answered Who is there who is it that calls and what would you have Then the voice spake more high and loud and said to him Alaman I require that when you pass near the Gulf of Laguna you remember to cry out aloud and make them to understand that the Great God Pan is dead At these Words all that were in the Ship were much astonished and at last after Consultation concluded that the Pilot should take no notice of the voice nor slay in the Gulf to utter such words if they could possibly go beyond it but go on in their Voyage But coming to the place which the voice had mentioned the ship stood still and the Sea was calm without wind so that they could sail no farther whereupon they all resolved that Alaman should perform his Ambassage and so he placed himself in the Poop of the Ship and cryed out as loud as he could saying Be it known unto you that the Great God Pan is dead He had no sooner uttered these words but there were so many mournful cryes groans and woful Lamentations that all the Air resounded again therewith these Complaints continued for some time and extreamly surprized those in the Ship but having afterward a prosperous Gale they followed on their Course and being arrived at Rome told of this Adventure which coming to the Ears of Tiberius the Emperour desired to be informed of the Truth thereof and had the former particulars fully confirmed to him whereby it is evident that the Devils in all parts were chased and banished from the World by the death of the Blessed Jesus and it is to be supposed that this Great God Pan is not to be restrained only to the God of the Shepherds but was rather some great Master Devil who had now lost his power and Empire as the others had before In the days of the aforesaid Tiberius the Emperor Publius Lentulus being at that time President in Judea writ an Epistle sometime before this to the Senate of Rome which was as followeth There appeared in these our days a man of great Virtue called Jesus Christ who is yet living amongst us and of the People is accepted for a Prophet but his own Disciples call him the Son of God He raiseth the Dead and cureth all manner of Diseases A man of stature somewhat tall and comely with a very reverend Countenance such as the Beholders may both Fear and Love His Hair is of the Colour of a Chesnut full ripe and plain almost down to his ears but from the ears downward somewhat curled and more Orient of colour waving about his shoulders In the midst of his head goeth a seam or partition of his Hair after the manner of the Nazarites His forehead very plain and smooth His Face without spot or wrinkle beautified with a comely red His Nose and Mouth so formed that nothing can be reprehended His Beard somewhat thick agreeable in colour to the Hair of his Head not of any great length but forked in the midst of an Innocent look his Eyes grey clear and quick In reproving he is severe in admonishing courteous and fairspoken pleasant in speech mixt with gravity It cannot be remembred that any have seen him laugh but many have seen him weep in proportion of Body well shaped and streight his hands and Arms very delectable to behold in speaking very temperate modest and wise A man for his singular beauty exceeding the Children of men Josephus likewise a Jew by Nation and descent in his Antiquities hath these words In these very times lived Jesus a very wise man if it be lawful to call him a Man because in truth he did marvellous things and was Master and Tutor to them that loved him and sought the Truth The Jews and Gentiles Assembled unto him and followed him in great Companies And though he was afterward accused by some of the Chief of our Religion and crucified yet he was not forsaken by those who before followed him and three days after his death he appear'd alive unto them according as the Prophets inspired by God had foretold and prophecied of him And now even in our time the Doctrine and the name of Christians continues and is spread over all the World These are the words of Josephus who writ of the destruction of Jerusalem as an eye-witness which happened forty years after the Death of Christ Josephus Antiquit. VI. In the 39 year after the birth of our Saviour a very great Light was seen in the Heavens and a voice encountred Saul going to Damascus to prosecute the Christians with all severity which said unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me c. This Prodigy was the Forerunner of St. Paul's Conversion At this time that Tyrannical Emperor Caligula commanded himself to be worshipped as a God and executed divers Roman Knights and Gentlemen for refusing it In 47. The Heavens seemed wonderfully to burn and a Comet of a very great magnitude appeared for many days together Lightning fell from Heaven upon the Standards of the Praetorian Souldiers soon after Vespasian goeth into Brittain and taketh the Isle of Wight The Romans overcome the Picts in Scotland Herod dyeth Twenty Thousand Jews are slain between the Gates of the Temple Messalina the Empress forces Silvis to put away his Wife and then is married to him but they were