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To the Right Honourable

My Lord,

I shall make no Apology for addressing the following Sheets to Your Lordship, who lived in a long Intercourse of Friendship with the Author; and, like him, amidst occupations of a different nature, made Religion your voluntary Study; and in all your Enquiries and Actions, have shewn the same inflexible Adherence to Truth and Virtue.

I shall always reckon it one of the Advantages of my Relation to Sir Isaac Newton, that it affords me an opportunity of making this publick acknowledgment of the unfeigned Respect of,

Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel.

CHAP. I. Introduction concerning, the Compilers of the Books of the Old Testament.

CHAP. II. Of the Prophetic Language.

CHAP. III. Of the vision of the Image composed of four Metals.

CHAP. IV. Of the vision of the four Beasts.

CHAP. V. Of the Kingdoms represented by the feet of the Image composed of iron and clay.

CHAP. VI. Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast.

CHAP. VII. Of the eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth Beast.

CHAP. VIII. Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth Beast, to change times and laws.

CHAP. IX. Of the Kingdoms represented in Daniel by the Ram and He-Goat.

CHAP. X. Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.

CHAP. XI. Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of Christ.

CHAP. XII. Of the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth.

CHAP. XIII. Of the King who did according to his will, and magnified himself above every God, and honoured Mahuzzims, and regarded not the desire of women.

CHAP. XIV. Of the Mahuzzims, honoured by the King who doth according to his will.

Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John.

CHAP. I. Introduction, concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written.

CHAP. II. Of the relation which the Apocalypse of John hath to the Book of the Law of Moses, and to the worship of God in the Temple.

CHAP. III. Of the relation which the Prophecy of John hath to those of Daniel; and of the Subject of the Prophecy.

Introduction concerning the Compilers of the books of the Old Testament.

When Manasses ^[1] set up a carved image in the house of the Lord, and built altars in the two courts of the house, to all the host of Heaven, and us'd inchantments and witchcraft, and familiar spirits, and for his great wickedness was invaded by the army of Asserhadon King of Assyria, and carried captive to Babylon; the book of the Law was lost till the eighteenth year of his grandson Josiah. Then ^[2] Hilkiah the High Priest, upon repairing the Temple, found it there: and the King lamented that their fathers had not done after the words of the book, and commanded that it should be read to the people, and caused the people to renew the holy covenant with God. This is the book of the Law now extant.

When ^[3] Shishak came out of Egypt and spoil'd the temple, and brought Judah into subjection to the monarchy of Egypt, (which was in the fifth year of Rehoboam) the Jews continued under great troubles for about twenty years; being without the true God, and without a teaching Priest, and without Law: and in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries, and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity. But ^[4] when Shishak was dead, and Egypt fell into troubles, Judah had quiet ten years; and in that time Asa built fenced cities in Judah, and got up an army of 580000 men, with which, in the 15th year of his reign, he met and overcame Zerah the Ethiopian, who had conquered Egypt and Lybia, and Troglodytica, and came out with an army of 1000000 Lybians and Ethiopians, to recover the countries conquered by Sesac. And after this victory ^[5] Asa dethroned his mother for idolatry, and he renewed the Altar, and brought new vessels of gold and silver into the Temple; and he and the people entered into a new covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers, upon pain of death to those who worshiped other Gods; and his son Jehosaphat took away the high places, and in the third year of his reign sent some of his Princes, and of the Priests and Levites, to teach in the cities of Judah: and they had the book of the Law with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people. This is that book of the Law which was afterwards lost in the reign of Manasses, and found again in the reign of Josiah, and therefore it was written before the third year of Jehosaphat.

The same book of the Law was preserved and handed down to posterity by the Samaritans, and therefore was received by the ten Tribes before their captivity. For ^[6] when the ten Tribes were captivated, a Priest or the captivity was sent back to Bethel, by order of the King of Assyria, to instruct the new inhabitants of Samaria, in the manner of the God of the land; and the Samaritans had the Pentateuch from this Priest, as containing the law or manner of the God of the land, which he was to teach them. For ^[7] they persevered in the religion which he taught them, joining with it the worship of their own Gods; and by persevering in what they had been taught, they preserved this book of their Law in the original character of the Hebrews, while the two Tribes, after their return from Babylon, changed the character to that of the Chaldees, which they had learned at Babylon.

And since the Pentateuch was received as the book of the Law, both by the two Tribes and by the ten Tribes, it follows that they received it before they became divided into two Kingdoms. For after the division, they received not laws from one another, but continued at variance. Judah could not reclaim Israel from the sin of Jeroboam, and Israel could not bring Judah to it. The Pentateuch therefore was the book of the Law in the days of David and Solomon. The affairs of the Tabernacle and Temple were ordered by David and Solomon, according to the Law of this book; and David in the 78th Psalm, admonishing the people to give ear to the Law of God, means the Law of this book. For in describing how their forefathers kept it not, he quotes many historical things out of the books of Exodus and Numbers.

The race of the Kings of Edom, before there reigned any King over Israel, is set down in the book of ^[8] Genesis; and therefore that book was not written entirely in the form now extant, before the reign of Saul. The writer set down the race of those Kings till his own time, and therefore wrote before David conquered Edom. The Pentateuch is composed of the Law and the history of God's people together; and the history hath been collected from several books, such as were the history of the Creation composed by Moses, Gen. ii. 4. the book of the generations of Adam, Gen. v. i. and the book of the wars of the Lord, Num. xxi. 14. This book of wars contained what was done at the Red-sea, and in the journeying of Israel thro' the Wilderness, and therefore was begun by Moses. And Joshua might carry it on to the conquest of Canaan. For Joshua wrote some things in the book of the Law of God, Josh. xxiv. 26 and therefore might write his own wars in the book of wars, those being the principal wars of God. These were publick books, and therefore not written without the authority of Moses and Joshua. And Samuel had leisure in the reign of Saul, to put them into the form of the books of Moses and Joshua now extant, inserting into the book of Genesis, the race of the Kings of Edom, until there reigned a King in Israel.

The book of the Judges is a continued history of the Judges down to the death of Sampson, and therefore was compiled after his death, out of the Acts of the Judges. Several things in this book are said to be done when there was no King in Israel, Judg. xvii. 6. xviii. 1. xix. 1. xxi. 25. and therefore this book was written after the beginning of the reign of Saul. When it was written, the Jebusites dwelt in Jerusalem, Jud. i. 21 and therefore it was written before the eighth year of David, 2 Sam. v. 8. and 1 Chron. xi. 6. The books of Moses, Joshua, and Judges, contain one continued history, down from the Creation to the death of Sampson. Where the Pentateuch ends, the book of Joshua begins; and where the book of Joshua ends, the book of Judges begins. Therefore all these books have been composed out of the writings of Moses, Joshua, and other records, by one and the same hand, after the beginning of the reign of Saul, and before the eighth year of David. And Samuel was a sacred writer, 1 Sam. x. 25. acquainted with the history of Moses and the Judges, 1 Sam. xii. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. and had leisure in the reign of Saul, and sufficient authority to compose these books. He was a Prophet, and judged Israel all the days of his life, and was in the greatest esteem with the people; and the Law by which he was to judge the people was not to be published by less authority than his own, the Law-maker being not inferior to the judge. And the book of Jasher, which is quoted in the book of Joshua, Josh. x. 13. was in being at the death of Saul, 2 Sam. i. 18.

At the dedication of the Temple of Solomon, when the Ark was brought into the most holy place, there was nothing in it but the two tables, 1 Kings viii. 9. and therefore when the Philistines took the Ark, they took out of it the book of the Law, and the golden pot of Manna, and Aaron's Rod. And this and other losses in the desolation of Israel, by the conquering Philistines, might give occasion to Samuel, after some respite from those enemies, to recollect the scattered writings of Moses and Joshua, and the records of the Patriarchs and Judges, and compose them in the form now extant.

The book of Ruth is a history of things done in the days of the Judges, and may be looked upon as an addition to the book of the Judges, written by the same author, and at the same time. For it was written after the birth of David, Ruth iv. 17, 22. and not long after, because the history of Boaz and Ruth, the great grandfather and great grandmother of David, and that of their contemporaries, could not well be remembered above two or three generations. And since this book derives the genealogy of David from Boaz and Ruth, and omits David's elder brothers and his sons; it was written in honour of David, after he was anointed King by Samuel, and before he had children in Hebron, and by consequence in the reign of Saul. It proceeds not to the history of David, and therefore seems to have been written presently after he was anointed. They judge well therefore who ascribe to Samuel the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

Samuel is also reputed the author of the first book of Samuel, till the time of his death. The two books of Samuel cite no authors, and therefore seem to be originals. They begin with his genealogy, birth and education, and might be written partly in his lifetime by himself or his disciples the Prophets at Naioth in Ramah, 1 Sam. xix. 18, 19, 20. and partly after his death by the same disciples.

