by which this new device of Calvin was dispersed and propagated But to return unto Geneva though Calvin for his time did hold the Chair as a perpetuall Moderator and Beza too untill Danaeus set him besides the Cushion yet after that the power of the Presbyterie was shrewdly lessened in Geneva and the good Members so restrained in the exercise of it that they have no power to convent any man before them but by the autority of a Syndick or Civill Magistrate And as for maintaince they hold their Ministers so strictly to a sorry pittance as would be sure to keep them from presuming too much on their power in Consistory Tithes of all sorts were to be taken up for the use of the State and layd up in the publick Treasury and stipends issued out to maintain the Ministerie but those so mean that Bezaes stipend whilst he lived hardly amounted to eighty pound per annum the refidue of the City-Ministers not to sixty pound those of the Villages adjoyning having hardly forty pound enough to keep them always poor and miserably obnoxious to the wealthier Citizen And that they may not steal the Goose and not stick up a feather the Staee doth use to make some poor allowance to the wives and daughters of their deceased Ministers if they dye poor or leave their children unprovided or otherwise have deserved well in the time of their lives In respect hereof though the Ministers are very strict in forbidding Dancing and have writ many Tracts against it yet to give some content to the common people who have not leasure to attend it at other times they allow all Man-like Exercises on the Lords-day as shooting in peeces long-bows cross-bows and the like and that too in the morning both before and after the Sermon so it be no impediment to them from coming to the Church at the times appointed As for the Government of the State it is directed principally by the Civill or Imperiall Laws the Judge whereof is called the Leiutenant-criminall before whom all causes are tryed and from whom there lyeth no Appeal unless it be unto the Counsell of two hundred whom they call the Great Counsell in which the supreme power of the State resideth Out of this Counsell of two hundred there is chosen another lesser Counsell of five and twenty and out of them four principall Officers whom they call the Syndiques who have the sole managing of the Commonwealth except it be in some great matter as making Peace or War offensive or defensive Leagues hearing Appeales and such like generall concernments which the great Counsell of tvvo hundred must determine of They have a custom superadded to the Civill Law that if any Malefactor from another place fly to them for refuge they punish him after the custom of the place in which the crime was committed Otherwise their Town being on the borders of divers Provinces would never be free from Vagabonds Examples hereof I will assign two the first of certain Monks who robbing their Convents of certain plate and hoping for their wicked pranks at home to be the welcomer hither were at their first acquaintance advanced to the Gallows The second is of a Spanish Gentleman who having fled his Country for clipping and counterfeiting the Kings Gold came to this town and had the like reward And when for defence he alleged that he understood their City being free gave admission to all Offenders true said they but with an intent to punish them that offended a distinction which the Spaniard never till then learned but then it was too late As for their ordinary Revenue it is proportionable to their Territory if not above it conceived to amount to sixty thousand pound per annum which they raise upon the demain of the Bishop and the Tithes of the Church and on such impositions as are layd upon flesh and Merchandise But they are able to raise greater sums if there be occasion as appears plainly by the sending of 45000 Crowns to King Henry the third before they had been long setled in their own estates And as for Military forces they are able to impress two thousand men and have Arms of all sorts for so many in the publick Arsenall as also twelve or fourteen peeces of Ordnance with all manner of Ammunition appertaining to them and on the Lake some Gallies in continuall readiness against the dangers threatned them from the Dukes of Savoy And for the greater safety of their Estate and the preservation of their Religion they joyned themselves in a constant and perpetuall League with the Canton of Bern An. 1528 communicating to each other the Freedom of their severall Cities and by that means are reckoned for a member of the Commonwealth of the Switzers which is no small security to their affairs But their chief strength as I conceive is that the neighbor Princes are not willing to have it fall into the hands of that Duke or any other Potentate of more strength than he Insomuch that vvhen that Duke besieged it An. 1589 they were ayded from Venice with four and twenty thousand and from England with thirteen thousand Crowns from Florence with Intelligence of the Enemies purposes Another time when the Pope the French King the Spaniard and Savoyard had designs upon it the Emperor offered them assistance both of Men and Money yea and sometimes the Dukes of Savoy have assisted them against the others as being more desirous that the Town should remain as it doth than fall into any other hands than his own So ordinary a thing it is for such petit States to be more safe by the interess of their jealous neighbors than any forces of their ovvn The Arms of Geneva when under the command of the Earls thereof vvere Or a Crosâ— Azure 4. WALLISLAND EAstward from Savoy in a long and deep bottom of the Alpes Poeninae lyeth the Country of WALLISLAND so called either quasi Wallensland or the land of the Valenses once the Inhabitants of the Country about Martinacht a chief Town hereof or quasi Vallis-land or the Land of Vallies of which it totally consists It reacheth from the Mountain de Furcken to the Town of Saint Maurice where again the hills do close and shut up the valley which is so narrow in that place that a bridge layd from one hill to another under which the River Rhosne doth pass is capable of no more than one Arch onely and that defended with a Castle and two strong Gates On other parts it is environed with a continuall wall of steep and horrid Mountains covered all the year long with a crust of Ice not passable at all by Armies and not without much difficulty by single passengers so that having but that one entrance to it which before we spake of no Citadell can be made so strong by Art as this whole Country is by Nature But in the bottom of those craggy and impassable Rocks lies a pleasant Valley fruitfull in Saffron
by the learned Camden This as it is the largest Province of all this Kingdom so was it with most difficulty subjected to the Crown of England and reduced to good order and civility First conquered by Iohn Curâ—â— a valiant 〈…〉 in the reign of King Henry the 2d by whom created Earl of Vlster But being maligned for his eminent vertues and after proscribed by King Iohn this Title and Estate were both conâ—erred upon Hugh Licie the Lord and Conquerour of Meth whom before we spake of By an Heir Generall of the Lacies it came unto the Burghs then Lords of Connaught and by the mariage of Elâ—zabeth Daughter and Heir of Richard de Burgh the last Earl of that â—amily it came to Leonel Duke of Clarence the second Sonne then living of King Edward the 3d as by his Daughter Philip to the Earls of March from them by the like mariage to the house of York and in the person of King Edward the 4th to the Crown again But being neglected by the English in the whole courâ—e of their Government especially in the Wars betwixt York and Lancaster it was cantonned into many estates and Principalities by the great Lords of the naturall Irish who had born too great sway here in the former times and so estranged from the civilitâ—es of England and their Allegiance to that Crown as if it had never been in subjection to it In which estate it did continue the Kings of England having here no more power or profit than the great ones of the Countrey were pleased to give them till the Rebellion 〈◊〉 and afterwards the Vanquishment of Hugh Oneal the then Earl of 〈◊〉 Oen brought it in full subjection to the English-Government of which more hereafter 4 CONNAVGHT in Latine called Connacia by the Irish Connaght is bounded on the North with Vlster on the West with the Main Ocean on the South with Mâ—unster from which parted by the River Shanon and on the East with Meth and some part of Lâ—inster So called from the Nagnatae an old Irish Nation or from Nagnata a Port-Town both placed by Ptolomie in this tract The Soil of the same tâ—mper with that of 〈◊〉 as woodie and as full of bogs till these later times in which indifferently well cleered of both inconveniences It hath been also called by our English Writers the Countie of Clare from Thomas de Clare one of the younger Sonnes of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester on whom it was conferred by King Edward the first and is divided at the present into these five Shires that is to say 1 Letriâ— 2 â—oscommon 3 Maio 4 Slego and 5 Galloway and Twomond In which are comprehended but six Towns of any consequence for commerce and traffick an Argument of the imperfect plantation of it by the English Conquerors and about 24 Castles for defence of the Countrie of old erection besides such Fortresses as have been raised occasionally in these later troubles Places of most note and observation 1 Toam an Archbishops See 2 Athenry an antient Town but decaied and ruinous of most renown for being the Baronie of John de Bermingham a noble Englishman who had great possessions in this tract 3 Letrim the chief Town of the Counâ—ie so named neighboured by the Curlew-Mountains unfortunately memorable for the great defeat there given the English in Tir-Oens rebellion and by the Spring or Fountain of the River henin or Shanon whose course we have before described 4 Slego and 5 Roscommon the chief Towns of their severall Counties 6 Athlone a Peece of great strength and the Key of 〈◊〉 7 Twomond not otherwise much observable but for giving the title of an â—arl to the noble Family of O-Brian descended from the Kings of Connaught advanced unto that honour by King Henry the 8th 8 Galloway the principall of this Province a Bishops See and the 〈◊〉 Citie of the Kingdom for beautie and bigness Situate neer the fall of the great Lake or River 〈◊〉 orbes in the Western Ocean A noted Emporie and lately of so great fame with forein Merchants that an out-landish Merchant meeting with an Irishman demanded in what part of Galloway Ireland stood as if Galloway had been the name of the Iland and Ireland onely the name of some Town This once a Kingdom of it self as the rest of those Provinces the last King whereof was Rodorick surnamed the Great who having a great hand over the rest of