SECT. I.

THat the Reading of History may be attended with the most Advan­tageous Consequences, and afford the Student a good reward for his labour, three things are insignally necessary. First, That the Order he observe be right and [Page 20] Constant, that he be not Confused, wan­dring, and desultory in his reading. Se­condly, That he have a clear and good judgment, that he may with dexterity Ap­prehend what he reads, and well discern what is to be selected. Thirdly, There ought to be employed a diligent and exact industry that gathering Stores of all sorts, they may be regularly disposed as it were in a Granary; we design therefore to di­vide this dissertation into three general Parts: the first of which shall contain the principal Authours which are to be read, and shall also shew the Order in which they are to be read; the second shall teach who is to be Esteem'd a Competent, well quali­fied reader of History; the third shall shew an Excellent way of gathering the fruits of History, and Explain the order and me­thod of disposing them into Cells or Store­houses.

SECT. II.

AS to the first of these, such a chain, Series or Succession of Authours is to be observed in reading, as may exactly imitate the intervals of times, and the great and general Monarchies. The intervals or Periods of times as they relate to History, and the memory of Affairs, as Censorinus De Natali die Varro. cap. 21. observes out of Varro, are three, the first from the beginning of mankind to the first Flood, which, saith he, for the ignorance of the things that were done in it is call'd the Obscure Period; the second is from the first Flood to the first Olympiad, in which because many things are fabulously related, it is call'd the Mythick or fabulous inter­val; the third is from the first Olympiad to our times, by which he means the times of the Caesars, which is call'd the Historick Aera, because the things which have been done in it are contained in true Histories. These great intervals (as you will see,) are divided or distinguished by several Epochas. Now an Epocha is some illustrious begin­ning [Page 22] in time from whence we number the following times, and we observe two sorts of Ephocas, the Ecclesiastical and the Civil; the first of these are used in the Sacred Scrip­tures and Church History, such as are these which follow, from the beginning of the World or the Creation, from the inunda­tion or Flood, from the building of the tower of Babel or the Confusion of Tongues, from the going out of Egypt, and the like: these that follow are frequently read in Prophane Histories or heathen Authours, from the destruction of Troy, from the first Olympiad, from the Expedition of Cyrus, from the passage of Xerxes, &c. So in this place of Censorinus, from the beginning of mankind or the Creation of the World to the Deluge, and it is remarkable he styles it the first Flood, for History preserves the memory of three great Floods or De­luges. The first was the Universal Deluge in the time of the Patriarch Noah, of which Moses Writes in the Holy Scriptures, which fell in the year of the World, 1656. The Oros. l. 1. c. 7. Second was that of Ogyges in Achaia, which destroyed almost all that Province, and be­cause it happen'd in the time Ogyges, (who was then the Founder and King of Elusina,) he gave name to the time and place of it. According to Orosius, this fell in the year of the World 2185, in the days of the Pa­triarch Jacob. The third was the Ducale­on Inundation, from him so call'd, in whose time an inundation (they are the words of [Page 23] Orosius,) of Waters Consum'd the greatest Lib. 1. c. 9. part of the People of Thessalia, very few Es­caping by the refuge of the Mountains, and Especially in Mount Parnassus, about which Ducaleon's Kingdom lay, who entertaining them that fled to him in Boats, preserved and fed them, upon the two heads of Parnassus, upon which account he is call'd the repai­rer of Mankind; this Deluge fell in the year of the World 2437, in the time of Aug. de C. D. 1. 18. c. 10. Justin. l. 2. c. 6. Cecrops King of the Athenians, and about 15 years before the going of the Children of Israel out of Egypt. I follow the Computation of Scaliger, which I desire the Reader would observe once for all.

2. That first Interval which to Varro (though a most Learned man) seem'd Ob­scure, all Night, to us Christians is full of Light, and by the Assistence of the Holy Scriptures, more bright than the Meridian Sun, and we know it contains 1656 years, the History of which we have delivered by Moses in a most brief Compendium, in the first six Chapters of Genesis, nor is there any thing to be found concerning those things that passed before the Deluge, in all the Monuments of Learning that are Extant, or can be found, but onely here.

3. The Second Interval from the Deluge to the first These Exercises were insti­tuted by Hercules, and re­vived by Iphitus, A. M. 3174, and from this year the Olympiads or Circle of 4 years are numbred. Olympiad, (that is to the first Exercise which every fourth year was Celebrated by the Grecians in honour of [Page 24] Jupiter Olympius, and falls in with the XXXIV or XXXV year of the Reign of Uzziah King of Judah, contains one thou­sand five hundred and eighteen years, that is from the year of the World 1656, to the year of the World 3174. And this is call'd by Varro, and not without just cause, the Mythick or fabulous interval, because to it belong almost all the Arguments or Subjects of the Poetick Fables. For al­though there are some relations Extant in the Greek Poems and Historians, which are a little more ancient than the first Olym­piad, such as the Trojan War, the Expedi­tion of the Argonauts, the Histories of Per­seus, Oedipus, Hercules, Theseus and some o­thers, which for the most part are compre­hended by Ovid in his Chronicle; yet in truth, as Africanus saith, all is full of Confusion, and disagreement, and wants the distincti­on of years, nor is there any thing worth the taking notice of, in all the Grecian Monuments, which happened in all that long interval, which passed betwixt the Trojan War, and the first Olympiad con­sisting of CCCC years, and much less is there any thing before the Trojan War worthy of Regard. Hence Justin Martyr in his Ora­tion to the Grecians thus bespeaks them, You ought to know that nothing is Exactly writ­ten by the Grecians before the first Olympiad, and Eusebius in his de praparatione Evan­gelii, Chapter the 10th, till the Olympiads, there is nothing of any certainty written by [Page 25] the Grecians, but every thing is confused, nor before that time do they at all agree amongst themselves. Yet nevertheless, we Christi­ans have a certain History of all this Fa­bulous interval, and (in what relates to the Church) large enough, and very clear, writ­ten by Moses and the Prophets, those Pen-men of the Holy Ghost, wherein many things are intermixt, concerning the Em­pires and Kingdoms of the Nations, and their Actions, by the Veracity of which those Accounts we met with in Prophane and fabulous Writers are to be Exami­ned.

4. To go on, the third Interval, (which Varro and Censorinus will allow to be the onely, sole, Historical Period,) from the first Olympiad, to the times of Censorinus, (who writ about the year of our Lord 240, from the building of Rome 991, as he saith himself, Chap. XXI,) comprehends above 1040, to which belongs the whole Series of ancient Prophane Story, which we have now Extant perfect, and distinguished by any certain Notation of times.

SECT. III.

NOw since the 4 Great Monarchies or Empires, which (as much as may be known,) are the Greatest, and Successively followed each other, that ever were a­mongst men, do all fall in that period of times, which contains the Mythick and Historical intervals, which in their times Reigned over the greatest part of the Earth, and under which the far greatest part of what is contain'd in History was transacted. May I propose the Order and Succession of these great Empires? Aemilius Sura an un­known person to me shall doe it for me, who is by Vellejus Paterculus, Lib. 1. c. 6. thus represented, The Assyrians (saith he,) were the first of all Nations who attained a general Empire, then the Medes, and then the Persians, and then the Macedonians; af­ter which Philippus and Antiochus, 2 Kings descended from the Macedonians, not long af­ter the Ruine of Carthage, being Conquered, the great Empire or Monarchy, was trans­ferr'd [Page 27] to the People of Rome. This very Succession of the 4 Monarchies, seems as­serted by Arrianus Nicomedensis, to be by a fatal decree disposed in this Order; the Empire of Asia was (saith he,) to be taken Lib. 2. de Exp. Alex. from the Persians by the Macedonians, as the Persians had before Ravished it from the Medes, and the Medes from the Assyrians, and the same order is observed by Claudian the Poet,

Dionysius Halicarnassaeus also in his prooem of the Roman Antiquities, observes the very self same Succession of the great Empires, where he compares them one with another, and does prefer the Roman Empire as very much above them all.

2. But here by the way, let us observe, that though Aemilius Sura, Arrianus, Di­onysius Halicarnassaus, and very many other [Page 28] Authours of Antiquity, do reckon the Em­pire of the Medes for one of the Monar­chies distinct from the rest; yet we are taught by the Scriptures, that the Em­pire of the Medes and Persians was but one: Especially when they had taken the Empire from the Assyrians. And therefore there was but four illustrious and very great Mo­narchies, which are commonly observed to have been the irreconcilable Enemies of the Ancient Church, which were represen­ted to Daniel the Prophet, in a Vision by four Beasts; to Zechary, by 4 Chariots, and to Nabuchodonosor, by a vast Image made up of four several sorts of Materials, as the Holy Scriptures testifie: for so the an­cient Fathers, and most of the later In­terpreters understand those Prophecies. Omitting then the Modern Expositours, three of the more ancient will be sufficient to prove, that heretofore for many Ages, it has been a received opinion, that the four great Monarchies were designed by the said three Visions. First, Isidorus Pelusio­ta, lib. 1. Ep. 218, above twelve Hundred years since, interpreted the Vision of the 4 Beasts thus. That Divine Person Daniel in the famous and celebrated Vision, compared the several Kingdoms of the Assyrians, Medes and Macedonians, as consisting of the same sort of men, and each of them of a distinct Nation, to a several Beast, that is one of them to a Bear, another to a Lioness, ano­ther to a Libard. But the 4th Vision, that [Page 29] is the terrible Beast, (which brought with it a vast Amazement,) having Iron Teeth, and being arm'd with Nails of Brass, devouring, grinding, and trampling under foot, not re­sembling any Animal, did perspicuously repre­sent the Roman Empire, as being compact or made up of all the Nations and Tribes, and in its self furnished with all strength and Glo­ry: Nor did the Propher think it fit to ex­press that Principality by one Name, which was to extend the Yoke of its power to all, and at the time of our Lord's Incarnation, was Arrived at an infinite Empire. Thus far the Pelusiot of the four Beasts; and St. Hierome who was a little more ancient than the Pelusiot applies the Vision of Zechary's four Chariots to the same pur­pose, In the first Chariot saith hewere Red Hor­ses, Sanguinary and Bloudy, and terrible as Babylonian Cruelty; in the second Chariot were Black Horses, representing the Empire of the Medes and Persians; in the third Chariot were White Horses, These were the Mace­donians, under a King of which Race the Victory of the Maccabees, of whom we reade, was; in the fourth Chariot were Horses of di­vers Colours, of great strength; for we know that of the Roman Kings, some were merci­full to the Jews, as Cajus Caesar, Augustus and Claudian, others were Persetutours and terrible, as Caligula, Nero and Vespatian. Thus far St. Hierome of Zechary's Chari­ots. To Conclude, the stupendious Coloss in the very Explication of Daniel, which [Page 30] appeared to Nabuchodorosor, signifies the IV Kingdoms. But the Blessed Sulpitius does Elegantly unfold and apply it, and af­firms that the IV Monarchies we have mentioned, were foretold by it. According to the Interpretation of the Prophet, (saith he) lib. 2. The Image which was seen car­ries the figure of the World, the Head of Gold was the Empire of the Chaldeans, for we have been informed that was the first and Richest; the Breast and Armes of Silver foretold the se­cond Kingdom, for Cyrus Conquering the Chaldeans and Medes, transferr'd the Em­pire to the Persians; in the Belly of Brass was the third portended, and we see the predicti­on fulfill'd; for Alexander the Great snatch­ing the Empire from the Persians, brought it over to the Macedonians; by the Thighs and Legs of Iron the fourth, that is the Roman is understood, which was stronger than any of the Monarchies that went before it, but the feet part Iron and part of Potter's-Clay, fore­tell that this Kingdom shall be divided, so as they shall never Unite, which is also come to pass.

3. We have exprest this somewhat too much at large, which yet we could not de­cline the fallacy of John Bodinus a very Learned man, having Extorted it from us, who in his Book de Methodo, cap. 70. Af­firms that the famous division of the King­doms of the old World into IV Monar­chies, was built upon the Modern Authori­ty, and insipid Conceit of some late Wri­ters. [Page 31] But from what has been said, it clearly appears to us on the contrary, that these IV great Empires were anciently ob­served and designed; of which two flourish­ed successively in Asia, and are therefore call'd the Asiatick, and for the same reason the two others are call'd the European, which succeeded in Europe. Vellejus also, in the place I have cited above, seems to me to prove and confirm both these Names, and several Successions of the great Empires, in the following times (saith he,) the Empire Lib. 1. c. 6. of Asia was translated from the Assyrians, who had held it a thousand and seven hundrd years, to the Medes; but the truth is, it is not worth our while to contend any lon­ger, about either the Names or the dis­tinctions of the Monarchies. In short then I say that it is most certainly true, and in­contestably known to all Antiquity, that the Assyrians and Chaldeans first, and after them the Medes and Persians, did hereto­fore Rule over so great a part of Asia, that they might well be call'd the Supreme Monarchs of the World (as it was then peopled,) and the same may be said of the Grecians in their times, and much more of the Romans, by whom if not the grea­test, yet certainly the best part, not one­ly of Asia, but also of Europe and Africa, was Conquered, as Histories inform us, which made Polybius thus express himself, The Romans having forced not onely some con­siderable parts, but almost the whole inhabited [Page 32] World, to submit to their Authority, and Em­pire have raised their greatness to such a pro­digious height, that the present Age may ve­ry rationally Extoll their happiness, but no suc­ceeding Ages will ever be able to excell them.

SECT. IV.

BUt to go on, that first Assyrio-Chaldean Empire, (for so I am inclin'd to call it,) was begun by Nimrod, (who is by some others call'd Belus,) in the year of the world 1717 or there abouts; it continued a very long time, that is, almost one thousand and seven hundred years, for this Empire lasted almost the whole time of Censorinus his second interval, and after that too it ran out into the third (the Historick) inter­val 238 years. It is true as the Learned Scaliger has observed, it was not always in Can. Issa­gog. lib. 3. p. 315. the same State of power and greatness, but at times was broken and diminished. For in the beginning it was of a vast Extent, but afterwards the Nations that were sub­ject [Page 33] to it, made defections till it was torn into several shreds or parcels, the Kings of Assyria giving up themselves to Luxury, and thinking of nothing less than Arms and the preservation of their Kingdom; but notwithstanding, from the first Foundation of it to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, when it was transferred to the Medes and Persians, there passed almost 1700 years. For though Justinus, and Georgius Mona­chus affirm, the Assyrians were Masters of the World, but one thousand and three hundred years, the latter 1060 years, and Diodorus Siculus 1400 years. Yet I sup­pose they are to be understood of the time iu which the Posterity of Nimrod or Ninus Reigned, who laid the Foundations of that Empire A. M. 1717, and particularly of Sardanapalus, (who according to Vellejus,) was the last that Reigned of XXXIII de­scents, in which till then the Son had suc­ceeded his Father. But Phul Belochus and his Posterity first, and then Merodach Bala­dan and his Progeny, followed the Family of Ninus, and kept up that Monarchy in the Assyrian Nation to Baltazar, who was the last of their Kings, and perished when Babylon was taken by Cyrus, for so Funccius, Reinerus Reineccius, Viginerius and others do seem to collect out of Scripture. But Josephus Scaliger, Dionys. Petavius. Jaco. Ca­pellus and others contend against this and endeavour to prove out of Berosus, Me­gasthenes and Ptolemy, that the Death of [Page 34] Baltazar by the treachery of his own Ser­vants, whom he had enraged against him by his ill Nature, happened about seven­teen years before the taking of Babylon by Cyrus. So he being slain in the 55th Olym­piad, one Nabonidus by Nation a Mede, (call'd by Daniel Darius the Mede, by the common consent of the Conspiratours suc­ceeded him, and he by the chance of War, being overcome by Cyrus King of Persia, in the XVII year of his Reign and Babylon taken, had his Life and the Government of Carmania given him, and so the Empire was translated to the Persians, in the se­cond year of the 60 Olympiad and A. M. 3412.

2. It is not therefore difficult from what has been said, to shew that the Assyrio-Chal­dean Monarchy from its first Rise to that period we have given it, lasted almost 1700 years, which may also be confirm'd by what Calisthenes the Scholar of Aristotle is said to have related, for he following Alex­ander the Great in his Asiatick Expedition, upon the request of his Master after Baby­lon was taken, diligently enquired of those who were skilfull in the Babylonish Antiqui­ties, concerning their Astronomical Obser­vations, the successions of the Kings of that most ancient Monarchy, and of the Number of their years, and what ever Chaldean Antiquities, or Astronomical Ob­servations he could get, he sent them into Greece, which Simplicius somewhere avers contained 1903 years.

[Page 35] 3. The Second Empire call'd the Medio-Persick, is said to have lasted from the tak­ing of Babylon by Cyrus, to the taking the same City by Alexander the Macedonian, (Darius Codomanus the tenth and last King of the Persians, being Conquered) not a­bove 210 years, for Alexander entered Ba­bylon in the III year of the 112 Olympiad. A. M. 3620.

4. The third Monarchy call'd the Grecian, and begun by Alexander the Great after the Conquest of Darius, is thought to have lasted to Perseus, the Son of Philip the Se­cond King of Macedonia, who was over­come by Paulus Aemilius, and his Kingdom reduced into a Roman Province, which space of time comprehends somewhat more than two hundred and sixty years, for Perseus was overcome, taken and led in Triumph to Rome by P. Aemilius, in the year of the Building of Rome 586, A. M. 3782. and about that time it was that the Roman Empire attained that so much admired Greatness, which Polybius hath so much ex­toll'd in the former Section, which yet af­terwards encreased, but from this time was esteem'd the IV Monarchy; for to this time that Aemilius Sura, (whom we have ci­ted from Paterculus,) in plain words refers the beginning of its Empire; Two Kings, Perseus and Antiochus, being overcome, the Empire of the World, (saith he) was tran­slated to the Romans, which Polybius also a­vers Lib. 3. 1 [...]9. and 160. almost in the same words, the Romans [Page 36] having Conquered the Kingdom of Macedonia, brought the World under their Dominion, yea as the same Polybius acquaints us the Nati­ons submitted in great Numbers to them, and made them the Arbitratours of Peace and War betwixt themselves, which Florus Lib. 2. c. 7. also confirms, for from henceforth (saith he) the Kings of the World and the Captains, People, and Nations, sought Protection from this City, And again Polybius. Now it was confess'd by all, necessity extorting from them Lib. 3. p. 150 this Declaration, that the Romans must for the future be obeyed, and their Commands sub­mitted to. To conclude, Daniel the Pro­phet States here the beginning of the IVth Monarchy, if the Learned Melancthon thinks right, whose words are these, when Daniel names, and depaints, the IV^th Mo­narchy, he does not begin it onely from Julius Chron. l. 3. p. 146. Caesar and Augustus, but includes the time in which the City of Rome was possess'd of the Empire of the World, even before their Civil Wars began. And therefore if from hence we compute the time of its duration, there is to the time of Julius Caesar 118 years, from thence to Constantine the Great 356 years, from thence to Augustulus, who was forced by Odacrus King of the Heruli to resign the Empire, are above 170 years, and from thence to Charles the Great 325 years; so that from the Conquest of Mace­donia to Charles the Great are 978 years, and from thence to Charles the V^th are 720 years, so that from the Overthrow of [Page 37] Perseus, to the Reign of Charles the V^th. there is in all 1688 years.

SECT. V.

I Am not Ignorant that many other Dy­nasties, Kingdoms, Empires and Com­monwealths, here and there flourished in the World, during the times of the three first Monarchies, but especially in the Ages of the first and second, as for Example that of the Egyptians, Cicyonians, Spartans and Aethiopians and others, frequent men­tion of which is made in ancient Historians, and we reade that some of them had some times vast Dominions, as Sesostris King of Egypt.

As Lucan sings, and Justin saith Vexoris King of Egypt, extended his Empire to L. 15. Pontus; Strabo saith too that Tearchon the [Page 38] Aethiopian led an Army into Europe; and L. 6. c. 29. Pliny writes that the Aethiopians were great and powerfull, to the times of the Trojan Wars, and the Reign of Memnon, yet that the said IV Monarchies did much excell all these, is too well known to need any proof, for it is to be observed, that we do not call these the IV great Monarchies, as if they included all other Regions and Nations, but because they were Masters of a great part of the World, and had so much power, that they could easily Curb and give Laws to all other Princes, for therefore did God Erect Monarchies in the World, that men Chron. l. 1. p. 10. might be Governed, by Laws, Justice, and a good Discipline, as Melancthon observes.

SECT. VI.

WHerefore if any man desires to run over with advantage the History of these Monarchies or Empires, and in [Page 39] them the History of the World; I would advise him to begin with some short Com­pendium, Chronology, or Synopsis, be­fore he enter that vast Ocean, because he may by that means learn at once the series of times and Ages, the Successions of Em­pires, and the greatest changes which have happened amongst Mankind, and so he may if he please, draw in his mind an Ex­emplar or Idea of the whole body of the Universal History, which he may contem­plate with ease as it were at once, and this too was the advice of Lodovicus Vivis. At Lib. 5. de trad. Discip. first (saith he,) choice is to be made of some Authour who begins with the remotest times, and brings down from thence, the chiefest heads of History in a constant thred to or near our times, for although in truth it cannot be denied that Compendiums have some times done much mischief in the World, and proved the ruine of some of the best anci­ent Authours, yet we will not therefore de­spise those Epitomes which are made with Franken. [...]. Lib. 1. I [...]st. H. reasonable Abreviations, if they render the way to an improvement plain and easie. For as Infants being led by the hand learn at first to go, so I would by all means per­swade young men to begin the Study of Hi­story with Epitomes and short Histories, till the Foundations being well laid; in process of time they may approach, and try the very Fountains with good advan­tage. It will be therefore usefull to begin with Beurerus his Synopsis, or Sleidan's Com­pendium Beurerus. Sleidanas. [Page 40] pendium of the IV great Monarchies, which is written (as Reineccius expresseth himself Ep. ad Hen. Mei­bomium. concerning it) in an Elegant, Polite, manly Style, and which may well be thought to be of the number of those Books, which are attended with a long Liv'd Genius; or, if he please, Melancthon's Chronicle which (as one Stephanus tells us,) whoever has not Lib. de for­mand. Stud. p. 37. tasted must be a mere Block, it being the most Learned and Elegant Epitome of the History of almost the whole World. There are other Books of equal worth which may as justly be recommended to the Reader. As first, Reinerus, Reineccius his Syntagma of those Reinerus. Reineccius Families, which in the Monarchies have had the Government. A laborious, exqui­site work, by which the Reader being led as it were by the hand into the pleasant Fields of History, shall perform his Jour­ney with much the greater Ease, Pleasure and Happiness. I think also that Jacobus J. Capellus. Capellus, his Sacred and Exotick History, adapted with great diligence to the order of times, (he being a man of much Lear­ning,) is by no means to be deprived of its deserved Commendation, it being worthy to be read seriously in the very first begin­ning of the Study of History, and which I wish he had brought down to our times, for it ends with the Birth of Augustus, A. V. Petavius. This is translated. into English. C. 696. But Dionysius Petavius a Jesuit, has lately writ an excellent piece of the same Nature, which he hath styl'd Tempo­rum Rationarium, in which the Sacred and [Page 41] Prophane History of all times, from the Creation of the World, to the year of Christ 1632, is shortly brought down, and confirm'd with Chronological Proofs. A­mongst the more famous Chronologers, if the Reader desires to perfect himself in Chronology, (which will be of Vast Ad­vantage to him,) besides Capellus and Petavius, both which I rank in that order, he may reade Funccius, Buntingus, Helvicus Funccius. Buntingus. Helvicus. Calvitius. or Sethus Calvitius, who in a late Edition of his Chronology, has made use of so great an industry that he has not omitted any thing, by which the true time of Histories may be exquisitely known. But then if af­ter these Chronologers, he is pleased to dwell a little longer on the Universal Histo­ry, and to enlarge his prospect, JUSTIN Justinus. may be read, who is thought to have flou­rished under the Antonines, about the year of Christ 140. Nor is there any one amongst Voss. de Hist. art. l. 2. c. 1. the Latins, who has more Politely and Ele­gantly contracted the History of so many Em­pires; for he Comprehends the Actions of al­most all Nations, from Ninus to Augustus. Then may Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Polybius follow, of all which we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter, and af­ter these some of the Modern Writers may be read, amongst which, Sir Walter Raw­leigh Sir Walter Rawleigh. our Countrey-man deserves the first place, a man of great Fame, and for his great both Valour and prudence worthy of a better Fate. He has built up an Univer­sal [Page 42] History, from the Creation of the World to the fall of the Macedonian, or III Monarchy out of the most approved Authours, which is written in English, with very great Judgment, in a perspicu­ous method, and an Elegant and Masculine style, and the incomparable Gerardus Joan­nes V. Epist. ded. lib. de Ar. Hist. Vossius, some years since began an Uni­versal History, of all the foregoing Ages and Nations, I heartily wish (my Hearers,) that I may once see that Noble work and injoy it with you! for what can be expected from so great a Treasure of Antiquity and History, but what is most Excellent, and above the reach of the Wits, not onely of this, but of many of the better Ages? But however, let the History of the Bible lead the way, which is incontestably not onely the most ancient, but the truest of all Histories, and to this tends the grave re­prehension of Carolus Sigonius, of the common way of instituting or entering upon the Study of Antiquity. In laying the Foundations of the knowledge of Ancient times and things, as also in the beginning of almost all other Studies, I know not how we are carried away with the impetuous torrent of an ill Custome, and generally commit a ve­ry great Errour, by beginning with those Mo­numents, in which the Acute Grecians who were totally ignorant of the truth, have com­prehended their Traditions of the false Gods, and the fictitious Actions of their feigned He­roes, which we can neither make any good use [Page 43] of, nor improve our selves thereby in the least in Piety; when, if there were any Sense that I may not say prudence in us, we ought rather to begin with what is contain'd in the Holy writings of the Hebrews, for if we search for the Origine of things, we can begin no higher than the Creation of the World, and the for­mation of man, which is there treated of, if we seek Truth, there is no where so much of it as here, where it is proclaimed by the mouth of the Living God, if we seek grave things, what is more magnificent than these illustrious Monuments, in which the Holy Commands of God, the saving Promises, the certain Oracles, and other helps to our Salvation are comprehen­ded? from whence can we derive more Excel­lent Examples of Vertue, or sharper detestati­ons of Vices, or Actions worthy of memory, than from these Monuments of the Hebrews? in which onely it is apparently discovered, how much mankind has been relieved by the power­full and present Assistence of God Almighty, in the Exercise of true Religion, or in the neg­lect of it, have been troden down and ruin'd by his Anger.

SECT. VII.

