by Miriam and Aaron called an Ethopian or Chusite as in way of reproach Num. 12. 1. But being they were different Nations and such as had some speciall ingagement with or against the Children of Israel we will consider them by themselves till we have brought them into one body by the name of Chusites Hethiopians or Arabians which are all the same And first the MADIANITES were such of the posterity of Madian the sonne of Abraham by Keturah who preserving the knowledge of the true God withdrew themselves from all communion with the idolatrous Canaanites at such time as the rest of their brethren did associate with them and setled themselves more towards the banks of the Red Sea where they did all good offices to the children of Israel as they passed thorow their Countrey Of these the Kenites were a branch as appeareth Judges 1. 16. where Jethro the Prince or Priest of Madian is called a Kenite some of which turned Proselytes and dwelt with the Israelites in Canaan of which race Heber the Kenite the husband of Jael who slew Sisera was undoubtedly one The rest continuning mingled with the Amalekites till the time of Saul were by him warned in memory of former curtesies to withdraw themselves from them lest they should perish with them in the same destruction Afterwards we hear litle of either People losing their name in the greater Nation of the Ismaelites with whom intermingled or passing with them into the same common notion of Arabians Chusites or Ethopians 2. Nor were the AMALEKITES though a greater and more powerful Nation of much more continuance descended as it is conceived from Amalek the Grand-sonne of Esan though I deny not but there are some reasons to be urged against that opinion and planted on the back of the Edomites as their Guard or outwork A people mischeivously bent against those of Israel as if they had inherited the hatred which Esau their fore-father did bear to Jacob whom they violently set on at Rephidim when they supposed them spend and wearied with their flight from Egypt And though discomsited in that battel yet they continued in their malice against the Tribes and joyning first with the Canaanites against them when they were in their March and after with the Midianites when not well setled in their new possessions A provocation so ill-taken by the Lord of hosts because unnatural and ill-grounded that he declared his resolution from the time of the battel of Rephidim to put out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven Exodus 17. 14. Accordingly when the Children of Israel were provided for it he commanded Saul to set upon them and to slay both man and woman Infant and suckling yea their sheep and Cattel But some of them escaped this slaughter and fell not long after upon Ziglag the retiring place of David which they took and ransacked but being by him followed on the first intelligence they were easily overthrown and the prey recovered Their malice yet survived their power and what they could not do by their proper forces they endeavoured to affect by joying with the Ammonites Moabites and other enemies of David in their warres against him And this was ultimum conamen one of the last flashes of their dying light nothing done by them worth remembrance of the times succeeding most of the Nation being worn out and those few which were left retiring to the Mountains of Edom but thereof also dispossessed by the Simeonites during the reign of Hezekiah 3. The ISMAELITES descending from Ismael the sonne of Abraham by Hagar branched into twelve great Nations and grown wondrous populous spread themselves over a great part of these three Arabias all of them either Theeves or Merchants trading to Egypt in spicery and balm and myrrhe or robbing those which traded in the like commodities Called also Hagarens in the Scripture as 1 Chron. 5. 10. Psalm 83. 6. c. and by that name well known to many of the antient writers A people for the most part of a vagabond and roguish life more given to spoyl than any honest course of living which made every Traveller and Merchant to be armed against them so verifying the prediction which was given of Ismael that he should be a wild man having his hand against every mar and every mans hand against him Saint Hierome so conceives that Prophecy to have been accomplished More fitly verified perhaps when in and under the name of Saracens by which and by the name of Scenites they were most generally known to the Greeks and Romans they made such foul havock in the world and were esteemed the common enemies of all Civil Nations Never so governable in their best and most orderly times as to acknowledge King or Law till made one body with the Chusites and the rest of these Nations and then no further than it stood with their lust or liking 4. As for the Chusites though they permitted the Nations above specified to inhabit in those Desarts and wast places which themselves either could not people or cared not for yet were they alwayes of most power and gave name to that whole tract of ground containing now all Petroea the South part of Deserta and the Mountains which divide Petroea from Arabia Felix which from them was called Chus or the land of Chus Rendred in all places of the old Testament by the name of Ethiopia first by the Septuagint and afterwards by all the Fathers Greeks and Latine the Vulgar translation of the Bible and almost all the other translations at this day extant And rendred right enough at first as in all times since though by some mistaken who having never heard of any other Aethopia than that in Africk have transferred thither all those actions and Texts of Scripture which are meant of this The Septuagint no doubt were not so ignorant of the affaires of their next neighbouring Nation as not to know by what name they were called by the Greeks their then Lords and Masters And he that looks into the History of Herodotus who lived 150 years before that translation will find that by the Grecians they were called Aethiopians and called so questionless from the self same reason that is to say the swarthyness or Sun-burnt-ness of their complexion as the AE thiops of Africk were that name being framed of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to burn and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a countenance by reason of their tawny and Sun-burnt Countenances For speaking of the huge Army of Xerxes against the Greeks he doth thus proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arsames saith he was Captain of the Arabians he meaneth the Troglodites and Aethiopians which are beyond Egypt but the Eastern Aethiopians were ranked with the Indians nothing differing from the other in the structure of their bodies but their hair and voice onely the Eastern Aethiopians wearing their hair smooth those of Libya curled The Aethiops
Sebva or Sebviah one of the Companions of that Dosthai who though they kept all the publick festivals as the Jews and the other Samaritans did yet they kept them not at the same time transferring the Pâ—sseover to August the Pentecost to Autumn and the feast of Tabernacles to the time of the Passeovâ—r not suffered for that cause to worship in the Temple of Garizim 3. The Gortheni who kept the same Festivals and observed the same times of those Solemnities as the Law required but kept onely one of the seven dayes of those great Festivals and laid by the rest as dayes of ordinary labour In other points not differing from the other Samaritans who though at first possessed of all the land belonging to the ten Tribes of Israel were yet reduced at last to a narrower compass shut up betwixt Galilee and Judaea within the antient territories of the Tribe of Ephraim and the other half Tribe of Manasses on this side of the water 1. The half Tribe of MANASSES on this side of Jordan was situate betwixt Issachar on the North and the Tribe of Ephraim on the South extending from the Mediterranean to the banks of that River In which the places of most consequence and consideration 1. Beth-san environed almost with the land of Issachar situate neer the banks of Jordan where it beginneth again to streighten and be like it self having been almost lost in the Sea of Galilee first called Nysa and so called by Bacchus or Liber Pater the founder of it in memory of his Nurse there buried but the children of Manasses not being able to expel the natives out of it as in other places gave it the name of Beth-san or the house of an Enemy Afterwards when the Scythians invaded those parts of Asia and compelled some of the Jews to serve them against the rest whom notwithstanding their good service they put all to the sword they new-built this City called therefore by the Grecians Scythopolâ—s or the City of Scythians and by them reckoned as a City of â—oele-Syria Memorable in the old Testament for the hanging of the dead bodies of Saul and his sonnes on the walls hereof by the barbarous Philistims in the time of our Saviour for being the greatest of all the Decapolitan Region as afterwards in the flourishing times of Christianity for being the See of an Arch-Bishop now nothing but a desolate village or an heap of rubbish out of which many goodly Pillars and other