the Roytelets entituled himself sole Monarch or King of Ireland But being forced to submit himself to king Henry the 2d his Countrey at the last was brought into subjection to the Crown of England by the valour and good fortune of Wâ—lliam de Burgh Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester Williâ—m de Bermingham and other noble Adventurers of the English Nation And though all of them did pâ—rtake of the fruit of their labours yet the greatest part of the spoil together with the title of Lords of Coâ—naught fell to the Family of the Burghs from them to Lionel D. of Clarence and by degrees unto the Crown as before was shewn Cantonned again amongst the Irish and degenerate Engliâ—â— as Vlster was by the supine neglect of the Kings of England till the Rebellion of Tiâ—-Oâ—n involving all the Chiefs of the Irish Nation in the same cause with him involved them also consequently in the same destruction 5 MOVNSTER by the Latines called Momonia is bounded on the North with Connaught on the East with Leinster on the West with the Atlantâ—â—k or Western Ocean and on the South with the Vergivian By the naturall Irish it is called Mown whence the English had the name of Mounster A Province which for rich Towns commodious Havens fair Rivers and the fertilitie of the Soil yeelds not to any in the Kingdom It is divided into six Counties viz. 1 Limerick 2 Waterford 3 Cork 4 Desmond 5 Kâ—rry and 6 Tipperarie which two last antiently enjoyed all the rights of a Countie Palatine And in these Shires are comprehended besides many safe Stations and Rodes for Shipping 24 owns of note and trading and 66 Castles of old erection Places of most observation 1 Cassiles in the Countie of Limerick an Archbishops See â—dvanced unto that honour by Pope Eugenius the third about the year 1150. 2 〈◊〉 the principall of that Countie and the fourth in estimation of all the Kingdom Situate in an Iland compassed round about with the River Shanon by which means well fortified a well-frequâ—nted Emporie and a Bishops See Distant from the main Ocean about 60 miles but â—o accomoâ—â—ed by the River that ships of burden come up close to the very wals The Castle and the Bridge peeces of great both strength and beautie were of the foundation oâ— King â—ohn exceedingly delighted with the situation 3 Clonmel in the Countie of Tipperarie of great strength and consequence 4 Holy Cross in the same County also once flourishing by reason of the great resort of Pilgrims to see
is of different natures the parts adjoyning to the Weser being desert and barren those towards the Earldomes of Mark and Bergen mountainous and full of woods the Bishoprick of Bremen except towards the Elb full of dry sands heaths and unfruitfull thickets like the wilde parts of Windsor Forrest betwixt Stanes and Fernham In other parts exceeding plentifull of corn and of excellent pasturage stored with great plenty of wilde fruits and by reason of the many woods abundance of Akorns with infinite herds of swine which they breed up with those naturall helps of so good a relish that a Gammon of Wesiphalian Bacon is reckoned for a principall dish at a great mans Table The old inhabitants hereof were the Chauci Majores about Bremen the Chanani Angrivarii and Bructeri inhabiting about Munster Osuaburg and so towards the land of Colen and part of the Cherusci before spoken of taking up those parts which lie nearest unto Brunswick and Lunenbourg All of them vanquished by Drusus the son-in-law of Augusius but soon restored to their former liberty by the great overthrow given by the Cherusci and their associates to Quintilius Varus Afterwards uniting into one name with the French they expulsed the Romans out of Gaul leaving their forsaken and ill-inhabited seats to be taken up by the Saxons with whom the remainders of them did incorporate themselves both in name and nation Of that great body it continued a considerable Member both when a Kingdome and a Dukedome till the proscription and deprivation of Duke Henry the Lyon at what time the parts beyond the Weser were usurped by Barnard Bishop of Paderborn those betwixt the Weser and the Rhene by Philip Archbishop of Colen whose successours still hold the title of Dukes of Westphalen the Bishopricks of Breme Munster Paderborn and Mindaw having been formerly endowed with goodly territories had some accrewments also out of this Estate every one catching hold of that which lay nearest to him But not to make too many subdivisions of it we will divide it onely into these two parts VVestphalen specially so called and 2 the Bishoprick of Bremen In VVESTPHALEN specially so called which is that part hereof which lyeth next to Cleveland the places of most observation are 1 Geseke a town of good repute 2 Brala a village of great beauty 3 Arusberg and 4 Fredeborch honoured with the title of Prefectures 5 VVadenborch 6 Homberg lording it over fair and spacious territories All which with two Lordships and eight Prefectures more dispersed in the Dukedome of Engern and County of Surland belong unto the Bishop of Colen the titulary Duke of VVestphalen and Angrivaria Engern as he stiles himself 7 Mountabour perhaps Mont-Tabor seated in that part hereof which is called VVesterwald a town of consequence belonging to the Elector of Triers 8 Rhenen 9 Schamlat and 10 Beekem reasonable good towns all of the Bishoprick of Munster 11 Munster it self famous for the Treaty and conclusions made upon that treaty for the peace of Germany seated upon the River Ems and so called from a Monastery here founded by Charles the great which gave beginning to the Town supposed to be that Mediolanium which Ptolemy placeth in this tract a beautifull and well fortified City and the See of a Bishop who is also the Temporall Lord of it Famous for the wofull Tragedies here acted by a lawlesse crew of Anabaptists who chose themselves a King that famous Taylor John of Leiden whom they called King of Sion as they named the City New Jerusalem proclaimed a community both of goods and women cut off the heads of all that opposed their doings and after many fanatick and desperate actions by the care and industry of the Bishop and his confederates brought to condigne punishment The Story is to be seen at large in Sleidan and some modern pamphlets wherein as in a Mirrour we may plainly see the face of the present times 12 Osnaburg first built as some say by Julius Caesar as others by the Earls of Engern but neither so ancient as the one nor of so late a standing as the others make it here being an Episcopall See founded by Charles the Great who gave it all the priviledges of an Vniversity Liberally endowed at the first erection of the same and since so well improved both in Power and Patrimony that an alternate succession in it by the Dukes of Brunswick hath been concluded on in the Treaty of Munster as a fit compensation for the Bishoprick of Halberstad otherwise disposed of by that Treaty of late enjoyed wholly by that Family 13 Quakenberg on the River Hase 14 VVarendorp and 15 VVildshusen towns of that Bishoprick 16 Paderborn an Episcopall See also founded by Charles the Great at the first conversion of the Saxons more ancient then strong yet more strong then beautifull 17 Ringelenstein and 18 Ossendorf belonging to the Bishop of Paderborn 19 Minden upon the VVeser another of the Episcopall Sees founded by Charles the Great and by him liberally endowed with a goodly Patrimony converted to lay-uses since the Reformation under colour of Administration of the goods of the Bishoprick and now by the conclusions at Munster setled for ever on the Electors of Brandenbourg with the title of Prince of Minden 20 Rintelin a strong town conveniently seated on the Weser not far from Minden to the Bishop whereof it doth belong Hitherto one would think that Westphalen had formerly been a part of Saint Peters Patrimony belonging wholly to the Clergy but there are some Free Cities and secular Princes which have shares therein as 1 VVarburg a neat town but seated on an uneven piece of ground neer the River Dimula a town which tradeth much in good Ale brewed here and sold in all parts of the Country heretofore a County of it self under the Earls hereof now governed in the nature of a Free Estate and reckoned an Imperiall City 2 Brakel accompted of as Imperiall also 3 Hervâ—rden a town of good strength and note governed by its own Lawes and Magistrates under the protection of Colen 4 Lemgow belonging heretofore to the Earls of Lippe but by them so well priviledged and enfranchised that now it governeth it self as a Free Estate Here is also 5 The town and County of Ravensburg belonging anciently to the Dukes of Cleve and now in the rights of that house to the Elector of Brandenbourg As also 6 the Town and County of Lippe lying on the west side of the VVeser the Pedegree of the Earls whereof some fetch from that Sp. Manlius who defended the Roman Capitol against the Gauâ—s they might as well derive it from the Geese which preserved that Capitol others with greater modestie look no higher for it then to the times of Charls the Great one of the noble Families of the antient Saxons Some other Lords and Earls here are but these most considerable all of them Homagers of the Empire but their acknowledgments hereof little more then titular though not
