haue beene Therefore Plutarchs doubt for any thing that I can see had no reason at all but seemeth to sauour of an vsuall custome of the Academicall sect which was alwaies readie furnished to dispute on eyther side pro or contra eyther for the truth or against it For this is most certaine that hee followeth that reckoning by Olympiads himselfe in many places as giuing credit thereunto and making no doubt thereof In his treatise of the ten Orators he saith that Andocides was borne in the 78. Olympiad when Theogenides was gouernour of Athens And that Callias was gouernour in the 92. Olympiad and that Isocrates was borne vnder Lysimachus in the 86. Olymp. 22. yeares after Lysias whose birth he setteth in the second of the 80. Olympiad in the yeare of Philocles all which reckonings agree very perfectly to the ancient Olympick account and the Histories of Thucidides Xenophon and Diodorus Siculus Plinie in the fourth Chapter of his 36. booke hath these wordes Marmore scalpendo primi omnium inclaruerunt Dipoenus Scyllis geniti in Creta insula etiamnum Medis imperitantibus Priusquam Cyrus in Persis regnare inciperet hoc est Olympiade circiter quinquagesima The first of all other for grauing of marble were famous Dipoenus Scyllis born in the Iland of Creta whilst yet the Medes bare rule before Cyrus began to raigne in Persia that is about the 50. Olympiad Hereof Matthew Beroald in the second Chapter of his booke of Chronologie gathereth that Cyrus began in the 50. Olympiad by Plinies testimonie herein dissenting from other who placed his beginning in the 55 but whosoeuer commeth with an euen minde to the truth may easilie perceiue another meaning in Plinie that the words hoc est Olympiade circiter 50 ought not to be referred to that which is said of Cyrus priusquam regnare inciperet before he began to raigne but the former part of the sentence giuing vs this to vnderstand the time wherin Dipoenus Scyllis were famous engrauers in Marble to haue beene about the 50. Olympiad in the dayes of the Medes Soueraigntie before Cyrus had got it away from them to the Persians Thus no dissention at all betweene Plinie and other but great agreement is found Much other such like stuffe is brought of Beroaldus from diuers authors by cold coniectures not any sure knowledge all for the most part in that kind as maketh either against himselfe or nothing for him Pericles being a yong man was of some of the aged sort in Athens thought to fauor Pisistratus the tirant in countinance speech as Plutarch telleth in his life which could not bee as Beroaldus supposed except the old men who had knowne Pisistratus had at that time beene a hundred yeres old A thing in his iudgement vnlike to bee true It is not so vnlike as strange that a man of his learning and reading should iudge so of it seeing that we read of many examples of men of those yeares Valerius Corninus who was Consull of Rome six times liued full out a hundred yeares and likewise Metellus Pontifex Solinus in his Polihistor telleth that Masinissa begot his Sonne Methymnus at 86. yeres age In the time of Claudius Caesar one T. Fullonius of Bononia was found to be 150. yeres of age which in Lydia was a common thing as by Mutianus is reported Terentia the wife of Cicero liued 107. Clodia 115. Many other by Plinie are recorded in his seuenth booke the 48 49 50 Chapters in diuers countries betweene a hundred and a hundred and 50. yeares olde But of all other one Xenophilus liuing 105. yeares without anie disease or hurt of his bodie was wondred at That Gorgias Leontinus a famous Oratour much about that time with Pericles liued 109. yeares wee haue the testimonie of Appolodorus his Chronicles in Diogenes Laertius within one yere acknowledged also by Plinie Euen in this our age at home in our own countrie it is no strange thing to find examples of such as liued out that time which Beroaldus accounted so incredible that he could not perswade himselfe of it to be true but his incredulitie is no proofe to weaken the credit of credible writers But I will not strike with him for this to graunt it a thing vncredible let vs examine his reckoning Pericles died in the third yeare of the 87. Olimpiad not the 88. as Beroaldus saith before his death he had beene one of the chiefe gouernours of the Athenian common wealth fortie yeares This Cicero teacheth in his third booke de oratore so the beginning of his authoritie falleth to the three yeares not of the 78. as Beroaldus would but the 77. Olympiad About that time some olde men gaue this iudgement of him that he was like Pisistratus and might not that be done but of such as were then a 100 yeres old surely yes for Pisistratus died not past threescore yeares before whereof 22. had passed from the Marathon battaile and 20. more from the expelling of Hippias out of Athens declared by Thucidides and 18. before from the beginning of Hippias who succeded Pisistratus Yet some more besides these must bee added to the old mens age to haue knowledge of Pisistratus in his life time to deale liberally let that time be twentie yeres before the death of Pisistratus so their age is left foure score yeres very vsuall at this day in diuers lusty men although I would haue this obserued which Plutarch writeth that iudgement to haue bin giuen of Pericles when hee was a young man whereby some aduantage yet might farther be taken if it were a matter worth the standing vpō Aelianus in his third book the 21. chapter saith Beroaldus telleth of Themistocles that being a childe and as hee came from Schoole meeting Pisistratus the tyrant was willed by his ouerseer attending vpon him to goe out of the way which he refused to doe and asked if there were not roome enough for him besides Whereunto is repugnant that which Iustin telleth in his second booke that Themistocles was a young man at the Marathon war when he must needes be at the least 66. yeares olde if Aelianus say true for the sonnes of Pisistratus after their fathers death raigned 36. yeares witnessed by Herodotus in his fift booke then after were twentie more to the Marathon fight and before Themistocles could in such an answer shew so stoute a minde against the tirant it is like he was ten yeares of age Beroaldus here also in his account is deceiued mistaking Herodotus who in Terpsichore indeede affirmeth that the Pisistratan stocke raigned 36. yeares yet not meaning thereby as Beroaldus would faine haue it that Pisistratus his children raigned so long after their fathers death but that the whole time of father and sonne was in all so much This appeareth by Aristotle an author for credit very sufficicient in the fift booke of his politickes the twelft chapter making the whole raigne of the Pisistratan stocke 35. yeares that is 17.
Moone yeres to cut short the time of Daniels prophesie by 13. yeares that is two whole weekes of the 70. within a yeare Seeing that they can neither serue to fill vp the distance from Artaxerxes his 20. yeare to the suffering of Christ for which they are brought nor yet the custome of the Hebrewes reckoning in holie Scripture will beare them The other shift is as bad and sillie as that if not more For some who could not abide that forced wresting of Moone yeares where there is no likelihood of such to be ment went another way to worke making two beginnings and thence two twentieth yeres of Artaxerxes his raigne One beginning was immediatly after the death of his father Xerxes in the 4. yeare of the 78. Olympiad The other nine yeares before in the 4. of the 76. Olympiad wherein he was appoynted king by his father yet liuing nine yeares before his death from which the 20. is the 3. of the 81. Olympiad for the beginning of Daniels weekes sayth Gerardus Mercator Wherein notwithstāding he was greatly deceiued by what error I know not For reckoning from the third of the 81. Olympiad to the last of the 202. wherein Christ dyed wee shall finde no more but 486. yeares at the most And therefore I see not by what reason he sayth that the 70. weekes contayning 490. yeares beginning at that twentieth of Artaxerxes expired in the death of Christ Temporarius therefore making two beginnings and two 20. yeares of Artaxerxes as he doth accounteth from the first twentieth 483. yeares to Christ his baptisme which was aboue three yeares before his passion and so endeth the death of Christ three yeares and more before the end of Daniels weekes But what reason had Mercator and Temporarius to thinke that Artaxerxes begun to raigne whilest his father was yet aliue so long before his death This is a matter worth the examination being the ground of a great errour The reason which they bring is in this manner Themistocles the Athenian in the second yere of the 77. Olympiad being expelled out of Athens by his vnthankfull countrie men and citizens notwithstanding the great and wonderfull deliuerance of all Greece from the power of Xerxes king of Persia by his wisedome and prowesse especially wrought fled to the same Xerxes as Ephorus Deino Cleitarchus Heraclides Diodorus Siculus and other storie writers declare Againe that Artaxerxes the sonne of Xerxes raigned in Persia at such time as Themistocles fled to the king thereof for succour it is testified by an ancient author of credit euen Thucidides himselfe in his first booke of the Pelopōnesian warre writing that Themistocles flying by sea to Ephesus after going higher into Asia with a certain Persian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sent letters to king Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes who a little before begun to raigne If Themistocles flying came to Xerxes king of Persia and sent letters to Artaxerxes his sonne then raigning also in Persia it must needes be that Artaxerxes had been made king a good while before his fathers death for that happened about sixe or seuen yeares after the banishment of Themistocles This is the force of their argument I haue heard it reported of one Doctor Medcalfe who sometime was master of Saint Iohns Colledge in Cambridge a man of no great learning himselfe but for care and earnest endeuour euery way to aduance learning giuing place to none Whereby it maye bee thought that that famous Colledge hath by his meanes the better prospered and flourished euer since with so great a companie of excellent Diuines and skilfull men in other knowledge I haue I say heard it reported of him that hauing on a certain day at supper with him some of the chiefe Seniors of the Colledge hee sent for two Sophisters to dispute before them The one tooke vpon him to proue that his fellowes blacke gowne was greene requiring this only first to be granted vnto him that if there were any greene gowne in that chamber it was on his backe Which was not thought vnreasonable because it was euident that there was none else had any This then being once granted he framed the rest of his proofe in this maner That saith he poynting to a greene carpet on the table there is a greene in this chamber all our eyes witnesse and that there is gowne in it your owne vpper garment on your backes proueth whereof it followeth that here amōgst vs in this chamber there is a greene gowne Doctor Medcalfe hearing this was greatly delighted and affirmed in good sadnesse that it was a good reason withall asked the iudgement of the Seniors there present who smiling commended the schollers wit Such a sophistication is here brought by ioyning things together which ought to bee sundred For neither they which tell of Themistocles flying to Xerxes once euer dreamed of Artaxerxes raigning at the same time nor Thucidides speaking of his cōming to Artaxerxes had this in his mind to think that Xerxes should bee then aliue which I will prooue by good witnesse For Plutarch in the life of Themistocles writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucidides saith Plutarch and Charon Lampsacenus tell that after Xerxes was dead Themistocles came to his sonne Aemilius Probus confirmeth it in these wordes Scio plaerósque ita scripsisse Themistoclem Xerxe regnante in Asiam transiisse sed ego potissimū Thucididi credo quòd aetate proximus crat I know saith Probus that many writers report Themistocles to haue passed into Asia whilest Xerxes was yet aliue but I rather beleeue Thucidides who was neere those times Lastly Lawrence Codoman in the second booke of his Chronologie is as plaine for it as may be That sayth he which Thucidides testifieth in his first booke that Themistocles fled to Artaxerxes of late hauing begun to raigne must bee vnderstoode of the Monarchie of Artaxerxes begun after his fathers death There was some difference betweene them I grant in regard of the persons to whom and the time when Themistocles came some thinking it to bee done when Xerxes was king before the raigne of his sonne Other when Artaxerxes raigned after the death of his father But all agreed in this that at such time as Themistocles fled out of Greece there was not two but only one king of Persia which is most certainly true Let the record of all histories bee sought for the whole time of the Persian Monarchie from the beginning to the ende it shall neuer bee found that the father and his sonne raigned together Herodotus indeed in Polymnia not far from the beginning telleth of a custome and lawe of the Persians that their king going to warre first appoynted an heire who was to succeede him in the Empire And that Xerxes was so appoynted by his father Darius hauing prepared all things readie for his voyage agaynst Aegypt to be next king after him Yet he neuer raigned till his father was dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when
Darius was dead sayth Herodotus the kingdome came to his sonne Xerxes So that if Artaxerxes as they say were appoynted king by his father Xerxes in his life time it was but for the next place after his fathers death to be an heire apparant and successor Farre from that imperiall maiestie which Thucidides giueth to him calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a king newly come to his kingdome But for my part weighing all circūstances I see not any colour that Artaxerxes should be chosen so much as heire apparant by his father yet liuing much lesse king He had three sons by his chiefe wife Queene Amestris first of all Darius then two yeares after another called Hystaspes and last of all this Artaxerxes besides two daughters as Ctesias declareth By the custome of the Persians it must needes bee that he named his next heire and successor to the crowne before his famous voyage into Greece And who was then to be named before his eldest sonne Darius For Gerardus Mercator in his Chronology maketh it a thing past doubt that Artaxerxes was at that time vnborne Whereunto agreeth that which wee reade in Iustin in the beginning of his third booke concerning the age of Artaxerxes at his fathers death which happened about 16. yeares after his going foorth agaynst Greece For there by Iustin he is termed admodum puer a very child If he had then been borne yet there is no likelihood that he should haue been preferred either before Darius the eldest of all or the next that is Hystaspes being elder then he This deuise therefore of two beginnings and two 20. yeares of Artaxerxes to helpe out the want of so many yeares betwixt the twentieth yeare of Artaxerxes and the death of Christ is a very poore shift and altogether friuolous If plaine proofe had been brought by the testimonie of ancient writers that the kingdome and monarchie of Artaxerxes begun whilest his father liued and that they raigned both at once many yeares together they had sayd somewhat to the purpose But that is not done It is fetched about I know not how by vaine coniectures and gessing and childish wrangling and sophistrie The reasons to work it are deceitfull and haue nothing at all in them but a colourable shew without substance That therefore which Iulius Africanus writeth in his Chronologie the 5. booke that if we begin to number Daniels 70. weekes from any other beginning then the 20. of Artaxerxes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither the time will accord and many absurdities follow is true as well in that yere which he excepteth as any of the rest Neither doe I see how by iust chronology of the times either the yeare of Christ his birth or his baptisme or his death may serue for the 490. yeares of Daniels 70. weekes to bee accounted vnto from any commandement and decree giuen out by the Persian kinges to build Ierusalem or how the word Messias in this place can bee applied to our Sauiour Iesus euen by their owne exposition for if the 70. weekes expire in the death of Christ as Beroaldus with the most part and best learned thinke why doeth Daniel reckon onely threescore and nine to Messias except they will say that Messias is here taken for the seauenth yeare before the death of Messias which were a strange kinde of interpretation And as Chronologie here fitteth not for Messias to be vnderstood of Christ our Lord so the verie text it selfe is against it which maketh onlie seuen weekes that is 49. yeres distance from the cōmandement to Messias in plaine speech so that it cannot bee applied to our blessed Sauiour without strayning and wresting which they who so vnderstand it of Christ Iesus are driuen vnto They are faine to vse chopping and changing adding and taking away contrarie to the expresse commandement of God For first whereas the original text after these words seauen weekes hath a rest yea that rest which is vsuall in the middest of a sentence to signifie a pause after halfe the verse now alreadie ended this pause by them is taken away and the wordes without anie rest at all continued with the next following and the pause or stay made at 62. weekes in this manner From the out going of the word to build againe Ierusalem vnto Messias the gouernour shal be seauen weekes 62. weekes Againe because in that interpretation of theirs the wordes and 62. weekes are seuered from the other following wherewith they should be ioyned as in my interpretation before deliuered may appere by that meanes the sence so darkned that of it selfe in any plaine construction of sence it cannot stand To make somewhat of it they are faine to thruste in words of their own inuention as for that which God sayeth it shall bee builded againe they say it shal be builded againe thrusting in the coniunction more than ought to bee Some put in other wordes some change verbes into Participles and all to make 483. yeares distance betwixt the decree and the Messias heere spoken of in steed of onlie 49. Here is great ods what is this els but to make Gods word a wax nose to turne which waie a man list at his pleasure How is it possible that by such kind of dealing diuine scripture should be rightly vnderstood Howe shall the Iewes by such wresting of texts bee made Christians and brought to beleeue that Christ is come Here it may bee some will say vnto mee you make more a doe about distinctions pauses and pointes then is need those are small matters and not so streightlie and preciselie to be looked into I may giue men leaue to thinke as they list but the truth is that euen these small matters of distinctions and rests are of great weight importance to the true vnderstanding of God his holie word yet bee it graunted that as small matters they may bee neglected Is that also a small matter to put in wordes of their owne which the custome of the originall tongue will not beare Well let that bee yeelded to be it a trifle not to bee stood vppon Though all this were graunted and though there were no vowels nor points at all yet euen the verie manner of the speech it selfe were enough to reproue their interpretation for who euer read in the Hebrew Bible this kinde of speech Seuen and threescore and two for threescore and nine It is not the custome of the holie Ghost to speake after that manner If all the Hebrew scripture from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Malachie be sought throughout no one cleare example of the like can bee found As for that which Pererius bringeth from the twelfth verse of the 45. chapter of Ezechiell Tremellius will soone teach him that it is in another kinde If therefore neither agreement of time nor text of holy scripture permit the name Messias in this place to be referred to Iesus Christ we are to examine what other signification of this
