THE
WORKS
SIR WALTER RALEGH, KT.
NOW FIRST COLLECTED :
TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED
THE LIVES OF THE AUTHOR,
BY OLDYS AND LIRCH.
IN EIGHT VOLUMES.
VOL. II. THE HISTOHY OF THE WOULD.
BUOK i.
OXFOHD,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PKESS. MDCCCXXIX.
ADVERTISEMENT.
1 HE entire Works attributed to sir Walter Ralegh being now printed for the first time in an uniform edition, it may be expected that some statement should be given of the plan adopted in collecting materials for the present volumes.
The edition of the History of the World, as pub lished by Mr. William Oldys in 1736, having always been considered to be the most correct in text and typography, it was, at first, intended to follow that edition exclusively ; but upon a comparison of some doubtful readings with the earlier copies, it ap peared that not only Oldys had made several arbi trary and unnecessary alterations, but that the printer had executed his task with considerable carelessness and inaccuracy ; in some chapters hav ing left out entire passages, and in others disfigured them by partial omissions or alterations, which either weakened or destroyed the sense*. Under these
a The subjoined instances, is, because it sometime affecteth
taken at random, may suffice the sight of the eye with offence,
to establish the truth of what Ed. 1614. has been stated above. Their ib. p. 26. 1. 22. only it may be
number might be easily aug- said, that originally there is no
raented. other difference between heat
Vol. I. p. 17. 1. IT. incorpo- and fire. Ed. Oldys. β only it
ral it cannot be, because it may be said, that originally there
sometime affecteth the sight of is no other difference between
the eye with offence. Ed. Oldys. matter and form than between
β incorporal it cannot be, be- heat and fire. Ed. 1614. cause it is sensible : sensible it ib. p. 36. 1. 14. amor Dei est
a 2
ADVERTISEMENT.
circumstances it has been deemed advisable to fol low an edition published during the life of the au thor, namely, that printed in folio by William Stansby for Walter Burre, Lond. 1614; and it is
nobis perpetuus. Ed. Oldys.
amor Dei est nodus perpetuus. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 80. 1. 23. It is also written that Berosus. Ed. Oldys. βIt is also written in Berosus. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 1 68. 1. 4. from bottom.
impartial crown. Ed. Oldys.
imperial crown. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 291. 1. 9. from bottom, to make the careless most afraid. Ed. Oldys. β to make the care less Moors afraid. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 3 1 3. 1. 1 8. whereof Ha- matheus was present. Ed. Ol dys. β whereof Hamatheus was parent. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 323. 1. 21. whose issues of Cham. Ed. Oldys. β whose is sues, and the issues of Cham. /β’->/. 1614.
ib. p. 3 50. 1. 8. from bottom then are those of whom virtue is extinguished. Ed.Oldys.β then are those in whom virtue is ex tinguished. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 370. 1.6. from bottom, a man of shape and fierce dis position. Ed. Oldys. β a man of sharp and fierce disposition. Ed. 1614.
ib- P- 373- 1- 2- transport and spread this invention. Ed. Ol dys. β transport and speed this invention. Ed. 1614.
Vol. II. p. 76. 1. 20. to ob serve the short year after the moon. Ed. Oldi/s. β to observe the short year of the moon. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 80. 1. ult. after which Moses called on God for suc cour, received encouragement, and commanded to go on. Ed. Oldys. β after which Moses call ing on God for succour, received encouragement, and command ment to go on. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 115.1. ult. of distinction of clean beasts. Ed. Oldys. β of distinction of clean and unclean beasts. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 196. 1. 24. but now I am preparing homeward again in safety. Ed. Oldys. β but now I am repairing homeward again in safety. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 210. 1. 2. urged by the multitude of the people. Ed. Oldys. β urged by the murmur of the people. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 233. 1. antepenult, per fidiously. Ed. Oldys. β infideli- ously. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 290. 1. 5. from bottom, rubbish. Ed. Oldys. β rubble. Ed. 1614.
Vol. III. p. 39. 1. 2. worth. Ed. Oldys. β wrath. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 123. 1. 13. by way of security. Ed. Oldys. β by way of scrutiny. Ed. 1614.
ib. p. 2 1 7. 1. 1 6. which caused the Greeks to make many fires, and some of his men &c. Ed. Oldys. β which caused the Greeks to make many fires, and scatter themselves abroad in the vil lages. Teribazus also made many fires, and some of his men &c. Ed. 1614.
ADVERTISEMENT.
confidently hoped that the reader will derive no small benefit by this return to the earlier and, it is presumed, the only authorized text.
The Miscellaneous Pieces, first collected and pub lished by Mr. Birch in two octavo volumes, London, 1751, have been carefully collated, wherever a MS. could be consulted ; and, although the work has not been encumbered with the various readings, it may be stated with truth that the text has been mate rially corrected throughout. This remark applies more particularly to the Letters, which have, nearly all of them, been compared with several very early copies, and may now be considered as more nearly restored to what Ralegh himself wrote, than in any previous edition.
The Poems have been taken from a collection first made by sir Egerton Brydges, bart., and printed at his private press at Lee Priory, 1813. Many of these have been collated with early MS. copies, and several additional Poems are now inserted from MSS. in the Bodleian library and Ashmolean mu seum ; together with three pieces alluded to in Oldys's Life, p. 423. note, as originally printed in a very rare poetical collection, which has been dis covered among Mr. Malone's books.
The other more important additions are,
A Treatise of the Soul : from a MS. in the Ash molean museum.
A Discourse of Tenures, which were before the Conquest : from a MS. of archbishop Sancroft.
A Relation of the Cadiz Action : from the same collection.
Sir Walter Ralegh's Opinion on the earl of Es-
ADVERTISEMENT.
sex's Queries, touching a probable Invasion : from a MS. of bishop Tanner.
Various Letters ; and an Appendix of curious papers relative to sir Walter Ralegh and his times ; together with the two biographical accounts by Oldys and Birch.
THE LIFE
THE CONTENTS.
THE PREFACE. P. iβ Ixiv
BOOK I.
CHAP. I.
Of the creation and preservation of the world.
Sect. I. That the invisible God is seen in his creatures. i
Sect. II. That the wisest of the heathen, whose authority is not to be despised, have acknowledged the world to have been created by God. 4
Sect. III. Of the meaning of In principle, Genes, i. T. 5
Sect. IV. Of the meaning of the words heaven and earth, Genes. i. i. 6
Sect. V. That the substance of the waters, as mixed in the body of the earth, is by Moses understood in the word earth ; and that the earth, by the attributes of unformed and void, is de scribed as the chaos of the ancient heathen. 8
Sect. VI. How it is to be understood, that the Spirit of God moved upon the waters; and that this is not to be searched curiously. i o
Sect. VII. Of the light created, as the material substance of the sun, and of the nature of it, and difficulty of knowledge of it; and of the excellency and use of it : and of motion, and heat annexed unto it. 14
Sect. VIII. Of the firmament, and of the waters above the firma ment : and whether there be any crystalline heaven, or any primum mobile. 21
Sect. IX. A conclusion, repeating the sum of the works in the creation, which are reduced to three heads : the creation of matter, the forming of it, the finishing of it. 23
Sect. X. That nature is no pr incipium per se ; nor form, the giver of being : and of our ignorance how second causes should have any proportion with their effects. 24
THE CONTENTS.
Sect. XI. Of fate ; and that the stars have great influence : and
that their operations may diversly be prevented or furthered. 27
Sect. XII. Of Prescience. 33
Sect. XIII. Of Providence. 34
Sect. XIV. Of Predestination. 36
Sect. XV. Of fortune : and of the reason of some things that
seem to be by fortune, and against reason and providence. 37
CHAP. II.
Of man's estate in his first creation, and of God's rest.
Sect. I. Of the image of God, according to which man was first created. 42
Sect. II. Of the intellectual mind of man, in which there is much of the image of God ; and that this image is much deformed by sin. 48
Sect. III. Of our base and frail bodies : and that the care thereof should yield to the immortal soul. 54
Sect. IV. Of the spirit of life which God breathed into man in his creation. 56
Sect. V. That man is, as it were, a little world : with a digres sion touching our mortality. 58
Sect. VI. Of the free power which man had in his first creation to dispose of himself. 62
Sect. VII. Of God's ceasing to create any more : and of the cause thereof, because the universal created was exceeding good. 63
CHAP. III.
Of the place of paradise. Sect. I. That the seat of paradise is greatly mistaken ; and that
it is no marvel that men should err. 64
Sect. II. A recital of strange opinions touching paradise. 65
Sect. III. That there was a true local paradise eastward in the
country of Eden. 68
Sect. IV. Why it should be needful to intreat diligently of the
place of paradise. 75
Sect. V. That the flood hath not utterly defaced the marks of
paradise, nor caused hills in the earth. 78
Sect. VI. That paradise was not the whole earth, as some have
thought : making the oceaii to be the fountain of those four
rivers. 82
THE CONTENTS.
Sect. VII. Of their opinion which make paradise as high as the moon : and of others which make it higher than the middle region of the air. 84
Sect. VIII. Of their opinion that seat paradise under the equi noctial : and of the pleasant habitation under those climates. 88
Sect. IX. Of the change of the names of places : and that be sides that Eden in Coelesyria, there is a country in Babylon, once of this name, as is proved out of Isaiah xxxvii. and Ezek. xxvii. 90
Sect. X. Of divers other testimonies of the land of Eden ; and that this is the Eden of paradise. 100
Sect. XL Of the difficulty in the text, which seemeth to make the four rivers to rise from one stream. 106
Sect. XII. Of the strange fertility and happiness of the Babylo nian soil, as it is certain that Eden was such. 109
Sect. XIII. Of the river Pison, and the land of Havilah. 1 1 1
Sect. XIV. Of the river Gehon and the land of Cush : and of the ill translating of Ethiopia for Cush, 2 Chron. xxi. 16. 1 17
Sect. XV. A conclusion by way of repetition of some things spoken of before. 1 26
CHAP. IV.
Of the two chief trees in the garden of paradise.
Sect. I. That the tree of life was a material tree ; and in what sense it is to be taken, that man by his eating the forbidden fruit is made subject to death. 129
Sect. II. Of Becanus's opinion, that the tree of knowledge was ficus Indica. 131
Sect. III. Of Becanus's not unwitty allegorizing of the story of hisjicus Indica. 134
Sect. IV. Of the name of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; with some other notes touching the story of Adam's sin. 136
CHAP. V.
Of divers memorable things between the fall of Adam and the flood of Noah.
Sect. I. Of the cause and the revenge of Cain's sin ; and of his going out from God. 138
THE CONTENTS.
Sect. II. Of Cain's dwelling in the land of Nod ; and of his city Enoch. 139
Sect. III. Of Moses's omitting sundry things concerning Cain's generation. 144
Sect. IV. Of the diversities in the ages of the patriarchs when they begat their children. 147
Sect. V. Of the long lives of the patriarchs ; and some of late memory. 148
Sect. VI. Of the patriarchs delivering their knowledge by tradi tion ; and that Enoch writ before the flood. 152
Sect. VII. Of the men of renown before the flood. 156
Sect. VIII. That the giants, by Moses so called, were indeed men of huge bodies ; as also divers in latter times. 159
CHAP. VI.
Of idolatrous corruptions, quickly rising, and hardly at length va nishing in the world : and of the relics of truth touching these ancient times, obscurely appearing in fables and old legends.
Sect. I. That in old corruptions we may find some signs of more ancient truth. 163
Sect. II. That the corruptions themselves were very ancient ; as in the family of Noah, and in the old Egyptians. ibid.
Sect. III. That in process of time these lesser errors drew on greater ; as appeareth in the gross superstitions of the Egyp tians. 164
Sect. IV. That from the relics of ancient records among the Egyptians and others, the first idols and fables were invented : and that the first Jupiter was Cain, Vulcan, Tubalcain, &c. 165
Sect. V. Of the three chiefest Jupiters ; and the strange story of the third. 169
Sect. VI. Of Cham, and other wicked ones, whereof some got, some affected the name of gods. 178
Sect. VII. That the wiser of the ancient heathen had far better opinions of God. ibid.
Sect. VIII. That heathenism and Judaism, after many wounds, were at length about the same time under Julian miraculously confounded. j 84
Sect. IX. Of the last refuges of the Devil to maintain his king dom. 186
THE CONTENTS.
CHAP. VII.
Of Noah's flood.
Sect. I. Of God's forewarning ; and some human testimonies ; and some doubting touching the truth of Noah's flood. 187
Sect. II. Of the flood in the time of Ogyges ; and that this was not Noah's flood. 189
Sect. III. Of Deucalion's flood ; and that this was not Noah's flood ; nor the Umbri in Italy a remnant of any universal flood. 193
Sect. IV. Of some other records testifying the universal flood; and of two ancient deluges in Egypt ; and of some elsewhere.
198
Sect. V. That the flood of Noah was supernatural, though some say it might have been foreseen by the stars. 202
Sect. VI. That there was no need of any new creation of matter to make the universal flood ; and what are catarractce cceli, Gen. vii. 1 1. 204
Sect VII. Of some remainder of the memory of Noah among the heathen. 206
Sect. VIII. Of sundry particulars touching the ark ; as the place where it was made, the matter, fashion, and name. 209
Sect. IX. That the ark was of sufficient capacity. 212
Sect. X. That the ark rested upon part of the hill Taurus, or Cau casus, between the East Indies and Scythia.
Β§. i. A preterition of some questions less material; with a note of the use of this question, to find out the metropolis of na tions. 217
Β§. 2. A proposal of the common opinion, that the ark rested upon some of the hills of Armenia. 2 1 8
Β§.3. The first argument against the common opinion. They that came to build Babel would have come sooner, had they come from so near a place as Armenia. 220
Β§. 4. The second argument, that the eastern people were most ancient in populosity, and in all human glory. 221
Β§. 5. The third argument, from the wonderful resistance which Semiramis found in the east Indies. 223
Β§. 6. The fourth argument, from divers considerations in the per son of Noah. 225
Β§. 7. Of the senseless opinion of Annius the commentator upon
THE CONTENTS.
Berosus, who finds divers places where the ark rested ; as the Caspian and Gordiaean hills, which are three hundred miles asunder ; and also some place of Scythia. 228
Β§. 8. The fifth argument: the vine must grow naturally near the place where the ark rested. 234
Β§. 9. Answer to an objection out of the words of the text : The Lord scattered them from thence upon the face of the whole earth. 235
Β§. 10. An answer to the objection from the name of Ararat, taken for Armenia; and the height of the hills there. ibid.
Β§. li. Of Caucasus, and divers far higher hills than the Arme nian. 238
Β§. 12. Of diners incongruities, if in this story we should take Ararat for Armenia. 239
Β§. 13. Of the contrary situation of Armenia to the place noted in the text ; and that it is no marvel that the same ledge of hills running from Armenia to India should keep the same name all along ; and even in India be called Ararat. 240
Β§. 14. Of the best vine naturally growing on the south side of the mountains Caucasi, and towards the East Indies ; and of other excellencies of the soil. 242
Β§.15. The conclusion, with a brief repeating of divers chief points. 243
CHAP. VIII.
Of the first planting of nations after the flood ; and of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, by whom the earth was re- peopled.
Sect. I. Whether Shem and Ham were elder than Japhet. 247
Sect. II. Of divers things that in all reason are to be presumed, touching the first planting of the world, as, that all histories must yield to Moses ; that the world was not planted all at once, nor without great direction ; and that the known great lords of the first ages were of the issue of Ham. 250
Sect. III. Of the isles of the Gentiles in Japhet's portion : of Berosus's too speedy seating Gomer the son of Japhet in Italy ; and another of Japhet's sons, Tubal, in Spain : and of the an tiquity of longinque navigation. 253
Sect. IV. Of Gog and Magog, Tubal and Mesech, seated first about Asia the Less, out of Ezekiel xxxviii. 30. 260
THE CONTENTS.
Sect. V. Against the fabulous Berosus's fiction, that the Italian Janus was Noah. 268
Sect. VI. That Corner also and his son Togorma, of the posterity of Japhet, were first seated about Asia the Less : and that from thence they spread westward into Europe ; and north ward into Sarmatia. 270
Sect. VII. Of Javan the fourth son of Japhet ; and of Mesch of Aram, and Meshech of Japhet. 274
Sect. VIII. Of Ascanez and Riphath, the two eldest sons of Gomer. 278
Sect. IX. Of the four sons of Javan ; and of the double significa tion of Tharsis, either for a proper name or for the sea. 281
Sect. X. That the seat of Chush the eldest son of Ham was in Arabia, not in Ethiopia ; and of strange fables, and ill trans lations of scripture, grounded upon the mistaking of this point.
Β§. i. Of Josephus's tale of an Ethiopess wife to Moses, grounded on the mistaking of the seat of Chush. 286
Β§. 2. A dispute against the tale of Josephus. 288
Β§. 3. Chush ill expounded for Ethiopia, Ezek. xxix. 10. 290
Β§. 4. Another place of Ezekiel, chap. xxx. ver. 9. in like manner mistaken. 291
Β§. 5. A place of Isaiah xviii. i. in like manner corrupted by taking Chush for Ethiopia. 292
Β§. 6. That upon the like mistaking, both Terrhaca in the story of Sennacherib, and Zera in the story of Asa are unadvisedly made Ethiopians. 293
Β§. 7. A further exposition of the place, Isaiah xviii. i. 296
Sect. XI. Of the plantation and antiquities of Egypt.
Β§. i. That Mizraim the chief planter of Egypt, and the rest of the sons of Ham, were seated in order, one by another. ibid.
Β§. 2. Of the time about which the name of Egypt began to be known ; and of the Egyptians' lunary years, which made their antiquities seem the more fabulous. 297
Β§.3. Of certain vain assertions of the antiquity of the Egyp tians. 299
§. 4. Against Pererius ; that it is not unlikely but that Egypt was peopled within 200 years after the creation; at least, that both it and the most part of the world were peopled before the flood. 3°°
Β§.5. Of some other reasons against the opinion of Pererius. 303
THE CONTENTS.
Β§. 6. Of the words of Moses, Gen. x. verse the last, whereupon Pererius grounded his opinion. 305
Β§. 7. A conclusion resolving of that which is most likely, touch ing the Egyptian antiquities ; with somewhat of Phut, (another son of Ham,) which peopled Libya. 306
Sect. XII. Of the eleven sons of Canaan, the fourth son of Ham. Β§. i. Of the bounds of the land of Canaan; with the names of his eleven sons. 308
Β§. 2. Of the portions of Zidon and Heth. 309
Β§. 3. Of the Jebusites and Amorites. 310
Β§. 4. Of the Gergesites, Hevites, and Harkites. ibid,
Β§. 5. Of Sini and Arvadi. 311
Β§.6. Of Zemari. 312
Β§. 7. Of Hamathi. 313
Sect. XIII. Of the sons of Chush, excepting Nimrod, of whom hereafter. 314
Β§. i. That most of the sons of Chush were seated in Arabia the Happy ; and of the Sabeans that robbed Job ; and of the queen that came to Solomon. 315
Β§. 2. Josephus's opinion of Dedan, one of the issue of Chush, to have been seated in west Ethiopia, disproved out of Ezekiel and Jeremy. 3 1 7
Sect. XIV. Of the issue of Mizraim ; and of the place of Jeremy, chap. ix. ver. 7. 319
Sect. XV. Of the issue of Sem.
Β§. i. Of Elam, Assur, Arphaxad, and Lud. 323
Β§. 2. Of Aram and his sons. 325
Β§. 3. Of the division of the earth in the time of Phaleg, one of the sons of Heber, of the issue of Sem. 328
Β§. 4. Of the sons of Joctan, the other son of Heber. 331
Β§. 5. Of Ophir, one of Joctan's sons, and of Peru, and of that voyage of Solomon. 332
Β§. 6. Of Havilah the son of Joctan, who also passed into the East Indies ; and of Mesha and Sepher named in the border ing of the families of Joctan ; with a conclusion of this dis course touching the plantation of the world. 337
CHAP. IX.
Of the beginning and establishing of government. Sect. I. Of the proceeding from the first government under the
THE CONTENTS.
eldest of families to regal, and from regal absolute to regal
tempered with laws. 339
Sect. II. Of the three commendable sorts of government, with
their opposites ; and of the degrees of human society. 343 Sect. III. Of the good government of the first kings. 347
Sect. IV. Of the beginning of nobility ; and of the vain vaunt
thereof without virtue. 349
CHAP. X.
Of Nimrod, Belus, and Ninus ; and of memorable things about those times.
Sect. I. That Nimrod was the first after the flood that reigned like sovereign lord ; and that his beginning seemeth to have been of just authority. 352
Sect. II. That Nimrod, Belus, and Ninus were three distinct per sons. 354
Sect. III. That Nimrod, not Assur, built Nineveh ; and that it is probable, out of Isaiah xxiii. 13. that Assur built Ur of the Chaldees. 358
Sect. IV. Of the acts of Nimrod and Belus, as far as now they are known. 365
Sect. V. That we are not to marvel how so many kingdoms could be erected about these times ; and of Vexoris of Egypt, and Tanais of Scythia. 366
Sect. VI. Of the name of Belus, and other names aifine unto it. 367
Sect. VII. Of the worshipping of images begun from Belus in Babel. 370
Sect. VIII. Of the wars of Ninus ; and lastly, of his war against Zoroaster. 376
CHAP. XI.
Of Zoroaster, supposed to have been the chief author of magic arts ; and of the divers kinds of magic.
Sect. I. That Zoroaster was not Cham, nor the first inventor of astrology, or of magic ; and that there were divers great ma gicians of this name. 378
Sect. II. Of the name of Magia ; and that it was anciently far diverse from conjuring and witchcraft. 381
Sect. III. That the good knowledge in the ancient magic is not
THE CONTENTS.
to be condemned ; though the Devil here, as in other kinds, hath sought to obtrude evil things under the name and colour of good things. 390
Sect. IV. That Daniel's misliking Nabuchodonosor's condemning of the magicians doth not justify all their practices. 393
Sect. V. The abuse of things which may be found in all kinds, is not to condemn the right use of them. 394
Sect. VI. Of the divers kinds of unlawful magic. 395
Sect. VII. Of divers ways by which the Devil seemeth to work his wonders. 399
Sect. VIII. That none was ever raised from the dead by the power of the Devil ; and that it was not the true Samuel which appeared to Saul. 402
CHAP. XII.
Of the memorable buildings of Ninus, and of his wife Semiramis ; and of other of her acts.
Sect. I. Of the magnificent building of Nineveh by Ninus ; and of Babylon by Semiramis. 405
Sect. II. Of the end of Ninus, and beginning of Semiramis's reign. 406
Sect. III. Of Semiramis's parentage and education, and meta morphosis of her mother. 407
Sect. IV. Of her expedition into India, and death after discom fiture ; with a note of the improbability of her vices. 408
Sect. V. Of the temple of Belus built by Semiramis ; and of the pyramids of Egypt. 410
THE PREFACE,
THE FIRST PART
OF THE
HISTORY
OF THE
WORLD:
INTREATING OF THE
BEGINNING AND FIRST AGES OF THE SAME, FROM THE CREATION UNTO ABRAHAM.
BOOK I.
CHAP. I.
Of the creation and preservation of the world.
SECT. I.
That the invisible God is seen in his creatures.
vrOD, whom the wisest men acknowledge to be a power uneffable, and virtue infinite ; a light by abundant clarity invisible ; an understanding which itself can only com prehend ; an essence eternal and spiritual, of absolute pure- ness and simplicity; was and is pleased to make himself known by the work of the world : in the wonderful magni tude whereof, (all which he embraceth, filleth, and sus- taineth,) we behold the image of that glory which cannot be measured, and withal, that one, and yet universal nature which cannot be denned. In the glorious lights of heaven we perceive a shadow of his divine countenance ; in his mer ciful provision for all that live, his manifold goodness ; and
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. B
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
lastly, in creating and making existent the world universal, by the absolute art of his own word, his power and al- mightiness; which power, light, virtue, wisdom, and good ness, being all but attributes of one simple essence, and one God, we in all admire, and in part discern per speculum creaturarum, that is, in the disposition, order, and variety of celestial and terrestrial bodies : terrestrial, in their strange and manifold diversities ; celestial, in their beauty and mag nitude ; which, in their continual and contrary motions, are neither repugnant, intermixed, nor confounded. By these potent effects we approach to the knowledge of the om nipotent Cause, and by these motions, their almighty Mover.
In these more than wonderful works, God, saith a Hugo, speaketh unto man : and it is true, that these be those dis courses of God, whose effects, all that live witness in them selves ; the sensible, in their sensible natures ; the rea sonable, in their reasonable souls : for, according to b St. Gre gory, Omnis homo eo ipso quod rationales conditus est, ex ipsa ratione, ilium qui se condidit, Deum esse colligere debet : " Every man, in that he is reasonable, out of the same " reason may know, that he which made him is God."" This God all men behold, saith Job, which is, according to the fathers, dominationem illius conspicere in creaturis, " to " discern him in his providence by his creatures." That God hath been otherwise seen, to wit, with corporal eyes, ex- ceedeth the small proportion of my understanding, grounded on these places of c St. John and d St. Paul ; Ye have not heard his voice at any time, neither have ye seen his shape : and again, Wliom never man saw, nor can see.
And this, I am sure, agreeth with the nature of God's sim plicity : of which St. Augustine; Ipsa enim natura, vel sub- stantia, vcl quolibet alio nomine appellandum est, idipsum quod Deus cst,corporaliter videri non potest; " That nature,
Β» Hugo super Eccles. homil. 8. et in omnibus. Apparentia solum
b Greg, in Mor. Herm. ad fil. Tat. generatorum est ; nihil apparitio
1. 5. Unns vero ingenitus, ct non ap- qnam genoratio.
parens, et imtnanifestiis, omnia an- β’' John v. 3.
tern maiiifestans, per omnia apparrt, d i Tim. vi. 16.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 3
" or that substance, or by whatsoever name that is to be " called which is God, whatsoever that be, the same cannot " be corporally perceived." And of this opinion were eOrigen, Cyril, Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzene, Hierome, Au gustine, Gregory the Great, Evaristus, Alcuinus, Diony- sius Areopagita, Aquinas, and all others of authority. But by his own word, and by this visible world, is God per ceived of men ; which is also the understood language of the Almighty, vouchsafed to all his creatures, whose hiero- glyphical characters are the unnumbered stars, the sun, and moon ; written on these large volumes of the firmament ; written also on the earth and the seas, by the letters of all those living creatures, and plants, which inhabit and reside therein. Therefore said that learned fCusanus, Mundus universus nihil aliud est,quam Deus explicatus; " The world " universal is nothing else but God expressed." And the in visible things of God, saith s St. Paul, are seen by his crea tion of the world, being considered in his creatures. Of all which there was no other cause preceding than his own will, no other matter than his own power, no other work man than his own word, no other consideration than his own infinite goodness. The example and pattern of these his creatures, as he beheld the same in all eternity in the abundance of his own love, so was it at length in the most wise order, by his unchanged will moved, by his high wis dom disposed, and by his almighty power perfected, and made visible. And therefore, saith Mirandula, we ought to love God, ex Jide, et ex effectibus, that is, " both per- " suaded by his word, and by the effects of the world's crea- " tion :" Neque enim qui causa caret, ex causa et origine sciri cognoscique potest, sed vel ex rerum, qua facto, sunt, quce-
e Origen, 1. 2. -rip u^uv, c. 22. visibilibus posset sciri, opus fecit,
Cyril, et (Jhrys. in Job. horn. 14. quod opificem sui visibiliter mani-
Greg. Naz. 1. 2. Theolog. Hfer. in festaret, ut per certum incertutn sci-
Esaiam. Aug. 1. 2. de Trin. c. 12. et retur, et ille Deus omnium esse cre-
13. Greg. JVIagn. 1. 18. Mor. Evar. deretur. Amb. in Epist. ad Rom.
Ep. i. Decret. Alcuin. 1. 2. de Trin. c. i.
c. 16. D. Areop. c. 4. Coel. Hierar. r Cusau. de Gen. Dialog.
Thorn, p. 2. q. 12. Art. n. et alibi. Β° Rom. i. 20. Deus, qui natura iuvisibilis est, ut a
4 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
que Jtunt et gubernuntur, obserratione et collatione, vel ex ips'ius Dei verbo: " For he, of whom there is no higher cause, " cannot be known by any knowledge of cause or beginning," saith h Montanus, " but either by the observing and con- " ferring of things, which he hath, or doth create and govern, " or else by the word of God himself."
SECT. II.
That the wisest of the heathen, whose authority is not to be de spised, have acknowledged the world to have been created by God.
THIS work and creation of the world did most of the ancient and learned philosophers acknowledge, though by divers terms and in a different manner expressed ; I mean all those who are entitled by St. Augustine, summi philoso- phi, " philosophers of highest judgment and understanding." 1 Mercurius Trismegistus calleth God, Principium univer- sorum, " the original of the universal ;" to whom he giveth also the attributes of mens, natura, actus, necessitous, jin is ^ et renovatio. And wherein he truly, with St. Paul, casteth upon God all power; confessing also, that the world was made by God's almighty word, and not by hands : Verbo, non manibus, fabricatus est mundus. Zoroaster (whom Heraclitus followed in opinion) took the wordjire to ex press God by, (as in k Deuteronomy and in l St. Paul it is used,) Omnia ex uno igne genita sunt ; " All things," saith he, " are caused or produced out of one fire."
So did Orpheus plainly teach that the world had be ginning in time, from the will of the most high God : whose remarkable words are thus converted ; m Cum abscondisset oinnia Jupiter summus, delude in lumen gratum emisit, ex sacro corde operans cogitata et mirabilia : of which I con- tvive this sense: " When great Jupiter had hidden all " things in himself, working out of the love of his sacred " heart, he sent thence, or brought forth, into grate-
h A. Mout. N;it. Hist. fol. 7. k Deut. iv. 24.
1 tlerm. in I'cemaudro, et in ser- ' Heh. xii. 19. niuue sacro. "' Diph. de s>mn. Jove.
CHAP. T. OF THE WORLD. 5
" ful light, the admirable works which he had fore- " thought."
Pindarus the poet, and one of the wisest, acknowledged also one God, the most High, to be the Father and Creator of all things : Unus Deus, Pater, Creator summus. Plato calleth God the cause and original, the nature and reason of the universal: Totius rerum natura, causa, et origo Deus. But hereof more at large hereafter".
Now, although the curiosity of some men have found it superfluous to remember the opinions of philosophers in matters of divinity, (it being true, that the scripture hath not want of any foreign testimony,) yet as the fathers, with others excellently learned, are my examples herein ; so St. Paul himself did not despise, but thought it lawful and pro fitable, to remember whatsoever he found agreeable to the word of God among the heathen, that he might thereby take from them all escape, by way of ignorance, God ren dering vengeance to them that know him not : as in his Epistle to Titus he citeth Epimenides against the Cretans, and to the Corinthians, Menander ; and in the seventeenth of the Acts, Aratus, &c. " For truth," saith St. Ambrose, " by whomsoever uttered, is of the Holy Ghost ;" Veritas, a quocunque dicatur, a Spiritu Sancto est : and lastly, let those kind of men learn this rule; Quce sacris serviunt, prqfana nan sunt ; " Nothing is profane that serveth to " the use of holy things."
SECT. III.
Of the meaning of In principio, Genes, i. i.
THIS visible world, of which Moses writeth, God cre ated in the beginning, or first of all ; in which, saith Ter- tullian, things began to be. This word beginning- (in which the Hebrews seek some hidden mystery, and which in the Jews1 Targum is converted by the word sapientid) cannot be referred to succession of time, nor to order, as some men have conceived, both which are subsequent; but only to
n Vid. c. 6. B -'3
6 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
creation then : for before that beginning there was neither primary matter to be informed, nor form to inform, nor any being, but the eternal. Nature was not, nor the next pa rent, or time, begotten ; time properly and naturally taken : for if God had but disposed of matter already in being, then as the word beginning could not be referred to all things, so must it follow, that the institution of matter pro ceeded from a greater power than that of God. And by what name shall we then call such an one, saith Lactantius, as exceedeth God in potency ; for it is an act of more ex cellency to make, than to dispose of things made ? Where upon it may be concluded, that matter could not be before this beginning ; except we feign a double creation, or allow of two powers, and both infinite : the impossibility whereof scorneth defence. Β°Nam impossibile est plura esse injinita: quoniam alterum esset in altero jinitum : " There cannot " be more infinites than one ; for one of them would limit " the other."
SECT. IV.
Of the meaning of the words heaven and earth, Genes, i. i .
THE universal matter of the world (which Moses com- prehendeth under the names of heaven and earth) is by divers diversely understood ; for there are that conceive, that by those words was meant the first matter, as the Peri patetics understand it ; to which St. Augustine and Isidore seem to adhere : Fecisti mundum, saith St. Augustine, de mater ia informi ; quam fecisti de nulla re, pene nullam rem: that is, " Thou hast made the world of a matter with- " out form ; which matter thou madest of nothing, and " being made, it was little other than nothing."
But this potential and imaginary matcria prima cannot exist without form. Peter Lombard, the schoolmen Beda, Lyranus, Comestor, Tostatus, and others, affirm, that it pleased God first of all to create the empyrean heaven ; which at the succeeding instant, saith PBeda and Strabo,
0 Cusan. de mente, lib. 3.
P Beda Hex. Sti'abo super Gen. Eug. Cos. et dc nat. in corp.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 7
he filled with angels. This empyrean heaven Steuchius Eu- gubinus calleth " divine clarity, and uncreated :"" an error for which he is sharply charged by Pererius ; though (as I conceive) he rather failed in the subsequent, when he made it to be a place, and the seat of angels and just souls, than in the former affirmation : for of the first, that God liveth in eternal light, it is written, l\My soul, praise thou the Lord, that coveretk himself with light : and in the Re velation, TAnd the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it ; for the glory of God did light it. And herein also s John Mercer, upon Genesis, differeth not in opinion from Eugubinus: for as by heaven created in the beginning, was not meant the invisible, or superceles- tial ; so in his judgment, because it was in all eternity the glorious seat of God himself, it was not necessary to be created : Quern mundum superccelestem meo Judicio creari (saith Mercer) non erat necesse.
But as Moses forbare to speak of angels, and of things invisible and incorporate, for the weakness of their capaci ties whom he then cared to inform of those things which were more manifest ; to wit, that God did not only by a strong hand deliver them from the bondage of Egypt, ac cording to his promise made to their forefathers, but also that he created, and was the sole cause of this aspectable and perceivable universal : so, on the other side, I dare not think, that any supercelestial heaven, or whatsoever else (not himself) was increate and eternal. And as for the place of God before the world created, the finite wisdom of mor tal men hath no perception of it ; neither can it limit the seat of infinite power, no more than infinite power itself can be limited ; for his place is in himself, whom no magnitude else can contain : How great is the house of God, saith 1 Baruch, how large is the place of his possession ! It is great, and hath no end ; it is high, and unmeasurable.
But leaving multiplicity of opinions, it is more probable
i Ps. civ. 12. nata. Apoc. xxi. 23.
r Claritas divina uoa est lux facta, s Mercer, in Gen. vii. J. sed sapiciitia Dei, nou crcata, sod ' Bar. iii. 24, 25.
B 4
8 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
and allowed, that by the words ^heaven and earth was meant the solid matter and substance, as well of all the hea vens, and orbs supernal, as of the globe of the earth and waters, which covered it over ; to wit, that very matter of all things, materia, chaos, possibilitas, sive posse fieri. " Which matter,"" saith x Calvin, " was so called," quod totius mundi semen fuerit ; " because it was the seed of the uni- " versal :" an opinion of ancient philosophers long before.
SECT. V.
That the substance of the waters, as mixed in the body of the earth, is by Moses understood in the word earth ; and that the earth, by the attributes of unformed and void, is described as the chaos of the ancient heathen.
MOSES first nameth heaven and earth, (putting waters out in the third place,) as comprehending waters in the word earth; but afterwards he nameth them apart, when God by his Spirit began to distinguish the confused mass ; and, as Basil saith, prceparare naturam aqua ad fcecun- ditatem vitalem : " to prepare the nature of water to a *' vital fruitful ness."1'
For under the word heaven was the matter of all hea venly bodies and natures expressed; and by the name of earth and waters all was meant, whatsoever is under the moon, and subject to alteration. Corrupt seeds bring forth corrupt plants ; to which the pure heavens are not subject, though subject to perishing. They shall perish, saith x Da vid; and the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, saith zEsay. Neither were the waters the matter of earth; for it is written, *Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear: which proveth, that the dry land 'was mixed and covered with the waters, and nol yet distinguished ; but no way, that the waters were the matter or seed of the earth, much less of the uni versal. Initio tu, Domine, terrain fundasti; Thou, O
" Cusao. iu Compcnd. fol. 224. Y Ps. cii. 26. Ojtrris. 'β’ Esay li. 6.
* Cal iuGcn. Β» Gcu. i. 9.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 9
Lord, in the beginning hast founded the earth : and again, b The earth was covered with the deep (meaning with waters) as with a garment, saith David. And if by natural arguments it may be proved, that water by condensation may become earth, the same reason teacheth us also, that earth rarefied may become water ; water, air ; air, fire ; and so on the contrary. cDeus ignis substantiam per aerem in aquam convertit ; " God turneth the substance of fire by "air into water."" For the heavens and the earth remained in the same state in which they were created, as touching their substance, though there was afterwards added multi plicity of perfection, in respect of beauty and ornament. ^Coelum vero et terra in statu creationis remanserunt quan tum ad substantiam, licet multiplex perfectio decoris et or- natus eis postmodum superaddita est. And the word which the Hebrews call maim is not to be understood according to the Latin translation simply, and as specifical water ; but the same more properly signifieth liquor. For, (according to e Montanus,) Est autem maim liquor geminus, et hoc nomen propter verborum penuriam, Latina lingua plurali numero aquas fecit ; " For maim" saith he, " is a double liquor;" that is, of divers natures ; " and this name, or word, the La- " tins, wanting a voice to express it, call it in the plural, " aquas, waters.11
This mass, or indigested matter, or chaos, created in the beginning, was without form ; that is, without the proper form which it afterwards acquired, when the Spirit of God had separated the earth, and digested it from the waters. {And the earth was void; that is, not producing any creatures, or adorned with any plants, fruits, or flowers. But after the Spirit of God had moved upon the wa ters, and wrought this indigested matter into that form which it now retaineth, then did the earth bud forth the herb which seedeth seed, and the fruitful tree accord ing to his kind, and God saw that it was good; which
b Ps. civ. 6. e A. Mont, de Nat.
c Zeuo. 'Gen. i. 2. 12.
β’' Gul. Par. 600.
10 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
attribute was not given to the earth while it was con fused, nor to the heavens before they had motion and adornment. God saw that it was good ; that is, made per fect : for perfection is that to which nothing is wanting. Et perfecti Dei perfecta sunt opera ; " The works of the per- " feet God are perfect."
From this lump of imperfect matter had the ancient poets their invention of Demogorgon ; Hesiodus and Anax- agoras the knowledge of that chaos. Of which sOvid ;
Ante mare, et terras, et (quod tegit omnia) ccelum, Unus erat toto natures vultus in orbe, Quern dixere chaos, rudis indigestaque moles.
Before the sea and land was made, and heaven, that all
doth hide,
In all the world one only face of nature did abide : Which chaos hight, a huge rude heap.
SECT. VI.
How it is to be understood, that the Spirit of God moved upon the waters; and that this is not to be searched curiously.
AFTER the creation of heaven and earth, then void and without form, the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. The Seventy Interpreters used the word superferebatur, moved upon or over: incubabat or fovebat, saith Hierome, out of h Basil ; and Basil out of a Syrian doctor ; Equidem non meant tibi, sed viri cujusdam Syri sententiam recen- sebo, saith Basil : which words incubare or fovere, import ing warmth, hatching, or quickening, have a special likeness. 1 Verbum translation est ab avibus pullitiei su& incubanti- bus, quamvis spiritual}, et plane inenarrabili, non autem corporali modo ; " The word is taken of birds hatching their " young, not corporally, but in a spiritual and unexpressible " manner."
Some of the Hebrews convert it to this effect, Spiritus Dei volitabat ; " The Spiritof God did flutter:1' the Chaldean
sOvid. Met. lib. i. h Basil. Hcxam. ' Junins.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 1]
paraphrast in this sense, Ventus a conspectu Dei sufflabat : or, as others understand the Chaldean, flabat, pellebat, re- movebat: " The wind from the face of God did blow under, " drive, or remove, or did blow upon ;" according to the k 147th Psalm, He caused his wind to blow, and the waters increase: but there was yet no wind nor exhalation. } Arias Montanus, in these words, Et Spiritus Elohim Merachefet, id est, efficaciter motitans, confovens, ac agitans super fa- ciesgemini liquoris; " The Spirit of God effectually and often " moving, keeping warm, and cherishing, quickening and stir- " ring upon the face of this double liquor." For he maketh four originals, whereof three are agents, and the last pas sive and material; to wit, causa., which is the divine good ness; mJehi, which is,Jiat, sive erit, " let it be, or it shall be." QUCB vox verbo Dei prima prolatafuit: " which voice," saith he, " was the first that was uttered by the word of God." The third, Spiritus Elohim, " the Spirit of God," id est, vis quce- dam divina, agilis ac prcesens, per omnia pertingens, om- nia complens ; that is, " A certain divine power, or strength, " every where, active and extending, and stretching through " all, filling and finishing all things." The fourth he calleth maim, id est, materies ad omnem rem conficiendam habilis; " matter apt to become every thing ."" For myself, I am re solved, (cum Deus sit superrationale omni ratione; " seeing " God is in all reason above reason,") that although the ef fects which follow his wonderful ways of working may in a measure be perceived by man's understanding, yet the man ner and first operation of his divine power cannot be con ceived by any mind, or spirit, compassed with a mortal body. Animalis homo qu& Del sunt non percipit : For my thoughts, saith the Lord in nEsay, are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. And as the world hath not known God himself, so are his ways, according to St. Paul, pastjinding out. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, saith Christ. And therefore, whether that
k Psal. cxlvii. 18. m Ar. Mont, de Natura, pag. 149.
1 Ar. Mont, ut sup. Eugub. in Cos. " Esay Iv. 8. fol. 13.
12 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
motion, vitality, and operation, were by incubation or how else, the manner is only known to God. Β° Quomodo in om nibus sit rebus, vel per essentiam, vel per potentiam, intel- lectus noster non caplt; "For how God/'saith St. Augustine, speaking of his ubiquity, " is in all things, either by essence, " presence, orpower,our understandingcannotcomprehend." P Nlhil inter Deum hominemque distaret, si consilia, et dis- positiones illius majestatis (sterna, cogitatio assequeretur humana; " There would be no difference between God and " man, if man^s understanding could conceive the counsels " and disposing of that eternal majesty :" and therefore to be over-curious in searching how the all-powerful word of God wrought in the creation of the world, or his all-piercing and operative Spirit distinguishing, gave form to the matter of the universal, is a labour and search like unto his, who, not contented with a known and safe ford, will presume to pass over the greatest river in all parts, where he is ignorant of their depths : for so doth the one lose his life, and the other his understanding. We behold the sun, and enjoy his light, as long as we look towards it but tenderly and cir cumspectly ; we warm ourselves safely, while we stand near the fire : but if we seek to outface the one, or enter into the other, we forthwith become blind or burnt.
But to eschew curiosity; this is true, that the English word moved is most proper and significant : for of motion proceedeth all production, and all whatsoever is effected. And this omnipotent Spirit of God, which may indeed be truly called, principium motus, and with Mirandula, vis causes ejficientis, " the force of the efficient cause,11 St. Au gustine sometimes taketh for the Holy Ghost ; sometimes for a wind or breath, sub nomine spiritus, " under the " name of a spirit," which is sometimes so taken; or for virtualis creatura, " for a created virtuality." Tertullian and Theodoret call it also a breath, or wind : Mercurius nameth it, spiritum tenuem intelligibilem, " a pure or thin " intelligible spirit :"" Anaxagoras, mentem : Tostatus, vo~
0 Aug. Tract. 20. iu Johan. xvii 25. P Lact. in Praefat.
CHAP. I.
OF THE WORLD.
13
luntatem et mentem Dei, " the will and mind of God ;" which mens, Plato in Timseo maketh animam mundi, " the " soul of the world :" and in his sixth book, De Republica, he calleth it, " the law of heaven;'1 in his Epistles, " the " leader of things to come, and the presence of things past.1' But as Cyprian wrote of the incarnation of Christ our Saviour, Mens deficit,, vox silet, et non mea tantum, sed etiam ange- lorum; " My mind faileth, my voice is silent, and not mine " only, but even the voice of angels :" so may all men else say in the understanding and utterance of the ways and works of the creation ; for to him, saith 1 Nazianzenus, there is not one substance by which he is, and another by which he can, sed consubstantiale illi est, quicquid ejus est, et quicquid est; " whatsoever attribute of him there is, " and whatsoever he is, it is the very same substance that " himself is."
But the Spirit of God which moved upon the waters cannot be taken for a breath, or wind, nor for any other creature, separate from the infinite active power of God, which then formed and distinguished, and which now sus- taineth and giveth continuance to the universal. For the Spirit of the Lord filleth all the world ; and the same is it which maintaineth all thing's, saith r Salomon. If tliou send forth thy Spirit, saith David, they are created : and Gre gory, Deus suo pr&sentiali esse, dot omnibus rebus esse, ita quod si se rebus subtraheret, sicut de nihilo Jucta sunt om- nia, sic in nihilum dejluerent universa : " God giveth being " to all things, by being present with all things ; so as if he " should withdraw himself from them, then as of nothing " the world was made, it would again fall away and vanish " into nothing." And this working of God's Spirit in all things s Virgil hath expressed excellently :
Principio ccelum ac terras, camposque liquentes, Lucentemque globum lunee, Titaniaque astra, Spiritus intus alit : totamque infusa per artus, Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.
Nazianz. lib. 2. Theol.
Wisfl. i. 7.
Virg.
. lib. 6. 724.
14 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
The heaven, the earth, and all the liquid main, The moon's bright globe, and stars Titanian, A spirit within maintains : and their whole mass, A mind, which through each part infus'd doth pass, Fashions, and works, and wholly doth transpierce All this great body of the universe.
And this was the same Spirit which moved in the uni versal, and thereby both distinguished and adorned it. 1 His Spirit hath garnished the heavens, saith Job. So then the Spirit of God moved upon the waters, and created in them their spirituality and natural motion; motion brought forth heat ; and heat rarefaction, and subtilty of parts. By this Spirit (which gave heat and motion, and thereby ope ration to every nature, while it moved upon the waters, which were in one indigested lump and u chaos, disposed to all forms alike) was begotten air ; an element superior, as lighter than the waters ; through whose vast, open, subtile, diaphanic, or transparent body, the light, afterwards cre ated, might easily transpierce : light for the excellency thereof being the first creature which God called good, whose creation immediately followed. This Spirit Chrys- ostom calleth a vital operation, aquis a Deo insitam, ex qua aquae non solum motionem, tied et vim procreuitdi ani- malia habuerint. He calleth it, " a vital operation given *' by God unto the waters, whereby the waters had not " only motion, but also power to procreate or bring forth " living creatures.""
SECT. VII.
Of the light created, as the material substance of the sun, and of the nature of it, and difficulty of knowledge of it ; and of the ex cellency and use of it : and of motion, and heat annexed unto it.
THESE waters were afterwards congregated, and called the sea : and this light afterwards (in the fourth day) ga thered and united, and called the sun, the organ and in-
1 Job xxvi. 13. " don. i. 5.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 15
strument of created light. For this first and dispersed light did not, as I conceive, distinguish the night from the day, but with a reference to the sun's creation, and the uniting of the dispersed light therein. This is proved by these words, x Let there be lights in the firmament, to separate the day from the night : which lights in the firmament of heaven were also made for signs, and for seasons, andfor days, and for years, implying a motion instantly to follow, by which days and years are distinguished; after which succeeded time, or together with which that time (which was the measure of motion) began. For that space of the first three days which preceded the sun's creation, or formal perfec tion, when as yet there was not any motion to be measured, and the day named in the fifth verse, was but such a space, as afterwards by the sun's motion made a civil or na tural day. And as waters were the matter of air, of the fir mament, and of the lower and upper waters, and of the seas, and creatures therein ; earth, the matter of beasts, plants, minerals, and man's body : so may light (for expres sion sake) be called the chaos, or material substance of the sun, and other lights of heaven : howbeit, neither the sun, nor any thing sensible, is that light itself, Y quce causa est lucidorum, " which is the cause that things are lightsome," (though it make itself and all things else visible :) but a body most illightened, which illuminateth the moon, by whom the neighbouring region (which the Greeks call (Ether, the place of the supposed element of fire) is affected and qualified, and by it all bodies living in this our air. For this light Avicenna calleth, vehiculum et J "amentum omnium coelestium virtutum et impressionum ; " the conductor, and " preserver, or nourisher of all celestial virtues and impres- " sions ;" nothing descending of heavenly influences but by the medium or means of light. Aristotle calleth " light a " quality, inherent or cleaving to a diaphanous body," lumen est qualitas inhterens diaphano: but this may be better
x Gen. i. 14. sibilia facit. Cusan. in Compend. cap.
y Lux dicitur, quae se, et otnnia vi- 7. et Exercit. lib. 5.
16 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
avouched of the heat, which it transported, and bringeth with it, or conducteth : which heat, say the Platonicks, zabeunte lumine residet in subjecto ; " the light being de- " parted doth reside in the subject, as warmth in the air," though the same be deprived of light. This light Plotinus and all the Academics make incorporal, and so doth Mon- tanus, cui nee duritia resistit, nee spatium ; " which nei- " ther hardness resisteth, nor space leaveth."
Aristotle findeth corporality in the beams of light, but it is but by way of repetition of other men's opinions, saith a Picolomineus, Democritus, Leucippus, and Epicurus, give materiality to light itself, but improperly : for it passeth at an instant from the heaven to the earth ; nor is it resisted by any hardness, because it pierceth through the solid body of glass, or other crystalline matter ; and whereas it is with stood by unclean and unpure earthy substances, less hard, and more easy to invade than the former, the same is, b quod obstaculum natura terreum atque sordidum, non ca- pit candidam luminis puritatem ; " because an obstacle, " by nature earthy and foul, doth not receive the pure clear- " ness of light :" alluding to that most divine light, which only shineth on those minds which are purged from all worldly dross and human uncleanness.
But of this created light there is no agreement in opi nion ; neither do I marvel at it, for it cannot be found either in the fathers, philosophers, or schoolmen, or other ancient or latter writers, that any of them understood either it or them selves therein : all men (to cast off ignorance) have disputed hereof, but there is no man that hath been taught thereby. Thomas Aquinas, (not inferior to any in wit,) as he hath shewed little strength of argument in refuting the opinions of Beda, Hugo, Lombard, Lyranus, and others ; so is his own judgment herein as weak as any man's : and most of the schoolmen were rather curious in the nature of terms, and more subtile in distinguishing upon the parts of doctrine already laid down, than discoverers of any thing hidden,
β’Ficin.H -de Lumiuc, cap. 1 1. Β» Picol. de finit. b 1'lotin.
CHAP. r. OF THE WORLD. 17
either in philosophy or divinity : of whom it may be truly said, Nihil saplentice od'umus acumine nimio; " Nothing is " more odious to true wisdom, than too acute sharpness." Neither hath the length of time and the search of many learned men (which the same time hath brought forth and devoured) resolved us, whether this light be substantial, corporal, or incorporal : corporal they say it cannot be, be cause then it could neither pierce the air, nor those hard, solid, and diaphanous bodies, which it doth; and yet every day we see the air illightened : incorporal it can not be, because it is sensible : sensible it is, because it sometime affecteth the sight of the eye with offence, and therefore by most of the fathers so esteemed. Others say (as Patricius) that it cannot be matter, because no form so excellent as itself to inform it ; neither can it be any ac cident, which is not separable without the destruction of the subject : for light being taken from the sun, the sun is no more the sun in existence. Secondly, If light were proceed ing from matter and form, then either, or both, must be one of these, lucid or bright, dark or opaque, diaphanous or transparent; but darkness cannot be parent of light, and things diaphanous (being neither light nor darkness, but capable of either) cannot be the cause of either, and there fore must the matter, or form, or both, be lucid and shin ing. c Lucid and shining obtain their so being of the light ; and therefore if we derive this being of light from a former, then would the progress go on infinitely and against nature; and therefore he concludeth, that light in the sun hath his being primarily and immediately of itself, and is therefore the sun's form, and the form of all lucid and shining bodies : but what is taught hereby, let others judge.
But in my understanding, lumen (which may be Eng lished by the word shine) is an intentional species of that which may be Englished by light; and so this shining,
r Lucida corpora sunt plena sua carcnt suis et lumine et tenebris :
luce, alienis tenebris impervia. Opa- alienis et lumine et tenebris perme-
ca sunt plena suis tenebris alieno lu- antur. Seal. subt. ex. 71. mine. Transparentia sen diaphana
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL.1. C
18 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
winch proceedeth from the sun, or other lights of heaven, or from any other light, is an image, or intentional species thereof; and an intentional species may be understood by the example of a red or green colour, occasioned by the shining of the sun through red or green glass : for then we perceive the same colour cast upon any thing opposite ; which redness or other colour we call the intentional species of the colour in that glass. And again ; as this light, touch ing his simple nature, is no way yet understood ; so it is disputed, whether this light first created be the same which the sun inholdeth and casteth forth, or whether it had con tinuance any longer than till the sun's creation.
But by the most wise and unchanged order, which God observed in the works of the world, I gather, that the light, in the first day created, was the substance of the sun : for d Moses repeateth twice the main parts of the universal : first, as they were created in matter; secondly, as they were adorned with form : first, naming the heavens, the earth, the waters, all confused ; and afterward, the waters congregated, the earth made dry land ; and the heavens distinguished from both, and beautified. And therefore the earth, as it was earth, before it was uncovered, and before it was called arida, or dry land ; and the waters were wa ters, before they were congregated and called the sea, though neither of them perfect, or enriched with their vir tual forms : so the sun, although it had not its formal per fection, his circle, beauty, and bounded magnitude till the fourth day, yet was the substance thereof in the first day (under the name of light) created ; and this light for merly dispersed, was in the same fourth day united, and set in the firmament of heaven : for, to light created in the first day God gave no proper place or fixation ; and therefore the effects named by anticipation (which was to separate day from night) were precisely performed, after this light was congregated and had obtained life and motion. Neither did the wisdom of God find cause why it should move (by which motion days and nights are distinguished) till then : A Gen. i. 9.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 19
because there was not yet any creature produced, to which, by moving, the sun might give light, heat, and operation.
But after the earth (distinguished from waters) began to bud forth the bud of the herb, &c. God caused the sun to move, and (by interchange of time) to visit every part of the inferior world ; by his heat to stir up the fire of ge neration, and to give activity to the seeds of all natures : efor, as a king, which commandeth some goodly building to be erected, doth accommodate the same to that use and end to which it was ordained ; so it pleased God (saith Procopius) to command the light to be ; which by his all- powerful word he approved, and approving it, disposed thereof to the use and comfort of his future creatures.
But in that it pleased God to ask of f Job, By what way is the light parted, and where is the way where light dwclleth ? we thereby know, that the nature thereof falleth not under man's understanding ; and therefore let it suffice, that by God's grace we enjoy the effects thereof. For this light '/β’? of the treasure of God, saith oEsdras, and those which, in habit the heavens do only know the essence thereof'. Nitt'il ignotum in caslo, nihil notum in terra : " Nothing unknown " in heaven, nothing perfectly known on earth." h7?r.9 vcj-(V, sunt in mundo invisibili ; in mnndo vis'b'di innbrce rerum: " Things themselves are in the invisible world; in " the world visible, but their shadows."" Surely, if this light be not spiritual, yet it approacheth nearest unto spi rituality ; and if it have any corporality, then of all other the most subtile and pure ; for howsoever it is of all things seen the most beautiful, and of the swiftest motion, of all other the most necessary and beneficial. For it ministereth to men and other creatures all celestial influences; it dis- sipateth those sad thoughts and sorrows, which the dark ness both begetteth and maintaineth ; it discovereth unto us the glorious works of God, and carrieth up with an an gelical swiftness our eyes unto heaven, that by the sight
e Quemadmodum rex aliquis, &c. * 2 Esd. vi. 40. Procop. in Gen. i. '' Hcrm.
' Jobxxxviii. 24. 9.
20 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
thereof, our minds, being informed of his visible marvels, may continually travel to surmount these perceived heavens, and to find out their omnipotent cause and Creator. *Cog- nitio non qmeacit in rcbuH ereatis ; " Our knowledge doth " not quiet itself in things created." Et ipsa lux facit, ut cceiera muudi membra digna shit laudibus, cum suam bo- nitatem et decorem omnibua communicet ; "It is the light," saitli St. Ambrose, " that maketh the other parts of the " world so worthy of praise, seeing that itself communicat- " eth its goodness and beauty unto all."1 Of which Ovid out of Orpheus :
k Ille ego sum, qni longum metior annum, Omnia qiu r'nli'o, per (/item videt omnia mun<lns, Mundi oculns.
The world discerns itself, while I the world behold, By me the longest years, and other times are told, I the world's eye.
Lastly, if we may behold in any creature any one spark of that eternal fire, or any far-off dawning of God's glorious brightness, the same in the beauty, motion, and virtue of this light may be perceived. Therefore was God called Lux ipsa, and the light by Hermes named lu.v sancta, and Christ our Saviour said to be 1 that Light, which lightencth even/ man that comctli into the world. Yet in respect of God^s incomprehensible sublimity and purity, this is also true, that God is neither a mind nor a spirit of the nature of other spirits ; nor a light, such as can be discerned. Dens prqfecto nan mens cxt, at vcro nt sit incus cmtxa est ; nee 8pvntUΒ»t9ed aniw f///ti spiritus cxtat ; nee lumen, ftededuva qua lumen e.iixtif. " God," saith Hermes in Poemandro, " certainly is not a mind, but the cause that the mind hath " his being; nor spirit, but the cause by which every " spirit is; nor light, but the cause by which the light ex- " isteth."
So then the mass and chaos being first created, void,
'Ficiu. k Ovid. Met. 1. i. ' J.ilm i. <j.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 21
dark, and informed, was by the operative Spirit of God pierced and quickened, and the waters having now received spirit and motion, resolved their thinner parts into air, which God illightened : the earth also by being contiguat, and mixed with waters, (participating the same divine vir tue,) m brought forth the bud of the herb that seedeth seed, Sec. and for a mean and organ, by which this operative vir tue might be continued, God appointed the light to be united, and gave it also motion and heat; which heat caused a continuance of those several species which the earth (being made fruitful by the Spirit) produced, and with mo tion begat the time and times succeeding.
SECT. VIII.
Of the firmament, and of the waters above the firmament : and whether there be any crystalline heaven, or any prinnmi mo bile.
AFTER that the Spirit of God had moved upon the waters, and light was created, God said, Let there be a fir mament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters : that is, those waters which by ra refaction and evaporation were ascended, and those of the earth and sea.
But these waters, separate above this extension, which the Latin translation calleth jirmamentum, or expansum, (for so Vatablus, Pagninus, and Junius turn it,) are not the crystalline heavens created in the imaginations of men ; which opinion Basilius Magnus calleth a childish supposi tion, making in the same place many learned arguments against this fancy. For the waters above the firmament are the waters in the air above us, where the same is more solid and condense, which God separated from the nether waters by a firmament, that is, by an extended distance and vast space : the words raquia (which Montanus writeth ra- kiagh) and shamajim being indifferently taken for the hea ven and for air, and more properly for the air and ether
m Geu. i. 1 1.
c3
THE HISTOUY BOOK i.
tluui for the heavens, us the best Hebricians understand them, nip(o ftiiprema tic tenniti ab hifimis erases (Kducta, intcrscctaijnc d'txtarcnt, " for that whereby the supreme tk and thin bodies were placed in distance, being severed " and cut off from low and gross matters :" and the waters above the firmament, expressed in the word mqjim, are in that tongue taken properly for the waters above the air, or in the uppermost region of the same.
And that the word heaven is used for the air, the scrip tures every where witness; as in the Β° blessings of Joseph, and in the 104th Psalm, vBy tlic.sc springs shall the fowl of' the heaven dwell: and, <\iipon Sodom and Gomorrah it rained brimstone andjire out of the heaven : and in Isaac's blessing to Jacob, r God give thee therefore of the dew of heaven : and in s Deuteronomy the llth, But the land, whither you go to possess it, is a land that dnnketh water of the rain of heaven: and in 'Job, Who hath engendered the frosts of heaven? and in u St. Matthew, Behold the folds of heaven: for they sow not. So as in all the scriptures of the Old Testament throughout is the word heaven very often used for air, and taken also hyperbolically for any great height, as, v Let us build its a forcer, whose top iiuiy reach to heaven, &c. And in this very place Basil avoucheth, that this ap pellation of heaven for the firmament is but by way of si militude : his own words be these ; Et vocavit Dcus finna- β’nicntum Cd'linn. β’ Htvc appcllatio alii quidcm proprie ttc- commodahtr, huic autem nunc ad similitudinem ; And God called thcjinnarnent heaven. " This appellation," saith Basil, " is properly applied to another,"'1 (that is, to the starry heaven,) " but to this" (that is, to the firmament di viding the waters) " it is imposed by similitude." And if there were no other proof, that by the firmament was meant the air, and not the heaven; the words of Moses in the 8th verse, conferred with the same word firmament in the
it. Nat. Hist. fol. 152. β’ Dent. xi. 10.
" (ifii. xlix. 25. ' Job xxxviii. 29.
i1 I's;il. t-iv. 12. " Matt. vi. 26.
n. xix. 24. > Gen. xi. 4.
r Gen. xxvii. 28.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 23
20th verse, make it manifest : for in the 8th verse it is writ ten, that God culled the firmament, which divided waters from waters, heaven ; and in the 20th verse he calleth the firma ment of heaven, air ; in these words, And let the fowl fly upon the earth in the open Jirmament of heaven. And what use there should be of this icy, or crystalline, or watery heaven, I conceive not, except it be to moderate and temper the heat, which the primum mobile would otherwise gather and increase: though in very truth, instead of this help, it would add an immeasurable greatness of circle, whereby the swiftness of that first moveable would exceed all possi- oility of belief. Sed nemo tenetur ad impossibilia ; " But " no man ought to be held to impossibilities :" and faith it self (which surmounteth the height of all human reason) hath for a forcible conductor the word of truth, which also may be called lumen omnis rationis et intellectus; " the " light of all reason and understanding." Now that this supposed first moveable turneth itself so many hundred thousand miles in an instant, (seeing the scriptures teach it not,) let those that can believe men's imaginations appre hend it, for I cannot. But of these many heavens, let the reader that desireth satisfaction search Orontius; and of this watery heaven, Basilius Magnus, in his Hexam. fol. 40, 41, &c. and Matth. Beroaldus, in his 2d book and 6th chapter. For myself, I am persuaded, that the waters called, the waters above the heavens, are but the clouds and waters engendered in the uppermost air.
SECT. IX.
A conclusion, repeating the sum of the works in the creation, which are reduced to three heads : the creation of matter, the forming of it, the finishing of it.
TO conclude ; it may be gathered out of the first chap ter of Genesis, that this was the order of the most wise God in the beginning, and when there was no other na ture, or being, but God^s incomprehensible eternity. First, he created the matter of all things : and in the first three days he distinguished, and gave to every nature his pro-
c 4
24 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
per form ; the form of levity to that which ascended ; to that which descended, the form of gravity: for he se parated light from darkness, divided waters from waters, and gathered the waters under the firmament into one place. In the last three days, God adorned, beautified, and replenished the world : he set in the firmament of heaven the sun, moon, and stars; filled the earth with beasts, the air with fowl, and the sea with fish, giving to all that have life a power generative, thereby to continue their species and kinds ; to creatures vegetative and growing, their seeds in themselves; for *he created all things, that they might have their being-: and the generation* of the icorltl arc pre served.
SECT. X.
That nature is no principium per se ; nor form, the giver of being: and of our ignorance how second causes should have any propor tion with their effects.
AND for this working power, which we call nature, the beginning of motion and rest, according to Aristotle; the same is nothing else but the strength and faculty which God hath infused into every creature, having no other self- ability than a clock, after it is wound up by a man's hand, hath. Those therefore that attribute unto this faculty any first or sole power, have therein no other understanding than such a one hath, who, looking into the stern of a ship, and finding it guided by the helm and rudder, doth ascribe some absolute virtue to the piece of wood, without all con sideration of the hand that guides it, or of the judgment which also directeth and commandeth that hand : forgetting in this and in all else, that by the virtue of the first act all agents work whatsoever they work : Virtute primi actus, (iff nut agent in oninid (jitier/i/id agunt: for as the mind of man seeth by the organ of the eye, heareth by the ears, and maketh choice by the will ; and therefore we attri bute sight to the eye, and hearing to the ears, &c. and yet
x \\ isil. Sal. i. 14.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 25
it is the mind only that giveth ability, life, and motion to all these his instruments and organs ; so God worketh by angels, by the sun, by the stars, by nature or infused proper ties, and by men as by several organs, several effects ; all se cond causes whatsoever being but instruments, conduits, and pipes, which carry and disperse what they have received from the head and fountain of the universal. For as it is God's in finite power and every-where-presence (compassing, em bracing, and piercing all things) that giveth to the sun power to draw up vapours, to vapours to be made clouds ; clouds to contain rain, and rain to fall : so all second and instrumental causes, together with nature itself, without that operative faculty which God gave them, would become al together silent, virtueless, and dead : of all which excel lently y Orpheus, Per te virescunt omnia; " All things by " thee spring forth in youthful green." I enforce not these things, thereby to annihilate those variable virtues which God hath given to his creatures, animate and inanimate, to heavenly and earthly bodies, &c. for all his works in their virtues praise him : but of the manner how God worketh in them, or they in or with each other, which the heathen phi losophers, and those that follow them, have taken on them to teach ; I say, there is not any one among them, nor any one among us, that could ever yet conceive it or express it; ever enrich his own understanding with any certain truth, or ever edify others (not foolish by self-flattery) therein. For, (saith Lactantius, speaking of the wisdom of the phi losophers,) Sijacultas inveniendce veritatis huic studio sub- Jaceret, aliquando esset inventa ; cum vero tot temporibus, tot ingeniis in ejus inguisitione contritis, non sit compre- hensa, apparet nullam ibi esse sapientiam; " If in this " study," saith he, " were means to find out the truth, it " had ere this been found out : but seeing it is not yet com- " prehended, after that so much time, and so many wits " have been worn out in the inquiry of it, it appeareth, that
>' Natura enim, remote providentia Lad. do falsa Sapicntia, 1. 3. c. 28. et potestate diviua, prorsus nihil est.
26 THE HISTORY HOOK i.
" there is no wisdom there to be had." * Nam si dc una re pracisatcientia habereturtornniwn rcnnn scicntni turcHsurio Itdlicrctur ,β’ " If the precise knowledge of any one thing " were to be had, it should necessarily follow, that the " knowledge of all things were to be had.11 And as the philosophers were ignorant in nature, and the ways of her working ; so were they more curious than knowing, in their first matter and physical form. For if their first matter had any being, it were not then the first matter: for, as it is the first matter, it hath only a power of being, which it altogether leav- eth when it doth subsist. And seeing it is neither a sub stance perfect, nor a substance inchoate, or in the way of perfection, how any other substance should thence take concrescence it hath not been taught, neither are these forms, saith a learned author, any thing; Si ex ea c.rprnntitur po- tuit'td, qu<K nih'il cst. Again; how this first matter should be subjcctum jbrmarum, and passive, which is understood to precede the form, it is hard to conceive: for to make form, which is the cause, to be subsequent to the thing caused, (to wit, to the first matter,) is contrary to all reason, divine and human : only it may be said, that originally there is no other difference between matter and form than between heat and fire, of which the one can not subsist without the other, but in a kind of ra tional consideration. Leaving therefore these riddles to their lovers, who by certain scholastical distinctions wrest and pervert the truth of all things, and by which Aristotle hath laboured to prove a false eternity of the world, I think it far safer to affirm with St. Augustine, " that all species " and kinds are from God, from whom whatsoever is na- " tural proceedeth, of what kind or estimation soever ; from " whence are the seeds of all forms, and the forms of all " seeds, and their motions ;" A quo est omnis species, a quo cst quicqnid naturalitcr cst, cujuscunque generis est, cujus- cunquc astimationM cst; a quo stint semina forma rum, former, scminum, mot us scminum atquc Jbrmarum. And ihiis much Avcrroes is forced to confess: " For all forms,"
( \ pi . dc incnte, 1. .3.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD, 27
saith he, " are in primo motore ,β’" which is also the opinion of a Aristotle in the 12th of his Metaph., and of Albertus upon Dionysius.
SECT. XI.
Of fate ; and that the stars have great influence: and that their operations may diver sly be prevented or furthered.
AND, as of nature, such is the dispute and contention concerning fate or destiny; of which the opinions of those learned men that have written thereof may be safely re ceived, had they not thereunto annexed and fastened an inevitable necessity, and made it more general, and univer sally powerful than it is, by giving it dominion over the mind of man, and over his will ; of which Ovid and Juve nal :
b Ratio fatum vincere nulla valet.
Servis regna dabunt, captivisfata to'mmphos.
'Gainst fate no counsel can prevail. Kingdoms to slaves by destiny, To captives triumphs given be.
An error of the Chaldeans, and after them of the Stoics, the Pharisees, Priscillianists, the Bardisanists, and others, as c Basil, Augustine, and Thomas have observed : but that fate is an obedience of second causes to the first, was well conceived of Hermes, and Apuleius the Platonist. cl Plo- tinus out of the astronomers calleth it a disposition from the acts of celestial orbs, unchangeably working in inferior bo dies, the same being also true enough, in respect of all those things which a rational mind doth not order nor direct. Ptolemy, Seneca, Democritus, Epicurus, Chrysippus, Em- pedocles, and the Stoics, some of them more largely, others more strictly, ascribe to efate a binding and inevitable ne cessity ; and that it is the same which is spoken and deter mined by God, (quod de unoquoquc nostrum fatus est
a i2thMetapli. 0.35. Tho. cout. Gent. 3. c. 83.
b Juvcn. Sat. 7. 201. A Ficin. iu 12. do leg.
c Basil. Esa. 4, Aug. de Hseres. 70. c Cic. dc Fat.
28 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
and the definite lot of all living. And certainly it cannot be doubted, but the stars are instruments of far greater use, than to give an obscure light, and for men to gaze on after sunset ; it being manifest, that the diversity of seasons, the winters, and summers, more hot and cold, are not so uncer- tained by the sun and moon alone, who always keep one and the same course, but that the stars have also their work ing therein.
And if we cannot deny, but that God hath given virtues to springs and fountains, to cold earth, to plants and stones, minerals, and to the excremental parts of the basest living creatures, why should we rob the beautiful stars of their working powers ? for seeing they are many in number, and of eminent beauty and magnitude, we may not think, that in the treasury of his wisdom, who is infinite, there can be wanting (even for every star) a peculiar virtue and opera tion ; as every herb, plant, fruit, and flower adorning the face of the earth hath the like. For as these were not cre- *ated to beautify the earth alone, and to cover and shadow her dusty face, but otherwise for the use of man and beast, to feed them and cure them ; so were not those uncount able glorious bodies set in the firmament, to no other end than to adorn it ; but for instruments and organs of his di vine providence, so far as it hath pleased his just will to de termine. Origen upon this place of f Genesis, Let there be light in the firmament, &c. affirmeth, that the stars are not causes, (meaning perchance binding causes;) but are as open books, wherein are contained and set down all things what soever to come ; but not to be read by the eyes of human wisdom : which latter part I believe well, and this saying of Β§ Siracides withal : That there are hid yet greater things than these be, and we have seen but a few of his works. And though, for the capacity of men, we know somewhat, yet in the true and uttermost virtues of herbs and plants, which ourselves sow and set, and which grow under our feet, we are in effect ignorant ; much more in the powers
1 (.on. i. 15. Krd. xliii. 32.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 29
and working of celestial bodies. For hardly (saith h Solo mon) can we discern the things that are upon the earth, and with great labour Jind we out those things that are before us : who can then investigate the things that are in hea ven? l Multum est de rebus coslestibus aliquid cognoscere : " It is much to know a little of heavenly things.11 But in this question of fate, the middle course is to be followed ; that as with the heathen we do not bind God to his crea tures, in this supposed necessity of destiny ; so on the con trary, we do not rob those beautiful creatures of their powers and offices. For had any of these second causes de spoiled God of his prerogative, or had God himself con strained the mind and will of man to impious acts by any celestial enforcements, then sure the impious excuse of some were justifiable ; of whom kSt. Augustine, Impia perversi- tate in mails Juctis rectissime repreJiendendis ingerunt ac- cns(indum potius auctorem syderum, quam commissorem scelerum; " Where we reprehend them of evil deeds, they " again with wicked perverseness urge, that rather the au- " thnr and creator of the stars, than the doer of the evil, is " to be accused."
But that the stars and other celestial bodies incline the will by mediation of the sensitive appetite, which is also stirred by the constitution and complexion, it cannot be doubted. Corpora ccelestia, saith Damascene, constituunt in nobis habitus, complexioncs, et disposition es ; " The heavenly " bodies," saith he, " make in us habits, complexions, and " dispositions ;" for the body (though l Galen enforce it fur ther) hath undoubtedly a kind of drawing after it the affec tions of the mind, especially bodies strong in humour, and minds weak in virtues ; for those of choleric complexion are subject to anger, and the furious effects thereof; by which they suffer themselves to be transported, where the mind hath not reason to remember, that passions ought to be her vas sals, not her masters. And that they wholly direct the reasonless mind, I am resolved : for all those which were
h Wisd. ix. 1 6. k Aup:. 20. super Gen. ad lit.
' Aristotle. ' fial. 1. inor. an. seq. temp.
30 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
created mortal, as birds, beasts, and the like, are left to their natural appetites; over all which, celestial bodies (as instruments and executioners of God's providence) have absolute dominion. What we should judge of men, who little differ from beasts, I cannot tell ; for as he that con- tendeth against those enforcements may easily master or re sist them; so whosoever shall neglect the remedies by vir tue and piety prepared, putteth himself altogether under the power of his sensual appetite; m Vincctii r Jatinn si rc- β’v/.v/r/.v, ri ncit fit contemp&ris; " Fate will be overcome, if *' thou resist it; if thou neglect, it conquereth."
But that cither the stars or the sun have any power over the minds of men immediately, it is absurd to think, other than as aforesaid, as the same by the body's temper may be affected. Lumen solis ad gencrationcm .vensibiliinH corpo- rmn confcrt, ct ad vltcnn ipmm nioref, ct nutrit, ct niiffct^ et perficlt : " The light of the sun,'" saith a St. Augustine, " helpeth the generation of sensible bodies, movcth them to " life, and nourisheth, augmenteth, and perfecteth them ;"" yet still as a minister, not as a master : Bonn* quidcin r.s/ sol, in ministerio, non impcrio ; " The sun is good to serve, " not to sway," saith Β°St. Ambrose. And St. Augustine, Dens regit Infcrioru corpora per fnipcriom ; " God ruleth " the bodies below by those above:" but he avoucheth not, that superior bodies have rule over men's minds, which are incorporal.
But howsoever we are by the stars inclined at our birth, yet there are many things, both in nature and art, that en counter the same, and weaken their operation; and Ari stotle himself confesseth, that the heavens do not always work their effects in inferior bodies, no more than the signs of rain and wind do always come to pass. And it is di vers times seen, that paternal virtue and vice hath his coun ter-working to these inclinations. vEst injttvencispatrwin I'irtu* ; " In the young offspring the father's virtue is ;" and so the contrary, patrum vitin : and herein also there is
β’ Quint. " Hex. 1. 4. de term. 3.
" Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. 5. r Hor. 1. 4. Od. 30.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 31
often found an interchange ; the sons of virtuous men, by an ill constellation, become inclinable to vice ; and of vicious men to virtue.
Egregia est soboles scelerato nata parente : A worthy son is born of a wicked father.
But there is nothing (after God's reserved power) that so much setteth this art of influence out of square and rule, as education doth : for there are none in the world so wickedly inclined, but that a religious instruction and bring ing up may fashion anew and reform them ; nor any so well disposed, whom (the reins being let loose) the conti nual fellowship and familiarity, and the examples of disso lute men, may not corrupt and deform. Vessels will ever retain a savour of their first liquor : it being equally diffi cult either to cleanse the mind once corrupted, or to extin guish the sweet savour of virtue first received, when the mind was yet tender, open, and easily seasoned ; but where a favourable constellation (allowing that the stars incline the will) and a virtuous education do happily arrive, or the contrary in both, thereby it is that men are found so exceed ing virtuous or vicious, heaven and earth (as it were) run ning together, and agreeing in one : for as the seeds of vir tue may, by the art and husbandry of Christian counsel, produce better and more beautiful fruit, than the strength of self-nature and kind could have yielded them ; so the plants, apt to grow wild, and to change themselves into weeds, by being set in a soil suitable, and like themselves, are made more unsavoury, and filled with poison. It was therefore truly affirmed, Sapiens adjuvabit opus astrorum, quemadmodum agricola terrce naturam; " A wise man as- " sisteth the work of the stars, as the husbandman helpeth " the nature of the soil." And Ptolemy himself confesseth thus much; Sapiens, et omina saplent'is medici dommabun- tur astris; " A wise man, and the ominous art of a wise " physician, shall prevail against the stars." Lastly, we ought all to know that God created the stars, as he did the rest of the universal ; whose influences may be called his
32 THE HISTORY BOOK. i.
ed and unwritten laws. But let us consider how they bind: even as UK- laws of men do; for although the kings and princes of the world have by their laws decreed, that a thief and a murderer shall suffer death ; and though their ordinances are daily by judges and magistrates (the stars of kings) executed accordingly ; yet these laws do not deprive kings of their natural or religious compassion, or bind them without prerogative, to such a severe execution, as that there should l)e nothing left of liberty to judgment, power, or conscience : the law in his own nature being no other than a deaf tyrant. But seeing that it is otherwise, and that princes (who ought to imitate God in all they can) do sometimes, for causes to themselves known, and by media tion, pardon offences both against others and themselves ; it were then impious to take that power and liberty from God himself, which his substitutes enjoy ; God being mercy, goodness, and charity itself. Otherwise that example of prayer by our Saviour taught, (i And let us not be h'd into temptation^ but deliver us from evil, had been no other but an expense of words and time ; but that God (which only knoweth the operation of his own creatures truly) hath as sured us, that there is no inclination or temptation so forcible, which our humble prayers and desires may not make frus trate and break asunder: for were it (as the Stoics conceive) that fate or destiny, though depending upon eternal power, yet being once ordered and disposed, had such a connection and immutable dependency, that God himself should in a kind have shut up himself therein, " how miserable then " were the condition of men," saith St. Augustine, '; left " altogether without hope."
And if this strength of the stars were so transferred, as that God had quitted unto them all dominion over his crea tures ; be he Pagan or Christian that so belie\ eth, the only true God of the one, and the imaginary gods of the other, would therebv be despoiled of all worship, reverence, or re spect.
β’i M.itt. vi. 13.
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 33
And certainly, God, which hath promised us the reward of well-doing, which Christ himself claimed at the hands of the Father, (jl have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,) and the same God who hath threatened unto us the sorrow and torment of offences, could not, contrary to his merciful nature, be so unjust, as to bind us inevitably to the destinies or influences of the stars, or subject our souls to any imposed necessity. But it was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient; 'giving them yet something less than their due : and there fore, as I do not consent with those who would make those glorious creatures of God virtueless ; so I think that we de rogate from his eternal and absolute power and providence, to ascribe to them the same dominion ever our immortal souls, which they have over all bodily substances and pe rishable natures : for the souls of men loving and fearing God, receive influence from that divine light itself, whereof the sun's clarity, and that of the stars, is by Plato called but a shadow, s Lumen est umbra Dei, et Deus est lumen lumi- nis; " Light is the shadow of God's brightness, who is the " light of light." But to end this question, because this destiny, together with providence, prescience, and predesti nation, are often confounded, I think it not impertinent to touch the difference in a word or two ; for every man hath not observed it, though all learned men have.
SECT. XII.
Of Prescience.
PRESCIENCE, or foreknowledge, (which the Greeks call prognosis, the Latins prtfcogviitio, or prcescientia,) con sidered in order and nature, (if we may speak of God after the manner of men,) goeth before providence : for God foreknew all things before he had created them, or before they had being to be cared for ; and prescience is no other than an infallible foreknowledge. For whatsoever ourselves
r John xviii. 4. s Plat. Pol. 6. Ficin. in 1. 7. Pol.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD, VOL. I. D
54 THE HISTORY BOOK ..
foreknow, except the same be to succeed accordingly, it can not be true that we foreknow it. But this prescience of God (as it is prescience only) is not the cause of any tiling futurely succeeding : neither doth God's foreknowledge im pose any necessity, or bind. For in that we foreknow that the sun will rise and set ; that all men born in the world shall die again ; that after winter the spring shall come ; after the spring, summer, and harvest ; and that according to the several seeds that we sow, we shall reap several sorts of grain, yet is not our foreknowledge the cause of this, or any of these : neither doth the knowledge in us bind or con strain the sun to rise and set, or men to die ; for the causes (as men persuade themselves) are otherwise manifest and known to all. " The eye of man,11 saith 'Boetius, " behold* " eth those things subject to sense, as they are ; the eye " seeth that such a beast is a horse, it seeth men, trees, " and houses, &c. but our seeing of them (as they are) is " not the cause of their so being, for such they be in their " own natures." And again out of the same author ; Dl- vina providentia rebus generandis non imponit rteeesrita- tern, quia si omnia evenirent ex necessitate, prcemia bono- rnm, et poena malorum periret; " Divine providence,11 saith he, " imposeth no necessity upon things that are to " exist; for if all came to pass of necessity, there should nei- " ther be reward of good, nor punishment of evil."
SECT. XIII.
Of Providence.
NOW providence (which the Greeks call pronoia) is an intellectual knowledge, both foreseeing, caring for, and or dering all things, and doth not only behold all past, all pre sent, and all to come, but is the cause of their so being, which prescience (simply taken) is not : and therefore pro vidence by the philosophers, saith St. Augustine, is divided into memory, knowledge, and care: memory of the past,
1 Boetius de Consol.
CHAP. r. OF THE WORLD. 35
knowledge of the present, and care of the future : and we ourselves account such a man for provident, as, remember ing things past, and observing things present, can by judg ment, and comparing the one with the other, provide for the future, and times succeeding. That such a thing there is as providence, the scriptures everywhere teach us; Moses in many places, the prophets in their predictions, Christ himself and his apostles assure us hereof ; and besides the scriptures, Hermes, Orpheus, Euripides, Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus. and (in effect) all learned men, acknowledge the providence of God ; yea, the Turks themselves are so confi dent therein, as they refuse not to accompany and visit each other in the most pestilent diseases, nor shun any peril what soever, though death therein do manifestly present itself.
The places of scripture proving providence are so many, both in general and particular, as I shall need to repeat but a few of them in this place : Sing unto God, saith u David, which covereth theheavens with clouds, andprepareth rain for the earth, and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, which giveth the Leasts their food, and feedeth the young raven that cries. x All these wait upon thee ; that thou mayest give them food in due season. Y And thou shalt drink of' the river Chereth, saith God to Elijah; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. z Behold the Jowls of the air : they sow not, nor reap ; and yet your heavenly Father feed- eth them. Again ; *-Are not two sparrows soldfor a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father ; yea, all the hairs of your head are numbered: and b St. Peter, Cast all your care on him, for he carethfor you : and, his judgments are written, saith c David.
God therefore, who is every where present, d ivho Jilleth the heavens and the earth, whose eyes are upon the righteous, and his countenance against them that do evil, was therefore by Orpheus called ocidus infinities, " an infinite eye," behold-
" Ps. cxlvii. 8. 9. a Luke xii. 6, 7.
x Ps. civ. 27. and cxlv. 15. b i Pet. v. 7.
y i Reg. xvii. 4. c Ps. xxxvi. 6.
1 Mattli. vi. 26. d Jer. xxiii. 24.
36 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
ing all things ; and cannot therefore be esteemed as an idle looker on, as if he had transferred his power to any other ; for it is contrary to his own word, c Gloriam victim alteri non dabo ; " I will not give my glory to another."" No man commandeth in the king's presence, but by the king's direction ; but God is every where present, and King of kings. The example of God's universal providence is seen in his creatures. The father provideth for his children ; beasts and birds, and all living, for their young ones. If provi dence be found in second fathers, much more in the first and universal : and if there be a natural loving care in men and beasts, much more in God, who hath formed this na ture, and whose divine love was the beginning, and is the bond of the universal: Amor dirinux rerum omnium est prlncipium, ct vincuhnn uuirerxi, saith Plato; amor Dei est nodus pc rpetuus, miindi copula, purtlumque ejus immo bile suxtcntacnlum, ac universce machines fundaments m ; " The love of God is the perpetual knot, and link or chain of " the world, and the immovable pillar of every part thereof, " and the basis and foundation of the universal.1' God therefore, who could only be the cause of all, can only pro vide for all, and sustain all ; so as to absolute power, to every-where presence, to perfect goodness, to pure and di vine flove, this attribute and transcendent liability of provi dence is only proper and belonging.
SECT. XIV.
Of Predestination.
NOW for predestination, we can difference it no other wise from providence and prescience, than in this ; that prescience only foreseeth ; providence foreseeth and careth for, and hath respect to all Β£ creatures, even from the bright est angels of heaven, to the unworthiest worms of the earth: and predestination (as it is used, especially by divines) is only of men, and yet not of all to men belonging, but of
' Esay xlii. 8. s Romans v'.ii. and ix.
T i John iv. i. God ix lnr>\
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 87
their salvation properly, in the common use of divines; or perdition, as some have used it. Yet h Peter Lombard, Thomas, Bernensis Theologus, and others, take the word predestination more strictly, and for a preparation to felicity. Divers of the fathers take it more largely sometimes: among whom St. Augustine, speaking of two cities and two socie ties, useth these words : ' Quorum est una, qua: prcedesti- nata est in ceternum regnare cum Deo, altera ceternum sup- plicium snbire cum Diabolo ; " whereof one is it, which is " predestinated to reign for ever with God, but the other is to " undergo everlasting torment with the Devil:" for according to Nonius Marcellus, destinare, est prceparare ; and of the same opinion are many Protestant writers, as k Calvin, Beza, Buchanus, Danaeus, and such like : and as for the manifold questions hereof arising, I leave them to the divines ; and why it hath pleased God to create some vessels of honour, and some of dishonour, I will answer with Gregory, who saith, 1 Qui in factis Dei rationem non videt, infirmitatem suam consideranS) cur non videat, rationem videt ; " He that " seeth no reason in the actions of God, by consideration of " his own infirmity, perceiveth the reason of his blindness/1 And again with m St. Augustine, Occidta esse causa potest, injusta esse non potest ; " Hidden the cause of his predesti- "nation may be, unjust it cannot be."
SECT. XV.
Of fortune : and of the reason of some things that seem to be by fortune, and against reason and providence.
LASTLY, seeing destiny or necessity is subsequent to God's providence, and seeing that the stars have no other dominion than is before spoken, and that nature is nothing but, as Plato calleth it, Dei artem, vel artijiciosum Dei or- ganum, " the art, or artificial organ of God :" and Cusa-
h Lomb. 1. i. dist. 39. Thorn, part, in magn. ann. in c. 9. ad Rom. Da-
i. dist. 23. Bern, in Probl. de p. d. naeus, 1. 3. de Salut. ' Aug. 1. 15. c. i. de Civ. Dei. ' Greg. Mag. Job ix.
k Calv. in 0.9. ad Rom. v. 1 1. Bez. m Aug. ad Polin. ep. 59.
D3
38 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
nus, Divtni prceceptl instrutncntiim ; " the instrument of " the divine precept :" we may then with better reason re ject that kind of idolatry, or god of fools, called fortune or chance ; a goddess, the most reverenced, and the most re viled of all other, but not ancient : for Homer maketh her the daughter of Oceanus, as Pausanias witnesseth in his Messeniacks. The Greeks call her TW^JJV, signifying a rela tive being, or betiding, so as before Homer's time this great lady was scarce heard of: and Hesiodus, who hath taught the birth and beginning of all these counterfeit gods, hath not a word of fortune ; yet afterwards she grew so great and omnipotent, as, from kings and kingdoms, to beggars and cottages, she ordered all things, resisting the wisdom of the wisest, by making the possessor thereof miserable ; va luing the folly of the most foolish, by making their success prosperous : insomuch as the actions of men were said to be but the sports of fortune, and the variable accidents hap pening in men's lives, but her pastimes : of which n Palla- dius, Vita Jwminum Indus fortune est ; " The life of man is " the play of fortune :" and because it often falleth out, that enterprises guided by ill counsels have equal success to those by the best judgment conducted, therefore had for tune the same external figure with sapience; whereof Athe- naeus:
Longissime a sapientia fors dissidet, Sed multa perficit tamen simillima.
From wisdom fortune differs far, And yet in works most like they are.
But I will forbear to be curious in that, which (as it is commonly understood) is nothing else but a power imagi nary, to which the success of human actions and endeavours were for their variety ascribed ; for when a manifest cause could not be given, then was it attributed to fortune, as if
n Sen. ep. 91. Aur. vict. de Perti- cry out upon fortune, applying to her
nace, Sen. ep. 74. Demetrius Polior- a verse of ^schylus : " Tu me extu-
cetes, in the great and often changes " listi, eadem me is (sentio) perdi-
of his fortune, is said to have used to " turn."
CHAP. i. OF THE WORLD. 39
there were no cause of those things, of which most men are ignorant ; contrary to this true ground of Plato, Nihil est ortum sub sole, cujus causa legitima non pr&cesserit ; " No- " thing ever came to pass under the sun, of which there was " not a just preceding cause." But Aquinas hath herein an swered in one distinction whatsoever may be objected ; for many things there are, saith he, which happen, besides the intention of the inferior, but not besides the intention of the superior ; Prceter intentionem iriferioris, sed non prcetcr in tentionem superior is, (to wit, the ordinance of God ;) and therefore, saith Β° Melancthon, Quod poetce fortunam, nos Deum appellamus ; " Whom the poets call fortune, we know " to be God." And that this is true, the scripture in many places teacheth us ; as in the law of murder : q He that smit- eth a man, and he die, shall die the death ; and if a man hath not laid wait, but God hath offered him into his hands; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. Now, where the scripture hath these words, God hath offered him into his hands, we say, if he hurt him by chance : and in ci Deuteronomy, where the slipping of an axe from the helve, whereby another is slain, was the work of God himself; we in our phrase attribute this accident to chance or fortune : and in the r Proverbs, The lot is cast into the lap, but the ichole disposition thereof is of the Lord: so as that which seemeth most casual and subject to fortune, is yet disposed by the ordinance of God, as all things else ; and hereof the wiser sort, and the best learned of the philosophers, were not ig norant, as Cicero witnesseth for them, gathering the opinion of Aristotle and his sectators, with those of Plato, and the Academics, to this effect ; that the same power which they called animam mundi, " the soul of the world," was no other than that incomprehensible wisdom, which we express by the name of God, governing every being as well in heaven as in earth ; to which wisdom and power they sometime gave the title of necessity or s fate, because it bindeth by inevit-
0 " Te facimus fortuua Deatn, coe- 1 Dent. xix. 5. " loque locamus." Sat. 10. 366. r Prov. xvi. 33.
P Exod. xxi. 12, 13. f Cic. Ac. Quaest. 1. i.
D 4
40 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
able ordinance : sometime, the style of fortune, because of many effects there appear unto us no certain causes. To this effect speaketh St. Augustine in his questions upon Ge nesis the first book : the same hath Seneca in his fourth of Benefits; which was also the doctrine of the Stoics, of which sect he was : " ( For whatsoever," saith he, " thou callest. " God, be it nature, fate, or fortune, all are but one and the " same, differenced by divers terms, according as he useth " and exerciseth his power diversly.""
But it may be objected, that if fortune and chance were not sometimes the causes of good and evil in men, but an idle voice, whereby we express success; how comes it then, that so many worthy and wise men depend upon so many- unworthy and empty-headed fools ? that riches and honour are given to external men, and without kernel ; and so many learned, virtuous, and valiant men wear out their lives in poor and dejected estates? In a word, there is no other in ferior, or apparent cause, beside the partiality of man's af fection, but the fashioning and not fashioning of ourselves according to the nature of the time wherein we live : for whosoever is most able and best sufficient to discern, and hath withal an honest and open heart and loving truth ; if princes, or those that govern, endure no other discourse than their own flatteries : then, I say, such an one, whose virtue and courage forbiddeth him to be base and a dissem bler, shah1 evermore hang under the wheel ; which kind of deserving well and receiving ill we always falsely charge fortune withal. For whosoever shall tell any great man or magistrate, that he is not just ; the general of an army, that he is not valiant; and great ladies, that they are not fair; shall never be made a counsellor, a captain, or a courtier. Nei ther is it sufficient to be wise with a wise prince, valiant with a valiant, and just with him that is just, for such a one hath no estate in his prosperity ; but he must also change with the successor, if he be of contrary qualities; sail with the tide of the time, and alter form and condition, as the estate
1 Senec. 1. 4. c 7.
CHAP. r. OF THE WORLD. 41
or the estate's master changeth : otherwise IIOAV were it pos sible, that the most base men, and separate from all imitable qualities, could so often attain to honour and riches, but by such an observant slavish course ? These men having no thing else to value themselves by, but a counterfeit kind of wondering at other men, and by making them believe that all their vices are virtues, and all their dusty actions crystal line, have yet in all ages prospered equally with the most virtuous, if not exceeded them. For, according to Menan- der, Omnis insipiens arrogantia et plausibus capitur ; " Every fool is won with his own pride, and others flattering " applause :"" so as whosoever will live altogether out of him self, and study other men's humours, and observe them, shall never be unfortunate ; and on the contrary, that man which prizeth truth and virtue, (except the season wherein he liveth be of all these, and of all sorts of goodness, fruitful,) shall never prosper by the possession or profession thereof. It is also a token of a worldly wise man, not to war or contend in vain against the nature of times wherein he liveth : for such a one is often the author of his own misery ; but best it were to follow the advice which the pope gave the bi shops of that age, out of Ovid, while the Arian heresy raged :
11 Dum furor in cursu est, currenti cedefurori.
While fury gallops on the way, Let no man fury's gallop stay.
