AS the lesser Asia (now called Na­tolia or Anatolia) was a part of the great, and Asia properly so called a part of that lesser; so the Lydian Asia was a parcell of that Asia which was properly so called. For the ful­ler understanding whereof, we are to call to mind, that the Romanes having possessed [Page 2] themselves of the Countreyes which had formerly belonged unto the Pergamen Kings, reduced them in­to the forme of a Province; which they called, [...]. Strabo, Geograph. lib. 13 pag 624. (edit. Graeco. latin. an 1620) by the name of the great Continent, Asia.

This is by CiceroNamque, [...]t opinor, Asia ve­stra constat ex Phrygiâ, Mysiâ, Ca [...]iâ, Lydiâ. Cicero, in orat. pro Flacco: ad ipsos Asianos ve [...]ba facien [...]. distinguished into foure members: Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia. The first whereof is by Dionysius Afer, Strabo, lib. 12 pag. 571. Strabo, Ptolem, Geo­graph. lib. 5. cap. 2. Ptolemy and others, di­vided into the greater and the lesser Phrygia. Within the greater those two Phrygia's were comprehended, which in after ages, were knowne by the names of Pa­catiana and Salutaris: the former of which (mentio­ned in the subscription, added by the Greeke Church unto the former Epistle of S. Paul unto Timothy) being the more Southerne part of the greater Phrygia, is thought to have received that appellation from Paca­tianus: who in the dayes of Constantine the great, bore the office of the Cod. Theod. lib. 10. tit 15. de advocato fi­sci. l. 2. Prefect of the Praetorium of the East, having not long before beene at the same time Ibid. l 3. tit. 5. de sponsal. l. 4. both Consul and Prefect of the City of Constantinople; and (as it may seeme) diverse yeares before that, began his preferments here in the West, with the Vid. Cod Theod. l 11. tit 7 de exact. leg. 2. ad Pacatianum Vicarium Bri­tannia [...]um. Lieuten­antship of our Brittaine.

Of the latter, there is mention made in a certaine L. Cum ap­pellatio. C. de appellationib. Constitution of Constantius the sonne of Constantine, and in the Subscriptions both of the fourth generall Councell held at Chalcedon, and of the fifth held at Con­stantinople; in which last Severus Epi­scopus Synna­densium, Metropoleos Phrygiae Salutaris. Concil. 5. Collat. 8. Severus subscribeth as Bi­shop of Synnada, the Metropolis of Phrygia Salutaris, (however Socrat. Histor. Ecclesiastic. lib. 7. cap. 3. Socrates, by some lapse of memory, and Nicephor. Callist. histor. lib. 14. cap. 11. Nicephorus blindly following him, have made this to [Page 3] be a City of Phrygia Pacatiana:) as in that of Chalce­don, [...]. Concil Chal­cedon. Act. 16. Abercius, as Bishop of Hierapolis, a Citie of the same Phrygia Salutaris. Where it may be noted; first, that besides that more knowne Hierapolis in Phrygia Pacatiana (of which we shall have occasion to speake hereafter) there was another of lesse note in Phrygia Salutaris: the one whereof in Plin. Histor. natural. l. 5. c. 29. & 30. Pli [...]yes dayes (be­fore this new distinction of the parts of the greater Phrygia was brought in) belonged to the Laodicean, the other to the Pergamen jurisdiction. Secondly, that before this Abercius, who was present at the Coun­cell of Chalcedon; there were two other Bishops of the same name, who succeeded one another in the same See, about the time of the Emperour Marcus Au­relius Antoninus, whose Episcopall seat is by [...]. & post. [...]. Meta­phrast. in Actis Abercii, Octob. 22. (M [...]. in Bi­bl. other. Colleg. Corp. Christi, Oxon.) Syme­on Metaphrastes placed in that little Phrygia, whereof Synnada was the Metropolis: whereas the other Greekes more consonantly to the truth do relate, that [...]. Menaun [...]· Graec. MS. O [...]tob. 22. Abercius was Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia Sa­lutaris.

For the greater Phrygia (whereof this Salutaris was a part) both by the forenamed Geographers, and by [...]. Dio­dor. Sic lib. 18. Diodorus Siculus and In Asiâ Phrygiam utramque, alteram ad Hellespontum, majorem alier [...]m vocant, Liv. lib. 38. Livy, is opposed to that which lay upon the Hellespont: and had in it the Ci­ties of Ilium (called by Herodot. lib. 7. Herodotus, the Pergamus of Priamus, upon the river Seamander) and of Troas; which is often mentioned in the Act 16.8, 11. et 20 [...], 6. 2 [...]or. 2 12. 2 Tim. 4.12. New Testament, and by others named T [...]oi [...], Antigonia dicta, nunc Alexand [...] a Col [...]nia Rom Pl [...]n. lib. 5. cap 30 Antigonia, Alexandria, and the [...] Strabo, lib. 13. pag. 581. Ptolem lib. 5. c [...]p. 2. Galen. de simplic medic [...]m facul [...]. lib. 9. Alexandrian Troas: from whence the whole Coun­trey [Page 4] retained the name of Troas; aswell as the other appellations of Strabo, lib. 2 pag. 129 & lib. 12. pag. 563.571. Epictetus, the Hellespontian and the lesser Phrygia: beginning northward, Vid. Strabon. li. 13. pag. 582, 583, 586. according to Homer, from the river Aesepus, or Ibid pag. 583. init: according to Damastes from the city Parium, not far from thence, and, according to both, extending it self from thence, along the water si [...]e, Southward unto the Promon­tory Lectum.

Betwixt this lesser and the greater Phrygia was My­sia interposed: the borders of each other being so confusedly intermingled together, Id. lib. 12. p [...]g. 571, 572. that it was a very difficult matter to distinguish them. And as the lesser Phrygia was called the Hellespontian, and a difference thereby put betwixt it and the greater: so this Mysia likewise, being in the countrey (although further re­moved from the Fretum or Strait) of Hellespont, had the like name of the Hellespontian Mysia given unto it; thereby to discriminate it from the [...]strian De qua Ma­cer l C. est capi cudus, in D. de offic. adsessor l. 3. & Ulp [...]anus in D. de captiv. & postlimin. & redempt. l. 9 Vid. et Strabo­nem, l. 12 p [...]g. 57l. ex Arte midoro Mysia or Moesia: the Hellespontian Mysia and Phrygia joyntly making up that intire Province, which in the division of the Empire made by Constantine (because it was setled under the government of a Noritia utri­usque Imperii. Consular Presi­dent) had the name of the L Offic. H [...]l­lesponti. C. de offic. com. sacr. patrimon. vel potiùs [...] pro­consulis & le­gati. Consular Hellespont be­stowed upon it.

Thus Galen, having occasion to prescribe the use of Mysian Wine, declareth that he meant thereby, [...]. Galen. de sanitat, tuend. lib. [...]. not that which was from the Mysia about the river I­ster, but from that which is named the Hellespontian; which (saith he) is about our Asia, and conterminous un­to Pergamus. For that the greater Mysia reached Southward unto the Pergamen Territory, and the [Page 5] plaine of Caïcus, is by [...], Herodot. lib. 6. §. 28. [...]. Id. lib. 7 §. 42. Herodotus and [...]. S [...]rabo. lib. 12. pag. 576. [...]. Id ibid. pag. 571. [...], &c. Ibid. Et adde ex Pau­sama in Atticis (pag. 4. et 10.) ips [...]m u [...]bem Pergamenam d [...]ctam fuisse olim Teuthrani­am. Strabo in like sort testifyed: as it reached from thence Northward unto the Mountaine Olympus; which from the Mysi­ans was called Mons Olympus, Moesius (al. Mysius) dictus; civitas Oly [...]pena. Plin lib. 5. cap. 32. Moesius or Mysius, and the [...]. Herodot. lib. 7. §. 74. vid. Strabon. lib. 12. pag. 571.574.576 Mysians from it again received the surname of Olympeni. that which [...] Iem. lib 5. cap 2. Ptolemy calleth the lesser Mysia (the chiefe Ci­tie whereof was Cyzicus) reaching from that moun­taine westward unto the river Aesepus, and there joy­ning with the Northern part of Epictetus or the lesser Phrygia.

