necessarie that som one term or other must bee taken why not the true to choos If the Question were asked indefinitely whether the World began in the Spring the Summer the Winter or the Autumn the answer must bee That it began in all For so soon as the Sun set forth in his Motion the seasons immediately grew necessarie to several positions of the Sphear so divided among the parts of the Earth that all had everie one of these and each one or other at the same time The Question therefore is to respect som particular Horizon and becaus it is not doubted but that the Sun first to this upper Hemisphear and in special from the Horizon of our first Parents The Quere is to bee mooved concerning the Holie-Land at what time of the year the World there began 'T is agreed upon by all that it began in som Cardinal point that is that the Motions began from the Eastern Angle of the Holie-Land the Solstitial or Aequinoctial points one or other of them asscending in the Horoscope Nay Mercator excepted scarce anie man doubteth but this point was Aequinoctial either in the Spring or Autumn Whether in this or that was antiently a great Question between the Doctors Eliezer and Joshua as the Seder Olam relateth Scaliger Joseph and becaus hee did Sethus Calvisius Torniellus and others fix this begining in the Autumn which also was the Opinion of our Bacon long ago But the Father Julius was not of his son's minde Mundum saith hee primo vere natum Sapientes autumant credere par est So the more part Maintein and for the best reasons And if it were not otherwise evident Nature it self is very convincing whose Revolutions begin and end in the vernal Aequinox Nor can anie other good reason bee given why the Astronomers should deduce all their Calculations from the Head of Aries The Aera of the Flood falleth within the 1656 year of the Worlds Creätion as the Hebrew Scripture is plain why 't is otherwise in the Greek accompt shall bee said hereafter CHAP. VI. Nabonassar's Aera WAs of all prophane ones of the greatest note and use Altraganus Albategnius and the King Alphonso's Tables call him Nebuchadonosor or Nebuchadnezar deceived as it seem's by the Almagest So Ptolomie's Book entitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Magnae Constructionis is call'd by the Arabick Translators Althazor and Serig who at the instance of Almamon their King turn'd this book into that language and that they might speak Ptolomie's title in one word they set down Almageston that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Great Work The Translators of this Almagest use to render Ptolomie's Nabonassar by Bechadnetzer giving too much heed to the likeness of Names Alfraganus and Albategnius followed the Arabick Translation of Ptolomie and the Alphonsine Tables the Latine Translation of that Mercator Funccius the Prutenick Tables Origanus and manie others confound this Name with Shalmanesser's the Assyrian King But James Christman maketh demonstration that the times agree not besides other circumstances added by Scaliger inducing the same truth with the evidence whereof Origanus holding himself convinced was not ashamed to make his retractation Yet Christman and Scaliger themselvs found it an easier matter to tell who Nabonassar was not then who hee was It seemed to Christman that hee might bee the same with Beladan the father of Merodach or at least that hee was a King of Babylon whose own name was unknown Nabonassar beeing the Royal Name of that Kingdom as hee thinketh and common to them all Scaliger putteth this together and assuring himself that Nabonassar was the same with Beladan maketh no doubt but that was the name of the King this of the man So the 5 book of his Emendations but the third of his Isagogical Canons confesseth this also to bee a mistake This Error was first discovered by the Appearance of Ptolomie's Canon which setteth down a List of the Babylonish Persian and Romane Kings from Nabonassar's time to the time of Ptolomie Mention was made of this Canon by Panodorus Anian and George the Syncellus amongst whom Scaliger but lately and not intirely met with it Sethus Calvisius received a Transcript of a more perfect Copie from D. Overal Dean of S. Paul's the Original whereof is exstant in Biblioth Bodlian and set out with Ptolomie's Hypothesis by D. Bambrigge The Canon begineth Κανων Βασιλειων 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ιδ. Nabonassari 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 β Nadii 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ε Chinceri Pori 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ε Jugaie 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ιβ Mardocempadi 12 c. Nabonassar therefore was King not as som thought of Egypt but Babylon who for delivering his People from the subjection of the Medes was made the Aera of their Kingdom from whom the Chaldeans and the Egyptians therefore accounted their Celestial Calculations For his Synchronism The Canon setteth him down the fifth before Mardocempad or Merodach-cen-pad the same with Meredach Baladan who sent Messengers to K. Ezechia to enquire concerning the Retrocession of the Sun But for a more certain demonstration of the time three Lunar Eclipses noted by Hipparchus are set down by Ptolomie in the fourth of his Almagest The first was seen at Alexandria the 16 daie of Mesori in the 547 year of Nabonassar This Eclips by the Julian Calculation and Tables of Calvisius fell out upon Fridaie the 22 of September at 7 of the Clock in the afternoon and 20 minutes the Sun then beeing in the 26 of Virgo It was the Year 4513 of the Julian Period that is the 3749 from the Worlds Creätion out of which if wee deduct the 547 years of Nabonassar the remainder will bee 3203 the year of the Worlds Creätion wherein this Aera was fixed The daie as the King Alphonsus and before him the Translators of the Almagest have delivered was Dies Thoth or Mercurii answering to the 26 of the Julian Februarie begining so Ptolomie at high noon the Sun then entring into Pisces and the Moon beeing in the 11 degree and 22 minutes of Taurus And the same conclusion will follow from the two other Eclipses reduced in like manner to our Calculation And to put all out of doubt Censorinus saith that the 986 Year of Nobonassar was the 238 of Christ but that was the 4951 of the Julian Period Therefore Nabonassar's Aera began in the 3967 year of the same Period which was the 3203 Year from the World's Creätion So that the Aera is undoubtedly assured This Aera still accounteth by Epyptian years which are therefore called Anni Nabonassarei and becaus it began upon Wednesdaie the first daie of their first Moneth which as the daie it self they hold holie to Thoth or Mercurie useth to bee called Nabonassar's Thoth CHAP. VII The Aera of the Olympiads THe Olympick Games were instituted for the exercise of the Grecian Youth by Hercules as the Tradition go's to the honor of Jupiter Olympius
Luke that the thirtieth year of Christ is Synchronical to the fifteenth of Tiberius Hee noteth an Eclips of the Moon set down by Tacâ—tus in the first year of Tiberius the two Sexti Pompeio Apuleio Coss This Eclips hapned upon Thursdaie the 27 of September in the 4727 of the Julian Period which was the 3963 from the Worlds Creätion And seeing as most certain it is that this Eclips fell out in the first year of Tiberius and that the fifteenth of Tiberius answereth to the 30 of our Saviour's age it followeth that the first of Tiberius was the fifteenth of our Saviour and the first of our Saviour was the 4712 year of the Julian Period one year sooner then the Dionysian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it may bee the verie same for 't is doubted what S. Luke meaneth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our own Translation rendreth that Jesus began to bee about thirtie years old c. which considering and that the first of Tiberius was but the begining of a year the difference may seem to com within compass of som reconciliation For the time of the year The Alexandrian and therefore the Ethiopian and Armenian Churches deliver that our Saviour was born the 6 of Januarie the same daie hee was baptized accordingly they celebrate both the Festivals in one daie of the Epiphanie which for that it hath been of som standing in those parts prevailed so far with Causabon as to forsake the more received opinion but not considering how slenderly this Tradition pretendeth Som question of of old there was in the Church of Alexandria so their Clement reporteth as concerning the daie of this Nativitie To resolv this doubt they observed this cours The daie of his Baptism supposed which as wee they held to bee the Epiphanie they supposed also out of the forequoted place of S. Luke that our Saviour was born and Christ'ned the same daie for that hee was 30 years old when hee was baptized Their conclusion therefore was that our Saviour was born the sixth of Januarie which how consequent it is I need not saie The forenamed Bishop of Middleburgh setteth down our Saviour born in April Beroaldus thinketh hee was born about the begining of October So Scaliger Calvisius about the end of September As for the daie saith Scaliger Vnius Dei est non Hominis definire and Hospinian persuadeth that the Christians did not celebrate the 25 of December as thinking Christ was then born but to make amends for the Saturnalia How much better had it been for these men to content themselvs with the Tradition of the Church then by this elaborate unfruitful search to entangle the Truth The Religion of this 25 daie though Scaliger saie it non est nupera neque novitia 't is Apostolical by the Constitutions of Clement c. Antiquitat Lib. 11. Nor doth Chrysostom's Oration saie much less The Catholicus Armeniorum in Theorinus Dialogue make's this good by Antient Monuments brought from Jerusalem to Rome by Titus Vespasian or if this Autoritie could bee rendred suspicious wee cannot elude the Persian Ephemeris nor the Astronomical