originall tongue If wee faile in either of these there is no hope to knowne what Daniell meant by his weekes For neither good interpretation alone is enough without exact chronologie nor this without the other serueth much to purpose The sundring of these two things which must needes stand together hath beene the cause of such turning and tossing this excellent peece of Scripture in so many mens heades so many waies therefore in these two thinges especially shall be the imployment of my paines if happily thereby this noble text of Scripture may receaue some light to the clearer perceauing thereof Marcus Varro a learned Roman as Censorinus telleth in his booke De die natali measured all time by three spaces whereof one was from the beginning of men to the first flud for the ignorance of the things which happened therein called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnknown The second from that floud to the first Olympiad for many fables and tales therein reported tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fabulous The third last from the first Olympiad to his age containing more certaine truth of historie therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 historicall This was Varro his iudgement commended by Cicero also in his first booke of Academicall questions where speaking to Varro hee vseth these words Thou haste opened the age of thy countrey and ordering of times Vnto Varro herein agreed Iulius Affricanus in his third booke of Chronicles As Eusebius witnesseth in his tenth book De praeparatione Euangelica vntill the time of the Olimpiads saith Affricanus there is no sure knowledge in the Greeke Historie all thinges beeing confusedly written without agreement betweene themselues But the Olimpicke times haue beene exactly handled of the Grecians by reasō of regestring their acts and records therein of no longer time then euery foure yeares space Censorinus after him speaking of the time from the first Olimpiad In this space saith he was neuer any great dissentiō or controuersie among writers for computation of time except in some sixe or seauen yeares at the most And euen this little that was Varro himselfe by his great skill and diligent paines at the length discussed and founde out the truth and shewed cleare light by which the certaine number not of yeares onely but euen of daies might be perceaued The Grecians saith Chitraeus in his Chronicle haue no certaine computation of times and order of yeares before the Olimpiads This was the iudgement of the best learned in all times in all countries for all kinde of skill concerning the certaine accoūt of time by Olimpiads vsed of the Grecians receaued of the Romanes followed and commended of Christians euen the flower of thē the most ancient Fathers Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Hierome Orosius and other for knowledge of Gods worde most famous and renowned continued kept from age to age not contradicted with reason of anie Except peraduenture some to shew the finenesse of their wit by Sophistrie might cauill against it For the better vnderstanding of that which hath bin and shall hereafter be said of Olympiads it shal not be amisse here to shew what is meant thereby Olympia was a certaine place of Greece where games of running wrestling leaping such like were instituted by Hercules in honor of Iupiter Olympius wherof the place was called Olympia and the games Olympiads Olimpiac games the sports of Olympia which after Hercules for a long time beeing discontinued were at the length renewed againe by Iphitus King of that countrie about seauen hundred seauentie and fiue yeares before the birth of our Sauiour Christ Beeing so reuiued they were from that time forward continued by the space of a thousand yeres and more after euery foure yeares in sommer about the month of Iuly solemnized This foure yeares space was called Olympias By these Olympiads the Grecians numbred their yeares counting from that time wherein they were begun againe by Iphitus As appeareth by Velleius Paterculus Solinus Phlegon Pausanius Censorinus who all referre the beginning thereof to Iphitus neyther for this matter that I know of amongst writers is there any doubt at all Beyond Iphitus I cannot warrant any certaine account of yeeres among the heathen greatly meruailing at the folly of those men who busie themselues in searching for sure knowledge by ordered times many ages before A Christian Prince not long agoe standing much vpon his parentage by this kinde of men was seduced A trifling Courtier perceiuing his humor made him beleeue that his petigree in ancient race of royall blood might be fetched from Noa his Arke wherewith being greatly delighted forthwith he laid all busines aside and gaue himselfe wholly to the searche of this thing so earnestly that hee suffered none to interrupt him whosoeuer no not Embassadors themselues which were sent to him about most waightie affaires Many meruailed heereat but none durst speake their mind till at the length his Cooke whō he vsed sometime in stead of a foole told him that the thing which hee went about was nothing for his honor for now saith he I worship your Maiestie as a God but if we goe once to Noas Arke wee must there your selfe and I both be a kinne This saying of his foolish Cooke cast him in a dumpe and stayed the heat of his earnest studdy and brought him to a better mind from his vaine error in deceiueable times farre beyond the compasse of truth which as before hath bin shewed was limited from the first Olimpiad downeward within these limits of time by the testimonie of Varro Affricanus Censorinus the Iudgements of manie other learned men in all ages being certaine and void of error is the reach of Daniels weekes yea to come nearer home by 200 yeares and more within that part thereof which by the learning wisedome and knowledge of excellent men hath beene made most famous that is to say from the Persian Monarchie in the first yeare of Cyrus to the second of Vespasian Emperour of Roome wherein the Cittie of Ierusalem was destroyed and the Iewes common wealth ouerthrowne within the lists and compasse whereof the fulfilling of this Prophesie is contained euen Beroaldus himselfe though an aduersarie of the receaued Grecians Chronologie in his 2. booke and 2. chapter where hee saith that before the times of Cyrus the Greek Histories haue no certainty seemeth to acknowledge some truth of Historie afterward whereof he giueth this reason because in Cyrus his age were the 7. sages of Greece liuing together one of them beeing Colon the Athenian acquainted with Croesus King of Lydia who fought against Cyrus This whole space from the beginning of Cyrus his raigne to the destruction of the holy Cittie by Titus containeth 629. yeares from the Olimpiad wherein Cyrus began to the same season of that yeare wherein Ierusalem Temple and Citie was set on fire For the Persian kings raigned by the space of 230. yeares From the death of the last King of Persia to the birth of Christ
Mercator his report in his Chronicles The death of Alexander saith he of all writers is noted to haue happened in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad when Hegesias was chiefe ruler at Athens If this testimonie of Mercator be of lesse importance in regard of the late time wherein he liued Iosephus an ancient Author of credit and skill in his first book against Appian beareth him record very constantly affirming this to be verified by the vniuersall consent of all writers that Alexander died in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad This is somewhat but not altogether inough except we can learne in what part of that first yeare of the same Olympiad hee died For the knowledge of this we are beholding to Eusebius Whose words are these in his eight booke de demonstratione Euangelij 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English thus much Alexander ended his life in the beginning of the hundred fourteenth Olympiad Making then our account froÌ„ the fiue fiftieth Olympiad to the beginning of the hundred fourteenth wherein the light of Macedonia was put out wee finde the space of two hundred thirtie and sixe yeares between approued not by weake coniectures friuolous conceits or trifling toyes but a strong consent of writers which as Iosephus in his 1. book against Appian is a sure token of vndoubted truth when they all agree Six yeares and about three quarters before Alexanders death the Persians had beene by him subdued receiuing as great a blow as euer before other Nations had receiued from them their power now beeing brought to an end How is this proued The yeare is declared by Diodorus the second of the hundred and twelfth Olympiad the month by Arrhiâ—mes October the day by Plutarch is found the first of that month This was the vnhappie yeare of the Persian ouerthrow the wofull month of their fall and the sorrowfull day of king Darius his vndoing who after this victory was contemned of his men forsaken of his souldiers betraied by his seruants made a slaue to his Captaines in most base manner shut vp within a vile waggeÌ„ couered with filthie skins as it were in a prison and so carried about at their pleasure In the end they stabbed him with many woundes and left him for dead slew the waggener thrust the beasts through with darts which wanting a guide strayed from the high way about halfe a mile Where one of Alexanders souldiers going to drinke by chance espied the waggen comming vnto it found the king now drawing on who first craued of him a little water After he had drunke acknowledging this for the last miserie of his wretched estate that hee was not able to requite his kindnes and withall wishing well to Alexander for the great honour which hee had done to his wife and children hee ended his life in the third yeare of the hundred and twelfth Olympiad as appeareth by Diodorus Siculus and Arrhiames who further hath set downe the moneth Hecatombeon beeing the season of the Olympick sports and answering partly to our Iune and partly Iulie This was the tragicall end of that mightie king making proofe of the brickle estate of Princely pompe and the vnstayed stay of worldly glorie wherein he liued neere sixe yeares These limits thus bounded of the Persian Empire that is to say the fiue fiftieth Olympicke exercise for the beginning and the entrie of the third yere of the hundred and twelfth for the end giue sure euidence of the whole continuance to be two hundred and thirtie yeares if we begin from the fiftie and fiue Olympiad if from the end about nine or ten monethes after in the spring of the yeare when Cyrus began to raigne as is probable and likelie by that which before hath beene declared two hundred and nine and twentie yeares with two or three months And thus they are deuided among the Persian kinges Cyrus raigned thirtie yeares recorded by two auncient Historiographers liuing in the Persian times in their Persian Histories Dionisius and Ctesias Cicero also in his first booke De diuinatione Iustin Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Strom. Eusebius in his Chronicle Hierom on the seauenth of Daniel Beda in his book De sex aetatibus confirme the same and Orosius in his second booke against the Heathen bringeth Tomyris the Queene of Scythia after she had slaine Cyrus in battaile throwen his head into a vessell of blood insulting ouer him with this speech Now fill thy selfe with blood which could neuer yet satsifie thee this thirtie yeares This had been foreshewed to Cyrus by a dreame as Cicero from Dionisius reporteth VVherein the sunne appearing at his feete and Cyrus catching at it thrice with his handes euerie time it trowled it selfe away Which the skilfull Magi of Persia interpreted of thrice ten yeares raigne Cambyses succeeded him the time of whose raigne was seauen yeres fiue months which together with the seauen monethes more of Smerdis the vsurper and counterfait brother of Cambyses made vp eight yeares as Herodotus declareth in Thalia Darius Histaspis ruled by the space of full sixe and thirtie yeares as Herodotus writeth Eusebius in his Chronicles and Seuerus in his second booke Xerxes in the second yeare of his raigne subdued the Aegyptians and in the sixt inuaded Greece with an innumerable army yet driuen to flie by a few In the 16 yeare after and one and twentieth of his raigne being the last yere of the seauentie and eighth Olympiad as Diodorus Siculus declareth by his cowardise and corrupt life hee growing into contempt with his Nobles was slaine Many writers giue him one and twentie yeares Seuerus Beda Eusebius Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Stromatum hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twentie six for twentie one an easie slip in writing far from the enditers minde Artaxerxes the long handed was his sonne who held that Monarchie by the space of fortie yeares witnessed by Diodorus Siculus in his eleuenth and twelfth bookes Eusebius Hierom Isidorus Beda with other Xerxes and Sogdianus after him enioyed the Empire one yeare betweene them both The next was Darius Nothus holding the imperiall crowne ninteene yeares as Diodorus Siculus Tertullianus against the Iewes Eusebius Isidorus Seuerus Beda and other declare Artaxerxes Mnemon succeeded him and continued in his gouernment the longest of all other euen three and fortie yeares my Author is Diodorus in two places first in the ende of his thirteenth book and againe in his fifteenth who likewise witnesseth that Artaxerxes Ochus his successor ruled three twentie yeres which is confirmed by the testimonie of Sulpitius in his second booke The last but one was Arses continuing three yeares in his Empire by Sulpitius In whose death the bloud Royall from Cyrus was extinguished all his brethren and children by cruell treason beeing made away A iust reward of his father Ochus his Tigerlike and Woluish crueltie in murthering his Princesse The last of all was Darius Codomanus an vsurper rather than a lawfull heire