Kingdome of the Caramanians continuing theirs till the destruction of that line by Bajazet the second Anno 1486. by whom incorporated with the rest of the Ottoman Empire Thus having made our Progress over all the Provinces of the Lesser Asia and shewn how every one of them was made subject to the Turkish Tyranny we must next draw down the Succession of such Turkish Kings as have reigned herein till it was wholly conquered by the Princes of the house of Ottoman Concerning which we are to know in the way of Preamble that the Turks having made themselves Masters of the Kingdome of Persia and following their successes into Syria also fell to a breach amongst themselves For making up whereof it was condescended unto by Axan the then Persian Sultan that Meloch and Ducat two of his discontented Kins-men should be infeoffed in the Cities of Aleppo and Damascus and their severall Territories with whatsoever they could conquer from the Caleph of Egypt possessed at that time of most part of Syria and some of the adjoining Provinces It was also then agreed upon that a third but neerer Kinsman called Cutlu Moses another of the Leaders of the opposite faction should have leave to conquer for himself whatsoever he could win from the Christian Princes And he accordingly being furnished with a competent Army subdued the Provinces of Media and Armenia in the Greater Asia with Cappadocia Pontus and Bithynia in Asia Minor Which and the rest of their affairs take here in the ensuing Catologue of The Turkish Kings in Asia Minor of the Selzuccian Family 1075. 1. Cutlu Moses Nephew to Trangolipix the first Persian Sultan of the Turks won Media part of Armenia Major Cappadocia Pontus and Bithynia 2. Solyman Son of Cutlu Moses for a while dispossed of most of his estates by the Westren Christians in their first passage towards the Holy Land 3. Mahomet the Sonne of Solyman recovered most of his estates in the Lesser Asia but outed of them and subbued by 4. Musat Sultan or Lord Deputy of Iconium but of the same Selzuccian family who was thereby possessed of all the Turkish Provinces in the Lesser Asia 5. Calisastlan the Sonne of Musat to whom his Father left Iconium with the adjacent Provinces wrested Amasia and Ancyra from his brother Jagupasan Sebastia and Caesareâ— from his brother Dodune which with their severall Territories were bequeathed unto them by the will of their Father He overthrow the Emp. Emanuel Comnenus and united Phrygia to his Kingdome 6. Reucratine the third Son of Calisastlan having dispossest his three brethren Masut Cappatine Caicosrhoes of the estates left them by their Father became sole Monarch of all the Turkish Provinces in the Lesser Asia In the later end of whose reign Occata the Tartarian Cham having driven the Turks out of Persia many of them under the conduct of Aladine a Prince of the same Selzuccian Family joined themselves to their Countreymen here with whose help they won Cilicia from the Grecian Emperours who in the reign of Calo-Johannes the Turks being then embroyled by the Western Christians had not long before regained it and after the decease of Reucratine advanced him to the whole estate The Turkish Kings in Asia Minor of the race of Aladine 7. Aladine descended in direct line from Cussanes the last Turkish Sultan in Persia having with many of his Nation seated himself in Cilicia first made Sebastia one of the Cities thereof his chief Seat or residence Which after the death of Reucratine he removed to Iconium as the antient Regall City of the former Kings 8. Azalide by some called Azadire eldest Son of Aladine wasted the most part of his reign in wars with his brother Jathatine whom at last he forced into exile 9. Jathatine on the death of his brother possesseth the Kingdome slain afterwards in single combate by Theodorus Lascaris Emp. of the Greeks at Nice 10. Jathatine II. Son of the former driven out of his Kingdome by the Tartars and dyed in exile the Turks becoming Tributaries and Vassals unto the Tartarian 11. Masut and Cei-cubades of the same Selzuccian Family but whether the Sons of the second Jathatine I am not able to say substituted in his place as Tributaries to the conquering Tartars 12. Aladine II. Son of Cei-cubades succeeded his Father in the Kingdome but as Vassall and Leigeman to the Tartars After whose death leaving no issue of his body the great Princes of his Family divided amongst them his Dominions To Sarachan fell Aeolis Ionia and part of Lydia from him named Sarchan Sarachan or Saracha-Illi to Aidin the rest of Lydia Phrygia Major and the greatest part of the Greater Mysia from him called Aidinia or Aidin-Illi to Carasus the Lesser Phrygia with the rest of Mysia from him denominated Carasan or Carasa-Illi To the Family of the Isfendiars the Cities of Heraclea Sinote and that part of Pontus which lieth next to Bithynia There were also lesser Toparchies or sub-divisions from whence we find a Prince of Smyrna a second of Amasia a third of Amisus a fourth of Scandcloro besides many others But the main body of the estate was seized by Caraman who for his share had the whole Provinces of Lycia Lycamia Pisidia Pamphylia Isauria Cilicia with the Regall City of Iconium the greatest part of Caria the rest of it appertaining to the Prince of Menâ—esia with part of Cappadocia and Armenia Minor and some Towns in Phrygia continuing in his family for as many descents as either of the formet had held before in great power and lustre under The Turkish Kings in Asia Minor of the house of Caraman 13. Caraman the first raiser of this family Contemporary with Ottoman the first King of that race 14. Aladine Son of Caraman and Son-in-Law of Amurath the first of the house of Ottoman by whom subdued but pardoned and restored unto his estate on the humble entreats of his wife 15. Aladine II. Son of the former subdued by Bajazet the first and hanged by Tertumases one of Bajazets great Commanders 16. Mahomet Son of Aladine the second recovered his Kingdome on the death of Bajazet vanquished and led captive by the mighty Tamerlane Afterwards warred upon and vanquished by Mahomet the Son of Bajazet redeemed his peace by yielding up unto him many of his principal Towns and was finally slain at the siege of Attalia 17. Ibrahim the Son of Mahomet and Son-in-Law of Amurath the second against whom unadvisedly raising war he was forced to submit and become his Tributary after whose death rebelling against Mahomet the Great he was then also vanquished and a reconciliation made betwixt them 18. Ibrahim II. by some called Pyramus the Son of Ibrahim the first supported Zemes brother of Bajazet the second in his warre against him for which Bajazet having setled his affairs invaded and subdued the Kingdome of Caramanta killed the unfortunate King in battel and so united that Estate unto the rest of the Dominions of the house of Oâ—toman The
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
goodly Arch erected upon stately Pillars fairly wrought and gilded with the Statue of S. Matthew made of brass but gilded on the top thereof Such it is said to be by some Others think there is no such City it may not be so beautiful as those some have made it The other Towns of note and name in it in former times 2 Sacolche 3 Darorum Vicus 4 Eser of which we have little but the names This Iland was once a peculiar Kingdom he being chosen for their King who excelled the rest in strength person or in stock of Cattel but those Kings so subject to their Priests that by a Messenger or Herald they were sentenced by them unto death and others advanced unto the throne And thus it stood till one of the more provident Kings forcing the Temple with his armed Souldiers slew all these Priests and freed himself and his Successours from so great a slavery Afterwards made a Province of the Kingdom of Aethiopia honoured for the most part with the Seat of those Kings and memorable in those times for the Table of the Sun which was a place neer the City of Meroe always furnished with variety of rosted meats set there by night at the charge and command of the King much taken as it seemeth with this costly vanity and eaten in the day time by all that would called therefore the Table of the Sun because ascribed unto his bounty by the ignorant People In the declining of this Kingdom occasioned by the inundation of the Saracens and other Arabians this Iland was seized on by that People and hath been ever since kept by them together with the rest of the Country lying betwixt it and Egypt in which are contained as some write the Kingdom of Damote Sua and Jasculum antiently belonging to this Empire now dismembred from it not much observable but for being a thorowfare to great troops of Pilgrims which every Lent pass by them out of the Abassine Dominions to the Sepulebre and other like places in and neer Jerusalem 2. TIGREMAON TIGREMAON hath on the north Guagere and the River Marabo by which last parted from Barnagasse on the South the Realm of Angote on the West Nilus On the East it is said to extend to the Red-Sea but the Sea parts thereof possessed by the Turks and the adjoyning Coasts by the Moors and Arabians the inland parts promiscuously inhabited especially more towards the Sea by Christians and Ethnicks Divided into many inferiour Regions the principal whereof 1. Sabaiu 2 Torrates 3 Balgada so called perhaps from the chief Towns of them and 4 Tigrai the most large and ample of all these subordinate Provinces as containing in it 17 great tracts under so many Lieutenants which rule all affairs both of Peace and War The People black of colour deformed of shape in condition miserable of conditions wicked Some Rivers they have but dried up in Summer yet so that with a little digging they finde water in them Their chief City Caxumo or Cassumo supposed to be the same which Ptolomie calleth Auxume Stephanus Axomites Procopius Auzomide by all of them esteemed the Metropolitan City of Ethiopia and the Seat Royal of their Kings In witness whereof are many ancient buildings yet remaining some Pillars which resemble the Aegyptian Obelisks admirable for their height and workmanship 60 foot high and full of Characters or Letters in graven on them which now none can read The Aethiopian Auxumites the most potent Nation of this Countrey had their name from hence more probably conceived to be the Regal Seat of Candace mentioned in the Acts then any other of the Kingdom and still affirmed to be honoured with the Court of their Emperours Others I know have fixed his Court in Beimalechi but I know not in what part to finde it some in a Royal Palace neer that Lake of Zembre built in the year 1570 by some Europaean Architects sent hither by Francis Duke of Florence and many will allow him no fixed Seat at all but tell us that he moveth with his Tents in a Royall Progress from one place to another which wandring Court or moving City is said to be no less then ten miles in compass when the Pavilions which belong to it are disposed of into rank and order This Kingdom is governed by a Prince of its own but one who is an Homager and Tributary to the Abassine Emperour to whom he payeth yeerly 200 horses of the best Arabian breed infinite quantities of silkes great store of Cotton-Wool and abundance of Gold but the determinate proportion I have nowhere met with 3. ANGOTE ANGOTE is bounded on the North with Tigremon on the West with Nilus on the South with the Kingdom of Amara on the East with Dancali and Xoa Indifferently compounded of hils and vallies both extremely fertile productive of the choicest fruits and great herds of Cattel The people eat but once in 24 houres and for the most part make that meal in the night their dyet raw Venison or smoaked Beef the mony most in use amongst them Salt Pepper and Iron Which custom of using Salt pepper and the like instead of mony was in former times amongst most people the onely bartery or way of exchange So in Homer Glancus golden Armour was valued at an hundred Kine and Diomedes Armour at ten only Afterward in Justice commutative it was deemed convenient to have some common Judge or valuation of the equality or inequality of goods the invention of which the Jews attribute to Cain the Grecians to Hermodice the wife of Midas the Romans to Janus It is called Nummus or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was ordained by law Pecunia either because in elder times the chief of their wealth consisted in cattel as now among the Irish or from a Cow Pecus which was stamped on it and Moneta à monendo as Suidas faith because when the Romans stood in need of money Iuno monebat Iuno admonished them that they should use justice and there should be no want of money To this Goddesse Dea Pecunia the Romans erected a Temple and worshipped it in the figure of a Woman holding a pair of Scales in one hand and a Cornucopia in the other by the Poet called Regina Pecunia and not unfitly the greatness of her power considered But to return again to Angote I find not much spoken of the Country in the way of story nor meet I with the names of any of their Towns or Cities unless that 1 Angote it self as also 2 Abugana 3 Giannamora two of the principal provinces of it may possibly be so called from their principal Towns as perhaps they are 4. AMARA AMARA hath on the North Angote on the South Damut on the West it stretcheth towards the Nile and on the East bounded with the Realm of Xoa The Country very plain and champaign little swelled with hils sufficiently fruitful and well stored with all forts