BUt now if you are pleased to descend to the several Empires, and to prose­cute the Histories of them by parts, and in their Order, we have Berosus, Ctesias, and Megasthenes, who give an account of the Berosus li­ved 250 years before Christ. Ctesias 375. Megasthe­nes, 290. Affairs of the Assyrio-Chaldean Monarchy. But did I say we have them? No, (which is a very great affliction to the Histori­ans,) we have them not, we have some fragments of Ctesias, which perhaps are not spurious, but then those concern the Persian Empire onely, for whatever he writ concerning the Chaldean is lost. We have also some shreds of Megas­thenes too, and some Adulterated Rhap­sodies, imposed upon the World by the Viterbian Monk a deceitfull Merchant, to which little Credit is to be given in the O­pinion Cresias, Scaliger de Em. Temp. notis. of very Learned men, for as to Cte­sias, this is the opinion of Josephus Scaliger, a very great Philosopher. He is (saith he) [Page 45] a silly Greek, and so he may but contradict Herodotus, he cares not what he says; he has committed many Errours through Humane Frailty, many wilfully out of Envy, and this appears clearly in Photius his Parietina. Ctesias flourished in the times of Cyrus Ju­nior, Strabo. l. 14. and being taken by Artaxerxes in a Battel, he was afterwards his Physician. And Strabo disputes the fidelity of the very Lib. 2. genuine History of Megasthenes, which he often cites, how much more reasonably then may Learned men question the truth of that fictitious piece which is ignorantly call'd by his Name, but it is really the work of Annianus? He lived under Seleucus Ni­canor, as we are told by Clemens Alexan­drinus, Strom. l. 1. and that Impostor Annian. And most of the Learned suppose that the Bero­sus which goes abroad in the World is of the same Stamp. Will you please to hear what Lodovicus Vivis thinks of him, There De Tra­dend. disc. lib. 5. is a small Book which is stil'd Berosi Baby­lonii Antiquitates, the Antiquities of Berosus the Babylonian, but it is a figment that plea­ses unlearned idle men very much, and of the same sort are Xenophon's Aequivoca, and the fragments of Archilochus, Cato, Sempronius, and Fabius Pictor, which are patched together in the same Book by Annia­nus Viterbiensis, and by his Additions ren­dered too, much the more ridiculous; not but that there are in it some things that are true, for otherwise, the thing could never have look'd abroad, but yet the body of that History is [Page 46] fictitious, and none of his whose Name it bears; thus far the Learned Vivis, and therefore Diodorus Siculus li­ved sixty years before Christ. he and other Learned men, send us to Jo­sephus, Justin the Epitomizer of Trogus, and Diodorus Siculus his Antiquities, and well we might be turn'd over to him, if he were intirely Extant, which some of the Ancients call'd simply the LIBRARY, and others the Libraries. And Diodorus acquaints us himself in the Preface to his History, what account he had given of an­cient times, his words are these; Our first six Books give an account of what happened before the Trojan War, and what is set forth concerning those Ages in Fables, of which the three first contain the Barbarous Story, and the three latter the Grecian, and in the eleven following Books, we deliver the History of what passed throughout the World, to the Death of Alexander the Great. Thus far the Sici­lian. But, alas, the five Books which follow his fifth Book, (which he stiles [...], the Book of Isles, because in it he treats of the Islands) are to the deplorable injury of ancient History, perished. For in them was contain'd all the Oriental An­tiquities, which might have afforded much Ad Euseb. 1967. light to the Old Testament, as the Learned Josephus Scaliger observes. We should think this great Loss the less if Theopompus, Eu­phorus, Callisthenes Timaeus, and the rest from whom Diodorus had with incredible industry compiled those five Books, were still Extant. Concerning which you may [Page 47] Consult Vossius his piece of the Greek Hi­storians. We cannot deny but some have blamed the Sicilian for those five Books that are Extant, which we have recom­mended as first to be read, and amongst them Lodovicus Vivis, who admires how Pliny could say that Diodorus was the first of the Grecians, who left off Trifling, when (saith he,) there is nothing more Idle. But Lib. 5. de Trad. disc. lib. 2. de Caus. Corr. Art. we reply, that Learned Censor did not well consider that Diodorus himself owns, that the History of those times was mixt with many Fables, and delivered very va­riously by the Ancients, but he was content to relate what seem'd most agreeable to Truth, and yet at last he did not desire they should be taken for solid Truths, but that he thought it was better to have the best knowledge we could of those Ancient times, than to be altogether ignorant of them; as Gerardus Joh. Vossius, a man of a peircing judgment has well observed, in his second Book of the Greek Historians, chap. the second: In the defect therefore of those Authours we have mentioned, and to repair as well as we may the loss sustain'd in the former Books of the Sicilian, helps are to be fetched in from Eusebius his Chroni­con, where we shall find many Antiquities pointed at, from Plutarch's Theseus, Licurgus and Solon; from Pausanius his description of ancient Greece, from the first Book of Orosius, and especially from the Prophetick History, in which onely are all those things [Page 48] that happened after the Death of Sardana­palus, which are of certain and undoubted Faith, to be found concerning the Assyri­ans and Chaldeans, even to the begin­ning of the Medio-Persian Empire, and a little farther, and no where else amongst the Ancients, (if you except Josephus his Antiquities;) is there any thing to be found concerning these times, and the Jewish State then) for he indeed there treats of their State too, from the times in which the Scriptures end, to the XIII^th. year of the Reign of Domitius Caesar, and LVI^th. year of his own Life. But of Josephus we shall discourse more at large in his pro­per He lived A. Chr. 140. place, there may also be many things worth the taking notice of, observed in Diogenes Laertius his Lives of the Philoso­phers, which will Embelish the History of the first Monarchy. Especially the Hi­story of the last Century of it; in which the VII wise men of Greece flourished, and that famous man Pythagoras, and many o­thers, whose Lives Laertius wrote in that Golden Book, (as H. Stephen,) in that most usefull Book, and more valuable than Gold, as the most Learned Vossius doubts not to call it.

SECT. VIII.

HErodotus, the Father of the Heathen Herodotus. History, begins where the Prophetick History ends; which is owing to the Good­ness and Providence of God, that as it were in the self same moment, where the History of the Bible Concludes, Herodo­tus Halicarnassensis should begin his. For when the Prophets in the Holy Scrip­tures had related what seemed more wor­thy of the care of the Holy Ghost, from the beginning of the World to Cyrus; He­rodotus beginning with Gyges King of Ly­dia, Contemporary with Hezechias and Manassa Kings of Judah, about the year of the World 3238, about CL years before Cyrus his Reign in Persia; immediately de­scends to CYRUS the Great Founder of the Medio-Persian Empire, and so deduceth the History of the Medes and Persians in a smooth Style, which flowes like a quiet and pleasant River (as Cicero in his Orator expresses it well,) to the time of the [Page 50] wretched flight of Xerxes out of Greece. Which happened in the Second year of the LXXV Olympiad, in the year of the World 3471. in which time Herodotus flourished, and lived to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Which Dionysius his Countrey-man relates in these words. Herodotus Halicarnassaeus being born a little before the Persian Expedition, lived till the Peloponnesian War. That is, from the first year of the LXXIV Olympiad, to the Second year of the LXXXVII Olympiad, (for so the Great Scaliger computes his Age,) making him to have Lived precisely the space of XIII Olympiads; that is, LII years. For so long Lived the sweetest Muse of Jonica as he calls him, and then goes on thus. He is the most ancient Writer in Prose who is now Extant; the Treasury of the Gre­cian Animad. in Eus. Chron. p. 97. and Barbarian Antiquities, an Au­thour never to be out of the hands of the Lear­ned, nor to be touched by the half Learned, the Pedagogues and the Apes of Learning. But however, Herodotus might live somewhat longer, yet it is sure he brought not his History beyond the times of Xerxes. He has contained in Nine Books, which he di­stinguished by the Names of the Nine Mu­ses, a continued History of CCXXXIV years. Will you have the Contents of his several Books? I will give you them shortly. In Clic. his first Book, besides what he relates of Gyges, and the succeeding Kings of Lydia to Croesus; of the ancient Jonia; of the [Page 51] manners of the Persians, Babylonians and some others; he gives an Elegant account of the Birth of Cyrus the Authour of the Medio-Persian Monarchy, and then of his Miraculous Preservation, of his Education and Actions. In his Second Book, he de­scribes Euterpe. all Egypt to the Life; declares the Customs of the Egyptians, and Commemo­rates the Succession of their Kings. In his Thalia. third Book, he weaves the History of Cambyses, and of Smerdis the Mage, which simulated Cyrus, and so Reigned VII Months, and Explicates the fraud, and the Disco­very. Then he subjoyns the Election of Darius Histaspis, and then enumerates the Provinces of the Persian Empire, and gives an account of the taking of Babylon, by the faithfull industry of Zopirus, in the praises of whom he ends it. In his fourth Melpome­ne. Book, he presents us with an exact Descrip­tion of Scythia, to which he adds the un­fortunate Expedition of Darius against the Scythians, and there we reade the History of the Mynians, and the City of Cyrene built by them in Libya, and the Descripti­on of the People of those Countries. The fifth Book, contains the Persian. Embassy Terpsico­re. to Amyntas King of Macedonia, and also the just Punishment of Sisamnis an unjust Judge; the Sedition of Aristagoras the Mi­lesian, and his end; and then he shews what was the State of the Cities of Athens, La­cedemonium and Corinth, in the time of Da­rius Histaspis. The sixth Book, describes Erato. [Page 52] the Ruine of the Seditious Histiaeus; and then shews the Origine of the Kings of Sparta; and the preparations of War made by Darius against the Grecians, and the Fight at Marathon in which Miltiades bravely defeated the Persians. The seventh contains a most excellent Consultation, Polymnia. concerning the War with Greece held by Xerxes; and then represents his famous Ex­pedition into Greece, and the Battel of Thermopilas. The eighth describes the Sea Fight at the Island of Salamine. The ninth Urania. Calliope. besides the punishment of one Lycidas, gives an account of two great Battels fought in one day, the one at Plateas in the dawn of the Morning, and the other at Mycalen a Promontory of Asia in the Evening; in both which the Persians were beaten, and at last totally Expell'd out of Greece. And in these Nine Books you will find, besides the History of the Medes and Persians, the Histories also of the Lydians, Jonians, Lycians, Aegyptians, Mynians, Grecians and Macedonians, and of some other Nations; their Manners and Religi­ons are also intermixt, and delivered with that Purity, Elegance, and sweetness of Style, that the Muses were by the Ancients feigned to have spoken by the mouth of Herodotus, and for this cause the Names of the Muses were put before these Books, not by the Authour, but by some other persons, as some think. But the Learned Vossius (which I think fit to remark here,) [Page 53] is of another opinion, and says, that he inscribed the Names of the IX Muses before his Books upon the same account, that the three Orations of Eschines were call'd the Graces, with relation both to their Number and the Delicateness of the Language, and the same Oratours IX Epistles were also call'd by the Names of the Muses, as Photius saith, Sect. LXI. But the same Learned man (Vossius) goes on and asserts that it is apparent, that the Books of Herodotus were not so call'd by way of Apology for the falsehoods contained in them, as Lodovicus Vivis thought, as if by these Names the Reader were in the very en­trance to be admonished, that some things in them were related with too much Liberty to delight the mind, which is allowed the Muses. For though Herodotus inserts some Nar­ratives that are not much unlike Fables, yet the body of his History is compil'd with a rare Fidelity, and a diligent care of Truth. Concerning his other Narra­tives, he for the most part premiseth that he recites them not because he thought them true, but as he had re­ceiv'd them from others, I I heartily wish we might once have a good Version of Herodotus, which though in French was never yet made English. ought (saith he) to unfold in my History what I have heard from others, but there is not the same necessity I should be­lieve all relations alike, which I desire the Reader would once for all take notice of, and remember throughout my History. And we may enlarge and confirm the History of [Page 54] these times of which Herodotus writ by reading the 2, 3, and 7^th Books of Justin. Justin, and by reading the Lives of those famous Generals, Aristides, Themistocles, Cimon, Miltiades and Pausanias, written both by Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos; and C. Nepos is lately put out in Eng­lish. to these may be added the Lives of the Philosophers of those times, written by Laertins, viz. Anaximander, Zenon, Em­pedocles, Heraclitus, Democritus, and others of that Age.

SECT. IX.

THucydides follows Herodotus, a cele­brated Thucydi­des Eng­lished by Mr. Hobbs. Historian, in relation both to his Eloquence and Fidelity. He flourished 460 years before Christ, in the LXXXVII Olympiad, and because the Elogies Learned men have made for him, may perhaps ac­cend the Reader to a more serious study of his History, I shall not decline the re­peating them here. M. T. Cicero speaks De Orat. l. 2. thus of him: In my opinion Thucydides ex­cells [Page 55] all others in the art of Speaking, he al­most equals the number of his words with the number of his Sentences; his expressions are so fit and short, that no man can determine whether he has most illustrated his Subject by his Oratory, or his Oratory by his wise reflexions. Fabius Quintilianus thus expresseth his De instit. Orat. l. 10. c. 1. Esteem of him. Thucydides is always (saith he) close and short, and ever present to his Business. Herodotus sweet, candid and diffus'd; Thucydides is the best representer of moved affections, Herodotus of calm; Herodo­tus is the best at a long, Thucydides at a short Oration; this forceth, and that wins a man's consent. Let us now hear the judgment of Modern Writers, and in the first place that of Justus Lipsius. Thucydides (saith he) writ an History in which he relates neither many nor great affairs, and yet perhaps he has won the Garland from all those who have re­presented many and great occurrences; his dis­course is always close and short, his Sentences are frequent, and his Judgment sound, giv­ing every where excellent but conceal'd Advice, directing thereby Mens Lives and Actions: his Orations and Excursions are almost Di­vine, the oftner you reade him, the more you will gain by him, and yet he will never dis­miss you without a thirst of reading him again. Isaac Casaubon speaks thus. Thucydides is Praefat ad Polyb. a great man, and a great Historian, who when he had for some time been conversant with, and employed in great Transactions, retired to describe them with his Pen, and gave Posteri­ty [Page 56] an example of an History so written for the use of Men, that it will ever be the Sub­ject of their wonder, rather than imitation.

Christopherus Colerus speaks thus.

Thucydides perfected the art of Writing Epist. de Stud. poli­tico. Histories, which Herodotus just before had Adorn'd, turn over and over, and carry in your bosome that great treasure; he has descri­bed the Peloponnesian War which he saw, and in which he bore his part, you will not seem to reade, but see it in him, and you will find as many wise instructions as Sentences; he ex­plains his Business prudently, severely and gravely, by which it is apparent how usefull he may be to a Politician; and as to those that are to consult about War or Peace, they ought to keep him ever close to them as their best Coun­sellour; thus has Thucydides hit every point. To proceed, Thucydides writ an History of almost LXX years in eight Books, be­ginning at the departure of Xerxes out of Greece, where Herodotus ends, and bring­ing it down to the XXI year of the Pelo­ponnesian War; for although his main de­sign was to write the War betwixt the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, (a great part of which he was,) yet in his first Book in the very entrance of it, he represents the ancient State of Greece, from the times of the Expedition of the Argonauts and the Trojan War; and comparing the greatness of the Peloponnesian War, with all those that had preceded it, and explaining the causes, pretences and occasions of it, he [Page 57] Premiseth the History of those fifty years, which interven'd betwixt the flight of Xer­xes, and the beginning of this War, with­out ever going on that account from his intended Subject. But if the Reader de­sires a full and perfect History of these fifty years, before he goes any farther in Thucydides, let him in this place take in the Lives of Themistocles, Aristides, Pausa­nias and Cimon written by Platarch or Cor­nelius Nepos. And the XI^th and XII^th Books Plutarch. Diodorus Siculus. of Diodorus Siculus, and the second and third Books of Justin, which all belong to this place; and then let him proceed in Thucydides, who in his second Book enters upon the description of that War, in the first place telling us the time when it be­gan, and unfolding the method of the whole work, and shewing who were the in­cendiaries and who began the War; then follows the Oration made by the Laconian King to his Souldiers, his commendation both of the Authority and Eloquence of Pericles, and his Description of the dread­full Plague at Athens; then he Celebrates the worth of Phormion the Athenian Gene­ral and their Naval Victories, and com­morates the Surrender of Potidea, the Siege of the Plutenses, and the ineffectual Expedition of the Thracians against Per­dicca King of Macedonia, and so entertains us with the History of the three first years of the War. In the III Book are contained the affairs of the three next years of that [Page 58] War, that is the defection of the Mityle­naeans and the other Lesbians to the Lacede­monians, which being again reduced by the Athenian Forces, there follows an illustrious Consultation concerning the punishing of them, and the cruelty of Pachetis the Athe­nian Commander is observed; the City of Platea taken and raced to the Ground, the Sedition of the Cortyreans described, the Seeds of the Sicilian War disclos'd, the improsperous Battel of Demosthenes against the Aetolians, and his more prosperous Engagement with the Ambracians. In the IV^th Book are read the fortifying the Pylus, the Siege, and the taking it, and the man­ner of the defence, the Victory against, and taking the Spartan Nobility; the for­tunate actions of Brasida a famous Lacede­monian Commander in Thrace, and these make up the History of the next three years. The V^th Book comprehends the History of almost seven years, that is the Battel be­twixt Brasida the Spartan Commander, and Cleon the Athenian, at Amphipolis a City of Thrace, wherein both the Generals were Slain and paid for their restless disturban­ces; then the various Leagues and Combi­nations of the two parties all weak and uncertain, the foolish and mad stubborn­ness of the great men, the sad effect of which follows. In the beginning of the VI^th Book the Authour makes a description of the ancient Sicily, and gives an account of some part of their former Story. Then [Page 59] the pretences of the Sicilian War, and some Noble Consultations about it are pro­pos'd; Nicia opposing, and Alcibiades pro­moting and perswading to it: then he re­members some Prodigies which preceded that War, the defection of Alcibiades to the Lacedemonians, and some things which happened in Sicilia soon after the Arrival of the Athenian Fleet, which things happened in the XVII^th year of this War. In the VII^th Book Michalessus, a City of Boeotia is taken by the Thracians who exercise there great Cruelties, then the Authour prose­cutes the Sicilian War, which fell out very unfortunately for the Athenians, and brought a grievous loss upon them, the Commanders, Demosthenes and Nicias, be­ing both taken and slain against the will of Gylippus, to whom they rendred them­selves. These things were acted in the XVIII^th and XIX^th years of the Peloponnesian War. In the VIII^th Book he gives an account of the defection of the Athenian Confede­rates to the Lacedemonians, their Enemies, upon the News of this Overthrow, and the League betwixt the Spartans and the Persian Governours of the Asian Provinces; after this the Democracy of the Athenians is changed into an Olygarchy of forty men, which is again soon after dissolved. Lastly, Thrasybulus and Thrasylus two Athenian Captains, after a dubious Sea Fight at A­bidus, beat the Lacedemonian Fleet and their Leader Mindarus; this Victory was ob­tain'd [Page 60] in the II year of the XCII Olympiad, in the XXI year of this War, in the Sum­mer time, where Thucydides his History ends, Anno Mundi, 3539. With Thucy­dides are the Lives of Pericles, Alcibiades, Chabrias, Thrasybulus and Nicias, written by Plutarch and C. Nepos to be read, and the XIII^th Book of Diodorus Siculus, the IV^th Plutarch. Corn. Ne­pos. D. Siculus. Justin. Orosius. and V^th of Justin, and the first Book of Orosius, Chapters the XIV^th and XV^th, by all which the History may be somewhat en­larged and inriched.

SECT. X.

THe thread of Thucydides his Story is Xenophon This Au­thour's Hi­stories are lately tran­slated into English. continued by Xenophon, who for the sweetness of his Style is call'd the Attick Muse, and the Attick Bee; by whose mouth also the Muses are said to have spoken, as Cicero informs us in his Oratour: He was famous about 410 years before the Birth of our Saviour; there is an High encomium of Xenophon extant in Dion Chrysostome in his Oration concerning the Exercise of the Art of Speaking, where with great ingenuity he [Page 61] recommends the reading of him, averring amongst other things, that the reading of him alone was sufficient to make a man a Politician; nor is that which is related of him by Diogenes Laertius in the end of his Life the least part of his praise; that Thu­cydides his Books being then unknown, falling into his hands when he might with facility have supprest them, he took care to publish them, by which Act of his every man may know, what Honour he deserved from those who have an esteem for the Grecian Eloquence or History; and the Modern Criticks have not fail'd to give him equal Commendations. Xenophon (saith Lipsius) In Not. ad. 1. Poli. cap. 9. in his History, is a pleasant and faithfull, or at least a cautious prudent Writer, from which yet you may rather draw civil Prudence, than that he seems to have intended it. And yet Christoph. Colerus saith, Civil Prudence is certainly the principal Vertue in the writings of Xeno­phon, Epist. de Studio Po­litico. it sparkles strangely in his Institution of Cyrus, and the Relation of his Expedition against Artaxerxes, in which Xenophon discovers how great a Commander he himself was; therefore let Xenophon be the Look­ing-glass of Kings and Princes, the Viati­cum, as Homer was to Alexander the Great, of Emperours. The Glory (saith Vossius of Xenophon was threefold, for I will take no no­tice of his Eloquence; he was a Philosopher, an Historian, and a good Commander; the truth is, he left the Profession of Philosophy, and wrote his History when he was a Com­mander. [Page 62] I shall omit that Elegant piece of his concerning the Institution of Cyrus, be­cause it belongs to the foregoing times (of which Herodotus wrote,) nor is it (as is sup­posed,) penned as a true History, but as a representation of a just Empire or Govern­ment, yet Scipio Africanus, that admired Personage, had so great an Esteem for this He flourish­ed in the IVth year of the XCIV O­lympiad. A. M. 3550. Piece, that he never went without it about him; but to return, he Composed the History of his own times in seven Books, the two first of which are to be read immediately after Thucydides, because they contain the resi­due of the Peloponnesian War, and where Thucydides ends, there Xenophon (as it were carrying on the Web,) begins and relates what passed betwixt the Athenians, and Lacedemonians after that Naval Victory, that was obtained at Abidus by Thrasybulus against Mindarus, in the 2 year of the 92 O­lympiad, (of which we have spoken before,) to the taking of Athens by Lysander, in the 4^th year of the 93 Olympiad, and in these Books here and there he represents some of the Medio-Persian affairs; as how the Medes rebell'd against Darius King of Per­sia, and afterwards submitted again to his Empire; how Cyrus the younger Son of Darius went to his Father who was then sick in the Higher Asia, having first sent money to Lysander, for the use of the War against the Athenians; how Darius Nothus Died, and Artaxerxes Mnemon his Elder Son became his Successour. In the [Page 63] end of the second Book he gives an account of the suppressing the XXX Tyrants who had raged for two years at Athens, by Thrasybulus, and also the Peace and Act of Oblivion, which was confirmed by the A­thenians amongst themselves by an Oath, by which an end was put to the Peloponne­sian War, which Thucydides calls the most memorable War that had ever happened, and the longest, and so in truth it was, for it was prolonged to the XXVII^th or XXVIII^th year as is manifested by Xenophon; these things are contained as I said in the two first Books of the Grecian History of Xeno­phon, which being read, the Reader may pass to his seven Books of the Expedition of Cyrus the younger, against Artaxerxes Mnemon his Elder Brother, written by Xe­nophon also, in which we have an account how Cyrus gathered Grecian Forces, and went up with them against his Brother. How he fought and was Slain, then how the Grecian Captains were Massacred after the Fight contrary to the Faith given, and how Xenophon (who followed Cyrus in this Expedition) after his Death, was chosen General by the Grecian Souldiers, and had the felicity to conduct them from the very heart of Persia, though continually assaul­ted by the Barbarians, and harassed with other miseries and inconveniencies into their own Countrey; in the first year of the 95 Olympiad. When the Reader has fi­nished these, he may then proceed to the [Page 64] rest of the Grecian History, in which the affairs both of the Grecians and Persians are continued to the Mantinensian Battel, in which the Thebans beat the Lacedemonians, under the Conduct of Epaminondas, who whilst he perform'd the parts not onely of a Commander but private Souldier, being grievously wounded, died soon after, and with him the Glory and power of the The­ban Common-wealth Expired; in the se­cond year of the 104 Olympiad: So that the Son of Gryllus will furnish the Reader with an Elegant and rich History of the affairs of XLVIII years; but this the Reader may enlarge and enrich too, if (as in reading Thucydides, he took in Plutarch's Pericles, Nicias and Alcibiades,) so here, he take in the Lives of Lysander, Agesilaus, Artax­erxes, Plutarch. Nepos. Thrasybulus, Chabrias, Conon and Datames, written by Plutarch and Nepos; for all these flourished in that interval of time which is represented by Thucydides and Xenophon, and afford a considerable ad­dition to the Histories of those times, the Justin. D. Siculus. IV^th V^th and VI^th Books of Justin, and the XIII^th XIV^th and XV^th Books of Diodorus Siculus belong to the same times; and as to Diodorus he is the next Authour I shall com­mend to the Reader.

SECT. XI.

FOr though Diodorus Siculus is some cen­turies Diodorus Siculus is said to be translated into English but not yet Printed. of years younger than Xenophon, as who flourished in the times of Julius Cae­sar and Augustus, about the CLXXXIII O­lympiad, yet in this our Series of Authours, I desire he may immediately follow Xeno­phon, being not one of the many, but a ce­lebrated Writer, and so expert in Anti­quities, that Greece can scarce shew another that is his Equal; which Judgment may be confirm'd by the Elogie which a Learned Divine of our Countrey, a Reverend Bi­shop, and excellently versed in this and all other sorts of Learning, is pleased to be­stow upon this Authour. Diodorus Siculus Mounta­gue Cicest. Episc. in praef. ad Apparat. (saith he) is an excellent Authour, who with great Fidelity, Immense Labour, and a rare both diligence and ingenuity, has collected an Historical Library, (as Justin Martyr calls it,) in which he has represented his own, and the Studies of other men, being the great re­porter [Page 66] of humane Actions; but as Diodorus himself stiles it the Common Treasury of things, and an harmless or safe Mistress or Teacher of what is Usefull and Good. Our Reverend Bishop might well call it an Im­mense Labour, for he spent XXX years, (as he himself confesseth) in writing this Hi­story, travelling in the mean time over several Countries to inform himself, run­ning through many Dangers as usually hap­pens. Diodorus also does rightly stile it a Common Treasury of things, for we have in his first The first Latine Edi­tions of this Authour make six Books, the occasion of this Errour was occasioned by the division of the first Book into two parts, by the Authour, by which the La­tine. Translatour and Vol­terranus, and some others, being deceived made six Books of those five. five Books the Antiquities and Transactions of the Egypti­ans, Assyrians, Libyans, Per­sians, Grecians, and other Nations before the Trojan War, as we have noted above, the five following Books that is from the V^th to the XI^th are lost, but from the be­ginning of the XI^th to the XVI^th we have the History of the times written by Thu­cydides and Xenophon, (as I have already said) written in a continued thread, but then in the end of the XV^th Book, he seems to design a Continuation of Xenophon's Hi­story, for he speaks expresly thus, in the end of the second year of the 104 Olympiad. In this year (saith he) Xenophon the Athenian concludes his Grecian History with the death of Epimanondas; and so the Sicilian passeth to the III year of the same Olympiad, in [Page 67] which he briefly unfolds the Story of the War of Artaxerxes, with the Rebel Per­sians and Egyptians, and the rest of the great Atchievements of Agesilaus, together with the Deaths both of Agesilaus and Ar­taxerxes, (to whom Ochus succeeded in the Kingdom of Persia,) Anno Mundi, 3588. In his XVI^th Book he gives an account of the actions of Philip of Macedonia the Son of Amyntas, from his entrance into his King­dom to the end of his Life. And in the same Book takes notice of other things, which happened then in other parts of the known World. The History of this XVI^th. Book may be made much more clear and large, by reading the Lives of Chabrias Dion, Iphicrates, Timotheus, Phocion, and Timoleon, written by Cor. Nepos. The Cor. Ne­pos. actions of these great Commanders made these times very famous, from the CV^th to the CXI^th Olympiad, from the second year of which Olympiad the XVI^th Book begins to shew the Noble actions of Alexander the Great, and to teach us how he gave a beginning to the third great Monarchy, in the 112^th Olympiad.

SECT. XII.

BUt others both Grecians and Romans have written the History of that great Monarch, more at large, (viz.) Plutarch Plutarch. in the Life of Alexander, and in two other Books which he writ concerning the For­tune of Alexander, and Arrianus the Ni­comedian Arrianus. in VII Books written in an Ele­gant and Xenophontean Style. I say in VII Books because the VIII^th which is usually added to them concerning the Indian Ex­pedition of Alexander, is a piece by it self, as appears both in Photius, and in the end of the VII^th Book, as the Learned Vossius Lib. 2. de Hist. G. cap. 11. Justin. Q. Curtius. observes; these two writ in Greek. And in Latine, Justin in his X and XI^th Book, and Q. Curtius Rufus an excellent and a subtile Writer, but his History has lost its begin­ning, by the injury of men, or times, or both. Both Arrian and Q. Curtius are flo­rid Epist. de Stud. Poli­tico. Writers, (saith Colerus,) but Curtius is the brighter, and sweeter than any Honey; he does rather weary than satiate his Reader, he abounds with direct and oblique Sentences [Page 69] by which the Life of man is strangely illustra­ted. Justus Lipsius gives the same judg­ment of Q. Curtius, he is (saith he) in my opinion an honest and true Historian, if any such there have been; there is a strange felicity in his Style and a pleasantness in his Relati­ons; he is contracted and fluent, subtile and clear, careless and yet accurate, true in his Judgments, subtile in his Sentences, and in his Orations Eloquent above what I can express. Accidalius thus speaks of him, Q. Curtius Praef. ad l. 4. a Latine writer of the actions of Alexander the Great, is more diligent than any of the Grecians; a true, candid, and most upright Writer, if we have any writer of Integrity. The Learned Vossius in a prolix discourse has made it very probable, that Curtius Lived and Published his History under Ves­pasian, about LXXX years after Christ. Nor Arrian flou­rished 14 [...] years after Christ. (Praef. ip­sius. & Su­id.) is Arrian to be defrauded of his deserved Commendation, who is reported amongst the Grecian Writers to have been a man of so great Integrity in Writing, that he was styled the Lover of Truth, and even still ho­noured with that Sirname by Coelius Rhodo­ginus. He was a Philosopher born at Nico­media, and famous at Rome in the Reigns of Adrian and Antoninus, and was common­ly call'd the new Xenophon, as Cataenus testi­fies in his Commentary upon the Epistles of Pliny; these I say have written more Lib. 1 Ep. 2. largely of Alexander the Great. The same Diodorus Siculus prosecutes the History of Diodorus Siculus. his Successours, in his XVIII^th XIX^th and [Page 70] XX^th Books, from the second year of the CXIV Olympiad, to the end of the CXIX^th Olympiad, A. M. 3650, which interval may yet be made much more clear, if the Reader please to take in the XIII^th XIV^th Justin. and XV^th Books of Justin, and the Lives of Demetrius and Eumenes, written by Plu­tarch; and because the last XX Books of the Sicilian, in which he had continued the Plutarch. Universal History, to the Expedition of Julius Caesar into Britain, (that is to the CLXXX^th Olympiad) are lost, I would ad­vise the Reader not to dismiss Justin here, but to go through with the following Books to the XXIX^th, to which he may subjoyn Plutarch's, Pyrrhus, Aratus, Aegides, Cleo­menes, Plutarch. and Philopoemenes, and also the Eclogs or Excerptions out of those Books of Dio­dorus, which follow the XX^th which are published in the Edition of Laurentius Rhodomannus: the Reader will find many things there concerning Agathocles the Si­cilian Tyrant, and his Actions in Sicily, and of Pyrrhus his War in that Island, and also of the first Punick War, which are well worth his Notice, nor do I think he should deviate from the right method of Reading Histories, if he should even then proceed in Justin, till he hath read all but the two last Books.