who of all the rest had the hardest hap in his imperiall state receiued by wrong continued in toyle ended in woe after sixe yeares which by Eusebius Isidorus Hierom and others was the time of his raigne The whole number and generall summe of all from first to last is two hundred and thirtie yeares so by this reckoning of euerye seuerall kings raigne is found nine or ten monethes in the whole aboue the Olympick account from the end of the first yeare of the 55. Olympiad These months must bee taken partly from the one and twentieth of Xerxes beeing not fullie expired as appeareth by Diodorus Siculus giuing him not ful one twentie yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more than twentie And partlye from Arses whome Bagous a faithles Eunuche poysoned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is nowe raigning the third yeare saith Diodorus about the beginning of his seuenteenth book thereby signifying that it was not fully compleat and partly also from the sixt of the last Darius which was not whollie perfectly finished For Artaxerxes Mnemon begun his raigne in the end of the Peloponnesian warre or a little after in the month of Aprill as may bee gathered by Diodorus Siculus in the end of his thirteenth booke compared with Thucidides Thucidides saith it begun in the beginning of the spring two months before the yeares end which time by Codoman and others skill fell to the first of Aprill It lasted saith Thucidides seuen and twentie yeares and some few dayes more Darius died after the peace made betweene the Athenians and the Lacedemonians saith Diodorus Siculus meaning that peace which made an end of the warre Giuing therefore him three and fortie and Ochus three and twentie and Arses three all perfect they must end about that season in the first yeare of the hundred and eleuenth Olympiad Arses I graunt reached to that yeare yet not to that moneth of Aprill by a good while For Philip king of Macedonia was slaine by Pausanias in that hundred and eleuenth Olympiad the first yeare thereof witnesses Arrhiames and Diodorus and that in winter about the foure and twentie of Ianuarie as Chitraeus affirmeth in his Chronologie But Arses was poysoned and Darius had succeeded him while Philip was yet a liue and had purposed to haue made warre against him as Diodorus writeth Hereby it is euident that neither Arses his three yeares nor Codomans sixe yeares could be fully ended seeing that he was slaine in summer about the beginning of the third yeare of the hundred and twelfth Olympiad as appeareth by Arrhiames Thus are found from the beginning of the fiue and fiftieth Olympiad to the death of the last Monarch of Persia two hundred and thirtie yeares And from Cyrus thither two hundred and nine and twentie yeares and more by gesse about two or three moneths And lastly from Cyrus to Darius now the second time by Alexander vanquished in which conquest many make an ende of the Persian Empire two hundred and eyght and twentie yeares and a halfe These times of the Persian Monarchie being I know not by what mishap brought into question and great controuersie among the learned and withall of great importance for the vnderstanding of God his word haue neede to bee strengthened with all force that may bee And therefore I will yet make further search for stayes and props as it were to vpholde them Eusebius in his tenth booke de Preparatione Euangelica saith that the second yeare of Darius Hystaspis was the first of the threescore and fift Olympiad so found iust by the former reckoning The warre of Xerxes that Darius his sonne and Nephew to Cyrus of all other was the most famous Who led against Greece the greatest armie that euer was heard of before or after of twentie hundred thousand fighting souldiers for the huge multitude thereof drinking running riuers drie and as Cicero saith walking vpon the Seas and sayling on the land because that hee digged through great mountaines to make the seas meete for his nauie to passe And in other places of the sea made bridges to goe ouer a foote Leonides a valiant king of Sparta to the wonder of all ages following onely with foure thousand men encountred resisted and fought with that powerfull hoste at the straights of Thermopylae Xerxes at the first sent fifteene thousand then twentie thousand and last of all fiftie thousand against them At euery time making choyce of better men then before First begun the Medes bearing hatefull mindes against the Grecians with desire of reuenge for the slaughter of their kinsemen a little before at Marathon Next after them fought the Persian souldiers themselues in whom the Persian king of all other nations vnder him reposed most confidence Yea of these Persians were chosen the most valiant men amongst them all called the immortals because their number neuer decayed Last of all was a choyce companie of the chiefest men of all the whole hoast for stoutenes valour and courage picked out from the rest And they also stirred vp by great promises of rich rewards All these fighting against that handfull of the Grecians had like successe a great number was slaine many wounded the rest put to flight Xerxes maugred thus stayed by a few from passing further into Greece was at his wits ende till such time as one of that countrey had informed him of another way by which some of the armie came vpon the backe of Leonides and so inclosed him on both sides which Leonides hauing intelligence of by a secret friend a little before sent all the rest of his companie home sauing fiue hundred These he encouraged and the more to enable them for battell exhorted them to dine before with resolued mindes to take their supper among the dead Which done and night come they inuaded the Persian campe came to the kings Pauilion slew all that were in it wandred to and fro seeking the king who a little before had got himselfe away and killing on both sides as they went The Persians in the darke not discerning the matter were greatly amazed ran out of their tents they wist not whether fearing nothing so much as this that the whole power of Greece had set vpon them In this hurlie burlie they slew one another till the day light bewrayed the trueth when Leonides with his souldiers fought still At the length wearied with ouercomming and oppressed on euery side with mayne force of that powerfull number they dyed in the middest of their enemies with glorie hauing slaine to the number of twentie thousand The battailes wherein Xerxes had this welcome into Greece many olde writers with great agreement refer to the beginning of the seuentie and fiue Olympiad Diodorus in his eleuenth booke writeth that Xerxes warred against Greece in the first yeare of the seuentie and fiue Olympiad Callias then being Maior of Athens Dyonisius Halicarnassaeus in the beginning of his ninth booke agreeth hereunto naming that very yeare of the same Olympiad and the
same Maior of Athens for the time of Xerxes fighting against Greece Eusebius also in his Chronicles hath a plaine confirmation hereof referring to the first yeare of this seuentie and fiue Olympiad that battaile wherin Xerxes his power by sea fought against the Athenians and tooke a most shamefull ouerthrow Diogenes Laertius in the life of Socrates writeth that in the time of Callias his gouernement at Athens in the first yeare of the seuentie fiue Olympiad the Poet Euripides was borne Suidas nameth the very day of his birth euen that wherein Xerxes his nauie was ouercome by the Grecians at Salamis The same Laertius reporteth from ancient Historiographers that Anaxagoras being borne in the seuenty Olympiad was twentie yeares old when Xerxes passed into Greece and Callias ruled at Athens thereby giuing vs to vnderstand that by the receiued opinion of former ages Xerxes inuading Greece and Callias his Maioraltie at Athens fell to the first yeare of the 75. Olympiad In like manner Pindarus borne in the 65. Olympiad and at Xerxes his warre fortie yeare olde by Suidas record approueth the trueth of that account Who so list to make triall shall easilie see an exact agreement betwixt this Olympiad and the yeares of Xerxes before rehearsed Africanus in the fift booke of his Chronicles affirming that the fourth of the 83. Olympiad was the 20. of Artaxerxes Longimanus and the 115. of the Persian kingdome maketh all good The Athenians after the Persians ouerthrow and Xerxes his flight out of Grecia grew mightie hauing by their great nauie obtained the rule of the sea and subdued many people of Greece Whereupon the Lacedemonians who dwelt in that part of Greece which was called Peloponnesus suspecting their power and fled vnto for ayde tooke parte against them which in the ende was the occasion of that long and fierce warre betweene the Athenians and the Lacedemonians called the Peloponnesian war The one people spoyling by sea the other by land so that by this means the Grecians which most gloriouslie had triumphed in many battailes ouer the mightie Monarchs of the world were now brought low and pittifullie wasted in most lamentable manner turning their forces from the common enemy to their ruine against themselues the continuance beginning and ende of this warre is most exactly described by Thucidides an Athenian Gentleman the penner thereof who flourished in that time and saw the warre with his eyes from the beginning to the end yea was a chiefe captaine therein a writer for certaine trueth of historie and perfect reckoning of time most excellent and of such account in the ages following that euen the best followed him and gaue credite vnto him Demosthenes the famous Orator of Athens tooke paines to coppie out his bookes eyght times with his owne hand as Lucian reporteth This exact historiographer in the entrie of his second booke telleth that this warre begunne in the fifteenth yeare of the league which after the taking of Eubaea was made for thirtie yeares to come Aenesias being then Maior of Sparta and Pythodorus of Athens and the yeare of their Maioraltie now within two moneths expired in the beginning of the spring For the better vnderstanding of these wordes concerning the taking of Eubaea and the thirtie yeares league I will briefely touch the historie Eubaea was an Iland neere vnto Greece in the Aegean sea which hauing been subiect and tributarie to the Athenians at the length spying their opportunity by reason of a great ouerthrow of the Athenians in Baeotia and the Lacedemonians holding against them by which their power was greatly weakened fell from them refusing to serue them or pay them tribute any longer For this cause Pericles a noble man of Athens was sent against them with a great hoast who once againe subdued them And a little after their returne from Eubaea now the second time by Pericles so conquered a league was made betweene the Athenians and the Lacedemonians to endure for thirtie yeares following The articles and couenants of this league were grauen in a pillar of brasse set in Olympia as Pausanias recordeth in the first of his Eliacx where hee also declareth the time thereof to be the third yeare of that Olympiad wherein Criso of Himaera won the race Now that that Olympiad wherein Criso of Himaera won the race was the 83. we haue the testimonie of Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in the ende of his tenth of Roman antiquities and the beginning of the eleuenth Hereof it followeth by Thucidides compared with other writers that the Peloponnesian sturres began in the first yere of the 87. Olympiad for that is iust the 15. yeare from the third of the 83. wherein the thirtie yeares league was made Againe for cleerer confirmation hereof Diodorus Siculus in his twelfth booke hath left in recorde that the yeare of Pythodorus his Maioraltie at Athens in the ende whereof Thucidides beginneth that war was the first of the 87. Olympiad This therefore I holde for a certaine trueth that the beginning of the Peloponnesian warre happened in the first yeare of the 87. Olympiad toward the end thereof about the beginning of Aprill so as the Olympicke exercises of that yeare were solemnized the sommer before going and the 4. 8. 12. 16. 20. 24. 28. sommers of that war were Olympicke yeares which of the fourth and the twelfth is plainly testified by Thucidides himselfe in the third and fift bookes of his historie In the seuenth yeare of this war Thucidides telleth that Artaxerxes died in winter which for the certaine knowledge of the Persian times is a most excellent place a sure fort a sound argument a cleere testimonie a strong proofe from him which liued at that time was as olde as the thing it selfe which he telleth saw the effect with his eyes studied from his heart to set forth the trueth If the former account be agreeable to this testimonie of Thucidides as it is most precisely I see no cause why it may not triumph ouer all aduersaries how powerfull and how well learned soeuer Marke then the agreement Xerxes his 21. wherein he dyed was saide to be the fourth of the 78. Olympiad Artaxerxes raigned 40. which being numbred from that yeare of his fathers death bring vs iust to the fourth of the Olympian and the seuenth of the Peloponnesian war the set time of Artaxerxes his death by Thucidides who best of all other writers now extant in the world knew the certaine trueth of it and for credite in this matter hee hath none comparable vnto him The same Thucidides making the 20. of the Peloponnesian war to be the thirteenth of Darius Nothus confirmeth it once againe For adding thirteene of that war vnder Darius to seuen vnder Artaxerxes that number is made vp The continuance and ende of this war by the same Thucidides is shewed in his fift booke where hee declareth the whole time of that war to haue been 27. yeares to the ouerthrow of the Athenian Empire and the taking of
were past and gone which must needes be in the 29. yeare Immediatlie after hee addeth that in that yere Cyrus killed two of his kinsemen for not holding their handes within a muffe when they met him as was vsed to be done to kings in token of honour and loyall dutie for their greater securitie that they might bee void of all suspition feare of harme And then followeth that the next yeare after which must needes bee the 27. and last Archytas was Ephorus of Sparta Thus from Xenophon wee learne that which Beroaldus wished the 24. and 27. yeres of the Peloponnesian warre yoaked the one with the first the other with the last of the 93. Olympiad which for sound knowledge of the Persian times to discerne them a right is very material and a sure bulwarke for defence of my former Chronologie Whereby was proued that Cyrus begun in the first of the 55. Olympiad towarde the end from which time to the fourth of the 93 nere ended are 155. yeares That is to say 30 of Cyrus 8 of Cambyses 36 of his successor of Xerxes 21. of Artaxerxes 40. with that of Xerxes and Sogdianus included 20. of Darius Nothus whose raigne ended almost together with the Peloponnesian warre as before hath beene declared by the testimonie of Diodorus Siculus and appeareth by Thucidides making his thirteenth the twentieth of the warre Erastosthenes an auncient writer in the time of Ptolomeus Euergetes a man to vse Plinie his terme cunning in the subtiltie of all learning and approued of all so Plinie testifieth of him in his second booke set forth certaine rules of Chronologie which Dionisius Halicarnasseus for the truth thereof exact reckoning greatly commendeth in his first book of Roman antiquities These rules haue beene preserued vnto this age by the carefull diligence of the ancient learned father Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Strom. From the first Olympiad to Xerxes passing into Greece he accounted 297. yeares thence to the beginning of the Peloponnesian warre 48. and after to the end and dissolution of the Athenians common wealth 27. all these gathered together are 372. from the first Olympiad so saieth Eratosthenes agreeing with Xenophons reckoning to Archytas his Maioraltie at Sparta ended with that warre and the fourth of the 93. Olympiad For 93. Olympiads are fourescore thirteene times foure yeres that is the number of Eratosthenes 372. From which summe 54. Olympiads contayning 216. before that wherein Cyrus begun being taken awaie with almost one yeare more from the beginning of it to Cyrus there remaineth for the Persian Monarchie to the end of the Peloponnesian warre 155. yeares before spoken of Diodorus Siculus was a man of wonderfull paines and exceedingly precise in exact computation He spent thirtie yeares in making his Historie from Sicilie his natiue countrie hee trauailed into Egypt and the greatest part of Asia and Europe to search the trueth of those thinges which hee wrote A diligent reader of all the auncient writers before him from Herodotus and other before and after succeding in order whom hee hath followed in the matters which he telleth And therefore not vnfitly the title of his worke is called not a Historie but a Librarie Iustinus Martyr called him the most famous Historiographer of the Grecians Eusebius commendeth him by the name of a notable man in great request among the learned But Henry Stephen aboue all other praiseth him exceedingly giuing him that place degree amongst the learned Historiographers which the sunne hath amongst the starres in regard of exact defining those thinges which he writeth of by ordered times This writer therefore confirming all those thinges before spoken of touching the kings of Persia and the time of their raigne may be in steed of many so as in him alone we may see the iudgement not onely of Herodotus Thucidides Xenophon but also of Callisthenes Duris Timaeus Philiscus Theopompus Ephorus and other by him diligentlie read perused and cyted which at this day are not any where found It were infinite to bring all that might bee said out of Authors for the verefying of this Chronologie tedious to be read toylesome to be written Therefore passing ouer many testimonies of diuers writers I will now come to the Roman Storie to see if it likewise by agreement of time may auaile any thing to fortifie those limits and bounds which haue beene set for the Persian kings The Romanes in continuance of time became Lordes of Greece where the Olympicke sports were celebrated And therefore it could not otherwise bee but that they knew well enough how the yeares of their Citie were answerable to the Olympick reckoning of the Grecians Polybius of Megalopolis a Cittie in Arcadia neere as auncient as Eratosthenes by Cicero accounted amongst the best authors for worthinesse credit commended by Iosephus by Velleius Paterculus honoured with this testimonie that he was a man excelling in wit had in great estimation and followed by Liuie and other in the third booke of his historie affirmeth that the first Consuls of Rome were 28. yeares before the passage of Xerxes into Greece which was in the end of the last yeare of the 74. Olympiad as appeareth by that which before hath bin declared Hereof it followeth that the first of the 68. Olympiad beeing the 14. of Darius Histaspis was that wherin the new gouernment of that Cittie by Consuls was established Whereas before it had bin gouerned by kings for the space of 244. yeares from the first building thereof vnto this time adding 28. yeares or seauen Olympiads more We come toward the end of the last yeare of the 74. Olympiad being the 272. of Rome wherin Xerxes passed into Greece as Polybius testifieth the next yeare after was the first of the 75. wherein Xerxes with his great armie was ouercome as before hath bin prooued The truth hereof is verified by A. Gellius in the last chapter of his seuenteenth book where he writeth that Xerxes was ouercome by Themistocles at Salamis foure yeres before the consulship of Menenius Agrippa and Horatius Puluillus wherein a great kinred of noble Romans called Fabij to the number of 306. hauing taken vpon them at their owne charge to fight against a certaine people were slaine by the subtiltie of their enemies circumuented at the riuer Cremera for this is declared by the Romane histories to haue fallen out in the 277 yeare of Rome and the 33. from the banishment of the kings Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his fift booke of Romane antiquities reckoneth sixteene yeares betwixt Brutus one of the first Consuls death in the end of his yeare and the Marathon fight referring the battaile at Marathon to the seuenteenth yeare after Brutus his buriall and the eighteenth after the kings driuen out of the Citie wherein Gegainus Macerinus and Minutius Augurinus were Consuls In his 7. Booke Which by constant agreement of almost all authors hee sayeth was in the second yeare of the 72. Olympiad So he maketh the 31.