Caria was parted from Lydia by the winding cur­rents Maeander: from the receiving of the river Ly­cus into it, unto the emptying of it selfe into the Myr­toan sea. For howsoever Ptolemy taketh all that lyeth betwixt this and the river Cayster from Lydia, and ad­deth it unto Caria: yet [...]. Strab. lib. 12▪ pag. 517. Strabo maketh Maeander to be the limit betwixt those Provinces; and aswell by Scylax Caryandensis in his Periplus, as by Ly­dia perfusa flexu [...] si amnti Maeandr [...] recursibus, super Ioniam proced [...]r.. Plin l. 5. cap. 29▪ Pliny, [...]. Maxim. Tyr. disse [...]t. 38. Ma­ximus Tyrius, and [...]. Stephan. de Vrbib. Stephanus Byzantinus, it is reckoned among the rivers of Lydia.

Lydia contained, beside the inland region, com­monly knowne by that name, the adjoyning coun­tries also, aswell of Ionia, lying on the Sea side be­twixt the mouthes of the river Hermus and Maeander, [Page 6] as of Aeolis, reaching up from Hermus, either unto the River Caicus as Ptolemy, or, as Strabo would have it, unto the very Promontory of Lectum, the ancient bound betwixt Troas and the Sea-coast of the greater Mysia. For that Mysia reached unto the mouth of Caïeus, is acknowledged not only by Ptolem· lib. 5. cap. 2. cujus Graecus tamen textus in mari­ [...]ima hujus orae descriptione ma­nifesto librarii errore, [...] nomen habe [...], pro [...]. Ptolemy, but also by Strabo. lib. 12. pag. 571. Strabo himselfe: and yet, because that in his time it was possessed by the Aeolians, he declareth withall, that [...]. Id. lib. 13. pag. 586. Aeolis, then properly so called, did ex­tend from Hermus unto Lectum, and that [...]. Id. i­ [...]id. pag. 605. when one tur­neth about from Lectum, the renowned Cities of the Aeoli­ans, and the Adramyttian bay, doe receive him.

So doth Pliny likewise affirme, that Promontari­am Lecton di­sterminan [...] Ae­ [...]lida & Troa­da. Plin. lib. 5: [...]ap. 30. the promontory Lectum did disterminate Aeolis and Troas: although else­where, following other Authors, he placeth Assos (the first City that occurreth after the doubling of the Cape of Lectum, and whereof there is mention made Acts 20.13, 14.) in Id. lib. 2. cap. 96. & lib. 36. cap. 17. Troas, as Ptolemy doth. But [...]. Strab. lib. 15 pag. 7 [...]5. Strabo, and [...]. Id. lib. 13. pag. 610. Hellanicus before him, maketh it a city of Aeolis: as Stephanus Byzantinus after them, where he saith, it [...]. Ste­phan. in [...]. is a City of Aeolis about the Helle­spont: from which the authority of Alexander Corne­lius (subjoyned hereunto by him) saying that Assos in Mysia was a Colony of the Mitylenaeans (in the Island of Lesbus, which lay next opposite unto this Mysia) swarveth little or nothing at all: Mysia, after it came unto the possession of the Aeolians, having gotten the name of Aeolis; as by Ex quo ab Aeolus incoli coepit, Aeolis facta. Pompon. M [...]la. [...]ib. 1. cap. 18. Mela and Aeolis proxima est, quondam Mysia appellata. Plin. lib. 5 cap. 30. Pliny is fully testi­fied. [Page 7] The not observing whereof caused Stephanus to make the Assos of Aeolis a different city from the Assos of Mysia neer unto Antandrus: for so do I read the place in him; [...]. and not, as the vulgar books have it; [...].

The principall sea-townes of this part of Mysia or Aeolis [...]. Strabo, lib. 13. p [...]g. 581. from Lectum to Caïcus, over against Lesbus, are by Strabo reckoned in this order: Assos, Adramyttium, Atarnus and Pitane. That Adramyttium (mentioned in Act. 27.2) was [...]. Ste­phan. a city of that Mysia which is by Ca­ïcus, and [...]. Id. Atarna a city betwixt Mysia and Lydia, neere unto Lesbus; and [...]. Id. Pitane a city of Aeolis, is affirmed by Stephanus. So as, reckoning Atarna it selfe (as [...]. He [...]odot. lib. 1. Hero­dotus doth) among the cities of Mysia, the rest of Aeolis downward will fall within the limits of Lydia. wherein we finde, that aswell [...]. Id. ibid. Phocaea (which is within Aeolis) as Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos and Clazome­nae, the most knowne cities of Ionia, are expresly pla­ced by Herodotus. Neither is there any reason to be given, why Cicero in his enumeration of the coun­tries of Asia, should wholly praetermit the mention of Aeolis and Ionia; but that he comprehended them un­der the names of Mysia and Lydia: in which we see Adramyttium, and all the other cities downeward un­to Ephesus, to be placed by Scylax in his Periplus.

THat heretofore Lydia was called Meonia, and the Lydians termed Meonians: we read in [...]. Hero­dot. lib 7. § 74. [...]. Id. lib. 1. §. 7. Herodo­tus, [...]. Dio­dor. l [...]b. 4. Diodorus Siculus, [...]. Dionys. in Pe [...]egesi. Dionysius Afer, [...] Strabo. lib. 13 pag. 586. Strabo, Lydia, Mae­ [...]nia antè app [...]llata. Plin. lib. 5. ca [...]. 29. Pliny, [...]. Stephan. & vice vertâ, in G [...]aecolati [...]o Cyrilli Glossario. [...], Maeonia. Stephanus Byzantinus, and others. And that [...]. S [...]r [...]bo, lib 13. pag 6 [...]7. Meonia was in the dayes of Homer named Asia, and the inhabitants thereof by Callinus (another Poet, Id lib. 14. [...]ag. 648. el­der then Archilochus) in the Ionian dialect termed for [...], for [...] or Asians; we find to have beene the opinion of Demetrius Scepsius, Id. lib. 13. pag. 609. who was equall in time unto Crates and Aristarchus the Grammarian. Whereunto we may also adde that of Euripides, in his Bacchae; ‘ [...].’ together with that which is related by [...]. Ste [...]h [...]n. de V [...]b [...]b. in [...]. Stephanus By­zantinus, [...]. S [...]d in [...], & Etymologic. in [...]. Suidas, and the great Etymologist; that upon this Tmolus there was a city of Lydia seated, which had the name of Asia: and by Strabo [...] (leg. [...]. S [...]abo, lib. 13. pag. 629. [...]. Id. lib. 14. pag. 650. [...]. Ver. Scholiast. Aristophanis, in Ach [...]rnen., that betwixt [Page 9] the two Lydian mountaines of Tmolus and Messogis lay the great Caystrian plaine, which Homer calleth the Asian field, in that verse of the second of the Iliads; ‘ [...].’ to which Virgil also hath relation in that of the first of his Georgicks;

and in the seventh of the Aeneids;

Whereunto the testimony of Eunapius may be refer­red likewise, who speaking of that admirably lear­ned Gentlewoman Sosipatra, saith that [...]. Eunap. Sardian. in vi­tâ Aed [...]sii, she was of that Asia which is about Ephesus, where the river Cayster running through the countrey, giveth his name to the plain by which it passeth.