The books of the Kings cite other authors, as the book of the Acts of Solomon, the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, and the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. The books of the Chronicles cite the book of Samuel the Seer, the book of Nathan the Prophet, and the book of Gad the Seer, for the Acts of David; the book of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the Seer, for the Acts of Solomon; the book of Shemajah the Prophet, and the book of Iddo the Seer concerning genealogies, for the Acts of Rehoboam and Abijah; the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel for the Acts of Asa, Joash, Amaziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah; the book of Hanani the Seer, for the Acts of Jehosaphat; and the visions of Isaiah for the Acts of Uzziah and Hezekiah. These books were therefore collected out of the historical writings of the antient Seers and Prophets. And because the books of the Kings and Chronicles quote one another, they were written at one and the same time. And this time was after the return from the Babylonian captivity, because they bring down the history of Judah, and the genealogies of the Kings of Judah, and of the High Priests, to that captivity. The book of Ezra was originally a part of the book of the Chronicles, and has been divided from it. For it begins with the two last verses of the books of Chronicles, and the first book of Esdras begins with the two last chapters thereof. Ezra was therefore the compiler of the books of Kings and Chronicles, and brought down the history to his own time. He was a ready Scribe in the Law of God; and for assisting him in this work Nehemias founded a library, and gathered together the Acts of the Kings and the Prophets, and of David, and the Epistles of the Kings, concerning the holy gifts, 2 Maccab. ii. 13. By the Acts of David I understand here the two books of Samuel, or at least the second book. Out of the Acts of the Kings, written from time to time by the Prophets, he compos'd the books of the Kings of Judah and Israel, the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, and the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. And in doing this he joined those Acts together, in due order of time, copying the very words of the authors, as is manifest from hence, that the books of the Kings and Chronicles frequently agree with one another in words for many sentences together. Where they agree in sense, there they agree in words also.

So the Prophecies of Isaiah, written at several times, he has collected into one body. And the like he did for those of Jeremiah, and the rest of the Prophets, down to the days of the second Temple. The book of Jonah is the history of Jonah written by another hand. The book of Daniel is a collection of papers written at several times. The six last chapters contain Prophecies written at several times by Daniel himself: the six first are a collection of historical papers written by others. The fourth chapter is a decree of Nebuchadnezzar. The first chapter was written after Daniel's death: for the author saith, that Daniel continued to the first year of Cyrus; that is, to his first year over the Persians and Medes, and third year over Babylon. And, for the same reason, the fifth and sixth chapters were also written after his death. For they end with these words: So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Yet these words might be added by the collector of the papers, whom I take to be Ezra.

The Psalms composed by Moses, David, and others, seem to have been also collected by Ezra into one volume. I reckon him the collector, because in this collection I meet with Psalms as late as the Babylonian captivity, but with none later.

After these things Antiochus Epiphanes spoiled the Temple, commanded the Jews to forsake the Law upon pain of death, and caused the sacred books to be burnt wherever they could be found: and in these troubles the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel was entirely lost. But upon recovering from this oppression, Judas Maccabæus gathered together all those writings that were to be met with, 2 Maccab. ii. 14. and in reducing them into order, part of the Prophecies of Isaiah, or some other Prophet, have been added to the end of the Prophecies of Zechariah; and the book of Ezra has been separated from the book of Chronicles, and set together in two different orders; in one order in the book of Ezra, received into the Canon, and in another order in the first book of Esdras.

After the Roman captivity, the Jews for preserving their traditions, put them in writing in their Talmud, and for preserving their scriptures, agreed upon an Edition, and pointed it, and counted the letters of every sort in every book: and by preserving only this Edition, the antienter various lections, except what can be discovered by means of the Septuagint Version, are now lost; and such marginal notes, or other corruptions, as by the errors of the transcribers, before this Edition was made, had crept into the text, are now scarce to be corrected.

The Jews before the Roman captivity, distinguished the sacred books into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, or holy writings; and read only the Law and the Prophets in their Synagogues. And Christ and his Apostles laid the stress of religion upon the Law and the Prophets, Matt. vii. 12. xxii. 4. Luke xvi. 16, 29, 31. xxiv. 44. Acts xxiv. 14. xxvi. 22. Rom. iii. 21. By the Hagiographa they meant the historical books called Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, the book of Job, the Psalms, the books of Solomon, and the Lamentations. The Samaritans read only the Pentateuch: and when Jehosaphat sent men to teach in the cities, they had with them only the book of the Law; for the Prophecies now extant were not then written. And upon the return from the Babylonian captivity, Ezra read only the book of the Law to the people, from morning to noon on the first day of the seventh month; and from day to day in the feast of Tabernacles: for he had not yet collected the writings of the Prophets into the volume now extant; but instituted the reading of them after the collection was made. By reading the Law and the Prophets in the Synagogues, those books have been kept freer from corruption than the Hagiographa.

In the infancy of the nation of Israel, when God had given them a Law, and made a covenant with them to be their God if they would keep his commandments, he sent Prophets to reclaim them, as often as they revolted to the worship of other Gods: and upon their returning to him, they sometimes renewed the covenant which they had broken. These Prophets he continued to send, till the days of Ezra: but after their Prophecies were read in the Synagogues, those Prophecies were thought sufficient. For if the people would not hear Moses and the old Prophets, they would hear no new ones, no not tho they should rise from the dead. At length when a new truth was to be preached to the Gentiles, namely, that Jesus was the Christ, God sent new Prophets and Teachers: but after their writings were also received and read in the Synagogues of the Christians, Prophecy ceased a second time. We have Moses, the Prophets, and Apostles, and the words of Christ himself; and if we will not hear them, we shall be more inexcusable than the Jews. For the Prophets and Apostles have foretold, that as Israel often revolted and brake the covenant, and upon repentance renewed it; so there should be a falling away among the Christians, soon after the days of the Apostles; and that in the latter days God would destroy the impenitent revolters, and make a new covenant with his people. And the giving ear to the Prophets is a fundamental character of the true Church. For God has so ordered the Prophecies, that in the latter days the wise may understand, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, Dan. xii. 9, 10. The authority of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, is human. The authority of Councils, Synods, Bishops, and Presbyters, is human. The authority of the Prophets is divine, and comprehends the sum of religion, reckoning Moses and the Apostles among the Prophets; and if an Angel from Heaven preach any other gospel, than what they have delivered, let him be accursed. Their writings contain the covenant between God and his people, with instructions for keeping this covenant; instances of God's judgments upon them that break it: and predictions of things to come. While the people of God keep the covenant, they continue to be his people: when they break it they cease to be his people or church, and become the Synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not. And no power on earth is authorized to alter this covenant.

The predictions of things to come relate to the state of the Church in all ages: and amongst the old Prophets, Daniel is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood: and therefore in those things which relate to the last times, he must be made the key to the rest.

Of the Prophetic Language.

For understanding the Prophecies, we are, in the first place, to acquaint our-selves with the figurative language of the Prophets. This language is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic.

Accordingly, the whole world natural consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as is considered in the Prophecy: and the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, with the things thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called Hades or Hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. Whence ascending towards heaven, and descending to the earth, are put for rising and falling in power and honour: rising out of the earth, or waters, and falling into them, for the rising up to any dignity or dominion, out of the inferior state of the people, or falling down from the same into that inferior state; descending into the lower parts of the earth, for descending to a very low and unhappy estate; speaking with a faint voice out of the dust, for being in a weak and low condition; moving from one place to another, for translation from one office, dignity, or dominion, to another; great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract or overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of the world, for the rise and ruin of the body politic signified thereby.

In the heavens, the Sun and Moon are, by interpreters of dreams, put for the persons of Kings and Queens; but in sacred Prophecy, which regards not single persons, the Sun is put for the whole species and race of Kings, in the kingdom or kingdoms of the world politic, shining with regal power and glory; the Moon for the body of the common people, considered as the King's wife; the Stars for subordinate Princes and great men, or for Bishops and Rulers of the people of God, when the Sun is Christ; light for the glory, truth, and knowledge, wherewith great and good men shine and illuminate others; darkness for obscurity of condition, and for error, blindness and ignorance; darkning, smiting, or setting of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom, or for the desolation thereof, proportional to the darkness; darkning the Sun, turning the Moon into blood, and falling of the Stars, for the same; new Moons, for the return of a dispersed people into a body politic or ecclesiastic.