Tables of Alcas in both which our Saviour is set down born the 25 of December And truely the strange and rare position of Heaven at this Nativitie doth not a little reinforce my belief though otherwise not much given to admire matters of this nature for Cardan finde's it in the Figure of our Saviour there hapned this daie a Conjunction of the two great Orbs which is of that kindle which Nature can shew the World but once except the World endure more then fourty thousand years CHAP. XVII Aera Passionis Dominicae NO less question hath been made about the Year of our Saviour's Passion then that of his Nativitie Thus much is certain That hee suffered upon Fridaie the fourth of Nisan Not to take notice of the Acts of Pilate cited by the Hereticks in Epiphanius Clemens of Alexandria delivereth That our Saviour suffered in the 16 of Tiberius and 25 of Phamenosh which answereth to the 21 of March but our Saviour suffered upon Fridaie therefore the Dominical that year was E but the 16 of Tiberius had 11 for the Cycle of the Sun therefore the Dominical Letter was not E but A therefore either the Passion was not upon that daie or els it was not that year Epiphanius affirmeth that our Saviour suffered the 20 of March but hee suffered as before upon the feria sexta therefore the Dominical must bee D for otherwise Fridaie could not fall upon March the 20. This hap'ned Anno 19 of Tiberius but the Cycle of the Moon for the year was 15 therefore the Passover that year was not celebrated March the twentieth but the fourth of April and feria not sexta but septima Manie other forms of this opinion are set down by the Antient but which will not endure the touch of these Characters Phlegon Trallianus noteth an Eclips of the Sun the fourth year of the 202 Olympiad the most horrible that ever was No man ever doubted but this was that which the Scripture noteth at our Saviour's Passion observed also by the Astronomers in Egypt reported to have said those words Aut Deus Naturae patitur c. The Reverend Father Dionysius may bee seen in his Epistle to Polycarpus and to Apollophanes but who when hee saith that this was don by the Interposition of the Moon doth not a little betraie his Tradition for the Sun and Moon were then Diametrically opposed and the Moon her self totally Eclipsed in Libra to the Antipodes of Jerusalem therefore the Eclips was supernatural The fourth year of the 22 Olympiad answereth to the 19 of Tiberius and the 33 of the Nativitie which was the 4745 of the Julian Period and 3982 of the World in the 78 Julian year and 780 of Nabonassar and becaus it was feria sexta therefore it was the third daie of April there hapning the verie same daie a natural Eclips of the Moon in the 11 of Libra which began at Jerusalem at 5 of the clock and 49 minutes in the afternoon Therefore this daie was exceeding terrible for the Sun was totally once and the Moon once totally and twice Eclipsed CHAP. XVIII Hegira Muchammedis MAhomet having introduc'd a new Superstition which the men of Mecha impatient as all other of alteration resented not was forced to flie that place This flight of his or persecution as hee had rather it should bee thought in allusion to that of Dioclesian and compliance with the Christians Aera Martyrum was called Hegira Muchammedis that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the flight of the persecuted Prophet It fell out upon Fridaie the 16 of Julie and 622 of the Incarnation begining as their years are Lunar from the new Moon of that time but which they account not as others from the Conjunction it self but from the Horning which is the caus why they set up in their Steeples a Crescent as
or Stars but may bee now more easily gotten out of the Tables of Peter Appian Gemma Frisius Mercator Ortelius Tycho and that annexed to Mr Hues his Treatise of the Use of the Globes wherein the Longitudes and Latitudes of all the Principal Cities Capes Rivers c. are set down but not accounting all from the same Meridian which therefore also must bee considered off For the named Autors Appian Gemma Frisius and Tycho reckoned from the Canaries the rest from St Michaël in the Azores Of the Difference of Longitude and Latitude and what is to bee observed in the converting of the Degrees of either into Miles THe Respect of several Places one to another is called the Difference of Longitude or Latitude as the Latitude of Oxford is 51 Degrees the Latitude of Durham 55. The Difference of Latitude is 4 Degrees The Use of Longitude and Latitude in the absolute sens was to make out the Position of anie Place in respect of the Whole Sphere In this other meaning the Intent is to shew the Situation and Distance of anie Place from and in respect of anie other The Situation of a Place to another Place is otherwise called the Angle of Position but of the Distance first and how that is to bee made into Miles The several cases put by the Geographers of this Difference are either of Places differing in Latitude onely or Longitude onely or both Places differing in latitude onely are all such as lie under the same Meridian but several Parallels This may so fall out as that either both the Places may bee in North or both in South Latitude or one of them in each If both the Places lie in North or South Latitude then it is plain that if the lesser Latitude bee subduced from the greater the Remanent of Degrees multiplied into Miles by 60 sheweth the Distance as the Isl ' de Maio in the Latitude of 14 Degrees and the Isle of St Michaël 39 Degrees are both under the same Meridian the 14 Degrees are the lesser Latitude which taken from the 39 the greater the remainder is 25 which multiplied by 60 giveth the Distance in Miles If one of the Places lie in North the other in South Latitude add the Degrees of both Latitudes together and do the like The verie same Cours is to be taken if the Places differ in Longitude onely in case they both lie under the Line it self becaus there the measure is in a Great Circle as in the Meridians of Latitude but if otherwise it fall out to bee in anie Parallel on this or that side of the Line the case is altered Wee take for instance the Difference of Longitude betwixt London and Charlton or Charls-Town in Charlton Island so honored with the Name of CHARLS Prince of WALES by Captain Thomas James at his Attempt upon the North-West Passage in the Wintering the 29th of Maie the Year 1632 which was the Daie of His Highness Nativitie The Difference of Longitude is 79 Degrees 30 Minutes as it was taken from an Eclips of the Moon observed there by the Learned Captain Octob. 29 1631 and by Mr Henrie Gellibrand at Gresham College at the same time It is required that this Difference of Longitude bee converted into Miles The Latitude of Charlton is 52 Degrees 3 Minutes that of London much about the same Here the proportion of 60 Miles to a Degree will over-reckon the Distance almost by the half The reason whereof shall bee first reported out of the Nature of the Sphere However it bee certain that the Artificial Globe as the Natural is supposed to bee is of a Form precisely round and may bee drawn upon all over with Great Circles Meridionally yet considered from the Middle Line to the Poles it hath a sensible Inclination or Depression of Sphere as it is termed in their words so that if the Artificial Globe bee turned about upon it's Axel several parts of the same Bodie shall bee more swiftly moved then other at the same time for it is plain that the Equator is moved about in the same duration of time as the smallest Parallel but the Circumferences are of a Vast and Visible Disproportion and therefore is not possible they should go an equal pace It is upon the same grounds that the Autor of the Vse of the Globe per Terram mobilem will tell you that in the Diurnal Motion of the Earth though Amsterdam in the same Latitude with Oxford keep pace with the Isle of St Thomas under the Line yet they are of a very different dispatch for Amsterdam goeth but 548 Miles in an hour whereas the Isle of St Thomas posteth over 900 Miles in the same space of time which is after the rate of 12 Miles in a Minute and more And all this is true that is true to the Paradox from the Inclination of the Sphere But more plainly yet Wee see that the Meridians upon the Globe are set at 10 Degrees Distance but wee may perceiv too that this Distance groweth less and less as the Meridians draw nearer towards their concurrence in the Poles as the Globe it self doth from the Equator upwards and therefore the Degrees however accounted proportionable yet cannot possibly bee equal in the Lesser Parallels to those in the Equator but must needs make an orderlie Diminution from thence to either of the Poles When therefore it was formerly said that 60 Miles of the Surface of the Earthlie Globe answer to a degree in the Heaven it is to bee understood of the Degrees of a Great Circle and so is alwaies true in those of Latitude but in the Degrees of Longitude it holdeth onely in the Equator it self but in the Parallels more North or South the proportion diminisheth from 60 to none at all So that if I would convert the Longitudes of the Molucca's or anie other parts under the Line into Miles it is but multiplying the Degrees of Longitude by 60 and the thing is don but if I would do the like by Oxford or anie other place betwixt the Equator and the Poles I must first know what number of Miles answereth to a Degree in that Parallel of Latitude The knowledg of this dependeth upon the proportion which the Equator beareth to the Parallels which is learned out by the skill of Trigonometrie but need not now bee so hardly attained to for the Proportions are alreadie cast up into a Table by Peter Appian in the first Part of his Cosmographie They are there set down according to the Rate of German Miles one of which maketh 4 of ours According to our own Rate they are as followeth The Proportion of English Miles answering to their several Degrees of Latitude Deg. of Lat. Miles English Seconds 1 59 59 2 59 58 3 59 55 4 59 51 5 59 46 6 59 40 7 59 33 8 59 25 9 59 16 10 59 5 11 58 54 12 58 41 13 58 28 14 58 13 15 57 57 16 57 41 17