both slain In 50. A Phaenix was seen in Egypt and an Island of thirty Furlongs in length appeared in the Sea which was never before seen Three Suns appeared at one time in Rome and in and about the Coasts of England for certain days the Sea seemed as blood A Comet of a very great magnitude appeared for a long time together in Italy The Effects were a very great Famine in Rome Domitian the Roman Tyrant born The whole Countrey of Trevers in Germany is wasted by Clodomore The Emperor Claudius is poysoned by Agrippina Three thousand Romans are defeated in Scotland Agrippa poysoneth Sylanus also Narcissus for seventeen Millions of Money and likewise poysoneth Brittanicus Nero begins his Acts of Villany Cartismunda Queen in Brittain rejects Venutius her Husband he makes War against her the King of Scots takes her and buries her alive In 59. There was a terrible Eclipse of the Sun so that the Stars were seen Nero's Supper was burnt with Lightning an Earthquake happened at Rome and the Sun was Eclipsed again and again that is three times visibly in 3 years Many Jews perish in Caesaria Nero commits Incest with his Mother The Brittains slay Seventy Thousand of the Romans and Suetonius destroys Fourscore Thousand Brittains as he comes from the Isle of Anglesey St. Mark writes his Gospel In 63. A great Comet appears There was a very great Inundation in England The Ocean seemed to be blood A Prodigious Accident was seen at Colchester in England where the Image of Victory turned backward of it self An Earthquake in Asia A Comet appeared six Moneths and three Suns together Rome is fired by
have sometimes been carried as far as Constantinople though many hundred miles distance and so affrighted them that they have all ran to their Prayers to implore the averting of Divine Wrath The Mountain hath a double top that toward the North ends in a Plain the other toward the South aspires higher which when covered with Clouds prognosticates rain to the Neopolitans In the top there is a large deep hollow in form of an Amphitheater in the midst is a Pit which leads into the Entrails of the Earth the matter thrown up is ruddy light and soft the uttermost brow of the Hill flourishes with Trees and excellent Pasturage the midst is shaded with Chesnut Trees and others bearing divers fruits The lower parts are admirably clothed with Vines which afford the best Greek Wines in the World It hath at divers times made dreadful Eruptions and Devastations which as well as Mount Aetna of which hereafter have been accounted ominous and to portend some woful Calamities to ensue But never any thing appeared so horrible faith my Author as what happened in the Reign of the Emperor Titus eighty years after Christ For then it disgorged such boyling Waves and Flouds of Fire as consumed the Neighbouring Cities And then it was that Pliny the Second that great searcher into Nature and the famous Author of the Natural History and then Admiral of the Roman Navy being desirous to discover the reason thereof was choaked and suffocated in approaching too near to discover so great a mystery of Nature yet not wilfully I suppose though some Authors â—â—sert that he threw himself into it because he could not understand the natural cause of 〈…〉 Condagration At that time there issued 〈◊〉 so great a 〈◊〉 that the very Sun seemed to be 〈◊〉 an 〈◊〉 and likewise huge Stones and such plenty of 〈◊〉 that Rome Africk and Syria were even covered with them and besides Beasts Fish and Foâ—l which were desirâ—â—ed it overwhelmed Herculanâ— and Pumptins two adioyning Cities with Pumiâ—e Stones together with all the People sitting in the Theater There were also heard dismal noises all about the Province and Giants of incredible bigness were seen to stalk up and down the top and edges of the Mountains if the Peoples sanâ—ies were not imposed upon 〈◊〉 their astonishment which extraordinary 〈…〉 was judged either a cause or Presage of a 〈…〉 which reigned in Rome and Italy long 〈…〉 the Roman Historian relates 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 transported in the Air obsoured and darkned â—â—l Europe and that the Inhabitants 〈…〉 wonderfully affrighted therewith 〈…〉 their Emperor Leo forsook the City and that in memorial of the same they celebrated yearly the 12 of November It likewise burnt in the 6 year of Constantine the Fourth and groaned but ejected no Cinders Platina writes that it flamed in 685 prognosticating the Death of Pope Benedict 2. with the insuing Slaughters Rapines and Deaths of Princes During the Papacy of Benedict 8 and 9. it is said to have done the like and though it hath made divers dreadful devastations yet the fruitful Ashes thrown about did seem to repair the foregoing losses with a quick and marvellous fruitfulness At the foot of the Hill there are divers holes and vents out of which exceeding cold winds do continually issue and which at Padua they let into their Rooms at pleasure to qualifie the heat of Summer In the year 1610 in February Vesuvius began to flame to the great affrightment of the Neapolitans and solemn Prayers and Supplications