Fire and meteors refer to both heaven and earth, and signify as follows; burning any thing with fire, is put for the consuming thereof by war; a conflagration of the earth, or turning a country into a lake of fire, for the consumption of a kingdom by war; the being in a furnace, for the being in slavery under another nation; the ascending up of the smoke of any burning thing for ever and ever, for the continuation of a conquered people under the misery of perpetual subjection and slavery; the scorching heat of the sun, for vexatious wars, persecutions and troubles inflicted by the King; riding on the clouds, for reigning over much people; covering the sun with a cloud, or with smoke, for oppression of the King by the armies of an enemy; tempestuous winds, or the motion of clouds, for wars; thunder, or the voice of a cloud, for the voice of a multitude; a storm of thunder, lightning, hail, and overflowing rain, for a tempest of war descending from the heavens and clouds politic, on the heads of their enemies; rain, if not immoderate, and dew, and living water, for the graces and doctrines of the Spirit; and the defect of rain, for spiritual barrenness.

In the earth, the dry land and congregated waters, as a sea, a river, a flood, are put for the people of several regions, nations, and dominions; embittering of waters, for great affliction of the people by war and persecution; turning things into blood, for the mystical death of bodies politic, that is, for their dissolution; the overflowing of a sea or river, for the invasion of the earth politic, by the people of the waters; drying up of waters, for the conquest of their regions by the earth; fountains of waters for cities, the permanent heads of rivers politic; mountains and islands, for the cities of the earth and sea politic, with the territories and dominions belonging to those cities; dens and rocks of mountains, for the temples of cities; the hiding of men in those dens and rocks, for the shutting up of Idols in their temples; houses and ships, for families, assemblies, and towns, in the earth and sea politic; and a navy of ships of war, for an army of that kingdom that is signified by the sea.

Animals also and vegetables are put for the people of several regions and conditions; and particularly, trees, herbs, and land animals, for the people of the earth politic: flags, reeds, and fishes, for those of the waters politic; birds and insects, for those of the politic heaven and earth; a forest for a kingdom; and a wilderness for a desolate and thin people.

If the world politic, considered in prophecy, consists of many kingdoms, they are represented by as many parts of the world natural; as the noblest by the celestial frame, and then the Moon and Clouds are put for the common people; the less noble, by the earth, sea, and rivers, and by the animals or vegetables, or buildings therein; and then the greater and more powerful animals and taller trees, are put for Kings, Princes, and Nobles. And because the whole kingdom is the body politic of the King, therefore the Sun, or a Tree, or a Beast, or Bird, or a Man, whereby the King is represented, is put in a large signification for the whole kingdom; and several animals, as a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard, a Goat, according to their qualities, are put for several kingdoms and bodies politic; and sacrificing of beasts, for slaughtering and conquering of kingdoms; and friendship between beasts, for peace between kingdoms. Yet sometimes vegetables and animals are, by certain epithets or circumstances, extended to other significations; as a Tree, when called the tree of life or of knowledge; and a Beast, when called the old serpent, or worshipped.

When a Beast or Man is put for a kingdom, his parts and qualities are put for the analogous parts and qualities of the kingdom; as the head of a Beast, for the great men who precede and govern; the tail for the inferior people, who follow and are governed; the heads, if more than one, for the number of capital parts, or dynasties, or dominions in the kingdom, whether collateral or successive, with respect to the civil government; the horns on any head, for the number of kingdoms in that head, with respect to military power; seeing for understanding, and the eyes for men of understanding and policy, and in matters of religion for Επισκοποι, Bishops; speaking, for making laws; the mouth, for a law-giver, whether civil or sacred; the loudness of the voice, for might and power; the faintness thereof, for weakness; eating and drinking, for acquiring what is signified by the things eaten and drank; the hairs of a beast, or man, and the feathers of a bird, for people; the wings, for the number of kingdoms represented by the beast; the arm of a man, for his power, or for any people wherein his strength and power consists; his feet, for the lowest of the people, or for the latter end of the kingdom; the feet, nails, and teeth of beasts of prey, for armies and squadrons of armies; the bones, for strength, and for fortified places; the flesh, for riches and possessions; and the days of their acting, for years; and when a tree is put for a kingdom, its branches, leaves and fruit, signify as do the wings, feathers, and food of a bird or beast.

When a man is taken in a mystical sense, his qualities are often signified by his actions, and by the circumstances of things about him. So a Ruler is signified by his riding on a beast; a Warrior and Conqueror, by his having a sword and bow; a potent man, by his gigantic stature; a Judge, by weights and measures; a sentence of absolution, or condemnation, by a white or a black stone; a new dignity, by a new name; moral or civil qualifications, by garments; honour and glory, by splendid apparel; royal dignity, by purple or scarlet, or by a crown; righteousness, by white and clean robes; wickedness, by spotted and filthy garments; affliction, mourning, and humiliation, by clothing in sackcloth; dishonour, shame, and want of good works, by nakedness; error and misery, by drinking a cup of his or her wine that causeth it; propagating any religion for gain, by exercising traffick and merchandize with that people whose religion it is; worshipping or serving the false Gods of any nation, by committing adultery with their princes, or by worshipping them; a Council of a kingdom, by its image; idolatry, by blasphemy; overthrow in war, by a wound of man or beast; a durable plague of war, by a sore and pain; the affliction or persecution which a people suffers in labouring to bring forth a new kingdom, by the pain of a woman in labour to bring forth a man-child; the dissolution of a body politic or ecclesiastic, by the death of a man or beast; and the revival of a dissolved dominion, by the resurrection of the dead.

Of the vision of the Image composed of four Metals.

The Prophecies of Daniel are all of them related to one another, as if they were but several parts of one general Prophecy, given at several times. The first is the easiest to be understood, and every following Prophecy adds something new to the former. The first was given in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the second year of his reign; but the King forgetting his dream, it was given again to Daniel in a dream, and by him revealed to the King. And thereby, Daniel presently became famous for wisdom, and revealing of secrets: insomuch that Ezekiel his contemporary, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, spake thus of him to the King of Tyre: Behold, saith he, thou art wiser than Daniel, there is no secret that they can hide from thee, Ezek. xxviii. 3. And the same Ezekiel, in another place, joins Daniel with Noah and Job, as most high in the favour of God, Ezek. xiv. 14, 16, 18, 20. And in the last year of Belshazzar, the Queen-mother said of him to the King: Behold there is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers: forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, Dan. v. 11, 12. Daniel was in the greatest credit amongst the Jews, till the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian: and to reject his Prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his Prophecy concerning the Messiah.

Now in this vision of the Image composed of four Metals, the foundation of all Daniel's Prophecies is laid. It represents a body of four great nations, which should reign over the earth successively, viz. the people of Babylonia, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. And by a stone cut out without hands, which fell upon the feet of the Image, and brake all the four Metals to pieces, and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth; it further represents that a new kingdom should arise, after the four, and conquer all those nations, and grow very great, and last to the end of all ages.

The head of the Image was of gold, and signifies the nations of Babylonia, who reigned first, as Daniel himself interprets. Thou art this head of gold, saith he to Nebuchadnezzar. These nations reigned till Cyrus conquered Babylon, and within a few months after that conquest revolted to the Persians, and set them up above the Medes. The breast and arms of the Image were of silver, and represent the Persians who reigned next. The belly and thighs of the Image were of brass, and represent the Greeks, who, under the dominion of Alexander the great, conquered the Persians, and reigned next after them. The legs were of iron, and represent the Romans who reigned next after the Greeks, and began to conquer them in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes. For in that year they conquered Perseus King of Macedon, the fundamental kingdom of the Greeks; and from thence forward grew into a mighty empire, and reigned with great power till the days of Theodosius the great. Then by the incursion of many northern nations, they brake into many smaller kingdoms, which are represented by the feet and toes of the Image, composed part of iron, and part of clay. For then, saith Daniel, ^[1] the kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it of the strength of iron, but they shall not cleave one to another.

And in the days of these Kings, saith Daniel, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold.

Of the vision of the four Beasts.

In the next vision, which is of the four Beasts, the Prophecy of the four Empires is repeated, with several new additions; such as are the two wings of the Lion, the three ribs in the mouth of the Bear, the four wings and four heads of the Leopard, the eleven horns of the fourth Beast, and the son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven, to the Antient of Days sitting in judgment.