of Darius Histaspis and the 262. of Rome and the second of the 72. Olimp. all one yeare as it was indeede most exactly agreeing to the testimony of Polybius before rehearsed and the Greeke Chronologie of the Persian kings and the Olympick reckoning A. Gellius in the place aforenamed saith that the Marathon battell happened in the 260. yeare of Rome which is likewise true according to his beginning of the yeares of that City as afterward shall appeare Liuie the famous Latine writer of the Romane historie in the end of his fift booke telleth that the Frenchmen and Swichers hauing inuaded a certaine people of Italie were by a noble ambassage from Rome intreated to depart without hurting their friends and associats hauing no cause offered to doe it This verie stoutly they refused to doe except they might haue part of that countrie graunted vnto them to dwell in a thing thought vnreasonable that by force of armes dint of sword they should go about to take that which pertained nothing vnto them Whereuppon they fell to a fierce and sharpe battaile wherein the Roman Embassadors contrarie to the law of armes tooke part with their associate neighbours against them yea killed one of their chiefe captaines At the first the French by their legates complained receiuing no amendes for the wrong done vnto them their heartes were so stirred that presently without any more adoe they turned their force against Rome going in all haste to inuade it About eleuen mile from the Citie they were met withall by the Romans who being put to flight fled the greatest part to other places a few to Rome which was so interpreted by the Citizens as though all the rest had beene slaine being astonished with feare they had no regard to shut their gates At the length they sent a certaine number of the stoutest and strongest mē into their Castle called the Capitoll well appointed with victuals and weapons to defend it The aged Senators being resolued to hazard their liues to bequeath themselues to the sword went home sate downe in theyr robes at the entrie of their houses in open sight of their enemies who meruailed thereat yet vsing no crueltie till one of them for stroaking M. Papirius an old Senator his beard was rapt on the pate for his labour with an iuorie staffe Then began the slaughter first of him after of the rest the Citie they sacked and burned all but the Capitoll which had bin taken also by them in the night climing vp had not the keaking of Geese in time bewrayed their intent This calamitie happened to the Romans in the 365. yeare of Rome as we reade in Liuie which by auncient registers and recordes of the Censors of long time preserued in their posteritie from father to childe by many ages was testified to be the 121. yeare from the last kings raigne These records Dionysius Halicarnassaus read and saw with his eyes This 121. after the Consuls with 244. before them make vp Liuies number 365. Now that Rome was taken of the Swichers in the beginning of the 98. Olympiad is prooued by great agreement of learned writers in the first booke of the same Dionysius which from the 68. wherein the Consuls began is iust the 121. yeare Adding hereunto the yeares before the 68. Olympiad to the beginning of the Persian Monarchie in the 55. and those after the 98. Olympiad to the ende thereof in the third of the 112. all agree The Olympick reckoning of the Persian times is iustified by the Romaine Historie Polybius in his third book telleth that L. Aemylius being Consul of Rome was sent into Illyrium with an armie in the first yeare of the 140. Olympiad At what time Annibal set forward in Spayne to besiege Sagunt which by the Roman historie is found the 533. of the citie Of these 533. one hundred and eleuen were betweene the death of the last king of Persia and that setting forth of L. Aemylius And 192. of them were from the beginning of Rome with the seuenth Olympiad to Cyrus There remayneth for the Persian Empire 230. yeares which space for it before hath been declared and now once againe prooued by the yeares of Rome One proofe more of the testimonie frō Heauen and so an end Time is of the Philosophers defined to be the measure of the heauenly motion the course and mouing whereof being alwaies certaine vniforme without disorder or going astray how so euer it is with men there can be no error in it By that measure is knowne the length from one Solstitium to another from eclips to eclips exactlie without missing a daye or an houre Astronomie saith Temporarius teacheth what space of Heauen the Sunne the Moone and other Starres runne out in an houre a daye a moneth a yeare yea many thousand yeares and defineth the spaces from one eclips to another most perfectlie so as one of them being once found we cannot after for the times following be deceaued in a daye Ptolomie a learned Aegyptian of a deepe and long reach in the knowledge of Astronomie and other Mathematicall sciences in his Almagest hath recorded diuers eclipses of the Moone of ancient time preserued amongst them from the beginning of Nabonasars raigne long before the Iewes captiuitie in Babylon which Censorinus in his booke de die natali speaking of saith Vt à nostris ita ab Aegyptijs quidam aenni in literas relati sunt quos Nabonozaru nominant quod à primo eius imperij anno consurgant As saith he of our men so of the Aegyptians certaine yeares haue been committed to writing which they call Nabonasars because they rise together with the beginning of this Empire One of these eclipses there by him so registred happened in the seuenth yeare of Cambyses about the 16. daye of Iulie 224. yeares and 140. dayes after the beginning of Nabonasar which was the sixe and twentie daye of Februarie in the first yeare of the eyght Olympiad and the fift yeare of Rome Another by the same Ptolomie recorded was in the yeare wherein Phanostratus was Maior of Athens 365. yeares with 112. dayes after Nabonasars coronation which leade vs to the eyghteenth daye of Iune in that yeare of Phanostratus now very neere spent The distance of these ecclipses by examination is found full a hundred one and fortie yeares within one moneth So much time by the course of Heauen ran out from the sixeteenth daye of Iulie in the seuenth of Cambyses being the second yeare of the 64. Olympiad to the eyght daye of Iune in the yeare of Phanostratus which Diodorus Siculus very truely setteth in the second of the 99. Olympiad yet blamed for it by Temporarius in his third booke of Chronologicall demonstrations who striueth for that yeare of Phanostratus to be the third of the named Olympiad but all in vaine Heauen it selfe giueth sentence against him and verifieth the testimonie of Diodorus making the very same number neither more nor lesse Meto
a skilfull and learned Astronomer as Ptolomie in the third booke of his Almagest declareth in the 316. yeare of Nabonasar the 21. daye of the Aegyptian moneth Phamenoth answerable by our computation to the 28. day of Iune Apsendes then ruling at Athens obserued the Astronomicall poynte of summers beginning called Solstitium which in this our age is about the eleuenth of that moneth the Sunne then entring into the tropicke of Cancer So great alteration in the space of 2020. yeares is bred betwixt our time and theirs for want of exact appoynting and right ordering of the leape yeare From that time to the end of the 50. yeare of Calippus his first period Hipparchus an excellent Mathematician a man whome nature made partaker of her secrets as Plinie writeth of him gathered a perfect summe of 152. yeares That this period of Calippus began with the third yeare of the 112. Olympiad it is agreed by cleere consent of many writers For about that time Darius was slaine and thereby this period of Calippus began together with Alexanders Monarchie now by the death of Darius established in his hands without clayme of any In memorie whereof this period was ordayned and the account of yeares after taken from that head The 50. yeares then of this period being taken from the former summe there remaynes 102. yeares from the end of Apsendes his gouernement to the death of the last king of Persia which by the recorde of auncient writers is so acknowledged and verified placing Apsendes in the last of the 86. Olympiad which was the 32. yeare of Artaxerxes the long handed and the slaughter of Darius in the third of the 112. These 102. with 127. and some odde moneths from Cyrus to the 32. of that Artaxerxes included containe the receaued time of the Persian kings 229. yeares with some few moneths more to the beginning of Alexanders Monarchie at the last Persian kings death Which euen that most famous eclipse of the very next yeare before wherewith Alexanders souldiers were scared eleuen dayes before his last battaile against Darius putteth out of doubt For from that in the seuenth of Cambyses before spoken of to this Astronomical comming by exact calculation findeth 192. yeares and 66. dayes Which with the time following from the last eclipse to Darius his death and the yeares of Cambyses and Cyrus before the first Eclips make vp that full reckoning Thus the glorious seruant of all the worlde the Sunne which among other seruices to the vse and behoofe of men whereof he tooke his name in the holy tongue to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a minister or seruant according to that in the fourth of Esdras God commanded the Sunne the Moone and Starres that they should serue man hath this for one appointed vnto him to be for times and yeares and dayes Euen this Chronologer I say of all other without exception most true and sure witnesseth for Herodotus Thucidides Xenophon Eratosthenes Polybius Diodorus and other writers of auncient time if they bee not for credit sufficient of themselues that their Chronologie of the Persian yeares is good the mouth of Heauen which cannot lie hath approued it The trueth for this poynt being thus opened it now remayneth to see what may be brought against it and to remoue some doubtes as it were mists from the readers eyes Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in the preface to his first booke of antiquities affirmeth that the Persians continued not aboue 200. yeares in their soueraigntie It is true being accounted from the death of Cyrus who by the space of thirtie yeares was occupied in winning that Empire and being once wonne they kept it neere 200. yeares after Ioseph Scaliger a man of rare giftes a great light of this age one whome the Churche of GOD for his paines is much beholding to in his fift booke de emendatione temporum speaking of Xerxes his passage into Greece is so vncertaine and wauering in this poynt that it is hard to finde in what iudgement he rested For first hee maketh it a thing vndoubted that Xerxes passed into Europe in the ende of the fourth yeare of the 47. Olympiad and in the beginning of the 75. fought at Thermopylae then a little after hee thinketh that passage of Xerxes to haue happened the yeare before that is to saye in the end of the third yeare of the 47. Olympiad being moued thereunto by the authoritie of Herodotus and Thucidides The one euen Herodotus in Polymnia making mention of an eclipse of the Sunne at such time as Xerxes marched forward with his hoast from Sardes toward Europe in the spring time of the yeare which by Scaligers calculation fell to the third yeare of the 74. Olympiad and so Xerxes his battailes in Greece to the fourth yeare of it The other that is Thucidides in his first booke writing that the Persians once againe inuaded Greece in the tenth yeare after the Marothon field which being fought in the second yeare of the 72. Olympiad the tenth after it is the fourth of the 74. Againe contrarie to both these sentences he yet alleageth another from Eratosthenes Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch three worthy men for skil who referred Xerxes his passage into Greece to the first yeare of the 75. Olympiad and this he approueth most of al in the chapter of the first Consuls Thus Ioseph Scaliger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is dissoluing one doubt by another as one saieth leaueth his reader in the briers which I will assaye to helpe him out of either all or some if happely I can First therefore concerning Herodotus it is euident and playne by his testimonie that Xerxes fought his battailes in Greece in the first yeare of the 75. Olympiad because he maketh account of 80. yeares from the first of Cyrus thether and if this bee not enough the same Author in playne wordes declareth that the games of Olympia were celebrated about that very time wherein Leonides resisted his huge hoast and stopped their passage First in Polymnia speaking of this matter he sayeth that the time of the Olympiad fell out together with that busines Againe in Vrania he confirmeth it telling that as Xerxes marched forward from Thermopylae certaine Grecians came vnto him offering their seruice who being asked what the Grecians then were about answered that they kept and beheld the Olympian games the winners whereof receiued an Oliue crowne which one Tigranes a noble Lord of Persia hearing presently burst forth into this speech What worthie men are wee brought to fight against which striue not for money but vertue and prowesse This then by Herodotus his owne mouth being thus made cleere that the yeare of Xerxes fighting in Greece was an Olympicke yeare it could not possibly be in Herodotus iudgement as Scaliger would haue it the fourth yeare of the 74. Olympiad Moreouer Herodotus writeth in Vrania that Callias was then Maior of Athens when Xerxes tooke that Citie and burned it which yeare of Callias his
of Pisistratus himselfe and 18. after of his children And so is Herodotus to be vnderstoode giuing them 36. in all onely differing from Aristotle in a yeare Whereby it may be thought that Pisistratus raigned some few moneths more aboue 17. yeares so his reckoning comes short by almost twentie yeares Againe there was another Pisistratus the sonne of Hippias and Grand childe to the elder Pisistratus before spoken of who in the yeare of his Maioraltie dedicated in the market place at Athens the Altar of the twelue Gods as Thucidides writeth of him in his sixt booke And this in my iudgement is the man to whome that Historie in Aelianus may be fitly applied and stand very well with that which Iustin hath concerning Themistocles fighting at Marathon Yea but Plinie in his 34. booke writeth that the Athenians the same yeare wherein the kings of Rome were driuen out being the fourth of the 67. Olympiad set vp the images of Harmodius and Aristogiton who had killed Hipparchus the tyrant farre wide from that which Dionysius telleth in his sixt booke that Hipparchus was ruler at Athens in the 71. Olympiad What say you to that Nothing but that Beroaldus being belike ashamed of his follie in bringing such an argument calleth it in againe as it were by answering that it was another Hipparchus which Dionysius speaketh of Another argument he taketh from Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his fift booke making the warre at Marathon later by sixteene yeares then the death of Brutus thereby referring the yeare to the fourth of the 71. Olympiad which by Cicero seemeth cast to the 73. wherein Coriolanus a Senator of Rome made warre against it Here we haue nothing but vntrueth vpon vntrueth fit groundes for such a rotten building for sixteene yeares after that of the first Consuls which was by Dionysius the first of the 68. Olympiad in the end whereof Brutus was slaine reach not to the fourth of the 71. but to the second of the 72. Olympiad wherein the same Dionysius in plaine words placeth that warre As for that of Coriolanus against Rome it happened in deed in the first of the 73. Olympiad onely three yeares after the other And therefore Cicero in his Brutus affirming not that this of Coriolanus was at the same time with that other of the Persians but almost at that time speaketh a trueth dissenting nothing at all from Dionysius It followeth in Beroaldus the same Dionysius in his ninth booke Diodorus Siculus agreeing vnto him saith that Xerxes went to warre against Greece in the 75. Olympiad when Callias gouerned Athens that is twelue yeares after the Marathon fight being past to that of Xerxes at Salamis Glossa corrumpit textum the glosse here marreth the text with a manifest vntrueth for neither Dionysius nor Diodorus maketh aboue eleauen yeares distance betwixt those battailes the one placed in the second of the 72. Olympiad the other in the first of the 75 almost in the beginning thereof Now let any man count the distance betweene on his fingers ends and see if he can finde twelue yeares But to omit this and come to the purpose Gelo was at the time of Xerxes his warre by Pausanias and Herodotus tyrant of Syracusae And Gelo tyrant of Syracusae by Plutarch in the life of Lysias the Orator in the second of the 82. Olympiad So the war of Xerxes must by this reckoning come backe neere 30. yeares after the 75. Olympick sport Plutarchs words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English thus much Lysias an exceeding rich man was the sonne of Cephales grand childe of Lysanias the sonne of Cephales his father Cephales was a Syracusian borne and flitted to Athens for loue partly of the citie and partly of Pericles the sonne of Xanthippus who perswaded him thereto being his friend and host or as some say for that hee was driuen from Syracusae at such time as it was subiect to the tyrannie of Gelo. He meaneth that Lysias was borne Being borne at Athens vnder Philocles the next ruler after Phrasicles hee was first brought vp with the noblest children of the Athenians about the second yeare of the 83. Olympiad Afterward being fifteene yeares olde he went to Thuriae a citie of Italie Praxiteles then being Maior of Athens as followeth there in Plutarch Philocles was Maior at Athens in the second yeare of the 80. Olympiad as Diodorus declareth Then was Lysias borne and being about eyght yeres olde in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad he was brought vp with other noble mens children in Athens and therein continued till the yere of Praxiteles his gouernement which was the first of the 84. Olympiad as we reade in the same Diodorus and the fifteenth of Lysias his birth Where can Beroaldus now finde in this place of Plutarch that Gelo was tyrant of Syracusae in the second yeare of the 82. Olympiad What meant he so cōfidently to burst forth into this cōplaint Tam incerta sunt apud aut hores rerum istarum tempora So vncertaine are the times of these matters what reason had hee for it For hee that vnderstandeth Greeke and compareth Plutarchs owne words with that which Beroaldus gathereth by them will bee ashamed I beleeue of such an interpreter being so blinded with conceited affection that hee seeth not what is written and careth not what he saith Plutarch doth notablie in this place confirme the receiued ancient Chronologie of the Greekes so farre he is by any disagreement from weakening their credite Let vs now examine one or two other places of Beroaldus concerning the time of Xerxes fighting in Greece In the eyght chapter of his third booke Pausanias sayth Beroaldus telleth in his Arcadikes that Xerxes then passed into Greece when Gelo gouerned at Syracuse which is likewise witnessed by Herodotus in his seuenth booke But that same Pausanias in his Eliaca affirmeth that Gelo held the gouernment of that citie in the second yeare of the 72. Olympiad Except it be a strange thing that one king should continew his raigne by the space of twelue yeares This argument of Beroaldus is not worth a rush to proue disagreement betweene ancient writers referring Gelo his tiranie some to the second of the 72. Olympiad other to the first of the 75. when Xerxes passed into Europe for the beginning of his dominion was about the second of the 72. Olympiad as Dionisius Halicarnassaeus declareth in the seauenth booke of his Roman Antiquities And the end thereof in the 75. Olympiad the thirde yeare thereof as Diodorus witnesseth in the eleauenth booke of his Historicall librarie So both might stand together well enough Beroaldus hath yet more matter from Pausanias in his Eliaca who referreth the ouerthrow of Mardonius at Plateae the next yeare after Xerxes inuaded Greece to the 75. Olympiad whereas Diodorus Siculus saith that Xerxes in that Olympiad inuaded Greece both can not bee true The worde Olympias pertaineth sometime to the game itselfe celebrated euerie first yeare of