being ordered they went in Procession with the head of Januarius their Patron and the defender of their City carryed before them whereby the deluded people were perswaded that the destruction which hung over their heads was prevented In 1631 was a new Eruption and again in 1635 was an Earthquake in 〈◊〉 LXVII In the year 1633 likewise the industrious Kircher made a discovery of the Phlegrean or Fiery Plains in the Fields of 〈◊〉 near Naples which being another wonderful Prodigy of Nature may be worth relating Passing by Naples saith he I could not let slip the opportunity of inquiring and looking into those Sulphurous Plains so much celebrated in all Ages Having therefore gone through a Passage under ground called the Grotte arched and made hollow to the Mountain Pausilippus not far from Puteoli between the Jaws of the Mountains a large Plain presents it self to view altogether dreadful and full of horrour in length about Twelve hundred Foot in breadth a Thousand The whole Plain is surrounded with Hills of high and steep Rocks which were formerly very lofty but are since devoured by perpetual Fires In the bottom little hills are seen to burn and flame with a strong smell of Brimstone which is carryed by the Winds through all the Neighbouring Regions even as far as Naples some parts of the Plain have an infinite number of holes and are yellow with a Sulphurish matter the ground when it is touched by those who walk thereon sounds and rattles like a Drum by reason of the hollowness thereof and you may feel as it were not without astonishment boyling waters under your feet and thick fiery fumes to hiss and flow from one place to another with a great crackling noise through the Pipes and Passages under ground which are made by these fiery Exhalations the force of this is very great as you may experience by stopping any of these holes with an heavy stone or the like for then you shall observe the violence of the smoak presently to throw it up and belch it forth again But an huge Laky Ditch in the same plain did wonderfully affect me It is full of boyling waters very frightful for their blackness that one would imagine it were a Kettle or Caldron boyling with Pitch and Rosin It is likewise admirable that the swallowing Gulph casts forth these boyling waters eight or ten foot above a mans height in the fashion of a spire Steeple or Pyramid In the Mountâ—â—ns and Rocks wherewith this Vulcanian Plain is incompassed there are Pasâ—aâ—es like Châ—mneys some whereof breath out a continual Wind with a terrible sound and raâ—ling and also with such strength that if you cast a stone thereinto it is struck back again to your hand with great fury some of these breathing holes dart forth smoak mixt with flames you would here think your self almost in the midst of Hell where all things appear horrid sad and lamentable and you are even struck breâ—â—hless with the stench of Sulphur Bitumen Napthe and other Earths Clays Marls and Minerals We must not here omit Mr. Sandys his Relation of aâ—most memorable Earthquake and burning which happened near the City Puteoli in 1538. with the new formed Mountain For the famous Lake Lucrinus hard by extended formerly to the deadly Sulphurous Lake Avernus supposed the entrance into Hell by ignorant Antiquity where they offered Infernal Sacrifices to Pluto their God of Hell and to the Manes or Ghosts of their deceased Friends who were
Gallery perswaded the Seditious who were fled into the upper City to yield themselves promising them their Lives but they demanded leave to depart with their VVives and Children into the VVilderness which Titus taking in scorn threatned them with utter destruction and commanded all the lower City to be set on Fire with the Pallaces and then assaulted the higher City which was seated upon a steep Rock and having finished his Mounts on Sept. 7. he brought his Engines to the VVals wherein having made a great breach the seditious fled in great fear and amazement and the Romans breaking in destroyed all with Fire and Sword And Titus commanded both the City and Temple to be rased to the Foundation and the ground to be plowed according to the Roman custom sparing only the West part of the VVall with the 3 Towers Hippicon Phaselus and Mariamne which he left as Monuments to Posterity of the strength and magnificence of this once famous City Titus having thus finished this dreadful and difficult VVar the Neighbouring Nations that assisted him would have crowned him Emperor but he refused saying He was unworthy of that Honour for it was not he who was the Author and finisher of that work but that he had only lent his hands to God who had thus shewed his anger against the Jews Then did Titus reward his Souldiers and committing the keeping of Jerusalem to the Tenth Legion he went to Caesarea carrying with him all the Prey spoils and Captives because he could not sail to Italy in the Winter The two seditious Tyrants Jehochanan and Schimeon were taken as they lay hid in the Vaults of Jerusalem of whom Jehochanan was condemned to perpetual Imprisonment and Schimeon was