in opposition to the Sun yet neither do the Eclipses com to pass as often as these Lights oppose or conjoin for then they should bee Monethlie Onely that Conjunction or Opposition maketh an Eclips which is Diametral that is when the center of the Earth and the centers of both the Luminaries shall bee in the same line which hapneth to bee there onely where the Moon 's Eccentrick cutteth the Sun 's in that Line which is therefore called the Ecliptick This intersection is as needs it must but in two places called by Ptolomie the Nodi one asscending the other descending The Arabians term them the Dragon's Head and Tail from the fashion of the Intersections as they imagine it But neither do these Intersections keep one certain place but moving make a Circle of 18 Years so that the Eclips of the Moon which shall fall out the tenth of December next in the 20 deg of Gemini shall 18 Years hence com to pass in the same Sign again Therefore Eclipses beeing Periodical the begining of the World supposed the Astronomer by Calculation can attein to anie and all that ever have been by the same Rules by which hee foretelleth those that shall bee so that if anie where in Storie this Character shall occurr nothing can more assure the Time Let Instance bee made in the Begining of the Grecian Empire the appointment whereof dependeth upon the Battel at Arbela or as Plutarch correcteth at Gaugamele Eleven daies saith the same Autor before this fight an Eclips of the Moon was seen 'T was the second hour of the Night saith Plinie the Moon then rising in Sicilie Astronomical calculation demonstrateth that this Eclips all things considered could not fall out but in the second Year of the 112 Olympiad which was the 3619 of the World the Sun beeing then in the 24 deg of Virgo And therefore that God in Cicero mistook the cours of the Stars who presaged Cic. de Divinat lib. 1. that if the Moon should bee Eclips'd in Leo a little before the Sun's rise the Victorie should fall on Alexander's side So indeed it did but neither was the Moon then in Leo nor the Sun in the East De Emend Temp. lib. 5. Chronolog Bunting fol. 126. For such is the assurance of this Character that though the Astronomer learn of the Historian that there was an Eclips yet where and oft-times when it was the Historian might learn of him Eusebius and Dio set down that there was an Eclips of the Sun a little before the death of Augustus but by a Calculation Astronomical the Eclips was not of the Sun but of the Moon nor was it a little before but a little after his death S. Hierom reporteth that in his time about the Year of Christ 393 so terrible a darkness overshadowed the earth obscurato sole that everie man thought the World was at an end Nos scindimus Ecclesiam saith hee to Pammachius qui ante paucos menses circadies Pentecostes cum obscurato Sole omnis Mundus jam jámque venturum Judicem formidaret But the Astronomers finde that there could bee no Eclips of the Sun then nor near about that time but in such cases they answer that the Interposition was made by som unusual exhalations of that opacitie which might intercept the Sun's light in as great a measure as if the Moon had com between Such an one was that Eclips as som Historians miscal it which was seen so often in one Year before Cesar's death and that of the Year 798 the Sun beeing so dark for 18 daies together ut naves in mari aberrarent Scal in Prolegom pag. 51. which was a greater Eclips then the Moon could make Yet neither is it here to bee dissembled that the Astronomers themselvs do not alwaies agree about this infallible Character for Moller findeth out by his Frisian Tables manie Eclipses which cannot bee attein'd unto by the Prutenick Tables or those of the King Alphonsus c. To excuse this wee are to laie an imputation upon their Tables as beeing not all exacted from the same Hypotheses or not performed with like elaborate erection Or otherwise wee are to saie supposing the Tables to bee exact that som error was committed in the calculation of the Eclips And in this case wee are to guid our selvs by the greatest Masters in the Art For what if Moller saie that the Year of Cesar Augustus his diseas cannot bee demonstrated by the Eclips of the Moon in the begining of Tiberius becaus the Moon was Eclipsed both the Year before and after Sethus Calvisius may satisfie that neither of those could bee total as this was and whereas the one of those was seen at 7 the other at 8 of the Clock at night this was seen at 5 in the Morning And therefore all this notwithstanding the Character is to bee accounted excellent and of singular importance which Aristotle himself not ignorant of appointed Calisthenes at the siege of Babylon to reserv with all possible care the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Astronomical calculations of the Chaldeans as Simplicius relateth And the care was taken yet none of these observations though known to bee very manie could escape the injurie of time save onely three Eclipses which came to Ptolomie's hands unto which himself added three more of his own observation serving very much to the advancement of Historical Truth though this bee but a small number in comparison of those manie which the Historians here and there have committed to Memorie for indeed wee are not for this matter much less beholden to ignorance then to knowledg Wee know when it was that a Romane General durst not give Battel for fear of an Eclips and that of the Moon in the begining of Tiberius as one mentioned Tacitus Annal 1. as Tacitus can tel us affrightned the mutinous Souldiers into order and accord And 't is not long since the Conqueror of the Indies persuaded the Natives that hee had complained of them to their Moon and that such a daie the God should frown upon them which was nothing els but an Eclips which hee had found out in his Almanack However this ignorant Admiration was an occasion to the Men of those daies not to leav so strange an Accident as an Eclips out of their Storie especially if it happened to bee great or concurring with anie notable design little aiming at that which the reach of those daies hath brought to pass upon them which by turning over the leavs of that celestial volume recovereth their Eclipses again and by application of this Character maketh as sure of the time proposed as if it had been written in Heaven CHAP. III. Concerning the Cycle of the Sun THe division of the Year into 52 Weeks becaus it setteth off one daie supernumerarie maketh an alteration in all the rest so that the daies of the Week which use to bee assigned by the letters of the Alphabet fall not alike
near unto whose Temple they were perform'd in the Olympian field The Exercise was called Pentathlon or Quinquertium from the fivefold kinde The Victor was crowned with an Olive and triumphantly carried in a Chariot into his own Citie and which is to the purpose his name was publickly recorded The time was as onely Pindar hath revealed at the full Moon which followed the Summer Solstice They were celebrated everie fifth year and the Interval was called an Olympiad consisting of 4 Julian years and the odd Bissextile daie which was the caus as som think why this form of year was first introduced The first Celebration by Hercules vanishing in the Intermissions grew to bee less famous then the restitution by Iphitus whereof so much more notice hath been taken then of the other that this which was manie years after is yet accounted for the first Olympiad The time or Aera whereof is assured by the Character of that extraordinarie Eclips which the Sun suffered with our Saviour noted by Phlegon to have happened in the 202 Olympiad which multiplied by four maketh 808 years between the first Olympiad and the Passion of Christ Besides that Thucydides reporteth that in the first year of the Peloponnesiack War on a summer's daie in the afternoon there hapned an Eclips of the Sun so great an one as that the Stars appeared This Eclips by Astronomical Calculation is found to bee the second daie of Julie in the year before Christ 463 at which time as Crusius calculateth the Sun was Eclipsed in the 6 of Leo half an hour after 5 in the afternoon the digits of the Eclips were 9 and four third parts therefore almost one fourth part of the Sun was visible respecting the Horizon of Athens but in Thrace the Eclips was well nigh total so that the Stars were seen This therefore was that Eclips which Thucydides saith was seen in the first year of the Peloponnesiack war In the fourth Year of the same War the same Autor saith that Donius Rhodius wan the Prize in the Olympicks and this was the fourth year of the 87 Olympiad and that was the 460 year before Christ If therefore the 87 Olympiads bee multiplied by 4 they becom 348 Jùlian years which if they bee added to 460 the total will bee as before 808 years or the 202 Olympiad before the Passion of Christ Again Thucydides reporteth that in the 19 year of the Peloponnesiack War the Moon was Eclipsed and this was as Diodorus Siculus relateth in the fourth year of the 91 Olympiad That Eclips of the Moon as Crusius calculateth fell out upon the 27 daie of August in the 445 year before the Passion of Christ If therefore 90 Olympiads bee multiplied by 4 they make up 360 Julian years to which also must bee added the three first years of the 91 Olympiad and then they are 363 which added to 445 make up 808 years before the Passion of our Saviour which falleth with the 3173 year of the World and is the Aera of the Olympiads CHAP. VIII Aera Vrbis Conditae THe Italians by an old custom used to account their years from the time of their first Plantation yet in this the lesser towns were more happie then the Mother Citie Rome her self not having attein'd to know her own begining til Cato's time who considering the absurditie searched the Censor's Tables and bringing