deplored SECT XV. Where the Course of the Roman Story is to be begun Lucius A. Florus commended The Judgments of Learned Men concerning him That he is not the same with the Epitomizer of Livy His Mistakes excused his Method of Writing By what means in probability Errours crept in The Consulary Fasts of Sigonius and Onuphrius Pighius his Annals commended SECT XVI In what order the Roman History is to be continued Dionysius Halycarnassaeus commended How many years his History contains the Reason given why he is Recommended in the first place and confirm'd from J. Bodinus SECT XVII T. Livius is much and de servedly admir'd in what time he lived How many Books he writ by whom divided into Decads In what order to be Read How the History may be enlarged or supplied The Praise and Elogy of Plutarch SECT XVIII The second Decad of T. Livy that is from the X th to the XXI th Book is lost How and whence that loss may be supplied Appianus Alexandrinus What opinion Learned Men have of him SECT XIX When the remaining XXV Books of Livy are to be read What other Authours may confirm or illustrate the History of the same times The Nine last Decads and half the Tenth are lost From whence they may be supply'd The History of Salustius commended and also Caesar's Commentaries both by the Learned Men of the present and Ancient times SECT XX. Of Dion Cassius and his History How many Books he writ How many perished and how great the loss Vellejus Paterculus to be worthily ranked amongst the best Historians and yet his faults are not dissembled A Transition to the Writers of the Lives of the Caesars SECT XXI Suetonius and Tacitus are first to be read The famous testimonies of the most Learned Men concerning them The Judgments of the most eminent of the Criticks differ that I may not say contest each with other concerning Tacitus Light may be derived both to Suetonius and Tacitus from Dion Cassius SECT XXII How to pass on to the other Writers of the Augustan Story viz. Spartianus Capitolinus Volcatius and the other Authours which are not to be lightly esteemed The Judgment of Justus Lipsius and Casaubon concerning them Herodian is to be read in his place with the rest How far these go in the History And that amongst them Aurelius Victor and Pomponius Laetus deserve to be admitted SECT XXIII After Constantius Chlorus and a little before the History is a little perplex'd especially in the Latin Writers Eusebius Zozimus and Zonaras will render it more easie Of Zozimus and Zonaras and their Writings ' and also of Jornandes Ammianus Marcellinus has his place here The opinion of Lipsius and Balduinus the Civil Lawyer concerning the latter SECT XXIV Diaconus his Miscellane History and that of Jornandes concerning the Goths and of Procopius and Agathias who may be placed here or if you please the Third Tome of Zonaras who is followed by Nicetas Choniates and then Nicephorus Gregoras or if this seems too Prolix after Zozimus Blondius Forolivienfis may be read or else after Vopiscus Sigonius his History of the Western Empire may be admitted and from thence the Reader may pass to the Seventh or Eighth Book of the first Decad of Blondius SECT XXV Johannes Cuspinianus Paulus Jovius and Augustus Thuanus will furnish the Reader with a shorter view of the History of the Roman Emperours from the beginning of the Caesars to our own times SECT XXVI Some Writers of particular Histories that best deserve to be read are enumerated Guicciardine Paulus Aemilius Philippus Commines whose noble Elogies are remembred Meteranus Chromerus and Bembus SECT XXVII A Transition to the British Story How the Reader should prepare himself for the Reading of it In what order he should go on Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta are first to be Read and then George Lillies Chronicon The Compendium of the British History SECT XXVIII Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Sir Henry Savil's and Camden's Judgment of him Where he began and ended his History Galfredus Monumethensis why to be omitted The Censures of Neubrigensis John of Withamsted Bales and Jo. Twin upon his History from all which Virunnius dissents H. Huntingdonensis follows Malmesburiensis and Hoveden him SECT XXIX The History of Asser Menivensis is commended in what order to be read with the former as also Eadmerus Matheus Parisiensis Baronius his judgment of him Thomas Walsingham his History The Actions of King Stephen by an unknown Pen. The Life of Edw. II. by Sir Thomas de la Moor is to be taken in in due time SECT XXX Walsingham's Hypodigma Neustria or History of Normandy and the other Writers not to be neglected and amongst them Odoricus Vitalis of Principal note Polidore Virgil has writ the History from Henry the IV th to Richard the IIId concerning whom the Censure of the most noble Sir H. Savil is observable Richard thee IIId was written by Sir Tho. Moor Kt. and Lord Chancellour of England Henry the VII th by the Earl of St. Albans Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th Queen Mary by Francis Godwin Bishop of Landaff by way of Annals As also that of Queen Elizabeth by William Camden SECT XXXI Though we have no intire body of our history in Latin written according to the dignity of the subject yet in English John Speed has writ an excellent Theatre of the British Empire to be in the first place contemplated by the youth of this Nation and especially of those who design to travell The Addition concerning the Histories of Particular Nations ARTICLE I. The design and order of this Appendix In what order we should proceed in the Particular histories The principal historians of the several Nations are to be selected and the historians of the latter times compared with the more ancient ARTICLE II. The historians of the Germans and of all the People from the Alpes to the Baltick Sea and from the Rhine to the Vistula to which the history of the Goths Vandals Huns Heruls Switzers Longobards Polonians Muschovites Danes and Swedes are to be added ARTICLE III. The Austrian historians ARTICLE IV. The historians of the Huns and Hungarians ARTICLE V. The historians of the Goths Danes Sclavonians and Swedes ARTICLE VI. The historians of the Longobards ARTICLE VII The historians of the Borussians and Poles ARTICLE VIII The historians of the Bohemians Switzars and Saxons ARTICLE IX The historians of Celts or Galls and French under which name we include all which are enclosed by the Rhine Pyrenaean Hills the Alpes and the Ocean ARTICLE X. The historians of the Netherlands Dutch and Flandrians ARTICLE XI The Spanish historians ARTICLE XII The historians of the Turks and Arabians who heretofore had the Dominions of Syria Persia Africa and Spain and were commonly call'd Saracens ARTICLE XIII The historians of Aethiopia India almost all Africa and of the New World or America ARTICLE XV. The historians of some great Cities SECT XXXII A Transition
to the Church History Who is best prepared to read it Two intervals of time to be chiefly regarded The History of the first is contain'd in the Holy Bible And with them Josephus his Antiquities to be read The Judgment of Learned Men concerning Josephus The pretended Hegesippus not totally to be rejected In what sense usefull and commendable Sulpitius Severus his Sacred Story is deservedly recommended here to the Reader SECT XXXIII The history of the second Period or of the Christian Church is in the first place to be drawn from the Evangelists and other Authours of the New Testament who saw the Cradle of the Church But then of those that saw her Infancy with their eyes there is scarce any Writers extant some Books indeed are abroad in the world which are said to be written by Men that lived in those days in which are described the sufferings of the first Martyrs but are esteemed counterfeits by Learned Men because they are deformed with Fables Baronius confesseth that some of the latter Writers were guilty of this fault And the same complaint is made by Lodovicus Vives and Melchior Canus and some of the Ancients Therefore the Ecclesiastical History is to be read with care And yet too much incredulity is to be avoided How we should be disposed in the Reading the Church History the first and most ancient to be preferred before the latter SECT XXXIV At length in the Third Century the Church beginning to flourish its History did so too Eusebius Pamphili the Prince of all Church Historians He equalled or imitated Xenophon in his Books of the Life of Constantine Many of his Books are lost His Authority vindicated How far the History of Eusebius comes Of Ruffinus Scaliger's opinion of him The Tripartite Story The Reading of Eusebius his Panegyrick recommended SECT XXXV Socrates in what time he lived from whence and how far he brought his History Of Theodoret what is contained in his books The Censure of Photius upon him Sozomenus Salaminus He continues the History in Nine Books to the year of Christ 423. A Place of St. Gregory against Sozomen considered and answered Sozomen's Candor The Testimony of Euagrius concerning him Euagrius follows and continues the Tripartite History to the year of Christ 597. Theophilactus Simocatus continues it on to the year 601. SECT XXXVI In the Seventh Century and two or three more which follow there is very few that have written the Church