reserved to be carryed a Prisoner to Rome and there led in Triumph In the same Vaults were found Two Thousand Men who either perished with hunger or else killed each other rather than they would yeild themselves to the Romans while Titus continued at Caesarea he celebrated the Birth day of his brother Domitian on December 30. upon which occasion the number of Jewish Prisoners who perished by being forced to fight with wild Beasts that were burned with Fire and that fell by being compelled to fight with each other was above Two Thousand Five Hundred Afterward Titus went to Beritus in Phaenicia where he solemnized the day of his Fathers Coronation with great magnificence at which time likewise multitudes of the Captive Jews perished in like manner as before At last Titus failed to Rome where he was welcomed with a general Joy and together with his Father Vespasian triumphed for the Conquest of Judea In which Triumph the two Captains Jehochanan and Schimeon with seven Hundred other Jews who excelled in beauty and strength were led in Chains of all whom only Schimeon was put to death The Book of the Law of the Jews was carryed also in this Triumph as the last of the spoils which together with the Purple Vail of the Sanctuary were laid up in the Imperial Pallace Soon after Lucius Bassus was sent Lieutenant into Judea who took the strong Castles of Herodian and Machaeron beyond Jordan by assault About this time neither the Sun nor Moon were seen for twelve others say for fifteen days space which some think was foretold by our Saviour in St. Matth. 24.29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkned and the Moon shall not give her Light c. And Caesar writ to Tiberius Maximus the Governour of Judea that he should sell all the Lands of the Jews He likewise imposed a Tribute upon them wherever they dwelt commanding them yearly to bring into the Capitol Two Drachma's which they used formerly to give to the Temple of Jerusalem Bassus being dead Publius Sylva succeeded in the Government of Judea who April 15. won that almost impregnable Castle of Massada which had been seized upon by Eleaser the Nephew of Judas Galileus a Captain of Thieves whereupon all the Thieves in the Castle being about nine hundred with their Wives and Children at the perswasion of Eleasar slew each other having first set Fire to the Castle and burnt all their Goods and Furniture lest they should fall into the hands of the Romans But many of the Thieves which were in Judea fled and came to Alexandria in Egypt where they solicited the Jews to revolt but the Common People by perswasion of their Rulers fell upon them and took six hundred whom they delivered to the Romans to be punished the rest who escaped and fled into other places were also taken when Caesar heard thereof he ordered Lupus the Governour of Alexandria to pull down the Temple of the Jews which was in that City Yet Lupus took away only some Gifts out of it and so shut it up But Paulâ—nus his Successor having taken away all the Gifts and shutting up the doors ordered that no Jews should come thither by which means there was not the least Footsteps of the Jewish Religion left there A certain Jew named Jonathan by Trade a Weaver escaping out of Cyrene about this time raised a Tumult and drew Two Thousand Jews after him into the Wilderness after whom Catulus Governour of Libya Pentapolis sending some Horse and Foot easily overthrew and slew them and Jonathan himself being taken and brought before him he falsly accused the most wealthy of the Jews as the Authors of this Revolt To whose Accusations Catulus willingly hearkning he put three thousand of them to death at once confiscating their Estates to Caesars Treasury He likewise sent Jonathan and some others with him Prisoners to Rome â—o Vespasian where Jonathan accused the honestest of the 〈◊〉 who 〈◊〉 at Rome and Alexandria of designing 〈…〉 among others Joseph who writ the History of the Jews But Vespasian knowing this Accusation not to be legally brought against them he at the request of his Son Titus acquitted them and deservedly punished Jonathan causing him first to be whipt and then burnt alive Catulus through the mercy of the Emperor escaped at that time but not long after he was taken with a noisome and incurable Disease and was exceedingly tortured and tormented in his mind imagining that he saw continually the Ghosts of those whom he had unjustly slain and murdered before his eyes and at last his Guts and Bowels rotting fell out of his body whereby he miserably perished Josephus the Jew and a Commander in this War writes That there perished by the Sword and Famine a Million of People and of the rest of the Jews dispersed all the World over and put to Death divers ways the number of Ninety Thousand and Ninety seven Thousand more were made Captives But of the number that perished out of Jerusalem during the whole seven years War Justus Lipsius hath made this Catalogue out of Josephus At Jerusalem first killed by the command of Florus six hundred and thirty By the Inhabitants of Caesarea in hatred to them and their Relig on twenty
