he remooueth it two yeares off placing one whole yeare betwixt them as I doe yet differing herein that he placeth Pantacles in the 21. yere which was his error as more plainly by God his assistance shall appeare hereafter But the testimonie of Diodorus Siculus an auncient Historiographer is much more notable who in his thirteenth booke referreth these acts which heere in Xenophon begin after the 22. yeare of the warre to the 23. of the same two yeares before the Magistracie of Pantacles which by Diodorus is set downe in the 25. yere thereof which without all question is most vndoubtedly true and shewed by Xenophons table of the Spartan gouernours euidently and plainely as euery one whose sight is not dimme with a cauelling affection and wilfull wrangling may very clearely see it If any thing in the writing of Xenophons historie by corruptiō of numbers be amisse as for my part I thinke there is none at all if hee bee well vnderstood yet for one thing amisse another which is true must not bee forsaken Let that which is right be so still and not cast away for that which is wrong Xenophons table is sure and hath the consent of excellent Authors to approue it Thucidides from the Marathon war which by the learned is set in the second sommer of the 72. Olympiad to the end of the Peloponnesian warre maketh account of 87. yeares that is to say 10. to Xerxes inuading Greece and 50. thence to the Peloponnesian war with 27. more to the end thereof which from the second of 72. fill vp Xenophons number of 93. Olympiads In the last whereof by Xenophon were gouernours of Athens first Enctemo then Antigones next Callias the fourth and last Alexias Let vs here a little examine how Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in the seauenth booke of his Roman Antiquities agreeth to these there hee writeth that Callias ruled at Athens in the third yeare of that 93. Olympiad which is so by Xenophon Moreouer that the next before Callias for the second yere of that Olympiad was Antigenes found true in the like manner by Xenophon and lastlie from the second yere of the 72 Olympiad wherein the Marathon battell was fought to that yeare of Callias he gathereth 85. yeares which with that yeare of Callias the other following of Alexias make vp exactly the iust reckoning of Thucidides his 87. Diodorus Siculus for Xenophons meaning may take all doubt away end the controuersie who agreeing with Xenophon in the number as well of Olympiads as yeares of the Peloponnesian warre referreth the 24. of that war to the first of the 93. Olympiad as Xenophon doeth and in all the other yeares thereof writeth accordingly wherefore the opinion of Beroaldus concerning the corruption of Xenophons numbers I hold as true as his interpretation of 22. yeares for the next after 22. beeing past Now touching the second place of Xenophon making the warre of longer continuance then Thucidides doeth it no way hindereth the agreement of the Chronologie of those times if his wordes be well waied in the second booke of his Greeke Historie where after hee had declared in the last yeare of that warre the glorious victorie of Lysander against the Athenians at Gotes floud and the besiege of that City by sea and by land whereby they were driuen to yeeld and giue vp their shippes to the Lacedemonians and to throw downe their long wals in the hauen Pyreus hee addeth that the next yeare after happened that Olympiad wherein Crocinas the Thessalian won the race and Endius in Sparta Pythodorus in Athens were chiefe officers In which the fame of the Athenian common wealth was changed and the gouernment of the Cittie committed to thirtie who by their cruell tyrranie in the space of eight months killed more than before by warre had died in ten yeares This being done saith Xenophon Lysander sayled to Samus and tooke it and restored the old inhabitants and driue out the new after returned home to Lacedemonia with a great bootie in the end of summer 28. yeares and sixe months of that warre being then expired In which time were 29. Magistrates called Ephori The first of them being Aenesias vnder whō the war began the last Endius in whose time Lysander sayled home Here Xenophon fetcheth the beginning of that warre further than Thucidides euen from the beginning of the first Ephorus and for the end most apparantly goeth likewise beyond him to Lysanders winning of Samus setting order in it in the yeare of the 29. Ephorus yea further yet hee stretcheth it euen to Lysanders comming home vnto which time reckoning from the beginning of Aenesias wee finde 28. yeares and a halfe Againe