History well An Ocean of Legends of the Saints of Miracles and Wonders Times of swelling Words and Ignorance SECT XXXVII Nicephorus Constantinopolitanus may succeed Simocatus Nicephorus Calistius full of errors Georgius Cedrenus The opinion of Scaliger and Vossius concerning him SECT XXXVIII The Third Tome of Zonaras commended to the Reader The History continued to the year 1118. by Anna Comnena's Alexiada The transcendent praise of that excellent Lady SECT XXXIX Nicetas Achomiatus follows immediately after Zonaras Why put here Lipsius his judgment of both of them The faith of Nicetas call'd into question Johannes Cantacuzanus is here recommended to the Reader by Vossius After the former follows Laonicus Calcocondylas SECT XL. Blondus Foroliviensis may supply the defect of the Eastern Writers as to the Church History And amongst others Sigebertus Gemblacensis The opinion of Cardinal Bellarmine concerning him Robertus Abbas continues Sigebertus to the year 1210. Chronicon Hirshavense to the year 1370. and the omitted passages of the last Chronicon are supplied and continued to the last Age by others The Cosmodromus of Gobelinus Person when to be read The praise of it In stead of the Cosmodromus may be read the Metropolis of Albertus Crantzius in which are many things which are taken out of the Cosmodromus from the times of Charles the Great to the year 1504. Nauclerus also may be made use of instead of the other two and that the Reader may avoid repetitions he may begin with the Middle Generations in the second Tome Johannes Sleidanus hath written Ecclesiastick Commentaries from the year 1517 to the year 1556. which are continued again by Caspar Lundorpius to the year 1603. SECT XLI Venerable Bede and Usuardus are not in the mean time to be neglected nor the Writers of the Lives of the Popes of Rome Anastasius Bibliothecarius and Barthol Platina their great Elogies Onuphrius reviewed Platina and continued him to the year 1566. Sigonius also in his Histories has interwoven the affairs of the Church and in this place are the Elogies of Sigonius and Onuphrius to be taken in SECT XLII The Magdeburgian Centuriators put forth a most usefull Work of this nature The Judgment of the Reverend Bishop of Chichester upon it What is commendable in it The foundation of it well laid Whence the matter for the building was collected An excuse for the defects SECT XLIII The most Learned and Reverend Bishop of Chichester proves that the Centuriators have been obnoxious to many errours Casaubon yields as much and yet that Reverend Bishop shews that it is a most usefull work SECT XLIV Baronius his Annals equal to the Centuriators A stupendious Work Casaubon's Judgment of it As also that of the said Reverend Bishop of Chichester Why those Annals are to be read with great caution Spondanus the Jesuit the Epitomizer of them SECT XLV The first eight Magdeburgian Centuries reduced into a Compendium by Lucas Osiander not unprofitably He leaps from the VIII th to the XVI th the affairs of which he discourseth more at large To this Century belongs the History of the Council of Trent The Encomiums of that History and its Authour Jac. Augustus Thuanus has inserted the Church Affairs into his Accurate History from the year 1546 to the year 1608. and it is now continued to the year 1618. Part the Second SECT I. Young Men as they are not so well capacitated for Moral instructions so neither are they to be esteemed the best qualified for the reading of History What things are required to both the end and scope of Reading The different opinions of the Learned Vossius and Keckerman about this question SECT II. Keckerman's opinion defended Tongues are scarce well Learned without Rules There is a vast difference betwixt learning Languages and the Accounts of Actions Moral Philosophy is as well required in a Reader as Writer of History Ubertus Folietta Sebastianus Foxius and Viperanus do all seem to be of this opinion And the Learned Vossius himself affords strong Arguments for it SECT III. Vossius his third Argument against Keckerman doth hardly seem to be strong That a naked relation of an Affair doth not satisfie a prudent Reader Which is proved from Ludov. Vivis Dion Halicarnassaeus and Vossius himself That the Reading the same Histories by a Child and by a Man of Learning is very different SECT IV. The Argument Borrowed from Quintilian consider'd and an Answer made to it SECT V. The Opinion of Simon Grynaeus on this account Approved and it is more largely shewn
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
Brutus to be read every one in his time and with them let the Reader take in Salustius his Jugurthine War and add to them also the Catilinarian Conspiracy and Caesar's Commentaries which Authours Antiquity accounted amongst the principal Historians Salustius was famous about 44 years before Christ Anno V. C. 707. And Quintilianus hath compared him with Thucydides Tacitus calls him the most florid writer of the Roman History he is call'd by Martial the Epigrammatist Crispus the first of all the Roman Historians whereupon Colerus writeth thus to Stanislaus Zelenius Consider saith he that by the testimony of the Ancients themselves there was in Salust all those Endowments that make a perfect Historian and afterwards you can repeat the Catilinarian Conspiracy by heart but to no purpose if you do not well consider that man's profound knowledge in publick affairs which he hath discovered even in that very small Book and he wrote the Jugurthine War with no less Art and his two Epistles to Caesar concerning the setling the publick affairs do they not even seem to have fallen from Heaven and Justus Lipsius saith thus of him If it were left to me I should in this Catalogue not doubt to chuse Salustius for president of the Senate of Historians and as to Caesar's Commentaries who ever thought they did not deserve the highest Commendation and to be read by young men with the utmost care Cicero averr'd that they were very much to be approved Aulus Hertius saith they were to be admir'd they are saith he so much approved by the judgment of all that they rather seem to have prevented the need of another writer than to have afforded him an assistence or occasion and yet as he goes on my wonder here exceeds that of all others for they onely know how well and Correctly he hath written them but I know with what facility and quickness he did it But what say the Criticks of our Age they do not much less esteem it The famous Vossius thus expresseth himself he is a pure and Elegant Writer and most accurate in the structure of his words and glides along like a pleasant quiet River and is politick and grave in his Sentences in which he excelleth Xenophon though in the rest he is not much unlike him and a little after In truth here is a great plenty of great and usefull things which he that neglects to please himself in the interim with the Elegance of the words is less wise than Children who do not so delight themselves with the Leaves of Trees as to despise their excellent Fruit. The piece of the African War whether it be Caesar's or Oppius or Hirtius that writ it is preferr'd by Colerus before all the rest that work saith he surpasseth the rest not onely in Bloud and Colour but in strength also and Nerves Princes and Souldiers have in it what they may reade and practise or rather admire for who can imitate Caesar Justus Lipsius differs somewhat from these two concerning Caesar's Commentaries and thus he writes of those Historians that are Extant C. Caesar is most praised if as an Elegant Narratour I willingly assent for the Style of that man is truly pure adorned but without Paint or force and worthy either the Attick or Roman Muse but if as a perfect Historian I say I doubt because in his Civil History some doubt of his Fidelity and the third requisite in a good Historian the Moral and Politick part is altogether wanting in him and therefore Caesar who was no undervaluer of himself gave them the Title of Commentaries and not of Histories and even for this he deserved true praise because he despised the false SECT XX. Of Dion Cassius and his History how many Books he wrote how many of them have perished and how great the loss is how deservedly Vellejus Paterculus is reputed one of the best Writers his Vertues are shewn and his faults not dissembled A transition to the Writers of the times of the Caesars AFter Plutarch's Lucullus the remainders of Dion Cassius or Coccejus may be taken in also who is deservedly reputed one of the best Historians they begin with the actions of Quintus Metellus in Creet Anno V. C. 686 then they express the great enterprises of Pompey beginning with the Pyratick War and so continue down the Roman History to the Death of Claudius Caesar Anno V. C. 806. In truth Dion wrote LXXX Books of History beginning with the Arrival of Aeneas in Italy and the building of Alba and Rome and so went on without any interruption ending in the Slaughter of Heliogabalus Anno V. C. 973 Christi 221 but the first XXXIV Books are lost the next following XXV are Extant and those that succeeded these again are lost how great the loss of these LV Books is will easily appear to any man from what is spoken of him by John Bodinus considering saith he that Dion spent his whole life in