year the strong City of Strignnium in Hungary being besieged by the Turks during the siege there appeared a dreadful fiery Meteor in the Air in fashion much like a Rainbow of a bloody red colour which arising some heigth and continuing for a space of time at length vanished away In 1611 three Suns were seen in the Firmament over Vienna in Germany and three years after the Heavens over the same Town grew so red and soon after so fearfully dark on a sudden that the Inhabitants were much amazed apprehending either the last day was come or that there would follow some horrible effusion of blood In 1616 about the same time which was not many years before Frederick Prince Elector Palatine was chosen King of Bobemia about the midst of October there appeared in the Firmament over the City of Prague a Crown which gave a very great Light and about it Armies of men fighting as if it were who should have it divers Mocksuns were seen in the West of England An Inundation happened in Holland The Shape of an Elephant appeared in the Air in Germany A Lyon was heard as my Author saith to roar in the Air the Venetians at this time make war with Ferdinand of Austria The Hollanders beat the Spaniard in the South Sea The Tartars invade Podolia burning four Cities and four hundred Villages carrying with them thence much booty J. Gad. of Comets XXXVI In 1618 a mighty Blazing Comet appeared in the Heavens it was first seen Novemb. 18. and continued till the Decemb. 16. following taking its compass over most parts of the known world in twenty eight days time and sometimes extending its Blazing Locks forty five degrees in length Towards its Declination December 11 it passed over London and so more Northwards even as far as the Orcades in Scotland What miserable effects of war ruin and devastation followed thereupon over all Europe especially to Germany of which I shall give a more particular account hereafter was obvious to all men There likewise was seen this year in the night over Constantinople a Comet in the form of a crooked sword of a vast bigness at the first appearance it was somewhat whitish but the higher it rose the redder it was even like unto bloud There were also strange sights seen in other places inundations of Rivers and the Ocean Earthquakes monstrous births waters turned into blood unusual and impetuous Winds and Tempests which overthrew several Towers and tore up many Trees by the Roots Pleurs a Town in Rhetia near Switzerland was overwhelmed by an Earthquake a great Hill falling suddenly upon the City and destroyed Fifteen Hundred Persons This year the Emperor Matthias and soon after his Empress together with Anne Q. of England dye J. Gad. of Prodigies XXXVII Mr. Knowls in his Turkish History Page 1348 relates that in the year 1620 there was a strange Apparition or Vision seen by the Turks at Medina where there Prophet Mahomet lyes buried which continued three weeks together and exceedingly terrified the whole Countrey and it was this About September 20 there fell a very great Tempest about midnight attended with dreadful Thunder but when the Clouds were dispersed and the Element clear the People might read in Arabick Characters these words in the Firmament O why will ye believe in Lyes and between two and three a Clock in the Morning there appeared a Woman in white compassed about with the Sun having a cheerful countenance and a Book in her hand and over against her were Armies of Turks Persians Arabians and other Mahometans in battel array ready to fight with her but she keeping her Station only opened the book at the sight whereof the Armies fled away and presently all the Lamps about Mahomets Tomb were put out For as soon as the Vision vanished which was commonly an hour before Sun-rising a murmuring wind was heard unto which they imputed the extinguishing of the Lamps The antient Pilgrims of Mahomets race who after they had visited this place never use to cut their Hair were much amazed because they could not concieve the meaning of this Vision only one of the Dervices or Priests which is a strict Religious Order among the Turks like the Capuchins among the Papists and live in Contemplation stepped up very boldly and made the following Speech to the Company That the World had never but Three true Religions every one of which had a Prophet First God chose the Jews and did wonders for them in Egypt and brought them forth by their Prophet Moses who prescribed them a Law wherein he would have maintained them if they had not been obstinate and rebellious and fallen to Idolatry whereupon he gave them over and scattered them upon the face of the Earth Then presently after God raised a new Prophet who taught the Christian Religion This good man the Jews condemned and Crucified for a Seducer of the People being not moved with the piety of his Life his great miracles nor his Doctrine yet after his death the preaching of a few Fishermen did so move the hearts of men that the Great Monarchs of the world bowed to his very Title and yielded to the commands of his Ministers But it seems they in process