peeces of excellent Marble are often digged 2. Terzah used by the Kings of Israel for their Regal Seat till the building of Samaria and the removal of it thither 3. Aâ—rabata the territory whereof called Acrabatena was after made one of the ten Toparchies of Judeâ— 4. Thebes not far from Samaria where the Bastard Abimelech was wounded with a stone which a woman threw at him from the wall and perceiving his death to be drawing on commanded his Page to slay him that it might not be said he perished by the hands of a woman 5. Ephra or Hophrâ— in which Gideon dwelt neer whereunto there stood an Altar consecrated to Baal defaced by Gideon and not farre off the fatal stone on which Abimelech slew 70 of his Brethren An heathenish cruelty and at this day practised by the Turks 6. Asophon an ignoble village made famous only for the great and notable defeat which Ptolomy Lathurus here gave to Alexander the King of the Jews which victory he used with so great barbarity that he slew all the Women as he passed along and caused young children to be sod in Caldronâ— 7 Bezek the City of the bloody Tyrant Adonâ—Bezek whose story touched upon before see at large in Judges chap. 1. By Josephus it is called Bala and seemeth to be the place in which Saul assembled the chief strength of Israel and Judah to the number of 330000. men for the relief of Iabesh Gilead then distressed by the Ammonites 8. Iezreel the Royal City of Ahab and the Kings of his race situate at the foot of the Mountains of Gilboa So neer unto the Borders of Issachar that some have placed it in that Tribe Memorable in sacred story for the stoning of Naboth by the procurement of Iezabel and the breaking of Iezabels neck by command of Iehu A City which gave name to the plains adjoyning called the valley or Plainâ— of Iezreel but by the name of Campus Magnus in the book of Maccabees lib. 1. cap. 12. extending from Sâ—â—thopolis to the Mediterranean famous for the great and many battels which have been fought in it as namely of Gideon against the Mâ—dianites of Saâ—l against the Philistims of Ahah against the Syâ—â—â—n of Jehu against Iehoram and finally of the Christians against the Saracens 9. Megiddo unfortunately observable for the death of the good King Iosiah slain hereabouts in a battel against Pharâ—oh Neâ—â— King of Egypt and before that of Ahaziah King of Iudah who received his death-wound at Gaber a Town adjoining when pursued by Iehu 11. Dora or Dor as the Scriptures call it on the Moditerranian not far from the Castle of Pilgrims in the tribe of Issachar a very strong and powerfull City and therefore chose by Try hon for his City of Refuge who having first treacherâ—sly taken and barbarously murdered Ionathan the Maccabaean after he had received 200 talents for his ransome and no less viâ—lanously slain Antiochus the sixt of Syria his Lord and Master whom he succeeded in his throne was by Antiochus the seventh with an Army of 120000 foot and 8000 horse besieged in this City and most deservedly put to death 12. Caesarea antiently called the Tower of Siraton from Straâ—â—â— a King of the Zidonians new built by Herod and by him not only beautified with a large Theatre and Ampâ—â—theatre both of polished Marble but with a fair and capacious haven which with incredible charge and pains he forced out of the Sea And having in twelve years brought it to perfection in honour of Drusus Caesar Sonne-in-Law of Augustus he caused one of the chief Towers thereof to be called Dâ—â—sus the City it self to be called Caesarea Palestinae In this City was Cornelius baptized by St. Peter here did St. Paul plead in defence of Christianity before Festus then the Roman President and finally here Herod Agrippa was smitten by an Angell and devoured by worms after his Rhetorical Oration which his Parasites called the voyce of God and not of man The Metropolis of all Palestine when one Province only as afterwards of Palestina Prima when by Constantine or some of his Successors cantoned into three the first Bishop hereof being said to be that Cornelius whom Saint Peter here initiated in the faith of CHRIST 13. Antipatris another City of Herods building in the place where Kapharsalama mentioned 1 Maccab. 7. 31. had sometimes stood who in honour of his Father Antipater gave it this new name Neer hereunto did Iudas Maccabaeus overthrew a part of Nicanors Army and
that is to say from the sending it home by the Philistims till brought to Hierusalem by David 8. Beth-semes to which the Aâ—â— was brought by a yoke of Kine turned loose by the Philistims for irreverent looking into which there were slain by the immediate hand of God no fewer then 50070 persons of this City 9. Tsarah neer which is a fountain called the Fountain of Ethiopia because Philip there baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch 10. Caspin taken with great slaughter by Iudas Maccabaeus 11. Lachis remarkable for the death of Amaziah King of Iudah 12. Aialon a City of the Levites also in the valley whereof the Moon is said to have stood still at the prayers of Iosuah as the Sun did over the City of Gibeon the motion of the Heavens being said that he might have the more time for execution on the Kings of the Canaanites To this Tribe also belonged the Town and Territory of Dan or Leshem afterwards called Caesarea Philippi in the Tribe of NEPHTHALIM whereof we have there spoke already 3. The Tribe of SIMEON was so called from Simeon the second Sonne of Iâ—cob by his first wife Leah of whom were found at the first muster 59300 able men and but 22200 at the second muster when they came into Canaan Where they enjoyed but a small Territory to themselves their lot falling amongst the Philistims whom they were not able to expell and therefore they were taken into the Tribe of Iudah where they were permitted to enjoy some Towns and Villages intermixed with that more potent Tribe Afterwards in the reign of King Hezekiah some of them possessed themselves of Gedar belonging to the Children of Ham and others passing Southwards into Idumaea smote the Amaleâ—ites which inhabited in the Mountains thereof and dwelt in the places by them conquered But for all this wanting room for themselves and their Children many of them undertook the Office of Scribes or Scriveners and dispersed themselves amongst the rest of the Tribes teaching their Children to write and giving themselves to the employment of Publick Notaries God herein verifying the curse which Iacob had denounced on Simeon that he should be divided and scattered in Israel But for their fixed habitation which fell to them by lot it lay betwixt Dan upon the North and Idumaea on the South the Tribe of Iudah on the East and the Philistims upon the West Places of most observation in it 1. Gerar the Royall seat of the two Abimelechs Kings of the Philistims with whom Abraham and Isaac had to do and probably of some other of their Kings and Princes till subdued by the Israelites Situate in the South border of Canaan not far from the Wildernesse of Beersheba but in a very healthfull air called therefore Regio Salutaris in the times succeeding 2. Siceleg or Ziglag belonging to the Philistims till the time of David to whom given by Achish King of Gath for his place of retreat when persecuted by Saul from whom flying he lodged here all his goods and carriages sacked by the Amalekites but the booty recovered from them speedily by the diligence and good fortune of David 3. Haiin a City of the Levites 4. Cariath 〈◊〉 that is to say the City of Books seated within the bounds of Simeon but belonging to Iudah which some hold to be the University or Academie of old Palestine A Citie of the Levites also and at first possessed by the Sonnes of Anak or men of a Gigantine stature but taken by Othomel the Sonne of Kenâ— on the promise and encouragement which was given by Caleb that whosoever took it should have his Daughter Achsah to wife Afterwards it was called Debir Iudg. 1. 11. known in the time of Saint Hierome by the name of Daema 5. Chorma conceived by some to be that place mentioned 〈◊〉 14. 45 to which the Canaanites and Amalekites pursued those of Israel 6. Beershab or 〈◊〉 â—uramenti so called of the Well of waters and the oath which was there sworn betwixt Abraham and Abimelech Gen. 21. 