managing publick affairs and by all the inferiour degrees of Honours arose to that height as to be twice made Consul and after that being Proconsul Governed some Provinces to his great honour joyning a great knowledge and experience together who can doubt whether he is to be placed amongst the best writers of History in truth he gathered together very accurately the order of the Assemblies of State and the Rights of the Roman Magistrates he is the onely person who hath given an account of the Consecration or Deifying of their Princes and Divulged their Arcana imperii secrets of State as Tacitus calls them for he was a diligent searcher into the publick Councils Or if our Reader desireth to go a shorter way and to reade the rest of the History where Livy fails twisted in one thread as it were Vellejus Paterculus may very well be admitted who flourished under Tiberius Caesar as he himself testifieth Anno Christi 27. Aclear explainer of the ancient History close and of a great efficacy and Aldus Minutius speaks thus of him he is honest and true till thou comest to the Caesars where he is not every where faithfull for through flattery he conceals or covers many things yea and plainly tells them otherwise than they were yet he expresseth himself every where with a certain facil and flowing Eloquence Justus Lipsius thus speaks of him nothing can flow with greater purity and sweetness than his Style he comprehends the Antiquities of the Romans with so much brevity and perspicuity that if he were extant intire there is no other that is equal to him and he does commend the illustrious Persons he names with a certain exalted Oratory and worthy of so great a man as Johannes Bodinus saith it is commonly conceived and agreed that his Compendium of the Roman History is contained in two Books but we have onely some shreds of his first Book as Rhenanus calls them but if the Reader begins with the IX th
disfavour fled to Otton I. and at Franckford Wrote this History as he saith himself lib. 5. cap. 14. Beatus Rhenanus Published III Books of the German affairs excellently Composed Johannes Aventinus Wrote X Books under the Title of Germany illustrated and also the Annals of the Bavarians from the Flood to the year of Christ 1460 in VII Books how ill Baronius thought of this Authour appears To. 9. Ad Annum 772. Georgius Fabricius Chemnicensis Wrote the History of Great Germany and of all Saxony in two Books and to Conclude MAR QU ARDUS FREHERUS first put out in one Volume some very excellent German Historians which before were unknown ARTICLE III. The Historians of Austria FRanciscus Guillimannus Wrote VII Books of the ancient and true Origine of the House of Austria he flourished about the year of Christ 1500. Wolfangus Lazius of Vienna has comprehended the History of Austria in IV Books Gerhardus de Reo and Conradus Decius have Written Annals also of Austria there is Extant too a Chronicle of the Dukes of Bavaria and Suevia written by an uncertain Authour and to these may be added the Austriades of Richardus Bartolinus Perusinus in XII Books which concern the Wars between the Dukes of Bavaria and the Princes of the Palatinate which was illustrated with Notes by Jacobus Spigelius Selestadiensis ARTICLE IV. The Historians of the Hunnes and Hungarians JOhannes de Thwroz or Turocius so call'd from the Province of Thwrocz wrote a Chronicle of the Hungarian affairs from the very rise of that Nation under Attila their first King to the Coronation of Matthias which was in the year of Christ 1464 of this Authour Trithemius Writes thus Johannes Thuroth a Pannonian was a man excellently acquainted with and well exercised in Civil Literature and not ignorant in Divine knowledge of an exalted Ingenuity and a clear Eloquence this Authour lived Anno Christi 1494. Johannes Bonfinius Composed an Elegant History of the Kings of Hungary in four Decades and an half that is in XLV Books which reacheth to the Death of Matthias Hunniades and the beginning of Vladislaus or the year 1495 which he began at the Command of Matthias Bonfinius flourished about the year of Christ 1496. Petrus Ranzanus Wrote Indexes as he calls them of the Hungarian Transactions of which Joh. Sambucus who first rescued them from the Dust and Darkness in which they lay and Published them to the World writes thus It seems the ways of Writing Histories heretofore were very various this Authour having some Indexes of the Kings of Hungary given him at Vienna by Beatrix extracted out of the same Records from which Bonfinius described his he so well deduced and illustrated them that he is in nothing inferiour to the best Writers of the Hungarian History for in this brevity he has Comprehended what ever is required to render an History Elegant and usefull and he is the more valuable also that whereas there are some Gaps and mistakes by the faults of the Transcribers in Bonfinius his History we may here find directions for the rectifying all these Erratas and be assisted at the same time in searching out the sincere and perfect truth thus far Sambucus Philip Callimachus Experiens wrote an History of the Life and Reign of Vladislaus King of Poland and Hungary so elegantly and exactly that Paulus Jovius did not scruple to say of it that in his judgment it excell'd all that had been Written of that kind since Cornelius Tacitus through so many Ages as have since followed this Authour flourished Anno Christi 1490. Melchior Soiterus and Petrus Bizarrus have Written the History of the Hungarian Wars ARTICLE V. The Historians of the Goths Danes Sclavonians and Swedes PRocopius has Written III Books of the Gothick Wars and Agathias the Smyrnean V Books both of them in Greek and in Latine Jornandes the Bishop of the Goths who reduced into II Books the History of Aurelius Casiodorus who was Secretary to Theodoricus King of the Goths and Wrote a Gothick History in XII Books Isidorus Hispalensis Composed an History of the Origine of the Goths and of the Kingdom of the Sueves and Vandals Johannes Magnus a Bishop of Sweden wrote a History also of all the Kings of the Goths and Swedes Leon Aretinus Composed also an History of the Goths but which affords nothing more than what Procopius hath written so that he seems to be no more than his Paraphrast but he is more remarkable for another thing that is that be was the first Person who restored and communicated the Greek Tongue and Learning after it had lain several Ages oppressed and troden down by the tyranny of the insolent Barbarians as P. Jovius writes of him in his Elogies he flourished Anno Christi 1420. Hieronymus Rubeus wrote of the Goths and Lombards Saxo Grammaticus has deduced an History of Denmark from the utmost Antiquity down to his own times that is to Canutus the VI th and Waldemarus his Brother the Grandchildren of Saint Canutus that is almost to the year of Christ 1200. All he hath Written is not to be admitted hand over head without Examination yet neither is he so great a Fabler as some have fansied who have no esteem on that account for him amongst whom is Goropius Becanus which is the less worth our wonder because he himself doth not write so much Paradoxes as impossibilities as to Saxo's style the Elegance of it is so great saith the Learned Vossius that it exceeded the Capacity of the Age he lived in yea it is equal to many of the ancient Writers and to most of ours he flourished about the year of Christ 1220. Idacius his Chronicle of Denmark is from the times of Theodosius the Great to the year of Christ 400. Johannes Boterus and Erpoldus Lindenbruch have written accounts of the Kings of Denmark and in the year 1596 Plantin Printed a Compendious History of the Kings of Denmark to Christian the IV th Gaspar Ens wrote Commentaries concerning the Wars of Denmark both by Sea and Land in the Reign of Frederick the second containing the most memorable Dithmarsick and Swedish War The Learned Johannes Meursius hath comprehended in III Books the Reigns of Christian the first John his Son and Christian the second his Grandchild that is from the year of Christ 1448 to the year 1523. Albertus Crantzius hath Written an History of the Vandals in XIV Books and a Chronicle of the other Northern Nations as the Danes Norwegians Swedes which is call'd Gothia and Scandia he begins at the times of Charles the Great and comes down to the year 1504 he flourished to the year 1517 in which he Died. Gerardus Geldenhaurius writes thus of him He has almost onely seemed to me to deserve the Name of an Historian because he wrote the Transactions of his own times truely freely and for the good