SECT. XIII.

BUt if the Reader thinks otherwise, he may after Diodorus Siculus pass to Polybius, a prudent Writer if any be, who Polybius was tran­slated by M. Edward Grimston, and Prin­ted, Anno 1634. flourished 220 years before Christ, in the 140^th Olympiad; he propos'd to himself the representing those times and transacti­ons, which gave beginning and perfection to the Growing greatness of the Roman Em­pire, and that he might effect this with the greater certainty and felicity; he un­dertook long Journies with much hazard, travelling over Africa, Spain, Gall, (now France,) and the Alpes; and then Compo­sed his General History of LIII years. We may conjecture at the worth and greatness of this Person, by the number of Statues, which the Grecians Erected to him in Pa­lantium, Mantinoea, Tegoea, Megalopolis, and other Cities of Arcadia; the Inscrip­tions of one of which testifies (saith Pausa­nias,) In Arcadia. that he travelled over all Seas and Lands, was a Friend and Allie to the Romans, and reconcil'd them, being then incensed against [Page 72] the Grecians; and another Inscription thus, If Greece had at first pursued the Council of Polybius it had not offended; but being now miserably afflicted, he is her onely Comfort or Support. Nor is it less observable which Pausanias testifies of him, that he was so great a States-man, that whatever the Ro­man General did by his advice prospered: and whatever he acted against it had ill success; yea he was so great a man, that all those Cities which United with the Achae­ans, made him their Stateholder, and Law­giver; therefore we doubt not but the great Elogies which have been given to his History by Learned men were well de­served, as for Example, that of John Bo­dinus, Polybius is not onely every where Equal, and like himself, but also wise and grave, spa­ring Methodi. c. 4. in his Commendations, sharp and severe in his Reprehensions, and like a prudent Law­giver, and a good Commander, he disputes many things concerning the Military and Ci­vil Discipline, and the duty of an Historian; nor does Justus Lipsius differ from Bodinus, but is rather more large in his Commen­dation; Not. ad lib. 1. Politic. 9. Polybius (saith he) In Judgment and Prudence is not unlike Thucydides, but in his Care and Style more loose and free, he flies out, breaks off, and dilates his Discourse, and in many places does not so much relate as professed­ly teach; but then his advices are every where right and Salutary, and I should therefore the rather commend him to Princes, because there is no need of an Anxious inquiry into his [Page 73] thoughts, but he himself opens and reveals his Sense, &c. But the most Learned Casau­bon in his Preface to Polybius, has most clear­ly and at large demonstrated the excellence of this Authour, and wherein he is to be preferr'd before the other Historians. He wrote XL Books of which we have onely the first five now Extant conspicuous in their Integrity, and the Fragments of the rest and some Excerpts collected together, and as far as was possible restored to their former Splendour, by the great Labour and rare Industry of the said famous Casaubon. In his two first Books to which he gives the name of an Apparatus or preparative, he shortly touches the times of the Roman Common-wealth, from the taking of Rome by the Gauls under Brennus, to the Romans first Expedition by Sea, with a Fleet out of Italy; and then treats a little more largely of the times that succeeded the first passage into Sicily, by which a beginning was gi­ven to the first Punick War, to the first year of the second Punick War. In which two preparative Books he compares the Roman affairs with the Grecian, and those of other People, who were then their Con­temporaries; in which (saith the Learned Casaubon,) the Studious will find many things which are not so well described any where else, and some that are no where else to be found, neither in any Grecian nor Latine History, The III following Books do well deserve to▪ be frequently and diligently read by all [Page 74] great Commanders and States-men, by reason of the greatness of the Subject of them, the vast Variety, accurate handling, and strange abundance both of Civil and Military Literature that is in them. The other Books (of which we have now Ex­tant onely some broken parcels) were Composed with the same exactness, and continued the History to the end of the se­cond Macedonian War with Perseus, when that Kingdom had an end put to it. So that it appears, I have shewn the way by this disposition and Order of Reading, to those that are Students in History, to that pe­riod which was pointed at by (the to me unknown) Aemilius Sura, that is to that Age in which the Roman power had in­creased to that greatness, that the supreme Empire of almost the whole World may not improperly be said to be in their pos­session; and this I suppose came to pass in that year, in which Macedonia was reduced into the form of a Roman Province, as I have above proved, viz. V. C. 587. A. M. 3784.

SECT. XIV.

WHerefore seeing amongst those four great Monarchies, which we have mentioned, of the World, that of the Ro­mans apparently excell'd all the rest, and seeing also their Common-wealth, (as the Learned Casaubon prudently observes out of Polybius) if ever any did, Experienced all the diversities of times according to the common Laws of Nature; it will here be­come our Reader of Histories to look back a while and contemplate the Rise and In­fancy of the Roman State, (which began under the first Monarchy,) and to descend to its Growth and increase, and afterwards to consider its declination towards its fall and Ruine, observing a right order both in the times and Authours till he arrives at the Period of that Interval which Censori­nus out of Varro hath in the third place de­fin'd to us; and that our Student may ap­ply himself to this, with the more ready and intent mind, let him hear Justus Lip­sius, a man deservedly great amongst the Philologers or Antiquaries, and who has deserved very much of the Roman History, thus seriously inviting him to it; In the Cent. 3. Misc. Ep. 61. [Page 76] Roman History (saith he,) there is a plenty both of great things, and strange Events, which many Writers have illustrated. O Great, and most Glorious Empire! and I add, of long Continuance! and therefore it is no wonder if it transcended both in men and Actions, that short and fleeting Monarchy of the Grecians: the Grecians (said one) excell in Precepts; the Romans in Examples, and in truth so it is, there never was a Nation, nor I believe ever will be, which affords more Commendable and vertuous Examples both for Peace and War; and therefore (my young man) come to this Harvest, gather the sheaves of Corn, and lay them up for thy use. Deservedly, O Justus Lipsius! for that is true which was said so long since by T. Livius; Either the love of Livius in proaem. lib. the business I have taken up deceives me, or there was never any Common-wealth neither Greater, nor more Venerable, nor Richer in good Examples; and that of M. T. Cicero, Cicer. Tus­cul. qu. 1. Where was there ever in any other People so much Gravity, Constancy, Greatness of Mind, Probity, Fidelity? where is there else that Excellence in every vertue that may be compa­red with our Ancestours? and Valerius Max­imus confirms all: Our City hath replenished Lib. 2. c. 6, 7. the whole world with all sorts of wonderfull Ex­ample. And from hence we may now de­rive but too great an occasion of Lamen­ting the hard fates of the Roman Historians, for as Parents do more deplore the Deaths, than the want of Children, so perhaps if we had never heard of the Writings of [Page 77] those Princes of History we had not grieved. But now when we see the broken frag­ments, and reade the Titles of most beau­tifull Works, we are vexed with desire, and tortured to the very Soul to think that a great part of them have perished, and that what remains is either corrupted with Age, or by the Envy of time wretchedly Maimed, or by the hands of a parcel of half witted Fellows interpolated, bom­basted, stuft out with additions, or other­wise very ill handled; which cannot be un­known to any man who is acquainted with Antiquity. Trogus an excellent Authour, whom Vopiscus in the Life of Probus num­bers amongst the most Eloquent, is totally lost, onely we have an Elegant Epitome, by which yet whosoever should pretend to judge of the intire work of Trogus, should be In not. ad Justin. mad in the opinion of the Learned Bongar­sius. The excellent History of Salust is to­tally lost; we have but a small part of T. Livy, not much of Tacitus, not above half Ammianus Marcellinus, and the Greek Writers of the Roman Story, have suffered the same injury of time as Polybius (as I have noted already,) Diodorus, Dionysius, and Dion Cassius, who if they were now Extant intire, we should then have a per­fect memory of the Roman affairs, from the building of that City, to the thousandth year of its Age. But let us be content with what is left, the Divine Providence has so ordered it, that out of the Reliques of [Page 78] what remains, the body of the Roman Hi­story may yet be beautifully built up, the Picture of which in Little is most Artfully drawn by our L. Annaeus Florus.

SECT. XV.

VEry Learned men, and well acquainted Florus has been several times tran­slated into English. with the Roman History exhort the Students of it, with an intent eye and mind to run through, look into and contem­plate this curious Representation, and not without good cause, it being (in the Judgment of Lipsius) a Compendium of the Roman History written finely, plainly and Eloquently. Nor does he stop here, but adds his Censure; the accurateness and brevi­ty Elect. l. 2. c. 5. of it are very often wonderfull, and there are many shining Sentences like Jewels inserted here and there, both with good Judgment and truth. Nor does the Learned C. Colerus, Colerus was a very Learned ci­vil Lawyer. whom I have so often cited before, decline [Page 79] from this opinion, his words are these; believe me; you will with no less pleasure reade, that terse piece than that with which you could see one of Apellis his Pictures, it is so well Epist. de Stud. poli­tico. compos'd, and so Elegant. I admire that Judgment which could insert SENTENCES, with so great prudence and brevity in such a heap and variety of things. The great and Learned Censor of Books in his Piece of Ludovicus Vivis, lib. 5. p. 356. teaching the Arts and Sciences, led the way to both these, where he affirms, there can nothing of that kind be fansied more accu­rate and pleasant; but in this Vivis and other Learned men are much deceived, who think this our Florus the same with the Epitomizer of Livy, and much more those who conceive he designed in this work to give us a Compendium of the Li­vian History; whereas he neither observes the Livian method, nor always agrees with him. And others that they may abate his esteem accuse him of a great fault, his con­founding times and relating that first which ought to have been placed in the second place, often also perturbing and confoun­ding the Names and Employments of their Generals; so that he who follows him, must often be led out of his way. I will not deny that there are many such Errours in this Authour, nor can I say whether they happened through ignorance or negli­gence, or want of care; but my opinion is that in some he may be excused, for as to the confusion of times objected, they might [Page 80] have known that he digests his Relati­ons by Heads and Species, rather than times, separating things of a like Nature, from those of a different; separating for Example Wars from Conspiracies, and civil Dis­cords from Military Expeditions; in short, what a great Antiquary has said for Paulus Diaconus, I should willingly offer in the behalf of Annaeus Florus, no man can be sup­posed so ignorant in Chronology, as that he can expect to find in Florus an exact Series of the Fasts, as if he were a sworn Ac­countant; and as to what concerns the confounding Names and Offices, who knows not that such failings happen frequently by the carelesness of Transcribers, and the ignorance of the ancient Notes? especially in the names of the Roman Generals and Magistrates, and in transcribing the num­bers of years: nor am I unacquainted with the complaint of that very learned Man Andraeas Scotus; It is not possible to express Observat. Hist. lib. 3. c. 34. what darkness and confusions the affinity of Names, and the great similitude of words, have cast upon the History of the Roman Com­mon-wealth, and upon their Families, and what an infinite trouble has from thence been given to the Students in Antiquities, and the Interpreters of Books. And therefore the Reader may in this if he please, (and I do most earnestly perswade him to it,) call in to his Assistence the Consulary and Trium­phant Fasts of Carolus Sigonius, or Onu­phrius, which are much more certain C. Sigoni. Onuphrius. [Page 81] Guides than Florus, for there he will find the Roman Story, shortly and regularly Adumbrated. Or the Annals of the Ma­gistrates and Provinces, of the Senate and Peo­ple of Rome, written by Stephanus Vinan­dus Pighius; than which it is impossible to Pighius. conceive a better Commentary can be made or wished, not onely upon our Flo­rus, but also upon Livy, Dionsius, Hali­carnassaeus, Dion Cassius, and upon all the other Writers of the Roman History, as the before named Learned Jesuite Schotus affirms. To conclude, as the small imper­fections which appear in the greatest beau­ties are easily pardon'd, or obscured by the great perfections which attend them, so I see no reason why we should not readi­ly pardon the few Errours we meet in so usefull and delicate a piece as Florus is.

SECT. XVI.

WHen the Reader has attentively con­sidered Dionysius Halicarnas­saeus never translated into Eng­lish. the shadow and Picture of the Roman History, let him proceed to [Page 82] consider the body of it in all its parts, in the following method and order of Au­thours, if he is pleased to make use of my advice. Dionysius Halicarnassaeus, who flourished about 26 years before Christ, Anno V. C. 725, is by the confession of all a grave Authour, and a most accurate searcher into, and describer of the Roman Antiquities; and therefore I desire he may lead the way: He in order to a clear No­tice who the Romans were, having given an account of what he had learned concer­ning the People call'd the Aborigines, or the most ancient inhabitants of Italy, not one­ly from Fables and the reports spread a­mong the many, but from the Books of Portius Cato, Fabius Maximus, and Vale­rius Anciatis, and of many others; then he continues a History in XX Books to the first Punick War, which began the third or fourth year of the 128 Olympiad, A. V. C. 488, but of those twenty Books which Photius tells us he left, onely XI have been brought down to us, in which we have the History of CCCXII years described, with great fidelity and care, nor have we rashly assigned the first place to Dionysius, in this our Chain of Authours, because he will be instead of a bright Torch to our lover of Histories, who without him must often stick and blink and walk in a dark Night, whilst he read onely Latine Historians. Will you have the reason of this? Joannes Bodinus will give you many, and will also Do metho­do. cap. 4. [Page 83] at the same time give you his judgment of this Authour. Dionysius Halicarnassaeus (saith he,) besides the esteem he merits by his familiar Style, and pure Attick Greek has also written the Roman Antiquities, from the very Foundation of the City, with so great a di­ligence, that he seems to excell all the other Greek and Latine Authours, for what the Latines neglected as common and well known, their Sacrifices (for instance,) Plays, Tri­umphs, Insigns of Magistrates, and all the order of the Roman publick Government, their Taxes or Revenues, their Auspicia, or Divinations, their great Assemblies, and their difficult partitions of the People into Classes and Tribes; Lastly, the Authority of the Se­nate, the Commands of the Plebes or lower Orders, the Authority of the Magistrates and the power of the People; he onely seems to have accurately delivered, and for the better under­standing of these, he compares them with the Grecian Laws and Rites; as when he fetches the Laws of Retainers, Vassalage or Protecti­on, which Romulus instituted (though Caesar saith the same was in common use amongst the Gauls,) higher, and derives it from the Athe­nians and Thessalians, and he saith also the Roman Dictatour had the same power with the Lacedemonian Harmoston, the Thessa­lian Archum, and the Mitylenean Aesymne­ten, (all which several Magistrates had in their several Countries a Sovereign Pow­er, and were not responsable for what they then did;) the Laws of Romulus, Numa, [Page 84] and Servius, had together with the Origine of the People of Rome, perished totally if this Authour had not preserved them; the Latine Historians (as was said before,) neglecting them as vulgar and well known, and this happens to most Historians who neglect what is com­monly known, as if it were equally so to Foreig­ners, as well as to their own People, or as if they thought them unchangeable; thus far Bodinus. But if any man is desirous to know farther how great a person Dionysius Ha­licarnassaeus was, and what great advanta­ges his History affords, he may reade the several works Henricus Stephanus has added to his History; he lived under Augustus Caesar, was a Domestick and great Familiar or friend to Varro, and Bodinus thinks that from his Fountains he derived his best in­formations, lib. 3. de Rep. c. 3.

SECT. XVII.

AFter this Dionysius let the Prince of Titus Li­vius, this Authour was tran­slated into our Tongue by one Phi­lemon Hol­land a Phy­sician. the Roman History Titus Livius fol­low, famous above all others, for his Elo­quence and Fidelity, (that honour is given him by Cremutius Cordus in Tacitus) which Quintilianus perfects and enlarges where he compares him with Herodotus. Hero­dotus (saith he) will not be offended that Ti­tus Livius is compared with him, seeing he is in his Relations of things of a wonderfull sweet­ness, and of a most clear Candour, in his orati­ons Eloquent above what can be spoken, every passage in them being so exactly fitted, both to the things and Persons; and as to the passi­ons especially the sweeter and milder, (that I may speak sparingly) no Historian has bet­ter represented them, and therefore he hath by the variety of his excellencies equall'd that im­mortal briskness of Salust, nor is the censure of the famous Casaubon, that Learned man (though more modern) inferiour to this. Titus Livius is a great Authour, divinely [Page 86] Elegant in a certain sweet plenty of Style, loving Vertue, hating Vices, right in his judg­ment, expert in things relating to Peace and War, (though no way accustomed to, or expe­rienced in the latter) and if I have any Judg­ment, this was the onely genius the People of Rome (I speak as to History,) ever had equal to their Empire; these Commendations are solid and Prolix enough, and yet I cannot forbear but I must here insert also the cen­sure of Johannes Bishop of Alariensis, which Ludovicus Vivis so much admires, and in De ratione Dicen. l. 3. p. 1 [...]4. de Histo. 1. truth, I hope I shall perform an usefull and acceptable piece of Service by it to the Studious, because it shews the perfections we should aim at in History, and the de­faults we should avoid; whether he obser­ved them in Livy, or in considering the way of writing Histories, or by compa­ring both these together. Variety (saith he) hath not rendered Livy confus'd, nor the simplicity of his History nauseous; in the lit­tle and low matters which often happen, he is not without Bloud, dry and jejune, and in Plenty and greatness, he is not turgid and Vast, being full without swelling, equal and soft on this side Efeminacy, neither Luxuri­ously flowing, nor horridly barren; in plain things he is not unpleasant, nor Languid, in soft things, he does not rise in a violent and forced Oratory; yet he is not so copious as to be trouble some, nor Lascivious in his Pleasant­ness, nor so light as to be careless; he is not so severe as to be rud, nor so simple as to be [Page 87] Naked, nor so drest, that he may seem by an affected composition to be curled with Hot-Irons; his words are equal to his matter, and his Sentences to his Subjects; he is grave and magnificent in his Accounts of Actions, and yet short and proper; in Narrations he is natu­ral and always circumspect, never confounding the Order, nor forerunning the Event, he is no seeker of favour by Flattery, or sparing in his reprehensions in expectation of a Pardon, nor yet bitter to an offence; he never spares the Senate, that great and venerable Moderatour of the World, nor the Roman People the Prin­cess of the Earth, if precipitated by rashness, or deceived by Errour, or by any other means whensoever they happen to transgress the bounds of Moderation and Justice, not de­frauding the Enemies of his Countrey; of their deserved Commendation, that he might some times seem onely to be a relatour, and at other times a Censour; he is so severe and sower, as when occasion serves, he never spares the gra­vest Censours, than whom nothing at Rome was more Sacred, and in his Orations he is sparing in words, but rich in Sentences; he is much more restrain'd and concise in his words, than in his Sense, in which particular, he hath not onely excelled all other Writers, but himself also very much. This he said of Livy, saith Ludovicus Vivis, and I grant it the description of an excellent Historian. Livy published his History under Au­gustus, and he died the IV^th year of the Reign of Tiberius; he writ CXL Books, [Page 88] (which were in the opinion of Petrarch, divided into Decades, not by himself, but by the fastidious Laziness of the Readers,) but of these there are onely XXXV Extant, of which the three first have many things in Common with Dionysius Halicar. but de­scribed Dionysius. Halicarnas­saeus. with that sweetness, and Elegance of Style, that the Reader can never repent the Repetition; in the remaining VII Books of the first Decade, this Authour brings down the History to the 461 year after the building of Rome, and yet before our Reader proceeds, though perhaps he has attain'd a rich History of the first times of the Romans, out of Dionysius Halicarnassaeus, and the aforesaid Books of Livy, yet in this place Plutarchs, Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Valerius Poplicola, Corio­lanus Plutarch's Elogies. and Camillus, may not unprofitably be read; not unprofitably did I say? what is there in that Authour that can be read without great advantage and reward? es­pecially if he falls into the hands of a seri­ous Reader, that is apprehensive and of an experienced Judgment? Treasures of Lear­ning, Wisedom and History may be found in Plutarch, yea there are some that assert that his Monuments, (I mean his Parallel Lives and Morals,) are the Libraries, or Collections of all the ancient Historians or rather Writers, and of all that have either spoken or done any thing honou­rably, rightly or wisely, (whether they were Grecians or Romans,) so that Theodorus [Page 89] Gaza answered not imprudently, when be­ing once asked what Authour he would chuse, if he were to be deprived of all o­thers, he replied, onely Plutarch, and therefore we so often already have, and hereafter shall recommend him to the Rea­der, to be read by parts, every part in its proper place. By parts (I say,) because In Not. ad Polit. lib. 1. c. 9. (as Lipsius saith,) he did not so properly write an History as certain Particles of History, and appropriated to himself the Lives of Illustrious men, and yet here, (if Epist. de Stud. Polit. we may Acquiesce in the judgment of Cole­rius,) he observes all the Laws of History, more than Suetonius, or any other of those that have written Lives; however (in the opinion of Lipsius,) he truly deserves a­bove all others, to be styled the Prince of Writers, who doth wonderfully form the judg­ment, and in a diffused and plain way of Writing, leads a man every where to Vertue and Prudence.

SECT. XVIII.

BUt to proceed, where we should have gone on; in T. Livius the whole se­cond Decade, from his tenth Book, to his XXI^th is lost, to wit, the History of LXX years, from the year of the City 461, to the year 531, in which space of time, (be­sides other very remarkable things,) the War with Pyrrhus King of Epirus, call'd the Tarentine War, the first Punick War, and the Ligustick, Illyrick and Gallican Wars, are said to have happened; for the supplying therefore this defect, the arguments of these Books drawn by the Epitomizer of our Authour may be usefull, and for the filling up, and enlarging the story Plu­tarch's Pyrrhus, and the XVII^th, XVIII^th, and XXII and XXIII Books of Justin; to Plutarch. Justin. Orosius. these may be added 14 Chapters of the IV^th Book of Orosius, who flourished 415 years after Christ, and the IV first Chapters of the third Book of Paulus Diaconus, his P. Diaco­nus. Historia Miscella, who lived about 787 years after Christ, and especially the first and second Books of Polybius, in which though we have not a full History of the Polybius. [Page 91] first Punick War, yet we shall there find more of it than in all the Latine Histo­rians that are now Extant; and we may judge the same of the Wars the Romans made with the Galls, inhabiting in Italy. And here Plutarch's M. Marcellus, and Fabius Fabius Maximus and M. Marcellus. Maximus may be taken in, who fought most Valiantly and succesfully against the Ligurians, and Cisalpine Galls; and as they afterwards did in the second Punick War against the Carthagineans, for Fabius first broke Hannibal with delays, and then, Marcellus taught the World, it was possi­ble to beat him, as the Authour de Viris Illustribus writes, Chap. 45. Lastly, Joan­nes J. Zonaras. Zonaras may perhaps afford some as­sistence for filling up this Gap in the Ro­man History, who in the second Tome of his Annals has given a short account of the affairs of the Romans, from the building of the City to the Reign of Constantine the Great, and also Appianus Alexandrinus will Appianus. Alex. afford some help in his Punic's and Illyric's. A writer according to the censure of Pho­tius, Bibl. Od. 57. studious of delivering the truth as far as possible; a Discoverer of the Military Discipline above most others, and he is one of those who hath as in a Table represen­ted to us, the Provinces, Revenues, Armies, and in general, the description of the whole Roman Empire, as Johannes Bodinus Method. l. 2. cap. 4. hath observed. And Josephus Scaliger in his Animadversions upon Eusebius, sup­poseth him to have been a mere Child in [Page 92] History, or else that many things had been tack'd to his Syriac's by others; and the Learned Vossius affirms, he took many things from Polybius, and useth to tran­scribe Plutarch word for word; and in truth Franc. Balduinus acknowledgeth that Lib. 1. de instit. Hist. p. 87. some passages of Plutarch in his Crassus concerning the Parthian War, are repea­ted in the Books of Appia­nus: but this is supposed to Both lived under Hadri­an, as Vossius out of Pho­tius, but Appian continu­ed much longer, and writ under Antoninus the Suc­cessour of Hadrian. be done, not by Appian (who was contemporary with Plu­tarch,) but by some of his Transcribers, that they might fill up some Chasme in his Commentaries. This Authour flou­rished in the year of Christ, 123.

SECT. XIX.

OUr Reader having thus furnished him­self as well as he can, is now to pro­ceed to the XXI^th Book of T. Livius, (that Titus Li­vius. [Page 93] is to the third Decade,) and let him go on, and diligently reade all that remain and are still Extant, in order (that is two Decades and an half) in which he will find an uninterrupted History of LVI years, to the year of Rome 587, but together with those XXV Books of Livy, (for just so ma­ny besides the first Decade have escaped this common Shipwreck,) and besides Plu­tarch's Fabius, and Marcellus already men­tioned, Plutarch. let the Reader also peruse, his Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, T. Quinctius Flaminianus, Paullus Aemylius and his Cato Major or Censorius, because every one of these flourished in that interval of time, and Plutarch hath written their Lives very largely and clearly, and in them the suc­cess of the Roman affairs. From the XLV^th Book of Livy nine Decades and an half, (for he writ XIV Decades,) that is, 95 Books are perished in that common and deplorable Shipwreck, that is, the History of 157 years, to the Death of Drusius Ne­ro the He was the Son of Livia, the Wife of Au­gustus, by a former Husband. Son-in-Law of Augustus Caesar, who died whilst he was General in an Expedi­tion against the Germans beyond the Rhine, Anno V. C. 744. The Contents of these Books are yet Extant, collected by the be­fore mentioned Epitomizer; for the improvement of which after Plutarch's Cato Major follow his two Gracchi's, Marius, Scylla, Cato Minor or Uticensis, Sertorius, Lucullus, Pompejus Magnus, and Marcus Brutus to be read every one in his time, [Page 94] and with them let the Reader take in Salustius his Jugurthine Salustius and Caesar's Commentaries, both these Authours are in English, especially the latter rarely done. lib. 14. War, and add to them also the Catilinarian Conspiracy, and Caesar's Commentaries, which Authours Antiquity accounted amongst the principal Histori­ans, Salustius was famous about 44 years before Christ, Anno V. C. 707. And Quin­tilianus hath compared him with Thucydi­des; Tacitus calls him the most florid writer of the Roman History; he is call'd by Mar­tial the Epigrammatist, Crispus the first of all the Roman Historians, whereupon Colerus De Studio politic. writeth thus to Stanislaus Zelenius; Con­sider (saith he) that by the testimony of the Ancients themselves, there was in Salust all those Endowments that make a perfect Histo­rian; and afterwards, you can repeat the Catilinarian Conspiracy by heart, but to no purpose, if you do not well consider that man's profound knowledge in publick affairs, which he hath discovered even in that very small Book; and he wrote the Jugurthine War with no less Art, and his two And yet it is not a­greed amongst the Learned, whether these two Epistles are his or no. E­pistles to Caesar, concer­ning the setling the publick af­fairs; do they not even seem to have fallen from Heaven? and Justus Lipsius saith thus of him, If it were left to me, I should in this Catalogue not doubt to chuse Salustius for president of the Senate of Historians; and as to Caesar's Commentaries, who ever thought they did [Page 95] not deserve the highest Commendation, and to be read by young men with the In Bruto. utmost care? Cicero averr'd that they were very much to be approved. Aulus Hertius saith they were to be admir'd; they are saith he so much approved by the judgment In Praef. l. 8. de Bello Gall. of all, that they rather seem to have preven­ted the need of another writer, than to have afforded him an assistence or occasion; and yet (as he goes on,) my wonder here exceeds that of all others, for they onely know how well and Correctly he hath written them, but I know with what facility and quickness he did it. But what say the Criticks of our Age? they do not much less esteem it. The fa­mous Vossius thus expresseth himself; he is Lib. 1. de Hist. Lat. c. 13. a pure and Elegant Writer, and most accu­rate in the structure of his words, and glides along like a pleasant quiet River, and is poli­tick and grave in his Sentences, in which he excelleth Xenophon, though in the rest he is not much unlike him; and a little after, In truth here is a great plenty of great and usefull things, which he that neglects to please himself in the interim, with the Elegance of the words, is less wise than Children, who do not so de­light themselves with the Leaves of Trees, as to despise their excellent Fruit. The piece of the African War, whether it be Caesar's, or Oppius, or Hirtius that writ it, is pre­ferr'd by Colerus before all the rest; that work (saith he) surpasseth the rest, not onely in Bloud and Colour, but in strength also and Nerves: Princes and Souldiers have in it [Page 96] what they may reade and practise, or rather admire; for who can imitate Caesar? Justus Lipsius differs somewhat from these two concerning Caesar's Commentaries, and thus he writes; of those Historians that are Epist. ad Max. I. Imp. Extant, C. Caesar is most praised, if as an Elegant Narratour, I willingly assent, for the Style of that man is truly pure, adorned but without Paint, or force, and worthy either the Attick or Roman Muse; but if as a per­fect Historian, I say I doubt, because in his Civil History, some doubt of his Fidelity, and the third requisite in a good Historian, the Moral and Politick part is altogether wan­ting in him; and therefore Caesar who was no undervaluer of himself, gave them the Title of Commentaries, and not of Histories, and even for this he deserved true praise, because he despised the false.