31. Memorable in the Scripture for the Grove which Abraham there planted the wandring of Hagar thereabouts when she was cast out of Abrahams house with her young sonne â—â—mad and the dwelling of Isaac for which cause called the City of Isaac Situate in the extreme South border of the Land of Canaan the length whereof is often measured in the Scripture from this Town to Daâ— and for that cause well fortified by the Western Christians when they were possessed of this Countrey as standing on the borders of Idumaea and the Desarts of Arabia in the way from Egypt 4. The Tribe of IVDAH was so called from Iudah the fourth sonne of Iacob by his wife Leah of whom there were numbred at the first generall muster taken neer Mount Sinai 76600 fighting men and no fewer than 76500 at their entrance into the Land of Canaan The greatest Tribe and therefore answerably fitted with the largest territory bordering on the Dead Sea East upon Simeon West and the Tribe of Benjamin on the North and the Idumaeans on the South Comparatively large with reference to the other Tribes but otherwise unable to contain or feed those infinite multitudes without the extraordinary providence of Almighty God which are recorded to be in it King David mustering 470000 fighting men of this Tribe alone which was more than half the number found in the rest of the Tribes A Tribe which had a native Sovereignty over all the others the Scepter the Legislative power and the worlds Messiah being all promised unto this Places of most observation in it 1. Arad situate in the entrance of Iudaea in the way from the Wilderness of Edom. 2. Hebron one of the antientest Cities of Canaan the seat of Giants called Anakim or the sonnes of Anak This word Anak signifieth a chain worn for ornament and it seemeth that this Anak enriched with the spoils of his enemies wore a chain of Gold leaving both the custome and name to his posterity We read the like of Manlius Torquatus in the Roman Histories This Town did Abraham buy for a buriall place for his dead and in it his wife Sarah was first buried and after her four of the Patriarchs Adjoyning to this town is the plain of Mamre where Abraham the Father of the faithfull sitting in his Tent was visited from Heaven by God in the shape of man Here David kept his Court before the winning of Hierusalem to this place came the Tribes to anoint him King over Israel and hither came Absalon under the pretence of paying his vowes to usurp the Kingdome of his Father 3. Tecoa the City of Amos the Prophet and also of that woman who by the words which Ioab put into her mouth perswaded the King to call Absolon from exile In the Wilderness of this Tecoa there assembled the Inhabitants of Moab Ammon and Mount Seir to overthrow Iuda But the Lord being appeased by the publique Fast proclamed and kept by Iehosaphat and
Prophets as in our Saviours time with that of Mary the mother of John Mark mentioned acts 15. 37. converted to a Church by the Primitive Christians the Western part whereof was wholly taken up by the Palace of Herod a wicked but magnificent Prince for cost excessive and for strength invincible containing gardens groves fish-ponds places devised for pleasure besides those for exercise Fortified with three Towers at the Corners of it that on the South-East of the wall 50 Cubiâ—s high of excellent workmanship called Mariamnes Tower in memory of his beloved but insolent wife rashly murdered by him Opposite to which on the South-West corner stood the Tower of Phaseolus so called by the name of his brother 70 Cubits high and in form resembling that so much celebrated Aegyptian Phtros and on the North Wall on an high hill the Tower of Hippick exceeding both the rest in height by 14 Cubits and having on the top two Spires in memory of the two Hippâ—er his very dear friends slain in his service by the wars 2. On the South-side stood that part which was called the Old City possessed if not built by the Iebu 〈◊〉 and therein both the Mountain and Fort of Sion but after called the City of David because taken by him who thereon built a strong and magnificent Castle the Royall Court and Mansion of the Kings succeding In the West part hereof stood the Tower of David a double Palace built by Herod the one part whereof he named Agrippa and the other Coesar composed of Marble and every where enterlaid with gold and not far off the house of Annas and Caiaphas to which the Conspirators led our Saviour to receive his tryall 3. That which was called the Lower City because it had more in it of the Valley was also called the Daughter of Sion because built after it in majesty and greatness did exceed the Mother For therein upon Mount Moriah stood the Temple of Solomon whereof more anon and betwixt it and Mount Zion on another hill the Palace which he built for his Wife the Daughter of Aegypt and that which he founded for himself from which by an high Bridge he had a way unto the Temple West hereof on a losty rock overlooking the City stood the Royall Palace of the Princes of the Maccaboeans re-edified and dwelt in by King Agripoa though of Herod race and not far off the Theater of Herods building adorned with admirall pictures expressing the many victories and triumphs of Augustus Coesar In this part also stood Mount Aâ—ra and on that once a Citadell built by Antiochus King of Syria but razed by Simon one of the Maccaboean Brothers because it overtopped the Temple the house of Helena Queen of Adiabâ—ne who converted from Paganism to Indaism had here her dwelling and here died and finally Herods Amphitheatre capacious enough to contain 80000 people whom he entertained sometime with such shews and spectacles as were in use amongst the Romans And in this part also on an high and craggy rock not far from the Temple stood the Tower of Baris whereon the same Herod built a strong and impregnable Citadell in honour of Marc. Antonie whose Creature he first was called by the name of Antonius having a fair and large Tower at every corner two of them 50. Cubits high and the other 70. afterwards garrisoned by the Romans for fear the Jews presuming on the strengen of the Temple might take occasion to rebel 4. As for the New City which lay North to the City of Herod it was once a Suburb onely unto all the rest inhabited by none but mechanicall persons and the meanest trades-men but after incompassed by Agrippa with a wall of 25 Cubits high and fortified with ninety Turrets The whole City fenced with a wonderfull circumvallation on all parts thereof having a Ditch cut out of the main Rock as Iosephus an eye-witness writeth sixty foot deep and no less than two hundred and fifty foot in bredth First built say some by Melghisedech the King of Salem by the Jebusites themselves say others by whomsoever built called at first Jebusalem afterwards Jerusalem with the change of one letter only inlarged in time when made the Royall seat of the house of David to the Magnificence and greatness before described â—â— it attained unto the compass of sixty furlongs or seven miles and an half Unconquered for the first four hundred years after the entrance of the Children of Israel and when David attempted it the people presumed so much on the strength of the place that they told him in the way of scorn that the blâ—nd and the lame which they had amongst them as the Text is generally expounded should defend it against him But as I think the late learned Mr. Gregory of Christ-church in Oxon hath found out a more likely meaning of the Text than this who telleth us that the Jubesites by the blind and lame as they knew well the Israeliâ—es called blind and lame did understand those Tutelar Idols on whose protection they relied as the 〈◊〉 did on their Palladium for defence thereof and then the meaning must be this those Gods whom you of Israel call blind and lame shall defend our Walls Why else should David say had they meant it literally that his soul hated the lame and the blind 2. Sam. 5. 8. or why should the People of Israel be so uncharitable as to say that the blind and lame should not come into the House or Temple of God were it meant no otherwise But notwithstanding these vain hopes the Town was carried under the conduct of Joab that fortunate and couragious leader and made the Royal seat of the Kings of Judah Proceed we now unto the Temple built by Solomon in providing the materials whereof there were in Lebanon 30000 workmen which wrought by the ten thousand every moneth 70000 Labourers which carried burdens 80000 Quarry-men that hewed stones in the Mountains and of Officers and Overseers of the work no lesse then 3300 men The description of this Stately Fabrick we have in the first of Kings cap. 6. 7. In the year of the world 2350 it was destroyed by Nabuchadzezzar at the taking of Hierusalem rebuilt again after the return from the Captivity but with such opposition of the Samaritans that the Workmen were fain to hold their Tooles in one hand and their swords in the other to repulse if need were those malicious enemies But yet this Temple was not answerable to the magnificence of the former so that the Prophet Haggi had good occasion to say to the People cap. 2. ver 3. Who is lâ—ft among you that saw this house in her first glory is it not in your eyes as nothing in comparison of it Nor fell it short thereof onely in the outward structure but some inward Additaments For it wanted 1. The Pot of Mannah which the Lord commanded Moses to lay up before the Testimony for a Memorial Exod. 16. 32. c. 2. The