pass by the opinion of Johannes Gerundensis in the History of Spain Trogus Pompejus Orosius and Isidorus Hispalensis are worthy of great esteem Roder of Toledo is tolerable the rest are mere Dreams The last cited Authour Johannes Margarinus Bishop of Girona wrote an History of Spain in X Books from the Arrival of Hercules to the Reigns of Arcadius and Honorius the Children of Theodosius the Elder in the times of which Princes the Goths entred Spain he styles it the omitted History of Spain because in it he relates what had been omitted by the Writers of the latter Ages Johannes Mariana has writ the History of Spain from the first times of it to the Ruine of the Moors in XX Books which in X Books more is continued to the Death of King Ferdinand that is to the year 1516. Franciscus Tarapha brings down an History of Spain to Charles the V th Rodericus Sanctius Palentinus who was Chaplain and Counsellour to Henry the IV th King of Castile and Leon hath consigned to paper in a very great Volume an uninterrupted History of Spain down to his own times that is to the year 1467 concerning whom and two other more ancient Historians of that Nation Luca Tudiensis and Rod. Ximenius Alph. Garsias a Rhetorician of Alcala an University in Spain gives this judgment because they did not seek to please the Ears of men but to inrich the memories and judgments of Posterity as they sought not after pleasing Language so neither have they entertained their Readers with trifles and falsehoods Marineus Siculus wrote an History of the memorable affairs of Spain in XXII Books which ends in Charles the 5 th Laurentius Valla wrote the Reign of Ferdinand King of Aragon in III Books but as P. Jovius justly thought he wrote this work in such a style as no man can conceive that it was penn'd by him who gave the precepts of Latine Elegance to others and you may there find several other things concerning this Historian Carolus Verardus who flourished under Innocent the VIII th about the year 1484 wrote the History of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Granada and the History of Andaluzia Hieronymus Conestagius wrote the History of the Union of Portugal to the Kingdom of Castile in X Books in which he gives an account of the State of that Nation from the time in which Sebastian the first passed with a vast Fleet into Africa to fight against the Moors to the times when it was by the Conduct of Philip the second united to the rest of the Spanish Provinces Damianus à Goes has writ the actions of the Portuges in the Indies Aelius Antonius Nebrissensis hath written the History of the affairs under Ferdinando and Elizabeth in XX Books and he hath also writ the War of NAVAR in II Books Vasaeus in his Chronicle of Spain Chap. 4 th saith it is an History worthy of so great a man and he is commended by Erasmus as a man of various Learning and that deservedly there is also an high Commendation given him by Alphonsus Garsia in the Book which he wrote of the Learned men and Universities of Spain to these may be added Hieronymus Osorius a Polite Writer of the memorable things of Spain Johannes Brucellus of the Spanish War in V Books and Florianus Ocampus who by the Command of Charles the V th published a general Chronicle of Spain the rest I omit ARTICLE XII The Historians of the Turks and Arabians who heretofore were possessed of the Dominions of Africa Syria Persia and Spain and are commonly call'd Saracens THe History of the Saracens is to be sought in Harmannus Dalmata Leo Africus Robert the Monk William of Tyre and Benedictus de Accoltis a famous Elogie upon whom is Extant in Lilius Gyraldus his second Dialogue of the Poets of his time and in those other Authours which we have mentioned above when we discoursed of those Historians who had given an account of the affairs of the French in the East Caelius Aug. Curio wrote also an History of the Saracens in III Books and he also wrote a particular History of the Kingdom of Morocho Erected by the Saracens in Barbary There are several who have given accounts of the Origine of the Turks for there it is fit to begin the reading of their History as Baptista Egnatius Theodorus Gaza and Andrea Combinus Martinus Barletius in his Chronicle has excellently described the Origine of the Turks their Princes Emperours Wars Victories Military Discipline c. And he hath also writ the Life and Actions of George Castriot who by Amurath for the greatness of his actions was Sirnamed Scanderbeg very elegantly in XIII Books whose fidelity will appear from that passage in his Preface I have saith he committed to writing what hath been related to me by my Ancestours and by some others who were present and saw what passed Laonicus Chalcocondylas an Athenian wrote an History of the Turks in X Books he is the onely Grecian Historian who wrote since the barbarous Turks possessed themselves of Constantinople with any applause he flourished in the end of the fourteenth Century about the year of Christ 1490 he begins from Ottoman the Son of Orthogul who began his Reign about the year of Christ 1300 and he ends in the year 1363 in which Mahomet the II stoutly repell'd the invasion made upon him by Mathias King of Hungaria and the Venetians Johannes Leunclavius also hath collected and published an History of the Musulmen out of their own Monuments with great industry in XVIII Books about the year 1560. Paulus Jovius ought here to be taken in too who has accurately and elegantly represented their affairs especially from the XII th to the XVII th Book and again from the XXXII to the XXXVII th Book of whom the Authour writes above Sect. 25. Henricus Pantaleon has collected an History of all the memorable Expeditions both by Sea and Land which have been undertaken for 600 years by the Christians in Asia Africa and Europe against the barbarous Saracens Arabians and Turks to the year 1581 to which you may add Reinerus Reineccius his Oriental History Martinus Stella hath written concerning the Wars of the Turks in Hungaria Petrus Bizarus hath written of the War made by Solyman against Maximilian the Emperour Melchior Soiterus hath writ the War made upon the Turks by Charles the V th and Ferdinand his Brother Nicholaus Honnigerus hath writ of Solyman the XII th and Selym the XIII th Emperour of the Turks against the Christians Ubertus Folietta hath writ the Siege of Malta and of several Expeditions into Africa and also of the War in Cyprus betwixt the Turks and the Venetians Ubio Esinus and Caelius Cec. Curio have also both of them writ of the Cyprian War and the latter of them of the Siege of Maltha too the taking and Sacking of Constantinople
follow the conduct of their affections or industriously fain many things so that I for my part am very often both weary and ashamed of them because I know they have thereby brought nothing of Advantage to the Church of Christ but very much inconvenience Thus saith Melchior Canus Nor are we to think that it is onely the complaint of the Learned Men of this and the last Age that the Church Writers are thus corrupted and depraved as if these faults had crept into them of late onely or as if none of the most Ancient Writers had been justly to be numbred amongst these depravers of the Church History Above a Thousand and three hundred years agon before the Church was past its youth there were some who basely infected the Monuments of the Church with Lies and made it their business to corrupt them with such impure mixtures And Arnobius in his Books Contra Gentes hath taken this notice of it But neither saith he could all that was done be written or arrive at the Knowledge of all men Many of our great Actions being done by obscure Men and those who had no knowledge of Letters and if some of them are committed to Letters and Writings yet even here by the Malice of the Devils and of men like them whose great design and study it is to intercept and ruine this truth by interpolating or adding some things to them or by changing or taking out Words Syllables or Letters they have put a stop to the Faiths of Wise Men and corrupted the truth of things Thus Arnobius And in truth what could possibly be devised to corrupt and debase the Memory of the Ancient Church which Pagans Jews or Hereticks have not deceitfully imposed upon her What hath not a silly and Credulous Superstition feigned My Hearers I have pursued these things at large that they who are desirous to know the Church History might understand and diligently consider with how much care and caution they are to be read for here a Man is in more danger of being deceived by feign'd stories than in any other sort of Histories whatsoever And yet it is confess'd by all that it is much more mischievous to be involved in errour here than in Civil History Now as it befits us to take great care on the one side that we do not imbrace falsehood for truth rashly so it becomes us to consider attentively that we do not reject what is really true as false without deliberation I confess saith the Learned Lawyer Balduinus where there are so many Ambushes and so many dangers those who remember that credit is not rashly to be given deserve to be commended for their suspitious modesty and jealousie But then the unbelief of some others is too great who will believe nothing but what is written by some one single Authour As for example they will believe nothing that is spoken concerning the Apostles but what is written by St. Luke But then St. Luke did chiefly design to Write the History of St. Paul and as to that too he omitted some things as is apparent by the Epistle to the Galatians St. Luke speaking of Simon Magus does onely tell us That in Samaria his own Town being wrought upon by the Reproof of St. Peter he confessed his Sin But shall we therefore cry out that whatever those very Ancient Writers Justin Martyr Tertullian Arnobius Eusebius Epiphanius and St. Augustine have delivered besides this concerning him is false and therefore in the Reading of Histories let us ever remember to