above five and twenty is the man whom they pronounce to be elected and adjudg with due solemnities to be created their Duke By the like kind of Lottery do they choose Gentlemen into the Senate and make publick Officers insomuch that Contarenus who hath committed unto writing these publick Forms conceiveth I will not say how rightly that the Venetian Common-wealth was modelled by Plato's Platform But whether this be so or not certain it is that this Common-wealth thus constituted and modelled as before is said hath lasted longer under one form of Government than any Republick in the World either Greek or Roman Nor hath it onely preserved it self in the same condition but may most justly be accompted one of the strongest Bulwarks of Christendom against the incroachments of the Turks the wars whereof hath procured peace and the peace thereof procured plenty to the rest of Europe Insomuch that it may well be said that as Europe is the Head of the World and Italie the Face of Europe so Venice is the Eye of Italie the fairest strongest and most active part in that powerfull Body As if the Genius of old Rome by some Pythagoricall transmigration had passed into the body of this powerfull State and animated it with all the vertues of that City but knit with a more permanent and constant temper From so base and abject a beginning is this City grown to be one of the best Supporter of the Arms of Europe As for the Religion of this State they tolerate that of the Greek Church but they themselves profess no other than that of the Church of Rome yet with such caution and respect to their own authority that they suffer not the Clergie to injoy those privileges which they possess in other Countreys to the publick prejudice Hence grew the quarrell betwixt them and Pope Paul the fift in which the Signeury stood stiffly to their antient Rights and caused Mass to be duly said notwithstanding all their Churches were under the Interdict banished the Jesuits for ever out of their Dominions for stickling too busily in behalf of the Pope and in the end prevailed so far by their constant courage that the Pope was fain to give over the cause and reconcile them to the Church without any submission A notable example to all Christian Princes how to behave themselves towards those of Rome who are not to be gained upon but by such resistances So easie a thing it is for men of constancy and courage to shake off that yoak which Papall Tyranny and Superstition hath imposed upon them In managing their wars they antiently observed two Rules which much conduced to the inlargement and security of their Common-wealth The first was the exempting of their own Citizens from the wars not out of jealousie but care of their preservation unless compelled to the contrary by extreme necessity the body of their Armies being compounded out of the Provinciall Subject intermixt with Mercenaries By means whereof they did not only keep their City in the same condition able at any time and at all times to give Law to the rest of their Dominions but wasted the hot and boyling spirit of their Subjects in the Wars abroad which otherwise might have made too much work at home The other was the entertaining of some neighbouring Prince to be the Generall of their forces whom in the conclusion of the service they dismissed with honor and reward And by this course they avoided faction and prevented servitude Either or both of which might have hapned by imploying any of their own great ones in the chief command who after the example of Julius Caesar in the state of Rome having a strong party within the City and an Army without might perhaps have made himself their Prince But this was only in the Conduct of their wars in Italie and in such times when the State was not so well ballanced as it hath been since As for the Forces of the State we may behold them in relation to Sea or Land Their Land-forces which they have in continuall pay for defence of their Dominion consist of 28000. Foot with Captains and all other Officers inrolled and paid and besides those they have a choyce band of 4000. Musquetiers for exercising of which they keep yeerly Musters as well to improve them in experience as to proportion them some gratuities according to their well-deservings And as for Horse they maintain constantly 6000. men at Arms well appointed and paid the like whereof is not to be found in all Italie And yet besides this constant and ordinary establishment they are able to bring great Forces into the field as appeareth by their Army against Lewis the twelfth in which without disfurnishing any of their Forts and Garrisons they had 2000. men of Arms 3000. light Horse 30000. Foot most of their own naturall Subjects saving that they were interlined with some bands of Switzers to which people they give yeerly pensions to be assured of their aid upon all occasions Then for the Sea-forces besides that they keep fifty Galleys in continuall action for defence of the Adriatick and that they have no less then 200. more laid up in the Arsevall with all manner of tackling and ammunition appertaining to them they have 10000. men inrolled to serve at the Oar and may raise as many as they please for those kind of services out of those parts of Sclavonia which are subject to them But the great evidence of the power they can make at Sea was the great Fleet set out against the Grand Signeur for the War of Cyprus An. 1570. in which they manned out one great Gallioun eleven great Gallies five and twenty tall Ships and one hundred and fifty Gallies of lesser burden being in all one hundred and eighty seven sail fit for present service To give the totall sum in brief they held a war by Sea and Land for seven yeers together against all the Princes of Christendome excepting England in all which time they neither wanted men nor money and in the end were the least losers by the bargain By this we may conjecture also at the greatness of the publick Treasurie and of the yeerly income which supplies the same For though it be conceived that their ordinary standing Revenue be but four millions of Ducats yeerly which yet is more than any Christian Prince can boast of except France and Spain yet they have many other ways to advance their Treasury by laying new Imposts on Commodities as they see occasion Which needs must rise to vast and most considerable sums in a City of the greatest Traffick of any in Europe and perhaps in all the world besides And yet besides such Customs and Imposts as they lay on Merchandize there is nothing which the people do eat or drink for which they pay not something to the publick Treasury over and above which the poorest Labourer in the whole Signeury payeth his Poll-money also Insomuch that it is credibly
about 56 years when Otho surnamed Visconti quasi bis Comes because he was Lord of Millain and Angerona assumed the title to himself and setled it upon that Family after his decease but so that for the most part they were under the command of the German Emperors and to them accomptable Galeaz the first so called as some write because the Cocks crowed more than ordinarily at the time of his birth added to the Estate hereof the Cities of Crema and Cremona In the person of John Galeazo it was advanced unto a Dukedom by the Emperor Wenceslaus for 100000 Crowns in ready money which John increased so mightily in wealth and power that he had 29 Cities under his command and dyed as he was going to Florence to be crowned King of Tuscany To him succeeded John Maria and after him his brother Philip who in his life had maried his only daughter but illegitimate to Francisco Sforza the best Commander of his times and at his death appointed Alfonso of Aragon King of Naples for his heir and successor Before Alfonso could take any benefit of this designation Sforza was quietly possessed both of the City and the loves of the people This Francis Sforze I must needs crave leave to tell this story was the sonne of James Altenduto a plain Country man who going to his labour with his Ax in his hand whilst a great Army was passing by him compared the misery and unpleasingness of his present condition with those fair possibilities which a martiall life did present uuto him And being in a great dispute with in himself what were best to do he presently fell upon a resolution of putting the question to the determination of the Heavenly Providence by casting his Ax unto the top of the tree next to him conditioning with himself that if the Ax came down again he would contentedly apply himself to his wonted labour but if it hung upon the boughs he would betake himself unto higher hopes and follow the Army then in passage He did so the Ax hung upon the boughs he went after the Army and thrived so well in that imployment that he became one of the best Captains of his time surnamed de Cotoniogla from the place of his dwelling and Sforza from the greatness of his noble courage By Antonia the daughter of Francis di Casalis the Lord of Cortona he was the father of this Francis Sforze whom now we speak of who was so fortunate a Commander in the wars of Italy that to oblige him to his party Philip the Duke of Millain bestowed his daughter upon him and thereby a fair title to this great Estate which he successively obtained against all pretenders In his line it continued till the coming of Lewis the 12 of France the sonne of Charles and nephew of Lewis Dukes of Orleans by Valentine the sole daughter of John Galeaze the first Duke who getting Duke Lodowick Sforze betrayed by the Switzers into his hands carryed him prisoner into France and possessed himself of the estate Outed not long after by the confederate Princes of Italy who were jealous of so great a neighbor he left the cause and quarrel unto Francis the first his next successor in that Kingdom in pursuance whereof it is sayd by Bellay a French Writer that the use of Muskets was first known But Francis being in conclusion taken at the battell of Pavie and carryed prisoner