for the cost of the Emperour in whose name Lucan had bestowed this Epitaph on that first Monument Hic situs est Magnus placet hoc Fortuna Sepulchrum Dicere Pompeii quo condi malluit illum Quam terra carnisse Socer Which may be Englished to this purpose Here Magnus lies Such Fortune is thy doom That this vile earth should be great Pompeys Tomb. In which even Caesars self would rather have His Son-in-Law interr'd than want a grave Places of most consideration in it 1. Dinhahah the City of Bela the first King of Edom. 2. Anith the City of Hadâ—d and 3. Pan the City of Hadar two others of the Kings hereof which three are mentioned Gen. 36. 32. 35. 39. 4. Berzamna placed here by Ptolomy supposed to be the same with Bershabee in the Tribe of Simeon the utmost border South-wards of the Land of Canaan of which more there 5. Caparorsa 6. Gammararis and 7. Elasa all of them mentioned by Ptolomy which sheweth them to be of some consideration in those times though now forgotten with the former 8. Anthedon on the South-side of the River Besor opposite to Gaza in the Tribe of Simeon which is situate on the Northern bank A port Town once of good repute till defaced by Alexander King of the lewes re-edified afterwards by Herod the Great and named Agrâ—ppias in honour of Agrippa the favorite and Sonne-in-Law of Augustus Caesar 9. Raphia memorable for the great defeat which Ptolomy Philopater there gave unto Antiochus surnamed Magnus 10. Rhinocurura so called from a mishap which befel the Inhabitants hereof by mangling and defacing their noses By Plinie and Sâ—rabâ— called Rhinocurula and at this day Pharamica Memorable for an old but ill-grounded tradition that here the world was divided by lots betwixt the posterity of Noah and so considerable in the warres of the holy land that it was strongly fortified by Baldwin the first to obstruct the passage of such forces as usually came out on Egypt to aid the Turks 11. Ostracine now Stragionâ— on the Sea-side beneath Anthedon and in that part of the Countrey which from Mount Casius hath the name of Casiotus ascribed by Ptolomy to Egypt but being they are both on the North of the Lake of Sirbon more properly belonging to Palestina But most of these being now buried in their ruines there are left none but a few Castles and scattered villages the villages inhabited for the most part by Arabians the Castles garrisoned by Turks The chief of which lying on the Sea in the road to Egypt are 12. Hamones a small Castle not farre from Gaza used chiefly for a Toll-booth to receive custome of such Merchants as pass that way 13. Harissa a small Castle also serving specially for the same use but stronger and of more importance because neer the Sea from which not above two miles distant and for that cause garrisoned with a hundred Souldiers environed with a few houses by reason of the commodity of the water which is sweet and wholesome else little better than a Desart 14. Catio an other Castle or rather Toll-booth with a garrison of about 60 Souldiers in it seated in a place so desert and unfruitful that nothing vegetable groweth in it but a few starved Palm-trees The water which they have there so bad and brackish though esteemed good enough for the common Souldiers that all which the Captain drinketh is brought from 15. Tina a Town upon the Sea-shore about twelve miles distant and the last upon this coast towards Egypt The first Inhabitants of this Countrey were the Horites the Horites which dwelt in Mount Seir as we reade in Gen. cap. 14 v. 6. that is to say which dwelt in that hilly Countrey which afterwards was called Mount Seir. But whether it were so called from Esaus dwelling here as is said before or from Seir the Horite mentioned Gen. 36. 20. as perhaps may probably be supposed need not now come into dispute Broken by Cherdolaomer and his Associates they were the more easily subdued by Esau Who leaving the land of Canaan to his brother Iacob Gen. 36. 7 8. because those parts in which they dwelt did not afford them room enough for their several Cattel came into this Countrey and having destroyed the Horites from before them succeeded in their habitations and dwelt there in their stead â—venunto this day Deut. 2. 22. T is true we find Esau in Mount Seir before this remove for it is said that Iacob at his first coming out of Mesopotamia sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the Land of Seir the Countrey of Edom Gen. 32. 3. And hence a question hath been moved how Esau dwelling there before Jacobs coming can be said to remove thither to make room for him To this Sir Walter Ra egh and some others answer that at the time when Jacob came out of Padan-Aram Esau dwelt in those parts of the Mountains which lie on the East of Jordan called afterwards Galaad and Mount Hermon by which Jacob must needs passe in his way to Canaan which Mountains then were called by the name of Seir and from thence Syrion by the Zidonians or Phoenicians in the ages following from whence driven by the Amorites at such time as they vanquished those of Moab and Ammon they were forced to seat themselves on the South of Canaan where Moses found them But with this I am by no means satisfied For besides that it maketh Esau to carry a Mount Sier with him wheresoever he went it doth expressely differ from the plain words of Scripture both in the occasion and the time of his setling there the victories which the Amorites had over the Ammonites and Moabites being then fresh and newly gotten when Moses with the children of Israel came into these parts which was at the least 200. years after Esau did withdraw himself to the land of Edom. And therefore I should rather think that Esau finding himself distasted by his Father and Mother in regard of his Canaanitish mariages and the hatred which he bare to Jacob departed from them and so journed in the South parts amongst the Horites of Moun Seir that thither Jacob sent his messengers to make peace between them that the reconciliation being made Esau returned unto the place where before he sojourned and having brought thence his children cattel and the rest of his substance fixed himself again neer the house of his Fathers and finally that on Isaacs death finding his family increased his heards of flocks augmented and the rest of his substance also doubled by the death of his father he thought it fit also to enlarge his dwelling and so removed back once more to Edom. A thing not needful to be done had he dwelt in Galaad Hâ—rmon or any other part of that Mountainous Tract considering the great distance betwixt those Mountaines and the City of Hebron in which Isaac dwelt nigh to which Iacob also had set up his dwelling But on what
ground soever Esau left the possession of the land of Canaan to his brother Iacob certain it is he did it not without some strong impulsions from the spirit of God by whom the possession of that Land was desigued for Iacob to whom the blessing the birth-right had been both preferred And though Esau over-ruled by Almighty God seemed to have forgotten all displeasure against his brother yet the quarrel began by them in the womb of Rebecca brake out more violently in the times of their posterity Insomuch that Moses could by no means obtain a passage thorow Edom into the Promised Land though he sought it by a fair address and pressed it by all those motives and inducements which a wise and understanding man could have set before them For though the King of Edom then being seemed to pretend nothing but the safety of himself and his people both which he might have hazarded in all humane Reason by opening the closures of his Mountains and letting in a Nation mightier than his own yet it is possible there might be as much of stomach as worldly policy and that aswell the buying of the birth-right for so sleight a trifle as the getting of the blessing by such fraudulent means might not be forgotten Forhe not onely denyed them passage and sent back word expressely they should not go thorow but came against them with much people and a strong band as is said Numbers 20. 20. But the Edomites could not for all this prevent their destiny ' or make the word of God to be ineffectuall by which it had been signified when they were yet in their mothers womb that the elder should serve the younger Not verified in Esaus person for Iacob called him his Lord Esau professed himself to be his Servant and willingly submitted to his superierity but in the issues of them both then specially when David had subdued the Edomites and made them Homagers and Vassals to the Crown of Judah 2 Sam. 8. 14. Nor is less intimated in those words of the 60 Psalm where it is said Over Edom will I cast my shooe it being a custome of old times to fling their shooes upon a Countrey conquered or designed for conquest Pro ectio calceamenti super Regionem aliquam denotat subiicere as my Author hath it And in allusion unto this there is a story in the Chronicles of the Kings of Man how Magnus King of the Isles sent his Ambassadours to Murchard a King in Ireland commanding him on the next Christmas day to carry openly the shooes of King Magnus upon his shoulders in testimony saith the story that he was his Vassal The casting of the Shooe on a conquered Countrey or the treading of it under feet another ceremony of this nature mentioned Deut. 33. 29. do come both to one and signifie that vassallage or bondage which such a captivated Country was reduced unto But on the other side there was another part of the heavenly Oracle which made for Edom Isaac had signified to Esau that though the blessing given to Jacob could not be revoked and that he must content himself with being a servant to his brother for a certain in season yet there should one day come a time in which he should not onely break that yoke from off his neck but obtain the dominion over him Gen. 27. 