse has made it very probable that Curtius Lived and Published his History under Vespasian about LXXX years after Christ. Nor is Arrian to be defrauded of his deserved Commendation who is reported amongst the Grecian Writers to have been a man of so great Integrity in Writing that he was styled the Lover of Truth and even still honoured with that Sirname by Coelius Rhodoginus He was a Philosopher born at Nicomedia and famous at Rome in the Reigns of Adrian and Antoninus and was commonly call'd the new Xenophon as Cataenus testifies in his Commentary upon the Epistles of Pliny these I say have written more largely of Alexander the Great The same Diodorus Siculus prosecutes the History of his Successours in his XVIII th XIX th and XX th Books from the second year of the CXIV Olympiad to the end of the CXIX th Olympiad A. M. 3650 which interval may yet be made much more clear if the Reader please to take in the XIII th XIV th and XV th Books of Justin and the Lives of Demetrius and Eumenes written by Plutarch and because the last XX Books of the Sicilian in which he had continued the Universal History to the Expedition of Julius Caesar into Britain that is to the CLXXX th Olympiad are lost I would advise the Reader not to dismiss Justin here but to go through with the following Books to the XXIX th to which he may subjoyn Plutarch's Pyrrhus Aratus Aegides Cleomenes and Philopoemenes and also the Eclogs or Excerptions out of those Books of Diodorus which follow the XX th which are published in the Edition of Laurentius Rhodomannus the Reader will find many things there concerning Agathocles the Sicilian Tyrant and his Actions in Sicily and of Pyrrhus his War in that Island and also of the first Punick War which are well worth his Notice nor do I think he should deviate from the right method of Reading Histories if he should even then proceed in Justin till he hath read all but the two last Books SECT XIII Polybius where to be read what times he wrote the History of how he came to apply his mind to Writing how great a man he was with what Elogies he has been Celebrated the greatest part of his History is lost or dissipated into fragments the Contents of the Books that are still Extant BUt if the Reader thinks otherwise he may after Diodorus Siculus pass to Polybius a prudent Writer if any be who flourished 220 years before Christ in the 140 th Olympiad he propos'd to himself the representing those times and transactions which gave beginning and perfection to the Growing greatness of the Roman Empire and that he might effect this with the greater certainty and felicity he undertook long Journies with much hazard travelling over Africa Spain Gall now France and the Alpes and then Composed his General History of LIII years We may conjecture at the worth and greatness of this Person by the number of Statues which the Grecians Erected to him in Palantium Mantinoea Tegoea Megalopolis and other Cities of Arcadia the Inscriptions of one of which testifies saith Pausanias that he travelled over all Seas and Lands was a Friend and Allie to the Romans and reconcil'd them being then incensed against the Grecians and another Inscription thus If Greece had at first pursued the Council of Polybius it had not offended but being now miserably afflicted he is her onely Comfort or Support Nor is it less observable which Pausanias testifies of him that he was so great a States-man that whatever the Roman General did by his advice prospered and whatever he acted against it had ill success yea he was so great a man that all those Cities which United with the Achaeans made him their Stateholder and Law-giver therefore we doubt not but the great Elogies which have been given to his History by Learned men were well deserved as for Example that of John Bodinus Polybius is not onely every where Equal and like himself but also wise and grave sparing in his Commendations sharp and severe in his Reprehensions
of Posterity and others as Fabricius c. have as much commended his industry Nicholaus Marescalcus wrote of the Heruli and Vandals Helmoldus a Sclavonian Presbyter wrote the History of the Sclavonians Saxons and the adjoyning Nations from the year 800 or thereabouts when they were converted to Christianity by the care of Charles the Great to the year 1168 about which time Helmoldus flourished as he saith himself in his Preface viz. about the times of Barbarossa And there Arnoldus the Abbat of Lubeck begins who begins his Preface with these words Because Helmoldus a Priest of Blessed memory was not able to bring his History of the Vocation and Submission of the Sclavonians and the Lives of those Bishops at whose instance the Churches of these Countries were Founded to such End and Conclusion as he desired and intended we therefore with the assistence of God have resolved to pursue that Work and accordingly he brought his supplement to the times of Otto the IV th under whom he lived the Learned Vossius speaks thus of this Arnoldus in the Sclavonian affairs he deserves Credit but not in what he wrote concerning the French Sicilians and Grecians in whose affairs it is