into Spain for his release was forced to release all claim unto this estate A release long before endeavouced by some French Politicians because the pretensions hereunto had brought such damage to that Crown and no less eagerly opposed by Chancellor Prat on the same reason that Scipio Nasica did oppose the destruction of Carthage that is to say because it did not only keep the French Nation in continual discipline of War but served for a purgation of idle and superfluous people yet notwithstanding this release Francis renewed the War again and laid siege to Millain then under the command of Antonio di Leva and a Spanish Garrison during vvhich vvar the vvretched Millanese endured the vvorst of miseries For first the Governour under colour of providing pay for his souldiers got all the victuals of the town into the Castle to be sold again at his ovvn price vvhich many of the poorer sort not able to pay perished of famin in the streets And on the other side his souldiers which were quartered in most parts of the City used when they wanted mony to chain up their Hosts and then to put them to a ransom Such as upon this barbarous usuage fled out of the City had their Goods confiscate on which there followed such a disconsolate desolation that the chief streets were over-grown with netles and brambles In this miserable estate it continued till Charles the Emperor having totally driven out the French restored it to Francis Sforze brother to the last Duke Maximilian and sonne of that Ludowick who to advance himself unto this Estate had most improvidently taught the French the way into Italy But this Francis dying without issue and the house of the Sforze failing in him the Emperor entred on the Dukedom as right Lord thereof and left the same to his successors in the Realm of Spain This said we will sum up the whole story of this Estate in the ensuing Catalogue of The Lords and Dukes of Millain 1277 1 Otho Arch-bishop of Millain 1295 2 Matthew Brothers sonne to Otho confirmed in his command of Millain by Albertus the Emperor 1322 3 Galeaze Visconti sonne of Matthew disseized of his command by Lewis of Bavaria Emperor 1329 4 Actio Visconti sonne of Galeazo confirmed in his Fathers power by the same Lewis the Emperor 1339 5 Luchino Visconti brother to Galeaze 1349 6 John Visconti the brother of Luchino 1354 7 Galeaze II. sonne of Stephen the brother of John 1378 8 John Galeaze sonne of the first Galeaze created by the Emperor Wenceslaus the first Duke of Millain An. 1395. 1402 9 John Maria sonne of John Galeaze slain by the people for his horrible tyrannies 1412 10 Philip Maria the last of the Visconti which commanded in Millain a Prince of great power in swaying the affairs of Italie He died An o 1446 the Millanese for some years resuming their former liberty 1446 11 Francis Sforze in right of his wife Blanch the base daughter of Philip seconded by the power of the sword admitted Duke by the generall consent of the people of Millain one of the Knights of the noble Order of the Garter 1461 12 Galeaze Sforze a valiant but libidinous Prince cruelly murdered by his own Subjects 1477 13 John Galeaze Sforze privately made away as it was supposed by his Uncle Lodowick 1494 14 Lodowick Sforze who to secure himself of his ill-got Dukedom drew the French into Italic 1501 15 Lewis the 12 of France sonne unto Lewis Duke of Orleans and Valentina daughter to the first Duke of Millaine vanquished Ludowick
Corn Wine and most delicate fruits and happily enriched with Meadows and most excellent Pastures which yeeld a notable increase of Cheese and Butter And in the Countrey about Sion they discovered in the year 1544 a Fountain of Salt and have also many hot Bathes and medicinall waters very wholsom Of Springs and River-water they are very destitute having scarce any but what they fetch from the Rhosne vvith a great deal both of charge and trouble the common people using snow-water for the most part for domestick uses which made one pleasantly observe that they pay there dearer for their water than they do for their Wine Cattell they have sufficient to serve their turn and amongst others a wild Buck equall to a Stag in bigness footed like a Goat and horned like a fallow Deer leaping with vvonderfull agility from one precipice to another and so not easily caught but in Summer time for then the heat of that season makes him blind It is divided into the Upper and the Lower Wallisland the Upper lying towards the Mountain de Furcken in the very bottom of the Valley and the Lower stretching out to the Town of Saint Maurice which is at the opening of the same the length of both said to be five ordinary daies journey but the bredth not answerable The Upper Wallisland containeth the seven Resorts of 1 Sion or Sedune 2 Leuck 3 Brig 4 Nies 5 Rawren 6 Sider 7 Gombes in which are reckoned thirty Parishes the Lower comprehending the six Resorts of 1 Gurdis 2 Ardoa 3 Sallien 4 Martinacht 5 Jutremont and 6 Saint Maurice in which are 24 Parishes The people in both parts said to be courteous towards strangers but very rough and churlish towards one another The severall Resorts before mentioned are named according to the names of their principall Towns which according to their reckoning are thirteen in number The chief of which are 1 Sedunum Sittim or Sion a Bishops See suffragan to the Metropolitan of Tarentuise the chief of all this little Country of no great beauty in it self but neat and gallant in respect of the Towns about it Situate in a Plain on the River of Rhosne under a Mountain of tvvo tops on the one of which being the lower is seated the Cathedrall Church and the Canons houses and on the other looking downwards with a dreadfull precipice a very strong Castle the dwelling place of the Bishop in the heats of Summer which being built upon an hill of so great an height and of so hazardous an ascent is impossible almost to be took by force the sharpness of the Rocks keeping it from the danger of assaults and the highness of the hill from the reach of Gun-shot 2 Marchinacht by Caesar called Octodurus and Civitas Valensium by Antoninus remarkable for its antiquity only 3 Saint Maurice or Saint Morits antiently Augaunum the Key of the whole Country but in Winter especially vvhen all the other passages are so frozen up that there is no other entrance but by the Bridge at this Town vvhich for that cause is very well manned and fortified to avoyd surprisall and therefore also chosen for the seat of the Governour of the Lower Wallisland This Country now called Wallisland is in most Latin Writers called by the name of Valesia but corruptly as I think for Valensia as the Dutch or English name for Wallinsland which name I should conceive it took from the Valenses the old inhabitants of this valley of vvhom Octodusus now called Marchinacht is by Antoninus made to be the Metropolis or principall City It was made subject to the Romans by Julius Caesar at such time as the Helvetians were conquered by him and falling with the Western parts of the Roman Empire unto Charles the great was by him given to Theodulus Bishop of Sion An. 805. Under his successors they continue to this very day but so as that the Deputies of the seven Resorts have not only voyces with the Canons in his Election but being chosen and invested into the place they joyn with him also in the Diets for choosing Magistrates redressing grievances and determining matters of the State The Lower Wallisland obeyeth the upper made subject by long War and the chance of Victory and hath no sway at all in the publick Government but takes for Law that which their Governours agree of The same Religion is in both being that of Rome For maintainance whereof they combined themselves with the seven Popish Cantons of Switzerland An. 1572 or thereabouts as also for their mutuall defence and preservation against Forein Enemies and keeping amitie and concord amongst one another 5. SWITZERLAND NExt unto Wallisland lyeth the Country of the SWITZERS having on the East the Grisons and some part of Tirol in Germany on the West the Mountain Jour and the Lake of Geneve which parts it from Savoy and Burgundy on the North Suevia or Scwaben another Province also of the upper Germany and on the South Wallisland and the Alpes which border on the Dukedom of Millain The whole Country heretofore divided into three parts onely that is to say 1 Azgow so called from the River Aaz whose chief Town was Lucern 2 Wislispurgergow so called from Wiflispurg an old Town thereof the chief City whereof is Bern. And 3 Zurichgow so named from Zurich both formerly and at this present the Town of most note in all this Tract but since the falling off of these Countries from the house of Austria divided into many Cantons and other members of which more anon It is wholly in a manner over-grown with craggy Mountains but such as for the most part have grassie tops and in their bottoms afford rich Meadows and nourishing pastures which breed them a great stock of Cattell their greatest wealth And in some places yeelds plenty of very good Wines and a fair increase of Corn also if care and industry be not wanting on the Husband-mans part but neither in so great abundance as to serve all necessary uses which want they doe supply from their neighbouring Countries And though it stand upon as high ground as any in Christendom yet is no place more stored with Rivers and capacious Lakes vvhich doe not onely yeeld them great aboundance of Fish but serve the people very vvell in the vvay of Traffick to disperse their severall Commodities from one Canton to another Of which the principall are Bodensee and the Lake of Cell made by the Rhene Genser see or the Lake of Geneve by the Rhosne Walldstet see and the Lake of Lucern made by the Russe Namonburger and Bieter sees by the Orbe and Zurich see by the River of Limat or Limachus It is in length two hundred and forty miles an hundred and eighty in bredth conceived to be the highest Countrey in Europe as before is sayd the Rivers which do issue from it running thorow all quarters of the same as Rhene thorough France and Belgium North Po thorough Italie to the South