40. The first part verified when the Edomites revolted from the Kings of Judah in the time of Joram or Jehoram the Sonne of Jehosophat and instead of a Vice-Roy sent unto them from the Court of Hierusalem set up a King of their own Nation never returning after that to the house of David For though foram made war presently upon them and got the victory yet he did not prosecute it unto any effect nor beat them out of any of their strong holds nor reduce any of their Cities unto his obedience as if he had got honour enough in the eye of the world by being master of the Field or shewing his abilities in command of a greater Army than the Edomites could bring against him The like errour was committed also by Amaziah who by a vast Army of 300000 fighting men did no greater wonders than the killing of 10000 and the taking of as many Edomites but neither left garrisons in any of their defensible places nor reduced any part of their Countrey under his obedience And for the later part thereof it was as punctually fulfilled in the time of Antipater an Idumaean Herod the Ascalonite his Sonne and their Successors who in the decrepit age of the house of Iacob became Kings of the Iews and lorded over them with insolence and contempt enough Mean time to look upon the intermediate passages of their State and story it seemeth that at the first they were governed by Dukes each having the command of those severall families of which they were the heads or Princes But as ambition and power did prevail among them the most potent having vanquished or awed the rest took to himself the name of King which by the names of their Fathers and their several Cities in which they reigned seem to have been chosen by election or otherwise to come in by strong hand as the sword could carry it The names of which are thus set down in the book of Genesis The Kings of Edom. 1. Bela the Sonne of Beor 2. Iobab the Sonne of Zerah 3. Hasham of the Land of Temani 4. Hadad the Sonne of Bedad who warred against the Midianites and vanquished them in the fields of Moab Gen. 36. 35. 5. Samlah of Masrekah 6. Saul of Rehoboth by the River Euphrates 7. Baal-Hanan the Sonne of Achbor 8. Hadar the Sonne perhaps of Baal-Hanan for I find no mention of his Father After whose death the heads of the severall Families resumed the Government again ruling over their own Tribes without any one Soveraign or Supreme And all these Kings they had before there reigned any King in Israel Gen. 36. 31. that is to say before any form of Supreme Government was established amongst them in the person of Moses called by the name of a King in the book of Deut. chap. 35. v. 5. But this distracted Government did not long continue the Edomites being under a King again at such time as the Children of Israel came out of Egypt for it was unto the King of Edom that Moses sent Messengers from Kadesh to desire a passage thorow his Countrey Which being denied and the Edomites in Armes to defend their passes Moses forbore to force his way though the neerest for him partly because he had no mind to spend those forces in fighting with hills and desarts which were designed for the conquest of another Countrey but principally because God commanded him not to medle with them or to take so much as a foot of their Countrey from them Deut. 2. 5. But David upon whom lay no such obligation having vanquished the Syrians and other Nations round about him followed his fortunes
Palmyrenâ— and Mesopotamia from which last parted by Euphrates and on the South by some parts of Petraea and Arabia Felix It hath the name of Deserta from the vast desarts which are in it and the un-inhabitedness thereof called also by Aristides Aspera from the roughness by Servius Inferior or the Lower in regard of the situation of it more towards the River by Lucian from the frequent bottoms and vallies in it Arabia Cava and finally by the Iews it was called Kedar from the blackness or swarthiness of the People the word in Hebrew signifying as much as Sun-bnrnt whence the people are by some writers called Kedareni and by Pliny Cedraei But the common and most usuall name of it is Arabia Deserta agreeable to the nature of it being generally a sandy Countrey full of vast desarts in which all such as travell use to carry their Provisions with them and to guide themselves in their journey by the course of the Stars though in some parts which lie neer Euphrates and the Mountains of Arabia Felix it have some few towns and those resorted to by Merchants But this is onely in those parts the residue of the Countrey being so desolate and wast that one who had travelled in it doth describe it to be so wild a place vt nec homines nec bestia videantur nec Aves imo nec arbores nec germen aliquod sed non nisi montes saxosi altissimi asperrimi A Countrey faith Guilandinus Melchior where are found neither men nor beasts no not so much as birds or trees nor grass nor pasture but onely stones high and most craggy mountains The people for the most part used to dwell in Tents alluded to by David Psalm 120. v. 5 which they removed from place to place as the pasture for their cattell failed them taking no other care for houses than the boughs of Palm-trees to keep them from the heats of the Sun and other extremities of weather Hence by the Antients called Scenitae or men dwelling in Tents in which respect the Jews call the Tartarians Kedarim from the like course of life which these Kedareni or Arabians lived but the name reaching into the other parts of Arabia also where they use the same king of living of whom more anon Yet notwithstanding most memorable is this Countrey in sacred story both for the dwelling place of Job and the habitation of those Wise-men who came out of the East unto Hierusalem to worship Christ the new-born King of the Jews That Job was an inhabitant here appeareth by the situation of his dwelling being in the East as is said in the Story of him chap. 1. v. 3. that is to say in the Countrey lying East to the Land of Canaan as this part of it doth and therefore called simply by the name of the East as Judg. 6. 3. where by the Children of the East are meant expresly the Inhabitants of Arabia the Desart who together with the Midianites and Amalekites oppressed those of Israel Secondly by the ill neighbourhood which he found from the Sabaeans who inhabited in this part also and of the Chaldeans mentioned v. 17. the next borderers to it and Thirdly by the inconsequences which needs must follow if we place him as some do in the land of Vs neer unto Damascus For how improbable must it be for the Sabaeans of the Red-Sea or the Persian gulf or the Caldaeans dwelling on the banks of the River Euphrates to fall upon Jobs Cattell grazing near Damascus the Countries being dis-joyned by such vast Desarts and huge Mountains that it is impossible for any Strangers to pass them especially with any numbers of Cattel in respect of those large Mountains deep Sands and the extreme want of water in all that passage And how impossible must we think it that the pen-man of the story of Iob who certainly was guided in it by the Holy Ghost should be so mistaken as to place Iobs dwelling in the East if the Land of Vs wherein he dwelt bordered on Damascus which lay not on the East but the North of Canaan A City called Us or Uz there was situate neer Damascus so called from Uz the Son of Aram Gen. 10. 23. A Land of Uz also amongst the Edomites spoken of in the Lamentations of the Prophet Ieremie chap. 4. v. 21. so called from Uz one of the posterity of Esau mentioned Gen. 36. 28 and finally a Land of Us or Uz so called from Huz the sonne of Nachor the Brother of Abraham mentioned Gen. 22. 21. which is that situate in this Tract the habitation and possession of that righteous man the Counttey hereabouts being called Ausit is and the people Ausita though by mistaking in the transcripts we find them named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Aesita in the fifth of Ptolomy The like I say also of the Wise-men or Magi who came to Hierusalem from the East that they dwelt in this Countrey where the said Ptolomy placeth the City Sabâ— according unto that fore-signified by the Royall Psalmist that the Kings of Arabia and Saba should bring their gifts Psalm 72. 10. Confirmed herein by the situation of the Countrey lying East of Canaan the authority of those Fathers who lived neerest to the time of our Saviours birth Iustin Martyr Tertullian Cyprian and by the testimony of Guillandinus Melthior above-mentioned affirming on the credible report of the people hereof that they came neither out of Mesopotamia or Arabia Feliz as many wise-men doe believe but out of Saba in Arabia the Desart which City saith he when my self was there was as I judged called Semiscasach Cities of note in a Countrey so desart and uninhabited we must look for few yet some there are inhabited by a more Civill sort of people whom they call by the name of Moores giving that of Arabian to those onely who live roming and robbing up and down Ptolomy gives the names of forty Cities and villages in it civitates vicos saith the Latine the memory of most of which is now utterly perished Those of most observation 1. Sabe or Saba the habitation of those Sabeans who pillaged Iob so called from Sheba the grand-sonne of Abraham by Keturah mentioned Gen. 25. 3. Of whom and of the rest of that line it is said in the sixt verse of that chapter that Abraham gave them gifts and sent them away from Isaac East-ward unto the East Countrey now called Semiscasac as it thought by Melehtor 2. Theman which possibly may be the Countrey of Eliphaz the Themanite one of the visitanâ—s of Iob As 3. Shuah on the North hereof was probably of Bildad another of them hence surnamed the Shuhite 4. Tharsacus by Pline called Aphipolis 5. Zagmais near the Persian Gulf in the Countrey of the Raubeni supposed to be descended from Mishma the fourth sonne of Ismael 6. Phunion the 36th 7. Oboth the 37th mansion of the Children of Israel 8. Rheganna another of those named by Ptolomy in