Beroaldus obiecteth dissention of Authors touching the beginning of Dionysius his tyrranie some referring it to the third of the 93. Olympiad some to the fourth A waightie reason sure for a little difference of one yeare in Xenophon from other in one thing to ouerthrow the credit of all ancient writers in an other by vniuersall consent established agreed vpon and yet this little difference may bee rather in shew then indeede seeing it is a thing well knowne and confessed that diuers writers begin their yeares diuerslie some halfe a yeare some verie nere three quarters before other as Gerardus Mercator prooueth in his Chronologie but howsoeuer it were graunted that here in one yeare there were flatte contradiction betweene them yet it is a ridiculous toy by one yeres difference to cut off a hundred from the Persian Monarchie I but A. Gellius hath yet a contrarie opinion to both the former laying the gouernment of Dionysius on the 346. yere of Rome which was the second of that Olympiad In Gellius we reade not 346. but 347. so that if the 346. of Rome be the second of the 93. Olympiad then the 347. is the third thereof and therefore good agreement between the Storie writer of Halicarnassus and him The Attick nights were belike too dark for Beroaldus his eyes to see what the enditer layed vp in that place whereunto I haue giuen light before to perceiue his minde It followeth in Beroaldus It is reported of Euripides and Sophocles that they both died in one yeare that is the fourth of the 92. Olympiad whereof may be gathered the 30. tyrants set ouer Athens by Lysander and the ende of the Peloponnesian warre to haue beene in the first of the 93. because the death of Sophocles is knowne to haue happened about that time By whome is this reported It were to bee wished that he had beene named Manie I am sure they cannot be and I thinke no one ancient Author at all can be found who plainely hath said it so as it may appeare to haue proceeded of iudgement in him and againe if any can bee founde who of iudgement set them both together so high yet that might bee well enough without misplacing the thirtie tyrants from the first of the 94. Olympiad to the first of the 93.
the lawfull custome of sacrificing appoynting priests of the common people and countrie clownes a thing forbidden by Gods lawe They held the Temple and holie places keeping themselues therein as a castle of defence and at the length partly by the sedition within and partly sharpe warre without it came to passe that the priests in time of their sacrificing were slaine by darts and stones hurled from the rebels and in the ende for want of men there was no daily oblation any more offered This Iosephus declareth in the 2. booke the 17. chapter the 4. booke the 5. chapter the 5. booke the 9. chapter the 6. booke the first and fourth chapters the seuenth booke the fourth chapter of the Iewes warre Wherfore not without cause in my iudgement may those words of Daniel touching the sacrifices ceasing in the middest of the last weeke bee referred vnto these times of this warre wherein by meanes thereof the sacrifices of the Lords house were hindered so many wayes some were quite abolished and others done either not by those to whom they pertained or not so safely and freely as they ought Yea I see not how any at all many dayes could bee offered by reason of the seditious hurlie burlies in the citie and the warre without the sacrificers themselues oftentimes being slaine or wounded in the middest of their offering Master Iunius though hee thinke Christ Iesus to bee the agent and worker of these abolished sacrifices yet for all that partly he referreth the working thereof to the time of Ierusalems besieging Impijs sacrificium munus abolebit ex facto quia premente obsidione vrbis destituentur commoditatibus sacrificiorum He shall abolish sayth Iunius speaking of Christ sacrifice and offering in regard of the wicked by deede because that the besieging of the citie pressing them they shall bee bereaued of the profits of sacrifices This exposition is not strayned it is plaine without any wresting turning adding or taking away the course of Heauen and holy Scripture and prophane storie all make one account they all agree in the same reckoning if it bee not new all is well For this is well sayde of an Hebrew writer and worth the bearing in minde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Better is the grape gleaning of the auncient then the gathering of the later Neither is it lightly to be regarded which Iosephus in his second booke against Apion affirmeth that