And if Cicero (than whom that world begat not a man of more reputed judgment) had followed the counsel of his brother Quintus, Potuisset, saith Petrarch, in lectulo suo mori, potuisset integro cadavere sepeliri ; " he might then " have died the death of nature, and been with an untorn " and undissevered body buried ;" for, as Petrarch in the same place noteth, Quid stultius quam desperantem (prce- sertim de effectu) litibus perpetuis implicari ? " What more " foolish than for him that despairs (especially of the ef- " feet) to be entangled with endless contentions ?" Whoso-
" Orid. Met. 1. i.
42 THE HISTORY I-.OOK i.
ever therefore will set before him MachiaveTs two marks to shoot at, to wit, riches and glory, must set on and take off a back of iron to a weak wooden bow, that it may fit both the strong and the feeble ; for as he that first devised to add sails to rowing vessels did either so proportion them, as being fastened aloft, and towards the head of his mast, he might abide all winds and storms ; or else he some time or other perished by his own invention : so that man which prizeth virtue for itself, and cannot endure to hoise and strike his sails, as the divers natures of calms and storms re quire, must cut his sails and his cloth of mean length and breadth, and content himself with a slow and sure naviga tion, to wit, a mean and free estate. But of this dispute of fortune, and the rest, or of whatsoever lords or gods, ima ginary powers, or causes, the wit (or rather foolishness) of man hath found out, let us resolve with St. Paul, who hath taught us, that there is *but one God, the Father, ofichom tire all thing*, and tee in him, and one I^ord Jcxu.f Christ, by whom are all things, and toe by him. There are diversi ties of operation*, but God it the same which laorkeih all in (ill.
CHAP. II.
Of marts estate in hisjirst creation, and of God's rest.
SECT. I.
Of the image of God, according to which man was first created.
J. HE creation of all other creatures being finished, the hea vens adorned, and the earth replenished, God said, y Let us make man i>i our own image, according to our likeness.
Man is the last and most admirable of God's works to us known: z Ingens miraeidurn homo; " Man is the greatest " wonder," saith Plato out of Mercurius : Natures arden- tisximce artificium; " The artificial work of the most ardent
* i Cor. viii. 6. xii. 6. * Tris. Asel. 2. ct de volunt. Dei.
y Gen. i. 26. Plat. leg. 1. i.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 43
" or fire-like nature,'1 as saith Zoroaster ; though the same be meant, not for any excellency external, but in respect of his internal form, both in the nature, qualities, and other at tributes thereof: in nature, because it hath an essence, im mortal and spiritual ; in qualities, because the same was by God created holy and righteous in truth ; in other attri butes, because man was made lord of the world, and of the creatures therein.
a Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius altce, Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in ccetera posset : Natus homo est.
More holy than the rest, and understanding more, A living creature wants, to rule all made before : So man began to be.
Of this image and similitude of God, there is much dis pute among the fathers, schoolmen, and late writers : some of the fathers conceive, that man was made after the image of God, in respect chiefly of empire and dominion, as St. Chrysostom, Ambrose, and some others: which St. Ambrose denieth to the woman in these words, Ut slcut Deus unus, ab eojieret homo unus ; et quomodo ex Deo uno omnia, ita ex uno homine omne genus esset super faciem totius terrce : unus igitur unum fecit, qui unitatis ejus haberet imaginem ; " That as God is one, one man might be made by him ; and " that in what manner all things are of one God, likewise " of one man the whole kind should be upon the face of the " whole earth : therefore he being one, made one that " should have the image of his unity." But whereas it is gathered out of the following words of the same verse, that man was after the image of God in respect of rule and power ; it is written dominamini in the plural number, and let them rule over thejish of the sea, &c. and therefore cannot the woman be excluded. Others conceive, that man is said to be after the image of God in respect of his immor tal soul only : because as God is invisible, so the soul of
* "Sanctum, quia pars potior im- " tali." In locum Ovid. Met. 1. i. " mortalis; animal, quia in inor- 76.
44 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
man is invisible ; ;is (rod is immortal and incorporal, so is the soul of man immortal and incorporal ; and as there is but one God which governeth the world, so but one soul which governeth the body of man; and as God is wholly in every part of the world, so is the soul of man wholly in every part of the body: Anlma est iota in toto, et tola in qnalibct parte ; " The soul is wholly in the whole body, and wholly in every " part thereof," according to Aristotle; though Chalcidius and other learned men deny that doctrine ; which that it is otherwise than potentially true, all the Aristotelians in the world shall never prove. These and the like arguments do the Jews make, saith Tostatus, and these resemblances be tween the infinite God and the finite man.
The schoolmen resemble the mind or soul of man to God in this respect especially ; because that as in the mind there are three distinct powers, or faculties, to wit, memory, un derstanding, and JolL; and yet all these being of real differ ences, are but one mind : so in God there are three distinct Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and yet but one God. They also make the image and similitude diverse ; and again, they distinguish between imaginem Dei, and ad inuiginan Del ; and spin into small threads with subtle distinctions many times the plainness and sincerity of the scriptures : their wits being like that strong water, that eat- eth through and dissolveth the purest gold. Victorinus also maketh the image of God to be substantial, but not the si militude : Sed insubstantia iiomen qual'iiuti* dcclarutiruin ,- " a word declaring quality in the substance." Out of which words, and that which followeth, it is inferred, that as the image and similitude do greatly differ, so the sinful soul doth not therefore leave to be the image of God ; but it hath not his similitude, except it be holy and righteous. St. Augustine also against Adimantus the Manichee affirm- eth, that by sin the perfection of this image is lost in man; and in his retractions maintaineth the same opinion, and also affirmeth that the similitude is more largely taken than the image.
But howsoever the schoolmen and others distinguish, or
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 45
whatsoever the fathers conceive ; sure I am, that St. Paul maketh the same sense of the image which Victorinus doth of the similitude, who saith, b As we have borne the image of the earthly, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly ; and it cannot be gathered out of the scriptures, that the words image and similitude -were used but in one sense, and in this place the better to express each other, whatsoever Lombard hath said to the contrary. For God knows what a multitude of meanings the wit of man imagineth to him self in the scriptures, which neither Moses, the prophets, or apostles ever conceived. Now as St. Paul useth the word image for both; so St. James useth the word similitude for both, in these words : c Therewith bless we God, ercn the Father ; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Howsoever therefore St. Augustine seemeth, out of a kind of elegancy in writing, to make some difference ; as where he writeth, d Confitemur imaginem in (Rternitate, similitudinem in moribus inveniri ; " We con- " fess that this image is found in eternity, but his similitude " in manners," that is, in the spiritual dispositions and qua lities of the mind : yet thus he elsewhere speaketh plain ly ; e Quasi vero possit esse imago aliqua, in qua simili- tudo non sit : si enim omnino similis non est, prociddubio nee imago est ; " As if," saith he, " there could be any " image, where the similitude is not : no, out of doubt, " where there is no likeness, there is no image." The very words of the text make this most manifest, as, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness ; which is, Let us make man in our image, that he may be like us : and in the next verse following, God himself maketh it plain; for there he useth the word image only as thus : God cre ated the man in his image, in the image of God created he him. And to take away all dispute or ambiguity, in the first verse of the fifth chapter, the word similitude is used again by itself, as, In the day that God created Adam, in the likeness of God made he him. And this similitude
b i Cor. xv. 49. β’ .Tain. iii. 9. d Ut supra. " Aug. ut supra.
46 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
f St. Paul calleth the image; Put on, saitli lie, the ne:c man, zc/iic/t is renewed 'in knowledge after the image of him that created him. And in Siracides it is written, He made than according- to his image. Now if we may believe St. Paul before Peter Lombard, and other schoolmen, then it is as manifest as words can make it, that the image and similitude is but the same ; for St. Paul useth both the words directly in one sense. sFor they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the .s'nnilitudc of the image of a corruptible man.
Zanchius laboureth to prove, that man was formed after the image of God, both in body and mind : h Nulla par* in homine, qu& non fucrit hujuscc imaginis particcps ; " No " part in a man," saith he, " which was not participating " God's image ;" for God said, Let //.v make man according to our oicn image. But the soul alone is not man, but the hypostasis, or whole man, compounded of body and soul. " The body of man,"" saith he, " is the image of the world, " and called therefore microcosmus ;" but the idea and exem plar of the world was first in God, so that man, according to his body, must needs be the image of God. Against which opinion of this learned man, his own objection seemeth to me sufficient, where he allegeth that it may be said, that Moses spake by the figure synecdoche, as when a man is called a mortal man, yet is not the whole man mortal, but the body only : so when God said, Let us make man after our image, he meant the soul of man, and not the body of earth and dust : ' Maledictus qui Deitatem ad Itominix line//- mcnta refert, saith St. Augustine; " Cursed is he that re- " ferreth the deity of God to the lineaments of man's body:" Dcus enim non est humtnnc fornuc particeps, neque corpus humanum divines, saith Philo ; " God is not partaker of " human form, nor human body of the form divine." The Hebrew word for image is tselem, which signifieth a shadow or obscure resemblance : In Imagine per transit homo ; " Man " passeth away in a shadow." Let us then know and consider, that God, who is eternal and infinite, hath not any bodily
f Coloss. iii. 10. h Zanch. de oper. Dei, 1. 3. r. i.
Rom. i. 23. 'In Gen.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 47
shape or composition, for it is both against his nature and his word ; an error of the anthropomorphitae, against the very essence and majesty of God.
Surely Cicero, who was but a heathen, had yet a more di vine understanding than these gross heretics : Ad similitu- dmem Dei propius accedebat humana virtus, quamjigura; " The virtue which is in man," saith he, " came nearer the " similitude of God than the figure." For God is a spiri tual substance, invisible, and most simple ; God is a just God; God is merciful ; God is charity itself; and, in a word, goodness itself, and none else simply good. And thus much it hath pleased God himself to teach us, and to make us know of himself. What then can be the shadow of such a substance, the image of such a nature, or wherein can man be said to resemble his unexcogitable power and perfectness? Certainly, not in k dominion alone ; for the Devil is said to be the prince of this world, and the l kingdom of Christ was not thereof, who was the true and perfect image of his Fa ther : neither because man hath an immortal soul, and therein the faculties of memory, understanding, and will ; for the devils are also immortal, and participate those facul ties, being called m dcemones, because scientes of knowledge and subtlety : neither because we are reasonable creatures, by which we are distinguished from beasts: for who have rebelled against God ? who have made gods of the vilest beasts, of serpents, of cats, of owls, yea, even of shameful parts, of lusts and pleasures, but reasonable men ? Yet do I not condemn the opinion of n St. Chrysostom and Am brose, as touching dominion, but that, in respect thereof, man was in some sort after the image of God, if we take dominion, such as it ought to be, that is, accompanied with justice and piety ; for God did not only make man a ruler and governor over the fishes of the sea, the fowls of heaven, (or of the air,) and over the beasts of the field ; but God gave unto man a dominion over men, he appointed kings to govern them, and judges to judge them in equity. Neither
k Eph. vi. 12. '" Plat, in Cratyl.
'John xviii. 36. " Osorius de Just. 1. 5.
48 THE HISTORY HOOK i.
do I exclude' reason, as it is the ability of understanding. For I do not conceive, that Irenaeus did therefore call man the image of God, because he was animal rationale only ; but that he understood it better, with Sybilla ; Imago mea est homo, rectam rationem habeas ; " Man that is endued " with right reason is said to resemble God ;" that is, by right reason to know and confess God his creator, and the same God to serve, love, and obey ; and therefore said St. Augustine, (who herein came nearer the truth,) Fecit Deushomincm ad vmaginem ct similitudin&n xitani ni incnte ; IC God made man in respect of the intellect after his own " image and similitude ;" and Β° Reynerius, Homo, quod ha- bet mentem,factus est ad imaginem Dei; " Man was made " after the image of God, in mind, or, in that he hath a " mind."
SECT. II.
Of the Intellectual mind of man, in which there is much of the image of God ; and that this image is much deformed by sin.
BUT mens is not taken here for anima physica, accord ing to Aristotle, which is forma vel natura hominis, " the " form or nature of man ;" but this faculty or gift of God, called mens, is taken for prima vis anirni, " the principal β’k strength of the mind [or soul,]" cujns actus est perpetua vcritatis contemplatio ; " whose act [exercise, or office] is " the perpetual contemplation of truth;" and therefore it is also called P iutcllectitx d'rcitius, intcllcctnx contemplativns, ct anima contemplative!, ; " a divine understanding, and an " intellect or mind contemplative/' ^ Est autem men* nostra, saith Cusanus, vis comprclicndcndi ; et tot um virtuale ex omnibus comprehendcndi virtutibiis compositum ; " Our in- " tellectual mind," saith he, "is a power of comprehending; " even the whole, that is in this kind powerful, compounded " of all the powers of comprehension:" unto which Mercurius attributeth so much, (if his meaning accompany his words,) that he esteemeth it to be the very essence of God, (which
0 Revn. fie inrnt. P Parnand. 'β’ DC mctitc. Idiot, i. 3.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 49
was also the error of the Manichees, and others,) and no otherwise separate from God, saith he, than the light from the sun ; for this mens, or understanding, saith Mer- curius, r est Deus in hominibus " is God in men ;" or ra ther (and which I take to be his meaning) is the image of God in man. For, as the sun is not of the same essence or nature with the divine light, but a body illightened, and an illumination created ; so is this mens or understanding in men, not of the essence of God's infinite understanding, but a power and faculty of our souls the purest ; or, the lumen animcR rationalis, "by the true and eternal light illight- " ened." And this mens others call animam animce, " the " soul of the soul ;" or, with St. Augustine, " the eye of the " soul," or receptacle of sapience and divine knowledge, qua amor em sapientice tanquam ducem sequittir, " which fol- " loweth after the love of sapience as her guide," saith Philo; between which and reason, between which and the mind, called anima, between which and that power which the Latins call animus, there is this difference : reason is that faculty by which we judge and discourse ; anima, by which we live. Hereof it is said, anima corpus animat, id est, vivificat ; " anima, or the soul, is that which doth animate *' the body," that is, giveth it life ; for death is the separa tion of body and soul : and the same strength, saith Philo, which God the great director hath in the world, the same hath this anima, or mind, or soul in man. Animus is that by which we will and make election ; and to this Basil agreeth, which calleth this mens, or divine understanding, perspicacem animce partem, " the perceiving part of the " mind," or, the light by which the soul discerneth : dormi- entium mens, non anima, sopitur ; et in Juriosis mens ex- t'mguitur, anima manet : "in men that sleep it is this " mens, or understanding, and not the mind or soul, which " resteth, during which time it is but habitual in wise men, " and in madmen this mens is extinguished, and not the " soul ;" for madmen do live, though distract.
r Sen. ep. 65. f. et 31. f- RALEGH, HIST. WORLD, VOL. I. E
50 THE HISTORY. BOOK i.
Therefore this word being often used for the soul giving life, is attributed abusively to madmen, when we say that they are of a distract mind, instead of a broken understand ing: which word mind \ve use also for opinion; as, I am of this mind, or that mind : and sometimes for men's con ditions or virtues; as, he is of an honest mind, or, a man of a just mind: sometimes for affection; as, I do this for my mind's sake: and Aristotle sometimes useth this word mens for the phantasy, which is the strength of the imagination : sometimes for the knowledge of principles which we have without discourse : oftentimes for spirits, angels, and intel ligences: but as it is used in the proper signification, in cluding both the understanding agent and possible, it is de scribed to be a pure, simple, substantial act, not depending upon matter, but having relation to that which is intelli gible, as to his first object : or more at large thus ; a part or particle of the soul, whereby it doth understand, not de pending upon matter, nor needing any organ, free from pas sion coming from without, and apt to be dissevered, as eter nal from that which is mortal. Hereof excellently Mercu- rius ; Anima est imago mentis, mens imago Dei. Deus meiiti prceest, menu anhnd', anima corpori ; " The soul" (meaning that which giveth life) " is the image of this un- " derstanding, or mens ; and this mens, or understanding, " is the image of God. God is president or ruler over this " understanding, this understanding over the soul, arid this " soul over the body." This division and distinction, out of the Platonicks and Peripateticks, I leave to the reader to judge of. That mens liumana hath no need of any organ, s Marsilius Ficinus, in his ninth book of the soul's immortal ity, laboureth to prove. Zanchius doth not differ from Fi cinus in words ; for, saith he, ' Adjacultatem intelligentem exercendam, non eget mens organo ; tanquam medio, per quod intelligat : quanquam eget objecto in quod intueatur, et ex quo intellectionem concipiat. Hoc autem objectum sunt pliantasmata, sen rerum a sensibus perceptarum ftimulachra
β’ Lib. 9. r. 5. Xanrli. dc opor. Dei, part. 3. 1. i. r. 2.
:
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 51
ad phantasiam prolata : " To exercise the faculty of under- " standing, the mind of man," saith he, " needeth no instru- " ment, as a mean, by which it may understand : but it " needeth an object whereon to look, and whence to con- " ceive the act of understanding. This object are the phan- " tasms, or the resemblances of things received from the " sense, and carried to the phantasy ."" But in effect this conclusion seemeth to carry a contrary sense, when he mak- eth the phantasy, in representing the object to the under standing, to be a corporal organum ; neither can it be un derstood to be an organum of any thing but of the under standing. And he addeth, that the resemblance of things in man's imagination are to his understanding and mind as colours are to the sight ; whence it so followeth, that the imagination or phantasy itself is to the faculty of under standing as the eye is to the faculty of seeing : and as this is an organum, so that. Of this question, how the mind in all her actions maketh use of the body, and hath communion with the body, I refer the reader to a most grave and learned discourse in the last reply of u Mr. Dr. Bilson, late bishop of Winchester, unto Henry Jacob. Howsoever the truth be determined, we must conclude, that it is neither in respect of reason alone, by which we discourse, nor in respect of the mind itself, by which we live, nor in respect of our souls simply, by which we are immortal, that we are made after the image of God. But most safely may we resemble our- Ives to God in mente, and in respect of that pure faculty hich is never separate from the contemplation and love of God. Yet this is not all ; for St. Bernard maketh a true difference between the nature and faculties of the mind or soul, and between the infusion of qualities, endowments, and gifts of grace, wherewith it is adorned and enriched, which, being added to the nature, essence, and faculties, maketh it altogether to be after the image of God ; whose words are
u Page 185. et sequent. "Adima- " agnosceret simm ; atque imitnri,
" jrinem Dei creavit ilium, id est, sa- " proqiie inffenii, proque auctoritatis,
" pientiae, virtutis, ac bonitatis coin- " sibi roncessse ratione, studerct."
" potpm, rpii sese intuitus crontorpm Exam.
K 2
52 THE HISTORY. BOOK i.
these: Non proptcrca imago Dei ctt, quid xui mnninit metis, seque intclligit ct diligit, (which was also the opinion of St. Augustine;) sed qnia potcst meminisse, intcUigere, ac diligere eum a quofacta est: that is, " The mind (or mens) " was not therefore the image of God, because it reniem- " bereth, understandeth, and loveth itself; but because it ** can remember, understand, and love God, who created it." And that this image may be deformed and made unprofit able, hear Basil ; Homo ad imaginem et ximilitttdinem Dei fact us est, peccatum vero imaginis hujus pulchritiidinem deformavit, et inutilem reddidit, dum animam corruptis concupiscentice affect'tlux immcrsit : " Man was made after " the image and similitude of God, but sin hath deformed " the beauty of this image, and made it unprofitable, by " drawing our minds into corrupt concupiscence."
It is not therefore (as aforesaid) by reason of immortality, nor in reason, nor in dominion, nor in any one of these by itself, nor in all these joined, by any of which, or by all which we resemble, or may be called the shadow of God, though by reason and understanding, with the other facul ties of the soul, we are made capable of this print; but chiefly, in respect of the habit of original righteousness, most perfectly infused by God into the mind and soul of man in his first creation. For it is not by nature, nor by her liberality, that we were printed with the seal of God's image, (though reason may be said to be of her gift, which, joined to the soul, is a part of the essential constitution of our proper species,) but from the bountiful grace of the Lord of all goodness, who breathed life into earth, and con trived within the trunk of dust and clay, the inimitable ha- bility of his own justice, piety, and righteousness.
So long therefore (for that resemblance which dominion hath) do those that are powerful retain the image of God, as according to his commandments they exercise the office or magistracy to which they are called, and sincerely walk in the ways of God, which in the scriptures is called *walk-
* Gen. v. 22.
s
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 53
ing- with God ,β’ and all other men so long retain this image, as they fear, love, and serve God truly, that is, for the love of God alone, and do not bruise and deface his seal by the weight of manifold and voluntary offences and obstinate sins. For the unjust mind cannot be after the image of God, seeing God is justice itself; the bloodthirsty hath it β’not, for God is charity and mercy itself; falsehood, cunning practice, and ambition, are properties of Satan, and there fore cannot dwell in one soul together with God : and to be short, there is no likelihood between pure y light and black darkness, between beauty and deformity, or between righteousness and reprobation. And though nature, ac cording to common understanding, have made us capable by the power of reason, and apt enough to receive this image of God's goodness, which the sensual souls of beasts cannot perceive ; yet were that aptitude naturally more inclinable to follow and embrace the false and dureless pleasures of this stage-play world, than to become the shadow of God by walking after him, had not the exceeding workmanship of God's wisdom, and the liberality of his mercy, formed eyes to our souls, as to our bodies, which, piercing through the impurity of our flesh, behold the highest heavens, and thence bring knowledge and object to the mind and soul, to contemplate the ever-during glory and termless joy pre pared for those which retain the image and similitude of eir Creator, preserving undefiled and unrent the garment the new man, which after the image of God is created in righteousness and true holiness, as saith z St. Paul. Now whereas it is thought by some of the fathers, as by St. Au gustine, with whom a St. Ambrose joineth, that by sin the perfection of the image is lost, and not the image itself, both opinions by this distinction may be reconciled ; to wit, that the image of God, in man, may be taken two,, ways; for either it is considered according to natural gifts, and con- sisteth therein ; namely, to have a reasonable and under standing nature, &c. and in this sense the image of God is no
y 2 Cor. vi. 14. zEph. iv. 24. ' St. Ambrose.
E3
54 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
more lost by sin than the very reasonable or understanding nature, &c. is lost ; (for sin doth not abolish and take away these natural gifts :) or, the image of God is considered ac cording to supernatural gifts, namely, of divine grace and hea venly glory, which is indeed the perfection and accomplish ment of the natural image; and this manner of similitude and image of God is wholly blotted out and destroyed by sin.
SECT. III.
Of our base and frail bodies : and that the care thereof should yield to the immortal soul.
THE external man God formed out of the dust of the earth, or (according to the signification of the word Adam) of adamath, of red earth, or, ex lima trrrtc, " out of the " slime of the earth," or a mixed matter of earth and water. b Non ex qualibet humo, sed ex ghaphar adamatk (id est) ex pinguissima et molliafsima : not that God made an image or statue of clay, but out of clay, earth, or dust, God formed and made flesh, blood, and bone, with all parts of man.
That man was formed of earth and dust did Abraham acknowledge, when in humble fear he called unto God to save Sodom : c Let not my Lord now be angry, if I speak, I that am but dust and ashes : and, d In these houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, do our souls inhabit, ac cording to Job. And though our own eyes do every where behold the sudden and resistless assaults of death, and na ture assureth us by never-failing experience, and reason by infallible demonstration, that our times upon the earth have neither certainty nor durability ; that our bodies are but the anvils of pain and diseases, and our minds the hives of unnumbered cares, sorrows, and passions ; and that (when we are most glorified) we are but those painted posts, against which envy and fortune direct their darts ; yet such is the true unhappiness of our condition, and the dark ignorance which covereth the eyes of our understanding, that we only
h Arias Mout. dc Nat. i. 156. r Gen. xviii. 27. d Job iv. 19.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 55
prize, pamper, and exalt this vassal and slave of death, and forget altogether (or only remember at our cast-away lei sure) the imprisoned immortal soul, which can neither die with the reprobate, nor perish with the mortal parts of vir tuous men : seeing God's justice in the one, and his good ness in the other, is exercised for evermore, as the ever-liv ing subjects of his reward and punishment. But when is it that we examine this great account ? never while we have one vanity left us to spend : we plead for titles, till our breath fail us ; dig for riches, while our strength enableth us ; exercise malice, while we can revenge ; and then, when time hath beaten from us both youth, pleasure, and health, and that nature itself hateth the house of old age, we re member with e Job, that we must go the way from whence we shall not return, and that our bed is made ready for us in the darJc; and then, I say, looking over-late into the bot tom of our conscience, (which pleasure and ambition had locked up from us all our lives,) we behold therein the fear ful images of our actions past, and withal this terrible in scription, {That God will bring every work into judgment that man hath done under the sun.
But what examples have ever moved us ? what persua sions reformed us ? or what threatenings made us afraid ? We behold other men's tragedies played before us, we hear what is promised and threatened : but the world's bright glory hath put out the eyes of our minds ; and these be traying lights (with which we only see) do neither look up towards termless joys, nor down towards endless sorrows, till we neither know nor can look for any thing else at the world's hands. Of which excellently Marius Victor :
Nil hostes, nil dira fames, nil denique morbi Egerunt,fuimus, qui nunc sumus, iisque periclis Tentati; nihilo meliores reddimur unquam, Sub vitiis nullo culparum fine manentes.
Diseases, famine, enemies, in us no change have wrought, What erst we were, we are ; still in the same snare caught :
* Job x. 21. and xvii. it?. f Eccl. xii. 14.
K -t
56 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
No time can our corrupted manners mend, In vice we dwell, in sin that hath no end.
But let us not flatter our immortal souls herein ; for to neglect God all our lives, and know that we neglect him ; to offend God voluntarily, and know that we offend him, cast ing our hopes on the peace which we trust to make at part ing, is no other than a rebellious presumption, and (that which is the worst of all) even a contemptuous laughing to scorn, and deriding of God, his laws, and precepts. f Fru- stra sperant, qui sic de misericordia Dei sibi bland iuntur ; " They hope in vain," saith Bernard, " which in this sort " flatter themselves with God^s mercy .r>
SECT. IV.
Of the spirit of life which God breathed into man in his creation.
IN this frame and carcass God breathed the breath of life ; and the man was a living soul : that is, God gave to a body of earth and of corruptible matter a soul spiritual and incorruptible ; not that God had any such bodily instru ments as men use, but God breathed the spirit of life and immortality into man, as he breatheth his grace daily into such as love and fear him. S The Spirit of God, saith Elihu in Job, hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life : In qua sententia, saith Rabanus, vi- tanda est paupertas sensus carnulis, ne forte putemus Deum, vel manibus corporeis de limo formasse corpus ho~ minis, velfaucibus aut labiis suis inspirasse infaciemfor- mati, ut vivere possit et spiraculum vitce halter e : nam et propheta cum ait, manus tu&fecerunt me, &c. tropica hoc locutione mag-is quam propria (id est,juxta consuetudinem, qua solent homines operari) locutus cst: " In which sen- " tence," saith he, " the beggarliness of carnal sense is to be u avoided, lest perhaps we should think, either that God " with bodily hands made man's body of slime, or breathed " with jaws or lips upon his face, (being formed,) that he " might live, and have the spirit of life : for the prophet
f Bern, in 1's. qui habitat. Β« Job xxxiii. 4.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 57
" also when he saith, thy hands have made me, spake this " tropically, rather than properly, that is, according to the " custom which men use in working.1'' Quantum est peri- cull hiis, qui scripturas sensu corporeo legunt ! " In what " danger are they that read the scriptures in a carnal " sense !" By this breath was infused into man both life and soul, and therefore this soul the philosophers call an'imam, qua? vivificat corpus, et animat; " which doth " animate and give life to the body." The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding, saith Job; and this spirit, which God breathed into man, which is the reason able soul of man, returneth again to God that gave it, as the body returneth unto the earth, out of which it was taken, according to Ecclesiastes ; hAnd dust shall return to the earth, out of which it was taken ; and the spirit shall return to God that gave it. Neither is this word spirit usually otherwise taken in the scriptures than for the soul; as when Stephen cried unto God, ^Domine, suscipe spiri- tum meum, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit:" and in St. John, ^β’And Jesus bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, or spi rit; which was, that his life and soul left his body dead. And that the immortal soul of man differeth from the souls of beasts, the manner of the creation maketh it manifest : for it is written, lLet the waters bring forth in abundance every creeping thing, and let the earth bring Jbrth the living thing according to his kind, the beast of the earth, &c. But of man it is written, Let us make man in our own image, Sic. ; and further, that m the Lord breathed in his face the breath of life. Wherefore, as from the water and earth were those creatures brought forth, and thence received life ; so shall they again be dissolved into the same first matter whence they were taken : but the life of breath everlasting, which God breathed into man, shall, according to Ecclesiastes, n return again to God that gave it.
h Eccl. xii. 7. ' Gen. i. 20. 24. 26.
' Acts vii. 59. '" Gen. ii. 7.
k John xix. 30. " Eccl. xii. 7.
58 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
SECT. V.
That man is, as it were, a little world : with a digression touching
our mortality.
MAN, thus compounded and formed by God, was an abstract or model, or brief story of tbe universal : in whom God concluded the creation and work of the world, and whom he made the last and most excellent of his creatures, being internally endued with a divine understanding, by which he might contemplate and serve his Creator, after whose image he was formed, and endued with the powers and faculties of reason and other abilities, that thereby also he might govern and rule the world, and all other God's creatures therein. And whereas God created three sorts of living natures, to wit, angelical, rational, and brutal ; giving to angels an intellectual, and to beasts a sensual na ture, he vouchsafed unto man both the Β°intellectual of an gels, the sensitive of beasts, and the proper rational belong ing unto man, and therefore, saith Gregory Nazianzene, PHomo est utr'iusqnc natures vmculum; " Man is the bond " and chain which tieth together both natures :" and because in the little frame of man's body there is a representation of the universal, and (by allusion) a kind of participation of all the parts thereof, therefore was man called microcos- mos, or the little world. ^Dens igltur hominem factum, velut alter u m qiicndam mundnni, in brevi magnum, ntque exiguo totum, in terris statuit; " God therefore placed in " the earth the man whom he had made, as it were another " world, the great and large world in the small and little " world;" for out of earth and dust was formed the flesh of man, and therefore heavy and lumpish ; the bones of his body we may compare to the hard rocks and stones, and therefore strong and durable ; of which Ovid :
r Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum, Et documenta damus qua simus origine nati.
0 Ar. Phys. 1. 8. c. 2. i. 17. f. i Aug. 1. qu. 83. 4. 67. retr. 1. i.
P Greg. Naz. Epist. " Omnis in ho- c. 2. 'β’ miue creatura, et coelum ct terra." ' Ovid. Met. 1. i.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 59
From thence our kind hard-hearted is,
Enduring pain and care, Approving, that our bodies of
A stony nature are.
His blood, which disperseth itself by the branches of veins through all the body, may be resembled to those wa ters which are carried by brooks and rivers over all the earth ; his breath to the air; his natural heat to the enclosed warmth which the earth hath in itself, which, stirred up by the heat of the sun, assisteth nature in the speedier procrea tion of those varieties which the earth bringeth forth ; our radical moisture, oil, or balsamum, (whereon the natural heat feedeth and is maintained,) is resembled to the fat and fertility of the earth ; the hairs of man's body, which adorns, or overshadows it, to the grass, which covereth the xipper face and skin of the earth ; our generative power, to nature, which produceth all things ; our determinations, to the light, wandering, and unstable clouds, carried every where with uncertain winds; our eyes, to the light of the sun and moon ; and the beauty of our youth, to the flowers of the spring, which, either in a very short time, or with the sun's heat, dry up and wither away, or the fierce puffs of wind blow them from the stalks ; the thoughts of our mind, to the motion of angels ; and our pure understand ing, (formerly called mens, and that which always looketh upwards,) to those intellectual natures which are always present with God ; and, lastly, our immortal souls (while they are righteous) are by God himself beautified with the title of his own image and similitude. And although, in respect of God, there is no man just, or good, or righteous, (for, s in angelis deprehensa est stultitia, " Behold, he " found folly in his angels," saith Job ;) yet, with such a kind of difference as there is between the substance and the shadow, there may be found a goodness in man : which God being pleased to accept, hath therefore called man the image and similitude of his own righteousness. In this also
β’ Job iv. 18.
60 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
is the little world of man compared, and made more like the universal, (man being the measure of all things; ^Homo est mcn.si/ra omnium rcrum, saith Aristotle and Pythagoras,) that the four complexions resemble the four elements, and the seven ages of man the seven planets ; whereof our in fancy is compared to the moon, in which we seem only to live and grow, as plants ; the second age to Mercury, wherein we are taught and instructed ; our third age to Ve nus, the days of love, desire, and vanity ; the fourth to the sun, the strong, flourishing, and beautiful age of man's life; the h'fth to Mars, in which we seek honour and vic tory, and in which our thoughts travel to ambitious ends ; the sixth age is ascribed to Jupiter, in which we begin to take account of our times, judge of ourselves, and grow to the perfection of our understanding ; the last and seventh to Saturn, wherein our days are sad, and overcast, and in which we find by dear and lamentable experience, and by the loss which can never be repaired, that of all our vain passions and affections past, the sorrow only abideth : our attendants are sicknesses, and variable infirmities; and by how much the more we are accompanied with plenty, by so much the more greedily is our end desired, whom when time hath made unsociable to others, we become a burden to ourselves : being of no other use, than to hold the riches we have from our successors. In this time it is, when (as aforesaid) we, for the most part, and never before, prepare for our eternal habitation, which we pass on unto with many sighs, groans, and sad thoughts, and in the end, by the workmanship of death, finish the sorrowful business of a wretched life; towards which we always travel both sleep ing and waking ; neither have those beloved companions of honour and riches any power at all to hold us any one day by the glorious promise of entertainments; but by what crooked path soever we walk, the same leadeth on directly to the house of death, whose doors lie open at all hours, and to all persons. For this tide of man's life, after it once
' Arist. 10. Metaph. c. i. f.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 61
turneth and declineth, ever runneth with a perpetual ebb and falling stream, but never floweth again : our leaf once fallen, springeth no more; neither doth the sun or the summer adorn us again, with the garments of new leaves and flowers.
Redditur arboribus florens revirentibus eetas; Ergo non homini, quodfuit ante, redit.
To which I give this sense.
The plants and trees made poor and old
By winter envious,
The spring-time bounteous
Covers again from shame and cold :
But never man repair'd again
His youth and beauty lost,
Though art, and care, and cost,
Do promise nature's help in vain.
And of which Catullus, Epigram 53.
Soles occidere et redire possunt : Nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux, Nox est perpetua una dormienda.
The sun may set and rise : But we contrarywise Sleep after our short light One everlasting night.
For if there were any baiting place, or rest, in the course or race of man's life, then, according to the doctrine of the Academics, the same might also perpetually be maintained ; but as there is a continuance of motion in natural living things, and as the sap and juice, wherein the life of plants is preserved, doth evermore ascend or descend; so is it with the life of man, which is always either increasing to wards ripeness and perfection, or declining and decreasing towards rottenness and dissolution.
62 THE HISTORY ROOK i.
SECT. VI.
Of the free power which man had in his first creation to dispose of
himself.
THESE be the miseries which our first parents brought on all mankind, unto whom God in his creation gave a free and unconstrained will, and on whom he bestowed the libe ral choice of all things, with one only prohibition, to try his gratitude and obedience. God set before him a mortal and immortal life, a nature celestial and terrene ; and, indeed, God gave man to himself, to be his own guide, his own workman, and his own painter, that he might frame or de scribe unto himself what he pleased, and make election of his own form. u God made man in the beginning, saith Siracides, and left him in the hands of his own counsel. Such was the liberality of God, and man's felicity : where as beasts, and all other creatures reasonless, brought with them into the world, saith Lucilius, and that even when they first fell from the bodies of their dams, the nature which they could not change; and the supernal spirits or angels were from the beginning, or soon after, of that con dition, in which they remain in perpetual eternity. But (as aforesaid) God gave unto man all kind of seeds and grafts of life, to wit, the vegetative life of plants, the sensual of beasts, the rational of man, and the intellectual of angels ; whereof whichsoever he took pleasure to plant and cul- tive, the same should futurely grow in him, and bring forth fruit, agreeable to his own choice and plantation. This freedom of the first man Adam, and our first father, was enigmatically described by Asclepius Atheniensis, saith Mirandula, in the person and fable of Proteus, who was said, as often as he pleased, to change his shape. To the same end were all those celebrated metamorphoses among the Pythagoreans and ancient poets, wherein it was feigned that men were transformed into divers shapes of beasts, thereby to shew the change of men's conditions, from rea-
11 F.( fit's, xv. 14.
CHAP. ii. OF THE WORLD. 63
son to brutality, from virtue to vice, from meekness to cruelty, and from justice to oppression. For by the lively image of other creatures did those ancients represent the variable passions and affections of mortal men ; as by ser pents were signified deceivers ; by lions, oppressors and cruel men ; by swine, men given over to lust and sensual ity ; by wolves, ravening and greedy men ; which also St. Matthew resembleth to false prophets, x which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves ; by the images of stones and stocks, foolish and ig norant men; by vipers, ungrateful men; of which ySt. John Baptist, O ye generation of vipers, &c.
SECT. VII.
Of Gods ceasing to create any more : and of the cause thereof, be cause the universal created was exceeding good.
IN this work of man, God finished the creation ; not that God laboured as a man, and therefore rested : for God commanded, and it was finished, Cui voluisse est Jecisse; " With whom to will is to make," saith Beda. Neither did God so rest, that he left the world made, and the creatures therein to themselves: for, zMy Father worketh to this day, saith Christ, and I work; but God rested, that is, he created no new species or kinds of creatures, but (as afore said) gave unto man a power generative, and so to the rest of living creatures, and to plants and flowers their seeds in themselves; and commanded man to amultiply and fill the earth, and the earth and sea to bring forth creatures accord ing to their several kinds: all which being finished, God sazv that his works were good; not that he foreknew not, and comprehended not, the beginning and end before they were ; for God made every plant of the field before it was in the earth ; but he gave to all things which he had cre ated the name of good, thereby to teach men, that from so good a God there was nothing made but that which was
x Matt. vii. 15. ' .T-inn v. 17.
v Matt. iii. ;. * (\en. i. 28. and vrr. 22. 24.
64 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
perfect good, and from whose simple- purity, and from so ex cellent a cause, there could proceed no impure or imperfect effect. For man having a free will and liberal choice, pur chased by disobedience his own death and mortality ; and for the cruelty of man's heart was the earth afterward cursed, and all creatures of the first age destroyed, but the righteous man Noah and his family, with those creatures which the ark contained, reserved by God to replenish the earth.
CHAP. III. Of the place of paradise.
SECT. I.
That the seat of paradise is greatly mistaken ; and that it i.s no marvel that men should err.
(CONCERNING the first habitation of man, we read, that the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he made, Gen. ii. 8. Of this seat and place of paradise, all ages have held dispute ; and the opinions and judgments have been in effect as divers, among those that have written upon this part of Genesis, as upon any one place therein, seeming most obscure: some there are, that have conceived the being of the terres trial paradise, without all regard of the world's geography, and without any respect of east and west, or any consider ation of the place where Moses wrote, and from whence he directed (by the quarters of the heavens) the way how to find out and judge, in what region of the world this garden was by God planted, wherein he was exceeding respective and precise. Others, by being themselves ignorant in the Hebrew, followed the first interpretation ; or, trusting to their own judgments, understood one place for another: and one error is so fruitful, as it begetteth a thousand chil dren, if the licentiousness thereof be not timely restrained. And thirdly, those writers which gave themselves to follow
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 65
and imitate others, were in all things so observant sectators of those masters, whom they admired and believed in, as they thought it safer to condemn their own understanding, than to examine theirs. For, saith Vadianus in his epistle of Paradise, Magnos errores, magnorum virorum auctori- tate persuasi, transmittimus ; " We pass over many gross " errors, by the authority of great men led and persuaded.'11 And it is true, that many of the fathers were far wide from the understanding of this place. I speak it not, that I my self dare presume to censure them, for I reverence both their learning and their piety, and yet not bound to follow them any further than they are guided by truth : for they were men ; et hitmanurn est errare. And to the end that no man should be proud of himself, God hath distributed unto men such a proportion of knowledge, as the wisest may behold in them selves their own weakness : Nulli unquam dedit omnia Deus ; " God never gave the knowledge of all things to any " one." bSt. Paul confessed that he knew not whether he were taken up into the third heaven in the flesh or out of the flesh ; and Christ himself acknowledges thus much, cthat neither men nor angels knew of the latter day ; and there fore, seeing knowledge is infinite, it is God, according to dSt. Jude, who is only wise. Sapientia ubi invenitur? saith e Job ; But where is wisdom found ? and where is the place of understanding ? Man knoweth not the price thereof; for it is not found in the land of the living'. And therefore seeing God found folly in his angels f, men's judg ments (which inhabit in houses of clay) cannot be with out their mistakings : and so the fathers, and other learned men, excusable in particulars, especially in those whereupon our salvation dependeth not.
SECT. II.
A recital of strange opinions touching paradise. NOW, as touching paradise, first it is to be inquired, whe ther there were a paradise, or no ? or whether Moses's dc-
'' 2 Cor. xii. 2. e Job xxviii. 12, 13.
0 Matt. xxiv. 36. f Job iv. 18.
d Jude, ver. 25.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. F
66 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
cription were altogether mystical and allegorical? asOrigen, Philo, Fran. Georgius, with others, have affirmed; and that under the names of those four rivers, Pison, Gehon, Hiddekel, and Perath, the tree of life, and the tree of know ledge, there were delivered unto us other mysteries and sig nifications ; as, that by the f four rivers were meant the four cardinal virtues, justice, temperance, fortitude, and pru dence; or (by others) oil, wine, milk, and honey. This allegorical understanding of paradise by Origen divulged, was again by Fran. Georgius received, saith Sixtus Senen- sis ; whose frivolous imaginations Sixtus himself doth fully and learnedly answer, in the 34th annotation of his fifth book, fol. 338, the last edition.
Β§St. Ambrose also leaned wholly to the allegorical con struction, and set paradise in the third heaven, and in the virtues of the mind, et in nostro princijHili, which is, as I conceive it, in mente, or in our souls : to the particulars whereof he alludeth in this sort. By the place or garden of paradise, was meant the soul or mind ; by Adam, ?w>/.v, or understanding ; by Eve, the sense ; by the serpent, de lectation ; by the tree of good and evil, sapience ; and by the rest of the trees, the virtues of the mind, or in the mind planted, or from thence springing. Notwithstanding all which, upon 1 Corinthians vi. he in direct words alloweth both of a celestial and terrestrial paradise; the one, into which St. Paul was rapped ; the other, into which Adam was put by God. Aug. Chrysamensis was of opinion, that a paradise had been ; but that there was not now any mark thereof on the earth : the same being not only defaced, but withal the places now not so much as existing. To which Luther seemeth to adhere.
The Manichees also understood, that by paradise was meant the whole earth ; to which opinion Vadianus inclin- eth, as I conceive his words, in two several places. First, upon this ; Fill tlie earth, Gen. x. of which he gives this judgment : Hoc ipso etiam quod dixit, Replete terrain, do- minamini universis animantibus, subjicite terram, clariv- '" Bartas. sein. 2. 1. i. 143. Β« Arab, de Parad.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 67
sime docet, totam terrain extantem, et omnigenis (ut turn erat) fructibus consitam, sedem et hortum illud Ada, et posteritatis futures fuisse ; " These words," saith he, " in " which God said, Bring forth fruit and multiply, and, Fill " the earth, and subdue it, and, Rule over every creature, do " clearly shew, that the universal earth, set or filled with all " sorts of fruits, (as then it was,) was the garden and seat of " Adam, and of his future posterity." And afterward he acknowledgeth the place out of the hActs, Apostolusex uno sanguine omne genus humanum ideofactum docet, ut habi- tarent super universamfaciem terras, : tota igitur terra pa- radisus itte erat; " The apostle," saith he, " teacheth, that " God hath made of one blood all mankind to dwell over all " the face of the earth : and therefore all the earth," saith he, " was that paradise :" which conjectures I will answer in order. Goropius Becanus differeth not much from this opinion, but yet he acknowledgeth that Adam was first planted by God in one certain place and peculiar gar den ; which place Goropius findeth near the river of Acesi- nes, in the confines of India.
'Tertullian, Bonaventure, and Durandus, make paradise under the equinoctial ; and Postellus, quite contrary, under the north pole : the Chaldeans also for the most part, and all their sectators, followed the opinion of Origen, or rather Origen theirs ; who would either make paradise a figure, or sacrament only, or else would have it seated out of this sen sible world, or raised into some high and remote region of the air. Strabus and Rabanus were both sick of this vanity, with Origen and Philo : so was our venerable k Beda, and I Peter Comestor, and m Moses Barcephas the Syrian, trans lated by Masius. But, as Hopkins says of Philo Judaeus, that he wondered, quo malo genio afflatus, " by what evil " angel he was blown up into this error;" so can I not but greatly marvel at the learned men who so grossly and blindly wandered ; seeing Moses, and after him the pro-
h Acts xvii. 26. ' Pet Comest. 1. i. cap. 3.
' Bart. 16. 126. m Moses Bare, clc Par.
k Bed. in Gen.
68 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
phets, do so plainly describe this place by the region in which it was planted, by the kingdoms and provinces bor dering it, by the rivers which watered it, and by the points of the compass upon which it lay, in respect of Judea, or Canaan.
Xoviomagus also upon Beda, De natura rerum, believeth that all the earth was taken for paradise, and not any one place. For the whole earth, saith he, hath the same beauty ascribed to paradise. He addeth, that the ocean was that fountain from whence the four rivers, Pison, Gehon, Ti gris, and Euphrates, had their beginning ; for he could not think it possible that these rivers of Ganges, Nilus, Tigris, and Euphrates (whereof the one ran through India, the other through Egypt, and the other two through Mesopotamia and Armenia) could rise out of one fountain, were it not out of the fountain of the ocean.
SECT. III.
That there was a true local paradise eastward in the country <>j
Eden.
TO the first therefore, that such a place there was upon the earth, the words of Moses make it manifest, where it is written, nAnd the Lord God planted a garden m.v/icvm/ in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had made : and howsoever the vulgar translation, called Jerome's transla tion, hath converted this place thus, Plantar crit Dom'unta Deus pai-adiium volnptatis a principio, " The Lord God " planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning ;" put ting the word pleasure for Eden, andyrom the beginning for eastward; it is manifest, that in this place Eden is the proper name of a region. For what sense hath this translation, (saith our Hopkins, in his Treatise of Paradise,) that he planted a garden of pleasure, or, that a river went out of pleasure to water the garden ? But the Seventy In terpreters call it paradi.fUM Edcni*, " the paradise of " Eden ;" and so doth the Chaldean paraphrast truly take it for the proper name of a place, and for a noun appellative ; " Gou. ii. 8.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 69
which region, in respect of the fertility of the soil, of the many beautiful rivers and goodly woods, and that the trees (as in the Indies) do always keep their leaves, was called Eden, which signifieth in the Hebrew, pleasantness ', or deli cacy ; as the Spaniards call the country opposite to the isle of Cuba, Florida : and this is the mistaking, which may end the dispute, as touching the double sense of the word, that as Florida was a country, so called for the flourishing beauty thereof; so was Eden a region, called pleasure or delicacy, for its pleasure or delicacy : and as Florida signifi- e\\\Jlourifihing ; so Eden signifieth pleasure : and yet both are the proper names of countries ; for Eden being the pro per name of a region, (called pleasure in the Hebrew,) and paradise being the choice seat of all that region, paradise was truly the garden of Eden, and truly the garden of pleasure.
Now for eastward, to translate \ijrom the beginning, it is also contrary to the translation of the Seventy ; to the an cient Greek fathers, as Basil, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Gregory ; and to the rabbins, as Ram ban, Rabbi Solomon, R. Abraham, and Chimchi ; and of the Latins, Severinus, Damascenus, &c. who plainly take Eden for the proper name of a region, and set the word eastward for ab initio : for Damascene's own words are these, Paradisus est locus Dei manibus in Eden ad orientem mirabiliter consitus ; " Paradise is a place marvellously planted by the hands of " God in Eden, towards the east.""
And after all these fathers, Guilhelmus Parisiensis, a great learned man, and Sixtus Senensis, of latter times, do both understand these words of Eden and of the east, con trary to the vulgar translation ; Parisiensis, as indifferent to both ; and Sixtus Senensis, directly against the vul- o-ar : of which these are their own words ; " After this
O
" 1 will begin to speak of paradise terrestrial, which God " planted from the beginning, or eastward,1'' &c. Post hcec incipiam loqui de paradiso tcrrestri, quern plantasse Deum ab initio vel ad orientem, &c. And then Senen sis ; Moses enim clarissime prodit, paradisum a Deo con-
r3
70 THE HISTOKY BOOK i.
in regione terra orientalis, qua dicitur Eden : Eden uutem c sse prop num nomen, apparet ex quarto capite Gen. ubi Icghnus, Cham habitasse ad orlentalem plagam Eden ; " For Moses," saith he, " doth sliew most clearly, " that paradise was planted of God in a region of the east " country, which is called Eden : but that Eden is a proper " name, it appeareth in m Genesis, where we read, that " Cham dwelt on the east border of Eden.'''' Pererius en- deavourcth to qualify this translation ; for this particle, saith he, ab initio, is referred to all the time of the crea tion, and not to the very first day ; alleging this place of Christ, that although the Devil was said to be a n manftluyer from the beginning, yet that was meant but after the sixth day. But surely, as I think, (referring myself to better judgment,) the Devil was from the instant of his fall a man- slayer in disposition, though he had not whereon to practise till man^s creation. And for conclusion, St. Hierome (if that be his translation) adviseth himself better in the end of the third chapter of Β° Genesis, converting the word Eden by ante, and not a principio ; as, " God did set a cherubin " before the garden of Eden ;" Collocavit Deus anteparadi- snm voluptatis, cherubin; and Pererius himself acknowledg- eth, that this is the true sense of this place, precisely taken, ac cording to the Hebrew, Posuit a parte orientali horti Eden, cherubin; " He set on the east side of the garden of Eden " a cherubin." Becanus affirmeth, that the Hebrew word be signifieth with as well as in ,β’ and so the text beareth this sense ; that God planted a garden with pleasure, that is to say, full of pleasure. But Becanus followeth this con struction only to the end to find paradise upon the river of Acesines ; for there he hath heard of the Indian fig-tree in great abundance, which he supposeth to be the tree of know ledge of good and evil, and would therefore draw paradise to the fig-tree : which conceit of his I will answer hereafter. Now, because paradise was seated by Moses towards the t-ast, thence came the custom of praying towards the cast,
'" Gen. iv. 16. " John viii. 44. " Gcii. iii. 24.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 71
and not by imitation of the Chaldeans : and therefore all our churches are built east and west, as to the point where the sun riseth in March, which is directly over paradise, saith Damascenus : affirming, that we always pray towards the east, as looking towards paradise, whence we were cast out ; and yet the temple of Solomon had their priests and sacrifices, which turned themselves in their service and di vine ceremonies always towards the west, thereby to avoid the superstition of the Egyptians and Chaldeans.
But because east and west are but in respect of places, (for although paradise were east from Judea, yet it was west from Persia,) and the serving of God is every where in the world ; the matter is not great, which way we turn our faces, so our hearts stand right ; other than this, that we who dwell west from paradise, and pray turning ourselves to the east, may remember thereby to beseech God, that as by Adam's fall we have lost the paradise on earth, so by Christ's death and passion we may be made partakers of the paradise celestial, and the kingdom of heaven. To con clude, I conceive, that there was no other mystery in add ing the word east to Eden by Moses, than to shew that the region of Eden, in which paradise was, lay eastward from Judea and Canaan : for the scriptures always called the people of those nations the sons of the east which inha bited Arabia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Persia: of which Ovid,
Eurus ad auroram, Nabathteaque regna recessit, Persidaque, et radiis juga subdita matutinis.
The east wind with aurora hath abiding Among t;h' Arabian and the Persian hills, Whom Phoebus first salutes at his uprising.
And if it be objected, that Jeremy the prophet, threat ening the destruction of Jerusalem, doth often make men tion of northern nations ; it is to be noted, that the north is there named in respect of those nations that followed Na- buchodonosor, and of whom the greatest part of his army was compounded ; not that Babylon itself stood north from
F 4
72 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Jerusalem, though inclining from the east towards the north .
Now to the difference of this translation, Peter Comestor giveth best satisfaction : for he useth the word, " from the " beginning," that is, " from the first part of the world,'" a principio, id est, saith he, a prima orbis parte ; and af terward he affirmeth, that a principio and ad oricutcm have the same signification : " from the beginning and east- " ward is all one;"" a principio idem est quod ad oricntcin.
But to return to the proof of this place, and that this story of mankind was not allegorical, it followeth in the text of the second chapter and ninth verse, in these words; For out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree pleasant to the sight, and good for meat, &c. so as first it appeared that God created Adam, elsewhere as in the world at large, and then put him into the garden : and the end why, is expressed verse 18, that he might dress it and keep it: paradise being a garden or orchard filled with plants and trees, of the most excellent kinds, pleasant to behold, and, withal, good for meat : which proveth that paradise was a terrestrial garden, garnished with fruits, delighting both the eye and taste. And to make it more plain, and to take away all opinion of allegorical construction, he affirm eth, verse 10, that it was watered and beautified with a ri ver ; expressing also the region out of which this river sprang, which he calleth Eden ; and that Eden is also a country near unto Charon in Mesopotamia, P Ezechiel wit- nesseth.
But to all these cabalists, which draw the truth and story
of the scriptures into allegories, Epiphanius answereth in
these words ; Si paradisus non est sensibilis, non est etiam
fons ; si non est Jons, non estjlumen ; si non estjlumen, non
sunt quatuor principia, non Pison, non Gehon, non Tigris,
nee Euphrates; non estjicus, non folia., non comedit Eva
de arbore, non est Adam, non sunt homines, sed vcritas jam
jabula est, et omnia ad allegorias revocantur ,- " If paradise
i' Ezech.xxvii. 2.3.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 73
" be not sensible, then there was no fountain, and then no " river ; if no river, then no such four heads or branches, " and then not any such river as Pison, or Gehon, Tigris, " or Euphrates; no such fig-tree, or fruit, or leaves; Eve " then did not eat of the fruit, neither was there any Adam, " or any man ; the truth was but a fable, and all things es- " teemed are called back into allegories.'" Words to the same effect hath St. Hierome upon Daniel ; Conticescant eo- rum deliramenta, qui umbras et imagines in veritate se- quentes, ipsam conantur evertere veritatem, ut paradisum etjlumina, et arbores putent allegories, legibus se debere sub- ruere : " Let the dotage of them be silent, who following " shadows and images in the truth, endeavour to subvert the " truth itself, and think that they ought to bring paradise, " and the rivers, and the trees, under the rules of allegory." Furthermore, by the continuation and order of the story, is the place made more manifest. For God gave Adam free liberty to eat of every tree of the garden, (the tree of knowledge excepted,) which trees Moses in the ninth verse saith that they were good to eat ; meaning the fruit which they bare. Besides, God left all beasts to Adam to be named, which he had formerly made; and these beasts were neither in the third heaven, nor near the circle of the moon, nor beasts in imagination : for if all these' things were enig matical or mystical, the same might also be said of the cre ation of all things. And Ezeohiel, speaking of the glory of the Assyrian kings, useth this speech ; q All the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God ^ envied him ,β’ which proveth both Eden and paradise, therein seated, to be ter restrial : for the prophets made no imaginary comparisons. But Moses wrote plainly, and in a simple style, fit for the capacities of ignorant men, and he was more large and pre cise in the description of paradise, than in any other place of scripture ; of purpose to take away all scruple from the incredulity of future ages, whom he knew (out of the gift of prophecy) to be apt to fabulous inventions ; and that if he
i Ezech. xxxi. 9.
74 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
had not described both the region and the rivers, and how it stood from Canaan, many of the unbelieving Israelites, and others after them, would have misconstrued this story of mankind. And is it likely there would have been so often mention made of paradise in the scriptures, if the same had been an Utopia? For we find that the valley wherein T Sodom and Gomorrah stood, (sometimes called Pentapolis, of the five principal cities therein,) was before the destruction (which their unnatural sin purchased) compared to the pa radise of the Lord, and like to the land of Egypt toward Zoar : in like manner was Israel resembled to the paradise of God, before the Babylonians wasted it : which proveth plainly, that paradise itself exceeded in beauty and fertility, and that these places had but a resemblance thereof; being compared to a seat and soil of far exceeding excellency.
Besides, whence had Homer his invention of Alcinous's gardens, as Justin Martyr noteth, but out of Moses's de scription of paradise ? Gen. ii. And whence are their praises of the Elysian fields, but out of the story of paradise ? To which also appertain those verses of the golden age in Ovid:
s Ver erut sternum ; placidique tepentibus auris Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine seminejlores.
The joyful spring did ever last,
And Zephyrus did breed Sweet flowers by his gentle blast,
Without the help of seed.
And it is manifest, that Orpheus, Linus, Pindarus, Hesio- dus, and Homer, and, after him, Ovid, one out of another, and all these, together with Pythagoras and Plato, and their sectators, did greatly enrich their inventions, by venting the stolen treasures of divine letters, altered by profane addi tions, and disguised by poetical conversions, as if they had been conceived out of their own speculations and contem plations.
But besides all these testimonies, if we find what region
r Gen. xiii. 10. β’ Ovid. Met. 1. i.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 75
Heden, or Eden was ; if we prove the river that ran out of it, and that the same afterwards was divided into four branches; together with the kingdoms of Havila and Cush; and that all these are eastward from Canaan, or the deserts of the Amorites, where Moses wrote ; I then conceive, that there is no man that will doubt but that such a place there was. And yet I do not exclude the allegorical sense of the scripture; for as well in this there were many figures of Christ, as in all the Old Testament throughout : the story being directly true notwithstanding. And to this purpose saith St. Augustine, Tres sunt de paradise generates sen tential : una est eorum, qui tantummodo corporaliter para- \ disum intelligi volunt : alia eorum, qui spiritualiter tantum, id est, ecclesiam : tertia eorum, qui utroque modo paradi- sum accipiunt ; that is, " There are three opinions of para- " dise : the one of those men, which will have it altogether " corporal : a second of those, which conceive it altogether " spiritual, and to be a figure of the church : the third of " those, which take it in both senses ;" which third opinion * St. Augustine approveth, and of which Suidas giveth this allowable judgment : u Quemadmodum homo sensibilis et in- telligibilis simul conditus erat ; sic et hujus sanctissimum nemus sensibile simid et intelligibile^ et duplici specie est prceditum ; that is, " As man was created at one time, both " sensible and intelligible ; so was his holy grove, or garden, " to be taken both ways, and endued with a double form."
SECT. IV.
Why it should be needful to intreat diligently of the place of paradise.
BUT it may be objected, that it is needless, and a kind of curiosity, to inquire so diligently after this place of para dise, and that the knowledge thereof is of little or no use. To which I answer, that there is nothing written in the scriptures but for our instruction ; and if the truth of the
1 Aug. de Civit. Dei, 1. 13. c. 21. " Suidas in verbo Paradisus.
76 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
story be necessary, then by the place proved, the same is also mack- more apparent. For if we should conceive that paradise were not on the earth, but lifted up as high as the moon ; or that it were beyond all the ocean, and in no part of the known world ; from whence Adam was said to wade through the sea, and thence to have come into Judea, (out of doubt) there would be few men in the world that would give any credit unto it. For what could seem more ridicu lous than the report of such a place ? And besides, what nuiketh this seat of paradise so much disputed and doubted of, but the conceit that Pi son should be Ganges, which watereth the east India, and Gehon, Nilus, which enricheth Egypt : and these two rivers so far distant, as (except all the world were paradise) these streams can no way be com prised therein ?
Secondly, If the birth, and works, and death of our Sa viour, were said to have been in some such country, of which no man ever heard tell, and that his miracles had been performed in the air, or no place certainly known; I assure myself, that the Christian religion would have taken but a slender root in the minds of men: for times and places are approved witnesses of worldly actions.
Thirdly, If we should rely, or give place to the judgment of some writers upon this place of Genesis, (though otherwise for their doctrine in general they are worthy of honour and reverence,) I say that there is no fable among the Grecians or Egyptians more ridiculous : for who would believe that there were a piece of the world so set by itself, and se parated, as to hang in the air under the circle of the moon ? or who so doltish to conceive, that from thence the four ri vers of Ganges, Nilus, Euphrates, and Tigris should fall down, and run under all the ocean, and rise up again in this our habitable world, and in those places where they are now found ? which lest any man think that I enforce, or strain to the worst, these are Peter Comestor's own words ; Est (intern locus OflKBftMMBttr, longo terra et marts tractu a nostra habitabili zona secretus, adeo elevatus, ut usque ad lunarcm globum attingat, &c. that is, " It is a most plea-
CHAP. HI. OF THE WORLD. 77
" sant place, severed from our habitable zone by a long " tract of land and sea, elevated so, that it reacheth to the " globe of the moon."
And Moses Barcephas upon this place writeth in this manner : *Deinde hoc quoque responsum, volumus, paradi- sum multo sublimiore positum esse regwne, atque licec nostra extet terra, eoque fieri ut illinc per proscipitium delabantur jluvii tanto cum impetu, quantum verbis eooprimere nonpos- sis ; eoque impetu impulsi pressique sub oceani vado rapi- untur, unde rursus prosiliant ebulliantque in hoc a nobis culto orbe : which have this sense; " Furthermore," saith he, " we give this for an answer, that paradise is set in a " region far raised above this part which we inhabit ; " whereby it comes to pass, that from thence these rivers fall " down with such a headlong violence, as words cannot ex- " press ; and with that force so impulsed and pressed, they " are carried under the deep ocean sea, and do again rise " and boil up in this our habitable world." And to this he addeth the opinion of Ephram, which is this: Ephram dicit, paradisum ambire terram, atque ultra oceanum ita positum esse, ut totum terrarum orbem ab omni circumdet reg'ume, non alitcr atque lunce orbis lunam cingit ; which is, " That " paradise doth compass or embrace the whole earth, and is " so set beyond the ocean, as it environeth the whole orb of *' the earth on every side, as the orb of the moon doth em- " brace the moon." To the end therefore that these ridicu lous expositions and opinions do not bring question unto truth itself, or make the same subject to doubts or disputes, it is necessary to discover the true place of paradise, which God in his wisdom appointed in the very navel of this our world, and, as Melancthon says, in parte terra meliore, " in " the best part thereof,11 that from thence, as from a centre, the universal might be filled with people and planted ; and by knowing this place, we shall the better judge of the be ginning of nations, and of the worWs inhabitation : for near unto this did the sons of Noah also disperse themselves
* Barcephas converted by Masius.
78 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
after the flood, into all other remote regions and countries. And if it be a generous desire in men, to know from whence their own forefathers have come, and out of what regions and nations; it cannot be displeasing to understand the place of our first ancestor, from whence all the streams and branches of mankind have followed and been deduced. If then it do appear by the former, that such a place there was as paradise, and that the knowledge of this place cannot be unprofitable, it followeth in order, to examine the several opinions before remembered, by the truth itself; and to see how they agree with the sense of the scripture and with common reason ; and afterward to prove directly, and to delineate the region in which God first planted this delight ful garden.
SECT. V.
That the flood hath not utterly defaced the marks of paradise, nor caused hills in the earth.
AND first, whereas it is supposed by Aug. Chysamensis, that the flood hath altered, deformed, or rather annihilated this place, in such sort, as no man can find any mark or me mory thereof; (of which opinion there were others also, as cribing to the flood the cause of those high mountains, which are found on all the earth over, with many other strange effects :) for mine own opinion, I think neither the one nor the other to be true. For although I cannot deny but that the face of paradise was after the flood withered, and grown old, in respect of the first beauty; (for both the ages of men and the nature of all things time hath changed:) yet if there had been no sign of any such place, or if the soil and seat had not remained, then would not Moses, who wrote of paradise about 850 years after the flood, have described it so particularly, and the prophets, long after Moses, would not have made so often mention thereof. And though the very garden itself were not then to be found, but that the flood, and other accidents of time, made it one common field and pasture witli the land of Eden, yet the place is
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 79
still the same, and the rivers still remain the same rivers. By two of which, (never doubted of,) to wit, Tigris and Eu phrates, we are sure to find in what longitude paradise lay; and learning out one of these rivers, which afterward doth divide itself into four branches, we are sure that the parti tion is at the very border of the garden itself.
For it is Y written, that out of Eden went a river to water the garden ; and from thence it was divided, and became into four heads : now, whether the word in the Latin trans lation, hide, from thence, be referred to Eden itself, or to paradise ; yet the division and branching of those rivers must be in the north or south side of the very garden ; (if the rivers run as they do, north and south ;) and therefore these rivers yet remaining, and Eden manifestly known, there could be no such defacing by the flood as is supposed. Furthermore, as there is no likelihood that the place could be so altered, as future ages knew it not ; so is there no probability that either these rivers were turned out of their courses, or new rivers created by the flood which were not, or that the flood (as aforesaid) by a violent motion, when it began to decrease, was the cause of high hills or deep val leys. For what descent of waters could there be in a sphe rical and round body, wherein there is nor high nor low ? seeing that all violent force of waters is either by the strength of wind, by descent from a higher to a lower, or by the ebb or flood of the sea. But that there was any wind, (whereby the seas are most enraged,) it appeareth not ; ra ther the contrary is probable : for it is written, 7- Therefore God made a wind to pass upon the earth, and the waters ceased. So as it appeareth not, that, until the waters sank, there was any wind at all ; but that God afterward, out of his goodness, caused the wind to blow, to dry up the abun dant slime and mud of the earth, and make the land more firm, and to cleanse the air of thick vapours and unwhole some mists : and this we know by experience, that all down right rains do evermore dissever the violence of outrageous
y Gen. \\.io. * Gen. viii. i.
80 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
winds, and be.it down and level the swelling and moun tainous billows of the sea : for any ebbs and floods there could be none, when the waters were equal, and of one height, over all the face of the earth ; and when there were no indraughts, bays, or gulfs to receive a flood, or any de scent, or violent falling of waters in the round form of the earth and waters, as aforesaid : and therefore it seemeth most agreeable to reason, that the waters rather stood in a quiet calm, than that they moved with any raging or over bearing violence. And for a more direct proof that the flood made no such destroying alteration, Josephua avoweth that one of those pillars erected by Seth, the third from Adam, was to be seen in his days ; which pillars were set up above 1426 years before the flood, counting Seth to be an hundred years old at the erection of them, and Joseph us himself to have lived some forty or fifty years after Christ : of whom, although there be no cause to believe all that he wrote, yet that which he avouched of his own time cannot (without great derogation) be called in question. And therefore it may be possible, that some foundation or ruin thereof might then be seen. Now that such pillars were raised by Seth, all antiquity hath avowed. It is also writ ten in Berosus, (to whom, although I give little credit, yet I cannot condemn him in all,) that the city of Enoch, built by Cain about the mountains of Libanus, was not defaced by length of time ; yea, the ruins thereof Annius (who com mented upon that invented fragment) saith were to be seen in his days, who lived in the reign of Ferdinand and Isa bella of Castile. And if these his words be not true, then was he exceeding impudent : for, speaking of this city of Enoch, he concludeth in this sort : Cujus maxima et iiiffcn- tis molls fun dame nta visnntitr, et vocatur ab incolis rcgio- nls\ civitas Cain, ut nostri mercatores et peregrinl refe- runt; "The foundation of which huge mass is now to be " seen, and the place is called by the people of that region " the city of Cain, as both our strangers and merchants re- " port." It is also avowed by Pomponius Mela, (to whom I give more credit in these tilings,) that the city of Joppa was
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 81
built before the flood, over which Cepha was king : whose name, with his brother Phineus, together with the grounds and principles of their religion, was found graven upon cer tain altars of stone. And it is not impossible, that the ruins of this other city, called Enoch by Annius, might be seen, though founded in the first age : but it could not be of the first city of the world, abuilt by Cain ; the place rather than the time denying it.
And to prove directly that the flood was not the cause of mountains, but that there were mountains from the creation, it is written, that the waters ofthejlood over/lowed byjifteen cubits the highest mountains. And Masius Damascenus, speaking of the flood, writeth in this manner : Est supra Minyadam excelsus mons in Armenia, (qui Baris appella- tur,} in quo confugientes multos, sermo est, diluvii tempore liber atos ,β’ " And upon Minyada there is an high mountain " in Armenia, (called Baris,) unto which it is said that " many fled in the time of the deluge, and that they saved " themselves thereon." Now, although it is contrary to God's word that any more were saved than eight persons, (which Masius doth not avouch but by report,) yet it is a testimony, that such mountains were before the flood, which were af terwards, and ever since, known by the same names, and on which mountains it is generally received that the ark rested ; but untruly, as I shall prove hereafter. And again it ap- peareth, that the mount Sion (though by another name) was known before the flood ; on which the Talmudists report that many giants saved themselves also; but (as Annius saith) without all authority, either divine or human.
Lastly, it appeareth that the flood did not so turn upside down the face of the earth, as thereby it was made past knowledge after the waters were decreased, by this, that l> when Noah sent out the dove the second time, she returned with an olive-leaf in her mouth, which she had plucked, and which (until the trees were discovered) she found not : for otherwise she might have found them floating on the water;
* Gen. iv. 17. b Gen. viii. 1 1.
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82 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
a manifest proof that the trees were not torn up by the roots, nor swam upon the waters, for it is written, folium olivcR raptum, or decerptum, a leaf plucked ; which is, to take from a tree, or to tear off. By this it is apparent (there being nothing written to the contrary) that the flood made no such alteration as was supposed, but that the place of paradise might be seen to succeeding ages, especially unto Moses, by whom it pleased God to teach the truth of the world's creation, and unto the prophets which succeeded him : both which I take for my warrant, and to guide me in this discovery.
SECT. VI.
That paradise was not the whole earth, as some have thought : making the ocean to be the fountain of those four rivers.
THIS conceit of Aug. Chysamensis being answered, who only giveth his opinion for reason, I will in a few words ex amine that of the Manichees, of Noviomagus, Vadianus, Goropius Becanus, and all those that understood that by paradise was meant the whole earth. But in this I shall not trouble the reader with many words, because, by those places of scripture formerly remembered, this universality will appear altogether improper. The places which Vadia nus allegeth, c Bring forth fruit and multiply, Fill the earth and subdue it, Rule over every creature, &c. with this of the Acts, d And hath made of one blood all mankind to dwell on all the face of the earth, do noway prove such a generality: for the world was made for man, of which he was lord and governor, and all things therein were ordained of God for his use. Now, although all men were of one and the same fountain of blood originally, and Adam's posterity inhabited in process of time over all the face of the earth ; yet it disproveth in nothing the particular garden assigned to e Adam to dress and cultive, in which he lived in so bless ed an estate before his transgression. For if there had been
c Gen. i. 28. β’' Acts xvii. 26. e Gen. ii. 8.
CHAP. in. OF THE WOltLD. 88
no other choice, but that Adam had been left to the uni versal, Moses would not then have said * eastward in Eden, seeing the world hath not east nor west but respectively. And to what end had the angel of God been set to keep the east side and entrance into paradise, after Adam's ex pulsion, if the universal had been paradise ? for then must Adam have been chased also out of the world. For if all the earth were paradise, that place can receive no better construction than this, that Adam was driven out of the world into the world, and out of paradise into paradise, ex cept we should believe with Metrodorus that there were infinite worlds ; which to deny he thinks all one as to affirm, " That in so large a field as the universal there " should grow but one thistle.1'1 Noviomagus upon Beda seemeth to be led by this, that it was impossible for those three rivers, Ganges, Nilus, and Euphrates, (which water three portions of the world so far distant,) to rise out of one fountain, except the ocean be taken for the well, and the world for the garden.
And it is true, that those four rivers being so under stood, there could be no conjecture more probable ; but it shall plainly appear, that Pison was falsely taken for Ganges, and Gehon falsely for Nilus, although Ganges be a river by Havilah in India, and Nilus runs through Ethiopia. The Seventy write Chus for Ethiopia ; and thereby the errors of the Manichees, and the mistakings of Noviomagus, Goro- pius, and Vadianus, with others, are made manifest. Yet was their conjecture far more probable than that of Ephrem, Cyrillus, and Athanasius, that paradise was seated far be yond the ocean sea, and that Adam waded through it, and at last came toward the country in which he was created, and was buried at mount Calvary in Jerusalem. And cer tainly, though all those of the first age were of great sta ture, and so continued many years after the flood, yet Adam's shin-bones must have contained a thousand fathom, and much more, if he had forded the ocean ; but this opi-
' Geu. Hi. 24. G 2
84 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
nion is so ridiculous, as it needs no argument to disprove it.
SECT. VII.
Of their opinion which make paradise as high as the moon : and of others which make it higher than the middle region of the air.
THIRDLY, whereas Beda saith, and as the schoolmen affirm paradise to be a place altogether removed from the knowledge of men, (locus a cognit'wne hominum rcmotissi- mus,) and Barcephas conceived that paradise was far in the east, but mounted above the ocean and all the earth, and near the orb of the moon, (which opinion, though the school men charge Beda withal, yet Pererius lays it off from Beda, upon Strabus, and his master Rabanus;) and whereas Ru- pertus, in his geography of paradise, doth not much differ from the rest, but finds it seated next or nearest heaven ; it may seem, that all these borrowed this doctrine out of Plato, and Plato out of Socrates : but neither of them (as I conceive) well understood; who (undoubtedly) took this place for heaven itself, into which the souls of the blessed were carried after death.
Β§True it is, that these philosophers durst not, for fear of the Areopagites, (in this and many other divine apprehen sions,) set down what they believed in plain terms, espe cially Plato : though Socrates in the end suffered death for acknowledging one only powerful God ; and therefore did the Devil himself do him that right, as by an oracle, to pro nounce him the wisest man. h Justin Martyr affirmeth that Plato had read the scriptures ; and St. Augustine gave this judgment of him, as his opinion, that, few things changed, he might be counted a Christian. And it seem- eth to me, that both Tertullian and Eusebius conceive that Socrates, by that place aforesaid, meant the celestial para dise, and not this of Eden. Solinus, I grant, reporteth that there is a place exceeding delightful and healthful, upon the top of mount Atho, (called Acrithonos,) which
* Diog. Laert. in Sco. h Just. Mart. adm. ad Gent. Aug.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 85
being above all clouds of rain, or other inconvenience, the people (by reason of their so many years) are called macro- bioi, that is, long-lived. A further argument is used for proof of the height of this place, because therein was Enoch preserved from the violence of the flood ; approved by Isi dore and Peter Lombard : in which place also Tertullian conceived that the blessed souls were preserved till the last judgment : which Irenseus and Justin Martyr also believed. But this opinion was of all catholic divines reproved, and in the Florentine council damned ; of which St. Augustine more modestly gave this judgment : Sicut cerium est Enoch et Eliam nunc vivere : ita ubi nunc sunt, an in paradiso an alibi, incertum est; that is, " As it is certain that " Enoch and Elias do now live ; so where they now live, in " paradise, or elsewhere, it is uncertain." But Barcephas gives a third cause, though of all other the weakest. " For," saith he, " it was necessary that paradise should be set at " such a distance and height, because the four rivers (had " they not fallen so precipitate) could not have had suffi- " cient force to have thrust themselves under the great " ocean, and afterwards have forced their passage through " the earth, and have risen again in the far distant regions " of India, Egypt, and Armenia."
These strange fancies and dreams have been answered by divers learned men long since, and lately by Hopkins and Pererius, writing upon this subject ; of whose arguments I will repeat these few: (for to use long discourse against those things, which are both against scripture and reason, might rightly be judged a vanity in the answerer, not much inferior to that of the inventor.)
It is first therefore alleged, that such a place cannot be commodious to live in : for being set so near the moon, it had been too near the sun, and other heavenly bodies. Se condly, because it must have been too joint a neighbour to the element of fire. Thirdly, because the air in that region is so violently moved, and carried about with such swift ness, as nothing in that place can consist or have abiding. Fourthly, because the space between the earth and the moon
G 3
86 THE HISTORY ISOOK i.
(according to Ptolemy and Alfraganus) is seventeen times the diameter of the earth, which makes in a gross account about one hundred and twenty thousand miles. Hereupon it must follow, that paradise, being raised to this height, must have the compass of the whole earth for a basis and foundation. But had it been so raised, it could hardly be hidden from the knowledge or eyes of men, seeing it would deprive us of the sun's light all the fore-part of the day, being seated in the east, as they suppose. Now, to fortify the former opinions, Tostatus addeth this, " That those " people which dwell near those falls of waters are deaf " from their infancy, like those that dwell near the 'Cata- " dupse, or overfalls of Nilus." But this I hold as feigned. For I have seen in the Indies far greater waterfalls than those of Nilus, and yet the people dwelling near them are not deaf at all. Tostatus (the better to strengthen himself) citeth Basil and Ambrose together: to which Pererius, Sed ego hcec apud Basilium et Ambrosium in eorum scri- ptis, quce, nunc extant, nusquam me legere memini ; " But " I do not remember," saith he, " that I ever read those " things either in Basil or Ambrose."
But for the bodies of Enoch and Elias, God hath dis posed of them according to his wisdom. Their taking up might be into the celestial paradise,* for ought we know. For although flesh and blood, subject to corruption, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, and the seed must rot in the ground before it grow, yet ice ahull not all die, saith St. Paul, ^but all shall be changed: which change in Enoch and Elias was easy to him that is almighty. But for the rest, the scriptures are manifest, that by the flood all pe rished on the earth saving l eight persons; and therefore in the terrestrial paradise they could not be.
For Tostatus's own opinion, who soared not altogether so high as the rest, but believed that paradise was raised above the middle regionof the air,and twenty cubits above all moun tains, that the flood did not therefore reach it, (which Scotus
1 ( icero Somn. .Vip. k i Cor. xv. 36. 5 i . ' i Pet. iii. 20.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 87
and other later schoolmen also believed ; for, say they, there were no sinners in paradise, and therefore no cause to over whelm it :) this is also contrary to the express letter of the scripture, which directly, and without admitting of any dis tinction, teacheth us, that mthe waters overflowed all the mountains under heaven. And were it otherwise, then might we as well give credit to Masius Damascenus, and the Talmudists, who affirm, that there were of the giants that saved themselves on the mountain Baris and on Sion. But to help this, Scotus being (as the rest of the schoolmen are) full of distinctions, saith, that the waters stood at pa radise, as they did in the n Red sea and at Jordan ; and as the flood was not natural, so was paradise saved by miracle. And Thomas Aquinas qualifieth his high conceit with this supposition, that it was not believed that paradise was so seated, as Bede and others seem to affirm in words, but by hyperbole and comparatively, for the delicacy and beauty so resembled. But this I dare avow of all those schoolmen, that though they were exceeding witty, yet they better teach all their followers to shift than to resolve by their distinctions. Wherefore not to stay long in answering this opinion of Tostatus, I confess that it is written, that the mountains of Olympus, Atho, and Atlas overreach and surmount all winds and clouds, and that (notwithstanding) there is found on the heads of the hills both springs and fruits ; and the Pagan priests, sacrificing on these mountain- tops, do not find the ashes (remaining of their sacrifices) blown thence, nor thence washed off by rains, when they return ; yet experience hath resolved us, that these reports are fabulous ; and Pliny himself (who was not sparing in the report of wonders) avoweth the contrary. But were it granted, yet the height of these mountains is far under the supposed place of paradise ; and on these self hills the air is so thin, (saith St. Augustine, whom herein I mistrust,) that it is not sufficient to bear up the body of a bird, having
ra Gen. vii. 19. " Exod. xiv. 21.
8Β« THE HISTORY BOOK i.
therein no feeling of her wings, or any sensible resistance of air to mount herself by.
SECT. VIII.
Of their opinion that seat paradise under the equinoctial : and of the pleasant habitation under those climates.
THOSE which come nearer unto reason find paradise under the equinoctial line, as Tertullian, Bonaventure, and Durandus; judging, that thereunder might be found most pleasure, and the greatest fertility of soil: but against it Thomas Aquinas objecteth the distemperate heat, which he supposeth to be in all places so directly under the sun ; but this is non causa pro causa; for although paradise could not be under the line, because Eden is far from it, in which paradise was; and because there is no part of Euphrates, Tigris, or Ganges under it, (Ganges being one of the four rivers, as they suppose,) yet this conceit of distemper (being but an old opinion) is found to be very untrue, though for the conjecture not to be condemned, considering the age when those fathers wrote, grounded chiefly on this: that whereas it appeared, that every country, as it lay by de grees nearer the tropic, and so toward the equinoctial, did so much the more exceed in heat ; it was therefore a rea sonable conjecture, that those countries which were situated directly under it, were of a distemper uninhabitable : but it seemeth that Tertullian conceived better, and so did Avi- cenne, for they both thought them habitable enough : and though (perchance) in those days it might be thought a fan tastical opinion, (as all are which go against the vulgar;) yet we now find, that if there be any place upon the earth of that nature, beauty, and delight, that paradise had, the same must be found within that supposed uninhabitable burnt zone, or within the tropics, and nearest to the line it self. For hereof experience hath informed reason, and time hath made those things apparent which were hidden, and could not by any contemplation be discovered. Indeed it hath so pleased God to provide for all living creatures,
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 89
wherewith he hath filled the world, that such inconveniences which we contemplate afar off, are found by trial and the witness of men's travels to be so qualified, as there is no portion of the earth made in vain, or as a fruitless lump to fashion out the rest. For Β° God himself, saith Isaiah, that formed the earth and made it; he that prepared it., he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. Now we find that these hottest regions of the world seated under the equinoctial line, or near it, are so refreshed with a daily gale of easterly wind, (which the Spaniards call the brize.,} that doth evermore blow strongest in the heat of the day, as the downright beams of the sun cannot so much master it, that there is any inconvenience or distemperate heat found thereby. Secondly, the nights are so cold, fresh, and equal, by reason of the entire interposition of the earth, as (for those places which myself have seen, near the line and un der it) I know no other part of the world of better, or equal temper ; only there are some tracts, which by acci dent of high mountains are barred from this air and fresh wind, and some few sandy parts without trees, which are not therefore so well inhabited as the rest ; and such differ ence of soils we find also in all other parts of the world. But (for the greatest part) those regions have so many goodly rivers, fountains, and little brooks, abundance of high ce dars, and other stately trees casting shade, so many sorts of delicate fruits, ever bearing, and at all times beautified with blossom and fruit, both green and ripe, as it may of all other parts be best compared to the paradise of Eden : the boughs and branches are never unclothed and left naked; their sap creepeth not under ground into the root, fearing the injury of the frost ; neither doth Pomona at any times despise her withered husband Vertumnus, in his winter- quarters and old age. Therefore are these countries called terras, vitiosce, " vicious countries :" for nature being li beral to all without labour, necessity imposing no industry or travel, idleness bringeth forth no other fruits than vain
0 Isai. xlv. 18.
90 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
thoughts and licentious pleasures. So that to conclude this part, Tertullian and those of his opinion were not deceived in the nature of the place : but Aquinas, who misliked this opinion, and followed a worse. And (to say the truth) all the schoolmen were gross in this particular.
SECT. IX.
Of the change of the names of places : and that besides that Eden in Ccelesyria, there is a country in Babylon, once of this name, as is proved out of Isaiah xxxvii. and Ezek. xxvii.
THESE opinions answered, and the region of Eden not found in any of those imaginary worlds, nor under torn da zona; it followeth that now we discover and find out the seat thereof, for in it was paradise by God planted. The difficulty of which search resteth chiefly in this, that as all nations have often changed names with their masters; so are most of these places, by Moses remembered, forgotten by those names of all historians and geographers, as well an cient as modern.
Besides, we find that the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Persians (Cyrus only and few others excepted ) sought to extinguish the Hebrews. The Grecians hated both their nation and their religion ; and the Romans despised once to remember them in any of their stories. And as those three monarchies succeeded each other, so did they transform the names of all those principal places and cities in the east : and after them, the Turk hath sought (what he could) to extinguish in all things the ancient memory of those people, which he hath subjected and enthralled.
Now besides those notable marks, Euphrates and Tigris, the better to find the way which leadeth to the country of Eden, we are to take for guides these two considerations, to wit, that it lay eastward from Canaan and Judea; and that it was of all others the most beautiful and fertile. First then in respect of situation, the next country to Judea eastward was Arabia Petraea ; but in this region was Moses himself when he wrote : and the next unto it eastward also was Arabia the Desert, both which, in respect of the infertility,
CHAP. HI. OF THE WORLD. 91
could not be Eden, neither have any of the Arabians any such rivers, as are expressed to run out of it : so as it fol- loweth of necessity, that Eden must be eastward, and be yond both Arabia Petraea and Deserta. But because Eden is by Moses named by itself, and by the fertility and the rivers only described, we must seek it in other scriptures, and where it is by the additions of the neighbour nations better described. In the prophet Isaiah I find it coupled and ac companied with other adjacent countries, in these words spoken in the person of Senacherib by Rabsakeh. PHave the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed., as Gosan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, which were at Telassar? and in Eze- kiel, where he prophesieth against the Tyrians : q They of Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Ashur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants, &c.
But to avoid confusion, we must understand that there were two Edens, one of which the prophet r Amos remem- bereth, where he divideth Syria into three provinces, whereof the first he maketh Syria Damascene, or Decapolitan : the second part is that valley called Avenis, otherwise Conval- lis, or the tract of Chamath, where Assyria is joined to Arabia the Desert, and where s Ptolemy placeth the city of Averia: and the third is known by the name of Domus Edenis, or Coelesyria, otherwise Vallis Cava, or the hollow valley, because the mountains of Libanus and Antilibanus take all the length of it on both sides, and border it : for coile in Greek is cava in Latin. But this is not that Eden which we seek : neither doth this province lie east from Ca naan, but north, and so joineth unto it as it could not be unknown to the Hebrews. Yet, because there is a little city therein called paradise, the Jews believed this Coelesyria to be the same which Moses describeth. For the same cause doth Hopkins in his Treatise of Paradise reprehend Bero- in that he confoundeth this Eden with the other
Isa. xxxvii. 12. β’Β» Ezek. xxvii. 23. r Amos i. i. β’ Strabo.
92 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Eden of paradise : though, to give Beroaldus his right, I conceive that he led the way to Hopkins, and to all other later writers, saving that he failed in distinguishing these two regions, both called Eden : and that he altogether mis understood two of the four rivers, to wit, Pison and Gehon, as shall appear hereafter. Now, to find out Eden, which, as Moses teacheth us, lay eastward from the deserts, where he wrote after he had passed the Red sea; we must consider where those other countries are found, which the prophet Isaiah and Ezekiel joineth with it. For, saith Isaiah, Go- san, Harem, and Reseph, and the children of Eden which β’were at Telassar. Also l Ezekiel joineth Haran with Eden, who, together with those of Sheba, Ashur and Chilmad, were the merchants that traded with the city of Tyre, which was then, saith Ezekiel, the mart of the people for many isles. And it hath ever been the custom, that the Persians conveyed their merchandise to Babylon, and to those cities upon Euphrates and Tigris, and from thence transported them into Syria, now Soria, and to the port of the Mediter ranean sea : as in ancient times to the city of Tyre, after wards to Tripoly, and now to Aleppo, from whence they embark them at the port of Alexandretta, in the bay of Issicus, now Laiazzo. Ezekiel, in the description of the magnificence of Tyre, and of the exceeding trade that it had with all the nations of the east, as the only mart-town of that part of the world, reciteth both the people with whom they had commerce, and also what commodities every coun try yielded : and having counted the several people and countries, he addeth the particular trade which each of them exercised. u They were thy merchants, saith the pro phet, in all sorts of things, in raiments of blue silk, and of broidcred works, fine linen, coral, and pearl: and afterwards speaking of the merchants of Sheba and Raamah, and in what kinds they traded, he hath these words; The mer chants of Sheba and Raamah were thy merchants, they oc cupied in thy fairs, with the chief of all spices, and with all
1 Ezek. xxvii. 23. u Ezek. xxvii. 24.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 93
precious stones and gold. Now these be indeed the riches which Persia and Arabia Fcelix yield : and because Sheba and Raamah are those parts of Arabia which border the sea called the Persian Gulf, therefore did those nations both vent such spice, sweet gums, and pearls, as their own countries yielded, and withal having trade with their neigh bours of India, had from them also all sorts of spices, and plenty of gold. The better to convey these commodities to that great mart of Tyre, the Shebans or Arabians entered by the mouth of Tigris, and from the city of Terredon (built or enlarged by Nabuchodonozor, now called Balsara) thence sent up all these rich merchandises by boat to Ba bylon, from whence by the body of Euphrates, as far as it bended westward, and afterwards by a branch thereof, which reacheth within three days'1 journey of Aleppo, and then over land they passed to Tyre, as they did afterwards to Tripoly, (formerly Hieropolis,) and thence to Alexan- dretta, as aforesaid. Now the merchants of Canneh, which Ezekiel joineth with Eden, inhabited far up the river, and received this trade from Arabia and India, besides those proper commodities which themselves had, and which they received out of Persia, which bordered them. St. Jerome understandeth by Canneh, Seleucia, which is seated upon Euphrates, where it breaketh into four heads, and which took that name from Seleucus, who made thereof a magni ficent city. Hierosolymitanus thinks it to be Ctesiphon, but Ctesiphon is seated down low upon Tigris, and Canneh cannot be on that side, I mean on the east side of Tigris, for then were it out of the valley of Shinar. x Pliny placeth the Schenite upon Euphrates, where the same beginneth to be fordable, which is toward the border of Syria, after it leaveth to be the bound of Arabia the Desert, and where the river of Euphrates reflecteth from the Desert of Palmi- rena : for these people of Canneh (afterwards Schenitae) in habited both borders of Euphrates, stretching themselves from their own city of Canneh in Shinar, westward along
x Plin. 1. 6. c. 26.
94 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
the banks of Euphrates, as far as the city of Thapsacus, where Ptolemy appointed the fords of Euphrates: which also agreeth with the description of the Schenitae by Strabo, whose words are these ; Y Mercatonbus ex Syria Seleuciam et Babytoniam euntibtu iter est per Schcenittu; "The " merchants which travel from Syria to Seleucia and Baby- " Ion take their way by the Schenites." Therefore those which take Canneh for Charran do much mistake it. For Charran, to which Abraham came from zUr in Chaldea, (called by God,) standeth also in Mesopotamia, not upon Euphrates itself, but upon the river of Chaboras, which falleth into Euphrates : and the merchants of Charran are distinctly named with those of Canneh in Ezekiel, as, They of Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Ashur, and Chilinud, were thy merchants. Wherefore Char- ran, which is sometimes called Charre, and Haran, and Aran, is but the same Charran of Mesopotamia ; and when it is written Aran, then it is taken for the region of Meso potamia, or Aran Jluviorum, the Greek word Mesopotamia importing a country between rivers : for mesos in Greek is medius in Latin, and potamos, Jluvius. And when it is written Haran, or Aran, it is then taken for the city itself, to which Abraham came from Ur, as aforesaid. For Strabo, in the description of Arabia, giveth that tract of land from the borders of Ccelesyria to the edge of Mesopo tamia to the Schenitae, who also inhabited on both sides of Euphrates, and were in after-ages accounted of these Ara bians which inhabit Batanea and the north part of the De serts, stretching themselves towards the uninhabited solitude of Palmirena, which lieth between Syria and Arabia the Desert. So as these of Canneh lay in the very highway from Babylon to Tyre, and were neighbours (indifferent) to Charran and to Eden: and therefore they are by the prophet E/ekiel coupled together, They of' Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, &c. But St. Jerome made a good in terpretation of Canneh, or Chalne, by Seleucia; for Seleu-
> Strabo, 1. 16. ' (Jon. xi. .}!.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 95
cia was anciently called Chalanne, (witness Appian ;) and so Rabanus Maurus calleth it in his Commentaries upon Ge nesis ; the name by time and mixture of languages being changed from Chalne, or Canneh, to Chalanne : of which name there are two other cities, standing in triangle with Seleucia, and almost the next unto it, as Thelbe-canne and Mann-canne, the one a little to the west of Seleucia, and the other opposite unto it, where these rivers of Tigris and Euphrates are ready to join. Therefore which of these the ancient Canne was, (being all three within the bound of the valley Shinar,) it is uncertain : but it is a note as well of the importance of the place, as of the certain seat thereof, that so many other cities did retain a part of the name in so many ages after. Neither is it unlikely, that these addi tions of Thelbe and Mann to the word Canne, were but to make difference between the east and the west, or the greater and the less Canne, or between Canne the old and the new : which additions, to distinguish cities by, are ordi nary in all the regions of the world.
Now of the other city joined with Eden, as Haran, or Charran, St. Jerome on the Judges speaketh thereof in these words : ^Cumque reverterentur, pervenerunt ad Char- ran, quce est in medio itinere contra Ninevem, undecimo die; " When they returned, they came to Charran (which " is the midway against Nineveh) the eleventh day."
This city is by the martyr Stephen named Charran, (speaking to the high priest:) b Ye men, brethren, and fa thers, hearken ; the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham,, while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran. But the seat of this city is not doubted of: for it is not only remembered in many scriptures, but withal exceeding famous for the death and overthrow of Crassus the Roman, who, for his unsatiable greediness, was called Gurges avaritice; " The gulf of avarice." Where of Lucan :
* Jud. i. 'β’ Acts vii. 2.
96 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
c Assyrias Latio maculavit sanguine carra*. With Roman blood th' Assyrian car he defil'd.