It is further also reported by Strabo, that [...] Strabo, lib. 14. pag. 650. [...]. E [...]ath. in Iliad. [...] pag. 254. edit. Roman. in this plaine neere unto the banks of the river Cayster, the inhabitants used to shew the Chappels dedicated to the honour of Caystrius, and of one Asias; whom the Etymologist [...] Etymologic▪ magr. in [...]. noteth to have been sometime King of Lydia; and to have given the name unto this Asian field. [...]r, as [...]. Herodot. lib. 4. §. 45. the Lydians themselves would have it, to the whole land of Asia: alleadging further, that from this Asias, the sonne of Cotys, the sonne of Maneus, they had a tribe in their head-city Sardis, which they called [...], as is recorded by Herodotus.

[Page 10]Whether [...]. Steph [...]n. de Urbib. in [...]. from this Asias the continent of Asia did take his denomination, or from the forementio­ned city of Lydia, or from Asia the wife of Promethe­us, or from some other originall; Stephanus Byzanti­nus leaveth us to enquire. But beside that the first vo­well in Homers Asia is long, and in the greater Asia (which [...]. Id. ibid. Stephanus acknowledgeth him to have been ignorant of) is of a Yet it is long in [...]: whereof Ste­phanus, in [...]. for so the place is to be restored out of Dionysius: whose verse this is, in his Periegesis. as those others also of the ri­ver Tanais. [...]. So Ovid likewise lib. 5. Metamorphos. Iam super Europen sublimis & Asida terram. a [...]d lib. 9. of Miletus — et in Asideterrâ Moenta constituis. short quantitie: no man can doubt, but the derivation of the name of Asia from a Lydian city, or from a Lydian King and Heros, is farre more properly applyable to Lydia it selfe, then to the whole continent either of the greater or the lesser Asia. For that Lydia was [...]. Scholiast. Apollon. Ar­gonaut. lib. 2. formerly called Asia, is directly affirmed by the ancient Scholiast of Apollonius Rhodi­us: and that the Asia mentioned in the New Testa­ment was comprehended within the bounds of Lydia (containing in it, according to the above confirmed description, Aeolis and Ionia) will quickly appeare to those that carefully compare the Acts of the Apostles and the booke of the Revelation together.

In the 16. chapter of the Acts, the journey of S. Paul and his company is by S. Luke thus described. When they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Gala­tia, and were forbidden of the holy Ghost to preach the word in ASIA; after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to goe into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia, came downe to Troas. Where it may be observed, that the greater Phrygia, (through which they passed into Galatia) and Mysia Olym­pena (which was next adjoyning unto Bithynia) and Hellespont wherein Troas was situated, being all of [Page 11] them parcells of the Asia by the Romans properly so called; are yet expresly distinguished from Asia, in this more strict sense so denominated as Caria like­wise, wherein Miletus stood, appeareth to be by what we read in Acts 20.16, 17.

And as these are thus exempted by S. Luke; so the rest that remaine of the proper Asia, together with the seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn, a [...]e all of them comprehended within the li­mits of that Lydian Asia, whereof we have spoken. For, that Pergamus was a city of Lydia, is plainly af­firmed by [...]. Xenoph. de ex­ped. Cyri. lib. 7. Xenophon: to whom Aristotle also may be added, in his booke [...], where he speaketh of a warre sometime raised [...]. That Smyrna at first was poss [...]ss­ed by [...]. Ari­stot. lib. 3. de Poëtica: apud Pluta [...]ch. in lib. de vitâ & poësi Homeri. the Lydians, is testifyed also by Aristotle, trea­ting of the birth and education of Homer: who see­meth to have had the surname of Maeonius, either from Maeon the king, or Maeonia the countrey it selfe of Ly­dia; among the cities whereof, Smyrna (the most like­ly place of that famous Poëts nativitie) is by Scylax Caryandensis reckoned. as Ephesus likewise is, both by him and Herodot. hi­stor. lib. 1. Herodotus; Sardis, Philadelphia and Thya­tyra by Ptolemy: and [...]. St [...]phan. de Vrbib. in [...]. Laodicea by Stephanus By­zantinus.

Yet is Laodicea by Ptolemy referred unto Caria, and by others unto Phrygia. The reason of which diffe­rence we may lea [...]ne from Strabo, [...]. Strabo, lib. 13. pag. 628. who sheweth that the confines of Phrygia, Lydia and Caria were so co­incident, that they were hardly to be discern [...]d the one from the other. which is the cause, that though [Page 12] Id. lib▪ 12. pag▪ 576. & lib. 14. pag. 663. he doth reckon Laodicea among the cities of Phrygia; yet Hierapolis, which was [...]. I [...]. lib. 13. pag. [...]29. opposit to it (toward the East) is by Stephanus [...]. Ste­ph [...]n. de Vrbib. said to be seated betwixt Phry­gia and Lydia: it by that meanes being placed in, and Laodicea without the borders of Phrygia.

This also doth Strabo assigne for another reason, [...]. Strab. lib. 13. pag. 629. why the bounds of the Provinces hereabout were confounded: because that the Romans did not divide these places by the nations; but ordered them after another manner, according to the circuits wherein they kept their Courts, and exercised judicature. Five of these tribunals were seated in the cities of Plin. lib. 5. cap 29. & 30. Laodicea, Sardis, Smyrna, Ephesus, and Pergamus: Philadelphia was within the Sardian, and Thyatira within the Pergamen circuit- al­though that [...]. Ptolem. l. 5. c. 2 Thyatira was a Metropolis also of it selfe, as Ptolemy declareth in his Geography; and in all like­lyhood Philadelphia also, the only city remaining of those seven famous ones singled out, as the seats of the most eminent Churches of all Asia, in the book of the Revelation.

For that Philadelphia was herein no whit inferiour unto Thyatira; may easily be gathered by the respect which it still retained, after that Lydia (as we shall heare) was separated from the Proconsular Asia, and each Province ordinarily permitted to have but one Metropolis. For Sardis being then the prime city of Ly­dia, the next in account after it was Philadelphia, ano­ther also being placed betwixt it and Thyatira: as ap­peareth by the order of them constantly observed as­well in the Hieroclis. Notit. Orien­talis Imperii; in Appendice Geographiae sacrae Caroli à Sancto Paulo ed [...]t. Paris. an. 1641. pag. 29. Civill as in the Ordo M [...]tropolitar. ibid. pag. 13, & 45. & in to [...]o 1. Juri [...] Graeco· Roman [...]. pag. 90. Ecclesiasticall Catalogues [Page 13] of the cities belonging to that Province. Whereupon in the Acts of the Constantinopolitan Councell held under Mena [...], we see that Eustathius subscribeth him­selfe, in expresse termes, [...]. Concil. Constantinop. sub Menâ, Act. 5. Bishop of the METROPOLIS of the Philadelphians, of the Province of the Lydians.