of time grew as corrupt as the Jews their Church being disjointed with the Title of Eastern and Western committing Idolatry again by setting up Images with many other idle Ceremonies besides the corruption of their Lives so that God was weary of them too and not only sent divisions among them but forsook them and dispossest them of their chiefest Cities Jerusalem and Constantinople Yet God is still the Governour of the world and himself hath raised up another Prophet and People even our great Mahomet giving way to our Nation so as no doubt we shall be happy for ever if we can serve this God aright and take warning by the fall of others But alas I tremble to speak it we have erred in every point and wilfully broke our first Institutions so that God hath manifested his wrath by evident Signs and Tokens keeping our Prophet from us who prefixed a time to return with all happiness to his People so as there are now forty years past by our account wherefore this strange and fearful vision is a prediction of some great Troubles and Alterations For either the opening of the Book in the womans hand doth foretell our falling off from the first intent of our Law whereat these armed men departed as confounded with the guilt of their own Consciences Or else it signifies some other book wherein we have not yet read and against which no power shall prevail So that I fear our Religion will be proved corrupt and our Prophet an Impostor and then this Christ whom they talk of shall shine like the Sun and set up his Name everlastingly Hitherto the Company was silent but hearing him speak so boldly they were much incensed against him charging him with Blasphemy which their Law makes
Egyptian Kings intended these for their Sepulchres yet it happened that they were not buried therein For the People being inraged against them for the slavery and toilsomness of the work and for their Cruelty and oppression they threatned to tear in peices their dead Bodies and with scorn and ignominy to throw them out of their Sepulchres whereupon these Princes commanded their Friends that when they were dead they should bury them in some obscure place The Tomb is cut smooth and plain without any sculpture or ingraving The outsides contain in length 7 Foot 3 Inches and half in depth 3 foot 4 Inches and the same breadth the hollow part within is about six foot long the depth two foot whereby it appears that mens bodies are as big now as they were Three Thousand year ago for it is near so long since this Tomb was made The charge whereof was so great that though the workmen had no other Food but Garlick Radishes and Onions yet it cost that King eighteen Hundred Talents Some with great labor and pains have climbed to the top of this Pyramid but being above they have seemed as it were to lose their sight by looking down judging themselves to be above the clouds whereby their Brains were much troubled Next to this in bulk and beauty is said to be the Pyramid of a Daughter of Cheops who as Authors report to finish her Fathers undertaking and raise her own to the height prostituted her body to all Comers requiring but one stone toward the work from each one of her Customers Treasury of Time Not far from this Pyramid are the Egyptian Mummies which are the Graves of the ancient Egyptians into which are descents like the narrow mouths of Wells some near Ten Fathoms deep leading into long Vaults hewn out of the Rock with Pillars of the same Between every Arch lye the Corps ranked one by another of all sides which are innumerable shrouded in a number of Folds of Linnen and swathed with Bands of the same the breasts of many being marked with strange Hieroglyphick Characters The Linnen being pull'd off the bodies appear solid uncorrupt and perfect in all their dimensions To keep these from Putrefaction they draw the Brains out at the Nostrils with an Iron Instrument filling the head with preservative spices then cutting up the Belly with an Ethiopian Stone they take forth the Bowels cleanse the inside with wine and so stuffing it with a composition of Myrrhe Cassia and other odours they closed it up again The same the poorer sort effected with Bitumen fetched from the Lake of Sodom whereby they have been preserved to this day having lain there for above Three Thousand years Clarks Mirrour First Part. On the Bank of the River Nilus stood that famous Labyrinth built by Psammiticus King of Egypt situate on the South side of the Pyramids and North of Arsinoe It contained within the compass of one continued Wall a Thousand Houses Herodotus says three Thousand five hundred and twelve Royal Palaces all covered with Marble and had one only entrance but innumerable turnings and returnings sometimes one over another and all very difficult to such as were not acquainted with them The Building was more under ground than above the Marblestones being laid with such Art that neither wood nor cement was imployed in any part of the Fabrick The chambers were so ordered that the doors upon there opening gave a Report no less terrible than a crack of Thunder The chief