But this city Canne, or Chalne, is made manifest by Moses himself, where it is written of Nimrod, AAnd the be ginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Acad, and Chalne, in the land ofSinaar, or Shinar : where Moses sheweth the first composition of the Babylonian empire, and what cities and people were subject unto Nimrod ; all which lay in the said valley of Shinar, or near it ; and this valley of Shinar is that tract afterwards called Babylonia and Chaldea, into which also Eden stretcheth itself; Chaldea, Babylonia, Sinar, idem sunt, saith Comestor ; three names of one country : which region of Babylonia took name of the tower Babel, and the tower of the confusion of tongues. And that Shinar was Babylonia, it is proved in these words: eAnd as they went from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and there they abode : in which plain Babylon was built, as aforesaid.
Now Shinar being Babylonia, and Canneh, in the first beginning of Nimrod's greatness, and before he had sub dued any strange or far-off nations, being one part of his dominion, and also named by Moses to be in Shinar, it proveth that Canneh joineth to Babylonia ; which also Eze- kiel coupleth with Eden, and (further) affirmeth that those of Eden were also the merchants which traded with the Tynans : and Isaiah, in the threats of Senacherib against Jerusalem, (with other nations that Senacherib vaunted that his fathers had destroyed,) nameth the children of Eden which were at Telassar. But before I conclude where Eden itself lieth, it is necessary to describe those other countries which Ezekiel joineth therewith, in the places before re membered, as those of Sheba and Raamah. It is written in Genesis, f Moreover the sons of Ham were Cush, &c. And the sons of Cush were Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and
T Lucan. l.i. 105. d Gen. x. 10. β’ Gen. xi. 2. f Gen. x. 7.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 97
Raamah, Sic. : and the sons of Raamah were Sheba, Sic. And anon after, Cush begat Nimrod, So as Sheba was the grandchild of Cush, and Nimrod the son of Cush, whose elder brother was Sebah. Though some there are that conceive to the contrary, that Nimrod was the elder in valour and understanding, though not in time and prece dence of birth ; who inhabited that part of Shinar where Babel was built, afterwards Babylonia. His brother Raa mah, or Regma, took that part adjoining to Shinar, toward the sea-side and Persian gulf, (called afterwards Raamah and Sheba, by the father and his sons, which possessed it.) For, saith Ezekiel, the merchants of Raamah and Sheba were thy merchants, they occupied in thy fairs with the chitfof'all spices, and all precious stones, and gold. So as Sheba was that tract of country which parteth Arabia De- serta from Arabia Foelix, and which joineth to the sea where Tigris and Euphrates fall out, and render them selves to the ocean. This part and the confining country g Strabo calleth Catabria, where the best myrrh and frank incense is gathered ; which people have an interchange or trade with Elana, lying on the east side of the Persian gulf. By this it appears who were the Shebans, spoken of by Ezekiel, and said to have been the merchants of Tyre, for gold, spices, and precious stones ; of which they had not only plenty of their own, but were also furnished from that part of India, (called Elana, according to Strabo,) for ex change of their aromatics, and other proper commodities. For, as Strabo reporteth out of Eratosthenes, In Persica ora: initio insula est, in qua multi et pretiosi uniones gi- v'nantur : in aliis vero, clari et perlucidi lapilli. Erato sthenes, saith Strabo, affinneth, that " in the beginning of " the Persian gulf there is an island in which there are " many precious pearls bred ; and in other, very clear and " shining stones." Now the difference between Sheba the son of Raamah, and Seba the son of Cush, is in this, that Seba is written with the Hebrew samech, and Sheba with schin; but whatsoever the difference may be in the Hebrew
s Strabo, 1. 16. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. H
98 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
orthography, their countries and habitations are diverse. For Sheba is that which bordereth the Persian sea, and Saba (whence the queen of Saba) neighboured the Red sea ; and so that place of the 72d Psalm expounded reges Ara- liinn ct Saba>, hath in the Hebrew this sense, reges Shebce. et Sab(B.
The Shebans Ezekiel nameth together with the Edenites, because they inhabited upon the outlet of the same river upon which the Edenites were seated : and so those of Sheba, towards the sea-coast and upon it, passed up the country by Tigris and Euphrates, being joined in one main stream, and so through the region of Eden, which Tigris boundeth, thereby the better to convey their merchandise toward Tyre. And as the cities of Charran and Canneh border Eden on the west and north-west ; so doth Sheba on the south, and Chilmad on the north-east : Chilmad being a region of the higher Media, as appeareth in the Chaldean paraphrast; which country by the geographers is called Coromitena, I placed by exchange for r, which change the Hebrews also often use.
Thus much of those countries which border Eden, and who altogether traded with the Tynans ; of which the chief were the Edenites, inhabiting Telassar: for these Senacherib vaunted that his fathers had destroyed; and this place of Telassar lay most convenient, both to receive the trade from Sheba and Arabia, and also to convey it over into Syria and to Tyrus. Now to make these things the more plain, we must remember that before the death of Se nacherib many parts of the Babylonian empire fell from his obedience, and after his death these monarchies were utterly disjoined.
For it appeareth both in Esay the 37th and in the 2d of Kings, by the threats of Rabsache, the while the army of Assyria lay before Jerusalem, that the cities of Gosan, Ha- ran, Reseph, and the Edenites at Telassar, had resisted the Assyrians ; though by them (in a sort) mastered and reco vered. h Have the gods of the nations delivered them h Esav xxxvii. 12.
CHAP. ni. OF THE WORLD. 99
ichom my fathers have destroyed, as Gosan, and Haran, Reseph, and the children of Eden which were at Telassar? But it appeared manifestly after SenacherilTs death, that these nations formerly contending were then freed from the other's subjection ; for Esar-Haddon held Assyria, and Merodach Baladan, Babylonia. 'l And after that the army of Senacherib commanded by Rabsache, which lay before Jerusalem (Hezekiah then reigning) while Senacherib was in Egypt, was by the angel of God destroyed, the king of Babel sent to k Hezekiah, both to congratulate the recovery of his health, and his victory obtained over the Assyrians. After which overthrow, ! Senacherib himself was slain by his own sons in the temple of his idols, Esar-Haddon succeeding him in Assyria. To the Babylonian ambassadors, sent by Merodach, m Hezekiah shewed all his treasures as well pro per as consecrate, which invited the kings of Babylon after ward to undertake their conquest and subversion. So as, the suspicion of war increasing between Babylon and Assyria, the Edenites, which inhabited the borders of Shinar towards the north and towards Assyria, were employed to bear off the in cursions of the Assyrians, and their garrison-place was at Te lassar : and the very word Telassar, saith Junius, signifying as much as a bulwark against the Assyrians. This place Hierosolymitanus takes for Resem, others for Seleucia : but this Telassar is the same which Am. Marcellinus, in the history of Julian, (whom he followed in the enterprise of Persia,) calleth Thilutha instead of Telassar, who describeth the exceeding strength thereof in his 24th book : it is seated in an island of Euphrates upon a steep and unassaultable rock, insomuch as the emperor Julian durst not attempt it ; and therefore it was a convenient place for a garrison against the Assyrians, being also a passage out of Mesopotamia into Babylonia, and in which the Edenites of the country adjoin ing were lodged, to defend the same. This place n Ptolemy calleth Teridata, having Reseph (which he calleth Resepha)
β’ 2 Kings xix. 35. xx- I2- "' Esay xxxix- 2-
k Esay xxxix. i . n Asiae Tab. 4.
1 Esay xxxvii. 38.
100 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
on the left hand, and Canneh (which he calleth Thelbe- Canne) on the right hand ; not far from whence is also found the city of Mann-Canne, upon Tigris ; and all these seated together, as Esay and Ezekiel have sorted them. But the understanding of these places is the more difficult, because Assyria (which the Chaldeans call Atturia) and Me sopotamia were so often confounded ; the one taken for the other by interchange of dominion. Β° Assyria et Mesopota mia in Babylonia nomen transierunt, saith Niger ; " As- " syria and Mesopotamia took the name of Babylonia." Lastly, it appeareth, by those adjacent regions by the pro phets named, in what part of the world Eden is seated, as by Charran, or Haran, in Mesopotamia ; also by Canneh and Reseph, according to the opinion of Vatablus, who in these words translated! this place: Plantaverat autem Jehovah Deus hortum in Eden ab oriente ; " The Lord God planted " a garden in Eden eastward ;" that is, saith he in his an notations, jusserat nasci arbores in Eden, regione orientali, injinibus Arabics et Mesopotamia ,β’ " he commanded trees " to grow in Eden, an eastern region in the borders of Ara- " bia and Mesopotamia."
SECT. X.
Of divers other testimonies of the land of Eden ; and that this is the Eden of paradise.
AND for a more particular pointing out of this Eden, it seems by the two epistles of the Nestorian Christians that inhabit Mesopotamia; which epistles, in the year 1552, they sent to the pope, about the confirming of their patriarch, and Andraeas Masius hath published them, translated out of Sy- riac into Latin. By these epistles, I say, it seems we may have some farther light for the proof of that which we have said about the region of Eden in those parts. For in them both there is mention of the island of Eden in the river Ti gris, or at least Tigris in both these epistles is called the
0 Cosmos:. Asia;.
CHAP. HI. OF THE WORLD. 101
river of Eden. This island, as Masius in his preface to these epistles saith, is commonly called Gozoria, (as it were, the island, by an eminency.) It hath, saith he, ten miles in circuit, and was sometimes walled round about, which name of the island Eden may (doubtless) remain to this day; though in the rest of the region so called this name be swallowed up with the fame of those flourishing kingdoms of Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldea. This island of Edeu hath up the river, and not far beyond it, the city of Hasan-Cepha, otherwise Fortis Petra ; below it, it hath Mosal, or Mosel, from which (as in that which follow- eth it shall appear out of Masius) it is not above twelve miles distant. Neither is it to trouble us, that Mosal, or Mosel, by Marius Niger, is remembered among the cities higher up Tigris, in these words, P Juxta autem Tigrim, ci~ vitates sunt Dorbeta prope Taurum montem, quce nunc Mo sel dicitur ; rtiagna sane, &c. that is, " By Tigris are these " cities, Dorbeta near unto mount Taurus, (which is now " called Mosel,) which is a great one," &c. This opinion of Niger, displacing Mosel, and making it to be Dorbeta, I say, needs not here to trouble us ; seeing for this matter the testimony of Masius, informed by the Christians that dwelt there, (the seat of whose patriarch it is,) ought to be of credit, avowing that this Mosal (or Mo/al) is in the con fines of Mesopotamia and Assyria, seated upon Tigris, and in the neighbourhood of Nineve ; and that it is the famous Seleucia Parthorum. The Nestorian Christians, in their former epistle, call it Attur in these words : Ex omnibus ci- vitatibus et pagis quce sunt circum civitatem Mosal (hoc est) Attur, in vicinia Nineves : " Of all the cities and towns " which are about the city of Mosal, that is, Attur, in the " neighbourhood of Nineve."" As also Niger acknowledged Ctesiphon, a city thereabout, to be called Assur, (which is the same as Attur, after the dialect of those nations, which change sh into t.) Neither is it much that he should mis take Ctesiphon (which is not far off Seleucia) for Seleucia,
P Ut supra. H3
102 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
to be Assur. By this then we may come somewhat near the end of our purpose : for the isle of Eden, which lieth in the breast of Tigris, is but twelve miles from Mosal, and that ancient city which Ptolemy and Tacitus call Ninus, and the scriptures Nineve, Philostratus, and Simeon Sethi, Mosula, and John Leo, Mosal, others Mosse, (though it be not the same with Mosal,) is set but a little higher upon the same river of Tigris, near Mosal : so that we are like to find this isle of Eden hereabout. For the same Andraeas Masius, which placeth it above Mosal, makes it to be below Hasan-Cepha, which is upon the same river of Tigris.
The only difficulty is this, that some perhaps may think that the words of the Nestorians in both their epistles speak not of any isle in Tigris called the isle of Eden, but of an isle in Tigris, a river of Eden. But this sense of their words in my opinion seemeth the more improbable. And yet, if this were the meaning here, we have a testimony from the learned of those parts, that not only Euphrates, but also Tigris, was a river of Eden, and that the name of Eden in those parts is not yet quite worn out, though the region hath been subject to the same change that all other kingdoms of the world have been, and hath by conquest and corruption of other languages received new and differing names. For the south part of Eden, which stretcheth over Euphrates, was after the flood called Shinar, and then, of the tower of Babel, Babylonia; and the north part of Eden is that tract of Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Armenia, which embraceth both the banks of Tigris between mount Taurus and Seleucia. And of this region of Eden that ancient JiCthicus maketh mention, (not that latter JEthicus, disciple of Callinicus, otherwise by Plutarch and Athenaeus called Istri, who lived in Egypt in the reign of Philadelphus; but another of a far higher and remote time,) the same being made Latin out of the Greek by St. Jerome. And though by corruption of the ancient copy it be written in JEthicus, Adonis for Edenis ; yet Adonis, being a river of Phoenicia, cannot be understood to be the region named by ^Ethicus : for ^Ethicus makes it a country, and not a river, and join-
CHAP. HI. OF THE WORLD. 103
eth it with Mesopotamia and ^Ethiopia, calling the land of Chus ^Ethiopia, after the Vulgar and Septuagint. And lastly, the river which watereth the regions, saith JEthicus, falleth into the gulf of Persia ; which river he calleth Ar- modius for Tigris, Tigris being but a name imposed for the swiftness thereof. And out of Armenia both Tigris and Euphrates have their original : for out of Eden came a ri ver, or rivers, to water the garden, both which rivers, to wit, Tigris and Euphrates, come out of Armenia, and both of them traverse Mesopotamia, regions first of all known by the name of Eden, for their beauty and fertility. And it is very probable that Eden contained also some part of Ar menia ; and the excellent fertility thereof in divers places is not unworthy the name of Eden : for in some part thereof, saith Strabo, the leaves are always green, and therefore therein a perpetual spring. Also Stephanus, de Urbibus, mentioneth the city of Adana upon Euphrates ; and the name of Eden was in use in Amos's time, though he spake not of Eden in the east, but of Eden in Coelesyria. But to the end I may not burden the reader's patience with too long a discourse, it may suffice to know, that Euphrates and Tigris (once joined together, and afterwards separate) are two of those four heads, into which these rivers which are said to water the garden of paradise were divided ; whose courses being known, Eden (out of which they are said to come) cannot be unknown. Now that Hiddekel and Perath were Tigris and Euphrates, it is agreed by all : for the Se venty, and all others, convert Perath by Euphrates : et Hid dekel, Tig-rim omnes exponunt ; " and all men understand " Hiddekel by Tigris," saith Vatablus. And because that which I have said of the isle of Eden shall not be subject to the censure of self-invention, I have hereunder set down the words out of the two general epistles of the Nestorians, as Masius (ad verb-urn) hath converted them into Latin. The occasion of those letters and supplications to the pope were, that the Nestorian Christians which inhabit Mesopotamia, Assyria, Persia, and Babylonia, and have to this day (at least in queen Mary's time they had) fifteen churches in one city,
H 4
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called Seleucia Parthorum, or Mosel, upon the river, Tigris having no sufficient authority to choose themselves a patri arch, (which cannot be done without four, or three metropo litan bishops at the least,) sent to the bishop of Rome, in the year of Christ 1552, (as aforesaid,) a petition to obtain allow ance unto such an election as themselves had made; having three hundred years before that, upon the like defect, sent one Marius thither to be confirmed ; and in this negotiation they made known to the bishop of Rome the state of the Christian church in those parts : for, upon the death of their patriarch, (who of a covetous desire to enrich himself had foreborne to institute metropolitan bishops when the places fell void,) they all assembled themselves together to consult of the church-government. And because all the patri archs for an hundred years had been of one house and family, to the prejudice of the church, and that there yet remained one bishop of the same stock and kindred, who aspired to the same dignity which his predecessors had held, the rest of the professors refused to allow him. Upon which occa sion, and for the choice of a governor more sufficient, the teachers in all the churches assembled themselves. The words of the general epistle to the pope were these, about the middle of the said epistle ; Verum nos non acccpfavfmut, neque prodamavimus ipsum ; sed subito convenimus ex om nibus locis orientalibus, et ex omnibus civitatibus et pagi-s qnce sunt circum civitatem Moscl (hoc est, Attur) in vicinta Nineves, ex Babylonia, ex Charra, ex Arbella, ex insnla quce est in media Tigris, jluminis Eden, &c. i. e. " But we " did neither accept of this man, neither pronounced him ; " but suddenly we assembled ourselves out of all parts of " the east, and out of all the cities and villages which are " about Mosel, or Attur, neighbouring upon Nineve ; and " out of Babylon, Charra, Arbella ; and out of the island " which lieth in the middle of Tigris, a river of Eden, or " rather out of the isle of Eden, which lieth in the river Ti- " gris." And in a second epistle, at the same time sent, they used these words : Neque supersunt apud nos metropolitcB, quorum est ordinare catholicum ; sed soli pauci episcopi*
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 105
episcopus Arbel(B, episcopus Salmasti, episcopus Adurbei- gan ; en e vestigio convenimus in insulam, quce est intra Tiff rim flumen, Eden ; Jecimusque compactum inter nos, &c. which is, " Neither are there remaining among us any " metropolitan bishops, to whom it belongs to ordain a pa- " triarch, but only a few bishops, as the bishop of Arbela, " the bishop of Salmastus, and the bishop of Adurbeigan : " but lo, we assembled speedily in the island of Eden, " which is in Tigris, and agreed between ourselves,1' &c.
Now this island of Eden, Masius describeth with other places ; which being well conceived, the Nestorian epistles and the state of the church may be in those parts, saith he, the better understood. And after he hath distinguished the four sorts of Christians in those parts of the world, and in the south part of Africa, which he calleth Nestorians, Jacobites, Maronitse, and Cophti, he goeth on in these words : Mox, audita illius morte, concurrisse aiebant tu- multuario in illani quam modo dixi Tigris insulam, quce duodecim circiter passuum millibus supra Mosal posita^ de- cemfere millia passuum suo ambitu continet, muris undi- que cincta, et a paucis aliis quam Christianis kominibus ha- bitata : which is, " Now hearing of the death of the patri- " arch, (as those that came to Rome reported,) they ran tu- " multuously together into that island of Tigris, or Eden, be- " fore spoken of, which island is situated about twelve miles " above Mosal, containing very near ten miles in compass, " and every where environed with a wall, inhabited by few " other men than Christians." And afterward he maketh a recapitulation of the Christian churches ; among the rest he addeth the isle of Eden by the name of Geserta, insula Tigris, sive Geserta. Furthermore, describing the city of Hosan-Cepha, or Fortis Peti'a, he placeth it supra prcedi- ctam Tigris insulam, rupi asperce impositam ; " above the " aforesaid island of Tigris, being seated on a steep rock." Of this island of Geserta, Andrew Theuet maketh mention in his 10th book of his general Cosmography in these words: Geserta ou Gesire est au milieu de la riviere du Tigre^ et pense que c'cst une terre des plus fertlles de toute TAsie ;
106 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
** Geserta, or Gesire, is in the middle of Tigris, the soil the " most fertile of all Asia."
By tliis we may see that the ancient name of Eden liveth ; and of that Eden which lieth eastward from Arabia Petraea, and the desert where Moses wrote, and that Eden which bordereth Charran, according to Ezekiel, and that Eden which is seated according to the assertion of the said pro phet, and joined with those nations of Reseph, Canneh, and Charran, and the rest which traded with the Tyrians, and is found at this day in the parting of the two regions of As syria and Babylonia, where the Edenites in Telassar were garrisoned to resist the Assyrians, whose displantation Se- nacherib vaunted of, as above written ; and lastly, the same Eden which embraceth Tigris, and looketh on Euphrates, two of the known rivers of those four, which are by all men ascribed to paradise.
SECT. XI.
Of the difficulty in the tart, which seemeth to make the four rivers to rise from one stream.
BUT it may be objected, that it is written in the text, that (i r'rccr rccnt out of Eden, and not mvr.v, in the plural : which scruple Matthew Beroaldus hath thus answered in his Chronology: the Latin translation, saith he, hath these words: Et fluvlus cgrcdicbatur dc loco voh/ptati.i nd irrigaii- dmii paradisian, (jul /tide diridcbutiir 'in quatuor capita: quce verba meliiifi consent unit cinn rc't iiarratlonc, et ij un dent explicatione, si ita rcddantur ; Et Jiuvins crat egre- diens ex Edcne (hoc esΒ£)Jluvn proccdcbant ex Edenc rc- glone ad ri^andum pomar'nim ; et Inde drcidcbatur, cf i ruf in (juatuor capita : which is, " And a river went out of the " place of pleasure to water paradise, and thence was di- " vided into four heads ; which words," saith Beroaldus, " do better agree with the narration and explication of the " place, if they be thus translated ; And a river was going " forth of Eden, that is, rivers went forth, and ran out of " the region of Eden to water the orchard; and from thence
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 107
" it was divided, and they became four heads." The Tigu- rine differs from the Vulgar, or Latin; for it converts it thus, Etjluvius egrediebatur de deliciis ; " And a river went out " of pleasure," instead of Eden ; and the Latin addeth the word locus, or place, Et Jluvius egrediebatur de loco vo- luptatis ; " And a river went out of the place of pleasure :" and so the word place may rightly be referred to Eden, which was (of all other) a region most delightful and fer tile ; and so also the word inde, and thence was divided, hath reference to the country of Eden, and not to the gar den itself.
And for the word river for rivers, it is usual among the Hebrews: for it is written, Gen. i. 11. Let the earth bud forth the bud of the herb that seedeth seed, the fruitful tree, &c. Here the Hebrew useth the singular for the plural, herb and tree, for herbs and trees ; and again, Gen. iii. 2. We eat of the fruit of the tree, instead of trees : and third ly, Gen. iii. 8. The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God ; in medio ligni paradisi, in the mid dle of the tree of the garden, for trees. And of this opi nion is David Kimchi and Vatablus, who upon this place of Genesis say, that the Hebrews do often put the singular for the plural, as illud, for unumquodque illorum ; and he giveth an instance in this question itself, as, a river, for ri vers, went out of Eden.
And this answer out of divers of the learned may, not without good reason, be given to the objection, that Moses speaketh but of one river, from which the heads should di vide themselves. Howbeit I deny not, but with as good (and perhaps better) reason, we may expound the four heads to be four notable passages into famous countries. And so we may take the word river, verse the 10th, for one river, to wit, Euphrates, as this name comprehendeth all the branches thereof. For this river (after he is past the place where we suppose Paradise to have been) divides itself, and ere long yieldeth four notable passages into several countries, though not all the way down stream, (for this is no where in the text,) where it is noted, that following the river down-
108 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
ward, there is conveyance into the countries named in the text, though part of the way to one of the countries (to wit, to Assyria) were up Tigris.
To this end the text, speaking of Hiddekel, as it riseth from the river of Eden, doth not say, it compasseth or washeth the whole region of Assyria, (as it had used this phrase of Pison and Gehon,) but that it runneth towards Assyria. The first branch Pison, is Nahar-Malcha, by in terpretation Basilius, or Jlumen regium, which runneth into Tigris under Apamia; whence ariseth the name of Pasi-Tigris, as it were Piso-Tigris : this leadeth to the land of Havilah, or Susiana. The second branch Gehon, is that which in historians is Nabarsares, or Narragas, for Nahar- ragas; both which names signify Jinmcn derivatum, (a river derived ;) also Acracanus, quasi Ranosus, by reason of the froggy fens which it maketh : this Gehon leadeth to the first seat of Chus, about the borders of Chaklea and Ara bia, and it is lost at length in the lakes of Chaldea. The third branch, Hiddekel, may be expounded the upper stream of Pison, or Basilius, which runneth into Hiddekel, properly so called, (that is, into Tigris,) above Seleucia, where it sheweth a passage up Tigris into Assyria : where, because at length it is called Hiddekel, or Tigris, having before no known proper name, the text in this place calleth it Hidde kel from the beginning. The fourth Perath, or Euphrates, so called per excellentiam, being the body of the river Eu phrates, which runneth through Babylon and Otris. But be it a river or rivers that come out of Eden, seeing that Tigris and Euphrates are noted in the text, there can be no doubt but that paradise was not far from these rivers; for that Perath in Moses is Euphrates, there can be no ques tion ; and, indeed, as plain it is that Hiddekel is Tigris. For Hiddekel goeth, saith Moses, eastward towards Assur, as we find that Tigris is the river of Assyria proprie dicta, whose chief city was Nineveh, as in Genesis the 10th it is written, that out of that land, to wit, Babylonia, Nimrod went into Assur, and builded Nineveh, which was the chief city of Assyria.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 109
And as for the kind of speech here used in the text, speaking of four heads ; though the heads of rivers be (pro perly) their fountains, yet here are they to be understood to be spoken of the beginning of their division from the first stream. Caput aquce, saith Ulpianus, illud est, unde aqua nascitur ; si exfonte nascatur Jbns ; si ex jlumine, vel ex lacu, prima initia, &c. " If the beginning of the water be " out of a fountain, then is the fountain taken for the head ; " if out of a lake, then the lake ; and if from a main river " any branch be separate and divided, then where that " branch doth first bound itself with new banks, there is " that part of the river, where the branch forsaketh the main " stream, called the head of the river."
SECT. XII.
Of the strange fertility and happiness of the Babylonian soil, as it is certain that Eden was such.
IT may also be demanded, whether this region of Eden, by us described, be of such fertility and beauty as Eden the seat of paradise was : which if it be denied, then must we also consider, that there was no part of the earth that retained that fertility and pleasure that it had before the curse : neither can we ascribe the same fruitfulness to any part of the earth, nor the same virtue to any plant thereon growing, that they had before the flood ; and therefore this region of Eden may be now no such flourishing country as it was when it was first created in his perfection. Yet this I find written of it ; first in Herodotus, (Clia. lib. i.) who was an eyewitness, and speaketh of the very place itself, for the isle of Eden is but twelve miles or thereabout from Ni neveh, and so from Mosal. Ex Euplirate exiens in Tigrim, alterum Jlumen, juxta quod urbs Ninus sita erat, h&c regio, omnium quas nos vidimus, optima eat, &c. " Where Eu- " phrates runneth out into Tigris, not far from the place " where Ninus is seated ; this region, of all that we have " seen, is most excellent.11 And he addeth afterward, Cere- ris autem fructu procreando adeo ferax est, ut nunqnam
110 THE HISTORY HOOK i.
-non fere diiceiitu reddat, &c. that is, " It is so fruitful in " bringing forth corn, that it yieldeth two hundred fold ;" the leaves of wheat and barley being almost four fingers broad : as for the height of millet and sesani, they are even in length like unto trees, which although I know to be true, yet I forbear to speak hereof, well knowing that those things which are reported of this fruitfulness will seem very incredible to those which never were in the country of Babylon. They have commonly in all the country palm- trees growing of their own accord, the most of them bearing fruit ; out of which they make both meats, and wine, and honey, ordering them as the fig-trees. Thus far Herodotus. To this palm-tree, so much admired in the East India, Strabo and Niger add a fourth excellency, which is, that it yieldeth bread ; ex quibux panctn, ct in el, et vinum, et ace- tnm conjiciunt ; " of which these people make bread, wine, " honey, and vinegar.1' But Antonius the Eremite findeth a fifth commodity, not inferior to any of those four, which is, that from this selfsame tree there is drawn a kind of fine flax, of which people make their garments, and with which in East India they prepare the cordage for their ships ; and that this is true, Athanasius in the life of Antonius the Ere mite confesseth, saying, " That he received a garment made " thereof from the Eremite himself, which he brought with " him out of this region." So therefore those trees, which the East Indies so highly esteem and so much admire, (as indeed the earth yieldeth no plant comparable to this,) those trees, I say, are in this upper Babylon, or region of Eden, as common as any trees of the field. Stint ctiam, saith Strabo, passim per oinncm rcgioncm pcdmce suit spontc nas- centes ; " There are of palms over all the whole region, grow- " ing of their own accord." Of this place Quintus Curtius maketh this report, Euntibus a parte l&va Arabia odorum fcrtditate nobilis, regw canptttris interest inter Tigrim et EupJiratem, jacens tarn ubere et pingni solo, ut a pastu re- petti pecora dicantur, ne satietas perimat ; that is, " As you " travel on the left hand of Arabia, (famous for plenty of " sweet odours,) there licth a champaign country placed be-
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. Ill
" tween Tigris and Euphrates, and so fruitful and fat a " soil, that they are said to drive their cattle from pasture, " lest they should perish by satiety." Bis in anno segetes Babylonii secant ; " The Babylonians cut their corn twice a " year," saith Niger. And as countries generally are more fruitful to the southward than in the northern parts; so we may judge the excellency of this by that report which Strabo maketh of the south part of Armenia, which is the north border of Eden, or a part thereof; his words be these in the Latin, Tota enim hcec regiofrugibus et arlior'ibus abi/n- dat mansuetiS) itemque semper virentibus ; " This region " aboundeth with pleasant fruits, and trees always green :" which witnesseth a perpetual spring, not found elsewhere but in the Indies only, by reason of the sun's neighbourhood, the life and stirrer up of nature in a perpetual activity. In brief, so great is the fertility of the ground, that the people are constrained twice to mow down their corn-fields, and a third time to eat them up with sheep ; which husbandry the Spaniards wanting in the valley of Mexico, for the first forty years, could not make our kind of wheat bear seed, but it grew up as high as the trees, and was fruitless. Be sides, those fields are altogether without weeds, saith q Pliny, who addeth this singularity to that soil, that the second year the very stubble (or rather falling down of the seeds again) yieldeth them a harvest of corn without any further labour : his words are these ; Ubertatis tantcB sunt, ut se~ qnenti anno sponte restibilis Jiat seges.
SECT. XIII.
Of the river Pison, and the land of Havilah.
AFTER the discovery of Eden, and the testimonies of the fertility thereof, it resteth to prove that Pison and Ge- hon are branches of Tigris and Euphrates. For that the knowledge and certainty of these two rivers should trou ble so many wise men, it is strange to me, seeing necessity
β’i Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 18. c. 17.
112 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
itself (Tigris and Euphrates being known) findeth them out : for Euphrates, or Tigris, or both, be that river or ri vers of Eden which water paradise, which river or rivers Moses witnesseth afterward, divided into four heads, where of the one is called Pison, the other Gehon, &c. Could there be a stranger fancy in the world, than when we find both these, namely, Tigris and Euphrates, in Assyria and Mesopotamia, to seek the other two in India and Egypt, making the one Ganges and the other Nilus ? Two rivers as far distant as any of fame known or discovered in the world : the scriptures making it so plain, that these rivers were divided into four branches ; and with the scriptures, nature, reason, and experience bearing witness. There is no error which hath not some slippery and bad foundation, or some appearance of probability resembling truth, which when men (who study to be singular) find out, (straining reason according to their fancies,) they then publish to the world matter of contention and jangling ; not doubting but in the variable deformity of men's minds to find some par takers or sectators, the better by their help to nurse and cherish such weak babes as their own inventions have be gotten.
But this mistaking (and first for the river of Pison) seem- eth to have grown out of the not distinguishing of that re gion in India called Havilah, from Havilah which adjoin- eth to Babylonia, afterwards known by the name of Susiana. For Havilah upon Tigris took name from Havilah the son of Cush ; and Havilah in India, from Havilah the son of Joctan ; the one remembered by Moses in the description of paradise, the other where T Moses setteth down the genera tions of Noah and his sons after the flood. For the sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, and Raamah ; and the sons of Joctan were Ophir and Havilah, &c. of which latter, to wit, of Ophir and Havilah, the sons of Joctan, that island of Ophir, (whence Solomon had gold,) and Havilah adjoin ing, had their names. Now because Ganges is a great and
* Gen. x. 7. 29.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 113
a famous river of the East India, and Havilah a country of the same, and is situated upon Ganges ; hence it came that Ganges is taken for s Pison, which river is said by Moses to water the land of Havilah. Or perhaps it was supposed that those four rivers named by Moses must of necessity be four of the greatest in the world ; whence (supposing that Ganges was the next great and famous river after Ti gris and Euphrates) they chose out this river to make one of the four. And yet certainly there is another river, whom in these respects they should rather have chosen than Gan ges ; for the river Indus on this side India, for beauty, for nearness, and for ability, giveth no way place to Ganges ; but exceedeth it in all. And how can any reasonable man conceive that Ganges can be one of the four heads ; seeing Indus cometh between it and Tigris, and between Tigris and Indus is all that large empire of Persia, consisting of many kingdoms. And again ; farther towards the east, and beyond Indus, are all those ample dominions of India infra Gangem which lie between those two proud rivers of Indus and Ganges, now called the kingdom of Mogor. So as if Indus be not accounted for any of the four, because it is re moved from Tigris by all the breadth of Persia, then how much less Ganges, which falleth into the ocean, little less than forty degrees to the eastward of Indus ? Surely, who soever readeth the story of Alexander shall find, that there is no river in Asia that can exceed Indus. For Hydaspis was of that breadth and depth, as Alexander thereon in great galleys transported himself and the greatest part or his army, and in sailing down that branch of Indus found it so large and deep, and by reason thereof so great a billow, as it endangered his whole fleet, which was ready to be swallowed up therein : Hydaspis, as aforesaid, being but one of many branches of Indus, comparable to it, and as great as it, having besides this the rivers of Coas, of Su- astus, Acesines, Adris, (otherwise Hirotis,) Hispalis, and Za- radus, all which make but one Indus, and by it are swal-
Gen. ii. i r.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD, VOL. !.
114 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
lowed up with all their children and companions, which be ing all incorporated and made one stream, it crosseth athwart Asia, and then at Cambaia visiteth the ocean sea.
But because Pison, which compasseth Havilah, as also 1 Gehon, which watereth Cush, must somewhere be joined with the rest in one body, or at least be found to proceed out of the same country of Eden, out of which the other two heads do proceed, out of doubt they cannot, either the one or the other, be Ganges or Nilus : for Nilus riseth in the uttermost of the south, and runneth northward into the Mediterranean sea ; and the river Ganges riseth out of the mountain Imaus, or (as others will have it) Caucasus, which divides the northern Scythia from India, and runneth from north to south into the Indian ocean. And as for Perath and Hiddekel, (that is, Euphrates and Tigris,) the one of them is begotten in Armenia, near Georgiana or Iberia ; the other not far off in the same Armenia, by the Gordiaean mountains, so as Ganges, who only travelleth in her own In dia, and Nilus through Ethiopia and Egypt, never saw the land of Eden, or joined themselves in one channel, either with themselves or with either of the other ; and therefore could not at any time from thence be separated or divided into four heads or branches, according to Moses.
Therefore the river Pison, which enricheth Havilah, is the same which, by joining itself with Tigris, was therefore called Pisi -Tigris, or Piso -Tigris, of Pison and Tigris, which river watereth that Havilah, which Havilah the son of Cush gave name unto, and not Havilah of India, so called of Ha vilah the son of Joctan, who inhabited with his brother Ophir in the east. And this Havilah of the Cushites hath also u gold, bdellium, and the onyx-stone. This bdellium is a tree, of the bigness of an olive, whereof Arabia hath great plenty, which yieldeth a certain gum, sweet to smell to, but bitter in taste, called also bdellium. The Hebrews take the loadstone for bdellium. Beroaldus affirmeth, that Bdela in Hebrew signifieth pearl ; so doth Eugubinus ; and
' Gen. ii. 13. " Gen. ii. 12.
CHAP. HI. OF THE WORLD. 115
Jerome calls it Oleaster : be it what it will, a tree bearing gum or pearl, Havilah or Susiana hath plenty of both. Now this country of Susiana or Havilah stretcheth itself to wards the north, as far as the altars of Hercules, and from thence embraceth all the tract of land southward, as far as the Persian gulf, on the east side thereof: from which east side had the Shebans (which traded with the city of Tyre, according to Ezekiel) their great plenty of gold, which Strabo also witnesseth, as was shewed before.
The x Greeks had a conceit that Pison was Danubius ; the rabbins take it for Nilus. Aben-Ezra, saith 7 Hopkins, out of rabbi Saadia, translated! Pison into Nilus : but Ni lus findeth the same impossibility that Ganges doth ; and Danubius hath the sea of Hellespont and all Asia the Less between it and Tigris. Now Pison, which runneth through Havilah or Susiana, doth to this day retain some sign of this name ; for where it and Tigris embrace each other un der the city of Apamia, there do they agree of a joint and compounded name, and are called Piso-Tigris. And it is strange unto me, that from so great antiquity there should be found remaining any resembling sound of the first name : for Babylon itself, which dwelleth so near these rivers, is by some writers known by the name of Bandas, as, by z Postel- lus, by Castaldus, of Baldach ; by Barius, of Bagdad ; and of Boughedor, by a Andrew Theuet; and yet all those that have lately seen it call it Bagdet. To this river of Pison, b Ptolemy indeed, with many others, give the name of Ba- silius or Regius, and Gehon they term Maharsares and Marsias, and Baarsares. So is Euphrates, near the spring and fountain, by Strabo and c Pliny called Pixirates : by Junius, Puckperath, out of the Hebrew, that is, the profu sion or coming forth of Euphrates: where it breaketli through the mountain Taurus, it takes the name of Omyra. Plutarch calls it Medus and Zaranda; the Hebrews Parath, saith Ar. Montanus; Pagninus, Perath; Josephus, Pho-
x Stench. a Theuet. Cosmog.
y Hopk. de Par. '' Asiae tab. 4.
''β’ Post. Cosmos-. Β° Plin. lib. 5. c. 24.
I 2
116 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
rah; Eusebius, Zozimus; Ammianus, Chalymicus; Gisti- lanus and Colinutius term it Cobar, which Ezekicl calleth Chebar ; but this is but a branch of Euphrates. The As syrians know it by the name of Armalchar, or Nahor Mal- cha ; but now commonly it is called Frat.
The same confusion of names hath Tigris; as, Diglito and Diglath, Seilax and Sollax of the Hebrews it was called Hiddekel ; now of the inhabitants Tegil.
But Mercer upon Genesis conceiveth rightly of these ri vers : for Euphrates and Tigris, saith he, stream into four branches, two of which keep their ancient names, and the other two are called Pison and Gehon. The reason why these two rivers joined in one (below Apamia) lose their names, and are called Pisi -Tigris, and the memory of Eu phrates extinguished, is, because the best part of Euphrates running through the channel of Gehon, sinketh into the lakes of Chaldea, not far from Ur, the city of Abraham, and fall not entirely into the Persian sea, as Tigris accom panied with Pison doth.
This error, that Pison was Ganges, was first broached by Josephus, (whose fields, though they be fertile, yet are they exceeding full of weeds,) and other men, (who take his au thority to be sufficient in matter of description, whereupon depended no other important consequence,) were not curious in the examination thereof. For Epiphanius, Augustine, and Jerome, take this for current ; whereof it followed, that as Pison was transported into the East India, to find out Havilah ; so was Gehon drawn into Africa, to compass Ethiopia. But if Havilah, whereof Moses speaketh in the description of paradise, be found to be a region adjoining to Babylon on the one side, and Cush (which is falsely in terpreted Ethiopia) fastened to it on the other side, we shall not need then to work wonders, that is, to impose upon men the transportation of rivers from one end of the world to the other, which (among other uses) were made to transport men. Now it was in the valley of Shinar, where Cush the son of Ham first sat. down with his sons, Sheba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Nimrod, &c. and of Havilah, the son of
CHAP. HI. OF THE WORLD. 117
Cush, did that region take name, which Pison compasseth ; and the land (called Cush) which Gchon watereth, took name of Cush himself. For as the sons of Joctan, Ophir, and Havilah, seated themselves as near together as they could in India, so did the sons of Cush in Shinar, or Baby lonia, where Nimrod built Babel : for Havilah or Chavilah was first Chusea of Cush; then Chusa, Susa, and Susiana. From this Havilah unto the deserts of Sur did the Israel ites and Amalekites possess all the interjacent countries; for d Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah to Sur : which Sur the Chaldean paraphrast converteth Hagra, and Hagra bordereth the Red sea ; but this was not meant from Sur upon the Red sea to Havilah in the East India; for Saul was no such traveller or conqueror, and therefore Havilah must be found nearer home, where the sons of Ismael inha bited, and which country Saul wasted : for Amalek and the Amalekites possessed that neck of country between the Per sian sea and the Red sea ; Havilah being the extreme of the one towards the east, and Sur of the other towards Egypt and the west, leaving that great body of Arabia Foelix to wards the south ; and they spread themselves with the Mi- dianites and Edumeans from the cast part, or back-side of the holy land, to the banks of Euphrates, comprising the best parts of Arabia Petraea and Deserta.
SECT. XIV.
Of the river Gehon and the land of Cush : and of the ill translat ing of Ethiopia for Cush, 2 Chron. xxi. 16.
NOW as Havilah in the East India drew Pison so far out of his way thither, so I say did Cush (being by the Se venty translated Ethiopia) force Gehon into Africa. For Cush being taken for Ethiopia by the Greeks, whom the Latins followed, Gehon consequently was esteemed for Ni- lus. But e Ethiopians are, as much, as black or burnt faces, whose proper country is called Thebaides, lying to
'' i Sam. xv. 7. c See more of this point, c. 7. Β§. 10.
18
118 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
the southward of all Egypt. And although there be many other regions of Ethiopians, and far south in Africa, yet those of Thebaides are those so often remembered in the Egyptian stories, and out of which nation they had many times their kings of Egypt : all which Ethiopians are very near, or else directly under the equinoctial line, which is very far from that land inhabited by the Chusitcs ; who are neither black of colour, nor in any sort neighbouring tor- rida zona. But this translation of the Septuagint Pererius doth qualify in this manner. There are, saith he, two Ethiopias, the east and the west : and this division he find- eth in Strabo, out of Homer. Now because there is no co lour to make Chus Ethiopia in Africa, Pererius will make Cush and the land of the Chusites (which is Arabia Petra-n, and a part of Arabia the Happy, with the region of Midian) to be the east Ethiopia.
Now if it be granted that Cush and the land of the Chus ites be that tract from Sur to Havilah, according to the M-riptures; { Habitarit Ismael ab Havilah usque Sur, qucc rcsplcit ^'Egyptum Introeunttbiis Assyrlos ; " Ismael dwelt " from Havilah unto Sur, that is, towards Egypt, as thou " goest towards Assyria:" the same sufficeth to prove that Gehon cannot be Nilus, but a river which watereth Cush, and not Ethiopia. But this place of scripture, Habituvit Ismael, &c. hath this sense : " Ismael dwelt from Havilah, " which is the way of Assyria, or the country bordering As- " syria ; and Sur, which lieth -towards Egypt :" which is as much to say as, the Β§ issues of Ismael, (whereof there were twelve princes,) whom God had promised to make a great people, inhabited all those regions between the border of Egypt and Assyria. And that they were (according to the word of God) so increased and multiplied, it well appeared, when h Zerah the Chusite, which others call Tharantha, brought an army of ten hundred thousand against Asa king of Juda. Which army came not out of Ethiopia beyond Egypt ; for that had been a strange progress for such a
f Gen. xxv. 18. - den. x\v. 16. h 2 Chron. xiv. 9.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 119
multitude as ten hundred thousand, having so mighty a king as the king of Egypt, between Palestina and Ethiopia. But these were the Chusites, Amalekites, Midianites, Is- maelites, and Arabians. For it is written, that after Asa (strengthened by God) had defeated this world of an army, he in following his victory took some of the cities of king Zerah round about, as Gerar. Now that Gerar is a city of the Ethiopians, it cannot be suspected: for these be the words of the scripture disproving it : 'l And Abraham de parted thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Cadesh and Sur, and sojourned in Gerar. Now Sur is that part upon which Moses and the Israelites first set their feet after they passed the Red sea, where the k Amalekites in Re- phidim set on them, supposing that they had been weary, and unable to resist. Again, in the story of Isaac it is writ ten, ! Wherefore Isaac went to Abimelech, and the Philis tines unto Gerar: and I am sure Abimelech and the Phi listines were no Ethiopians. And, lastly, Moses himself, where he describeth the bounds of Canaan, hath these words: m Then the border of the Canaanites was from Sy- don, as thou contest to Gerar : for Sydon was the frontier of Canaan towards the north, and Gerar by Gazah towards the south. But indeed, howsoever Pererius doth with an honest excuse salve his translation of Chus for Ethiopia, yet it appeareth plainly, that the Septuagint and Joseph us did altogether misunderstand this place. And first, for Homer's east and west Ethiopia, they are both found elsewhere. For Pliny, in his fifth book and eighth chapter, citeth Ho mer for an author of these two Ethiopias. But the east Ethiopia is that which compasseth Nilus to the south of Egypt, and is the south border thereof; now a part of the empire of the Abyssines, under Prester John ; and the west Ethiopia is that which joineth itself with the river Niger, which we call Senega and Gambra : for thereabouts are these Ethiopians, called Perorsi, Daratites, with divers other names, which n Pliny numbereth. But all these are in
' Gen. x. n. m Gen. x. 19.
k Exod. xvii. 8. " Plin. 1. 5. c. 8.
1 Gen. xx vi. i.
i 4
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Africa, and l)eyond the deserts thereof, saith Pliny, out of Homer, Agrippa, and Juba ; which regions indeed (I mean that of Niger, and that of Prester John, and the Troglodites) lie due east and west. But as for Cush, and the region of the Ismaelites, &c. they are extended directly north from that Ethiopia which is beyond Egypt. Now that Josephus was exceeding gross herein, it appeareth by that fiction which he hath of Moses when he served Pharaoh in the wars against the Ethiopians : for in that (to make Chus Ethiopia) he transporteth Midian by miracle over the Red sea, and beyond all Egypt, and setteth it in Ethiopia, as shall be shewed more at large in the chapter of the world's plantation. Again, that Gehon was improperly translated Nilus, Pererius confesseth, and layeth it rather to the cor ruption of the Greek copy, than otherwise. And whereas the Septuagint have converted this place of the prophet Je remy, Β° And what hast thou now to do in the way of 'Egypt , to drink the water of Nilus ? Quid tibi vis in via JEgypti^ ut bibas aquam Gehon? To this saith Pererius, Profecto Hebraice ibi non est vox Gehon sed Sichor, quce significat nigrum et turbidum ; " Truly," saith Pererius, " the word " Gehon in this place is not found in the Hebrew, but Si- " cAor, which signifieth black and troubled water.""
Furthermore, this is a manifest and unanswerable argu ment, that Chus was ill taken for Ethiopia. P Moses mar ried the daughter of Jethro, prince and priest of Midian, whom both the Greek and Latin call a Midianite, and not q Ethiopissam, as (with Josephus) the Geneva converts it, though it helps it a little with a marginal note. Now it is without dispute that Zipporah was of the country of Mi dian, which is that part of Arabia Petrsea bordering the Red sea ; for it is written in Exodus, that Moses ' fad from Pha raoh into the land of Midian, and sat down by a well, &c. ; and again, s When Moses kept the sheep of Jethro his father in luw, priest of Midian, &c. : indeed these four nations are
0 Jcr. ii. 18. ' Exocl. ii. 15.
P Exod. ii. 2i. iii. i. Β» Exod. iii. i.
'" Numb. xii. i.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 121
every where mixed in the scriptures, because they dwell con fusedly with one another; to wit, the Midianites, the Is maelites, the Amalekites, and the Chusites, which were all in one general word Arabians, and in the scriptures some times called by one of those names and sometimes by an other, as in Gen. xxxvii. 25, 27, 28, that Joseph was sold to the Ismaelites ; and again, ver. 36. it is written, that the Mi dianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, Pharaoli's steward. The Genevians, in a marginal note, (to avoid this confounding of the nations,) say, that Moses wrote according to their opi nion, who took the Midianites and Ismaelites to be all one. But Moses wrote not after any man's opinion, he wrote the truth, and these were all Arabians ; and so in this very place it appeareth by their merchandise which they brought with them when they bought Joseph: for their Camels were laden with spicery, and balm, and myrrh, which are the trades of Arabia Fcelix, from whence chiefly, and from the East India, all the world is served with myrrh and frankin cense ; and their spices they received from the east side of the Arabian gulf, as aforesaid. And in chap, xxxix. ver. 1. it is said that Potiphar bought Joseph of the Ismaelites, which the Chaldean paraphrast in the same place calleth Arabians. Now, to make this the more manifest, it is writ ten, in Judges vi. 3. that when Israel had sown, then came up the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and they of the east, and came upon them : they of the east were Ara bians of the Desert ; so as where before, in the buying of Joseph, the Midianites and the Ismaelites were confused, here the Midianites and Amalekites are made one nation. For in the prosecution of the story of Gideon, the "Midian ites only are named, as comprehending both nations ; and these nations are all called x Ismaelites, and neither Midi anites nor Amalekites. As when Gideon desired that every man would give him the golden ear-rings which they had taken after the victory against Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Arabia, amounting to seventeen hundred shekels of gold, it is written, x For they had golden ear-rings, because 1 Gen. xxxvii. 25. * u Judges vi. * Judges viii. 24.
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they were Ismaelites; and these Ismaelites were a great and valiant nation, and ever in action of war. vManus ejus contra ornnes, et manus omnium contra eum ; " His hand,"" saith God of Ismael, " shall be against all men, and every " man's hand against him.11 Of these Ismaelites came the Mahometan Arabians, though some writers think Mahomet to be of the Schenitse. And these Ismaelites, which inhabit chiefly in Cedar and the deserts of Sur and Pharan, saith Josephus, use poison upon their arrows, as the Indians do. Towards the south-east are the Midianites, and Chusites : and beyond them, towards the deserts of Arabia, the Ama- lekites ; and all are one nation, and all Arabians.
Lastly, the ill translation of Ethiopia for Chus, is, amongst other places, made most apparent in Chronicles, in these words: z So the Lord stirred up against Jchonnn the spi rit of the Philistines and the Arabians, which confine the Ethiopians ; so Jerome reads it : the Geneva translation hath it, which were besides the Ethiopians. Now how far it is off between the Philistines and the Negroes, or Ethi opians, every man that looketh in a map may judge. For the Philistines and Arabians do mix and join with the land of the Chusites, and are distant from Ethiopia about thirty- two or thirty-three degrees, and therefore not their next neighbours ; but all Egypt and the deserts of Sur and Pha ran are between them. So as this place of the second of Chronicles should have been translated in these words : So the Lord stirred up against Jehoram tlie spirits of the Phi listines and Arabians, which conjine and border upon the Chusites^ who indeed are their next neighbours. a Nulla super est duhitatio, quin Ethiopia in xacris literis sit Arabics propinqua ; " There remaineth no doubt,"" saith Steuchius, " but Ethiopia in the scriptures is taken for that country " which joineth to Arabia."
Now may we think it is probable, or possible, that Moses could be ignorant of Nilus ? No ; he knew it, no living man so well, and therefore would never have named Gehon for
1 (ieu. xvi. 12. '2 Chrou. xxi. 16. *Β» Steuch. Eugiib. iu Geii. ii.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 123
Nilus, or Nilus for Gehon. Surely, if Moses had meant Ni- lus when he named Gehon, he would have called the river (into which he was cast upon reeds, and preserved by God, working compassion in the b daughter of Pharaoh) a river of Egypt, wherein he was born and bred, and wrought so many miracles. Besides, the river of Nilus is often named in the scriptures, but never by the name of Gehon. And if Moses had told the Israelites that Nilus had been a river of paradise, they might justly have thought that he had de rided them : for they had lived there all the days of their lives, and found no such paradise at all, nor any memory or speech thereof; except we shall believe the paradise of Hesperides, where, saith c Pliny, there was nothing found in his time but wild olives, instead of golden apples. But Nilus is twice called Sichor, once in d Isaiah and once in the prophet e Jeremy ; and yet in those places it is not said to be a river of Ethiopia, but of Egypt. For in a word, the Israelites had never any communion or affairs with the Ethiopians, nor any intelligence or trade beyond Egypt to the south ; but the enemies which they had on the south and east parts were these nations of the Chusites, Philistines, Ismaelites, Amalekites, and Midianites; who be ing often governed by many little kings, or reguli, were dis tinguished in names, according to the fathers and heads of those nations ; but in one general name were all Arabians. On the north side of Canaan, they were afflicted with the Coelesyrians, with the Magogians, Tubalines, and others their adherents; and, thirdly, within themselves, the nations which remained of the ancient Canaanites held the strong est cities upon the sea-coast, as Tyre, Sidon, Aeon, Gaza, and many others : yea, Jerusalem itself was withheld from Israel (from the days of Moses even unto the time of David) by the Jebusites.
That which now remaineth of most difficulty is, that it doth not appear that any part of Gehon watereth that part of Arabia the Stony, which the Chusites inhabited in the
h Exocl. ii. c 1'liu. lib. 5. c. i. H Isaiah xxiii. 3. ' Jcr. ii. 18.
124 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
times of the kings of Israel : and in this desert it was, that Matt.Beroaldus lost himself in seeking out paradise: for he was driven (to my understanding) to create two rivers, and call them Gehon and Pison ; to the end that the one might water Chus, and the other Havilah, for I find none such hi rcntm ntttnni as he hath described: by which rivers he also includeth within paradise even Arabia the Desert.
And as he well proved that Pison was not Ganges, nor Gehon Nilus ; so where to find them elsewhere, it seemeth he knew not. Certainly this river of Gehon, which he mak- eth to fall into the Mediterranean at Gaza, and whose springs he findeth far east in Arabia, is but imaginary : for the current by Gaza is but a small stream, rising between it and the Red sea, whose head from Gaza itself is little more than twenty English miles, as shall appear hereafter. But, questionless, hence it comes that many were mistaken. They all considered of the habitations of the Chusites as they were planted when the state of Israel stood, and when it flourished, being then their near neighbours, and never look ed back to the first seats and plantation of Chus. For af ter the flood, Chus and his children never rested till they found the valley of Shinar, in which and near which him self with his sons first inhabited. Havilah took the river side of Tigris chiefly on the east, which after his own name he called Havilah, now Susiana : Raamah and Sheba fur ther down the river, in the entrance of Arabia Frelix. Nim- rod seated himself in the best of the valley, where he built Babel, whereof that region had afterwards the name of Ba bylonia. Chus himself and his brother Mizraim first kept upon Gehon, which falleth into the lakes of Chaldea, and in process of time, and as their people increased, they drew themselves more westerly towards the Red or Arabian sea : from whence Mizraim passed over into Egypt, in which tract the Chusites remained for many years after. Now because there could be no such river found in Arabia the Stony, which they might entitle Gehon, they translated Chus Ethi opia, and Gehon Nilus. And if we do examine this mis taking by example, we shall the better perceive it as it was.
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 125
For let us suppose that Brute, or whosoever else that first peopled this island, had arrived upon the river Thames, and calling the island after his name Britannia, it might be said that Thames or Terns was a river that watered Britannia : and when afterwards, in process of time, the same Brute had also discovered and conquered Scotland, which he also en titled by the same name of Britannia, after-ages might con clude that Scotland was no part thereof, because the river Terns is not found therein. Or let us suppose that Eiu-opa, the daughter of the king of Tyre in Phoenicia, gave the name to Europe, according to Herodotus, lib. 1. and 4, and that the first discoverers thereof arrived in the mouth of some river in Thrace, which then watered as much of Eu rope as he first discovered ; shall we in like sort resolve, that France, Spain, and Italy, &c. are no part of Europe, be cause that river is not found in them, or any of them ? In like manner was it said by Moses, in his description of Ge- hon, that it watered the whole land of Chus ; but not the whole land which the Chusites should or might in future time conquer, people, and inhabit, seeing in after-ages they became lords of many nations, and they might, perchance, have been masters, in time, (as the Saracens which came of them were,) of a great part of the world. For though the Babylonian empire, which took beginning in Nimrod the son of Chus, consisted at the first but of four cities, to wit, Ba bel, Erech, Acad, and Chalne, yet we find, that his success ors within a few years after commanded all the whole world in effect : and the fame of Babel consumed the memory of Chusea. For of this tower of confusion did all that land take the name of Babylonia : and the greatness of that em pire, founded by Nimrod a younger son, obscured the name and nation of his father Cush in those parts, until they crept further off', and in places not yet entitled, and further from the Babylonian empire, where the Chusites retained their names, which also they fastened to the soil and territory by themselves afterwards inhabited and held. And we may not think that Chus, or any of his, could in haste creep through those desert regions, which the length of 130 years
126 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
after the flood had, as it were, fortified with thickets, and permitted every busli and brier, reed and tree, to join themselves, as it were, into one main body and forest. For if we look with judgment and reason into the world's plan tation, we shall find that every family seated themselves as near together as possibly they could ; and though necessity enforced them, after they grew full of people, to spread themselves, and creep out of Shinar or Babylonia, yet did they it with this advice, as that they might at all times re sort, and succour one another by river, the fields being then (without all doubt) impassable, So Nimrod, who out of wit and strength usurped dominion over the rest, sat down in the very confluence of all those rivers which wa tered paradise : for thither it was to which the greatest troops of Noah's children repaired; and from the same place whence mankind had his beginning, from thence had they again their increase. The first father of men, Adam, had therein his former habitation. The second father of mankind, Noah, began from thence his dispersion.
Now as Nimrod the youngest, yet strongest, made his choice of Babel, as aforesaid, which both Tigris and Eu phrates cleansed and enriched; so did Havilah place himself upon Piso-Tigris ; Raamah and his son Sheba further down upon the same river, on the sea-coast of Arabia; Chus himself upon Gehon, the fairest branch of Euphrates. And when they began to spread themselves further off, yet they always fastened themselves to the rivers' sides : for Nineveh, Charran, Reseph, Canneh, Ur in Chaldea, and the other first peopled cities, were all founded upon these navigable rivers, or their branches, by which the one might give suc cour and assistance to the other, as is already often remem bered.
SECT. XV.
A conclusion by way of repetition of some things spoken of before.
BUT now to conclude this dispute, it appeareth to me by the testimonies of the scriptures, that paradise was a place created by God, and a part of this our earth and ha-
CHAP. in. OF THE WORLD. 127
bitable world, seated in the lower part of the region of Eden, afterwards called Aram Fluviorum, or Mesopotamia, which taketh into it also a portion of Shinar and Armenia : this region standing in the most excellent temper of all others, to wit, thirty -five degrees from the equinoctial, and fifty-five from the north pole : in which climate the most excellent wines, fruits, oil, grain of all sorts, are to this day found in abundance. And there is nothing that better proveth the excellency of this said soil and temper, than the abundant growing of the palm-trees without the care and labour of man. For wherein soever the earth, nature, and the sun, can most vaunt that they have excelled, yet shall this plant be the greatest wonder of all their works : this tree alone giveth unto man whatsoever his life beggeth at nature's hand. And though it may be said that these trees are found both in the East and West Indies, which countries are also blessed with a perpetual spring and sum mer ; yet lay down by those pleasures and benefits the fear ful and dangerous thunders and lightnings, the horrible and frequent earthquakes, the dangerous diseases, the mul titude of venomous beasts and worms, with other inconve niences, and then there will be found no comparison between the one and the other.
What other excellences this garden of paradise had, be fore God (for man^s ingratitude and cruelty) cursed the earth, we cannot judge; but I may safely think that by how much Adam exceeded all living men in perfection, by being the immediate workmanship of God, by so much did that chosen and particular garden exceed all parts of the universal world in which God had planted, that is, made to grow, the trees of life, of knowledge; plants only proper, and becoming the paradise and garden of so great a lord.
The sum of all this is, that whereas the eyes of men in this scripture have been dim-sighted, (some of them finding paradise beyond our known world ; some, above the middle region of the air; some, elevated near the jnoon ; others, as far south as the line, or as far north as the pole, &c.) I
128 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
hope that the reader will be sufficiently satisfied that these were but like castles in the air, and in men's fancies vainly imagined. For it was eastward in Eden, saith Moses, eastward, in respect of Judea, that God planted this garden ; which Eden we find in the prophets where it was, and whereof the name (in some part) remaineth to this day. A river went out of Eden to water this garden, and from thence divided itself into four branches ; and we find that both Tigris and Euphrates swimming through Eden do join in one, and afterward taking ways apart, do water Chus and Havilah, according to Moses : the true seats of Chus and his sons then being in the valley of Shinar, in which Nim- rod built Babel. That Pison was Ganges, the scripture, rea son, and experience teach the contrary : for that which was never joined cannot be divided. Ganges, which inhabiteth India, cannot be a branch of the rivers of Eden; that Gehon was Nilus, the same distance maketh the same impossibility, and this river is a greater stranger to Tigris and Euphrates than Ganges is : for although there are between Tigris and Ganges above four thousand miles, yet they both rise in the same quarter of the world; but Nilus is begotten in the mountains of the moon, almost as far off as the Cape of Good Hope, and falleth into the Mediterranean sea : and Euphrates distilleth out of the mountains of Armenia, and falleth into the gulf of Persia : the one riseth in the south, and travelleth north ; the other riseth in the north, and runneth south, threescore and three degrees the one from the other. In this leaf following, I have added a choro- graphical description of this terrestrial paradise, that the reader may thereby the better conceive the preceding dis course : and this is the reward I look for, that my labours may but receive an allowance suspended, until such time as this description of mine be reproved by a better.
OHAP. iv. OF THE WORLD. 129
CHAP. IV.
Of the two chief trees in the garden of paradise.
SECT. I.
That the tree of life was a material tree ; and in what sense it is to be taken, that man by his eating the forbidden fruit is made subject to death.
-T OR eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge was Adam driven out of paradise, in exilium vita tempora- lis, " into the banishment of temporal life,1'' saith Beda. That these trees of life and knowledge were material trees, (though figures of the law and of the gospel,) it is not doubted by the most religious and learned writers; al though the wits of men, which are so volatile as nothing can fix them, and so slippery as nothing can fasten them, have in this also delivered to the world an imaginary doc trine.
The tree of life, say the Hebrews, hath a plural construc tion, and is to be understood, lignum vitarum, " the tree " of lives," because the fruit thereof had a property to pre serve both the growing, sensitive, and rational life of man ; and not only (but for f AdanVs transgression) had prolonged his own days, but also given a dureful continuance to all posterity ; and that, so long as a body compounded of ele ments could last.
And although it is hard to think that flesh and blood could be immortal, but that it must once perish and rot by the unchanged law of God imposed on his creatures ; man, notwithstanding, should have enjoyed thereby a long, healthful, and ungrieved life : after which (according to the opinion of most divines) he should have been translated as Enoch was. And as before the flood, the days of men had the long measure of eight hundred or nine hundred years ; and soon after the flood, of two hundred years and upwards, even to five hundred : so if Adam had not disobeyed God's
f Bart. sept. 2. 1. i. 174. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. K
100 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
first and easy commandment, the lives of men on earth might have continued double, treble, or quadruple to any of the longest times of the first age, as many learned men have con ceived. Chrysostom, Rupertus, Tostatus, and others \\eiv of belief, that (but for Adam's fall and transgression) Adam and his posterity had been immortal. But such is the in finite wisdom of God, as he foresaw that the earth could not have contained mankind ; or else, that millions of souls must have been ungenerated, and have had no being, if the first number, wherewith the earth was replenished, had abode thereon for ever : and therefore that of Chrysostom must be understood of immortality of bodies, which should have been translated and glorified.
But of what kind or species this tree of life was, no man hath taken on him to teach : in which respect many have con ceived, that the same was not material, but a mere allegory, taking their strength out of Solomon, where wisdom is compared to the tree of life; and from other places, where also Christ is called the tree of life, and out of the Apoca- lypsis, ?I will give to him that overcometh to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. But to this place St. Augustine's answer may suffice, which is, That the one doth not exclude the other, but that, as there was a ter restrial paradise, so there was a celestial. For although Agar and Sara were figures of the Old and New Testament, yet to think that they were not women, and the maid and wife of Abraham, were mere foolishness. And so in this place the sense of the scripture is manifest. For God brought out of the earth every tree fair to sight, and sweet to taste ; the tree also of life in the midst of the garden : which sheweth, that among the trees which the earth by God's commandment produced, the tree of life was one, and that the fruit thereof was also to be eaten. The report of this tree was also brought to the ancient poets : for as from the indigested matter or chaos, Hesiodus, Homer, Ovid, and others, steal the invention of the created world ; so
* Apocal. ii. 7.
CHAP. iv. OF THE WORLD. 131
from the garden of paradise, they took the platform of the orchard of Alcinous, and another of the Hesperides; and from the tree of life their nectar and ambrosia ; for nectar, according to Suidas, signified! making young., and ambro sia, Immortality, and therefore said to be the meat and drink of the gods.
SECT. II.
Of Becanus' s opinion, that the tree of knowledge was ficns Indica.
NOW for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, some men have presumed further, especially Goropius Becanus, who giveth himself the honour to have found out the kind of this tree, which none of the writers of former times could ever guess at, whereat Goropius much marvelleth. But as he had an inventive brain, so there never lived any man that believed better thereof, and of himself. Surely how soever his opinion may be valued, yet he usurpeth the praise due to others, at least if the invention be at that price at which he setteth it. For Moses Bar-Cephas fastened on this conjecture above six hundred years before Becanus was born : and Bar-Cephas himself referretli the invention to an antiquity more remote, citing for his author Philoxenus Maburgensis, and others, whose very words Goropius useth, both concerning the tree and the reasons wherewith he would induce other men to that belief. For Moses Bar-Ce phas, in his Treatise of Paradise, (the first part, and fol. 48.) saith, that the tree of knowledge was Jicus Indica, the In dian fig-tree, of which the greatest plenty, saith Becanus, are found upon the banks of Acesines, one of the rivers which falleth into Indus, where Alexander built his fleet of galleys in, or near the kingdom of Porus.
This treebeareth a fruit of the bigness of a great pea, or, as h Pliny reporteth, somewhat bigger, and that it is a tree se semper serens, " always planting itself;" that it spread- eth itself so far abroad, as that a troop of horsemen may hide themselves under it. ' Strabo saith, that it hath
11 Pliu. 1. 1 1. c. 5. 'Lib. i.e. 2.
K 2
132 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
branches bending downwards, and leaves no less than a shield. Aristobulus affirmeth, that fifty horsemen may shadow themselves under one of these trees. Onesicritus raiseth this number to four hundred. This tree, saith Theophrastus, exceedeth all other in bigness, which also Pliny and Onesicritus confirm ; to the trunk of which these authors give such a magnitude as I shame to repeat. But it may be, they all speak by an ill-understood report. For this Indian fig-tree is not so rare a plant as Becanus con- ceiveth, who, because he found it no where else, would needs draw the garden of paradise to the tree, and set it by the river Acesines. But many parts of the world have them, and I myself have seen twenty thousand of them in one valley, not far from Paria in America. They grow in moist grounds, and in this manner. After they are first shot up some twenty or thirty foot in length, (some more, some less, according to the soil,) they spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in the trunk or stem : for from the utmost end of the head-branches there issueth out a gummy juice, which hangeth downward like a cord or sinew, and within a few months reacheth the ground, which it no sooner toucheth but it taketh root; and then, being filled both from the top boughs and from his own proper root, this cord maketh itself a tree exceeding hastily. From the utmost boughs of these young trees there fall again the like cords, which in one year and less (in that world of a perpetual spring) become also trees of the big ness of the nether part of a lance, and as straight as art or nature can make any thing, casting such a shade, and mak ing such a kind of grove, as no other tree in the world can do. Now one of these trees considered, with all his young ones, may indeed shroud four hundred or four thousand horsemen, if they please ; for they cover whole valleys of ground where these trees grow near the seabank, as they do by thousands in the inner part of Trinidado. The cords which fall down over the banks into the sea, shooting al ways downward to find root under water, are in those seas of the Indies, where oysters breed, entangled in their beds,
CHAP. iv. OF THE WORLD. 133
so as by pulling up one of these cords out of the sea, I have seen five hundred oysters hanging in a heap thereon ; whereof the report came, that oysters grew on trees in In dia. But that they bear any such huge leaves, or any such delicate fruit, I could never find, and yet I have travelled a dozen miles together under them. But to return to Go- ropius Becanus. This tree, saith he, was good for meat and pleasing to the sight, as the tree of knowledge of good and evil is described to be.
Secondly, this tree having so huge a trunk, (as the former authors report, and Becanusbelieveth,) it was in this tree that Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of God; for no other tree, saith he, could contain them. But first it is certain, that this tree hath no extraordinary magnitude, as touching the trunk or stem ; for among ten thousand of them it is hard to find any one bigger than the rest ; and these are all of a mean size. Secondly, the words of Moses, translated in media tigm, are by all the inter preters understood in the plural number, that is, " in the " midst of the trees." But his third argument (or rather the argument of Moses Bar-Cephas, word for word) is, that when kAdam and Eve found themselves naked, they made them breeches of fig-leaves ; which proveth, indeed, that either the tree itself was a fig-tree, or that a fig-tree grew near it : because Adam being possessed with shame, did not run up and down the garden to seek out leaves to cover him, but found them in the place itself; and these leaves of all others were most commodious, by reason of their largeness, which Pliny avoweth in these words; }Latitudo Jbliorum peltce efftgiem Amazonice habet: " The breadth of " the leaves hath the shape of an Amazonian shield:" which also Theophrast confirmeth : the form of which target Vir gil touches;
111 Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis Penthesileafurens.
' PI. 1. 12. c. 5. '" Virg. jEn. I. 490.
K 3
134 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
The Amazon with crescent-formed shield I'enthesilea leads into the field.
Here Becanus desireth to be believed, or rather threaten- eth us all that read him, to give credit to this his borrowed discovery, using this confident (or rather choleric) speech. Quis erit tarn impudenter obstinatus, si hcec a nobis dcjicu hac ex anttquis scriptoribus cum Mosis narratione compa- ret, ut audeatdicere aliam arborem inveniri posse, quce cum ilia magis quadret; " Who will be so impudently obsti- " nate, if he compare these things, which we have reported " of this fig-tree, and out of ancient writers delivered, with the " narration of Moses, as to dare to avow that any other tree " can be found, which doth more properly answer or agree " therewith.11 But for myself, because I neither find this tree sorting in body, in largeness of leaves, nor in fruit to this report, I rather incline to the opinion of Philo ; that the earth never brought forth any of these trees neither be fore nor after : but I leave every man to his own belief, for the matter is of no great weight as touching his kind ; only thereby, and by the easy commandment by God given to Adam, to forbear to feed thereon, it pleased God to make trial of his obedience : n Prohibita, non propter aliud, quam ad commendandum purcR ac simplicis obedientice bonum; " Being forbidden, not for any other respect, than thereby " to commend the goodness of pure and simple obedience.11
SECT. III.
Of Becanus's not unwitty allegorizing of the story of his ficus Indica.
BUT in this I must do Becanus right, that he hath very wittily allegorized this tree, allowing his supposition of the tree itself to be true. The effects whereof, because his dis courses are exceeding ample, I have gathered in these few words. As this tree, saith he, so did man grow straight and
" August, de C'ivit. Dei, 1. 13. c. 20.
CHAP. iv. OF THE WORLD. 135
upright towards God, until such time as he had trans gressed and broken the commandment of his Creator; and then, like unto the boughs of this tree, he began to bend downward, and stooped toward the earth, which all the rest of Adam's posterity after him have done, rooting them selves therein, and fastening themselves to this corrupt world. The exceeding umbrageousness of this tree he compareth to the dark and shadowed life of man, through which the sun of justice being not able to pierce, we have all remained in the shadow of death, till it pleased Christ to climb the tree of the cross for our enlightening and redemption. The lit tle fruit which it beareth, and which is hard to find among so many large leaves, may be compared, saith he, to the little virtue and unperceived knowledge among so large va nities, which obscure and shadow it over. And as this fruit is exceeding sweet and delicate to the taste and pa late, so are the delights and pleasures of the world most pleasing while they dure. But as all those things which are most mellifluous are soonest changed into choler and bitterness ; so are our vanities and pleasures converted into the bitterest sorrows and repentances. That the leaves are so exceeding large, the fruit (for such leaves) exceeding little, in this, by comparison, we behold, saith he, the many cares and great labours of worldly men, their solicitude, their outward shows and public ostentation, their apparent pride and large vanities ; and if we seek for the fruit, which ought to be their virtuous and pious actions, we find it of the bigness of the smallest pea ; glory, to all the world ap parent ; goodness, to all the world invisible. And further more, as the leaves, body, arid boughs of this tree, by so much exceed all other plants, as the greatest men of power and worldly ability surpass the meanest; so is the little fruit of such men and such trees rather fitting and becom ing the unworthiest shrub and humblest brier, or the poor est and basest man, than such a flourishing stateliness and magnitude. Lastly, whereas Adam, after he had disobeyed God, and beheld his own nakedness and shame, sought for leaves to cover himself withal, this may serve to put us in
K 4
136 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
mind of his and our sins, as often as we put on our gar ments to cover and adorn our rotten and mortal bodies ; to pamper and maintain which we use so many uncharitable and cruel practices in this world.
SECT. IV.
Of the name of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; with some other notes touching the story of Adam's sin.
NOW, as touching the sense of this tree of knowledge of good and evil, and what operation the fruit thereof had, and as touching the property of the tree itself, Moses Bar- Cephas, an ancient Syrian doctor, (translated by Masius,) giveth this judgment; that the fruit of this tree had no such virtue or quality, as that by the tasting thereof there was. any such knowledge created in Adam, as if he had been ignorant before; but as Junius also noteth, Arbor scientice boni et mali ; id est, experientice boni et mail ab eventu ; " The tree of knowledge of good and evil ; that is, the expe- " rience of good and evil by the event.'1'' For thus much we may conceive, that Adam being made (according to the Hebrew phrase) by the workmanship of God's own hand, in greater perfection than ever any man was produced by generation, being, as it were, the created plant, out of whose seed all men living have grown up ; and having re ceived immortality from the breath or Spirit of God, he could not (for these respects) be ignorant, that the diso beying of God's commandment was the fearfullest evil, and the observation of his precepts the happiest good. But as men in perfect health do, notwithstanding, conceive that sickness is grievous, and yet in no such degree of torment, as by the suffering and experience in themselves they after wards witness : so was it with Adam, who could not be ig norant of the punishments due to neglect and disobedience ; and yet felt by the proof thereof in himself another terror than he had forethought or could image. For looking into the glass of his own guilty soul, he beheld therein the hor ror of God's judgments, so as he then knew, he feelingly knew, and had trial of the late good, which could not be
CHAP. iv. OF THE WORLD. 137
prized, and of the new purchased evil, which could not be expressed. He then saw himself naked both in body and mind ; that is, deprived of God's grace and former felicity : and therefore was this tree called the tree of knowledge, and not because the fruit thereof had any such operation by any self-quality or effect ; for the same phrase is used in many places of the scriptures, and names are given to signs and sacraments, as to acts performed and things done. In such sort as this tree was called the tree of know ledge, because of the event, as is aforesaid, so was the well of Β° contention therefore called PEsek, and the well of hatred <lSitnath, because the herdsmen of Isaac and Gerar con tended for them ; and the heap of stones, called the rheap of witness, between Jacob and Laban, not that the stones bare witness, but for a memory of the covenant. So Jacob called the house of God s Beth el; and 'Hagar, the well in the desert, viventis et videntis.
But Adam being both betrayed and mastered by his af fections, ambitious of a further knowledge than he had per ceived in himself, and looking but slightly (as all his issues do) into the miseries and sorrows incident, and greatly af fecting the supposed glory which he might obtain by tast ing the fruit forbidden, he was transported and blown for ward by the gentle wind of pleasing persuasions unawares; his progression being strengthened by the subtile arguments of Satan, who laboured to poison mankind in the very root, which he moistened with the liquor of the same ambition by which himself perished for ever.
"But what means did the Devil find out, or what instru ments did his own subtil ty present him, as fittest and aptest to work this mischief by ? Even the unquiet vanity of the woman; so as by Adam's hearkening to the voice of his wife, contrary to the express commandment of the living God, mankind by that her incantation became the subject
0 Numb. xx. 13. β’ Gen. xxviii. 19.
P Gen. xxvi. 20. 'Gen. xvi. 14.
β’i Gen. xxvi. 21. " Bart. sem. 2. 1. 2. r Gen. xxxi. 48.
138 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
of labour, sorrow, and death : the woman being given to man for a comforter and companion, but not for a coun sellor. w But because thou hast obeyed the voice of' thy rcv/r, &c. saith God himself, cursed is the earth for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all thy life. It is also to be noted by whom the woman was tempted ; even by the most ugly and unworthy of all beasts, into whom the Devil entered and persuaded.
Secondly, what was the motive of her disobedience : even a desire to know what was most unfitting her knowledge, an affection which hath ever since remained in all the posterity of her sex. Thirdly, what was it that moved the man to yield to her persuasions ? Even the same cause which hath moved all men since to the like consent, namely, an unwil lingness to grieve her and make her sad, lest she should pine, and be overcome with sorrow. But if Adam in the state of perfection, and Solomon the son of David, God's chosen servant, and himself a man endued with the great est wisdom, did both of them disobey their Creator, by the persuasion and for the love they bare to a woman, it is not so wonderful as lamentable, that other men in succeed ing ages have been allured to so many inconvenient and wicked practices by the persuasions of their wives, or other beloved darlings, who cover over and shadow many mali cious purposes with a counterfeit passion of dissimulate sor row and unquietness.
CHAP. V.
Of divers memorable things between the fall of Adam and thejlood of Noah.
SECT. I.
Of the cause and the revenge of Cain's sin ; and of his going out from God.
J- HE same pride and ambition which began in angels, and afterwards possessed Adam, Cain also inherited : for Cain w Gen. iii. 1 7.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 139
(envious of the acceptation of his brother's prayer and sa crifice) slew him, making himself the first manslayer, and his brother the first martyr : the revenge of which unnatu ral murder although it pleased God to mitigate, when Cain cried out that his punishment was greater than he could bear. For the same offence chiefly (wherewith the sons of Adam, as it were, urged and provoked God) he destroyed all mankind, but Noah and his family : for it is written, x The earth also was corrupt before God: of which in the same place Moses giveth a reason ; for, saith he, the earth was Jilled with cruelty : and anon, after God himself made the cause known unto Noah, saying, An end of all Jlesh is come before me, for the earth is Jilled with cruelty through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth, or from the earth : neither was this cruelty meant to have been in taking away the lives of men only, but in all sorts of in justice and oppression. After this murder of Abel, Y Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, towards the east side of Eden: in which words, the going out of Cain from the presence of the Lord, is not to be understood after the literal sense, God being wholly in all parts of the world. z Totus in ccelo est, totus in terra, non alternis temporibus, sed utrumque simul; " God," saith St. Augustine, " is wholly in heaven, and wholly in " earth, and not by interchanged times, but all at once :" and that this is true, David witnesseth. *IfI be in heaven, saith David, thou art there; if in hell, thou art there also: but what is meant thereby ? ^Exiit a facie Dei, saith Chrys- ostom, " Cain went out from the presence of the Lord;" that is, he was left of God, disfavoured and bereaved of his pro tection.
SECT. II.
Of Cain's dwelling in the land of Nod ; and of his city Enoch. THIS word Nod, or Naid, cSt. Jerome and many others
* Geu. vi. n. 13. a Psal. cxxxix. 8.
y Geu. iv. 16. b Chrysost. iu Geu. Hoiuil. 2.
z Aug. de Civitate Dei, 1. 12. c. 19. ' Jeroin. rad. Heb.
140 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
understand to signify wandering, or uncertain habitation : vexation or agitation, saith Junius : but the Seventy con vert it otherwise, and take Nod for the proper name of a country, and so doth (1Josephus. But it seemeth to me that Cain was rather a vagabond or wanderer in his cogi tations than any thing else, and that his thoughts and con science had no quiet or rest, in regard of the murder com mitted, justly fearing (by his own words) the like violence : <<///</ wJiosoevcr Jindeth me, saith Cain, shall slay me. Now that Nod, or Naid, was a region wherein Cain inhabited, appeareth by the word dwelt, for dwelling signifieth an abiding : and we call those people wanderers and vagabonds that have no dwellingplace. And to make this dwelling and abiding more manifest, f Moses teacheth in what part of the earth this his habitation was, which he affirmeth to wards the east side of Eden. Secondly, it is said by Mo ses, that after Cain departed from the presence or favour of God he built a city, and called it by the name of his first born, Enoch ; which sheweth that he feared to wander, and rather sought to fortify himself against revenge. Cyrillus saith, that Cain and Abel were figures of Christ and of the Jews ; and that as Cain, after that he had slain Abel un justly, had thenceforth no certain abiding in the world ; so the Jews, after they had crucified the Son of God, became runagates : and it is true, that the Jews had never since any certain estate, commonweal, or prince of their own upon the earth. Now this land of Nod Junius taketh to be in Arabia Deserta, a region of Nomades ; but Arabia the De sert is not eastward, or on the east part of Eden, neither are these Nomades any particular people or nation. For all these, in what part of the world soever, which in old time lived by pastorage, and fed (as we call it in Ireland) upon white-meat, without tilling of the ground, are called by the Greeks nomades, and by the Latins pastores vagi, as the northern Tartarians, the Getulians, and Numidians in Africa, the ancient Britons, and the northern Irish : yea, such
* Joseph. I. i. c. 3. e Gen. iv. 14. f Cen. iv. 16, 17.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 141
were the inhabitants of Italy itself, till such time as Italus (who gave them that name) taught them the husbandry of tillage used at this day. But the region eastward from Eden is that part of Assyria called by Ptolemy Galena, which also might be derived of Carena, the county of Cain. And that Cain inhabited in those parts, it may be gathered by the first possession of his father Adam ; for thus it is writ ten, & Therefore the Lord God sent himjbrthfrom the garden of Eden to till the earth whence he was taken : and in the verse following, Thus he cast out man, &c. and at the east side of the garden of Eden he set the chcrubims : which sheweth that the entry into paradise was from the east, by which entrance Adam was cast out, and therefore inhabit ing on that side of paradise which was eastward, according to the text : Cain also in the same region sought his dwell- ingplace. Now, if the word Nod, or Naid, do signify pro- fugus, that is, a fugitive, we can give no longer time to this uncertain habitation of Cain, than till he built the city of Enoch, the first of the world, which he enclosed either for his own defence, or, as Josephus writeth, to oppress others thereby. So as for my own opinion, I am resolved with the Septuagint, that Nod was the proper name of a region ; and for the word vagabond which Cain useth of himself, it seemeth by the perclose of the same verse, that vagabond is therein understood for such an one as travelleth in fear of revengement : for whosoever Jindeth me, saith Cain, shall slay me; or else vagabond is taken for a man without pro tection, and cast out from the favour of God.
And because these Henochians, so called of the city He- noch, were the first society and civil assembly of all other, it is likely that the fame of these people (either for cruelty, strength, or other actions) lived in the memory of Noah and his sons ; so that after the flood (as there were of all sorts of natures, some virtuously, some impiously disposed, and every active mind setting before it whom to follow or imitate) those people, which delighted in cruelty and op-
s Gen. iii. 23, 24.
142 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
pression, took on them their names whose natures they most liked and allowed ; of whom these Enochians were not the least. Perchance the place itself where Enoch stood before the flood, and whereof the monuments might remain, (as the pillars or the foundation of Joppe did,) gave occasion to the planters of that place to call themselves by the same names : for of those Enochians there were many nations in the borders of Pontus, and Colchis in Iberia, Segdiana, and Bactria, and of the same name many mountains, as those which are otherwise called Coraxici. And seeing that it is hard to find out the truth of these things, which the most aged time hath covered over or defaced, we may (according to the counsel of h Plato) exceedingly rejoice, and there with satisfy ourselves, if of so great and almost worn out antiquity, if of the eldest people's names and nations, there remain any print or footsteps to posterity.
In 'Pliny, P. Mela, Strabo, Valerius Flaccus, Lucan, Stephanus, we find those Henochei described, though di versely written ; as in Pliny sometimes Heniochi, in Mela Eniochi, in Flaccus Heniochi, in Lucan Enochii, all which inhabit upon the sea Euxinus, but yet none of these are on the east side of Eden, or (according to Moses's words) eastward from Eden. For Moses, in all places where he describeth any region, was so exceeding precise, as some times he useth the word east or south without borrowing or addition, at other times with a borrowing, as eastward or southward, or towards the east or south. In the place of Genesis xi. ver. 2. he writeth the word east simply and di rectly. And as they went from the cast, they found a plain in tlie land ofShinar, but in this of Cain he addeth the word towards, as, in the land of Nod towards the east side of Eden; which may be taken, as inclining some one point or two either to the north or to the south of the cast.
But as we may conjecture that these nations took name
h " Quotidie aliqiiid in hoc magruo "bus' oriuntur." Seneca ad Albinum. " orbe nuitatur, nova urbiimi funda- ' Pliu. 1. 6. c. 9, 11. ct 16. Mel.
" meiitajacimitur, nova gentium no- I. i.e. nit. Strabo, lib. i i . Val. Flac.
β’' niina (extiuctis nominibiis priori- 1.6. Luran. 1. 3. v. 37.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 143
of Henoch, the city of Cain, or of the region wherein it stood, when the same was repeopled after the flood ; so it is probable that these Henochii of Colchis, and other parts adjoining, were not the first of that name, after the sons of Noah began to fill the world again : because, had this He noch, the city of Cain, stood in any of these parts, it had then been seated north, and not east or eastward from Eden. But as k Pliny findeth their habitation towards Pontus, so afterwards he goeth on eastward, till he track them or trace them out to their original. For he calleth these of Colchis, (now Mengrelia,) Sanni Heniochi ; l Ptolemy, Zani ; beyond which, an hundred and fifty miles eastward, he findeth an other nation of them about Iberia and Albania ; and be yond these again he discovered! a third nation, from whence all the rest took beginning, which inhabited on the west side of the mountains of Paro-panisus, between them and the great river of Oxus, which bordereth Bactria on the north side ; and these Henochii are due east from the region of Eden, and eastward from the very garden itself.
And although we cannot be assured that these Henochii took name from the memory of the city of Henoch directly, yet because they inhabited due east from paradise, and af terwards spread themselves westward, (as all Noah's sons did that came into Shinar,) the conjecture is far more pro bable than that of Annius the friar, who sets Henoch in Phoanicia, quite contrary to Moses's word ; Phrenicia from all parts of Eden being directly west.
And besides these several nations of the Henochii, m Ste- phanus findeth a region called Henochia, and the same also in the east, with divers mountains about Bactria and Sog- diana of the same name. Only the Grecians, (according to their fabulous inventions of all things else,) out of the word Heniochi, which signifieth carts or coachmen, make these nations to have sprung from the waggoners of Castor and Pollux, to wit, "Amphites and Telchius, who attended
k Plin. 1. 6. c. 4, 5. n Nat. Comes calleth them Rhecas.
1 Ptol. tab. Asia 3. Nat. Com. 1. 8. c. 9. Strabo, 1. n.
m Steph. de urb.
144 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
them in the enterprise of Jason into Colchis. And though I do not deny but that Jason with other Greeks ranged the coasts of Asia the Less in an open boat, or kind of small galley, Β°of whom I shall speak in his own time; yet no man doubteth but that the tale of the golden fleece was for the most part poetical ; and withal that in such an open boat, which could hardly carry their own rowers, being fifty-four, there was no place, and less use of coachhorses or waggoners.
SECT. III.
Of Moses s omitting sundry things concerning Cain's generation.
BUT of the remembrance and testimonies of the name of the city of Henoch in profane story, thus much may suffice. Now it followeth to answer some few objections against cer tain particulars in the fourth and fifth chapter of Genesis : against which for the first it is demanded, how it was pos sible for Cain (having no other assistance than his son He noch) to perform such a work as the building of a city, seeing there is thereto required so many hands, and so great a mass of all sorts of materials ? To which it is an swered, that we are first to consider that of Cain, (because he was the parent of an impious race,) Moses useth no ample declaration ; and so it best agreeth with his divine reason, seeing that he containeth the whole story of the first race, which wasted by the least account 1656 years, in five short chapters. Yet thus much may every man borrow of his own weakest reason, that seeing it pleased God to be stow on the first generations of men's lives so long a mea sure as 800 and 900 years, that in such a space Cain had not want of leisure and means to build many such cities as Henoch, be the capacity answering to what other of the world soever : for in what age of Cain's life he built it, the scriptures are silent; as of those times, and the times of his issues, Moses had the least care. And as it was said of Cain, that he built a city; so was it said of Noah, that his
β’ fn the second hook of this part, cap. 13. Β§. β’;.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 145
three sons peopled all the world ; but in both, the process of time required to be understood : which advice seeing Moses useth where the space less requireth it, as knowing that he writ the scriptures to reasonable men, we may easily understand that such was his meaning also in all reports of like nature. For in making but a difference between the birth of Abel and oblation of Cain, he spake it in this sort, Fuit autem post dies multos, or a fine dierum ; that is, " in process of' time it came to pass, that Cain brought an " oblation." And therefore it is in like sort to be under stood of Cain, that many years foregone, and when his peo ple were increased, he built the city of Enoch, or Henoch.
And where it is written, as of Cain, that he built Enoch, so of P Solomon, that he built the temple of Jerusalem ; yet it is well known of Solomon, that he employed in that work 150,000 labourers : for this phrase, or speech, is common with ourselves to say, the king invaded, when he caused an invasion to be made ; and he built, when he commanded such a building. And therefore seeing we find that Moses had no regard to the ages, to the birth, or to the death of any of Cain's issues, it is not to be marvelled at why he also passeth over in a word the building of Enoch, without ad dition of any circumstance ; for of Cain Moses writeth in this manner : <i Cain also knew his wife; who conceived, and bare Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begat Mehujael : and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael, Lantech.
Now of Seth Moses writeth far otherwise, and in this manner: r And Seth lived an hundred and Jive years, and begat Enoch: and Seth lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters : so as all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. As for the years and times of the wicked, they were not numbered in libro viventium, saith Cyril. But in Seth was the church of God established, from whom
P 2 Kiugs vi. i Gen. iv. 17, 18. r Gen. v. 6, 7,8.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. 1. \.
146 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Christ descended, as touching his manhood : and therefore this way and work Moses walked in and finished it with care, passing over the reprobate generation, as aforesaid. Of the line of Adam by Cain, Moses remembereth but eight generations, reckoning Adam for one; and of the line of Adam by Seth ten, counting Adam also therein, as fol- loweth :
1. ADAM.
2. Cain. 2. Seth.
3. Henoch. 3. Enos.
4. Irad. 4. Cainan.
5. Mahujael. 5. Mahaleel.
6. Mathusael. 6. Jarad.
7. Lamech,whobyAdahad 7. Henoch.
8. Jubal and Tubal, and by 8. Methusalem.
Silla, Tubalcain and 9. Lamech, and Noema. 10. Noah.
These be the generations of Adam by Cain, which the scriptures mention; but Josephus giveth unto Lamech threescore and seventeen sons and daughters, by his two wives Ada and Silla: and to these three sons of Lamech Moses ascribeth the invention of pastorage, of music, and the working in metal; for it seemeth that s Jubal first ga thered together and made familiar those beasts which for merly were untamed, and brought them into herds and droves; sTubal invented music; and sTubalcain the work ing in brass and iron ; the one being addicted to hus bandry, the other was mechanical, the third given to idle ness and pleasure : in whom began these three meaner de grees of shepherds, handicraftsmen, and musicians. And in the issues of Seth began the services of God, divinity, pro phecy, and astronomy ; the children of the one beheld the heavens, the other the earth.
* Gen. iv. 20, 21, 22.
CHAP, v, OF THE WORLD. 147
SECT. IV.
Of the diversities in the ages of the patriarchs when they begat their
children.
A SECOND scruple hath been made, how it came to pass that the patriarchs begat their children at so diverse ages; as Cainan, or Kenan, at seventy years; Mahaleel and Enoch, at threescore and five years ; whereas Jarad begat not any of his until he was one hundred and sixty two years old ; Me- thusalem begat at one hundred and eighty seven; Lamech, at one hundred and eighty two; and Noah, at five hundred years. Now this difference hath been the more enforced, because it cannot be conjectured that either Jarad, Methu- salem, or Lamech abstained from marriage out of the reli gion of abstinence, seeing that Enoch, who was translated by God for his singular sanctities, begat children before he was threescore and ten years old.
The apparent difference hereof ariseth in this, that Moses did not number the generations before the flood precisely, according to the first-begotten and eldest sons of the pa triarchs; but he drew down the line of Noah from Seth, and afterwards from Noah to Abraham, by their true an cestors, were they elder or younger, as he found them : for it is likely that Enoch was not the eldest of Jarad, nor La mech the first-born of Methusalem, nor Noah of Lamech ; neither is there any thing known to the contrary, but that Noah might have had many sons before Shem, Ham, and Japhet, though these three were only named and surviv ing, and which by God were reserved to be the fathers of mankind after the flood ; and therefore when we find Ma haleel to be begotten by Kenan at threescore and ten years, who was the first son of Kenan, and then reckon that Me thusalem begat Lamech in the one hundred and eighty se venth year of his life, the difference seemeth strange, where Lamech is taken for the eldest. But Moses rejecteth all the other sons of Methusalem but Lamech only, because he was the father of Noah, as aforesaid. Of this St. Augustine hath somewhat else in his 20th and 21st chapters de Civitate Dei.
But as Moses counted the generations of the first age,
L 2
148 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
and so to Abraham, and the children of the promise after him ; so doth St. Matthew recite the genealogy of Christ, not by the eldest sons, but from those whom God had chosen and blessed, without respect of the first-born, who have hereby the prerogative in estates, worldly and tran sitory only ; and therefore the 'evangelist nameth Isaac and not Ismael, though Ismael were first in time ; so doth he take Jacob, the younger, and not Esau, the elder; neither is Christ derived from any of the three eldest patriarchs, Reu ben, Simeon, or Levi, but from Juda, a fourth brother, and so from David, a younger son of Jessai ; and lastly we find, that the kingdom itself of Juda was not given to the heir in nature, but to the heir of grace, namely, u Solomon.
SECT. V.