Let vs goe on to the rest Solinus telleth that Pythagoras came into Italie in the time of the first Consuls Gellius in the time of Tarquinius superbus which might bee the yeare before Dionysius saith that hee taught in Italie after the 50. Olympiad which dissenteth neyther from that former saying of Solinus nor the other of Gellius because the times by them named were both after the 50. Olympiad Diogenes Laertius writeth that hee flourished in the 60. Olympiad All this touching the time of Pythagoras wherein he liued taught may stand well enough without disagreement Plinie putteth him backe from the time named by Solinus an hundred yeares and more And Beroaldus bringeth him as many or more forward euen to the Peloponnesian warre by his opinion begun about the 94. Olympiad which beeing so needes must Cyrus also bee pulled forwarde in some proportion from the 55. Olympiad to the 80. Betweene these two extreamities of opinion concerning the age of Pythagoras the one of Plinie the other of Beroaldus in my iudgement medium tenuêre beati the merry meane is best as we see especially beeing approoued by a farre greater number of the learned But let vs examine his proofe that Pythagoras was so late His first reason is brought from the authoritie of Eusebius who in his tenth book De praeparatione Euangelica writeth that Xenophons and Pythagoras were in the same times with Anaxagoras who came within the compasse of the Peloponnesian war If an old man may liue at the same time with a young man this is no good proofe to bring Pythagoras to the Peloponnesian warre because Eusebius sayde that Anaxagoras in whose time Pythagoras liued was in it Let Eusebius bee his owne interpreter in his Chronicles where hee putteth the matter out of doubt setting the death of Pythagoras threescore and foure yeres at the least before the beginning of the Peloponnesian war yet withall making Anaxagorus who saw that war to flourish in his dayes Another reason of his much like to the former is this Pythagoras with diuers of his acquaintance beeing in the house of Milo certaine enemies in desire of reuenge vppon some conceiued griefe burned it ouer their heads where Lysis Archytas two of Pythagoras his schollers at that time escaped This Lysis after became teacher of Epaminondas the valiant Theban Captaine who fighting at Mantine in the second yeare of the 104. Olympiad aboue 40. yeres after the Peloponnesian war was slaine And what of all this I know his conclusion that this being so late an age wherein Epaminondas died whose master was Lysis one of Pythagoras his schollers It must needes be that Pythagoras himselfe reached to the time of the Peloponnesian warre somewhat nere to Epaminondas and when was that warre the end of it if we may beleeue Beroaldus was about the 100. Olympiad and by that meanes Pythagoras must bee brought to the 94. at the least wherein it began not much aboue 40. yeares before the raigne of king Phillip of Macedonia the Father of Alexander the great If I should stand to number all the absurdities which would follow of this position according to that which Aristotle saith that one absurde thing graunted many other follow vppon it it were a tedious thing to write or read except peraduenture that beeing so ridiculous in themselues the moouing of laughter might some way ease the readers toyle But leauing this I will declare that the distance of time made by auncient writers betweene Pythagoras his teaching and Epaminondas his learning of Lysis can no way hinder but that Pythagoras may stand well enough still in that place where they haue set him His death by Eusebius is put in the last yere of the 70. Olympiad At which time Lysis his scholler might bee 16. yeares of age and liue fourescore and eight yeares after till hee was 104. yeares old in the beginning of the 93. Olympiad When Epaminondas might be of the age of sixteene yeares instructed before of Lysis in his old age What one thing is there heere incredible or not vsuall in those times Gorgias Leontinus much about the same times with Lysis liued a hundred and nine yeares which before hath beene shewed with diuers other like examples and Aemilius Probus in the life of Epaminondas testifieth of him that beeing a yong man hee was instructed in Philosophie by Lysis in the time of his graue and seuere old age Philosophiae praeceptorem habuit Lysim Tarentinum Pythagoreum cui quidem sic fuit deditus vt adolescens tristem seuerum senem omnibus aequalibus suis in familiaritate anteposuerit saith Aemilius Thus Beroaldus his sharpe assault against the Chronologicall forte of the Grecians account hath not so preuailed to batter it but that it can defend it selfe against the enemie Let vs now see with what successe hee hath oppugned the Latine Storie against this hee fighteth with two weapons one taken from the Roman Decemuirs the other borrowed of the Frenchmen at their sacking of Rome in the 302. yeare of Rome wherein L. Menenius P. Sestius were Consuls towardes the ende of their COnsulship certaine Commissioners called Decemuiri were chosen by the people to the gouernment of the Citie and the making of Lawes against the next yere now approching beeing the 303. of the Citie Hereof is that difference and dissention of some Authors betweene themselues alleadged by Beroaldus some referring the Decemuirs to the 302. yeare of Rome respecting the time wherein they were elected as Solinus and Liuie some to the 303. because that was the yeare wherein they first executed that new authoritie beeing appointed and chosen vnto it in the end of the former yeare As Dionysius Halicarnassaeus in his eleuenth booke declareth Besides Varro Onuphrius As for A. Gellius and some other naming the 300. yeare of Rome for the Decemuirs the cause thereof is manifest that some make the time of the kings of Rome not 244. but onely 241. yeres and those began from the second of the seauenth Olympiad not the first that is from the end of the building of Rome when Romulus tooke vpon him to be king By their opinion there are two yeres fewer than other account of so that their 300. is the 302. of other whereof I haue spoken before by reason of some like examples in Gellius who followed that reckoning so there is no difference betweene these indeed but onely in shew and diuers respects These ten Commissioners held that authority by the space of two whole yeres In the latter whereof being the 304. of the Citie Virginia a beautifull maide of Rome was slaine by her own Father with a butchers knife taken from his stall in the open streete rather then that shee should satisfie the filthie lust of Appius Claudius one of the ten who by great violence and open wrong went about it Cicero in his second booke de finibus writeth that this happened in the threescore yeare after the beginning of the first Consuls
Aristotle which was by a rumor and vncertaine reporte noysed abroad the cause thereof might bee that they were the same people then vanquished who before had taken it So it is true in regarde of the men One argument more is yet behinde reserued as may seeme to the last place as of all the rest most forcible to disturbe the set boundes of the Peloponnesian warre and thereby those of the Persian Empire The force of this argument in the conceite of Beroaldus is so strong and pythie as that it cannot possibly suffer the ancient accounte of those times to stand Let vs saith Beroaldus first set downe that which is reported by Polybius a graue author in his first booke that the Lacedemonians hauing gotten the soueraigne Empire of Greece by their victorie against the Athenians in the ende of the Peloponnesian warre scarse held it by the space of twelue yeares after In the next place this wee are to knowe that the same Lacedemonians were spoyled of that their Empire by the Thebans in the famous battaile fought betweene them at Leanctra in the second yeare of the 102. Olympiad whereof this for a certaintie followeth that the Peloponnesian warre ended about the time of the 100. Olympiad For it is manifest by Xenophon that the ende of it was in an Olympicke yeare This is the reason of all other so sure vndoubted and strong in the opinion of Beroaldus but in very deede as friuolous ridiculous and childish as euer any was framed To make good my saying let the author himselfe speake with his owne words which be these not farre from the beginning of his first booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lacedemonians sayth Polybius striuing many yeares for the soueraignetie of Greece after they had once gotten it kept it scarselie twelue yeares entire without trouble and losse Indeede if Polybius had sayde that the Lacedemonians had quite and cleane lost their whole dominion within twelue yeares after they had obtained it as Beroaldus maketh him say the reason which hee vseth had been good to bring the ende of the Peloponnesian warre within three yeares of his reckoning so much hee is wide after his wonted manner for they were wholie spoyled of that cheeftie by Epaminondas generall of the Theban armie in the second of the 102. Olympiad From which the twelfth yeare backward is the third before the 100. Olympiad and the second of the 99. But there is as much difference betwixt the authors word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interpretation of Beroaldus as betweene breaking a mans head and killing him out right It is true and that which Polybius ment that the Lacedemonians about twelue yeares after Lysanders victorie against the Athenians at Aegos Potamoi whereby they became Lordes of Greece lost much of their dominion by the valour of Conon an Athenian Captaine who ouercame the Lacedemonians in a battel by sea toke fiftie of their shippes and 500 of their men whereby diuers Cities fell from the Lacedemonians vnto him as Diodorus Siculus declareth in his fourteenth booke yet for all this they stood still recouered much again afterward til at the length they were vtterly dispossessed of all by the Thebans who gaue them a deadly blow Heereby it appeareth that it was no part of Polybius his meaning to make only twelue yeares from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the Lacedemonians vtter ouerthrow but to that conquest of Conon ouer them by sea fight before spoken of And if this bee not enough to make that appeare sufficiently Polybius himselfe yet once againe shall make it manifest and all gainesayers as dumbe as a fish which would gather by his testimonie that the fielde at Leuctra was fought within 12. yeares after the Peloponnesian warre for within one leafe after the former sentence he declareth that the battaile at Leuctra was nor twelue but 34. yeares after that other at Aegos Potamoi whereby they won the soueraigntie of Greece that is to say 18. to the Frenchmens taking of Rome and sixteene more afterwarde to the fight at Leuctra and that not obscurely or in a riddle but very flatly in plaine words though not vnderstood by the Bishop of Sipontū who for these words of Polybius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is after the battaile by sea at Aegos Potamoi translated Post Xerxem a Cymone superatum After Xerxes was ouercome by Cymon which was long before the time spoken of by Polybius and no part of his meaning at all By this one place may bee seene what intolerable shifting hath beene vsed of Beroaldus to make his matter good affirming Authors to say that which they neuer meaned yea which they are as flat and plaine in manifest words against as may be But euery vaine color deceiueable shew is good enough for such as are disposed to wrangle out new deuises by cauelling Sophistrie As for that which followeth out of Xenophon to prooue that assertion of Beroaldus it hath neyther head nor foote and is vnworthie of an answere and therefore I purpose not to trouble the reader with my confuting such paltrie stuffe except peraduenture some will professe to frame it into an argument of some shew or color at the least then will I also professe my skill to answere it and to turne all against him for the truth as knowing Xenophon to haue nothing for his conceited opinion but much against it Hitherto I haue particularly answered all the Sophisticall elcnchs and reasonlesse reasons vnproouing proofes of Beroaldus out of prophane Histories one by one wherewith to the trouble of God his Church and the darkening of his worde hee hath stuffed so many papers without leauing any one to my knowledge vnanswered except the last out of Xenophon for the cause before declared Touching his scripture proofe so often vrged against the auncient Chronologers of the Persian times it shall by God his assistance appeare hereafter how vain it is And thus much touching the first part concerning the chronologie of the Persian Monarchie Now followeth the second contayning 328. yeares and a halfe not much vnder or ouer from the death of the last king of Persia to our Sauiour Iesus Christ the proofe hereof is good for that Christ our blessed Redeemer was borne in the third yeare of the 194. Olympiad Eusebius to omit the testimonies of other Fathers declareth in his Chronicles at this yeare and Olympiad writing thus Iesus Christ the sonne of God was borne in Bethleem of Iuda in which yeare the saluation of Christians began which therefore is also counted the first yeare of the Christians saluation Darius the last king of the Persians was slaine neere the beginning of the third yeare of the 112. Olympiad The distance is the number before declared The same is prooued by the Chronologicall Historie of the yeares of Rome the building whereof by Solinus Dionysius Eratost henes and other learned Authors is set in the first yeare of the seauenth Olympiad the trueth whereof
is testified by olde marble monuments digged out of the ground and as Solinus writeth was confirmed euen by the publike acts registers of Rome wherein the 207. Olympiad was recorded to be in the 801. yeare of Rome when Pompeius Gallus and Q. Veranius were Cousuls this Beroaldus himselfe acknowledgeth and bringeth reason for it By this account then the third of the 194. Olympiad wherein the birth of Christ is put should be the 751. of Rome let vs now examaine whether this be so or no. The yeare after Caesars death wherein Hersius and Pansa were Consuls Augustus began his raigne as Eusebius in his Chronicles Ioseph Scaliger in his fift book De emendatione temporum declare was the 710. of Rome so witnessed not onely by Solinus in his Polyhistor but euen the very ancient Marble monuments also wherein was engrauen his record at the 710 yeare of the Citie In Pansae occisi locum factus est C. Iulius C.F.C.N. Caesar Qui posteà imperator Caesar Augustus appellatus est That is in the place of Pansa being slaine Caius Iulius Caesar the sonne of Caius the grandchild of Caius was made Consull who after was called the Emperour Caesar Augustus In the 42. yeare of Augustus his raigne the first thereof beeing that 710. of Rome was our Sauiour borne This wee are taught by Eusebius not onely in his Chronicles but also very plainly in the second chapter of the first booke of his Ecclesiasticall historie It is verified also by Epiphanius and Onuphrius 51. Haeresi setting the time of Christ his birth in the thirteenth Consulship of Augustus with M. Plantius Silanus which was iust the 42. yeare from the beginning of that wherein Hersius and Pansa were Consuls and Augustus began his raigne as the Roman histories with great agreement declare adding then these 42. of Augustus to 709. more past before to the building of Rome wee haue that which by examination we sought that is the birth of Christ in the 751. yeare of Rome agreeably to the Olympicke reckoning from which 423. before Darius his death being deducted there remaines 328. yeres from the Persian Monarchie to Iesus Christ with some fiue or sixe months more betwixt the sommer season wherein Darius died and the time of winter wherein Christ was borne An other proofe we haue from learned writers in Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Strom. accounting 294. yeares from the death of Alexander to the victorie of Augustus Caesar against Antonius when he slew himselfe and Augustus nowe the fourth time was Consull which wordes by them are there added for distinctions sake to make it knowne what victorie they spake of For when as now a long time Augustus and Antonius had together gouerned the Roman Empire at the length falling at variance they made open warre one against another and fought betweene them by sea that famous battail at Actium a promontorie of Epirus nere Greece the second day of September from fiue of the clocke in the morning to seauen at night wherein Antonius with his glorious wife Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt was discomfited and fled This was done in the 722 yeare of Rome and the second of the 187. Olympiad and the time of Augustus Caesars third Consulship with Valerius Messala Coruinus The next yeare after Caesar nowe the fourth time beeing Consull with M. Licinius Crassus went against Antonius and Cleopatra into Aegypt where with happy successe he won from him a Citie of Egypt nere Lybia called Paraetonium and againe a little after ouercame him at Pharus and once againe euen in that fight wherein hee put great confidence of his goodly horses he was put to a shamefull foyle His onely refuge now left whereby hee hoped to stand was his nauie which when Antonius the first day of August betimes in the morning was now preparing to battell all fel away from him to Caesar whereat Antonius conceauing deadly griefe hasted to his Pallace and a little after seeing Caesar comming flat against him the citie troubled slew