I Come now from the Lydian Asia, and the seven Me­tropoliticall cities thereof, unto the Proconsular: which, according to the condition of [...]. Strabo, lib. 17· pag. 840. other Provin­ces, had in severall times it's severall alterations. For in the distribution of the Empire made by Augustus Caesar, it appeareth to have been the same with that former Asia of the Romans, which we described in the beginning out of Cicero; but in that which was af­terwards brought in by Constantine, to have been confined within the bounds of the Lydian Asia. the greatnesse of the one above the other being sufficient­ly intimated in those verses of Statius, touching the yeare of the Proconsulship of Vectius Bolanus; who, before that, had been Proconsul here in Brittaine:

That same yeare, Dio, lib. 53. wherein Caesar obtained first the surname of Augustus, himselfe being then the seventh, and Marcus Agrippa (who married his sisters daugh­ter) the third time Consul; was this politicall divi­sion [Page 14] of the Provinces ordered by him: farr diffe [...]ing from that Geographicall partition of countries deli­vered by his nephew Agrippa. whom Solin. Poly­hist. cap. [...]3. Solinus fol­lowing in his Geography, beginneth Asia from Tel­messus of Lycia and the Carpathian bay: and bound­eth it on the East with Lycia (or Lycaonia, as Plin. lib. 5. cap. 27. Pliny hath it) and Phrygia; on the West with the Aegean, on the South with the Aegyptian sea, and on the North with Paphlagonia. which being made the limit of A­grippa's Asia on that side (and not Pontus or Propontis) doth necessarily shew that Pontus and Bit [...]ynia we [...]e included therein. whereas it plainly appeareth by Strabo and Dio, that in Augustus his platforme these were a province by themselves. Strabo, lib. 17. pag. 8 [...]0. they being made by him a Praetorian province, and Asia a Consular; con­taining in it (as Strabo witnesseth) all that Asia which was on this side the river Halys and the mountaine Taurus, excepting Galatia, the countryes that had been lately under the government of King Amyntas, toge­ther with the province of Bithynia and that of Pontus and Propontis adjoyned thereunto. All which being deducted; those countries will remaine, which by Onuphr. Pa­num. Com­mentar. Rei­publ. Roman. lib. 3. pag. 378. (edit. Francof [...]rt. an. 1597.) Onuphrius are assigned unto Augustus his Proconsu­lar Asia: to wit, Lydia, Ionia, Caria, Mysia, Phrygia, and the Proconsular Hellespont. In provincià Asià duae sunt juris I [...]alic [...], Tria [...] & Parium. l. In L [...]si [...]an. D. de Cen­sib. the two Roman colo­nyes whereof, Troas and Parium, are by Paulus the Lawyer particularly noted to have beene seated in the province Asia.

And this is it indeed, which Ptolemy proposeth un­to us, as that which was accounted [...]. Ptolem. lib. 5. cap. 2. the Asia properly so called in the dayes of Antoninus Pius; who himselfe, as Jul. Capito­lin. in Antonino Pio. Proconsul, had sometime Provinciae A­sia praerat. Marcianus [...] C. in L, D [...] vus Ha­drian. D. de cu­stod. & exhi­bit, reor. governed this province. Where, in the Breviat of the first Table of Asia, it is [Page 15] not to be passed by, that mention is made of [...]. ad sin. li­bri 8. Geo­graph Ptolem. A­sia properly so called, wherein was Phrygia. For howso­ever that were no part, either of Agrippa's Asia (from whence by Asiam excipit Ph [...]ygia. Solin▪ Polyhist. cap. 43. Solinus it is excluded) or yet of the Ly­dian Asia (from which in Act. 2.9, 10. & 16.6. the Acts of the Apostles, as also in [...]. E [...]seb. lib. 5. hist. [...]. the Letters of the Church of Vienna and Lions, and Pacem Eccle­si [...] Asiae & Phrygiae infe­rentem. Tertul­lian. Tertullians booke against Praxeas, it is clearly distinguished:) yet Hierapolis, the chiefe city thereof, by Polycrat. in e­pistolià Synodi­câ, apud Euseb: l [...]b. 5. hist. [...]. Polycrates, and Ulpian. in D. de Aquâ quoti­dian. & aest [...]v. l. 1. §. 13. Vlpian, and Iulius Afri­canus (as farre as we have him in [...]. Euseb. Chron ad an. 10. Ne­ronis. Eusebius his Chro­nicle) is placed in Asia; as being contained within the limits assigned by Strabo to the Proconsular Asia, as it stood in the time of Augustus and the heathen Emperours after him.

But in the dayes of Constantine, and the Christian Emperours that succeeded him, the circuit thereof was much abbridged, and a distinction brought in be­twixt the Proconsular Asia and the Asian Diocese; the one being put under the command of the Proconsul of Asia, the other under the government of the Vicari­us of Asia or the Asian Diocese: for so in the Imperiall Constitutions is he indifferently nominated. Thus in the CCCLXV. yeare of our Lord, two Rescripts were given out by the Emperour Valens: the one Cod. Theo­dos. lib. 5 tit. 11. Ne c [...]lon. insciodom. da­ted the 27^th. of January (in the latter end of the first yeare of his raigne) to Clearchus the Vicarius Asiae; the other, Ibid. lib. 12. tit. 1. de Decu­ [...]ionib. leg. 69. the 6^th of October following, unto his successor Auxonius, under the style of Vicarius dioece­seos Asianae. This Auxonius G [...]id. Pancirol. Commentar. in Notit. Orient. I [...] per. cap. 122. Vid. & Jo [...]. Scaliger. Ausonian. lection. lib. 2, cap. 17. some doe imagine to be the same with Ausonius the Poët: without all ground of authority or reason, removing him out of the We­stern [Page 16] into the Eastern empire. But of his predecessor we are sure, that he is the same Clearchus, whom Eu­napius mentioneth to have been in his time preferred unto this government; before he was by Valens pro­moted afterwards unto the Proconsulship of the other Asia.

Concerning this first preferment of his he de­clareth, that he was made [...]. Eunap. in vitâ Maxim [...]. governour of all that Asia, the jurisdiction whereof did extend from Hellespont, through Lydia and Pisidia, unto Pamphylia. which is as much to say (if my second thoughts doe not here deceive me) as that it contained in it the Consular Hellespont and Phrygia Salutaris adjoyning thereunto; together with Phrygia Pacatiana, descending from thence downe­ward, by Lydia on the west-side and Pisidia on the east, unto Pamphylia. For howsoever in the alterati­ons that followed this (as we shall heare anone) the greater part of the in-land Lydia was brought under this Vicarian regiment (as, not Pisidia and Pamphylia only, but Lycaonia, Lycia and Caria also were:) yet that in Clearchus his time this part of Lydia was parcell of the Proconsular Asia, is sufficiently intimated by Euna­pius, extending it unto Tmolus [...]. Strabo. lib. 13 pag. 629 a mountaine placed in the Eastern border of Lydia.

For touching the advancement of Clearchus unto the Proconsular government he writeth thus. [...]. Eunap. in vitá Maxim. Things prosperously succeeding, Valens was wonderfully well pleased with Clearchus, and was so farre from depriving him of his former charge, that he advanced him unto a greater [Page 17] government; appointing him to be Proconsul of Asia now properly so called. This from Pergamus downewards taking the sea-coast into it, toward the adjacent continent reacheth unto Caria; the mountaine Tmolus circumscribing that of it which belongeth unto Lydia. Of the governments it is the most honourable; and is not subject to the Praefectus Prae­torio. saving that now, by reason of these late commotions, [...]. [...]. Euripid. in Bacchis. all things are againe confounded and disturbed.

Where touching the limits of this Asia NOW pro­perly so called, it may be noted; that as Galen (in the place before alledged) maketh the Hellespontian Mysia (which in the old dist [...]ibution of the Empire was with­in the precinct of the jurisdiction of the then Proconsu­lar Asia) to be conterminous unto Pergamus, where he himselfe was borne: so Eunapius from the same Per­gamus beginneth the bounds of the now Proconsular Asia; extending the length thereof from thence downeward unto Caria, and the breadth from the Sea unto the mountaine Tmolus, which is by Euripides, in his Bacchae, called [...] the fortresse of Lydia; and on the side whereof Sardis (a chiefe city of that pro­vince, and Eunapius his owne countrey) is not only by him, but also by Herodot. lib. 1. §. 84. & lib. 5. §. 101. Herodotus, [...]. Stra­bo. l. 13. pag. 625. Strabo, and Lydia celebra­tur maximè Sardibus, in la­tere Tmol [...] montis, qui an­tè Timolus ap­pellabatur. Plin, lib. 5. c. 29. Pliny (how soever Ptolemyes Tables doe misplace it) suffi­ciently proved to have beene situated. that ridge of the mountaine, on which Sardis was seated, bounding that part of Lydia toward the East (as we have said) and the other tract thereof reaching from thence un­to Hypaepa, a city of lesse name within the same coun­try: as Ovid declareth in those verses;

[Page 18] By which description it appeareth, that this Procon­sular Asia was little or nothing different from the Lydian Asia; called Lydia, not only by Herodotus and Scylax, but also (if I mistake not) by L. Cùm ap­pellatio. C. de appellatio nib. Constantius the Emperour himselfe.