length of time is a most sure proofe For my owne part I reuerence antiquities gray heares as much as any other who beareth but this indifferencie to thinke that good reason is aboue all For without it I would not haue her contradicted Wherefore least this opinion of newnesse discredite my iudgement I am to let the reader vnderstand that though it be not so rife as other yet it is more ancient then peraduenture may be thought Tertullian was one of the Latine Fathers most auncient and very neere the Apostles flourishing in the raigne of Seuerus the Emperor about 200. yeares after Christes birth and not past one hundered after the death of Iohn the Euangelist Who in a booke of his written against the Iewes expounding this prophecie of Daniels weekes beginneth the reckoning thereof from a Darius which raigned nineteene yeares after whome these foure succeeded one after another to the ende of the Persian Monarchie First Artaxerxes then Ochus after him Arses and last of all another Darius who was ouercome by Alexander Whereby it is manifest that he meaneth the same Darius that I doe for the beginning of this 490. yeares Onely herein he was deceiued that he supposed this Darius to be the same which is mentioned in the ninth of Daniel and raigned ouer the Medes when this message was brought vnto him by the Angell Gabriell And for the ende thereof hee bringeth it to the first yeare of Vespasian making this conclusion of all his account Ita in diem expugnationis suae Iudaei impleuerunt hebdomadas 70. praedictas in Daniele So the Iews saith Tertullian at the daye of their subdewing fulfilled the 70. weekes foretolde by Daniel Thus for the Persian king vnder whom Daniels weekes begun there is no great difference betweene Tertullian and me and for the time wherein they ended none at all After Tertullian Seuerus Sulpitius of the same standing with Augustine Epiphanius Chrysostome a writer for skil in the Persian storie deseruing great commendation and to the true vnderstanding of Ezra and Nehemias Daniels weekes bringeth such light as is not in any ancient writer that euer I read to be found the like This Father in the second booke of his holy history speaking of Cyrus saith that hee gaue the Iewes leaue in the beginning of his raigne to build the Temple wherein they went a little forward till such time as they were hindered by their enemies nere a hundred yeres after in the raigne of Artaxerxes who forbad them to meddle any more in that worke which by that meanes ceased till the second yeare of Darius The same Author after Cyrus hauing spoken of Cambyses Darius Hystaspis and Xerxes placeth next him that Artaxerxes Qui templi aedificationē inhibuit which forbad the building of the Temple and then hauing set another Xerxes with his brother Sogdianus betweene commeth to that Darius vnder whom the temple was restored and the building thereof perfected in the sixt yeare of his raigne From which time to the destruction of the Citie by Vespasian he numbreth 483. yeares His words be these Caeterum â restitutione templi vsque in euersionem quae sub Vespasiano Consule Augusto per Titum Caesarem consummata est anni 483. Praedictum id olim est a Daniele qui ab instauratione templi ad euersionem eius 69. hebdomadas futuras pronunciauerat But from the restoring of the Temple saith Seuerus to the ouerthrow of it which by Titus Caesar was finished vnder Vespasian then beeing imperiall Consull were 483. yeares That was by Daniel long agoe foretold who had before declared that from the restoring of the Temple to the ouerthrow of it should bee 69. weekes whereas hee saith that Daniel foretold 69. weekes to bee from the restoring of the Temple to the destruction thereof it is true beeing vnderstood from the commandement going out concerning that restoring to the time wherein the desolation of the Citie the ouerthrow of the Iewes common wealth begun for Daniel in plaine words foreshewed that after 69. weeks counted from that commandement Messias should be cut off the Citie and Temple destroyed leauing the last week of the seuenty for the accomplishing thereof wherein by certaine degrees by little and little it was wrought by the Romans The ruine begun vnder Albinus his gouernment strait after the 69. weekes as before hath beene prooued by one or two euident testimonies of Iosephus It continued and increased more and more vnder Florus till at the length Titus vnder his father Vespasian made a finall end and vtter vndooing of all