The first Beast was like a lion, and had eagle's wings, to denote the kingdoms of Babylonia and Media, which overthrew the Assyrian Empire, and divided it between them, and thereby became considerable, and grew into great Empires. In the former Prophecy, the Empire of Babylonia was represented by the head of gold; in this both Empires are represented together by the two wings of the lion. And I beheld, saith ^[1] Daniel, till the wings thereof were pluckt, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it; that is, till it was humbled and subdued, and made to know its human state.

The second Beast was like a bear, and represents the Empire which reigned next after the Babylonians, that is, the Empire of the Persians. Thy kingdom is divided, or broken, saith Daniel to the last King of Babylon, and given to the Medes and Persians, Dan. v. 28. This Beast raised itself up on one side; the Persians being under the Medes at the fall of Babylon, but presently rising up above them. ^[2] And it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it, to signify the kingdoms of Sardes, Babylon, and Egypt, which were conquered by it, but did not belong to its proper body. And it devoured much flesh, the riches of those three kingdoms.

The third Beast was the kingdom which succeeded the Persian; and this was the empire of the Greeks, Dan. viii. 6, 7, 20, 21. It was like a Leopard, to signify its fierceness; and had four heads and four wings, to signify that it should become divided into four kingdoms, Dan. viii 22. for it continued in a monarchical form during the reign of Alexander the great, and his brother Aridæus, and young sons Alexander and Hercules; and then brake into four kingdoms, by the governors of provinces putting crowns on their own heads, and by mutual consent reigning over their provinces. Cassander reigned over Macedon, Greece, and Epirus; Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia; Ptolemy over Egypt, Lybia, Arabia, Cœlosyria, and Palestine; and Seleucus over Syria.

The fourth Beast was the empire which succeeded that of the Greeks, and this was the Roman. This beast was exceeding dreadful and terrible, and had great iron teeth, and devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and such was the Roman empire. It was larger, stronger, and more formidable and lasting than any of the former. It conquered the kingdom of Macedon, with Illyricum and Epirus, in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes, Anno Nabonass.. 580; and inherited that of Pergamus, Anno Nabonass. 615; and conquered that of Syria, Anno Nabonass. 679, and that of Egypt, Anno Nabonass. 718. And by these and other conquests it became greater and more terrible than any of the three former Beasts. This Empire continued in its greatness till the reign of Theodosius the great; and then brake into ten kingdoms, represented by the ten horns of this Beast; and continued in a broken form, till the Antient of days sat in a throne like fiery flame, and the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and the Beast was slain and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flames; and one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Antient of days ^[3], and received dominion over all nations, and judgment was given to the saints of the most high, and the time came that they possessed the kingdom.

I beheld, saith ^[4] Daniel, till the Beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flames. As concerning the rest of the Beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. And therefore all the four Beasts are still alive, tho the dominion of the three first be taken away. The nations of Chaldea and Assyria are still the first Beast. Those of Media and Persia are still the second Beast. Those of Macedon, Greece and Thrace, Asia minor, Syria and Egypt, are still the third. And those of Europe, on this side Greece, are still the fourth. Seeing therefore the body of the third Beast is confined to the nations on this side the river Euphrates, and the body of the fourth Beast is confined to the nations on this side Greece; we are to look for all the four heads of the third Beast, among the nations on this side of the river Euphrates; and for all the eleven horns of the fourth Beast, among the nations on this side of Greece. And therefore, at the breaking of the Greek empire into four kingdoms of the Greeks, we include no part of the Chaldeans, Medes and Persians in those kingdoms, because they belonged to the bodies of the two first Beasts. Nor do we reckon the Greek empire seated at Constantinople, among the horns of the fourth Beast, because it belonged to the body of the third.

Of the Kingdoms represented by the feet of the Image composed of iron and clay.

Dacia was a large country bounded on the south by the Danube, on the east by the Euxine sea, on the north by the river Neister and the mountain Crapac, and on the west by the river Tibesis, or Teys, which runs southward into the Danube a little above Belgrade. It comprehended the countries now called Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia, and the eastern part of the upper Hungary. Its antient inhabitants were called Getæ by the Greeks, Daci by the Latins, and Goths by themselves. Alexander the great attacked them, and Trajan conquered them, and reduced their country into a Province of the Roman Empire: and thereby the propagation of the Gospel among them was much promoted. They were composed of several Gothic nations, called Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Gepides, Lombards, Burgundians, Alans, &c. who all agreed in their manners, and spake the same language, as Procopius represents. While they lived under the Romans, the Goths or Ostrogoths were seated in the eastern parts of Dacia, the Vandals in the western part upon the river Teys, where the rivers Maresh and Keresh run into it. The Visigoths were between them. The Gepides, according to Jornandes, were upon the Vistula. The Burgundians, a Vandalic nation, were between the Vistula and the southern fountain of the Boristhenes, at some distance from the mountain Crapac northwards, where Ptolemy places them, by the names of Phrugundiones and Burgiones.^[1] The Alans, another Gothic nation, were between the northern fountain of the Boristhenes and the mouth of the river Tanais, where Ptolemy placeth the mountain Alanus, and western side of the Palus Mæotis.

These nations continued under the dominion of the Romans till the second year of the Emperor Philip, and then for want of their military pay began to revolt; the Ostrogoths setting up a kingdom, which, under their Kings Ostrogotha, Cniva, Araric, Geperic, and Hermanaric, increased till the year of Christ 376; and then by an incursion of the Huns from beyond the Tanais, and the death of Hermanaric, brake into several smaller kingdoms. Hunnimund, the son of Hermanaric, became King over the Ostrogoths; Fridigern over the Visigoths; Winithar, or Vinithar, over a part of the Goths called Gruthungi by Ammian, Gothunni by Claudian, and Sarmatæ and Scythians by others: Athanaric reign'd over another part of the Goths in Dacia, called Thervingi; Box over the Antes in Sarmatia; and the Gepides had also their King. The Vandals fled over the Danube from Geberic in the latter end of the reign of Constantine the great, and had seats granted them in Pannonia by that Emperor, where they lived quietly forty years, viz. till the year 377, when several Gothic nations flying from the Hunns came over the Danube, and had seats granted them in Mæsia and Thrace by the Greek Emperor Valens. But the next year they revolted, called in some Goths, Alans and Hunns, from beyond the Danube, and routed the Roman army, slew the Emperor Valens, and spread themselves into Greece and Pannonia as far as the Alps. In the years 379 and 380 they were checkt by the arms of the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius, and made a submissive peace; the Visigoths and Thervingi returned to their seats in Mæsia and Thrace, the Hunns retired over the Danube, and the Alans and Gruthingi obtained seats in Pannonia.

About the year 373, or 374, the Burgundians rose from their seats upon the Vistula, with an army of eighty thousand men to invade Gallia; and being opposed, seated themselves upon the northern side of the Rhine over against Mentz. In the year 358, a body of the Salian Franks, with their King, coming from the river Sala, were received into the Empire by the Emperor Julian, and seated in Gallia between Brabant and the Rhine: and their King Mellobaudes was made Comes domesticorum, by the Emperor Gratian. Richomer, another noble Salian Frank, was made Comes domesticorum, and Magister utriusque Militiæ, by Theodosius; and A.C. 384, was Consul with Clearchus. He was a great favourite of Theodosius, and accompanied him in his wars against Eugenius, but died in the expedition, and left a son called Theudomir, who afterwards became King of the Salian Franks in Brabant. In the time of this war some Franks from beyond the Rhine invaded Gallia under the conduct of Genobald, Marcomir and Suno, but were repulsed by Stilico; and Marcomir being slain, was succeeded in Germany by his son Pharamond.

While these nations remained quiet within the Empire, subject to the Romans, many others continued so beyond the Danube till the death of the Emperor Theodosius, and then rose up in arms. For Paulus Diaconus in his Historia Miscell. lib. xiv. speaking of the times next after the death of this Emperor, tells us: Eodem tempore erant Gothi & aliæ gentes maximæ trans Danubium habitantes: ex quibus rationabiliores quatuor sunt, Gothi scilicet, Huisogothi, Gepides & Vandali; & nomen tantum & nihil aliud mutantes. Isti sub Arcadia & Honorio Danubium transeuntes, locati sunt in terra Romanorum: & Gepides quidem, ex quibus postea divisi sunt Longobardi & Avares, villas, quæ sunt circa Singidonum & Sirmium, habitavere: and Procopius in the beginning of his Historia Vandalica writes to the same purpose. Hitherto the Western Empire continued entire, but now brake into many kingdoms.