of eminent observation as 1 Mount Sinai famous in all ages for the promulgation of the Law and of late times for a Monastery of Maronites on the top thereof The hill so high that both shores of the Red Sea may be thence seen but easie of ascent by reason of steps cut out of the rock which notwithstanding he that beginneth to go up it at the break of day will hardly overcome the top of it till the afternoon The Monastery made an Episcopall See and formerly very well endowed as appeareth by the letters of Eugenius Bishop hereof to the Arch-Duke Charles Anno 1569. complaining that the Turk had sold all their lands and that himself and the Monkes were fain to pawn their holy Vessells and take up money on Usury Here is also a Mesque or Mesquit of Turks who resort in pilgrimage to this hill as well as the Christians 2. Mount Horeb where the Israelites worshipped the Molten Calf about a mile and an half distant from Mount Sinai but not so high on the top of which is a Church also and a Monastery of Coloires or Greek Monks at the bottom exceeding hospitable to strangers whom they entertain of free cost and cheerfully shew them all the places worth observation which the Scripture mentioneth in that tract Both hills by Ptolomy called Melani or the Black Mountains the last now called Orel 3. Mount Hor bordering on Idumaea and memorable for the death of Aaron Places of most observation 1. Petra the name-given to this part at first called Recem and at that time belonging to Midian afterwards called Serah when pertaining to the Idumaeans But falling under the power of the Arabians it is now called Crat. Best known in holy Scripture by the name of Selah before mentioned which signifies the same with the Latine Petra A City of great note and strength in all times foregoing taken by Amaziah the King of Judah 2 Kings 14. 7. and by him called Jock-beel but in vain besieged by Scaurus a Roman Generall who finding the place to be impregnable was content by the perswasion of Antipater to take a sum of money and raise his siege Not did the Emperour Traian speed much better at it his Souldiers being still beat off in all their assaults the very next man to him slain with a dart and himself forced to cast away his Imperial habit and flie for his life the heavens themselves if Dion who is never sparing of the like prodigies may be believed fighting against the Romans with thunder lighting whirlewinds and tempests as often as they made any approaches to it But in the end subdued with the rest of the Countrey In such esteem by reason of the strength of it by the Soldans of Aegypt that they kept here their choisest treasures and in the course of the Holy Wars much aimed at by the Turks and Christians as the key that opened the Gates of Palestine on the South border whereof not far from Mount Hor beforementioned the Town is situate The Metropolis of the Province when first under the Romans and made the Seat of a Latine Bishop when the Christians of the West were the Lords thereof 2. Bosra said to have been built by Augustus Caesar because by him repaired when decayed and ruined afterwards by Alexander Severus made a Colony of the Romans This last most certain and for such testifyed by this antient inscription in an antient coin COL BOSTRAN T. R. ALEXANDRIAN AE Memorable also for the birth of Philip the Emperour one of that Alexanders next Successors by whom it was caused for a time to be called Philippus for the Metropolitan dignity removed hither from Petra somewhat before the time of Justiman but by whom I find not and for being the Episcopall See of Titus hence sumarned Bostrenus a Reverend Father of the Church in the time of Julian the Apostate A City of as great antiquity as the most that be mentioned Gen. 36. 33. though there accounted of as a City of Edom to which at that time it did belong and is still remaining and well known by the name of Buffereth 3. Elama on a bay of the Red Sea called hence Sinus Elaniticus 4. Phara reckoned by Ptolomy for a chief Town of this Tract from whence the Wilderness of Paran seems to take its name 5. Berenice so called from some of the Queens of Aegypt but better known by the name of Esion-geber one of the Stations or incampings of the Children of Israel and made by Solomon the ordinary harbour for his Ships which sailed to Ophir in the East-Indies 6. Sur the chief City of the Amalekites giving name to the Wilderness or Desart of Sur comming close up to it remarkable for the first incamping of the Tribes of Israel after their miraculons passage over the Red Sea and the defeat which Saul gave to the Amaleknes whom he smote from Havilah to this place 7. Havilah so called from Havilah the Sonne of Chus being the furthest border of these Amalekites and Ismachtes on the Gulf of Persia as Sur was on the Red Sea or Gulf of Arabia 8. Madian so called of Madian the Sonne of Abraham by Keturah situate towards the Red Sea also the City of Jethro whose daughter Zipporah was the wife of Moses who flying from the Court of Pharaoh King of Aegypt was by Gods secret providence directed hither that keeping the flocks of Jethro in the Desarts adjoining he might acquaint himself with the waies and passages thorow which he after was to lead the house of Israel 9. Rephaim the incamping place of Moses where he discomfited the Amalekites and to which the said Jethro came to him with his wife and Children advising him to ease himself of some part of that burden which the government of so great a people would else bring upon him 10. Kadesh-barnes the station of the Tribes when the spies which were sent to discover the Land of Canaan returned back unto them memorable for the death of Miriam the Prophetess and 11 Thara no less memorable for the mutiny and punishment of Corah Dathan and Abirom the place remembred Numb 33. 27. but others will have 12. Makheloth mentioned v. 25. of that Chapter to be the Stage of that action the Scriptures being silent in this particular The rest of their encamping places being most of them in this part of Arabus I omit of purpose as obvious in the Scripture unto every Reader as I do also some of the Cities of Moab and Ammon accompted of by Ptolomy as Cities of this Province but spoken of already in our Description of Palestine to which more properly belonging The old Inhabitants of this Countrey were the Madianites the Ismaelites the Amalekites and the Children of Chus who dwelling promiscuously together are sometimes used for one another the Merchants which bought Joseph of his Brethren being indifferently called Midianites and Ismaelites Gen. 37. 28. and Zipporah the wife of Moses who questionless was a daughter of Madian being
the removing of the Imperiall Seat to Damascus in Syria and after that the usuall place of meeting for â—â—â—sultation in affairs of State relating to the peace of this Countrey and the common interest of this People as memorable for the Sepulchre of Mortis Hali the Progenitor of the Persian Sophies as Medina is for that of Mahomet 5. Meccha supposed to be the Mechara of Ptolomy situate in the like barren soyl not far from Medina but of far greater resort and trafick the whole wealth in a manner of this Countrey together with the commodities of Persia and India being first brought hither and from hence on Camels backs transported into Aegypt Syria Palestine and other parts of the Turkish Empire Unwalled and either for that cause or for concealement of their fopperies from the eyes of Christians it is made death for any Christian for to come within five miles of it Utterly destitute of water but what they keep in cisternes from one shewer of rain to another or else brought thither with great charge otherwise pleasantly seated rich and containing about 6000 families every year visited with three Caravans or troops of Merchants and Pilgrims from India Damascus and Grand Caire who having done their business and devotions there go afterwards in Pilgrimage to Medina also to the great enriching of both places 6. Ziden the Haven Town to Mecca from which distant about 40. miles situate on the Red Sea in a sandy soyl unwalled and much exposed both to wind and weather but wealthy well-built and of great resort 7. Zebit now the Metropolis of the Countrey situate about half a daies journey from the Red Sea in a large plain between two mountains a Riveret of the smae name passing by it well-traded for Sugars