much better to consult others who have made it their business to treat of them ARTICLE VI. The Historians of the Lombards now call'd the Dutchy of Milan PAulus Warnefridus a Deacon of Aquileja wrote VI Books of the affairs of the Lombards he was Chancellour to Desiderius King of the Longobards of whom Sigebertus Chap. 61. writes this He wrote the History of the Vinnuli who were afterwards called Lombards in an excellent and copious Style Raph. Volaterranus is much mistaken who takes this Warnefridus to be a different person from the Deacon of Aquileja he flourished about the year of Christ 780. Hieron Rubeus wrote also of the Goths and Lombards A Monk of Padua whose name is not known has comprehended in III Books the Transactions of his own times in Lombardy and the Marquisate of Tarvisina he begins Anno Christi 1207 in which Azo Marquis of Este was by the Monticuculli cast out of Verona and he comes down to the year 1270 in which the Christian Princes passing into Africa took Carthage and besieged Tunis Flavius Blondus who was privy Counsellour to several Popes and who had the honour to have his Works Epitomized by Pius another of the Popes wrote of the affairs of the Lombards in his VII Books of the illustrating of Italy as almost all other Italian Writers ARTICLE VII The Historians of the Polanders and Borussians MArtinus Chromerus Composed XXX Books of the Origine and Actions of the Polanders and in the first X Books as he saith in his Proem he has described the Rise and Infancy of that Nation under Barbarous and Idolatrous Dukes then the flower of its Youth under Christian Kings and then its diseased and Crazy Constitution which resembles a State Sickness under several and those disagreeing Princes after the Monarchy was destroyed He wrote II Books also of the Situation People Manners Magistrates and Government of the Kingdom of Poland Chromerus flourished Anno Christi 1552. Alexander Gaguinus wrote also an History of Poland from Lechus the first Duke of that Nation to Henry of Voloise Joh. Decius wrote one Book of the Antiquities of Poland and of the Family of the Jagellons and of the Reign of King Sigismund Math. Michovius wrote a Chronicle of the Kingdom of Poland from the first rise of that Nation to the year 1504 in IV Books he is somewhat more Barbarous and Chromerus more Polite Michovius flourished about the year of Christ 1540. Joannes â—uglossus who is sometimes styled Longinus Bishop of Leopold who under Casimirus the third King of Poland was employed in many great Embassages and was also Praeceptor to this Princes Children has wrote a Chronicle of Poland to the year 1480 in which this great man Died Philippus Callimachus hath writ a History of the Wars of the Poles against the Turks he lived Anno Christi 1508. Erasmus Stella a Libanothan writ II Books of the Antiquities of the Borussians which he dedicated to Frederick Duke of Saxony the first of which treats of the old inhabitants thereof and of their Propagation Names and Manners the latter of their ancient Kings and of their Succession he professeth to follow the Annals of Borussia Jornandes his History of the Goths Helmoldus his History of the Sclavonians and Albertus Magnus who travelled over Borussia and others ARTICLE VIII The Historians of the Bohemians Switzars or Helvetians and Saxons COsmus a Deacon of the Church of Prague in his Chronicle of Bohemia which he has written in III Books represents the Origine of that People and the actions of their ancient Dukes to Wartislaus who was created King of Bohemia by the Emperour Henry the IV th Anno Christi 1086. Dubravius also deduceth their History from their first Original to Ferdinand the Emperour in XXXIII Books he comes down to the year 1558 and was a very Learned and ingenious Person The History of Aeneas Sylvius comes down to the year 1458 that is to Frederick the third in which year the Authour was Elected Pope by the name Pius the second he writes the Succession of all their Dukes or Kings to Poigebrach but in the business of the Hussites and what happened under the Emperour Sigismund he is much more large and diffused Charles King of Bohemia who was after Emperour and the IV th of that Name wrote a Commentary of his own Life Franciscus Guillimanus wrote V Books of the Antiquites and Actions of the Switzars Henricus Suizerus in his Chronicle of Switzerland gave an account of their affairs to his own times Josias Simlerus wrote of their League and Commonwealth and also of their affairs from Rudolphus to Charles the Vth. Wernerus Rolevinckius wrote III Books of the ancient Seat of the Saxons that is of Westphalia their Manners Vertues and Commendations Witikindus a Saxon Wrote III Books of the Actions of the Saxons and Albertus Crantzius wrote the History of Saxony in XIII Books to his own times he died in the year 1504 this is continued by an unknown hand David Chytreus in his Chronicle of Saxony and the Northern Nations begins a little higher at the year 1500 and ends with the year 1599 which is continued by Georgius Fabricius in his Saxony illustrated in II Books to the year 1606 Johannes Garzo wrote of the affairs of Saxony Thuringia and Misnia Rein. Reineccius of the Family and actions of the Palatines of Saxony Cyriacus Spangenbergius wrote a Saxon Chronicle and Sebastiau Boisselinterus wrote of the Siege of Magdeburgh ARTICLE IX The Historians of the Celti or Gauls and French under which Name we include all those people who live betwixt the Rhine and both the Seas and the Alpes and