Theodosius died A.C. 395; and then the Visigoths, under the conduct of Alaric the successor of Fridigern, rose from their seats in Thrace and wasted Macedon, Thessaly, Achaia, Peloponnesus, and Epirus, with fire and sword for five years together; when turning westward, they invaded Dalmatia, Illyricum and Pannonia; and from thence went into Italy A.C. 402; and the next year were so beaten at Pollentia and Verona, by Stilico the commander of the forces of the Western Empire, that Claudian calls the remainder of the forces of Alaric, tanta ex gente reliquias breves, and Prudentius, Gentem deletam. Thereupon Alaric made peace with the Emperor, being so far humbled, that Orosius saith, he did, pro pace optima & quibuscunque sedibus suppliciter & simpliciter orare. This peace was ratified by mutual hostages; Ætius was sent hostage to Alaric; and Alaric continued a free Prince in the seats now granted to him.

When Alaric took up arms, the nations beyond the Danube began to be in motion; and the next winter, between A.C. 395 and 396, a great body of Hunns, Alans, Ostrogoths, Gepides, and other northern nations, came over the frozen Danube, being invited by Rufinus: when their brethren, who had obtained seats within the Empire, took up arms also. Jerome calls this great multitude, Hunns, Alans, Vandals, Goths, Sarmatians, Quades, and Marcomans; and saith, that they invaded all places between Constantinople and the Julian Alps, wasting Scythia, Thrace, Macedon, Dardania, Dacia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Dalmatia, and all Pannonia. The Suevians also invaded Rhætia: for when Alaric ravaged Pannonia, the Romans were defending Rhætia; which gave Alaric an opportunity of invading Italy, as Claudian thus mentions.

And when Alaric went from those parts into Italy, some other barbarous nations invaded Noricum and Vindelicia, as the same Poet Claudian thus writes:

This was in the years 402 and 403. And among these nations I reckon the Suevians, Quades, and Marcomans; for they were all in arms at this time. The Quades and Marcomans were Suevian nations; and they and the Suevians came originally from Bohemia, and the river Suevus or Sprake in Lusatia; and were now united under one common King called Ermeric, who soon after led them into Gallia. The Vandals and Alans might also about this time extend themselves into Noricum. Uldin also with a great body of Hunns passed the Danube about the time of Chrysostom's banishment, that is, A.C. 404, and wasted Thrace and Mæsia. Radagaisus, King of the Gruthunni and succesor of Winithar, inviting over more barbarians from beyond the Danube, invaded Italy with an army of above two hundred thousand Goths; and within a year or two, A.C. 405 or 406., was overcome by Stilico, and perished with his army. In this war Stilico was assisted with a great body of Hunns and Ostrogoths, under the conduct of Uldin and Sarus, who were hired by the Emperor Honorius. In all this confusion it was necessary for the Lombards in Pannonia to arm themselves in their own defence, and assert their liberty, the Romans being no longer able to protect them.

And now Stilico purposing to make himself Emperor, procured a military prefecture for Alaric, and sent him into the East in the service of Honorius the Western Emperor, committing some Roman troops to his conduct to strengthen his army of Goths, and promising to follow soon after with his own army. His pretence was to recover some regions of Illyricum, which the Eastern Emperor was accused to detain injuriously from the Western; but his secret design was to make himself Emperor, by the assistance of the Vandals and their allies: for he himself was a Vandal. For facilitating this design, he invited a great body of the barbarous nations to invade the Western Empire, while he and Alaric invaded the Eastern. And these nations under their several Kings, the Vandals under Godegisilus, the Alans in two bodies, the one under Goar, the other under Resplendial, and the Suevians, Quades, and Marcomans, under Ermeric, marched thro' Rhætia to the side of the Rhine, leaving their seats in Pannonia to the Hunns and Ostrogoths, and joined the Burgundians under Gundicar, and ruffled the Franks in their further march. On the last of December A.C. 406, they passed the Rhine at Ments, and spread themselves into Germania prima and the adjacent regions; and amongst other actions the Vandals took Triers. Then they advanced into Belgium, and began to waste that country. Whereupon the Salian Franks in Brabant took up arms, and under the conduct of Theudomir, the son of Ricimer, or Richomer, abovementioned, made so stout a resistance, that they slew almost twenty thousand of the Vandals, with their King Godegesilus, in battel; the rest escaping only by a party of Resplendial's Alans which came timely to their assistance.

Then the British soldiers, alarm'd by the rumour of these things, revolted, and set up Tyrants there; first Marcus, whom they slew presently; then Gratian, whom they slew within four months; and lastly Constantine, under whom they invaded Gallia A.C. 408, being favoured by Goar and Gundicar. And Constantine having possessed a good part of Gallia, created his son Constans Cæsar, and sent him into Spain to order his affairs there, A.C. 409.

In the mean time Resplendial, seeing the aforesaid disaster of the Vandals, and that Goar was gone over to the Romans, led his army from the Rhine; and, together with the Suevians and residue of the Vandals, went towards Spain; the Franks in the mean time prosecuting their victory so far as to retake Triers, which after they had plundered they left to the Romans. The Barbarians were at first stopt by the Pyrenean mountains, which made them spread themselves into Aquitain: but the next year they had the passage betrayed by some soldiers of Constans; and entring Spain 4 Kal. Octob. A.C. 409, they conquered every one what he could; and at length, A.C. 411, divided their conquests by lot; the Vandals obtained Bœtica, and part of Gallæcia; the Suevians the rest of Gallæcia; and the Alans Lusitania and the Carthaginian Province: the Emperor for the sake of peace confirming them in those seats by grant A.C. 413.

The Roman Franks abovementioned, having made Theudomir their King, began strait after their conquest of the Vandals to invade their neighbours also. The first they set upon were the Gauls of Brabant^[2]: but meeting with notable resistance, they desired their alliance: and so those Gauls fell off from the Romans, and made an intimate league with the Franks to be as one people, marrying with one another, and conforming to one another's manners, till they became one without distinction. Thus by the access of these Gauls, and of the foreign Franks also, who afterwards came over the Rhine, the Salian kingdom soon grew very great and powerful.

Stilico's expedition against the Greek Emperor was stopt by the order of Honorius; and then Alaric came out of Epirus into Noricum, and requested a sum of money for his service. The Senate were inclined to deny him, but by Stilico's mediation granted it. But after some time Stilico being accused of a traiterous conspiracy with Alaric, and slain 10 Kal. Sept. A.C. 408; Alaric was thereby disappointed of his money, and reputed an enemy to the Empire; he then broke strait into Italy with the army he brought out of Epirus, and sent to his brother Adolphus to follow him with what forces he had in Pannonia, which were not great, but yet not to be despised. Thereupon Honorius fearing to be shut up in Rome, retired to Ravenna in October A.C. 408. And from that time Ravenna continued to be the seat of the Western Emperors. In those days the Hunns also invaded Pannonia; and seizing the deserted seats of the Vandals, Alans, and Goths, founded a new kingdom there. Alaric advancing to Rome besieged it, and 9 Kal. Sept. A.C. 410 took it: and afterwards attempting to pass into Africa, was shipwrackt. After which Honorius made peace with him, and got up an army to send against the Tyrant Constantine.

At the same time Gerontius, one of Constantine's captains, revolted from him, and set up Maximus Emperor in Spain. Whereupon Constantine sent Edobec, another of his captains, to draw to his assistance, the Barbarians under Goar and Gundicar in Gallia, and supplies of Franks and Alemans from beyond the Rhine; and committed the custody of Vienne in Gallia Narbonensis to his son Constans. Gerontius advancing, first slew Constans at Vienne, and then began to besiege Constantine at Arles. But Honorius at the same time sending Constantius with an army on the same errand, Gerontius fled, and Constantius continued the siege, strengthned by the access of the greatest part of the soldiers of Gerontius. After four months siege, Edobec having procured succours, the Barbarian Kings at Ments, Goar and Gundicar, constitute Jovinus Emperor, and together with him set forward to relieve Arles. At their approach Constantius retired. They pursued, and he beat them by surprize; but not prosecuting his victory, the Barbarians soon recovered themselves; yet not so as to hinder the fall of the tyrants Constantine, Jovinus and Maximus. Britain could not be recovered to the Empire, but remained ever after a distinct kingdom.