To Valens, the elder Theodosius succeeded in the Ea­stern Empire: who took away L. Offic. Hel­lesponts. C. de offic. comi [...]. sacr [...] p [...]trimon. vel potius, pro­consulis et lega­ti. the Consular Hellespont from the jurisdiction of the Vicarius of the Asian Dio­cese, and put it under the command of the Proconsul of Asia. Which state of the then Proconsular or proper A­sia that Greek Geographer might seeme to have respe­cted; who beginneth his enumeration of the XLVIII. Provinces of the continent of Asia, with

• Pontus and Bithynia.
• Asia properly so called.
• Great Phrygia.
• Lycia and Caria.
• Galatia, &c.

as we have it presented unto us by that most curious searcher of all such kind of rarities, Salmas. Pli­nian. exerci­tat. in Solin. pag. 803. Claudius Salma­sius. Wherein it is observable, that Hellespont, Aeolis, Ionia and Lydia are included in, aswell as the greater Phrygia and Caria are excluded from the Asia then pro­perly so called. Whence that new addition of Hellespont being put aside; the remaine will prove to be the same with that which a little before was styled by Eunapius, the Asia now properly so called.

In the dayes of Arcadius (the son and successor of the foresaid Theodosius) this addition of Hellespont to the jurisdiction, was much abated by the detraction of the maine inland part of Lydia from the body of the Proconsular Asia. Which is the cause why Pallad. in vi­tâ Chrysosto­mi: & ex eo Georgius A­l [...]xandrinus, tomo 8. edít. Savilian oper. Ch [...]ysost. pag. 202. [...]. Palladius, speaking of the Asian Synod of seventy Bishops held [Page 19] by Chrysostom in the CCCCII. yeare of our Lord, doth separate the Bishops of Lydia from the Bishops of Asia. for as for the subscriptions of the first Coun­cell of Nice, both those which are found in some Latin books, and those Greek ones that have beene lately published In Com­mentario Jo. Seldeni ad Eu­ [...]ychu Origi­n [...]s ubi rectis­sin è monuir, Subscriptiones has Graecas re­centiores multò esse commatis quàm Co [...]stan­tini temporae admittunt. (pag. 128.) out of Sambucus his copy: they being quite dissonant the one from the other, and having in both of them diverse manifest tokens of forgery and corruption, doe deserve here no regard at all.

Yet in this distraction of Lydia from the Proconsular Asia, it appeareth aswell by Hie [...]oclis No [...]itia Orien­tal▪ Imperiis in Append. G [...]o­g [...]aph sacr. pag. 27. the Civill and Photius, de ordine Metro­polita [...]. ibid. pag. 43. et in tomo. 1. juris Graeco Roma­ni, pag. 90. Ecclesi­asticall lists of the Provinces of the Easterne empire, recorded by the Grecians, as by the Subscript. Concil. Chal­ced, Act. 6. Concil. Con­stantinop. VI. Act. 18. &c. subscriptions of the Councell of Chalcedon and other of the Eastern Synods; that the Southerne part of Lydia, lying be­twixt the rivers of Maeander and Cayster, which we noted to have beene attributed by Ptolemy unto Caria (and wherein were the cities of Priene, Magnesia, Trallis and Nysa) was still reserved unto Asia: toge­ther with all that lay upon the sea-coast from Ephesus upward, not only unto Pitane and the mouth of Caicus (which we shewed to have beene a parcell of the Ly­dian Asia) but also unto Assos and the promontory of Lectum; which was possessed first by the Mysians, then by the Lydians, and lastly by the Aeolians. for that this also, at least wise from Antandrus downward, was sometimes accounted as an appendant unto Ly­dia, may be gathered, partly from the words of [...] S [...]ylax in Per [...]plo. Scy­lax Caryandensis (though here corrupted) partly from the testimony of Xenophon; who telleth us that he and his company, [...]. X [...]noph. de exped. Cyri, lib. 7. departing from Antandrus, passed by the sea side of Lydia, unto the playne of Thebe, and through it unto Adramyttium. compared with Strabo, [Page 20] relating to the same purpose, that the former Strabo, lib. 13. pag. 586. [...]. Id. ibid. pag. 613. inhabi­tants of the playne of Thebe were the Lydians, then called Meones: and that ^t in his time the name of the Lydian gates was still preserved in Adramyttium, as a memoriall of the building of that city by the Lydians. Although yet, by the authority of Galen and Eunapi­us, we begin our Lydian Asia from the river Caïcus and Pergamus: those other places of Atarna, Thebe, Adramyttium and Antandrus, being by Herodo [...]. lib. 7. de Xerxi [...] exercitu. [...]. Simplic. in Aristot. Phys [...]c. lib. 5. Herodotus also referred to Mysia, and not to Lydia.

To conclude therefore the various alterations of the limits of the Proconsular Asia: as we have referred Ptolemies Asia properly so called to the Procon­sular Asia, as it was ordered by Augustus; and Euna­pius his Asia now properly so called, to that which was by Constantine; and the namelesse Geographers pro­per Asia, to that which was by the elder Theodosius: by the like reason also, what Simplicius writeth in the dayes of Justinian touching ^x his Asia now so called, and Symeon Metaphrastes long after him (though con­cerning elder times, wherein these provinces stood in a far different posture from that which he presenteth unto us) [...]. Meta­phrast. in Actis Aberc [...], Octob. 22. of the confluence of the inhabitants of Asia unto Abercius; we may well suppose to have relati­on unto this last settlement, which was made in the dayes of Arcadius and the younger Theodosius.

A Diocese, in the language of the times whereof we speake, was [...], Bal­samon, in Con­cil. Chalcedon. can. 9. a circuit comprehending within it many provinces: and the Asian Diocese in that sense, sometimes taken more strictly, as it was distinguished from the Proconsular Asia and the provinces subject to the jurisdiction of the Proconsul thereof; and some­times more largely, as containing those Proconsular provinces also under it. The former acception hath place in that Constitution of Theodosius the elder, whe [...]e Cod. Theo­dos. lib. 16. tit. 1. de fide Ca­thol l. 3. Nec non etiam in Asià Proconsu­la [...]s atque Asia­nâ diocesi, Am­philochio &c. Ita enim ex MS. Malmes­buriensi (quem mihi commu­nicavit V. C. (Jo Seldenus) locus resti [...]uen­dus est. the Proconsular Asia and the Asian Diocese are both nominated together: and generally where ever the office of the Vicarius or Imp. Const [...]ntin. ad Tertullianum P. V. Comitem dioeceseos Asianae. I­bid. lib. 2. tit. 26. finium regundor. l. 1. Impp. Arcad. et Honorius A A. Nebridio Co­mit [...] Asia. Cod. Justinian. lib. 11. In quib. caus. colon [...]. censiti. l. 2. Comes (for these two ti­tles are used Imp. Constantinu [...] ad Tiberianum Vica [...]ium Hispaniarum. in l. Si à sponso. C de donationib. ante nupt. et ad Tiberianum Comitem Hispaniarum. in l. Cùm servum. C de serv. fugitiv. to signifie the same dignitie) of Asia or the Asian Diocese (or Vicarius Asiana regionis. Julian. Epitom. Novel. 8. sive Constitut. 15. §. 56▪ ( [...]dit. Lugdun. an. 1567.) quam idem ibid. paulo pòst Asianam dioecesim appellat. Simili [...]er & in Constitut. 24. §. 98. Asianam regionem vocat; quae in Authentic. C [...]llat. 4. tit. 2. (de appellationib. §. Similique modo) no­mine Asiana diocoeseos designatur. Region, as Julianus Antecessor rendreth it) is made mention of. The latter, when the Asian is rehearsed joinctly with other Dioceses of the Eastern Empire: as in L. Si quis post hanc. C. Ut nemo ad suum patrocin. and L. Provinciae Thraciar· C. de mili­tari veste.