then he yet so as he hath likewise done that for other which Scaliger did for him that is left somewhat behind to bee vnderstood of other which himselfe neuer attained Especially in the 26. verse where it is said that after those 62. weekes Messias shall be cut off Where Master Iunius vseth some wresting by turning the future tence into the preterperfect and leauing out some coniunctions and changing other thereby making the accusatiue case of the nominatiue reiecting the ancient interpretations Greeke and Latin without any cause These inconueniences they are of force driuen vnto who by the word Messias doe not with Eusebius and the Hebrew expositors vnderstand the anointed gouernours Some may here say vnto mee Is it not plaine by the 24. verse that Daniel in this prophesie speaketh of Iesus Christ the redeemer of the worlde of whose death so many singular and notable effects are declared therein of abolishing sinne of reconciling sinners vnto the fauour of God and bringing euerlasting righteousnesse and fulfilling whatsoeuer had been foretold by the former Prophets of him I answere to this that of all other places in the old Testament touching the comming of Christ whereof there is great store that verse of Daniel is most excellent and cleere yet withall I deny that by the name of Messias in the verses following Christ our Sauiour is vnderstood For neither the true account of yeares will suffer it nor the text of holie Scripture beare it But how then is it here sayd that 70. weekes were decreed for abolishing sinne and making attonement if Christ came not in the ende of those 70. weekes The meaning is that within the space of those 70. weekes Christ by his passion should worke that redemption and saluation from sinne and wrath to the world As Tertullian speaketh in his booke against the Iewes where writing of the passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ he saith that it was perfected in the time of Tiberius Caesar Intra tempora septuaginta hebdomadarum within the times of the seuentie weekes I am not ignorant that by the Hebrew writers it is a thing acknowledged and granted that Christ came in the verie ende of those weekes For they held that their Messias should begin to raigne at the destruction of Ierusalem And therefore Rabbi Leui ben Gershom expounding those wordes of this text to bring euerlasting righteousnesse and to seale vp vision and prophet referreth the fulfilling thereof to the kingdome of Christ which hee calleth the fift kingdome because it was to succeede the other foure spoken of before in the second and seuenth chapters of this prophesie It was an olde tradition amongst the Hebrews of auncient time receiued from the schoole of Elias declared in their Talmud in the treatise Sanhedrim the eleuenth chapter and diuers other places that the world should endure sixe thousand yeres whereof two thousand should bee voyd without the lawe two thousand vnder the law and two thousand the time of Christ Whereby the iudgement appeareth concerning the comming of Christ that it should be at the desolation of the holie citie immediatly after the ceasing of the law For the law then ceased and all the ceremonies thereof ended when Ierusalem the seat of God his worship according to that lawe was destroyed by Titus and neither place nor people there left anie longer for the law-seruice of God Diuers such testimonies of the auncient Hebrewes are recorded by Philip of Morney Lord of Plessie in his book of the truth of Christian Religion the 29. and 30. chapters wherby he gathereth that it was a common opinion among them that the Messias should come about the destruction of the Temple R. Hama the sonne of Hauina in the same chapter of the Talmudicall treatise before alleadged sayd that the sonne of David should not come so long as any soueraigne authoritie were it neuer so small remained in Israel Also R. Mili alleadging Rabbi Eliezer the sonne of Simeon sayd that Christ should not come vntill there were a cleane riddance of all Iudges Magistrates in Israel And R. Moses Haddarsan vpon the 49. of Genesis gaue this iudgement of the Iewes Senate consisting of seuentie Elders or Iudges called Sanhedrim that they were not to cease before the comming of the Messias Let vs then examine when the authoritie of those Iudges and all gouernment ceased in Ierusalem that thereby wee may know the time of Christ his comming by the Hebrew writers opinion That honorable Lord of Plessie in his booke before mentioned hauing cited the testimonie of Philo in his booke of Times to proue that Herod slew al the Sanhedrim about the 30. yeare of his raigne affirmeth that to be the time wherein the soueraigntie and iurisdiction of Iuda