The next year, A.C. 412, the Visigoths being beaten in Italy, had Aquitain granted them to retire into: and they invaded it with much violence, causing the Alans and Burgundians to retreat, who were then depopulating of it. At the same time the Burgundians were brought to peace; and the Emperor granted them for inheritance a region upon the Rhine which they had invaded: and the same, I presume, he did with the Alans. But the Franks not long after retaking and burning Triers, Castinus, A.C. 415, was sent against them with an army, who routed them and slew Theudomir their King This was the second taking of Triers by the Franks. It was therefore taken four times, once by the Vandals and thrice by the Franks. Theudomir was succeeded by Pharamond, the Prince or King of the Salian Franks in Germany. From thence he brought new forces, reigned over the whole, and had seats granted to his people within the Empire near the Rhine.

And now the Barbarians were all quieted, and settled in several kingdoms within the Empire, not only by conquest, but also by the grants of the Emperor Honorius. For Rutilius in his Itinerary, written in Autumn, Anno Urbis 1169, that is, according to Varro's computation then in use, A.C. 416, thus laments the wasted fields:

And then adds,

And a little after,

And Orosius in the end of his history, which was finished A.C. 417, represents now a general pacification of the barbarous nations by the words comprimere, coangustare, addicere gentes immanissimas; terming them imperio addictas, because they had obtained seats in the Empire by league and compact; and coangustatas, because they did no longer invade all regions at pleasure, but by the same compact remained quiet in the seats then granted them. And these are the kingdoms, of which the feet of the Image were henceforward composed, and which are represented by iron and clay intermixed, which did not stick one to another, and were of different strength.

Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast.

Now by the wars above described the Western Empire of the Romans, about the time that Rome was besieged and taken by the Goths, became broken into the following ten kingdoms.

Seven of these kingdoms are thus mentioned by Sigonius. ¹Honorio regnante, in Pannoniam ²Hunni, in Hispaniam ³Vandali, ⁴Alani, ⁵Suevi & ⁶Gothi, in Galliam ⁴Alani ⁷Burgundiones & ⁶Gothi, certis sedibus permissis, accepti. Add the Franks, Britains, and Lombards, and you have the ten: for these arose about the same time with the seven. But let us view them severally.

1. The Kings of the Vandals were, A.C. 407 Godegesilus, 407 Gunderic, 426 Geiseric, 477 Hunneric, 484 Gundemund, 496 Thrasamund, 513 Geiseric, 530 Gelimer. Godegesilus led them into Gallia A.C. 406, Gunderic into Spain A.C. 409, Geiseric into Africa A.C. 427; and Gelimer was conquered by Belisarius A.C. 533. Their kingdom lasted in Gallia, Spain and Africa together 126 years; and in Africa they were very potent. The Alans had only two Kings of their own in Spain, Resplendial, and Ataces, Utacus or Othacar. Under Resplendial they went into France A.C. 407, and into Spain A.C. 409. Ataces was slain with almost all his army by Vallia King of the Visigoths A.C. 419. And then the remainder of these Alans subjected themselves to Gunderic King of the Vandals in Bœtica, and went afterwards with them into Africa, as I learn out of Procopius. Whence the Kings of the Vandals styled themselves Kings of the Vandals and Alans; as may be seen in the Edict of Hunneric recited by Victor in his Vandalic persecution. In conjunction with the Chatti, these Alans gave the name of Cathalaunia, or Catth-Alania, to the Province which is still so called. These Alans had also Gepides among them; and therefore the Gepides came into Pannonia before the Alans left it. There they became subject to the Hunns till the death of Attila A.C. 454, and at length were conquered by the Ostrogoths.

2. The Kings of the Suevians were, A.C. 407 Ermeric, 458 Rechila, 448 Rechiarius, 458 Maldra, 460 Frumarius, 463 Regismund. And after some other Kings who are unknown, reigned A.C. 558 Theudomir, 568 Miro, 582 Euboricus, and 583 Andeca. This kingdom, after it had been once seated in Spain, remained always in Gallæcia and Lusitania. Ermeric after the fall of the Alan kingdom, enlarged it into all Gallæcia, forcing the Vandals to retire into Bœtica and the Carthaginian Province. This kingdom lasted 177 years according to Isidorus, and then was subdued by Leovigildus King of the Visigoths, and made a Province of his kingdom A.C. 585.

3. The Kings of the Visigoths were, A.C. 400 Alaric, 410 Athaulphus, 415 Sergeric and Vallia, 419 Theoderic, 451 Thorismund, 452 Theoderic, 465 Euric, 482 Alaric, 505 Gensalaric, 526 Amalaric, 531 Theudius, 548 Theudisclus, &c. I date this kingdom from the time that Alaric left Thrace and Greece to invade the Western Empire. In the end of the reign of Athaulphus the Goths were humbled by the Romans, and attempted to pass out of France into Spain. Sergeric reigned but a few days. In the beginning of Vallia's reign they assaulted the Romans afresh, but were again repulsed, and then made peace on this condition, that they should on the behalf of the Empire invade the Barbarian kingdoms in Spain: and this they did, together with the Romans, in the years 417 and 418, overthrowing the Alans and part of the Vandals. Then they received Aquitain of the Emperor by a full donation, leaving their conquests in Spain to the Emperor: and thereby the seats of the conquered Alans came into the hands of the Romans. In the year 455, Theoderic, assisted by the Burgundians, invaded Spain, which was then almost all subject to the Suevians, and took a part of it from them. A.C. 506, the Goths were driven out of Gallia by the Franks. A.C. 585, they conquered the Suevian kingdom, and became Lords of all Spain. A.C. 713, the Saracens invaded them, but in time they recovered their dominions, and have reigned in Spain ever since.

4. The Kings of the Alans in Gallia were Goar, Sambida, Eocharic, Sangibanus, Beurgus, &c. Under Goar they invaded Gallia A.C. 407, and had seats given them near the Rhine, A.C. 412. Under Sambida, whom Bucher makes the successor, if not the son of Goar, they had the territories of Valence given them by Ætius the Emperor's General, A.C. 440. Under Eocharic they conquered a region of the rebelling Galli Arborici, given them also by Ætius. This region was from them named Alenconium, quasi Alanorum conventus. Under Sangibanus they were invaded, and their regal city Orleans was besieged by Attila King of the Hunns, with a vast army of 500000 men. Ætius and the Barbarian Kings of Gallia came to raise the siege, and beat the Hunns in a very memorable battle, A.C. 451, in campis Catalaunicis, so called from these Alans mixt with the Chatti. The region is now called Campania or Champagne. In that battle were slain on both sides 162000 men. A year or two after, Attila returned with an immense army to conquer this kingdom, but was again beaten by them and the Visigoths together in a battle of three days continuance, with a slaughter almost as great as the former. Under Beurgus, or Biorgor, they infested Gallia round about, till the reign of Maximus the Emperor; and then they passed the Alps in winter, and came into Liguria, but were there beaten, and Beurgus slain, by Ricimer commander of the Emperor's forces, A.C. 464. Afterwards they were again beaten, by the joint force of Odoacer King of Italy and Childeric King of the Franks, about the year 480, and again by Theudobert King of the Austrian Franks about the year 511.

5. The Kings of the Burgundians were, A.C. 407 Gundicar, 436 Gundioc, 467 Bilimer, 473 Gundobaldus with his brothers, 510 Sigismund, 517 Godomarus. Under Gundicar they invaded Gallia A.C. 407, and had seats given them by the Emperor near the Rhine in Gallia Belgica, A.C. 412. They had Saxons among them, and were now so potent, that Orosius A.C. 417 wrote of them: 'Burgundionum esse prævalidam manum, Galliæ hodieque testes sunt, in quibus præsumpta possessione consistunt. About the year 435 they received great overthrows by Ætius, and soon after by the Hunns: but five years after had Savoy granted them to be shared with the inhabitants; and from that time became again a potent kingdom, being bounded by the river Rhodanus, but afterwards extending much further into the heart of Gallia. Gundobald conquered the regions about the rivers Araris and Rhodanus, with the territories of Marseilles; and invading Italy in the time of the Emperor Glycerius, conquered all his brethren. Godomarus made Orleans his royal seat: whence the kingdom was called Regnum Aurelianorum. He was conquered by Clotharius and Childebert, Kings of the Franks, A.C. 526. From thenceforward this kingdom was sometimes united to the kingdom of the Franks, and sometimes divided from it, till the reign of Charles the great, who made his son Carolottus King of Burgundy. From that time, for about 300 years together, it enjoyed its proper Kings; and was then broken into the Dukedom of Burgundy, County of Burgundy, and County of Savoy; and afterwards those were broken into other lesser Counties.