himselfe Cleopatra also not obtaining so much fauour of Augustus as she eyther looked for or desired opened her left arme to the byting of a poysonfull Serpent and so ended her life Augustus his enemies now being slain got Alexandria and the rest of Egypt with no great adoe and thenceforth had the whole gouernment of all the Roman Soueraigntie before the end of the same month which thereof was named Augustus beeing before that time called Sextilis of the number beeing the sixt from March Augustus Caesar saith Xiphilinus called the moneth Sextilis by the newe name of Augustus because hee was first made Consull got many victories therein But in Macrobius more plainely and especially amongst other causes of that moneth so to be termed in the honor of Augustus this is one set downe that therein Egypt was first subdued to the Romans These be the victories then which those ancient Chronologists in Clemens Alexandrinus make the end of 294. yeres from the death of Alexander respecting their beginning with the moneth of August and somewhat before For Alexander died towardes the end of Iulie in the verie entrie of the 114. Olympiad So that to and fro the same season of the yeare the distance being reckoned was iust so much that is to say 294. yeares which is likewise verified by an eye witnesse of those times whereof hee writeth and flourishing in them that is Dionysius Halicarnassaeus who in the Preface to his Roman antiquities telleth not by hearesay but of knowledge that he came into Italy when Augustus Caesar had made an ende of ciuill warres about the middest of the 187. Olympiad The time which he meaneth was that before declared of Augustus Caesars conquest ouer Antonius in Egypt in the moneth of August not farre from the beginning of the third yere of that Olimpiad which he nameth being indeed as hee saith neere the middest of that foure yeares Olympick space vnto which accounting from the first yere of the 114. wherein Alexander died we finde that number of the former Authors in Clemens euen 294. yeres The truth hereof is yet further confirmed by Ptolomie for exact accoūt of times exceeding skilfull who in the third book of his Almagest maketh the distance betweene the death of Alexander and the Monarchie of Augustus 294. Egyptian yeares The account whereof began with the beginning of their first moneth called Toth as Censorinus declareth in his booke de die natali and Ioseph Scaliger in diuers places which at that time fell about the twelfth day of our Nouember So long after the sommer season wherein Alexander died the Egyptians began their account of yeares after his death These 294. Egyptian yeres from the twelfth of Nouember expire not in the twelfth of Nouember againe but in the 29. day of August before and reach iust as farre as the same number of Roman yeares doth being begun from the 29. day of August before going The cause whereof is this that the Egyptian
yeare is shorter then the Roman by six houres or one fourth part of a day which in so many yeres breedeth the losse and difference of threescore and thirtie dayes and a halfe So there is no disagreement betweene the old writers in Clemens reckoning after the Roman manner and Dionysius following the Greeke account and Ptolomie numbring by the vsuall custome of the Egyptians except this that Ptolomie respected the verie end of that war in the taking of Alexandria Egypt in theende of that month after Antonius was slaine the other goe somewhat hier to the beginning of it wherein Antonius by the falling away of his nauie was quite vndone and not able to stand out any longer Vnto these 294. yeares betweene the Monarchies of Alexander and Augustus sixe more being added which had passed before Alexanders death to the end of Darius the number is made 300. yeares For the truths sake I may not here omit one error of Ioseph Scaliger notwithstanding the reuerence and loue which I beare him in regarde of his fruitefull paynes employed to the benefite of learning and aduauncement of knowledge whereby he hath well deserued of God his Church in his fift booke de emendatione temporū speaking of that victorie of Augustus Caesar at Actium which as he saith hapned in the third Consulship of Augustus Caesar with Valerius Messala Coruinus hee affirmeth that Ptolomie counteth vnto it from Nabonasars coronation 718. yeares fullie compleat which commeth short of my reckoning by a yeare Ptolomie indeede counteth from Nabonasars coronation to the death of Alexander 424. yeares and thence to Augustus his Monarchie 294 which in all make 718. yet not naming the conquest at Actium for the ende of those yeares for that was obtayned in September as Dio testifieth beyond the compasse of Ptolomies precise reckoning by foure or fiue dayes in regarde of the moneth But to let that passe it is plaine euen by his owne testimonie a little before in the same booke in the chapter where he treateth of the first Thoth of the yeares of Alexanders death that hee was deceaued here in his reckoning His words there be these Alexander decessit anno 424. diebus aestiuis Thoth vero sequens est initium annorū à morte eius Nouemb. 12. feria prima anno periodi Iulianae 4389. anno primo Olymp. 114. that is Alexander departed in the 424. yeare meaning of Nabonasar in the sommer time But the Thoth following is the beginning of the yeares from his death in the twelft of Nouember the first daye of the weeke in the 4389. yeare of the Iulian period in the first yeare of the 114. Olympiad Let any now make the reckoning of 294. Egyptian yeares from the twelft of Nouember in the first yeare of the 114. Olympiad and hee shall stay and make his rest toward the ende of August in the third yeare of the 187. Olympiad which was the yeare of Augustus Caesars fourth Consulship wherein he got the sole Empire of Rome into his hands by the death of Antonius as before is shewed and not of his third Consulship wherein hee got the victorie against Antonius at Actium as Scaliger would haue it Ptolomie therefore counteth from Alexanders death not to the victorie at Actium as Scaliger saith but to Augustus his Monarchie or to vse Ptolomies owne word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is his kingdome which he had not entire till such time as Antonius was dispossessed of all Likewise whereas Scaliger saith that the Egyptian nauie was ouercome at Actium by Augustus in the time of his third Consulship with Coruinus and that in the sixteenth Iulian yeare it cannot possiblie be so because the sixteenth Iulian yeare began together with the fourth Consulship of Augustus The first Iulian yeare was the very next before Caesars death beginning at Ianuarie in the 708. of Rome and the third yeare of the 183. Olympiad as Censorinus teacheth Foure Olympiads that is sixteene yeares thence continued bring vs to the third of the 187. Olympiad wherein Augustus was Consull the fourth time and his fellow Consull with him was Licinius Crassus so as no part of it could fall to that battaile at Actium except we wil make it twice fought once in the third Consulship of Augustus and againe in his fourth the yeare after The grounde of this error of Scaliger was misunderstanding of Censorinus as may be euidentlie seene in his third booke in the chapter of the Egyptian Actiac yeare where his words are these Censorinus ait annum Augustorum Actiacum 267. esse 1014. Iphiti 986. Nabonosari that is Censorinus saith that the 267 Actiac yeare of the Augusts was the 1014. of Iphitus and the 986. of Nabonasar Censorinus neither saide it nor thought it hee maketh no mention of any Actiac yeare at all but onely affirmeth that the 986. of Nabonasar was the 265. of the yeares called Augusts the beginning whereof was taken from Augustus his seuenth and Vipsanius his third Consulship accounted of the Egyptians the 267. Quia biennio ante in potestatem ditionemque populi Romani venerunt because they became subiect to the power dominion of the people of Rome two yeares before saith Censorinus speaking not of the victorie at Actium but of the subduing of Egypt which after the death of Antonius was conquered to the Romane Empire and made a prouince a yeare after that ouerthrow of Antonius at Actium Therefore I see no cause why my former reckoning ought not to bee receaued as vndoubtedly true whatsoeuer Scaliger may seeme to haue to the contrarie or any other that is to saye that from the death of Alexander to the Monarchie of Augustus in the yeare of his fourth Consulship were 294. yeares and from the slaughter of the last king of Persia in the third yeare of the 112. Olympiad which made Alexander an vndoubted Monarch to the third of the 187 wherein the death of Antonius did the like to Augustus were 300. yeares Now that Iesus Christ was borne in the 28. yeare of the Monarchie of Augustus wherein after Antonius his death he ruled alone without the part taking or fellowship of any other with him therein wee haue the testimonie of Clemens Alexandrinus 1. Stromat Eusebius in the first booke of his Ecclesiasticall Historie in plaine words confirming it In the 42. yeare saith he of the raigne of Augustus and the 28. after the subdewing of Egypt and the death of Antonius and Cleopatra in whom the raigne of the Egyptian kings called Ptolomies was extinct our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ was borne in Bethleem of Iuda Cyreneus being gouernour of Syria and so forth The 42. yeare of Augustus his parted raigne was all one with the 28. of his lone raigne That began in the 710. of Rome these 14. yeres after in the 724. of Rome being the fifteenth of Augustus from his first beginning For though the ciuill warres were ended by the death of Antonius and the subdewing of Egypt in the
fourteenth yeare of Augustus in the moneth of August yet the yeares of his Monarchie after the manner of the Romans began to bee reckoned from Ianuarie following in the beginning of the next yeare being his fifteenth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustus the king of the Romanes attayning the fifteenth yeare of his raigne got Egypt and the rest of the world saith Eusebius in his eyght booke de demonstratione Euangelij And in his Chronicles likewise hee beginneth the Monarchie of Augustus from the same his fifteenth yeare For foureteene yeares then past being added to 28. following the number is 42. The same beginning of Augustus his Monarchie from that yeere is confirmed by Paulus Orosius in the sixt booke of his Historie against the Gentiles Where hauing declared in the nineteenth chapter of that booke that Antonius and Cleopatra now forsaken of their nauie which in the beginning of August had turned to Caesar for griefe slew themselues And that Caesar after passed from thence into Syria by land and then into Asia and at length by Greece into Italie in the next chapter immediatly he addeth that Augustus Caesar in the yeare following wherein himselfe now the fift time and L. Apuleius were Consuls the sixt daye of Ianuarie entred into Rome with three triumphes Atque ex eo die summa rerum ac potestatem penes vnum caepit esse mansit quod Graeci Monarchiam vocant And from that daye saith Orosius the soueraigntie and cheefe power called of the Grecians a Monarchie begun to be in one mans hand and so remained Ioseph Scaliger I can but maruaile at in his sixt book de emendatione temporum affirming that Christ our Lorde was borne in the seuen and twentie yeare after the victorie at Actium which is short of the time by mee set for his birth in the 42. of Augustus by two yeares and more For the yeare of Christs birth was the 30. at the least after the Actiac victorie 29. full yeares beeing past and almost foure moneths Now touching the moneth and daye of our Sauiours birth I see no cause why we ought to referre that constant opinion of ancient Fathers that it was the 25. of December receaued of Augustine Orosius Chrysostom and other from them continued nowe by many ages to this daye except direct proofe can be brought to the contrarie Which Beroaldus after his wonted manner goeth about in the second chapter of his fourth booke of Chronicles affirming in plaine words that our Lorde Iesus Christ was borne in the middest of the moneth September when the daye and night is of one length His reason to proue that assertion of his is in this manner Christ preached three yeares and a halfe before his death this is prooued by the words of Daniel in his ninth chapter Hee shal confirme the couenant to many one weeke and halfe that weeke shall abolish sacrifice and offering which saith Beroaldus is to be vnderstoode of Christ preaching three yeares and a halfe from his baptizing to his death Now that his baptisme begun together with the 30. yeere of his age is testified by Luke in his third chapter the 23. verse where Christ is sayd to haue entred the 30. yeere of his age when he was baptized The end of the last halfe yeere wherein Christ dyed being the 14. day of the Iewes Nisan and of our March Leaue as well the begining thereof as consequently the birth of Christ to the 14. of September In deede if those his interpretations of Daniel and Luke in these places were both of them certaine and cleare as he sayeth they are his proof were good but if either of them faile his reason is not worth a strawe And so farre they are from being both certaine that neither of them both is sure Scaliger maketh it an vndoubted thing that they are otherwise to bee vnderstood referring the wordes of Daniell to the beseging and warre against Ierusalem by the Romanes and making the time of Christes preaching not three yeeres and a halfe but full foure Beda and Ignatius made it onely three yeeres after his baptisme And Apollinaris with diuers other eyther on or two at the most And as for the wordes of Luke a precise exact beginning of the thirtie yeere of Christes age can not be gathered of them Seeing hee vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing a doubtfull and imperfect number wherevnto somewhat more or lesse may be added or taken away and signifying that Christ begunne to bee about thirtie yeeres of age at the time of his baptisme As in our English bible it is well translated and so vnderstood by Epiphanius and Iustinus Martir and Augustine with some other of the ancient fathers Wherfore this his best reason is too weake to pull backe the receaued time of Christes birth from the 25. day of December to the 14. of September An other argument of his is taken from the custome of the Greeke and the Egyptian churches beginning their yeare from September Whence also the indictions haue their begining This saith Beroaldus they did because they knew that Christ was borne in the middest of September And how proueth he that Beroaldus for sooth sayth so The mans bare yea was enough belike to perswade the simple and vnskilfull Other reason he bringeth none at all either from authoritie or otherwise Neither in deed do I see how he could possibly bring any For it is a thing held without controuersie that the cause of the yeres beginning in the midst of September was the memorie not of Christes birth but of the glorious conquest of Alexander against Darius at Gaugamela retained long after euen in the Greeke church Which Scaliger out of Epiphanius declareth in his second booke De emendatione temporum the chapter of Calippus his period beginning in Autumne and also in his fift booke the chapter of the councell of Nice which by Socrates was set downe to haue bene in the 636. yeere of Alexander But what shall we need goe further then to Beroaldus himselfe for confirmation hereof who euen in the verie next Chapter before going had prooued by the Greeke Canons the first Tome of councels printed at Paris that the Greeke church counted their yeres from Alexander If the Greeke church counted frō Alexander and that accompt of Alexanders yeeres begun in the Equinoctiū of Autumne as Scaliger teacheth about mid September how can the cause and custome of this reckoning be referred to Christs natiuitie as for the Egyptians the first month of their yeere called Thoth before they were subdewed by Augustus went through all the monthes and seasons of the yere some times in Februarie after in Ianuarie and so in order to Februarie againe But after Antonius and Cleopatra were ouerthrowen and Egipt made one of the Roman prouinces won by Augustus Caesar in the month of August the first of their Thoth was not the 14. of September nor any part of it but the 29. of August and that in