down the account to the first Consuls got within a little of Vrbs Condita It rested onely to make good the Interval from the Regifugium to the Palilia so the Aera of the first foundation is called from the Rites done to Pales Pastorum Dea the Shepherds Holiedaie as wee may call it celebrated the same daie the Citie was built Propertius Lib. 4. Vrbi festus erat dixere Palilia Patres Hic primus coepit moenibus esse dies The Interval as Cato found it amounted to 243 years Terence Varro who at the same time studied the point reckoned one year more and from thence saith Scaliger in factiones duas res discessit there became two sides one for the Catonian Palilia the other for the Varronian though Petavius that Scaligero-mastix affirmeth that the former was not Cato's opinion and Sethus Calvisius demonstrateth that they were both but one This Epilogism was found out by Tarutius or as hee is more rightly called Taruntius Firmanus a great Astrologer of those daies who at the solicitation of Varro cast the Nativitie of Rome which to recover hee first of all tried for the Founders Horoscope To attain to this hee entred into a consideration of the main actions of his life and be caus hee had understood by Tradition that there hapned an Eclips when Romulus was conceived in the womb hee went the Hermetical waie as that is called to finde out the Nativitie by the conception After consultation with the Stars and a due comparison of this with what was otherwise known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee confidently pronounced this Judgment That Romulus was conceived in the first year of the second Plutar. in Roma Olympiad the 23 daie of the Egyptian moneth Choeac at the third hour of the daie the Sun beeing then totally Eclipsed That hee was born the one and twentieth of the Moneth Thoth about the Sun rising That the Foundation of Rome was laied the ninth daie of Pharmuth between two and three a clock in the morning the Moon beeing then in Jugo So the Astrologer Otherwise the Tradition was which also Taruns considered that the Foundation of Rome was laid in the third year of the sixth Olympiad the Sun and Moon then beeing in an Ecliptical conjunction which defection was noted by Antimachus the Teïan Poet. For the first Eclips as his Tables which are said to bee those of Hipparchus directed him it fell out in the first year of the second Olympiad upon the 23 daie of the Moneth Choeac which answereth to the 24 of June at three a clock in the morning Yet according to Tyche Ptolomie's and the King Alphonsus their Tables the latitude was then so great that there could bee no Eclips at that time So Sethus Calvisius and others Nicolas Muller pretended that this Eclips could not bee found out by the Prutenick Tables but by the Frisian which hee was then about his own and more elaborate hee promiseth to account for it Calvisius answereth that the Prutenick Tables according to Copernicus his Hypotheses were most exactly performed and that hee doubted Muller could not stand to his word Yet since that Muller hath calculated this Eclips and found it to bee by his Frisian Tables according as the Astrologer set down Henrie Bunting findeth it in the second year of the second Olympiad one year later then the Astrologer And this may seem to bee nothing out of the waie For Dionysius Halicarnassius reporteth that Romulus as hee came not into the world so hee went not out without an Eclips Now Romulus reigned 37 years at which verie time the Sun was
Seleucus began to raign twelv years after the death of Alexander as appeareth by Albaâ—egnius and the Almagest which consenteth also to Diodorus Siculus who affirmeth that the first year of Seleucus was the first of the 117 Olympiad Therefore this Aera was fixed in the 4402 of the Julian Period which was the 3638 from the world's Creätion the Cycle of the Sun was 6 and the Moon 13. The Aera was fixed saith Scaliger though Petavius will not yield it by Calipus of Cyzicum who finding that Meton's ciclus decennovenalis exceeded the Moon 's Revolution one quadrant of a daie put four of these together and detracting from thence one whole daie for the quadruple excess of hours gave an exacter account of the Lunations then before This Cycle the Author to the honor of Alexander began the 28 of June in the Summer Solstice at the new Moon which followed the fight at Gangamele And this was in the year of the world 3619 as the Eclips assureth which hap'ned eleven daies before but becaus this fell out to bee in the second year of that Olympiad Calippus altered his minde and stayed nineteen years to make his Period concur but Alexander deceasing within seven years the Aera could not begin till twelv years after which was the first of the reign of Seleucus and 3638 of the World CHAP. XI Aera Dhilcarnian IS the same with the Alexandrea Graecorum and hath nothing proper but the Name which it self also is nothing but Alexander in other words as by the Arabick Geographer and otherwise 't is made known Dhilcarnain that is habentis duo cornua as Albumazer's Translator expresseth it So Alexander was called with relation to the Ram in Daniel's Vision as som divine but then they are fain to read it Ailcarnain not considering that it is not the word in Arabick as in Hebrew for a Ram the Arabians if they had meant thus would have said not Aiie but Hamelcarnain but let that pass for the word written in it's own language manifestly importeth no more then one that hath two horns So Alexander saith Christman might bee called either for that his Empire was bipartite into Asia and Syria which is not altogether so true or otherwise for that hee joined the East and West together with Conquests holding as it were the two Hornes of the World in his Victorious hands And this hee saith becaus as Hercules in the West so Alexander set up two Pillars for a non ultra to the Eastern World The Arabians themselvs saie more For though the more commonly known Historians of this Conqueror Q. Curtius and Arrian out of his Ptolomie and Aristobulus take no notice of Alexander's falling in the Western World Cedren excepted wheresoever hee had it yet the Arabick Geographer doubteth not to affirm that hee was the man by whose appointment and Design that Isthmos Gaditaneâ—s was cut out and the Atlantick Ocean let into the Mediterranean so making that Streight or Fretum therefore not to bee term'd Herculeum now called the Sreights of Gibralter or as it should bee Gebal Tarec that is Tarec's Hill so called saith the Arabick Geographer from Tarec the Son of Abdalla who having transported his Barbarians over the Streight secured his Army with the Natural fortification of that Place Geographus Arabs 1. par cl 4. But why Alexander should bee called Dhilcarnain or habens duo cornua Scaliger's reason is beyond exception and which Petavius himself could not choos but commend Alexander to rais himself a reputation of Divinitie suborned the Priest to entitle him the son of Corniger Ammon thenceforth the Cyrenians who had formerly used to express this Jupiter horned in their Coins transferred this honor to the Conqueror and so the reputed son as the Father was known by the name of Corniger which when it came to the Arabians was to bee said as here it is Dilcarnian CHAP. XII The Jews Aera ALexander the Great with his Grecian Armie marching towards Jerusalem with all intention of hostilitie the High Priests and Levites came forth to meet him all in their Holie Garments The King beholding this reverent Assemblie made an approch himself alone and drawing near to the High Priest fell down and worshipped The Captains wondring to see the son of Jupiter Ammon who had given command that all men should worship him himself to fall down to a Jew Parmenion drew near and made bold to ask him the question To whom Alexander 'T is not the Priest saith hee but his God whom I adore and who in his verie habit appeared unto mee long ago at Dius in Macedonia and encouraged mee in my undertakings for the Empire of Asia This don the King ascended the Temple where Sacrifice first don to God the prophecie of Daniel was brought forth the high Priest turning to that place which foretelleth of a mightie Prince of Graecia that was to conquer the Persians which the circumstances well agreeing the King readily applyed unto himself and so departed verie well pleased and full of hope leaving the People to their Antient peace Antiquitat Lib. 11. So their Historian Josephus and the Book Taanith Cap. 9. But it is added moreover by Abraham the Levite in his Cabala that the High Priest by waie of acknowledgment made faith to the King that all the children which should bee born that year to the holie Tribe should bee called by his Name and moreover that from the same Time they would henceforth compute their Minian Staros or Aera of Contracts c. fol. 3. CHAP. XIII AEra Dionysiana Philadelphi A Celestial year is such an one as keepeth touch with the Sun the Months whereof begin at his entrance into the Signs precisely and especially serving for the Prognostication of the Seasons Such a kinde of year Dionysius an Astrologer in Egypt set up after the example of Metan and others as by Theon 't is noted upon Aratus The Aera whereof hee fixed in the first yeare of the famous Ptolomie surnamed Philadelph 'T is often cited in the Almagest which also giveth Testimonie that this Aera began in the 463 of Nabonassar's Thosh Ptolm lib. 10. C. 4. 5 Almagesti which was the fourth year of the 123 Olympiad answering to the 4429 of the Julian Period which was the 3665 of the world's Creätion The Cycle of the Sun was 5 and the Moon 2. But neither was this this year of Dionysius meerly coelestial 't was also civil as Scaliger discovereth yet of no greater use in Historie to reconcile one place in that golden book as the same Autor termeth it of Jesus the son of Sirach That wise man saith that in the 38 year when Evergetes was King hee came into Egypt c. but how could that bee saith Scaliger seeing this Ptolomie raigned but 26 years To saie as som do that hee meant the years of his own life Emendat Temp. lib. 5. or the life of Evergetes is rather to excuse the Autor then interpret him And