set purpose or destroyed by the injury of time I am not able to declare that it is grown the sepulchre of what once it was and lieth buried in its own sad ruines hardly preserving the repute of a forry village Such is the instability of all worldly glories Some other Towns there are in this part of Syria but not to be remembred the same day with Antioch Of which the most observable is 21. Albaria distant two daies march from Antioch remembred in the Warres of the Holy Land As for the story of this Province as a State distinct we find it had a King of its own called the King of Hamath the Kingdome of Toi or Tou before remembred who together with the King of Arphac commanded in this part of Syria and the Isles adjoining Vassalls in time succeeding to the Kings of Tyre who lorded it over all the Sea-coasts hereof and consequently had great influence on the Inlands also And it continned in this State till the Assrrian Kings began to turn their forces Westward when added to that Empire by Tiglath Phileser after the subversion of the Kingdome of Damascus or by Salmanassar after the destruction of that of Israel The proud but dreadful vaunt which Senacherih the Successour of those mighty Monarchs made to Hezekiah viz. Where are the Kings of Hamath and Arphad shews clearly that those Kingdomes had been conquered not long before and therefore needs by Salmanasser or Tiglâ—â—h Philâ—sâ—r Afterwards in the struglings betwixt the Babylonians and Egyptians for the chief command it was a while at the devotions of the Kings of Egypt it being at Reblatha in this Province that Jehoahaz King of Judah was put into bonds by the command of Pharoah Neco as was said before But Neco being long after vanquished by Nebuchadnezzer King of Babylon it returned again unto that Crown and after the same fortunes with the rest of Syria 3. COMAGENA COMAGENA is bounded on the East with the River Euphrates by which parted from Mesopotamia on the West with the Mounteins called Amamus which divide it from Calicia on the North with Taurus by which separated from Armenia Minor on the South with Palmyrâ—ne Called also Euphratensis and Euphratesia when a Roman Province by reason of its situation bordering on that River The reason of the name I find not amongst my Authors but find that many learned men conceive it to be that part of Syria which the Scriptures call Syria Maacha mention whereof is made 1 Chron. cap. 19. v. 6. gainsayed by others because they find a place called Maacha in the Tribe of Manasses but with no great reason as I take it For being it is joined in the 2 of Chron. 19. v. 6. above mentioned in the same action with Mesopotamia and Syria Sobah and not so only but placed between them in the method of that holy pen-man I dare not think but that they were all very neer neighbours and ranked according to the natural situation of them Which agreeth very well with the site of this Camagâ—na having Mesopotamia on the East and Aram-Sobah on the South Nor is it any stronger proof unto the contrary that Maacha is a Town of the Tribe of Manasses then if a man should say that there is no such Province as Mansfield in High Germany because there is a Town of that name in England or no such place as Savoy among the Alpes because there is an house of that name in London As for the people hereof besides what they have common with the rest of the Syrians they were of old much given unto Divinations and for that cause derided thus in the sixt Satyr of Juvâ—nal Spondet amatorem tenerum vel divit is orbi Testamentum ingens calidae pulmone columboe Tractato Armenius vel Comagenus Aruspex Pectora pullorum rimabitur exta Catelli Interdum pueri Faciet quod deferat ipse Thus Englished by my honoured friend Sir Robert Stapylton A childless rich mans Legacy or young love Are found i'th'lights of a warm ttembling Dove By Comagene Sooth-Sayers they look into A dead Chicks brest the same th' Armenians do They view the entrails of a dog and reach A childs perhaps They do it and then peach Chief places of this part 1. Samosata the Metropolis or head City of it when a Roman Province situate neer the banks of Euphrates over which it had a bridge for passage into Mesopotamia Unfortunate for being the birth-place of Lucian that profane Scoffer of Christianity though otherwise a man of a quick wit and great abilities as also of Paulus Samosatenus Patriarch of Antioch condemned of Here sie in a Councill holden in his own City Anno 273 by the great and most learned Bishops of that Age there assembled together for teaching that our Saviour was no other then a natural man but neither God nor the Sonne of God as the Scriptures testify 2. Germanicia by some called Germanicopolis on the other side of the Countrey neer the Mountain Amamus no lesse unfortunate than the former in being the birth-place of Nestorius Patriarch of Constantinople who troubling the peace of the Church with Heterodoxie and impertinent nicities about the blessed Mother of Christ as also about the nature and person of Christ himself was thereupon condemned of Heresie in the Council of Ephesus Anno 435. In former times called Adata or as some write Adapa but took this new name from Germanicus Casar in honour of whom it was made a Roman Colony by Augustus testified by this Inscription extant in Onuphrius viz. COLONIA JULIA GERMANICIA SACRA AUGUSTA FELIX 3. Singa so called from the River upon which it is situate 4. Antiochia penes Taurum so called because seated at the foot of that Mountain to difference it from the other of this name in Syria 5. Pinara one of the chief Cities of that part which is called Pieria 6. Doliche a small Town but made an Episcopall See in the best times of the Church as appeareth by the Acts of the Councills of Antioch and Constantinople in which there is some mention of the Bishops of it 7. Aleppo now the Principall of all the Countrey supposed by some to be the Sepharvaim mentioned 2 Kings 17. 24. It was thus called as some say from Halep which in the language of those parts signifieth milk afforded liberally by the rich pastures round about it as others more improbably from Aleph the first letter of the Greek Alphabet because the first in estimation of the Cities of Syria Most probably from Alepius Leiutenant here in the time of Julian the Apostata who did here many notable exploits and amongst others in or neer the ruins of some old Town of these parts not yet agreed on in case it be not Sepharvaim before mentioned advanced this City Situate on the banks of the River Singas which rising out of the hill Piâ—rius with many windings and turnings runneth thorough Comagena and there falleth into Euphrates Destroyed by Haalon
fift on what day soever for on that he came into the world in that he took K. Francis Prisoner at the battel of Pavâ—e and on the same received the Imperial Crown But to return unto the Temple we find that on the Sabbath or Saturday it was taken by Pampey on the same by Herod and on that also by Titus But goe we forwards to Hierusalem as now it standeth it lay in rubbish and unbuilt after the destruction of it by Titus till repaired by Adrian and then the Temple not so much as thought of till out of an ungodly policy in the Reign of Julian that Politick Enemy of the Church who to diminish the infinite number of Christians by the increase of the Jews began again to build this Temple But no sooner were the foundations laid but a terrible Earth-quake cast them up again and fire from Heaven consumed the Tools of the Workmen together with the Stones Timber and other materials As for the City it self after the desolation in it which was made by Titus it was re-edified by the Emperour Aelius Adrianus who named it Aelia drave thence the Jews and gave it to the Christians But this new City was not built in the place of the old For within this Mount Calvary is comprehended which was not in the Old before As on the other side a great part of Mount Sion part of the City of Herod and the Soyl where the New City stood are left out of this the ruines of the other still remaining visible to shew the antient greatness and magnificence of it To look upon it then as it stands at present it is now onely famous for the Temple of the Sepulchre built by Helena whom most report to have been daughter to Corlus a British King Mother to Constantine the great Much a doe had the good Lady to find the place where the LORDS body had been laid for the Jews and Heathens had raised great hillocks on the place and built there a Temple of Venus This Temple being plucked down and the earth dâ—gged away she found the three Crosses whereon our blessed Saviour and the two Theeves had suffered To know which of these was the right Cross they were all carried to a woman who had been long visited with sickness and now lay at the point of death The Crosses of the two Theeves did the weak woman no good but as soon as they laid on her the Cross on which the Lord died she leaped up and was restored to her former health This Temple of the Sepuâ—chre even at the first building was highly reverenced and esteemed by the Christians of these parts and even untill our daies it is much resorted to both by Pilgrims from all the parts of the Romish Church who fondly and superstitiously hope to merit by their journey and also by divers Gentlemen of the reformed Churches who travell hitherward partly for curiosity partly for love to the antiquity of the place and partly because their generous spirits imitate the heaven and delight in motion Whosoever is admitted to the sight of this Sepulchre payeth nine crowns to the Turkish Officers so that this â—ribute onely is worth to the Grand Signeur eighty thousand Duckats yearly The other building generally very mean and poor if not contemptible Built of flint stones Low and but one rock high flat on the tops for men to walk on and fenced with battlements of a yard in hight to preserve them from falling the under-rooms no better than vaults where they repose themselves in the heat of the day Some houses neer the Temple of Solomon and the Palace of Herod adorned with Arches toward the Street where the passenger may walk dry in a showr of rain but not many such nor any thing but the ruins left of the antient buildings The whole circuit of it reduced to two or three miles and yet to those which take a survey thereof from some hills adjoining where the ruines are not well discerned from the standing edifices it affordeth to the eye no unpleasing prospect And as the place is such is the people inhabited for the most part by Artizans of the meanest quality gathered together of the scumme of divers Nations the greatest part consisting of Moores and Arabians a few poor Christians of all the Orientall Sects which dwell there for devotion and some Turks who for the profit which they make of Christians are content to stay in it Insomuch that when Robert Duke of Normandy being then not cured of his wounds and was carried into this City on the backs of some of this rascal people he called to a Gentleman of his who was going for England and bad him say that he saw Duke Robert carried into Heaven on the backs of devils Come we now to the Tribe of LEVI though indeed not reckoned for a Tribe because not planted close together as the other were nor had whole Provinces to themselves but mingled and dispersed amongst the rest of the people having forty eight Cities assigned them for their habitation proportionably taken out of the other Tribes So was it ordered by the Lord partly that they being set apart for his Service might be at hand in every place to instruct the People and partly to fulfill the Prophecy which he had spoken by Jacob who had fore-signified to Levi at the time of his death that he should be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel The like fortune he had prophesied of Simeon also of the accomplishment whereof so far as it refered to him and the dispersion of his Tribe we have spoken before Now to make up the number of the twelve Tribes Joseph was divided into Ephraim and Manasses and the Levites were reckoned to belong unto that Tribe within whose territorie that City which they dwelt in stood Their maintenance was from the tenths or tithes the first fruits offerings and Sacrifices of the People and as it is in the eighteenth of Joshua v. the seventeenth The Priesthood of the Lord was their inheritance There were of them four kinds 1. Punies or Tirones which from their childhood till the five and twentieth year of their age learned the duty of their offices 2. Graduates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which having spent four years in the study of the Law were able to answer and oppose in it 3. Licenciates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which did actually exercise the Priestly function And 4. Doctors Rabbins they use to call them who were the highest in degree For maintenance of whom they had as before is said the Tithes first fruits and offerings of all the rest of the People besides the 48 Cities assigned for their habitation which last with the severall territories appertaining to them extending every way for the space of two thousand Cubits seems to have been a greater proportion of it self than any of the other Tribes with reference to the small number of the Levites had in their possessions Then for the Tithes