SECT. XX.

AFter Plutarch's Lucullus, the remain­ders Dion Cas­sius, he flourished in the year 231 after Christ. of Dion Cassius or Coccejus may be taken in also, who is deservedly repu­ted one of the best Historians; they begin with the actions of Quintus Metellus in Creet, Anno V. C. 686, then they express the great enterprises of Pompey, beginning with the Pyratick War, and so continue down the Roman History, to the Death of Claudius Caesar, Anno V. C. 806. In truth Dion wrote LXXX Books of History, be­ginning Phot. Bib. Cod. 71. with the Arrival of Aeneas in Ita­ly, and the building of Alba and Rome, and so went on without any interruption, ending in the Slaughter of Heliogabalus, Anno V. C. 973, Christi 221, but the first XXXIV Books are lost, the next following XXV are Extant, and those that succeeded these again are lost; how great the loss of these LV Books is, will easily appear to any man from what is spoken of him by John Bodinus; considering (saith he,) that Dion [Page 98] spent his whole life in managing publick affairs, and by all the inferiour degrees of Honours, arose to that height as to be twice made Con­sul, and after that being Proconsul, Gover­ned some Provinces to his great honour, joy­ning a great knowledge and experience toge­ther; who can doubt whether he is to be placed amongst the best writers of History? in truth he gathered together very accurately the order of the Assemblies of State, and the Rights of the Roman Magistrates; he is the onely per­son who hath given an account of the Consecra­tion or Deifying of their Princes, and Di­vulged their Arcana imperii, secrets of State, as Tacitus calls them, for he was a diligent searcher into the publick Councils. Or if our Reader desireth to go a shorter way, and to reade the rest of the History where Livy fails, twisted in one thread as it were; Vel­lejus Vellejus Patercu­lus. Paterculus may very well be admitted, who flourished under Tiberius Caesar, as he himself testifieth, Anno Christi 27. Aclear explainer of the ancient History, close and of Ald. in Scholiis ad Vell. a great efficacy; and Aldus Minutius speaks thus of him, he is honest and true, till thou comest to the Caesars, where he is not every where faithfull, for through flattery he con­ceals or covers many things, yea and plainly tells them otherwise than they were, yet he expresseth himself every where, with a certain facil and flowing Eloquence. Justus Lipsius thus speaks of him, nothing can flow with greater purity and sweetness than his Style; he compre­hends the Antiquities of the Romans, with [Page 99] so much brevity and perspicuity, that (if he were extant intire,) there is no other that is equal to him, and he does commend the illustrious Persons he names, with a certain exalted Oratory, and worthy of so great a man, as Johannes Bodinus saith; it is com­monly conceived and agreed, that his Com­pendium of the Roman History is contained in two Books, but we have onely some shreds of his first Book, as Rhenanus calls them, but if the Reader begins with the IX^th Chapter of the Gruterian Edition, he will find the History intire, from the Conquest of Perseus King of the Macedoni­ans, to the XVI^th year of the Reign of Ti­berius Caesar, and he may all along as he pleases, joyn the Lives I have mentioned a­bove, in their order with Vellejus, to en­large the History, and so he may pass on to the Writers of the Caesarian times.

SECT. XXI.

AS to the Writers of the Caesarian times, Suetonius. let the Reader begin with Suetonius Tranquillus, a most correct and candid Writer, as Vopiscus stiles him. He flou­rished In firmo, c. 1. under Trajan and Adrian, Anno Christi, 127, and was Secretary to Trajan: Spartia. in Adriano. c. 11. he was an intimate friend to Pliny Secundus, and he deserved his esteem, being as Pliny saith in a Letter to Trajan, an honest, sincere Lib. 10. Ep. 95. Learned man. And thence I conclude that the Testimonies of the later Criticks con­cerning him are true, as that of Ludovi­cus Vivis; Suetonius is the most diligent and Lib. 5. de trad. disc. impartial of all the Greek or Latine Writers, he seems to me to have written the Lives of the XII C sars with great Integrity, because he conceals not the Vices or suspicions of Vices in the very best Princes, nor does he dissemble the Colours of vertue in the worst. Colerus Epist. de Stud. Poli. doth almost follow Vivis, as to the main, and then adds something as to his Style: His Style (saith he) is short and Nervous, [Page 105] and no man has more diligently intermixt the publick Rites, he is most correct and candid, and not obnoxious to any man, for whoever wrote the tempers or humours, and manners of Princes with a greater freedom? Courtiers and Statesmen may from hence reap much ad­vantage, and may also from Suetonius at the same time learn to detest flattery. And with Suetonius Tranquillus, the Reader may admit Tacitus an Historian of a great and sharp Tacitus. judgment, who wrote of the same times with Suetonius; the Criticks say he had a new, concise and sententious way of wri­ting, but as to the use and utility of his History they vary, or it may be rather fight each against other. Justus Lipsius the Prince of the Criticks thus expres­seth himself; an usefull and a great writer, Ep. ad. Ord. Batav. and who ought to be in their hands, who have the steering of the Common-wealth and Go­vernment; and again, a sharp Writer and Ad Max. l. 2. Imp. very prudent, and who if ever may be very usefull in the hands of men, in these times and Scenes of affairs; he doth not recite the Victories of Hanibal, almost fatal to the Romans, nor the specious death of Lucretia, nor the Prodigies of the foretellers, or the predictions of the Etruscans, and the like which are apter to please than instruct the Rea­der. Let every one in him consider the Courts of Princes, their private Lives, Counsels, Commands, Actions, and from the apparent Similitude that is betwixt those times and ours, let them expect the like Events; you [Page 106] shall find under Tyranny, Flattery and Infor­mers, Evils too well known in our times, no­thing simple and sincere, and no true fidelity even amongst Friends; frequent accusations of Treason, the onely fault of those who had no fault; the Destruction of great men in heaps, and a Peace more cruel than any War. I confess the greatest part of his History is full of unpleasant and sorrowfull Accidents, but then let us suppose what was spoken by the dying Thrasea, spoken to every one of us; Young man, consider well, and though I im­plore the Gods to avert the Omen, yet you are born in those times that require the well fixing your mind by Examples of Constan­cy. To this may be added his Style, which is by no means sordid or vulgar, but distinguished with frequent and unexpected Sentences, which a man cannot conjecture whence they should be derived, which for their truth and brevity may be compared to Oracles; to conclude, he is a wonderfull Writer, and does most seriously doe, what he seems not to make his business at all, for it is not onely a History, but a Garden and Seminary of Precepts. Colerus follows here the Judgment of Lipsius, and thus he writes, we esteem the Judgment of Lipsius as equal to Tacitus; thou thinkest, and that se­riously, of the Court and Palaces? as I love thee, look a little seriously in Tacitus, into the fortune of Courtiers, and the genius of Princes. Let Cornelius be always by thy side, that true Court Companion; nor is there any cause that our Centaurs and Rusticks [Page 107] should affright thee from him, who pretend that these representations are too ancient, and no­thing like our manners and times. I say it is nothing so, there is the same Play still upon the Stage, the same vertues, the same vices are Reacted, onely the Actours are changed, onely here wants a Learned and a wise Specta­tour. Isaac Casaubon, a person admired for his Learning and Vertue, here goes quite against the Judgments of Lipsius, and Colerus, for where he compares the other Historians with his Polybius, he af­firms of Tacitus, that if his fortune had not deprived him of a Subject worthy of his facul­ties, he might have equall'd any of the most excellent Greek or Latine Historians, but such times (saith he,) fell under his Pen, espe­cially in his Annals; as there were never any more polluted with vices, or more destitute of, or enraged against all Vertues: then comparing more particularly the matter of the Hi­story of Polybius and Tacitus together, he concludes thus, We can easily excuse Tacitus, but not those who prefer this Au­thour before all the other Historians, and a­ver that he is to be frequently read by States-men, and the onely one from whom Princes, and their Councellours should take rules for the Government of Common-wealths. Now if we would expose the absurdity of this Opinion, it would not be difficult to prove, that those who think so, accuse our present Princes of Ty­ranny, or would manifestly teach them the principles of Tyranny; for what can be more [Page 108] pernicious (especially to a young man,) than the reading of those Annals? for as good ex­amples when they are frequently in sight im­prove a man, without his observation, so ill Examples hurt us, for by little and little they sink into our minds, and have the effect of Pre­cepts, being often read or heard; but to proceed, our Reader will better appre­hend, and more clearly understand both Suetonius and Tacitus, if he has first read Dion Cassius whom I mentioned before, Dion Cas­sius. and of this opinion Colerus is also; thou wouldest better understand Suetonius and Ta­citus, let then Dion lead the way. I would have thee know this, that he is the onely Au­thour, who has given us the famous and Po­litick oration of Mecoenas to Augustus, which is worth all the rest of the Histories, and he has also the splendid oration of Agrippa to him; in other things and relations he hath not wholly escaped the suspicion of false­hood.

SECT. XXII.

THese being thus expedited, if the Rea­der please to take in the Lives of Nerva Coccejus, and Trajan, two most excellent Princes out of Au­relius Victor, Xiphilin, or a­ny Spartianus, Lampridi­us and Capitolinus, flou­rished under Constantius Chlorus, Anno Ch, 295. Vulcatius under Diocle­sian, Anno Christi. 289. other of the Writers of Lives; Spartian's, Adrian, and Capitolinus his Antoni­nus will immediately follow in their order, and all the rest of the Emperours, whose Lives and Acti­ons are written by those six Writers of the Augustane Story, not so Elegantly as truly, and were lately put out accurately, amen­ded and illustrated by Isaac Casaubon, the immortal glory of this last Age; and Clau­dius Salmafius a man Learned to a Miracle in the ancient Learning: and although Casper Barthius prosecutes these Authours, Advers. l. 26. c. 16. [Page 110] with a mean and slight Testimony, and affirms, that the Latine Tongue was be­come deformed, in the very ages of Theo­dosius and Justinian; yet I would not have any man thence conclude, that he shall gain small advantage by the reading of them: let him rather hear Justus Lipsius, and Casaubon's Judgment of them, of which the first thus briefly; One Writer is Epist. quaest. l. 5. Ep. 2. usefull for one purpose, and another for ano­ther; Spartianus, Lampridius, Capitolinus and Vulcatius, and the rest of the Writers of the second form, have indeed not much E­loquence; but it is possible to extract out of them a vast plenty of Antiquities, and of the forgot­ten Customes. The latter is yet more large in their Commendations; The reading of these Authours (saith he,) is not onely usefull but necessary for all men, but especially for all those who are Studious of the ancient man­ners and History, and especially for those who love the Roman Civil Law. For how many things will you find dispersed in the whole Work, which belong properly to the study of Law? how often is it there observed, that a new Law was introduced, or an ancient Law abrogated? that I may not mention this, that if it were not for these Writers, many of the great Civilians, whose names and fragments are extant in the Pandects, would have been altogether unknown to us, not to mention also the Style, which is common with these Au­thours, to the ancient Lawyers; in short, what esteem ought we to have for the excellent [Page 111] Letters of so many Princes, so many grave Decrees of the Senate, and so many other pub­lick Monuments, transcribed out of the Ca­binets of the Caesars, out of the Acts or Re­gisters of the Senate and People, or out of I know not what other secret and concealed Re­cords? or whom will you assign out of all the number of the ancient Writers, to whom we are indebted for a like Fidelity or Industry? nor ought I to pass by those Learned, and not far fetched but Domestick Digressions, with which these Books are inriched as with so many studds of true and Radiant purple in very ma­ny places; thus far Casaubon. These Hi­storians will furnish the Reader with the History, (if the Chronologers deceive me not,) of an Hundred Sixty and Seven years, it is however certain, they will give him the names of LXX and upwards, who in the course of these times, by right or injury obtained the name of Emperour or Caesar. The Lives of some of which also are written in VIII Books, by Herodian an Herodian. Herodian flourished, Anno. Chr. 224. Authour of good Judgment, Discreetly and Elegantly; therefore if the Reader please to joyn him to the other six Writers of the Lives, in his due time he will have a fuller, and more illustrious History of Commodus the Emperour, and of the other seven that succeeded him, to the Gordians; for he will find in that Writer, a great variety of both things and men, and frequent ex­amples of Fortune's Frowns and Smiles, as she is ever changing; and he will ob­serve [Page 112] strange and wonderfull Counsels, and unexpected Events; he will find as oc­casion serves grave Sentences, and a style full both of dignity and sweetness; to con­clude, he will find plenty of necessary Uten­sils Politian. in praef. ad In­noc. 8. Pont. for the improvement of his Manners, and as it were the Looking-Glass of Humanity, which he may inspect all his Life time, and from whence he may draw instructions for the better management of publick or private af­fairs. Let him then reade this Authour either in Greek or Latine, for I know not whether Herodian deserves more Honour, who in his own Language flows with a plentyfull vain, or Politian who has tran­slated him so happily, that he doth not seem so much to have rendered as writ that History. However these six Writers the last of which is Vopiscus, who is yet learned and accurate beyond any of the rest, will bring the Reader to the thou­sand thirty and sixth year after the building of Rome, that is to the Death of Carinus Caesar, who with Numerianus is said to have reigned or affected the Empire af­ter Carus; it is to be confess'd that in this Series which these six Writers of Lives have left us, there is a gap betwixt Gordia­nus the third, and Valentinian the Empe­rour; for Valerianus did not succeed im­mediately after Gordian, but first the two Philippi, and to them the Decii; and then Vibius Gallus, with his Son Volusianus, then Aemylianus Libycus, who was imme­diately [Page 113] succeeded by Valerianus; and the Learned Casaubon reckons some others, to In Not. ad Trebell. Poll. the number of Fifteen, between Caesars and Emperours, within the space of nine, or at most ten years, none of whose Names are mention'd any where in these Writers; a supply is therefore to be made of this de­fect from Aurelius Victor, a discreet and He flourish­ed Anno Christi 395. l. 21. c. 18. In Not. Ad. Hist. Au­gust. Politian Miscel. c. 73. prudent Writer, of whom Ammianus Mar­cellinus saith, That for his sobriety he is much to be commended; and Casaubon calls his small Piece of the Lives of the Empe­rours, An Elegant Discourse: or from Pomponius Laetus, A Man (for the Age in which he Wrote) rarely acquainted with An­tiquities and good Learning, and very conspi­cuous amongst the most Excellent Wits of his time; who hath Written a Compendium of Paulus Jo­vius Elog. 40. the Roman History, from the death of Gor­dian the younger, a little beyond the time of the death of Heraclius. This Authour flourished about the year after Christ 1488. In this History of the Caesars you may reade many Voss. de Hist. Lat. lib. 3. c. 8. things which are not to be found in any of the Historians, which for the most part he ex­tracted from the Ancient Panegyrists.

SECT. XXIII.

BUt because the History of those times is very confused (especially if we con­sult none but Latin Writers) to the Suc­cession of Constantine's Children. It will well requite the trouble, to seek assistence from the Greek Authours, Eusebius, Zosi­mus, Eusebius, Zosimus, Zonaras. Zonaras, or some other Authour; as well in relation to the asoresaid Empe­rours, as also to them that follow Dioclesi­an, Constantius Chlorus, Galerius and Constan­tine the Great, whose Histories may be thus illustrated: For in this Age Eusebius flou­rished, under Constantine and his Children, about the year of Christ 325. and for his great Learning and Extraordinary Know­ledge of History, was very famous; of whom more will be spoken when we come to the Church-Historians.

Zosimus Writ the declension of the Em­pire Zosimus. in VI. Books, beginning with Octavi­anus Caesar, and ending in the taking of Rome by the Goths under Alaricus: In the first Book he runs through all the first Em­perours, to Dioclesian, with great brevity; but in the other V. Books he gives a lar­ger and fuller account. He lived in the time of Theodosius the younger, who began his Reign, Anno Christi 407. and ended it Anno 449. his Style is short and clear, pure and sweet, as Photius represents it. He [Page 116] was a Pagan, and therefore reflects very often upon the Christian Princes; and yet Leunclavius, a Learned German, doth not think it is fit, for all that, to call his fide­lity too easily in question: and he adds moreover, That if any Man Reade him In Praefat. ad Sambu­cum. without prejudice, he will find, that his His­tory (which is almost totally made up of those things that were passed by, and not taken no­tice of by the rest of the Historians) is very pleasant, and usefull to all Men who are em­ployed in State Affairs. Henry Stephens was of opinion, That he industriously sought into Epist. ad Phil. Syd­nejum. the truth of Conceal'd things, and carefully discover'd it. This History is, for the most part of it, an Epitome of Eunapius, who Wrote an History of the Caesars, beginning Voss. de Hist. Graec. [...]. 18. l. 2. where Herodian ends, and continuing it to his own times; he lived under Valentinian, Valens and Gratian, about the year of Christ 370. His History, though said to be extant at Venice, was never Printed. But Photius, saith Zosimus, did almost Transcribe Euna­pius, as differing from him onely in this, that There is lately an Elegant Version of Zosim is printed in English. he doth not reproach Stilicon as Eunapius did; and that his style is shorter and more easie, and that he rarely makes use of any Rhetorical Figures: but Zosimus begins his History much Higher, and continues it down much Lower.

Johannes Zonaras Wrote a General His­tory, Zonaras. from the beginning of the World, to the death of the Emperour Alexius Com­nenus, Anno Christi 1118. in whose time he [Page 117] lived; he divided it into Three Tomes; in the First Tome he briefly Writes the History of the World, from the Creation to the destruction of Jerusalem. In the Second Tome he Writes the Roman Histo­ry, from the building of Rome to Constan­tine the Great, but with great brevity. The Third Tome gives an account of the Actions of all the Christian Emperours, from Constantine the Great, to the death of Alexius Comnenus. From some, or all of these therefore the History of the foresaid Emperours may be made more full and clear, especially if to those things which are rela­ted by Zosimus, as done by the Goths under Gallienus and the succeeding Emperours of Rome, Jornandes may be called in as a Jornandes. Witness, who will assure us, That all which Zosimus hath related is true: For as Leun­clavius assures us, What both these Histori­ans have Written concerning the Goths, do most exactly agree; nor is there any other dif­ference betwixt them but this, that Jornandes is a little more full, as not omitting the cir­cumstances of things; nor is it to be wondred at, that these were not so well known to Zosi­mus as they were to Jornandes, for the latter was a Goth, or an Alan, which Nation was nearly related to the Goths, and understood the affairs of the Goths, who were his own Countreymen, much better than the Grecians did, and joined the Gothick Historians with the Greek and Latin Writers, as he himself confesseth. Jornandes flourished about the [Page 118] year of Christ 540. and here let the Rea­der proceed immediately to the reading of Ammianus Marcellinus, a Man of a clear Ammia­nus Marcelli­nus. Fidelity and Judgment in the esteem of the most rigid Censors. By his own con­fession, his Language is Military and Un­polished; he was very famous about the year of Christ 375. He diligently prosecutes as a Souldier the account of Military Affairs, and doth often digress in Relations, and doth not seldom intermix Sentences, as Justus Lip­sius acquaints us. And Balduinus goes on thus, He is indeed a Souldier, but a very Lear­ned Souldier; and so studious of Antiquities, that there is scarce any thing which he hath not searched out. To speak in one word, he is a most diligent Writer; his Latin indeed is rough, for he was a Constantinopolitan; but he is full of Learning, and has included in his History, a various, manifold and un­common Literature; and has largely Wrote an History of those times, that are not so well Written by any other: thus, and much more Balduinus relates of him.

Marcellinus Wrote XXXI. Books, from the beginning of Nerva to the death of Valens, in whose Court he lived; but of these, the first XIII. have perished in the common Shipwreck; in those which are extant he begins with Gallus Caesar, about the year of Christ 353. and largely describes the Actions and Lives of Constantius Cae­sar, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian and Valens, an Eye-witness of a great part of which [Page 119] things he was, and he will bring down the Reader to the year of Rome 1128. which is the 378th year of Christ. His History was Translated into English by one Phile­mon Holland, a Dr. of Physick, and Printed at London in Folio, in 1609. who before had Translated Livy, Suetonius, and L. Florus; but this Authour was not then so well understood as he is now, by the indefatigable industry of Henry and Ha­drian Valesius; and therefore 'tis fit there should be a second, and a more plea­sant Version made of this excellent Au­thour.

SECT. XXIV.

IF after Ammianus the Reader proceeds to Paulus Diaconus his Miscellan Histo­ry, Paulus Di­aconus. and joins, as companion with him, Jor­nandes, whom I just now mention'd, his His­tory of the Succession of Kingdoms and Times; and also his History of the Goths; he will Diaconus lived about the year of Christ 820. observe from these, not onely the Decli­ning of the Roman Empire, which Zosimus undertook to shew him, but also the intire Ruine and Destruction of it. And lest the repetition of what he was well acquainted with before, should prove tedious and trou­blesome to him, he may, if he please, be­gin with the XIIth Book, and so go tho­rough with the rest, in which he shall have a perfect History from Valentinian, to the Deposition of Michael Curopolates; that is, [Page 121] to the year of Christ 812. and may also take in Jornandes, when the times or affairs require it. For he (as we have hinted al­ready) Wrote an History, which is not to be despised, concerning the Origine of the Goths, and their Actions about those times. And Procopius may also be here usefully Procopius. Read, who Wrote VII. Books of the Persi­an, Gothick and Vandallick Wars, underta­ken He flourish­ed Anno Christi 532. This Au­thour was Translated some years since into English. by Justinian, and managed by Belisari­us, as his General. For if we may believe Volteranus, there is in his Books the knowledge of such things, as will please the most curious, and so many Windings and Turnings of Com­manders (as for the most part happeneth in such like Wars) so many strategems, consul­tations concerning the ordering, alluring, con­futing delaying, and mitigating men, that they will render the most incapacitated fit for Publick and Private affairs. And the Lear­ned Casaubon calls him a Great Writer. And Johannes Bodinus saith, No Man can doubt whether he is not to be esteemed amongst the Principal Writers.

After Procopius follows Agathias, a Flo­rid Agathias. and Prudent Writer, he lived about the year of Christ 567. ‘He was a Lawyer Vossius de Hist. Graec. l. 2. c. 22. by Profession, of Smyrna in Asia, and Wrote V. Books of the Reign and Actions of Justi­nian, and begins his History where Proco­pius ended his; his Style is Terse and Flo­rid, and he was a Pagan.’ But if the Rea­der should rather chuse to pursue and reade the III. Tome of Zonaras, whom I have Zonaras. [Page 122] also recommended before, Nicetas Choniates Nicetas Choniates. Nicepho­rus Grego­ras. will then claim the next place, and after him Nicephorus Gregoras; which two Au­thours continuing the History, especially of the Eastern Empire, will bring the Rea­der down to the death of Andronicus Palae­ologus the latter, that is, to the year of Christ 1341. The first of them flourish­ed in the year of Christ 1300. and in XXI. Voss. de Hist. Graec. l. 2. c. 28. Books Wrote the History of LXXXV. years, that is, from the death of Alexius Comnenus, where Zonaras ended, to the year of Christ 1203. the latter lived Anno Chri­sti Lib. 2. c. 29. 1361. ‘and Wrote a Bizantine History in XI. B [...]oks, from Theodorus Lascares, to the death of Andronicus, in whose times he lived, and therefore deserves the less credit in his History of that Prince's Reign; and Cantacusenus severely corrects him for it, and calls him a Light Person, and a Liar: his Style is much worse than that of Nicetas, for it is too luxuriant, and has other faults proper to that Age; but he is for the most part a good Judge of the causes of things.’ But we will not defraud any of them of that Commenda­tion has been given them by very Learned Men. Christoph. Colerus saith the Orien­tal Writers pursue a florid way of Writing, and affecting Elegance too much, are some­times the farther from it. I confess, Gre­goras is almost the onely Politician. Zonaras was very knowing in Publick Affairs, and is especially usefull to Lawyers. Choniates is [Page 123] often guilty of trifles; yet he is Religious, and sometimes discourseth prudently of the causes of Publick Calamities: but we shall dis­course of these again hereafter, and per­haps in a more convenient place.

But if our Lover of History seems wea­ried with the reading of so many Au­thours, and desireth to shorten his journey, and reduce it to a Compendium. After Di­on Cassius, or Suetonius, he may then take Zosimus, who, as I have said, Wrote the declining State of the Empire, as he testi­fies concerning himself, and continues the History from Augustus, to the taking of the City of Rome by the Goths, in the year of Christ 410, 1162 years after it was built (an Elegant Translation of which Authour was lately printed in English) from which time, to the Reign of Charles the Great (which is worth our observati­on) for the space of almost 400 years; the City of Rome, and all Italy, which for ma­ny Ages before had been the terrour and dread of foreign Nations, being now ama­zed, either with the sense of present Mise­ries, or apprehension of impending future Calamities, never had any quiet. From the time therefore in which Alaricus en­tred the City, and Zosimus ended his Hi­story, Blondus Forliniensis continues down Blondus. the History of the Goths, Vandals, Longo­bards, and other Nations, a Thousand and thirty years, to the year of Christ 1440. in which time he flourished, and till 1450.

[Page 124] Or if the Reader thinks fit, when he has read Vopiscus, he will not decline from the right Method of Reading History, if he admits Carolus Sigonius his History of the Car. Sigo­nius. Western Empire, which he (as he profes­seth) collected with great and diligent accurateness, and then in Writing con­signed and commended it to Posterity, with as much truth as was possible in that great obscurity of things, and the dark­ness of times.

He begins in the year of Christ 284. in which Carinus being overcome by Dioclesian at Murtium perished, and ends in the death of Justinian, which hapned in the 39th year of his Reign, Anno Christi 565. After this time (saith he) the Empire being wholly extinct, the Roman State was divided into many di­stinct Kingdoms, as those of the French and Burgundians in Gall, of the Goths in Spain, of the English and Scots in Britain, of the Longobards and Normans in Italy, of the Saracens in Africa; and from thence the Reader may proceed to Blondus, beginning at the VII. or VIIIth Book of the first De­cade, Blondus. and so go on with it to the end.

SECT. XXV.

BUt if the Reader desires a yet shorter course of History, and will not in­dure to be oppress'd with such a burthen of Authours, Johannes Cuspinianus hath Johannes Cuspinia­nus. Written the History of the Caesars, or Em­perours, from Julius Caesar, to the death of Maximilian the first, Anno Christi 1518. who was a diligent searcher into Ancient Histo­ries, which is an excellent Work, and wor­thy to be read by all. In which, setting down their Lives in order, he hath not one­ly left to Posterity their Great Examples, Sayings and Actions, and whatever was well or ill done by them, but also an unin­terrupted series and thread of History, which is intire and unmaimed for above One thousand and twenty years. Cuspini­anus flourished Anno Christi 1540. under Charles the Vth.