be such as Aristotle saith those men who are betwixt youth and old age commonly are that is neither too prone to believe nor too difficult and distrustive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Neither believing nor disbelieving every thing That of Hesiod is like an Oracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Too much too little Faith has ruin'd Men. But some Man may with great truth say That Facility of Belief and Diffidence are both in their turns of great use and safety For every verisimilitude is not presently true nor is every thing that seems at first sight incredible to be concluded therefore false Truth hath sometimes the resemblance of falsehood and again a Lie is masked with the beautifull Colours of truth at other times as Seneca saith somewhere And therefore that we may proceed where we cannot have such Witnesses as were present at the Actions they record the next care is to hear those who have faithfully delivered what they received from others especially if the Ages in which they lived their Antiquity and Virtue have given them a right to our Faith and made them of good Authority And amongst these it is fit we should prefer the most Ancient and as I may say Classick Authours before the rest What Aristole said of Witnesses is true here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The most Ancient deserve most credit because it is not so easie to corrupt them And for the most part it also comes to pass that by how much the later and newer the Account of any Ancient Transaction is so much the more faulty and corrupt it proves For as Wine by how much the oftner it is poured from one Vessel into another becomes so much the more weak and dispirited and as Fame the further it goes the further it removes from Truth and gathers so much the more of Vanity even so for the most part a History being repeated by many and toss'd to and fro and told every time in other Words is diffused takes aire and at last contaminates and degenerates into a mere Fable Indeed I have made this Discourse much longer than I intended but Prudent Readers will afford me so much the more easily their Pardon if they please to consider that all this has no other scope than the making men extremely cautious in their turning over the Volumes of the Church History And therefore I will now pass on to the Catalogue of those Authours and the Order of them which Learned Men have prescribed to be read after the Books of the New Testament in which I shall be as short as it is fit I should be SECT XXXIV At last in the Third Centery the Church then beginning to flourish Ecclesiastical History began to flourish too Eusebius Pamphili the Prince amongst the Church Historians he emulates Xenophon in his Books of the Life of Constantine Many things which he Wrote are lost His Authority vindicated How far his History reacheth Scaliger's judgment concerning Ruffinus The Tripartite History The Reading of Eusebius his Panegyrick recommended SEeing then those Writers who are said to have lived with the Apostles are to be rejected as is said above as spurious and those that followed them immediately in the two next Centeries are not extant being either swallowed up in that vast shipwreck of Learning or as the opinion of the Learned Casaubon is seeing they rather seem to have begun to think of writing something of this Nature than
it from us who in his Book de Methodo cap. 70. Affirms that the famous division of the Kingdoms of the old World into IV Monarchies was built upon the Modern Authority and insipid Conceit of some late Writers But from what has been said it clearly appears to us on the contrary that these IV great Empires were anciently observed and designed of which two flourished successively in Asia and are therefore call'd the Asiatick and for the same reason the two others are call'd the European which succeeded in Europe Vellejus also in the place I have cited above seems to me to prove and confirm both these Names and several Successions of the great Empires in the following times saith he the Empire of Asia was translated from the Assyrians who had held it a thousand and seven hundrd years to the Medes but the truth is it is not worth our while to contend any longer about either the Names or the distinctions of the Monarchies In short then I say that it is most certainly true and incontestably known to all Antiquity that the Assyrians and Chaldeans first and after them the Medes and Persians did heretofore Rule over so great a part of Asia that they might well be call'd the Supreme Monarchs of the World as it was then peopled and the same may be said of the Grecians in their times and much more of the Romans by whom if not the greatest yet certainly the best part not onely of Asia but also of Europe and Africa was Conquered as Histories inform us which made Polybius thus express himself The Romans having forced not onely some considerable parts but almost the whole inhabited World to submit to their Authority and Empire have raised their greatness to such a prodigious height that the present Age may very rationally Extoll their happiness but no succeeding Ages will ever be able to excell them SECT IV. The Rise and duration of the Assyrio Chaldean Empire and also of the Medio-Persian then of the Grecian and lastly the beginning of the Roman Empire before Julius Caesar how many years betwixt that and the times of Charles the Great and from thence to Charles the fifth BUt to go on that first Assyrio-Chaldean Empire for so I am inclin'd to call it was begun by Nimrod who is by some others call'd Belus in the year of the world 1717 or there abouts it continued a very long time that is almost one thousand and seven hundred years for this Empire lasted almost the whole time of Censorinus his second interval and after that too it ran out into the third the Historick interval 238 years It is true as the Learned Scaliger has observed it was not always in the same State of power and greatness but at times was broken and diminished For in the beginning it was of a vast Extent but afterwards the Nations that were subject to it made defections till it was torn into several shreds or parcels the Kings of Assyria giving up themselves to Luxury and thinking of nothing less than Arms and the preservation of their Kingdom but notwithstanding from the first Foundation of it to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus when it was transferred to the Medes and Persians there passed almost 1700 years For though Justinus and Georgius Monachus affirm the Assyrians were Masters of the World but one thousand and three hundred years the latter 1060 years and Diodorus Siculus 1400 years Yet I suppose they are to be understood of the time iu which the Posterity of Nimrod or Ninus Reigned who laid the Foundations of that Empire A. M. 1717 and particularly of Sardanapalus who according to Vellejus was the last that Reigned of XXXIII descents in which till then the Son had succeeded his Father But Phul Belochus and his Posterity first and then Merodach Baladan and his Progeny followed the Family of Ninus and kept up that Monarchy in the Assyrian Nation to Baltazar who was the last of their Kings and perished when Babylon was taken by Cyrus for so Funccius Reinerus Reineccius Viginerius and others do seem to collect out of Scripture But Josephus Scaliger Dionys. Petavius Jaco Capellus and others contend against this and endeavour to prove out of Berosus Megasthenes and Ptolemy that the Death of Baltazar by the treachery of his own Servants whom he had enraged against him by his ill Nature happened about seventeen years before the taking of Babylon by Cyrus So he being slain in the 55th Olympiad one Nabonidus by Nation a Mede call'd by Daniel Darius the Mede by the common consent of the Conspiratours succeeded him and he by the chance of War being overcome by Cyrus King of Persia in the XVII year of his Reign and Babylon taken had his Life and the Government of Carmania given him and so the Empire was translated to the Persians in the second year of the 60 Olympiad and A. M. 3412. 2. It is not therefore difficult from what has been said to shew that the Assyrio-Chaldean Monarchy from its first Rise to that period we have given it lasted almost 1700 years which may also be confirm'd by what Calisthenes the Scholar of Aristotle is said to have related for he following Alexander the Great in his Asiatick Expedition upon the request of his Master after Babylon was taken diligently enquired of those who were skilfull in the Babylonish Antiquities concerning their Astronomical Observations the successions of the Kings of that most ancient Monarchy and of the Number of their years and what ever Chaldean Antiquities or Astronomical Observations he could get he sent them into Greece which Simplicius somewhere avers contained 1903 years 3. The Second Empire call'd the Medio-Persick is said to have lasted from the taking of Babylon by Cyrus to the taking the same City by Alexander the Macedonian Darius Codomanus the tenth and last King of the Persians being Conquered not above 210 years for Alexander entered Babylon in the III year of the 112 Olympiad A. M. 3620. 4. The third Monarchy call'd the Grecian and begun by Alexander the Great after the Conquest of Darius is thought to have lasted to Perseus the Son of Philip the Second King of Macedonia who was overcome by Paulus Aemilius and his Kingdom reduced into a Roman Province which space of time comprehends somewhat more than two hundred and sixty years for Perseus was overcome taken and led in Triumph to Rome by P. Aemilius in the year of the Building of Rome 586 A. M. 3782. and about that time it was that the Roman Empire attained that so much admired Greatness which Polybius hath so much extoll'd in the former Section which yet afterwards encreased but from this time was esteem'd the IV Monarchy for to this time that Aemilius Sura whom we have cited from Paterculus in plain words refers the beginning of its Empire Two Kings Perseus and Antiochus being overcome the Empire of the World saith he was translated to the Romans which Polybius also avers