spice and fruits the ordinary residence of the Turkish Beglerâ—e by whom taken not longer after Aden 8. Eltor a Port Town of this Countrey where the Christians are suffered to inhabit 9. Aden on the very entrance of the Red Sea neer the Streights called 〈◊〉 Mâ—ndell supposed by some to be the Madoce of Ptolomy but more agreeing in situation with the 〈◊〉 Emporie by him called Arabia The fairest Town of the whole Peninsula of great strength both by Art and Nature well-traded and well-fortified having a large capacious Haven seldome without good store of shipping and containing to the number of six thousand persons Once a distinct Kingdome of itself but treacherously surprized by the Turks Anno 1538. and therewith all the rest of the Countrey made afterwards the seat of a Turkish Beglerbeg under whom and him of Zebit are supposed to be no fewer than thirty thousand Timariots 10. Oran the Lock and Key of the Southern Ocean 11. Thema or Theman the same I take it which our later travellers call Zeman situate more within the land affirmed by Benjamin the Jew surnamed Tuledensis to be a Town of 15 miles square but to have within the walls thereof great quantity of ground for tillage 12. Zarval a retiring place of the Caliphs when they lived in this Countrey 13. Hor on the point or Promontory called Chorodemus a Garrison not long since of the Kings of Ormus 14. Muskahat on the Persian Gulf neer the point of Land called Cape Rozelgate opposite to Surat in the East India and possessed by the Portugals who have fortified it with a well-built Castle for defence of their ships and Frigots which frequent those Seas Of no great note till the taking of Ormus by the Persians many of the Inhabitants whereof were since setled here Of the affairs of this Countrey we shall speak anon having first took a brief view of the Ilands which belong unto it 4. THE ARABICK ILANDS The ILANDS which lie round about the shores of Arabia Felix and have been antiently accompted as parts thereof are dispersed either in the 1. Red-Sea 2. Southern Ocean or 3. the Gulf of Persia 1. The RED-SEA called also by the Antients Sinus Arabicus and now Golso di Mecca is that part or branch of the Southern Ocean which interposeth it self betwixt Egypt on the East Arabia Felix and some part of Petraa on the West the North-East bound of it touching upon Idumaea or the Cost of Edom. Extended in length from the Town of Sues antiently called Arsinoe in the bottom of it to the streights of Babe!-Mandel where it openeth into the Southern Ocean for the space of one thousand and four thousand miles in breadth for the most part but one hundred but in some places almost two the Streights themselves not being above a mile and an half antiently chained by the Kings of Aegypt as is said by Strabo but now left open by the Turk who is Lord hereof A violent and unquiet Sea full of sands and shelves insomuch as they who passe in and out are fain to make use of Pilots which dwell thereabouts and are experienced in the channel Sufficiently famous in all times and stories for the miraculous passage of the Children of Israel It took the name of the Red-Sea as some conceived from the redness of the sands as others have delivered from the redness of the waters but later observations have discovered the weakness and absurdity of these Etymologies the Sea and Sands being coloured here as in other places By the Grecians it was called Erythraum which in that tongue signifieth Red also not from the colour either of the sands or waters but from one Erythras supposed to be the Sonne of Perseus and Andromeda who commanded the Eastem shores hereof And these come neerer to the mark than the others did For the truth is it was originally called the Sea of Edom because it took beginning on the coasts of that Countrey which word in the Hebrew signifying Red as appeareth Gen. 25. 30. first given as a nick-name to Esau and from him afterwards to Mount Seir or the Land of Edom Gen. 36. 31. was by the Greeks rendred Erthraum and Mare Rubrum by the Latines Whence the name of the Red Sea became known to all but the reason of the name to few Of the great trafick which was antiently driven up this Sea we shall speak hereafter when we are in Egypt on the other side of it Look we now on the Ilands which belong to Arabia as they all generally do Known in the times of Ptolomy by the names of 1. Adani 2. Aeni 3. Are 4. Cardamine 5. Combusta 6. Damanum 7. Hieracum or the Isle of Hawkes 8. Maliaci 9. Polbii 10. Socratis 11. Timagenis and 12. Zygana But by what names now called and of what note then is a thing so doubtfull that I dare not offer a conjecture Late Travellers report almost all of them to be small desolate or but meanly inhabited described by them under other names One there is of indifferent largeness said to be an hundred twenty and five miles long though but twelve broad called Dalaqua with a City in it of that name where they gather Pearls 2. Then
Mettals some precious Stones good Wines and the choicest Fruits as Limons Orenges Pomgranats Citrons Figs Cherries and such as these excellent both for taste and colour and of Palm-trees a great abundance of which though we have spoke before yet we shall here more fully declare the nature and strange properties of them They grow in couples Male and Female both thrust forth Gods full of seed but the Female is only fruitfull and that not except growing by the Male and having his seeds mixt with hers The pith of these Trees is an excellent Sallad better then an Hartichoke which in taste it very much resembleth Of the branches they make Bedsteds Latices c. of the leaves Baskets Mats Fans c. of the outward husk of the Cod Cordage of the inner Brushes The fruit it bears best known by the name of Dates are in taste like Figs and finally it is said to yield whatsoever is necessary to the life of Man It is the nature of this Tree though never so ponderous a weight were put upon it not to yield to the burden but still to resist the heaviness of it and to endeavour to lift and raise it self the more upwards For this cause planted in Church-yards in the Eastern Countries as an Embleme of the Resurrection instead whereof we use the Ewe-tree in these cold Regions For the same reason given to Conquerours as a token of Victory it being the Embleme of Hieroglyphick of a Souldiers life Hence figuratively used for precedency as Huic equidem consilio palmam do in Terence sometimes for the Victory it self as Non auferent tamen hanc palmam in Plinic plurimarum palmarum homo for a man that had won many prizes in the Fence-School as in Tully pro Roscio more naturally for the sign of Victory as in that of Horace Palmaque nobilis Terrarum Dominos evehit ad Deos. That is to say The Palm of victory a signe Equal's men to the Powers Divine The People though the Countrie lie in the same Clime with Barbarie are not black but tawnie or Olive-coloured affirmed by Pomponius Mela to weep and mourn over the bodies of their dead daubed over with dung to have held it a great impiety to burn or bury them but having imbalmed them to lay them in some inward room of their Houses the men to keep themselves at home for the houshold businesses the women to follow merchandise and affairs abroad the men to carry burdens upon their heads and the women theirs upon their shoulders Antipodes in these last to most other Nations But certainly they were a witty and ingenious People the first Inventers of Geomotry Arithmâ—tick Physick as also of Astronomy Necromancy and Sorcery They first taught the use of Letters to the neighbouring Phoenicians by them imparted to the Greeks Accustomed at the first to express their conceits in the shape of Birds Beasts Trees c. which they termed Hieroglyphicks of which two or three Examples out of Orus will not be impertinent For Eternity they painted the Sun and Moon as things which they believed to have had no beginning nor were likely to have any end for a Year they painted a snake with his tail in his mouth to shew how one year succeeding another kept the World still in an endless circle For a moneth they painted a Palm-tree because at every new Moon it sendeth forth a new branch For God they painted a Falcon as well for that he soared so high as that he governeth the lesser birds For integrity of life they painted fire and water both because these Elements are in themselves most pure and because all other things are purified by them For any thing that was abominable to the Gods they painted a Fish because in their Sacrifices the Priests never used them and the like From this manner of expressing ones self the invention of Letters is thought to have had its original though learnt by them no question of the children of Israel when they lived amongst them the History whereof take briefly and word for word out of Tacitus Primi per formas animalium Aegyptii c. The Egyptians first of all expressed the conceptions of the minde by the shapes of beasts and the most ancient monuments of mans memory are seen graven in stones and they say that they are the first inventers of Letters Then the Phoenicians because they were strong at Sea brought them into Grâ—ece and so they had the glory of that which they received