Paulus Jovius begins almost where the Jovius. other ends; and Wrote not onely a His­tory of the Caesars, but an Universal His­tory of Fifty years, which is splendid and beautifull: but some think he is not very faithfull in it, for he is said to have Writ­ten [Page 126] many things very partially, insomuch as Gorraeus of Paris confidently affirmed, That his Romance of Amadis would not seem less true and credible to Posterity, than the His­tory of Paulus Jovius, as Bodinus saith in his Method of History, where he concludes thus, ‘He delivers many things concerning the Persians, Abissines and Turks, which he could not possibly know whether they were true or false, where he could have no other foundation but rumours and publick fame, having never seen the Letters, Speeches, Actions, or Publick Monuments of those Princes and Coun­tries, and yet he Writes as if he had been present, and leaves not the least place for doubt. So what he might with facility have most truly Written, the Af­fairs of Italy, those he would not Write truly; and what he would have Written so, those he could not:’ thus far Bodinus of him. And Melchior Canus saith, He Page 538. was too violent both in his Love and Hatred; and because he was a lover of Money, he was a slave to it in the very Writing of his History. And yet if we may credit Justus Lipsius, he is to be commended and Read for the manifold and various series of things which he has regu­larly and clearly reduced into the body of an His­tory. The famous President, Jacobus Augustus Thuanus follows him, who is, without dis­pute, Thuanus. the Prince of the Historians of this Age. He has delineated a General Histo­ry of the World, from the year 1545, to the [Page 127] year 1608. in a most excellent style, which is since continued to the year 1618. by him­self, in a later Edition.

SECT. XXVI.

I Am not ignorant that there are many other Authours, who have with their Pens delineated the Histories of particular Nations, or Persons, as well Ancient as Modern, who, in their times, do well de­serve to be read; and amongst them I will first name Francis Guicciardin, who treats of F. Guicci­ardin. the affairs of Italy in his own times, a wise and understanding Writer, who is able to make his Readers such (as Lipsius saith;) he is free and true, and biass'd with no affections, except that of hatred, which he seems often to discover against the Duke of Urbine. Bo­dinus is also very large in his Commenda­tions of Guicciardin, and that not without good reason; for in Writing History, he hath excelled all his equals in the judgment of grave men; And I know not (saith he) whe­ther I may not say the same thing, as to the [Page 128] more ancient Historians; for where any thing, that seems inexplicable, falls under deliberati­on, he shews an admirable subtilty in his dis­course, and every where sprinkles grave Sen­tences like Salt: And a little after, there is in him a strange study to find out the Truth, for he affirms nothing rashly, but backs every thing he saith with necessary Arguments; he is re­ported to have transcribed the Letters, De­crees, Leagues and Speeches out of the very Fountains and Originals; and, to conclude, he was so exact an inquirer into Things, Pla­ces and Persons, that it is said, he took a view of all the Cities, great Towns and Rivers of Italy, and which I think most material (saith he) carefully examined all the publick Monu­ments. This great Man flourished about the year of Christ 1530. his History was Translated into English many years since, by a very great Man.

Paulus Aemilius Veronensis flourished in Paulus Ae­milius. the same Age of our Great Grandfathers, about the year of Christ 1530. who, be­ginning with the first Kings of France, Wrote the History of France for above 1000 years, with a Laconick brevity. He is said to have spent XXX. years in this excellent Work, by which he acquired to himself a great Name. He is, in the o­pinion of Gerardus Johannes Vossius, an Ele­gant De Hist. Lat. lib. 3. c. 12. and a curious Writer; and Justus Lip­sius bestows an high commendation upon him, in these words. He, (saith he) that In Not. ad l. 1. Polit. c. 9. I may express the thing shortly, is the onely [Page 129] man amongst the latter Historians, who ob­served the true and ancient way of writing Historys and steadily pursued it; his style is Learned, Nervous, Close and inclining to subtilty and finesses, fixing and leaving ever something in the mind of a serious Reader; he often mixeth Sentences and wise Expressi­ons; he is a diligent searcher, and a severe judge of things, nor is there any Writer in our Age more free from passions. A little before P. Aemilius, lived Philip Comines, who writ Phil. Comines, this History was published in English in Folio and Octa­vo a few years since, the Octavo being a new transla­tion. so well of the actions of Luis the XI^th King of France, as Justus Lipsius feared not to compare him with any one of the ancient Historians. It is incredible (saith he,) how clearly this man saw all things, and looked through them; he discovers the most concealed Councils, and delivers salutary and rare Precepts for our instruction, and that in a diffused way after the manner of Polybius. The famous Pa­risian President Jac. Augustus Thuanus, Hist. li. 21. hath left an excellent Testimony to Poste­rity, of Comines his History in the Histo­ry of Luis the XI^th, writ by that prudent Knight Philip Comines, as I cannot deny that there are many precepts of Prudence, so no man can deny but there are many Examples of a disingenuous mind, and therefore no way befitting the Majesty of a King. Co­mines flourished about the year of Christ 1490.

[Page 130] Emanuel Meteranus wrote the History of Meteranus. the Low Countries, Chromerus the History of Poland, Petrus Bembus that of Venice, and others have written the Histories of other particular Countries, which are worth the reading, but I design not to ex­press them all, as indeed who can? or if I could, who could reade them all? but I have made it my business to propose, es­pecially to my younger Hearers, a thread of Histories disposed in such a right order, as he may from it learn the distinct Changes, and Varieties of times, and the Series of the great Transactions that have passed in the World, down to our own Age.

SECT. XXVII.

BUt that we may not be thought wholly ignorant and negligent of our own History, whilst we search into that of other Nations, it is convenient to give some ac­count of the British Writers, and to an­nex it by way of supplement to the former Catalogue, and to point out at the same time in what order they are to be read, for I have no small confidence I shall thereby more oblige our University Youth, than by the other; that is, by shewing a more certain and shorter way to the knowledge of our British History, as you see I have already done in relation to the Universal History, for who is there that doth not esteem it a shamefull thing, to be thought a Stranger in his own City, a Foreigner in his own Countrey? As for me what M. Cicero said once of the Latine Poets to the Romans, I should with much greater con­fidence apply to English men as to the Histories of Britain; None can seem Learned to me, who is ignorant of what is our own. [Page 132] In truth to search out the great Actions of other Countries, and in the mean time de­spise our own, is a certain sign either of a most Lazy inactivity, or of a soft and un­manly delicacy; for though that which Sir Henry Savil (the great and eternally to be Epist. prae­lim. ad Malmsber. Anno 1601. remembred Ornament of our University,) saith is most certainly true, and confirmed not onely by his, but by the Testimony also of Mr. John Selden the Lawyer, a man not onely excellently versed in History, but in all other sorts of ancient Learning; that there was never yet any man who hath Epist. ad Aug. Vin­cent. written an intire body of our History, with that fidelity and dignity as became the great­ness of the Subject; yet the former of these confesseth that we have some particular parts of our History, which are not ill written in former Ages, and the latter (Mr. Selden) acknowledgeth and commen­deth some others, as written exceedingly well in this last Age. But be this as it will, I shall with the greatest confidence assert that there are many noble Actions, and things that are worthy of our Contem­plation and Observation, which will occur in the reading of the greatest part of our Histories; this then is the order which I should recommend for the reading of our British History to the Studious in it. First, Let our Student begin with the famous Sir William Camden's Britannia, in which (be­sides a most accurate description of the Camden's Britannia. whole Island,) he will find briefly repre­sented [Page 133] the History of the first Inhabitants, and an account given of the Origine of the Name; the Manners of the Britains, the History of the Romans in Britain, and many other things infinitely worth our know­ledge, collected not out of mere fictions and fables, which none but a vain man would write, nor any but an ignorant man believe, (as he expresseth himself,) but out of the most sincere and uncorrupted Monuments of Antiquity; my advice therefore is that this Book, or rather treasury should in the very first place be most diligently perused, nor will it be amiss here to call in the assistence of Mr. Selden's two Books of Collections, Seldeni A­nalecta. of the Antiquities of the Britains and Eng­lish, either of which Books consists of eight Chapters, in which he has collected what doth most properly belong to the ancient Civil Administration of that part of Great Britain which is now call'd Eng­land, and in which he has most excellently described both from Ancient and Modern Writers; our publick Transactions both Civil and Sacred, and our State Catastro­phes to William the Conquerour, and then (according to the method proposed by us in the beginning of our course of History,) the Reader may be pleased to reade over George Lilly's Chronicle, (or short Enumera­tion) of the Kings and Princes, who by the He flourish­ed in the year of Christ 1560. changes of Fortune in diverse and succee­ding times, have been possessed of the Em­pire of Britain, or those Commentaries [Page 134] which J. Theodorus Clain Printed of the affairs of Great Britain, in the year MDCIII, under the Title of a Compendium of the British History, which is Elegantly form'd and written.

SECT. XXVIII.

BUt if the Reader had rather begin with the more ancient Writers of our History, immediately after Camden's Bri­tannia and Selden's Analecta, in my judg­ment William of Malmesbury deserves to be Will. Mal­mesbury. first admitted, because the fidelity of his Relations, and maturity of his Judgment, have set him above all the rest. And this is also the Testimony of the Noble and Learned Sir H. Savil concerning him. William of Malmesbury (saith he,) was a Epist. prael. ad rerum Angl. Scrip­tores. man exquisitely Learned for the age in which he Lived, and hath compiled the History of about seven hundred years, with so much fide­lity and industry, that he seems to be the onely man amongst all our Writers, who hath performed the part of a good Historian; and the famous Camden speaks thus of him, both the Civil and Church History of England is much in debt to that man. He writ in V Books the History of the Actions of the [Page 138] Kings of England, from the year of Christ 449, in which the English and Saxons en­tered Britain, to the year 1116, which was the XVI^th year of the Reign of Henry the first, to which he afterwards added two Books more from the XX^th year of that Kings Reign, to the 8^th year of King Stephen, which was the year of Christ 1143, in which times he Lived. There are some who advise the beginning with Jeffery of Jeffery of Mon­mouth. Monmouth, because he begins his History much higher, and affirms that one Brutus a great Grandchild of Aeneas, and LXVIII Kings besides, Reigned here for about one thousand years before Caesar entred Britain, but we thought it very fit to pass him by, because he seems to write of things that are very obscure and dark, by reason of their Great Antiquity, and are involved with mere fabulous Stories; nor have we done or spoken this upon our own private judgment onely, many Learned men having said the same thing before us. Neubri­gensis In Proaem. ad Histo. who Lived not long after; Jeffery of Monmouth speaks thus. In our times (saith he) there Sprung up a certain Writer, who to Expiate the faults of the Britains, set forth a number of ridiculous inventions, extolling their Vertue and Valour, with an impudent Vanity above the Macedonians and Romans, his Name was Jeffery, and he was Nickna­med Arthur, because taking the Fables of the ancient Britains concerning Arthur out of their old Romances, and encreasing [Page 139] them with his own Additions, and giving them the Varnish of the Latine Tongue, he Cloathed them with the Honourable Name of an History: He also with greater boldness pub­lished the fallacious divinations of one Merlin, (which he hath also improved by his own Ad­ditions, whilst he turned them into Latine,) for Authentick Prophecies which were groun­ded upon unmoveable truth. John of Wi­thamsted, In Grana­rio. who flourished in the time of Henry the VI^th, doth in part agree with William of Newbury. According to other Histories (saith he,) which in the judgment of some deserve more Credit; this whole pro­cess concerning Brute, is rather Poetical than Historical, and for many causes seems to be founded in fancy, rather than in any Reality, and Bale confesseth that, there are many things in his History which exceed belief; and John Twin, a diligent searcher out of the British Antiquities, calls him the Bri­tish Homer, the Father of Lies; but Pon­ticus Virunnius, (a very Learned man in the esteem of Vossius,) who lived above 130 years since, and reduced Jeffery's History into an Epitome, passing by the fabulous parts of it, bestows this Elogy upon him. Jeffery of Monmouth was a famous Histo­rian, and a Cardinal, a man of much Autho­rity with Robert Duke of Gloster, Son of Henry II King of England; he was a great favourer of his Countrey, and Collecting a History of the most ancient times, from the Records of their Kings, and out of their highest [Page 140] Philosophy, he continued the same in an unin­terrupted Series from the times of the Tro­jans. That his History is most true, will ap­pear from the Custome of the Western Kings, which was to have always some with them, who should faithfully relate their greatest Acti­ons; and John Leland also defends him a­gainst Newbury and Polidore Virgil; he flou­rished about the year of Christ 1160, un­der Henry the II. But however (as I said before,) for these reasons we have passed him by, and rather put our Reader upon William of Malmesbury.

Henry Archdeacon of Huntington fol­lows next, who in VIII Books shewing the H. Hun­ting donen­sis. Origine of our Nation, and continuing the History of King Stephen and his Suc­cessours, goes on to the year 1153; he wrote many other excellent Pieces which would enrich our History, but that they lie concealed from the World in Ma­nuscripts in Libraries; Polidore Virgil styles him an excellent Historian, and John Le­land an approved writer, he flourished a­bout the year of Christ 1160.

William of Newbury beginning with the William of Newbury. Death of Henry the first, continues the History a little farther, to wit, to the year 1197; he is a great lover of truth in the opinion of Polydore Virgil, but he is sharply reprehended by John Leland, be­cause in reprehending Jeffery of Monmouth, he kept no mean, he flourished about the year of Christ 1220.

[Page 141] To Conclude, Roger Hoveden deduced our History to the year of Christ 1202, in his Annals, which he hath divided into two parts that is to the IV^th year of King John's Reign, in whose time this Authour flourished.

SECT. XXIX.

I Must confess those latter Historians do not make any great addition of years to Malmesbury's History, yet they will il­lustrate it, and sometimes perhaps make it more full and perfect; of this the Reader will have a great Experience, if about the year of Christ 849, he take in the Life of Alfred written by Asser Menevensis, which Asser Me­nevensis. In praefat. ad Asseri­um. History (as the famous Camden saith,) will afford no small pleasure to thy mind, nor will it bring less profit than pleasure, if whilst the mind is fixed on the Contemplation of those great things, you endeavour wholly to conform your self to the imitation, and as it were re­presentation of them. Asser Menevensis flou­rished about the year of Christ 910.

And then if about the year of Christ 1060, the Reader please he may also take in Eadmerus his History, which was Eadmerus. lately brought to light, and illustrated with Notes and excellent Collections, by the Learned John Selden, a Lawyer of rare Erudition.

To these the Reader may add, that true and faithfull History written by Matthew Matthew Paris. Paris, which beginning with the Corona­tion of William the Conquerour, Anno Christi 1067, is continued by him to the year 1253, and by another as Bale assures us to the year 1273, that is, to the Death of Henry the third, what Baronius his opi­nion Ad Annum, 296. of this Authour was, appears in these words, Any man (saith he,) may easily see how much his mind was exasperated against By the Holy Seat is meant the Court of Rome. the Holy Seat; except those Reproaches were inserted by the Publisher, which if they be ta­ken out, or excepted, you may call the rest a Golden Commentary, it being onely a tran­script word for word of the publick Records; most admirably put together and consolidated. After Matthew Paris I desire Thomas Wal­singham his Chronicle may follow; he also was a Monk of St. Albans, and began his History from Edward the first, where the former ends, and continues it down to the end of Henry the fifth, or the year of Christ 1422. But as whilst we are reading Matthew Paris, there is an History of Stephen written by an unknown hand, The Life of King Ste­phen. which will amplifie and illustrate the Hi­story if taken in; so if after the first Book of Walsingham's History about the year 1306, the Life and Death of Edward the [Page 149] Second, written by Sir Thomas de la Moore Voss. de H lat. l. 2. c. 64. de la Moore. Knight, a Servant of that King, be also admitted it will enlarge that History. As this Authour was dignified with the ho­nour of Knighthood, so he deserves no less esteem for his kindness to Posterity express'd by this History, which deserves the more credit, because he was intimate­ly acquainted with that Prince, and served under him in the Wars.

SECT. XXX.

THe Reader having dispatched the Chronicle of Walsingham, may in Walsing­ham. the next place pursue his Hypodigma Neu­striae his History of Normandy which will render the former Histories more clear and complete, it containing a perfect ac­count of the Story of that Dukedom, from Rollo the first Duke of it, to the 4^th year of Henry the 5^th, who in the year 1416, forced Normandy after it had been Ravish­ed, and Alienated CCXX years from the [Page 155] English, to return to its due Allegiance to the English Crown; nor let the Reader think I give him this advice rashly, for (as it is rightly observed by the Learned Mr. Selden,) the ancient affairs of the Normans are so implicated and twisted with ours, that if a man consider seriously of our own, he cannot pass by theirs without sloath and ignorance. Now Andraeas Duchenius in the Andraeas Ducheni­us. Odericus Vitalis. year 1619, put out several Writers of the Norman History, and amongst them Ode­ricus Vitalis a Countreyman of ours, who was born at Attingham in the County of Salop, is the principal; he wrote 13 Books of Church History, the first and second of which contain the Martial Actions of the Normans in France, England, and Apulia in Italy, to the year 1141, which was the 6^th year of the Reign of King Stephen, Voss. de H. lat. lib. 3. cap. 6. about which time this Authour flourish­ed.

But to return to our English History after Walsingham's Chronicle, (which as I said in the last Section, ends in Henry the 5^th;) if our This Gap is now supplied by the last Authour I have mentioned in my Additions to the last Section. Reader thinks to find any one of our Nation, who hath written our History in La­tine, from this time of Hen­ry Polydore Virgil. the 5^th, to the Reign of Richard the third; he will be much decei­ved, except perhaps some Manuscript lies concealed in the recesses of some Li­braries Consecrated to Antiquities, which [Page 156] have not as yet seen the publick Light. Therefore I will recommend to my Hea­rers a History which may be had, that is one of the Published Authours, and may be come by; now here had been a vast Gap of almost LXX years, if Polydore Virgil had He flourish­ed in the Reign of Henry the 8th, Anno 1542. not prevented it, which in so great a scar­city of our own Authours, the Studious Historian will not unwillingly take in, for although (as the noble Sir Henry Savil writes of him,) he was an Italian, and a Stranger to our affairs, and which is yet more, never employed in any publick Station, and of no great natural, either Judgment or Ingenu­ity; and although in delivering our History, he has often mistaken things, and passed over in silence many things worthy to be known, yea has too often imbraced things that are false instead of truth, and so left us a very faulty History. Yet I should conceive this hap­pened for the most part, where he describes the times of Henry the VIII^th, for besides that he was ignorant of our Tongue, he must of necessity not know many things that were then Transacted, and it is high­ly probable, he writ some things in favour of Queen Mary, otherwise than he knew they were, but this is not to be suspected of the former times. Let our Reader therefore take the History of the two Hen­rys the V^th and the VI^th, and of the two Edwards the IV^th and the V^th from Polydore Virgil, the Reign of Richard the third who immediately follows these was written by [Page 157] the famous Sir Thomas Moor Knight, Lord Chancellour of England, who flourished a­bout the year 1533, in the Reign of Henry the 8^th, but the Learned Vossius thinks the Work imperfect, because as he largely de­scribes De Hist. lat. l. 3. c. 13. by what Villanies he ascended the Throne, so he doth not tell us how he after­wards administred the Government, and even that part which we have seems to have wanted the Authour's last hand, and the Elegance of the Latine of his other Works do much exceed that of this Work.

Henry VIIth succeeded Richard the third, whose Life and Reign was not long since represented to us by the most noble Viscount Verulam, so happily and so fully, that if he hath not excelled the best Histori­ans, he yet at least equall'd them; this Work was first written in English, but has since been turned into Latine, as the pre­liminary Epistle to the Book call'd Gusta­vus saith. After this let the Reader peruse the Annals of the most Reverend Bishop F. Goodwin, in which the Reigns of Henry the VIII^th, Edward the VI^th, and Queen Mary are described, with a great and com­mendable brevity. Lastly, the famous William Camden, the Founder of the place I now enjoy, and my Patron, wrote the Annals of the Actions of Queen Elizabeth in England and Ireland, which Queen was the most glorious and prosperous Queen that ever swayed a Sceptre, for this Elogy was bestowed long since upon her, by Anna [Page 158] Attestina the Mother of the Guises, as Hist. l. 129. p. 1051. Thuanus saith. Let our Reader in the next place diligently reade this History, and then tell me, whether it be not comparable to the best of the ancient Annals, and that with Justice and truth.

SECT. XXXI.

BUt now, if any of our Countreymen, who are desirous to Reade the Histo­ry of England, be so delicate, that he thinks it a task of too much labour and trouble to undertake the Reading of so many Au­thours, and therefore would rather chuse some one Historian (who may serve in­stead of all the rest) and stick to, and pur­sue him alone: He must remember, as I said before, that there is no such Latin Hi­storian extant, who hath well described the Affairs of Britain, from its first Inhabiting to our Times: but yet there are some, who, in English, have commendably attempted to doe this. Amongst whom, I shall not fear to commend in the first place, that famous Man John Speed. He having travell'd over all Great Britain, read diligently all our own Historians, and those of our neighbour Nations, together with a diligent search in the Publick Offices, Rolls, Monuments, and Ancient Writings, or Charters, built up a [Page 165] Splendid and Admired Theatre of the Bri­tish Empire; which, with great Expedition and Labour, he perfected in XIV. years, in Ten (Scenes, or) Books, in this order. In his First Scene, he hath most excellently represented the image of this Kingdom, with its distinct Counties, and Principal Cities and Towns: In his IId. he Exhibits all the Provinces of Wales: In the IIId. he gives a Description of the whole King­dom of Scotland: In the IVth, he shews the Kingdom of Ireland, and all the several parts of it. Nor has he onely proposed to our view, the naked Images, and bare Maps, though he has done that too with great ex­actness and beauty, in these Four first Scenes: but he hath also, by short Narra­tives, adjoin'd to his Maps, discovered whatever in each part is Memorable and Worthy to be seen, or taken notice of. If from thence the Reader turns his Eyes up­on the Vth Scene, he will see the Situation and Greatness of the British Islands: the Ancient Names, first Inhabitants, Manners, Polities, with the most Ancient Kings and Governours. When he comes to the VIth Scene, he will find there the Successions and Actions of those Monarchs and Presidents, who flourished during the times in which the Romans were Masters of Britain: In the VIIth Scene the Authour doth express the History of the Saxon and English Monarchs, and the times of their Reigns. In the VIIIth Scene he Commemorates the Origine [Page 166] of the Danes, their Expeditions and Incur­sions into England, and all their Actions here which are worth the taking notice of. In the IXth he describes the Invasion of the Normans, their Conquest, and the History of William the Conquerour, and all his Suc­cessours: And lastly, in the Xth Scene, he hath contained the Joyfull Entrance of James the First, the most happy Union of the Two Kingdoms, and the Peace esta­blished by King James with all the Neigh­bour Kings and Princes. And then, as a Corollary the Venerable Authour doth, with a Vivid and Unaffected Style (which runs through his whole Work) most clearly shew, that horrible black, and never be­fore heard of Design of the Gunpowder-Plot, which was by God miraculously dis­covered and prevented.

Wherefore I do most earnestly exhort our Young Men, and especially those who are of Noble birth, and intend to Travell, that they would first peruse this beautifull Theatre of Great Britain, and run over all the parts of it, before they Travell into Foreign Countries, or visit strange Nati­ons: For though I will not deny, that the desire of knowing the various Laws of Countries, the searching out the Rites and Customs of many several People, and the seeing the Forms of divers Cities, is a very commendable affection, and which was highly celebrated in Ulysses: yet I think it is preposterous, if not absurd, to [Page 167] desire to see Foreign, and far distant things, and in the mean time neglect what is nearer and at home; to seek out Cities that are Situate abroad, and afar off; and nei­ther to see nor know those we have at home. And this is the more unrea­sonable, because our Britain It is base and hurtfull and unworthy a good Sub­ject, to search into▪ and ad­mire the things that belong to Strangers; and in the Interim never to consider the good things of their own Countries, neither ob­serving nor magnifying the Vertues of their own Princes, which is ever before their Eyes. Georg. Fabrit. is one of the most celebrated Islands in the whole World, and hath many famous Ci­ties in it, many Temples Re­verend and August for Reli­gion, Venerable for their Antiquity, and Conspicuous for their Ornaments and Splendour; we have Moun­tains which are enobled by Fame; Fountains, that for their use and effects, are admir'd; Navigable Rivers and safe Ports, and many other things which are infinitely worth our perusal and knowledge. Therefore let we persuade you, Young Men, once or more to view, and with great attention to run through the four First Scenes of this Theatre, I mean the Geogra­phical part. I am much deceived, if there be any where, under Heaven, a Countrey that can boast of more Monuments which deserve to be seen: Then go through the other Six Scenes, and reade the Historical part seriously; I will become your Surety, that you shall find in every one of these Parts, some things that are very well wor­thy of remembring. Nor do I think there [Page 168] is any Countrey under Heaven which has so much reason to Glory in the Illustrious Atchievements of her Children as ours hath. To conclude, this you may be sure of, that which soever of you hath treasured up the greatest number of our domestick affairs and things; and does freely com­municate them to Foreigners wheresoever he comes (which for the most part is de­sired by most Men) he will be the Wel­comest Guest, and will have the greatest liberty of inquiring (as doth become a Traveller) into the Manners and Laws of those People he comes amongst, and of asking concerning the forms of their Ci­ties, their Princes, Wars and Accidents, or whatever other events are worth the observing; and so will return home much the better furnished with the desired fruits of his Travels.

Hitherto we have discoursed of the Po­litical, or Civil Histories, and in what Order they are to be read.

THE METHOD and ORDER OF Reading Church Histories.
SECT. XXXII.

WHen I was once got thus far, I thought verily I had performed the Work I undertook, as the Subject of my first Chapter; but some Learned young [Page 226] men who heretofore were my Hearers, ad­monished me, that it was much desired that I should in the same manner give an account of the Writers of the Church History. Now though I thought this might much more reasonably be desired at the hands of him who is the greatest Divine we have, the Re­gius The most Learned Doctour, Dr. John Prideaux, Master of Exon Col­lege. Professor, an excellent Person; A plen­tifull fountain, as of all other sorts of Lear­ning, so, amongst the rest, of all sorts of Histories; at whose Waters, I have very often, with the greatest pleasure, quench'd my thirst: yet because some of my more Learned Acquintance persuaded me to doe it; I did not hink it fit wholly to decline the task. So, at last, I resolved to adjoin here a Chain of the Writers of the Church History. Whoever therefore desires to un­derstand, and in a good Order and Method reade the Ecclesiastical History, should pro­pose to himself two Intervals of time (that I may pass over the thing with as few words as is possible.) The first of these is from the Creation of the World to the Incarna­tion of Christ our Redeemer; during which interval of time, the Church of the Old Testament, (call'd the Jewish,) is storied to have sometimes flourished, and at others to have suffered a hard servitude under se­veral Tyrants: the other period is, from the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, to the Age in which we live, in which the New Testa­ment, or Christian Church, performs its warfare. The first Interval contains Four [Page 227] thousand years, abating Fifty, if we may believe Scaliger (whom we have all along hitherto followed.) The second contains One thousand six hundred, and so many years over as we commonly count, and are still going on. And therefore it is, the Story of that first interval, I say, is to be fetched, in the first place, from the Old Te­stament, which the Reader ought, above all others, in the first place diligently to turn over, and studiously to search into, and he will soon see his Labour is well bestowed, if together with the Scriptures, he take in Jo­sephus Josephus flourished a­bout 80 years after Christ, under Domitian. his Antiquities of the Jews, and those Books he wrote of their Wars. For in these Books, the Eloquent Son of Matathi­as has woven the History of the Old-Te­stament-Church, from the Creation of the World, to the last destruction of Jerusa­lem, which happened somewhat above Four thousand and thirty years after the Crea­tion of the World: and that with so great a fidelity, that St. Hierome, no dull Censor, gave him a place amongst the Ecclesiastick Lib. de E­men. temp. in Prol. Writers. And the great Scaliger thought it more reasonable to believe him, than all the Greek and Latin Writers, not onely in the Jewish affairs, but also in what he relates concerning other Nations. That there are (saith Baldwin the Civil Lawyer) De Institut. Hist. lib. 1. some mistakes in Josephus, who can deny? But then how many true, great, and necessary [Page 228] things are there in him for the illustration of the Sacred History? besides, what others call falsehood, Melchior Canus more mildly calls errours; they being the deviations of an Ignorant Man, not the Lies and Frauds of a Deceiver. Some Man would here persuade the Reader to subjoin, or rather take in together with Josephus his History of the Wars of the Jews, Hegesippus, an excellent Authour, in the Opinion of Melchior Canus, a Man of an approved Faith, and a Hegesippus, lib. 11. Loc. comm. cap. ult. Casaub. in Exercit. 1. Contr. Baron. Vossius, de Hist. Gre. l. 2. c. 14. grave Historian. But in the esteem of the most Learned Casaubon and Vossius, he is a Spurious, Pretending, and Suppositious, and, in short, an Authour of no Antiquity, or at least quite another Man from that Noble Hegesippus, who li­ved near the times of the Apostles, and was Contemporary with Justin Martyr, and Athenagoras, of whom frequent mention is made by Eusebius and St. Hierome, and yet after all this, there are some who think he is no contemptible, or unprofitable Au­thour. in his first Book he has given an Account of the Wars of the Jews, from the times of the Maccabees to the Birth of Christ, and the death of Herod (the Great.) And in his Second Book he brings down the History to the Expedition of Vespasian into Judaea, Anno Christi 69. and then in his IIId, IVth and Vth Books, he [Page 229] has Consecrated to the memory of Posterity, the Story of the total devastation of Judaea, and the utter Ruine of Jerusalem by Ve­spasian and his Son Titus, which happened Anno Christi 72. But then saith Bodinus, This may be better and more truely Learned from Josephus, who was not onely present in these Wars, but was a Commander for some time, and being made a Captive, obtain'd from Vespasian and Titus the Privilege of being made a Citizen of Rome, and the Flavian Sir-name, (which was that of their own Family) and also a Statue. And then the Princelike Virtues of an Historian, an exal­ted erudition, a rare integrity, and a great experience shone clearly in that person. And it is farther objected against this fictiti­ous Hegesippus, that he doth not treat of the Affairs of the Church, but onely of those of the Jews, from the time of the Maccabees to the ruine of Jerusalem. But we may Answer Bodinus in the first place; that this Hegesippus has shortly and ele­gantly comprehended in that Work, what Josephus hath more copiously related in his VII. Books of the Wars of the Jews, and scatteringly in his Antiquities. And in the next place, that this Authour doth no less religiously than truely set forth some things concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ, which are either altogether passed by, by Josephus, or onely slightly mention'd by him, because perhaps he had an aversion for our Religion. And he also sets down, [Page 230] in a few words, the causes of the War; doth Learnedly shew the sources of those great Calamities; and why that People, which alone was chosen by God, and beloved very much, was thus consum'd; why Jerusalem was destroy'd, which was not onely the most Celebrated City of all the East, as Pliny calls it: but, (if we con­sider H. N. Lib. 5. c. 14. the extraordinary Favours of God,) of the whole World. Why the Temple was rased; their Sacred Rites abolished; and the Politick Government of that Na­tion, which had subsisted so many Ages, was for ever taken away. For the serious consideration of these things will yield the pious and prudent Reader a plenty of the most Excellent Fruits which History can afford him.