of Theodosius and Justinian yet I would not have any man thence conclude that he shall gain small advantage by the reading of them let him rather hear Justus Lipsius and Casaubon's Judgment of them of which the first thus briefly One Writer is usefull for one purpose and another for another Spartianus Lampridius Capitolinus and Vulcatius and the rest of the Writers of the second form have indeed not much Eloquence but it is possible to extract out of them a vast plenty of Antiquities and of the forgotten Customes The latter is yet more large in their Commendations The reading of these Authours saith he is not onely usefull but necessary for all men but especially for all those who are Studious of the ancient manners and History and especially for those who love the Roman Civil Law For how many things will you find dispersed in the whole Work which belong properly to the study of Law how often is it there observed that a new Law was introduced or an ancient Law abrogated that I may not mention this that if it were not for these Writers many of the great Civilians whose names and fragments are extant in the Pandects would have been altogether unknown to us not to mention also the Style which is common with these Authours to the ancient Lawyers in short what esteem ought we to have for the excellent Letters of so many Princes so many grave Decrees of the Senate and so many other publick Monuments transcribed out of the Cabinets of the Caesars out of the Acts or Registers of the Senate and People or out of I know not what other secret and concealed Records or whom will you assign out of all the number of the ancient Writers to whom we are indebted for a like Fidelity or Industry nor ought I to pass by those Learned and not far fetched but Domestick Digressions with which these Books are inriched as with so many studds of true and Radiant purple in very many places thus far Casaubon These Historians will furnish the Reader with the History if the Chronologers deceive me not of an Hundred Sixty and Seven years it is however certain they will give him the names of LXX and upwards who in the course of these times by right or injury obtained the name of Emperour or Caesar. The Lives of some of which also are written in VIII Books by Herodian an Authour of good Judgment Discreetly and Elegantly therefore if the Reader please to joyn him to the other six Writers of the Lives in his due time he will have a fuller and more illustrious History of Commodus the Emperour and of the other seven that succeeded him to the Gordians for he will find in that Writer a great variety of both things and men and frequent examples of Fortune's Frowns and Smiles as she is ever changing and he will observe strange and wonderfull Counsels and unexpected Events he will find as occasion serves grave Sentences and a style full both of dignity and sweetness to conclude he will find plenty of necessary Utensils for the improvement of his Manners and as it were the Looking-Glass of Humanity which he may inspect all his Life time and from whence he may draw instructions for the better management of publick or private affairs Let him then reade this Authour either in Greek or Latine for I know not whether Herodian deserves more Honour who in his own Language flows with a plentyfull vain or Politian who has translated him so happily that he doth not seem so much to have rendered as writ that History However these six Writers the last of which is Vopiscus who is yet learned and accurate beyond any of the rest will bring the Reader to the thousand thirty and sixth year after the building of Rome that is to the Death of Carinus Caesar who with Numerianus is said to have reigned or affected the Empire after Carus it is to be confess'd that in this Series which these six Writers of Lives have left us there is a gap betwixt Gordianus the third and Valentinian the Emperour for Valerianus did not succeed immediately after Gordian but first the two Philippi and to them the Decii and then Vibius Gallus with his Son Volusianus then Aemylianus Libycus who was immediately succeeded by Valerianus and the Learned Casaubon reckons some others to the number of Fifteen between Caesars and Emperours within the space of nine or at most ten years none of whose Names are mention'd any where in these Writers a supply is therefore to be made of this defect from Aurelius Victor a discreet and prudent Writer of whom Ammianus Marcellinus saith That for his sobriety he is much to be commended and Casaubon calls his small Piece of the Lives of the Emperours An Elegant Discourse or from Pomponius Laetus A Man for the Age in which he Wrote rarely acquainted with Antiquities and good Learning and very conspicuous amongst the most Excellent Wits of his time who hath Written a Compendium of the Roman History from the death of Gordian the younger a little beyond the time of the death of Heraclius This Authour flourished about the year after Christ 1488. In this History of the Caesars you may reade many things which are not to be found in any of the Historians which for the most part he extracted from the Ancient Panegyrists SECT XXIII After the times of Constantius Chlorus and a little before the History seems a little perplex'd especially in the Latin Writers Eusebius Zosimus and Zonaras will render it more plain of Zosimus and Zonaras and their Writings and also Jornandes and Ammianus Marcellinus who is here to be Read the Opinion of Lipsius and Balduinus the Lawyer concerning him BUt because the History of those times is very confused especially if we consult none but Latin Writers to the Succession of Constantine's Children It will well requite the trouble to seek assistence from the Greek Authours Eusebius Zosimus Zonaras or some other Authour as well in relation to the asoresaid Emperours as also to them that follow Dioclesian Constantius Chlorus Galerius and Constantine the Great whose Histories may be thus illustrated For in this Age Eusebius flourished under Constantine and his Children about the year of Christ 325. and for his great Learning and Extraordinary Knowledge of History was very famous of whom more will be spoken when we come to the Church-Historians Since the death of our Authour there has been published first by Baluzius a Learned Frenchman and since that at Oxon a History of all the Roman Emperours from the 20th year of the Reign of Dioclesian Anno Christi 303. to the year 313. which was the 7th year of the Reign of Constantine the Great Written by Lucius Coelius Lactantius and stiled De mortibus persecutorum This Authour was contemporary with Eusebius and was Tutour to Crispus one of the Children of Constantine the Great and though this History is
delicacy for though that which Sir Henry Savil the great and eternally to be remembred Ornament of our University saith is most certainly true and confirmed not onely by his but by the Testimony also of Mr. John Selden the Lawyer a man not onely excellently versed in History but in all other sorts of ancient Learning that there was never yet any man who hath written an intire body of our History with that fidelity and dignity as became the greatness of the Subject yet the former of these confesseth that we have some particular parts of our History which are not ill written in former Ages and the latter Mr. Selden acknowledgeth and commendeth some others as written exceedingly well in this last Age. But be this as it will I shall with the greatest confidence assert that there are many noble Actions and things that are worthy of our Contemplation and Observation which will occur in the reading of the greatest part of our Histories this then is the order which I should recommend for the reading of our British History to the Studious in it First Let our Student begin with the famous Sir William Camden's Britannia in which besides a most accurate description of the whole Island he will find briefly represented the History of the first Inhabitants and an account given of the Origine of the Name the Manners of the Britains the History of the Romans in Britain and many other things infinitely worth our knowledge collected not out of mere fictions and fables which none but a vain man would write nor any but an ignorant man believe as he expresseth himself but out of the most sincere and uncorrupted Monuments of Antiquity my advice therefore is that this Book or rather treasury should in the very first place be most