by the Turks in the year 1453 is represented by Leonardus Chiensis Bishop Mitylaen and Godefridus Langus Philippus Callimachus Experiens has writ two elegant Books of the Sack of Varne in Mysia which happened IX years before that of Constantinople Johannes Eutropius wrote the War made by Charles the V th upon Tunis and his Expedition into Africa is written by Christoph. Claudius Stella Henricus Penia hath writ the War betwixt Ismael Sophy of Persia and Selym Anno 1514. Nor is it difficult to learn many things for the clearing and enlarging on the Turkish History from the 14 Books of Epistles concerning the Turks and their affairs collected by Nicholaus Reusnerus and the elegant Epistles of Augerius Busbequius concerning his Ambassage in Turky ARTICLE XIII The Historians of the Tartars Muscovits and Sarmatians HAitonius the Nephew of a King of Armenia and a Souldier many years in his own Countrey became afterwards a Monk in the Island of Cyprus as he tells us himself Chap. 46. and at length came into France where about the year of Christ 1307 by the Command of Clement the V th he describ'd the Empire of the Tartarians in Asia and the other Eastern Kingdoms The first Emperour of the Tartars was Changius Cham about the year 1200 the V th from him was Chobitas as Haiton calls him or Cublai the great Cham. This Princes Court and a very large Empire belonging to him in the Indies and all the Eastern Countries is largely described by Marcus Paulus Venetus in his second and third Book of the Oriental Kingdoms and the Empire of the Tartars who is an Authour worthy of great Credit this Cublai was father of Timuri Lechi who is commonly call'd Tamerlan who shut up Bajazet the Emperour of the Turks in an Iron Cage In the Books which Matthias a Michou wrote of the Asian and European Tartars is contain'd a short History of the Tartars and Muscovites Matinus Proniovius wrote an History of the Tartars and Johannes Leunclavius wrote of the Wars of the Muscovites against their Neighbour Nations Paulus Oderbonius wrote the Life of John Basilides Duke of Muscovy very elegantly Reinoldus Hidenstein wrote a Commentary in VI Books of the War of Muscovy made by Stephen King of Poland Bredenbrachius wrote the War of Livonia in which the Muscovites destroyed and dessolated the whole Province of Torpate Paulus Jovius Novocomensis wrote of the Embassies of the Muscovites and Sigismundus Liberius wrote Commentaries of their affairs ARTICLE XIV The History of Aethiopia India almost all Africa and most of the new World or America THe History of Aethiopia is to be fetch'd from Johannes Bohemus Damianus a Goes Franciscus Alvaresius and Ludovicus Romanus Patritius which last hath writ VII Books of the Navigation of Aethiopia Egypt both the Arabias and the Indies Johannes Maerus Santineus hath wrote an Indian History in III Books Nicholaus Godignus hath also writ an Aethiopick History Ludovicus Vartomannus when he had travell'd Aethiopia Egypt Arabia Persia Syria and the East-Indies wrote all his Travels in VI Books Leo Afer a Moore but born in Spain and first a Mahometan and afterwards a Christian when he had travelled almost all Africa Asia the less and a great part of Europe was taken and given to Leo the X th where he translated into the Italian Tongue what he had with incredible labour and industry collected and written in the Arabian concerning the people of Africa and their Manners Laws Customs and the Description of that Countrey which Johannes Florianus afterwards translated into Latine this Authour will therefore serve instead of all others for the African Story and yet if the Reader be so pleased he may add to him P. Jovius and Alvaresius Grotius Laet Hornius and some others have Learnedly written of the Origine of the People of America but then in order to the attainment of a perfect History of the Americans the Voiages of Christopher Columbus Aloysius Cadamustus Cortesius Novius Benzo Lyrius Gomarus and others are to be perused which have been described by several Writers Gonsalus Ferdinandus Oviedus is so Learned a Writer of the History of the new World that Cardanus thinks him the onely Authour amongst the Historians of our Age who deserves to be compared with the Ancients And in general the Transactions of both the East and West-Indies China Japan Magellan c. may be known from the Navigations of the Portuges Hollanders English Spaniards to whom the Jesuites may be added as Petrus Maffaeus Johannes Acosta Mart. Martinus and others who ought yet to be read with great caution because they are excessively taken up in seting forth the Miracles and Martyrdoms of their new Saints ARTICLE XV. The Historians of some great Cities BEsides those Historians which have given us accounts