6. The Kings of the Franks were, A.C. 407 Theudomir, 417 Pharamond, 428 Clodio, 448 Merovæus, 456 Childeric, 482 Clodovæus, &c. Windeline and Bucher, two of the most diligent searchers into the originals of this kingdom, make it begin the same year with the Barbarian invasions of Gallia, that is, A.C. 407. Of the first Kings there is in Labbe's Bibliotheca M.S. this record.

Historica quædam excerpta ex veteri stemmate genealogico Regum Franciæ.

Genobaldus, Marcomerus, Suno, Theodemeris. Isti duces vel reguli extiterunt à principio gentis Francorum diversis temporibus. Sed incertum relinquunt historici quali sibi procreations lineâ successerunt.

Pharamundus: sub hoc rege suo primo Franci legibus se subdunt, quas primores eorum tulerunt Wisogastus, Atrogastus, Salegastus.

Chlochilo. Iste, transito Rheno, Romanos in Carbonaria sylva devicit, Camaracum cepit & obtinuit, annis 20 regnavit. Sub hoc rege Franci usque Summam progressi sunt.

Merovechus. Sub hoc rege Franci Trevirim destruunt, Metim succendunt, usque Aurelianum perveniunt.

Now for Genobaldus, Marcomer and Suno, they were captains of the Transrhenane Franks in the reign of Theodosius, and concern us not. We are to begin with Theudomir the first King of the rebelling Salii, called Didio by Ivo Carnotensis, and Thiedo and Theudemerus by Rhenanus. His face is extant in a coin of gold found with this inscription, THEUDEMIR REX, published by Petavius, and still or lately extant, as Windeline testifies: which shews that he was a King, and that in Gallia; seeing that rude Germany understood not then the coining of money, nor used either Latin words or letters. He was the son of Ricimer, or Richomer, the favourite of the Emperor Theodosius; and so being a Roman Frank, and of the Salian royal blood, they therefore upon the rebellion made him King. The whole time of his reign you have stated in Excerptis Gregorii Turonensis è Fredigario, cap. 5, 6, 7, 8. where the making him King, the tyranny of Jovinus, the slaughter of the associates of Jovinus, the second taking of Triers by the Franks, and their war with Castinus, in which this King was slain, are as a series of successive things thus set down in order. Extinctis Ducibus in Francis, denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe qua prius fuerant. Eodem tempore Jovinus ornatus regios assumpsit. Constantinus fugam versus Italiam dirigit; missis a Jovino Principe percussoribus super Mentio flumine, capite truncatur. Multi nobilium jussu Jovini apud Avernis capti, & a ducibus Honorii crudeliter interempti sunt. Trevirorum civitas, factione unius ex senatoribus nomine Lucii, à Francis captà & incensa est.—Castinus Domesticorum Comes expeditionem accipit contra Francos, &c. Then returning to speak of Theudomir, he adds: Franci electum à se regem, sicut prius fuerat, crinitum inquirentes diligenter ex genere Priami, Frigi & Francionis, super se crearunt nomine Theudemerum filium Richemeris, qui in hoc prælio quod supra memini, à Romanis interfectus est; that is, in the battle with Castinus's army. Of his death Gregory Turonensis makes this further mention: In consularibus legimus Theodemerem regem Francorum filium Ricimeris quondam, & Ascilam matrem ejus, gladio interfectos.

Upon this victory of the Romans, the Franks and rebelling Gauls, who in the time of Theudomir were at war with one another, united to strengthen themselves, as Ordericus Vitalis^[1] thus mentions. Cum Galli prius contra Romanos rebellâssent, Franci iis sociati sunt, & pariter juncti, Ferramundum Sunonis ducis filium, sibi regem præfecerunt. Prosper sets down the time; Anno 25 Honorii, Pharamundus regnat in Francia. This, Bucher well observes, refers to the end of the year 416, or the beginning of the next year, dating the years of Honorius from the death of Valentinian; and argues well, that at this time Pharamond was not only King by the constitution of the Franks, but crowned also by the consent of Honorius, and had a part of Gallia assigned him by covenant. And this might be the cause that Roman writers reckoned him the first King: which some not understanding, have reputed him the founder of this kingdom by an army of the Transrhenane Franks. He might come with such an army, but he succeeded Theudomir by right of blood and consent of the people. For the above cited passage of Fredigarius, Extinctis Ducibus, in Francis denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe quâ prius fuerant, implies that the kingdom continued to this new elected family during the reign of more Kings than one. If you date the years of Honorius from the death of his father, the reign of Pharamond might begin two years later than is assigned by Bucher. The Salique laws made in his reign, which are yet extant, shew by their name that it was the kingdom of the Salii over which he reigned; and, by the pecuniary mulcts in them, that the place where he reigned abounded much with money, and consequently was within the Empire; rude Germany knowing not the use of money, till they mixed with the Romans. In the Preface also to the Salique laws, written and prefixed to them soon after the conversion of the Franks to the Christian religion, that is, in the end of the reign of Merovæus, or soon after, the original of this kingdom is thus described: Hæc enim gens, quæ fortis dum esset & robore valida, Romanorum jugum durissimum de suis cervicibus excussit pugnando, &c. This kingdom therefore was erected, not by invasion but by rebellion, as was described above. Prosper in registering their Kings in order, tells us: Pharamundus regnat in Francia; Clodio regnat in Francia; Merovæus regnat in Francia: and who can imagine but that in all these places he meant one and the same Francia? And yet 'tis certain that the Francia of Merovæus was in Gallia.

Yet the father of Pharamond, being king of a body of Franks in Germany in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, as above, Pharamond might reign over the same Franks in Germany before he succeeded Theudomir in the kingdom of the Salians within the Empire, and even before Theudomir began his reign; suppose in the first year of Honorius, or when those Franks being repulsed by Stilico, lost their Kings Marcomir and Suno, one of which was the father of Pharamond: and the Roman Franks, after the death of Theudomir, might invite Pharamond with his people from beyond the Rhine. But we are not to regard the reign of Pharamond in Germany: we are to date this kingdom from its rise within the Empire, and to look upon it as strengthened by the access of other Franks coming from beyond the Rhine, whether in the reign of this King or in that of his successor Clodio. For in the last year of Pharamond's reign, Ætius took from him a part of his possession in Gallia: but his successor Clodio, whom Fredigarius represents as the son of Theudomir, and some call Clogio, Cloio, and Claudius, inviting from beyond the Rhine a great body of Franks, recovered all, and carried on their conquests as far as the river Soame. Then those Franks dividing conquests with him, erected certain new kingdoms at Cologn and Cambray, and some other cities: all which were afterwards conquered by Clodovæus, who also drove the Goths out of Gallia, and fix'd his seat at Paris, where it has continued ever since. And this was the original of the present kingdom of France.