[Page 22]According to which acception, whole [...]. Theodore [...]. hi­stor. Ecclesi [...] ­stic. lib. 5. cap. 28. Asia, as The­odoret calleth it, in the dayes of the younger Theodosi­us did consist of eleven Provinces. Subdisp [...]sitione vt [...] Spectabilis P [...]oconsu­lit [...]sia, Pro­vincia infra scripta: Asia, Insula, H [...]lle­spontus. Notitia Provinciar. & dignitat. utri­usque Impetu. three whereof ap­pertained to the disposition of the Proconsul of Asia: the proper Proconsular which he governed by him­selfe, the Consular Hellespont, and that of the Rhodes, and the other scattered Islands called Cyclades; which were first Sub Vespasia­no principe In­sularum pro­vine a facta est. Sext. R [...] ­fus, in Brevi­ario. made a Province, and placed under a L. Iamdu­dum. C. Vbi [...]ausa. President, by the Emperour Vespasian Sub despositi­one viri Specta­bili [...] V [...]arit Dioeceseos Asia­na, Provincia inf [...]ascr [...]pta. Pamphyli [...], &c Notit. Pro­vinciar· eight were under the Vi­carius or Lieutenant of Asia: Lydia, Caria, Phrygia Pacatiana and Phrygia Salutaris, with those foure other which were superadded to that proper Asia of the an­cient Romans, whereof we made mention in the beginning out of Strabo and Cicero; namely Pamphylia, Lycia, Lycaonia and Pisidia.

This distribution is to be seen in the Latin list of the Provinces and Dignities of both the Empires; cal­led by Alciat: Pa­ [...]erg. lib. 5 c. 13. Alciat the Breviary of Theodosius the younger. [...]. Jo. Malel. Ant [...]ochen. Chronic. M.S. lib, 14. by whom Lycia was divided from Lycaonia and made a Province by it selfe; Myra being appointed the Metropolis and place of the residence of the Pre­sident thereof: as Iohannes Malela setteth downe in his Chronicle. Which report of his if we admit for au­thentique; we must withall say, that Theodoret, in the place even now alledged, had relation to the state of his owne time, when speaking of the care which Chry­sostom had of Asia, he saith that it was governed by ele­ven Presidents. joyning the three Provinces which were under the Proconsul of Asia, with the other eight [Page 23] that were under the Vicarius of the Asian diocese; which otherwise, if Lycia and Lycaonia had been conjoyned, would have been but seven Provinces.

Indeed, Asianae X. Pamphylia, Hellespontus, Lydia, &c. Notit, utrius (que) Imperii. in the generall enumeration of the Pro­vinces of the Easterne Empire, which we meet with­all toward the beginning of the foresaid Theodosian Breviary, there are but ten Provinces numbred of the whole Asian diocese: the first and principall of them all, to wit Asia it selfe, by some errour (wherewith Onuphr. Commentar. Reipub. Ro [...]ā. lib. 3. pag. 424. Onuphrius also and Cont. [...]. in Iustinian. Nov­ell. 8. cap. 2. Contius was misledd) being o­mitted. Which was nothing amended by Isidorus Mercator, but increased rather; when he reckoneth up In Asia XII, prima ipsa Asia. Vid. Salmasii Eucharistic. de Eccles. subur­bicar. pag. 347. twelve Provinces in this Asia: the first and chiefe whereof he maketh to be Asia it selfe; Asiae Provin­cia XII. Asia ipsa, in qua est Ilium, id est, Troia, Lydia, Galatia, Ly [...]ia, Caria. helle­spontu [...]. &c. Provinciar. Ro­manar. libell. ab Ant. Scon­hovio & Andr. Schotto edit. ex Isidori Collect. Epistolar. De­cretal, MS. in which (saith he) is Ilium, or Troy; the second Lydia, the third Gala­tia. Whereas Ilium was situated not in this, but in rhe province of Hellespont: and Galatia appertained to the Pontican, and not to the Asian Diocese. Whence, by the way, we may correct an errour that hath crept in­to the Greek edition of the subscriptions of the 6. A­ction of the Councell of Chalcedon: wherein, though Theosebius Bishop of Ilium had put to his name, yet Stephen the Metropolitan of the Ephesians, among those absent Bishops that were under his jurisdiction, doth nominate Rufinus Bishop, not Timi (as the Latin books have it) but Ilii.

Guid. Panci­rol. Commen­tar. in Noti [...], O­ [...]ient, Imper▪ cap. 210. Some do think, that the Emperour Iustinian did take away Hellespont from the government of the Pro­consul of Asia, and joyned it with Pontus Polemoniacus. But that errour arose from the old Latin translation of the XX^th. Novell of Justinian; Au [...]hentic. Collat. 3. tit. 7. de administra. offic. in sacr. ap­pellat [...]on. Hellespontus being therein put for Helenopontus, in the Pontican diocese: as appeareth not only by the Greek text and Julian. Con­stit. 25. §, 102. Iulians [Page 24] Latin Epitome thereof, but also by the Latin it selfe (acknowledging afterwards, that this mutation was made in Galatia and the Pontican, not the Asian dio­cese) and by the XXVIIIth. Novell most evidently. Though sure it is, that Iustinian. Novel. 8. cap. 2. Nov. 20, c [...]p. 6. Nov. 24. cap. 5. & Nov. 27. in­it. he took from the Lievtenant or Vicarius the government of the Asian diocese, and confined him within the limits of Phrygia Pacatiana, whereof he constituted him Count or Comes.

By that which in the second chapter hath been de­livered, it appeareth, that under the first Emperours there were many metropoliticall cities within one Province; and some chosen out of them wherein Courts of justice were erected, unto which the next adjoyning circuits might upon all occasions have re­course. Whereupon those contentions afterwards did arise betwixt the cities of the Proconsular Asia, touching each ones dignitie and precedency: for the composing whereof Aristides made that Oration of concord unto them, which is still extant. Wherein yet the common desire of all the Asians accorded in this; Impe [...]ator no­ster Antoni [...]u [...] Augustus ad de­sideria Asiano­rum resc [...]i [...]sit; Proconsuli [...]e­cessitatem impo­sitam, per mare Asiam appli [...]a [...]e [...]. primam attin­gere Ulpian in that the Proconsul, at his first comming into the pro­vince, should passe into Asia by sea, and among the other Metropoles first arrive at Ephesus: as by the Rescript of the Emperour Antoninus (vouched by Ulpian, in his first book of the Proconsuls office) most manifest­ly appeareth.