Or if our Reader of History is better pleased to pass by this sup­positious Authour; and will That Authour which is commonly call'd Hegesip­pus, is Josephus Transla­ted into Latin, by St. Am­brose. Valesius in notis, Ad Amian. Marcellin. lib. 16. c. 8. B. not be discouraged to go back again, and after the Reading the Holy Bible, and the Antiquities of Josephus, and to c [...]ntemplate at one view the whole image of the Sacred History, from the Creation of the World to the Birth of Christ, and so on to the Fourth Centery of the Second In­terval, then let him here take in Sulpitius Severus his Sulpitius flourished a­bout the 427th year of Christ. Sacred History, which he be­gins with the Creation of the [Page 231] World, and ends with the Synod of Borde­aux, Anno Christi 386. He was a Man of much learning and prudence; and a most Polite Writer. His style is so pure and elegant, that Josephus Scaliger calls him, The most Pure Writer of the Church History. But I cannot forbear confirming the Judg­ment of this great Man, by the more Pro­lix, and yet not less elegant testimony of Victor Giselin, a Physician and Antiquary of a most accomplish'd Erudition. He writes thus, The blessed Sulpitius hath with great brevity compris'd, and with an exact distincti­on of times, shortly deduced to the Age in which he lived, the Memory of those things which are contained in the Holy Scriptures, from the beginning of the World. Now whe­ther any Age hath produced Another Work that is more excellent, more noble and more use­full to the Christian Church than this small Piece, I shall willingly leave to the Judgment of those who have better abilities than I to determine of it. But as to the Elegance of it, I dare undertake, and I think I may safely affirm, that it is not inferiour, in any thing, to the best of all the Church Historians: but then, as to all other Works, which are of the same nature, it hath so great advantages over them, that they do not deserve to be compared with it. That which I have said of it, is great, and may perhaps seem to most men in­credible. But yet what I say, has so much truth in it, that I am confident the veracity of the thing will prevail so much, that my testi­mony [Page 232] may be spared, especially as to those who will take the Pains to compare all the parts of this Authour, with Orosius, Florus, Eutro­pius, and the rest of the Writers of Epitomes. He seems to me to have obtain'd the Garland onely by the imitation of C. Salustius a florid Writer of the Roman Story. For observing that many things in him passed for excellen­cies, which would become no other Man, and were scarce possible to be imitated; as his ab­rupt way of speaking, which slips insensibly by the Reader or Hearer, and doth not stay till a Man comes to it; but, as Seneca saith, his Sentences come pouring in, and his words sur­prize by their unexpected falls; these, I say, be left to Salust, as his sole personal excellen­cies. And he studiously avoided his obsolete words, which (as Augustus said) he collec­ted out of Cato's Books de Originibus. But then as to his spruce brevity, tempered with significant Words, and adapted in the highest degree to his design; he imitated that Great Historian with so much Art, that we may well say, he rather emulated him (and strove to out-doe him.) For he did not think it sufficient to follow his style, and to divide, cir­cumscribe, and cut it, and make just such transitions from one thing to another, except he made the same entrances to his Books the other did, but with this difference, that whereas he (as Fabius saith) chose such as had no relation to History; Sulpitius accommodated his a little better to his subject. All which things, in History at least, appear glorious, [Page 233] as any Man may observe at the first Glance. For it was written, as I have said, in the flower of his Age, before his passionate love to Eloquence had been mortified by the severe dis­cipline of the Monastery of Tours. Thus far Giselinus. The Elzivers, two Dutch Printers, put out this Authour Accurately Corrected and Amended, and Eloquently continued out of Sleidan's History of the IV. Monarchies, to the Empire of CHARLES the Vth of that Name. The Truth is, Sulpitius has some Errours, con­cerning which, the Reader may, if he please, consult Bellarmine his Piece, con­cerning the Ecclesiastical Writers, Anno Christi 420. Thus far of those who have Written the Church History of the First Interval, or Period of Time, and which we think ought to be read in the first place.

SECT. XXXIII.

NOw the Second and other Internal (which as I said took its beginning at the Birth of Christ, and continues to our times) is attributed to the New Testa­ment Church, which is call'd the Christian Church, as the former was the Jewish Church. The History of the Christian [Page 235] Church is first to be sought in the Evange­lists, Evange­lists. the faithfull Pen-men of the Holy Ghost; for they have consign'd to Writing the History of our Redeemer, the Lord of all things, the founder, and foundation of the Christian Faith. If I may be allowed to use the Words of the Reverend Bishop of Mountague in Praes. ad Apparat. num. 10. Chichester. After these St. LUKE (that most Learned Bishop also) has Consecra­ted to eternity the Acts of the Apostles, espe­cially the Travels of St. Peter and St. Paul, their dangers and encounters, in most pure and most elegant Greek, so that the very Athenians themselves never Wrote the A­tick Dialect more exactly than he. Be­sides those Writers of the New Testament (who have onely represented to us the Cradle of the Christian Church) few others have come to our hands; shall I say few or rather none, who being eye-witness, de­scribed those first Ages; or who have com­mitted to Writing the History of the Church till her youth. Indeed, there are divers Writers extant, which are said to have lived in that first age of the Church; as Prochorus (one of the VII. Deacons which Prochorus. the Apostles themselves Ordain'd,) who is reported to have Wrote that Life of the Evangelist, and Apostle St. John, which is now to be read in the Orthodoxographis, and the Bibliotheca patrum. Abdias the Babylo­nian, Abdias. one of the LXXII. Disciples, (if we may be believe him) who is said to have Wrote X. Books of the Sufferings of the [Page 236] Apostles. Linus his Account of the Mar­tyrdoms of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Linus. Relation of the Sufferings of St. Andrew the Apostle, Written by a Presbyter of A­chaia, and others; which yet are general­ly by the Ancient Fathers reputed and re­gistred amongst the Suppositious and Apo­cryphal Writers; and even Baronius, Bel­larmine, Sextus Sinensis, Melchior Canus, and many other very Learned Men, of this and the foregoing Age: Because, in truth, they are stuft with a parcel of such silly Fables, that they deserve no credit in those things which perhaps are true.

Nor are onely the Writers, as they are commonly call'd of the very first Age, ob­noxious to this fault, but many also of the latter Writers, who writing of the more Ancient times, and being sick, as it were, of too great a Credulity, do strangely a­bound with devised Fables. Which the Great Cardinal ingenuously confesseth. Baronius, in Praef. ad Tom. 2. Annalium. ‘There is nothing (saith he) which seems so much neglected to this day, as a true and certain Account of the Affairs of the Church, Collected with an exact dili­gence. And that I may speak of the more Ancient, it is very difficult to find any of them, who have published Com­mentaries on this subject, which have hit the truth in all points.’ John Luis Vives made just such a Complaint before Baronius. ‘Lib. 5. de trad. discip. p. 360.I have (said he) been much afflicted, when I have seriously considered [Page 237] with my self, how diligently, and with what exact care, the Actions of Alexan­der, Hannibal, Scipio, Pompey, Caesar, and other Commanders: and the Lives of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and others of the Philosophers have been written, and fix­ed in an everlasting remembrance, so that there is not the least danger they can ever be lost: But then the Acts of the Apostles, and Martyrs, and of the Saints of our Religion, and the Affairs of the Rising and Established Church, being involved in much darkness, are al­most totally unknown, though they are of so much greater advantage than the Lives of the Philosophers, or Great Ge­nerals, both as to the improvement of our Knowledge and Practice. For what is written of these holy Men, except a very few things, is very much corrupted and defaced with the mixture of many Fables; whilst the Writer, indulging his own humour, doth not tell us what the Saint did, but what the Historian would have had him done: and the Fancy of the Writer dictates the Life, and not the truth of things.’ Vives a little after goes on thus. ‘There have been men who have thought it a great piece of Piety to invent Lies for the sake of Re­ligion; which is both dangerous (for fear those things, which are true, should lose their Credit, by the means of these falshoods) and it is by no means necessa­ry [Page 238] neither; because our holy Religion is supported with so many true (Miracles) that these false ones, like lazy and use­less Souldiers, are rather a burthen and a hinderance, than a help or assistence to it. Thus far that Learned Spaniard.’ And because his Countryman, Melchior Ca­nus, Lib. 11. Locorum, com. p. 533. a Divine of a great (and not unde­served) reputation with the Papists, a­grees with him in all this; I shall not be unwilling to adjoyn his words too. ‘I speak it with grief, and not by way of reproach, Laertius has Written the Lives of the Philosophers with more care and industry, than the Christians have those of the Saints; Suetonius hath re­presented the Lives of the Caesars with much more truth and sincerity than the Catholicks have the affairs, I will not say of the Emperours, but even those of the Martyrs, holy Virgins and Confes­sors. For they have not conceal'd the Vices, nor the very suspitions of vice, in good and commendable Philosophers or Princes; and in the worst of them they discover the very colours or appearances of Vertue. But the greatest part of our Writers either follow the conduct of their affections, or industriously fain ma­ny things; so that I for my part am ve­ry often both weary and ashamed of them; because I know they have there­by brought nothing of Advantage to the [Page 239] Church of Christ, but very much incon­venience.’ Thus saith Melchior Canus.

Nor are we to think, that it is onely the complaint of the Learned Men of this and the last Age, that the Church Writers are thus corrupted and depraved, as if these faults had crept into them of late onely; or as if none of the most Ancient Wri­ters had been justly to be numbred amongst these depravers of the Church History. A­bove a Thousand and three hundred years agon, before the Church was past its youth, there were some who basely infected the Monuments of the Church with Lies, and made it their business to corrupt them with such impure mixtures. And Arnobius in his Books, Contra Gentes, hath Lib. 1. p. 47. taken this notice of it. But neither (saith he) could all that was done, be written, or arrive at the Knowledge of all men. Many of our great Actions being done by obscure Men, and those who had no knowledge of Letters: and if some of them are committed to Let­ters and Writings, yet even here, by the Ma­lice of the Devils, and of men like them, whose great design and study it is to intercept and ruine this truth, by interpolating, or adding some things to them, or by changing, or taking out Words, Syllables, or Letters, they have put a stop to the Faiths of Wise Men, and corrup­ted the truth of things. Thus Arnobius. And in truth, what could possibly be devised to corrupt and debase the Memory of the An­cient Church, which Pagans, Jews, or Here­ticks, [Page 240] have not deceitfully imposed upon her? What hath not a silly and Credu­lous Superstition feigned? My Hearers, I have pursued these things at large, that they who are desirous to know the Church History, might understand, and diligently consider, with how much care and caution they are to be read: for here a Man is in more danger of being deceived by feign'd stories, than in any other sort of Histories whatsoever. And yet it is confess'd by all, that it is much more mischievous to be involved in errour here, than in Civil History. Now as it befits us to take great care on the one side, that we do not im­brace falsehood for truth rashly; so it be­comes us to consider attentively, that we do not reject what is really true, as false, without deliberation. I confess (saith the Learned Lawyer Balduinus) where there are so many Ambushes, and so many dangers; those De Institu­tione, p. 93. Edit. 16. who remember, that credit is not rashly to be given, deserve to be commended for their sus­pitious modesty and jealousie. But then the unbelief of some others is too great, who will believe nothing but what is written by some one single Authour. As for example, they will believe nothing that is spoken con­cerning the Apostles, but what is written by St. Luke. But then St. Luke did chiefly design to Write the History of St. Paul, and as to that too he omitted some things, as is apparent by the Epistle to the Galatians. St. Luke, speaking of Simon Magus, does [Page 241] onely tell us, That in Samaria, his own Town, being wrought upon by the Reproof of St. Peter, he confessed his Sin. But shall we therefore cry out, that whatever those very Ancient Writers, Justin Martyr, Ter­tullian, Arnobius, Eusebius, Epiphanius and St. Augustine, have delivered, besides this concerning him, is false: and therefore in the Reading of Histories, let us ever re­member to be such, as Aristotle saith those men, who are betwixt youth and old age, commonly are: that is, neither too prone to believe, nor too difficult and distrustive: [...]; that is, Neither believing, nor disbelieving every thing. That of Hesiod is like an Ora­cle,

But some Man may, with great truth, say, That Facility of Belief, and Diffidence, are both, in their turns, of great use and sa­fety. For every verisimilitude is not pre­sently true; nor is every thing that seems at first sight incredible to be concluded therefore false. Truth hath sometimes the resemblance of falsehood: and again, a Lie is masked with the beautifull Colours of truth at other times; as Seneca saith somewhere.

[Page 242] And therefore (that we may proceed) where we cannot have such Witnesses as were present at the Actions they record; the next care is, to hear those who have faithfully delivered what they received from others: especially if the Ages in which they lived, their Antiquity and Virtue, have given them a right to our Faith and made them of good Authority. And a­mongst these, it is fit we should prefer the most Ancient (and as I may say) Clas­sick Authours, before the rest. What A­ristole said of Witnesses, is true here; [...]. The most Ancient deserve most credit, because it is not so easie to corrupt them. And for the most part it also comes to pass, that by how much the later and newer the Account of any Ancient Transaction is, so much the more faulty and corrupt it proves. For as Wine, by how much the oftner it is poured from one Vessel into another, be­comes so much the more weak and dispi­rited: and as Fame, the further it goes, the further it removes from Truth, and ga­thers so much the more of Vanity; even so for the most part a History being re­peated by many, and toss'd to and fro, and told every time in other Words, is diffused (takes aire) and at last contami­nates and degenerates into a mere Fable. Indeed I have made this Discourse much longer than I intended; but Prudent Rea­ders will afford me so much the more easily [Page 243] their Pardon, if they please to consider, that all this has no other scope, than the making men extremely cautious in their turning over the Volumes of the Church History. And therefore I will now pass on to the Catalogue of those Authours, and the Order of them, which Learned Men have prescribed to be read after the Books of the New Testament, in which I shall be as short as it is fit I should be.

SECT. XXXIV.

SEeing then those Writers, who are said to have lived with the Apostles, are to be rejected (as is said above) as spurious; and those that followed them immediately in the two next Centeries are not extant, being either swallowed up in that vast ship­wreck of Learning; or (as the opinion of the Learned Casaubon is) seeing they rather I rolegom. ad exerci­tat. seem to have begun to think of writing some­thing of this Nature, than seriously to have applied their Minds and Pens to the illustra­ting this subject. Let us cast our eyes upon the third Centery, which, with the two which follow it, may justly (in his esteem) be call'd, [...] the very Flower and Golden Age of the Church.

As in that Age Theological Studies flou­rished every where, so the Church History, which till then was almost totally unknown, [Page 245] began to sprought up and grow verdant. The first that set out in that Race (as Eusebius flourished Anno Chri­sti 330. far as is known to us) was Eusebius Pam­phili, who took his Sir Name from Pam­philus the Martyr, who was his intimate Friend as Libro de illust. viris. St. Hierome acquaints us; he was Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, in the Reign of Con­stantine the Great, (who, as Cedrenus tells us, was a Great Historian, and a general Scho­lar) and without controversie he was then thought the most Learned Man of the Age. He (I say) as he himself affirm­eth in the entrance of his first Book, was the first who applied himself to Write an Universal History of the Catholick Church; Beginning therefore with the Birth of Our LORD, and proceeding accurately through all the times of the Tyrants, he describes the Series of the Affairs of the Church, the Successions of the Apostles, and other Illu­strious Doctours in the Church. The Doc­trine of the Gospel; the Persecutions which Tyrants moved against the Church, and the Martyrdoms that followed in them, and the perverse Doctrines of Hereticks; all which he dednced, with a mighty indu­stry, in Ten Books, to his own times.

Eusebius also Wrote the Life of Constan­tine in Four Books, which are now extant, and acknowledged to be genuine by Photi­us. But then, as he followed the Exam­ple Vide Circe­str. praefat. Apparat. n [...] 35. of Xenophon (who described the In­stitution and Encomium of Cyrus, more that he he might propose to our Contemplati­on [Page 246] the Image of a good Prince, than that he might give a true History of him;) so Eusebius did not so much dress up the History of the Life of Constantine, as a Pa­negyrick of the Praises of that Prince, and his glorious Actions. And therefore Pho­tius call'd that Piece, An Encomium, in four Books. And certainly he has there­in represented to our eyes the Lively Pic­ture of an excellent Prince, which the most potent Kings and Princes may contemplate to their great advantage, as Grynaeus right­ly observeth.

And the Reverend Bishop of Chichester observes also, that Eusebius collected the History of the Martyrs out of the Archives, or Registers of the Churches, and the Com­mentaries of the Publick Notaries, and the common Tables or Catalogues; Nor was it (saith he) onely a Brevary designed for the reciting their Names, of the same Na­ture Ibid. Num. 14 & 18. with the Martyrologie, which is now in use in the Church of Rome, drawn up by Bede, Usuardus, or other such like Authours; or like the Greeks Menologies; but they were Historical Narratives of the things that happened, and Commentaries Written at large, as the Reverend Prelate proves out of Eu­sebius himself. Where, speaking of Apolloni­us, Lib. 5. c. 10. he saith, If any person is desirous exactly to know his words spoken before the Judge, and what Answer he gave to the Questions of Perennius, and his Apologetick Oration which he made before the Senate; Let him be plea­sed [Page 247] to Read the Book which we compos'd of the Actions of the Ancient holy Martyrs. But Voss. de Hist. Gre. l. 2. c. 17. that Work of Eusebius, and many others (of which St. Hierome makes mention amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers) are lost, and have not fallen into the hands of the Men of these later Ages.

But there is not a few who detract what they can from the Authority of Eusebius, and say, That his Church History was re­jected by Pope Gelasius in a Council, and pronounced an Apochryphal Book. But for the Asserting the Authority of Eusebi­us, it is sufficient that Gelasius himself tells us, in the beginning of that Censure, that the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea, and his Ecclesiastical History are not to be intirely Lib. 5. rejected, for the rare and excellent Know­ledge they afford us: Which is aiso said by Volaterranus, in the Decretals, Eusebius his Chronicle and Church History onely are received. But if any body thinks otherwise let the confirmation of Melchior Canus be Lib. 11. p. 543. considered, his words are these; It is suffi­ciently apparent, that all the rest of Eusebi­us his Church History, pleased Gelasius and the Council; in that they are pleased to ac­quaint us with what displeased them; and Calin. Me­dulla. Com. 3. p. 6. therefore if you take out the Fable of Abga­rus, and the Commendations of Origen, they say (in a manner) that all the rest of his History is worthy of our credit and beliefe. The Judgment of Scultotus pleaseth me, as to this, very much, which he unfolds in Medulla. Com. p 6. [Page 248] these words. Those Books which contain the History of the Church, do sufficiently demon­strate, that that Story of the Primitive Church is true, which is fetched from the Genuine Wri­tings of the Orthodox Fathers: for as long as Eusebius, in his History, follows Justin, Ire­naeus, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Cle­mens Alexandrinus; and such other Fathers of approved faith, he is an Historian wor­thy of our belief and trust: But whenever he quotes Tradition, and appeals to things that were reported, but not written, then he mix­eth many things that are Fabulous. Thus far Scultetus. The truth is, the Papists do frequently reprehend Eusebius with great bitterness, and fiercely fall upon him; but above all others, Cardinal Baronius (as the same Scultetus observes) discovers his ha­tred of Eusebius; for which he had no o­ther reason than this, viz. He being the Histo­rian who hath prosecuted so largely the Com­mendations, Ibid. p. 2. and Donations of Constantine to the Church, has not onely not mentioned his Grant to the See of Rome, but has plainly intimated it to be false, in Writing, that Con­stantine was not baptized by the Pope at Rome; but by another at Nichomedia. But they pretend too that he was infected with Arianisme, and that he ever favoured the Arian Party; and therefore he is some­times accused of Partiality. That he was infected with that Heresie before the Coun­cil of Nice, is, in truth, too apparent to be denied: but then some write, that af­ter [Page 249] that time he willingly imbraced the Authority of the Holy Fathers of that Council, and lived most holily and piously in the Catholick Doctrine. Yea, it is re­ported amongst the Greeks (as George Tra­pezunce Praefat ad Nicol. V. bears witness) that at the com­mand of the holy Fathers, he drew up the Nicene Creed; which he composed in such words, that he delivered to the Fathers in Writing that Form, The Son of God was Hist. Erl. Socrat. l. 1. c. 5. Cassiod. Hist. Trip. Lib. 2. c. 11. begotten and not made, being of the same Sub­stance with the Father: by which words that Heresie was without controversie con­demn'd. And it is most certain, that he did, by Letters, give a most full and perfect account to his Citizens, of what was done in that Convention, which Letters are still exstant, as Donatus Veronensis writes. Praefat. ad Paul. 3.

But, to proceed, the History of Eusebius reacheth to the year CCCXXV. And Ruf­finus, a Presbyter of Aquileia, an Emula­tour of St. Hierome, translating this Histo­ry out of Greek into Latin, added two Books of his own, and continued the Histo­ry to the death of Theodosius the Empe­rour, An. Christi CCCC. But then in his Translation he took too great a liberty, and in his own Addition he borrowed much from Eusebius; and therefore Joseph Scali­ger, in the Appendix of his incomparable Work, de Emendatione Temporum, calls him a most silly Authour: and perhaps no hurt will be done, if our Student pass him by; for the History of the same times is writ­ten [Page 250] more largely and accurately by Socra­tes, Sozomen and Theodoret.

These three were translated by Epipha­nius Scholasticus into Latin, at the request of the Great Aurelius Cassiodorus, who made of these three one body of History, and put it out under the name of the Tripar­tite Story. But then David Chytraeus, a fa­mous Man, who hath done great service to the World, in relation both to the Ci­vil and Ecclesiastical History, doth admo­nish and exhort all studious Men, that they should not onely reade those fragments which are thus patch'd together by Cassio­dorus; but also the intire Authours which are extant, and carefully Printed both in Greek and Latin, and that they should be­gin with Eusebius his Panegyrick on the Life of Constantine, in which they will find an uninterrupted History of XXX. years; and the chief Edicts and Laws of that Prince, concerning the Christian Religion, carefully expounded in the IId, IIId and IV^th Books, which are the Fountains whence Socrates, Theodoret and Sozomen have drawn many things in the beginning of their Histories.

SECT. XXXV.

SOcrates, Born at Constantinople under Socrates. Theodosius Junior, the Son of Arcadi­us, beginning his History about the end of that wrote by Eusebius, with the Victory obtain'd by Constantine against Maxentius, Anno Christi CCCXIII. or rather from that year in which he was first declared Empe­rour openly in Britain; that is, from the year of Christ CCCIX, he deduced it to the XVII^th Consulship of the aforesaid The­odosius Junior; that is, to the year of Christ CCCCXLI. in VII. Books, written in a style that is not extraordinarily splendid: the first of which Books contains the times of Constantine the Emperour; the second, those of Constantius; the third, the Reigns [Page 252] of Julian and Jovian; the fourth, those of Valentinian and Valens; the fifth, those of Gratian, and Theodosius the first; the sixth, the times of Arcadius; the seventh con­tains XXXII. years of the Reign of Theo­dosius the younger; the whole History re­presents the Church affairs of CXL. years, as he himself tells us, in express words: in the last Chapter of the VII^th Book; This last Boak (saith he) contains the space of XXXII. years, but the whole History, which is divided into VII. Books, contains CXL. years; which begins with the first year of the Two hundereth seventy and first Olympiad, in which Constantine was declared Emperour, and ends in the second year of the Three hundreth and fifth Olympiad, at the XVII^th Consulship of Theodosius the Emperour. It is clear from several places, that he favoured the Faction of the Novatians; for (which is observed by the most Learned Jacob Billi­us) he is extremely pleased, not onely when he meets, but when he can but pretend to have found an occasion of speaking much in favour of the Novatians: and if any Man had, out of a Pious Zeal, more sharply treated the No­vations, Socrates would be sure to find some opportunity or other to traduce his Name and Reputation; but so cunningly, that to a Rea­der of an ordinary capacity, he will seem ra­ther to have done it out of a desire of speak­ing truth, than out of a compliance with his own Anger and Resentment: This, I say, is the Censure of J. Billius, a very Learned [Page 253] Man, upon Socrates, the Authour of the Church History, which I thought fit to in­sert here, that our Lover of History might make use of the greater caution in the reading him.

Theodoret lived in the same times, and Theodoret. was Bishop of Cyrus, a City of Mesopota­mia or Syria. He wrote an Ecclesiastical History, from the end of Eusebius his Histo­ry, and the rise of the Arrian Heresie, which he hath also brought down to the times of Theodosius Junior; wherein he gives somewhat a larger account of the Actions done in the second General Coun­cil, than any other Historian that is ex­tant. In the first Book of his History he gives us the History of the Church under Constantine the Great: in the second, he ex­pounds what happened under Constantius: in the third, he tells us the Church affairs under Julian the Apostate; the fourth Book he attributed to Jovian, Valentinian and Valens; the fifth to Gratian, Theodosius the Great, and Arcadius: and in the same Book he toucheth the beginning of the Reign of Theodosius the younger; the Censure of Tinem. 31. Photius concerning the style of Theodoret is this; That it is fitter for an History than that used by Socrates, or that of Hermias Sozomen, or that of Euagrius Ponticus; and Lib. 2. de Hist. Gr [...]. 20. of the same opinion is that most Learned Man Gerardus Johannes Vossius.