Of the long lives of the patriarchs ; and some of late memory,
THE third objection is, that the great difference of years between those of the first age, whereof some of them had well near seen a thousand years, makes it disputed whether the account of times were of the same measure as in after- ages, seeing that soon after the flood men lived not a third part of that time, and in succeeding ages, and to this day, not the tenth.
xThey that have hereon resolved that those years were but lunary years, to wit, of a month, or thereabouts, or Egyptian years, are easily confuted. For whereas Seth be gat Enos in the year of his life one hundred and five, if those years be taken but for months, then had Seth lived but eight years and one month when he begat Enos; and if the time of Enos have the same allowance, when he begat Cainan, then could Enos at that time have been but six years and forty-eight weeks old ; and so it may be gathered of the rest excepting only Adam, who was created perfect in his kind, as were the trees in their kind, bearing fruit and seed. But this were too ridiculous to imagine. For to give an ability of generation at six, seven, or eight years,
'Matt. i. 2. x Solin. Pol. Hist. 0.3. Macrob.
u i Kings ii. Saturn. 1. i. c. 8. Pliu. 1. 7. c. 48.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 149
agi'eeth with the short lives of the pigmies, and not with the constitutions of our first fathers; who being descended from Adam, the workmanship of God's hands, and begotten and born in the strong youth of the world, had length of days and ability of body agreeable. Again, if we allow this idle conceit of the lunary years, then there would fol low this extremity, that those which lived longest, and up wards of nine hundred years, had by that account but the time of fourscore and ten and odd years ; which were not only less by far than the patriarchs lived after the flood, but short of many men's lives in this decrepit age of the world, wherein many exceed fourscore, and some an hun dred years. Further, if need be, to disprove this reckon ing, whereas it is written, Gen. xxv. that Abraham died in a good age, an old man, and of great years ; all which (if the former account were of lunary years) makes but seven teen and a half of our years.
And if we seek for a cause of this long life in nature, then is it reasonable that the first man, created in highest perfection, should also beget children of equal strength, or little differing : for of the first and purest seed there must of necessity spring up the fairest and fruitfullest plants. Secondly, the earth itself was then much less corrupt, which yielded her increase, and brought forth fruit and food for man, without any such mixture of harmful quality, as since that time the curse of God for the cruelty of man's heart brought on it and mankind : neither had the waters of the flood infused such an impurity, as thereby the natural and powerful operation of all plants, herbs, and fruits upon the earth received a qualification and harmful change. And as all things under the sun have one time of strength and an other of weakness, a youth and beauty, and then age and deformity ; so time itself (under the deathful shade of whose wings all things decay and wither) hath wasted and worn out that lively virtue of nature in man, and beasts, and plants, yea the heavens themselves, being of a most pure and cleansed matter, shall Vwax old as a garment; and then
y Psalm cii. 26.
150 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
much more the power generative in inferior creatures, who by the ordinance of God receive operative virtue from the superior.
But besides the old age of the world, how far doth our education and simplicity of living differ from that old time ? the tender bringing up of children, first fed and nourished with the milk of a strange dug; an unnatural curiosity having taught all women (but the beggar) to find out nurses, which necessity only ought to commend unto them : the hasty marriages in tender years, wherein nature being but yet green and growing, we rent from her, and replant her branches, while herself hath not yet any root sufficient to maintain her own top ; and such half-ripe seeds, for the most part, in their growing up wither in the bud, and wax old even in their infancy. But above all things the exceed ing luxuriousness of this gluttonous age, wherein we press nature with overweighty burdens; and finding her strength defective, we take the work out of her hands, and commit it to the artificial help of strong waters, hot spices, and provoking sauces; of which Lucanz hath these elegant verses :
7 0 prodiga rerum
Luxuries ! numquam parvo contenta paratu, Et qu(Esitorum terra, pelagoque ciborum Ambitiosafam.es, et lauta. gloria mensee, Discite quam parvo liceat producere vitam,
Et quantum natura petat
Non auro, myrrhaque bibunt : sed gurgite puro Vita redit: satis est populis Jluviusque ceresque.
O wasteful riot, never well content With low-priz'd fare ; hunger ambitious Of cates by land and sea far fetched and sent, Vain glory of a table sumptuous, Learn with how little life may be preserved. In gold and myrrh they need not to carouse, But with the brook the people's thirst is served : Who fed with bread and water are not starved. 1 Pharsal. lib. 4. 373.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 151
The a Egyptians affirm, that the longest time of man's life is an hundred years, because the heart in a perfect body waxeth and groweth to strength fifty years, and afterwards by the same degree decay eth and withereth. Epigenes findeth in his philosophy that the life of man may reach to the period of an hundred and twenty years, and Berosus to an hundred and seventeen years. These opinions Pliny re- peateth and reproveth, producing many examples to the contrary. In the last taxation, number, and review of the eighth region of Italy, there were found in the roll, saith b Pliny, fifty-four persons of an hundred years of age ; fifty- seven of an hundred and ten ; two of an hundred and twen ty-five ; four of an hundred and thirty ; as many that were an hundred and thirty-five, or an hundred and thirty-seven years old; and last of all, three men of an hundred and forty ; and this search was made in the times of Vespasian, the father and the son.
The simple diet and temperate life of the c Essaeans gave them long account of many years ; so did it to the secreta ries of Egyptian ceremonies, to the d Persian magicians, and Indian brachmans. The Greeks affirm out of Homer, that Nestor lived three ages, and Tiresias six, Sybilla three hun dred years, Endymion of the Less Asia, little less ; also Ma- sinissa of Numidia lived very long, and Dando of lllyria. Among the kings of Arcadia many lived three hundred years, saith Ephorus; Hellanicus affirmeth of the Epeians, that some of them live full two hundred years ; and so doth Diodorus Siculus of the Egyptians : and that these reports are not fabulous, Josephus bringeth many witnesses with himself, as Marethon, Berosus, Mochus, Estius, Hierony- mus, ^Egyptius, Hecataeus, Ephorus, and others. And Anthony Fume, an historian of good reputation, reporteth, that in the year 1570 there was an Indian presented to So- lyman, general of the Turk's army, who had outlived three hundred years. I myself knew the old countess of Des mond, of Inchiquin in Munster, who lived in the year 1589,
β’ Pier. Hierog. 1. 2. c Joseph. Aiitiq. 1. 13. c. 8.
h Flin. 1. 7. c. 29. -1 Pliii. 1. ?. c. 48.
L4
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
and many years since, who was married in Edward the Fourth's time, and held her jointure from all the earls of Desmond since then ; and that this is true, all the noble men and gentlemen of Munster can witness. Strozzius Ci- cogna, out of Torquemada Maffaeus, and the like authors, telleth of some that have not only far exceeded the term prescribed by Epigenes, but been repaired from the wither ed estate of decrepit age to fresh youth. But for length of life, if we note but the difference between the ability of men in those days wherein Galen the physician lived, it may easily prove unto us what reeds we are in respect of those cedars of the first age. For Galen did ordinarily let blood six pound weight, whereas we, for the most part, stop at six ounces. But to conclude this part, there are three things (not counting constellations) which are the na tural causes of a long and healthful life; to wit, strong pa rents, a pure and thin air, and temperate use of diet, plea sure, and rest : for those which are built of rotten timber or mouldering stone cannot stand long upright : on air we feed always and in every instant, and on meats but at times ; and yet the heavy load of abundance, wherewith we oppress and overcharge nature, maketh her to sink un awares in the midway ; and therefore, with a good constitu tion, a pure air and a temperate use of those things which nature wanteth are the only friends and companions of a long life.
SECT. VI.
Of the patriarchs delivering their knowledge by tradition; and that Enoch writ before the flood.
A FOURTH scruple hath been made, how the certain knowledge of the creation came to Moses, seeing there was no story thereof written, and if any such had been, yet it is conceived that all memory of antiquity perished in the uni versal flood.
But if we consider the curiosity and policy of elder ages, we shall find that knowledge was the greatest treasure that men sought for, and which they also covered and hid from
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 153
the vulgar sort, as jewels of inestimable price, fearing the irreverent construction of the ignorant and irreligious : so as whatsoever was attained unto concerning God, and his working in nature, the same was not left to public dispute, but delivered over by heart and tradition from wise men to posterity equally zealous, e Ex animo in animum sine lite- ris, medio intercedente verbo ; " From mind to mind with- " out letters, by way of tradition or word of mouth." And it was thought by Esdras, Origen, and Hilarius, (as f Mi- randula conceiveth,) that Moses did not only upon the mount receive the law from God, but withal secretiorem et veram legls enarrationem, " a more secret and true explanation of " the law," which, saith he out of the same authors, he de livered by mouth to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders : for to teach these mysteries, which he called secretiora, to the rude multitude, were no other quam dare sanctum canibus, et inter porcos sparger e margaritas^ " than to give holy " things to dogs, and to cast pearls before swine." In suc ceeding times this understanding and wisdom began to be written in ciphers, and characters, and letters bearing the form of beasts, birds, and other creatures ; and to be taught only to such as served in their temples, and to their kings and priests. Of the first, the Cabala of the Jews was an imitation ; the invention of the other is ascribed to Zoro aster, Mercurius, Cadmus, and others, but falsely.
This S Cabala importeth a law received by tradition, and unwritten. Cabala in Hebrew is receptio in Latin, and a receiving in English. And this custom was also held by the druids and bards of our ancient Britons, and of later times by the Irish chroniclers called rhymers. If then such as would seem wisest in the use of reason will not acknow ledge that the story of the creation, or beginning of all things, was written by inspiration, the Holy Ghost guiding the hand of Moses; yet it is manifest, that the knowledge there of might by tradition, then used, be delivered unto him by
e Dion. Areop. non revelata. P. M.82. Mirand. 1 10.
1 Fol. 18. fol.
fc' Cabala est scicntia Theologiae
154 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
a more certain presumption, than any or all the testimonies which profane antiquity had preserved and left to their suc cessors ; which their wise men, as they term them, did lay up and defend from the injury of time and other hazards. For, leaving to remember that Adam instructed Seth, and Seth his children and successors, which cannot be doubted of, it is manifest that Methusalem lived together with Adam himself two hundred forty and three years, and Noah with Methusalem no less than five hundred years; and before Noah died Abraham was fifty and eight years old ; from whence this knowledge, by an easy and ordinary way, might come to Israel, and so to Moses.
But besides this tradition, it is questionless that the use of letters was found out in the very infancy of the world, proved by those prophecies written on pillars of stone and brick by Enoch ; of which h Josephus affirmeth that one of them remained even in his time, (meaning belike some ruin or foundation thereof,) which pillars by others are ascribed to Seth. But of these prophecies of Enoch ' St. Jude testi fied! ; and some part of his books (which contained the course of the stars, their names, and motions) were afterward found in Arabia Felix, in the dominion of the queen of Saba, saith k Origen, of which Tertullian affirmeth that he had seen and read some whole pages. It is not therefore strange, that Moses came to the knowledge of the creation and story of the first age, seeing he might receive it both by tradition and letters, had not the Spirit of God instructed and inspired him as he did ; which also his many and strange miracles (performed before he wrote the scriptures) make more ma nifest.
Now for the books of Enoch, howsoever some men make question of them, sure I am that Tertullian, l Origen, Au gustine, Beda, Procopius, Gazeus, with others, cite them in their writings; although Medina, for an argument to prove them unwritten traditions, allegeth, that pope Gela-
Mos. 1. i. ' Orig. Homil. 28. in Num. et
' Jud. Ep. ver. 14. Comment, in Evang. Joliau. Gelas.
k Origen. Homil. i. in Num. Dist. 15.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 155
sius, among other the apocryphal scriptures, (which he re- jecteth,) named not these of Enoch; but that whatsoever was remembered out of them, the same was delivered by tra dition from the Jews. But I rather think with Pererius, that such a book there was, and that the same was corrupted after the death of the apostles, and many things added thereunto by heretics, who took occasion, upon the antiquity thereof, and out of that place of Michael contending with the Devil about the body of Moses, to frame and add there unto many inventions of their own. One of the greatest ar guments against these books is, that neither Philo nor Jo- sephus (the most diligent searchers of antiquity) make men tion thereof. But against it I will set this opinion of St. Au gustine, Scripsisse quidem nonnnlla divina Enoch ilium septimum ab Adam negare non possumus ; " That Enoch " the seventh from Adam did write divers divine things we " cannot deny." Now his writings, which came afterwards to light, were suspected because of the antiquity, and of fa bles of giants supposed to be begotten of angels and others; and by so much the more, because no such book was found among those canonical scriptures, kept by the diligence of the Hebrew priests in Armario Judaico, saith m Tertullian ; who yet affirmeth, that this might be preserved by Noah. Surely that Enoch wrote the prophecies remembered by Jude, no man can deny ; how they were delivered to poste rity, I know not ; whether by the Jews' Cabala, or by what other means, the same is but man's conjecture. And cer tainly, by the knowledge ascribed to Noah of the motions of the heavens, and of the natures and conjunctions of the stars, and afterwards to some of his sons, to Zoroaster, and then to Abraham, it is very probable that Noah had seen and might preserve this book. For it is not likely that so exquisite knowledge therein (as these men had) was sud denly invented and found out, but left by Seth to Enoch, and by Enoch to Noah, as hath been said before. And therefore, if letters and arts were known from the time of
m Tertul. dc H;ibit. Mulienun.
156 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Seth to Enoch, and that Noah lived with Methusalem, who lived with Adam, and Abraham lived with Noah : it is not strange, I say, to conceive how Moses came to the knowledge of the first age, be it by letters, or by Cabala and tradition, had the undoubted word of God need of any other proof than self-authority.
SECT. VII.
Of the men of renown before thejlood.
NOW let us consider the relation of Moses, who named seven descents of Cain^s children, and of Adam by Seth ten ; Seth being given by God instead of Abel ; and of Seth was Enoch begotten, in whose time men began to profess reli gion, and to offer sacrifice in public. For although Adam instructed his children in the knowledge of God their Crea tor, as appeared by the sacrifice offered by Cain and Abel ; yet it seemeth that after the birth of Enoch men began publicly to call on the name of the Lord, that is, they served and praised God by communion and in public manner, or calling upon the name of the Lord, and thereby were the sons of God, or the godly, distinguished from the wicked. From the birth of Enos the son of Seth, to the time of Enoch the son of Jarad, there is nothing remembered by Moses but their own births, the births of their sons, the length of their lives, and deaths. But of Enoch it is written, n that lie walked with God: and he was no more seen ; for God took him away. By that, that he walked with (ioii, was meant, that he was a just and upright man, and that he feared, loved, and obeyed God. For the same phrase Moses useth of Noah ; Β° Noah was a just and upright man in his time, and Noah walked with God. The Seventy con vert it, Enoch placuit Deo ; "Enoch pleased God."" And although Aben-Ezra and others understand this place, tulit eum Detfs, scilicet, mortuus est, " God took him away, that " is, he died ;" which indeed agreeth both with the phrase of the scripture and with our manner of speech to this day, to
β’ Gen. v. 24- Β° Gen, vi. 9.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 157
say, God took him away, when he died ; yet the difference which Moses maketh between the piety of Enoch and the rest of the patriarchs, and by omitting the word death, which he useth to all else, makes it manifest that Enoch was not dissolved as the rest. For to all the rest of the pa triarchs Moses useth these words, and he died; but of Enoch he spake otherwise, saying only, he was missing, or he was not seen. Et non inveniebatur, saith the apostle to the Hebrews, quia Deus eum transtidit ; " And he was not " found, for the Lord took him away."" In the same place it is expressly added, that he saw not death.
But whether this taking away of Enoch were not with the same kind of changing which St. Paul promiseth when he saith, that P when the end shall come, we shall not all die, but all shall be changed, I leave it to the learned divines.
After Enoch, Moses passeth over to Methusalem and La- mech, remembering (as of the rest) the times of their birth and death ; saving that Lamech prophesied of his son Noah, saying, <i This same shall comfort us concerning our work, and sorrow of our hands, as touching the earth which the Lord hath cursed. Of Noah, Moses writeth more amply than of any of the rest of Adam's children by r Seth, being the last of the ten generations of the first age whom God (with his family) preserved, because he was an upright man in his time, and feared God.
But of the war, peace, government, and policy of these strong and mighty men, so able both in body and wit, there is no memory remaining ; whose stories, if they had been pre served, and what else was then performed in that newness of the world, there could nothing of more delight have been left to posterity. For the exceeding long lives of men, (who to their strength of body and natural wits had the expe rience added of eight hundred and nine hundred years,) how much of necessity must the same add of wisdom and under takings? Likely it is that their works excelled all whatso ever can be told of after-times, especially in respect of this
P i Cor. xv. 51. q Gen. v. 29. T Gen. vi. 9.
158 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
old age of the world, when we no sooner begin to know, but we begin to die ; according to Hippocrates, s Vita brevis, ars longa, tempus prtcccps ; which is, "Life is short, art is long, *' and time is headlong." And that those people of the first age performed many things worthy admiration, it may be ga thered out of these words of Moses; l These were mighty men, which in old time were men of renown. But these men of renown (whom the scripture afterwards calleth giants, both for strength of body and cruelty of mind) trusted so much to their own abilities, as they forgot altoge ther the piety of Seth,and the ways wherein Enoch walked: u For all the imaginations of' their liearts were evil, only evil, and continually evil. And this wickedness was not only found in the issues of Cain, but it was then universal, when the children and sons of God (or of the godly) were corrupted and misled by their idolatrous wives, the daugh ters of Cain, or of those other men loving themselves and the world only.
That these x sons of God were angels, which being taken with the beauty of women accompanied them and begat giants, some of the fathers supposed, namely, Lactantius and Eusebius, misled by Josephus ; of whom I cannot doubt but that they afterwards changed their former opinions. And of this mistaking many writers have taken great ad vantage, and have troubled themselves with large answers and very needless; the question being uncapable of dis pute, especially since St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine have answered it largely long ago. For that good and godly men were honoured with the title of God's children, it doth every where appear in the scripture; and on the contrary, to think that angels, who, as Christ witnesseth, behold the face of God, that is, always attend his command ments, should, after a separation from the rest which fell with Lucifer, forsake the glorious presence of their Creator, and become incubi, or succubi, contrary both to nature and grace, were more than madness to imagine.
β’ Aphor. i. Β« Gen. vi. 4. u Gen. vi. 5. x Geu. vi. 4.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 159
SECT. VIII.
That the giants, by Moses so called, were indeed men of huge bodies ; as also divers in latter times.
OF these giants, which Moses calleth mighty men, Goro- pius Becanus, an Antwerpian, (who thought his own wit more gigantical than the bodies of Nimrod and Hercules,) hath written a large discourse, entitled, Gigantomachia, and strained his brains to prove that there were never any such men : his reasons, whosoever desires to lose time, he may find them in the treatises before named. It is true, that Cyrillus reproves the Grecian poets for their monstrous fic tions ; who affirm, shamelessly, that the giants have in elder times not only cast up mountains upon mountains, but re moved islands out of the sea, with like fooleries. And for that invention of casting up hills, and making war with the gods, no doubt but that the same was borrowed out of the story of Nimrod, as before remembered ; and even out of this scripture, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, of whom the first giants were begotten, was that con ceit taken of Orpheus and Hesiodus, that giants were the sons of the heaven and the earth ; meaning by the heavens the sons of God, and by the earth the daughters of men : which verses of Orpheus are by John Cassam (who hath written a witty discourse of this subject) thus changed into Latin :
Nomine ccelestes illos dixere gigantes, Orti quod terra fuerint et sanguine cceli.
From the earth, and from thy blood, O heaven, they came, Whom thereupon the gods did giants name.
But what will not opiniators and self-believing men dis pute of, and make doubt of, if they cannot conceive that there were in the first age such kind of men, and of which there have been in all times since, seeing the scriptures avow the one manifestly, and common experience the other?
And for that superlative straining of words, and the mean-
160 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
ing of them, that the name of giants was given to oppressors and tyrants, and not to strength of body and eminent sta ture : such men might with better reason call them oppres sors, because they were giants, and therefore had ability to oppress ; than say, that they were called giants only because oppressors. For first Moses himself calleth them mighty men ,- which sheweth a strength surpassing others : and af terwards, men of renown, that is, of great undertaking and adventurous action. And if the same stature of body and ability had not been found among divers nations after the general flood, then might this place of Moses have more willingly hearkened to a dispute, and yielded to interpreta tion.
But besides all these famous giants found in profane histories, (which I will reserve to accompany the giants of Albion in the story of Brittany,) the scriptures do clearly, and without all allegorical construction, avow, that, besides Xim- rod, there were found of these giants in the time of Abra ham, of Moses, of Joshua, and of David ; namely, the y Re- phaimsin Asteroth ; the Zuza?i, or Zanzummims, in Ham; and the Emims, which dwelt anciently in the land of Moab : whom Moses, for stature, compareth with the Anakims, which dwelt in Hebron ; for they also were taken for giants, as the Anakims : likewise where Moses speaketh of the land of Ammon, he useth these words; z That also was taken for a land of giants : for giants dwelt therein aforetimes ; and whom the Ammonites call Zanzummims ; a people that was great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims. And these gi ants, called Rephaims in Asteroth and Kernaim, and the Zuzaei, or Zanzummirns, Chedorlaomer king of Elam over threw, assisted by other kings his associates. Also the pro phet a Amos found among the Ammonites men of giant-like stature, whom he compareth to the cedar, and whose strength to the oaks ; and the prophet b Baruch, These were the amous from the beginning, that were of so great
> Gen. xiv. 5. * Dent. ii. 20, 21. β’ Amos, c. i. b Bar. iii. 26.
CHAP. v. OF THE WORLD. 161
stature, and so expert in war. Particularly it is written of c Og king of Basan, that his bed of iron was nine cubits long, and four cubits broad :for only Og king- of Basan re mained of the remnant of the giants, who commanded the kingdom of Basan four hundred years after the expedition of Chedorlaomer. Moreover, those discoverers and search ers of the land of promise (sent by Moses from Cadesbarne in Paran) made report at their return of the great stature of those people in general, and especially of the sons of Anak, in these words. d All the people which we saw in it are men of great stature. For there we saw giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: so that we seemed in our sights like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight ; that is, the searchers found in their own judgments a mar vellous difference between the Anakims and themselves : in somuch that the Israelites were so stricken with fear, as they rather sought and desired to return again into6 Egypt, and were more willing to endure their former slavery, than to fall by the strokes of those fearful nations. Furthermore, the scriptures put us out of doubt, that f Goliah, the Philis tine of Gath, was a giant of six cubits and a span long ; the armour which he wore weighed five thousand shekels of brass ; the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear-head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. Also in & Samuel there is mention of another Goliah, surnamed Getheus, because he was of Gath ; and of three other giants, of which the first was slain by h Jehonathan, David's ne phew, who had twelve fingers, and as many toes ; a man of great stature, and his fingers were by sixes, even four and twenty.
Also that ' Sampson was of surpassing strength no man doubteth, who tore a lion as it had been a kid, and after k slew thirty of the Philistines, and, after that, a thousand more of them with a jaw-bone of an ass; and lastly, he took the
0 Deut. iii. 1 1 . s 2 Sam. xxi. 19.
(t Numb. xiii. 32, 33. h i Chron. xx. 7.
e Numb. xiv. 4. ' Jndg. xiv. 6.
f i Sam. xvii. 4. k Judg. xiv. 19.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. M
162 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
1 gates of Azzah, and the two posts, and lifted them away with the bars, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the mountain before Ebron. If then it be approved by every judgment, that both nature and the heavens wax old, and that the great age of time hath, with itself, enfeebled and almost worn out the virtue of all things; then I say, that as in all other kinds the earth (before that sin had increased the curse and corruption) brought forth her young ones more strong and beautiful than it did in af ter-ages ; so also those giants, those mighty men, and men of renown, as far exceeded the proportion, nature, and strength of those giants remembered by Moses of his own time, and after him their successors, as the ordinary propor tion of all men in general, soon after the flood and in times far off, exceeded the bulks and bodies of men which are now born in the withered quarter and winter of the world. If therefore giants were common in the third and fourth age, much more in the first flourishing youth and newness of the world.
But the wickedness (especially in cruelty and oppression) of these men was such, as God therefore by the flood gave end to all flesh, but to the just Noah and his family. m And God repented him that lie had made man ; which St. Augustine thus expoundeth : n Ncque enim sicut homi- nem, ita Deumfacti sui pcenitet, cujus est de omnibus om- nino rebus tamfixa sententia, quam certa prcescientia. Sed si non utatur scriptura talibus verbis, non se quodammodo familiarius insinuabit omni generi hominum, quibus vult esse consultum : ut et perterreat superbientes, et excitet neg- ligentes, et exerceat qucerentes, et alat intelUgentes. " God," saith he, " doth not repent him of any thing which he hath " done : (as men use to do :) but if the scripture did not use " those words, or the like, it should not, in a sort, insinuate " itself familiarly to all sorts of men, for whom it would pro- " vide ; that it might terrify the proud, stir up the negli- " gent, exercise the searchers of truth, and nourish those " that understand."
1 Judg. xvi. 3. "β’ Gen. vi. 6. " De Civitatc Dei, 1. 15. c. 15.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 163
CHAP. VI.
Of idolatrous corruptions, quickly rising, and hardly at length vanishing in the world: and of the relics of truth touching these ancient times, obscurely appearing in fables and old legends.
SECT. I.
That in old corruptions we may find some signs of more ancient truth.
jLJLERE, before we proceed any further, the occasion offer- eth itself for us to consider, how the Greeks and other more ancient nations, by fabulous inventions, and by breaking into parts the story of the creation, and by delivering it over in a mystical sense, wrapping it up mixed with other their own trumpery, have sought to obscure the truth thereof; and have hoped, that after-ages, being thereby brought into many doubts, might receive those intermixed discourses of God and nature for the inventions of poets and philosophers, and not as any thing borrowed or stolen out of the books of God. But as a skilful and learned chymist can as well by se paration of visible elements draw helpful medicines out of poi son, as poison out of the most healthful herbs and plants; (all things having in themselves both life and death ;) so, contrary to the purposes and hopes of the heathen, may those which seek after God and truth find out every where, and in all the ancient poets and philosophers, the story of the first age, with all the works and marvels thereof, amply and lively ex pressed.
SECT. II.
That the corruptions themselves were very ancient ; as in the family of Noah, and in the old Egyptians.
BUT this defection and falling away from God, which was first found in angels, and afterwards in men ; (the one having erred but once, the other ever;) as concerning man kind it took such effect, that thereby (the liberal grace of God being withdrawn) all the posterity of our first parents
it Β£
164 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
were afterwards born and bred in the world, suffering a per petual eclipse of spiritual light. Hence it was that it pro duced plants of such imperfection and harmful quality, as the waters of the general flood could not so wash out or de- pure, but that the same defection hath had continuance in the very generation and nature of mankind. Yea, even among the few sons of Noah there were found strong effects of the former poison. For as the children of Shem did in herit the virtues of Seth, Enoch, and Noah ; so the sons of Cham did possess the vices of the sons of Cain, and of those wicked giants of the first age. Whence the Chaldeans began soon after the flood to ascribe divine power and honour to the creature, which was only due to the Creator. First, they worshipped the sun, and then the fire. So the Egyp tians and Phrenicians did not only learn to leave the true God, but created twelve several gods, and divine powers, whom they worshipped ; and unto whom they built altars and temples. For Herodotus saith, Β° Duodccim dcontm nomina primos JEgyptios in usu habu'isse, atque Gra'co* ab illis cepisse mutuatos, eosque prius aras, et imagines et tem- pla Diis sibi erexisse. " The Egyptians," saith he, " first " devised the names of the twelve gods, which the Greeks " received from them, who first erected unto themselves al- " tars, images, and temples for the gods."
SECT. III.
Ttiat in process of time these lesser errors drew on greater ; as ctp-
peareth in the gross superstitions of the Egyptians. BUT as men once fallen away from undoubted truth, do then after wander for evermore in vices unknown, and daily travel towards their eternal perdition; so did these gross and blind idolaters every age after other descend lower and lower, and shrink and slide downwards from the knowledge of one true and very God ; and did not thereby err in wor shipping mortal men only, but they gave divine reverence, and had the same respect to beasts, birds, fishes, fowls,
0 Herod, in Euterpe.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 165
winds, earth, water, air, fire ; to the morning, to the evening, to plants, trees, and roots ; to passions and affections of the mind ; to paleness, sickness, sorrows, yea to the most un worthy and basest of all these : which barbarous blas phemy Rhodius Anaxandrides derideth in this manner.
P Bovem colls, ego Deis macto bovem.
Tu maximum anguillam Deum putas : ego
Obsoniorum credidi suavissimum.
Carnes suillas tu caves, at gaudeo
Hiis maxime : canem colis, quern verbero
Edentem ubi deprehendo forte obsonium.
I sacrifice to God the beef, which you adore : I broil the Egyptian eels, which you (as God) implore : You fear to eat the flesh of swine, I find it sweet : You worship dogs, to beat them I think meet, When they my store devour.
And in this manner Juvenal.
i Porrum aut ccepe nefas violare autfrangere morsu: O sanctas gentes, quibus hcec nascuntur in hortis Numina !
The Egyptians think it sin to root up or to bite Their leeks or onions, which they serve with holy rite : O happy nations, which of their own sowing Have store of gods in every garden growing.
SECT. IV.
That from the relics of ancient records among the Egyptians and others, the fast idols and fables were invented : and that the fast Jupiter was Cain, Vulcan, Tubalcain, &c.
BUT in so great a confusion of vanities, where among the heathens themselves there is no agreement or certainty, it were hard to find out from what example the beginnings of these inventions were borrowed, or after what ancient pattern they erected their building, were it not certain that the Egyptians had knowledge of the first age, and of what-
P Nat. Com. 1. i. c. 7. 1 Sat. 15. v. 9.
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166 THE HISTORY BOOK r
soever was done therein ; partly from some incriptions upon stone or metal remaining after the flood ; and partly from Mizraim, the son of Cham, who had learnt the same of Cham, and Cham of his father Noah. For all that the Egyptians write of their ancient kings, and date of times, cannot be feigned. And though other nations after them had by imi tation their Jupiters also, their Saturns, Vulcans, and Mer curies, with the rest which r St. Augustine out of Varro, Eusebius out of many profane histories, Cicero, Diodo- rus Siculus, Arnobius, and many more have observed, to wit, the Phoenicians, Phrygians, Cretans, Greeks, and other nations; yet was Cain, the son of Adam, (as some very learned men conceive,) called and reputed for the first and ancient Jupiter ; and Adam for the first Saturn : for Jupi ter was said to have invented the founding of cities ; and the first city of the world was built by Cain, which he called Enoch, of whom were the Enochii before remembered. And so much may be gathered out of Plato in Protagoras, which also Higinus, in his 275th chapter, confirmeth. For besides that many cities were founded by divers men, ta~ men primam latissimam a primo et antiquissimo Jove cedi- ficatam ; " yet the first and largest was built by the first and " most ancient Jupiter ;"" seated in the east parts, or in India, according to that of Moses : s And Cain dwelt towards the east side of Eden, &c. where also the Enochii were found after the flood. And therefore was Jupiter by the Athe nians called Polieus, a founder of cities ; and Herceios, an encloser or strengthener of cities ; (say l Phornutus and Pau- sanias;) and that to Jupiter Herceios there were in very many places altars and temples erected. And that there were ci ties built before the flood, Plato also witnesseth, as may be gathered in this his affirming, that soon after mankind be gan to increase, they built many cities ; which as his mean ing he delivereth in plain terms, in his third book of laws :
r Aug. 1. 19. c. 22. De Civit. Dei. β’ Gen. iv. 16.
Euseb. 1. 1. Praep. Evang. c. 7. et 1. 2. 'Phorn.l. de NaturaDeorum. Pau-
c. 23. Cic. 1. 3. dc Nat. Deorum. Ar- san. 1. 4, 5, et 10. iu Protae. nob. 4. cont. Gent.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 167
for he saith that cities were built an exceeding space of time before the destruction by the great flood.
This Jupiter of the Ethnics was then the same Cain, the son of Adam, who, marrying his own sister, (as also Ju piter is said to have done,) inhabited the east, where Ste- phanus de Urbibus placeth the city Henochia. And besides this city of Henoch, Philo Judaeus conceiveth that Cain built six others, as Maich, Jared, Tehe, Jesca, Selet, and Gebat; but where Philo had this, I know not. Now as Cain was the first Jupiter, and from whom also the Eth nics had the invention of sacrifice; so were uJubal, Tu- bal, and Tubalcain (inventors of pastorage, smiths1 craft, and music) the same which were called by the ancient pro fane writers, "Mercurius, Vulcan, and Apollo: and as there is a likelihood of name between Tubalcain and Vulcan ; so doth Augustine expound the name of Noema, or Naamah, the sister of Tubalcain, to signify venusta, or beautiful, vo- luptas, or pleasure ; as the wife of Vulcan is said to be Ve nus, the lady of pleasure and beauty. And as Adam was the ancient and first Saturn, Cain the eldest Jupiter, Eva, Rhea, and Noema, or Naamah, the first Venus ; so did the fable of the dividing of the world between the three brethren, the sons of Saturn, arise from the true story of the dividing of the earth between the three brethren the sons of Noah : so also was the fiction of those golden apples kept by a dragon taken from the serpent which tempted Evah : so was paradise itself transported out of Asia into Africa, and made the gar den of the Hesperides : the prophecies, that Christ should break the serpent's head, and conquer the power of hell, occasioned the fables of Hercules killing the serpent of Hesperides, and descending into hell, and captivating Cer berus : so out of the taking up of Enoch by God was bor rowed the conversion of their heroes (the inventors of reli gion and such arts as the life of man had profit by) into stars and heavenly signs, and, withal, that leaving of the world, and ascension of Astrea ; of which Ovid :
11 Gen. iv. 20, 21, 22. " Lact. 1. 4. c. 27.
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168 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
x Ultima ccelestum terras Astr&a reliquil.
Astrea last of heavenly wights the earth did leave.
For although thereby the z Ethnics would understand justice itself to have failed, as it is a virtue abstract, and may be considered without a person; yet, as it is usual among the ancient poets to describe virtues and vices by the persons of men and women, as desire by Cupid, valour by Mars, beauty or lust by Venus, so do they also the persons of men by like virtues and vices; and therefore by justice and Astrea, Enoch : the justice and piety of Enoch being in the same manner expressed, as that of Noah was by Mo ses, for Noah was said to be a just man ; *And Noah walked with God. And of Enoch it is written, bthat he walked with God, and he was no more seen ; for God took him away.
From this story also of the first age, and from that part where Moses remembereth the giants begotten by the sons of good men upon the daughters of the wicked, (whom Moses calleth mighty men, and men of renown,) did they steal those wondrous great acts of their ancient kings and powerful giants; and again, their war undertaken against the gods, from the building of the tower of Babel by the giant Nimrod, as cSt. Augustine termeth him: which war of their giants Cornelius Severus thus describeth :
Tentav&re (nefas) olim detrudere mundo Sydera, captivique Jovis transferre gigantes Imperium, et victo leges imponere ccelo.
The giants did advance their wicked hand Against the stars, to thrust them headlong down, And robbing Jove of his imperial crown, On conquered heavens to lay their proud command.
Whereby was meant that Nimrod purposed to raise the building of Babel to that height, as God neither by draw s' Ov. Met. l.i. i> Gen. v. 22, 24. 1 Nat. Com. 1. 2. c. 2. < Lib. de Civitate Dei. Β» Gen. vii.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 169
ing waters from the deep, nor by any conjunction of the stars, should bury them under the moisture of a second flood ; but that by this building (if they had been herein victorious) they would have given the law to heaven itself. Also the making of leagues, peace, and covenants among heathen nations and kings, confirmed by sacrifice, whereof Virgil, both in the eighth and twelfth of his JEneids, hath a touch, was, as it seemeth, borrowed from Moses, Exod. xxiv. who, when he read the book of the covenant, sprinkled the peo ple with blood.
dWe find also many remembrances of Seth, the paternal ancestor of Enoch and Noah : for Amenophis, the same king of Egypt, which reigned at such time as Moses car ried thence the children of Israel, (as of late some learned men, mistaking his time, supposed,) called his son and suc cessor Setho, of Seth ; and of the same Seth (as many men of good judgment have granted) were the princes of Thrace called Seuthes, whereof there were many very famous. eBut herein was the memory of Seth most manifestly pre served, that the Egyptians worshipped Seth, as their most ancient parent, and of the first tradition, in honour of whom they called a principal province Setheitica. fWe also find in Bithynia the city of Sethia, and others of the same name elsewhere. And sure from the Egyptians did the Grecians borrow this kind of theology, though they scorned to ac knowledge any antiquity preceding their own ; and that they might not seem to learn elsewhere, they gave the same names to their own idols which the Egyptians did to theirs.
SECT. V.
Of the three chief est Jupiters; and the strange story of the third.
BUT of all those armies of Jupiters remembered by the ancients, Cicero maketh but three, because those were of most fame : which other writers have also done, who sought out, and laboured in their originals.
The first was Jupiter, the son of ^Kther and Dies, so
d Joseph. 1. i. contra Appian. e Plut. in Isid. f Strabo, 1. 17.
170 THE HISTORY
BOOK I.
called, because the one had reference to his celestial condi tions, (for ^Ether is as much as shining or pure fire,) the other discovered his natural virtues, which days and times make more perfect, and are the witnesses of men's actions.
The second was said to be the son of Coelum, or heaven, for the same former respect ; and this Jupiter was an Ar cadian, and king of Athens.
The third, of whom all the Grecian fables were devised, was of Crete, (now Candie,) the son of Saturn and Ops. The name, derived from the Latin, is taken of Juvans Pater, from the Greek word Zsv$ ; it signifieth life, but somewhat strained. Boccas, in his genealogy of the gods, conceiveth that his name was borrowed from Jupiter the planet ; but whether that star had such a name, before the same was given to men, I know not. Jupiter is hot and moist, tem perate, modest, honest, adventurous, liberal, merciful, lov ing, and faithful; that is, giving these inclinations. And therefore those ancient kings beautified with these condi tions might be called thereafter Jupiter ; but howsoever they were or were not with those virtues enriched, yet, by imitation, all kings in the eldest times assumed those titles and surnames : great princes affecting as high titles of honour and reputation of the world, (howsoever deserved,) as the worthiest that ever were acquired by their well-deservings. Joves omnes reges vocarunt antiqui; " The ancients called " all kings Jupiters," as Tzetzes, in his Varia Historia, con- firmeth : Reges olim Joves vocarunt omnes: " Jn old time " all nations called their kings Jupiters." But where this last and most remembered Jupiter was born it is uncertain. sSome there are that make him of Crete ; others, that he was but sent thither by his mother Ops, or Opis, to be fos tered and hidden from the fury of Titan his uncle ; because it was conditioned between Saturn and Titan, that Saturn being a younger brother, and reigning (for his own life) by Titan's permission, he should put to death all his male chil dren, lest the Titans might be interrupted by any of them in their succession ; which agreement, because Saturn per- Β« Nat. Com. I. i.e. 7.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 171
formed in his first-born, it is feigned that Saturn devoured his own children. Hereof Lycophron, thus turned into Latin.
Hand Jit pinguior,
Crudis sepulchrum quod sit ipse filiis.
Saturn to be the fatter is not known, By being the grave and burial of his own.
This composition between Titan and Saturn, Sibylla also witnesseth in these :
Conceptis verbis, Titan jurare coegit Saturnum, de se natum ne nutriat ullum, Quo possint regnare senis post fata nepotes.
Things thus agreed, Titan made Saturn swear, No son to nourish ; which by reigning might Usurp the right of Titan's lawful heir.
But Opis, the mother of Jupiter, being delivered at once both of Jupiter and Juno, conveyed Jupiter (first called Lysanias) into Crete, as she did afterwards his two brothers, Neptune and Pluto : where he was brought up in Gnossus, the chief city of that island, by hCresta the king, or by the Curetes, a people and nation thereof.
Others challenge him to be of Thebes, and a Theban ; others call him an Arcadian ; others make him of Messena. The like contention is found among the Greeks, touching his education and first fostering. Some affirm that he was fed by honey-bees ; in recompense whereof he changed their black coats and skins into yellow, a reward well fitting such a god ; others, that he was nourished by bears ; others, by goats : and of all these the idle Greeks have many pretty tales. But in the end, when Titan had knowledge that Sa turn had broken his faith, he set on him, and took him and his wife prisoners, whom Jupiter again rescued and deli vered.
But lastly, the father and the son equally ambitious, the one doubted the other. Saturn being the less powerful fled h Euseb. in Temp.
172 THE HISTORY BOOK /.
into Italy, and left his kingdoms in Greece to his son. And although this prince at the first purchased great honour, and for his many virtues the name of Jupiter was given him ; yet, after he was once settled and became potent, he gave himself over wholly to palliardise and adultery, with out all respect of honour, law, or religion. And it is re ported by such as do ascribe the actions of many to one Jupiter, that, not therewith satisfied, he was afterwards known to offend in the sin of Sodom with Ganymedes and others ; and did not only begin with incest, marrying his own sister Juno, but he ravished, betrayed, stole away, and took by strong hand all the beautiful women born in his time, within the limits of his own kingdoms, or bordering them. Among whom these hereafter written were of great est fame ; Niobe, Laodamia, and Alcmena, the wife of Am phitryon, by whom he had Pelasgus, Sarpedon, Argus, and Hercules; by Taygete he had Taygetus, of whom the mountain Taygetus took name, with another son called Saon, of whom Savona ; by Antiope he had Amphion and Zetus; by Leda, Castor and Pollux, Helen and Clytem- nestra ; by Danae Perseus ; by Jordana Deucalion ; by Charme (the daughter of Eubulus) Britomartis; by Pro- togenia he had Athlius, the father of Endymion ; and by lo (the daughter of Inachus) Epaphus, the founder of Mem phis in Egypt : which Epaphus married Libya, of whom that country took name, for so the Greeks afterwards called Africa. He ravished ^Egina, the daughter of jEsopus, and carried her into the island (Enopia, or (Enotria, afterwards called jEgina, on whom he begat ^Eacus : by Torhebia he had Archesilaus and Carbius ; by Ora Colaxes : he had also Dardanus by Electra, who built Dardanium, afterwards Ilium and Troy. He begat the brothers Talici on Thalia and on Garamantis Hiarhas. He had besides these (if they belie not their chief god) Phileus and Pilumnus, inventors of bakers' craft, and I know not how many more ; but I know well that he could not be father to all these, who were born in ages so far differing. And of these his several ra vishments, betrayings, stealing away of men's wives, daugh-
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 173
ters, and sons, buying of virgins, and the like, came in all those ancient fables of his transformations into showers of gold, eagles, bulls, birds, and beasts; and of him and by him (in effect) all that rabble of Grecian forgeries. And yet did not the Greeks and Romans fear to entitle this monster Optimus Maximus, though Cicero, in his second book de Natura Deorum, affirms, that he deserved nothing less : and in his oration pro domo sna reproacheth Clodius for his in cest by the name of Jupiter. His burial was in Crete, saith Lucian, ' Cretenses non solum natum apud se et sepul- tum Jovem testantur, sed etiam sepulchrum ejus ostendunt. " The Cretans, or Candians, do not only avow that Jupiter " was born and buried among them, but they shew his " grave and sepulchre ;" which Epiphanius also confirmeth, for in his time there remained the monuments of his tomb in the mountain Jasius. This Callimachus in his Hymns also witnesseth; but, as offended thereat, saith thus :
The Cretans ever liars were, they care not what they say : For they a tomb have built for thee, O king, that liv'st alway.
kDiodorus Siculus tells, by way of report from the Li byan fables, confirmed, as he saith, by some Greek writers, that the original of these gods was from the western parts of Afric. For there, among the Atlantidae, reigned one Ura nus, (which signifieth heaven,) called so for his great skill in astrology, and for his knowledge and benefits to the peo ple, honoured by them as a god after his death. He had by many wives forty-five sons ; but by his principal wife Titea he had seventeen sons and two daughters, all which were called after their mother's name Titanes. Of Titea likewise it is said, that she for her goodness was canonized as a goddess, being dead, and called the earth, as her hus band was styled heaven. But of all the children of Titea, her daughter Basilea, (which name sounding as queen in English, she is by the Latin translator of Diodorus called regina,} excelling the rest as far in virtue as in years, was, by general consent of her brethren and of the people, ap pointed to rule as queen after her father's death, being as 1 Luc. in Sacrif. k Diod. 1. 2. c. g.
174 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
yet a virgin. She took to husband her brother Hyperion, to whom she bare a son and a daughter, called sun and moon. The beauty and towardliness of these children moved her brethren to envy, and bred in them a fear of being excluded from the succession ; wherefore they took the boy and drowned him in the river Eridanus, now called Po. The loss of this child caused his sister to break her own neck; and the loss of both her children made the mo ther to play many mad pranks, dancing with cymbals, after a wild fashion, in sight of all the people, before whom she is said to have vanished away. Ere she died, her son (as the fable hath it) signified unto her in a dream, that he and his sister, by the providence of God, should become immortal; that also the sun and moon should be called by their names, and that their death should be revenged upon their mur derers. According to which it is said, that the people did so call those two planets, and withal held herself as a god dess, and termed her the great mother, which name they had formerly given to her, for her motherly care in cherish ing her brethren whilst they were young. Hyperion and his race being extinguished, the other sons of Uranus di vided the kingdom : of these, Atlas and Saturn were chief. Atlas reigned over the countries lying about the mountains, which afterwards bare his name; a just and wise prince, deeply skilful in astrology, and, for invention of the sphere, said to have supported heaven. He had many sons, but the principal of them, called Hesperus, being of his father's quali ties and studies, was said to have been carried away by the wind, from the top of an high hill in the midst of his contem plations, and his name, in honour of him, imposed by the peo ple upon the morning star. The seven daughters of Atlas were also said to have been excellent ladies, who, accompa nying such as came to be deified, or registered among the worthies, brought forth children, answerable in quality to those that begat them. Of these it is held, that the seven stars called Pleiades took name. Saturn, the brother of At las, reigned in Sicilia, part of Afric, and Italy. Jupiter, an other of the sons of Uranus, reigned in Crete, who had ten sons, which he called Curetes ; he called that island, after
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 175
his wife's name, Idea ; in which isle he died and was bu ried. But this Jupiter must not have been that great one, but uncle to the great Jupiter, if these fables of the Libyans were true. Saturn (as these Libyans tell the tale) was a great tyrant, and fortified strong places, the better to keep his people in subjection. His sister Rhea was married to Hammon, who reigned in some part of Afric. Hammon, loving others as well as his wife, or better, got a daughter, called Minerva, near to the river Triton, who thereupon was called Tritonia. He also begat on Amalthea a son called Bacchus, whom he caused secretly, for fear of his life, to be brought up at Nysa, an island in the river Tri ton, under the tuition of his daughter Minerva, and certain nymphs. To Amalthea he gave in reward a goodly coun try, that lay on the sea-coast, bending in form of a horn, whence grew the tale of Amalthea's plentiful horn, famous among the poets. When Rhea heard this news, she fled from her husband to her brother Saturn, who not only en tertained her as a sister, but took her to wife, and at her instigation made war upon Hammond, vanquished him by the assistance of the Titans, and made him fly into Crete. The Curetes, Jupiter's children before mentioned, held the island at that time ; which was new named Crete by Ham mon, after the name of Creta the king's daughter, whom he took to wife, and had with her (women, as may seem, being very gracious in those times) the kingdom. Bacchus was grown a proper young man, had found out the making of wine, the art of planting trees, and many things else com modious for mankind, before the flight of his mother-in-law. Now therefore hearing report of all that happened, and that Saturn was coming against him with the Titans, he levied an army, to which the Amazons, living not far from Nysa, added great forces, in love of Minerva, who was entered into their profession. So Bacchus leading the men, and Minerva the women, they set forward against Saturn, met him, over threw him, and taking many of the Titans prisoners, re turned to Nysa ; where, pardoning the prisoners, that pro mised to become his true followers, he prepared for a se cond expedition. In the second expedition he behaved
176 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
himself so well, that he won the love of all the people by whom he passed ; insomuch that, partly for good affection to him, partly in hatred of Saturn's rigorous government, he was greatly strengthened, and the enemy as much en feebled by daily revolts. Coming to the city of Hammon, he won a battle of Saturn before the very walls. After which, Saturn, with his wife Rhea, fled by night, setting the town on fire to despite Bacchus. But they were caught in their flight, pardoned by Bacchus, and kindly entreated. Saturn had a young son by Rhea, called Jupiter. This child Bacchus took with him in a great expedition that he made into the east countries ; and coming into Egypt, he left this Jupiter, being then a boy, governor of the country; but appointed unto him as an overseer one Olympius, of whom Jupiter grew to be called Olympius. Whilst Bac chus travelled through all nations, as far as into India, doing good in all places, and teaching many things profitable to the life of man, the Titans had found out his father Ham mond in Crete, and began to war upon him. But Bacchus returned out of India; with whom Jupiter from Egypt, and his sister Minerva, together with the rest that after wards were held as gods, joining all their forces, went into Crete, overthrew the Titans, chased them, took and slew them, and freed the world of them all. After all this, when Hammond and Bacchus were dead, they were deified ; and the great Jupiter, the son of Saturn, succeeding them, reigned lord alone over all the world, having none of the Titans left alive, nor any other to disturb him. Between this tale of the Libyan gods, and the Egyptian fables of Osi ris, there is a rude resemblance, that may cause them both to be taken for the crooked images of some one true history. For the expeditions of Osiris and of Bacchus, the wars of the giants in the one story, of the Titans in the other, the kingdom of Egypt given by Hercules Libycus to Orus, by Bacchus to Jupiter, the rattles of Isis, and the cymbals of Basilea, with many petty circumstances, nearly enough re semble each other, howsoever not alike fitted to the right persons. Sanchoniato (as yEusebius cites him) would have y Euseh. 1.2. c. 7.
CHAP. VI.
OF THE WORLD.
177
all these to be Phoenicians, and is earnest in saying, that it is a true story, and no allegory. Yet he makes it seem the more allegorical, by giving to Uranus, or Heaven, for daugh ters, Fate and Beauty, and the like, with addition of much fabulous matter omitted by Diodorus, though Diodorus have enough. To the genealogy he adds Elius, or the Sun, as father of Uranus; and among the children of Uranus, Japetus, Baetilus, and Dagon, (whom Diodorus doth not mention by their names,) giving withal to Uranus the proper name of Terrcnus, or Indigena, and of Illus to Sa turn, but omitting Jupiter of Crete. The pedigree of them is this.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I,
ITS THE HISTORY BOOK i.
SECT. VI.
Of Cham, and other wicked ones, whereof some got, some affected the name of gods.
OF Jupiter Belus, the son of Saturnus Babylonicus, otherwise Nimrod, it seemeth that Cicero had not heard, (at least by that name,) who was more ancient than any of the former three by him remembered; for long after these times were the Greeks but savages, if they seek no further off for their gods.
But the Egyptians, even after the flood, began (somewhat before this Chaldean Jupiter) to entitle Cham, the parent Oi their own Mizraim, Jupiter Chammon, or Hammon. For the etymology of this word Hammon, which the Greeks de duce ab arcnls, from the sands, is ridiculous, saith zPeu- cer, neither yet is his own much better, who brings it from Hammath, which signifieth heat ; because the said temple of Jupiter Hammon was seated in Libya, where the air is exceeding hot and scorching. And as for the antiquity of the latter Jupiter, (among the Greeks and Romans the most renowned,) it is certain that he was born not long before the war of Troy, as by many of his sons is made manifest; namely, Castor, Pollux, Hercules, Sarpedon, and others, which lived in that age of Priamus, under whom and with whom Troy was destroyed.
Now seeing that mortal men, and the most wicked, were esteemed immortal among the heathen ; it was not to be wondered at that Alexander Macedon, Tiberius, Nero, Ca ligula, and others, sought to be numbered among them, who were as deformed monsters as the rest : for by what reason could the same deity be denied unto Laurentia and Flora which was given to Venus ? seeing they were as no torious and famous harlots as she was.
SECT. VII.
That the wiser of the ancient heathen had far better opinions of God. BUT that ever Pythagoras, or Plato, or Orpheus, with
1 Fencer de Oracul.
CHAP. vr. OF THE WORLD. 179
many other ancient and excellently learned, believed in any of these fooleries, it cannot be suspected, though some of them, over-busily, have mixed their own inventions with the scriptures : for, in punishment for their fictions, did Pythagoras hang both Homer and Hesiod in hell, where he feigned that they were perpetually stung and pinched with serpents. Yet it cannot be doubted, but that Homer had read over all the books of Moses, as by places stolen thence almost word for word may appear ; of which Justin Mar tyr remembereth many in that treatise converted by Mi- randula. As for Plato, though he dissembled in some things, for fear of the inquisition of the Areopagites, yet St. Augustine hath already answered for him, (as before re membered,) Et mirifice Us delectatus est, qu& de uno Deo tradita fuerant; " And he was greatly delighted in the " doctrine of one God," saith Justin Martyr. Now, how ever Lactantius pleased to reprehend Plato, because, saith he, Plato sought knowledge from the Egyptians and the Chaldeans, neglecting the Jews and the books of Moses ; aEusebius, Cyrillus, and Origen, find reason to believe the contrary, thinking that from thence he took the grounds of all by him written of God, or savouring of divinity ; and the same opinion had St. Ambrose of Pythagoras.
But whether it were out of the same vanity which pos sessed all those learned philosophers and poets, that Plato also published (not under the right authors1 names) those things which he had read in the scriptures, or fearing the severity of the b Areopagites, and the example of his master Socrates, by them put to death by poison, I cannot judge. Justin Martyr, as it seemeth, ascribeth it wholly to Plato's fear, whose words, among many other of the same effect, are these ; c Plato Mosis mentionem facer e^ ob id, quod unum solumque Deum docuerat, sibi apud Athenienses
a Euseb. Praep.Evang. 1. ii. Cyril. at first, because Mars therein first
cont. Julian. Origen. coot. Celsum. pleaded his cause for the murder of
Ambr. ad Ireu. ep. 6. 1. i. Hulirrothos. Pausau. in Attic. Nat.
^ Areopagus, or domus seu mons Com. 1. 2. c. 7.
Martis, Mars' hill: a house wherein c Just. Mar. Adm. ad Gent. fol. 8.
capital matter* were tried; so called 14. ut sup.
180 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
tutum non pntavlt, vcrit-nx Arcopagum; " Plato fearing " the Areopagites, thought it not safe for him among the " Athenians to make mention of Moses, that he taught that " there is but one God." But for that divinity which he hath written in Timaeo, id ipsum dc Deo dlsserult quod ct Moses, " he discoursed and taught the same of God," saith Justin Martyr, " which Moses did." For where it pleased God by his angel to answer Moses, Ego sum ex- istens, which is, " dl am;" and exlstens misit me ad vos, " I am hath sent me unto you ;" herein did Plato, saith Justin Martyr, no otherwise differ than that Moses used the word qui, and Plato the word quod ; Moses, enim qui dristit, inqirit ; Plato, quod exlstlt. For Moses saith, he who is; Plato, that which is. Now of God's incompre hensible nature, and of the difficulty either to conceive or express the same, he giveth this testimony ; e Genitorem unirersltatls tarn difficile est Invenire, quam inventum im- posslblle dlgne profarl; " It is as hard to find out the Cre- " ator of the universal, as it is impossible, if he were found, " to speak of him worthily." And what can be more agreeable to the majesty of God's nature, than this pro perty by Plato acknowledged; {Deits bonus, ct qu'idcm, Deus causa bonorum ; malorum autem omnium non causa; " God is absolutely good, and so, assuredly, the cause of " all that is good ; but of any thing that is evil he is no " cause at all:" and again, Charltas Deifuit causa factio- nis mundi, et orlglnls omnium rerum; " The love of God " was the cause of the world's creating, and the original of " all things." Apuleius the Platonist, Summits Deus In- Jinltus est, non solum loci exdusione, sed etlam natures dlg- nitate : et nlhll est Deo slmlllus et gratius, quam vlr animo perfecto bonus ; " The most high God is also an infinite " God, not only by exclusion of place, but by the dignity " of nature : neither is there any thing more like or more " acceptable to God, than a man of a perfect heart." sThales affirmed,that God comprehended all things, and that
d Exod. iii. 14. e In Timaeo. f De Legib. T. 10. Β« Lacrtius.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 181
God was of all things the most ancient, quia nunquam esse ccepit," because he never had any beginning;" Zeno,that God beheld even the thoughts of men ; Athenodorus, that there fore all men ought to be careful in the actions of their life, because God was every where present, and beheld all done. But what can be more agreeable to Moseses story of the creation, than this opinion and description of the world's be ginning in Euripides, scholar of Anaxagoras ?
Ccdum terraque unius formce fuit : Sed cumfmssent abjuncta amplexu mutuo, Emersit omnis in lucem res progenita, Ar bores, aves, ferae, quasque affert mare, Genusque mortalium.
Heaven and earth one form did bear; But when disjoined once they were
From mutual embraces, All things to light appeared then, Of trees, birds, beasts, fishes, and men,
The still remaining races.
And as in Pythagoras, in Socrates, and in Plato; so we find the same excellent understanding in Orpheus, who every where expressed the infinite and sole power of one God, though he uses the name of Jupiter, thereby to avoid the envy and danger of the time ; but that he could attri bute those things to the sons of men and mortal creatures, which he doth to this Jupiter, there is no man who hath ever heard of God that can imagine.
Nomina deorum, saith Mirandula, quos Orpheus canit, non decipientium damonum, a quibus malum et non bonum provenit ; sed naturalium virtutum divinarumque sunt no- mina; " The names of those gods whom Orpheus doth " sing, are not of deceiving devils, from whom evil comes, " and not goodness ; but they are the names of natural and " divine virtues." Yea, that he yet reacheth higher, and speaketh of God himself, this his instruction to Musaeus and the hymn following teach us. Respiciens vero ad di- vinum hunc sermonem ei diligenter animum adverte, inten*
N 5
IS'2 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
dcnx t-urditi rutionix capax conccptticulinn: rectam autem asc&iidc runii, d aolum aap'icc mundi Reg-em. Units est ex .sr "rn'ititfi, ex eo omiiia nata xunt : Ipse vero in ittla versa- tur, ncc quisquam cum 'mtucri potest mortallum, sed \psc nih'dom'mus omnes intuetur.
Then marking this my sacred speech, but truly lend
Thy heart, that's reason's sphere, and the right way ascend,
And see the world's sole King. First, he is simply one
Begotten of himself, from whom is born alone
All else ; in which he's still, nor could it ere befall
A mortal eye to see him once, yet he sees all.
And again the same author ;
Jupiter omnipotens, et primus, et ultimus idem -, Jupiter est caput et medium: Jovis omnia munus. Jupiter est fundamen humi et stellantis Olympi. Jupiter et mas est, etfwmina nescia mortis. Spiritus est cunctis, validi vis Jupiter ignis. Et pelagi radix, sol, luna est Jupiter ipse. Rex, et origo simul rerum est, et terminus idem. Nam prius occuluit, magno post numine, sacrum Cor reserans bonus in dulcem dedit omnia lucem.
The first of all is God, and the same last is he.
God is the head and midst, yea from him all things be.
God is the base of earth, and of the starred sky.
He is the male and female too, shall never die.
The spirit of all is God, the sun, and moon, and what is higher.
The king, th' original of all, of all the end.
For close in holy breast he all did coryprehend,
Whence all to blessed light his wondrous power did send.
Now besides these former testimonies, that all the learned men of ancient times were not so stupid and ignorant as the Egyptians, Grecians, and other nations by them in fected were, I will only repeat two or three other opinions, and leave the reader to those large and learned collections of Justin Martyr, Clemens, Lactantius, Eusebius, Eugubi- nus, Peucer, Plessis, Danseus, and others. For Cleanthes the Stoick, being demanded of what nature God was, de-
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 183
scribed him by these attributes and properties, bonus, Jus tus, sanctus, seipsum possidens, utilis, speciosus, optimus, severus, liber, semper commodus, tutus, gloriosus, charitas, &c. " Good, just, holy, possessing himself, profitable, beau- " tiful, best, severe, free, always doing good, safe without " fear, glorious, and self-charity." Epicharmus affirmed, that God, who beheld all things, and pierced every nature, was only and every where powerful ; agreeing with Demo- critus. Rex omnium ipse solus ; " He is the only King of " all kings :" and with Pindarus the poet, Deus unus, Pater, Creator summus, atque optimus artifex, qui progressus singulis diversos secundum merita prcebet ; " One God, " the Father, the most high Creator, and best artificer, " who giveth to every thing divers proceedings according " to their deserts." This God, saith Antisthenes, cannot be resembled to any thing, and therefore not elsewhere known ; Nisi in patria ilia perenni, cujus imaginem nullam habes ; " Save only in that everlasting country, whose image thou " hast none at all." Hereof also Xenophanes Colophonius, Unus Deus inter Deos et homines maximus, nee corpore nee mente mortalibus similis ; " There is one God among " gods and men most powerful, neither corporally nor men- " tally like unto mortals :" and Xenophon, Deus qui om~ nia quatit, et omnia quiescere Jhcit, magnus potensque, quod omnibus patet : qualis autem forma sit, nemini patet, nisi ipsi soli, qui luce sua omnia perlustrat; " God who " shaketh all things, and setteth all things at rest, is great " and mighty, as is manifest to all ; but of what form he is, " it is manifest to none, save only to himself, who illuminat- " eth all things with his own light." Finally, Plato saith, Totius rerum natures causa, et ratio, et origo Deus, sitmmus animi genitor, ccternus animantium sospitator, ass'iduus rmtndi sui opifex, sine propagatione genitor, ne- que loco neque tempore ullo comprehensus ; eoque paucis co- gitabilis, nemini effdbilis; " God is the cause, ground, and " original of the whole nature of things, the most high Fa- " ther of the soul, the eternal preserver of living creatures, " the continual framer of his world, a begetter without
N 4
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
" any propagation, comprehended neither in any place nor " time; therefore few can conceive him in thought, none " can express what he is." Therefore was it said by St. Jerome, hSi enim cunctos philosophorum revolvas libros, nccesse est ut in tis reperias aliquam partem vasorum Dei, id apud Platonem, Fabricatorem mundi, Deum : apud Ze- nonem Stoicorum principem, inferos et immortales animas, &c. " If thou consider all the books of the philosophers, " thou canst not but find in them some part of the vessels " of God ; as in Plato, God the Creator of the world ; in " Zeno prince of the Stoics, hell, and immortal souls."" And this is certain, that if we look into the wisdom of all ages, we shall find that there never was man of solid under standing or excellent judgment ; never any man whose mind the art of education hath not bended ; whose eyes a foolish superstition hath not afterwards blinded ; whose ap prehensions are sober, and by a pensive inspection advised ; but that he hath found by an irresistible necessity one true God and everlasting Being, all for ever causing, and all for ever sustaining ; which no man among the heathen hath with more reverence acknowledged, or more learnedly expressed, than that Egyptian Hermes, howsoever it failed afterwards in his posterity ; all being at length, by devilish policy of the Egyptian priests, purposely obscured ; who in vented new gods, and those innumerable, best sorting (as the Devil persuaded them) with vulgar capacities, and fittest to keep in awe and order their common people.
SECT. VIII.
That heathenism and Judaism, after many wounds, were at length about the same time under Julian miraculously confounded.
BUT all these are again vanished ; for the inventions of mortal men are no less mortal than themselves. The fire, which the Chaldeans worshipped for a God, is crept into every man's chimney, which the lack of fuel starveth, water quencheth, and want of air suffocateth : Jupiter is no more
h Hieroii, iu Com. iu Dau. iu Priuti^.
CHAP. vi. OF THE WORLD. 185
vexed with Juno's jealousies ; death hath persuaded him to chastity, and her to patience ; and that time, which hath de voured itself, hath also eaten up both the bodies and images of him and his; yea, their stately temples of stone and dureful marble. The houses and sumptuous buildings erected to Baal can no where be found upon the earth, nor any monument of that glorious temple consecrated to Diana. There are none now in Phoenicia that lament the death of Adonis ; nor any in Libya, Greta, Thessalia, or elsewhere, that can ask counsel or help from Jupiter. The great god Pan hath broken his pipes ; Apollo's priests are become speechless ; and the trade of riddles in oracles, with the Devil's telling men's fortunes therein, is taken up by counterfeit Egyptians and cozening astrologers.
But it was long ere the Devil gave way to these his over throws and dishonours : for after the temple of Apollo at Delphos (one of his chief mansions) was many times robbed, burnt, and destroyed, yet by his diligence the same was often enriched, repaired, and reedified again, till by the hand of God himself it received the last and utter subver sion. For it was first robbed of all the idols and orna ments therein by the Eubcean pirates; secondly, by the Phlegians utterly sacked ; thirdly, by Pyrrhus the son of Achilles ; fourthly, by the army of Xerxes ; fifthly, by the captains of the Phocenses; sixthly, by Nero, who carried thence five hundred brasen images ; all which were new made, and therein again set up at the common charge. But whatsoever was gathered between the time of Nero and Constantine, the Christian army made spoil of, defacing as much as the time permitted them ; notwithstanding all this, it was again gloriously rebuilt, and so remained till such time as Julian the Apostate sent thither to know the suc cess of his Parthian enterprise, at which time it was utterly burnt and consumed with fire from heaven ; and the image of Apollo himself and all the rest of the idols, therein molten down, and lost in the earth.
The like success had the Jews in the same Julian's time, when by his permission they assembled themselves to re-
186 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
build the temple of Jerusalem ; for while they were busied to lay the foundations, their buildings were overthrown by an earthquake, and many thousands of the Jews were over whelmed with the ruins, and others slain, and scattered by tempest and thunder: though 'Am. Marcellinus reports it more favourably for the Jews, ascribing this to the nature of that element. For, saith he, Allypius, and the ruler of the province of Judea, being by Julian busied in the re- edifying of this temple, flaming balls of fire issuing near the foundation, and oft consuming the workmen, made tlu- en terprise frustrate.
SECT. IX.
Of the last refuges of the Devil to maintain his kingdom.
NOW the Devil, because he cannot play upon the open stage of this world, (as in those days,) and being still as in dustrious as ever, finds it more for his advantage to creep into the minds of men ; and inhabiting in the temples of their hearts, works them to a more effectual adoration of himself than ever. For whereas he first taught them to sa crifice to monsters, to dead stones cut into faces of beasts, birds, and other mixed natures ; he now sets before them the high and shining idol of glory, the all-commanding image of bright gold. He tells them that truth is the god dess of dangers and oppressions ; that chastity is the enemy of nature ; and lastly, that as all virtue, in general, is with out taste, so pleasure satisfieth and delighteth every sense : for true wisdom, saith he, is exercised in nothing else than in the obtaining of power to oppress, and of riches to main tain plentifully our worldly delights. And if this arch-po litician find in his pupils any remorse, any fear or feeling of God's future judgment, he persuades them that God hath so great need of men's souls, that he will accept them at any time and upon any conditions ; interrupting by his vigilant endeavours all offer of timeful return towards God, by lay ing those great blocks of rugged poverty and despised con-
1 Am. Mar. 1. 23. cap. i.
CHAP. vn. OF THE WORLD. 187
tempt in the narrow passage leading to his divine presence. But as the mind of man hath two ports, the one always frequented by the entrance of manifold vanities, the other desolate and overgrown with grass, by which enter our cha ritable thoughts and divine contemplations ; so hath that of death a double and twofold opening ; worldly misery pass ing by the one, worldly prosperity by the other : at the entrance of the one we find our sufferings and patience to attend us ; (all which have gone before us to prepare our joys ;) at the other our cruelties, covetousness, licentiousness, injustice, and oppressions, (the harbingers of most fearful and terrible sorrow,) staying for us. And as the Devil, our most industrious enemy, was ever most diligent, so is he now more laborious than ever ; the long day of mankind drawing fast towards an evening, and the world's tragedy and time near at an end.
CHAP. VII.
Of Noah's flood. SECT. I.
Of God's forewarning ; and some human testimonies ; and some doubting touching the truth of Noah's flood.
this destruction it pleased God to give warning unto Noah; who, saith kJosephus, fearing to perish among the rest, secedens cum suis, in aliam regionem migravit; " he " departed with his children, and travelled into another re- " gion." And of these giants, from whom Noah withdrew himself, Berosus writeth in this manner : " That they ex- " ceeded in all sorts of inhuman and unnatural wickedness," and that they were contemptores et religionis et deorum; " contemners of religion and of the gods :"" among which mighty men, saith Berosus, unus erat qui deorum veneran- tior, et prudentlor cunctis, &c. huic nomen erat Noah,
k Joseph. 1. i. cap. 4.
188 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
" there was one more wise and reverencing the gods than " the rest, whose name was Noah:" who with his three sons, Sem, Japhet, and Cham, and with their wives, and the wife of Noah, (namely, Titea the great, Pandora, Noela, and Noegla,) preserved themselves in the ark. This ark God commanded Noah to prepare; J And God said unto Noah, Make thee an ark of pine-trees ; thou sltalt make cabins in flu' ark, and shalt pitch it witJiin and without with pitch. For God made m Noah to know that an end of all flesh was at hand, and that the graves of the rebellious and cruel ge nerations were already fashioned in the clouds, which soon after should swallow up and cover all living creatures which breathed in the air; Noah and his family exceptcd.
But this universal grave of waters and general deluge hath not been received by all ; for divine testimonies do not persuade all natural men to those things to which their own reason cannot reach ; ndum obvoluta in obscuro veritas la- tet ; " whilst the truth lieth wrapped up in obscurity." Many there are who have disputed against the universality of this overflowing, and have judged that this flood of Noah fell but in some particular places and kingdoms ; moved so to think, because in elder ages there have been many other floods, as they suppose, of that nature. Hereof Nicolaus Damascenus writeth in this manner, as his words are cited by Josephus, Β°Est super Minyadam excelsus mons in Ar menia, qui Baris appellatur, in quo multos confugientes scrmo C8t diluvii tempore liberates, et quendam simul in area devectum in hujus vertice hasisse, lignorumque reli- fjuias midto tempore conservatas, qui Jbrtasse is J"uit, de quo etiam Moses Judceorum legislator scribit: thus far this author. " There is," saith he, " above Minyada, (or the " country of Minyae,) an exceeding high mountain in Arme- " nia, called Baris ; on which it is reported, that many hav- " ing fled thither were saved in the time of the deluge ; " and that one was carried in an ark, and rested upon the
1 Gen. vi. 14. Β° Joseph. Ant. 1. i. c, 4. Euseb. dc
'" Gen. vi. 13. Prsep. 1. 9. c. 4.
" Lact. in Praef. dc Falsa Relifr.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 189
" top of the mountain, whereon there remained a long time " after certain pieces thereof; and this might be the same " of which Moses the lawgiver of the Jews maketh men- " lion." And of this opinion were the Thalmudists, saith Annius, that many giants saved themselves upon mount Sion.
But Berosus (who after Moses was one of the most an cient, howsoever he have been since deformed and cor rupted) doth in the substance of all agree with Moses as touching the general flood, taking from thence the begin ning of his history in these words : Ante aquarum cladem famosam^ qua universus periit orbis, &c. " Before that " famous destruction of waters, by which the world uni- " versal perished:"" witnessing withal^ that Noah, with his wife Titea, and his three sons, with their wives, (in all eight persons,) were only saved.
SECT. II.
Of the flood in the tune of Ogyges ; and that this was not Noah's
flood.
BUT from the vanity of the Greeks, the corrupters of all truth, saith Lactantius, who without all ground of certainty vaunt their antiquity, came the error first of all ; who there in flattering themselves also, sought to persuade the world that there was no flood preceded the flood of Ogyges, king of the Thebans in Boeotia, or rather of Attica ; and there fore, saith Rhodoginus, vOgygium id appellant poetcc tan- quam pervetus dixeris, ab Ogyge vetustissimo ,β’ " The " poets gave the name of Ogygia to things exceeding an- " cient, as of Ogyges the most ancient."
But let Ogyges be as ancient as those men can make him, yet it is manifest that he lived but in Jacobus time, (though qEusebius makes him later, and in Moseses time,) and was born sixty-seven years after him.
There is also an opinion that Ogyges was Cadmus, (and then was he far later,) as Rhodoginus, in the ninth book of
P Rhod. 1. 15. c. 33. 'Β» Euseb. de Praep. Evang. 1. 10. c. 3. ca. 22.
190 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
his antiquities, remembereth : Stint tamen qui in JEgypto regnasse autunicnt hunc ; unde sit Cadmus qui in Grcz- ciam profectus Thebas condidit, a bove jugidato sic nnn- cupatas ; quoniam Syrorum lingua bos dicitur Thebe. " There are," saith he, " who think that this Ogyges did " reign in Egypt, whereby he should be Cadmus, who tra- " veiling into Greece built Thebes, so named of a beef " slain ; because in the Syrian language a beef is called " Thebe."
But this flood of Ogyges fell in the year of the world 3440, according to Eusebius, who followed the account of the Septuagint ; and the flood of Noah in the year 2242, after the same account ; and so there came 1200 years be tween these floods, wanting but two, though herein Euse bius was much mistaken, and corrected this opinion in his Chronology. Now although the very year and time of this overflowing in Achaia, or rather Attica, be not precisely set down, but that there is a great difference among writers, yet whosoever makes it most ancient, finds above 500 years difference between that and the general flood.
For rPaulus Orosius affirms, that this tempest fell upon the Athenians but 1040 years before Rome was built. Bu- cholzerus saith, it was 1043 elder than Rome ; which was founded (according to the same Bucholzerus) in the world's year 3219, though after the account which I follow, (and whereof I will give my reasons in the story of Abraham,) it was built in the world's year 3280. Now the general flood preceded the building of Rome, saith Bucholzerus, 1563 years ; and the flood of Ogyges, as before, 1043. Hence it followeth, by easy calculation, that (if he place Ogyges in his true age) the difference between these two floods must be 520 years, to which we allowing 60 more, find 580. And that this of Ogyges was not the same of Noah (except we call Noah Ogyges priscus, sas some do) it appears by this, that the flood of Ogyges, then king of Attica, or Ogy- gia, did not extend itself any further than the banks of Ar-
r Lil). i. c. 7. * Xenopboa, Annianus.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 191
chipelago, or the vEgean sea. For whereas tMcla, Pliny, and Solinus witness that the city of Joppe in Judea was founded before the flood ; and that (notwithstanding the weight of waters) there remained on certain altars of stone the title of the king, and of his brother Phineus, with many of the grounds of their religion ; sure it is no where found among profane historians, nor in the scriptures, that ever the flood of Ogyges spread itself over any part of Syria, much less over all the earth. But that it drowned both the regions of Attica about Athens, and that of Achaia in Peloponne sus, it is very probable. For it seemeth that at that time it was, when Helice and Bura were swallowed up, (cities seated on the north part of Peloponnesus,) of which Ovid ;
" Si quceras Helicen, et Buran, Achaidos urbes, Invenies sub aquis.
Bura and Helice on Achaian ground
Are sought in vain, but under sea are found.
Of this flood of Ogyges was invented the fable of x Apollo and Diana. For Latona, the daughter of Creus, the son of Titan, being beloved and forced by Jupiter, and by him gotten with child, Juno thereat enraged, permitted her (as they say) no part of the earth to be delivered on ; and withal caused the monstrous serpent Python to follow and af fright her wheresoever she travelled, till at length arriving at the isle of Ortygia, she was there received ; in which she was delivered, first of Diana, and then of Apollo, being twins; whereof Barlaam makes this exposition: That at such time as the deluge (which happened in Ogyges's reign) ceased, out of the abundant moisture of the earth (heat by putrefaction being thereto mixed) there were exhaled such thick mists and fogs, that in Attica, and along the coasts of the ^Egean sea, neither the beams of the sun by day, nor of the moon by night, could pierce the air, or be perceived
* Mela, 1. 3. Plin. 1. 5. Sol. c. 47. " raruin conditum." Solin. ibid. " Joppe oppidum antiquissimum orhe " Ovid. Metam. 1. 15. 303. " toto, utpote anteinundationem ter- x Nat. Com. 1. 1. c. 6.
192 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
by the inhabitants : so as when at length (the earth being dried, and these vapours dissipated) the air began to be clear, the people of Y Ortygia espied the light of t'he moon somewhat before day, and in the same morning the sun also appeared ; fabulously (because Diana represented the moon, and Apollo the sun) they were reported to be born in the isle of Ortygia, thereof afterwards call Delos^ which signifi- eth manifestation.
And surely it is not improbable, that the flood of Ogy- ges, being so great as histories have reported it, was accom panied with much alteration of the air sensibly discerned in those parts, and some unusual face of the skies. Varro, in his books De Gente Populi Romani, (as he is cited by zSt. Augustine,) reporteth out of Castor, that so great a miracle happened in the star of Venus, as never was seen before nor in after-times : for the colour, the greatness, the figure, and the course of it were changed. This fell out, as Adras- tus Cyzicenus, and Dion Neapolites, famous mathemati cians, affirmed, in the time of Ogyges.
Now concerning the course of that or any planet, I do not remember that I have any where read of so good astro logers flourishing among the Greeks or elsewhere, in those days, as were likely to make any calculation of the revolu tions of the planets so exact that it should need no reforma tion. Of the colour and magnitude, I see no reason win the difference found in the star of Venus should be held mi raculous ; considering that lesser mists and fogs than those which covered Greece with so long darkness, do familiarly present our senses with as great alterations in the sun and moon. That the figure should vary, questionless it was very strange; yet I cannot hold it any prodigy; for it stands well with good reason, that the side of Venus which the sun beholds, being enlightened by him, the opposite half should remain shadowed ; whereby that planet would, unto our eyes, descrying only that part whereon the light
1 Flin. 1. 4. c. n. ' Ana:, 'le ('ivit. Dei, 1. 21. c. S.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 193
falleth, appear to be horned, as the moon cloth seem ; if distance, as in other things, did not hinder the apprehen sion of our senses.
Galilaeus, a worthy astrologer now living, who, by the help of perspective glasses, hath found in the stars many things unknown to the ancients, affirmeth so much to have been discovered in Venus by his late observations. Whe ther some watery disposition of the air might present as much to them that lived with Ogyges, as Galilaeus hath seen through his instrument, I cannot tell; sure I am, that the discovery of a truth formerly unknown, doth ra ther convince man of ignorance, than nature of error. One thing herein is worthy to be noted, that this great but par ticular flood of Ogyges was (as appeareth by this of St. Au gustine) accompanied with such unusual (and therefore the more dreadful, though natural) signs testifying the concur rence of causes with effects in that inundation ; whereas the flood of Noah, which was general, and altogether miracu lous, may seem to have had no other token, or foreshewing, than the long preaching of Noah himself, which was not regarded; afor they were eating and drinking, when the flood came suddenly, and took them all away.
SECT. III.
Of Deucalion s flood ; and that this was not Noah's flood; nor the Umbri in Italy a remnant of any universal flood.
A SECOND flood of great fame, and of which the time is more certain, was that of Deucalion in Thessalia, of which St. Augustine out of Varro : His temporibus (ut Varro scribit) regnante Atheniensibus Cranao., successor e Cecro- pis (ut autem nostri, Eusebius et Hieronymus] adhuc eodem Cecrope permanente, diluvium juit, quod appella- tum est Deuccdionis; that is, " In these times (as Varro re- " porteth) Cranaus, the successor of Cecrops, governing the " Athenians, or (as our Eusebius and Jerome say) Cecrops " yet living, that flood, called Deucalion's, happened."
"-1 Luke xvii. 27. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL.1. O
194 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
And in the beginning of the llth chapter of the same 18th book he useth these words : Ednx'it ergo Mosc* t\v Algypto populum Dei norixximo tcmpore Cecropis Atheni- oix/itm regis, cum apud Assyrios regnaret Ascatades, apud Sicyonlos Marathus, apud Argivos Triopas. " Moses *' led the people of God out of Egypt about the latter times " of Cecrops king of the Athenians, Ascatades reigning " over the Assyrians, over the Sicyonians Marathus, and " over the Argives Triopas :" so as leaving the curiosity of a few years, more or less, it appeareth that this flood of Deucalion was either at the egression of the children of Israel out of Egypt, or near it : and then after Noah 753 years according to Functius, who makes Cecrops to live in the year of the world 2409; or if we follow Mercator, then 739 years, after Noah, and in the year of the world 2395. But if Deucalion were born in the age of the world 2356, according to Codoman, then giving unto Deucalion forty years of age when this flood happened, it falleth within one year of Mercator's account. But Deucalion, by all approved historians, is said to have been eighty-two years old at that time. Now Clemens Alexandrinus dates the time of this flood of Deucalion, and the conflagration and burning in Phaeton's time, by the reign of Crotopus king of the Ar gives ; but Crotopus lived king of the Argives six years after Israel departed Egypt, which makes twenty years dif ference according to Functius, who will have this flood and burning to have fallen fourteen years before Moses left Egypt ; for he gave of the world's years to the flood and burning the year 2440, and to Moses's egression the year 2454. And yet bCedrenus thinks that Moses was more ancient, and lived with Inachus, but that cannot be true ; for then had the flood of Deucalion and the burning of Phaeton preceded the flood of Ogyges, which is denied by all : for that of Thessaly (called Deucalion's) followed that of Attica (called Ogygia) at least 250 years, or there abouts. Eusebius, in his Chronology, makes it 230 years,
'β’Cedr. 1. 1. 8.34.
CHAP. vir. OF THE WORLD. 195
and so doth P. Orosius ; Eusebius about the fiftieth year of Moses's life, and CyriJlus about the sixty -seventh, and both after Noah's flood 770 years ; for these be Clemens Alexan- drinus's words: cFuit autem in Grcecia tempore quidem Phoronei, qui fuit post Inachum, inundatio qua; fult tem pore Ogygis ; " There happened in Greece in the time of " Phoroneus, who lived after Inachus, the flood of Ogyges." Now if the flood of Ogyges in Attica were 1020 or 1016 years before the first Olympiad, according to Eusebius and Orosius, as before, then is it manifest, that taking 763 out of this number of 1020, it falls out that Ogyges's flood hap pened before the Hebrews left Egypt 250 years, or 260 years, according to the difference between the opinions of d Eusebius and Orosius. And for myself, (who rather fol low those chronologers which give sixty years more to Abra ham after the flood, than the rest,) I reckon the times which come between these floods in this sort. The general flood was in the year of the world 1656. Jacob was born in the year of the world 2169, so as from the beginning of the flood to Jacob's birth there were consumed 513 years. Ogyge's flood happened 100 years after Jacob was born, and therefore after the general flood 613 years. Now Deu calion was born in the year of the world 2356, and had lived eighty-two years when his kingdom of Thessaly was overwhelmed, (which added to 2356, make 2438,) his flood was after Noah's flood ended 782 years. And hereto An- nius's Xenophon agreeth, who makes 700 years between the general flood and Deucalion's birth ; to which add eighty-two years of his age, as before, and then the flood of Thessaly followed the general 782 years. The words of that Xenophon are these : Ab inundatione terrarum ad or- tum Deucalionis, secundo anno Sphceri, septingenti suppu- tantur anni, qui natus annos duos et octoginta Thessaliam vidit inundatam: " From the drowning of the world to " the birth of Deucalion, in the second year of Sphaerus, are " numbered 700 years ; and when Deucalion was eighty-two
β’β’ Clem. Alex. i. Stro. ex Ctes. β’' Euseb. in Chrou.
o 2
19G THE HISTORY BOOK i.
" years old, he saw Thessalia drowned."1 This flood happened in the winter time about Parnassus : witness eAristotle in the first of his Meteors. And Varro (whom St. Augustine so often citeth for his excellent learning, especially in anti quities) findeth this flood of Deucalion to have happened in the time of Cranaus, who succeeded Cecrops : Orosius thinks it somewhat later, Amphitryon reigning in Athens, the third from Cecrops. Only this of Deucalion was very great, and reached not only over Thessaly itself, and the regions adjoining westward, but it covered the greatest part of Italy ; and either the same, or some other particular flood then happening, oppressed Egypt, saith Eusebius. And therefore did the Greeks either think it or feign it to be universal; and Deucalion, then king, saving himself and some others on the mountains of Thessaly, (of all other the highest, saith fSolinus,) was by reason thereof, as s Strabo witnesseth, said to be the preserver of mankind. That this flood covered a great part of Italy, h Pliny and Solinus make it probable, who affirm, that the people then inhabit ing Italy were therefore called vOjtx,/3pioj, quia ab imbr'ihuv diluvii superfuissent ; and therefore also were they esteemed the most ancient nation, as Strabo confirmeth in his first book, and Trezenius in his second ; which Umbri these au thors make the parents of the Sabines, and the Sabines to be the parents of the Samnites, Piceni, Lucani, Brutii, and all others inhabiting anciently the banks of the Mediterra nean sea. But that these Umbri were not the inhabitants of Italy before the flood of Noah, and so took name by sav ing themselves upon the Apennine mountains, the scrip tures teach us ; shewing who, and who only then were pre served, which is sufficient. 'Report hath adventured fur ther, telling us that the first people, which after the general flood inhabited Italy, were the Camesenes, (so named from Camese, whom Cato in Originibus, another of Annius's au-
e Arist. c. 14. ' Atheneeus Dipnosoph. 1. 15. out f Soliu. 1. 14. of Draco Corcyrseus, saith, " that Ca ff Strabo, 1. 9. " mese was the wife and sister of .1a- h Pliii. 1. 3. r. 14. Sol. c. 7. Plin. " mis." Lact. 1. i. c. 13. ibid.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 197
thors, names for a consort of Janus,) which people lived al together a savage life, till such time as Saturn arriving on those coasts devised laws to govern them by ; the memory of whose acts in that region Diodore and Thallus among the Greeks, Nepos, Cassius, and Varro among the Latins, have preserved ; and of whom Virgil :
k Primus ab cethereo venit Saturnus Olympo, Anna Jovis fugiens, et regnis exul ademptis. Is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis Composuit, legesque dedit, Latiumque vocari Maluit.
Saturn descended from the heavens high, Fearing the arms of Jupiter his son, His kingdom lost, and banish'd thence, doth fly. Rude people on the mountain tops he won To live together, and by laws ; which done, He chose to call it Latium.
And afterwards, in the verses following, he speaketh of the Ausones, and after them of the Sicani ; nations which again sought to displant the ancient inhabiters :
1 Turn manus Ausonia, et gentes venere Sicani.
Then came th'Ausonian bands, and the Sicanian tribes.
Of these Sicani, (which left Spain, and sat down in Italy,) m Thucydides and Pliny give testimony ; who were again expelled by the Ligii, saith Thucydides. After all these plantations and replantations came the Umbri, descended of the Gauls, saith n Annius, not of those Gauls of France, but of those of Scythia, who commanded a great part of Italy, even all Hetruria and Campania, as Β° Herodotus, Pliny, and Dionysius have assured us ; and therefore this flood of Deucalion was long after that of Noah. For all those nations were planted in Italy, and dispossessed of Italy again, before the Umbri were ever heard of, or had
k JEn. 1. 8. 319. n Anniusex Samuele Thahnudista.
1 Virg. 1. 8.*JEn. " Herod. 1. 1. Plin. 1. 3. c. 5. Dion.
'" Thucyd. 1. 6. Plin. 1. 3. c. 5. 1. i. et 2.
08
198 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
being. So that kingdom was first called Camasene, then Latium or Saturnia, then Ausonia, then Sicania, before the Umbri (in whose time Deucalion's flood happened) pos sessed the same, about 306 years before the war of Troy : Lycaon then governing Arcadia ; who being the father of twenty-two sons, the youngest, called POEnotrius, invaded Italy, who gave it the name of CEnotria. This name it held until Italus of the same nation changed it into Italy, after his own name, about 9250 years before the fall of Troy. After these came the Pelasgi, of whom Pliny in his third book and fifth chapter, and Strabo in his fifth, Thu- cydides in his sixth speaks at large : and after them the Lydi under Tyrrhenus their captain, that gave name to the Tyrrheni ; who casting thence the Umbri, took from them three hundred castles, and built therein twelve cities ; to which (after they had possessed and passed over the Apennine mountains) they added divers others, whereof Tel- sina (afterward Bononia) was one.
Now that there was not anciently such a nation as these Umbri in those parts, I do not affirm ; having respect to the testimonies before repeated. And Stephanus thinks that the name was derived from the Greek word Ombros; but that these Umbri of Italy were descended of the nation of Scythians called Galli, it shall be shewed hereafter.
SECT. IV.
Of some other records testifying the universal flood ; and of two an cient deluges in Egypt ; and of some elsewhere.
ST. AUGUSTINE out of Varro affirmeth, that the Greeks and Latins made not any mention of the universal flood, because they had nothing of antiquity foregoing that of Ogyges ; and therefore (according to Rhodoginus before remembered) were all things among the Greeks (which an tiquity had worn out of knowledge) called Ogygia, which we in English commonly call wormeaten, or of defaced date. But as all the parts of the earth were successively planted and peopled, and as all nations had their proper Pl'aiisan. Arcad. 1.8. '" Arist. Pol. 7. c. 10.
CHAP. vn. OF THE WORLD. 199
times, and not their beginning at once and at the instant ; so did every family which afterward became a great people, with whom the knowledge of divine letters was not received, find no parent of more antiquity than such as they had themselves, nor allow of any before their own ; and as the Grecians, so did others vaunt themselves to be indigence^ and growing out of the earth, or invent some other pro fane or ridiculous beginning. But the Chaldeans had cer tain knowledge of Noah's flood, as Berosus witnesseth ; and Nicolaus Damascenus maketh particular mention thereof, as is aforesaid ; though he also affirm by hearsay, that some giants saved themselves upon the mountains Baris in Ar menia, but speaketh not thereof as from any authority ap proved ; using the word sermo est^ that such a speech there was. And rEusebius remembereth a place out of the an cient historian Abydenus; who writeth that Sissithrus, to preserve himself from a flood foretold him by Saturnus, fled to the hills of Armenia by ship, ad Armeniam ncwigio confugiebat; who the third day (after the waters were fallen) sent forth birds, that, finding no land to rest on, re turned again ; which he also did a second time, but at the third return the birds1 feet were covered with mud and slime. To this effect are Eusebius's words out of Abyde nus, which may seem a true description (though in other terms) of Noah's flood.
Cyril! us also affirmeth that Alex. Polyhistor maketh mention of this general flood. And Plato in Timaeo pro- duceth an Egyptian priest, who recounted to Solon out of the holy books of Egypt the story of the flood universal, which, saith he, happened long before the Grecian inunda tions. Friar Annius's Xenophon remembereth a flood, which also sDiodorus Siculus confirmeth, somewhat more ancient than that of Ogyges in Attica. For he named the general flood for the first, which happened, saith he, under the old Ogyges, sub prisco Ogyge^ which was Noah ; he calleth the second Niliaca : Hercules and Prometheus then
Euseb. de Praep, Evaug. 1. 9. c. 4. " Diod. 1. i.
o 4
J200 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
living forty-four years before that of Attica, in the thirty- fourth year of Belochus king of the Assyrians, though I do not believe him as touching the time. But this flood co vered a great part of the nether Egypt, especially all that region subject to Prometheus ; and hereof came the fable of the vulture on Prometheus's liver, afterwards slain by Hercules of Egypt ; which fiction Diod. Siculus delivereth in these words: l Fluvium propter cursus rdontatcm pro- funditatemqnc aqnarum aqnUam tune appcUatum, Hercti- 1cm ami consil'ri mag-nitudine, turn t'irtnfe, rol/nit e vettigto dOittpraf&isM, ct aquarum impetum ad prlorcm cnrsnm con- rcrtixse : itndc et Green guidam poetce rem gestam in fab u- lam vertcntcs, Hercnhm tradunt aqu'ilum Promcthci jecur dcpasccntcm occidivse. " This flood," meaning of Nilus, " for " the swiftness of his course, as also for the depth, was in " those days called the eagle : but Hercules, by his great " judgment and virtue, did again compress and strengthen " this river, so far extended and overspread, turning it into " the old channels; whence certain Greek poets (converting " this labour and work of Hercules into a fable) devised that " Hercules slew the eagle which fed on Prometheus' s liver ;" meaning, that he delivered Prometheus of that sorrow and torment, which for the loss of his people and country (by the waters destroyed and covered over) he suffered.
A fourth flood chanced about Pharus in Egypt, where Alexander Macedon built Alexandria, as Annius conceiveth out of his Xenophon, who in this brief sort writeth of all these inundations : u Inundationes pluresjuere : prima no- vimestris inundatio terrarum sub prisco Ogyge : secundq Niliaca, &c. " There were many inundations,1' saith the same Xenophon ; "the first, which was universal, of nine " months, and this happened under the first Ogyges ; the " second was Niliaca, and of one month's continuance, in " the time of Hercules and Prometheus, Egyptians; a third, " of two months, under Ogyges Atticus; the fourth, of three " months, in Thessalia, under Deucalion ; and a fifth, of the
1 Vit. < oin. 1. 4. c.6. " Xenoph. <U- .Eqmv. Comm. per Auuiuui, fol. 37.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 201
" like continuance, (called Pharonica,) under Proteus of " Egypt, about the time of Helen's rape." Diodorus, in his 5th book and llth chapter, taking the Samothraces for his au thors, remembereth a flood in Asia the Less, and elsewhere, of no less destruction than any of the other particular inunda tions, saying, that the same happened before that of Deucalion : the sea of Pontus and Hellespont breaking in over the land. But there have been many floods in divers times and ages, not inferior to any of these two last remembered, Niliaca and Pharonica, in Egypt : as in the year of our redemption 590, when, in October of the same year, Gregory then be ing bishop of Rome, there happened a marvellous overflow ing in Italy, and especially in the Venetian territory, and in Liguria, accompanied with a most fearful storm of thun der and lightning : after which followed the great plague at Rome, by reason of the many dead serpents cast up and left upon the land, after the waters decreased and returned. And in the year 1446 there perished 10,000 people by the breaking in of the sea at x Dordroch in Holland ; of which kind I take that flood to be of Achaia, or Attica. Be fore that, y Trithemius speaketh of an earthquake, which swallowed many thousands; and in the year 1218, of a flood in Friesland, in which there perished 100,000 per sons. Strozius Sigog. in his Magla Omnifaria, telleth of an inundation in Italy, in the time of pope Damasus, in which also many cities of Sicily were swallowed; another in the papacy of Alexander the Sixth ; also in the year 1515, Maximilian being emperor. He also remembereth a peril ous overflowing in Polonia, about Cracovia, by which many- people perished. Likewise Viginier, a French historian, speaketh of a great flood in the south part of Languedoc, which fell in the year of our Lord 1557, with so dreadful a tempest, as all the people attended therein the very end of the world and judgment day ; saying, that by the violent descent of the waters from the mountains about Nismes,
x Mnnster. " ritimos flucttis tota paene sub-
-v " Eclipsis, ct terraemotus conti - " niersa fuit, et periernut plusquam
" nui rnulta hominnm millia opprcs- " 100,000."