But in the disposition of the Empire made by Con­stantine it was ordered, that in every Province there should be but one chiefe city held for the Metropolis: and that unto it,Observa [...]e. D. de offic. Procons. all the Provincials should resort for the administration of publike justice. Whereupon E­phesus, being by the former Imperiall Constitution, grounded upon the joincte consent of the Asians [Page 25] themselves, [...]. Eus [...]b. lib. 4 hist. [...]. preferred before all the rest (as being the ordinary place of the convention of the Common Coun­cell, and it self held to be [...]. Aristid. or [...]t de concor­d [...]â, [...]d civitat [...] Asi [...]t [...]c [...]s. the common treasury of Asia) was appointed to be the sole Metropolis of this new Pro­consular Asia; and withall retained the preeminence which formerly it had above all the cities of the old. Whereof, we may see the testimonies, aswell of [...]. Ch [...]ysost. in ar­gument. epist. ad Eph [...]s. Chry­sostom and others of the ancient who wrote upon the Epistle of S Paul to the Ephesians; as of the Emperour [...]. Th [...]odos. [...]un. epist. a [...] Dios­cor. in [...]er Acta Co [...]cil. E [...]h [...]sin. [...]. (inser [...]a Actioni 1. Con­cil. Chalcedon.) Theodosius, in the letters wherby he summoneth Dio­scorus and other Bishops to appeare at the second Councell at Ephesus, assembled by him in the yeare of our Lord CCCCXLIX.

Whence he that wrote the book of the places men­tioned in the Acts of the Apostles (falsly fathered upon S. Hierom) saying that [...]p [...]cialiter ubi E [...]hesu [...] civitas est, Asia voca­tur. Lib. de lo­cis Act. Apo­stol. inter H [...]e­ronymi & Be­dae o [...]era. where the city of Ephesus is, there is the Asia specially so called; may seem to have meant no other thing thereby, but that the province which had Ephesus for it's Metropolis, was that which had the name of Asia in a singular manner appropri­ated unto it. if therein he looked any further then to the ba [...]e words of the text; wherein it is said, that Paul Act. 19.10. continuing at Ephesus by the space of two years, all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord. and that afterward Act. 20 16, 18. he determined to sayle by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: and thereup­on sending for the Elde [...]s of the Church of Ephesus, he said unto them; Ye know from the fi [...]st day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have beene with you at all seasons. Out of all which it was no hard matter for him to gather at large, as Erasm A [...] ­no [...]. in A [...]t. 16. & Rom. 16▪ Erasmus did after him; that Asia in the new Testament denoteth that part of Asia minor, in which Ephesus standeth.

[Page 26]It is here also further to be noted, that as in the state of the civill government, the jurisdiction of the annu­all Presidents (by Aristides styled [...]. Arist [...]d. in orat. citat. quum anteà dixister. [...]. qu [...] [...]st ille sortitus annus; de quo St [...]ti [...], suprà p [...]g. 13. Bishops) was exten­ded unto all the cities that were contained within the limits of their severall provinces; and when but one Metropolis was appointed unto every province, wherein the Governour was to keep his ordinary resi­dence, the Provinciall Presidents had from thence the appellation of [...] (or M [...]tropolitan Judges, as, at the end of the first Novell of Justinian, the [...], are vvith him Iudices p [...]ovin­ciarum, in N [...] ­vell 69. old Latin Interpreter rendr [...]th it:) so, in the Eastern empire especially, the Ecclesiasticall r [...]giment was herein conformed unto the civill; there being but one Metropolitan Bishop setled in every Province, unto whom the Bishops of all the rest of the cities were sub­ordinated. By which meanes it came to passe. that of the seven Churches in Asia, spoken of in the book of the Revelation, Ephesus alone in the dayes of Constantine had the Metropoliticall dignitie left unto it. Then af­ter the dayes of Valens the Emperour, the inland Ly­dia being separated from Asia, the Bishop of Sardis (which had been the [...]. S [...]rabo, lib. 13. pag. 625. ancient seat of the Lydian Kings) became the Metropolitan of that province: the sees of Philadelphia and In the Latine edition of the subscriptio [...]s ad­joyned unto the 9. Action of the Councell of Chalcedon, Thyatira is made subj [...]ct to Synnada. but the Greeke readeth the [...]e, not [...], but [...] rather; a se [...] well known to be suf­fragan to Synnada, the Metropolis of Phrygia Salutatis. Thyatira being made subject to him; as Smyrna and Pergamus were to the Bishop of Ephesus.

There remained then of the seven, only Laodicea: which got the honour of being the Metropolis of Phry­gia Pacatiana; as we read in the Greek subscription of [Page 27] the first epistle unto Timothy: the although it be elde [...] then those middle times, wherein Phry­gia Pacatiana, by a meta [...]hesis of the first sylla­bl [...]s, was called Capatiana: as may be seen in Hie [...]ocles his Civilla à [...] his Ecclesi­astica [...]l list of the provinces. in Appendic. Geographiae sacrae. p [...]g. 27.39, 41.49.53. latenesse whereof is thence rightly collected by the learned Vnde satis li­quere potest, de sub [...]criptione primae epistolae ad Timotheum, recentio [...]em e­am esse. Cujac. in exposit. No­ve [...]l 145. Cujaicus. For as the distinction of Ph [...]ygia Pacatiana and Salutaris is no where to be found before the distribution of the provinces made by Constantine: so at that time also, when but one Metropolis was allotted unto every Pro­vince, it is a question, whether of those two Lao [...]icea and Hierapolisa [...] they w [...]re neer one onether (and so con­joyned by [...]he Apostle, in Coloss 413.) so have th [...]y the first place also assigned unto them a­mong the cities of Ph [...]ygia Pacatiana, by Hie [...]ocles in the civill list of th [...] Provinces: Append. Geogr. sacr. pag. 21. prime cities that were so nea [...]e together, Hierapolis, which without all controversie was acknowledged to belong unto Phrygia, was not rather chosen to be the mother city therein, then Laodicea, which by reason of the doubtfull situation thereof (as we have heard) was in­differently challenged to appertaine unto Phrygia, Ca­ria and Lydia.

In the dayes of the succeeding Emperours indeed, [...]. Concil. Chalcedon. Can. 12. who yielded so farr to the ambition of some Bishops, that they were content there should be two Metropo­litans in one Province, both these cities were accoun­ted for the Metropoles of Phrygia Pacatiana which is the cause, why in the fourth generall Councell, assembled at Chalcedon, aswell Subscript. Concil. Ch [...]lced. Act. 6. & 16. Nunechius Bishop of the Metropo­lis of Laodicea, as Stephen Bishop of the Metropolis of Hie­rapolis, do subscribe for themselvs and the absent Bishops which were under them. as also in the fifth general Coun­cell held at Constantinople, there is mention made at the same time of Concil. V. Collat. 8. Iohn Bishop of the Metropolis of the Laodiceans, and Auxanon Bishop of the Metropolis of the Hi­erapolitans: & in the sixth, of Tiberius Bishop of the La­odiceans and Sisinnius of the Hierapolitans, either of them [Page 28] giving unto his seat the title [...]. Concil. VI. Constantinop. Act, 18. of the Metropolis of the Pacatian Phrygians.