from others For there goeth a report that Cadmus sailing thither in a Phoenician ship was the Inventer of that Art among the Greeks when they were yet unexpert and rude Some report that Cecrops the Athenian or Livius the Theban and Palamedes the Graecian did finde out sixteen Characters at the time of the Trojan War and that afterward Simonides added the rest But in Italy the Etrurians learned them of Demaratus the Corinthian and the Aborigines of Evander the Arcadian So far Tacitus That the Phoenicians were the first inventers of Letters I dare not affirm and as backward am I to refer the glory hereof to the Egyptians for certainly the Hebrews were herein skilled before either yet that the Phoenicians were herein School-masters to the Greeks I think I may with safety maintain having Lucan in consent with Tacitus Phoenices primi fama si creditur ausi Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris Phoenicians first if fame may credit have Dar'd in rude Characters our words ingrave Of this minde also is Isidore of Sevill in the first book of Originations who also addeth that for that cause the Fronts of Books and the Titles of Chapters were written in red letters as it is by some still in use Hinc est quod Phoeniceo colore librorum capita describantur quia ab ipsis literae initium habuere cap. 3. As for these less vulgar Letters which the Latines call Cyphrae and whereof every exercised Statesman have peculiar to himself they were first invented by Julius Caesar when he first began to think of the Roman Monarchy and were used by him in his Letters to his more private and tryed friends that if by misfortune they should be intercepted the contents of them should not be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne obvia literarum lectio cuivis esset Augustus one of the greatest Politicians of the World had another kinde of obscure writing for in his Letters of more secrecy and importance he always used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to put the letter immediatly following in the order of the Alphabet for that which in ordinary writing he should have used As for Brachygraphie or the Art of writing by short Characters so usefull for the taking of a Speech or Sermon as it is spoken I finde in Dion that Moecenas that great favorite of Augustus Caesar and favourer of Learning did first invent them ad celeritatem scribendi for the speedier dispatch of writing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
him and Mizraim possessed himself of all the rest from the greater Syrtis to the Ocean Remainders of whose name we find in the River Phut by Ptolemy called Phthuth with but little difference save that it savoureth more of the African roughnesse near which Josephus findeth a Region called the Country of Phut a Nation called he Phuteans seconded herein by S. Hierome who speaking of this Regio Phutensis in Mauritania where the River Phuth is placed by Ptolomy voucheth in generall terms the testimony of old Writers both Greek and Latine So that of this there is no question to be made Such Nations as descended of this Plantation shall be hereafter spoke of in their several Provinces Governed at first by the Chiefs of their several families but in the end reduced under the command of the Kings of Mauritania and Numidia and the State of Carthage The two first Natives of this Country of the race of Phut the last descended also of the seed of Cham their common Parent by the line of Canaan who on the conquest of their Country by the Children of Israel forced to seek new dwellings and having store of ships to transplant themselves and their families setled in the maritime parts of Mauritania and Africa properly so called For that the people of those parts though lost into other names and families were antiently of a Canaanitish or Phoenician race may be made apparent 1. By the nearnesse of their Language the Punick or Phoenician and old Hebrew tongue differing only in the dialect and pronunciation 2. By the name Poeni or Phoeni little differing from that of the Phoenices 3. By this testimony of S. Augustine who telleth us in the Comment on S. Pauls Epistle to the Romans begun but not finished by him Interrogati Rustici nostri quid sint respondent Punici Chanani that is to say that when any of the Inhabitants of this Country he himself was one were asked what they were they answered Chanaanites 4. We find in Herodotus how Cambyses having totally conquered Egypt intended a war against the Carthaginians who were then a State it seemeth of some power but the Phoenicians being the onely Sea-faring men Cambyses then had absolutely denied to be imployed in that service they being sprung from the same tree that the Carthaginians were 5. We read in Procopius out of which it is cited by Evagrius Scholasticus how on two marble-pillars situate nigh unto Tingis or Tanger there was in the Phoenician language and character engraved Nos fugimus à facie Joshuah praedonis filii Nave that is to say We flie from the face of that Robber Joshuah the son of Nun. The setling of this people there a great incitement questionlesse unto Dido to come thither also who feared as much danger from her brother Pygmalion King of Tyre whose hands had been embrued in the blood of her husband as the others did from the sword of Josuah Gathering together all her treasures which were very great accompanied with her brother Barca and her sister Anna the set sail for Africk and landing in the Bay where after stood the City of Carthage she obtained leave to build a Fort of no greater bignesse then the could compasse round about with an Oxes hide This the beginning of that City hence the name of Byrsa which at first it had First founded in or about the year of the world 3070. which was about 144 years after the building of Solomons Temple 143 years before the building of Rome and about 290 years from the destruction of Troy By which accompt I note this only by the way it is impossible that Dido or Elisa for by both these names we find her called should ever see the face of Aenaeas unlesse it were in picture or imagination and therefore as impossible she should either fall in love with him or be got with child by him or finally kill her self on her being forsaken All which being delivered by Virgil in his excellent Poem did for long time obtain a generall belief with most sorts of men Hereunto consenteth Ausonius who honouring the Statua of this abused Princesse with an Epigram of 18 verses among others gives us these four Invida cur in me stimulasti Musa Maronem Fingeret ut nostra damna pudicitiae Vos magis Historicis Lectores credite de me Quam qui furta deum concubitusque canunt Why didst thou stir up Virgil envious Muse Falsely my name and honour to abuse Of me let Histories be heard not those Who to the World Jove's theft and lusts expose Credible it is that Aenaeas being driven on the coast of Africk was by some Prince there courteously entertained as a man whose fame had been his harbinger but why the story should be fastned on Dido I see not Perhaps the unfortunate death of this Queen who laid violent hands on her self gave occasion to the Poet to fain that it was for the love of Aenaeas whereas it was indeed to avoid the lust and fury of Jarbas a potent King in Africk who violently desired to have his pleasure on her But to proceed This City thus founded in a place commodious for trade and merchandise in short time grew exceeding wealthy And having wealth enough to hire mercenary souldiers of which the needy Mauritanians Numidians did afford good store they conquered all the Sea-coasts from Cyrene to the Streits of Hercules now called the Streits of Gibraltar and so much also towards the South as was worth the conquering within which space possessed of 300 Cities Grown to such height that all the African Kings and Princes and amongst them the Kings of Numidia and Mauritania were at their devotion They began to cast their eyes on Sicily a wealthy Island lying near unto their Coast which questionless they had possessed if the Romans envious of their greatness and fearing their neighbourhood had not took upon them the defence of the Mumertines and under that pretence got some footing in it The end of this war after many brave exploits on both sides was the driving the Carthaginians out of Sicil their abandoning all the Islands betwixt them and Italy and the payment of 3200 Talents amounting to about two millions of Crowns And such end had the first Punick war managed for the most part in Sicil during which time and the first war there managed by the Carthaginians Africk it self was twice invaded first by Agathocles Tyrant of Syracuse or so commonly called and afterwards by Regulus a Roman General but with no other great successe then the spoil of the Country The second followed not long after but the Scene was altered begun in Spain prosecuted in Italy and ended in Africk Begun by Annibal the son of Amilcar descended from Barca the brother of Dido or Elisa who having conquered a great part of Spain and thereby both increased his reputation and experience conducted his victorious Army through Gaul and over the Alpes into Italy it self defeated the Army of