did cease not for a few dayes or yeares but for a continual time How this may stand for trueth I cannot perceiue For to say nothing of that fained Philo an author forged in the shop of Annius his toying braine it is well knowne that the common-wealth of Ierusalem and Iewrie flourished with princely rule and other gouernment of Magistrates yea of the very Sanhedrim themselues aboue three score and ten yeares after that time euen to Ierusalems desolation Christ in the 30. yeare of Herod was yet vnborne who about the 33. yeare of his age in the sixteenth of Matthew foretold to his Disciples what he was to suffer of the Elders and chiefe Priests and Scribes All these were gouernours and rulers of the citie and by the name of Elders the best interpreters haue especially vnderstood those Sanhedrim hauing great reason for it For these Sanhedrim were nothing els but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 70. Elders of the great Consistorie or iudgemeat place in Ierusalem As by Elias Leuita they are described in his Tishbi The old Rabbins in their Talmud haue borowed from the Greeke tongue many words whereof this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanhedrim is one signifying a sitting of Iudges or Senatours together in councell or iudgement So it is taken in the 107. Psalme the 32. verse by the Chaldie interpreter where for these Hebrew wordes there vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let thē praise him in the sitting that is the assemblie of the Elders The Targum hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Let them praise him in the sitting together of the wise expressing the word of sitting by Sanhedrim as Synedrion in Greeke is taken Christ therefore in the fift of Matthew saying Whosoeuer calleth his brother Raca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be bound ouer to a sessions or sitting meaneth the sitting in iudgement of the Sanhedrim applying his speech to the manner of the ciuill iudgements in Ierusalem Iosephus in his 20. booke of Antiquities the eight chapter telleth that when Festus the Romane gouernour was dead Ananus the high priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made the assemblie of the Iudges to sit by whom Iames the brother of Christ was adiudged to be stoned This happened
vnder the gouernour Albinus not long before the destruction of the citie Whereby may bee gathered that magistracie iudgement and gouernment yea the authoritie of the 70. Iudges called Sanhedrim continued long after Herods 30. yere and was not cut off till the desolation of Ierusalem brought it to an end For when the warres begun to worke the desolation thereof then king Agrippa by seditious rakehels was driuen out of it then were the Sanhedrim deposed at the rebels will and other base men set vp in their stead as Josephus telleth in the fift book of the Iewes warre the first chapter Then was the Priesthood and all good order made a mockerie The rebellious cutters did what they list no lawes to restraine them no magistracie to punish them no authoritie to bridle them They ruled al at their own pleasures themselues as they would good gouernment was turned into anarchie and disorder and Ierusalem became as Iosephus termeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a citie without a guide And this it is that Daniel sayth touching Messias to bee cut off in the last weeke of the seuentie meaning the rule and authoritie of the annointed gouernour as before I haue expounded the place Thus by the iudgement of the Hebrew writers in their auncient monuments the comming of Christ falleth to the fall of the Iewes common-wealth in the ouerthrow of Ierusalem when gouernment and authoritie ceased therein which long before had been foretold by the Patriarch Iacob in the 49. of Genesis in that old prophesie of his concerning the comming of Christ The scepter shall not depart from Iuda nor a law giuer from betweene his feete till Shiloh come and him shall the people gather themselues vnto For together with this diuine oracle of Daniel that other most ancient and excellent prophesie of Iacob hitherto not perfectly and cleerely according to the true meaning therof declared of any that I know of may receiue light Many haue sought the fulfilling of that prophesie in the first comming of Christ at his birth but without straying it could neuer yet be there found For the meaning of it was that in the tribe of Iuda should bee royall supremacie and gouernmēt of Magistrates for the good of the Iewes vpholding of their Common-wealth till the comming of Christ whose new spirituall raigne by the preaching of the Gospell should abolish their old earthly kingdome and outward policie So was the place vnderstood by the Hebrew Doctors aforenamed R. Hama R. Mili R. Eliezer The Chaldie paraphrasts both of them most excellently expound the place which themselues vnderstood not being like therein vnto Virgils Bees which make honey for other and not themselues First Onchelos interpreteth it in this manner A Magistrate exercising authoritie of the house of Iuda shall not depart nor a Scribe of his posteritie for euer till Christ come to whom the kingdome pertaineth and him shall the people obey The other called the interpreter of Ierusalem thus Kings of the house of Iuda shall not faile neither skilful law-teachers of his posteritie vnto the time wherein the king Christ shall come vnto whom the kingdome pertaineth and all the kingdomes of the earth shall be subdued vnto him If Christ came when authoritie was gone and authoritie went away at Ierusalems fall needes must one comming of Christ bee referred to the ouerthrow of that citie R. Moses of Tyroll Bioces looked for the comming of Christ towards the end of the second Temple being led thereunto partly by their owne reckoning vpon Daniel and partly by a text in the last chapter of the prophet Esay the seuenth verse where it is sayd Before her throwes came vpon her she was deliuered of a manchilde Some of the Rabbines sayd Messias was borne the very same day that the second temple was destroyed in supposing that scripture of Esay to be therein fulfilled In their book called Bereshith Rabba is read this parable As a certaine Iew was at plow an Arabian passing by hearing one of his oxen low bad him vnyoke because the destruction of the Temple was at hand And by and by hearing also the other low bad him vnyoke out of hād because the Messias was alreadie come R. Abon in another place telling the same What neede we saith he to learne it of the Arabians seeing the text it selfe declareth it Iosephus in the seuenth booke of the Iewes warre the twelfth chapter writeth that in the holie Scripture was found an olde prophesie that at the time of the ouerthrow of Ierusalem a king should come out of Iewrie who should raigne ouer all the world which he by flattering falshood interpreted of Vespasian This prophesie in those daies was bruted abroad in many mens mouthes euery where yea some write that it was engrauen in an open place of the castle at Ierusalem which as Iosephus writeth made the Iewes at that time so readie to rebell And this was the cause that so many fained themselues to be the Messias about that time of the destruction of the Temple Vnder Cuspius Fadus one Theudas a iugler made the people beleeue that he was a prophet would deuide the waters of Iordan that they should goe ouer drie as they had done long before miraculously in the time of Ioshua by the power of God And when Felix was the Romane gouernour of Iudea one comming out of Egypt fayning himselfe to bee a prophet perswaded the people if they would follow him to mount Oliuet they should see the walles of Ierusalem fall downe And afterward one Barcozba so called of his lying tooke vpon him to bee the Messias and seduced many but in the end performing not the deliuerance looked for at his hands he was knocked on the head for his lying and slaine All these tooke aduantage of the time being answerable to their intent and of the peoples disposition then looking for their promised Christ Moreouer there was yet another prophesie bruted amongst them that Doctor Hillels schollers should neuer faile till Christ were come The youngest of them was R. Iochaman the sonne of Zacheus who liued to see the destruction of the Temple and also the miracle of a great gate thereof a little before opening of it selfe which Iosephus speaketh of in his seuenth booke and twelfth chapter of the Iewes warre Whereat this R. Iochaman being amazed remembred this saying of the Prophet Zacharie in the beginning of his 11. chapter Open thy gates O Libanus and let fire consume thy cedars applying the place to the comming of Christ Furthermore they had amongst them these olde traditions touching the tokens of Christes comming When Christ the sonne of Dauid cōmeth sayth R. Iudas there shall be few wise men in Israell and the wisdome of the scribes shall stinke and the schooles of diuinitie shall become brothelhouses R. Nehorai sayd that good men in Israell should bee abhorred and mens countenaunces past shame at Christes comming And R. Nehemias sayd that wickkednesse should bee multiplied without measure