of particular Nations there are some others who have made it their business to describe the affairs of some particular Cities and our design here is to give you the Names of those that have written the Stories of the most eminent Cities because it is not possible to reckon or reade all VENICE Petrus Bembus has written an History of Venice in XII Books by the order of the Council of Ten as he saith in the beginning of it with the highest degree both of elegance and truth and though Justus Lipsius the Prince of all the Criticks has made a short Invective against his Style yet in another place he excuseth his sharpness as having been transported on that occasion a little too far and the Learned Heinsius saith Bembus was the onely Historian of that Age who wrote pure Latine and which was then the propriety of the Italians his style is unmix'd and genuine neither painted with false Colours nor fantastically adorned The affairs of the Venetians are also comprehended by M. Antonius Sabellicus in XXXIII Books and in a short Chronicle by And. Dandulus a Duke of Venice of whom Petrarcha Blondus and others have made mention with commendations Petrus Justinianus hath deduced the History of this City from the building of it to the year 1575 and to these may be added Johannes Baptista Egnatius Petrus Marcellus a Venetian Janotius the Cardinal Contarenus Blondus and Moccenicus GENOVA Isaacus de Voragine has described the History of Genova to the year 1296 which Georgius Stella hath continued to the year 1422 Johannes Stella to the year 1435 Cephanus begins at the year 1488 and continues it to the year 1514 Parthenopaeus begins 1527 and ends Anno 1541 to which may be added Petrus Bizarus his History of Genova Ubertus Folietta Paulus Interjanus and Jacobus Bracellius PADOVA Gulielmus Cortusius began an History of this City but Albigretus his Kinsman was the finisher of it of whom P. Vergerius speaks thus Cortusius in writing neglected that Elegance which it was not in his power to attain to Bonus Patavinus wrote the History of Padova from its building to the
and his Nation He begins his History from Ottoman the Son of Orthogulis who began to Reign about the year of Christ MCCC which he has compos'd in X. Books and in it he has comprised the Story of the Eastern Church and Empire And he continues it not onely to the year MCCCCLIII in which Constantinople was taken by Mahomet but also as Vossius assures us to the year 1463. in which this Mahomet the IId stoutly defended himself against Matthias King of Hungary and the Venetians who invaded his Kingdom And Vossius saith also Blasius Vigenerius of Bourbon put out this History in French with Notes which was Printed at Paris in the year 1620. SECT XL. Blondus Foroliviensis may supply the want of the Greek Writers as to the Church History with some others Sigebertus Gemblacensis The opinion of Cardinal Bellarmine concerning him Robertus the Abbat continues Sigebert to the year 1210. The Hirshavan Chronicle to the year 1370. and the Additions to that Chronicle to the last Century The Cosmodromus of Gobelinus Person where to be Read its commendation In the stead of it may be read Albertus Crantzius his Metropolis into which many things are transcribed out of the Cosmodromus and the History brought down from the times of Charles the Great to the year 1504. Nauclerus also may supply this defect And that the Reader may avoid Repetitions he may begin with the middle generations of the Second Tome Johannes Sleidanus wrote Ecclesiastical Commentaries from the year 1517. to the year 1556. which are continued to the year 1609. by Caspar Lundorp THe Authours I have given account of in the three last Sections have written altogether of the Eastern affairs and do scarcely at all touch the state of the Western Church This defect may be supplied out of Blondus Foroliviensis who will serve in stead of many who has as is above observed comprehended in his Decads an intire and continued series of affairs from the declension of the Empire and the year of Christ CCCCVII to the year MCCCC and what he wants the following Authours will make good And in the first place I shall begin with Sigebert a Monk of Gemblours a celebrated Abbey in Brabant who was famous about the year of Christ MXCIV. he begins his Chronicle in the year CCCLXXXI that is a little before the end of the Tripartite History and continues it to the year M. C. XIII Bellarmine accuseth him of bearing ill-will to Gregory the VII th Pope of Rome out of a great affection to Henry the IV th Emperour of Germany and perhaps he might favour the Emperour the Cardinal goes higher and reproacheth him for Lying in his account of the death of that Pope but how truely let the Cardinal Answer for himself Robertus Abbat of Mons continued Sigebertus his Chronicle to the year MCCX and the Hirshavan Chronicle of Trithemius to the year MCCCLXX and to conclude the Paraleipomena or Additions of the Abbat of Ursperg brought down this Story to our Age almost Or if these do not please the Reader we can furnish him with other which deserve as well to be read as these And the first in this set shall be Gobelinus Person an Authour not to be despised in the opinion of Learned Men who wrote an Universal Chronicle which he call'd the Cosmodromus in which he has given an account both of the Civil and Sacred or Church History from the Creation of the World to the year of Christ 1418. in which time Sigismund the Son of Charles the IV th was Emperour He divided his whole Work into six Ages and it appears in every one of them that according to the capacity of the times in which he liv'd he was a person of no vulgar either learning or diligence and study in the searching out of what pertains to History But if the Reader be not willing to give himself the trouble of a repetition of what passed before the Birth of Christ when he comes to this Authour he may begin with the VI th Age which takes its Rise at the Nativity of our Lord. And if he is not at all pleased with this Authour he may then pass on to Albertus Crantzius who wrote an History which he stiles the Metropolis or an Ecclesiastical History of the Churches built or restor'd in the times of Charles the Great In the Writing of which History he made great use of Gobelinus his Cosmodromus and transcribd sometime intire Pages out of it into his own work which was afterwards done by many others as the Learned Vossius bears witness Crantzius begins at the times of Charles the Great and goes on to the year MDIV. Johannes Nauclerus also a Noble Schwaben wrote a Chronicle in two Tomes from the beginning of the World to the year MD. the first Volume contains LXIII Generations that is all the Generations of the Old Testament the second Volume with the Appendixes comprehends in LII Generations all those of the New Testament And before this Work was published Philip Melancthon partly by new Methodizing and partly by encreasing and changing it made it much the more desired and the more usefull and delightfull also when it came out And here too the Reader may begin with the second Volume or from the Middle Generations of the second Volume if he be desirous to avoid the repetition of those things which he had before read in other Authours Johannes Sleidanus also in the memory of our Fathers wrote Commentaries concerning the state of Religion from the year MDXVII to the year MDLVI wherein is the History of the Rise of the Reformation throughout all Christendom which is continued in III. Volumes by Caspar Lundorpius to the year MDCIX SECT XLI Venerable Bede and Usuardus are by no means to be neglected nor the Writers of the Lives of the Popes of Rome as Anastasius Bibliothecarius and Bartholomaeus Platina their great Elogies Onuphrius corrected and continued Platina to the year 1566. Sigonius interwove the affairs of the Church with his Civil Histories and so deserves to be esteem'd a Church Historian the Elogies of Sigonius and Onuphrius BEsides these there are extant not a few other Historians which are not less to be valued than those we have mention'd Amongst which in the first place I reckon Venerable Bede our Countrey-man who wrote Annals from the beginning of the World to the Reign of Leo Iconomachus in whose times he flourished Anno 730. when this diligent and pious Writer comes near his times he gives a larger account of affairs than in the former Ages Usuardus a Monk of Fuld in Germany but a Frenchman by birth and the Scholar of Allwin our Countreyman by the command of Charles the Great put out a Martyrologie in which he described the Lives of the Confessours and other Saints in few words and this is now extant to the no small advantage of
and the conversation of Learned Men which she heard diligently But many have a great suspicion that this Royal and Learned Lady out of her great Love for her Father is a little too partial in this her History SECT XXXIX Nicetas Acomiatus follows immediately after Zonaras after Nicetas Gregoras Lipsius his Judgment of both these Writers The fidelity of Gregoras call'd in question Johannes Cantacuzenus is in this place commended to the Reader by the Learned Vossius after the former follows Laonicus Calcochondylas AFter Zonaras Nicetas Acomiatus or Choniates immediately follows in order and subjoins his History For where Zonaras ends there Nicetas begins and prosecutes the Story somewhat largely and freely for LXXXV years to the taking of Constantinople by Baldwin the Flandrian and the year of Christ 1203. He was born at Chonis a Town of Phrygia from whence he took his Sir-name The Chronicle of Gregoras Logothetes may here also have its place he has the History of the taking of Constantinople and of the events that followed for almost LX. years that is from Baldwin the Flandrian to Baldwin the last Emperour Both Zonaras and Choniates had great employments in the Constantinopolitan Empire which made them the fitter to write their Histories the first was the great Drungar and prime Secretary and the Latter was the great Logothetes and Lord Chamberlain of the Sacred or Presence Chamber After Nicetas follows also Nicephorus Gregoras who wrote an History of CXLV years to wit from Theodorus Lascares the First to his own times or to the death of Andronicus