And although by a Canon of the said Councell of Chalcedon it was provided, that any Bishop which after­ward [...]. [...]oncil. Chalced. c [...]n. 12. would attempt to make such divisions to the derogation of the rights of his owne Metropo­litan, should be deprived of his dignitie; and that [...] &c. [...], Ibid. the new Metropoles formerly constituted by the Imperiall Charters should so content themselves with this honour, that the proper rights should still be pre­served unto that which was the Metropolis indeed: yet we see for all this, that Notit. Graec. in appendic. Geograph. s [...]cr. pag. 16. & 18. it [...]m 48. & 52. Jur. Graeco. Roman. tom. 1. pag. 94. & 98. in the lists of the Bishopricks of the East made in the succeeding times, there are still distinct suffragans reckoned under these two Metro­politans of Laodicea and Hierapolis; and that diverse o­ther private Bishops were not hereby restrained from aspiring unto a Metropoliticall dignitie. among whom (to speak onely of those who were within the com­passe of the Lydian Asia) was the Bishop of Smyrna; who found the meanes to be made first [...] or independent, and then Jur. G [...]aeco· Roman. tom. 1. pag. 88. & 245. a Metropolitan with Ibid· pag. 100. seven suffragans depending upon him. Georg. Co. din. Curep [...]lat. de Offic. Constantinop. pag. 221, &. 237. edit. Fr. Junii. the Bishop of Per­gamus; who was exempted likewise from his subordi­nation to Ephesus, and made a Metropolitan by himself. and the Bishop of Philadelphia: Notit. Graec. in Append. Geograph. sacr. p [...]g. 8. & 40 Ibid. pag. 219. & 231. Vid. S [...]lmas [...]i Eucharistic. de Eccles. suburbicar. pag. 383. who by Andronicus Palaeologus the elder was substituted into the place of the Bishop of Sardis, and made Metropolitan of all Ly­dia. So as of the Bishops of the seven Churches men­tioned in the book of the Reuelation, he of Thyatira only excepted, all at the last became Metropolitans, as they were at the first.

[Page 29]But among all these, the See of Ephesus had ever­more the preeminence. And as it was the mother city of the Proconsular Asia: so was that Asia likewise the prime Province of all the Asian Diocese; and had in such e­steem, that the Proconsul thereof was exempted from the jurisdiction of the Praefectus Praetorio Orientis, (as before we have heard out of Eunapius) unto which the Vicarius or Lieutenant of the Asian Diocese was sub­ject. Conformably whereunto in the Ecclesiasticall government, the Bishop of Ephesus was not only held to be the Metropolitan of the Proconsular Asia, but also the Primate of all the provinces that were contained within the compasse of the whole Asian Diocese. Vp­on which ground it was, that among those Bishops which Palladius (in the life of Chrysostom) mentioneth to have beene ordained by Antoninus Bishop of Ephe­sus; [...]. Sozomen. hist. lib. 8. cap. 6. some were of Lycia and Phrygia, as well as others of Asia: the ordination of these latter being challen­ged by vertue of his Metropoliticall, of the others by his Patriarchicall jurisdiction.

In the Arabick Acts of the Councell of Nice (which that worthy Knight S^r. Thomas Roe, among other rare monuments, brought with him from the East and bestowed upon the famous library of the University of Oxford) it is affirmed that Ca. 35. &. 32. quorum indici­um debeo D. Edovardo Po­colcio linguae Arabicae in Aca­demiâ Oxoni­ensi professori doctissimo. the Patriarchship of Ephe­sus was translated unto the Bishop of Constantinople, and that he was then made the second in order, and the Patriarch of Alexandria the third. and a Constitution is therein recited, that the Patriarchall see should be translated from Ephesus to the Imperiall city; that so honour might be done both to the Empire and Priesthood together: and, to the end the other Bishop might be honoured (and not lightly set by, because of the transferring of the Patriarchall chaire [Page 30] from him) that he should enjoy the eminent title of Catholi­cus. for proofe whereof, the testimony of one Diony­sius is there alledged.

But neither the authority of this obscure Dionysius, nor of the latter Arabians following him, is of suffici­ent weight to gaine credit to this relation: especially seeing it is well known, that the title of Catholicus, ta­ken in this sense, Cathol [...]ci no­men infirmâ im­perti atate natum. Salmas. Eucharistic. de Eccles. suburbi­car: cap. 3. pag. 511. is of a very late originall, and (for ought we can find) at no time attributed unto the Bi­shop of Ephesus; and that the Bishop of Constantinople had the second place among the Patriarchs first assigned unto him, not in the Councell of Nice, but Concil▪ Con­stantinopol. I. [...]a [...]. 3. in the second generall Councell held at Constantinople in the yeare CCCLXXXI. After which advancement, the first Bishop of that see we read of, that extended his jurisdiction beyond the sea unto Theodoret. lib. 5. histor. cap. 28. the Pontican and Asian dioceses, was John Chrysostome, Pallad. & Georg. Alex­andrin. in Vi­tà Chrysosto­mi. Sozomen. lib. 8. histor. cap. 6. who passing o­ver unto Ephesus, and holding there the foresaid Sy­nod of the LXX. Asian Bishops, placed Heraclides in the Bishoprick of Ephesus, then vacant by the death of Antoninus; and deposing XIII. Bishops, who were charged to have been simoniacally ordained by him, placed others in their roome.

And, although within foure yeares after, aswell Heraclides as the other thirteen Bishops of Chryso­stoms ordination were removed againe, and the for­mer Bishops restored to their places: yet it appeareth by the acknowledgement of the Pontican and Asian Bi­shops in the XVI^th. Action of the Councell of Chalce­don, that his successors continued their claime, and challenged still a right at leastwise in the ordination of the Metropolitans of both those Dioceses. Which power of ordaining Metropolitans, not only in the Thra­cian [Page 31] but also in the Pontican and Asian diocese, being thereupon confirmed unto the Bishops of Constantino­ple by a Concil. Chal­cedon. Act. 16. & Canon. 28. speciall act of that Councell (beside Ibid. Can 9. & 17. a liber­ty given to all clerkes that had any suit with their Me­tropolitan, to prosecute the same either before the Primate of the Diocese or the Patriarch of Constan­tinople, at their owne election) gave occasion unto Euagrius to write, that [...]. Euagr. histor. lib, 3. cap. 6. the Councell of Chalcedon took away the Patriarchicall right from the Church of the Ephe­sians; and that by Timothy of Alexandria (the deadly e­nemy of that Councell) it was restored thereunto a­gaine.

After which time we see, that the Bishop of Ephe­sus, as Metropolitan of the Asian province, subscribeth thus unto the Constantinopolitan Synod held under Me­nas. [...]. Concil. CP. sub Menâ; Act. 5. I Hypatius, by the mercy of God Bishop of the Me­tropolis of the Ephesians of the Asian province, have de­fined and subscribed. and as Patriarch of the Asian diocese, to the letters sent by the sixth Councell of Con­stantinople, unto Pope Agatho, thus. [...]. Sy­nod. VI. Con­stantinop. Act. 18. I Theodorus by the mercie of God Bishop of the Metropolis of the Ephesians, and Primate of the Asian Diocese, both for my self, and the Synod that is under me, have subscribed.

For although in the times of the latter Emperours also, he still retained the title of Primate or [...]. In ordine thronor. Metropolitan. ad calcem Codini. de officiis Constantinopol, Vid. Salmasii Eucharistic, de Eccles. Suburbicar. cap. 2. pag. 385, 408, 409. Exarch of all Asia; yet all Asia did not import therein the whole Asian Diocese, but the Asian Province only: the exar­chate of the Diocese, having been wholly engrossed in­to the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Which [Page 32] is the cause, why Balsamon noteth, that [...]. Theod. Balsam. in Concil. Chalcedon. can. 9. the privi­ledge heretofore granted unto Exarches by the Coun­cell of Chalcedon, was in his dayes of no force at all. For although some of the Metropolitans (saith he) are na­med Exarches; yet have they none of the other Metropo­litans within the Dioceses any wayes subject unto them. and [...]. Subscript. Concil. Constantinopol. sub. Gregorio Patriarchâ habit. Vide Sirmondi Propem­ptic. lib. 2. cap. 5. pag. 214. & 218. Iohn, in a late Synod held after the time of the Councell of Florence, subscribeth himselfe Bishop of the Metropolis of the Ephesians, and Exarch (or Primate, not of the Diocese, but) of the Province of the Asians.

And of the Asian Diocese, with the Civill and Ec­clesiasticall government thereof, thus much in briefe may suffice.