entrance was all of white Marble adorned with stately Columns and most curious Imagery Having got to the end of it a pair of stairs of ninety steps conducted into a gallant Porch or Portico supported with Pillars of Theban Marble which was the entrance into a fair and stately Hall the place of the General Convention or meeting of the Nobles of the Kingdom all of polished marble set out with the Statues of their Gods A work which afterward was imitated by Dedalus in the Cretan Labyrinth though it fell as short of the Glories of this as Minos the King who was at the charge thereof was inferiour to Psammiticus in power and Riches Heylins Cosmography The lake of Maeris was likewise a most admirable work undertaken and finished by Maeris one of the Egyptian Kings which for greatness and colour is like the Sea It is about six hundred furlongs from the City of Memphis the circumference thereof containing some hundreds of furlongs the depth fifty fathom or three hundred feet many Millions of men were imployed several years about it the benefit of it to the Egyptians and the wisdom of that King cannot be sufficiently commended for since the rising of the River Nilus is not alwayes alike and the Countrey is more fruitful by the moderateness thereof He digged this Lake to receive the superfluity of the waters that neither by the greatness of the Inundation it should cause Marishes or by the scarcity of water the Earth should not yield her strength â—he therefore cut a ditch from the River to this Lake fourscore furlongs long and three hundred feet in breadth by which sometimes receiving in and sometimes diverting the River he gave at his pleasure a sufficient quantity of water to the Husbandmen In the midst of this Lake King Maeris built a Sepulcher and 2 Pyramids each of them an hundred fathoms high placing upon them two Marble Statues fitting on a Throne one representing himself the other his wife designing hereby to make his Memory Immortal The Revenues which rise by the Fish of this Lake he gave to his wife to buy sweet Ointments Ornaments and Jewels which was so great that it amounted to above a Thousand pound a day For it was mightily replenished with Fish of Twenty sorts so that very many were continually imployed in catching and salting of them Diodorus Siculus Hist 5. The Fourth Marvel or Wonder of the World was the Tomb of Mausolus King of Caria a Province in the Greater Asia built by his Queen Artemisia who as Historians report so dearly affected her husband that she is by many recorded as an absolute pattern of Conjugal Affection After his death she lamented his loss with extraordinary Sorrow and Complaints and resolved to erect a Tomb or Sepulcher for him answerable to the extream Love she had for him and such indeed it proved to be being accounted for rare workmanship and costly magnificence one of the Worlds Wonders The Stone of the whole Structure was of most curious Marble four hundred and eleven foot in Circuit and 25 Cubits high supported with Thirty gallant Pillars excellently ingraven This building was open on all sides with Arches 73 foot wide framed by the most exquisite workmen of that Age and the perfection of the work was so admirable that ever after all sumptuous and beautiful Tombs were called Mausolaea of which Martial thus writeth Mausolus Tomb which hangeth in the skie The Men of Caria's Praises Deifie It is recorded that Artemisia after
the death of her Husband lived in continual Tears and mourning and that she died before the Work could be fully finished having drunk the bones of her Husband beaten into Powder which she buried in her own body as the choicest Sepulchre she could provide for him 6. The Fifth Wender of the World was The Temple of Diana at Ephesus in Ionia a Province of Asia Pliny saith it was built by the Amazons and contained four hundred Twenty five foot in length and two hundred and Twenty in breadth so artificially contrived that it was two hundred and Twenty years in finishing It was founded in a Lake to prevent the danger of Earthquakes and it is said that a great quantity of Coal-dust and Wool were laid under the Foundation to secure the moist places It had one hundred and Twenty seven Pillars of Marble seventy foot in height of which Twenty seven were most curiously ingraven and all the rest of Marble polished each of these Pillars were erected at the charge of so many Kings of Asia The doors of the Temple were of Cypress which after four hundred years were as fresh as if they had been new made The roof was of Cedar The Image of Diana which the superstitious vulgar were made to believe came down from Jupiter out of Heaven was made by one Camesia some say of Ebony others of the Vine which having many holes was filled up with Spikenard the moisture whereof closed up the rifts It was adorned with rich and unvaluable Gifts It was contrived by Ctesiphon and after it was finished was fired seven times But last of all by Erostratus who observing the Soveraign Magnificence thereof was resolved to burn it to get himself a Name which he did accordingly but to disappoint