diligently perused nor will it be amiss here to call in the assistence of Mr. Selden's two Books of Collections of the Antiquities of the Britains and English either of which Books consists of eight Chapters in which he has collected what doth most properly belong to the ancient Civil Administration of that part of Great Britain which is now call'd England and in which he has most excellently described both from Ancient and Modern Writers our publick Transactions both Civil and Sacred and our State Catastrophes to William the Conquerour and then according to the method proposed by us in the beginning of our course of History the Reader may be pleased to reade over George Lilly's Chronicle or short Enumeration of the Kings and Princes who by the changes of Fortune in diverse and succeeding times have been possessed of the Empire of Britain or those Commentaries which J. Theodorus Clain Printed of the affairs of Great Britain in the year MDCIII under the Title of a Compendium of the British History which is Elegantly form'd and written An Addition to the former Section Besides these mentioned by the Authour Daniel Langhorn a Learned Divine now Living in the year 1673 published in Latine a short account of the Antiquities of Albion and the Origine of the Britains Scots Danes and English Saxons to the year 449 in which the English first Arrived in Great Britain with a short Chronicle of the Kings of the Picts in which is an excellent account of those times in which Britain was a part of the Roman Empire The same Authour in the year 1679 Published a Chronicle of the Saxon Kings from Hengist the first King of that Race to the end of the Heptarchy or the year 819 in which he has given an account of all their Actions Wars Civil and Sacred affairs together with a Catalogue of the Kings and their Pedigrees cut in Copper in this History he hath reduced into one body all the ancient Saxon Historians and represented them truly in their own Phrases and then promised also a Continuation of this History which is much desired by Learned men In the year 1670 Robert Sheringham Fellow of Caies College in Cambridge Published an History of the Origine of the English Nation in which their Migrations and various Seats and part also of their Actions are inquired into from the confusion of Tongues and the dispersion of the Nations thereupon till the time of their arrival in Britain in which some things are explain'd also concerning their ancient Religion Sacred Rites and their opinions of the immortality of the Soul after Death with an account of the Origine of the Britains in this piece are many curious Antiquities searched for in the most ancient Saxon German and Danish Authours and an excellent account given of them which will both invite and reward the Reader 's pains Lambertus Silvius a Learned Foreigner in the year 1652 Published in Latine an excellent Compendium of the English History from the arrival of the Saxons to the year 1648 where he ends it with the deplorable Murther of Charles the first he is exceeding short in his accounts of the Saxon Kings but at the Conquest he dilates himself and writes the Lives of our Kings very Elegantly and with great brevity Of more ancient times Gildas Sapiens who is the most ancient Writer of this Island Writ a piece of the Destruction of the Britains by the Saxons which is infinitely worth the reading he Lived in the times of Justinian and he was Born in the year of Christ 493 as Vossius makes it appear from his own Works Mathaeus Westmonasteriensis who flourished about the year of Christ 1376 has left a short Chronicle from the beginning of the World to the year 1037. Florentius Bravonius a Monk of Worcester who Lived about the year of Christ 1119 in the Reign of Henry the first wrote a History from the Creation to the year 1118 which was the year before his Death which is the more to be esteemed because the ancient Anglio Saxon Annals are inserted in it in their proper places as Vossius acquaints us either or both these Authours will very much contribute to the understanding of the History of the Saxon Kings before the Conquest SECT XXVIII Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Savil's judgment of him and also Camden's where he begins and ends his History Galfredus Monumethensis why passed by The censures of William of Newberry John of Withamsted Bales and John Twin Virunnius differs from all these Huntington follows Malmesbury and Hovedaen him BUt if the Reader had rather begin with the more ancient Writers of our History immediately after Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta in my judgment William of Malmesbury deserves to be first admitted because the fidelity of his Relations and maturity of his Judgment have set him above all the rest And this is also the Testimony of the Noble and Learned Sir H. Savil concerning him William of Malmesbury saith he was a man exquisitely Learned for the age in which he Lived and hath compiled the History of about seven hundred years with so
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
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
him that in the affairs of Italy he does blunder and mistake so strangely that those who did not regard the Elegance of his style were apt to be much incensed against him There are also several Authours who have written of the Expeditions of the French Nation into the East and of the Kingdom Erected by them in Jerusalem almost all which the Learned Jacobus Bongarsius has collected together and rescued from the Moths and Dust of the Libraries in which they before lurked by publishing them after he had with great study and pains Corrected them of these the first is Robertus a Monk who wrote the History of Jerusalem A nameless Italian who wrote the Actions of the French and others at Jerusalem in which actions he was present and therefore deserves the greater Credit Baldericus Aurelianensis who wrote the History of the same V years with the last named Italian that is from the year 1095 to the year 1100 and Raimundus de Agiles Canon of Le Puy wrote the History of the same time Albertus Steward of the Church of Dax who wrote XII Books from the beginning of the Expedition of Godfry of Bulloin and other Princes to the second year of King Balduin the Second and so has as Vossius saith accurately written the History of XXIV years after him follows Fulcherius Carnotensis who writes from the beginning of that Expedition to the year 1124 and Gauterus Cancellarius who described what passed at Antioch where he was present after these comes William Archbishop of Tyre the Prince of all these Historians a man of no vulgar Learning pleasant above what that Age afforded as the Learned Bongarsius saith of him He wrote in XXIII Books beginning at the year 1095 and ending at 1180 the â—istory of LXXXIV years of what ever had passed in the Holy Land and in all Syria which the Bishop of Accon his Suffragan continued and thus far of the French Historians ARTICLE X. The Historians of the Dutch and Flandrians c. THere is scarce any thing delivered concerning the Flandrians worthy of Credit before the year 445 from which time Mejerus begins his Annals of Flanders which he has included in XVII Books in which he hath also given a large account of the Earls of Flanders from Lydericus Harlebacanus who flourished about the year 800. to Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy's Death in the year 1476. Hadrianus Barlandus hath compiled a Chronicle of the Dukes of Brabant from Pipin the first Duke of that Province Grandchild of Caroloman Son of Braban the third Prince of Brabant before this Province had the name or title of a Dukedom given it to Charles the Vth Emperour of Germany the Son of Philip. Jacobus Marchantius hath written IV. Books of the Memorable affairs of Flanders Aemundus hath Writ of the Dukes of Burgundy from the Trojan War to Charles the Vth. Beisscllus also of the Actions of the Flandrians and of late Olivarius Uredus J. C. Brugensis has with infinite study and labour written the Flandrian Genealogies and the History of the Earls of Flanders Hadrianus Junius his Batavia unfolds the History of the Dutch Nation the Antiquities of their Island their Origine Manners and many other things belonging to their History Noviomagus his History of Holland gives an account of their Princes from Bato their first King to Charles the Vth Emperour and to Charles of Gelders Nor is Gerhardus Geldenhaurius to be omitted who hath drawn an History of Holland with an Appendix concerning the most ancient Nobility Kings and Actions of the Germans Johannes Isaacus Pontanus Historian to the King of Denmark and State of Gelders by the command of the States hath Written an History of that Province from their beginning to the year 1581 which is a vast Work Ubo Emmius and Winsemius have both written the History of Frisland and Jacobus Revius that of Daventry Ludovicus Guicciardinus hath written a brief History of all the Transactions of Europe especially what relates to the Low-Countries from the year 1529 to the year 1560 that is from the Peace of Cambray betwixt Charles the Vth Emperour of Germany and Francis the First King of France This last Age hath afforded several most elegant Writers of the Dutch History as first Johannes Meursius