unto Edom whom he overcame and put Garrisons into all their Cities and the Edomites became his servants Governed from thenceforth by a Deputy or Vice-Roy as is said before till the time of Joram the Son of Jehosophat King of Judah in whose Reign they revolted as before was said Never regained to that Crown and but twice endeavoured that so the word of God might be all in all Onely the Simeonites in the reign of Hezekiah wanting pasture for their cattel and room for themselves seized on the parts which lay neerest to them destroyed the inhabitants thereof and dwelt in their habitations because there was pasture for their flocks 1. Chron. 4. 39. Provoked wherewith and with the natural Antipathy which was between them No people were more mischievously bent against Judah than these Edomites were no men so forward of themselves to assist Nabuchadonosor against Hierusalem none that so vehemently cryed Down with it down unto the ground none half so ready to set fire to the holy Temple But they got little by this service to the Babylonians their own thraldome following close upon that of Judah with whom made fellow-subjects to the Chaldaeans as afterwards to the Persians and Kings of Syria of the race of Seleucus In the declining of that house subdued by Hyrcanus the Son of Simon the fourth of the Maccabaean Princes by whom they were compelled to be Circumcised and to receive the Law of Moses not onely reckoned after that as a Province of the Jewish Kingdome but as naturall Jews Which notwithstanding and that the setting of that Crown on the head of Herod and his house being originally Idumaenus might in all reason have extinguished their inveterate malice yet was their hatred of that Nation as great as ever Forgetting therefore how they had been rewatded by the Babylonians they would needs aid the Romans against them also putting themselves into Hierusalem when besieged by Titus onely of purpose to betray it joyning with the seditious there doing more mischief in the City than the enemy had done without and finally setting fire to the second Temple as they had done unto the first Subjected afterwards by the Romans they followed the same fortune with the rest of Palestine Having thus gon through with the story of those neighbouring Nations which encompassed Canaan it will be seasonable to look on the affairs of the Canaanites first and after of the house of Jacob who possessed their Countrey First for the Canaanites they descended from Canaan the son of Cham who with his eleven sons were here setled immediatly after the confusion at Babel Of those twelve taking in the Father five planted in Phoenicia and the coasts of Syria that is to say Sidon Harki Arvadi Semari and Hamathi the other seven in those parts which we now call Palestine though not all of that the Edomites Moabites Midianites Ammonites and Ituraeans being Occupants or Tenants with them And of those seven came those seven Nations which by Gods appointment were totally to be rooted out viz. the Canaanites the Amorites the Hittites the Iebusites the Hivites the Gergeshites and the Perizites But from which of the sons of Canaan these last descended is not yet agreed on unless perhaps they were descended of the Sinites not otherwise reckoned in this muster and got the name of Perizites on some new occasion Governed at first by the Chiefest of their severall Families with the names of Kings the number of which increased as their Families were subdivided into smaller branches insomuch as Iosuah found 31 Kings of the Cannanites onely besides what might descend from those who were setled in Phoenicia and the borders of Syria The most potent of those Nations were the Amorites the Iebusites and the Chanaanites properly so called Of which the Amorites had not onely inlarged their borders beyond Iordan but in the reigns of Og and Sihon ruling at the same time in their severall parts had thrust the Ituraeans Ammonites and Moabites out of most of their Countries and so restored the same again to the race of the Emmims and Zanzummims of which they were who had been dispossessed thereof by the Sons of Lot These vanquished in the time of Moses and their habitations assigned over to the Tribes of Reuben Gad and the one half-tribe of Manasses The Canaanites properly so called as they were the first which fought with the house of Iacob so they were the last of all these people that contended with them They first fought with them under the conduct of Arad their King who thinking it more safe and prudent to encounter the Enemy in an other mans Countrey than to expect them in his own gave battell unto Moses in the Desarts of Moab and having cut off some of the out-parts of his Army and taken a few Prisoners he went home again But Iabin under whom they made their second onset went to work more resolutely and taking a time when the iniquities of that People cried loud for vengeance so prevailed against them that he tyrannized over them for the space of 20 years After which time his Army being discomfited by Baraâ— in the time of Debora Sisera his great Captain slain by Iael the wife of Heber the Kenite and most of his Cities taken and possessed by the Israelites he perished himself in the close of that war for it is said that they prevailed against Iabin the King of Canaan till they had destroyed him Judg. 4. 24. As for the Iebusites they were grown so formidable at the time of the comming of the Hebrews to the rest of their neighbours that their King Adonibezek bragged that he had cut off the thumbs and great toes of 70 Kings and made them eat the crums which fell under his table But being vanquished by Iudah he was served in the same kind himself by Iudah and Simeon and carried to Hicrusalem where he died the whole Countrey of the Iebusites and the City of Hierusalem it self the fortress of Mount Zion excepted onely being made a prey unto the Victor And though the Iebusites held that fortess till the time of David yet being they were onely on the defensive side and made no open war against those of Israel I reckon the Canaanites as the last which did contend with them for the chief command The Canaanites thus conquered and for the most part worn out of the Countrey the Israelites succeeded in their possessions according to the promise of God made to Abraham renewed to Isaac and confirmed to Iacob Governed after the death of Moses and Josuah by the Congregation of the Elders as appears by many passages in the book of Iudg. the Iudges as the Scripture calleth them not being the ordinary Magistrates but raised up occasionally by God for some speciall purpose according to the exigence of their affairs Carrying in this a likeness unto the Dictators in the State of Rome So that the Government at the first was an Aristocratie though to say truth it rather
hath it in his Onomasticon I am not able to determine But measuring it by the last estimate which I more approve of it will amount to two millions and two hundred ninety and five thousand pounds a vast summe for a King to leave in ready money which was alwaies exercised in war And though I doe not find expresly what the Revenues of Judah might amount unto after the division yet by one circumstance I find them to be very great For it is written 2 Kings 18. 14. that the yearly tribute imposed upon Hezekiah by the King of Assyria was three hundred Talents of Silver and thirty Talents of Gold amounting according to the ordinary Hebrew Talent which questionless is there intended to two hundred forty seven thousand and five hundred pounds of English money and therefore probably his ordinary Revenue must be thrice as much above tha ttribue Else the Assyrian had not left him a subsistance for a King to live on Nor can I think that the Revenues of this Crown were less to Herod than formerly to Solomon or David considering his vast expences the many and magnificent Structures which he brought to perfection and the large Legacies he gave at the time of his death not paralleld by any King before or since though of a larger and more ample territory than he stood possessed of What forces the Kings of the Hebrews were able to bring into the field may best be estimated by the muster which David made when he numbred the People the inrolment of such as were able to bear arms and fit for service coming in all to five hundred thousand fighting men in Judab onely and eight hundred thousand men in the Tribes of Israel T is true that David never brought into the field so vast a multitude but when the Kingdomes wete divided and warre denounced betwixt Jeroboam and Abijah we find almost the whole number brought into the field that is to say eight hundred thousand on the side of Jerobsam the King of Israel and four hundred thousand by Abijah the King of Iudah After this out of that small Kingdome Asa the Son of Abijah being invaded by Zerah the Arabian or Ethiopian advanced an Army of five hundred and eighty thousand men which was more than the inrolment made in the time of David An infinite proportion for so small a Kingdome and were it not a vouched in the holy Scriptures far above belief had not that God who said to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of Heaven for multitude been able to have made it good As for the story and affairs of this Countrey since the time of Adrian the Iews being