though the Scripture maketh mention but of Darkness till the Ninth hour yet most certain it is that That Daie had another Darkness about the Twelfth hour of Nature's own Provision For by the Astronomical Tables the Moon was at that time almost totally Eclipsed So truly were these First Fruits cut down in the Night The Typical Sheaf thus reaped down was carried into the Court yard of the Sanctuarie threshed parched ground then lifted up and waved before the Lord So was the True The manner of the Jews Threshing was by the Treading of Oxen and Wheels indented with iron teeth And did not manie Buls compass Him about And was not Hee bruised for our Transgressions His Hands and his Feet were pierced and all his Bones were out of joint they had been broken too but for the Prophecie Hee was Parched for was not his strength dried up as a Pot-sheard Did not his Tongue cleav to the roof of his Mouth And was hee not brought down to the dust of Death You may hear him saie all this himself Psalm 22. Hee was lifted up too for as Moses I fted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so was the Son c. And hee was waved too as som compare it by an Earthquake at the Resurrection But instead of Waving the Text translateth it The Sheaf was Separated So were these first Fruits and the Desertion was so great that hee cried out His God His God had forsaken him Lastly there was an Extraordinarie Lamb to bee offered up as due to the Sheaf And if one should ask us as once the Son did the Father Behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for a burnt Offering Hee would bee answered that God would provide himself a Lamb. Ecce Agnus Dei Behold the Lamb of God But that which most of all concern's is the Condition of the First Fruits That was till These were offered up no Man of the Land of Israel might eat of his New Corn 't was yet Profane and Cursed as the Ground that bare it But the Sheaf once offered up the whole Crop is intituled to the Consecration For if the First Fruits bee holie saith S. Paul then so is also the whole lump This also is the case of the Resurrection for if Christ the first Fruits bee risen then They also that are His the whole Lump at his Coming The Harvest is the end of the World and the end of our Life is in the seed time Church-yards are the Plots which therefore the high Dutch most properly term God's Aeres or Glebe Land wherein the Dead are sown a Natural bodie but the Crop shall not bee such as wherewith the Mower filleth not his hand or hee that bindeth up the Sheafs his bosom It shall bee with the Fat of the Kidnies of Wheat as Moses in the Song Deut. 32.14 'T is sown in Dishonor it riseth again in Glorie And the Reapers are the Angels who shall gather and binde us up again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Betsror hachaiim into the Bundle of Life as in the 1 Sam. 25.29 which words therefore the Jews use to repete in their Diriges and inscribe upon their Tombs The First Fruits beeing risen take anie one of us anie grain of Corn in the whole Lump and cast it into the ground if it die not it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much Fruit. For the Life of the Lump like Corn in the Earth is laied in the First Fruits in God The instance of the Corn is so pregnant that the Greek Churches in their Commemorations of the Dead use to boil Wheat in water and set it before them as a convincing Symbol of the Resurrection And my Autor is bold to saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that This is the Greater wonder of the two that the Resurrection of the Corn is more Prodigious then that of the Bodie Strange indeed it is that a grain of Corn should not quicken except it die But much more strange that out of one grain and one as good as Dead should spring forth such a Numerous Increas As for our Bodies which are sown in Corruption the Earth when shee shall give up her Dead will render but as the Talent hid in the Napkin the same again or one for another But the Husbandman receiveth his own with Interest shall I saie that this Grain hath gained him Ten Grains Nay in som parts under the Line they reap the profit of a Thousand for One. In Relation to the First Fruits wee are called by Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Complantati such as are planted together with him in Likeness of his Resurrection Correspondently the Prophet Isaiah saith Our bones shall flourish like an Herb. Now the Herbs and Plants wee know however cut down yet reinforcing from the Root spring up and rise again Wee use Vulgarly but Improperly to call the uppermost of the Branches the Top of a Tree but wee are corrected by Aristotle in the Books De Anima where wee are taught to call the Root the Head and the Top the Feet In the Revers of this Comparison the first Fruits are the Root and the Head wee the Branches or Members And in the 36. of Isaiah the Head acknowledgeth the whole departed Race of Mankinde to bee his Trunk or Dead Bodie Wee read it Thy Dead Men shall arise With my dead Bodie shall they arise But the rest is put in by the Translators The Original is Thy dead Men shall arise they shall arise my dead Bodie Seeing therefore that the Ax is not laid to the Root of the Tree what though the Branches bee lopt off by Death there is still Hope in the Tree saith Holie Job For though the Stock thereof die in the ground yet through the sent of water 't will bud and bring forth boughs like a Plant which withereth over night but beeing watered with the dew of Heaven springeth up afresh in the Morning And therefore in the same Prophecie of Isaiah the Dew of dead men is likened to the Dew of Herbs Ros tuus Ros Olerum To this saie the Jews in the Book Zohar That at the last Daie a kinde of Plastical Dew shall fall down upon the Dead and ingender with Luz the little Bone spoken of before and so out of this all the rest of our Bones and the whole Man shall spring forth But wee are not to give heed unto Jewish Fables and therefore it shall not bee here enquired who shall bee the Father of this Rain or Who should beget these drops of Dew Sure wee are that though touch'd by Death wee shrink up like that sensitive Plant yet wee shall soon quicken by his Influence whose Head in the Canticles is fill'd with Dew and his Loks as with the drops of the night In Exprobration therefore unto Death and Mortalitie wee know whose use it was to burie their dead in their Gardens sowing their Bodies with as much faith as their Fruits and equally exspecting
ad Poloniae Regem delatum cui signis quibusdam indicare videbatur vehementer se cupere ad mare reverti quò deductus statim in id se conjecit Sciens omitto plura quae de hoc Monstro mihi narrata sunt quia fabulosa esse arbitror Ea est enim hominum vanitas ut rei per se satìs mirabili praeter verum plura etiam affingant Ego qualem monstri iconem accepi talem omnino exhibeo vera ea sit annon nec affirmo nec refello So Rondeletius Not to bestow much upon the Translation In short it is That in the Year 1531 a Fish was taken in Polonia Such an one as represented the whole appearance and appointments of a Bishop This Sea-Monster was brought to the King and after a while seemed very much to express to him that his minde was to return to his own Element again which the King perceiving commanded that it should bee so and the Bishop was carried back to the Sea and cast himself into it immediately There is a stranger thing belonging to this Storie then the thing it self that Cromer who lived then Cujus corporis magnitudo facies ac cultus talis erat omnino qualem videmus Episcopi cujusdam Romani and wrote the Historie of Polonia at that verie time should know nothing of the matter Bellonius saith that this Fish was for all the world like to a Romane Bishop suâ mitrâ suÃque reliquis ornamentis c. What Poperie in the Sea too Away with these Bables 't is a marvail that such fopperies should bee pretended to the beating down of substantial Truths becaus you and I must live forsooth and yet the things themselvs should signifie just nothing at all FINIS DE Aeris Epochis SHEWING The Several Accounts of Time among all Nations from the Creation to the present Age. By JOHN GREGORIE Master of Arts of Christ-Church in Oxon. יהוה IVSTVS VIVET FIDE DEVS PROVIDEBIT I. Y LONDON Printed by William Du-gard for Laurence Sadler and are to bee sold at the Golden-Lion in Little Britain 1649. VIA VNA COR VNVM DE AERIS EPOCHIS Shewing The Several Accounts of Time among all Nations from the Creätion to the present Age. TO determine the Confusion of Things Chronologie taketh part with Historie which interweaving the Account of Time with the passages of Storie rendreth the Series more distinct and fitter for comprehension Not to bee curious about the description of Time Confession 11. cap. 14. whereof S. Austin confessed Si nemo ex me quaerat scio si quaerenti explicare velim nescio 'T is the measure of all our Motions and is divided By the two greater Lights of Heaven into Daies and Moneths and Years Gen. 1. The two lesser parts of Time will offer themselvs in the consideration of the greater A Year though it might have been as truly said of anie other Star or Planet yet is it now made proper to the Sun and Moon whose Revolution in the Zodiack is the general definition of this part of Time so that everie Moneth in the stricter sens should bee taken for a Lunar Year but that use hath prevailed against the right acception making the Moon 's Year to bee that space of Time wherein shee measureth the Zodiack twelv times or maketh twelv Conjunctions with the Sun This cours shee dispatcheth in the space of 354 daies 8 hours and som odd minutes eleven daies or well nigh before the Sun The Sun's Year is the Revolution of his Motion in the Ecliptick which if it bee accounted in the Zodiack it useth to bee called Annus Temporalis