;< scrunt. Frisia quoque per ma-
202 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
there were removed divers old heaps and mountains of ground, and many other places torn up and rent; by which accident there was found both coin of silver and gold, di vers pieces of plate, and vessels of other metal, supposed to be hidden at such time as the Goths invaded that province, in the year 1156.
SECT. V.
That thejiood of Noah was supernatural, though some say it might have been foreseen by the stars.
NOW howsoever all these floods, and many other which have covered at several times several regions, not only in these parts of the world, but in America also, (as I have learned of some ancient soothsayers among them,) may be ascribed to natural causes and accidents; vet that universal flood (in the time of Noah) was poured over the whole face of the earth by a power above nature, and by the special commandment of God himself, who at that time gave strength of influence to the stars, and abundance to the fountains of the deep ; whereby the eruption of waters was made more forcible than any ability of nature could effect, or anv se cond causes by whatsoever union could perform, without receiving from the Fountain of all power strength and fa culties supernatural. Henricus Mecliniensis, a scholar of Albertus Magnus, in his commentaries upon the great con junctions of Albu Masar, observeth, that before the flood of Noah, the like conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn happened in the last degree of Cancer against that constellation since called the Ship of Argos ; by which the flood of Noah might be foretold, because Cancer is both a watery sign, and the house of the moon, which is the lady of the sea and of moisture, according to the rules of astronomy and common experience. And this opinion z Petrus de Aliaco upon Genesis confirmeth, affirming, that although Noah did well know this flood by divine revelation, yet (this conjunc tion being notorious) he could not be ignorant of the second
' Also, de Co u core] i;t Tlit'doir. it Astrolog. Gcu. vii 11.
cHAiΒ». vii. OF THE WORLD. 203
causes thereof ; for those were not only signs, but also work ing causes, by strength received from the first cause, which is God himself: and further, that by *catarract(E cceli, (Englished the windows of heaven,) Moses meant this great and watery conjunction ; the word catarractce signifying flowing down, or coming down. Now, saith P. de Aliaco, it pleased God to ordain by the course of the heavens such a constellation, by which all men might behold therein their destruction towards, and thereby forsake those wicked ways wherein they walked, and call unto God for mercy.
Of this judgment was Gul. Parisiensis, who understood that the words catarractce cceli, or windows of heaven, were to be taken for the former conjunction, or for these watery signs, Cancer, Pisces, Pleiades, Hyades, and Orion ; and of the planets, Mars, Venus, and the Moon : which are the for cible causes of the greatest inundations. His own words are these: Nondum mtelligo prophetam Hebraorum catarractas cceli vocasse, nisi paries illas cceli, qu<B generative sunt pluviarum et inundationum aquarum, quotes sunt signa aquatica, ut Cancer, &c. as aforesaid. " As yet," saith he, " I perceive not what the prophet of the Hebrews meaneth " by those words, catarractcB cceli, or windows of heaven, " unless he thereby understands those celestial powers, by " whose influences are engendered the rain and inundations " of waters, such as are the watery signs of Cancer," &c.
But in a word, as it might please God, that in the course of his unsearchable wisdom this conjunction should at such time be; so did he, as aforesaid, add vigour and faculty, and gave to every operation increase of virtues, violent eruptions to springs and fountains, commanding them to cast out the whole treasure and heap of their waters ; tak ing retention from the clouds, and condensing air into water by the ministry of his angels, or howsoever else best pleased his all-powerfulness.
a The word xaruppdxrr,; properly allido, or frango. Heuce, because
signifieth any place of stoppage, windows do not only open, but also
against which the force of the water shut, the word hath been expounded
being naturally carried downwards, (windows) for bars and floodgates, dasheth and brcaketh ; of a.Β£u.v<na,
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
SECT. VI.
That there was no need of any new creation of matter to makr tin- universal Jlood ; and what arc catarractse coeli, Gen. vii. 1 1.
N()\V if it be objected, that God doth not create any thing of new, (for God rested the seventh day, that is, he did not then after create any new species,) which granted, it may seem that then all the earth and air had not waters suf ficient to cover the habitable world fifteen cubits above the highest mountains. Of this proposition, whether God hath so restrained himself or no, I will not dispute ; but for the consequent, which is, that the world had want of water to overcover the highest mountains, I take that conceit to be unlearned and foolish: for it is written, that the fountains of the great deep ;ccrc broken up, that is, the waters forsook the very bowels of the earth ; and all whatsoever was dis persed therein pierced and broke through the face thereof. Then let us consider that the earth had above twenty-one thousand miles ; the diameter of the earth according to that circle seven thousand miles ; and then from the superficies to the centre some three thousand five hundred miles: take then the highest mountain of the world, Caucasus, Taurus, Olympus, or Atlas, the mountains of Armenia or Scythia, or that (of all others the highest) in Teneriff, and I do not find that he who looketh highest stretcheth above thirty miles upright. It is not then impossible, answering reason with reason, that all those waters mixed within the earth β’ three thousand five hundred miles deep should not well help to cover the space of thirty miles in height, this thirty miles upright being found in the depths of the earth one hundred and sixteen times: for the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the waters drawn out of the bowels of the earth. Secondly, If we consider what proportion the earth beareth to the extension of the air over and above it, we shall find the difference exceeding great. If then it pleased God to condense but so much of this air as every where compasseth and embraceth the earth, which condensation is a conversion of air into water, a change familiar in those
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 205
elements, it will not seem strange to men of judgment, yea but of ordinary understanding, that the earth (God so pleas ing) was covered over with waters without any new creation.
Lastly, For the opinions of Gulielmus Parisiensis, and Aliacensis, to which I may add Berosus and others, that such a conjunction there was, foreshewing that destruction by waters which followed ; and that by the words catar- ractce cosli, or windows of heaven, was meant this conjunc tion, there needs no other answer than that observation of Ludovicus Vives, who aflfirmeth, that by the gravest astro logers it was observed, that in the year 1524 there should happen the like conjunction as at Noah's flood, than which, saith he, there was never a more fair, dry, and seasonable year: the like destruction was prophesied of the year 1588. But Picus earl of Mirandula proveth that there could not be any such conjunction at that time.
To conclude, I find no other mystery in the words catar- ract(E cceli, than that the clouds were meant thereby; Moses using the word windows of heaven, (if that be the sense of the words,) -to express the violence of the rains, and pouring down of waters. For whosoever hath seen those fallings of water which sometimes happen in the Indies, which are called the spouts, (where clouds do not break into drops, but fall with a resistless violence in one body,) may properly use that manner of speech which Moses did, that the windows or floodgates of heaven opened; which is, that waters fell contrary to custom and that order which we call natural. God then loosened the power retentive in the up permost air, and the waters fell in abundance : Behold, saith h Job, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up ; or better in Latin, et omnia siccantur; " and all things are " dried up ;" but when he sendeth them out, they destroy the earth ; and in the 26th chapter, he bindcth the waters in the clouds : but these bonds God loosed at that time of the ge neral flood, and called up the waters which slept in the great deep ; and these joining together covered the earth, till they
b Job xii. 15.
20G THE HISTORY BOOK i.
had performed the work of his will ; which done, c he then commanded them to return into their dark and vast caves, and the rest (by a wind) rarefied again into air, formerly condensed into drops.
SECT. VII.
Of some remainder of the memory of Noah among the heathen.
NOAH commanded by God, before the fall of those wa ters, entered the ark which he had built, with his own wife, and his sons, and his sons1 wives, taking with them of every creature, which took life by generation, seven of the clean, and of the unclean two. Noah, according to Philo, signifi ed! quietness ; after others, and according to the prophecy of his father Lamech, cessation ; to whom after-times gave many names answering his antiquity, zeal, virtue, and other qualities : as, the first Ogyges, because in the time of the Grecian Ogyges there was also a great flood of Achaia ; Saturn they called him, because he was the father of na tions ; others gave him the name of Prometheus, who was said to steal away Jupiter's fire ; fire in that place being- taken and understood for the knowledge of God and hea venly things. Others think that he was so called for his excellent wisdom and foresight. He had also the name of Janus, id cst, vinosus, because Jain signifieth wine in the Hebrew. And so Tertullian finds him written in librix ri- tudUbus, in the books of ceremonies, preceding both Saturn, Uranus, and Jove ; which three enjoyed an elder time than all the other ancientest feigned gods. And this name Jain is takeii from the Hebrew and Syrian, and not from the La tin ; for it was in use before there was any Latin nation, or any kingdom by that name known. Of the antiquity of Ja nus, Fabius Pictor giveth this testimony : Jani estate tiulla crat monarchla, qtiia mortalibus pectoribus nondum hcese- rat idla rcgnandi cupidttas, &c. Vinum et far primus po- pulos doc nit Janus ad sacrificia : primus enim aras et po- maeria et sacra docuit ; " In the time of Janus," saith he,
1 Gen. viii. i.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 207
" there was no monarchy ; for the desire of rule had not "folded itself about the hearts of men. Janus first taught " the people to sacrifice wine and meal; he first set up altars, " instituted gardens and solitary groves, wherein they used to " pray ; with other holy rites and ceremonies." A greater tes timony than this there cannot be found among the heathen, which in all agreeth so well with the scriptures. For first, whilst Noah flourished, there was not any king or monarch, Nimrod being the first that took on him sovereign author ity. Secondly, d Noah after the flood was the first that planted the vine, and became a husbandman ; and therefore offered the first-fruits of both, to wit, wine and meal. Thirdly, He was the first that raised an altar, and offered e sacrifice to God, a thanksgiving for his merciful goodness towards him. Noah was also signified in the name of Bi- frons, (which was given to Janus,) because he beheld the times both before and after the flood, f Quid prcetcrita no- verit, etfutura prospexerit, saith Arnobius. " Because he " knew what was past, and provided for what was to come." He was also in the person of Janus shadowed by the name of chaos, and semen orbis, " the seed of the world ;" be cause as out of that confused heap was drawn all kinds of beasts and plants, so from Noah came all mankind; whereof Ovid in the person of Janus :
s Me chaos antiqui (nam sum res prisca) vocabant, Aspice quam longi temporis acta cano.
The ancients called me chaos : my great years By those old times, of which 1 sing, appears,
He was also entitled Ccelum and Sol, Heaven and the Sun, for his excellent knowledge in astronomy ; Vertum- nus, Bacchus, and Liber Pater ; not that latter, which Diod. Siculus and Alexander Aphrodiseus so call, because he was the restorer of the Greeks to their former liberty, but in respect of the flood. For the Greeks called Liber F%, and his nurses Hyades, of rain, because Noah entered the ark,
(1 Gen. ix. 20. f Arn. cont. Gent. 1. 6.
eGen. viii. 20. e Ovid, de Fastis, 1. i.
208 THE HISTORY BOOK i
when the sun joined with tin- stars Hyades, a constellation in the brow or neck of Taurus, and ever after a monument of Noah's Hood. He was also by others surnamed Triton, a marine god, the son of Neptune ; because he lived in safety on the waters. So was he known by the name of , qn(tni 6<avuWc/jy, mcntcm piing-cns, bite-brain, or
wit-stinger, though Diodorus conceives otherwise, and de rives that name a pat re ct loco, of his father and the place of his birth, to wit, of Jove and Nysa, a town of Arabia Felix, saith Suidas out of Orpheus. He had also the by name of k Taurus, or Taurophagus ; because he first yoked oxen and tilled the ground, according to that of Moses; 1 And Noah became an husbandman. Now howsoever the Grecians vaunt of their Theban Bacchus, (otherwise Diony sus,) it is certain that the name was borrowed, and the in vention stolen from Noah. But this name of Bacchus, more anciently Boachus, was taken, saith m Gul. Stuckius, and out of him Danaeus, from Noachus, N being changed into B ,β’ and it is the more probable, because it cannot be doubted but that Noah was the first planter of the vine after the flood ; and of Noah (the first and ancient Bacchus) were all those fables devised, of which Diodorus complain- eth in his fourth book and fifth chapter. This first Bac chus, to wit, Noah, was surnamed Nysius, of the mountain Nysa in India, where the Grecian Bacchus never came, whatsoever themselves feign of his enterprises; and these mountains of Nysa join with those of Paropanisus, and those other eastern mountains, on which the ark of Noah rested after the flood.
Furthermore, to the end that the memory of this second parent of mankind might the better be preserved, there were founded by his issues many great cities which bare his name; with many rivers and mountains; which oftentimes forgat that it was done in his regard, because the many names given him brought the same confusion to places as to him-
1 Nat. Com. I. 5. c. 13. ln Stuck, in libris Cotivivalibus, ct
k ( o'liiis Dana-us fie prima Mundi iptatc.
1 Gen. ix. 20.
CHAP. vn. OF THE WORLD. 209
self. Notwithstanding all which, we find the city of Noah upon the banks of the Red sea and elsewhere ; the river of n Noas in Thrace, which Strabo calleth Noarus, Ptolemy, Danus, dividing Illyria from Panonia. Thus much for the name.
SECT. VIII.
Of sundry particulars touching the ark ; as the place where it was made, the matter, fashion, and name.
NOW in what part of the world Noah built the ark, it doth not appear in the scriptures, neither do I find any ap proved author that hath written thereof; only Goropius Becanus in his Indo-Scythia conceiveth that Noah built his ark near the mountains of Caucasus, because on those hills are found the goodliest cedars : for when Alex. Macedon made the war among a people called Nysaei, inhabiting the other side of Caucasus, he found all their burials and se pulchres wrought over with cedar. To this place, saith Be canus, Noah repaired, both to separate himself from the re probate giants, who rebelled against God and nature, as also because he would not be interrupted in the building of the ark ; to which also he addeth the conveniency of rivers, to transport the timber which he used, without troubling any other carriages.
Only this we are sure of, that the ark was built in some part of the eastern world ; and, to my understanding, not far from the place where it rested after the flood. For Noah did not use any mast or sail, (as in other ships,) and there fore did the ark no otherwise move than the hulk or body of a ship doth in a calm sea. Also because it is not proba ble that during these continual and downright rains there were any winds at all, therefore was the ark little moved from the place where it was fashioned and set together. For it is written, Β° God made a wind to pass upon the earth, and the waters ceased ; and therefore it may be gather ed, that during the fall of the waters there was not any
" Plin. 1. 6. Steph. de Urb. Herod. 1. 4. Strabo, 1. 7. Β° Gen. viii. I.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. P
210 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
storm or forcible wind at all, which could drive the ark any great distance from the place where it was first by the wa ters lifted up. This is also the more probable, if that an cient opinion be true, as it is very likely, that the ark had fundum planum, " a flat bottom," and not raised in form of a ship with a sharpness forward, to cut the waves for the better speed.
This kind of vessel the Hebrews call Thebet, and the Greeks Larnax, for so they termed Deucalion's ship ; and some say that the hill Parnassus, to which in eight days he arrived, was first called Larnassus, and by the change of L into P, Parnassus ; but. P Pausanias thinks that it took name of a son of the nymph Cleodorae, called Parnassus, the in ventor of auguration.
<i Peuceros finds the word Parnassus to have no affinity with the Greek, but thinks it derived from the Hebrew word nahas, which signifieth auguration and divination: or from har or parai, as in his chapter of oracles in the leaf before cited.
r Josephus calls the ark machina, by the general name of a huge frame ; and Epiphanius out of the Hebrew, Aron ; but herein lieth the difference between Aron and Thevet, that Aron signifieth properly the ark of the sanctuary, but Thevet such a vessel as swimmeth and beareth itself upon rhe waters.
Lastly, this ark of Noah differed from the fashion of a ship in this, that it had a cover and roof, with a crest in tlu> midst thereof, and the sides declining like the roof of an house; to the end, both to cast oft' the waters, and that thereunder s Noah himself and his children might shelter and separate themselves from the noisomeness of the many beasts which filled the other rooms and parts of the ark.
Of what wood the ark was built it is uncertain. The He brew word gopher ) once and in this place only used, is di^ versely understood ; and though the matter be of little im portance, yet this difference there is, that the Geneva trans-
P Steph. de Urb. fol. 227. r Epiph. in Ancor.
i DC Oracul. fol. 94. Β» Geu, vi. 16.
CHAP. vir. OF THE WORLD. 211
lation calls it pine-tree ; the Rabbine, cedar ; the Seventy, square timber ; the Latin, smooth timber. Others will have it cypress-trees, as dedicated to the dead, because cypress is worn at funerals. But out of doubt, if the word gopher signify any special kind of timber, Noah obeyed the voice of God therein ; if not, he was not then curious as touching the kind or nature of the wood, having the promise of God, and his grace and mercy for his defence. For with Noah God promised { to establish his covenant. u Pliny affirmeth, that in Egypt it was the use to build ships of cedar, which the worms eat not ; and he avoweth, that he saw in Utica, in the temple of Apollo, cedar beams, laid in the time of the foundation of the city, and that they were still sound in his time, which was above 1188 years after; proving there by, that this kind of wood was not subject to putrifying or moulding in a very long time. But in that it is easy to cut, light to carry, and of a sweet savour, lasting also better than any other wood ; and because near the place where the ark rested, there are found great store of these cedar-trees, as also in all the mountains of the east, besides those of Liba- nus, it is probable enough that the ark might be of that wood : which hath, besides the other commodities, the great est length of timber, and therefore fittest to build ships withal. Pererius conceiveth that the ark had divers sorts of timber, and that the bottom had of one sort, the deck and partition of another ; all which may be true or false, if gopher may be taken for timber in general. True it is that cedar will serve for all parts of a ship, as well for the body as for masts and yards. But Noah had most respect to the direction received from God ; to the length, breadth, arid height, and to the partitions of the ark ; and to pitch it, and to divide it into cabins, thereby to sever the clean beasts from the unclean, and to preserve their several sorts of food ; and that it might be capable of all kind of living creatures, according to the numbers by God appointed. All which when Noah had gathered together, he cast his confi-
' Gen. vi. 18. " Plin. 1. 16. c. 40.
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
dence wholly on God, who by his angels steered this ship without a rudder, and directed it without the help of a com pass or the north-star. The pitch which Noah used is by some supposed to have been a kind of bitumen, whereof there is great quantity about the valley of x Sodom and Go morrah, now the Dead sea, or Asphaltes ; and in the region of Babylon, and in the West Indies ; and herein it exceed- eth other pitch, that it melts not with the sun, but by the fire only, after the manner of hard wax.
SECT. IX.
That the ark was of sufficient capacity.
THE ark, according to God's commandment, had of length three hundred cubits, fifty of breadth, and thirty deep or high ; by which proportion it had six parts of length to one of breadth, and ten times in length to one of depth ; of which St. Augustine : Y Proculdubio Jigura est peregrinantis in hoc stsculo civitatis Dei, hue est, ecclesice, qu&jit salva per lignum, in quo pependit Mediator Dei et hominum, liomo Christus Jesus : nam et mensura ipsa lon- gitudinis, altitudinis, latitudinisque ejus significat corpus humanum, in cujus veritate ad homines prcenunciatus est venturus, et venit, &c. " Without doubt," saith he, " it is " a figure of the city of God, travelling in this world as a *' stranger, that is, of the church, saved by the tree where- " upon the Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus " Christ, did hang : for even the very measure of the length, " height, and breadth, answereth the shape of man's body, in " the truth whereof the coming of Christ was foretold and " performed."
By what kind of cubit the ark was measured, it hath been a disputed question among the fathers and others ; and the differences are in effect these : the first kind of cubit (called the common) containeth one foot and a half, measured from the sharp of the elbow to the point of the middle finger. The second, (the palm cubit,) which taketh one handful more
* Pererius. rDe Civitatc Dei, 1. 15. c. 26.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 213
than the common. The third is called regms cubitus, or the Persian cubit, which exceecleth the common cubit three inches. The fourth is the sacred cubit, which containeth the common or vulgar cubit double, wanting but a quarter or fourth part. Lastly, there is a fifth cubit, called geome trical, which containeth six common cubits. But of all these sorts, which were commonly measured by the vulgar cubit, the alteration and diminution of men's statures hath made the difference. For as there is now a less proportion of bo dies, so is the common cubit, from the sharp of the elbow to the point of the middle finger, of less length than it was in elder times.
St. Augustine, considering the many sorts of beasts and birds which the ark held, with their food and water, was sometimes of opinion that the ark had proportion after the geometrical cubit, which containeth almost six of the com mon. For z measuring the ark by the vulgar cubit, it did not exceed the capacity of that vessel built by Hiero of Sy racuse, or the ship of Ptolemy Philo-pater. But St. Au gustine (who at the first was led by Origen) changed his judgment as touching the geometrical cubit; and found, upon better consideration, that there needed not so huge a body to preserve all sorts of creatures by God appointed to be reserved. For it was not needful to take any kinds of fishes into the ark, because they were kept living, saith St. Augustine, in their own element : a Non fuit necesse con- servare in area qu<B possent In aquis vivere; non solum mersa sicut pisces, verum supernatantia sicut multce allies ; " It was not needful to conserve those creatures in the ark " which could live in the waters; and not only fishes, " which can live under water, but also those fowls which sit ** and swim on them." And again, Terra, non aqua., male- dicta ; quia Adam non hujus, sed illius jructum vetitum co- medit ; " It was the earth, and not the waters, which God " cursed : for of the forbidden fruit of the earth, and not of
1 Athen. Dipnosop. 1.4. Plutarch. a Aug. dc Civit. Dei, 1. 5. c. 27. in vita Demetrii.
214 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
" the sea, did Adam eat ;" so as St. Augustine gathereth hereupon, as aforesaid, that so huge a frame needed not.
And if we look with the eyes of judgment hereunto, we shall find nothing monstrous therein ; although the imagi nations of men, who, for the most part, have more of mis chief and of ignorance, than of any reverend reason, find many impossibilities in this work of God. But it is mani- t'i-t. and undoubtedly true, that many of the species, which now seem differing and of several kinds, were not then in rerum natura. For those beasts which are of mixed natures, either they were not in that age, or else it was not needful to preserve them ; seeing they might be generated again by others, as the mules, the hyenas, and the like ; the one begot ten by asses and mares, the other by foxes and wolves. And whereas by discovering of strange lands, wherein there are found divers beasts and birds, differing in colour or stature from those of these northern parts, it may be supposed by a superficial consideration, that all those which wear red and pied skins, or feathers, are differing from those that are less painted, and wear plain russet or black ; they are much mis taken that so think. And for my own opinion, I find no difference, but only in magnitude, between the cat of Eu rope and the ounce of India ; and even those dogs which are become wild in Hispaniola, with which the Spaniards used to devour the naked Indians, are now changed to wolves, and begin to destroy the breed of their cattle, and do also oftentimes tear asunder their own children. b The common crow and rook of India is full of red feathers in the drowned and low islands of Caribana ; and the black bird and thrush hath its feathers mixed with black and car nation -in the north parts of Virginia. The dog-fish of England is the shark of the south ocean : for if colour or magnitude made a difference of species, then were the ne groes, which we call the black-mores, non anlmalia rationa- lia, " not men, but some kind of strange beasts :" and so the grants of the south America should be of another kind than
b Acust. Hist. Iiidiae.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 215
the people of this part of the world. We also see it daily that the natures of fruits are changed by transplantation, some to better, some to worse, especially with the change of climate. Crabs may be made good fruit by often grafting, and the best melons will change in a year or two to common cucumbers by being set in a barren soil. Therefore taking the kinds precisely of all creatures, as they were by God created, or out of the earth by his ordinance produced ; the ark, after the measure of the common cubit, was sufficiently capacious to contain of all, according to the number by God appointed : for if we add but half a foot of measure to the common cubit, which had a foot and a half of giantly sta ture, (and less allowance we cannot give to the difference be tween them and us,) then did the ark contain six hundred foot in length, and one hundred foot in breadth, and sixty foot in depth.
But first of all, to make it manifest that the geometrical cubit is not used in the scripture, the stature of the giants therein named may suffice. For if the bed of c Og king of Bashan had been nine geometrical cubits long, it had taken fifty-four cubits of the common, which make eighty foot : and d Goliah, who had the length of six cubits and a hand ful, (which makes nine foot and a handful, a proportion cre dible ;) if these cubits had been geometrical, then had been fifty-four foot in height and upwards, which were mon strous and most incredible : for (according to this propor tion) the head of Goliah had been nine foot long, and far weightier and bigger than all David's body, who carried it away.
Again, if the geometrical cubit had been used for a mea sure in the scripture, as many commentators have observed, then would the altar (appointed to contain five cubits of length, five of breadth, and three of height) have reached the length of twenty-seven foot upright, and so must their priests have ascended by steps or ladders to have performed their sacrifices thereon, which was contrary to God's com-
β’ Deut. iii. 1 1 . d i Sam. xvii. 4.
P 4
216 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
mandment given in these words : e Thou shalt not go up with steps unto mine altar, that thy sliame be not discovered thereon ; and therefore was the altar but three common cu bits high, which make four foot, that their priests standing thereby might execute their office : wherefore I may con clude, that the cubit mentioned in the scriptures was not the geometrical, but the ordinary cubit of one foot and a half, according to the measure of giantly stature ; which measure, doubtless, might give much the more capacity to the ark, although it be also probable, that as the men were, so were the horses whereon they rode, and all other creatures, of a correspondent size. And yet, as I take it, though by this means there were not any whit the more room in the ark, it were not hard to conceive how all the distinct species of animals, whose lives cannot be preserved in the waters, might, according to their present quantities, be contained in a vessel of those dimensions which the ark had ; allowing to the cubit one foot and a half of our now usual measure: whence it followeth of necessity, that those large bodies which were in the days of Noah might have room sufficient in the ark, which was measured by a cubit of length propor tionable.
How the appointed number of creatures to be saved, that is, seven of the clean, two of the unclean, (with neces sary food,) might have place in the ark, Butaeo hath very learnedly declared; the brief sum of whose discourse to that purpose is this : " The length of the ark was three hundred " cubits, which multiplied by the breadth, namely fifty cubits, " and the product by the height of thirty cubits, sheweth the " whole concavity to have been 450,000." Now whereas the posts, walls, and other partitions of lodgings may seem to have taken up a great part of the hollow ; the height of the roof, which (the perpendicular being one cubit) con tained 7500 cubical cubes, was a sufficient recompense : if therefore in a ship of such greatness we seek room for eighty-nine distinct species of beasts, or, lest any should be
* Exod. xx. 26.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 217
omitted, for one hundred several kinds, we shall easily find place both for them and for the birds, which in bigness are no way answerable to them, and for meat to sustain them all. For there are three sorts of beasts, whose bodies are of a quantity best known; the beef, the sheep, and the wolf; to which the rest may be reduced, by saying, according to Aristotle, that one elephant is answerable to four beeves, one lion to two wolves, and so of the rest. Of beasts, some feed on vegetables, others on flesh. There are one and thirty kinds of the greater sort, feeding on vegetables ; of which number only three are clean, according to the law of Mo ses, whereof seven of a kind entered into the ark, namely, three couples for breed, and one odd for sacrifice; the other eight and twenty kinds were taken by two of each kind ; so that in all there were in the ark one and twenty great beasts clean, and six and fifty unclean, estimable for largeness as ninety-one beeves ; yet for a supplement, (lest perhaps any species be omitted,) let them be valued as one hundred and twenty beeves. Of the lesser sort, feeding on vegetables, were in the ark six and twenty kinds, estimable with good allowance for supply, as fourscore sheep. Of those which devour flesh, were two and thirty kinds, answerable to three score and four wolves. All these two hundred and eighty beasts might be kept in one story or room of the ark in their several cabins ; their meat in a second ; the birds and their provision in a third, with place to spare for Noah and his family, and all their necessaries.
SECT. X.
That the ark rested upon part of the hill Taurus, or Caucasus,
between the East Indies and Scythia.
β’
1,1.
A preterition of some questions less material ; with a note of the use of this question, to find out the metropolis of nations.
.WHAT time Noah took to build the ark, I leave to others to dispute ; but he received the commandment from God one hundred years before the waters fell; and had
218 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
therefore choice of time and leisure sufficient. As for the number of decks and partitions, which Origen divides into four, St. Augustine into three, I will not trouble the reader with the controversy ; or whether those creatures, which sometimes rest on the land, other times in the waters, as the crocodiles, now called alegartos, the sea-cows or sea-horses, were kept in the ark or no, I think it a needless curiosity ; and yet to this saith Pererius, and others before him, that a fish-pool might be made as well within the ark as in Hi- ero's ship of Syracuse. Lastly, to consider or labour to dis prove the foolery of the Hebrews, who suppose that the ark was lightened by a carbuncle, or had windows of crystal to receive in light and keep out water, were but to revive the buried vanities of former times. But that which I seek most to satisfy myself and others in, is in what part of the world the ark rested after the flood ; because the true un derstanding of some of these places (as the seat of the ter restrial paradise, and the resting of the ark) do only and truly teach the world's plantation, and the beginning of na tions, before and after the flood ; and all story, as well ge neral as particular, thereby may be the better understood.
A proposal of the common opinion, that the ark rested upon some of tfie hills of Armenia.
AND first, for the true place where the ark rested after the flood, and from what part of the world the children of Noah travelled to their first settlement and plantation, I am resolved, without any presumption, that therein the most writers were utterly mistaken. And I am not led so to think out of any humour or newness of opinion, or singularity ; but do herein ground myself on the original and first truth, which is the word of God; and after that, upon reason, and the most probable circumstances thereon depending. For whereas it is written, f that the ark stayed upon one of the mountains of Ararat, which the Chaldean paraphrast hath
f Gen. viii. 4.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 219
converted Kardu, meaning the hills Gordaei, or Gordiaei, in Armenia the Greater, (as the words Gordaei and Kardu seem to be one and the same,) of which opinion also the most of our interpreters are ; I find neither scripture nor reason which teacheth any such thing ; to wit, that it rested on that part of Ararat, which is in the greater Armenia. sNi- colaus Damascenus calls this mountain of Ararat, Baris, be ing the same which the Chaldean nameth Kardu, to which mountain the friar Annius (citing this place out of Josephus) makes him find another adjoining, called Ocila, and to say that the ark (of which Moses the lawgiver of the Hebrews Wrote) did first take ground on this Ocila. But I do not find any such mountain in being as this Ocila ; neither is there any mention of it in the place of Josephus. Strabo remembereth a promontory in Arabia Felix of that name, and Pliny finds a mart-town so called in the same, which Ptolemy calls Ocilis, Pinetus Acyla, and Niger Zidon. But this Ocila of Damascenus, or rather of Annius, seemeth to be one and a part of the Armenian mountains. Berosus calleth those mountains of Armenia Gordiaei, and Curtius Cordaei ; Ptolemy Gordaei and Gordia?i ; of which the coun try next adjoining is by this Nicolaus Damascenus called Ninyada, perhaps, as h Becanus conjectures, for Myliada, or rather Minni ; which word is used for Armenia Minor. And the very word of Armenia seems to be compounded of this word Minni, and Aram ; as if we should say Minni of Syria ; for that Armenia also was a part of Syria, Β» Pliny witnesseth. Epiphanius placeth the Cardyes about these mountains, whom others call Gordieni, or Gordeni. The mountains are seated apart from all other to the north of that ledge of mountains called Taurus, or Niphates, in the plains of Armenia the Great, near the lake of Thospitis; whence the river of Tigris floweth in seventy-five degrees of longitude, and forty-one and forty-two degrees of latitude. One of the mountains Gordiaei, (that which surmounteth the rest,) Epiphanius calls Lubar, which in the Armenian signi-
s Sec c. 7. Β§. i. h Hieron. 51. 27. ' Nat. Hist. 1-5 c. 12,
220 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
ficth a place of descent ; but this out of k Josephus : which name, saith Junius, was of the event, because of Noah's coming down with his children. But this also I take to be a supposed event ; seeing any hill, from whence on every side we must descend, may thus be called ; as Junius cor rects the place in Josephus Aou'/3Β«fuj, Kubaris. That the place is thus to be read, he conjectureth, because Joseph. 1. 1. c. 4. says, the place is called 'Axo/3Β«T>;pΒ«ov, as it were the descent or coming down; and Epiphan. 1. 1. cont. Haeres. calls it AoQctg ; which word in the Armenian and Egyptian tongue signifieth descent, of lubar, which is to descend ; whence also lubra is a synagogue, because it was commonly built on some high place; whereof also the Latin delubrum may seem to be derived ; and Acts vi. 9. they that belonged to the synagogue of the Egyptians are called libertini, for lubra tenu. Yet this opinion hath been embraced from age to age ; receiving a habit of strength by time, and allow ance without any further examination ; although the name of Lubar might otherwise rightly be given, especially to that mountain, by reason that the passage was more fair, up and down unto it, than to any of the rest adjoining.
Β§β’3-
The first argument against the common opinion. They that c<nn<- to build Babel would have come sooner, had they come from so near a place as Armenia.
BUT there are many arguments to persuade me that the ark of Noah did not rest itself in any part of Armenia, and that the mountain Ararat was not Baris, nor any one of the Gordiaean mountains.
For first, it is agreed by all who follow * Berosus, that it was in the one hundred and thirtieth year, or in the year one hundred and thirty one after the flood, when Nimrod came into the valley of Shinaar, which valley was afterwards called Babylonia, Cush, and Chaldea. If then the ark had first found land in Armenia, it is very improbable that the
k Joseph, de Antiq. 1. I. c. 4. ' Bcros. 1. 1.
CHAP. viz. OF THE WORLD.
children of Noah, which came into that valley, could have spent so many years in so short a passage ; seeing the re gion of Mesopotamia was only interjacent, which might by easy journeys have been passed over in twenty days ; and to hasten and help which passage the navigable river of Ti gris offered itself, which is every where transpassable by boats of great burden : so as where the desert on the one side resisted their expedition, the river on the contrary side served to advance it ; the river rising out of the same ledge of mountains, or at the foot of them, where the ark of Noah was first supposed to settle itself; then, if the nations which followed Nimrod still doubted the surprise of a second flood, (according to the opinions of the ancient Hebrews,) it sound- eth ill to the ear of reason, that they would have spent many years in that low and overflown valley of Mesopotamia, so caUed of the many rivers which embroider or compass it : for the effects witnessed their affections, and the works which they undertook, their unbelief; being no sooner ar rived in Shinaar, but they began to provide themselves of a defence (by erecting Babel) against any future or feared in undation. Now at Babel it was that Nimrod began his kingdom, the first known city of the world founded after the flood, about one hundred and thirty one years, or, as others suppose, ten years later; though, for myself, I ra ther think that they undertook that work in two respects ; first, to make themselves famous, m to get us a name, saith the text ; secondly, thereby to usurp dominion over the rest.
Β§.4-
The second argument, that the eastern people were most ancient in populosity, and in all human glory.
FOR a second argument : the civility, magnificence, and multitude of people, (wherein the east parts of the world first abounded,) hath more weight than any thing which hath been or can be said for Armenia, and for Noah's taking land there. And that this is true, the use of printing and artil-
"' Gen. x. 10. Beros. 1. i.
222 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
lery (among many other things which the east had) may easily persuade us, that those sun-rising nations were the most ancient. The certainty of this report, that the East Indians (time out of mind) have had guns and ordnance of battery, confirmed by the Portugals and others, makes us now to understand, that the place of Philostratus in Vita Apollon'ii Tyanei, 1. 2. c. 14. is no fable, though expressed in fabulous words ; when he saith, that the wise men, which dwell between Hyphasis and Ganges, use not themselves to go forth into battle ; but that they drive away their ene mies with thunder and lightning sent from Jupiter. By which means it is said, that Hercules, /Egyptius, and Bac chus, joining their forces, were defeated there ; and that this Hercules there cast away his golden shield. For the invention of letters was ignorantly ascribed to Cadmus, be cause he brought them first into Greece ; of which the peo ple (then rude and savage) had reason to give him the ho nour, from whom they received the benefit. But it is true, that letters are no less ancient than Seth or Enoch were ; for they are said to have written on pillars of stone, as be fore remembered, long before the flood. But from the east ern world it was that John Cuthenberg, a German, brought the device of printing; by whom Conradus being instructed, brought the practice thereof to Rome; and after that, Ni- colaus Gerson, a Frenchman, bettered both the letters and invention. And, notwithstanding that this mystery was then supposed to be but newly born, the Chinaos had letters long before either the Egyptians or Phoenicians ; and also the art of printing, when as the Greeks had neither any civil know ledge, or any letters among them.
And that this is true, both the Portugals and Spaniards have witnessed, who about an hundred years since disco vered those kingdoms, and do now enjoy their rich trades therein : for the Chinaos account all other nations but sa vages in respect of themselves.
And to add strength to this argument, the conquest and story of Alex. Macedon may justly be called to witness, who found more cities and sumptuosity in that little kingdom of
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 223
Porus, which lay side by side to the East India, than in all his other travels and undertakings. For in Alexander's time, learning and greatness had not travelled so far to the west as Rome ; Alexander esteeming of Italy but as a barbarous country, and of Rome as of a village. But it was Babylon that stood in his eye, and the fame of the east pierced his ears. And if we look as far as the sun-rising, and hear Paulus Venetus what he reporteth of the uttermost angle and island thereof, we shall find that those nations have sent out, and not received, lent knowledge, and not borrowed it from the west. For the further east, to this day, the more civil, the further west, the more savage. And of the isle of Japan (now Zipingari) Venetus maketh this report : Incolcc religioni, literis, et sapientice sunt addictissimi, et veritatis indagatores acerrimi ; nihil illis Jrequentius oratlone, quam (more nostro) sacris in ddubris exercent: unum cognoscunt principem, unum Deum adorant. " The islanders are ex- " ceedingly addicted to religion, letters, and philosophy, and " most diligent searchers out of truth; there is nothing " among them more frequent than prayer, which they use *' in their churches after the manner of Christians. They " acknowledge one king, and worship one God.'" The anti quity, magnificence, civility, riches, sumptuous buildings, and policy in government, is reported to be such by those who have been employed into those parts, as it seemeth to exceed (in those formerly named, and divers other particu lars) all other kingdoms of the world.
Β§β’5-
The third argument, from the wonderful resistance which Semira- mis found in the East Indies.
BUT for a third argument, and also of a treble strength to the rest, I lay the invasion of Semiramis before the indif ferent and advised reader ; who may consider in what age she lived, and how soon after the world's new birth she ga thered her army, as Diodorus Siculus out of Ctesias report eth, of more than three millions to invade India, to which he joineth also 500,000 horse and 100,000 waggons;
224 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
whereof if we believe but a third part, it shall suffice to prove that India was the first planted and peopled country after the flood. Now as touching the time wherein she lived, all historians consent that she was the wife of Ninus; and the most approved writers agree, that Ninus was the son of Belus, and Belus of Nimrod, that Nimrod was the son of Cush, Cush of Cham, and Cham of Noah. And at such time as Nimrod came to Shinar, he was then a great nation, as by the building of the city and tower of Babel may appear ; and being then so multiplied and increased, the two descents cast between Nimrod and Semiramis brought forth in that time those multitudes whereof her army was composed. Let us then see with whom she en countered in that war with this her powerful army ; even with a multitude, rather exceeding than equalling her own, conducted by Staurobates king of India beyond Indus ; of whose multitudes this is the witness of Diodor. Siculus; Staurobates^ avitis major'ibus, quam qua erant Semirami- dis, cop'ris ; " Staurobates gathering together greater troops " than those of Semiramis.'1 If then these numbers of In dians had been increased but by a colony sent out from Shinaar, (and that also after Babel was built, which no doubt took some time in the performance,) this increase in the east, and this army of Staurobates must have been made of stone, or somewhat else by miracle. For as the numbers which Semiramis gathered might easily grow up in that time from so great a troop as Nimrod brought with him into Babylonia, (as shall be demonstrated hereafter in the story of Israel,) so could not any such time, by any multiplication natural, produce so many bodies of men, as were in the In dian army victorious over Semiramis, if the colonies sent thither had been so late as Babel overturned, and the con fusion of languages. For if we allow sixty-five years time after the flood, before Nimrod was born ; of which thirty years to Cush, ere he begat Seba, after whom he had "Ha- vilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtecha; and then thirty
11 On. x. 7.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 225
years to Raamah, ere he begat Sheba and Declan, both which were born before Nimrod ; and five years to his five elder brothers, which make sixty-five, and then twice thirty years for two generations more, as for Nimrod, Sheba, and Dedan, with others, to beget their sons, and that a third ge neration might grow up, which makes in all one hundred and twenty-five years, there will then remain six years to have been spent in travelling from the east, ere they arrived in Shinaar in the year after the flood one hundred and thirty-one. And so the followers of Nimrod might be of sufficient multitude. But as for those which make him to have arrived at Shinaar in the year one hundred and one, and the confusion to have been at Peleg's birth, these men do all by miracle : they beget whole nations without the help of time, and build NimnxTs tower in the air ; and not on those low and marshy grounds (which require sound foundations) in the plains of Shinaar. For except that huge tower were built in a day, there could be no confusion in that year one hundred and one, or at Peleg's birth. And therefore it is far more probable, that Nimrod usurped re gal authority in the one hundred and thirty-first year after the flood, according to Berosus, and that the work of Babel lasted forty years, according to Glycas, Β°hominibus in ea perficienda totis 40 annis incassum laborantibus, " men " labouring in vain forty years to finish it." By which ac count it falls out, that it was one hundred and seventy years after the flood, ere a colony were sent into East India; which granted, (the one being the main body, and the other but a troop taken thence,) it can hardly be believed that Stauro- bates could have exceeded Semiramis in numbers ; who be ing then empress of all that part of the world, gathered the most of nations into one body.
Β§.6. The fourth argument from divers considerations in the person of
Noah.
FOURTHLY, It is no way probable that Noah, who knew the world before the flood, and had lived therein the
0 Glyc. in Gen. et de Turns exstructione, fol. 173. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. Q
H2G THE HISTORY BOOK i.
long time of six hundred years, was all that space, one hun dred and thirty years after the flood, without any certain habitation; no, it will fall out, and better agree with reason, that Nimrod was but the conductor of those people, by Noah destined and appointed to fill and inhabit that middle part of the earth and the western world ; (which travels Noah put over to young and able bodies;) and that Noah himself, then covered with many years, planted himself in the same place which God had assigned him ; which was where he first came down out of the ark from the waters : for it is written, that after Noah came down out of the ark he planted a vineyard, and became a husbandman ; whose bu siness was to dress and manure the earth, and not to range over so many parts of the world, as from Armenia into Ara bia Felix, where he should (if the tradition be sound) have left certain colonies ; thence into Africa towards Triton ; then into Spain, where they say he settled other companies, and built cities after the names of Noela and Noegla his sons1 wives; from thence into Italy, where they say he found his son Cham, the Saturn of Egypt, who had corrupted the people and subjects of Gomer in his absence : with whom Noah (as they make the story) had patience for three years; but then finding no amendment, they say, he banished him out of Italy. These be but the fancies of Berosus Annianus, a plain imitation of the Grecian fables. For let every rea sonable man conceive what it was to travel far in such a fo rest as the world was, when after so great a rotting of the earth by the flood, the same lay waste and overgrown for one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty years, and wherein there could hardly be found either path or pas sage, through which men were able to creep, for woods, bushes, and briers, that in those years were grown up.
And there are so many reasons, proving that Noah never came into the valley of Shinaar, as we need not suspect his passage into Italy or Spain : for Noah, who was father of all those nations, a man reverenced both for his authority, know ledge, experience, and piety, would never have permitted his children and issues to have undertaken that unbelieving, pre-
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 227
sumptuous work of Babel. Rather, by his presence and prevalent persuasions, he would have bound their hands from so vain labours, and, by the authority which he re ceived even from God himself, he would have held them in that awful subjection, as whatsoever they had vainly conceived or feared, yet they durst not have disobeyed the personal commandment of him, who in the beginning had a kind of regal authority over his children and people. Certainly, Noah knew right well that the former destruction of man kind was by themselves purchased through cruelty and dis obedience ; and that to distrust God, and to raise up build ing against his almighty power, was, as much as in them lay, a provocation of God to lay on them the same, if not a more sharp affliction. Wherefore there is no probability that ever he came so far west as Babylonia; but rather, that he sent those numbers which came into Shinaar, (being the greatest troop, because they had the greatest part of the world to plant,) under Nimrod, or those upon whom he usurped. Nauclerus and Caelestinus take the testimony of Methodius, bishop of Tyre, for current, that there were three leaders of the people after their increase, to wit, Nim rod, Suphene, and Joktan ; of which Nimrod commanded the issues of Cham, Joktan of Sem, and Suphene of Japhet. This opinion I cannot judge of, although I will not doubt, but that so great a work as the world's plantation could not be effected without order and condtiction.
Of the sons of Sem, Joktan, Havila, and Ophir, are especially noted to have dwelt in the East Indies. The rest of SenVs issues had also the regions of Persia and the other adjoining to Indus, and held also a part of Chaldea for a time: for Abraham inhabited Ur till he was thence called by God ; and whether they were the sons of Joktan, or of all the rest a certain number (Cham and his issue only ex- cepted) that Noah kept with himself, it cannot be known. Of which plantation I shall speak at large in the chapter following.
Now another reason which moves me to believe that Noah stayed in the east, far away from all those that came
Q2
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
into Shinaar, is, that Moses doth not in any word make men tion of Noah in all the story of the Hebrews, or among any of those nations which contended with them. And Noah, being the father of all mankind, and the chosen servant of God, was too principal a person to be either forgotten or neg- Kvted, had he not (in respect of his age and wearisome ex- perience of the world) withdrawn himself, and rested apart with his best beloved, giving himself to the service and contemplation of God and heavenly things, after he had di rected his children to -their destined portions. For he landed in a warm and fertile soil, where he planted his vineyard, and dressed the earth ; after which, and his thanksgiving to God by sacrifice, he is not remembered in the scriptures, because he was so far away from those na tions of which Moses wrote; which were the Hebrews chiefly, and their enemies and borderers.
Β§β’7- Of the senseless opinion of Annius the commentator upon Berosus,
who finds divers places where the ark rested; as the Caspian and
Gord'ucan hills, which are three hundred miles asunder; and also
some place of Scythia.
IT remaincth now that we examine the arguments and authorities of friar Annius, who, in his commentaries upon Berosus and others, laboureth marvellously to prove that the ark of Noah rested upon the Armenian mountains called Caspii ; which mountains separate Armenia from the upper Media, and do equally belong to both. And because all his authors speak of the mountains Gordirei, he hath no other shift to unite these opinions but by uniting those far distant mountains together. To effect which, he hath found no other invention than to charge those men with error which have carefully overseen, printed, and published P Ptolemy ""s geography, in which they were altogether dis severed : for that last edition of Mercator's sets these hills five degrees (which makes three hundred English miles) asunder. And certainly, if we look into those more ancient
P Ptol. Asia Tab. 3.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 229
copies of Villanovanus and others, we shall find nothing in them to help Annius withal ; for in those the mountains Caspii stand seven degrees to the east of the Gordiaei, which make four hundred and twenty miles. And for those au thors, by whose authority Annius strengthened! himself, Diodorus, whom he so much followeth, giveth this judg ment upon them in the like dispute: ^Aberrarunt vero omnes, non negligentia, sed regnorum situs ignorant'ut ; " They have all erred," saith he, " not through negligence, " but through ignorance of the . situation of kingdoms." But for an induction, to prove that the ark of Noah stood on the mountains of Armenia, he beginneth with the anti quity of the Scythians ; and to prove the same, he citeth rMarcus Porcius Cato, who avoweth, that two hundred and fifty years before Ninus the earth was overflown with wa ters: Et in Scythia Saga renatum mortale genus; " And " that in Scythia Saga the stock of mortal men was re- " newed." The same author also teacheth, that theUmbri, before remembered, (who were so called because saved from Deucalion's flood,) were the sons of the Galli, a nation of the Scythians : Ex his venisse Janum cum Dyrim et Gal- Us progenitoribus Umbrorum; "From these Scythians," he saith, " that Janus came with Dyrim and with the Galli, " the progenitors of the Umbri :" and again, Equidem prindpatus originis semper Scytkis tribuitur; " Certainly " the prime antiquity of offspring is always given to the " Scythians." And herein truly I agree with Annius, that those regions called Scythia, and now Tartaria, and by some writers Sarmatia Asiatica, were among the first peopled; and they held the greatest part of Asia under tribute till Ninus's time. Also s Pliny calleth the Umbri, which long since inhabited Italy, gens antiquissima, " a most ancient " nation," who descended of these Scythians. Now that which Annius laboureth, is to prove that these ancient Scy thians (meaning the nephews of Noah) did first inhabit that region of the mountains on which the ark rested ; and con
"> Diod. 1. c. 3. T Cato de Orig. pars prima. -'Plin.l. 3. c. 14.
230 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
fessing that this great ship was grounded in Armenia, he feigneth a nation of Scythians, called Araxea, taking name of the mountain Ararat, near the river of Araxes. And because his author Cato helpeth him in part, (to wit, that in Scythia mankind was restored after the great flood, two hundred and fifty years before Ninus,) and in part utterly destroyeth his conceit of Armenia, by adding the word Sa ga, as in Scythia Saga renatum mortale genus, " in Scy- " thia Saga mankind was restored;" he therefore, in the proem of his commentary upon 'Berosus, leaveth out the addition of Saga altogether in the repetition of Cato's words, and writes, ^Homines in Scythia salvatos. For Scythia Saga, or Sacae, is undoubtedly under the mountains of Paropanisus, on which, or near which, it is most pro bable that the ark first took ground; and from those east parts, according to x Moses, came all those companies which erected the tower of Babel in Shinaar, or Babylonia.
But now the best authority which Annius hath is out of Diodorus; where he hath read, that the Scythians were originally Armenians, taking name a Scytha rege eoruvi, " from Scytha their king." But, in a word, we may see his vanity, or rather indeed his falsehood, in citing this place. For Diodorus, a most approved and diligent author, begin - neth in that place with these words, Jhbulantur Scythcp ,- " the Scythian's fable ;" and his interpreter, in the table of that work, giveth this title to that very chapter : Scytlia- rum origo et successus,Jabula; " The original and success " of the Scythians, a fable." And indeed there needs no great disproof hereof, since Ptolemy doth directly delineate Scythia Saga, or Sacae, and sets them in one hundred and thirty degrees of longitude ; and the Persians, saith Hero dotus, call all the Scythians Sacae, which Pliny confirmeth : for in respect that these Sacae, saith y Pliny, are the next Scythians to the Persians, therefore they give all the rest that name. Now that any nation in Armenia can neigh bour the Persians, there is no man believeth. But this sup-
' Bcros, l.i. " Ptol. Asiae, Tab. 7. * Gen. xi. 2. r Lib. 6. c. 1 7.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 231
posed Scythia Araxea in Armenia lieth in seventy-eight degrees of longitude, that is, forty-two degrees distant from the Sacae ; and the country about Araxes, Ptolemy calleth Colthene, and Soducene, and Sacapene, without any men tion of Scythia at all ; and yet all those which are or were reputed Scythians, either within Imaus or without, to the number of one hundred several nations, are by z Ptolemy precisely set down.
But to come to those later authors, whereof some have written, others have seen a great part of those north-east regions, and searched their antiquities with great diligence : first, Marius Niger boundeth Scythia within Imaus in this manner : (for Scythia without these mountains is also beyond our purpose :) Scythia intra Imaum montem ea est, quce proprio vocabulo Gassaria hoc tempore dicitur : ab occasu Sarmatia Asiatica: ab oriente Imao monte : a septentrione terra incognita : a meridie Saccis, Sogdianis, Margianis, usque ad ostia OXCR amnis in Hyrcanum mare exeuntis; et parte ipsius maris hinc usque ad Rha fluminis ostia ter- minatur : " Scythia within the mountain Imaus is that part " of the world which in their own speech is at this time " called Gassaria ; and the same is bounded on the west " side by Sarmatia Asiatica, (or of Asia;) on the east by the " Imaan mountains; on the north by unknown lands; on " the south by the Saccae, (which are the Sacae,) the Sogdiani, " and the Margiani, to the mouth of Oxus, falling into the " Hyrcan sea, and by a part of the same sea as far as the " mouth of Rha a."
Now if Niger sets all Sarmatia Asiatica to the west of Scythia, then Sarmatia, ^quce magna sane regio est, et qucz innumeras nationes complectitur, " which is a great region, " comprehending innumerable nations," saith Niger, much of it being between Scythia and Armenia, doth sufficiently warrant us, that Armenia can be no part of Scythia ; and to make it more plain, he dissevereth Sarmatia itself from any part of Armenia, by the regions of c Colchis, Iberia,
7 Tab. Asiae 7 et 8. b Com. 2. Asiae, fol. 472.
3 Rha, now Wolga. c " Ad meridiem flexo Bosphoro
Q 4
232 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Albania, which he leaveth on the right hand of Sarmatia, and yet makes Sarmatia but the west bound of Scythia.
And for Paulus Venetus, he hath not a word of Armenia among the Tartarian or Scythian nations ; neither doth his fellow friar, John Plancarpio, (cited by Vincentius in his description of Scythia,) make any mention of Armenia ; neither doth Haytonus, an Armenian born, of the blood of those kings, (though afterwards a monk,) ever acknowledge himself for a Tartarian, or of the Scythian races descended ; though he writes that story at large, gathered by Nicolaus Salcuni, and (by the commandment of pope Clement V.) in the year 1807 published.
Neither doth Matthias a Michon, (a canon of Cracovia in Polonia,) a Sarmatian born, and that travelled a great part of Sarmatia Asiatica, find Armenia any way within the compass of Tartaria, Scythia, or Sarmatia ; and yet no man (whose travels are extant) hath observed so much of those regions as he hath done; proving and disproving many things heretofore subject to dispute. And among others he burieth that ancient and received opinion, that out of the mountains Riphaei and Hyperborei in Scythia, spring the rivers of Tanais or Don, Volga or Ed el ; proving by un answerable experience, that there are no such mountains in rerum natura; and indeed the heads and fountains of those famous rivers are now by the trade of Muscovia known to every merchant, and that they arise out of lakes, low, woody, and marshy grounds. The river of Tanais, or Don, ariseth to the south of the city Tulla, some twenty English miles, out of a lake called Iwanowesero in the great wood Okenitzkilies, or Jepiphanolies. Volga, which Ptolemy calls Rha, and the Tartars call Edel, riseth out of a lake called Fronow, in the great wood Vodkonzki ; from which lake the two other famous rivers flow of Borysthenes, now Nye- per, and Dsuina, or Dividna. And this learned dPolonian
" pars septeotrionalis pontc Euxini " Hyrcani maris proveuit." Spec.
" usque in ostinm Coracis fluvii : Hist. 1. 30.
" unde rclictis <i parte dcxtra Col- d Sig. Herberstciu.
" chis, Ibcris, Albauisquc in littus
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 233
doth in this sort bound the European Sarmatia. In Sar- matia of Europe are the regions of Russians, Lithuanians, Muscovians, and those adjoining, bounded on the west by the river of eVissa, the name perchance misprinted Vissa for Vistula, a river which parts Germany and Sarmatia ; and for the east border he nameth Tanais, or Don. Sar matia Asiatica he cutteth from Europe by the same river Tanais, and the Caspian sea, to withhold it from stretching further east; this Asian Sarmatia being part of that Scy- thia which Ptolemy calleth Scythia infra Imaum montem, " Scythia within the mountain Imaus." And the same Matthias Michon further affirmeth, that the Scythians (which friar Annius would make Armenians) came not into Sarmatia Asiatica itself above three hundred and a few odd years before his own time ; these be his words : Con- stat earn esse gentem novam, et adventitiam a partibus ori- entis (mutatis sedibus) paulo plus abhinc trecentis annis Asice Sarmatiam ingressam ; " It is manifest," saith he, speaking of the Scythian nation, " that this is a late planted " nation, come from the coasts of the east ; from whence " they entered into Asia, and gat new seats a little more " than three hundred years since :" for indeed before that time the Goths, or Pouloci, inhabited Sarmatia Asiatica. And this Matthias lived in the year 1511, and this his dis course of Sarmatia was printed at Augusta in the year 1506, as Bucholzerus, in his Chronology, witnesseth. Now these Scythians, saith he, came from the east; for in the east it was that the ark of Noah rested ; and the Scy thae Sacae were those people which lived at the north foot of those mountains of Taurus, or Ararat, where they encounter or begin to mix themselves with the great Imaus. And were there no other testimony than the general description of the earth now extant, and the witness of Ptolemy, it is plain, that between all parts of Armenia and Scythia, there are not only those three regions of Colchis, Iberia, and Al-
e Cranzeus calleth this river Wislaus ; Niger, Dravamanza ; Pom. Mela, Visula, et Pliu. Vistillus.
234 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
bania, but the Caspian sea; on the cast shore of which -CM, but not on the- west, or on that part which any way touch- eth Armenia, there are indeed a nation of Scythians, railed Ariaca-, between Jaxartus and Jactus ; but what are these Scythians to any Ariaca?, or Scythia Araxea, which An- nius placet h in Armenia, more than the Scythians of Eu rope.
Β§.8.
The Jifth argument : the vine must grow naturally near the place where the ark rested.
TO this, if we add the consideration of this part of the text, fthat Noah planted a vineyard, we shall find that the fruit of the vine, or raisin, did not grow naturally in that part of Armenia where this resting of the ark was sup posed ; for if the vine was a stranger in Italy and France, and brought from other countries thither, it is not probable that it grew naturally in Armenia, being a far colder coun try. For Tyrrhenus first brought vines into France, and Saturnus into Latium : yea, at such time as sBrennus and the Gauls invaded Italy, there were few or no vines in France. For, saith Plutarch in the Life of Camillas, the Gauls remained between the Pyrenaei and the Alps, near unto the Senones, where they continued a long time, until they drunk wine, which was first brought them out of Italy ; and after they tasted thereof, they hasted to inhabit that country which brought forth such pleasant fruit : so as it appeared, that the plant of the vine was not natural in France, but from Italy brought thither ; as by Saturn from elsewhere into Italy.
Now it is manifest that Noah travelled not far to seek out tlii' vine. For the plantation thereof is remembered before there was any counsel how to dispose of the world among his children : and the first thing he did was to till the ground, and to plant a vineyard, after his sacrifice and thanksgiving to God ; and wheresoever the ark rested, there did the vine grow naturally. From whence it doth
f Gen. ix. 20. * Scrvius, jEucid. Eutropius.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 235
no where appear that he travelled far ; for the scriptures teach us that he was a husbandman, and not a wanderer.
Β§.9.
Answer to an objection out of the words of the text : The Lord scat tered them from thence upon the face of the whole earth. AND that all the children of Noah came together into Shinaar, it doth not appear, saving that it may be inferred out of these words, from thence, because it is written, So that the Lord scattered them from thence upon all the earth ; which hath no other sense, but that the Lord scattered them, to wit, those that built this tower; for those were from thence dispersed into all the regions of the north and south, and to the westward. And by these words of Sibylla, (as they are converted,) it seemeth that all came not together into Shinaar, for they have this limitation : Quidam eorum turrem azdificarunt altissimam, quasi per earn, ccelum essent ascensuri ; " Certain of them built a most high tower, as " if they meant thereby to have scaled the heavens."
Β§. 10.
An answer to the objection from the name of Ararat, taken for Ar menia ; and the height of the hills there. BUT before I conclude this part, it is necessary to see and consider what part of scripture and what reason may be found out to make it true or probable, that the ark of Noah was forsaken by the waters on the mountains of Ar menia. For the text hath only these words, h The ark rested on (or upon) the mountains of Ararat, or Armenia, saith the marginal note of the Geneva; the Chaldean para- phrast calls it Kardu ; of which the highest hath the name of Lubar, saith 'Epiphanius. Now this Ararat (which the Septuagint do not convert at all, but keep the same word) is taken to be a mountain of Armenia, because Armenia it self had anciently that name ; so as first out of the name, and secondly out of the height, (which they suppose ex ceeded all others,) is the opinion taken, that the ark first sat thereon.
h Geu. viii. 14. ' Epipb. 1. i. cont. Haeres.
236 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
But these suppositions have no foundation ; for neither is Ararat of Armenia alone, neither is any part, or any of those mountains, of equal stature to many other mountains of the world ; and yet it doth not follow that the ark found the highest mountain of all others to rest on ; for the plains were also uncovered before Noah came out of the ark. Now if there were any agreement among writers of this Ararat, and that they did not differ altogether therein, we might give more credit to the conceit. For in the books of the sibyls it is written, that the mountains of Ararat are in Phrygia, upon which it was supposed that the ark stayed after the flood. And the better to particularise the place- and seat of these mountains, and to prove them in Phrygia, and not Armenia, they are placed where the city of Cce- lenes was afterwards built. Likewise in the same descrip tion she maketh mention of Marsyas, a river which runneth through part of Phrygia, and afterwards joincth itself with the river Masander ; which is far from the Gordiean moun tains in Armenia. We may also find a great mistaking in Josephus, (though out of Berosus, who is in effect the fa ther of this opinion,) that Josephus sets Ararat between Armenia and Parthia, towards Adiabene, and affirmeth withal, that in the province of Coeron, by others Kuire>s and Arnos, so called by reason that the waters have from thence no descent nor issue out, the people vaunt that they had in those days reserved some pieces of Noah's ark. But Par thia toucheth no where upon Armenia, for Armenia borde-r- eth Adiabene, a province of Assyria : so that all Media, and a part of Assyria, is between Parthia and Armenia. Now whereas the discovery of the mountains Cordiaei was first borrowed out of Berosus by Josephus ; yet the text which Josephus citeth out of Berosus differs far from the words of that Berosus, which wandereth up and down in these days, set out by Annius. For Berosus, cited by Josephus, hath these words: Fertur et navigii hujus pars in Arme nia apud montem Cordiaorurn superesse, et quosdam bitu men inde abrasum secum repartare, quo vice amulcti loci hujus homines uti solcnt, which is, " It is reported also that
.
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 237
" a part of this ship is yet remaining in Armenia upon the " Cordiean mountains ; and that divers do scrape from it " the bitumen, or pitch, and carrying it with them, they use " it instead of an amulet." But Annius's edition of the fragment of Berosus useth these words: Nam elevata ab aquis in Gordi&i montis vertice quievit, cujus adliuc dici tur aliqua pars esse, et homines ex ilia bitumen tollere quo maxime utuntur ad expiationem; " For the whole ark " being lifted up by the waters, rested on the top of the " Gordiean mountains, of which it is reported that some " parts remain, and that men do carry thence of the bitu- " men to purge by sacrifice therewith." So as in these two texts (besides the difference of words) the name is diversely written ; the ancient Berosus writes Cordiaii, with a C, and the fragment Gordicei, with a G ; the one, that the bitumen is used for a preservative against poison or enchantment, the other, in sacrifice ; and if it be said that they agree in the general, yet it is reported by neither from any certain knowledge, nor from any approved author ; for one of them useth the wordfertur, the other dicitur;. the one, that so it is reported; the other, that so it is said; and both but by hearsay, and therefore of no authority nor credit. For common bruit is so infamous an historian, as wise men nei ther report after it, nor give credit to any thing they re ceive from it.
Furthermore, these mountains, which Ptolemy calls Gor- diaei, are not those mountains which himself giveth to Ar menia, but he calleth the mountains of Armenia Moschici. These be his own words: k Monies Armenice nominantur ii, qui Moschici appellantur^ qui protenduntur usque ad superjacentem partem Ponti Cappadocum ; et mons qui Pa- ryardes dicitur; " The mountains of Armenia are they " which are called Moschici, which stretch along to the " higher part of Pontus of the Cappadocians; also the hill " which is called Paryardes ;" which mountains Pliny call eth iPariedri, and both which lie to the north of Gordisei,
k Ptol. Asiae Tab. ' Pirn. 1. 6. c. 9.
238 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
or Baris, in forty-three and forty-four and a half; and the Gordiaean mountains in thirty-nine and a half ; from the northernmost of which did the Georgians take their names, who were first Gordians and then Georgians, who, amidst all the strength of the greatest infidels of Persia and Turkey, do still remain Christians. Concerning the other β’Oppositions, that the mountains of Gordiaei, otherwise Baris, Kardu, or Lubar, (which Ptolemy callcth Torgo- diaion,) are the highest of the world, the same is absolutely false.
Β§. ii. Of Caucasus, and divers far higher hills than the Armenian.
FOR the best cosmographers, with others that have seen the mountains of Armenia, find them far inferior, and un derset to divers other mountains even in that part of tin- world, and elsewhere; as the mountain Athos between Ma- cedon and Thrace, which Ptolemy calls Olympus, now called Lacas, saith Castaldus, is far surmounting any moun tain that ever hath been seen in Armenia; for it casteth shade three hundred furlongs, which is thirty-seven miles and upwards; of which Plutarch, '" Atlios adumbrat latera Lemnice bovis; " Athos shadoweth the cow of Lemnos." Also the mount of Olympus in Thessaly is said to be of that height, as neither the winds, clouds, or rain overtop it. Again, the mountain of Antandrus in Mysia, not far from Ida, whence the river Scamandrus floweth, which runneth through Troy, is also of a far more admiration than any in Armenia, and may be seen from Constantinople. There are also in Mauritania, near the sea, the famous mountains of Atlas, of which Herodotus : Eoctat in hoc mart mons, cui nomen Atlas, ita subl'mus cs$e dicitur, ut ad illius ver- ticem oculi mortalium pervenire non possint; " Upon this " coast there is a mountain called Atlas, whose height is " said to be such as the eye of no mortal man can discern the " top thereof." And if we may believe Aristotle, then are all these inferior to Caucasus, which he maketh the most 110-
'" Plutar. Mtmst. (,'osin.
CHAP. vn. OF THE WORLD. 239
torious both for breadth and height. n Caucasus mans om nium maximus, qui ccstivum ad or turn sunt, acumine atque latitudine, cujus juga a sole radian tur usque ad contici- nium ab ortu: et iterum ab occasu. " Caucasus," saith Ari- " stotle, is the greatest mountain both for breadth and height " of all those in the north-east, whose tops are lightened by " the sunbeams, usque ad contic'mium" which is, saith Ma- crobius, between the first crowing after midnight and the break of day : others affirm, that the top of this mountain holds the sunbeams when it is dark in the valley ; but I cannot believe either : for the highest mountain of the world known is that of Teneriff' in the Canaries ; which although it hath nothing to the westward of it for one thou sand leagues together but the ocean sea, yet doth it not en joy the sun's company at any such late hours. Besides, these mountains which Aristotle calleth Caucasi, are those which separate Colchis from Iberia ; though indeed Cau casus doth divide both Colchis, Iberia, and Albania, from Sarmatia; for he acknowledged! that the river of Phasis riseth in the same mountain, which himself calleth Cauca sus, and that Phasis springeth from those hills which sunder Colchis from Iberia, falling afterwards into Euxinus; which river, it is manifest, yieldeth itself to the sea two degrees to the north of Trapezus, now Trabesunda, howsoever Mer- cator brings it from Paryardes.
Β§. 12.
Of divers incongruities, if in this story we should take Ararat for Armenia.
SO as it doth first appear, that there is no certainty what mountain Ararat was ; for the books of the sibyls set it in Phrygia, and Berosus in Armenia; and as for Berosus's authority, those men have great want of proofs that borrow from thence.
Secondly, That Baris was the highest hill, and therefore most likely that the ark grounded thereon, the assertion and supposition have equal credit ; for there are many hills
11 Aristot. Met. cor. 1. i.e. 13.
240 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
which exceed all those of Armenia ; and if they did not, yet it doth not follow, as is before written, that the ark should sit on the highest.
Thirdly, It cannot be proved that there is any such hill in Armenia, or in rcrum natiira, as Baris; for Baris, saith Jerome, signifieth high towers ; and so may all high hills be called indifferently ; and therefore we may better give the name of Baris to the hills of Caucasus, (out of which In dus riseth,) than to any hills of Armenia. For those of Cau casus in the east are undoubtedly the highest of Asia.
Fourthly, The authors themselves do not agree in what region the mountains Gordiaei stand; for Ptolemy distin guished! the mountains of Armenia from the Gordiean, and calleth those of Armenia Moschici and Paryardes, as afore said. Now Paryardes is seated near the middle of Arme nia, out of which on the west side riseth Euphrates, and out of the east side Araxis : and the mountains Moschici are those hills which disjoin Colchis, Iberia, and Albania (now the country of the Georgians) from Armenia.
Β§β’ 13-
Of the contrary situation of Armenia to the place noted in Hie text; and that it is no marvel that the same ledge of hills running from Armenia to India shoiild keep the same name all along} and even in India be called Ararat.
LASTLY, We must blow up this mountain Ararat itself, or else we must dig it down, and carry it out of Armenia ; or find it elsewhere, and in a warmer country, and, withal, set it east from Shinaar ; or else we shall wound the truth itself with the weapons of our own vain imaginations.
Therefore to make the mistaking open to every eye, we must understand that Ararat (named by Moses) is not any one hill, so called, no more than any one hill among those mountains which divide Italy from France is called the Alps; or any one among those which part France from Spain is the Pyrenean ; but as these, being continuations of many hills, keep one name in divers countries ; so all that long ledge of mountains, which Pliny calleth by one name
CHAP. vii. OF THE WORLD. 241
0 Taurus, and Ptolemy both Taurus, Niphates, Coatras, Coronus, Sariphi, until they encounter and cross the moun tains of the great Imaus, are of one general name, and are called the mountains of Ararat or Armenia, because from thence, or thereabouts, they seem to arise. So all these mountains of Hyrcania, Armenia, Coraxis, Caspii, Mos- chici, Amazonici, Eniochi, Scythici, (thus diversely called by Pliny and others,) Ptolemy calls by one name Caucasus, lying between the seas Caspium and Euxinus ; as all those mountains which cut asunder America, even from the new kingdom of Granado, to the strait of Magellan, are by one name called Andes. And as these mountains of Ararat run east and west, so do those marvellous mountains of Imaus stretch themselves north and south ; and being of
O
like extent, well near, are called by the name of Imaus, even as Pliny calleth these former hills Taurus, and Moses the hills of Ararat. The reason of several names given by Ptolemy was, thereby the better to distinguish the great regions and kingdoms which these great mountains bound and dissever; as Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Susiana, Persia, Parthia, Caramania, Aria, Margiana, Bac- tria, Sogdiana, and Paropanisus ; having all these king doms either on the north or south side of them. For all the mountains of Asia (both the Less and the Greater) have three general names, to wit, Taurus, Imaus, and Caucasus; and they receive other titles, as they sever and divide par ticular places and regions. For these mountains which sunder Cilicia from the rest of Asia the Less on the north side are called Taurus; and those mountains which part it from Comagena (a province of Syria) are called Amanus ; the mountains called Taurus running east and west, as Imaus doth north and south. Though Taurus, the river of Euphrates, forceth her passage, leaving the name of Ama nus to the mountains on her west bank ; and on her east side the mountains are sometimes known by the name of Taurus, (as in Ptolemy's three Tables of Asia,) and some-
0 Pliny iu his description of Lycia, 1. 5. c. 27. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. R
242 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
times Niphates, (as in the fourth,) retaining that uncertain appellation so long as they bound Armenia from Mesopo tamia ; and after the river of Tigris cutteth them asunder, they then take the name of Niphates altogether, until they separate Assyria and Media ; but then they call themselves Coatras, though between the upper and nether Media they do not appear, but altogether discontinue. For at Mazada in Media they are not found, but run through the eastern Media by pieces ; in the middle of which region they call themselves Orontes, and towards the east part Coronus; out of the southern part whereof the river of Bagradus ris- eth, which divideth the ancient Persia from Caramania ; and then continuing their course eastward by the name of Coronus, they give to the Parthians and Hyrcanians their proper countries. This done, they change themselves into the mountains of Sariphi, out of which riseth the river Mar- gus, afterwards yielding herself to Oxus, (now Abia,) and drawing now near their ways end, they first make them selves the south border of Bactria, and are then honoured with the title of Paropanisus ; and lastly of Caucasia, even where the famous river of Indus with his principal compa nions Hydaspis and Zaraedrus spring forth, and take be ginning. And here do these mountains build themselves exceeding high, to equal the strong hills called Imaus of Scythia, which encounter each other in thirty-five, thirty- six, and thirty-seven degrees of latitude, and in one hun dred and forty of longitude ; of the which the west parts are now called Lelartguer, and the rest Nagracot ; and these mountains in this place only are properly called Caucasi, saith P Ptolemy, that is, between Paropanisus and Imaus; and improperly, between the two seas of Caspium and Pontus.
Β§. 14.
Of the best vine naturally growing on the south side of the moun tains Caucasi, and towards the East Indies; and of other excel lencies of the soil.
NOW in this part of the world it is where the mountain P Ptol. Tab. Asiae.
CHAP. vn. OF THE WORLD. 243
and river Janus and the mountain Niseus (so called of Bacchus Niseus, or Noa) are found ; and on these highest mountains of that part of the world did Goropius Becanus conceive that the ark of Noah grounded after the flood ; of all his conjectures the most probable, and by best reason approv ed. In hislndoscythica he hath many good arguments, though mixed with other fantastical opinions of this subject. And as the same Becanus also noteth, that as in this part of the world are found the best vines ; so it is as true, that in the same line, and in thirty-four, thirty-five, and thirty-six de grees of septentrional latitude, are the most delicate wines of the world ; namely, in Judea, Candia, and other parts of Greece : and likewise in this region of Margiana, and under these mountains, Strabo affirmeth that the most excellent vines of the world are found ; the clusters of grapes con taining two cubits of length ; and it is the more probable, because this place agreeth in climate with that part of Pa- lestina, where the searchers of the land by Moses's direction found bunches of equal bigness at qEshcol.
The fruitfulness of this place, to wit, on the south bottom of these hills, Curtius witnesseth. For in Margiana, near the mountain of Meros, did Alexander feast himself and his army ten days together, finding therein the most deli cate wine of all other.
Β§.15. The conclusion, with a brief repeating of divers chief points.
AND therefore to conclude this opinion of Ararat, it is true, that those mountains do also traverse Armenia ; yea, and Armenia itself sometimes is known by the name of Ararat. But as r Pliny giveth to this ledge of high hills, even from Cilicia to Paropanisus and Caucasus, the name of Taurus ; and as the hills of France and Germany are called the Alps ; and all between France and Spain the Py renees ; and in America the continuation of hills for three thousand miles together, the Andes ; so was Ararat the ge-
β’i Numb. xiii. 24. * Lib. 5. c. 27.
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
neral name which Moses gave them ; the diversity of ap- prllations no otherwise growing, than by their dividing and bordering divers regions and divers countries. For in the like case do we call the sea which entereth by Gib raltar the Mediterranean and inland sea; and yet where it washeth the coasts of Carthage, and over-against it, it is cull Β«.-d Tyrrhenum ; between Italy and Greece, Io nium ; from Venice to Durazzo, Adriaticum : between Athens and Asia, ^Egeum ; between Sestus and Aby- dus, Hellespont ; and afterwards Pontus, Propontis, and Bosphorus. And as in these, so is the ocean to the north east part of Scotland, called Deucaledonicum ; and on this side, the British sea; to the east, the German and Baltic, and then the Frozen,
For a final end of this question we must appeal to that judge which cannot err, even to the word of truth, which in this place is to be taken and followed according to the plain sense: seeing it can admit neither distinction nor other construction than the words bear literally, because they are used to the very same plain purpose of a descrip tion, and the making of a true and precise difference of places. Surely where the sense is plain, (and being so un derstood, it bringeth with it no subsequent inconvenience or contrariety,) we ought to be wary how we fancy to our selves any new or strange exposition ; and withal to re solve ourselves, that every word, as aforesaid, hath his weight in God's book. And therefore we must respect and rever ence the testimonies of the scriptures throughout, in such sort as St. Augustine hath taught us touching the gospel of Christ Jesus, which is, Nequis aliter accipiat, quod (nar- rantibus di.icipulis Christi) in evangelic legerit., quam si 'ipxum manum Dei> quam in proprio corpore gestabat, con- spexerit. " That no man otherwise take or understand " that which he readeth in the gospel, (the disciples of " Christ having written it,) than if he had seen the very " hand of the Lord, which he bare in his own body, setting " it down."
The words then of Moses, which end this dispute, are
CHAP. vir. OF THE WORLD. 245
these : sAnd as they went from the east they found a plain in the land of Shinaar ; and there they abode; which prov- eth without controversy, that Nimrod, and all with him, came from the east into Shinaar ; and therefore the ark of Noah rested and took land to the eastward thereof. For we must remember, that in all places wheresoever Moses maketh a difference of countries, he always precisely nam- eth towards what quarters of the world the same were seated ; as where he teacheth the plantation of Joctan, he nameth Sephar, a mount in the east ; where he remember- eth Cain's departure from the presence of God, he addeth, vAnd Cain dwelt in the land of Nody towards the east side of Eden; and when he describeth the tents and habitations of Abraham after he departed from Sechem, he useth these words; ^Afterwards removing thence unto a mountain east ward from Bethel, lie pitched his tents ; having Bethel on the west side, and Hai on the east: and afterwards in the 9th verse of the same chapter it is written, And Abraham went forth journeying towards the south: also when xEze- kiel prophesied of Gog and Magog, he sheweth that these nations of Togorma were of the north quarters ; and of the queen of Saba it is written, that Yshe came from the south to visit Solomon: and the zmagi (or wise men) came out of the east to offer presents unto Christ. And that all regions, ind these travels, were precisely set down upon the points of the compass and quarters of the world, it is most mani fest ; for Eden was due east from Judea, Saba south from Jerusalem ; the way from Bethel to Egypt directly south ; and the Coelesyrians, the Tubalines, and Magogians inha bited the regions directly north from Palestina ; and so of the rest. But Armenia answereth not to this description of Shinaar by Moses. For to come out of Armenia, and to arrive in that valley of Babylonia, is not a journeying from the east, nor so near unto the east as the north ; for Armenia is to the west of the north itself; and we must not
β’ Gen. xi. 2. * Ezek. xxxviii. 6.
1 Gen. x. 30. y Matt. xii. 42.
v Gen. iv. 16. * Matt. ii. i. " Gen. xii. 8.
R 5
240 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
say of Moses (whose hands the Holy Ghost directed) that he erred toto ccclo, and that he knew not east from west. For the body of Armenia standeth in forty-three degrees septentrional, and the north part thereof in forty-five ; and those Gordiean mountains, whereon it was supposed that the ark rested, stand in forty-one. But Babylonia and the valley of Shinaar are situated in thirty-five, and for the lon gitude, (which maketh the difference between east and west,) the Gordiean mountains stand in seventy-five degrees, and the valley of Shinaar in seventy-nine and eighty. And therefore Armenia lieth from Shinaar north-west, ninety- five degrees from the east ; and if Armenia had been but north, yet it had differed from the east one whole quarter of the compass. But Gregory and Jerome warn us, In ficr'ipturis ne minima differentia omitti debet : nam singuli sermones, syllabce, apices, et puncta in divina scriptura plena sunt sensibus. " In the scriptures the least differ- " ence may not be omitted ; for every speech, syllable, " note, or accent, and point, in divine scriptures are re- " plenished with their meanings." And therefore seeing Moses teacheth us that the children of Noah came from the east, we may not believe writers, of little authority, who also speak by hearsay and by report, ut Jertur, et ut dici- tur, as Berosus and Nicolaus Damascenus, determining herein, without any examination of the text, at all adven ture. But this is infallibly true, that Shinaar lieth west from the place where the ark of Noah rested after the flood ; and therefore it first found ground in the east, from whence came the first knowledge of all things. The east parts were first civil, which had Noah himself for an instructor ; and directly east from Shinaar, in the same degree of thir ty-five, are the greatest grapes and the best wine. The great armies also, which overtopped in number those mil lions of Semiramis, prove that those parts were first planted; and whereas the other opinion hath neither scripture nor reason sufficient, for myself, I build on his words who in plain terms hath told us, that the sons of Noah came out of the east into Shinaar, and there they abode. And there-
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 247
fore did the ark rest on those eastern mountains, called by one general name Taurus, and by Moses the mountains of Ararat, and not on those mountains of the north-west, as Berosus first feigned, whom most part of the writers have followed therein. It was, I say, in the plentiful warm east where Noah rested, where he planted the vine, where he tilled the ground, and lived thereon. Placuit vero Noacho agricultures, studium, in qua tractanda ipse om nium peritissimus esse dicitur : ob eamque rem sua ipsius lingua Ish-Adamath, hoc est, teUuris vir appellatur celebra- tusqitc est. " The study of husbandry pleased Noah," saith the excellent learned man Arias Montanus, " in the know- " ledge and order of which it is said that Noah excelled all " men ; and therefore was he called in his own language a " man exercised in the earth.'1'' Which also sheweth that he was no wanderer ; and that he troubled not himself with the contentions beginning again in the world, and among men, but stayed in his destined places, and in that part of the world where he was first delivered out of the prison of the ark, whereinto God had committed him to preserve him and mankind.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the first planting of 'nations after the Jlood; and of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, by whom the earth was repeopled.
SECT. I.
Whether Shem and Ham were elder than Japhet.
OF these sons of Noah, which was the eldest there is a question made. aSt. Augustine esteemed Shem for the eldest, Ham for the second, and Japhet for the youngest ; and herein the opinions of writers are diverse. But this we find every where in the scriptures, and especially in Moses,
β’' August, de Civit. Dei, 1. 16.0.3.
11 4
248 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
th;it there- was ni-ver any respect given to the eldest in years, but in virtue, as by the examples of Enoch, Abraham, Ja cob, and David, is made manifest. In a few words, this is the ground of the controversy : the Latin translation, and so the Geneva, hath converted this scripture of Genesis x. 21. in these words, Unto Shem also, the father of all the sons of Heber, and elder brother of Japliet, were children born. But Junius, agreeing with the Septuagint, placeth the same words in this manner ; To Shem also, the father of all the sons of Heber, and brother of Japliet, the eldest son, were children born; so the transposition of the word elder made this difference. For if the word elder had fol lowed after Japhet, as it is in the vulgar translation placed before it, then had it been as plain for Japhet, as it is by these translations for Shem. Now (the matter being othcr- wise indifferent) seeing God's blessings are not tied to first and last in blood, but to the eldest in piety, yet the argu ments are stronger for Japhet than for Shem. And where the scriptures are plainly understood, without any danger or inconvenience, it seemeth strange why any man of judg ment should make valuation of conjectural arguments or men's opinions. For it appeareth that Noah, in the five hundredth year of his life, begat the first of his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet ; and in the six hundredth year, to wit, the hundredth year following, came the general flood ; two years after which bShem begat Arphaxad, which was in the year 602 of Noah's life, and in the year of Shem's life one hundred ; so as Shem was but one hundred years old, two years after the flood ; and Noah begat his first born, being five hundred years old ; and therefore, were Shem the elder, he had then been one hundred years old at the flood, and in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, and not two years after. Which seeing the scriptures before remembered hath denied him, and that it is also written, c Then Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him, to wit, Ham, of necessity
b Geu. xi. 10. r Gen. ix. 24.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 249
the first place doth belong to Japhet. This younger son, so converted by the Vulgar and Geneva, Junius turns it Jilius minimus t his youngest son ; but St. Chrysostom takes it otherwise, and finds Ham to be the middle or second brother, and Japhet the youngest son of all ; which Ham, for his disobedience and the contempt of his father, whose nakedness he derided, was disinherited, and lost the pre- eminency of his birth, as dEsau and Reuben did. Pererius conceiveth that Ham was called the younger in respect of Shem the eldest, but avoweth withal, that the Hebrew hath not that precise difference of younger and youngest, be cause it wanteth the comparative degree. It is true that Shem himself was always named in the first place, yet whereas in the first verse of the tenth chapter of Genesis Shem is accounted before Japhet, in the second verse Moses leaveth to begin with the issue by Shem, and recit- eth the children of Japhet first. So the first place was given to Shem for his election and benediction, and for this weighty respect, that the Hebrew nation, Abraham, the prophets, David, and Christ our Saviour, were descended of him. And therefore, whether we shall follow the Vulgar, Pagninus, and the Geneva, who agree in this conversion, Shem f rater Japhet major; or with the Septuagint, Junius and Tremellius, Shem fratri Japhet majoris; or with Pe rerius, Shem frater Japhet ille magnus, inferring that Shem was the great and famous brother of Japhet, let the reader judge.
But, for ought that I have seen to the contrary, it ap- peareth to me that Japhet was the eldest. For where Pe rerius qualifieth the strength of the former argument, that Sheirfs age at the time of the flood did not agree with the eldership, (with a supposition that the scriptures took no account of smaller numbers,) I do not find in the scriptures any such neglect at all ; for it is written, that eShem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the Jtood: and again, in the 15th verse, So Shela lived after
ll In Gen. * Gen. xi. 10.
250 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
he begat Ebar four hundred and three year*, &c. So as the number of two years, of three years, of five years, and afterwards of two years, were always precisely ac counted.
SECT. II.
Of divers things that in all reason are to be presumed, touching the. Jirst planting of the world, as, that all histories must yield to Mo ses ; that the world was not planted all at once, nor without great direction; and that the known great lords of the Jirst ages were of the issue of Ham.
BUT let us go unto the world's plantation after the flood, which being rightly understood, we shall find that many nations have supposed or feigned themselves those ancestors and fathers, which never saw or approached the bounds of their countries, and of whom they are by no way or branch descended. For it is plain in the scriptures how the sons and issues of Noah were distributed, and what re gions were first planted by them, from whence by degrees the rest of the world was also peopled. And if any pro fane author may receive allowance herein, the same must be with this caution, that they take their beginning where the scriptures end. For so far as the story of nations is therein handled, we must know that both the truth and an tiquity of the books of God find no companions equal, either in age or authority. All record, memory, and testimony of antiquity whatsoever, which hath come to the knowledge of men, the same hath been borrowed thence, and therefore later than it, as all careful observers of time have noted ; among which thus writeth Eusebius in the proem of his Chronology : " Moses is found more ancient than all those " whom the Grecians make most ancient, as Homer, He- " siod, and the Trojan war; and far before Hercules, Mu- " saeus, Linus, Chiron, Orpheus, Castor, Pollux, Mscula- " plus, Bacchus, Mercurius, and Apollo, and the rest of the " gods of the nations, their ceremonies, or holy rites, or " prophets ; and before all the deeds of Jupiter, whom the " Greeks have seated in the top and highest turret of their " divinity."
CHAP. VIII.
OF THE WORLD.
251
For of the three Jupiters remembered by f Cicero, the ancientest was the son of ^Ether, whose three sons, begotten on Proserpina, were born at Athens, of which Cecrops was the first king ; and in the end of Cecrops^s time did Moses bring the children of Israel out of Egypt : Eduxit Moses β’populum Dei ex JEgypto novissimo tempore Cecropis Athe- niensis regis; " Moses brought the children of Israel out " of Egypt in the last days of Cecrops king of the Athe- " mans," saith Β§St. Augustine; and yet was not Cecrops the founder of the city itself, but Theseus long after him. But because the truth hereof is diversely proved, and by many learned authors, I will not cut asunder the purpose in hand by alleging many authorities in a needless ques tion, but leave it to the proper place.
β’ Gomer, r Askenaz,
AT The sons of I T,- , .,
Magog, J Riphath,
Tv/r i β’ Gomer were | m
Madai, [ Togorma.
The sons of Javan,
Japhet were Tubal, rElisha,
Meshach, The sons of J Tarshis,
and Javan were I Kittim, and
. Tiras. ^ Dodanim.
First, We are to consider that the world after the flood was not planted by imagination, neither had the children of Noah wings to fly from Shinaar to the uttermost border of Europe, Africa, and Asia, in haste, but that these children were directed by a wise father, who knew those parts of the world before the flood, to which he disposed his children after it, and sent them, not as discoverers, or at all adven ture, but assigned and allotted to every son, and their issues, their proper parts. And not to hearken to fabulous authors, who have no other end than to flatter princes, (as Virgil did Augustus in the fiction of ./Eneas,) or else to glorify their own nations ; let us build upon the scriptures themselves, and after them upon reason and nature. First,
f Cicero de Nat. Deorum, I. 3.
De Civit. Dei, 1. i8.c. n.
252 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
therefore, we must call to mind and consider, what manner of face the earth every where had in the one hundred and thirtieth year after the great inundation, and, by comparing those fruitfullest valleys ,with our own barren and cold ground, inform ourselves thereby, what wonderful deserts, what impassable fastness of woods, reeds, briers, and rotten grass, what lakes and standing pools, and what marshes, fens, and bogs, all the face of the earth (excepting the mountains) was pestered withal. For if in this our climate, (where the dead and destroying winter depresseth all ve getative and growing nature for one half of the year in effect,) yet in twenty or thirty years these our grounds would all overgrow and be covered, according to the na ture thereof, either with woods or with other offensive thickets and bushments ; much more did all sorts of plants, reeds, and trees prosper in the most fruitful valleys, and in the climate of a long and warm summer, and having withal the start of one hundred and thirty years to raise themselves without controlment.
This being considered, it will appear that all these peo ple which came into Shinaar, and over whom Nimrod, either by order or strength, took the dominion, did, after the con fusion of languages, and at such time as they grew to be a mighty people, disperse themselves into the regions adjoin ing to the said valley of Shinaar, which contained the best part of Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Chaldea, and from the borders thereof in time they were propagated ; some of them towards the south, others towards the west and north. And although there were allotted to Shem many regions both east and west from Shinaar, with the dominion of Palestina, which the Canaanites first possessed ; yet could he not enjoy the lot of his inheritance on the sudden, but by time and degrees. For we find that Abraham, the true successor of Shem, dwelt in Chaldea at Ur; and from thence, called by God, he rested at Charran in Mesopotamia ; from whence, after the death of T hare, he travelled to Sichem in Palestina ; and yet there had passed between Shem and Abraham (reckoning neither of themselves) seven descents,
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 253
before Abraham moved out of Chaldea; where, and in Ba bylonia, all those people by Nimrod commanded, inhabited for many years, and whence Nimrod went out into Assyria, and founded Nineveh. Indeed the great masters of nations, as far as we can know, were in that age of the issues of Ham ; the blessing of God given by Noah to Shem and Japhet taking less effect, until divers years were consumed ; and until the time arrived, which by the wisdom of God was appointed. For of Chus, Mizraim, and Canaan came the people and princes which held the great kingdoms of Babylonia, Syria, and Egypt for many descents together.
SECT. III.
Of the isles of the Gentiles in Japhet's portion : of Berosus's too sjieedy seating Gomer the son of Japhet in Italy, and another of Japhet's sons, Tubal, in Spain : and of the antiquity oflonginque navigation.
TO begin therefore where Moses beginneth with the sons of Japhet, among whom the isles of the Gentiles were di vided ; which division, as well to Japhefs sons as to the rest which came into Shinaar, was (if the division were made at Phaleg's birth) in the year of the world 1757 or 1758, and, by that account, in the year after the flood one hundred and one, of which question elsewhere.
The habitations proper to the sons of Japhet were the isles of the Gentiles, which include all Europe, with all the islands adjoining and compassing it about ; Europe being also taken for an island, both in respect that the sea Hel lespont and Mgeum, Bosphorus and Euxinus cut it off from the great continent of Asia, as also because Europe it self is in effect surrounded with water, saving that it is fastened to Asia by the north ; for it hath those seas before named to the east, the Mediterranean to the south and south-west, the ocean to the west, and British, German, and Baltic sea, with that of Glaciale to the north-north-east, and north-west. Besides, it hath about it all the Cyclades or isles lying between Greece and the lesser Asia, and the isles of Rhodes, Cyprus, Crete or Candia, Sicilia, Corsica,
254- THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Sardinia, Malta, the isles of Britany and Zealand, with their young ones adjacent.
This partition and portion of Japhet, with the part which he held in Asia and the north, which was also very great, answereth to that blessing of God by Noah ; ^Dilatet Dens Japhet; " Let God spread abroad (or increase the pos- " terity of) Japhet, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem." For though Junius here useth the word attic i at, and not dilatct, and the Geneva persuadeat; yet the Septuagint have dilatet or amplified; and such was the blessing given to our fathers, which God promised to Abraham and his seed for ever. And the dwelling in the tents or tabernacles of Shem was a blessing by God to the posterity of Japhet ; noting, not only an enlargement of territories, but that there by they should be made participant of God's church. But to come to Japhet's sons, of whom Gomer is the eldest. This Gomer (if we may believe Berosus and Annius, whose authority the greatest number of all our late writers have followed) did, in the tenth year of Nimrod's reign, depart from Babylonia, and planted Italy; which also 'Functius confirmed) in these words, Anno decimo Nimrodi, See. " In " the tenth year of Nimrod's reign, Gomerus Gallus plant- " ed a colony in that land afterwards called Italy : and in the " twelfth year of the same Nimrod' s reign, Tubal seated him- " self in Asturia in Spain, now called Biscay, which was in " the 1 40th and in the 142d years after the flood, according " to Berosus." But this opinion is very ridiculous; for before the confusion of tongues the children of Noah did not se parate themselves, at least so many of them as came with Nimrod into Shinaar. Let us therefore consider with rea son, what time the building such a city and tower required, where there was no prepared matter, nor any ready means to perform such a work as Nimrod had erected, (and as Functius himself, out of his author Berosus, witnesseth,) ad altitudinem et magnitndinem montium^ " to the height " and magnitude of the mountains.*' Sure that both this city.