Palaeologus the latter which falls in the year of Christ 1341. We must confess these two last did not make it so much their business to describe the History of the Church as that of the Empire or Civil State yet because they sometimes intermix things belonging to the Church briefly as occasion serves and are therefore reckon'd by others amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers and also because Choniates connects his Narrative to the History of Zonaras and Nicephorus makes it his business to supply or fill up what haniates had omitted as if he had designed to perfect the body of the History therefore I could not omit them and that the rather because amongst the latter Greeks there are no Authours of better note than these for the inforcing which last reason to the Lovers of History and that we may with the greater facility induce them to the Reading of these Authours I will here paint out the judgment of Justus Lipsius upon them I confess saith he that Nicetas is not yet publickly and commonly much taken notice of but he is worthy to be more known being of a pure and right judgment if there were any such in that Age his style is laboured and tastes of Homer and the Poets very often but then the subject and relation it self is distinct clear without vanity or trifles as short as is fit and faithfull there is in him frequent and seasonable reflexions or advices his Judgments of things are not onely free but sound In short I wish all Statesmen would reade him and then I shall not question but some of them will pay me their thanks for this judgment of him at least I am sure they will owe me thanks Thus much of Choniates and of Gregoras he gives this judgment Nicephorus Gregoras takes up the History where Nicetas ends it and brings down the thread of his Narrative but he doth not deserve the same commendations for though he wrote the History of affairs from the taking of the City of Constantinople to the death of Palaeologus the latter yet he did it not with the same correctness or industry and has more of the faults of his Age than the former he is redundant and wandering and indecently and sometimes imprudently mixeth his own onceits and Harangues Yet his Judgments are thick sown and for the most part right the causes of events are curiously inquired into and represented Piety is inculcated and many things are seasonably assigned and turn'd over to the first cause that is to God In truth no Writer has more asserted PROVIDENCE and FATE He is to be read for this cause and also for another that is that the greatest part of his History represents a state of affairs not much unlike our own times for you will find in him Contentions and Quarrels concerning Religion not much unlike those in our days Thus far goes Justus Lipsius in his Accounts of this Authour But then there are some Men of great skill in History who have some scruples concerning the fidelity of this Nicephorus especially in the affairs of Andronicus Palaeologus where he ends as I have said above And therefore if the Reader please he may there take in Johannes Cantacuzenus who of an Emperour became a Monk and wrote an excellent History under the Title of Christodulus of the Reigns of Andronicus the younger and his own The Learned Vossius commends this History on many accounts to those that are conversant in the study of History This History saith he ought to be the more esteemed because it was written by a Person who had not always led an obscure private life but who was first a great Officer in the Family and Court of Andronicus Junior and after his death had the tutelage of his Children and afterwards the Senate desiring and the affairs of the Empire requiring it he was elected Emperour and behaved himself prudently and valiantly in that Royal station To this may be added that he did not write of things which were scarce known to him but of such transactions as he was present at and had the chief conduct of and in truth I think there is hardly any one amongst the Modern Greeks who ought to be preferr'd before him This Royal Historian flourished about the year of Christ 1350. this History consists of VI. Books as Vossius there saith whereof the two first treat of the Reign of Andronicus the remaining IV of his own Reign and what he did after the death of Andronicus He was made a Monk in the year of Christ 1360. when he took the Name of Josaaphus Thus far the Learned Vossius And that our Historian may not here be at a loss or interrupt the thread of his Reading till he have seen the last period of the Eastern Empire And the deplored state of the Church there upon that revolution he may be pleased to subjoin to the former the History of Laonicus Chalcocondylas the Athenian For he will diligently shew what followed and how at last that August or Royal City which was not content to be the second City of the World but greatly emulated Rome the Sovereign of the Earth fell into the Power of that Potent Tyrant the Turk the bitter Enemy of our Faith and of the most Sacred Cross. And he doth also most excellently describe the Rise Encrease and Progress of this Tyrant