him the Princes of those Countreys as some Authors affirm forbid that any man should speak write or record his name yet all this was to no purpose for latter Historians name him and call him Erostratas This glorious Temple was burnt the same night that Alexander the Great was born which gave occasion to that witty scoff That Diana who was counted one of the Goddesses of Midwifry could not attend the Preservation of her Temple being then busied at the birth of so great a Prince Some write that this Temple was afterward rebuilt much more sumptuous and magnificent than before and that the Master of the work was named Democrates 7. The sixth Wonder of the World was the Idol or Image of Jupiter Olympas which stood in his Temple at Achaia between the Cities of Elis and Pisa This Statue was much renowned as well for artificial persections and admirable Workmanship as for the greatness thereof being no less than sixty Cubits high composed by that excellent workman Phidias of Gold and Ivory Some say that Phidias was taxed with only one imperfection that he had not proportioned the Image to the bigness of the Temple because he had made it sitting and so large that if the standing upright were considered the Temple would no ways have been able to have contained it In honour of this Jupiter the Olympicks Games were instituted by Hercules and celebrared on the Plains near this City in the year of the World 2757. The exercises in them were for the most part bodily as running in Chariots running on foot wrastling fighting with Clubs and the like But yet there repaired thither Orators Poets and Musicians and all that thought themselves excellent in any laudable quality to make Tryal of their several Abilities the very cryes who proclaimed the Victories contending who should cry loudest and best play his part The rewards given to the Victors were only Garlâ—â—ds of Palm or such slight remembrances and yet the Greeks no less esteemed this small sign of Conquest and Honour than the Romans did their most magnificent Triumphs those who were Conquerors therein were met by the Principal Men of the City wherein they lived and a Passage was broken through the main VValls of the Town for their Reception as if the ordinary Gates were not capable of so high an honour or able to afford them entrance The Judges of these Games were some Citizens of Elis appointed for that purpose Of these Games Horace thus writes Some in Olympick dust take Pride Their Chariots and themselves to hide Whom the won Mark and Palm so priz'd Like to the Gods hath Eterniz'd Such as like heavenly Angels come With an Elean Garland home VIII The seventh Wonder of the World was The Tower of Pharos which stood in an Isse of that name near the City of Alexandria in Egypt a mile distant from the Land but joyned to the Continent by Cleopatra Queen of Egypt upon this occasion The Rhodians then Lords of the Sea used to exact some Tribute and acknowledgment out of every Island within those Seas and consequently out of this Their Ambassadors being sent to Cleopatra to demand this Tribute she detained them with her 7 days under pretence of celebrating some solemn Festivals and in the mean time by making huge dams and banks in the Sea with incredible charge and speed she united Pharos to the shoar so that it was no longer an Island which finished she sent away the Rhodians empty handed with this witty jeer That they were to take Toll of the Islands but not of the Continent A work of great Rarity and magnificence both for the bigness of it taking up seven Furlongs of ground and for that incredible speed wherewith it was finished As for the Watch-Tower called Pharos by the name of the Island it was built by Ptolomy Philadelphus King of Egypt for the benefit of Saylors the Sea on that coast being very unsafe and full of flats to guide them over the Bar of Alexandria Deservedly esteemed one of the Worlds seven Wonders It was of a wonderful height ascended by degrees and having many Lanthorns on the top wherein Lights were burned every night flaming like a Beacon for direction to Seamen It was erected of Marble marvellous in curious Workmanship and scituate upon a Mountain incompassed with Water the chief Workman was Sostratus who ingraved on the work this Inscription Sostratus of Cnidos the Son of Dexiphanes to the Gods Protector for the Safeguard of Saylors This Inscription he covered with Plaister and thereon ingraved the name and Title of the King who was the Founder to the end that the Kings name being soon wasted and washed away his own which was written in Marble might be eternized to Posterity as the Founder thereof Nigh unto Pharos Caesar pursuing Pompey into Egyt and having discontented Plolomy the King thereof by demanding pay for his Souldiers Caesars Navy lying here at Anchor was assaulted by Achilles one of young Ptolomys Commanders Caesar himself being then at Alexandria but hearing of the skirmish he hastned to Pharos resolving to succour his Navy in Person but the Egyptians coming upon him on all fides he was compelled to leap into the Sea and swim for his