becaus it so distinguisheth the quatuor Tempora Summer Winter c. It is otherwise termed and indeed most properly Annus Tropicus or vertens becaus the Astronomers of old reckoned this Year from the Tropicks first as it may seem though after also from the Equinoctial's depending upon the Sun's entrance into these Points Cabasil in 3. Ptolem. C. 2. which they used to observ with a great brazen Circle planted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the square Porch at Alexandria mentioned by Hipparchus whom Ptolomie citeth in the third of his Almagest 2. Chap. which is concerning the quantitie of the Year If the Revolution bee accounted from anie fixed Star to the same again the Year is then called Annus Sidereus first appointed by Thebit the Arabian and very much advanced by the late learned Copernicus against the unsounder opinion of Ptolomie in whose judgment it seemed as deceivable as to account from the wandring Saturn or Jupiter A Year therefore in our most useful sens is that space of Time in which the Sun passeth through the twelv Signs reckoning his Motion from under anie one of the fixed Stars but from Aries to chuse unto the same again The precise Quantitie of this Year in Daies is determin'd of by all to bee 365 but the surplus of Hours and Minuts hath verie much and vainly exercised the most curious To saie nothing of Democritus Harpalus Meton Aristarchus Archimedes and others who assigned each of them his several Quantitie Julius Cesar's Mathematician setteth down 365 daies and six hours Hipparchus and Ptolomie found this to exceed as much as made up the three hundredth part of one daie Albategnius doubled this proportion The Correctors of the Romane Calendar like none of these and whereas all the rest adjudged the Surplus to bee less then the fourth part of a Daie Copernicus findeth it to bee more and setteth down 365 daies 6 hours and 40 seconds Censorinus therefore said well that the Year consisted of 365 daies and one part of the sixth but how much saith hee no bodie know's But the Julian proportion as most readie for calculation hath obtein'd in Chronologie Emend Tempor l. 1. Erit igitur so Scaliger said of his instituti nostri fundamentum Annus Julianus CHAP. I. Concerning the Characters of Time A Character in Chronologie is a certain Note whereby an infallible judgment is made of the time proposed They are either Natural or Civil Natural as Eclipses the Cycles of the Sun and Moon c. Civil as the Sabbatical Years the Indictions c. Their importance in Historie is more then their appearance Sine his without these saith Scaliger omnis conatus irritus 't is to no purpose to go to work Character temporis as the same Autor constituit fines audaciae Computatorum ut qui in hoc negotio Characterem negligat non magis fit audiendus quà m qui negat principia Can. Isagog Wee begin with the natural Characters and first CHAP. II. Of the Eclipses EClips is more properly said of the Moon then of the Sun The Eclips of the Moon is caussed by the Interposition of the Earth The Eclips of the Sun by the Interposition of the Moon therefore the Sun cannot bee Eclipsed but when hee is in Conjunction with the Moon nor the Moon but when shee is
the Sun for this year was 22 therefore the 7 Calends of November could not fall out upon Fridaie but the daie before Besides the second Consulship of Stilico succeeded immediately the sixth of Honorius but the year before had 5 for the Circle of the Moon for Claudian saith that Honorius entred the Citie the Calends of Januarie Lunâ adhuc rudi therefore the New Moon was in the end of December which could not bee except the Cycle had been five Therefore the year before the sixth Consulship of Honorius was the year of Christ 403 therefore the sixth Consulship of Honorius was the year 404 and therefore the second of Stilico was 405. In this demonstration the three Characters all concurr but not periodically yet to the making up of a strange Truth for by this it will follow that hee which inscrib'd the Tomb did not know the Consul's name though hee lived at the same time Scaliger therefore Quà m barbari sunt impuri saith hee qui doctrinam Cyclorum irrident De Emend Tempor p. 514 515. Thus much assurance wee can make to our selvs from the several abilities of each Character but which if they meet together in this Period set such a mark upon the time proposed as maketh it to bee known from anie other whatsoever within the duration of the world or the whole Circle at least Artificiosissima Periodus as Helvicus admireth with manie others so that the Autor needed not to break forth into his Nos qui eam excogitavimus periodum hanc satìs laudare non possumus Canon Isagog Lib. 3. Yet Salian otherwise a great Annalist looseth a Chapter or two in the disparagement of this Period as hee exspected it should redound but it falleth out unto his own The absurdness of his exceptions betraie him thus far that hee could have no juster caus why to expose this period then that himself had been so unfortunate as to build his Annals upon a less during foundation But of what accomplishment this Period is I think wee may best of all bee judg'd by Petavius the most open mouth against that great restorer of Chronologie This Petavius saith that there is not one thing in that whole Book De Emendatione temporum not liable to just reproof this onely period excepted then which hee confesseth to know nothing more important for the advancement of Chronologie and therefore earnestly commendeth it unto general practice assuring all men that by this means the most insuperable confusions of time may bee reduc'd to order with most incredible eas and effect CHAP. IV. Concerning the Aera's IN the account of Time there must bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vnde and the Quo. Accordingly Chronologie whatsoever fixeth it self upon som certain term to which the reckoning shall refer The most natural Term would bee the World's creätion from which the Jews and wee Christians account our Times though wee rather from the Redemption Si origo Mundi in Hominum notitiam venisset indè exordium sumeremus Censorin De Die Natal Cap. 20. Som of those who could not attein the Worlds begining reckoned from their own So the Romanes ab Orbe Condita Otherwise this Account useth to respect either som great Name or som Notable event So the Greeks account from their Olympicks and the Assyrians from Nabonasser These or the like Terms of Computation Censorinus expresseth by the word Tituli They are most usually known by the Names of Aera Epoche They are called Epoche's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à sistendo quòd illis sistantur terminentur mensurae temporum saith Scaliger De Emendatione Temp. Lib. 5. pag. 358. Aera saie the Alphonsine Tables Hispanis dicitur tempus limitatum ab aevo aliquo sumens exordium It was first of all said of the Aera Hispanica respecting the time of Cesar Augustus The Spaniards to complie with the successes of their Triumvir for the Division assigned Spain to Augustus received at that time the Julian form accounting the same from the Emperor under this Style as Sepulveda conceiteth Annus erat Augusti or A. er A. which in time for want of Interpunction was put together and became the word Aera Sepulved To this Scaliger Ridicula saith hee Ridicula tamen illi viro erudito adeò placuit Commentum suum ut ejus rei gratiâ duntaxat scriptionem illius Libelli de emendatione Anni suscepisse videatur c. James Christman fetcheth the word out of his Arabick from Arah computare which becaus of the Spanish usage might receiv som probabilitie from their conversation with the Moors But the Arabick Geographer in the second part of the fourth Clime deriveth this Etymon ab aere flavo and the Saracen calleth this term Aeram Aeris that is saith Christ-man Aeris solvendi Fisco Romano meaning a certain Tribute imposed by Augustus first upon the Spaniards and afterwards upon the whole Empire Som but most unreasonably derive the word from Hera one of the names of Juno so Garcios Loisa out of Hincmare as hee thinketh others from the same word as it betokeneth dominion so they force it they should rather have considered that Hera in the Spanish tongue signifieth time though from a Gothick Original from whence our Saxons had their gere or year as wee now call it And this may seem to bear som relation to the word especially for that Aera is oftentimes used for Annus in Isidore's Chronicle and elswhere Sir Henrie Spelman's Glossarie may bee seen in this word Scaliger Petavius Calvisius and others confirm that Era in old Latine signified as much as Numerus and 't is manifest enough out of Nonius Faustus Regiensis and Cicero himself and this they hold to bee the most likelie derivation of the word if it bee yet hee that first observed it was Resendius a Spaniard in an Epistle to a friend of his who required his Opinion concerning the Aera Hispanica But becaus this Etymon doth no waie intimate why that use of the word should bee peculiarly taken up among the Spaniards except it were true which Scaliger considered that it was in use elswhere but against which Petavius hath given a probable reason the Notation in the Glossarie would rather bee taken and so it may bee a word of the Gothick derivation translated thence to the Spanish use and properly said of their Epoche but now the common name of all others Those Aera's or Epoche's are severally to bee fixed and first of all that of Orbis Conditi CHAP. V. Aera Orbis Conditi MUch question hath been made among the Chronologers in what time of the Year the World should begin and more as som think then needed Not so for beside that for either reason also this ought not to bee indifferent to learned men yet in Chronologie it importeth necessarily that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is therefore called bee assured to som certain time wherein the Accompt shall determine seeing therefore it was