who in X. Books hath writ the Life of William Prince of Orange and the Transactions of those Countries during all his time to the end of the Government of Ludovicus Requesenius that is from the year 1550 to the year 1576 and in another Work in IV. Books the beginning of the Low-Country-War or Six years Government of Ferdinand Duke de Alva to which he added a Vth Book in which is the History of the Truce Famianns Strada who in XX. Books wrote the History of those Wars from the Resignation of Charles the Vth that is from the year 1558 to the year 1590. Hugo Grotius who wrote V. Books of the Annals of Holland and XVIII Books of History in which he hath given an Account of all the Affairs of the Low-Countries from the departure of Philip the Second into Spain to the Truce that is from the year 1566 to the year 1609. ARTICLE XI The Historians of Spain THe Writers of Spanish History may perhaps not unfitly be ranked according to the four different ages of that Kingdom So the Infancy of Spain is lightly touched by Pomponius Mela who was a Native of Spain The youth of Spain as I may call it which was under the Roman and Gothick Dominion is described by Tacitus Dion Vopiscus Suetonius Appianus in his Iberica Procopius Eusebius and some others It began to arrive at Manhood in that Age in which it began to shake off the yoke of the Moors in which War 700 years were spent this then may be call'd the time of their Manhood And then their Ripest Age began under the Reign of Ferdinando the Catholick who expelled the Moors out of the whole Kingdom of Spain the most of those Writers I shall here mention Wrote of this last and the preceding Age. Isidorus Pacensis who is supposed to be the Authour of the Chronicle of Spain of whom Vasaeus Wrote thus rigidly in the Fourth Chapter of his Chronicle Isidorus Bishop of Badajoz or Baxagus Wrote a Chronicle of Spain whose Chronicle if that which bears this name be his I should rather call a Monster than a Chronicle he Writes so prodigiously ill and rather in the Gothish than Latine Tongue Rodericus Ximenes Archbishop of Toledo acquired much Glory by IX Books which he wrote of the Spanish History which he brought down to the times of Ferdinand the third the censure of Rodericus Sanctius is that the style of it is short but very pleasant and the Learned Lipsius saith it is as good as it was possible it could be in such an Age and Mariana gives him high Commendations in several places nor will I
seriously to have applied their Minds and Pens to the illustrating this subject Let us cast our eyes upon the third Centery which with the two which follow it may justly in his esteem be call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Flower and Golden Age of the Church As in that Age Theological Studies flourished every where so the Church History which till then was almost totally unknown began to sprought up and grow verdant The first that set out in that Race as far as is known to us was Eusebius Pamphili who took his Sir Name from Pamphilus the Martyr who was his intimate Friend as St. Hierome acquaints us he was Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine in the Reign of Constantine the Great who as Cedrenus tells us was a Great Historian and a general Scholar and without controversie he was then thought the most Learned Man of the Age. He I say as he himself affirmeth in the entrance of his first Book was the first who applied himself to Write an Universal History of the Catholick Church Beginning therefore with the Birth of Our LORD and proceeding accurately through all the times of the Tyrants he describes the Series of the Affairs of the Church the Successions of the Apostles and other Illustrious Doctours in the Church The Doctrine of the Gospel the Persecutions which Tyrants moved against the Church and the Martyrdoms that followed in them and the perverse Doctrines of Hereticks all which he dednced with a mighty industry in Ten Books to his own times Eusebius also Wrote the Life of Constantine in Four Books which are now extant and acknowledged to be genuine by Photius But then as he followed the Example of Xenophon who described the Institution and Encomium of Cyrus more that he he might propose to our Contemplation the Image of a good Prince than that he might give a true History of him so Eusebius did not so much dress up the History of the Life of Constantine as a Panegyrick of the Praises of that Prince and his glorious Actions And therefore Photius call'd that Piece An Encomium in four Books And certainly he has therein represented to our eyes the Lively Picture of an excellent Prince which the most potent Kings and Princes may contemplate to their great advantage as Grynaeus rightly observeth And the Reverend Bishop of Chichester observes also that Eusebius collected the History of the Martyrs out of the Archives or Registers of the Churches and the Commentaries of the Publick Notaries and the common Tables or Catalogues Nor was it saith he onely a Brevary designed for the reciting their Names of the same Nature with the Martyrologie which is now in use in the Church of Rome drawn up by Bede Usuardus or other such like Authours or like the Greeks Menologies but they were Historical Narratives of the things that happened and Commentaries Written at large as the Reverend Prelate proves out of Eusebius himself Where speaking of Apollonius he saith If any person is desirous exactly to know his words spoken before the Judge and what Answer he gave to the Questions of Perennius and his Apologetick Oration which he made before the Senate Let him be pleased to Read the Book which we compos'd of the Actions of the Ancient holy Martyrs But that Work of Eusebius and many others of which St. Hierome makes mention amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers are lost and have not fallen into the hands of the Men of these later Ages But there is not a few who detract what they can from the Authority of Eusebius and say That his Church History was rejected by Pope Gelasius in a Council and pronounced an Apochryphal Book But for the Asserting the Authority of Eusebius it is sufficient that Gelasius himself tells us in the beginning of that Censure that the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea and his Ecclesiastical History are not to be intirely rejected for the rare and excellent Knowledge they afford us Which is aiso said by Volaterranus in the Decretals Eusebius his Chronicle and Church History onely are received But if any body thinks otherwise let the confirmation of Melchior Canus be considered his words are these It is sufficiently apparent that all the rest of Eusebius his Church History pleased Gelasius and the Council in that they are pleased to acquaint us with what displeased them and therefore if you take out the Fable of Abgarus and the Commendations of Origen they say in a manner that all the rest of his History is worthy of our credit and beliefe The Judgment of Scultotus pleaseth me as to this very much which he unfolds in these words Those Books which contain the History of the Church do sufficiently demonstrate that that Story of the Primitive Church is true which is fetched from the Genuine Writings of the Orthodox Fathers for as long as Eusebius in his History follows Justin Irenaeus Origen Tertullian Cyprian Clemens Alexandrinus and such other Fathers of approved faith he is an Historian worthy of our belief and trust But whenever he quotes Tradition and appeals to things that were reported but not written then he mixeth many things that are Fabulous Thus far Scultetus The truth is the Papists do frequently reprehend Eusebius with great bitterness and fiercely fall upon him but above all others Cardinal Baronius as the same Scultetus observes discovers his hatred of Eusebius for which he had no other reason than this viz. He being the Historian who hath prosecuted so largely the Commendations and Donations of Constantine to the Church has not onely not mentioned his Grant to the See of Rome but has plainly intimated it to be false in Writing that Constantine was not baptized by the Pope at Rome but by another at Nichomedia But they pretend too that he was infected with Arianisme and that he ever favoured the Arian Party and therefore he is sometimes accused of Partiality That he was infected with that Heresie before the Council of Nice is in truth too apparent to be denied but then some write that after that time he willingly imbraced the Authority of the Holy Fathers of that Council and lived most holily and piously in the Catholick Doctrine Yea it is reported amongst the Greeks as George Trapezunce bears witness that at the command of the holy Fathers he drew up the Nicene Creed which he composed in such words that he delivered to the Fathers in Writing that Form The Son of God was begotten and not made being of the same Substance with the Father by which words that Heresie was without controversie condemn'd And it is most certain that he did by Letters give a most full and perfect account to his Citizens of what was done in that Convention which Letters are still exstant as Donatus Veronensis writes But to proceed the History of Eusebius reacheth to the year CCCXXV And Ruffinus a Presbyter of Aquileia an Emulatour of St. Hierome translating