11 Gen. ix. 27. ' Fnnct. ('lirouol.
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 255
and tower were almost built, the scriptures witness. k But the Lord came down to see the city and tower , which the sons of men built. Let us then but allot a time sufficient for the making of brick to such a work, of the greatest height (and therefore of circuit and foundation answerable) that ever was. For where the universal flood covered the highest mountains fifteen cubits ; Let us build us a city and a tower, saith Nimrod, whose top may reach unto the heaven ; mean ing, that they would raise their work above fifteen cubits higher than the highest mountain, otherwise they could not assure themselves from the fear of a second inundation ; a great part whereof was finished before it fell, and before they left the work. They also began this building upon a ground the most oppressed with waters of all the world, as by the great ruin which these waters forcibly overbear ing and overflowing, made in the time of the succeeding emperors, is made manifest, approved also by the prophet Jeremy, speaking of Babylon in these words, Thou that dwellest upon many waters. It cannot be doubted but that there needed a substantial foundation for so high a raised building on a marshy ground ; and to which Glycas upon Genesis giveth forty years. For it seemeth that the tower was near finished when God overthrew it ; it being after wards written, So the Lord scattered them from thence upon all the earth, and they left to build the city. Out of which place it may be gathered, (because the tower is not then named,) that they very near had performed the work of their supposed defence, which was the tower ; and that after wards they went on with the city adjoining, wherein they inhabited. It is also to be noted, that till such time as this confusion seized them, (whereupon the tower was thrown down,) these nations did not disperse themselves; for \from thence the Lord scattered them upon all the earth; that was, when they perceived not one another"^ speech. Now to think that this work in the newness of the world (wanting all instruments and materials) could be performed in ten
k Gen. ix. 5. ' Gen. xi.8.
256 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
years, and that Tubal and Gomer in the same year could creep through 3000 miles of desert, with women, children, and cattle let those light believers, that neither tie them selves to the scripture nor to reason, approve it, for I do not. And if the ark of Noah was 100 years in building, or but near such a time, and then, when the world had stood 1556 years, it were more than foolishness, and madness it self, to think that such a work as this could be performed in ten ; when the world (from the flood to the arrival at Babel, and beginning of this building there) had but 131 years, and whereof they had spent some part in travelling from the east. Again, if all Asia set to their helping hands in the building of the temple of m Diana, and yet they consumed in that work 400 years, (or be it but half that time,) and in such an age as when the world flourished in all sorts of artificers, and with abundant plenty of ma terials and carriages, this work of the tower of Babel could hardly (with all the former wants supposed) be erected in those few years remembered. And for conclusion, let all men of judgment weigh with themselves how impossible it was for a nation or family of men, with their wives, and children, and cattle, to travel 3000 miles through woods, bogs, and deserts, without any guide or conductor ; and we shall find it rather a work of 100 years than of 100 days. For in the West Indies, of which the Spaniards have the experience, in those places where they found neither path nor guide, they have not entered the country ten miles in ten years. And if NimnxTs people spent many years, by the account before remembered, in passing from the East Indies, or the higher part thereof, which standeth in 115 degrees of longitude, until they came into Shinaar, which lieth in seventy-nine degrees, (the distance between those places containing thirty-six degrees, which make 720 leagues, which is 2160 miles,) and did all the way keep the mountains and hard ground; then the difference be tween Babylon and Biscay is much more; for the body of
Pliu.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 257
Biscay lieth in ten degrees, and Babylon, or Shinaar. as aforesaid, in seventy-nine ; so the length of way from Shi- naar to Asturia, or Biscay, is sixty-nine degrees, which make 1380 leagues, or of miles 4140. And therefore if Nimrod took divers years to find Shinaar, which was but 2160 miles ; or (supposing that the ark rested in Armenia) little above 400 miles, there is no cause to the contrary, but to allow as many years to Gomer and Tubal to travel 3000 miles to countries less known unto them by far, than the land of Shinaar was to Nimrod. For paradise was known to Noah before the flood, and so was the region of Eden by Moses afterwards remembered ; but what he understood of most part of the world else, it is unknown. And therefore did Annius ill advise himself to plant Gomer in Italy, and Tubal in Spain, in the 10th and 12th of Nimrod's reign : n Shall the earth be brought forth in one day? or shall a na tion be born at once? But it may be objected, that the sons of Japhet might come by sea, and so save this great travel through deserts by land. But we never read of any navi gation in those days, nor long after. Surely he that know- eth what it is to embark so great a people, as we may justly suppose those conductors carried with them, will not easily believe, that there were any vessels in those days to trans port armies, and withal their cattle, by whose milk they lived and fed their children ; for milk and fruit were the banqueting dishes of our forefathers. And in the eldest times, even the kings and fathers of nations valued them selves by the herds and numbers of their cattle ; who had flocks of sheep, and great droves and herds of their own, and their own shepherds and herdsmen. Now if Tubal had passed by sea from any part of Palestina, Syria, or Cilicia, he might have made good choice within the Straits, and not have overgone Granado, Valencia, and other provinces in that tract ; passed the Straits of Gibraltar, disdained all Anda lusia and Portugal, with all those goodly ports and coun tries, and have sought out the iron, woody, and barren
" Isa. Ixvi. 8. HALEGH, HIST. WOULD. VOL. I. S
258 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
country of the world, called Biscay, by a long and danger ous navigation. But before the journey of the Argonautae, there were scarce any vessels that durst cross the seas in that part of the world ; and yet that which Jason had, if the tale be true, was but a galley, and a poor one, God knows, and perchance such as they use this day in Ireland; which, although it carried but four and fifty passengers, yet was it far greater than any of the former times : Β°erat enim antea parvarum navicidarum nsus; " for in former times " they used very small vessels." I deny not but that the Tyrians gave themselves of old to far-off navigations, whence Tibullus ascribed the invention of ships unto them.
P Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros. Tyrus knew first how ships might use the wind.
And for those boats ^longce naves, or galleys, Pliny saith, that J5gesias ascribeth the device to Paralus ; and Philo- stephanus to Jason ; Ctesias to Samyras ; and Saphanus to Semiramis ; Archimachus to ^Egeon ; to which invention the Erythraei are said to have added certain numbers of oars, and then r Aminocles the Corinthian to have increased them ; the Carthaginians afterwards to have brought them to four banks : the Quinque Remi first to have been used by Nesichthon the Salaminian, with which vessels, in those parts of the world, the Romans served themselves in the Punic war. But these be perhaps but the partialities of writers, or their ignorance. For there are that as constantly cast the devising of these galleys on Sesostris, though Se miramis used them in the passage of her army over Indus in Abraham's time. So it is said that sDanaus was the first that brought a ship into Greece, and yet the Samo- thracians challenge the invention ; and yet Tertullian, on the contrary, gives it to Minerva ; others to Neptune ; Thucydides to the Corinthians. And so ignorant were the people of those ages, as the Egyptians used to coast the
0 Diod. Sicul. 1. 4. c. 4. fol. 115. r Thucyd.
P Tibul. Eleg. 7. Strabo, 1. 16. β’ Plin. 1. 7. c. 56. Euseb. de FrΒ«p.
1 Diod. Sicul. 1. i. Plin. 1. 7. c. 56. Evang. c. i. Tert. de Corou. Mil.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 259
shores of the Red sea upon rafts devised by king Erythrus; and in the time of the Romans, the Britons had a kind of boat (with which they crossed the seas) made of small twigs, and covered over with leather ; of which kind I have seen at the Dingle in Ireland, and elsewhere : Naves ex corio circumsut(B in oceano Britannico, saith Textor; of which Lucan the poet :
Primum cana salix, madefacto vimine, parvam Texitur in puppim, caesoque induta juvenco, Vectoris patiens tumidum superenatat amnem. Sic Venetus stagnante Pado,fusoque Britannns Navigat oceano.
The moisten 'd osier of the hoary willow
Is woven first into a little boat :
Then cloth'd in bullock's hide upon the billow
Of a proud river, lightly doth it float
Under the waterman :
So on the lakes of overswelling Po
Sails the Venetian ; and the Briton so
On th' outspread ocean.
And although it cannot be denied, when Noah by God's inspiration was instructed in so many particulars concerning the ark, that then many things concerning navigation were first revealed ; yet it appears that there was much difference between the ark of Noah, and such ships as were for any long navigation. Yea, ancient stories shew, that it was long after these times ere any durst presume upon any long voyages to sea ; at least with multitudes of women, and children, and cattle : as also common reason can tell us, that even now when this art is come to her perfection, such voyages are very troublesome and dangerous. So as it doth appear, that there was not in that age of Nimrod any ship, or use of ships, fit for any long navigation. For if Gomer and Tubal had passed themselves and their peo ple by sea, the exercise of navigation would not have been dead for so many hundred years after. Leaving therefore the fabulous to their fables, and all men else to their fan-
260 THE HISTORY BOOKI.
cies, who have cast nations into countries far off, I know not how, I will follow herein the relation of Moses and the pro phets ; to which truth there is joined both nature, reason, policy, and necessity ; and to the rest, neither probability nor possibility.
SECT. IV.
Of Gog and Magog, Tubal and Mesech, seated first about Asia tin Less, out ofEzekiel xxxviii. 39.
NOW although many learned and reverend men have formed (I know not whereby led) a plantation of the world, which also hath been and is received ; yet I hope I may be excused, if I differ altogether from them in many particu lars. Certainly, that great learned man of this latter age, Arias Montanus, was also in some things much mistaken ; and for Josephus, as he hath many good things, and is a guide to many errors withal, so was he in this plantation of the world very gross and fabulous, whereby both Eusebius, Hierosolymitanus, Epiphanius, and others, that have taken his testimonies for current, have been by him far misled. But the better to conceive what regions of the world Gomcr the first son of Japhet possessed, as also Tubal, it is need ful to begin with Magog ; because the scriptures take most knowledge of Gog and Magog, which two names have trou bled many commentators, saith Matth. Beroaldus, who hath laboured herein with great diligence, and whom (of all that ever I read) I find most judicious in the examination of this plantation. He takes authority from the prophet Exekiel chiefly, who in the 38th and 39th chapter directeth us what nations the Gomerians, Tubalines, and Togormians were, together with the Magogians ; of which Gog was prince or chief conductor in their attempts against Israel : for besides the portions of Europe, and the north-east parts of the Greater Asia, which Japhet's issues possessed, all Asia the Less was peopled by them. And that those of the issue of Japhet, whom Ezekiel speaks of, were seated hereabout, it may best appear, if we consider the circumstances of the place, and the dependency upon the former prophecy in
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 261
the 37th chapter; for in that 37th chapter 'Ezekiel pro- phesieth of the uniting of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, after their delivery from captivity.
By which prophecy of Ezekiel, it appeareth that God purposed to gather together his people, to give life to dead bones, and to rule them by one prince. For to that pur pose it is written, And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall Jtave one shepherd; that is, they shall be united as they were in David's time. Hereupon, in the 38th chapter, Ezekiel prophesieth against those na tions which should seek to impeach this union, and disturb the people of Israel, whom God purposed to receive to grace, and promised to restore. And so in the same chap ter are those nations coupled together, which infested the Israelites after their return, and sought to subject them ; all which were the subjects or allies of Gog, prince of the Magogians, or Ccelesyrians, next bordering Palestina or the holy land, followed also by the rest of the nations of Asia the Less, which lay north from Judea. The words of Ezekiel are these: *Son of man, set thy face against Gog, and against the land of Magog, the chief princes ofMesech (or Mosoch) and Tubal: and afterward, Behold, I come against the chief prince ofMesech and Tubal: and in the sixth verse, Gomer, and all his bands ; and the house of To- gorma of the north quarters. Herein Ezekiel having first delivered the purpose of his prophecy, teacheth what na tions they were that should in vain assail Israel. He join- eth them together under their prince Gog, and sheweth that their habitations were on the north quarters of Judah, and how seated and joined together. Gog signifieth in the Hebrew, saith St. Jerome, tectum, or covering of a liouse: and Pintus upon Ezekiel affirmeth, that by Gog is meant antichrist: for, saith he, Antichristus erit Diaboli tegumen- tum sub specie humana; that " antichrist shall be the co- " vering of the Devil under human form." He addeth, that Magog is as much to say as Gog ; the letter M being an
1 Ezek. xxxvii. 19. " Ezek. xxxviii. 2.
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Hebrew preposition, and importeth as much as of' or from; so he taketh Magog for those people which follow anti christ. So far Pintus, at least in this, is not amiss, that he expoundeth Magog, not for any one person, but for a na tion, with which agreeth this observation of Beroaldus. Magog, saith he, in Hebrew is written Ham Magog, which sheweth Magog to be a region or nation ; for the letter He which is used but for an emphasis, (which the Hebrews call heliaiedia,) is never added to proper names of men, but often to place. So as Gog was prince of that nation, (called either Magog, or, according to others, the people of Gog,) also prince of Mesech, or Mosoch, and of Tubal, as by the first verse of the 39th chapter is made manifest; Belwld, I come against Ihee Gog, the chief 'prince of Mesech and Tu bal. This must needs be meant by the successors of Seleu- cus Nicanor, who did not, as other conquering nations, seek to make the Jews their tributaries only, but endeavoured by all means, and by all kind of violence, to extinguish the re ligion itself, which the Hebrews professed, and the acknow ledging of one true God ; and to force them to worship and serve the mortal and rotten gods of the heathen, of which nothing remained but the very name and dead images. *St. Ambrose and Isidore take Gog for the nation of the Goths; belike, because they invaded Europe, and sacked Rome and many other places and cities thereabouts. Her- molaus Barbarus out of Pomp. Mela, derives the Turks from the Scythians, esteemed Magogians of Gog. Many take Gog for the proper name of a man ; others of a re gion; others for a nation inhabiting a region, as Junius, who says that Gog is the name of a nation, denominated from him whom the Greek stories call Gyges; who in former time having slain Candaules the Lydian, gave his own name to that nation, thence after called Gygades ; and therefore also the Gygean lake, which lake YStrabo also findeth in Lydia (of which Gyges was king) forty furlongs from Sardis. Pliny calleth it Gygeum stagnum. Herodo-
* Lib. 2. df Fide. i Mrabo, 1. 13.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD.
tus and Nicander set it about the rivers of Hyllus and Maeander ; but the difference is not great. Marius Niger maketh mention of this Gyges king of Lydia ; who, after he had subdued the country about the river Rhodius, which runneth into the Hellespont, called the promontory Tra- pese after his own name Gyges. These opinions do also seem to strengthen that of z Junius. For Magog, saith he, is that part of Asia the Less which Halyattes obtained, and after him his son Croesus; who, as a Junius further notes, having mastered all those regions as far south as Li- banus, in that border built the city Gigarta, or Gogkarta, which in the Syrian signifieth the city of Gog, seated in Coelesyria, whose people were the ancient enemies of the Jews.
Now that Magog is found in Ccelesyria, Pliny affirmeth, saying, Coelesyria habet Bambycen, qua olio nomine Hie- rapolis vocatur, Syris vero Magog-; " Coelesyria hath it " in Bambyce, which by another name is called Hierapolis, " but of the Syrians Magog."" He further telleth us, that the monstrous idol Atergatis, called by the Greeks Derceto, was here worshipped ; Lucian makes mention hereof, say ing, that the city had anciently another name, which yet he expresseth not, forbearing perhaps the word Magog, as sounding nothing elegantly in the Greek. But if we may believe bStrabo, then was Edessa in Mesopotamia the same Bambyce, or Hierapolis, where the same idol was wor shipped. Ortelius is doubtful whether one of these authors did not mistake the place of this Bambyce, or Hierapolis. It may well enough be that the same name and religion was common to them both. Certain it is, that both of them lay due north from Palestina, and were both subject unto the kings of the race of Seleucus. Now I do not condemn the opinion of Hermolaus Barbarus following Josephus, but grant that perhaps Magog might also be the father of the Scythians ; notwithstanding that in this place, where Gog is made the prince of Magog, the nations of Coelesyria, and
' Suid. col. 207. ' -Tun. in Ezek. xxxviii. k Strabo, 1. 16.
s 4
264- THE HISTORY BOOK i.
the north parts adjoining, be meant by Magog ; for by a latter plantation from these parts, they might be propagated into Scythia. Yet it is not to be denied, that the Scythians in old times coming out of the north-east, wasted the better part of Asia the Less, and possessed Coslesyria, where they built both Scythopolis and Hierapolis, which the Syrians call Magog. And that to this Magog Ezekiel had refe rence, it is very plain ; for this city Hierapolis, or Magog, standcth due north from Judea, according to the words of Ezekiel, that from the north quarters those nations should come. For as the kings of the south which infested the Israelites were the Ptolemies kings of Egypt ; so those of the north were the kings of Asia and Syria, the successors of Seleucus, the successor of Alexander Macedon. Guliel- mus Tyrius thinks that this Hierapolis is that Rages men tioned in the story of Tobias. c Pliny takes it not only to have been called Bambyce, as we have said, but also Edes- sa ; not that by Euphrates, but another of the same name ; now the known name is Alepo ; for so Bellonius expounds this Hierapolis, or Magog. This city had the title of sa cred, as the sacred city, (for so the word Hierapolis signi fied!,) yet was it a place of most detestable idolatry ; and wherein was worshipped the idol of the mermaid Atergatis, or Atirgitis, according to Pliny, which the Greeks call Der- ceto.
If then we confer the words of Ezekiel in the 3d verse of the 38th chapter, wherein he joineth together Gog, Me- sech, and Tubal ; and withal remember that Hierapolis was the city of Magog, which also is seated directly north from Judea ; with whom also Ezekiel coupleth Gomer, and all his bands of the north quarters ; we may, as I conceive, safely conclude, that these followers and vassals of Gog (which were northern nations in respect of Judea) were not the Gomerians of France, nor the Tubalines of Spain, but a people of the Lesser Asia, and Ccelesyria ; and therefore that the opinions of Berosus, Josephus, and whosoever else hath followed them therein, are to be rejected. But if Josephus
" Lib. 4. cap. de liello Sacro.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. Β£65
refer himself to later times, and think that some colony of the Tubalines might from Iberia and Asia pass into Spain (to wit, from that piece of land between Colchis or Mengre- lia,) and Albania, (most part possessed by the Georgians,) then is his judgment of better allowance. For without any repugnancy of opinions, it may be granted, that in process of time these people might from their first habitation pass into the countries near the Euxine sea, and from thence in after-ages into Spain.
Josephus makes mention of the Iberi, saying, that they were anciently called Thobelos, as of Tubal ; from whence, saith Justin, " they passed into Spain, to search out the " mines of that region ;" having belike understood that it was a southerly country, and mountainous. For it seem- eth that the Tubalines, called Chalybes, lived altogether by the exchange of iron and other metals, as Apollonius wit- nesseth in these following verses, telling how the Argonauts did visit them.
Hcec gens tellurem rigido non vertit aratro, Sedferri venas scindit sub montibus altis: Merdbus hose mutat, quce vita alimenta ministrant.
The Chalybes plough not their barren soil, But undermine high hills for iron veins ; Changing the purchase of their endless toil For merchandise, which their poor lives sustains.
But it is more probable, that Spain was first peopled by the Africans, who had ever since an affection to return thither, and to repeople it anew. This appeared by the Carthaginians of old, who were easily drawn to pass over the Straits into that country ; and after by the Moors who held Granado, and the south parts 800 years, till the time of Ferdinand and Isabel. And either of these opinions are more probable, than that in the twelfth year of Nimrod^s reign Tubal passed into Spain, and therein built St. Uval; a poor town, and a poor device, God knows. Certain it is, that we must find Mosoch, or Mesech, and Tubal neigh bours, and Gomer and Togorma not far off, or else we shall
266 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
wrong Ezekiel ; for he called Gog the leader or prince of Mesech and Tubal, and niaketh Gonier and Togorma their assistants. And that Mesech inhabited Asia, Functius (though he followed Berosus) confesseth ; for these be his words: Mesacus,qui a Mose Mesech, priscos Mesios ab Adula monte usque nd Pout/cant regioncm poxuit: hcec regio post- ea Cappadocia dicta est, in qua urbs Mazica, &c. hcec est terra Magog pri ncipalifi ; " Mesacus, whom Moses calleth " Mesech, placed the ancient Mesians from the mount Adu- " las, unto the coast of Ponttis. This region was after- " wards called Cappadocia, in which is the town Mazica, " &c. this is the principal country of Magog.'1'' And this doth Annius also avow, and yet forgets that Gog was prince both of Mesech and Tubal ; and therefore, that the one was a nation of Spaniards, the other of Cappadocians, is very ridiculous ; Spain lying directly west, and not north from Judea. Also Ezekiel in the 27th chapter, where he pro- phesieth of the destruction of Tyre, nameth Mesech and Tubal jointly. And for a final proof that these nations were of a northern neighbour land, (how far soever stretch ed,) Ezekiel in the 38th chapter makes them all horsemen : Thou, and much people with thee, all shall ride upon horses, even a great multitude and a mighty. Then if any man believe that these troops came out of Spain over the Py renees, and first passed over a part of France, Italy, Hun gary, and Sarmatia, and embarked again about the Hel lespont, or else compassed all Pontus Euxinus, to come into the Lesser Asia, which is half the length or compass of the then known world, he may be called a strong believer, but he shall never be justified thereby. But on the contrary, it is known that Seleucis was a province neighbouring Pa- lestina, or Judea, and that Hierapolis, or Magog, joined unto it ; whose princes commanded all Syria and Asia the Less, namely, the Seleucidae ; and held it, till Scipio Asi- aticus overthrew Antiochus the great ; after which they yet possessed Syria till the time of Tigranes ; and whether Me sech be in Cappadocia, or under Iberia, yet is it of the Tu- balines. and one and the same dominion.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 267
Of Gomer the like may be said. First he seated himself with Togorma, not far from Magog and Tubal, in the borders of Syria and Cilicia. Afterwards he proceeded further into Asia the Less ; and in long tract of time his va liant issue filled all Germany, rested long in France and Britain, and possessed the utmost borders of the earth, ac complishing, as Melancthon well notes, the signification of their parent's name, which is utmost bordering. But when these borderers wanted further place, whereinto they might exonerate their swelling multitudes, that were bounded in by the great ocean, then did they return upon the nations, occupying the countries through which they had formerly passed, oppressing first their neighbours, afterwards the peo ple more remote. Hereupon it was (as the worthy restorer of our antiquities, Mr. William Camden, hath noted) that they were called Cimbri, which in their old language doth signify robbers ; necessity enforcing them to spoil their neighbours, to whom in their original they were as near joined, as afterwards in the seats which they possessed. For that the warlike nations of Germany were in elder ages accustomed to be beaten by the Gauls, the authority of Cae sar affirming it, is proof sufficient. But in times following they pursued richer conquests, and more easy, though fur ther distant, by which (to omit their other enterprises not here to be spoken of) they were drawn at length into Asia the Less, and occupied those parts which had formerly been held by their progenitors. I say not that they claimed those lands as theirs by descent ; for likely it is, that they knew little of their own pedigree. Neither can any man therefore deny, that they were of old seated in Asia, be cause in late ages they returned thither; unless he will think, that all those nations which from far parts have in vaded and conquered the land of Shinaar, may by that ar gument be proved not to have issued from thence at the first.
Now concerning Samothes, (for his excellent wisdom sur- named Dis,) whom Annius makes the brother of Gomer and Tubal, (which brother Moses never heard of, who spake his
268 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
knowledge of Japhet's sons,) they must find him in some old poet; for Functius, a great Berosian, confesseth, ^Qitis hie Samothes fuerit inccrtum cst; " Who this Samothes " was it is uncertain ;" neither is there any proof that he was that same Dis, whom e Caesar saith the Gauls suppose to be their ancestor; yea, and Vignier confesseth with Functius, fMais on nc scait qui il cstoit; " No man knows " who he was."
SECT. V.
Against the fabulous Berosus' s fiction, that the Italian Janus was
Noah.
BUT before I go on with NoalVs sons, I think it neces sary to disprove the fiction which Annius hath of Noah him self; an invention indeed very ridiculous, though war ranted, as he hath wrested, by those authors of whom him self hath commented ; as the fragment of Berosus, Fabius Pictor, Cato, Lavinius, and others. For Β§ Annius seeks to persuade us that Noah, surnamed Janus, was the same which founded Genoa, with other cities in Italy, wherein he lived ninety-two years. This to disprove, by Moseses si lence, is a sufficient argument to me, if there were nothing else to disprove it. For if he vouchsafed to remember the building of Babel, Erec, Achad, Chalne, and Nineveh, by Nimrod, Noah was a man of too great mark to be forgot ten, with all the acts he did in ninety-two years. But it were a needless labour for me to disprove the authority of that Berosus, on whom Annius groundeth, seeing so many learned men have so demonstratively proved that fragment to be counterfeit. Besides that, Tatianus the Assyrian, in his oration against the Greeks, avoweth, that the ancient and true Berosus wrote only three books, dedicated to An- tiochus the successor of Seleucus Nicanor; but h Annius hath devised five books, wherewith he honoured) Berosus. And whereas Berosus handled only the estate of the Chal-
* In C'hron. Saeculo. Cato de Origiu. Laviu. Illust.
r Caesar. Comment, de Gal.
1 Vignier, pars i. C'hroii. h Joseph. 1. i.
Ann. de Hetrusc. Fict. de Aur.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 269
deans and Assyrians, Annius hath filled this fragment with the business of all the world. And if we may believe Eu- sebius better than Annius, then all the kings of the Latins (before JEneas) consumed but 150 years ; whereas no man hath doubted, but that from Noah to ^Eneas's arrival into Italy, there passed 1126 (after the least rate of the Hebrew account) and (after Codoman) 1291. For Janus (who was the first of their kings) lived at once with Ruth, who mar ried Booz, in the world's year (as some reckon) 2717, after the flood 1064, and Noah died 350 years after the flood ; and so there passed between Janus of Italy, and Noah sur- named Janus, 704 years. For Saturnus succeeded Janus, Picus after Saturnus, Faunus after Picus, and Latinus fol lowed Faunus ; which Latinus lived at once with Tautanes the twenty-seventh king of Assyria ; with Pelasgus of Pelo ponnesus ; with Demophoon of Athens ; and Sampson judge of Israel. Now all these five kings of the Latins having con sumed but 150 years, and the last of them in the time of Sampson ; then reckoning upwards for 150 years, and it reacheth Ruth, with whom Janus lived.
True it is that the Greeks had their Janus, but this was not Noah ; so had they Ion the son of Xuthus, the son of Deucalion, from whom they draw the lones, who were in deed the children of Javan, the fourth son of Japhet. For the vulgar translation (where the Hebrew word is 'l Javan) writes Greece, and the Septuagint Hellas, which is the same. So had they Medus the son of Medea, whom they make the parent of the Medes, though they were descended of a far more ancient father, to wit, Madai the third son of Japhet.
Lastly, we see by a true experience, that the British lan guage hath remained among us above 2000 years, and the English speech ever since the invasion of the Angles ; and the same continuance have all nations observed among them selves, though with some corruption and alteration. There fore it is strange if either Noah (by them called Janus) had
' Ezek. xxvii. 13, 19. and so the place of Isai. Ixvi. 19. for Javan, Hellada; and for the plural Javamin, Hellenae.
270 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
left in Italy his grandchild Gomer after him, or Tubal in Spain, that no plain resemblance of the Hebrew, Syrian, or Scythian (which no time could have quite extinguished) should have been found in the languages of those countries. For which reasons we doubt not but these personal planta tions of Janus, Gomer, Tubal, &c. in Italy, Spain, or France, are merely fabulous. Let the Italians therefore content themselves with the Grecian Janus, which commanded them and planted them, and who preceded the fall of Troy but one hundred and fifty years, saith Eusebius, which was in the time of Latinus the fifth king ; which also St. Augustine and Justin confirm ; and this agreeth with reason, time, and possibility. And if this be not sufficient to disprove this va nity, I may out of themselves add thus much : that whereas some of them make Vesta (others Camasena) the wife of this Janus, who instituted the holy fire of the vestal virgins in Rome, (the Latins and Romans taking from Janus all their idolatrous and heathenish ceremonies,) there is no man so impious as to believe that Noah himself (who is said by Moses to have walked with God, to be a just man, and whom God of all mankind made choice of) could be either ignorant of the true and only God, or so wicked and un grateful to set up or devise any heathen, savage, or idola trous adoration, or have instituted any ceremony contrary to that which he knew best pleasing to God himself.
SECT. VI.
That Gomer also and his son Togorma, of the posterity ofjaphet, were first seated about Asia the Less : and that from thence they spread westward into Europe ; and northward into Sarmatia.
TO turn now to the sons of Noah, and the world's plan tation after the flood: therein I observe, that as both reason and necessity taught them, so, when they multiplied in great numbers, and dispersed themselves into the next coun tries bordering to their first habitations, and from thence sent forth colonies elsewhere, it was in such a manner as that they might repair to each other, and keep intelligence by river ; because the land was yet desert and overpressed
CHAP. VIH. OF THE WORLD. 271
with woods, reeds, bogs, and rotten marshes. As when Nimrod seated in Babylonia, Chus took the south part of Chaldea, down the river of Gehon, by which he might pass to and fro from Babylon to his own plantation ; those, also, which were of the race of Shem, inhabiting at Ur, or Orchoa, near the lakes of Chaldea, might by the same river get up to Babylon, and receive succour from thence. All which tract of land upon Gehon southward, Moses, in the descrip tion of paradise, calleth the land of Cush ; because the do minion and empire was then in the hands of Nimrod a Cush- ite, by whom the children of Shem (which came into that valley, and stayed not in the east) were for a while oppressed, till God afterward, by the seed of Abraham, made them his own nation and victorious. Havilah, the brother of Nim rod, and son of Cush, took both banks of Tigris, especially on the east side of the river; by which river his people might also pass to and fro to Babel.
The imperial seat of which region of Havilah, or Susian, was anciently called Chusian, or Chvisan, afterwards Susa. Cush himself took the banks of Gehon, and planted those countries westward, and south-westward towards Arabia the stony, and the desert, where k Ptolemy placeth the city of Chusidia, first Chusia.
Seba, and Sheba, with the rest that planted Arabia Fe lix, had Tigris to convey them into the Persian gulf, which washeth the banks of Arabia Felix on the east side ; so as those sons of Cush might take land down the river as they pleased. Also the city of Nineveh was by Nimrod founded on the said river of Tigris; and from thence a colony passed to Charran, standing also upon a navigable branch of Eu phrates. In like manner did Japhet's sons settle themselves together, and took their seats in Asia the Less, from whence they might indifferently stretch themselves northward and westward, into the next parts of Europe, called the Isles of the Gentiles. And it seemeth very agreeable to reason, that both Gomer, Magog, and Tubal^ sat down first of all in that part of Syria, to the north of Palestina and Phoenicia; k Ptol. Asiae Tab. 4.
272 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
-and from thence Gomer or his children passed on into Asia the Less, as those of Magog and Tubal did ; from whence the Tuhalines spread themselves into Iberia ; and the Ma- gogians more northerly into Sarmatia. The first Gomerians, and first planters in Asia the Less, held the country of the Cymmerians (witness Herodot. lib. 4.) the same region which was afterwards by the Gallogreeks called Galatia, to whom St. Paul wrote his epistle, so entitled. This nation of the Cymmerians (whom the invincible Scythians after wards dispersed, and forced from their first plantations) gave names to divers places ; as to the mountains above Albania, called Cymmerini, and to the city of Cymmeris in Phrygia; also Bosphorus Cymmerius took appellation from this na tion, in the outlet whereof was also a city of that name called Cymmerian ; which Pliny saith, mistaking the place, had some time the name of Cerberion ; but Cerberion was a town in Campania, so called of the unhealthful waters, sa vouring of brimstone; which Augustus caused to be cleansed by letting in the water of the lake Lucrinus.
The children of Tubal ranged as far Iberia, to whom the Moschici were neighbours, which others \vrite Meshech. The prophet Ezekiel (coupling them together) calleth Gog the prince of Meschech and Tubal. For these Mcschi, which Ptolemy calleth Moschi, inhabit Syracena, a province of Armenia, directly south from the mountains Moschici, in the valley between the mountains Moschici and the moun tains Paryardes ; out of whose north part springeth the ri ver Phasis ; from the east part Araxis ; and from the west Euphrates: and of this Meschech are descended also the Moscovians, saith Melancthon, and it may be, that in pro cess of time some of them inhabited those regions also; for Meshech, saith Melancthon, signifieth extendens, enlarging or stretching forth. Togorma also at first did inhabit amongst his parents and kindred. The Togormians were also called Giblei, a people neighbouring the Sydonians in Gabala, a tetrarehy of Phoenicia, the same which Pliny calleth Gaben ; from whence l Solomon had his most excel- 1 i Kings v. 1 8.
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 273
lent masons, which hewed stones for the temple of Jerusa lem. Thence the Togormians stretched into the Less Arme nia, whose kings were hence called m Tigranes, and their ci ties Tigranokartae ; of which cities Tigranes, subdued by Lucullus the Roman, built one. Hierosolymitanus hath planted the Togormians in Barbary ; forgetting the pro phecy of Ezekiel against the Tynans, n They of' the house of Togorma brought to tliy fairs horses, and horsemen, and mules, which could not well be driven over the whole length of the Mediterranean sea, but from the neighbour countries by land. But Josephus takes them for the pa rents of the Phrygians, which I do not deny, but they might be in the ensuing ages ; and so might the Tubalines be of the Spaniards ; but it was from Iberia, and many hun dred years after the 12th of Nimrod's reign. The Jews conceive that the Turks came of those Togormians, because their emperor is called Togar. The Chaldeans make them the fathers of the Germans. But Laonicus affirms, that the Turks descended of the Crim Tartar, which borders Muscovy. But for these sub-derivations it were infinite to examine them. Only of the first and second plantation, and of the first nations after the flood, is the matter which I la bour to discover ; and therein to open the ignorance of some, and the corruption of other fabulous writers. And this we must note, that those grandchildren of Noah which were of a more quiet spirit, or, perchance, of less understanding, and had not therefore the leading of colonies sent out, their proper habitations could be hardly known ; only reason hath taught us, that they dwelt among the rest, and were covered with the fame of others, who took on them the con duction and dominion over the rest.
From Madai, the third son of Japhet, were the Medes. The Grecians bring them, as before, from Medus the son of Medea.
m Jun. in Gen. x. 3. " .Tun. in Ezek. xxvii. 14.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I.
274 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
SECT. VII.
Of Javan the fourth son of Japhet ; and of Mesch of Aram, and Meshech of Japhet.
OF Javan, the fourth son of Japhet, came the Tones, which were afterwards called the Greeks ; and so the Latin and Greek interpreters for Javan write Greece; as in Isaiah : Et mittam e.v n-s qui salratl fucr'int ad gentes, in mare, in Ittilidm, et Grceciam ; " And I will send those that escape " of them to nations in the sea, in Italy, and in Greece." The Geneva here useth the word Tarshish for Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, though Tarsis in many places be taken for the sea. The Tigurine and the Geneva use the names Tubal and Javan, and not Italy and Greece ; keeping the same Hebrew words. Of the lones were the Athenians, though themselves dream that they were aborigines, or men without ancestors, and growing, as it were, out of the soil itself; who abounding in people, sent colonies into Asia the Less, of whom came the lones of those parts. Others 0 derive the Athenians from Ion the son of Xuthus, the son of Deucalion ; but the antiquity of Javan mars the fashion of that supposition, who so many years preceded Xuthus, Ion, or Deucalion. Pausanias tells us that Xuthus stole out of Thessaly with all his father's treasure, and his brothers" portions, and arriving at Athens, he was graciously received by Erictheus, who gave him his daughter in marriage ; of whom he received two sons, Ion and Achaeus, the supposed ancestors of the Athenians. For Attica was called Ionia, saith Plutarch in the life of Theseus, who, when he had joined Megara to Attica, erected a pillar in that isthmus or strait, which fasteneth Peloponnesus to the other part of Greece ; writing on that part which looketh towards the east these words : Hcec non sunt Peloponnesus, ast Ionia ; " These countries are not of Peloponnesus, but of Ionia f and on the other side which looketh towards the south, and into Peloponnesus, this : " These parts are Peloponnesus, " and not Ionia.""
0 Thucyd.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 275
Strabo out of Hecatasus affirmeth that the lones came out of Asia into Greece, which is contrary to the former opi nion ; that the lones of Greece transporting certain compa nies into Asia the Less, the name of lones was thereby therein retained. And though Strabo knew no more there of than he learned of the Greeks themselves, yet I find this conjecture of Hecataeus reasonable enough. For though it were to him unknown, yet sure I am that Asia the Less had people before Greece had any ; and that Javan did not fly from Babylonia into Greece, but took Asia the Less in his passage; and from thence passed over the nearest way, leaving his own name to some maritimate province on that side, as he did to that part of Greece so called. But yet Strabo himself believed that Ionia took the name from Ion the son of Xuthus ; for so much he had learned from them selves, which was also the opinion of Pausanias. True it is, that the Greeks in after-times cast themselves into that part of Asia the Less, opposite unto them, which they held for divers years. And howsoever the Greeks vaunt them selves to be the fathers of nations, and the most ancient, yet all approved historians (not their own) deride and disprove their pride and vanity therein. For this dispute of anti quity (among profane writers) rested between the Scythians and the Egyptians, as Justin out of Trogus, in the war be tween Vexoris of Egypt and Tanais of Scythia, witnesseth ; which preceded far the reign of Ninus, and was long before the name of Greece was ever heard of. And it is also ma nifest, that in Cecrops^s time the Greeks were all savages, without law or religion, living like brute beasts in all respects : and Cecrops, saith P St. Augustine, lived together with Moses.
The sixth son of Japhet was Mesech, whom the Septua- gint call Mosoch, a part of those nations commanded by Gog, the chief prince of Mesech and Tubal. But this we must remember, that between Mesech the son of Aram, and Meshech (or Mosech) the son of Japhet, there is little dif ference in name, and both by divers interpreters diversely v Aug. de Civitate Dei, lib. 18. c. 10. T 2
276 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
written. Montanus with the Vulgar writeth Mesch ; the son of Aram, Mes ; the Geneva, Mash ; Junius, Mesch. But it may be gathered out of the 120th Psalm, that either Me- shech, the son of Japhet, was the parent of those people, or gave name to that province wherein David hid himself; or else, which may rather seem, that it took name from Mesch the son of Aram. For David bewailing his exile (while he lived among a barbarous and irreligious people) useth these words; <l Woe is me, that I remain in Mesech, and (hccll in the tents of Kedar ; which Junius converteth thus : Hei mihi quia peregrinor tarn din : Jiab'tto tanquam Sccmta* Kedareni : the Septuagint gives it this sense, Woe is me, because my habitation, or abode, is prolonged, who dwell with the inhabitants ofKedar; with which this of the Latin agreeth ; Heu mihi, quia incolatus meus prolongatus cst, habitavi cum habitantibus Kedar : the Chaldean otherwise, and in these words ; O me miserum, quia percgr'mntus sum Asianis, habitavi cum, tabernaculis Arabum ; " O wretch " that I am, for I have travelled among those of Asia, I " have dwelt in the tabernacles of the Arabians." But how soever or whichsoever conversion be taken for the best, yet all make mention of Kedar, which is a province of Arabia Petraea; and the Chaldean putteth Asia instead of Mesech; but the Hebrew itself hath Mesech. And if it be to be taken for a nation, (as it is most likely, because it answers to Kedar, the name of a nation,) seeing Mesh the son of Aram, 1 Chron. xvii. is called Meshec, it is indifferent whether this nation took name from Meshech or Mesh, both bordering Judea, and like enough to be commanded by one prince ; for so Ezekiel makes Mesech and Tubal. But as for those that take Mesech out of the word Mosoch, given by the Sep tuagint, to be the Muscovian, sure they presume much upon the affinity of names, as aforesaid. And sure I am that David never travelled so far north; (for to him Musco- via was utterly unknown ;) but about the border of Kedar, it may be, he was often in all the time of his persecution ; the same being a city on the mountains of Sanir, or Galaad. And i Psalm cxx. 5.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 277
yet Arias Montanus makes Mosoch the father of the Mus- covians ; and herein also Melancthon runs with the tide of common opinion, and sets Mesech in Muscovia, though with some better advice of judgment ; as, first seated in Cappa- docia, and from thence travelling northward ; expounding the places of the 120th Psalm, Hei mihi quod exulo in Mesech, to signify, Gentis ejus feritatem insignem esse ; " That the ferity of that nation exceeded:'" which fierceness or brutality of the Muscovians David never proved, or per chance never heard of. But the same ferity or cruelty, which those northern Muscovians had, may as well be as cribed to the Arabians and Kedarens. For this country took name of r Kedar, the second son of Ishmael, of whom a people of equal fierceness to any of the world were begotten, both in those times and long after, even to this day; (if the Ara bians, Ishmaelites, and Saracens may be accounted one peo ple;) the same being foreshewed by the speech of the angel to Hagar, Gen. xvi. 12. And he shall be a wild man : his hand shall be against every man, and every marts hand against him. Now Arabia the Desert, saith Pliny, confront- eth the Arabians Cochlei on the east, and the Cedraei south ward, both which join together upon the Nabathasi. So it appeareth, as before, that Mesech, Tubal, Gomer, Togorma. and Magog, neighboured Canaan and Israel, and that Ke dar also did join to Mesech ; all which were regions of Sy ria, or of Asia the Less, commanded by the successors of Se- leucus, enemies of the reestablishment of Israel and Judah. But, as I have already said, it might well be, that long after the first plantation the issue of Mesech, or Mosoch, might pass into Cappadocia, and thence into Hyrcania, and give names both to Mazega in the one, and to the mountains Moschici in the other, and from thence might send people northerly in Muscovia ; and so all opinions saved. But all savage nations, overgrown and uncultivated, do, for the most part, shew a late plantation ; even as civility, letters, and magnificent buildings witness antiquity.
Tiras, the seventh son of Japhet, which s Montanus reck- ' Geu. xxv. 13. 5 Moutan. in Chr.
T3
278 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
ons among the sons of Gomer, was the father of the Thra- cians, as all authors, worthy of examination, affirm. Jose- phus was the first that determined hereof; and because the scriptures are altogether silent what part of the world Tiras peopled, the conjectures are indifferent, and give no ground at all of dispute. It followeth now to speak of the sons of Gomer, which were three: Ascanez, Riphath, and Togorma.
SECT. VIII.
Of Ascanez and Riphath, the two eldest sons of Gomer.
ASCANEZ was the father of those which the Greeks call Rhegini, saith Josephus, but he gives no reason why.
Eusebius makes Ascanez the father of the Goths ; the Jews in their Targum make him the root of the German nation, but their expositions are commonly very idle. Pliny findeth Ascania in Phrygia, near the rivers of Hylas and Cios : l Melancthon being of the same opinion, that the Tui- scones were descended of the Ascanez, (for Tuiscones, saith he, is as much to say, as of the Ascanez, Prceposito articulo die Ascanez,) and that the word signifieth a religious keeper of fire ; it being an ancient superstition to pray at the fire of sacrifices, as afterwards at the tombs of martyrs. Not far from Phrygia was the lake Ascania, known by that name in the Romans'' time. And among the kings which came to the succour of Troy was Ascanius, Deo simttis, saith "Ho mer, " like unto God;" because he was beautiful and strong : for in the same manner doth Virgil grace vEneas, Os hume- rosque Deo sinrilis; " In face and body like one of the gods." Virgil also remembereth such a river together with the hills Gargara ; as x Illas ducit amor trans Gar gar a, transque sonantem Ascanium ; " Appetite leads them both over the " mountains Gargara and the roaring Ascanius." But this Pliny maketh more plain in the description of Phrygia. For he placeth the city of Brillion upon the river Ascanius, which is adjoining to Mysia, and is near the border of the Trojan empire : and the lake Ascanez he directs us to find by the description of Prusia, founded by Hannibal at the ' Melancthon in Carion. 1. i, " Horn. Iliad. 2. " Virg. Georg. 1. 3.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 279
foot of Olympus, which lieth far within the countries of Bi- thynia : and then from Prusia to Nicea are accounted five and twenty miles, in which way this lake lieth, even between Prusia and Nicea ; and so Junius, as I conceive him, takes them of Ascanez to be the inhabitants of Pontus and Bithy- nia, and those north parts of Asia. Stephanus de Urbibus makes it a city of Troas, built by Ascanius the son of ^Eneas, saying, that there was another of that name in Mysia. Of Ascania, a lake of Bithynia, Ptolemy witnesseth; and Strabo giveth Ascania both a lake, a river, and a town in Mysia, near unto Cio, which also agreeth with Pliny ; for Pliny h'ndeth Prusia, before spoken of, near Cio, and calleth the islands before Troy, Ascanes.
Now whether these places took name of Ascanez the son of Gomer, or of Ascanius the son of JEneas, it might be questioned; sure it is, that Ascanius, which brought succour to the Trojans, could not take his name from ^Eneas's son, who was then either exceeding young, or rather unborn : and it seemeth that the countries whence those succours came, were not out of any part of Phrygia, or Mysia, but further off, and from the north parts of all Asia the Less, which by Jeremy is called Ascanez, by the figure synec doche, as Junius thinketh. Out of those testimonies there fore which deceive not, we may confidently determine. For of the prophet Jeremy we shall learn of what nation the Ascanez were, whose words are these : y Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among1 the nations against her, call up the kings of Ararat, Minni, and Ascanez against her, &c. meaning, against the Babylonians. Ararat was Armenia the Greater, as most interpreters consent, so called of the mountains of Ararat which run through it; Minni the Lesser Armenia: Armenia being compounded of Aram and Minni; for Minni was the ancient name, saith Junius and others be fore him, and Aram anciently taken for Syria, which con tained all that tract from Euphrates to the seacoasts of Phoe nicia and Palestina; and therefore Mesopotamia being in
>' Jer. li. 27. T 4
280 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
elder times but a province of Syria, the scriptures difference it in the story of Jacob and Esau, and call it Aram-padan. Then if these two nations were of the Armenians, and Asca- nez joined with them, (who altogether united under Cyrus and Darius, came to the spoil of the Babylonian empire,) we shall err much to call Askenaz, Germany or Almain, for we hear of no Swart Ruttiers at that siege. But the Askenaz were of those nations which were either subject or allied to the Medes ; of which, if any of them came afterwards into Phrygia, I know not; for the dispersion of nations was in after-times without account. But for the opinion of Euse- bius, who makes them to be Goths ; or that of Josephus, who calls them Rhegini; or of the Jews, who will have them to be Almains, when they confirm it either by scriptures or reason, I will think as they do.
Of Riphath, the second son of Gomer, there is mention in the first of Chronicles. Beroaldus and Pererius think that he wandered far off from the rest of his brothers, and therefore no memory of his plantation. But 1 see nothing to the contrary, but that he might seat himself with the rest of his family ; for there wanted no room or soil in those days for all the sons and grandchildren of Noah. There fore I take it to be well understood, that the Riphei were of Riphath, which the Greeks afterwards, according to Jo sephus, called the Paphlagones ; and Riphei, saith Melanc- thon, signifieth giants. These people were very famous in the north parts, and in Sarmatia : the most of number and power among them, Sarmatarum gens maxima Heneti ; " The greatest number of the Sarmatians were the Heneti/'' who spoke the ancient Polac : which being first called Ri phei, (for the love of some of their leaders or kings,) changed their names, and became Heneti, (a custom exceeding com mon in those times,) and dwelt first in Paphlagonia, as Ho mer witnesseth, and so doth Apollonius in his Argonau ticks: now, when these Riphei, afterwards Heneti, sought new re gions, they came along the shores of Euxinus, and filled the north part of Europe, containing Russia, Lithuania, and Polonia. From thence they crossed thwart tht land, and
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peopled Illyria, desirous, saith z Melancthon, of a wanner soil of fruit and wine. These Heneti, or Veneti, whom Me lancthon taketh to be one people, filled all that land between the Baltic and Adriatic sea ; and to this day the name of the gulf Venedicus is found in Russia. This nation, after they were possessed of Lithuania and Polonia, disturbed the plantation of the Boii and Hermondurii. Therefore it seemeth to me, that of Riphath came the Riphei, afterwards Heneti ; and so thinketh Arias Montanus, first seated in Paphlagonia, but in course of time lords of Sarmatia, and those other parts before remembered, chiefly between the rivers of Vistula and Albis. The name, saith Melancthon, signifieth wandering or wanderers, or Nomades, a people which lived by white meats and fruits, as indeed all nations did in the first ages.
Of the third son of Gomer, Togorma, I have spoken al ready : now therefore of Javan's children, which were four; Elisa, Tharsis, Cethim, and Dodanim.
SECT. IX.
Of the four sons of Javun ; and of the double signification of Tharsis, either for a proper name or for the sea.
OF Elisa, or Elipha, came the JEoles; and of this Elisa all the Greeks were called Hellenes, saith Montanus. Me lancthon makes Elisa the father of the ^Eoles in Asia side ; others of Elis in Peloponnesus, or of both. And seeing the Greeks were descended in general of Javan, it is probable that the vEoles and the Elei took name of Elisa, his eldest son. a Ezekiel, speaking of Tyre, nameth the isles of Elisa : Hyacinthus et purpura de insulis Elisce facta sunt operi- mentum tuum ,β’ " Blue silk and purple brought from the " isles of Elisa was thy covering:" the Chaldeans for Elisa write Italia, but the Vulgar, the Tigurine, the Geneva, and Junius keep the word Elisa ; and so I think they might do with reason : for there was not found any such purple dye in Italy in those days, nor since, that I can read of. But those isles of Elisa were by a better conjecture the isles of 1 Melaucth. in C'arion. a Ezek. xxvii. 7.
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Greece ; and the best purple was found afterwards at Tyre itself, and before that, and among the Cyclades, and on the coast of Getulia.
Tharsis, the second son of Javan, inhabited Cilicia, of which Tharsis is the metropolis. M on tan us for Tharsis in Cilicia, understands Carthage in Africa ; but (reserving the respect due to so learned a man) he was much mistaken i that conjecture. The Chaldean paraphrast puts Carthage for Tharsis, but it hath no authority nor warrant of reason therein. So likewise, where it is written, that the ships of Solomon went every three years to Tharsis, and brought thence gold, silver, elephants1 teeth, &c. the Chaldean pa raphrast translates Tharsis, Africa. But Solomon's ships were prepared in the Red sea at Ezion-gaber, in the bay of Elana, near unto Madian, where Jethro, Moseses father-in- law, inhabited ; a province of Arabia Petra?a, Idumea, or of the Chusites; and they sailed to the higher part of the East Indies. For it had been a strange navigation to have spent three years in the passage between Judea and Car thage, or any other part of Africa, which might have been sailed in six or ten days. And if so great riches might have been found within the bounds of the Mediterranean sea, all the other neighbouring princes would soon have entertained that trade also. But this enteqirise of Solomon is in this sort written of in the first of Kings : Also king Solomon made a miry ofshtvs in Ezion-gaber, which is beside Elath and the brink of the Red sea in the land of Edom : and Hi ram sent Kith the miry Ins servants, that were mariners, and had knowledge of the sea, ;c/f/> lite serrants of Solomon: and theif came to Opliir, and fetclicd from thence four hun dred and ttcentij talent* of gold, &c. But as the nations about Pontus thought no sea in the world like unto their own, and doubted whether there were any other sea but that onlv ; (whereof it came that Pontus was a word used for the sea in general;) so because the Israelites and the Phrenicians knew no other sea than that of the Mediterranean in the be ginning; and that the people of Tharsis had the greatest ships, and were the first navigators in thoot1 parts with such
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 283
vessels, they were therefore called men of the sea ; and the word Tharsis used often for the sea. And whereas it is said that the ships of Solomon went every three years to Tharsis, that phrase is not strange at all ; for we use it or dinarily wheresoever we navigate, namely, that the king's ships are gone to the sea, or that they are set out every year, or every three years to the sea ; and therefore Tharsis was not therein named, either for Carthage, Africa, or India, but used for the sea itself. But in this place Tharsis is truly taken for Tharsis, the chief city in Cilicia, founded by Tharsis the second son of Javan, or by his successors, in memory of their first parent. To this city arrived Alex. Macedon, before he gave the first overthrow to Darius ; and casting himself into the river to bathe and wash his body, he fell into an extreme fever, and great danger of death : and in this city of Tharsis was St. Paul born. Now this agreeth with the reason and nature of a plantation. For (Gomer and his other sons inhabiting Asia the Less, and that part of Syria adjoining) Javan, who was to pass over the sea into Greece, took the edge of the same coast, and first planted the lones on that shore ; gave the islands be tween Asia the Less and Greece, to Elisa, and left Tharsis upon the sea-side in Cilicia, of whom that city took name.
The third son of Javan was Cethim, of whom were the Romans and Italians, saith Beroaldus ; but I allow better of Melancthon's opinion, who makes Cethim the father of the Macedonians. Cethim is a voice plural, saith he, and sig- nifieth percussores, though in that respect it may be meant by either. But it seemeth more probable that place of Isaiah xxiii. according to Melancthon, had relation to Alexander and the Macedonians : Hcec calamltas ab Esai pr&dicta est, qui capite vicesimo tertio inquit, ventures esse eversores Tyri ex terra Cittim ; " This calamity," saith Melancthon, " was foreshewed by Isaiah the prophet, who in " the 23d chapter pronounced, that the destroyers of Tyre " were to come out of Cittim."" And although the children of Israel esteemed all men islanders which came to them by sea, and separate from that continent, (and so also Cittim
284 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
might be taken for Italy, saith Beroaldus,) yet we must take the first performance of the former prophecy, winch took effect by the destruction of the Tyrians by Alexander ; who after seven months'1 siege entered that proud city, and cut in pieces seven thousand principal citizens, strangled two thousand, and changed the freedom of thirteen thou sand others into bondage and slavery. Now, that Macedon was taken for Cethim, it appeareth plainly in the first of the Maccabees, in these words : After that Alexander the Macedonian, the son of' Philip, went forth of the land of Ce thim, and slew Darin* king- of the Persians and Medes. Josephus sets Cethim in the isle of Cyprus, in which, saith he, there remaineth the city Citium, the country of Zeno the philosopher, (witness Laertius,) which city Pintus upon Ezekiel affirmeth, that it stood in St. Jerome's time. So it may be, that all the islands in ancient times by the Hebrews were called the islands of Cethim ; and in that sense might Cyprus be so called also ; and yet because Tharsis was the very next port to Cyprus, and directly over-against it, it is also very probable that Cethim dwelt by his brother Thar sis: and finding that island too strait, for his people after they were increased, and that the rest of the coasts, both on Asia side and Greece, were inhabited by his father and brothers, he sent colonies over the Egean sea, and inhabited Macedonia.
Dodanim the fourth son of Javan, and the youngest bro ther, (by the most opinions,) sat down at Rhodes as near Cethim, Tharsis, and Elisa, as he could. For Dodanim and Rhodanim are used indifferently by many translators : the Hebrew D and the Hebrew R are so like, as the one may easily be taken for the other, as all Hebricians affirm. There is also found in Epirus the city of Dodona, in the province of Molossia. And as Cethim, when he wanted soil in Cyprus; so Dodanim (seated in a far less island) did of necessity send his people further off; and keeping along the coast, and finding Peloponnesus in the possession of Elisa, he passed a little further on the westward, and planted in Epirus. And though the city of Dodona was
CHAP. viii. OF THP: WORLD. 285
not then built, or, perchance, not so ancient as Dodanim himself, yet his posterity might give it that name in me mory of their first parent, as it happened all the world over. For names were given to cities, mountains, rivers, and provinces, after the names of Noah's children and grandchildren ; not in all places by themselves, but by their successors many years after ; every of their families being- desirous to retain among them by those memories, out of what branch themselves were taken, and grafted elsewhere. And because great kingdoms were often by new conquerors newly named, and the greatest cities often fired and de molished ; therefore those that hoped better to perpetuate their memories, gave their own names, or the names of their ancestors, to mountains and rivers, as to things (after their judgments) freest from any alteration.
Thus then did Javan settle himself and his children in the edge and frontier of Asia the Less, towards the sea shore ; and afterwards in Greece, and the islands and neigh bour provinces thereof, as Japhet their father had done in the body of the Lesser Asia, together with Javan's brethren, Gomer, Magog, Madai, Tubal, Mesech, and the rest round about him. And in like sort did Chush (the son of Cham) people Babylonia, Chaldea, and the borders thereof towards the west and south-west : and the sons of Chush (all but Nimrod, who held Babylonia itself) travelled south ward in Arabia Felix,*and south-westward into Arabia Pe- traea ; the rest of his children holding the regions adjoining to Nimrod. Mizraim, the brother of Cush, in like manner took the way of Egypt ; and his brother Canaan the region of Palestina adjoining. The sons of Canaan had their por tions in Canaan, of whom all those nations came, which were afterwards the enemies both to the Hebrews, and to those of the sons of Shem, which spread themselves towards the west, and the borders of the Mediterranean sea ; of which I shall speak hereafter. But first of the sons of Cham, or Ham, which were four : Chush, Mizraim, Phut, and Ca naan.
286 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
SECT. X.
That the seat of Chush the eldest son of Ham was in Arabia, nut in Ethiopia ; and of strange fables, and ill translations of scrip ture, grounded upon the mistaking of this point.
Β§. i.
Of Josephus s tale of an Ethiopess wife to Moses, grounded on the
mistaking of the scat of Chush.
THAT Ham was the father of the Egyptians, it is made manifest in many scriptures, as in the 150th Psalm, ver. 51. Then Israel came to Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in tJie land of Ham: and in the 78th Psalm, He slcic (ill the Jirst-born in Egypt, even the beginning of their strength^ in the tahcrnaclcti of Ham. There is also found a great city in Thebaida called Cheramis, (as it were, the city of Ham,) of which name b Herodotus also discovers an island in the same region. But because Chush is the elder son of Ham, it agreeth with order to speak first of him. Now though I have already in the description of paradise han dled this question, and, I hope, proved that Chush could not be Ethiopia; yet seeing it cometh now to his turn to speak for himself, I will add some further proof to the former. For the manifestation hereof sets many things straight, which had otherwise very crooked constructions and senseless interpretations. Surely, howsoever the Sep- tuagint and Josephus have herein failed ; yet it is manifest that Chush could not be Ethiopia, but Arabia, to wit, both that Arabia called Petraea, and a part of Arabia the Happy and the Desert : which regions Chush and the Chusites pre sently planted, after they left Babylonia to Nimrod, wherein they first sat down altogether. And there is nothing which so well cleareth this controversy as the true interpretation of the place, Numb. xii. 1. where Moses's wife is called a Chusite ; together with some places which speak of Nabu- chodonosor's conquests. For whereas Josephus and the Septuagint in the place, Numb. xii. 1. as also elsewhere, un-
'β’ Herod, in Euterpe.
CHAP. viri. OF THE WORLD. 287
derstand Chush for Ethiopia, we must give credit to Moses himself therein ; and then it will appear that Joseph us was grossly mistaken, or vainly led by his own invention. For Josephus presuming that Chush was Ethiopia, and there fore that the wife of Moses (which in scripture, Num. xii. 1. is called a woman of Cush) was a woman of the land of Ethiopia, feigneth that Tharbis, the daughter of the king of Ethiopia, fell in love with the person and fame of Moses, while he besieged Saba her father's city ; and to the end to obtain Moses for her husband, she practised to betray both her parents, country, and friends, with the city itself, and to deliver it into Moses's hands. The tale (if it be worth the reciting) lieth thus in Josephus. After he had de scribed the strength of the Ethiopian city Meroe, which he saith at length Cambyses called so from the name of his sister, (the old name being Saba,) he goeth on in these words : c Hie cum Moses desidere exercitum otiosum csgre ferret^ hoste non audente manus conserere, tale quiddam accidit. Erat JEthiopum regi Jilla, nomine Tharbis^ &c. which tale hath this sense in English : " When Moses was " grieved that his army lay idle, because the enemy besieged " durst not sally and come to handy strokes, there happened " this accident in the mean while. The Ethiopian king had " a daughter called Tharbis, who at some assaults given be- " held the person of Moses, and withal admired his valour. " And knowing that Moses had not only upheld and restored " the falling estate of the Egyptians, but had also brought " the conquering Ethiopians to the very brink of subver- " sion ; these things working in her thoughts, together with " her own affection, which daily increased, she made means " to send unto him by one of her trustiest servants to offer " herself unto him, and become his wife ; which Moses on " this condition entertained, that she should first deliver " the city into his possession : whereunto she condescends " ing, and Moses having taken oath to perform this con- " tract, both the one and the other were instantly per- " formed."
0 Antiq. 1. 2. c. 5.
288 THE HISTORY HOOK i
Β§.2.
A disjnttt' a gainst the talc of Josephus.
THIS talc (whereof Moses hath not a word) hath Jose- })l)iis fashioned, and therein also utterly mistaken himself, in naming a city of Arabia for a eitv of Ethiopia ; as he names Ethiopia itself to have- been the country of MOM-'- wife, when indeed it was Arabia. For Saba is not in Ethiopia, but in Arabia, as both Strabo and all other geo graphers, ancient and modern, teach us, saying, that the Sabeans are Arabians, and not Ethiopians; except Jose ph us can persuade us that the queen of Saba, which came from the south to hear the wisdom of Solomon, were a negro, or black-moor. And though Damianus a Goes speaks of certain letters to the king of Portugal from Prester John of the Abissincs; wherein that Ethiopian king would persuade the Portugal* that he was descended of the queen of Saba and of Solomon ; yet it doth no where appear in the scriptures that Solomon had any son bv that great princess which had it been true, it is likely that when Sishac king of Egypt invaded Roboam, and sacked Jerusalem, his bro ther, (the son of Saba and Solomon,) who joined upon Egypt, would both have impeached that enterprise-, as al-o given aid and succour to Roboam against Jeroboam, who drew from him ten of the twelve tribes to his own obe dience. Neither is it any thing against our opinion of Mo ses's wife, to have been an Arabian, ihat the scriptures teach us, that Moses married the daughter of Jethro, priest of Midian, or Madian : which standing on the north coa-t of the Red sea, over-against the body of Egypt, and near Esion Gaber, where Solomon provided his fleet for India, in the region of Edom, may well be reckoned as a part of Arabia, as the Red sea is called Sinus Arabicus. For Edu- maea joineth to the tribe of Juda by the north, to Arabia Petra-a by the east, to the Mediterranean by the west, and to the Red sea by the south-east. And if we mark the way which Moses took when he left Egypt, and conducted Israel thence, it will appear that he was no stranger in Arabia ; in the border whereof, and in Arabia itself, lie had
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formerly lived forty years ; where it seemeth, that besides his careful bringing up in Egypt, he was instructed by Jcthro in the Egyptians' learning. For Josephus confesseth, and St. Stephen confirmeth, that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. But on the other side this text makes much against Josephus, where it is written in Exodus ii. 15. Therefore Moses fled from Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Madian, or Midian, and not in Ethiopia. And in the 3d chapter it is as plain as words can express, in what region Madian was, where it is written, When Moses kept tlie sheep of Jethro his father-in-law, priest of Madian, and drove the Jlock to the desert, and came to the mountain of God in Horeb. Now that mount Horeb is not in Ethiopia, every infant knoweth. And if we may believe Moses him self, then was not the wife of Moses purchased in that man ner which Josephus reporteth, (which was for betraying her country and friends,) neither had she the name of Tharbis, but of Sippora, or Zippora; neither was she a negro, but a Madianitish. And as God worketh the greatest things by the simplest means, so it pleased him from a shepherd to call Moses, and after him David, and by them to deliver his people first and last. For d Moses sitting by a well, (as disconsolate and a stranger,) defended the daugh ters of Reguel from the other shepherds, and drew them water to water their sheep: upon which occasion (by God ordained) he was entertained by Jethro, whose daughter he married ; and not for any betraying of towns or countries.
From hence also came Jethro to Moses at Rephidim, not far from Idumsea, and finding the insupportable govern ment of such a multitude, he advised him to distribute this weighty charge, and to make governors and judges of every tribe and family. And if Jethro had been an Ethiopian, it had been a far progress for him to have passed through all Egypt with the wife and children of Moses, and to have found Moses in the border of Idumaea; the Egyptians hating Moses, and all that favoured him. But the passing d Exod. ii.
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290 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
of Moses through Arabia IVtni-a, (which joineth to Madian,) j)rovc'th that Moses was well acquainted in those parts : in which the second time lie wandered forty years, and did by these late travels of his seek to instruct the children of Israel in the knowledge of one true God, before he brought them to the laud of plenty and rest. For he found them nou rished up with the milk of idolatry, and obstinate in the re ligion of the heathen ; and finding that those stiff plants could not be bowed or declined, either by persuasion or by miracle, he wore them out in the deserts, as God directed, and grafted their branches anew, that from those he might receive fruit, agreeable to his own desire and God's com mandments.
Lastly, This opinion of Joseph us is condemned by Au- gustinus Chrisamensis, where also he reprehendeth Apolli- naris, who avowed that Moses had married both Tharbis and Sephora ; his own words have this beginning, e Mcnti- tur etiam Apollinaris duas uxorex /uihifiw J/O.SYV/, &c. " Apollinaris also lieth in affirming that Moses had two " wives :" and who doth not perceive these tilings feigned by them ? For it is manifest, that the wife of Moses was Ze- phora, daughter to the priest or president of Madian ; and that Madian cannot be taken for Ethiopia beyond Egypt, being the same that joineth to Arabia: so far Chrisa mensis.
Β§β’3- Chush ill expounded for Ethiopia, Ezek. xxix. 10.
NOW as Chush is by the Septuagint converted Ethiopia, and the wife of Moses therefore called ^Ethiopissa ; so in the conquest of Nabuchodonosor is Ethiopia written for Arabia : for by the words of Ezekiel it is manifest that Na buchodonosor was never in Ethiopia. f Behold, saith Eze kiel, (speaking of the person of this great Assyrian,) I come upon tliec, and upon thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate , from the tower of Se- veneh even to the borders of the black-moors ; which last β’ Sixt. Senens. Bibl. f K/.ek. xxix. 10.
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 291
words should have been thus converted : from the tower of Seveneh to the borders of the Chusites, or Arabians ; be tween which two is situated all Egypt. For to say, from the borders of Seveneh to the Ethiopians, hath no sense at all. Seveneh itself being the border of Egypt, confronting and joining to Ethiopia, or the land of the black-moors. So as if Nabuchodonosor's conquest had been but between Se veneh and the border of Ethiopia, it were as much to say, and did express no other victory than the conquest of all that land and country lying between Middlesex and Buck ingham, where both the countries join together, or all the north parts of England between Berwick and Scotland : for this hath the same sense with the former, if any man sought to express by these two bounds the conquest of England, Berwick being the north border of England, as Seveneh or Syene is the south bound of Egypt, seated in Thebaida, which toucheth Ethiopia. But by the words of Ezekiel it appeareth that Nabuchodonosor never entered into any part of Ethiopia, although the Septuagint, the Vulgar, the Geneva, and all other, in effect, have written Ethiopia for Chush.
Β§.4.
Another place of Ezekiel, chap. xxx. ver. 9. in like manner mis taken.
AND as the former, so is this place of Ezekiel mistaken, by being in this sort converted : In die ilia egredientur nuncii a facie mea in trieribus ad conterendam JEtliiopics. confidentiam ; which place is thus turned into English by the Genevians ; In that day shall there messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless moors afraid. Now the Latin for ships hath the Greek word trieres for triremes, which are galleys of three banks, and not ships. But that in this place the translation should have been, as in the former, amended by using the word Chush, or Arabia for Ethiopia, or the black-moors, every man may see which meanly understandeth the geography of the world, knowing, that to pass out of Egypt -into Ethiopia there need no gal leys nor ships, no more than to pass out of Northampton
292 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
into Leicestershire ; Ethiopia being the conterminate region with Egypt, and not divided so much as by a river. There fore in this place of Ezekiel it was meant, that from Egypt Nabuchodonosor should send galleys along the coast of the Red sea, by which an army might be transported into Arabia the Happy and the Stony, (sparing the long wea risome march over all Egypt and the deserts of Pharan,) which army might thereby surprise them unawares in their security and confidence : for when Nabuchodonosor was at Seveneh, within a mile of Ethiopia, he needed neither galley nor ship to pass into it ; being all one large and firm land with Egypt, and no otherwise parted from it than one inland shire is parted from another ; and if he had a fancy to have rowed up the river but for pleasure, he could not have done it ; for the fall of Nilus, (tumbling over high and steep mountains,) called Catadupte Nili, were at hand.
Lastly, As I have already observed, the sons of every father seated themselves as near together as possibly they could ; Gomer and his sons in Asia the Less ; Javan and his sons in Greece and the islands adjoining; Shem in Persia and eastward. So the sons and grandchildren of Chush from the river of Gehon, their father's first seat, inhabited upon the same, or upon some other contiguous unto it, as Nimrod and Havilah on the one side, and Saba, Sheba, and Sabtecha, with the rest, did on the other side. And, to conclude in a word, the Hebrews had never any acquaint ance or fellowship, any war, treaty of peace, or other intelli gence with the Ethiopian black-moors, as is already remem bered in the chapter of paradise.
Β§β’5- A place of Isaiah xviii. i. in like manner corrupted by tak'ui'^
( 'hush for Ethiopia.
AND as in these places before remembered, so in divers others is the word Ethiopia put for Arabia or Chush, which puts the story (where it is so understood) quite out of square; one kingdom thereby being taken for another. For what sense hath this part of scripture, Isaiah xviii. Vce terrce cymbalorum alarum qucc est trans flumina Ethiopia;; or
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according to the Septuagint in these words, V<B terrce na~ vium alarum qu<e est trans jluvios Ethiopia ? " Woe to " the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the " rivers of Ethiopia, sending ambassadors by sea, even in " vessels of reeds upon the waters." Vce terrce umbrosce orce ; " Woe to the land of the shady coast," saith Junius. The former translators understand it in this sense ; that the waters are shadowed with the sails, which are significatively called the wings of the ships ; the other, that the coast of the sea was shadowed by the height of the land.
But to the purpose : that this land here spoken of by the prophet Isaiah is Egypt, no interpreter hath doubted ; for they were the Egyptians that sent this message to the Israelites which Isaiah repeateth, and by the former trans lation every man may see the transposition of kingdoms ; for hereby Egypt is transported unto the other side of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia set next unto Judea, when it is the land of Chush and Arabia indeed that lieth between Judea and Egypt, and not Ethiopia, which is seated under the equinoctial line. And of this Beroaldus asketh a material question, to wit, What region that should be of which the prophet speaketh, and placeth it beyond the rivers of Ethi opia ? Nam de ignota agi regione did nequit ; for it cannot be said that he treateth of an unknown region. Now if Ethiopia itself be under the equinoctial line, with whom the Jews had never any acquaintance, why should any man dream that they had knowledge of nations far beyond that again, and beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ? except we shall impiously think that the prophet spake he knew not what, or used an impertinent discourse of those nations, which were not discovered in two thousand years after, inhabiting as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, commonly known by the name of Bona Esperanza.
Β§.6.
That upon the like mistaking, both Terrhaca in the story of Se- nacherib, and Zero, in the story of Asa are unadvisedly made Ethiopians.
AND by this translation is the story of Senacherib uU
u3
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
terly mistaken in the cause of his retreat. For Senacherib was first repulsed at Pelusium, at the very entrance of Egypt from Judca : when having certain knowledge that Thirrhaca (which all the interpreters call king of s Ethiopia) was on the way to set on him, be began to withdraw him self; and fearing to leave his army in two parts, he sent threatening messengers to Hezekiah king of Judah, per suading him to submit himself; the tenor whereof is set down in the second of Kings, in these words : Have any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hands of the king- qfAshur? Where is the god of H amah? &c. By which proud ambassage, if he had obtained entrance into Jerusalem, he then meant to have united that great army before Jerusalem, commanded by Rabsakeh, with the other which lay before Pelusium, a great city upon the branch of Nilus next Arabia. For h Senacherib had already mastered the most part of all those cities in Judea and Ben jamin with a third army, (which himself commanded,) being then at the siege of Lebna. But upon the rumour of that Arabian army led by their king Thirrhakeh, (whom ' Jose- phus calls Tharsices,) Rabsakeh hasted from the siege of Jerusalem, and found Senacherib departed from k Lachish, and set down before Lebna, which was afterwards called Eleutheropolis, as some have supposed. But while he had ill success at Pelusium, and feared Thirrhakeh, God him self, whom he least feared, struck his army before Jerusalem by the angel of his power, so as one hundred and eighty-five thousand were found dead in the place, as in the life of He zekiah is hereafter more largely written. And that this army of Thirrhakeh was from Arabia, Josephus himself makes it plain. For he confesseth, in the tenth book the first chapter of the Jewish Antiquities, that it was come to Senacherib's knowledge, that the army which was a foot (both to relieve the Egyptians and the Jews) marched to wards him by the way of the desert. Now the desert which
Joseph. 1. 10. c. i. ' Autiq. 1. 10.
2 Kings xix. w 2 Kiujrs six.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 295
lay indifferent between l Jerusalem and Pelusium, was that of Pharan, or Sur, which also toucheth on the three Arabias, to wit, the Stony, of which it is a part, the Desert, and the Happy ; and by no other way indeed could the Arabians come on to succour either Pelusium or Jerusalem. But that there is any desert between Pelusium and the south part of Egypt, hath never yet been heard of or de scribed by any cosmographer or historian. So then this scripture of the second of Kings, verse the ninth, hath the same mistaking as the rest. For here the word Chush is also translated Ethiopia ; and in this sense have all the in terpreters, but Junius, expressed the beginning of the ninth verse : He heard also men say of Thirrhakeh king of Ethiopia, &c. whereas it should have been thus converted with Junius : Audiens autem de ThirrhaJceh rege Chushi; " He heard also of Thirrhakeh king of the Chusites." For they were the Chusites and Arabians whose houses and cities were next the fire, and upon whom the very smoke of Judah flaming was blown, being their nearest neighbours : and so were not the Ethiopian black-moors under the equi noctial, whom neither war nor peace (which discovereth all regions) ever found out, saith m Pliny. For this king was no more king of Ethiopia than Zerah was, who invaded n Asa king of Judah, with an army of a million and three thousand chariots. Indeed, how such an army and those chariots should pass through all Egypt, (the kings of Egypt being mighty kings,) let all men that know how these re gions are seated, and how far distant, judge. For princes do not easily permit armies of a million to run through them ; neither was there ever any such strength of black- moors heard of in that part of the world, or elsewhere. Neither are these Ethiopians such traveUers or conquerors ; and yet is this king Zerah also called king of Ethiopia. But the word Chush being first so converted for Ethiopia, the rest of the interpreters (not looking into the seats of kingdoms, or the possibilities of attempts, or invasions) fol lowed one another in the former mistakings.
1 Lib. 10. cap. i. m Plin. 1. 5. c. 9. " 2 Chron. xiv.
U 4
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Β§β’ 7- A further exposition of the place, Isaiah xviii. i.
CONCERNING these words in that 18th chapter of Isaiah, nai'iin/i alarum, " winged ships," (so the Septuagint turn it,) or cymbalo alarum, (according to the Latin,) " sails " whistling in the winds," or terrce umbrosfc orce, (after Ju- nius,) " the land of a shadowed coast," or " the land sha- " dowing with wings," as our English Geneva hath it. The two first interpretations of the Septuagint and St. Jerome have one sense in effect. For the sails are commonly called the wings of a ship ; and we use to say ordinarily when our ships sail slowly, that she wanteth wings ; that is, when her sails are either worn or too narrow ; and we also use the same phrase of the wind whistling in the sails. And it may be that the Egyptians employed so many of those small ships, as their sails were said to give a shadow over the Red sea. But to make both interpretations good, Pintus, upon Isaiah, affirmeth, that the word sabal doth signify both to shadow and to gingle, which is, to make a kind of cymba- line sound ; so as the meaning of this place, saith Pintus, is this : Woe to thee, O Egypt, which dost promise to others safeguard under the shadow of thy wings ; which indeed seemeth to agree with the argument of the 18th chapter of Isaiah ; and this phrase is often elsewhere used, as in the 16th Psalm, Sub umbra alarum tuarum protege me ; " De- " fend me under the shadow of thy wings." The boats of reed spoken of are of two kinds ; either of basket-willow covered with hides, (as anciently in Britain,) or a tree made hollow in the bottom, and built upon both sides with canes. Of the one sort I have seen in Ireland, of the other in the Indies.
SECT. XI.
Of the plantation and antiquities of Egypt.
Β§. i. That Mizraim the chief planter of Egypt, and the rest of the sons
of Hum, were seated in order, one by another. THE second son of Ham was Mizraim, who (according
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 297
to the place of a second brother) was sent somewhat further off to inhabit. For Chush first possessed Chaldea on the west side of Gehon chiefly ; and from thence, as he in creased in people, so he entered Arabia, and by time came to the border of the Red sea, and to the south-east side of Judea. Mizraim's brother, with Phut, passed over into Africa. Mizraim held Egypt ; and Phut, as a third bro ther, was thrust further off into Mauritania. Canaan took the sea-coast, and held the side of Palestina ; and these four brothers possessed all that tract of land, from Gehon in Chaldea, as far to the west as the Mediterranean sea ; com prehending all Arabia Deserta, and Petraea, all Canaan which embraceth Galilea, Samaria, and Judea, with the two Egypts ; whereof the nether is bounded by Memphis on the south, and by the Mediterranean sea on the north : and Thebaida, called the Upper Egypt, stretcheth itself to wards the south as far as Syene, the border of the Ethio pians or black-moors. All the rest of the coast of Africa westward, Phut peopled ; which brothers had not any other nation or family that dwelt between them. And in the same manner did all their sons again, and all the sons of the rest of Noah's children, sort themselves.
Β§. 2.
Of the time about which the name of Egypt began to be known ;
and of the Egyptians' lunary years, which made their antiquities
seem the more fabulous.
THIS flourishing kingdom, possessed by Mizraim, changed her ancient name, and became Egypt, at such time as ^Egyptus, (otherwise Ramesses, as some think,) the son of Belus, chased thence his elder brother Danaus, shifting him into that part of Greece now called Morea, by whom the Argives were made Danai, abandoning their proper names ; which happened 877 years after the flood, in the time of Joshua, as St. Augustine conjectureth out of Euse- bius. But in Homer's Odysses it appeareth that the Egyptians were so called at the time of the Trojan war. And before this, Egypt was known by divers other names,
298 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
as Oceana, Aria, Osiriana, &c. And Manethon (whom Jo- sephus citeth in his first lxx>k against Appion) numbereth ail the kings of Egypt after Moses's departure, who con sumed 393 vears. By which other men conjecture, that the l-Lgvptians tcx>k on them that name 330 years after Joshua, and about 1000 years after the flood. But where Josephus in the same book taketh Israel to be those Hycsos, which he also calleth jxixtorcx, or shepherds, which are said to have reigned in Egypt 511 years, whom also lie calleth his ances tors; (meaning the ancestors of the Jews;) in this I am sure he was grossly deceived, or that he vainly boasted ; for the Is raelites had no such dominion as Manethon feigneth : nor abode in Egypt so long a time by many years.
Of the Egyptian antiquities there are many fancies in Trogus, Herodotus, Plato, Diod. Siculus, Mela, and others. For they affirm, saith Pomp. Mela, that there had reigned in Egypt 330 kings before Amasis, who was contemporary with Cyrus; and that they had memory and story of 13,000 years; and that the stars had four times changed their course, and the sun twice set in the east. These riddles are also rife among the Athenians and Arcadians, who dare affirm that they are more ancient than Jupiter and the moon ; whereof Ovid :
0 Ante Jovem genitum terras habuisse feruntur Arcades, et luna gens prior ilia fuit.
The Arcadians the earth inhabited
Ere yet the moon did shine, or Jove was bred.
But for those 13,000 years it may well be true; seeing it is certain that the Egyptians reckon their years by months, which makes after that account not above 1000 or 1100 . whether we take their months or lunary years to have been of the first kind, of twenty-seven days and eight hours, or otherwise twenty-nine days and twelve hours, or after any other of those five diversities of their lunary years.
0 De Fast. 1. i.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 299
Β§β’3- Of certain vain assertions of the antiquity of the Egyptians.
GERARDUS MERCATOR, in his Chronology, rea- soneth for the Egyptians'1 antiquity in this manner ; that the sixteenth dynasty (where Eusebius begins to reckon the Egyptians1 times) had beginning with the general flood j and that therefore the first of the other fifteen reached the creation, or soon after it. To which conjecture of Merca- tor, Pererius maketh this answer ; that therein Mercator was first deceived, because he taketh it for granted, that the beginning of the sixteenth dynasty was at once with the general flood ; which Eusebius maketh 292 years after, and in the time of Abraham. Secondly, Mercator maketh the beginning of the shepherds' dynastia, (being in number the seventeenth,) in the time of their first king, Saltis, to have been in the year of the world 1846, which Eusebius findeth in the world's age 2140. For the sixteenth dynastia was begun but in the 292d year after the flood, as they account, and continued 190 years. Thirdly, whereas Mercator mak eth every dynastia to endure 115 years, Eusebius reckoneth many of them at less than 100 years ; for the twenty-eighth had but six years, the twenty -ninth but twenty, and the thirtieth but eighteen years.
Now Annius, in his supplement of Manethon, affirmeth, that all these fifteen dynasties lasted but 162 years ; and that the first of the fifteen began but in the 131st year after the flood ; so as where Mercator makes all the fifteen to precede the flood, and the sixteenth to have been then in being at the time of the flood, Annius makes them all after it. But the contrariety of falsehood cannot be hidden, though disguised. For Annius had forgotten his former opinion and assertion, that it was in the 131st year that Nimrod, with the sons of Noah, came into the valley of Shi- naar ; so he forgets the time which was consumed in the building of Babel ; and that before the confusion of speech there was no dispersion, nor far-off plantation at all. And though he hastily conveyed Gomer into Italy, and Tubal into
300 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
Spain, in the tenth year of NimrotTs reign, (which was ten years after his arrival into Babylonia,) yet herein he is more unadvised. For he makes Egypt possessed, and a govern ment established in the very first year of the arrival of Nim- rod into Shinaar, before all partition, or any expedition far off' or near in question ; for from thence (that is, from Ba bel) did the Lord scatter tliem upon all the earth.
Β§.4-
slil'tinst Pererius ; that it is not unlikely but that Egypt was peo pled within 200 years after the creation; at least, that both it and the most part of the world were peopled before thejlood. BUT whereas Pererius seeketh to overthrow this anti quity of the Egyptians, touching their dynasties, (which Eusebius doth not altogether destroy, but lessen,) I do not find any great strength in this opinion of Pererius, to wit, that it was either unlikely or impossible that Egypt should be peopled within 100 or 200 years after Adam, in the first age. And whereas he supposeth that it was not inhabited at all before the general flood, I do verily believe the con trary ; and that not only of Egypt, but the better part of all the world was then peopled ; Pererius's words are these: Quomodo en nn pnmos mundi ducentos, vel etiam centum anno.? Adavii proles adco mult iplictiri potuit, ut ad JEgyp- tmii usque habitandum et complcndum propagata slt^ &c. " For how could the children of Adam be so multiplied in " the first two hundred, or in the first hundred years of the " world, and so propagated as to inhabit and fill Egypt ? " For allowing this," saith Pererius, " we must also confess, " that there were then both the Assyrians and other na- " tions."
Now seeing the scriptures are silent herein, and that it is no point of our saving belief, it is lawful for every man to be guided in this and the like questions by the best reason, circumstance, and likelihood ; and herein, as in the rest, I protest that I do not gainsay any man's opinion out of any iTos.Mn<,r or cavilling humour; for f think it the part of i-vi iv Christian, rather to reconcile differences, where there iΒ» possibility of union, than out of froward subtilty, and
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 301
prejuclicatc rcsolvcdness, to maintain factions needless, and dangerous contentions.
First therefore to this opinion, that Egypt was not planted so soon after Adam, no, not at all before the flood, I say there is no reason why we should give a less increase to the sons of Adam than to the sons of Noah. For their length of life, which exceeded those which came after the flood double, and, after a few years, treble, is an infallible proof of their strength and ability to beget many children ; and at that time they observed no degrees of kindred nor con sanguinity. And that there was a speedy increase of peo ple, and in great numbers, it may in some sort appear by this, that Cain, who (being fearful that the death of Abel would have been revenged on him,) withdrew himself from the rest, which were afterwards begotten, and dwelt in the land of Nod, and there, by the help of his own issues, built a city, called Enoch, after the name of his first-born. Now if it be gathered that Nimrod came into the valley of Shi- naar with so many multitudes, as sufficed to build the city and tower of Babel; and that to this increase there was given but 130 years by Berosus, and after the account of the scriptures (reckoning, as it is commonly understood, by the birth of Arphaxad, Selah, Heber, and Phaleg) but 101 years : I see no cause to doubt, but that in the infancy of the first age, when the bodies of men were most perfect, even within 130 years, the same, if not a greater, number might be increased ; and so within seventy years after, (that is, by such time as the world had stood 200 years,) as well Assyria, Syria, and Egypt, might be possessed before the flood, as they were within the same or less time after it. Neither doth it agree with the circumstance, or true story of the Babylonian and Assyrian empire, that all those people, which were increased in the first 100 or 130 years after the flood, came into Shinaar and Babylonia. For that ever Noah himself came out of the east, as there is no scripture or authority to prove it, so all probable conjecture and rea son itself denies it. Again, those multitudes and powerful numbers, which Semiramis (but the third from Nimrod)
302 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
found in India, considered with her own army of three mil lions (and she left not all her kingdoms empty) do well prove, that if the world had such plenty of people in so few years after the flood, it might also be as plentifully filled in like time before it. For after their own account Ninus go verned Babylonia and Assyria but 29- years after the flood of Noah. And these troops of Semiramis were gathered out of all those eastern kingdoms, from Media to the Medi terranean sea ; when there had now passed from the flood to the time of this her invasion somewhat less or more than 360 years ; for much more time the true chronology cannot allow; though I confess, that in respect of the strange great ness of Semiramis''s army, and the incredible multitudes ga thered, this is as short a time as can well be given. And if but one half be true of that which is said, that her army consisted of 1,300,000 footmen, and 500,000 horsemen, it must needs be, that long before Semiramis's reign, the great est part of Asia (whence her huge army was gathered) was full of people; yea Arabia itself (much part where of is barren) must long before this time of Semiramis have been plentifully peopled ; when Ninus having a deter mination to make himself master of all nations, entered not withstanding in league with the king thereof ; whom there fore he either feared, or sought his assistance. And if Ara bia were then so well replenished, I see no cause but Egypt might also be peopled. Now if we may believe Trogus Pompeius, (epitomized by Justin, lib. 1.) Egypt \v;;s a most flourishing and magnificent nation before Ninus was born. For these be his own words, speaking of Ninus: Fucrc quidcm temporibtu antiquwnbua Vcxoris rex ^E~ gypti, &c. " But there were in times more ancient, Vexoris "king of Egypt, and Tanais king of the Scythians; " of which the one invaded Pontus, the other Egypt/1 And how full of people all that part of the world was, the conquests of Ninus witness, who subdued with no small force the Armenians, the Medes, and afterwards the Baetrians; yea, all that whole body of Asia on this side India. For Diodonis out of Ctesias numbereth the ar-
CHAP. viir. OF THE WORLD. 303
mies, wherewith Ninus invaded Zoroaster, at 1,700,000 footmen, and 200,000 horsemen ; and the stories generally shew, that though Zoroaster's army was far short of this, yet it was greater than any that those parts of the world ever since beheld. But to what end should I seek for fo reign authority ? for no man doubteth but that Egypt was possessed by Mizraim, the son of Ham ; and that it was an established kingdom, filled with many cities in Abraham's time, the scriptures tell us. And sure to prepare and cul tivate a desolate and overgrown ground, to beautify it with many cities, laws, and policies, cannot be esteemed a labour of a few days ; and therefore it must be inhabited in a less time than 200 years after the flood ; and in the same time, if not in a shorter, before the flood. For if so many mil lions of men were found within 300 years after the general flood, so as not only Babylon, and Assyria, Bactria, Ar menia, Media, Arabia, Egypt, Palestina, yea, the far-off Libya on the one side, and India on the other, and Scythia, inferior to neither, were all filled ; into what small corners could then all those nations be compressed, which 1656 years brought forth before the flood ? Even necessity, which cannot be resisted, cast the abundance of men's bo dies into all parts of the known world; especially, where death forbare the father, and made no place for the son, till he had beheld living nations of his own body.
Β§.5.
Of some other reasons against the opinion of Pererius. FOR what a strange increase did the long lives of the first age make, when they continued 800 or 900 years. Surely, we have reason to doubt that the world could not contain them, rather than that they were not spread over the world. For let us now reckon the date of our lives in this age of the world ; wherein if one exceed fifty years, ten for one are cut off in that passage, and yet we find no want of people ; nay, we know the multitude such, as if by wars or pestilence they were not sometimes taken off by many thousands, the earth with all the industry of man could not give them food. What strange heaps then of
304 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
souls had the first ages, who enjoyed 800 or 900 years as aforesaid ! These numbers, I say, cannot be counted or conceived. For it would come to the same reckoning in effect, as if all those which have been born in Britain since three or four hundred years before the Norman conquest (saving such as by accident or by violence were cut off) were now alive ; and if to these there were added as many as by polygamy might have been increased. For (to omit that the giants and mighty ones of the first age observed no law of matrimony) it is to be thought, that those lovers of the world and of pleasure, when they knew the long and li beral time which nature had given them, would not wil lingly or hastily present themselves to any danger which they could fly from or eschew. For what human argu ment hath better persuasion to make men careless of life and fearless of death, than the little time which keeps them asunder, and that short time also accompanied with so many pains and diseases, which this envious old age of the world mingleth together, and soweth with the seeds of mankind ? Now if that Berosus or Annius may be alleged for suf ficient authors, whom Pererius himself in this question cit- eth, then is it by them affirmed, and by Josephus confirmed, that the city of Enoch was seated near Libanus in Syria : and if other parts of Syria were peopled in Cain's time, I see no cause why Palestina (which is also a province of Sy ria) and Egypt, which neighboured! it, could be left deso late both all the lifetime of Cain, and all those times be tween his death and the flood, which were by estimation 700 or 800 years. And sure, though this fragment of Be rosus, with Annius's comment, be very ridiculous in many places, (the ancient copies being coi'rupted or lost,) yet all things in Berosus are not to be rejected. Therefore St. Jerome for such authors gives a good rule: Bona corum eligamny, vituiiux contraria; " Let us choose what is good " in them, and reject the rest." And certainly in the very beginning of the first book, Berosus agreeth, in effect, with Moses, touching the general flood ; and in that first part Berosus affirmeth, that those mighty men and giants which
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 305
inhabited Enoch, commanded over all nations, and sub jected the universal world : and though that phrase, of all the world, be often used in the scriptures for a part thereof, as in the second of the Acts ; Tluit there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, men tliat feared God, of every nation under heaven ; yet by words which follow in Berosus, it is plain that his words and sense were the same; for he addeth,y/-OTW the sun's rising to the surfs setting, which cannot be taken for any small part thereof. Again, we may safely conjec ture that Noah did not part and proportion the world among his sons at adventure, or left them as discoverers, but directed them to those regions which he formerly knew had been inhabited. And it cannot be denied that the earth was more passable and easy to travel over before the flood, than after it. For Pererius himself confesseth, that Attica (by reason of mud and slime which the water left upon the earth) was uninhabited 200 years after Ogyges's flood, whereby we may gather that there was no great plea sure in passing into far countries after the general deluge, when the earth lay, as it were, incopsed for 100 or 130 years together. And therefore was the face thereof in all conjecture more beautiful and less cumbersome to walk over in the first age, than after the general overflowing.
Β§.6.
Of the words of Moses, Gen. x. verse the last, whereupon Pererius grounded his opinion.
LASTLY, whereas Pererius draws this argument out of the last verse of the tenth of Genesis, And out of these were the nations divided after the Jlood : Quo significatur talem divisionem non fuisse ante diluvium; " By which it " appeareth," saith Pererius, " that there was no such di- " vision before the flood ;" which he also seeketh to confirm out of the llth of Genesis, because the division of tongues was cause of the dispersion of the people. This conse quence, Quo significatur, &c. seemeth to me very weak ; the text itself rather teacheth the contrary : For out of these, saith Moses, were the nations divided in the earth after the
RALEGJH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. X
306 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
flood; inferring, that before the flood the nations were di vided out of others, thougli after the flood out of these only. But whatsoever sense may be gathered from this place, yet it can no way be drawn to the times before the flood, or to any plantation or division in that age; for if there were none else among whom the earth could be divided after the flood, but Noah's sons, wherein doth that necessary division control the planting of the world before it ? And whereas it is alleged that the confusion of speech was the cause of this dispersion, it is true that it was so for that present ; but if Babel had never been built, nor any confusion of lan guages at all, yet increase of people, and time, would have enforced a farther-off and general plantation ; as Berosus, lib. 3. says well, that when mankind were exceedingly multi plied, ad comparandas novas sedes necessitas compellebat; " they were driven by necessity to seek new habitations." For we find, as it is before said, that within 300 years after the flood, there were gathered together into two armies such multitudes, as the valley about Babylon could not have sustained those numbers with their increase for any long time : all Asia the Greater and the Lesser ; all Scythia, Ara bia, Palestina, and Egypt, with Greece, and the islands thereof; Mauritania and Libya, being also at that time fully peopled. And if we believe Berosus, then not only those parts of the world, but (within 140 years after the flood) Spain, Italy, and France were also planted ; much more then may we think, that within 1656 years before the flood, in the time of the chief strength of mankind, they were replenished with people. And certainly seeing all the world was overflown, there were people in all the world which of fended.
Β§β’7.
A conclusion resolving of that which is most likely, touching the Egyptian antiquities ; with somewhat of Phut, (another son of Ham,) which peopled Libya.