Eclipsed upon Saturdaie the 26 of Maie about 7 of the clock in the afternoon the Sun then setting at Rome and the greatest absurditie Calvisius could finde in this was that it setteth off but 18 years for the age of Romulus at the building of Rome which as hee think's could not make him mature enough for the importance of this undertaking but considering all other circumstances agree so well the Acception is unjust enough For the other Eclips pretended to bee at the Foundation of the Citie Nicolas Muller findeth that also in his Frisian tables yet confesseth it could not bee seen at Rome but in Asia 't was visible hee saith and so might bee known to Antimachus And this maketh somthing for the Astrologer who as Cicero citeth him found the Moon at the Foundation in Jugo that is as Solin may seem to interpret it in Libra the rather becaus the Poët Manilius saith that Rome was built in Libra So Petavius but Solinus though hee knew not what hee said yet saith too That the Sun was then in Taurus which is demonstrated by Bunting and moreover that it was in the twentieth degree and therefore the more learned Scaliger and his Calvisius interpret the Astrologers in Jugo to bee the same which is now said in Nodo which is as much as to say that the Sun and Moon were then in Conjunction as Muller saith well and that the Sun was intra terminos Eclipticos within the Ecliptick terms at Rome but not so far as to make the defection visible in that Horizon Howsoever the Astrologer according to his Calculation set down that Rome was built in the third year of the sixth Olympiad which Terence Varro took for his resolution and so reckoned from the Regifugium to the Palilia 244 years Marcus Cicero Titus Pomponius Atticus and the Emperor Augustus approving the Epilogisms and besides them Plutarch Plinie Paterculus and others and 't was the received opinion and is infallibly demonstrated in Mercator's Chronologie by eight several celestial Characters or Eclipses which calculated to Nabonassar's Aera fall even with the Astrologer To say nothing of Crusius who hath don somthing to the same purpose or Peter Appian who evinceth the same I saie not how truely out of the Figure of the Heavens which Turnus found but as Julius Solinus describeth it at the laying of the Foundation Verrius Flaccus in the Fasti Capitolini setteth down Rome built in the fourth year of the sixth Olympiad one year later and the Canons of Eratosthenes in the first year of the seventh Olympiad one year more or rather but one in all for the Registers of the Capitol agree with Cato and hee differeth nothing from Varro if Calvisius may bee Judge Therefore altogether neglecting Temporarius his morosisitie who was so far out of conceit with Turnus that hee would not believe that there was ever such a man as Romulus we say that Rome was founded in the third year of the sixth Olympiad which was in the year of the Worlds Creätion 3198 and before the Incarnation 750. CHAP. XI Aera Septimanarum Septuaginta the seventie Weeks THis Aera was fixed by the Angel Gabriel Dan. 9. Seventie Weeks saith hee to the Prophet are determined upon the People c. vers 24. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall bee seven Weeks and threescore and two Weeks c. And after threescore and two Weeks shall Messiah bee cut off but not for himself and the people of the Prince that shall com shall destroy the Citie and the Sanctuarie c. And hee shall confirm the Covenant with manie for one Week and in the midst of the Week hee shall caus the Sacrifice and the Oblation to ceas and for the overspreading of abominations hee shall make it desolate even until the consummation c. So the Angel The Weeks are to bee understood not of daies but Years and those not of the Moon but the Sun and so 70 by 7 is 490 years from the time of the going forth of the Commandment c. unto the Abomination of desolation But where to begin or end this Epilogism is the vexata Quaestio as Scaliger cal's it a question that hath endured the greatest controversie involved with circumstances of such notable intricacie that a Scholar of verie great parts 't is reported by one that knew the man fell mad with studying how to make this good Som reckon the Epilogism from Cyrus others from Darius Hystaspis and som from the seventh others from the 20 of Artaxerxes Longimanus accordingly ending the Weeks som at the profanation of the Temple by Antiochus others at the destruction of the Temple by Pompey or that of Herod or els at the Passion The truest of the fals is that which begineth at the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus and endeth in our Saviours Passion for this maketh a good account of the years It was the opinion of the learned Bunting Funccius c. but that which I perceiv to bee rested upon is the judgment of Scaliger followed by Calvisius and this begineth the Epilogism at the second year of Darius Nothus and determineth it in the final destruction of Jerusalem by Titus For the Angel saith expresly that after seven Weeks and sixtie two weeks the Messiah beeing cut off the holie Citie shall bee destroied c. and that in the middle of the seventieth week the Sacrifice and Oblation shall ceas and for an overspreading of abomination c. which is plainly called by our Saviour the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet c. and therefore no question but the feventie Weeks are to end with the Holie Citie Their begining was to bee from the time of the going forth of the Commandment c. And this though such an one was given first by Cyrus and thirdly by Artaxerxes yet most purposely from Darius Nothus in the second year of his reign The 13 year of Darius Nothus is the 20 of the Peloponesiack war by Thucydides that was the 92 Olympiad and this was the 3538 from the Worlds Creätion or 4302 of the Julian Period therefore the 2 year of Darius Nothus was the 4290 of the Julian Period and that was the 3562 from the worlds Creätion The Cycle of the Sun was 6 and the Moon 15. And the Interval is expressly 490 years For the Holie Citie was destroyed in the seventieth year of the Incarnation which was the 4019 from the Worlds Creätion and the 4783 of the Julian Period the Cycle of the Sun was 23 and the Moon 14. CHAP. X. Aera Alexandrea WHat time Seleucus began to succeed in his part of the Empire of Asia The Greeks disusing their Olympian account set up a new Aera which though it reckoned from the reign of Seleucus yet it bare the name of the conquerour from whom it was called Aera Alexandrea Graecorum or Syr◠Macedonum
wee a Cross in ours From this Aera Fugae Muchammedanae they reckon their years CHAP. XIX Aera Jesdigerdica THis Aera was fixed saith Albumazar Anno Hegirae 11 Rabie prioris 22. fer 3. which answereth to the 16 of June Anno Christi 632 so called from Jesdagerd the last Persian King in whom that Empire saith Haithon the Armenian was lost the same year of our Lord unto Othman the Saracen to bee reckoned not from the inauguration as Alphraganus and Isaac the Monk and som others but from the death of Jesdagerd The Persians begin their year at the Vernal Aequinox accurately observing the Sun's entrance into the first point of Aries which daie they call Neuruz that is Novus dies from ruz which in their tongue signifieth a daie and Neu novus new entertaining this time with great solemnitie which they hold so sacred that no Matrimonie there is accounted legitimate if not contracted in the Spring Now becaus the Aegyptian year to which that Aera did applie still anticipated the Sun's motion and gave an unjust account of the Equinox the Sultan of Corasan or Mesopotamia appointed eight of the most learned Astrologers of that age amongst whom Aben sina or Avicen was one to make an exact determination of the Tropical year which was don as they could This new form was fixed in the Aequinox observed by them the Sun entring the first point of Aries Thursdaie the 18 of Phrurdin at two of the Clock in the afternoon in the 448 year of Jesdagard and 471 of the Hegira which was 1079 of the Incarnation according to Dionysius The Cycle of the Sun was 24 the Moon 16. This Aera from the Style of the Emperor was called Gelalaea that is Aera Augusta or Imperatoria as that word signifieth in the Persian Dialect CHAP. XX. What is Proleptical and what Historical Time HIstorical Time is that which is deduced from the Aera Orbis Conditi Proleptical is that which is fixed in the Chaos The Jews call it tempus Tohu as the Chaos is called by their Moses Gen. 1. So the new Moon which they suppose to bee upon the second of the fix daies that is if the Luminaries had then been they call Novilunium Tohu for that as yet there was neither Sun nor Moon The first example of Proleptical Time was given by the Greek Church who in their Computations follow the Holie Scripture of the Septuagint Therefore their Aera Orbis Conditi is sixed in 5500 year Ante Christum Natum Their more Artificial men perceiving that this vast Epilogism was good for somwhat els besides the measuring of Times applied it to the Characters and they found that divided by 19 and 28 it gave the Circle of the Sun and Moon but divided by 15 it gave not the true Indiction therefore they added 8 to the summ and so it became a Technical or Artificial Period comprehending the three Characters and becaus it supposed 8 years of the Tohu it was Proleptical but which the Times following not considering reckoned Historically as if the Aera Orbis had then been fixed but are thus to bee corrected This Account is used by the Maronites Grecians and generally by the Eastern Church it is called Aera Graecorum or more properly Periodus Constantinopolitana from the Seat of the Empire where it may seem to have been devised By this Example Scaliger made up his Julian Period which it self also as this consisteth of Time partly Historical and partly proleptical CHAP. XXI Considering the Causses of that infinite Varietie which is found to bee amongst Chronologers FRederick Husman in his Epistle to the Elector Palatine reckoneth up 40 several Opinions concerning