memorie not of Christ his birth being yet vnborne but of Augustus his victory therein against the Egyptians Whereof also as before hath beene shewed the moneth Sextilis tooke a new name to bee called August Now follow the indictions which begunne about the 24. of September and therefore by Beroaldus made likewise an argument of Christes birth in that month Constantine after the death of his father Constantius who died here in England at Yorke obtayned the empire of Rome in the yeere of Christ 312. The time of his coronation being the 24. of September was celebrated with much ioy and great solemnitie and many sportes and games against that time proclamed thereof called an Indiction that is a proclaming And from that day in memorie thereof a new accompt of yeeres begunne by that terme of Indiction This accompt the church also obserued Yet beginning it later with the month Ianuarie following to make it agree with the yeeres of Christ Therefore this argument of all other is most forcible against that which Beroaldus being blinded with a new fangled conceipt brought it for as euerie one may see which will open but indifferent eyes For the 24. of September was 11. or 12. dayes after the aequinoctium wherein he setteth Christ his birth and the cause thereof Constantine crowned not Christ borne And because the time of Christ his birth was in those dayes celebrated and kept in winter and the beginning of the yerae of Christ in the first of Ianuarie as now at this day it is with vs the holy and zealous Christian fathers of that age in honour of Christ changed the time of that Indiction from the 24. of September to the first of Ianuarie Thus it pleaseth the God of truth to blind the aduersaries therof that they may fight against themselues which striue against it His last proofe is fetched from the course of Abiah whereof Zacharie Iohn Baptists father was as the Euangelist Luke testifieth in the fift verse of his first chapter There were 24. courses of the Priests seruing in the Temple at Ierusalem two families or courses appointed for euerie moneth in the first of Chronicles the 24 Chapter saith Beroaldus the first of these courses began most like in March as other holy thinges pertaining to the temple did so the course of Abiah beeing the eight falleth to Iune In that moneth vnto Zacharie seruing in the Temple was foretold the birth of Iohn Baptist by an Angell About that time then his wife Elizabeth conceaued and sixe moneths after the blessed virgin Marie as is gathered by the 26. the 36. verses of the first chapter of Luke So the time of Christ conceaued falleth to December and the ninth moneth after for his birth is September All these linkes hang together but vpon bare likelyhoods One that the Priests courses of seruice began in March the other that two courses were appointed for euery moneth neyther of them both is certaine Beroaldus himselfe in that chapter witnesse Zacharias quidem ad Abiae familiam pertinebat cui forte octauo loco ministerium obeundum erat in sacrario Sed quando aut quamdiu non intelligitur a nobis Zacharias saith he pertained to the course of Abiah to whose lotte the eight course of seruing in the Temple fell but when and how long wee know not That which hee saith of the vncertaintie of these thinges is most true for it may bee that the courses began presently at that time wherein they were first appointed which is vnknowne to vs. And if they did begin at the first with March yet the next beginning must needes be changed if the times of their seruice were equall because twelue moneths of the sunne are not euen all alike in dayes It may be also that euerie course had his wecke of seruice which in my iudgement is most like to be true But to take all doubte away concerning the beginning of the first course of Iehoiarib and his posteritie wee haue a plaine testimonie in the Hebrewes auncient Chronicle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seder olam rabba in the last chapter thereof against that coniecturall likelyhood of Beroaldus for the beginning of those courses in March in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is whē the first temple was destroyed That day was the next after the sabbaoth and the next after the weekes end the course of Iehoiarib the ninth of Ab and in like manner was it at the destruction of the second temple If Iehoiaribs course as there it is witnessed being the first of all the 24. fell about the ninth day of the Iewes fifth moneth called Ab which in some part is answerable to our Iulie then by no meanes could the eight course of Abiah in that order fall to Iune beeing the fourth moneth Thus all Beroaldus his coursing of Abiahs course yeeldeth him no more help nor maketh any whit more for his purpose then the rest of his wise reasons as children say and therefore by them no let but that the receiued opinion of ancient fathers so long continued in God his Church touching the birth of Christ in the 25. day of December may bee still retained for any thing that yet is prooued to the contrarie Wherefore I conclude that our glorious Lord and Redeemer Christ Iesus blessed be his name and his memorie for euer was borne in the third yeare of the 194. Olympiad and the 751. of Rome now within sixe dayes or there about expired wherein Augustus Caesar the 13 time was Consull M. Plautius Silanus with him 328. yeres almost a halfe after the Persian Monarchie and so end the second part of the compasse and boundes which haue bin set for Daniels weekes The third and last part therof only remayneth frō Christ his birth to the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans which som of the ancient Fathers 1. Stroae as Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius in his Chronicles and P. Eberus in his historie of the Iewes referre to the 73. yeare of Christ and the third yeare of the 212. Olympiad going further than the true acount permitteth almost by two yeares As Functius in the fift booke of his commentaries vpon his chronologie declareth and Ioseph Scaliger in his fift booke de emendatione temporum where they shew the cause of this errour to bee the confused raigning of diuers Emperours together at one time Galba with Nero Otho with Galba Vitellius with Otho and Vespasian with Vitellius So that whereas Vitellius is said to haue raigned in all seauen monethes two of them and more were spent in the Soueraigntie of Otho and foure at the least in the raigne of Vespasian Hence came that ouershooting by sundring those times which were confounded in themselues and so reckoning the same yeres twice or thrice ouer in the seuerall raignes of diuers Emperours Functius himselfe came somewhat nearer the mark in placing that ouerthrow of the holy Citty in the second yeare of that Olympiad which
his help in that which followeth declare what I thinke Shall be desolation So I interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantiuelie as the Greeke and Latine interpreters here and the 31. verse of the 11. chapter haue taken it though otherwise it seemeth to haue the forme of a Participle Wee haue like examples in the fift chapter of this booke and twelft verse where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth an exposition and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a loosing or dissoluing so that this need not seeme strange Vtter and precise destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is in proprietie of signification some difference betweene these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a perfect desolation of that which is vtterlie wholie destroyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is referred to the resolute and precise determination of that vtter destruction to come When it is precisely and certainly decreed all hope of recalling the same being quite cut off One respecteth the greatnes the other the certaintie of God his vengeance to come Esa 10.22 The Lord in the middest of the land shall make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vtter desolation and precise waste past all calling backe Hauing thus made first a true account and reckoning of the times wherein the fulfilling of Daniels prophecie is contained by the helpe of prophane writers testifying the certaine truth thereof and secondly a true interpretation of Daniels wordes according to the originall tongue It now remaineth by applying the one to the other to search and examine where the beginning and end of those 70. weekes may be found The greatest part of those who haue laboured for the vnderstanding of this Prophesie haue vnderstood the Messias here spoken of to be Iesus Christ and first seauen weekes then 62. that is 69. in all to bee the distance betwixt the commandement and him referring the end of those yeares eyther to his birth or his baptisme or his death and the beginning eyther to Cyrus who first gaue leaue for the returne of the people and the building of the temple or to Darius Hystaspis who confirmed the same by a new decree in the second yeare of his raigne as they take it mentioned in the sixt of Esdras or lastlie to Artaxerxes the long handed supposing him to be the Artaxerxes mentioned in the seauenth of Esdras and the second of Nehemias who in the twentie yeare of his raigne gaue a new commandement for the building of the walles of the Citie and sent Nehemias about it Though some reckō from his seuenth yeare wherein Esdras was sent to Ierusalem by the Kinges authoritie with great priuiledges graunted Touching their opinion which bring the time of their yeares from Cyrus to Christ it is with good reason confuted by Iulius Affricanus in the fift booke of his Chronicles because that from Cyrus to Christ are many yeares aboue that time that the compasse of Daniels weeks can reach to which may be likewise obiected against Darius Histaspis his second yeare from which to Christs birth are aboue 500. yeares But all this reasoning of Africanus toucheth Beroaldus no whit at all bringing Cyrus downe from the 55. Olympiad to the 80. within the reach of these weeks and so Darius Hystaspis in proportion if euer there were anie such Darius among the Persian kings For Beroaldus reckoning them al by their names hath no one of this name amongst thē to bee found but other in his stead I know not who such as were neuer heard of before If these fancies had beene broched before the dayes of Africanus his answere I beleeue would haue beene as is vsed amongst the learned contra negantes principia against such as denie principles and grounds not with words but eyther with silence or hissing as Aristo Pyrrho were serued for making no difference betwixt riches and pouertie Either of these answeres is good enough for him who going against the streame of al antiquity learning neither acknowledgeth any Cyrus before the 80. Olympiad nor any king of Persia by the name of Xerxes in proper person as king to haue inuaded Greece so for mee it shall rest The true time of Cyrus his age and the Persian Monarchie which the Reader may safely leane to is alreadie declared The last opinion is of such as referre the beginning of the 490. yeres of Daniels Prophesie to Artaxerxes the longhanded some reckning them from his seaūenth yeare to the death and passion of Christ Iesus as Functius and some other The seuenth of that Artaxerxes was the second yeare of the 80. Olympiad and our Sauiour suffered in the last of the 202. The distance betweene is 490. yeares so that in regard of the time and space of yeares this opinion would in some sort agree if other things were answerable but this is certaine that Esdras was in that seauenth yeare of Artaxerxes sent to Ierusalem by the kings authoritie with letters and many priueledges graunted vnto him and great summes of monie for offerings and vses of the Temple yet no decree made for the building of the Citie eyther Temple which had bin finished before or walles which were made vp after by Nehemias by speciall commandement Moreouer if the decree to build the Citie had beene then published in the seauenth yeare of Artaxerxes we must from thence to Messias onelie account seauen yeares and sixtie two as the Angell in plaine wordes declareth which expire seauen yeeres before the death of Christ Lastlie this opinion disagreeth from the Historie of Ezra where we read of an other Artaxerxes before this vnder whom Ezra came to Ierusalem which had forbidden the Iewes to proceed in the building of God his Temple therefore this could not bee the long handed Artaxerxes before whome there was no king of Persia called by that name Which reason likewise serueth to improue the next opinion here following for manie goe somewhat lower to the 20. yere of the same Artaxerxes wherin a newe decree went out for the building of the walles of Ierusalem as we reade in the second chapter of Nehemias This twentieth yeare of Artaxerxes was for the most part of it answerable to the 4. of the 83. Olympiad and the commandement giuen in the first moneth in the beginning of the spring as wee reade in the second of Nehemias From which time to the death and passion of our Sauiour in the spring time of the last yeare of the 202. Olympiad were 477. yeares full and no more So there wants of Daniels number thirteene yeares To supply this want two waies haue bin deuised One by Iulius Africanus Beda Rupertus Comestor Pererius and other who thought the yeares of the Moone to bee vnderstood in this place Which opinion as of all other most fitlie agreeing to the true interpretation of this place Pererius on the 9. of Daniel embraceth and bringeth reason for it because it is sayd in the Latin translation 70. Hebdomadae abbreuiatae sunt that is 70. weekes are shortened
Quo significatur annos earū hebdomadarū non esse ad longitudinem annorum solarium exigendos sed ad breuitatem lunarium coarctandos Whereby is signified that the yeares of those weekes are not to be driuen out to the length of the Sunne yeares but to bee drawne into the shortnes of the Moone yeares sayth Pererius I would it were the worst that might be said of this reason to call it absurd friuolous foolish It is all that and more euen derogatorie from God and his word which by this meanes is defaced and thrust out of doores and caused to giue place to the follie and error of a sillie man For the ground of it is a decree from the Councell of Trent establishing the authoritie of the olde Latin vulgar translation as the very authenticall word of God not to bee reiected or refused of any vpon any pretence whatsoeuer Hereof the Papists in their expositions alleadge that translation preferring it before the originall text it selfe receiued from heauen And hereof it is that Pererius in his exposition on this place standeth so much vpon the word abbreuiatae shortened vrging it greatly for proof of his short Moone yeares It is a proofe indeede from the bad interpretation of a man not warrantable from the mouth of GOD whose word in this place is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the holie tongue signifieth properly to cut In that sence it is often vsed by the Hebrew writers thereof calling a peece of a thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Camius in the second part of his Miclol and Elias in his Tishbi testifie where he declareth the true signification thereof by the Dutch and Italian tongues Wherein the words to those Hebrew answerable are in Dutch ein schint or ein stuck in Italian Pez or talio signifying any piece of a thing cut off It is so also expounded by the Greeke interpreter who here to expresse the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to cut The meaning is that so many yeares were determined and decreed by a speech borrowed from things cut out because that in determining and decreeing things the reason of mans minde sundring trueth from falshood good from bad doth by iudgement as it were cut out that which is conuenient and fit to bee done Whereunto a like example in the same word is read in the Chaldie paraphrasis of Ester the 4. chapter 5. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in English is thus much And Ester called for Daniel whose name was Hathac by the word of whose mouth the matters pertayning to the kingdome were cut out that is determined and appoynted And in other wordes of the same signification wee haue like examples In the second chapter of Ester the first verse King Assuerus remembred Vashti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that which was cut out vpon her that is decreed and by iudgemēt determined to come vpon her Also in the first booke of the Kings the 20. chapter and 40. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is thy iudgement thy selfe hath cut it out that is thou hast by thy owne sentence determined it A phrase in Latin Authors vsuall enough as when Cicero in his 4. plea against Verres sayth Res ad eum defertur istiúsque mere deciditur The matter is referred to him and cut off after his manner that is determined Theodoretus in his exposition of this place taketh the Greeke word in the same sence they are cut that is appoynted and decreed Hereby it is cleere that Pererius his reason being taken from mans interpretation and not Gods worde can bee no good ground for the Moone yeares to stand vpon Let the Pope and twise so many Bishops more in their Councell set it vp as sure as they can God his word is more powerfull then they to pull it downe Furthermore though this were graunted vnto him that the Latin edition by the Councels decree hath diuine authoritie and therefore force sufficient to proue the yeres of the moone to be vnderstood in this place by the word abbreuiatae shortened yet for all that such was the mans blindnes euen those his short yeares are yet too short to fill vp the want before spoken of and to reach to the passion of Christ For 490. yeares of the Moone make but 475. of the Sunne which expire two full yeares at the least before Christ dyed I am not ignorant that Pererius would help out this matter by a distinction of inclusiuè and exclusiuè computation Jnclusiuè hee termeth when the first and last are included in the number Exclusiuè when they are left out and thinketh that the whole number in all should bee 490. Moone yeares or 477. of the Sunne with the first and last included and without them two onely 488. of the Moone and 475. of the Sunne betweene to be reckoned This is a ridiculous shift For the Prophet doth not namely speake of 490. yeares or 477. that is gathered by interpreters and not without some controuersie among them but of 70. weekes So that if the extreames first and last were to bee excluded they should bee weekes rather then yeares Indeede if the Prophet had sayd that there were 490. or 477. yeares from the yeare of the commandement to the yeare of Christs death it might peraduenture haue made some cause of wrāgling about this whether the first and last yeares should be excluded or no. But heere is no such matter The extreames here expressed are the commaundement to build Ierusalem for one and the other as it is vnderstood the death of Christ Now then if the Prophet say that from one of these extreames to the other are 490. or 477. yeares exclusiuely two dayes onely must bee excluded rather then two yeares For the commandement was giuen in a daye and the death of Christ happened in a daye It were strange to make each of them of one whole yeares continuance and farre from that exact reckoning which Daniel maketh of his 70. weekes first seuen then sixtie and two and last of all one Therfore Julius Africanus who as the chiefe author of these Moone yeares is alleadged by Pererius neuer once dreamed of any such exclusiue computation I must acknowledge that he taketh indeede this place to bee vnderstood of 490. Moone yeares which kinde of yeares the Hebrewes vsed as he saith But he could not stretch them any further then to the 16. yeare of Tiberius the Emperour of Rome which is short by two whole yeares of the time set by Pererius for the passion of our Lord in the 18. yeare of Tiberius And as they are short of his passion so they goe further then his baptisme For which cause that opinion of Africanus can no waye stande making an ende of Daniels weekes neither in the birth nor the baptisme nor the death of Iesus Christ Neither can that conceit of Africanus touching the Moone yeares hereto be vnderstood by
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