Hermias Sozomenus was Bishop of Sala­mine, Sozome­nus. a City of Cyprus, and flourished also [Page 254] under Theodosius, to whom he dedicated his History, beginning at the Consulate of Crispus and Constantinus, Anno Christi CCCXXIII. he continued it to the death of Honorius, An Christ. CCCCXXIII. which space of time he comprehends in IX. Books, the two first of which repeat the things done in the times of Constantine the Great; the third and fourth contain the transac­tions under the Three Children of Con­stantine; the fifth and sixth comprehend the times of Valentinian and Valens; the seventh those of Gratian and Theodosius the First; the eighth the times of Arcadius; the ninth runs through the times of Theodo­sius the Second, as far as the death of Ho­norius, Anno Christi CCCCXXIII. which was the XVI. year of the Reign of The­odosius Junior. But then the See of Rome refuseth to receive this Historian too, and (these are the words of Gregory the Great) Lib. 6. Ep. 31. that because he tells many Lies, and commends Thedorus Mopsuestia too much, and saith, he was a Great Doctor of the Church to the day of his death. I was directed to this place by George Hackwill, Professor of Di­vinity, a person of a various erudition, and of a singular both piety and prudence. But to this Melchior Canus long since repli­ed; Lib. 11. p. 544, &c. That there is no such thing to be found in Sozomen, concerning Theodorus Mo­psuestia. And that Gregorie's memory fail'd him, whilst, instead of Theodoret, he Wrote Sozomen; for the words he mentions are [Page 255] Theodoret's: and Cardinal Baronius sup­plies us with another Answer, by saying, That Sozomen, the Commender of Theodo­rus Lib. 5. c. 27. &c. 40. Tom. 4. ad Annum 438. Mopsuestia, is not received by the See of Rome, as to that particular: But in all the rest, he, speaking the truth, how could he be rejected? and besides, it is apparent, that So­zomen was not rejected by Gelasius the Pope (whom no man can, in the opinion of the Car­dinal, disown; such was his Authority and Learning) but rather esteem'd to be of more credit than Eusebius of Caesarea; and his History is accordingly more valued by Phocius than that of Socrates. And Canus farther answereth, That the Testimony of Sozo­men was made use of, and approved in the Council of Florence, in which the Emperour Palaologus was present. However we may think candidly of him, not onely by rea­son of the sincerity and veracity which he pretends to in his first Chapter, and pro­miseth throughout: for when he was to relate the contentions, quarrels and perfi­dy of many Orthodox Men, and many other foul actions done by them, he deprecates the opinion of a malevolent humour, as is observed by the Learned Casaubon: For he In Praef. ad Polyb. saith, he does not write these things out of any pleasure he takes in them, but whe­ther he would or no; because what was done, could not be undone: but on the other side, to be silent, as to those things which were done, was to betray the truth, and break the Laws of a good History. [Page 256] [...] (saith he) [...]. And again, [...]. It is fit to take care of truth, in or­der to the preservation of the sincerity of Histo­ry; and again, An Historian should esteem truth above all other things: But also for the sake of that Judgment Euagrius has given of him, whose words are these; Eusebius, Sozomen, Theodoret and Socra­tes, have accurately committed to Writing the coming of our most Mercifull Saviour into the World, his Ascension into Heaven, the Acts of the holy Apostles, the Martyrdoms of the holy Martyrs, and whatever else has been done worthy of commendation or blame, to the Reign of Theodosius, and somewhat far­ther: this, I say, is the judgment of Eua­grius Scholasticus, a very famous Historian of those times, and the first Orthodox Church Historian that wrote, if we will believe Baronius, or at least his Spondanus ad An­num. 565. Whom yet Ca­saubon represents as not o­vermuch averse from fabu­lous Legends. Exercit. 13. An. 31. n. 58. Epitomizer.

And here Euagrius him­self follows the Writers of the Tripertite History, and begins his Story where So­crates and Theodoret end theirs; that is, from the calling of the Council at Ephe­sus by the authority of Theodosius the younger, about the year of Christ CCCCXXXI, in which Nestorius was con­demn'd; and he continues his History to Euagrius. the XII^th year of the Reign of Mauritius, [Page 257] which is the DXCVII. year of Christ, and he flourished mostly under this Emperour and his Successour Tiberius the Second. This History of Euagrius consists of VI. Books; in the first of which he compre­hends the times of Theodosius the younger; in the IId. those of Martian and Leo the Thracian, as he is commonly call'd; in the IIId those of Zeno and Anastasius; in the IVth those of Justin and Justinian; in the Vth those of Justin the Second, and Tibe­rius the Second; in the VIth he goes on to the XIIth year of Mauritius, who was Son-in-Law to Tiberius the Second, and is by some call'd the Cappadocian. And this was the year of Christ 597, as I have said above. And with the same times that Euagrius hath thus written, concur the The Civil Histories of that Age. Histories of Procopius, Agathias and Jornan­des, of the affairs of the Goths; and the Miscellane History of Diaconus, from the XIIth to the XVIIIth Book; and to con­clude, a great part of C. Sigonius his His­tory of the Western Empire, which I thought fit to tell the Reader here, that he might know where to find an enlargement of the Histories of those times.

Theophilactus Simocatus was famous about Theophi­lactus Si­mocatus. the year of Christ DCXII. and is a delicate Writer amongst those of the latter Greek Historians: he wrote VIII. Books of the Actions of Mauritius, which the Reader is to begin when he has read Euagrius. Nor is it possible he should repent of this [Page 258] small Labour, because he brings the His­tory to the year of Christ DCI. to the ve­ry Murther of Mauritius; and that not perfunctorily, but accurately and elabo­rately, so that others have deduced their borrowed streams from him, as from a River, as Pontanus the Jesuite saith. His temper is soft, and exceeding honest, and his Writings discover and testifie. a learn­ing above the ordinary pitch.

And now if the Reader please, let us take a stand a while, and look back, and see how much of our designed Journey is expedited, and let us consider how, and by what means we are arrived at the end of the VIth Century after Christ. Euse­bius comprehends, in his History. some­what above CCC. years, Socrates, Theodo­ret and Sozomen have added to this CXL. years more; and then the History is brought down about CXL. years farther by Euagri­us: and Simocatus makes up the rest of the time (as is said above) to the Six hundred and first year after Christ: in which year Mauritius the Emperour, with his Wife and Children, was Murthered by Phocas, who succeeded him in the Em­pire.

SECT. XXXVI.

THe Authours above recited have brought us to the VII^th Century; which, if any Man search diligently, with two or three which follow it, I believe he will hardly find any one Authour who has handled the History of the Catholick Church, according to its dignity. There were in­deed in those ages some, who wrote the Lives and Legends of some of the Saints, and the Acts and Passions of the Martyrs: but then they swarm with fables, and ob­trude upon credulous and superstitious Men whole bed-rolls of Miracles. And as Bellarmine himself saith of Simeon Meta­phrastes (who flourished Anno 859.) they add many things of their own invention, and write them not as they were, but as they Lib. de Ec­cles. Script. p. 850. might have been done, in the times of Da­mascen, and German the Constantinopolitan amongst the Greeks (saith our Reverend Bishop) and in the times of George the Dialogist, and the other George of Tours; and in the times of our venerable Bede, the Ocean of Miracles and Wonders burst [Page 261] in upon the Church, and overflowed it, which were then sent out of all and eve­ry Cloister, Hospital, Church-yard, Xe­nodoch, or Hospital for Travellers and Strangers, and out of every Thole, Cave and [...]upelo.

And almost the same thing is said by the famous Casaubon; In the Historical Monu­ments (saith he) of those Ages, the Accounts of the Miracles wrought by the Saints, or In Proleg. ad Exerci­tat. their Images or Relicks filled the whole Book, &c. Upon which account a Learned Man said, He doubted whether those Ages were to be call'd, [...]; Times of Rotomantados, or Wonder­making, or of Ignorance. And he will not seem (to me) to err much, who shall af­firm both things of these times; especial­ly if he has respect to the Western Em­pire, and the Latin Church and Writers under that Empire. For after these hor­rible inundations of the Barbarous Nati­ons, the Roman Empire falling into ru­ine, together with it all the Knowledge of good Learning fell also; and an ama­zing Barbarity and Ignorance poured in upon the Western parts, and all the cul­tivation of Arts and Wits withered away, as if they had been strucken with a Pe­stilential vapour; and lay both neglected and despised, insomuch, that as to Learn­ing (they are the words of the Learned Bishop of Chichester) after Isodorus His­palensis In Praes. ad App. n. 38. (who died in the year of our Lord [Page 262] 636, or thereabouts) to Venerable Bede our Countreyman (who lived about the year 731,) those who were but moderately versed in the more Polite Literature, were scarce so ma­ny in number as the Gates of Thebes, or the Mouthes of the Nile. And I will add those that followed in the two next Cen­turies amongst the Latins, were not much more numerous: But you will say per­haps then, Greece will yet afford us some. And therefore let us now proceed and take a view of them.

SECT. XXXVII.

LEt therefore Nicephorus Patriarch of Nicepho­rus Con­stantinopo­litanus. Constantinople follow Simocatus; he lived in the times of Copronymus, about the year of Christ DCCL. and wrote a Brevia­ry, or short History of Affairs, from the Murther of Mauritius (where Simocatus Voss. de Hist. Grae. 1. 2. c. 24. ended) to the year of Christ DCCLXIX. which Authour was first published, toge­ther with a Latin Translation, by that fa­mous Man, Dionysius Petavius. There is indeed another Nicephorus, known by the Nicepho­rus Calli­stus. Sirname of Callistus, who lived long after the former, for he was born MCCC. years after Christ, and flourished under Androni­cus the Greater, and Andronicus the Lesser his Nephew. This latter Nicephorus be­gins his History with the beginning of the Christian Religion, and continues it to the death of Phocas, who succeeded Mau­ritius, that is, to the year of Christ DCXXV. But all the peculiar errours of the Greeks are to be found in this Authour (as Bellarmine De script. Eccles. Anno 1305. Praef. ad Appar. n. 38. saith) especially such as are Historical. And the Reverend Bishop of Chichester num­bers him amongst those Authours, who, out of foolish superstition, were extremely [Page 264] prone to believe, and put out, or rather ob­trude upon the World prodigious and nauseous Fables.

Georgius Cedrenus the Monk was a little Cedrenus. more ancient than Callistus; he wrote a Compendium of Histories, from the begin­ning of the World to Isacius Comnenus, that is, to the year of Christ, MLVII in which times he seems to have flourished. But then neither is this Authour said to be of any great credit. It is apparent by these words of his, what the great Scali­ger thought of him; The whole Work of Ce­drenus (saith he) is a heap of Chaff, or a Collection made up of many Pieces, some base, some noble, some good, some bad, some intire, some torn. The Judgment of the Learned Vossius concerning him, is a little more fa­vourable; for thus he represents him; He is a little more diligent than Zonaras in the Bizantine affairs: but then in those things which fell before the division of the Empire, he is less exact than Zonaras; Nor is his style equal to his, or that of Nicetas, or Gregoras, or many others; and yet in this Rhapsody, I had almost called it a Chaff heap, it is possible to find some noble pieces: And to conclude, they both Scaliger and Vossi­us. Georgius Syncellus, Theopha­nes. tell us, that he transcrib'd, to a word, Georgius Syn­cellus, and Theophanes, who continued him: and Gesner tells us the whole History of Cedrenus, from the death of Nicephorus the Emperour, commonly call'd Botonias, to the Reign of Isaac Comnenus (a very [Page 265] few things excepted) is extant under the name of Johannes Curopalata, which is also Curopala­ta. confirm'd by the most Learned Casaubon; so that one of them must of necessity steal out of the other.

SECT. XXXVIII.

JOhannes Zonaras flourished above Fifty Zonaras. years after Cedrenus, about the year of Christ, MCXX. he (as is observed above, amongst the Civil Historians) wrote an Universal History, which he divided into three Tomes; the last of which is thought fit in this place to be recommended to the Reader. For, in this, he laboured to describe more exactly whatever had been done in the East, from Constantine the Great, and his Successours, to the times of this Authour; that having been till then attempted by few men. A very lear­ned Man observes, that in both his two first Tomes, there are many things not mention'd by any other Authour; but that in his third Tome, for the most part he gives account of those Bizantine affairs which are not mentioned by any other Historian besides himself; and were [Page 266] it not for him, we should have been igno­rant of a great part of the Actions of the latter Emperours of the East. Besides, he interwove the History of the Church of Constantinople, and of the Controversies in Religion that were moved in the Ea­stern Church, and continued it down to the death of Alexius Comnenus, an Empe­rour Ann. Chri­sti 1118. who Reigned in his own times. But that is much to be observed, which is re­marked by the Learned Vossius, that in the affairs of his own times he is very care­less, and contracts the Life of Alexius Comnenes into a very narrow compass. But then Anna Comnena, the Daughter of Anna Com­nena. this Emperour, supplied this defect, who wrote several Books on the Life of her Father, and call'd them by the name of Alexiada's. Zonaras in his third Tome, near the end, doth much commend the erudition of this Lady; where he speaks of the Learning and Power of Bryennius Cae­sar her husband, in these words. And he also was given much to study, and his Lady did not take less, but rather more pains in Learning, speaking the Attick Dialect per­fectly; and having a very sharp wit for the Contemplation of the most abstruse things. Nor doth the Historian stop here, but goes on and shews, how she became so ve­ry Learned. Having (saith he) by the benignity of Nature, obtained great faculties, and improv'd them with industry; she spent much time in reading, and the conversation [Page 267] of Learned Men, which she heard diligently. But many have a great suspicion, that this Royal and Learned Lady, out of her great Love for her Father, is a little too partial in this her History.

SECT. XXXIX.

AFter Zonaras, Nicetas Acomiatus, or Choniates immediately follows in or­der, Nicetas Choniates. and subjoins his History. For where Zonaras ends, there Nicetas begins, and prosecutes the Story somewhat largely and freely for LXXXV. years, to the taking of Constantinople by Baldwin the Flandrian, and the year of Christ 1203. He was born at Chonis, a Town of Phrygia, from whence he took his Sir-name.

The Chronicle of Gregoras Logothetes may here also have its place; he has the Gregoras. History of the taking of Constantinople, and of the events that followed for almost LX. years, that is, from Baldwin the Flandrian, to Baldwin the last Emperour. Both Zo­naras [Page 268] and Choniates had great employments in the Constantinopolitan Empire; which made them the fitter to write their Histo­ries; the first was the great Signifies according to some, the Captain of the Watch; according to others, the Colonel of the Millena­ry Regiment. Drungar, and prime Se­cretary: and the Latter was the great Logothetes signifies Lord Chancellour. Logothetes, and Lord Chamberlain of the Sacred (or Presence) Cham­ber. After Nicetas follows also Nicephorus Gregoras, who wrote an History of CXLV. years, to wit, from Theodorus Lascares the First, to his own times, or to the death of Androni­cus Palaeologus the latter, which falls in the year of Christ 1341. We must confess, these two last did not make it so much their business to describe the History of the Church, as that of the Empire, or Ci­vil State: yet because they sometimes in­termix things belonging to the Church, briefly, as occasion serves, and are there­fore reckon'd by others amongst the Ec­clesiastical Writers; and also because Cho­niates connects his Narrative to the Hi­story of Zonaras; and Nicephorus makes it his business to supply, or fill up what (ha­niates had omitted, as if he had designed to perfect the body of the History, there­fore I could not omit them; and that the rather, because amongst the latter Greeks, there are no Authours of better note than these: for the inforcing which last reason to the Lovers of History, and that we may [Page 269] with the greater facility induce them to the Reading of these Authours, I will here paint out the judgment of Justus Lipsius upon them. I confess (saith he) that In Not. ad Polit. 1. 6. 9. Nicetas is not yet publickly and commonly much taken notice of: but he is worthy to be more known; being of a pure and right judg­ment, if there were any such in that Age; his style is laboured, and tastes of Homer and the Poets very often: but then the subject and re­lation it self is distinct, clear, without vanity or trifles, as short as is fit, and faithfull: there is in him frequent and seasonable reflexions or advices: his Judgments of things are not onely free, but sound. In short I wish all Statesmen would reade him, and then I shall not question but some of them will pay me their thanks for this judgment of him, at least I am sure they will owe me thanks. Thus much of Choniates: and of Gregoras he gives this judgment; Nicephorus Grego­ras Nicepho­rus Grego­ras. takes up the History where Nicetas ends it, and brings down the thread of his Narra­tive, but he doth not deserve the same com­mendations; for though he wrote the Histo­ry of affairs, from the taking of the City of Constantinople, to the death of Palaeologus the latter, yet he did it not with the same correctness or industry; and has more of the faults of his Age than the former; he is re­dundant and wandering, and indecently, and sometimes imprudently mixeth his own on­ceits and Harangues. Yet his Judgments are thick sown, and for the most part right: the [Page 270] causes of events are curiously inquired into, and represented; Piety is inculcated, and ma­ny things are seasonably assigned, and turn'd over to the first cause, that is to God. In truth, no Writer has more asserted PROVI­DENCE and FATE. He is to be read for this cause, and also for another; that is, that the greatest part of his History repre­sents a state of affairs, not much unlike our own times; for you will find in him Conten­tions and Quarrels concerning Religion, not much unlike those in our days. Thus far goes Justus Lipsius in his Accounts of this Authour. But then there are some Men of great skill in History, who have some scru­ples concerning the fidelity of this Nice­phorus, Voss. lib. 2. de Hist. Grae. c. 28. especially in the affairs of Andro­nicus Palaeologus, where he ends as I have said above.

And therefore if the Reader please, he may there take in Johannes Cantacuzenus, Jo. Canta­cuzenus. who of an Emperour, became a Monk, and wrote an excellent History under the Ti­tle of Christodulus, of the Reigns of An­dronicus the younger, and his own.

The Learned Vossius commends this Voss. de Hist. Graec. lib. 2. c. 29. History, on many accounts, to those that are conversant in the study of History. This History (saith he) ought to be the more esteemed, because it was written by a Per­son who had not always led an obscure private life; but who was first a I suppose Magnus Domesti­cus signifies Lord High Steward of the Hous­hold. great Officer in the Family and Court of Andronicus Junior; and after his death had the tutelage of his [Page 271] Children; and afterwards (the Senate desi­ring, and the affairs of the Empire requi­ring it) he was elected Emperour, and beha­ved himself prudently and valiantly in that Royal station. To this may be added, that he did not write of things which were scarce known to him, but of such transactions as he was present at, and had the chief conduct of: and, in truth, I think there is hardly any one amongst the Modern Greeks, who ought to be preferr'd before him. This Royal Histori­an flourished about the year of Christ 1350. this History consists of VI. Books (as Vossius there saith) whereof the two first treat of the Reign of Andronicus; the re­maining IV, of his own Reign, and what he did after the death of Andronicus. He was made a Monk in the year of Christ 1360. when he took the Name of Josaaphus. Thus far the Learned Vossius.

And that our Historian may not here be at a loss, or interrupt the thread of his Reading, till he have seen the last peri­od of the Eastern Empire; And the deplo­red state of the Church there (upon that revolution;) he may be pleased to sub­join to the former the History of Laoni­cus Laonicus Chalcocon­dylas. Chalcocondylas the Athenian. For he will diligently shew what followed, and how at last that August, or Royal City, which was not content to be the second City of the World, but greatly emulated Rome, the Sovereign of the Earth, fell in­to the Power of that Potent Tyrant the [Page 272] Turk, the bitter Enemy of our Faith, and of the most Sacred Cross. And he doth also most excellently describe the Rise, Encrease and Progress of this Tyrant and his Nation. He begins his History from Ottoman, the Son of Orthogulis, who began to Reign about the year of Christ MCCC. which he has compos'd in X. Books; and in it he has comprised the Story of the Eastern Church and Empire. And he con­tinues it not onely to the year MCCCCLIII. in which Constantinople was taken by Ma­homet, but also as Vossius assures us, to the De Hist. Graecis, lib. 2. c. 30. year 1463. in which this Mahomet the IId. stoutly defended himself against Matthias King of Hungary, and the Venetians, who invaded his Kingdom. And Vossius saith al­so, Blasius Vigenerius of Bourbon put out this History in French with Notes, which was Printed at Paris in the year 1620.

SECT. XL.

THe Authours I have given account of in the three last Sections, have writ­ten altogether of the Eastern affairs, and do scarcely at all touch the state of the Blondus Forolivien­sis. Western Church. This defect may be sup­plied out of Blondus Foroliviensis, who will [Page 274] serve in stead of many; who has (as is a­bove observed) comprehended in his De­cads an intire and continued series of af­fairs, from the declension of the Empire, and the year of Christ CCCCVII. to the year MCCCC. and what he wants, the fol­lowing Authours will make good.

And in the first place I shall begin with Sigebert, a Monk of Gemblours, a celebrated Sigebertus Gembla­censis. Abbey in Brabant, who was famous about the year of Christ MXCIV. he begins his Chronicle in the year Bucholer. Ad. An. 379. CCCLXXXI. (that is a little before the end of the Tripar­tite History, and continues it to the year M. C. XIII. De scri­ptoribus Eccl. Ann. 1101. Bellarmine accuseth him of bearing ill-will to Commonly call'd Hil­debrand. Gregory the VII^th, Pope of Rome, out of a great affection to Henry the IV^th, Emperour of Germany: and perhaps he might favour the Empe­rour; the Cardinal goes higher, and re­proacheth him for Lying, in his account of the death of that Pope; but how true­ly, let the Cardinal Answer for himself.

Robertus Abbat of Mons, continued Si­gebertus Robertus de monte Chronicon Hirshaven­se. his Chronicle to the year MCCX. and the Hirshavan Chronicle of Trithemi­us, to the year MCCCLXX. and to con­clude the Paraleipomena, or Additions of the Abbat of Ursperg, brought down this Abbas Ur­spergensis. Story to our Age almost.

Or if these do not please the Reader, we can furnish him with other which de­serve as well to be read as these. And the first in this set shall be Gobelinus Person, [Page 275] an Authour not to be despised in the opi­nion of Learned Men, who wrote an Uni­versal Chronicle, which he call'd the Cos­modromus: in which he has given an ac­count both of the Civil and Sacred, or Church History, from the Creation of the World to the year of Christ 1418. in which time Sigismund the Son of Charles the IV^th Albin. Hist. Sax. p. 246. was Emperour. He divided his whole Work into six Ages, and it appears in eve­ry one of them, that (according to the capacity of the times in which he liv'd) he was a person of no vulgar, either lear­ning or diligence, and study in the search­ing out of what pertains to History. But if the Reader be not willing to give him­self the trouble of a repetition, of what passed before the Birth of Christ; when he comes to this Authour, he may begin with the VI^th Age, which takes its Rise at the Nativity of our Lord.

And if he is not at all pleased with this Albertus Crantzius. Authour, he may then pass on to Alber­tus Crantzius, who wrote an History, which he stiles the Metropolis, or an Ecclesiastical History of the Churches built or restor'd in the times of Charles the Great. In the Writing of which History he made great use of Gobelinus his Cosmodromus, and tran­scribd sometime intire Pages out of it in­to his own work, which was afterwards done by many others, as the Learned Vossius bears witness. Crantzius begins at [Page 276] the times of Charles the Great, and goes on to the year MDIV.

Johannes Nauclerus also, a Noble Jo. Naucle­rus. Schwaben, wrote a Chronicle in two Tomes, from the beginning of the World, to the year MD. the first Volume contains LXIII. Generations, that is, all the Generations of the Old Testament; the second Volume, with the Appendixes, comprehends, in LII. Generations, all those of the New Testa­ment. And before this Work was pub­lished, Philip Melancthon, partly by new Methodizing, and partly by encreasing and changing it, made it much the more desi­red, and the more usefull and delightfull al­so when it came out. And here too, the Reader may begin with the second Vo­lume, or from the Middle Generations of the second Volume, if he be desirous to a­void the repetition of those things which he had before read in other Authours.

Johannes Sleidanus also, in the memory Jo. Sleida­nus. of our Fathers, wrote Commentaries con­cerning the state of Religion, from the year MDXVII. to the year MDLVI. (where­in is the History of the Rise of the Reforma­tion throughout all Christendom) which is continued in III. Volumes by Caspar Lun­dorpius, Caspar Lundorp. to the year MDCIX.

SECT. XLI.

BEsides these, there are extant not a few other Historians; which are not less to be valued than those we have men­tion'd. Amongst which, in the first place, I reckon Venerable Bede our Countrey-man, Bede. who wrote Annals from the begin­ning of the World to the Reign of Leo Iconomachus, in whose times he flourished, Anno 730. when this diligent and pious Writer comes near his times, he gives a larger account of affairs than in the for­mer Ages.

Usuardus, a Monk of Fuld in Germany, Usuardus Fuldensis. but a Frenchman by birth, and the Scholar of Allwin our Countreyman, by the com­mand of Charles the Great, put out a Mar­tyrologie, in which he described the Lives of the Confessours, and other Saints, in few words: and this is now extant to the no [Page 278] small advantage of Church History; that I Bellar. de script. Ec­cles. Anno 812. may use the words of a very Learned Man.

I think those who have written the Lives of the Popes of Rome, are to be prized e­qually with the best Writers of the Histo­ry of the Western Church, or rather before them; especially Anastasius Bibliothecarius; and Baptista, or Bartholomaeus Platina. In the first of these we have the Lives of One Anastasius Bibliothe­carius. hundred and nine Popes of Rome, descri­bed sincerely and faithfully, without any varnish of deceitfull Oratory; (as a Lear­ned Man of Mentz expresseth it) which is all the Popes, from St. Peter the Apo­stle, to almost the year of our Lord DCCCLXX. that is, from St. Peter to Nicholas the first, who died in the year 867. We have a noble commendation of this Writer in the Great Annalist Baroni­us; for thus he speaks of him. Anastasi­us Biblioth. though in a rude style, yet with Tome 9. ad Annum 752. & 799. great fidelity, described the History of Af­fairs; yea, we have not one Writer who has more faithfully, or better given a relation of the affairs of his own times, for he had a greater esteem for Truth with simplicity, than for Lies well painted. And the great His­torian Carolus Sigonius thus commends him. This Writer (saith he) ought to be much va­lued by us, because he has those things which are not to be found elsewhere, either in better or worse Writers.

Bartholomaeus Platina (for that Christian Name is given him by Volaterranus, and Platina. [Page 279] the most Learned Vossius has proved by ve­ry good Arguments, that it is his true Name, though he is by most other Wri­ters call'd Baptista) Wrote the Lives of There is a new Versi­on in En­glish of this Authour in the Press, with a con­tinuation to the present Pope. Ecclog. 19. Vir. Illust. Volat. 1. 21. f. 246. b. the Popes to Paul the IId. bringing to light, with an ingenuous labour, and an uncorrupted veracity, the actions of those Papal Princes, as Paulus Jovius writes of him, with whom the judgment of Volater­ranus concerning him exactly agrees; for he affirms, that he was a grave Man, who hated lying, and which is worthy of much wonder, that having spent his youth in Arms, he began to study in his old age: He lived in the times of Pope Sixtus the IV^th, to whom he dedicated his Work, and by whom he was made Keeper of the Vatican Library.

Onuphrius Panvinius wrote Notes upon Onuphrius. the foregoing Authour, which in the opi­nion of Bellarmine, are not to be despised. And by the Addition of the Lives of XIV. Popes, brought down the Story to Pope Pius the V^th, and to the year MDLXVI. in describing of which Lives, Onuphrius, besides the Publick Annals, and the Dia­ries Onuph. in praefat. ad Lectorem. and Acts of the Consistory chiefly made use of Raphael Volaterranus, and Paulus Jo­vius, transcribing some things from the latter, but with great brevity.

And to conclude (as we observed, speak­ing above of the Civil Historians) the Lear­ned Sigonius hath, with a singular care, Sigonius. collected what his industry could possibly discover, of the affairs of the Western Em­pire, [Page 280] which did any way concern the Church, as well as the Civil State; and hath recom­mended them to posterity in an elegant style, as truely as he could, considering the obscurity of the things, the disagreement of Writers, and the great remoteness of those times: he begins with Dioclesian, and Maximianus the Emperours, in the year of Christ CCLXXXI. and he ends with the death of Justinian, Anno Christi DLXV. and here also the same Authours Histories of Bononia, and that of the Kingdom of Italy, may be taken in too.

The same thing that is thus done by Sigonius, is also perform'd by Flavius Blon­dus Blondus. Foroliviensis, who begins his History a little lower, at the year of Christ CCCCVII. but continues it farther than Sigonius has brought his, to wit, to the year MCCCCXL. but then he has not employed the same Accuracy, or Elegance with the former; For Blondus his style is not very excellent (as is acknowledged by Volaterranus) and in ancient affairs he sometimes mistakes; yet considering the times in which he li­ved, he has done very well; which, as the Learned Vossius tells us, was about the year of Christ 1440. and that he was Secretary Lib. 3. de Hist. Lat. p. 531. to Pope Eugenius the IV^th, and to several other Popes.

SECT. XLII.