THEREFORE for the antiquity of the Egyptians, as I do not agree with Mercator, nor judge with the vulgar, which give too much credit to the Egyptian antiquities; so
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 307
I do not think the report of their antiquities so fabulous, as either Pererius or other men conceive it. But I rather in cline to this, that Egypt being peopled before the flood, and two or three hundred years more or less, after Adam, there might remain unto the sons of Mizraim some monuments (in pillars or altars of stone or metal) of their former kings or governors ; which the Egyptians having added to the list and roll of their kings after the flood, in succeeding time, (out of the vanity of glory, or by some corruption in their priests,) something beyond the truth might be inserted. And that the memory of antiquity was in such sort pre served, Berosus affirmeth it of the Chaldeans, and so doth Epigenes. For they both write, that the use of letters and the art of astronomy was known to the Babylonians 3634 years before Alexander's conquest ; and this report Annius findeth to agree and reach to the time of Enoch, who was born 1034 years before the flood, and wrote of the world's destruction both by water and fire, as also of Christ's com ing in judgment, as St. Jude hath witnessed. But leaving these antiquities to other men's judgments, and every man to his own reason, I will conclude this plantation of Egypt. It is agreed by all, that it was peopled by Mizraim, and that it took the name of Egypt from ^Egyptus, the son of BeluSj as aforesaid. Being divided into two regions, that part from Memphis or Nicopolis to the Mediterranean sea was called the inferior Egypt, surnamed also Delta; be cause the several branches of Nilus breaking asunder from one body of the river, gave it the form of the Greek letter delta, which is the form of a triangle. That branch which ran toward the north-east, and embraced the sea, next unto the deserts of Sur and Pharan, had on it the city of Pelu- sium, where Sennacherib was repulsed; the other branch, which yielded itself to the salt water towards the north-east, is beautified by that famous city of Alexandria ; the upper part of Egypt is bounded between Memphis and Syene near Ethiopia, and had the name of Thebaida, of that ancient city of Thebes, which, according to Homer, was adorned with 100 gates, and therefore called civitas centum por-
308 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
tarum, and by the Greeks Diospolis ; in the scriptures, No- hamon, which signifieth multitudes of inhabitants, exceed ing belief. P Josephus calls Egypt Mersin of Mizraim ; and q Herodotus affirms, that it had once the name of Thebais.
Phut, the third son of Ham, took the next portion of land to his brother Mizraim, and inhabited Libya, whose people were anciently called Phutei, saith rJosephus, and Pliny mentioneth the river Fut in Mauritania ; which river from the mountain Atlas, known to the inhabitants by the name of Dyris, he maketh to be distant the space of 200 miles. It also appeareth in the 30th chapter of Ezekiel, that Phut, Chush, and Lud were contermini, and associates with the Egyptians.
SECT. XII.
Of the eleven sons of Canaan, the fourth son of Ham.
Β§. i.
Of the bounds of the land of Canaan ; with the names of his eleven
sons.
CANAAN, the fourth son of Ham, possessed all that region called by the Romans Palestina, in the scriptures Galilea, Samaria, and Judea, in the latter times known by the name of the Holy Land and Jury ; the limits whereof are precisely set down by Moses, Genesis x. Then the bor der of the Canaanites was from, Zidon as thou goest to Ge- rar until Azzah, and as thou goest unto Sodom and Go morrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. Now, howsoever these words of the Hebrew text, as thou goest, be converted, Moses's meaning was, that Gerar was the south bound of Canaan, and Zidon the north ; Sodom and Gomorrah the east, and the other cities named, stood on the frontiers thereof. For Gerar standeth in the right line from Gaza, in the way of Egypt, the uttermost territory of Canaan southward; and this was properly the land of Ca naan.
Now the sons of Canaan which possessed this country,
P Joseph. 1. 1. Ant. c. 7. i Herodot. Euterpe. ' Lib. 5. c. i.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD.
and inhabited some part of the borders thereof, were in number eleven :
1. Zidon.
2. Heth or Chethus.
3. Jebusi or Jebuseus.
4. Emori or Emoreus, or Amoreus.
5. Girgeshi or Girgeseus.
6. Hevi or Chiveus.
7. Arki or Harkeus.
8. Sini or Sinaeus.
9- Arvadi or Arvadseus.
10. Zemari or Samareus, or Tzemareus.
11. Hamathi or Hamathaeus, or Chamathaeus.
Of which the most renowned were the Hethites, Ger- gesites, Amorites, Hevites, Jebusites, and Perizzites; which Perizzites were descended of Zamari, or Samareus, or from
some of his.
Β§.2. Of the portions of Zidon and Heth.
ZIDON, the first-born of Canaan, built the famous city of Zidon in Phoenicia, which afterward fell in partition to the tribe of Asser; for Asser, Zabulon, and Naphtali had a great part of the ancient Phoenicia distributed among them, but the Asserites could never obtain Zidon itself.
The second son of Canaan was Heth, or Cethus; of whom came the Hethites, or Hittites, one of those seven principal nations (commanders of Canaan) appointed by God to be rooted out ; namely, the Gergesites, the Amor ites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and Hevites, and the Jebusites. The Hittites inhabited about Bersabe, and to wards Hebron, near the torrent Besor, and about sGerar, which Moses maketh the uttermost limit of Canaan, having the desert of Pharan to the south; for about Bersabe, (otherwise Puteus juramenti,) four miles from Gaza, dwelt Heth and his posterity, as far to the north-east as Hebron and Mamre ; and of Ephraim the Hittite did e Abraham
* Gen. x. 19. * Gen. xxiii.
x3
310 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
buy the field of Sarah's burial. Of which nation Rebecca bewailed herself to Isaac, saying, u That she was weary of her life for the daughters of Heth. The giants Anakim were of these Hittites, a strong and fierce nation, whose en tertainment by the kings of Israel against them the Syri ans greatly feared ; as in the second of the Kings, x Israel hath hired against us tlie If ings of the Hittites,
Β§β’3- Of the Jebusites and Amorites.
JEBUSEUS, the third son of Canaan, of whom came the Jebusites, and whose principal seat was Jebus, afterwards Jerusalem, were also a valiant and stubborn nation, and held their city and the country near it till such time as David, by God^s assistance, recovered both ; yet were not the Jebu sites extinguished, but were tributaries to Solomon.
Amoreus was the fourth son of Canaan, of whom the Amorites took name, who inhabited that land to the east of Jordan below the sea of Galilee, having Arnon and the mountains of Galaad on the east, and Jordan on the west ; of whom Og, king of Basan, and Sihon, overthrown by Moses, were princes.
The Amorites had also many other habitations dispersed within the bounds of Canaan ; as behind Libanus in the edge of Coelesyria, or Syria Libanica. They had also their being in the mountains of 7 Juda, and in Idumaea, near the metropolis thereof, called Duma. And hereof it came, that all the Canaanites were sometimes called Amorites; as in Genesis xv. For the wickedness of the Amorites is not yet /////. And that this was also a powerful nation, we find in the prophet Amos, z Yet destroyed I the Amorite before ///(?/?, whose height was like the height of a cedar ^ and lie was strong as the oaks.
Β§.4.
Of the Gergesttes, Hevites, and Harkites.
THE fifth son of Canaan was Gergeseus, or Gergesion,
otherwise Girgasi, who inhabited on the east side of the
lake of Tiberias, or the sea of Galilee, where Ptolemy sets
u Gen. xxvii. 46. * 2 Kings vii. 6. y Deut. i. Num. xiii. z Amos ii.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 311
the city Gerasa, which Josephus calls Gesera, in the terri tory of Decapolis. Here it was that Christ dispossessed the possessed with devils, and the Gergesites desired him to depart their coasts ; because their swine, filled with the evil spirits, drowned themselves in the sea of Galilee. Gergeseus also built Berytus, sometime Geris, afterwards Felix Julia, three miles from the river Adonis in Phoenicia, in which the Romans held a garrison, and to which Augustus gave many large privileges.
Heveus, the sixth son, and father of the Hevites, inha bited under Libanus, near Emath. These Hevites, howso ever the Caphthorim expelled a good part of them, (as in Deuteronomy the second is remembered,) yet many of them remained all the war of Joshua, and afterwards to the time of Solomon. For God was not pleased utterly to root out these nations, but they were sometimes made tributaries to the Israelites, and at other times served, in their falling away from the true worship of God, to afflict them ; for as it is written, Judges iii. They remained to prove Israel by them, whether they would obey the commandments of God.
The seventh son was Araceus, or Harki, who between the foot of Libanus and the Mediterranean sea, over against Tripolis, built the city of Archas, Arce, or Area, afterwards Arachis.
Β§β’5-
Of Sini and Arvadi.
SINEUS, the eighth son, Hierosolymitanus sets at Capa- rorsa, which Ptolemy finds in Judea, not far from Jebus ; to the south thereof, saith Junius. But it is more probable that Sineus founded Sin, which St. Jerome calls Sim ; Pto lemy, Simyra ; Mela and Pliny, Simirus ; Brochard, Sy- con, (called Synochis,) near Area. Pererius thinks that Si neus inhabited the deserts of Sinai, or thereabouts ; but hereof there is no other certainty than the report of Bro chard, who took view of all these places, affirming, that Si neus built Synochis, as Zidon built Zidon. There is also another nation of Sini, written with the letter C, otherwise Kenaei, who descended of Hobab, the son of Raguel, the
312 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Madianite, who assisted the Israelites in their conduction through the wilderness of Pharan. But these Cinaei were admitted among the Israelites, and had a portion of land with the a Naphtalims, besides their habitations with the Amalekites: against these Cinaei Balaam prophesied that they should be destroyed by the Assyrians.
The ninth son was Aradeus, or Arvadeus, who in the isle of b Aradus built the city Arados; opposite against which island, on the main of Phoenicia, they founded another city of that name, which for opposition was afterwards called Antaradus. To this city came St. Peter, saith Clement, and in this isle preached the gospel, and founded a church in honour of our Lady ; but we find no such work of his in the Acts of the Apostles. Both these two were very famous, and places of skilful seamen, whom Ezekiel remembereth in his prophecies against the Tyrians : c The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners.
Β§.6. Of Zemari.
OF Samareus, or Zemari, the tenth son, there are divers opinions. Some think that he inhabited in Coelesyria at Edessa, and founded Samaraim, which in Joshua is placed in the tribe of Benjamin. There is also Samaraiim (of the same orthography) upon the mountains of Ephraim, saith dBeroaldus, mentioned in the second of Chronicles xiii. 4. which the Latin converteth amiss, saith he, by Semeron. The Hierosolymitan paraphrast makes Samareus (of whom were the Perizzites) the parent of the Emissani, which Pliny calls the Hemiseni, in Coelesyria ; and it may be that it was their first habitation, and that they afterwards inhabited those other places before remembered. But that they founded Samaria, both the Hebrew orthography, and this place in the first of Kings, speaking of Omri, disproveth. e And he bought the mountain Samaria, or Shemeron, of one Shcmer,for two talents of 'silver ', and built in the moun-
a Judg. iv. Joshua xix. 3Z. β’' Beroald. in Chron. 1. 4.
'β’ (.ul. Tyr. Vitr. <β’ i Kings xvi. 24.
< Ezek. xxvii. 8.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 313
tain; and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, lord of the mountain Samaria. But of all these places I shall speak more at large in the con quest of the Holy Land by the children of Israel. Of whomsoever the Samaritans were descended, sure I am, that they were ever a perfidious nation, and base ; for as long as the state of the Jews stood up, they always called themselves Jews ; when it suffered or sunk, they then utterly denied to be of that nation or family ; for at such time as they were returned from their first captivity, they became a mixed na tion, partly of the colonies of the Assyrians, and partly of the naturals.
Β§β’7-
Of Hamathi.
THE last of Canaan's sons was Hamatheus, or, according to the Hebrew, Hamathi of Hamath, saith Beroaldus, of which (the aspiration taken away) the same is pronounced Emath, whereof Hamatheus was parent. Josephus and St. Jerome confound Emath with Antioch; not that Antioch which standeth on the river Orontes on the frontier of Co- magena, between the mountain Cassius and the province of Pieria and Seleucis, of which St. Peter was bishop, and in which St. Luke and Ignatius were born, but Antioch sur- named Epiphania, as Beroaldus supposeth, which standeth between Apamea and Emesa, in Cassiotis. Yet indeed Emath cannot be taken for either ; for both that Antioch upon Orontes, and that which neighboureth Emesa, are fur ther off seated from Canaan, than ever any of those nations straggled. And whereas St. Jerome setteth Emath, which he confoundeth with Epiphania, in the tribe of Naphtali ; it is manifest that Epiphania, which standeth to the north of Emesa, hath all the province of Laodicea between it and any part of the land divided. And if Libanon itself were not shared among the tribes, then could not Epiphania be long unto them ; for both the provinces Laodicea and Li- banica are between Epiphania and any part of the Holy Land, and therefore Emath so taken could not be a part of Naphtali, as in the 13th of Joshua is directly proved. For Joshua counting the lands that remained unpossessed,
314
THE HISTORY
BOOK I.
reckoneth all mount Libanon towards the sun-rising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon, until we come to Hamath. And this reason, among others, is used, that Emath was not in Nephtalim, or any way belonging to the children of Is rael ; because David accepted the presents of Tohufking of Emath, and therewithal conditions of peace ; which he would not have done, if that territory had ever belonged to the children of Israel, but would have recovered it without composition, and by strong hand, as he did the rest. But this argument, as I take it, hath no great weight : for if the promise which God made be considered, as it is written in S Deuteronomy, then might Emath be comprehended, though seated altogether without the bounds of the land promised, according to the description of Moses and Joshua; for Emath is indeed situate on the other side of the moun tain of Hermon, which joineth to Libanus, and is otherwise called Iturea. But whereas Hamath is named in Joshua xix. 35. and written in the Latin conversion Emath ; there in, saith Beroaldus, was St. Jerome mistaken. Emath, or Iturea, is that over the mountains, and the city in Nephta lim should be written Hamath ; and so the Septuagint, un derstanding the difference, write it Ammath, and not Emath, the same which indeed belonged to the Nephtalims, seated on the south side of Libanus to the east of Assedim ; which St. Jerome writes Emath, Josephus Hamath, others Ema- thin, or Amatheos, and the people Amathein ; of which, as I take it, Rabsakeh vaunteth in the second of Kings, h Where is the God of Hamath?
SECT. XIII.
Of the sons of Chush, excepting Nimrod, of whom hereafter.
{ Sheba And the sons of
J and Raama were I ^ i
Dedan.
|
Seba, |
|
|
Havila, |
|
|
The sons of |
Sabta, |
|
Chush were |
Raama, |
|
Sabteca, |
|
|
Nimrod. |
' 2 Sam. viii. 9.
Deut. xi. 24.
h 2 Kings xviii. 34.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 315
Β§. i. That most of the sons of Chush were seated in Arabia the Happy ;
and of the Sabeans that robbed Job ; and of the queen that came
to Solomon.
SEBA, or Saba, was the eldest son of Chush, the eldest son of Ham: to make a difference between him and his ne phew Sheba, the son of his brother Raama, or Regma, (or Ragma, after Montanus,) his name is written with a single S, samech, and Sheba the son of Regma, with an S aspirate, which is the Hebrew schin. Seba the eldest son of Chush, Regma his brother, and Sheba the son of Regma, possessed both the shores of Arabia Felix. Saba took that part to ward the Red sea, as nearest his father Chush, and the land of the Chusites ; Regma and Sheba, the east coast of the same Arabia, which looketh into the gulf of Persia; of which Pliny : Sab&i Arabum populi propter thura claris- simi ad ntraque maria porrectis gentibus habitant; " The " Sabeans, people of Arabia, famous for their frankincense, " extending their nations, dwell along both the seas, to wit, " the Persian and the Arabian, or Red sea.1' This country was afterwards called Arabia a populi mixtione, saith Pos- tellus. To this agreeth Ptolemy, who setteth the city of Saba towards the Arabian or Red sea, and the city Rhe- gama towards the Persian, with whom also we may leave Sabta ; for so much Montanus gathereth out of Ptolemy, because he remembereth a nation (called Stabaei) near the Persian sea, and Massabathae which descended of them. But Montanus hath sent Regma, or, as he calls him, Rhama, into Carmania, for which I see no reason. Josephus, who only attended his own fancies, hath banished Saba, or Seba, to the border of Ethiopia. But Beroaldus thinks it strange that the Sabsei, which stole away Job's cattle, should run through all Egypt and all Arabia Petraea, and find out Job in Trachonitis, between Palestina and Coelesyria, 1200 miles off. Now as this conjecture was more than ridiculous, so do I think that neither the Sabaei on the Red sea, nor those toward the Persian sea, could by any means execute the stealth upon Job, whichsoever Beroaldus shall take for near est. But these were the Sabaei of Arabia the Desert, where
316 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Guilandinus Melchior affirmcth, out of his own experience, that the city Saba is seated, the same which Ptolemy calls Save, now Semiscasac ; and from this Saba in Arabia the Desert came those magi or wisemen which worshipped Christ, saith Melchior, whose words are these : " The magi came " neither out of Mesopotamia, (as Chrysostom, Jerome, and " Ambrose supposed,) nor out of Arabia the Happy, as many " wise men do believe, but out of Saba in Arabia the Desert ; " which city, when myself was there, was (as I judged it) call- " ed Semiscasac.11 And to approve this opinion of Guilandi nus, it appeareth that the Sabaei were neighbours to Job, and lay fit to invade and rob him. For both the other na tions (as well those on the Persian sea, as those on the Red sea) are so disjoined with large deserts, as there is no possi bility for strangers to pass them, especially with any num bers of cattle, both in respect of the mountains, of the sands, and of the extreme want of water in those parts : Ubi nee homines nee besticR videntur, nee aves, imo nee arbores, nee germen aliquod^ sed non nisi monies saxosi, altissimi, asper- rimi ; " Where there are found neither men nor beast, no " not so much as birds or trees, nor any pasture or grass, " but only sharp and high, stony and craggy mountains.11 Beroaldus and Pererius conceive that the queen of Saba which came to visit Solomon was of the Sabaei, on the east side of Arabia Felix ; but the contrary seemeth more pro bable, that she was queen of Saba towards the Red sea; for Solomon at that time commanding all that part of Arabia Petraea, betwixt Idumaea and the Red sea, as far down as Midian, or Maclian, and Ezion Gaber; and this queen of Saba, which inhabited the west part of Arabia Felix, being his neighbour, might without any far travel enter his terri tories, free from all danger of surprise by any other prince or nation.
But to avoid tediousness, it is manifest that Seba, or Saba, Sabta, Raama, or Rhegma, with his sons Sheba, and Dedan, and Sabteca, were all the possessors of Arabia the Happy and the Desert ; only Havila and Nimrod dwelt together on the east side of Chush, who held Arabia Petraea. Now for Sabta, there is found of his name the city of Sabbatha, or
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 317
Sabota, in the same Arabia ; of which both > Pliny and Pto lemy, who withal nameth Sabotale, within the walls where of there were sometimes found sixty temples. Ezekiel join- eth the father and the son together, k The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were thy merchants. And that they were the eastern Arabians their merchandise witnesseth, for merly repeated in the chapter of paradise. For Josephus's fancies, that Saba was the parent of the Ethiopians about Meroe, and Sabta of the Ethiopians Astabari, they be not worthy any further answer than hath already been given ; especially seeing these cities, preserving the memory of the names of Saba and of Sabta in Arabia, were yet remaining in Ptolemy's time, though in some letters changed. As also in the coasts adjoining, the names of other of the brethren of the family of Chush, with little alterations, are preserved. In Arabia the Desert is found the city Saba?, or Save, (now Semiscasac,) with the city of Rhegana for Rhegma, and the nation by Ptolemy himself called Raabeni of Raamah. In Arabia the Happy is found the city of Rhegama, and Ra- bana, which also keepeth the sound of Rhegma, the city of Saptha, or Saptah, not far from the east coast of Arabia ; as also the metropolis and chief city, in the body of the south part of Arabia, called, without difference or alteration, Sabatha ; and to the west of Sabatha, towards the Red sea, the great city of Saba ; and the nation adjoining, Sabaei ; and to the south thereof, again towards the straight entrance of the Red sea, the region of Sabe. To all these his bro thers and nephews, which were seated on the east side of Arabia, Havilah, by the passage of Tigris, was a neighbour, to whom he might pass by boat even unto Rhegma the city of Raama, or Rhegma, set near the river of Lar towards the mouth of the Persian sea, which stood in Ptolemy's time.
M-
Josephus's opinion of Dedan, one of the issue of Chush, to have been seated in ivest Ethiopia, disproved out of Ezekiel and Jeremy. AND whereas Josephus (whom in this St. Jerome fol-
j Plin. 1. 12. c. 14. Ptol. Tab. 6. Asia;. k Ezek. xxvii. 22.
318 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
lowcth, as not curious herein) sent Dedan, the son of Raa- mah, into west Ethiopia, it is strange that Ezekiel should couple Sheba, Raamah, and Dedan together, Dedan in the 15th verse, and Sheba and Raamah in the 22d verse, to be the merchants of Tyre, if Dedan had dwelt in west Ethio pia, which is distant from Raamah and Sheba (the habita tion of his father and brother) above 4000 miles. Besides which, the merchandise that the Dedanites brought to Tyre doth not make them naked black-moors. For they of De- dan, saith Ezekiel, were thy merchants in precious cloths for thy chariots ; and these western Ethiopians never saw cloth, till the Portugals seeking those coasts traded with them ; the merchandise of the country being hides, ele phants'" teeth, some gold and amber, civet cats, and rice, but nothing at all of any manufacture ; and all these they ex changed for linen, or iron chiefly.
But in those days the west part of Africa, within the body of the land, was known only by imagination ; and, being un der the burnt zone, was held uninhabitable. And therefore that the negroes of west Ethiopia, which inhabit about Serra I.iona, or Niger, could either pass by sea or land to Tyre in the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, were a strange, or rather a foolish fancy. Now to put it out of dispute that Dedan also dwelt by the rest of the children of Chush, which seats they held by that name in the time of Jeremy the prophet, let us hear Jeremy's own words ; ^F ly, ye inha bitants ofDedan^for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon him. Hereby it appeareth that Dedan was a neigh bour to the Jdumeans ; and Idumaea is a province of Arabia Petraea ; and Dedan, which dwelt on the north part of Ara bia Felix, joined in that part of Petraea, the seat of his grandfather Chush ; which neighbourhood and fellowship of Dedan and the Idumeans is also confirmed by Ezekiel ; 1 / will stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and destroy man and beast out of it; and I will make it desolatejrom T email; and they of Dedan shall Jail by the sword.
k Jcr. xlix. 8. I Ezck. xxv. 13.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 319
SECT. XIV.
Of the issue ofMizraim ; and of the place of Jeremy, chap. ix. vor. 7.
AFTER Chush it followeth to speak of Mizraim's sons, whose names, saith m St. Augustine, were plural, to signify the nations which came from them. Ludim, the eldest son of Mizraim, was the father of the Libyans in Africa ; and the rest of his brothers dispersed themselves into all regions adjoining. Among the sons of Shem there is also Lud, but he is differenced from Lud the son of Mizraim by the singular number ; the son of Shem being written Lud, the son ofMizraim Ludim; and yet these names and nations are often confounded, notwithstanding the apparent differ ence both of names and nations. For that Ludim, the son of Mizraim, was the parent of the Libyans in Africa, and that he was seated not far from Mizraim his father, appear- eth by the prophet Jeremy, who joineth them in this sort together: n Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the valiant men come forth ; the black-moors and the Li byans, which bear the shield ; for those nations assisted the Egyptians, being of one parent descended. And in Ezekiel, Phut and Lud are joined together. Ethiopia, (or Chush,) saith Ezekiel, chap. xxx. ver. 5. and Phut and Lud, and all the common people, and the men of the land that are in league, shall fall with them by the sword ; which is as much as to say, the sons of Chush, (which were the Chusites,) the sons of Mizraim, (which were the Egyptians,) and the Libyans, (descended of his son Lud,) with other the inhabitants of Egypt and Africa, shall fall together. Hierosolymitanus finds also in Africa a nation of the Lydians. And I believe it ; because Jeremy joineth the Libyans and Lydians together in the place before remembered. But Libya in Africa is by the Hebrews called Ludim, saith Arias Montanus, though, 2 Chron. xii. 3. they seem to be called Lubim, or Lubaei, a name somewhat nearer the word Lybies, and by which it may seem that the truer writing is, not Libyes, but Lybies.
111 The termination im in the He- ral number, as aim of the dual, brew is commonly a sign of the plu- " Jer. xlvi. 9.
320 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Neither is it here to be omitted, that Pintus (upon the 30th of Ezekiel) understandeth that which is spoken of in the 5th verse of Lud, not to be meant of the Libyans at all; for he will have this threatening to be meant against the people of Lyda, a city, saith he, between Egypt and Palestina, which opinion I could not mislike, if the city of Lyda were so seated. But Lyda (which should be written Lydda, with a double fZ, and is the same city which was afterwards Dios- polis, in which St. Peter cured vEneas of the palsy) standeth near the torrent Gaas, not far from Joppe, the port of Je rusalem. Yet it is not impossible but that this city might have Lud for the founder. For there are many cities of one name founded in all the regions of the world, and far asunder ; as after the names of Alexander, Seleucus, and Antiochus, many cities called Alexandria, Seleucia, and An- tiochia, so of divers others. St. Jerome maketh Lehabim to be the father of Libya, who was the third son of Miz- raim ; and so doth Postellus, and either opinion may be true.
The rest of MizrainVs sons have no proper countries given them in the scriptures, saving Casluhim and Caphto- rim, of whom came the Philistines, whom the scriptures call Peleset.
These Casluhim inhabited Cassiotis, a region lying in the entrance of Egypt from Palestina, in which the lake Sirbo- nis and the mountain Cassius are found ; not far from whence Pompey was buried.
Caphtorim seated near Casluhim in that tract of Egypt called Sethrotis, not far from Pelusium. Strabo calls it Se- throtis ; Stephanus and Pliny, Sethroitis, of the city Se- thron ; which Ortelius takes to be the same which Ptolemy calls Hercules parva. Of the Casluhim and Caphtorim came the Philistines, which are called by the Septuagint Allophyli, which is, Alienigena?, strangers, or of a strange kindred. These Philistines inhabited the south part of the Holy Land towards Egypt, of whom Palestina took name. For the Hebrews, saith Isidore, do not use the letter P, but instead of it, Ph. Their principal cities were Gaza, Ascalon,
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD.
Azotus, Geth, and Accaron ; and the people of them called Gazaei, Ascalonitse, Azotii, Gethaei, and Accaronitse. Isi dore affirms, that Ascalon was first called Philistim ; and of that city the country adjoining. But where Isidore had it, I know not.
The first known king of the Philistines was that Abime- lech, who had a liking to Abraham"^ wife, with whom Abraham made a covenant and league. This Abimelech dwelt indeed at this time in Gerar ; but it is written that he was also king of the Philistines, in these words; Β° Where fore Isaac went to Abimelech king- of the Philistines unto Gerar. Now in regard that this or some ancienter Abime lech governed the commonwealth greatly to his glory, the rest of his successors called themselves by the same name. The Philistines commanded that tract of land upon the Me diterranean sea to the northward, from the castle of Pilgrims, (otherwise Csesarea Palestinae, or Straton's tower,) which was the south border of Phoenicia, to Gaza, or to the river of Egypt. The Anakims, or strong giants, were of these Phi listines, and Goliah was of Geth, one of the five cities above- named. They had sometimes five kings, saith Liranus. They mastered the Israelites at several times above 150 years, and kept them tributaries, till they were weakened by Samson and Samuel ; but in the end this yoke was taken off by David, and laid on themselves.
It is objected, that because these cities and the countries adjoining were held by the sons of Mizraim, therefore did the Israelites dispossess the sons of Mizraim, and not of Ca naan, by forcing those places.
To this saith Pererius, that although the Palestines or Philistines held it in the time of Joshua, yet at the time of the promise it was possessed by the Canaanites, as in the 2d of Deuteronomy. The Hevites dwelt in the villages unto Gaza. And what marvel if (the Canaanites being the greater part) the denomination were from them ? for that the Philistines were of Caphtor, and so of Mizraim, and not of Canaan, besides Moses, the prophet Jeremy witnesseth ; 0 Basil upon the 33d Psalm. Jerome upon the zgth of E/ekiel.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. Y
322 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
P The Lord icill destroy the Phi list hies, the remnant of the issue ofCaphtor: and in like manner in Amos, the Philis tines are said to be the relics of Caphtorim ; <1 Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt ? and the Phi- littvnetjrotn Cfiphtor, and Aram from Kir? so I read this place with divers of the learned. For whereas the Vulgar hath, et Pal&stinos de Cappadocia, et Syros de Gyrene, this conversion Beroaldus condemned] ; where Caphtor is taken for Cappadocia, and Cyrene for Kir. For Cyrene is a city directly west from Egypt, between Ptolemais, or Barce, and Apollonia, but Kir in Asia under the Assyrians; Junius hath it Kir, and not Cyrene, and so hath the Geneva. But Pererius calls Caphtorim Cappadocia, according to the vul gar translation, to which he is bound ; and yet it is not al together improbable, if he mean Cappadocia in Palestina, and not that r Cappadocia by the sea Pontus in the north of Asia the Less. For whether they inhabited Sethreites, or Cappadocia of Palestina, it is not certainly known. And sure in this manner he may expound Cappadocia to be am biguous, as well as he doth Cyrene ; taking it here, not for Cyrene in Africa, but for a place in Media. For it is writ ten in the 2d of s Kings, that Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians carried away the inhabitants of Damascus into Kir ; and so Josephus seems to understand this Kir for Cyrene in Media, calling this Cyrene Media Superior : for it was the manner and policy of the Assyrians to transplant the people conquered by them, as they did the Samaritans or Israelites, and other nations. And hereof it came that Kir was called Syro-Media ; because the Syrians bv the As syrians were therein captived.
P Jer. xlvii. 4. β’> Amos ix. 7.
' Of which see in thesecond book, chap. 7. sect. 3. Β§. $. '2 Kings xvi. 9.
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 323
SECT. XV.
Of the isitue of Sem.
Β§. i.
Of Mlam, Assur, Arphaxad, and Lud.
IT remaineth lastly to speak of the sons of Sem, who were these :
1. A lam, or Elam.
2. Ashur.
3. Arphaxad.
4. Lud, and
5. Aram.
The posterity of Sem, Moses recounteth after the rest ; because from them he proceedeth in order with the genea logy and story of the Hebrews. For of Sem was Abraham descended.
Of these five sons the scriptures remember the length of the life of Arphaxad only, and only the children of him and Aram ; the rest are barely spoken of by rehearsal of their names, saving that it may be gathered, that Assur (who was supposed to found Nineveh) was also said to be the father of the Assyrians, whose issues, and the issues of Cham, instantly contended for the empireof the east ; which sometimes the As syrians, sometimes the Babylonians obtained, according to the virtue of their princes. This is the common opinion, which also teacheth us, that all the east parts of the world were peopled by Assur, Elam, and Lud, (saving India,) which I believe Noah himself first inhabited ; and to whom Ophir and Havilah, the sons of Joctan, afterwards repaired : Hi filii Sem ah Euphrate Jluvio partem ASICB usque ad ocea- num Indicum tenuerunt; u These sons of Sem," saith St. Jerome, " held all those regions from Euphrates to the In- " dian ocean."
Of lElam came the Elamites, remembered Acts ii. 9- and the princes of Persia ; which name then began to be out of use and lost, when the Persians became masters of Babylonia; the east monarchy being established in them.
Β» Joseph. Ant. 1. i. c. 7.
U24 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Some profane writers distinguish Elam from Persia, and make the Elamitcs a people apart. But Susa (which the scriptures call Susan) in Elam was the king's seat of Persia, witness Daniel viii. 2. And I saw, saith he, in a vision, and when I tune if, I teas in the palace of Susan, which- is in the province of Elam. This city is embraced by the river Eulanis, according to u Ptolemy, in Daniel, Ulai; and seated in the border of Susiana.
Ashur, (as most historians believe,) the second son of Sem, was father of the Assyrians, who, disdaining the pride of Nimrod, parted from Babel, and built Nineveh, of equal beauty and magnitude with Babylon, or exceeding it. But we shall in due place disprove that opinion. Every man's hand hath been in this story, and therefore I shall not need herein to speak much ; for the Assyrians so often invaded and spoiled the Israelites, destroyed their cities, and led them captives, as both in divine and human letters there is large and often mention of this nation.
But howsoever Herodotus and D. Sictilus extend this em pire, and honour this nation with ample dominion, yet was not the state of the Assyrians of any such power, after such time as Sardanapalus lost the empire. For Sennacherib, who was one of the powerful lest princes among them, had yet the mountain Taurus for the utmost of his dominion towards the north-east, and Syria bounded him towards the west, notwithstanding those vaunts of Sennacherib in Isaiah xxxvii. 12, 13. Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden which were at Te- lassar ? Where is the king- of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah ? All these indeed were but petty kings of cities, and small countries, as Haran, in Mesopotamia ; Reseph, in Palmyrena; Hamath, or Emath, in Iturea, under Liba- nus ; the isle of Eden ; Sepher, and others of this sort. Yea Nabuchodonosor, who was most powerful, before the conquest of Egypt had but Chaldea, Mesopotamia, and
" Ptol. Asiae Tab. 5.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 325
Syria, with Palestina and Phoenicia, parts thereof. But in this question of Assur, I will speak my opinion freely when I come to Nimrod, whose plantation I have omitted among the rest of the Chusites, because he established the first em pire, from whom the most memorable story of the world taketh beginning.
Of Arphaxad came the Chaldeans, saith St. Jerome and Josephus, but it must be those Chaldeans about Ur ; for the sons of Cham possessed the rest. It is true that he was the father of the Hebrews; for Arphaxad begat Shela, and Shela Heber, of whom hereafter.
And that Lud, the fourth son of Shem, gave name to the Lydians in Asia the Less, is the common opinion, taken from Josephus and St. Jerome ; but I see not by what rea son he was moved to straggle thither from his friends.
Β§.2.
Of Aram and his sons.
ARAM, the fifth and last son of Shem, was the parent of the Syrians, of which x Damascus was head. Their name was changed from Aram, or Aramites, by Syrus, saith yEu- sebius out of Josephus, which Syrus lived before Moses was born ; the same which others call the son of Apollo. Me sopotamia also being but a province of Syria, had the name of Aram Naharaiim, which is as much to say, as Syria du- orum Jluviorum, " Syria compassed with two rivers," to wit, Tigris and Euphrates. The scriptures call it Mesopo tamia, Syria, and Padan Aram, and the Greeks Mesopota mia simply.
2 Arise, and get thee to Padan Aram., saith Isaac to Ja cob, to the house ofBethuel thy mother '* father β’, and thence take thee a wife. Strabo also remembereth it by the an cient name of Aram, or Aramea, as these his own words converted witness : a Quos nos Syros vocamus, ipsi Syri Armenios et Arameos vacant; " Those which we call Sy-
x Isa. vii. 8. also Deut. xxiii. 4. Judg. iii. Paral.
1 Euseb. 10. 6 1. 19- Psalm lix.
z Gen. xxviii. 2. See Gen. xxv. 20. * Strabo, 1. i.
326 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
" riaiis," saith he, " themselves call Aramenians and Ara- " means.11
Against this opinion, that Aram the son of Sem was the father and denominator of the Syrians in general, (and not only of those in Syria Inter-amnis, which is Mesopotamia,) some read Gen. xxii. 21. Kemuel, the father of' the Syrian*; where others, out of the original, read, Kemuel, the son of Aram. Neither is it any inconvenience for us to under stand the word Aram here, not for the nation, but for the name of some one of note ; the rather, because in the his tory of Abraham and Isaac, (which was in time long before KemuePs posterity could be famous,) we find Mesopotamia called Aram, and that with an addition ; sometimes with Naharaiim, and sometimes of Padan, to distinguish it from another Aram, which, as it seems, then also was called Aram. For whereas Junius thinks in his note upon Gen. xxv. 20. that Padan Aram ought to be restrained to some part of Mesopotamia, to wit, to that part which Ptolemy calls Ancobaritis, (so called from the river Chaboras, which dividing it, runneth into Euphrates,) the promiscuous use of Padan Aram, and Aram Naharaiim, (which latter appel lation questionless comprehends the whole Mesopotamia,) may seem to refute this opinion ; especially seeing the sig nification of this appellation agreeth with the whole region. For it signifieth as much as the yoke of Syria, which name agrees with this region, because the two rivers, as it were, yoked together, go along it. The relics of the name Pa- dan appear in the name of two cities in Ptolemy, called Aphadana, as Junius hath well noted, the one upon Chabo- rus, the other upon Euphrates.
Uz or Hus,
The sons of Aram were
Hul, Gether, and
Mesch or Mes.
Uz, or Hus, inhabited about Damascus, and built that city, say Josephus and bSt. Jerome. But Tostatus, mis-
h Hierou. iu Trad. Hebraic.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 327
taking this opinion, both in them and in Lyra, who also followeth Josephus, affirmeth, that Abraham's steward Elie- zer was the founder thereof; though it were likely that Hus, the eldest son of Aram, dwelt near unto his father, who inhabited the body of Syria. For Hus was a region of the same, adjoining to Arabia the Desert, and to Batanea, or Trachonitis, whereof the prophet Jeremy ; c Rejoice and be glad, O daughter ofEdom, that dwellest in the land of Hus. Hus therefore is seated beyond Jordan, in the east region of Trachonitis, adjoining to Basan, having Batanea Gaulonitis and the mountain Seir to the east, Edrai to the south, Damascus north, and Jordan west ; having in it many cities and people, as may also be gathered out of Jeremy; d And all sorts of people, and all the kings of the land of Hus. In this region dwelt Job, descended of Hus, the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham, saith St. Jerome, and married Dinah the daughter of Jacob, saith Philo.
Hul, the second son of Aram, St. Jerome makes the fa ther of the Armenians ; and Gether, the third son, parent to the Arcananians, or Carians ; which opinion (because I find not where to set him) I do not disprove, though I see no reason why Gether should leave the fellowship of his own brethren, and dwell among strangers in Asia the Less. Ju- nius gives Hul (whom he writes Chul) the desert of Pal- myrena, as far as Euphrates, where Ptolemy setteth the city of Cholle.
Gether, saith Josephus, founded the Bactrians ; but Jose phus gave all Noah's children feathers, to carry them far away in all haste. For mine own opinion, I always keep the rule of neighbourhood, and think with Junius, to wit, that Gether seated himself near his brothers, in the body of Syria, and in the province of Cassiotis, and Seleucis, where Ptolemy placeth Gindarus, and the nation by Pliny called Gindareni.
Junius also giveth to Mes, or Mesch, the north part of
Syria, between Cilicia and Mesopotamia, near the mountain
Masius. The certainty of those plantations can no other-
1 Jer. Lam. iv. 21. d Jer. xxv. 20.
Y 4
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wise be known than by this probability, that Aram the fa ther (of whom that great region took name) planted his sons in the same land about him, for he wanted no scope of territory for himself and them ; neither then when the world was newly planted, nor in many hundred years after; and therefore there is no reason to cast them into the desert parts of the world, so far asunder. And as necessity and policy held them together for a while ; so ambition, (which began together with angels and men,) inhabiting the hearts of their children, set them asunder. For although these sons of Aram, and the sons of the rest of Noah's children, kept themselves within the bounds of some one large king dom, yet therein every one also sought a province apart, and to themselves, giving to the cities therein built their own names, thereby to leave their memory to their posterity; the use of letters being then rare, and known to few.
In this sort did the pride of the Spaniards in America cast them into so many provinces ; every one emulating and disdaining the greatness of others, as they are thereby to this day subject to invasion, expulsion, and destruction ; so as (Nova Hispania and Peru excepted, because those coun tries are unaccessible to strangers) an easy force will cast them out of all the rest.
Mes, the fourth son, is made the parent of the Meonians, eof whom something hath been spoken already. Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, begat Shelah and Heber. Heber had two sons, Phaleg and Joctan ; and in Phaleg's time was the earth divided.
Β§β’3- Of the division of the earth in the time of Phaleg, one of the sons
of Heber, of the issue of Sem.
THE many people which at the division, at Phaleg's birth, were then living, and the thorough plantation of all the east part of the world, at his death, hath made a doubt, whether the earth were divided at either. The Hebrews, saith Pererius out of Sedar Holam, one of their chronicles, affirm that this partition happened at the death of Phaleg ; β’ Chap. viii. sect. 7.
CHAP. viii. OF THE WORLD. 329
and Phaleg was born in the year after the flood 101, and lived in all 239 years, which numbers added make 340. And therefore was it so many years after the flood, ere the chil dren of Noah severed themselves. But to this opinion of the Hebrews, and the doubt they make how in so few years as 101 (the time of Phaleg's birth) so many people could be increased, Pererius gives this answer, That if seventy persons of the family of Jacob increased to 600,000 fighting men in 215 years, (besides women, children, and impotent persons,) how much more is it likely, that so soon after the flood the children of Noah might in a shorter time bring forth many multitudes, having received the blessing of God, Increase and multiply, and Jill the earth? What strength this answer hath, let others judge ; for the children of Israel were severity, and had 215 years1 time ; and the sons of Noah were but three, and had but 101 years1 time, to the birth of Phaleg.
Others conceive that Phaleg took that name after the di vision, in memory thereof; as f Josephus and St. Augustine, who reason in this manner. If the division were at Phaleg^s death, (which happened in the year which is commonly held to be the forty-eighth of Abraham, but was by more likely computation twelve years before his birth,) then was the division thirty-eight years after Ninus, who governed fifty-two years ; in the forty-third year of whose reign Abraham was born. But when Ninus began to rule the S Assyrians eighty years before this division, (as this divi sion is placed by the Hebrews, Jerome, and Chrysostom,) then was the earth so peopled in all the east and northern parts, as greater numbers have not been found at any time since. For Ninus associated to himself Ariseus king of Arabia, a people who at that time, saith Diodorus Siculus, plurimum opibusatque armis prfBstabant, " exceeded both in " riches and bodies of men," subdued many cities in Arme nia, received Barzanis into grace, then invaded Media, and crucified Pharnus the king thereof, with his wife and seven
'Joseph. 1. i. Ant. Aug. de Civi- c Perer. in Gen. 1. 15. c. 10. tate Dei, 1. 16. c. n.
330 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
children ; vanquished all those regions between Nilus and Tanais, the Egyptians, Phoenicians, the kingdoms of Syria, and all the nations of Persia, to the Hyrcanian sea. For the numbers which followed .Minus (already remembered out of Ctesias) against Zoroaster and others ; and Zoroas ter on the other side, who made resistance with 400,000, prove it sufficiently, that if the division had not happened before the death of Phaleg, there had needed no division at that time at all. For some of them were so ill satisfied with their partitions, as they sought to be masters of all, and greater armies were there never gathered than by Ninus and Semirarnis ; wherefore in this opinion there is little appear ance of the truth.
But for that conceit, that if the division had been made at the birth of Phaleg, there were not then sufficient num bers born to fill the earth ; it was never meant that the earth could be filled every where at the very instant, but by time and degrees; and surely whatsoever men's opinions have been herein, yet it is certain, that the division of tongues and of men must go near together with the ceasing of the work at Babel ; and that the enterprise of Babel was left off instantly upon the confusion of languages, where followed the execution of the division, and so neither at the birth nor death of Phaleg; for Phaleg was born in the year 101 after the flood, which was the year that Nimrod came into Shinaar, or ten years after he arrived, saith Berosus.
Now if it be objected that Phaleg (the etymology of whose name signified! division) must have lived without a name, except the name had been given him at the time of this confusion and partition. To this objection it may be answered, that the change of names upon divers ac cidents is not rare in the scriptures ; for Jacob was called Israel after he had wrestled with the angel ; Abraham was first Abram, and Edom Esau ; and that Phaleg, being a principal man in this division, had his first name upon this accident changed, it is most probable.
And lastly, whereas the Hebrews, St. Jerome, and Chrvs- ostom account Heber for a great prophet, if that by giving
CHAP. V11I.
OF THE WORLD.
his son the name of Phaleg, he foretold the division which followed. To this I say, I do not find that Heber deserved any such honour, if he had thereupon so called his son ; for division and dispersion followeth increase of people of ne cessity ; and this prophecy (if any such had been) might also have reference to the division, which afterwards fell among the Hebrews themselves.
But if we give a reasonable time to the building of the tower and city of Babel, in which time many people (by reason and by demonstrative proof) might be increased ; and that upon the fall thereof the confusion and division fol lowed, (whereupon Phaleg took name,) then in this opinion there is nothing either curious or monstrous.
Β§β’4- Of the sons of Joctan, the other son of Heber.
1. Elmodad.
2. Saleph, or Salep, or Sheleph.
3. Asamath, or Chatzar.
4. Jare, or Jaraah, or Jerath.
5. Hadoram.
6. Uzal, or Uxal.
7. Dicklach, or Dicla.
8. Obal, or Ebal, or Hobal.
9. Abimael.
10. Sheba, or Seba.
11. Ophir, or Opir.
12. Havila, or Chavila, and . 13. Jobab.
All those sons of Joctan, according to St. Jerome, dwelt in the east parts of the world, or India, even from the river Cophe, or Choas, which is one of the branches or heads of Indus.
But the certain places of those thirteen sons cannot be
gathered out of the scriptures, the words of Moses being
o-eneral : h And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou
goest, unto Sephar a mount in the east- Of all these thir-
h Gen. x. 30.
The sons of Joctan were
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teen sons, there were only three memorable, to wit, Sheba, Ophir, and Havilah. Concerning whose names, to avoid confusion, it is to be observed, that among the sons of Chush, two of them had also the names of Seba and Havi lah. Abraham had also a third, Saba, or Sheba, his grand child by his wife Ketura. But Seba the son of Chush, and Sheba the son of Rhegma his nephew, we have left in Ara bia Felix ; and Havilah the son of Chush, upon Tigris. Saba, the grandchild of Abraham, was, as some have thought, the father of the Sabeans in Persia, of which na tions Dionysius de orbit .situ maketh mention: Prim inn Sab tei ,β’ post hos stint Passagardce, prope rcro hos stint Tasci ; " The first are Sabeans; after these be Passagar- " dae; and near these the Tasci. " And whereas it is writ ten, lBut unto the sons of the concubine*, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gift*, and .sent than away from Isaac his XOH, while lie net I/red, eastward, to iJic east country; hereupon it is supposed, that this Saba, the son of Abraham, wandered into Persia; for Persia was accounted the further most east country in respect of Judea ; which also k Ovid setteth under the sunrising. ' Yet seeing the rest of Abra ham's sons seated themselves on the borders of Judea, I ra ther choose to leave Saba, the son of Abraham, in Arabia the Desert, where Ptolemy setteth a city of that name.
But Saba the son of Joctan, the son of Heber, as I con ceive, inhabited India itself. For 'Dionysius Afer, in his Periegesis, or description of the world, which he wrote in Greek verse, among the regions of India, findeth a nation called the Sabaei : Taxilus hos inter medios habitatque Sa- bcBus; " In the midst of these dwell the Sabaei and the " Taxili," saith this Dionysius.
* Β§-5- Of Ophir, one of Joctan's sons, and of Peru, and of that voyage of
Solomon.
OPHIR also was an inhabitant of the East Indies, and, as St. Jerome understands it, in one of the islands plentiful
1 (it'll. XXV. 6. ' Taiv Si fj.iaei yaiourjai TLufaut xai Ta-
⒠\Ictam. I. I. 'ii'.ti «»$!{.
CHAP. vni. OF THE WORLD. 333
with gold, which are now known by the name of Molucca. Josephus understands Ophir to be one of those great head lands in India, which by a general name are called Cherso- nesi, or Peninsulae ; of which there are two very notorious, Callecut and Malacon. Pererius takes it rightly for an island, as St. Jerome doth, but he sets it at the headland of Malacca ; but Ophir is found among the Moluccas further east.
Arias Montanus, out of 2 Chronicles iii. 6. gathers, that Ophir was Peru in America, looking into the west ocean, commonly called Mare del Sur, or the south sea; by others, Mare pacificum. The words in 2 Chronicles are these ; And he overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim. Junius takes this gold to be the gold of Havilah, remembered by Moses in the de scription of paradise ; mAnd the gold of that land is good ; finding a town in Characene, a province of Susiana, called Barbatia, so called, as he thinks, by corruption for Parvaim ; from whence those kings, subjected by David, brought this gold, with which they presented him, and which David preserved for the enriching of the temple.
But this fancy of Peru hath deceived many men before Montanus and Plessis, who also took Ophir for Peru. And that this question may be a subject of no further dispute, it is very true, that there is no region in the world of that name ; sure I am, at least, that America hath none, no not any city, village, or mountain so called. But when Francis Pisarro first discovered those lands to the south of Panama, arriving in that region which Atabaliba commanded, a prince of magnificence, riches, and dominion, inferior to none, some of the Spaniards, utterly ignorant of that lan guage, demanding by signs, as they could, the name of the country, and pointing with their hand athwart a river, or torrent, or brook, that ran by, the Indians answered Peru, which was either the name of that brook, or of water in ge neral. The Spaniards thereupon conceiving that the peo ple had rightly understood them, set it down in the diurnal
111 Gen. ii. 1 1, 12. Plin. 1. 6. c. 28.
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of their enterprise, and so in the first description made, and sent over to Charles the emperor, all that west part of Ame rica to the south of Panama had the name of Peru, which hath continued ever since, as divers Spaniards in the Indies assured me; which also Acosta the Jesuit, in his natural and moral history of the Indies, conh'rmeth. And whereas Montanus also findeth, that a part of the Indies, called Ju- catan, took that name of Joctan, who, as he supposeth, na vigated from the utmost east of India to America : it is most true, that Jucatan is nothing else in the language of that country, but, What is that? or, What say you ? For when tin- Spaniards asked the name of that place, (no man conceiving their meaning,) one of the savages answered, Jncatan, which is, What ask you ? or, What say you? The like happened touching Paria, a mountainous country on the south side of Trinidado and Margarita ; for when the Spaniards inquir ing, as all men do, the names of those new regions which they discovered, pointed to the hills afar off, one of the peo ple answered, Paria, which is as much to say, as high hills or mountains. For at Paria begins that marvellous ledge of mountains, which from thence are continued to the Strait of Magellan, from eight degrees of north latitude to fifty- two of south ; and so hath that country ever since retained the name of Paria.
The same happened among the English, which I sent under sir Richard Greeneville to inhabit Virginia. For when some of my people asked the name of that country, one of the savages answered, Wingandacon, which is as much to say, as, You icear good clothes, or gay clothes. The same happened to the Spaniard in asking the name of the island Trinidado ; for a Spaniard demanding the name of that self-place which the sea encompassed, they answered Caeri, which signifieth an island. And in this manner have many places newly discovered been entitled, of which Peru is one. And therefore we must leave Ophir among the Moluccas, whereabouts such an island is credibly affirmed to be.
Now although there may be found gold in Arabia itself,
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 335
(towards Persia,) in Havilah, now Susiana, and all along that East Indian shore ; yet the greatest plenty is taken up at the Philippines, certain islands planted by the Spaniards from the East Indies. And by the length of the passage which Solomon's ships made from the Red sea, (which were three years in going and coming,) it seems they went to the uttermost east, as the Moluccas or Philippines. Indeed these that now go from Portugal, or from hence, finish that navigation in two years, and sometimes less ; and Solomon's ships went not above a tenth part of this our course from hence. But we must consider, that they evermore kept the coast, and crept by the shores, which made the way exceed ing long. For before the use of the compass was known, it was impossible to navigate athwart the ocean ; and there fore Solomon's ships could not find Peru in America. Nei ther was it needful for the Spaniards themselves, had it not been for the plenty of gold in the East India islands, far above the mines of any one place of America, to sail every year from the west part of America thither, and there to have strongly planted and inhabited the richest of those islands ; wherein they have built a city called Manilla. So lomon therefore needed not to have gone further off than Ophir in the east, to have sped worse ; neither could he na vigate from the east to the west in those days, whereas he had no coast to have guided him.
Tostatus also gathereth a fantastical opinion out of Ra- banus, who makes Ophir to be a country, whose mountains of gold are kept by griffins ; which mountains Solinus af- firmeth to be in Scythia Asiatica, in these words : Nam cum auro et gemmls affluant, griphes tenent universa, allies fe- rocissimce, Arimaspi cum his dimicant, &c. " For where- " as these countries abound in gold and rich stone, the " griffins defend the one and the other, a kind of fowl, the " fiercest of all other ; with which griffins a nation of peo- " pie called Arimaspi make war." These Arimaspi are said to have been men with one eye only, like unto the Cy clops of Sicilia, of which Cyclops Herodotus and Ari- steus make mention ; and so doth Lucan in his third book,
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and "Valerius Flaccus and "Diodorus Siculus, in the story of Alexander Macedon. But for mine own opinion, I be lieve none of them. And for these Arimaspi, I take it, that this name, signifying one-eyed, was first given them by rea son that they used to wear a vizard of defence, with one sight in the middle to serve both eyes, and not that they had by nature any such defect. But Solinus borroweth these things out of Pliny, who speaks of such a nation in the extreme north, at a place called Gisolitron, or the cave of the north-east wind. For the rest, as all fables were commonly grounded upon some true stories, or other things done, so might these tales of the griffins receive this moral : That if those men, which fight against so many dangerous passages for gold, or other riches of this world, had their perfect senses, and were not deprived of half their eyesight, (at least of the eye of right reason and understanding,) they would content themselves with a quiet and moderate estate; and not subject themselves to famine, corrupt air, violent heat and cold, and to all sorts of miserable diseases. And though this fable be feigned in this place, yet if such a tale were told of some other places of the world, where wild beasts or serpents defend mountains of gold, it might be avowed. For there are in many places of the world, espe cially in America, many high and impassable mountains, which are very rich and full of gold, inhabited only by tigers, lions, and other ravenous and cruel beasts, unto which if any man ascend, (except his strength be very great,) he shall be sure to find the same war which the Arimaspi make against the griffins; not that the one or other had any sense of the gold, or seek to defend that metal, but being disquieted, or made afraid of themselves or their young ones, they grow enraged and adventurous. In like sort it may be said that the alligators, which the Egyptians call the crocodiles, defend those pearls which lie in the lakes of the inland ; for many times the poor Indians are eaten up by them, when they dive for the pearl. And though the alligators know not the pearl, yet they find sa- " Flacciif, I. 6. " Diod. Sirnl. 1. 16.
CHAP. vin. OF THE WORLD. 337
vour in the flesh and blood of the Indians, whom they de vour.
Β§.6.
Of Havilah the son of Joctan, who also passed into the East In dies ; and of Mesha and Sepher named in the bordering of the families of Joctan ; with a conclusion of this discourse touching the plantation of the world.
OF Havilah, the son of Joctan, there is nothing else to be said, but that the general opinion is, that he also inhabited in the East Indies in the continent, from which Ophir passed into the islands adjoining. And whereas Ganges is said to water Havilah, by it is meant Havilah in the East Indies, which took name of Havilah the son of Joctan ; but Havi lah which Pison compasseth was so called of Havilah the son of Chush, as is formerly proved by this place of scrip ture; P Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah, as thou earnest to Shur, which is before Egypt. But that Saul ever made war in the East Indies, no man hath suspected. For an end we may conclude, that of the thirteen sons of Joc tan, these three, Saba, Havilah, and Ophir ; though at the first seated by their brethren about the hill Masius, or Mesh, Gen. x. 30. to wit, between Cilicia and Mesopo tamia; yet at length either themselves or their issues re moved into the East Indies, leaving the other families of Joctan to fill the countries of their first plantation, which the scripture defines to have been from Mesh unto Sephar. And although St. Jerome takes Mesh to be a region of the East Indies, and Sephar a mountain of the same, (which mountain Montanus would have to be the Andes in Ame rica,) those fancies are far beyond my understanding. For the word east in the scriptures, where it hath reference to Judea, is never further extended than into Persia. But Mesch is that part of the mountain of Masius in the north of Mesopotamia, out of which the river Chaboras springeth, which runneth by Charran ; and in the same region we also find for Sephar, (remembered by Moses,) Sipphara by Ptolemy, standing to the east of the mountain Masius ;
P i Sam. xv. 7. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. Z
338 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
from whence Joctan having many sons, some of them might pass into India, hearing of the beauty and riches thereof. But this was in process of time.
The other fashion of planting I understand not, being grounded but upon men^s imaginations, contrary to reason and possibility. And that this mountain in the east was no further off than in those regions before remembered, it ap- peareth by many places of the scripture where the same phrase is used ; as in Numbers xxin. 7. Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mount a in of the east; which was from the east part of Mesopotamia. For Balak brought Balaam out of Mesopotamia, (witness this place of Deuteronomy xxiii. 4.) Because they hired Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor in Aram Naharaiim, to rw.sr thee ; for Aram Naharaiim was Syria Fluviorum, which is Mesopotamia, as aforesaid.
This plantation of the world after the flood doth best agree, as to me it seems, with all the places of scripture compared together. And these be the reports of reason and probable conjecture; the guides which 1 have followed herein, and which I have chosen to go after, making no valuation of the opinions of men, conducted by their own fancies, be they ancient or modern. Neither have I any end herein, private or public, other than the discovery of truth. For as the partiality of man to himself hath dis guised all things, so the factious and hireling historians of all ages, (especially of these latter times,) have, by their many volumes of untrue reports, left honour without a mo nument, and virtue without memory ; and instead thereof, have erected statues and trophies to those, whom the darkest forgetfulness ought to have buried and covered over for evermore. And although the length and dissolving nature of time hath worn out or changed the names and memory of the world's first planters after the flood, (I mean the greatest number and most part of them,) yet all the footsteps of an tiquity, as appears by that which hath been spoken, are not quite worn out nor overgrown; for Babylon hath to this day the sound of Babel, Phrenicia hath Zidon, to which
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 339
city the eldest son of Canaan gave name ; so hath Cilicia Tharsis, and the Armenians, Medes, Hiberians, Cappado- cians, Phrygians, the Syrians, Idumeans, Libyans, Moors, and other nations, have preserved from the death of forget- fulness some signs of their first founders and true parents.
CHAP. IX.
Of the beginning and establishing of government.
SECT. I.
Of the proceeding from the first government under the eldest of families to regal, and from regal absolute to regal tempered with laws.
IT folio weth now to entreat how the world began to re ceive rule and government, which, while it had scarcity of people, underwent no other dominion than paternity and eldership. For the fathers of nations were then as kings, and the eldest of families as princes. Hereof it came, that the word elder was always used both for the magistrate, and for those of age and gravity; the same bearing one sig nification almost in all languages. For in Numbers xi. God commanded Moses to gather together seventy of the elders of the people, and governors over them ; the Hebrew bear ing the same sense which the Latin word senes or seniores doth. So it is written in Susanna; Then the assembly be lieved them, as those that were the elders and Judges of the people. And so in the words of those false judges and wit nesses to Daniel ; Shew it unto us, seeing God hath given thee the office of an elder. Demosthenes useth the same word for the magistrate among the Grecians. Cicero in Cato giveth two other reasons for this appellation : Apud Laced(Emonios qui amplissimum magistratum gerunt, ut sunt, sic etiam appellantur senes; " Among the Lacedaemo- " nians the chief magistrates, as they are, so are they called " eldermen :"" and again, Ratio et prudentia nisi essent in senibus, non sum-mum concilium mqjorex nofttri appellassent
:HO THE HISTORY BOOK i.
xcnatinn ; " If reason and advisement were not in old men, " our ancestors had never called the highest council by the " name of a senate."
But though these reasons may well be given, yet we doubt not but in this name of elders, for governors or coun sellors of state, there is a sign that the first governors were the fathers of families, and under them the eldest sons. And from thence did the French, Italian, and Spaniard take the word signer, and out of it signiory, for lordship and dominion; signifying, according to Loyseau, puissance in propriety, or proper power. The kinds of this signiory Seneca makes two ; the one, potestas aut imperium; " power or command;"" the other, proprietas aut dominium, " propriety or mastership :" the correlative of the one is the subject, of the other the slave. Ad Ccesarem, saith he, potestas omnium pertinet, ad sirtffidos proprietas ; " Caesar " hath power over all, and every man propriety in his u own." And again; Ccesaromniaimperiopossidet^shi^-//// dominio; " Ca?sar holdeth all in his power, and every man " possesseth his own." But as men and vice began abun dantly to increase, so obedience, (the fruit of natural reve rence, which but from excellent seed seldom ripeneth,) being exceedingly overshadowed with pride and ill examples, ut terly withered and fell away ; and the soft weapons of pa ternal persuasions (after mankind began to neglect and for get the original and first giver of life) became in all over- weak, either to resist the first inclination of evil, or after, when it became habitual, to constrain it. So that now, when the hearts of men were only guided and steered by their own fancies, and tossed to and fro on the tempestuous seas of the world, while wisdom was severed from power, and strength from charity ; 3 necessity (which bindeth every nature but the immortal) made both the wise and foolish understand at once, that the estate of reasonable men would become far more miserable than that of beasts, and that a general flood of confusion would a second time overflow them, did they not, by a general obedience to order and do-
i Nfrossitas p.-,t firmiiin judiciuni, ct inirantabilis providentifr potestas.
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 341
minion, prevent it. For the mighty, who trusted in their own strengths., found others again (by interchange of times) more mighty than themselves ; the feeble fell under the forcible, and the equal from equal received equal harms. Insomuch, that licentious disorder (which seemed to promise a liberty upon the first acquaintance) proved, upon a bet ter trial, no less perilous than an unendurable bondage.
These arguments, by necessity propounded, and by reason maintained and confirmed, persuaded all nations which the heavens cover, to subject themselves to a master, and to magistracy in some degree. Under which government, as the change (which brought with it less evil than the former mischiefs) was generally pleasing, so time (making all men wise that observe it) found some imperfection and corrosive in this cure. And therefore the same necessity which in vented, and the same reason which approved sovereign power, bethought itself of certain equal rules, in which do minion (in the beginning boundless) might also discern her own limits. For before the invention of laws, private affec tions in supreme rulers made their own fancies both their treasurers and hangmen ; measuring by this yard, and weighing in this balance both good and evil.
For as wisdom in eldership preceded the rule of kings, so the will of kings forewent the inventions of laws : Populus nullis legibus tenebatur : arbitria principum pro legibus erant ; " The people were not governed by any other laws " than the wills of princes." Hereof it followed, that when kings left to be good, neither did those men's virtues value them, which were not fancied by their kings, nor those men's vices deform them that were : Amor interdum nlmis videt, interdum nihil videt ; " Love sees one while too much, " another while stark nothing." Hence it came to pass, that after a few years (for direction and restraint of royal power) laws were established ; and that government which had this mixture of equality, (holding in an even balance supreme power and common right,) acquired the title of regal ; the other, which had it not, was known for tyrannical ;
z3
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
the one God established in favour of his people, the other he permitted for their affliction.
In the infancy of this regal authority, princes, as they were chosen for their virtues only, so did they measure their powers by a great deal of moderation. And therefore, saith Fabius Pictor, r Principes, quia justi erant, et rcl'igi- onibus dediti, jure habiti dii et dicti ; " Princes, because " they were just and religious, were rightly accounted and " called gods."
And though, speaking humanly, the beginning of empire may be ascribed to reason and necessity, yet it was God himself that first kindled this light in the minds of men, whereby they saw that they could not live and be preserved without a ruler and conductor ; God himself, by his eternal providence, having ordained kings, and the law of nature leaders and rulers over others. For the very bees have their prince ; the deer their leaders ; and cranes, by order imposed, watch for their own safety. s The Most High beareth rule over the kingdoms of men, and appointeth over it whomsoever he pleaseth. l By me, saith Wisdom, spoken by the Son of God, Icings reign ; by me princes- rule : and, It is God, saith u Daniel, that setteth up kings and taketh away kings : and that this power is given from God, Christ himself witnesseth, speaking to Pilate; x Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given theejrom above.
It was therefore by a threefold justice that the world hath been governed from the beginning : to wit, by a justice na tural ; by which the parents and elders of families governed their children, and nephews, and families, in which govern ment the obedience was called natural piety : again, by a justice divine, drawn from the laws and ordinances of God, and the obedience hereunto was called conscience; and lastly, by a justice civil, begotten by both the former, and
' Do Aureo Sseculo, par. i. " Dan. ii. 21.
" Dau. v. 21. " .loliuxix.ii
1 1'rov. viii. i;.
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 343
the obedience to this we call duty. That by these three those of the eldest times were commanded, and that the rule in general was paternal, it is most evident ; for Adam being lord over his own children, instructed them in the service of God his Creator; as we read, Cain and Abel brought oblations before God, as they had been taught by their parent, the father of mankind.
SECT. II.
Of the three commendable sorts of government, with their opposites ; and of the degrees of human society.
WHAT other policy was exercised, or state founded, after such time as mankind was greatly multiplied before the flood, it cannot be certainly known, though it seems, by probable conjecture, that the same was not without kings in that first age ; it being possible that many princes of the Egyptians (remembered among their antiquities) were be fore the general flood ; and very likely, that the cruel op pressions in that age proceeded from some tyranny in go vernment, or from some rougher form of rule than the pa ternal.
y Berosus ascribeth the rule of the world in those days to the giants of Libanus, who mastered, saith he, all nations from the sunrising to the sunset. But in the second age of the world, and after such time as the rule of eldership failed, three several sorts of government were in several times established among men, according to the divers na tures of places and people.
The first, the most ancient, most general, and most ap proved, was the government of one, ruling by just laws, called monarchy; to which tyranny is opposed, being also a sole and absolute rule, exercised according to the will of the commander, without respect or observation of the laws of God or men. For a lawful prince or magistrate, saith Aristotle, is the keeper of right and equity ; and of this condition ought every magistrate to be, according to the rule of God's word : z Judges and officers shcdt thou make >' Beros. 1. i. l Deut. xvi. 18.
v 4
1H4 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
the i in thy cities: and these shall judge the people icith righteous judgmen t.
The second government is of divers principal persons established by order, and ruling by laws, called aristocracy, or opthnatnm potestas ; to which oligarchy (or the parti cular faction and usurpation of a few great ones) is opposed ; as the decemviri, or triumviri, and the like.
The third is a state popular, (or government of the people,) called democratia, to which is opposed ochlocratia, or the turbulent unjust ruling of the confused multitude, se ditiously swaying the state, contrary to their own laws and ordinances. These three kinds of government are briefly expressed by Tholosanus : Unius, paucorum, et multorum : " Of one, of few, of many."
Now as touching the beginning and order of policy since the second increase of mankind, the same grew in this sort ; first of all, every father, or eldest of the family, gave laws to his own issues, and to the people from him and them in creased. These, as they were multiplied into many house holds, (man by nature loving society,) joined their cottages together in on,e common field or village, which the Latins call vicus, of the Greek olxo?, which signified! a house, or of the word via, because it hath divers ways and paths leading to it. And as the first house grew into a village, so the village into that which is called pagus, (being a society of divers villages,) so called of the Greek iDjyij, which signi- fieth a fountain ; because many people (having their habita tions not far asunder) drank of one spring or stream of water. To this word the English hundreds, or, as some think, shires, answereth not unfitly.
But as men and impiety began to gather strength, and as emulation and pride between the races of the one and the other daily increased ; so, both to defend themselves from outrage, and to preserve such goods as they had gathered, they began to join and set together divers of their villages, environing them first with banks and ditches, and afterwards with walls ; which being so compassed were then called oppida; either ab opponendo se hostibus, " because walls
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 345
" were opposed against enemies," or ab opibus, " because thi- " ther they gathered their riches for safety and defence :" as also they were called urbes, ab orbe ; because when they were to build a city, they made a circle with a plough, saith Varro, therewith measuring and compassing the ground which they went to enclose or fortify. And although urbs and civitas be often confounded, yet the difference was an ciently in this, that urbs signified no other than the very walls and buildings, and civitas was taken for the citizens inhabiting therein ; so called of civis, and that, ab eo quod multitude coivit, " of coming together." But all inhabitants within these walls are not properly citizens, but only such as are called free-men; who bearing proportionably the charge of the city, may by turns become officers and magis trates thereof; the rest go under the name of subjects, though citizens by the same general name of subjects are also known. For every citizen is also a subject, but not every subject a citizen : perhaps also some citizen (as the chief magistrate, if he be to be termed one of the citizens) is no subject ; but of this we need not stand to inquire. The word magistrate is taken a magistro, from a master, and the word master from the adverb mag-is, (as also magisteria, precepts of art,) or else from the Greek word |tx,s'yj<rToj ; and so the Greeks call them ^syjaravsf whom the Latins call mag nates or magistratus.
The office and duty of every magistrate Aristotle hath written in few words : " a A magistrate or prince," saith he, " is the keeper of right and equity :" but the same is best taught by St. Paul, who expresseth both the cause efficient and final, that is, by whom magistrates and princes are ordained, together with their duties and offices. b A magistrate is the minister of God for thy wealth. But if thou do evil, fear ;for he beareth not the sword for nought : for he is the minister of God, to take vengeance on him that doeth evil. He also teacheth in ver. 1, 2. That every soul ought to be subject to the higher powers, because they are by God ordained: and that zvhosoever reslsteth that Β» Ethic. 5. '' Rom. xiii. 4.
34-6 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
[Hwcr rcfi'iatcth God., the giver and fountain thereof; and shall not only be therefore subject to the judgment and condemnation of man, but of God ; For ye mt/xt he subject, saith he, not because of wrath only, but also for conscience sake, ver. 5.
The examples are not to be numbered of God's punish ments upon those that have resisted authority, by God or dained and established. Neither ought any subject there fore to resist the power of kings, because they may be taxed with injustice or cruelty; for it pleaseth God sometimes to punish his people by a tyrannous hand ; and the command ment of obedience is without distinction. The prophets, and Christ himself, subjected themselves to the power of ma gistracy. Christ commanded that all due to Caesar should IK- given unto him ; and he paid tribute for himself and Peter. c Jeremy commanded the Israelites (even those that were captives under heathen kings) to pray for them, and for the peace of Babylon. So d Abraham prayed for Abi- melech, and Jacob blessed the king of Egypt. And it /.v acceptable in the sight of' our Saviour, saith Paul, that ye make tvppKcatiOM and prayers for li'ings, and for all that arc in authority; and if for such kings as were idolatrous, much more for Christian kings and magistrates. And so much did St. Chrysostom, in his homily to the people, pre fer monarchical government, as he rather commended the rule of kings, though tyrants, than that they should be wanting: Prccstat regent tyrannum habere, quam null inn ; " Better a tyrannous king, than no king :" to which also Tacitus subscribeth ; " Prcestat (saith Tacitus in the first of his history) sub malo pr'mcipe esse, quam nuUo; " It is " better to have a bad prince than none at all." And be they good kings, (which is generally presupposed,) then is there no liberty more safe than to serve them : Neque en'nn liberias tut'ior itlla erf, saith Claudian, quam domino serr'ire bono ; " No liberty," saith he, " more safe for us than to " be servants to the virtuous." And certainly, howsoever it may be disputed, yet is it safer to live under one tyrant, c Jerem. xxix. 7. H Gen. xx. 17. xxvii. 10.
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 347
than under 100,000 tyrants; under a wise man that is cruel, than under the foolish and barbarous cruelty of the mul titude. For as Agesilaus answered a citizen of Sparta that desired an alteration of the government, that kind of rule which a man would disdain in his own house were very unfit to govern great regions by.
Lastly, as many fathers erected many cottages for their many children ; and as (for the reason before remembered) many households joined themselves together, and made villages ; many villages made cities : so when these cities and citizens joined together, and established laws by con sent, associating themselves under one governor and go vernment, they so joined were called a commonwealth ; the same being sometimes governed by kings, sometimes by ma gistrates, sometimes by the people themselves.
SECT. III.
Of the good government of the first kings.
NOW this first age after the flood, and after such time as the people were increased, and the families became strong, and dispersed into several parts of the world, was by ancient historians called golden ; ambition and covetousness being as then but green, and newly grown up, the seeds and effects whereof were as yet but potential, and in the blowth and bud. For while the law of nature was the rule of man's life, they then sought for no larger territory than themselves could compass and manure ; they erected no other magnifi cent buildings, than sufficient to defend them from cold and tempest ; they cared for no other delicacy of fare, or cu riosity of diet, than to maintain life ; nor for any other ap parel than to cover them from the cold, the rain, and the sun.
And sure if we understand by that age (which was called golden) the ancient simplicity of our forefathers, this name may then truly be cast upon those elder times ; but if it be taken otherwise, then, whether the same may be attributed more to any one time than to another, (I mean to one limited time, and none else,) it may be doubted. For good
348 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
and golden kings make good and golden ages, and all times have brought forth of both sorts. And as the infancy of empire (when princes played their prizes, and did then only woo men to obedience) might be called the golden age ; so may the beginning of all princes1 times be truly called golden : for be it that men affect honour, it is then best purchased ; or if honour affect men, it is then that good deservings have commonly the least impediments ; and if ever liberality overflow her banks and bounds, the same is then best warranted both by policy and example. But age and time do not only harden and shrink the openest and most jovial hearts, but the experience which it bringethwith it, layeth princes' torn estates before their eyes, and withal persuadeth them to compassionate themselves. And al though there be no kings under the sun whose means are answerable unto other men's desires ; yet such as value all things by their own respects, do no sooner find their appe tites unanswered, but they complain of alteration, and ac count the times injurious and iron. And as this falleth out in the reign of every king, so doth it in the life of every man, if his days be many ; for our younger years are our golden age, which being eaten up by time, we praise those seasons which our youth accompanied ; and indeed the grievous alterations in ourselves, and the pains and diseases which never part from us but at the grave, make the times seem so differing and displeasing; especially the quality of man's nature being also such, as it adoreth and extolleth the pas sages of the former, and condemneth the present state, how just soever: e Fit humance tnaKgititatu vitio, ut semper β’cetera in laude, prcesentia in fuxtidio xint ; " It comes to " pass,1" saith Tacitus, " by the vice of our malignity, that " we always extol the time past, and hold the present fasti- " dious." For it is one of the errors of wayward age, quod sint laudatores temporis acti ; " that they are praisers " of forepast times," forgetting this advice of Solomon ; f Say not then. Why is it that the former days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire wisely of this thing.
' Tacit, in Dial, clc Oral. ' Hccles. vii. 10.
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 349
To which purpose Seneca; Major es nostrl questi sunt, et nos querimur, posteri querentur, eversos esse mores, regnare ne- quitiam, in deterius res liommum, et in omne nefas labi ; " Our ancestors have complained, we do complain, our " children will complain, that good manners are gone, that " wickedness doth reign, and all things grow worse and " worse, and fall into all evil." These are the usual dis courses of age and misfortune. But hereof what can we add to this of Arnobius : " Β§ Nova res quandoque vetus fiet, et vetus temporibus quibus ccepit nova fuit et repen- tina ; " Whatsoever is new, in time shall be made old ; " and the ancientest things when they took beginning were " also new and sudden." Wherefore, not to stand in much admiration of these first times, which the discontentments of present times have made golden, this we may set down for certain, that as it was the virtue of the first kings, which, after God, gave them crowns ; so the love of their people, thereby purchased, held the same crowns on their heads. And as God gave the obedience of subjects to princes, so, relatively, he gave the care and justice of kings to the sub jects ; having respect, not only to the kings themselves, but even to the meanest of his creatures : h Nnnquam parti- culari bono servit omne bonum ; " The infinite goodness of " God doth not attend any one only ; for he that made the " small and the great, careth for all alike :" and it is the care which kings have of all theirs, which makes them beloved of all theirs ; and by a general love it is, that princes hold a general obedience : for, Potestas humana radicatur in voluntatibus hominum ; " All human power is rooted in the " will or dispositions of men."
SECT. IV.
Of the beginning of nobility ; and of the vain vaunt thereof without
virtue*
AND with this supreme rule and kingly authority began also other degrees and differences among subjects. For princes made election of others by the same rule by which
t Arnob. 1. 2. h Wisd. vi. 7.
350 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
themselves were chosen ; unto whom they gave place, trust, and power. From which employments and offices sprung those titles, and those degrees of honour, which have con tinued from age to age to these days. ' But. this nobility, or difference from the vulgar, was not in the beginning given to the succession of blood, but to succession of virtue, as hereafter may be proved. Though at length it was sufficient for those, whose parents were advanced, to be known for the sons of such fathers ; and so there needed then no endeavour of well-doing at all, or any contention for them to excel, upon whom glory or worldly nobility ne cessarily descended : yet hereof had nobility denomination in the beginning, that such as excelled others in virtue were so called : Hlnc dictus nobilis, quasi rirtute prce. aliis nota- bilis. But after such time as the deserved honour of the father was given in reward to his posterity, St. Jerome judged of the succession in this manner: Nihil alhid r'ulco in nob'd'itate appetendum, nisi quod nobiles quadam necessi tate constringantur, ne ab antiquorum probitate degencrcnt ; " I see no other thing to be affected in nobility, than that " noblemen are by a kind of necessity bound not to dege- " nerate from the virtue of their ancestors." For if nobility be virtus ct antiquce div'ttiee, " virtue and ancient riches,""1 then to exceed in all those things which are extra honuncni^ as riches, power, glory, and the like, do no otherwise define nobility, than the word animal alone doth define a reason able man. Or if honour, according to L. Vives, be a wit ness of virtue and well-doing ; and nobility, after Plutarch, the continuance of virtue in a race or lineage ; then are those, in whom virtue is extinguished, but like unto painted and printed papers, which ignorant men worship instead of Christ, our lady, and other saints ; men, in whom there re main but the dregs and vices of ancient virtue ; flowers and herbs, which by change of soil and want of manuring are turned to weeds. For what is found praiseworthy in those waters which had their beginning out of pure fountains, if in all the rest of their course they run foul, filthy, and de-
1 Verns noMlis non naseitur, Β«ed fit.
CHAP. ix. OF THE WORLD. 351
filed ? k Ex terra Jcrtili producitur aliquando clcuta venc- nosa, et ex terra steriti pretiosum aurum ; " Out of fruit- " ful ground ariseth sometimes poisoning henbane ; and out " of barren soil, precious gold.'" For as all things consist of matter and form, so doth Charron (in his chapter of nobi lity) call the race and lineage but the matter of nobility ; the form (which gives life and perfect being) he maketh to be virtue and quality, profitable to the commonweal. For he is truly and entirely noble, who maketh a singular pro fession of public virtue, serving his prince and country, and being descended of parents and ancestors that have done the like. And although that nobility, which the same au thor calleth personal, (the same which ourselves acquire by our virtue and well deservings,) cannot be balanced. with that which is both natural by descent, and also personal ; yet if virtue be wanting to the natural, then is the personal and acquired nobility by many degrees to be preferred : for, saith Charron, this honour, to wit, by descent, may light upon such an one, as in his own nature is a true vil lain. There is also a third nobility, which he calleth nobi lity in parchment, bought with silver or favour ; and these be indeed but honours of affection, which kings, with the change of their fancies, wish they knew well how to wipe off again. But surely, if we had as much sense of our de generating in worthiness, as we have of vanity in deriving ourselves of such and such parents, we should rather know such nobility (without virtue) to be shame and dishonour, than nobleness, and glory to vaunt thereof. " 1 What ca- " lamity is wanting,"11 saith Bernard, " to him that is born " in sin, of a potshare body and barren mind ?" for, accord ing to the same father, Delefucum fugacis honoris liujus, et male coronatcK nitorem glor'ice^ &c. " Wipe away the " painting of this fleeting honour, and the glittering of the " ill-crowned glory, that then thou mayest consider thyself " nakedly ; for thou earnest naked out of thy mother's " womb. Camest thou thence with thy mitre, or glistering " with jewels, or garnished with silks, or adorned with fea-
k Pint, in Ezek. ' Bernard. 1. 2. de Consider, ad Engen. Pap.
352 THE HISTORY HOOK r.
" tlicrs, or stuffed with gold ? If thou scatter and blow away " all these by thy consideration, as certain morning clouds, " wliich do or will soon pass over, thou shalt meet with a " naked, and poor, and wretched, and miserable man, and " blushing because he is naked, and weeping because he is " born, and repining because he is born to labour, and not " to honour."
For as touching the matter of all men, there is no differ ence between it and dust ; which if m " thou dost not be- " lieve," saith St. Chrysostom, " look into the sepulchres " and monuments of thy ancestors, and they shall easily per- " suade thee by their own example, that thou art dust and " dirt : so that if man seem more noble and beautiful than " duΒ«t, this proceedeth not from the diversity of his nature, " but from the cunning of his Creator."
" For true nobility standeth in the trade Of virtuous life ; not in the fleshly line: For blood is brute, but gentry is divine. And howsoever the custom of the world have made it good, that honours be cast by birth upon unworthy issues ; yet Solomon (as wise as any king) reprehendeth the same in his fellow princes. Β° There is an evil, saith he, that I have seen under the sun, as an error that proceedethfrom the face of him that ruleth : Jolly is set in great excellency.
CHAP. X.
OfNimrod, Belus, and Ninus ; and of memorable thing* about those times.
SECT. I.
That Nimrod was the first after the flood that reigned like sovereign lord ; and that his beginning seemeth to have been of just an - thority.
J. HE first of all that reigned as sovereign lord after the
m Chrysost. Homil. 2. de incompo- n Phaer. sita Dei natura, con. 5. Β° Ecrles. x. 5, 6.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 353
flood was Nimrod, the son of Chush, distinguished by Mo ses from the rest, according to St. Augustine, in one of these two respects ; either for his eminency, and because he was the first of fame, and that took on him to command others ; or else in that he was begotten by Chush, after his other children were also become fathers, and of a later time than some of his grandchildren and nephews. Howsoever, see ing Moses in express words calleth Nimrod the son of Chush, other men's conjectures to the contrary ought to have no respect. This empiry of Nimrod, both the fathers, and many later writers, call tyrannical ; the same beginning in Babel, which is confusion. But it seemeth to me, that Melancthon conceived not amiss hereof; the same exposi tion being also made by the author of that work called Ono- masticum Theologicum, who affirms that Nimrod was there fore called Amarus Dominator, a bitter or severe governor, because his form of rule seemed at first far more terrible than paternal authority. And therefore is he in this respect also called a mighty hunter ; because he took and destroyed both beasts and thieves. But St. Augustine understands it otherwise, and converts the word ante by contra, affirm ing therein, that Nimrod was a mighty hunter against God, Sic ergo intelligendus est gigas ille, venator contra Dorni- num ; " So is that giant to be understood, a hunter against " the Lord.'1 But howsoever this word, a mighty hunter, be understood, yet it rather appeareth, that as Nimrod had the command of all those which went with him from the east into Shinaar, so this charge was rather given him than by him usurped. For it is no where found, that Noah him self, or any of the sons of his own body, came with this troop into Babylon ; no mention at all being made of Noah (the years of his life excepted) in the succeeding story of the Hebrews ; nor that Sem was in this disobedient troop, or among the builders of Babel.
The same is also confirmed by divers ancient historians, that Nimrod, Suphne, and Joctan were the captains and leaders of all those which came from the east. And though Sem came not himself so far west as Shinaar, (his lot being
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. A a
354 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
cast on the east parts,) yet from his son's nephew Ileber, the name and nation of the Hebrews (according to the general opinion) took beginning, who inhabited the southernmost parts of Chaldea about the city of Ur ; from whence Abra ham was by God called into Charran, and thence into Ca naan.
And because those of the race of Sem which came into Chaldea were no partners in the unbelieving work of the tower; therefore (as many of the fathers conjecture) did they retain the first and most ancient language, which the fathers of the first age had left to Noah, and Noah to Sem and his issues : P In fnm'iTui Hcbcr remans'it h(cc lingua; " In the family of Heber this language remained," saith St. Augustine out of Epiphanius, " and this language Abraham " used :" yea, it was anciently and before the flood the general speech ; and therefore first called, saith Coelestinus, lingua humana, " the human tongue."
We know that Goropius Becanus, following Theodoret, Rabbi Moses, ^Egyptius, Vergara, and others, is of another opinion ; but howsoever we determine of this point, we may with good probability resolve, that none of the godly seed of Sem were the chief leaders of this presumptuous multi tude. And seeing it is not likely but that some one was by order appointed for this charge, we may imagine that Nim- rod rather had it by just authority, than by violence of usurpation.
SECT. II.
That Nimrod, Belus, and Ninus were three distinct persons.
BENZO, and out of him Nauclerus, with others, make many Nimrods. Eusebius confounds him with Belus, and so doth St. Jerome upon Osea ; and these words of St. Au gustine seem to make him of the same opinion : <\Ibi im- tem Ninus regnabat post mortem patrls sui Belt, qui pri mus illic regnaverat 65 annos ; " There did Ninus reign " after the death of his father Belus, who first governed in " Babylon 65 years." But it could not be unknown to St.
P Aug. de Civitatc Dei, 1. 6. c. 1 1. i De Civitate Di-i.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 355
Augustine, that Nimrod was the establisher of that empire, Moses being plain and direct therein : For the beginning of NimrocTs kingdom, saith he, was Babel, JErec, Accad, and Chalne, in the land of Shinaar ; wherefore Nimrod was the first king of Babel. Arid certainly it best agreeth with reason, that Ninus was the third, and not one with Nimrod, as Mercator (led by Clement) supposed ; for in Ninus's time, the world was marvellously replenished. And if St. Augustine had undoubtedly taken Belus for Nimrod, he would have given him the name which the scriptures give him, rather than have borrowed any thing out of pro fane authors. And for those words of St. Augustine, qui primus illic regnaverat, " who was the first that reigned " there," supposed to be meant by Belus ; those words do not disprove that Nimrod was the founder of the Babylonian empire. For although Julius Caesar overthrew the liberty of the Roman commonwealth, making himself perpetual dic tator ; yet Augustus was the first established emperor, and the first that reigned absolutely by sovereign authority over the Romans as an emperor. The like may be said of Nim rod, that he first brake the rule of eldership and paternity, laying the foundation of sovereign rule, as Caesar did ; and yet Belus was the first, who peaceably, and with a general allowance, exercised such a power. Pererius is of opinion, that Belus and Nimrod were the same, because many things are said of them both agreeing in time ; for it was about 200 years after the flood, as they account, that Belus reigned : but such agreement of times proves it not. For so Edward III. and his grandchild Richard II. were kings both in one year ; the one died, and the other in the same year was crowned king.
And yet the opinion that Nimrod and Belus were one is far more probable than that of Mercator, who makes Ninus and Nimrod to be the same. For it is plain, that the be ginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel, and the towns ad joining ; but the first and most famous work of Ninus was the city of Nineveh.
Now whereas D. Siculus aflfirmeth that Ninus overcame
356 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
and suppressed the Babylonians, the same rather provelh the contrary, than that Ninus and Nimrod were one person.- For Niiuis established the seat of his empire at Nineveh in Assyria, whence the Babylonians might, perchance, in dis dain thereof, fall from his obedience, whom he recovered again by strong hand, which was easy; Babylon being not walled till Semiramis's time.
Dicitur u ltd in
CoctilUnu muris cinxissc Setniramia urbem.
Semiramis with walls of brick the city did enclose. Further, where it is alleged, that as the scriptures call Nimrod mighty, so Justin hath the same of Ninus, which is one of Mercator's arguments ; it may be answered, that such an addition might have been given to many other kings as well. For if we may believe Justin, then were Vexoris king of Egypt, and Tanais of Scythia, mighty kings before Ninus was born. And if we may compare the words of Moses, touching Nimrod, with the undertakings of Ninus, there will be found great difference between them. For whereas Mercator conceived) that it was too early for any that lived about the time of the confusion of languages, to have invaded and mastered those cities so far removed from Babel, namely, Erec, Accad, and Chalne ; which work he therefore ascribeth to Ninus, as a man of the greatest under taking, and consequently would have Nimrod to have been long after the time in which we suppose he flourished ; and both those names of Nimrod and Ninus to belong to one person, to wit, to Ninus : to these things to make some an swer. First, I do not find that supposition true, that ever Nimrod invaded any of these cities, but that he founded them and built them from the ground, being the first after the flood that conducted the children of Noah into those parts ; and therefore had nothing built or erected to his hands.
Besides, whereas these cities, in many men's opinions, are found to stand far away from Babylon, I find no reason to bring me to that belief. The city of Accad, which the Sep- tuagint calls Archard, and Epiphanius Arphal, Junius takes
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 357
to be Nisibis in Mesopotamia; for tbe region thereabout, the cosmographers, saith he, call Accabene for Accadene. Others understand Nisibis and Nineveh to be one city ; so do Strabo and Stephanus confound it with Charran ; but all mistaken. For Nisibis, Accad, and Charran are distinct places. Though I cannot deny Accadene to be a region of Mesopotamia, the same which Arias Montanus out of St. Jerome calls Achad ; and so do the Hebrews also call Nisi bis, which seemeth to be the cause of this mistaking. As for the city of Erec, which the Septuagint call Orech, St. Augustine Oreg, and Pagninus Erec, this place Junius un derstands for Arraca in Susiana ; but there is also a city in Comegena called Arace ; and indeed likelihood of name is no certain proof, without the assistance of other circum stances.
Concerning the third city, called Chalneh, some take it for Calinisis ; of which r Am. Marcellinus. St. Jerome takes it for Seleucia, Hierosolymitanus for Ctesiphon ; others do think it to be the Agrani upon Euphrates, de stroyed and razed by the Persians. But let Moses be the moderator and judge of this dispute, who teacheth us di rectly, that these cities are not seated in so divers and dis tant regions ; for these be his words : And the beginning of his kingdom, speaking of Nimrod, was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Chalneh, in the land of Shinaar ; so as in this valley of Shinaar, or Babylonia, or Chaldea, (being all one,) we must find them. And therefore I could (rather of the two) think with Viterbiensis, that these four made but one Babylon, than that they were cities far removed, and in several provinces, did not the prophet Amos pre cisely distinguish Chalne from Babylon. Go yon,, saith Amos, vi. 2. to Chalne ; and from thence go you to Hamath: and then to Gath of the Philistines. The Geneva transla tion favouring the former opinion, to set these cities out of Shinaar, hath a marginal note expressing that Shinaar was here named, not that all these cities were therein seated, but to distinguish Babylon of Chaldea from Babylon in
r Lib. 23. Aa 3
358 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
Egypt ; but I find little substance in that conceit. For sure I am, that in the beginning of NhnrocTs empire there was no such Babylon, nor any city at all to be found in Egypt; Babylon of Egypt being all one with the great city of Cairo, which was built long after, not far from the place where stood Memphis the ancient city, but not so ancient as Ba bylon upon Euphrates. Now that Chalne is situate in the valley of Shinaar, it hath been formerly proved in the chap ter of Paradise. So as for any argument that may be brought to the contrary, from the remote situation of these three cities from Babylon, we may continue in our opinion, that Nimrod, Belus, and Ninus were distinct and successive kings.
SECT. III.
That Nimrod, not Assur, built Nineveh; and that it is probable, out of Isaiah xxiii. 13. that Assur built Ur of the Chaldees.