all expelled their native Soyl and Christianity in fine prevailing over all those parts it was inhahited as the rest of the Empire was by men of that Religion onely in this Countrey so advanced and countenanced that Helena the Mother of Constantine is reported to have built in it no less than two hundred Temples and Monasteries in places of most note for the miracles of Christ our Savio ur or the dwelling of some of his Disciples In the year 615. the Persians under the conduct of Chosroes their King became Masters of it and possessed themselves of Hierusalem also expelled thence by the valour and good fortune of the Emperour Heraclius who recovering the Cross on which Christ suffered out of the hands of the Pagans carried it with as great a triumph into Constantinople as David once did the Ark into Hierusalem But this glory and rejoycing did not long continue For within twenty years after the recovery of this City from the power of the Persians it was again conquered and subdued by Homar or Aumar Caliph of the Saracens Anno 637. Under this yoak the captivated Christians had long suffered when they changed the Tyrant but not the tyranny the Turks about the year 1079. overcoming the Saracens and domineering in their steed Twenty years did the Christians langnish under this oppression when one Peter an Hermite travelling for devotion to the holy Lnd and being an eye-witness of the miseries under which they groaned at his return made his addresses to Pope Vrban the second acquainting him with the sad condition of the poor Christians in those Countries A Councill thereupon is called at Clermont in France where the Pope willing to imploy the Christian Princes farther off that he might the better play his game at home did so effectually advance and indeer the business that no fewer than three hundred thousand fighting men under severall Leaders undertook the service And it prospered so well with them in the first beginning that having beaten the Turks out of Asia Minor taken the great City of Antioch and most of the strong Towns of Syria they incamped before Hierusalem and in short time took it Anno 1099. after it had been four hundred years and upwards in the power of the Infidels The City being thus gained was offered with the title of King to Robert Duke of Normandy Sonne of William the Conquerour but he upon the hopes of the Kingdome of England refused that honour never prospering as it was observed after that refusall Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lorreine had the next offer of it which with a religious joy he accepted of though on the day of his Inanguration he refused the Crown affirming that it was not fit for a Christian Prince to wear in that City a Crown of Gold where the Redeemer of the World ware a Crown of Thornes The Kings of Hierusalem 1099. 1. Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lorreine 1100. 2. Baldwin of Lorreine brother of Godsrey wonne Ptolemais and many other Cities of Syria 1118. 3. Baldwin II. surnamed of Bruges Cousin of Godfrey and Baldwin the Former Kings overcame the Sultan of Damascus and inlarged his Kingdome by the addition of Tyre 1131. 4. Fulk Earl of Anjon having maryed Milliscent the daughter of Baldwin the 2d succeeded after his decease unfortunately killed with a fall from his horse 1142. 5. Baldwin III. Sonne of Fulk and Milliscent fortified Gaza against the Caliph of Aegypt and recoverd Paneade from the King of Damascus 1164. 6. Almericus the Brother of Baldwin the 3d. so distressed the great Caliph of Aegypt that he was forced to call in the Turks to aid him by whom slain and his Kingdome transferred on Sarracon the Turkish Generall 1173. 7. Baldwin IV. Sonne of Almericus overthrew Saladine the victorious King of the Turkes in a fight neer Ascalon and valiantly defended his Dominions 1185. 8. Baldwin V. Sonne of Sibyll the Sister of Baldwin the 4th by William Marquess of Montferrat unnaturally poisoned by his own mother having reigned only five moneths to make way for her second husband called 1185. 9. Guy of Lusignan the last King of Hierusalem that had the possession of the City during whose time Saladine the Sultan of Aegypt won that Kingdome Anno 1187. which his Successours defended against all invasions till the year
the Nephew of Cham from whence this Nation in the Scripture have the name of Ludim A nation not much taken notice of in the first Ages of time but by an Errour of Josephus who giving too much credit to some Talmudical Tales or willing to advance the reputation of the Jews to the highest pitch telleth us a story how the Aethiopians invaded and endangered Egypt how they were beaten back by Moses the City of Meroe besieged and taken by him or rather delivered to his hands by Tharbis the daughter of the King who had fallen in love with him and on the betraying of the City was married to him All this not only questioned but rejected by discerning men as a Jewish Fable that hath no ground to stand upon in true Antiquity With little better fortune and as little truth do the Aethiopians tell the story of their own Original By whom we are informed that Chus the son of Cham first reigned in this Aethiopia to whom succeeded his son Regma and next after Dedan that from the death of Dedan till the reign of Aruch the certain time whereof they tell not the People lived in Caves and holes digged under the ground as did the Troglodites an ancient Nation of this Country in the times long after that Arac first built the City of Aruma and by that pattern taught them the use of Towns and Cities But the main part of the Legend is the story of Maqueda a Queen hereof and the fourth from Aruch whom they will have to be the Queen of Sheba famous in both Testaments for the Royal Visit which she bestowed upon Solomon Of whom they tell us that being got with childe by Solomon when she was in his Court she was delivered of a Son whom she caused to be called Melech or Melilech and at the age of 20 years to be sent to his Father By whom instructed in the Law and circumcised and called by the name of David he was returned into his Country with Azarias the son of Zadok the Priest who had stollen the two Tables of the Law and carried them with him into Aethiopia where the old Queen resigned the Empire to her son His Successors afterwards called David till Indion as they call him the Eunuch of Queen Candace returning home baptized the young Prince by the name of Philip. This is the substance of the Legend as related by them in their own Chronicles but we know that they are no Gospel That Chus planted in Arabia hath been shewn already as also what absurdities must needs arise from supposing the Land of Chus to be this Aethiopia Therefore most probable it is that this Countrey was first peopled by the children of Ludim as before was said To whom the Abassenes coming out of Arabia Felix might be after added and in some tract of time be of such great power as to put their name upon the Countrey For that the Abassenes were originally an Arabian People appeareth by Stephanus one of the old Chorographers who out of Vranius An ancienter Author then himself hath told us this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another Stephanus and he a very learned Grammarian and Lexicographer hath as he thinks decided the controversie by making Sheba the son of Chus the Progenitor of the Arabians and Sheba the son of Regma the Father of the Aethiopians and for this cause hath fitted us with this pretty Criticism that Sheba when it is written with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samech must be rendred AEthiopia and Arabia when writ with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shin But this by no means will be found to agree the controversie it being evidently clear that both Sheba the son of Chus and Sheba the son of Regma were originally setled in Arabia as there hath been shewn though I deny not but that some of the Posterity of Chus in those elder time before the coming over of the Abasine nations might either out of too much populosity or desire of change cross over the Arabian Gulf and take up such parts of this Countrey as the Ludims had not fully peopled with whom conjunct at last both in name and government And as for Maynedu supposing that to be her name she was doubtless Queen of the Sabaeans in Arabia Felix not of the Aethiopians in the waste of Africk For besides the longsomness of the way too much for a Woman and a Queen to travel it is very probable that the Son of Solomon by this Lady would never have suffered Egypt to have layen in quiet whilest Sesac the King thereof made war upon Rehoboam the Son of Solomon also and so by consequence his half Brother But to leave these uncertain Fables the first action of moment which we meet with in unquestioned Story touching these Aethiopians is that which hapned betwixt them and Cambyses the Persian Monarch who having by force of Arms united Egypt to Persia conceived it to be worth his labour to unite Ethiopia unto Aegypt also Upon this Resolution he sent Ambassadors to that King to search into the passages of his Country and discover his strengths and by them sent a Tun of wine some Bracelets a Purple habit and a Box of sweet ointments to present him with Which Presents being tendred to him he looked upon the Unguents and the Purple Robe as too slight and effeminate the Bracelets he conceived to be bonds or fetters and openly laught at them as too weak to hold in a Prisoner but with the Wine he was very well pleased and sorrowed that his Country yielded no such liquour But understanding well enough what this visit aimed at he gave the Ambassadors at their parting amongst other gifts an Aethiopian Bow of great length and strength requiring them to tell their Master that untill every Persian could bend that Bow the Aethiopian Bows being a foot longer then the Persian as before was noted it would be no safe warring upon his Dominions and that he had good cause to thank the Gods for giving the Aethiopians so contented mindes as not to think of conquering their Neighbours kingdoms Lying far off and parted from Egypt by vast mountains we finde then not looked after by the Macedonians Nor had the Romans medled with them had they not been provoked by Candace the Queen hereof during the Empire of Augustus who having made a War on Egypt was by Petronius Governour of that Province brought to such conformity that she was fain to sue for peace and to purchase it with the loss of some part of her Country To keep them quiet for the future Philae an Aethiopian City but on the borders of Egypt is made a Garrison by the Romans and the seat of their Deputy for these parts held by them till the Empire of Dicclesian and by him abandoned because the charge of keeping it did exceed the profit After this growing into power and reputation the Aethopian Kings were reckoned of as friends to the Roman Empire in so much as Justinian sent