BUt now if our Reader of Histories The Mag­deburgian Centuria­tors. thinks it too great a labour to read over so long a series of Authours, and doth rather desire to fix upon some one or two (wherein he may find, as it were all the rest) we have for him the Magdeburgian Centuries; chiefly penn'd for this end, by several Learned Men, that they might lay before the eyes of Men, 1. What the Faith of the Church was in every age; 2. What was the external form of Disci­pline. 3. And what changes have hap­pened in her; which they accordingly did perform very well, and put out a work which deserves great commendations, and is very usefull to the Church, especially in our times (in which so many and great controversies concerning both Faith and Discipline are moved.) But then this work must be sometimes cautiously and cir­cumspectly read. Concerning which, may I have your leave to represent the judg­ment [Page 282] of the Reverend Bishop of Chichester, in his own words, by which you will under­stand, how the former Church Histories are to be esteem'd in comparison of this; and what is most particularly to be observed in this work. For thus the most Learned Bi­shop discourseth. After a sort of Chronolo­gical Tables, and Delineations of the Ages Apparat. n. 47. Prae­fat. which succeeded after the Apostles, in which were represented not the [...], or the [...], the Body or whole (of the Church Hi­story) but some Adumbrations of the Great Lines, or Figure of it, with a Lighter La­bour, though not unprofitable: after some vin­tages of the Ecclesiastical History, in which the bunches of Grapes had been gathered here and there, as occasion served by parts, at length a number of Men were found, who se­riously undertook the business, and afforded us a plenty of Wine; to wit, those who are call'd the Magdeburgian Centuriators; who made a noble attempt, undertook a difficult work, and an Herculean enterprise; for they removing the Rubbish of Antiquity, which lay dispersed here and there, and broken, dissipa­ted and cast down; out of that confused heap, built for the use of the Christian World, a certain curious Edifice, of a wonderfull ad­vantage and use; in which there are many things which thou canst not but commend and admire, and not fewer which thou canst not approve. The Reverend Prelate goes on in a more particular enumeration, in acquaint­ing us with what he esteemed worthy of [Page 283] praise and approbation: and I would glad­ly persuade and admonish our Reader dili­gently to observe his words. Certainly (saith he) their order or disposition of things is Magnificent, the series and method Singu­lar; the disposition of affairs and times, which they observe and represent, through every Century, accurate; so that they have distinct­ly exhibited them; their ( [...] Fidei) Representation of the Faith; and ( [...], Disciplinae) Practice of the Discipline; as also of the Manners of Men, and of the pro­gress and encrease of Vertue; the Pests and Spots of the several Ages on the other side; their Heresies, Errours and Deviations from true and sincere Piety; their Schisms and Fac­tions which sprung out of ambition; and the Men who were fam'd in every Age for Eru­dition, and commended for Sanctity; these, I say, and the like Ornaments of the Centu­riators, which neither can, nor ought to be de­nied, strangely affect our Minds, and cast a pleasant Light upon them; and commend not onely the things that are thus agreeably set forth; but also their TRUTH; which is the very Soul of History; and by insinuating it, they do most charmingly allure the eyes and minds of their Readers to them. Now whilst they were building this Historical Palace for us, they laid this as the first foundation; [...], Order and Beauty: and upon this pretious corner stone, cut out of the Mountain by God himself, Structorum Om­nium [...], the infinitely most [Page 284] artfull Builder. Hewen, squared or fitted, and placed or founded in the most holy Wri­tings of the four most sacred Evangelists, and adorn'd and polished both by the Ministry of the Evangelists and the Apostles; which the Apostolical Epistles written to the Churches, and the Acts of those things which were at first done by the Church, have Propagated to Eternity. And after this lanching out into a vast and open Sea, these artificial Finders, and expedite Relators, represent and unfold, through all the several parts of that glorious work, 1. The external form of Discipline, 2. The Rule and tenour of the Churches Faith: 3. The various Mutations in point of Man­ners and Conversation: 4. The Frauds and Impostures of Hereticks: 5. The Impieties and Oppositions, or Persecutions of Adver­saries: 6. And the Agonies and Generous Colluctations or Wrestling of the invincible Souldiers and Leaders of Jesus Christ (the noble Army of Martyrs;) with a vast varie­ty and verity in many other things.

The most Learned Prelate goes on far­ther, and shews us from whence these La­borious and Industrious Centuriators col­lected and brought together so many and such usefull things. ‘All these things (saith he) being thus gathered and Praefat. ad Apparat. n. 49. pack'd together, they brought, as it were, into one common heap, from the Apologetick Writings of the Fathers, from their disputations and interpreta­tions; their commentaries and explicati­ons [Page 285] of those things that were to be be­liev'd; From their Panegyrick Orations and Homilies: and especially from the Acts of the Councils; and from their E­pistles which were written to divers Men, and upon different occasions: And in the last place, from those ancient Histories which were left to us, and had escaped the common Ruine of former times; be­ing yet extant, though not in any great numbers, yet either intire, or reduced in­to Epitomes; a rich, and as far as was possible splendid Collection of Materi­als. And now if something be still wanting to the perfection of this great work, which either ought to have been added, or was design'd, but not effected, it may both in equity and good justice, after the custome of our Ancestors, be excused, not onely because they were the first who undertook this task, which was never attempted by any others: but also because they could never bestow a second care, or a review upon it, that as is usu­ally done in Corrections, what things were at first less exactly, and less clear­ly, either drawn or touched, might after­wards be rendered more smooth and ac­curate, by a greater diligence, and more exact Polishing.’

SECT. XLIII.

THese and many other things hath that Reverend Prelate discoursed con­cerning the Magdeburgians, by which the Reader may clearly perceive, what, and how much they have perform'd. But then it is no less his interest, to know their [...], their Errours, mistakes, and vi­tious affections: Nor did this Learned Bi­shop pass those by untouch'd. No, he clearly shews in what things they have er­red, and made themselves liable to, and worthy of Reprehension; as you may read in the Preface to his Apparatus, Numbers the 50, 51, 52 & 53. and the most Learned Epist. Prae­lim. ad ex­ercitat. cont. Baron. Isaac Casaubon acknowledgeth, that the things which are wanting in several Parts of that most excellent Work, are many in number. And yet in truth, though the Centuriators have not a few things, which neither ought to be born, nor perhaps ex­cused, yet nevertheless that learned Pre­late, in the very next Number (the 54^th) of his said Preface, affirms, That we must needs confess that this Laborious Work of these [Page 287] Men, has been very usefull to the Christian World. And that it is a Work worthy of all praise and commendation. Nor doth he pro­nounce his mind here rashly; but immedi­ately subjoins many reasons, some of which I willingly annex here in his own most ele­gant words.

Because (saith he) this work represents the Effigies of the Ancient Christian Church, expresseth her Manners, and declares her Faith: then it shews the Apostolical Successi­ons throughout the Church; and notes the pro­gress and spreading of the Doctrine; and it observeth also the defects, spots, and the [...], (that is) foolish and false Refor­mations, brought in by Hereticks, and the ve­ry sink of Schismaticks. These and many other such like most usefull things, which be­fore lay scattered up and down here and there, like the Ruines of a great building; or the Limbs of a torn Body, they recollected and laid together, that they might be seen at once. Which labour of theirs is both worthy of praise and acceptance, and also attended with a general utility and advantage. And so those things, which before were to be sought for in Labyrinths, and I know not how many wind­ings, and almost infinite Circuits, which lying dispersed, torn and lacerated here and there, offered themselves now in one place, and then in another, as occasion served; and were to be inquired after with great labour and pains, which was not alwayes successfull neither; All these things (I say) being now disposed [Page 288] into order, and put in certain and known places, and by the light of that method and disposition, rendered more commendable; may now be found, by a mean industry, be­cause they do, as it were, present themselves to the eyes of all Men, and without difficul­ty attend their service, and wait upon their present occasions. Thus far has he discour­sed of the Centuriators, and their most fa­mous Work.

SECT. XLIV.

THe Great Annals of the Great Car­dinal Rainold. de Idol. Rom. l. 1. c. 4. Baronius, which he wrote in opposition to the Centuries, not long since, are of equal moment and esteem, and I will add of as great advantage and use too: a Work (which by the confession of the most Learned Men, and of Casaubon a­mongst the rest) is stupendious, because that great person has in it digested the Transactions of the whole Christian World, especially those that concern the [Page 289] Church into one continued series of years, In Prole­gom. ad ex­ercitat. with the same facility, as if he had wrote the Chronicle of some one City. For he is the Man who first brought to light, I know not from whence, so many things which were utterly unknown before; who with so accurate a diligence, explain'd the suc­cessions of the most ancient Bishops in the great Cities; the rises, progress and ends of the ancient Heresies; And the Turbu­lent and Peaceable times of the Church. who (if he had not abated his own merit, by his excessive partiality) was, without all controversie, worthy to have had the pre­ference before all the ancient and modern Wri­ters, who never were able to attain that de­gree of Learning he had, as the famous Casaubon writes of him: nor is he alone in this high Encomium on him. The greatest part of the Learned Men, who deserve to be the Censors of other Mens Labours, do exactly agree with him, as I have said. But then the most Learned Bishop of Chichester, whom we have already so very often cited, has right to a greater Authority with us, than any other person whatsoever; and he commends the great Cardinal where he deserves it; and yet doth not spare him where he thinks him blame­worthy. But take his own words.

‘There is scarce (saith he) any thing wanting in Baronius, which a Man would mightily desire, if his too great partiality, and, as it were, [...], sympathy [Page 290] and compassion which he every where pursues, and too too much cherishes in him­self (for the interests of the Church of Rome) had been abated; for it cannot be denied (which Learned Men blame in him) that he is so totally taken up with the defence and commendation of those whom he sides with, that all the instances that now are, or heretofore were extant in the Church of Rome, of deserting, or corrupting the Faith, or depraving the ancient manners, of the most leud sales of holy things, and of the most execrable Sacrileges: whatever has been insolently perpetrated, of which sort we may find many examples, acted by most wicked Popes, with insufferable boldness to the prejudice of the Name of Christianity, to the dishonour of the Church, and in contempt of Jesus Christ (which the greatest Catholicks will not deny, but rather acknowledge them to be Monsters of Men, and the very shames of Humanity) yet all these he excuseth; and this is little too, for he defends them; and which is yet worse, he some­times commends them, and with much Oratory adorns and extolls these Vil­lanies. He doth not endeavour to cor­rect the present Manners of Rome by the ancient, but by violence draws the ut­most Antiquity against her will; and, in despite of her reluctance, by the very Throat, to countenance their City Faith; [Page 291] and especially that ill-born Faith, and worse brought up, concerning the direct Omnipotence of the Pope; for the confir­mation of which, he makes use of all his Furniture, and stretches to the ut­most all the powers of his Wit.’ Thus far that Learned Prelate.

So that we may rightly conclude, that it was not without cause, that the excel­lent Casaubon said, That the extraordinary Merits of the Cardinal were corrupted, by his too much favouring his own party. And therefore, my Hearers, the Reader of Ec­clesiastical History is to know, that the Annals of Baronius are not to be read without great caution: but then, where this caution is to be used, and how great it ought to be, is in part shewn by the famous Casaubon, in his Prolegomena's to his Exercitationes Baronianas. But the Lear­ned Bishop of Chichester, as he has shewn, in short, the Errors and Rashnesses of the Centuriators, so in many places he shews, wherein the most Illustrious Anna­list has deserved blame, and that in express and clear words.

Spondanus, a Jesuit, but a foul-mouth'd Sponda­nus. There are besides him some other Epitomizers of Baroni­us, as Bzo­vius, Bisci­ola, and Jo­hannes Ga­briel. Railing Fellow, has contracted that volu­minous Work of the Cardinal into an E­pitome, who might yet perhaps have de­served commendation for his diligence; if he had not too superstitiously pursued the opinions of Baronius, and thereupon en­deavoured to confirm his conceit concern­ing [Page 292] the Omnipotence of the Pope; destroy­ed the Majesty of Kings and Princes, and endeavoured under-hand, and as it were by the bye, to intoxicate his Readers with the pernitious doctrine of Hildebrand.

SECT. XLV.

LUcas Osiander, a Man of no small fame, reduced into a Compendium Lucas Osi­ander. the Eight first Magdeburgian Centuries, and did it so exactly, that he scarce left out any thing that was very necessary to be known. For (besides the series of the several years) he proposed in a more easie method, what the state of the Church was in all times, from the Birth of our Savi­our; shews how the Doctrine of the Go­spel was spread throughout the World: what Heresies arose in the Church, and by what means they were suppressed: [Page 293] what Persecutions were moved against the Church, and how they were appeased: what Doctours the Churches had in all times, and amongst them the Lives of the Bishops of Rome are related. The acti­ons of the Emperours of Rome also are there described. All which he hath comprehended in a very excellent Compendium. But then he pass'd from the VIII^th Century to the XVI^th (which the Magdeburgians had not touched, for they ended in the XIII^th Cen­tury) and he treats of the actions of that a little more largely; and gives the rea­son why he did so in his preliminary E­pistle, in these words. But I (saith he) think that there is no age from the times of the Apostles downward, which is more necessa­ry or usefull to be known to pious Men, than that in which we live, especially as to the Church History, which I now set forth; for it contains an account of very great chan­ges both in Church and States, which are such, so great and so many, as never happened be­fore in any Century.

To this Century belongs the History of The Council of Trent. the Council of Trent, which Council was summon'd in the year 1542. began in the year 1545. continued to the year 1563. the History of which Council, written by Pietro Soave Polano, a Venetian, of the Or­der of the Servi, a Man of admired Lear­ning; of an exquisite Judgment; of an In­defatigable Industry; and of a modesty and integrity that is scarce to be equall'd; is in [Page 294] truth of more value than any Gold, I think I may say then any Jewels, and like to out-live the most lasting Monuments. Which com­mendation is given deservedly to this Hi­storian, by that worthy and learned Sir Na­thaniel Brent, Kt. Master of Merton-Coll. Per­son, who faithfully translated this History into English (who also was the first per­son who brought this pretious Jewel into these Western parts, and to the great good of the Church first published it) and in the preliminary Epistle has thus represented the Authour's Character, and that not without good cause; for he having had a Learned Intercourse with him, and for some time conversed familiarly with him, knew him throughly. Yea the work it self confirms the truth of all this, which was extracted out of the Memoires and Commentaries of Ambassadours; out of the Letters of Prin­ces and Commonwealths, and from the Writings of the Prelates, Divines, and of the very Legates, who were present in the Council; which Writings had till then been carefully kept, and out of them this History was extracted with so much labour, accuracy, study and fidelity (as the said most learned and famous Knight has there observed) that it may equal the best of all the ancient or Modern Histories of that Nature. Neither are you, my Hear­ers, to conceive that this is the testimo­ny of one single Person, concerning either the Work or the Authour: Be pleased then to accept a second and like testimony con­cerning [Page 295] both, from the Latin Translatour Sir Adam Newton Knight. also, a person of the same degree with the former, and for his great Ingenuity and Erudition of a flourishing Name. Who writes thus of that Authour. Nor doth he stand in any need of my Commendation, his Work speaking him a person of an happy In­genuity, and of a great and right judgment, liberally endowed with all sorts of Learning, and abundantly adorn'd both with Divine and Humane Knowledge, and that as well Moral as Political or Civil, whereby he has attain'd a high degree, both of Probity and Sweet­ness of Mind. And of the Work it self he speaks thus. As to what concerns the structure of this History, whether you consi­der the things themselves, or his Language: and in the things, if you observe the order of times, the Counsels, the things done, the events; and in the management of affairs, if you desire not onely what was done or said, should be discoursed, but also in what man­ner; and that when the event is told, at the same time all the causes should be unfolded, and all the accidents which sprung from wise­dom or folly: All these, and a multitude of other such like things, which the great Ma­sters of History require in a good Historian, he has performed so fully and exactly, that in forming the History of one Council, he hath represented all the Perfections of Histo­ry; and, upon this account, deserves to be numbered amongst the most noble Historians.

[Page 296] Thuanus. Jacobus Augustus Thuanus, a Man of No­ble Birth, of great Learning and Dignity, and worthy of the principal place amongst the Historians of this Age, as we have observed above, wrote the affairs of this Century, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, from the year 1546, to the year 1608, with great exactness; which History we have lately continued to the year 1618.

Vossius.Besides all these which I have named, the Books of the Learned and Famous Gerar­dus Johannes Vossius, concerning the Greek and Latin Historians, will supply the Rea­der with the Names of a vast number of other both Civil and Ecclesiastical Histori­ans; out of which, any Man that is not pleased with the choice I have made, may choose out others at his pleasure. But thus I think, and that I have spoken e­nough concerning the First Part of my Method.

SECT. I.

WE have finished the First Part; in which we have represented the Authours both of the CI­VIL and ECCLESIASTICAL History. And we have made choice of those which [Page 298] we esteem'd the best of both sorts: and have also shewn in what order they are to be Read. And now in the Second Place, we must inquire who is a competent Rea­der of them. And we shall doe this with as much brevity as is possible. Aristotle disputing in the first Book, and third Chap­ter of his Ethicks, concerning the compe­tent and well-qualified hearer of those Doctrines he was to deliver there, con­cludes thus; A young Man is not a well-qualified [...], &c. hearer of Civil Knowledge (or Mo­rality) because he is not experienced in the Actions which concern this life: Because youth being ignorant in judging, doth easily despise good advices, and imbrace bad Counsels, by which it is deluded and deceived. But now if our Master has given a right sentence in this case, what reason can be given why we may not pass the same sentence in our disquisition, concerning a fit and com­petent Reader of Histories; Seeing Wise Men have observed, that History is nothing but Moral Philosophy, cloathed in Exam­ples?

In the Hearer of Ethicks, or Politicks, there is required in the first place judg­ment, [...], that he may judge well con­cerning the Rules of Actions. And in the next place is required a well-disposed Mind, that he may with dexterity endea­vour to bring into use the Precepts he hath received. And in the self-same manner it is necessary for the Reader of Histories to [Page 299] have the faculty of Apprehending whate­ver Examples he Reads, and judging well of them: And then, that he should have an inclination and propensity of Mind to follow what is Good, and to shun and avoid what is Evil: and of turning all he meets with to his use and advantage. For the principal end of History is Practice, and not Knowledge or Contemplation. And there­fore we must learn, not onely that we may know, but that we may doe well and live honestly. And therefore there are some Men of very great Learning, who assert, there is hardly any sort of study which seems to require more Sagacity, Judg­ment, Experience and Prudence, than in reading History, which is the best Mistress of Civil Conversation. And therefore I have ever wondered, that Gerardus Jo­hannes Vossius, who deserves to be num­bred amongst the Princes of Learning in this Age, should, in his Elegant Book (de Arte Historica) of the Historick Art, stifly maintain, that this sort of study is fit for young Men; and reject the opinions, and confute and take off the arguments of Bartolomaeus Keckerman, and others, who are of a contrary judgment: but if you please you may hear both, first Kecker­man, and then Vossius.

Keckerman de Natura Hist. Par. 1. c. 1. p. 10. ‘Seeing (saith Keckerman) Histories contain nothing but Examples of Pre­cepts; and Precepts are generally deli­vered in a Method, but examples without [Page 300] any Method. Except that which is me­thodically taught precede, it is a com­mon and a very mischievous errour and mistake for youth, which is led onely by the pleasure and delight of History, to begin professedly to read Histories, before it is acquainted with those Sciences and Precepts which are delivered in Order and Method, and with the common pla­ces to which all Histories ought to be re­duced: Now that this is very preposte­rous, may be easily understood by thus comparing it with other Sciences; as for example, with Grammar, Logick, &c. For as it were absurd for a Man to desire to know and observe the examples of Gram­mar, Logick, or Rhetorick, before he hath learned the Rules of those Scien­ces: so it must needs be more absurd for one to desire to read seriously and professedly, and to observe Histories which are nothing but examples of Mo­rality and Politicks, before he has Lear­ned the Rules and Method of Morality and Policy, &c.’ Thus far Keckerman.

And now if you please you may hear Vossius. There is (saith he) nothing of ab­surdity De Arte Hist. cap. 5. p. 31. (as Keckerman pretends) if one should choose to learn Examples before Precepts: for it is very well known that Languages may be very well learn'd without Grammar Rules: and then, saith he, those who are of Kecker­man's opinion, commit no small errour, by not distinguishing between Reading and Writing [Page 301] an History; to which no Man should apply himself if he be not well acquainted with Civil Philosophy. Lastly, he saith, That they confound the naked and simple History of things, with the ( [...]) Hi­storical Perfection, which inquireth curiously into the circumstances and causes of events. In the last place, he confirms his opinion by the Authority of Quintilian (a Great Master in the Art of Breeding youth) who commands Oratours to begin with Histo­ries and Orations. And at the same time doubts not to prefer Livy before Salust; not onely because he is more Candid, and more like Cicero than Salust; but also because he is the Authour of a larger and more perfect Hi­story: now he would never have written thus, if he had not thought the most General Hi­stories best for youth. Thus Writes the most Learned Vossius.

SECT. II.

BUt may we have the liberty of this Great Man (whose judgment is every where else of the greatest Authority with us, and whom, in the things relating to History, we especially value and venerate) to dissent, and in some sort to defend the part Keckerman hath taken. It seems there­fore to me, that Keckerman may thus Re­ply, In the first place it is not impossible to learn Languages without Rules; but that they may be as well Learned with­out Rules is denied. We learn to Arti­culate words, and to form, compound and speak them, by Hearing, Use and Discourse, without Precepts or Rules. But then to Adorn our Speech, and artificially form an Oration, is scarce, or rather not at all possible, without the assistance of Rules and Precepts. And besides, although one [Page 303] may learn to speak (of what Language soever he were) without Rules, yet he will never be able to judge of the exact­ness and propriety of Speech, and to give the reason of it, without them; nor in­deed to speak well, or elegantly. But then those things are best learned, of which we have a perfect knowledge, where we can give an account of the Reason of them, as Aristotle our Master teacheth us. Ethic. l. 1. And besides all this, there is another judg­ment to be made upon Languages, than there is upon Actions, whether we are to imitate them, or to compare them in our mind by Contemplation. Use directs and corrects our Speech; but it is the Rule and Precepts of Living well which are to go­vern our Actions. The Custome of the place (which is never fix'd) governs our Seneca E­pist. 114. Language: But then we know our Acti­ons are to be temper'd, with respect to Honesty and Turpitude, and to be exa­min'd by the Precepts of Law.

Secondly. Neither is the opinion of Vos­sius altogether to be approved, in that he holds, that Practick Philosophy is necessa­ry for a Writer, but not for a Reader of History. For why not? Do we not af­firm, that the same end is common to both of them? the design of the one be­ing, that he may from examples learn the way of Living well; the other's, that he may also by Examples teach that way: Is it not the scope of the one, that by de­scribing [Page 304] the Accidents that have attended the Lives of others, he may insinuate wise­dom into Men? And is it not the scope of the other, that by reading and observing those events, he may attain to prudence? It seems to be exactly thus to me at least; and not to me onely, but to many others, and those not unlearned men. If you please, let us hear one or two of them. Moral Philosophy and History (saith Ubertus De scriben­da Hist. penult. p. 954. Folietta) are two faculties which respect the common Good and Utility of Men; and which direct them in the way to a blessed life; and fit them for the preserving and improving Ci­vil Society: And therefore these two facul­ties have divided this work between them, so that the first forms the Minds and Manners of Men by Disputes and Precepts; and the latter by usefull Examples and salutary Ad­monitions, teaching and advising them what to follow, and what to flee in the course of their lives: by whose Examples Men should govern and form their Actions and Counsels; and sets before them the ends and events which usual­ly wait upon good and evil Counsels; by the knowledge of which, Men may be engaged in the love of Vertue, or call'd off from Lewd and Wicked courses. Sebastian Fox also, a Man of a celebrated judgment and elo­quence in his time, doth manifestly dissent from the great Vossius in this point. For he in his Book de Institutione Historiae, Pag. 819. writes thus. How shall you ever be able to know or judge of the Art or Elegance, not [Page 305] onely of an History, but of any other thing that is well written; if you know not what that art is, or what is rightly and well done? those things you inquire of are not to be un­derstood, but by Learned and well-instructed Men; for he that would accurately read a History, must first know how it ought to be wrote, &c. and presently after he subjoins the reason. Because Artificers and Lear­ned Men, and not the ignorant and unexpe­rienced, are able to know what is Artifi­cial and Learned. And therefore (saith he) let Reading be attended not onely with a na­tural, but also with an acquired judgment, and with an erudition that is not mean or common. Nor does Johannes Viperanus dis­sent Lib. 1. de Scr. Hist. c. 17. from Fox, as these his words demon­strate (who was also a Man of good Lear­ning.) It is (saith he) the work of a great Man, to collect by his reading the true fruits of History; that is, of one who per­ceives the Divine and Humane reasons of things; who can cull out the best instructions of Manners, who measures the Actions of o­thers by the same rules of Honesty by which he lives himself, who is well acquainted with places; who has a strange knowledge both of virtues and vices, and in whom there are great treasures of Learning and Erudition, &c. and a little after this. He that can join the Precepts of Morality with the Ex­amples, shall reap great advantages from the reading of Histories, and shall thereby attain to perfect and absolute wisedom.

[Page 306] Yea, the very Conclusion which the Ars Histo. c. 5. p. 28. Learned Vossius makes (in the said Fifth Chapter) concerning the principal use of History, seems to be of great force, for the confirming our opinion; for thus he writes. Therefore (saith he) we must thus determine, that the very principal fruit of History is to collect from Similars and Con­traries, what is expedient for the Publick, and for every Person in Particular: for he that will be wise, must be carefull to observe, or as the Greeks express it, be [...], that is, a person that dwells upon, and deeply in­spects any thing. Which because Children and Ignorant Men can never doe, they must of necessity want the principal fruit of Rea­ding Histories, from whence it may more than probably be concluded, that they are less fitted (than others) to be the Rea­ders of Histories. Yet I will not deny, but that Children, and Men of little or no Learning, may reap some small advantage from the Reading of Histories; that is, Pleasure and Delight; or may perhaps, by remembring some pretty Stories, please others by the handsome telling them (if they be persons of more than ordinary natural wit and ingenuity, and have the Knack of expressing a thing well and plea­santly, which yet is very rarely found in a very tender and immature Age.) But then as the same Vossius observes, They are to be esteem'd a sort of ridiculous silly De Arte Histo. c. 5. p. 30. people, who read Histories for no other end, [Page 307] but that they may divertise themselves, and lay up a stock of Chat for entertainments and common meetings. Let such People, in good time, betake themselves (they are the words of Justus Lipsius) to their Amadis of Gaul, or to Hugo Burdagalensis; or if they have a mind to seem more learned to Heliodorus his Ethiopick Romance; or to the noble Sir P. Sydney's Arcadia, or Barclay's Argi­nis.

SECT. III.

TO Proceed, the Learned Vossius seems to me to be deceived in the third place, where he saith we confound the simple relation of things, with that which he calls the [...], the Perfect History. In that as I have said, we grant Children and Youths may be able to read the naked and simple relations of things, and the Accounts of great Actions, and may, without much difficulty, understand the description of Places. But then we [Page 308] ought to remember, that Antiquity esteem'd these sorts of History as but little better than fables (I use Vossius his own words) be­cause from such Accounts there was little other advantages to be reaped besides those of Pleasure, no more than there was from Fa­bles. But the Reader we are now for­ming, ought to look beyond these things: for our end is not Pleasure, but improve­ment, and that which is the ultimate end of all Histories, that he may be taught to live well, and happily. That Learned Lib. 5. de trad. Disc. p. 352. Man Ludovicus Vivis speaks very well, and appositely to our purpose. And now (saith he) we are acquainted with History in some degree, that is, as far as is necessary to the institution of youth: (viz.) as to the order of times, and the knowledge of the Names of Famous Men: But now it is to be more ex­actly and fully known, because it may be much better understood by Men, who have attain'd some degree of experience, that it may be ap­plied to the advantage of our Lives, by the use of Reason and Judgment: as that nou­rishment is diffused over all the Body, by the Natural Heat by which a Man is sustain'd, and Life prolong'd. And therefore we say, our Reader cannot be satisfied with a na­ked account of things. But as Dion Ha­licarnassaeus Lib. 5. An­tiq. Rom. an. expresseth it, [...]. Every one desireth to see the causes of Acti­ons, and after what manner they were done, [Page 309] and the very minds and designs of those who were the Actors in them. These very words, and many others to the same purpose, are cited out of Halicarnassaeus, by that Man of much Learning, Vossius, where he Lear­nedly De Arte Hist. c. 15. p. 80. & 81. proves, that the expression of the great Poet, in his Second Georgick,