Thus Seuerus Sulpitius most manifestlie declareth his iudgement for the beginning of Daniels weekes to be referred to the raigne of Darius Nothus the end of them to be made in the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus not seeing how the Prophesie of Daniel might otherwise bee vnderstood or applied beginning and end to anie other kinges Ioseph Scaliger in his 6 booke de emendatione temporum acknowledgeth Darius Nothus to bee the Persian king by whose decree the building of the temple was restored And that from that time the accompt of Daniels weekes beginneth The end he referreth to the destruction of Ierusalem Ab instaurandis Hierosolymis incipiunt hebdomades in Hierosolymorum excidium terminantur Neque enim frustrà caput hebdomadum ad Herosolymorium incolumitatem pertinet cum earum finis ad eiusdem vrbis casum et deletionem pertineat The weekes beginne sayth Scaliger at the restoring of Ierusalem and end in the ouerthrowe of it Neither is it without cause that their beginning pertayneth to the safetie of Ierusalem seeing that the end thereof belongeth to the fall and destruction of the same citie Vnderstanding the time wherein the warre against the Iewes begun their desolation Lastly Iunius in the last edition of his bible in his notes vpon the 9. of Daniell numbreth these 70. weekes from the second of Darius Nothus to the second of Vespasian wherein Titus destroyed Ierusalem Moreouer for the end of these weekes Clemens Alexādrinus was of the same iudgement a man for great knowledge rare and as ancient if not more then Tertullian whose neere age to the apostles I haue spoken of before He thought them to expire in the destruction of the citie by Titus Also Origen in his 29. treatise vpon Mathew was of the same opinion and Chrysostom in his 2. oration against the Iewes To say nothing of the Hebrew writers houlding the same Aben Ezra Iarchi and R. Leui Gershoms sonne in their commentaries and R. Abraham in his historical cabbala And surely whosoeuer readeth the place of Daniell with an euen minde not preuented with preiudice or blynded with affection shall hardly find any other end wherin those seuenets of yeares can settle their feete to rest for hauing deuided the whole 70. into 3. partes first he sheweth what was to be doone in seuen weekes and then in 62. and lastly in that one which was lefte after the 62. before the end whereof he maketh mention of Messias to bee cut off and the citie destroyed If Daniel hauing propounded to himselfe an exact and straight order of weekes should first tell of Messias his cutting off in one weeke and then of the destruction and desolation of Ierusalem about 37 yeares after it and then presently come backe againe to the sacrifices abolished in the same weeke which he had spoken of before and immediatly after go yet once againe to that desolation which happened 40. yeares after verie neere it were a strange kind of ridling and farre more confuse then the vaine oracles of Delphos especially seeing that these clauses and partes are ioyned and knit together by no other but copulatiue coniunctions And therefore it is no maruell that those excellent and worthie fathers as well as the Hebrew scholiastes could finde no place by Daniels text for his weekes to stay in but the ouerthrowe of the Iewes common wealth by the Romans The end thus appearing by their testimonie the beginning cannot bee hid It must needs fall to the raigne of Darius Nothus where I set it Hereby it appeareth that this exposition of Daniels weekes by me brought is neither new nor any singular deuise of my owne I haue Eusebius and Theodoretus and Aben Ezra and R. Abraham in his cabbala with other hebrew writers befornamed with me for the Messias cut off to be vnderstood of the gouenor of Ierusalem R. Leui also verie neere agreeing therunto and differing onely in this that in stead of the annointed princes vnderstood of them by the name of Messias he rather taketh the annointed priestes to be ment Yea and that which is of farre greater force then all their authorities the plaine testimonie of God his word which nūbreth 7. weekes only to Messias and no more as before I haue already proued by the original text which if Eusebius and Theodoretus had throughly knowne as the Hebrewes their partners in that iudgement did they would haue stoutly stood for it against all the world For the end of the weekes in the desolation of the citie Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian Origen Crysostom Sulpitius Scaliger Iunius testifie with me And 4. of them for both beginning and end agreeing or verie little differing I am not ignorant that though Ioseph Scaliger referre the end of these weekes to the desolation of the temple yet he vnderstandeth by the name of Messias in the 26 verse Christ Iesus our redeemer to bee killed after 62. weekes contayning yeares 434. And that these 434. yeares ended in the death of Christ and begun in the 5. yeare of Artaxerxes Mnemon wherein by a new decree leaue was giuen to Esdras the priest to returne with such of his countriemen as would goe with him to Ierusalem I am loth to speake any thing without reuerence and loue of so excellent a man who hath brought much light to the true vnderstanding of this prophecie This is all which I will say that his opinion for this matter wandreth far astray out of reasons path For how can this be proued that Artaxerxes Mnemon gaue out any decree for Esdras in the 5. of his raigne either by prophane learning or diuine scripture It is sayd in Esdras that hee went to Ierusalem in the 7. yeare of that king And therefore by the authoritie of that place skilfull men haue layde the foundation of Daniels seuenets in the 7. yeare of Artaxerxes How then is his fift yeare brought in for a new decree Ab eo edicto ad perfectionem Esdrae annus solidus interest There was one whole yeare sayth Scaliger betweene the decree and Esdras his going And what reason hath he for this Surely none at all but this bare coniecture Eo interuallo opus fuit Esdrae ad reliquias Iudaeorum per Babiloniam Mediam ac Persidem sparsas colligendas That space sayth he was needfull for Esdras to gather together such Iewes as were left scattered abroade through Babylonia Media and Persia This is nothing els but a proofles conceipt a fancie vnfit to build any credit or faith vpon If such kind of gessing might stand for reason it were a hundred fould more prone to bee gathered that the decree was made presently vpon his going in the verie same yeare as Functius and other of the learned by vew of that scripture haue iudged For what matter was it for so great a man of that estimation and honor that Esdras was in to gather 1500. speedily together Could it possibly take a yeares preparation in such a willing people of themselues so readie
to go Or if it were so great a matter and a worke of so long time could so Godly and so zealous a priest be so negligent in the Lordes businesse that hauing a yeares warning to gather a little companie together hee should forget the Leuites which of al other were most necessarie in regard of Gods seruice in the temple of Ierusalem For when al were come together no Leuit was found among them the chiefest of all in a whole yeares space were neuer thought vpon till he was in some forwardnesse on his way then on a sudden hee sent to seeke for them Read the 8. chapter of Esdras the 15. verse and see how that which is there told can beare any such coniecture But to let that passe it is not a yeares matter that can serue Ioseph Scaligers turne to helpe out his deuise and to bring this geare about For by the iudgement almost of all the best writers by the space of this twelue hundred yeares our blessed Sauiour suffered toward the end of the last yeare of the 202. Olympiad at which time was obserued euen by prophane Authors the strange eclipse of the Sunne which happened at the passion of Christ Phlegon by the iudgement of Eusebius an excellent accounter of Olympiads in his foureteenth book writeth thus In the fourth yeare of the 202. Olympiad was an exceeding great eclipse of the Sunne aboue all other that euer happened before The day at the 6. houre that is high noone was so turned into darke night that the starres were seene in heauen and an Earthquake ouerthrew many houses in Nice a citie of Bythinia This Eusebius testifieth of Phlegon and it agreeth notably to the testimonie of the Euangelists touching the Sunnes darkening from the 6. houre to the 9. when Christ was crucified Thence therefore numbring backward 434. yeares from the 202. Olympiad almost at an end we come to the second yeare of the 94 Olympiad drawing to an ende at which time euen by Scaligers own opinion the third yeare of Artaxerxes Memor begun By this meanes not one as Scaliger sayth but foure full yeares at the least that is the third fourth fift and sixt yeares of Artaxerxes should haue been betweene the decree and the going of Esdras to Ierusalem I know that Scaliger putteth off the time of Christs passion a yeare further then other But if that were granted him yet should the decree goe ful three yeares before Esdras his comming to Ierusalem A thing vncredible and beyond all sence of reason that leaue should be giuen Esdras to goe to the house of God and a solemne decree by the kings authority published for it and he linger and protract the time of his going three yeares after Besides euen the Prophets owne words are altogether against this interpretation of Scaliger and will no wayes suffer it For first hauing expounded the generall summe of 70. weekes for the state of Ierusalem he deuideth them so into three parts as that the first should bee to the building of the walles and citie finished and then 62. for the continuing thereof so builded and after all them one more Who hauing the reason of a man in him can gather any other thing by Daniels words but that those 62. weekes spoken of should immediatly follow after the first seuen and goe next before the last one Which being so needes must they begin after the 32. of Artaxerxes and end seuen yeares before the vtter ruine of Ierusalem brought vpon it by Titus Moreouer it is to be obserued that after the first seuen set for the restoring and building of the citie he sayth that the citie should be builded 62. weekes streete and wall and that after not some other but euen these very same 62. weekes before spoken of should Messias bee cut off and the citie made desolate For the demonstratiue article in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath this force to referre vs to a knowne thing spoken of which is likewise vsuall in the Greeke tongue What thē can Scaliger make of this that Christ should be killed after those 62. weekes wherein the citie of Ierusalem continued builded street and wall For it is well knowne that Ierusalem continued so builded streete and wall aboue thirtie yeares after the passion of Christ before it begun to bee made desolate and in all that time greatly flourished This interpretation therefore of Scaliger hath no successe for probabilitie Another thing in Scaliger troubled me more then this by reason of the excellencie of the man not making any doubt of his account Hebdomades incipientes ab edicto instaurandi templi desinunt in initio abominationis hoc est circa initia belli Iudaici quo primum caedes in vrbe patrari coeptae ac templum pollui quod tempus incurrit in finem vndecimi initium duodecimi anni Neronis The weekes saith Scaliger beginning from the decree to restore the temple doe end in the beginning of the abomination that is about the beginnings of the Iewes warre when slaughters first begun to be committed in the citie and the Temple to bee polluted which time met with the end of the eleuenth and beginning of the twelfth yeare of Nero. This saying of Scaliger made mee maruell till such time as I made some doubt of his reckoning and called it into question For if the 70. weekes of Daniel were as hee sayth ended in the beginning of Nero his twelfth yeare my account cannot possiblie stand drawing them on further to the vtter destruction of the holie citie by Titus which happened foure yeares after This therefore is to be examined Darius Nothus died a little before the end of the 93. Olympiad This is agreed betweene vs that frō the decree to his death had passed seuenteene yeares it is likewise agreed For Scaliger numbring the first seuen weekes sayth that after the second yeare of Darius seuenteene yeares are left to the beginning of Artaxerxes Memor whereunto 32. being added the summe is 49. yeres being the distance from the decree to the streetes ordered By this meanes the decree being made 17. yeares before the death of Darius and that by his owne iudgement must needes fall toward the end of the third yeare of the 89. Olympiad from which time to the first yeare of the 212. Olympiad almost expired when Titus destroyed the suburbs of the citie and battered the walles with his iron rammes about the 22. day of Aprill as Paulus Eberus writeth in his Iewish storie about a fortnight after which time in the beginning of May one of their wals was broken and part of the citie entred and won were full 490. yeares and not 494. as Scaligers deceitfull account would make it Scaliger therefore rather prepared a way for others to come to the trueth then came himselfe vnto it and gaue some light to other to see the right meaning of Daniels prophesie which himselfe neuer perfectly saw By his helpe Junius sawe somewhat more and came neerer vnto it
were about 328. yeares and a halfe And thence to the desolation of Ierusalem set on fire 70. and a halfe with two monthes or there about The proofe of these three partes in this order I minde to follow But before I come to the right path as it were of the Persian times It shall be requisite first to take certaine stumbling blockes out of the readers way whereof one is the opinion of the Hebrewe writers who by great reason should haue been skilfull in these matters in regard of their deliuerance from slauish captiuitie and many other benefits graunted vnto them by the Persian Kinges Some of these writers reading in the 11. of Daniell of a fourth king to raigne in Persia and presently after a prophesie of the ouerthrow of that Empire by Alexander the great thought there could not possibly be any more than foure in all The names forsooth of these foure they gather from Esdras making mention in his fourth chapter of Cyrus Assuerus Artaxerxes Darius then after in his seuenth chapter of another Artaxerxes Now lest that Esdras should seeme by fiue names to dissent from Daniell speaking onely of foure kings they make the first Artaxerxes to be all one with Assuerus and because the last king of Persia ouercome by Alexander in the Histories of diuers nations was knowne by the name Darius to make all good they say he had likewise two names one Artaxerxes the other Darius This was Aben Ezras opinion one of the wittiest best learned amongst them R. Moses a Spaniard and Priest came somewhat nearer to the trueth parting these two names Assuerus and Artaxerxes mentioned in the 4. of Ezra betwixt two seuerall Kinges and so by his iudgement they were fiue in number Others as R. Sadiah and Abraham Dauison counting Daniels fourth king not from Cyrus but from Darius the Mede inclusiuely leaue onely three kinges for the Persian Monarchie to runne out vnder them that is first Cyrus and after him Assuerus the third and last Darius the supposed Sonne of Ester by Assuerus But howe can this agree with Esdras in whome fiue names of the Persian Emperours are recorded Well enough say they for Assuerus the first Artaxerxes were one and the same And likewise Darius and the second Artaxerxes by Abraham Dauisons opinion Now concerning the yeares of their raigne Aben Ezra maketh this reckoning of his three former kinges yeares Cyrus to haue continued three yeares Assuerus foureteene Darius twelue the rest of that Monarchie expired in Artaxerxes whose 32. is mentioned in scripture but Dauison giueth to Cyrus three to Assuerus sixteene to Darius 32. In whose second as he sayeth the Temple was builded and himselfe slaine 30. yeares after by Alexander But the most generall and receaued opinion seemeth to bee that which is declared in their Hebrew Chronicles Rabba and Zota that the whole time of the Persian kingdome was 52. yeares counted from the first of Darius the Mede whereof 18. were spent before the building of the Temple and 34. after This is the Rabbinicall stuffe of the chiefe Masters of the Hebrewes being at ods betwixt themselues dissenting from others therefore not without cause doth Pererius in his commentaries vppon Daniell speaking of this chronologie of theirs say that it is false fained full of faultes toyes ignorance absurditie and vnconstancie and altogether ridiculous as it is indeede Temporarius is more sharpe bitter against them The Thalmudists Cabbalists and Rabbines saith he are blinde in the Persian times and the writinges of the Iewes herein plaine proofes of pittifull ignorance in them who can reade the chronologies of the Rabbines their Seder Olam Rabba their Seder Olam Zota their Historicall Cabbala without laughing Therefore the knowledge of times is not to bee fetched from the dotings of these men being more blinde than moules All this which they say is true I confesse The Church of God for other matters is much beholding to the Hebrew Rabbines beeing great helps vnto vs for vnderstanding holy scripture in many places as well of the new testament as the olde but touching the knowledge of the Persian Empire wherein they should haue bin most cunning they were as blinde as beetles no light herein amongst them for knowledge to be seene but darkenes for ignorance enough and too much The reason whereof is that they wanted the key as it were of prophane Histories and secular learning to vnlocke the shut hid meaning of Daniels oracles Without the which by scripture alone it cā neuer be opened Some of them not disdaining to read the Latine and Greeke histories by the direction of these guides went not so far astray Iosephus in his Antiquities prooueth it This may suffice to cleare the right way from the first stumbling blocke Annius Viterbiensis hath been another to the downfall of many setting forth certaine ancient chronicles vnder the names of Berosus Manetho and Philo and together with them one other of the Persian Monarchie fathered vpon Metasthenes an ancient Persian Wherein he reckoneth the kinges of the Persian Monarchie eight in number in this order First Cyrus then ancient Artaxerxes Assuerus After him Darius with the long hande the fourth Darius Nothus the fift great Artaxerxes Darius Meneon the sixt Artaxerxes Ochus the seuenth Arses the eight last an other Darius The whole time of these kings he maketh 190 yeres These books thus commended with such glorious titles of noble and ancient Historiographers were in great request and much followed of many learned men and excellent Diuines for a long time embracing thē as the only true Chronologie of all other and alleadging their authorities as oracles from heauen vndoubted and sure beeing indeede nothing else but masking counterfaites couered with the glorious titles of auncient and famous writers At the length they were found out and detected by the cunning of diuers skilfull men who searched vnto them and sifted them nearely Volaterranus in his fourteenth book giueth no credit vnto them Lewes Viues in his preface to the eighteenth booke of Augustine de ciuitate dei calleth them monsters and dregges friuolous bookes of vncertaine Authors Gerardus Mercator counteth of them no better than Fables and false and forged writinges Ioseph Scaliger inueyeth sharply against them in many places terming them lies dreames forged and fained stuffe And the Author thereof himselfe he calleth vnlearned and shameles Iohannes Vargara Beatus Rhenanus Functius Beroaldus Pererius and Temporarius All these haue vncased these counterfait Authors and taken the visardes from their faces But especiallie aboue all the rest the two last named Pererius Temporarius haue laied thē open to the wide world to appeare that which in very deed they were That is not the true Berosus Mauetho Metasthenes Philo thēselues But all false and forged out of Annius his shop of lies Whome Temporarius therefore calleth a triffeler a iugler a deceauer and the books so set forth by him toyes lyes legerdemaine witcherie bastards