NOW as of Nimrod ; so are the opinions of writers dif ferent touching Assur, and touching the beginning of that great state of Babylon and Assyria; a controversy weari somely disputed without any direct proof, conclusion, or cer tainty. But to me (of whom, where the scriptures are si lent, the voice of reason hath the best hearing) the interpre tation of Junius is most agreeable ; who, besides all neces sary consequence, doth not disjoin the sense of the scriptures therein, nor confuse the understanding thereof. For in this sort he converteth the Hebrew text : Erat enini principium regni ejus Babel, et Erec, et Accad, et Chalneh, In terra Shinaaris ; e terra hacprocessit in Assyriam, ubi cedificavit N'nriven; which is, "For the beginning of his kingdom " was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Chalneh, in the " land of Shinaar ; and he went forth of this land into As- " syria, and built Nineveh." So as Junius takes Assur in thi.i place, not for any person, but for the region of Assyria ; the land being so called in Moses's time, and before it. For certainly the other construction (where the word Assur is taken for Assur the son of Sem) doth not answer the order which Moses observeth through all the books of Genesis,
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 359
but is quite contrary unto it. For in the beginning of the 10th chapter he setteth down the sons of Noah in these words: Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah; Shem, Ham, and Japhet, imto whom sons were born after the Jlood ; then it followeth immediately : The sons of Ja~ phet were Gomer, &c. so as Japhet is last named among Noah's sons, be he eldest or youngest, because he was first to be spoken of; with whom (having last named him) he proceeds, and sets down his issue, and then the issue of his sons : first, the issue of Gomer, Japhet's eldest son, and then speaks of Javan and his sons ; for of the rest of that family he is silent. Anon after, he numbereth the sons of Ham, of which Cush was the eldest; and then the sons of Cush and Mizraim; and afterwards of Canaan; leaving Shem for the last, because he would not disjoin the story of the Hebrews. But after he beginneth with Shem, he continueth from thence by Arphaxad, Shela, and Heber, unto Abra ham ; and so to Jacob, and the fathers of that nation. But to have brought in one of the sons of Shem in the middle of the generations of Ham, had been against order ; neither would Moses have passed over so slightly the erection of the Assyrian empire, in one of the sons of Shem, if he had had any such meaning ; it being the story of ShenVs sons which he most attended. For he nameth Nimrod apart, after the rest of the sons of Cush, because he founded the Babylonian and Assyrian empire ; and in the llth chapter he returns to speak of the building of Babel in particular, having formerly named it in the 10th chapter, with those other cities which Nimrod founded in Shinaar. And as he did in the 10th chapter, so also in the llth he maketh no report of Shem, till such time as he had finished so much of Nimrod as he meant to touch ; and then he beginneth with the issue of Shem, which he continueth to Abraham and Israel. And of Junius's opinion touching Assur was Cal vin ; to which I conceive that P. Comestor, in Historia Scholastica, gave an entrance, who after he had delivered this place in some other sense, he useth these words : Vel in- telligendum non est de Assur Jilio Sent, Sic. sed Assur, id
A a 4
3GO THE HISTORY BOOK i.
est, regnum Assyriorum inde egressum est, quod tempers Sunigproavi Abrahami factum est; which is, " Or else it is " not to be understood of Assur the son of Shem, &c. but " Assur (that is, the kingdom of the Assyrians) came from " thence, (viz. from Babylon,) or was made out of it ; which " happened in the time of Sarug the great grandfather of " Abraham." After which he reconcileth the differences in this sort ; If you take the ancient Belus (meaning Nimrod) to be the first erector of the Assyrian empire, or the first founder thereof, it is true, quantum ad inith/m, " respecting " the beginning ;" but others conceive, that it had beginning from Ninus ; which is also true, quantum ad regni amplia- tioncm, " regarding the enlargement of the empire." To this I may add the opinion of Epiphanius, confirmed by Ce- drenus, who takes Assur to be the son of Nimrod ; and so doth Methodius and Viterbiensis, St. Jerome and Cyrillus, and now lastly, s Torniellus, who saith, he took upon him that name of Assur after he had beaten the Assyrians, as Scipio did of Africanus after his conquest in Africa ; and that Assur was a common name to the kings of Assyria, as it appeareth by many scriptures, as Psalm Ixxxi. Isaiah x. Hosea v. he. but to help the matter, he makes Nimrod of the race of Shem, and the son of Irari. But Rabanus Mau- rus, who was archbishop of Mentz in the year of Christ 854-, an ancient and learned writer, understands this place with Comestorj or Comcstor with him, agreeing in substance with that translation of Junius ; to which words of Moses he giveth this sense, De hac terra Assyriorum pullulavit impe- rium, qui ex nomine Nini, Beli Jilii, Nilum condiderunt., urbem magnam, &c. " Out of this land grew the empire of " the Assyrians, who built Ninus the great city, so named " of Ninus the son of Belus." On the contrary, Calvin ob- jecteth this place of Isaiah xxiii. 18. Behold the land of the Chaldeans ; this was no people, Assur founded it by the in habitants of the wilderness ,- than which there is no one place in the scriptures that hath a greater diversity in the translation and understanding ; insomuch as Michael de Pa- ' Toruicll. Anna). Sacr. in Gen. x.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 361
latio upon Isaiah (though in all else very diligent) passeth it over. But Calvin seemeth hereby to infer, that because Assur founded the state of the Chaldeans, therefore also Assur rather than Nimrod established the Assyrian empire, and built Nineveh ; contrary to the former translation of Junius, and to his own opinion. Now out of the Vulgar (called Jerome's translation) it may be gathered, that Assur both founded and ruined this state or city of the Chaldeans, by Isaiah remembered ; unto which city, people, or state, he plainly telleth the Tyrians, that they cannot trust or hope for relief thence. Or rather it may be taken, that the pro phet maketh this city of Chaldea, and that state, an exam ple unto those Phoenicians, whom in this place he foretelleth of their ruin ; which city of Chaldea being of strength, and carefully defended, was notwithstanding by the Assyrians utterly wasted and destroyed ; whereby he giveth them knowledge, and foretelleth them that their own city of Tyre (invincible, as themselves thought) should also soon after be overturned by the same Assyrians ; as indeed it was by Na- buchodonosor. And these be the words of Jerome : Ecce terra Chaldceornm., tails populus non fuit, Assur Jundavit earn, in captivitatem traduxerunt robustos ejtts, stiffbderunt domos ejus, posuerunt earn in ruinam ; which is, " Behold " the land of the Chaldeans, such a people there were not, " (or this was no people, after the Geneva,) Assur, or the " Assyrians, founded it, they carried away their strong men " captive, they undermined their houses, and ruined their " city." The Septuagint express it but in a part of another verse, in these words : Et in terra Chaldceorum, et IKEC de- solata est ab Assyriis, quoniam murus ejus corruit, making the sense perfect by the preceding verse, which altogether may be thus understood : " If thou go over to Chittim, " (which is Macedon or Greece,) yet thou shall have no rest, " (speaking to the Tyrians,) neither in the land of the Chal- " deans, for this is made desolate by the Assyrians, because " their walls fell together to the ground.'1'' Pagninus and Vatablus convert it thus : Ecce terra Chasdiim, iste populus non erat illic olim ; nam Assur fundavit earn navibus, erex-
362 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
criint (tnrx il/iu.s, contrh'cruiit rcr/r.v cjut;, poxiicritnt cam hi niinmn ; which may be thus Englished : " Behold the " land of the C'haldeans, this people was not once therein "* inhabiting ; for Assur built it a harbour for ships, they tk erected the towers thereof, and again brake down the " houses thereof, and ruinated it." Junius in the place1 of shipx sets the word pro barbaris, that is, for the Ixtrlta- rianx; and the Geneva, by ilic barbarian*, But this is un doubted, that the prophet Isaiah (as may be gathered by all the sense of the chapter) did therein assure the Tyrians of their future destruction, which accordingly fell on them ; wherein (for the more terror) he maketh choice to note the calamities of those places, cities, and regions, by whose trade the state and greatness of the Tyrians was maintained, as by the Cilicians from Tharsis; from the Macedonians, and other Grecians under the name of Cittim ; also by the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the rest. For Tyre was then the mart-town of the world most renowned. And (as it ap pears in our discourse of Paradise) not the least part of her chief merchandise came in by the city Ur, or Urchoa, in Chaldea, where the body or chief stream of Euphrates (even that stream which runneth through Babylon and Otris, which now falleth into Tigris) had his passage into the Per sian gulf, though now it be stopped up. For (as we have heretofore noted) the Arabians, that descended from Sheba and Raamah, dwelling on the east banks of the Persian gulf, trading with the Tyrians, (as those of Eden, Charran, and Chalne did,) transported their merchandise by the mouth of Tigris, that is, from Teredon and of Euphrates, that is, from Ur, or Urchoa ; and then by Babylon, and thence by river and over land they conveyed it into Syria, and so to Tyre, as they do this day to Aleppo. So then Ur of the Chaldees was a port-town, and one of those cities which had intelligence, trade, and exchange with the Tyrians ; for it stood by the great lakes of Chaldea, through which that part of Euphrates ran, which passage is now stopped up : ///'//* curxuin rctnxtas abolevit, saith Niger. And Pliny, Locus iihl Kitpltratix uxt'tum fuit, fiumcn aalfnim ; "Time hath
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 363
" worn away the channel of Euphrates ; and the place where " the mouth thereof was, is a bay of salt water." These things being thus, certainly (not without good probability) we may expound the city of the Chaldees, whose calamities Isaiah here noteth for terror of the Tyrians to be the city anciently called Ur ; and by Hecataeus, Camerina ; by Pto lemy, Urchoa; and by the Greeks, Chaldaeopolis, the city of Chaldea ; which the sons of Shem, until Abraham's time, inhabited. And whereas in all the translations it is said, that Assur both founded it and ruined it ; it may be under stood, that Assur the founder was the son of Shem, and Assur the destroyers were the Assyrians, by whom those that inhabited Ur of Chaldea were at length oppressed and brought to ruin ; which thing God foreseeing, commanded Abraham thence to Charran, and so into Canaan. And if the Hebrew word, by Vatablus and Pagninus converted by ships, do bear that sense, the same may be the better approved, because it was a port-town ; and the river, so far up as this city of Ur, was in ancient time navigable, as both by Pliny and Niger appeareth. And if the word for the barba rians, or by the barbarians, be also in the Hebrew text, it is no less manifest, that the most barbarous Arabians of the desert were and are the confronting and next people of all other unto it. For Chaldea is now called Arachaldar, which signifieth desert lands, because it joineth to that part of Arabia so called ; and Cicero (calling those Arabians by the name of Itureans) addeth, that they are of all other peo ple the most savage ; calling them, Homines omnium max- ime barbaros.
So as this place of Isaiah, which breedeth some doubt in Calvin, proveth in nothing the contrary opinion, nor in any part weakeneth the former translation of Junius, nor the in terpretation of Comestor and Rabanus. For though other men have not conceived (for any thing that I have read) that Assur is in this place diversely taken, (as for the son of Shem, when he is spoken of as a builder of Ur, and when as a destroyer thereof, then for the Assyrian nation,) yet certainly the evidence of the truth, and agreement of
364 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
circumstances seem to enforce it. And so this founding of the city of the C'haldees by Assur, (into which the most of the posterity of Scm that came into Shinaar, and were sepa rate for the idolatry of the Chusites and Nimrodians, re tired themselves,) hath nothing in it to prove that the same Assur built Nineveh, or that the same Assur was all one with Niiais ; except we will make Assur, who was the son of Shem, both an idolater and the son of Belus. For, out of doubt, Ninus was the first notorious sacrifice!' to idols, and the first that set up a statue or image to be honoured as God. Now if Assur must be of that race, and not of the family of Sem, as he must be, if he founded Nineveh, then all those which seek to give him the honour thereof, do him by a thousand parts more injury, by taking from him his true parent and religion.
Besides, if this supposed Assur whom they make the founder of Nineveh (and so the son of Belus) were any other, and not the same with Ninus, then what became of him? Certainly he was very unworthy and obscure, and not like to be the founder of such an empire and such a city, if no man have vouchsafed to leave to posterity his expulsion thence, and how he lost that empire again, or quitted it to Ninus; whose acts and conquests are so largely written, and (according to mv apprehension) far differing from truth. It will therefore be found best agreeing to scripture and to reason, and best agreeing with the story of that age written by profane authors, that Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, and Accad, and Chalne, the first works and beginnings of his empire, according to Moses, and that these works being finished within the valley of Shinaar, he looked further abroad, and set in hand the work of Ninus, King near unto the same stream that Babel and Chalne did ; which work his grandchild Ninus afterwards amplified and finished, as Semiramis (this Ninus's wife) did Babylon. Hence it came to pass, that as Semiramis w-as counted the foundress of the city which she only finished ; so also Ninus of Nineveh : Quam quidem Babylonem potuit instaurare ; " She might repair or renew Babylon," saith St. Augustine.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD 365
For so did Nabuchodonosor vaunt himself to be the founder of Babylon also, because he built up again some part of the wall overborne by the fury of the river, which work of his stood till Alexander's time ; whereupon he vaunted thus : lls not this great Babel which I have built ?
SECT. IV.
Of the acts of Nimrod and Belus, as far as now they are known. B UT to return to the story ; it is plain in Moses, that Nimrod (whom Philo interpreteth transfugium, and Julius Africanus surnamed Saturn) was the establisher of the Ba bylonian monarchy, of whom there is no other thing written, than that his empire in the beginning consisted of those four cities before remembered, Babel, Erech, Accad, and Chalne ; and that from hence he propagated his empire into Assyria, and in Assyria built four more cities, to wit, Nine veh, Rehoboth, Celah, and Resen. And seeing that he spent much time in building Babel itself and those adjoin ing, and that his travels were many ere he came into Shi- naar, that work of Babel, such as it was, with the other three cities, and the large foundation of Nineveh, and the other cities of Assyria which he builded, (considered with the want of materials, and with other impediments,) were of greater difficulty than any thing performed by his succes sors in many years after ; to whose undertakings time had given so great an increase of people, and the examples and patterns of his beginning so great an advancement and en couragement ; in whose time, saith Glycas, all these nations were called Meropes, a sermonis linguarum terrceqne divi- sione ; " by reason that the earth and the speech were " then divided."
Belus or Bel, or Jupiter Belus, succeeded Nimrod after he had reigned 114 years, of whose acts and undertakings there is little written. For it is thought that he spent much of his time in disburdening the low lands of Babylon, and drying and making firm ground of all those great fens and overflown marshes which adjoined unto it. For any of his * Dan. iv. 27.
366 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
wars or conquests there is no report, other than of his be gun enterprise against Sabatius king of Armenia, and those parts of Scythia which Berosus calls Scythia Saga, whose son and successor Barzanes became subject and tributary to Ninus, that followed the war to effect, which was by his father Belus begun.
SECT. V. That we are not to marvel how so many kingdoms could be erected
about these times; and of Vexorls of Egypt, and Tanais of
Scytlria.
THAT so many kingdoms were erected in all those eastern parts of the world so soon after Nimrod, (as by the story of Ninus is made manifest,) the causes were threefold ; namely, opportunity, example, and necessity. For oppor tunity, being a princess liberal and powerful, bestoweth on her first entertainers many times more benefits than either fortune can, or wisdom ought ; by whose presence alone the understanding minds of men receive all those helps and supplies, which they either want or wish for ; so as every leader of a troop, (after the division of tongues and disper sion of people,) finding these fair offers made unto them, held the power which they possessed, and governed by dis cretion all those people whom they conducted to their des tined places. For it cannot be conceived, that when the earth was first divided, mankind straggled abroad like beasts in a desert ; but that by agreement they disposed them selves, and undertook to inhabit all the known parts of the world, and by distinct families and nations ; otherwise those remote regions from Babylon and Shinaar, which had kings, and were peopled in Ninus's time, would not have been possessed in many hundreds of years after, as then they were ; neither did those that were sent, and travelled far off, (order being the true parent of prosperous success,) undertake so difficult enterprises without a conductor or commander. Secondly, The example of Nimrod, with whom it succeeded well, strengthened every humour that aspired. Thirdly, Necessity resolved all men by the ar guments of common miseries, that without a commander
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 367
and magistrate, neither could those that were laborious, and of honest dispositions, enjoy the harvest of their own travels ; nor those which were of little strength, secure them selves against forcible violence ; nor those which sought after any proportion of greatness, either possess the same in quiet, or rule and order their own ministers and attend ants.
That these causes had wrought these effects, the under takings and conquests of Ninus (the son of Belus) made it apparent ; for he found every where kings and monarchs, what way soever his ambition led him in the wars.
But Nimrod, his grandfather, had no companion king, to us known, when he first took on him sovereignty and sole commandment of all those the children of Noah which came from the east into Babylonia ; though in his lifetime others also raised themselves to the same estate, of which here after. Belus, his son and successor, found Sabatius, king of Armenia and Scythia, sufficiently powerful to resist his at tempts ; which Sabatius I take to be the same which Justin calls Tanais; and should conjecture, that Mizraim had been his Vexoris, were it not that I vehemently suspect some error (as u Justin placeth him) in the time of that Vexoris, who by many circumstances seems to me rightly accounted by the judicious and learned Reineccius all one with the great Sesostris, that lived certain ages after Ninus. This Belus, the second king of Babylon, reigned sixty-five years, according to the common account.
SECT. VI.
Of the name of Belus, and other names affine unto it.
WHENCE this second king and successor of Nimrod had the name of Bel, or Belus, question hath been made ; for it seemeth rather a name imposed, or (of addition) given by Ninus, than assumed by Belus himself.
Cyrillus against Julian calls the father of Ninus, Arbe-
lus, affirming, that he was the first of all men that caused
himself to be called a god ; which were it so, then might
the name of Belus be thence derived. But Bel, as many
u See more of this, 1. 2. of this first part, c. 2. Β§. 6.
368 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
learned writers have observed, signifieth the sun in the Chaldean tongue; and therefore did Ninus and Semiramis give that name to their father, that he might be honoured as the sun, which the Babylonians worshipped as a god. And as this title was assumed in after-times by divers others of the Chaldean princes, and Babylonian satrapae ; so was it used (in imitation) by the chief of the Carthaginians and other nations, as some historians have conceived.
To this Bel, or Belus, pertain (as in affinity) those voices of Baal, Baalim, Belphegor, Beelphagor, Belsebub, and Beelsephon. Those that are learned in the Hebrew and Chaldean convert the word Baal by the Latin prmceps mil'ilice, " chief in the war," though Daniel was so called, saith Suidas, 06 honorem explicationis arcanarum rerum ; " in honour of his expounding secrets.1'1 x St. Jerome makes Bel, Beel, and Baal to have the same signification ; and saith, that the idol of Babylon was so called, which Xi- nus in memory of his father set up to be worshipped ; to which, that he might add the more honour and reverence, he made it a sanctuary and refuge for all offenders. Hence, saith 7 Lyranus, came idolatry, and the first use of images into the world. z Isidore doth interpret Bel by vetus, old or ancient ; adding, that as among the Assyrians it is taken for Saturn and the sun ; so in the Punic or Car thaginian language it signifieth God. Glycas makes it an Assyrian name properly, and Josephus a Tyrian. He also affirmeth, that the idol which the Moabites worshipped, (by them erected on the mountain Phegor, or Peor, and called Baal,) is the same which the Latins call Priapus, the god of gardens ; which also was the opinion of a St. Jerome. But that the word Bel, or Beel, was as much to say as God, ap- peareth by the word Beelzebub, the idol of Accaron. For Bel, or Beel, soundeth God, and Sebub,jfte0 or hornets; by which name notwithstanding the Jews express the prince of devils. But the prophet Hosea teacheth us the proper sig nification of this word from the voice of God himself; And at that day. saith the Lord, thou shalt call me Isht, and
* Hier. in Osc. c. 2. ' Isid. 1. 8. c. 11.
y Lyr. in Sapien. Salom. c. n. Β» Hier. iu Ose. c.4- et 9.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 369
shalt call me no more Baalim; for I will take away the name of Baalim out of their mouths. For although the name of Baal, or Bahal, be justly to be used towards God, yet in respect that the same was given to idols, God both hated it and forbad it. And the using of the word bel among the Chaldeans for the sun, was not because it pro perly signified! the sun, but because the sun there was wor shipped as a god ; as also the fire was, tanquam soils par- ticula. As for the words compounded, before remembered, as Belphegor, and Belsephon ; Belsephon is expounded out of Fagius, dominus speculcc vel custodies; " the lord of " the watch-tower, or of the guard :" the other word noteth the idol, and the place wherein it was worshipped. It is also written Belpeor, or Baalpeor ; and Peor, they say, is as much as denudavit, and therefore the word joined ex- presseth a naked image. Some there are that call this Be- lus, the son of Saturn ; for it was used among the ancients to name the father Saturn, the son Jupiter, and the grand child Hercules: b Saturni dicuntur Jumiliarum nobilium, regum qui urbes condiderunt senissimi ; primogeniti eorum Joves et Junones ; Hercules vero nepotes eorum for tissimi ; " The ancientest of noble families, and kings which founded " cities, are called Saturns ; their firstborn, Jupiters and " Junos ; their valiant nephews, Hercules." But this Be- lus, saith L. Vives, was famous by reason of his warlike son Ninus, who caused his father to be worshipped as a god by the name of c Jupiter Babylonius, whom the Egyptians (transported by the dreams of their antiquity) make one of theirs. For Neptune, say they, upon Libya the daughter of Epaphas, begat this Jupiter Belus, who was father to ^Egyptus. They add, that this Belus carrying a colony to the river of Euphrates, there built a city, in which he or dained priests after the Egyptian manner. But were there any Belus the son of Epaphus and Isis, or of Neptune and Libya, or (with Eusebius) of Telegonus, who after the death of Apis married Isis, Cecrops then reigning in Athens ; the same was not this Babylonian Belus of whom we speak,
b Auctor. de ^Equit. 1. 1. c Diod. 1. 3.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. B b
THE HISTORY BOOK i.
but rather some oilier Belus, of whom the Egyptians so much vaunted.
SECT. VII. Of the worshipping of images begun from Belus in Babel.
AS for the Babylonian Belus, he was the most ancient Belus, and the inventor of astronomy, if Pliny say true ; from whence the Egyptians might borrow both the name and the doctrine. Some part of the temple, in which his statue or image was honoured as a god, the same author affirmeth that it remained in his time.
Of the sepulchre of Belus, d Strabo writeth thus: " Over " the river,"" saith he, " there are gardens, where they say " the ruins of Belus's tomb, which Xerxes broke up, are " yet remaining. It was a square pyramis made of brick, " a furlong high, and on every side it had a furlong in " breadth." It appears by e Cyril against Julian, that he obtained divine worship yet living ; for so he writes of him, calling him Arbelus : Arbelus, vir superbus et arrogans, β’primus hominum dlcitur a subditls deltatis nomen accepisse: perseverarnnt igitur Assyrii, et finitimce illix gentes sacri- ficantes ei ; "Arbelus, a man very proud and arrogant, " is accounted to be the first of all men that was ever ho- " noured by their subjects with the title of deity, (or with " the name of god,) the Assyrians therefore and the bor- " dering nations have persevered, sacrificing to him." Even Arius also, whom Suidas calls Thuras, who succeeded next after Ninyas, was made an idol god among them, if we credit Suidas.
After Ninus (that is, after Ninyas) Thuras reigned, saith Suidas, whom they called after the name of the planet Mars ; a man of sharp and fierce disposition, who bidding battle to Caucasus of the stock of Japhet, slew him. The Assyrians worshipped him for their god, and called him Baal, that is, Mars. Thus far Suidas. Neither is it un likely but that many among idolatrous nations were deified in their lifetimes, or soon after; though I deny not but that the most of their images and statute were first erected d Strabo, 1. 13. c.,-?. e L. 4. cont. Julian.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 371
without divine worship, only in memory of the glorious acts of benefactors, as Glycas rightly conceiveth ; and so after wards the Devil crept into those wooden and brasen car casses, when posterity had lost the memory of their first in vention. Hereof Isidore speaketh in this manner : Quos autem pagani deos asserunt homines fuerunt, et pro unius- cujusque vitce meritis vel magnificentia, coll apud suos post mortem cceperunt : sed (d&monibus persuadentibus) quos illi pro sua memoria honoraverunt, minores deos existima- runt : ad ista vero magis excolenda accesserunt poetarum Jigmenta; " They were men," saith he, " whom the pa- " gans affirmed to be gods; and every one for his merits " or magnificence began after his death to be honoured of " Irs own. But at length (the devils persuading) they ac- " counted them lesser gods, whose memories they honoured ; " and the fictions of the poets made the opinions (concern- " ing the honours of the dead) much more superstitious."
And that the worshipping of images was brought in by the pagans and heathen nations, it is not Isidore alone that witnesseth, but Gregory : f Gentilitas, saith he, inventrix et caput est imag'mum ; " Gentilism is the inventress and " ground of images :" and Ambrose, Β§ Gentes lignum ado- rant, tanquam imaginem Dei ; " the Gentiles adore wood, " as it were the image of God." h Eusebius also affirmeth as much, and calleth the worshipping of images a custom borrowed of the heathen. The like hath ' St. Augustine against Adimantus : Et verentur, saith k Lactantius, ne re- ligio vana sit, si nihil videant quod adorent ; " They fear " their religion would be vain, should they not see that " which they worship."
And, out of doubt, the schoolmen shift this fearful cus tom very strangely. For seeing the very workmanship is forbidden, how can the heart of a wise Christian satisfy it self with the distinction of doulia and liyperdoulia., which can imply nothing but some difference of worshipping of
f Greg. Neocaesar. * Aug. c. 13.
s Amb. in Psal. cviii. k Lact. 1. 2. c, 2.
h Euseb. 1. 7. c. 18.
372 THE HISTORY KOOK i.
those images after they are made ? and it is of all things the most strange, why religious and learned men should strain their wits to defend the use of those things, which the scrip tures have not only no where warranted, but expressly in many places forbidden, and cursed the practisers thereof. Yet this doctrine of the Devil was so strongly and subtilly rooted, as neither the express commandment of God him self, Thou shalt not make any graven image, nor all the threatenings of Moses and the prophets after him, could re move, weed it, or by fear, or by any persuasions, lead the hearts of men from it. For where shall we find words of greater weight, or of plainer instruction than these ? Take therefore good heed to yourselves, (for ye saw no image in the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,} that ye corrupt not yourselves, and make you a graven image, or representation of any Jigure, whe ther it be the likeness of male or female.
And besides the express commandment, Thou shalt make thcc no graven image, and the prohibition in many scrip tures, so it is written in the Book of Wisdom, that the in vention of idols was the beginning of whoredom; and the finding of them the corruption of life ; for they were not from the beginning, neither shall they continue for ever.
And whereas the schoolmen affirm, that the prophets spake against the worshipping of the heathen idols, it is manifest that Moses spake of images of the living God, and not of Baal and the rest of that nature, For you saw no image, saith Moses, that day that the Lord spake unto you, in Horeb. Surely it was excellently said of Basil, Noli ali- quam in illo formam imaginari, ne circumscribas cum mcntc tua ; " Do not imagine any form to be in God, lest " thou limit or circumscribe him in thy mind too." Now, if the great Basil thought it a presumption unlawful to re present a pattern of the infinite God to our own thoughts and minds, how far do those men presume that put him under the greasy pencil of a painter, or the rusty axe, or other instrument of a carpenter or carver !
For as this dishonour to the infinite and incomprehen-
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 373
sible God began in Babel ; so did the Devil transport and speed this invention into all the regions adjoining, and into Egypt and Greece.
The Romans for a while resisted the erection of these idols and images, refusing to set them in their temples for 170 years, observing therein the law of Numa, who thought it impiety to resemble things most beautiful by things most base. But Tarquinius Priscus afterwards prevailing, and following the vanity of the Grecians, (a nation of all others under the sun most deluded by Satan,) set up the images of their gods ; which, as } St. Augustine witnesseth, that learned Varro both bewailed and utterly condemned ; and which Seneca thus derideth : Simulaclira deorum venerantur, illis supplicant, genu posito ilia adorant, et cum hcec suspiciant, fabros qui ilia fccere contemnunt ; " The images of the " gods are worshipped, those they pray unto with bended " knees, those they adore ; and while they so greatly ad- " mire them, they contemn the handicraftsmen that made " them :" which also Sedulius the poet in this sort scoffed at.
Heu mlseri qui vana colunt, qui corde sinislro Religlosa sibi sculpunt simulachra, suumque Factor em fugiunt, et qua fecere verentur. Quis furor est? quce tanta animos dementia ludit? Ut volucrem, turpemque bovem, torvumque draconem, Semi-hominemque canem supplex homo pr onus adoret.
Ah wretched they that worship vanities, And consecrate dumb idols in their heart, Whom their own Maker (God on high) despise, And fear the work of their own hands and art. What fury ? what great madness doth beguile Men's minds ? that man should ugly shapes adore, Of birds, or bulls, or dragons, or the vile Half-dog half-man on knees for aid implore.
And though this device was barbarous, and first and many years practised by heathen nations only, till the Jews were corrupted in Egypt, yet it is not Seneca alone that 1 De Civit. Dei, 1. 4. 0.31.
Bb3
374 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
laugheth to scorn the ignorant stupidity of his nation ; but Justin Martyr remembereth how the sibyls inveighed against images : and Hospinian, how Sophocles taught, that it was pernicious to the souls of men to erect and adore those Babels. Strabo and Herodotus witness, that the Persians did not erect or set up any statue of their gods. Lycurgus never taught it the Lacedaemonians, but thought it impiety to represent immortal natures by mortal figures. Eusebiusalsowitnesseth in his sixth book De Prceparatione Evangelica, that it was forbidden by a law in Serica, or among the brachmans in India, that, images should be wor shipped. The same do Tacitus and Crinitus report of the ancient Germans. Many other authors might be remem bered that witness the disdain which the heathens them selves had of this childish idolatry ; of which Hospinian hath written at large in his tract De Origine Imaginum. And it was truly said, Omnia mala exempla bwiis initiis orta sunt ; " All ill examples have sprung from good be- " ginnings." The heathen at first made these status, and images, but in memory of such remarkable men as had de served best of their countries and commonwealths : Effigies Tiomimim, saith Pliny, non solebant expr'imi nisi dl'iqua illustri causa perpetuitatem merentium; " Men were not " wont to make pictures, but of men which merited for " some notable cause to be perpetually remembered." And though of the more ancient papists some have borrowed of the Gentiles (as appeareth in Lactantius) that defence for images, that simulachra are pro dementis literarum^ ut per ea discerent Jwmines Deum inv'isibilem cognoscere ; " Images,"" say they, and so before them the heathen said, " are instead of letters, whereby men might learn to know " the invisible God :"" in which understanding, perhaps, they no otherwise esteemed them than pictures indeed : yet as that of Baal, or Bel, set up in memory of Belus the Ba bylonian, became afterwards the most reverenced idol of the world, by which so many nations (and they which were appropriate to God himself) were misled and cast away ; so those very stocks and stones, and painted canvasses,
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 375
(called the pictures of Christ, our Lady, and others,) were by thousands of ignorant people, not only adored, but esteemed to have life, motion, and understanding. On these stocks we call, saith the Book of Wisdom, when we pass through the raging" waves, on these stocks more rotten than the ship that carrieth us.
This heathen invention of images became so fruitful in after-times, breeding an infinite multitude of gods, that they were forced to distinguish them into degrees and orders ; as, dii consentes, sen majorum gentium ; selecti, patritii, in- signiores, dii medii ; " counselling gods, or gods of the " mightiest nobility ; select gods, patrician, gods of mark, " and common gods," (which the Romans called medioxu- mi,) dii injimi, and terrestrial heroes, and multitudes of other gods ; of which St. Augustine hath made large men tion in his book De Civitate Dei, lib. 14. But, saith Lac- tantius, among all those miserable souls and rotten bodies, worshipped by men more like to their idols, did Epimenides Cretensis (by what good angel moved I know not) erect in the Athenian fields altars to the unknown God, which stood with the same title and dedication even to the times of St. Paul ; who made them first known to whom those altars belonged, and opened their eyes which were capable of grace, that they might discern the difference betwixt that light which lighteneth every man, and the obscure and stinking mist wherein the Devil had so many years led and misled them. And it sufficed not that the multitude of these gods was so great in general, or that every nation had some one which took particular and singular care of them ; as Jupiter in Crete, Isis in Egypt, in Athens Minerva, in Samos Juno, in Paphos Venus, and so of all other parts ; but every city, and almost every family, had a god apart. For it is written in the 2d of Kings xvii. 18, 31. the men of Babel made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avins made Nibhaz and Tarrack, and the Sephernaims burnt their children in the fire to Adramelech. All which
376 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
how plainly hath the prophet Isaiah, chap. xliv. derided .' Men cut down trees, rind them, burn a part of them, make ready their meat, and warm themselves by the fire thereof, and of the residue he maketh a god, an idol, and praycth unto it ; but God hath shut their eyes from sight, and their hearts from understanding. It is therefore safest for a Christian to believe the commandments of God so direct against idolatry, to believe the prophets, and to believe St. Paul, who speakcth thus plainly and feelingly. j\fy beloved, fly from idolatry; I speak as unto them which have understanding, judge ye what I say.
SECT. VIII.
Of the wars of Ninus ; and lastly, of his war against Zoroaster.
UNTO this Belus succeeded Ninus, the first that com manded the exercise of idolatry, the first that injuriously invaded his neighbour-princes, and the first that without shame or fear committed adultery in public. But as of Belus there is no certain memory, (as touching particulars ;) so of this Ninus, (whose story is gathered out of profane au thors,) I find nothing so warrantable, but that the same may be disputed, and in the greatest part doubted. For although that piece of Berosus set out and commented upon by An- nius hath many good things in it, and giveth great light, as Chytraeus noteth, to the understanding of Diodorus Si- culus, Dion. Halicarnassaeus, and others ; yet Lodovicus Vives, B. Rhenanus, and others after them, have laid open the imperfection and defects of the fragment ; proving di rectly that it cannot be the same Berosus which lived in Alexander's time, m cited by Athenaeus and Josephus ; and whose statue the Athenians erected, saith Pliny. Yet it is from him chiefly, that many have gathered the succession of the Babylonian and Assyrian princes, even from Nimrod to the eighteen tli king Ascatades, and to the times of Joshua. For of Megasthenes, an historian of the race of the Persian priests, there are found but certain papers, or some few lines of the Chaldean and Assyrian monarchies ; but he after- 111 Athcu. 1. 14. Josephus cont. Appion. 1. i. et 7.
CHAP. x. OF THE WORLD. 377
f
wards, in the collection of the Persian kings, is not without his errors.
Ctesias of Cnidus, (a city adjoining to Halicarnassus,) who lived together with Cyrus the younger, and with Ar- taxerxes Mnemon, gathered his history out of the Persian records., and reacheth as far upwards as Ninus and Semira- mis : and though in the story of Cyrus the younger, Xeno- phon approveth him in some things, and Athenasus, Pausa- nias, and Tertullian cite him ; yet so base and apparent are his flatteries of the times and princes with whom he lived, and so incredible are the numbers which he finds in the ar mies of Ninus, and especially of Semiramis ; as whatsoever his reports were, times have consumed his works, saving some very few excerptions lately published.
And therefore in things uncertain, seeing a long dis course cannot be pleasing to men of judgment, I will pass over the acts of this third Assyrian in as few words as I can express them. St. Augustine affirms that Ninus mas tered all Asia, India excepted. Others say that he won it all, save India, Bactria, and Arabia. For he made Aricus of Arabia the companion of his conquests, with whom he entered into a strait league of amity, because he com manded many people, and was his kinsman, and a Chusite, and the nearest prince confronting Babylonia. His first enterprise was upon Syria, which he might easily subdue, both because he invaded it on the sudden, and because it lay next him ; and also because the Arabians and their king Aricus (which bordered Syria) assisted him in the conquest thereof.
The king of Armenia, Barzanes, he forced to acknow ledge him, and to aid him in his war against Zoroaster : for from Armenia he bent himself that way towards the east ; but that ever he commanded the Lesser Asia, I do not be lieve, for none of his successors had any possession therein.
His third war was against Pharnus, king of the Medes, whom it is said that he overthrew, and cruelly murdered with his seven children, though others affirm that they all died in one battle against him. Whether he invaded Zo-
378 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
roaster before the building or amplifying of Nineveh, or after, it is uncertain. It is said that he made two expedi tions into Bactria ; and that finding little or ill success in the first, he returned, and set the work of Nineveh forward; and then a second time entered Bactria with 1,700,000 foot, and 200,000 horse, and 10,600 chariots; being encountered by Zoroaster with 400,000. But n Ninus prevailing, and Zoroaster being slain, he entered further into the country, and besieged the chief city thereof, called Bactra, or Bac- trion, saith Β°Stephanus ; which, by a passage found, and an assault given by Semiramis, (the wife of Menon,) he entered and possessed. Upon this occasion Ninus, both admiring her judgment and valour, together with her person and ex ternal beauty, fancied her so strongly, as (neglecting all princely respects) he took her from her husband, whose eyes he threatened to thrust out, if he refused to consent. He therefore yielding to the passion of love in Ninus, and to the passion of sorrow in himself, by the strong persua sions of shame and dishonour, cast himself headlong into the water, and died.
CHAP. XL
Of Zoroaster ', supposed to have been tJie chief author of ma gic arts; and of the divers kinds of magic.
SECT. I.
Tliat Zoroaster was not Cham, nor the first inventor of astrology, or of magic ; and that there were divers great magicians of this name.
^OROASTER, king of the Bactrians, Vincentius suppos- eth to be Cham, the son of Noah ; a fancy of little proba bility. For Cham was the paternal ancestor of Ninus, the father of Chus, the grandfather of Nimrod, whose son was Belus, the father of Ninus. It may be that Vincentius had heard of that book which was called Scriptures Cham, de- n Aug. de Civitate Dei. β’ Steph. de Urb.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 379
vised by some wicked knave, and so entitled ; of which Six- tus Senensis hath made the due mention.
It is reported by PCassianus, that Serenus Abbas gave the invention of magic to Cham, the son of Noah ; so did Comestor in his scholastical history ; which art, saith he, with the seven liberal sciences, he writ in fourteen pillars ; seven of which were made of brass, to resist the defacing by the waters of the flood, and seven of brick against the in jury of fire. There was also another devised discourse, which went under the title of Prophetia Cham, Cassianus out of Serenus hath somewhat like unto this of Comestor. These be Cassianus's words : Cham (jilius Noah) qui super- stitionibus istis et sacrilegis fuit artibus infectus, sciens nullum se posse super Mis memorialem librum in arcam prorsus wiferre, in qua erat cum patrejusto, &c. " Cham, " (the son of Noah,) who was infected with these supersti- " tions and sacrilegious arts, knowing that, he could not " bring any book or memorial of that nature into the ark, " wherein he was to remain with his godly father, caused " the precepts and rules thereof to be graven in metal and " hard stone."
St. Augustine 'noteth, that Zoroaster was said to have laughed at his birth, when all other children weep, which presaged the great knowledge which afterwards he attained unto ; being taken for the inventor of natural magic and other arts ; for the corrupter, saith Pliny and Justin. But I do not think that Zoroaster invented the doctrine of the horoscopes or nativities; or first found out the nature of herbs, stones, and minerals, or their sympathetical or anti pathetical workings; of which I know not what king of Chaldea is also made the inventor. I rather think that these knowledges were far more ancient, and left by Noah to his sons. For Abraham, who had not any acquaintance with Zoroaster, (as Josephus reporteth,) was no less learned herein than any other in that age, if he exceeded not all men then living ; differing from the wisdom of after-times in this, that he knew and acknowledged the true cause, and P Cassian. in Octa. Col. c. 21.
380 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
giver of life and virtue to nature and all natural things ; whereas others (forgetting God^s infinite, dispersed, and universal power) admired the instruments and attributed proper strength to the things themselves (from which the effects were sensible) which belonged to that wisdom, n ickic/i being one, and remaining In itself, can do all things, and reneweth all.
Now whether this Zoroaster (overthrown by Ninus) were the same which was so excellent a naturalist, it is doubted. For Zoroaster the magician, Ctesias calls Oxyartes, whom Pliny finds of a later time. And if Zoroaster were taken away by a spirit, (being in the midst of his disciples,) as some authors report, then Zoroaster, slain by Ninus, was not the magician ; which is also the opinion of rScaliger.
Again, sJosephus and Cedrenus affirm, that Seth first found out the planets, or wandering stars, and other mo tions of the heavens ; for if this art had been invented by Zoroaster, he could not have attained to any such excel lency therein in his own lifetime ; but being a man, as it seemeth, of singular judgment, he might add somewhat to this kind of knowledge, and leave it by writing to pos terity.
But of this Zoroaster there is much dispute ; and no less jangling about the word and art of magic. Arnobius re- membereth four to whom the name of Zoroaster, or Zoro- astres, was given ; which by Hermodorus and Dinon seem eth to be but a cognomen, or name of art, and was as much to say, as astrorum cultor. The first, Arnobius calleth the Bactrian, which may be the same that Ninus overthrew ; the second, a Chaldean, and the astronomer of Ninus ; the third was Zoroaster Pamphylius, who lived in the time of Cyrus, and his familiar; the fourth, Zoroaster Armenius, the nephew of Hostianes, which followed Xerxes into Greece ; between whom and Cyrus there passed seventy- eight years. Suidas remembereth a fifth, called Persome- dus Sapiens; and Plato speaketh of Zoroaster the son of Oromasdes, which Picus Mirandula confirmeth.
i Wisd. c. 7. T Scalig. in Eus. β’ Jos. 1. i . Ant. c. 4.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 381
Now of what nation the first and chief Zoroaster was, it is doubted. Pliny and Laertius make him a Persian. Ge- misthius or Pletho, Ficinus and Steuchius, make him a Chaldean. But by those books of one Zoroaster, found by Picus Mirandula, it appeareth plainly that the author of them was a Chaldean by nation, though the word Chaldean was as often given to the learned priests peculiarly, as for any distinguishment of nations. Porphyrius makes the Chaldsei and Magi divers; Picus the same. But that this Zoroaster was a Chaldean both by nation and profession, it appeareth by his books, which, saith Picus, were written in the Chaldean tongue, and the comment in the same lan guage. Now that the magi and they were not differing, it may be judged by the name of those books of Zoroaster, which in an epistle of Mirandula to Ficinus, he saith, to be entitled, Patris Ezre Zoroastris et Melchior magorum oracula.
SECT. II.
Of the name of Magia; and that it was anciently far diverse from conjuring and witchcraft.
NOW for magic itself; which art, saith tMiranduIa, pauci inteltigunt, multi reprehendunt ; " few understand, " and many reprehend :" Et sicut canes ignotos semper al- latrant; " As dogs bark at those they know not ;" so they condemn and hate the things they understand not ; I think it not amiss (leaving Ninus for a while) to speak somewhat thereof.
It is true that many men abhor the very name and word mag-us, because of Simon Magus, who being indeed not magus., but goes, that is, familiar with evil spirits, usurped that title. For magic, conjuring, and witchery are far dif fering arts, whereof Pliny being ignorant, scoffeth thereat. For Nero, saith u Pliny, who had the most excellent magi cians of the east, sent him by Tyridates king of Armenia, who held that kingdom by his grace, found the art, after long study and labour, altogether ridiculous.
* Pic. Mir. fol. 81. " Plin. 1. 30. Hist. Nat.
382 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
x Magus is a Persian word primitively, whereby is ex pressed such a one as is altogether conversant in things di vine. And, as 7 Plato affirmeth, the art of magic is the art of worshipping God. To which effect Apollonius in his epistles, expounding the word jtxayoc, saith, that the Per sians called their gods jaayoyj ; whence he addeth that ma
gus is either 6 xara <py<ny Qsoc, or fopcwnrr${ Β©swv; that is, that magus is a name sometime of him that is a god by na ture, sometimes of him that is in the service of God ; in which latter sense it is taken, Matt. ii. 1. And this is the first and highest kind, which zPiccolominy calleth divine magic ; and these did the Latins newly entitle sapientes, or wise men; For the fear and worship of God is the begin ning- of knowledge. These wise men the Greeks call philo sophers ; the Indians, brachmans ; which name they some what nearly retain to this day, calling their priests bramines ; among the Egyptians they were termed priests ; with the Hebrews they were called cabalists, prophets, scribes, and pharisees ; amongst the Babylonians they were differenced by the name of Chaldeans ; and among the Persians, ma gicians ; of whom Arnobius (speaking of Hostanes, one of the ancient magicians) useth these words: *Et verumDeum mcrita majestate prosequitur, ct angelos ministros Dei, sed veri, ejus veneration* novit assistere. Idem dcemonas pro- dit terrenes, vagos, humanitatis inimicos. Sosthenes (for so M. Foelix calleth him, not Hostanes) " ascribeth the " due majesty to the true God, and acknowledged! that " his angels are ministers and messengers which attend the " worship of the true God. He also hath delivered that " there are devils earthly and wandering, and enemies to " mankind.""
His majesty also, in his first book of Daemonology, chap. 3. acknowledgeth, that in the Persian tongue the word magus imports as much as a contemplator of divine and heavenly sciences, but unjustly so called, because the Chaldeans were
x Porphyr. ct Aptil. Hug. Linschot.
y Plato, in Alcib. a In Octavio Minutii Fcelicis cum
* Piccol. de defin. Prov. i. 7. John Arnobio, p. 360.
CHAP. XT. OF THE WORLD. 383
ignorant of the true divinity. And it is also right which his majesty avoweth, that under the name of magic, all other unlawful arts are comprehended, and yet doth his majesty distinguish it from necromancy, witchcraft, and the rest ; of all which he hath written largely and most learn edly. For the magic which his b majesty condemneth, is of that kind whereof the Devil is a party. Daniel, in his se cond chapter, nameth four kinds of those wise men ; Arioli, Magi, Malefici, and Chaldaei. Arioli the old Latin trans lation calleth sophistas ; Vatablus and Pagninus, gene- thliacos, or pliysicos, or philosophers, or (according to the note of Vatablus) naturalists : Nempe sunt magi apud bar- baros, quod philosophi apud Grcecos, (scilicet) divinarum humanarumque rerum scientiam profitentes; " For the " magi are the same with the barbarians, as the philoso- " phers are with the Grecians, that is, men that profess the " knowledge of things both divine and human." The Greek and the English call them enchanters ; Junius, ma gicians ; Castalion, conjecturers ; in the Syrian they are all four by one name called sapientes Babylonis, " the wise " men of Babel."
The second sort, Vatablus, Pagnin, Junius, and our English call astrologers ; Jerome and the Septuagint, magi cians.
The third kind are malefici, or venefici; in Jerome, Pag nin, and the Septuagint, witches, or poisoners ; in Junius, praestigiatores, or sorcerers, as in English.
That witches are rightly so called venefici, or poisoners ; and that indeed there is a kind of malefici, which, without any art of magic or necromancy, use the help of the Devil to do mischief, his majesty confirmeth in the first chapter of his second book ; speaking also in the fifth chapter of their practice, to mix the powder of dead bodies with other things by the Devil prepared ; and at other times to make pictures of wax or clay, or otherwise (as it were sacramen- talitcr) to effect those things which the Devil by other means bringeth to pass.
v Daemonolog. 1. 2. c. i.
384 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
The fourth, all translators call Chaldeans ; who took upon them to foretell all things to come, as well natural as human, and their events ; and this they vaunted to perform by the influences of the stars, by them observed and under stood.
Such were, and to this day partly (if not altogether) are, the corruptions which have made odious the very name of magic, having chiefly sought (as is the manner of all im postures) to counterfeit the highest and most noble part of it, yet so as they have also crept into the inferior degrees.
A second kind of magic was that part of astrology which had respect to sowing and planting, and all kinds of agricul ture and husbandry ; which was a knowledge of the motions and influences of the stars into those lower elements.
Philo Judaeus goeth further, affirming that by this part of magic, or astrology, together with the motions of the stars and other heavenly bodies, Abraham found out the knowledge of the true God, while he lived in Chaldea ; cqui contemplatione creaturarum cognovit Creatorem, saith Jo. Damascen ; " who knew the Creator by the contem- " plation of the creature." Josephus reporteth of Abra ham, that he instructed the Egyptians in arithmetic and astronomy, who before Abraham's coming unto them knew none of these sciences.
And so doth (1Archangelus de Burgo, in defence of Mi- randula against Garsias. Alexander et Eupolemon (licit nt, quod Abraham sanctitate et sapientta omnium prcestantissi- mus Chaldceos primum, deinde Phcenices, demum JEgyptios sacerdotes, astrologiam et divma docuerit ; "Alexander," saith he, meaning Alexander Polyhistor, " and Eupolemon " affirm, that Abraham, the holiest and wisest of men, did " first teach the Chaldeans, then the Phoenicians, lastly the " Egyptian priests, astrology and divine knowledge."
The third kind of magic containeth the whole philosophy of nature ; not the brabblings of the Aristotelians, but that which bringeth to light the inmost virtues, and draweth
c De vit. sauct. Glyc. Annal. fol. d See upon his Comment in Aug. 180. de Civit. Dei, 1. 18. c. 2.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 385
them out of nature's hidden bosom to human use, virtutes in centra centri latentes; " virtues hidden in the centre of " the centre," according to the chymists. Of this sort were Albertus, Arnoldus de Villa Nova, Raymond, Bacon, and many others ; and before these, in elder times, and who bet ter understood the power of nature, and how to apply things that work to things that suffer, were Zoroaster before spoken of; Apollonius Tyanasus, remembered by St. Jerome to Paulinus ; in some men's opinion Numa Pompilius, among the Romans ; among the Indians, Thespion ; among the Egyptians, Hermes; among the Babylonians, Budda ; the Thracians had Zamolxis ; the Hyperboreans, (as is sup posed,) Abbaris ; and the Italians, Petrus Aponensis. The magic which these men professed' is thus defined : Magia est conncxlo a viro sapicnte agentium per naluram cum pa- tientibus, sibi congruenter reapondentibus, ut inde opera prodeant non sine eorum admiratione qui causam igno rant ; " Magic is the connexion of natural agents and pa- " tients, answerable each to other, wrought by a wise man " to the bringing forth of such effects as are wonderful to " those that know not their causes."" In all these three kinds, which other men divide into four, it seemeth that Zo roaster was exceedingly learned, especially in the first and highest. For in his oracles he confessed! God to be the Creator of the universal ; he believeth of the eTrinity, which he could not investigate by any natural knowledge ; he speaketh of angels, and of paradise ; approveth the im mortality of the soul ; teacheth truth, faith, hope, and love, discoursing of the abstinence and charity of the magi ; which oracles of his, fPsellus, Ficinus, Patritius, and others, have gathered and translated.
Of this Zoroaster, oEusebius, in the theology of the Phre- nicians, using Zoroaster's own words : Hccc ad verbum scribit) saith Eusebius, .Deus primus incorrnptibil'mm, sempiternus, ingenitus, expers partium, sibi ipsi sim'itti-
K Toto in mundo lucet Trias, en- didit secuudae. jus Monas est princeps. Cuncta ' Psell. et Ficin. mimque perfccit pater, et menti tra- R De Praep. Evaug. 1. i.e. 7.
RALEGH, HIST. WOULD. VOL. I. C C
386 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
mus, bonorum omnium auriga, munera non evpcctans, op- tim us, prudentissimus, pater juris, nine doctrina justitiam pcrdoctuSj natura pcifectus, sapiens, sacra: natures unicus inventor, &c. Thus writctli Zoroaster, word for word. " God, the first incorruptible, everlasting, unbegotten, with- " out parts, most like himself, the guide of all good, ex- " pecting no reward, the best, the wisest, the father of " right, having learned justice without teaching, perfect " wise by nature, the only inventor thereof."
Sixtus Senensis, h speaking of the wisdom of the Chal deans, doth distinguish those wise men into five orders ; to wit, Chascedim, or Chaldeans; Asaphim, or magicians; Chartumim, (which he translates arioli, or sophists;) Me- chasphim, or malejici, or venejici, witches, or poisoners ; and Gazarim, augurcs, or aruspices, or diviners.
Chascedim were those which had the name of Chaldeans, which were astronomers : Hi coclorum motus diligentissime spcctarunt; " These did most diligently contemplate the " motions of the heavens ;" whom Philo in the life of Abra ham describeth.
Asaphim were in the old Latin translation called philo sophers ; of the Septuagint and of Jerome, magicians : qui de omnium tain dii'inarum quam humanamm rerum causis philosophati sunt; " who discoursed of the causes of all " things, as well divine as human ;"" of whom Origen makes Balaam the son of Beor to be the first ; but 'Laer- tius ascribeth the invention of this art to Zoroastres the Persian.
Chartumim, or enchanters, the disciples, saith St. Augus tine, Pliny, and Justin, of another Zoroastres; who cor rupted the admirable wisdom of the magi, which he received from his ancestors.
Mecasphim, or venefici, or witches, are those of which we have spoken already out of his majesty's book of Dse- monologia.
Gazarim, or aruspices, after St. Jerome, which divine from the entrails of beasts slain for sacrifices ; or by Gaza- h Lib. 2. fol. 46. ' Lacrt. 1. β’> .
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 387
rim others understand augures, who divine by the flying, singing, or feeding of birds.
By this distinction we may perceive the difference be tween those wise men which the kings of Babylon enter tained, and that the name and profession of the magi among the ancient Persians was most honest. For as Peu- cer truly observeth, ^ Prefer ant religioni Persica, ut in populo Dei Levita, studiisque verce philosophic^ dediti erant : nee quisquam rex Persarum poterat esse, qui non antea magorum disciplinam scientiamque perccpisset ; " The " magi," saith he, " were the chief ministers of the Persian " religion, as the Levites among God's people, and they " were given to the studies of true philosophy ; neither " could any be king of the Persians, who had not first been " exercised in the mysteries and knowledge of the magi." Sixtus Senensis, in defence of Origen against Polychro- nius and Theophilus, hath two kinds of magic ; his own words are these: \Et ne quern moveant pr&missa Poly- chronii et Theophili testimonia, sciendum est duplicem esse magiam ; alter am ubique ab Origene damnatam, qua per fazdera cum dcemonibus inita aut vere aut appar enter opera- tur; alteramab Origene laudatam,qu(E ad practicen natura- lis philosophies pcrtinet,docens admirabiles res operari ex ap- plicatione mutua naturalium virtutum ad invicem agentium ac patientium : " That the testimonies of Theophilus and Po- " lychronius,"" saith he, " may not move any man, it is to " be understood that magic is of two sorts, the one every " where condemned by Origen, which worketh (whether " truly or seemingly) by covenants made with devils ; the " other commended by Origen, which appertaineth to the " practick part of natural philosophy, teaching to work ad- " mirable things by the mutual application of natural vir- " tues, agent and suffering reciprocally.'" This partition Jerome doth embrace in the first of his commentaries upon Daniel ; where, considering of the difference which Daniel makes between these four kinds of wise men formerly re membered, he useth this distinction : Qiios nos hariolos^ k Peucer de Divinat. in c. de mag. fol. 135. et 136. ' Bibl. I. 6. fol. 424. C C 2
388 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
cffteri sTraoiSo'jj, id cut, incantatorcs interpret/it! sunt, ri- dcntur mihi essc qui verbis rcm peragunt; magi, qui dc singtdix philosophantur ; malcfici, qui .sanguine utuntur et rictimis, ct S(Ppe contingunt corpora mortnorum : porro in Cludda'i* genethliacos tignificari puto, quos vulgo mathe- matieos vacant. Consuctudo ai/tcm oommtMlU magos pro maleficifi accipit, qni alitcr habcntnr apud gent cm tsiiam, co quod fiint philogophi Chald&orum : ct ad artis hujus scien- tiam rcges quoque et principcs cjusdem gentis omnia Juci- unt; undc et hi nat'rcitate Domini Salratoris ipsi primum ortum cju.<i intellexerunt, et venientes in sanctam Bethlehem adoraverunt puertnn, stella desuper ostendente. " They " whom we call sorcerers, and others interpret enchanters, " seem to me such as perform things by words ; magicians, " such as handle every thing philosophically ; witches, that " use blood and sacrifices, and often lay hands on the body " of the dead : further, among the Chaldeans I take them " to be signified by the name of conjecturers upon nativi- " ties, whom the vulgar call mathematicians. But common " custom takes magicians for witches, who are otherwise re- " puted in their own nation, for they are the philosophers " of the Chaldeans ; yea, kings and princes of that nation " do all that they do according to the knowledge of this " art ; whence at the nativity of the Lord our Saviour they " first of all understood his birth, and coming unto holy " Bethlehem did worship the child, the star from above " shewing him unto them." By this therefore it appeareth that there is great difference between the doctrine of a ma gician, and the abuse of the word. For though some writ ers affirm, that magus hodie dieitur, qui r.r fa'dere facto ntitur Diaboli opera ad rcm qiiamcunqne ; " that he is called " a magician nowadays, who having entered league with 44 the Devil, useth his help to any matter ;" yet (as our Sa viour said of divorce) it rcas not so from the beginning. For the art of magic is of the wisdom of nature ; other arts which undergo that title were invented by the falsehood, subtilty, and envy of the Devil. In the latter there is no other doctrine, than the use of certain ceremonies, per ma-
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 389
lamjidem, " by an evil faith ;" in the former, no other ill, than the investigation of those virtues and hidden proper ties which God hath given to his creatures, and how fitly to apply things that work to things that suffer. And though by the Jews those excellent magicians, philosophers, and divines, which came to worship our Saviour Christ, were termed mechaschephim, or mecasphim ; yet had they no other reason than common custom therein : Consuetudo au- tem communis magos pro maleficis accipit; " Common cus- " torn," saith m St. Jerome, " understandeth witches under "the name of magicians ;" and antiquity, saith n Peter Mar tyr, by the word magi, understood good and wise men : Β°Quid igitur expavescis magi nomen Jbrmidolose, nomen evangelic gratiosum, quod non maleficum et veneficum^ sed sapicntem sonat et sacerdotem? " O thou fearful one," saith Ficinus, " why doubtest thou to use the name of " magus, a name gracious in the gospel, which doth not " signify a witch or conjurer, but a wise man and a " priest ?" For what brought this slander to that study and profession but only idle ignorance, the parent of cause less admiration ? P Causafuit mirificentia quorundam ope- rum, qu(B revera opera naturalia sunt : veruntamen quia procuratione dcemonum naturas ipsas vel conjungentium, vel commiscentium, vel aliter ad operandum expedientium facta sunt, opera dcemonum credebantur ab ignorantibus hcBc. De operibus hiijusmodi est magia naturalis, quam necromantiam multi improprie vacant. (t The marvellous- " ness of some works, which indeed are natural, hath been " the cause of this slander ; but because these works have " been done by procurement of devils joining the natures " together, or mingling them, or howsoever fitting the na- " tures to their working, they were thought the works of " the devils by the ignorant. Among these works is natu- " ral magic, which men call very improperly necromancy." Mirandula in his Apology goeth further: " ^For by un- " derstanding," saith he, " the uttermost activity of natu-
m Hieron. in Dan. P Gul. Parisicn. de Lege, c. 14.
n Pet. Mart. loc. 1 Fol. 8p.
0 Mar. Ficin, part. prim. fol. 573.
c c 2
390 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
" ral agents, we are assisted to know the divinity of Christ:" for otherwise, (to use his own words,) I^-norntifi termini* potentiae et virtutis rcnim natnndhnn, stat nos dubitarc ilia eadcm opej-a, qua: fecit Christus, posse fieri per media ndturfdia ; " The terms or limits of natural power and vir- " tue not understood, we must needs doubt whether those " very works which Christ did, may not be done by natural " means:" after which he goeth on in this sort: Idea non hcBretice, non supcrstitiose dixi, sed verissime et catholicc, per talem mag-iam adjuvari nos in cognoscenda divinitate Christi; " Therefore I said not heretically, not super- " stitiously, but most truly and catholicly, that by such " magic we are furthered in knowing the divinity of Christ." And seeing the Jews and others, the enemies of Christian religion, do impudently and impiously object, that those miracles which Christ wrought were not above nature, but by the exquisite knowledge thereof performed ; Mirandula, a man for his years fuller of knowledge than any that this latter age hath brought forth, might with good reason avow, that the uttermost of nature's works being known, the works which Christ did, and which (as himself witnesseth) no man could do, do manifestly testify of themselves, that they were- performed by that hand which held nature therein but as a pencil, and by a power infinitely supreme and divine ; and thereby those that were faithless were either converted or put to silence.
SECT. III.
That the good knowledge in the ancient magic is not to be con' demned; though the Devil here, as in other kinds, hath sought to obtrude evil things under the name and colour of good things. SEEING therefore it is confessed by all of understand ing, that a magician (according to the Persian word) is no other than divinorum cultor et interpres, " a studious ob- " server and expounder of divine things ;" and the art it self (I mean the art of natural magic) no other, quam na- turcdis philosophic absoluta consummatio, " than the ab- " solute perfection of natural philosophy." Certainly then it proceedeth from ignorance, and no way sorteth with wise
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 391
and learned men promiscue, and without difference and dis tinction, to confound lawful and praiseworthy knowledge with that impious, and, to use St. Paul's words, with those beggarly rudiments, which the Devil hath shuffled in, and by them bewitcheth and befooleth graceless men. For if we condemn natural magic, or the wisdom of nature, because the Devil, who knoweth more than any man, doth also teach witches and poisoners the harmful parts of herbs, drugs, minerals, and excrements ; then may we by the same rule condemn the physician, and the art of healing. For the Devil also, in the oracles of Amphiaraus, Amphilochus, Trophonius, and the like, taught men in dreams, what herbs and drugs were proper for such and such diseases. Now no man of judgment is ignorant, that the Devil from the beginning hath sought to thrust himself into the same em ployment among the ministers and servants of God, chang ing himself for that purpose into an angel of light. He hath led men to idolatry as a doctrine of religion; he hath thrust in his prophets among those of the true God ; he hath cor rupted the art of astrology, by giving a divine power to the stars, teaching men to esteem them as gods, and not as in struments. And, as q Bunting observeth, it is true that ju dicial astrology is corrupted with many superstitions ; but the abuse of the thing takes not away the art, considering that heavenly bodies (as even general experience sheweth) have and exercise their operation upon the inferior. For the sun, and the star of Mars, do dry ; the moon doth moisten, and govern the tides of the sea. Again, the pla nets, as they have several and proper names, so have they several and proper virtues; the stars do also differ in beauty and in magnitude, and to all the stars hath God given also their proper names, which (had they not influences and vir tues different) needed not ; rHe counteth the number of the stars, and calleth them by their names. But into the good and profitable knowledge of the celestial influences, the Devil ceaseth not to shuffle in his superstitions ; and so to the knowledge of the secret virtues of nature hath he fasten-
i Bunt, in Chrou. T Psalm cxlvii. 4.
C C 4
392 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
ed his doctrine of characters, numbers, and incantations, and taught men to believe in the strength of words and let ters ; (which without faith in God are but ink or common breath ;) thereby either to equal his own with the all-power ful word of God, or to diminish the glory of God's creating word, by whom are all things.
Moreover, he was never ignorant, that both the wise and the simple observe, when the sea-birds forsake the shores, and fly into the land, that commonly some great storm fol- loweth ; that the high flying of the kite and the swallow he- tokeneth fair weather ; that the crying of crows and bathing of ducks foreshew rain ; for they feel the air moistened in their quills. And it is written in Jeremy the prophet, sErcn the xtork in the air knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow. Hereupon this ene my of mankind working upon these, as upon the rest of God's creatures, long time abused the heathen, by teaching them to observe the flying of fowls, and thereby to judge of good or ill success in the war ; and withal to look into their entrails for the same, as if God had written the secrets of unsearchable providence in the livers and bowels of birds and beasts. Again, because it pleased God sometimes by dreams, not only to warn and teach his prophets and apo stles, but heathen princes also; as l Abimelech to restore Sa rah to Abraham, because he admonished Joseph, and by dream informed Jacob, Laban, Pharaoh, Solomon, Paul, Ananias, the magi of the east, and others. For as it is re membered in Job; u In dreams and visions of the night, icltcii sleep Jalleth upon men, &c. then God openeth the ears, that he might cause man to return from hi* enterprise: therefore, I say, doth the Devil also practise his divinations by dreams, or, after x Parisiensis, dirinitutis imitationcs, " his mock divinity." Thig in the end grew so common, as Ai'istides compiled an Ephemerides of his own dreams ; Mithridates, of those of his concubines. Yea, the Romans finding the inconvenience hereof, because all dreams, with out distinction of causes, were drawn to divination, forbade
β’ Jer. viii. 7. u Job xxxiii. 15, 16, 17.
1 Gcu. xii. 17. " G. I'arisien. de Leg. cap. 24.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 393
the same by a law, as by the words of prohibition, Yaut narrandis somniis occultam aliquant artem divinandi, it may appear. Likewise by the law of God in Deuteronomy xiii. seducing dreamers were ordered to be slain. Yet it is not to be contemned that Marcus Antonius was told a re medy in his dream for two grievous diseases that oppressed him ; nor that of Alexander Macedon for the cure of Pto lemy"^ poisoned wound ; nor that which z St. Augustine re- porteth of a Millanois, whose son (the father dead) being demanded a debt already paid, was told by his father in a dream where the acquittance lay to discharge it ; nor that of Astyages of his daughter, and many others of like na ture. Of the reason of all which, forasmuch as the cause is not in ourselves, this place denieth dispute.
SECT. IV.
That Daniel's misliking Nabuchodonosor's condemning of the ma gicians doth not justify all their practices.
BLTT it may be objected, that if such divinations as the heathens commonly used were to be condemned in them, who took on them very many and strange revelations ; how came it to pass that Daniel both condemned the hasty sen tence of Nabuchodonosor against the magicians of Chaldea, and in a sort forbade it ? especially considering that such kind of people a God himself commanded to be slain. To this divers answers may be given. First, It seemeth that Daniel had respect to those Chaldeans, because they ac knowledged that the dream of the king, which himself had forgotten, could not be known to any man by any art, ei ther natural or diabolical : " For there is no other," said the Chaldeans, " that can declare it before the king, except the " gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh :" and herein they confessed the power of the ever-living God.
Secondly, It may be conjectured, and that with good rea son, that among so many learned men, some of them did not exercise themselves in any evil or unlawful arts, but were merely magicians and naturalists ; and therefore when
y Codex de Malefic, et Mathemat. z Aug. de cura pro mortuis agenda, leg. et si accepta. ' * Deut. xiii. and xviii. Levit. xx.
394 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
the king commanded to kill all, Daniel persuaded the con trary, and called it a hasty judgment, which proceeded with fury without examination . And that some of those men's stu dies and professions Avert- lawful, it may be gathered by Da- niel's instruction, for himself had been taught by them, and was called chief of the enchanters; of which some were term ed soothsayers, others astrologians, others Chaldeans, others magi or wise men ; and therefore of distinct professions.
Thirdly, Daniel misliked and forbade the execution of that judgment, because it was unjust. For howsoever those men might deserve punishment for the practice of unlawful arts, (though not unlawful according to the law of that state,) yet herein they were altogether guiltless. For it ex ceeded human power to pierce the king's thought, which the Devil himself could not know. So then in Daniel's dislike, and hindering of the execution of sentence of death pro nounced against the magicians, there is no absolute justify ing of their practice and profession.
SECT. V.
The abuse of things which may be found in all kinds, is not to con demn the right use of them.
NOTWITHSTANDING this mixture every where of good with evil, of falsehood with truth, of corruption with cleanness and purity ; the good, the truth, the purity in every kind may well be embraced ; as in the ancient wor shipping of God by sacrifice, there was no man knowing God among the elders, that therefore forbare to offer sacri fice to the God of all power, because the Devil in the image of Baal, Astaroth, Chemoth, Jupiter, Apollo, and the like, was so adored.
Neither did the abuse of astrology terrify Abraham (if we may believe the most ancient and religious h historians) from observing the motions and natures of heavenly bodies ; nei ther can it dehort wise and learned men in these days from attributing those virtues, influences, and inclinations to the stars and other lights of heaven, which God hath given to those his glorious creatures.
b Euscb. ex Artapan. ct Polyhist.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 395
The sympathetical and antipathetical working of herbs, plants, stones, minerals, with their other utmost virtues sometimes taught by the Devil, and applied by his ministers to harmful and uncharitable ends, can never terrify the ho nest and learned physician or magician from the using of them to the help and comfort of mankind ; neither can the illusions whereby the Devil betray eth'such men as are fallen from God, make other men reject the observation of dreams, so far as with a good faith and a religious caution they may make use of them.
Lastly, The c prohibition to mark flying of fowls (as signs of good or evil success) hath no reference at all to the crying of crows against rain, or to any observation not supersti tious, and whereof a reason or cause may be given. For if we confound arts with the abuse of them, we shall not only condemn all honest trades and interchange among men, (for there are that deceive in all professions,) but we shall in a short- time bury in forgetfulness all excellent knowledge and all learning, or obscure and cover it over with a most scorn ful and beggarly ignorance ; and, as Pliny teacheth, we should shew ourselves ingratos erga eos, qui labore curaque lucem nobis aperuerunt in liac luce ; " unthankful we " should shew ourselves toward those, who with pains and " care have discovered unto us light in this light."
Indeed not only these natural knowledges are condemned by those that are ignorant, but the mathematics also and professors thereof; though those that are excellently learned judge of it in this sort : d In specula mathematlco verum U~ lud, quod in omni scibili qucsritur, relucet ; non modo re- mota similitudine, sedfulgida quadam propinquitate ; " In " the glass of the mathematics that truth doth shine, which " is sought in every kind of knowledge; not in an obscure " image, but in a near and manifest representation.1'
SECT. VI.
Of the divers kinds of unlawful magic. IT is true that there are many arts, if we may so call
Β« Deut. xviii. 10. d Cusari. Comp. Theolog. c. i.
396 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
them, which are covered with the name of magic, and es teemed abusively to be as branches of that tree on whose root they never grew. The first of these hath the name of necromancy or goetia; and of this again there are divers kinds. The one is an invocation at the graves of the dead, to whom the Devil himself gives answer instead of those that seem to appear. For certain it is, that the immortal souls of men do not inhabit the dust and dead bodies, but they give motion and understanding to the living ; death being nothing else but a separation of the body and soul ; and therefore the soul is not to be found in the graves.
A second practice of those men who pay tribute, or are in league with Satan, is that of conjuring or of raising up de vils, of whom they hope to learn what they list. These men are so distract, as they believe that by terrible words they make the Devil to tremble ; that being once impaled in a circle (a circle which cannot keep out a mouse) they there in, as they suppose, ensconce themselves against that great monster. Doubtless they forget that the Devil is not terri fied from doing ill, and all that is contrary to God and goodness ; no, not by the fearful word of the Almighty ; and that he feared not to offer to sit in God's seat; that he made no scruple to tempt our Saviour Christ, whom himself called the Son of God. So, forgetting these proud parts of his, an unworthy wretch will yet resolve himself, that he can draw the Devil out of hell, and terrify him with a phrase ; whereas in very truth, the obedience which devils seem to use, is but thereby to possess themselves of the bo dies and souls of those which raise them up ; as his majesty in his book aforenamed hath excellently taught, That the Devil's obedience is only secundum quid, scilicet,, ex pacto ; " respective, that is, upon bargain.""
I cannot tell what they can do upon those simple and ig norant devils, which inhabit e Jamblicus's imagination ; but sure I am, the rest are apt enough to come uncalled; and
e Sunt in mundo genus qooddam que verum a falso, ncque possibilc potcstatmn v;iklc divisum, iudiscrc- discernit ab impossibili. L. Vives in turn ct iuconsideratum ; et quod ne- cap. n.l. 10.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 397
always attending the cogitations of their servants and vas sals, do no way need any such enforcement.
Or it may be that these conjurers deal altogether with Cardan's mortal devils, following the opinion of f Rabbi Avornathan and of Porphyrius, who taught that these kind of devils lived not above a thousand years ; which Plutarch, in his treatise De Oraculorum Defectu, confirmeth, making example of the great god Pan. For were it true, that the devils were in awe of wicked men, or could be compelled by them, then would they always fear those words and threats, by which at other times they are willingly mastered. But the 5 familiar of Simon Magus, when he had lifted him up in the air, cast him headlong out of his claws, when he was sure he should perish with the fall. If this perhaps were done by St. Peter's prayers, (of which St. Peter no where vaunteth,) yet the same prank at other times upon his own ac cord the Devil played with h Theodotus; who transported (as Simon Magus was supposed to have been,) had the same mortal fall that he had. The like success had Budas, a principal pillar of the Manichean heresy, as ' Socrates in his Ecclesiastical History witnesseth ; and for a manifest proof hereof, we see it every day, that the Devil leaves all witches and sorcerers at the gallows, for whom at other times he maketh himself a Pegasus, to convey them in haste to places far distant, or at least makes them so think : k For to those that received not the truth, saith St. Paul, God shall send them strong Illusions. Of these their supposed transporta tions, (yet agreeing with their confessions,) his majesty, in the 2d book and the 4th chapter of the Daemonology, hath con firmed by unanswerable reasons, that they are merely illu sive. Another sort there are who take on them to include spirits in glasses and crystals ; of whom Cusanus : l Fatui sunt incantatores, qui in ungue et vitro volunt spiritum in- cludere : quia spiritus non clauditur corpore ; " They are " foolish enchanters which will shut up their spirits within
f Aug. de Civit. Dei, 1. 10. ' Lib. i. c. 21.
s Cusan. Exer. 1. 2. k 2 Thess. ii. 10, 1 1.
h Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5. c. 16. ' Exercit. 1. 2.
398 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
" their nails or in glass ; for a spirit cannot be enclosed by " a body."
There is also another art besides the aforementioned, which they call theurgia, or white magic; a pretended con ference with good spirits or angels, whom by sacrifice and invocation they draw out of heaven, and communicate with al. But the administering spirits of God, as they require not any kind of adoration due unto their Creator ; so seeing they are most free spirits, there is no man so absurd to think (except the Devil have corrupted his understanding) that they can be constrained or commanded out of heaven by threats. Wherefore let the professors thereof cover themselves how they please by a professed purity of life, by the ministry of infants, by fasting and abstinence in general, yet all those that tamper with immaterial substances and ab stract natures, either by saci'ifice, vow, or enforcement, are men of evil faith, and in the power of Satan. For good spirits or angels cannot be constrained; and the rest arc de vils, which willingly obey.
Other sorts there are of wicked divinations ; as by fire, called pyromantla ; by water, called hydromantia ; by the air, called matceotechnia, and the like.
The last, and indeed the worst of all other, is fascination or witchcraft; the practisers whereof are no less envious and cruel, revengeful and bloody, than the Devil himself. And these accursed creatures having sold their souls to the De vil, work two ways ; either by the Devil immediately, or by the art of poisoning. The difference between necromancers and witches, his majesty hath excellently taught in a word ; that the one (in a sort) command, the other obey the Devil.
There is another kind of petty witchery, (if it be not al together deceit,) which they call charming of beasts and birds, of which m Pythagoras was accused, because an eagle lighted on his shoulder in the Olympian fields. But if the same exceeded the art of falconry, yet was it no more to be admired than Mahomet's dove, which he had used to feed with wheat out of his ear ; which dove, when it was hungry, m Julian. 1. 6. not. Histor.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 399
lighted on Mahomet's shoulder, and thrust his bill therein to find his breakfast ; Mahomet persuading the rude and simple Arabians, that it was the Holy Ghost that gave him advice. And certainly if Banks had lived in elder times, he would have shamed all the enchanters in the world; for who soever was most famous among them, could never master or instruct any beast as he did his horse.
For the drawing of serpents out of their dens, or killing of them in their holes by enchantments, (which the Marsians, a people of Italy, practised : n Colubros disrumpit Marsia cantu, " enchanting Marsia makes the snakes to burst."") That it hath been used, it appears Psalm Iviii. 6. though I doubt not but that many impostures may be in this kind, and even by natural causes it may be done. For there are many fumes that will either draw them out or destroy them, as women's hair burnt, and the like. So, many things may be laid in the entrance of their holes that will allure them ; and therein I find no other magic or enchantment, than to draw out a mouse with a piece of toasted cheese.
SECT. VII.
Of divers ways by which the Devil seemeth to work his wonders.
BUT to the end that we may not dote with the Mani- chees, who make two powers of Gods ; that we do not give to the Devil any other dominion than he hathr (not to speak of his ability, when he is the minister of God's vengeance, as when Egypt, according to David, was destroyed by evil angels,) he otherwise worketh but three ways : the first is, by moving the cogitations and affections of men ; the second, by the exquisite knowledge of nature ; and the third, by deceit, illusion, and false semblance. And that they cannot work what they would, G. Parisiensis giveth three causes : the first, a natural impotency ; the second, their own reason dissuading them from daring over much, or indeed (and that which is the only certain cause) the great mercy of the Creator, Β° Tenens eos ligatos, saith the same author, velut immanissimas belluas. St. Augustine was of opinion, that
n Lucil. in Satyr. Β° Gul. Paris, cle Universe, p. 2. c. 70.
400 THE HISTORY BOOK r.
the frogs which Pharaoh's sorcerers produced were not na tural, but that the Devil (by betraying of their senses that looked on) made them appear to be such. For as Vairus observeth, those frogs of the enchanters were not found cor rupted as those of Moses were, which might argue that they were not creatures indeed. Hereof, saith St. Augustine, Nee sane d&mones naturae crcant, sed quce a Deo crctttte finnt commutant, ut vidcatitur cfsse quod non sunt ; " The " devils create not any natures, but so change those that " are created by God, as they seem to be that which they " be not :" of which in the 83d question he giveth the rea son, Daemon quibusdam nebulls implet omnes meat us Intcl- /ig'entice, per quos aperire lumen rationis radius menth- so- let ; that is, " The Devil fills with certain clouds all pas- " sages of the understanding, by which the beam of the " mind is wont to open the light of reason."
And as Tertullian in his book De An'ima rightly conceiv- eth, if the Devil can possess himself of the eyes of our minds, and blind them, it is not hard for him to dazzle those of the body. For, out of doubt, by the same way that God pass- eth out, the Devil entereth in, beginning with the phantasy, by which he doth more easily betray the other faculties of the soul; for the P phantasy is most apt to be abused by vain apprehensions.
Aquinas, on the contrary, held that those frogs were not imaginary, but such indeed as they seemed ; not made ma- gzctx artis ludibrio, which indeed agreeth not with the art; but, according to Thomas, per aptam et idoneam agent turn ct pat'ient'inin appKcationem, " by an apt and fit applying " of agents and patients." And this I take to be more pro bable. For Moses could not be deceived by that sleight of false semblance; and St. Augustine, in another case like unto this, to wit, of the turning of Diomedes's companions into birds, per itctiva cum passiv'is, inclineth rather to this opinion; though I am not persuaded that St. Augustine believed that of Diomedes. And this opinion of Thomas, G. Pari.-.iensis, a man very learned, also confirmeth. For P Maxima vis est phantasiae ad errorcs.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 401
speaking of natural magic, he useth these words : 3 De hu- jusmodi autem operibus est subita generatio ranarum, ct pe- diculorum, et vermium, aliorumque animalium quorundam: in quibus omnibus sola natura operatur, verum adhibitis adjutoriis, qucz ipsa semina natures confortant et acuunt, ita nt opus generationis tantum accelerent, ut eis qui hoc nesciunt non opus natura videatur (quce tardius talia effi- cere consuevit) sed potentia dcemomim, &c. to which he add- eth : Qui autem in hiis docti sunt talia non mirantur, sed solum Creatorem in hiis glorificant ; " In such works," saith he, " the sudden generation of frogs, and lice, and " worms, and some other creatures is : in all Vhich nature " alone worketh ; but by means strengthening the seeds of " nature, and quickening them ; in such wise that they so " hasten the work of generation, that it seemeth to the ig- " norant not to be the work of nature, which usually " worketh more leisurely, but they think it is done by the " power of devils. But they who are learned in these arts " marvel not at such working, but glorify the Creator." Now by these two ways the devils do most frequently work, to wit, by knowing the uttermost of nature, and by illu sion ; for there is no incomprehensible or unsearchable power, but of God only.
For shall we say, he caused sometimes thunders, light nings, and tempests, and can infect the air, as well as move it or compress it ; who knows not that these things are also natural ? or may it be objected that he foretelleth things be fore they happen, which exceedeth nature, and is no illu sion ? it is true, that he sometimes doth it ; but how ? in elder ages he stole his knowledge out of the predictions of the prophets ; and he foretold the death of Saul, at such time as he was in his own possession and power to dispose of. And he that hath lived from the infancy of the world to this day, and observed the success of every council ; he that by reason of his swift motions can inform himself of all places and preparations ; he that is of counsel with all those that study and practise subversion and destruction ; i De Leg. c. 24. fol. 67.
RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. D d
402 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
rhc that is prince of the air, and can thence better judge, than those that inhabit the earth; if he should not sometimes, yea if he should not very oftentimes, guess rightly of things to come, (where God pleaseth not to give impediment,) it were very strange. For we see that wise and learned men do oftentimes, by comparing like causes, conceive rightly of like effects, before they happen ; and yet where the Devil doubt- eth, and would willingly keep his credit, he evermore an- swereth by riddles, as,
Croesus Halym penetrans magnam subvertit opum vim.
If Croesus over Halys go,
Great kingdoms he shall overthrow.
Which answer may be taken either way ; either for the overthrow of his own kingdom or of his enemies. And thus far we grant the Devil may proceed in predictions, which otherwise belong to God only, as it is in Isaiah, Shew the things that arc to come hereafter, that ice may know that ye are gods: shew us at all times and certainly u-liat is to come. * Solius enim divinae intelligenti<K ac sapientice est occulta nosse et revelare ; " It is only proper to God's understand- " ing and wisdom to know and reveal hidden things."
SECT. VIII.
That none was ever raised from the dead by the power of the Devil ; and that it was not the true Samuel which appeared to Saul.
TO conclude, it may be objected that the Devil hath raised from the dead ; and that others by his power have done the like, as in the example given of Samuel raised by the witch of Endor : which were it true, then might it in deed be affirmed that some of the Devil's acts exceed all the powers of nature, false semblance, and other illusions. 1 Justin Martyr was sometimes of the opinion, that it was Samuel indeed, and so was Ambrose, Lyra, and Burgensis;
r Ephes. ii. 2. and vi. 12. Diabolus ' Just. Martyr in Colloq. cum Try- magimm habet rerutn usum : quae phone in resp. ad Ortho. quaest. 52. res inultum habet momenti in quovis Ambr. in Luc. 1. i. c. i. Lyra in Rep. uegotio. Aug. de Anima, c. 26, 27. i. Aug. ad Simpl. 1. 2. q 3. De Cm- Ac, tatc T>ei, 1. 13. r. 8.
β’ Guil. Parisiensis de Legib. c. 24.
CHAP. xi. OF THE WORLD. 403
from which authorities those men borrow strength which so believe. But Martyr changed his opinion ; and so did St. Augustine, who at first seemed to be indifferent ; for in his questions upon the Old and New Testament, he accounteth it detestable to think that it was Samuel which appeared ; and these be his words elsewhere to the same effect : In re- quie sunt animce piorum a corpore separatee, impiorum au- tem pcenas luunt, donee istarum ad vitam ceternam. illarum vero ad cpternam mortem quce secunda dicitur corpora revi- viscant ; " The souls of the godly separated from their bo- " dies are at rest, but those of the wicked suffer punishment, " till the bodies of the just rise to eternal life, and of the " wicked to an eternal and second death.1'1
And (besides u St. Augustine) Justin Martyr, Hilarius, Tertullian, Athanasius, Chrysostom, and others, believed firmly, and taught it, that the souls of men being once sepa rate from their bodies, did not wander on the earth at all: Cre~ dere debemus, saith Cyril, quum a corporibus sanctorum animce abierint, tanquam in manus cliarissimi patris boni- tati divince commendari ; " We must believe when the souls " of holy men are departed from their bodies, that they be " commended to the divine goodness, as into the hands of a " most dear Father." If then they be in heaven, the power of the Devil cannot stretch so high ; if in hell, ab inferno nulla est redemptio, " from hell there is no redemption." For there are but two habitations after death : Unum, saith Augustine, in igne ceterno, alterum in regno ceterno ; " The one in eternal fire, the other in God's eternal king- " dom." And though it be written in Jure Pontificio, that many there are who believe that the dead have again ap peared to the living, yet the gloss upon the same text finds it ridiculous : x Credunt et male, quia sunt phantasmata, saith the gloss ; " They believe, and they believe amiss, be- " cause they be but phantasms, or apparitions." For whereas any such voice hath been heard, saying, I am the soul of
" Aug. de Verb. Apost. 18. Just. Atban. q. 13. Chrysost. Hoin. 19. in Mar. ad Orthodox, q. 75. Hilar. Psal. Evang. Matth. ii. in fine. Tcrt. dc Anim. in fin. * 26. q. 5. Episcopi.
10 i THE HISTORY BOOK i.
such a one, hcec oratio a fraude atque deceptione diabolica est ; " that speech is framed by the fraud and deception of " the Devil,"' saith Chrysostom. Likewise of the same saith Tertullian : Absit ut animam cujitxlibet sancti, nedumpro- phctcr, a dcemonio crcdamus cxtractam; "God forbid that " we should think that the soul of any holy man, much less " of a prophet, should be drawn up again by a devil."
It is true, that the scriptures call that apparition Samuel, so do they the wooden images cherubins ; and false brazen gods are called gods, and the like. And whereas these of the contrary opinion build upon that place of the 26th of Ecclesiasticus, (a book not numbered among the canonical scriptures, as St. Augustine himself in his treatise, if it be his, de Curapro Mortuis agenda, confesseth;) yet Siracides, following the literal sense and phrase of the scriptures, proveth nothing at all : for though the Devil would will ingly persuade, that the souls (yea even of just men) were in his power, yet so far is it from the promises of the scrip tures, and from God's just and merciful nature, and so con trary to all divine reason, as St. Augustine (or whosoever wrote that book before cited) might rightly term it a detest able opinion so to think. For if God had so absolutely for saken Saul, that he refused to answer him either by dreams, by Urim, or by his prophets ; it were sottish to conceive, that he would permit the Devil, or a wicked witch, to raise a prophet from the dead in Saul's respect; it being also y contrary to his own divine law to ask counsel of the dead, as in Deuteronomy xviii. and elsewhere. Therefore it was the Devil, and not the soul of a dead body, that gave answer and advice.
But because Helias and Helizeus had raised some from the dead by the power of God, those devils, which St. Au gustine calleth ludificatores animanthtm sibi subjcctorum, " mockers of their own vassals," casting before their eyes a semblance of human bodies, and framing sounds to their ears like the voices of men, do also persuade their graceless
r i Kings xvii. 22. 2 Kings iv. 34. tuum vcre unquam cxcitavit. Wier. Nullus cnim magus aut daemon mor- de Fascin.
CHAP. xii. OF THE WORLD. 405
and accursed attendants, that themselves both possess and have power over the souls of men : Eludit Diabolus aciem turn spectantium, turn etiam cogitantium, saith L. Vives ; " The Devil beguileth the sense both of the beholders, and " of those that so imagine.1' These then are the bounds of the Devil's power, whom if we will not fear, we must fear to sin. For when he is not the instrument of God's ven geance, he can touch no man that makes not himself his voluntary vassal : potest ad malum invitare, non potest tra- here, saith St. Augustine; " he can allure, but he cannot en- " force to evil." Such as think otherwise, may go into the number remembered by Lucretius:
Nam veluti pueri trepidant, atque omnia ccecis In tenebris metuunt : sic nos in Luce timemus.
We fear by light, as children in the dark.
CHAP. XII.
Of the memorable buildings of Ninus, and of his wife Se- miramis ; and of other of her acts.
SECT. I.
Of the magnificent building of Nineveh by Ninus ; and of Babylon by Semiramis.
-DUT to come back to Ninus, the amplifier and finisher of Nineveh ; whether he performed it before or after the over throw of Zoroaster, it is uncertain. As for the city itself, it is agreed by all profane writers, and confirmed by the scrip tures, that it exceeded all other in circuit and answerable magnificence. For it had in compass z 440 stadia, or fur longs; the walls whereof were an hundred foot upright, and had such a breadth as three chariots might pass on the rampire in front : these walls were garnished with 1500 towers, which gave exceeding beauty to the rest, and a strength no less admirable for the nature of those times. 1 Justin. 1. 1. Diod. 1. 2. Sabel. 1. en. i.
406 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
But this city (built in the plains of Assyria, and on the banks of Tigris, and in the region of Eden) was founded long before Ninus^s time, and (as ancient historians report, and more lately Nauclerus) had the name of Campsor, at such time as Ninus amplified the same, and gave it a wall, and called it after his own name.
For these works of Babylon and Nineveh begun by Nim- rod in Chaldea, and in Assyria, Ninus and Semiramis made perfect. a Ninus finished Nineveh, Semiramis Babylon ; wherein she sought to exceed her husband by far. Indeed in the first age, when princes were moderate, they neither thought how to invade others, nor feared to be invaded : labouring to build towns and villages for the use of them selves and their people, without either walls or towers ; and how they might discharge the earth of woods, briers, bush- ments, and waters, to make it the more habitable and fertile. But Semiramis living in that age, when ambition was in strong youth, and purposing to follow the conquest which her husband had undertaken, gave that beauty and strength to Babylon which it had.
SECT. II.
Of the end of Ninus, and beginning of Semiramis' s reign.
THIS she did after the death of her husband Ninus ; who after he had mastered Bactria, and subjected unto his empire all those regions between it and the Mediterranean sea and Hellespont, (Asia the Less excepted,) and finished the work of Nineveh, he left the world in the year thereof 2019, after he had reigned fifty-two years. Plutarch re- porteth, that Semiramis desired her husband Ninus, that he would grant unto her the absolute sovereign power for one day. Diod. Siculus out of Athenaeus, and others, speaks of five days. In which time (moved either with desire of rule, or licentious liberty, or with the memory of her husband Menon, who perished for her) she caused Ninus her hus band to be slain. But this seemeth rather a scandal cast on her by the Greeks, than that it had any truth. " Herod. 1. i. JuStin. 1. i. Diod. 1. 2, et 3.
CHAP. xii. OF THE WORLD. 407
Howsoever Ninus came to his end, Semiramis took on her after his death the sole rule of the Assyrian empire ; of which Ninus was said to be the first monarch, because he changed his seat from Babylonia in Chaldea to Nineveh in b Assyria. Justin reports, that Semiramis (the better to in vest herself, and in her beginning without murmur or offence to take on her so great a charge) presented herself to the people in the person of her son Ninias, or Zameis, who bare her external form and proportion without any sensible difference.
This report I take also to be feigned, for which many ar guments might be made. But as she ruled long, so she performed all those memorable acts which are written of her by the name of Semiramis, and subscribed that letter which she sent to the king of India (her last challenge and un dertaken conquest) by her own name. And were it true that her son Ninias had such a stature at his father's death, as that Semiramis (who was very personable) could be taken for him ; yet it is very unlikely that she could have held the empire from him forty-two years after by any such sub- tilty ; (for so long she reigned after the death of her hus band ;) but it may be true that Ninias, or Zameis, (being wholly given to his pleasures, as it is written of him,) was well pleased with his mother's prosperous government and undertakings.
SECT. III.
Of Semiramis' s parentage and education, and metamorphosis of her
mother.
SOME writers (of which Plutarch is one) make this fa mous woman to have been of base parentage, calling her after the name of her country, a Syrian. Berosus calls her after the name of her city wherein she was born, Semiramis Ascalonitis, of Ascalon, the ancient city and metropolis of the Philistines. Others report her to be the daughter of Derceta, a courtezan of Ascalon, exceeding beautiful. Others say, that this Derceta, or Dercetis, the mother of Se miramis, was sometimes a recluse, and had professed a holy and a religious life, to whom there was a temple dedicated,
. 1. 7. ex Dione.
408 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
seated on the bank of a lake adjoining to Ascalon ; and afterward falling in love with a goodly young man, she was by him made with child, which (for fear of extreme punishment) she conveyed away, and caused the same to be hidden among the high reeds which grew on the banks of the lake ; in which (while the child was left to the mercy of wild beasts) the same was fed by certain birds, which used to feed upon or near those waters. But I take this tale to be like that of Lupa, the harlot that fostered Romulus. For some one or other adjoining to this lake had the charge and fosterage of this child, who being perchance but some base and obscure creature, the mother might thereby hope the better to cover her dishonour and breach of vow ; notwith standing which, she was cast from the top of her temple into the lake adjoining, and (as the poets have feigned) changed by Venus into a fish, all but her face, which still held the same beauty and human shape. It is thought, that from this Derceta the invention of that idol of the Philistines (called Dagon) was taken ; for it is true, that Dagon had a man's face and a fish's body ; into whose temple when the ark of God was brought, the idol fell twice to the ground ; and at the second fall there remained only the trunk of Dagon, the head being broken off'; for so St. Jerome hath converted that place. Vatablus, Pagninus, and Junius write it by Dagon only, which signifieth a fish, and so it only ap peared ; the head thereof by the second fall being sundered from the body.
For myself, I rather think, that this Dagon of the Phi listines was an idol representing Triton, one of those imagi nary sea-gods under Neptune. For this city being mariti- mate, (as all those of the Philistines were, and so were the best of Phoenicia,) used all their devotions to Neptune, and the rest of the petty gods which attended him.
SECT. IV.
Of her expedition into India, and death after discomfiture ; with a note of the improbability of her vices.
BUT for her pedigree, I leave it to the Assyrian heralds ; and for her vicious life, I ascribe the report thereof to the
CHAP. xii. OF THE WORLD. 409
envious and lying Grecians. For delicacy and ease do more often accompany licentiousness in men and women, than labour and hazard do. And if the one half be true which is reported of this lady, then there never lived any prince or princess more worthy of fame than Semiramis was, both for the works she did at Babylon and elsewhere, and for the wars she made with glorious success ; all but her last enter prise of India, from whence both Strabo and Arianus re port that she never returned ; and that of all her most powerful army there survived but only twenty persons ; the rest being either drowned in the river of Indus, dead of the famine, or slain by the sword of Staurobates. But as the multitude which went out are more than reason hath num bered, so were those that returned less than could have escaped of such an army, as consisted of four millions and upwards. For these numbers, which she levied by her lieu tenant Dercetaeus, saith c Suidas, did consist of footmen three millions ; of horsemen one million ; of chariots, armed with hooks on each side, one hundred thousand ; of those which fought upon camels, as many ; of camels for burden, two hundred thousand ; of raw hides, for all uses, three hundred thousand ; of galleys with brasen heads, three thousand, by which she might transport over Indus at once three hun dred thousand soldiers ; which galleys were furnished with Syrians, Phoenicians, Cilicians, and men of Cyprus. These incredible and impossible numbers, which no one place of the earth was able to nourish, (had every man and beast but fed upon grass,) are taken from the authority of Cte- sias, whom Diodorus followeth. But as the one may be taxed with many frivolous reports, so Diodorus himself hath nothing of certainty, but from Xerxes's expedition into Greece, and afterwards; whose army, (though the same was far inferior to that of Semiramis,) yet had it weight enough to overload the belief of any reasonable man. For all authors consent, that Xerxes transported into Greece an army of 1,700,000, and gathered together (therein to pass the Hellespont) three thousand galleys, as Herodotus, out
c Suid. f. 845.1it.S. RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I. EC
410 THE HISTORY BOOK i.
of the several provinces whence those galleys were taken, hath collected the number.
But of what multitude soever the army of Semiramis consisted, the same being broken and overthrown by Stau- robates upon the banks of Indus, cantlcum cantavit ex- tremum, she sang her last song; and (as antiquity hath feigned) was changed by the gods into a dove ; (the bird of Venus ;) whence it came that the Babylonians gave a dove in their ensigns.
SECT. V.
Of the temple of Belus built by Semiramis; and of the pyramids of Egypt.
AMONG all her other memorable and more than mag nificent works, (besides the wall of the city of Babylon,) was the temple of Bel, erected in the middle of this city, en vironed with a wall carried four square, of great height and beauty, having on each square certain brazen gates curiously engraven. In the core of the square she raised a tower of a furlong high, which is half a quarter of a mile ; and upon it again (taking a basis of a less circuit) she set a second tower, and so eight in all, one above another ; upon the top whereof the Chaldeans" priests made the observation of the stars, because this tower overtopped the ordinary clouds.
By beholding the ruins of this tower have many tra vellers been deceived, who suppose that they have seen a part of Nimrod's tower, when it was but the foundation of this temple of Bel, (except this of Bel were founded on that of Nimrod.) There were burnt in this temple one hun dred thousand talents of frankincense every year, saith He rodotus. This temple did Nabuchodonosor adorn with the spoils of Jerusalem, and of the temple of Solomon ; all which vessels and ornaments Cyrus redelivered. This temple Xerxes evened with the soil, which Alexander is said to have repaired by the persuasions of the Chaldeans. I deny not that it might have been in his desire so to do, but he enjoyed but a few years after Babylon taken, and therefore could not perform any such work : the Egyp-
CHAP. xii. OF THE WORLD. 411
tians, saith d Proclus, inhabiting a low and level ground, and given to the same superstition of the stars that the Chaldeans were, erected in imitation, and for the same ser vice and use, the pyramids by Memphis, which were con- spicuce undique navigantibus, saith Pliny. Of these pyra mids e Bellonius, a careful observer of rarities, (who being in Egypt mounted by steps to the top of the highest,) maketh this report : Le meilleur archer qui serolt a sa sommite, et tirant une JtecJie en Tair^ a peine pouroit T envoy er Jiors de sa base qu'ette ne se tombast sur les degrez. " The best " archer, standing on the top of one of these pyramids, " and shooting an arrow from thence into the air as far as " he can, with great difficulty shall be able so to force " the same, but that it will fall upon some of the degrees or " steps."
β’' Prod, in Timseo, 1. i. ' Bell. 1. 2.
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