the Connection of those two famous Aera's this of Christi Nati and that other of Orbis Conditi And I doubt not but this diversitie might bee redoubled if anie bodie would undertake that such frivolous pains The extremest varietie is that of the Greek and Hebrew Scripture making a difference of two thousand years an occasion justly taken by som equally to disparage the autoritie either of the one or the other For it cannot bee but that this Epilogism must bee detracted from the Hebrew or superadded to the Greek there beeing no mean waie of reconciliation But certainly the Hebrew though I hold it not so everie waies incorrupt as if not one jot or title of the same suffered the common fate of time yet I believ it to bee the Original and by the incredible diligence of the Masora subservient to the greater providence of God to retain more of it 's own puritie then anie other Scripture whatsoever and therefore that it resteth in the Greek Translation to account for this difference yet neither do I think that choice Assemblie so neglected by God in a matter so importantly cared for by him as to recede so fouly from their Original I rather cast this corruption upon the dregs of Time assuring my self that this imposture was put upon us by the Hellenists those among them who affected that antient Heresie of the Chiliasts the conceit whereof I affirm to bee the occasion of this corruption Other differences in that Connexion have these lesser Causses That profane Historie maketh no certain account of Time before the Olympiads That in the Romane affairs a most important piece of Historie the Consulships are not registred in the Fasti with that distinction and care as was necessarie experience whereof hath been made by the industrious examinations of Onuphrius and Cuspinian That the Historians themselvs generally did not consider so much the designation of Time otherwise then with a reference to their own Aera's which were but uncertainly fixt That manie of them wrote not the Historie of their own Times That som of them took libertie to relate those things inclusively which others related exclusively That several Nations reckoned not by the same form of years That all Nations not Christian affected an Opinion of greater Antiquitie then their own beginings endevouring therefore to leav the Storie of their rising as possibly uncertain to posteritie as in them laie So the Egyptians tell us of Heroes past who by their reckoning reigned long before the world was made which they saie with as much credit as the Indians tell us that they have out-liv'd four Suns alreadie and that this which wee have is the fifth from their begining To saie nothing of Janbazar Tsareth and Roani men that lived before Adam's time as the book Heubattish make's report and that one Sombasher was Adam's Tutor But the greatest caus of all is for that Professed Chronologers of our own times such as Funccius Beroaldus Bucholcer nay Satian Baronius Torniellus and Gordon themselvs were altogether unacquainted with anie Artificial waie of this work not knowing how to make application of Natural and Civil Characters to the assuring of Times One of the first who began to know what was to bee don in this matter was the most learned and perceiving Mercator who Instituted a Chronologie
exorcisms And so wee have don with their Idolatrie to the Sun Herodotus telleth further that these Assyrians also worshiped the Moon and good reason or els they had no God all night a time as I suppose wherein they had most need They worshiped the Moon under the name of Mylitta which word Scaliger hath well noted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mylitta Mylitta sig 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Notis ad fragmenta Vet. Graecorum c. in their Language signifieth Genetricem in which sens it may not unaptly bee applied to the Moon whose power though ordinarie Philosophie supposeth to bee meerly passive yet not without a Contradiction the same Philosophie allowing the light of the Sun to have a sensible and necessarie activitie upon the inferior bodies allowing also the light of the Moon to bee borrowed from the Sun and 't were a notable incongruitie that the same light should bee active in the Sun and passive in the Moon but if the Moon did nothing help the second causses in Generation yet in the bringing forth 't is evident for this is most certain though everie Midwife hath not observed so much that the most easie deliverie a woman can have is alwaies in the increas toward and in the full of the Moon and the hardest labors in the new and silent Moon which Astronomers call the Synode or Conjunction which was the reason that the Midwives heretofore did alwaies in such a case implore the aide of this Planet for the safe and easie deliverie of their Infants Terent. Andria An Example hereof wee may have one among manie in the Comedie where the woman in the extremitie of her travel crie's out to the Moon O Juno Lucina fer opem And this amongst others must needs bee a reason why our Assyrian worshipped the Moon and why they worshiped her under that name The Prophet Jeremie maketh mention of this worship in the 7 Chapter where hee calleth the Moon the Queen of Heaven as our English Translation hath verie well rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reginae Coeterum The Prophet addeth that the Women made Cakes to this Queen And why the Women First becaus the Moon was a Queen 2. Becaus the Women at their labor were most beholding to the Moon who by her great moisture mollifie's the Secundine and make's the passage easie for the deliverie of their children This Custom of offering Cakes to the Moon our Ancestors may seem not to have been ignorant of to this daie our women make Cakes at such times yea the childe it self is no sooner born but 't is baptized into the names of these Cakes for so the women call their babes Cake-bread Add hereunto that the Saxons did Adore the the Moon to whom they set a daie apart which to this daie wee call Moon-daie And thus wee have run through the chiefest Idolatries of this Nation much more might bee said and perhaps hereafter shall bee in the mean time wee will onely add a Conjecture concerning Nisroc Sennacherib as hee worshiped in the hous of Nisroc was slain by his two sons who or what this Nisroc should bee is so doutbtful that Peter Martyr could finde nothing in all the Antient Writers to explain the matter his own opinion dependeth upon the Etymon of the word Nesrac which signifieth as hee saith Deum fugae mollis a God or a Jove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whither as to a Sanctuarie Sennacherib might betake himself it may bee so I rather suppose if I may bee so bold that rac in this place signifie's the Sun for so this people somtimes called the Sun as Francis Junius hath noted upon Shadrac in the Prophet Daniel So then this Temple was an Asylum built in Ninive to the Honor and under the protection of the Sun who was therefore called Nesrac that is the Sun of flight for the reason given It might bee added how these Nations applyed their devotion to the rest of the Planets as to Venus that is Shar in the honor of whom their Feasts were celebrated by the same rites that the Romane Saturnalia the servants sitting down and their masters attending So also wee might put in Chiun whom som cal Saturn but of these See M. Selden for ought I finde the matter is not so manifest 't is onely apparent that they worshiped the Sun and Moon chiefly and the rest of the Host of Heaven in their order but of that order and manner wee have nothing certain yet to saie time may perhaps favor our industrie and make us acquainted hereafter with that which now wee must not bee ashamed to confess our selvs ignorant of In the interim wee must content our selvs with what hath been said briefly concerning their religious politie Their Civil customs shall now take their places The King of Ashur was assisted in the Civil Government by a trebble Magistracie chosen all out of the gravest and most noble within the Realm The first sort were to look to the placing of their Virgins according to that manner which shall hereafter bee declared as also to give judgment in Matters of Adulterie c. The second in matters of Theft The third in the rest Physitians these people have none they being such who cannot save anie man by their profession till they have lost som by their practice The custom here was that all diseased persons should bee conducted to the Market-place convenient provision beeing made for their safetie there The reason was that all passengers by should visit them by inquiring out the nature of their diseas and giving counsel for the remedie out of profitable experience made by themselvs either in themselvs or som others upon the like occasion And to this purpose it was provided by a peremptorie Statute that no man should dare to pass by the Market-place till hee had made such inquisition as is aforesaid Herod in Clio. Strab. lib. 16. In this Countrie it was not in the power of a private man to bestow his daughter in Mariage but this was don by a publick Officer appointed for that purpose The manner was thus Once everie year all mariageable Virgins were brought by that officer into the Market-place and there set to Sale if they were beautiful the fairest to those that gave most when all the best were thus bestowed the Monie which was paied in for them was given to the rest which were not so comelie and meritorious in their beautie everie one beeing supplied with a dowrie proportioned to her want By this means it came to pass that still the Gentrie and most wealthie amongst the Men had the fairest among the Women they beeing best able both to buie them and to keep them Contrarily the Commons and poorer people Strabo Herod ibid. who had not means to compass the best had means given them to bee content with the worst A Law not so provident as plausible and however it fitted their Common wealth it would bee verie unapt for