7. The Kings of Britain were, A.C. 407 or 408, Marcus, Gratian, and Constantine successively; A.C. 425 Vortigern, 466 Aurelius Ambrosius, 498 Uther Pendraco, 508 Arthur, 542 Constantinus, 545 Aurelius Cunanus, 578 Vortiporeus, 581 Malgo, 586 Careticus, 613 Cadwan, 635 Cadwalin, 676 Cadwallader. The three first were Roman Tyrants, who revolted from the Empire. Orosius, Prosper and Zosimus connect their revolt with the irruptions of the Barbarians into Gallia, as consequent thereunto. Prosper, with whom Zosimus agrees, puts it in the year which began the day after that irruption. The just time I thus collect: Marcus reigned not many days, Gratian four months, and Constantine three years. He was slain the year after the taking of Rome, that is A.C. 411, 14 Kal. Octob. Whence the revolt was in Spring A.C. 408. Sozomen joins Constantine's expedition into Gallia with Arcadius's death, or the times a little after; and Arcadius died A.C. 408 May the 1st. Now tho the reign of these Tyrants was but short, yet they gave a beginning to the kingdom of Britain, and so may be reckoned the three first Kings, especially since the posterity of Constantine, viz. his sons Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendraco, and his grandson Arthur, reigned afterwards. For from the time of the revolt of these Tyrants Britain continued a distict kingdom absolved from subjection to the Empire, the Emperor not being able to spare soldiers to be sent thither to receive and keep the Island, and therefore neglecting it; as we learn by unquestionable records. For Prosper tells us; A.C. 410, Variane Cos. Hac tempestate præ valetudine Romanorum, vires funditùs attenuatæ Britanniæ. And Sigebert, conjoining this with the siege of Rome, saith: Britannorum vires attenuatæ, & substrahunt se à Romanorum dominatione. And Zosimus lib. 6. The Transrhenane Barbarians invading all places, reduced the inhabitants of the island of Britain, and also certain Celtic nations to that pass, that they fell off from the Roman Empire; and being no longer obedient to the Roman laws, κατ' ‛εαυτον βιατευειν, they lived in separate bodies after their own pleasure. The Britons therefore taking up arms, and hazarding themselves for their own safety, freed their cities from the imminent Barbarians. In like manner all Brabant and some other Provinces of the Gauls imitating the Britons, freed themselves also, ejecting the Roman Presidents, and forming themselves into a sort of commonwealth according to their own pleasure. This rebellion of Britain and the Celtic nations happened when Constantine usurped the kingdom. So also Procopius, lib. 1. Vandal. speaking of the same Constantine, saith: Constantine being overcome in battle, was slain with his children: Βρεταννιαν μεν τοι Ρωμαιοι ανασωσασθαι ουκετι εχον· αλλ' ουσα ‛υπο τυραννους απ' αυτου εμενε. Yet the Romans could not recover Britain any more, but from that time it remained under Tyrants. And Beda, l. 1. c. 11. Fracta est Roma à Gothis anno 1164 suæ conditionis; ex quo tempore Romani in Britannia regnare cessaverunt. And Ethelwaldus: A tempore Romæ à Gothis expugnatæ, cessavit imperium Romanorum à Britannia insula, & ab aliis; quas sub jugo servitutis tenebant, multis terris. And Theodoret, serm. 9. de curand. Græc. affect. about the year 424, reckons the Britons among the nations which were not then in subjection to the Roman Empire. Thus Sigonius: ad annum 411, Imperium Romanorum post excessum Constantini in Britannia nullum fuit.

Between the death of Constantine and the reign of Vortigern was an interregnum of about 14 years, in which the Britons had wars with the Picts and Scots, and twice obtained the assistance of a Roman Legion, who drove out the enemy, but told them positively at their departure that they would come no more. Of Vortigern's beginning to reign there is this record in an old Chronicle in Nennius, quoted by Camden and others: Guortigernus tenuit imperium in Britannia, Theodosio & Valentiniano Coss. [viz. A.C. 425.] & in quarto anno regni sui Saxones ad Britanniam venerunt, Felice & Tauro Coss. [viz. A.C. 428.] This coming of the Saxons, Sigebert refers to the 4th year of Valentinian, which falls in with the year 428 assigned by this Chronicle: and two years after, the Saxons together with the Picts were beaten by the Britons. Afterwards in the reign of Martian the Emperor, that is, between the years 450 and 456, the Saxons under Hengist were called in by the Britons, but six years after revolted from them, made war upon them with various success, and by degrees succeeded them. Yet the Britons continued a flourishing kingdom till the reign of Careticus; and the war between the two nations continued till the pontificate of Sergius A.C. 688.^[2]

8. The Kings of the Hunns were, A.C. 406 Octar and Rugila, 433 Bleda and Attila. Octar and Rugila were the brothers of Munzuc King of the Hunns in Gothia beyond the Danube; and Bleda and Attila were his sons, and Munzuc was the son of Balamir. The two first, as Jornandes tells us, were Kings of the Hunns, but not of them all; and had the two last for their successors. I date the reign of the Hunns in Pannonia from the time that the Vandals and Alans relinquished Pannonia to them, A.C. 407. Sigonius from the time that the Visigoths relinquished Pannonia A. C. 408. Constat, saith he, quod Gothis ex Illyrico profectis, Hunni successerunt, atque imprimis Pannoniam tenuerunt. Neque enim Honorius viribus ad resistendum in tantis difficultatibus destitutus, prorsus eos prohibere potuit, sed meliore consilio, animo ad pacem converso, fœdus cum eis, datis acceptisque obsidibus fecit; ex quibus qui dati sunt, Ætius, qui etiam Alarico tributus fuerat, præcipue memoratur. How Ætius was hostage to the Goths and Hunns is related by Frigeridus, who when he had mentioned that Theodosius Emperor of the East had sent grievous commands to John, who after the death of Honorius had usurped the crown of the Western Empire, he subjoins: Iis permotus Johannes, Ætium id tempus curam palatii gerentem cum ingenti auri pondere ad Chunnos transmisit, notos sibi obsidiatûs sui tempore & familiari amicitiâ devinctos—And a little after: Ætius tribus annis Alarici obses, dehinc Chunnorum, postea Carpilionis gener ex Comite domesticorum & Joannis curopalatæ. Now Bucher shews that Ætius was hostage to Alaric till the year 410, when Alaric died, and to the Hunns between the years 411 and 415, and son-in-law to Carpilio about the year 417 or 418, and Curopalates to John about the end of the year 423. Whence 'tis probable that he became hostage to the Hunns about the year 412 or 413, when Honorius made leagues with almost all the barbarous nations, and granted them seats: but I had rather say with Sigonius, that Ætius became hostage to Alaric A.C. 403. It is further manifest out of Prosper, that the Hunns were in quiet possession of Pannonia in the year 432. For in the first book of Eusebius's Chronicle Prosper writes: Anno decimo post obitum Honorii, cum ad Chunnorum gentem cui tunc Rugila præerat, post prælium cum Bonifacio se Ætius contulisset, impetrato auxilio ad Romanorum solum regreditur. And in the second book: Ætio & Valerio Coss. Ætius depositâ potestate profugus ad Hunnos in Pannonia pervenit, quorum amicitiâ auxilioque usus, pacem principum interpellatæ potestatis obtinuit. Hereby it appears that at this time Rugila, or as Maximus calls him, Rechilla, reigned over the Hunns in Pannonia; and that Pannonia was not now so much as accounted within the soil of the Empire, being formerly granted away to the Hunns; and that these were the very same body of Hunns with which Ætius had, in the time of his being an hostage, contracted friendship: by virtue of which, as he sollicited them before to the aid of John the Tyrant A.C. 424, so now he procured their intercession for himself with the Emperor. Octar died A.C. 430; for Socrates tells us, that about that time the Burgundians having been newly vext by the Hunns, upon intelligence of Octar's death, seeing them without a leader, set upon them suddenly with so much vigour, that 3000 Burgundians slew 10000 Hunns. Of Rugila's being now King in Pannonia you have heard already. He died A.C. 433, and was succeeded by Bleda, as Prosper and Maximus inform us. This Bleda with his brother Attila were before this time Kings of the Hunns beyond the Danube, their father Munzuc's kingdom being divided between them; and now they united the kingdom Pannonia to their own. Whence Paulus Diaconus saith, they did regnum intra Pannoniam Daciamque gerere. In the year 441, they began to invade the Empire afresh, adding to the Pannonian forces new and great armies from Scythia. But this war was presently composed, and then Attila, seeing Bleda inclined to peace, slew him, A.C. 444, inherited his dominions, and invaded the Empire again. At length, after various great wars with the Romans, Attila perished A.C. 454; and his sons quarrelling about his dominions, gave occasion to the Gepides, Ostrogoths and other nations who were their subjects, to rebel and make war upon them. The same year the Ostrogoths had seats granted them in Pannonia by the Emperors Marcian and Valentinian; and with the Romans ejected the Hunns out of Pannonia, soon after the death of Attila, as all historians agree. This ejection was in the reign of Avitus, as is mentioned in the Chronicum Boiorum, and in Sidonius, Carm. 7 in Avitum, which speaks thus of that Emperor.

The Poet means, that by the coming of Avitus the Hunns yielded more easily to the Goths. This was written by Sidonius in the beginning of the reign of Avitus: and his reign began in the end of the year 455, and lasted not one full year.

Jornandes tells us: Duodecimo anno regni Valiæ, quando & Hunni post pene quinquaginta annos invasa Pannonia, à Romanis & Gothis expulsi sunt. And Marcellinus: Hierio & Ardaburio Coss. Pannoniæ, quæ per quinquaginta annos ab Hunnis retinebantur, à Romanis receptæ sunt: whence it should seem that the Hunns invaded and held Pannonia from the year 378 or 379 to the year 427, and then were driven out of it. But this is a plain mistake: for it is certain that the Emperor Theodosius left the Empire entire; and we have shewed out of Prosper, that the Hunns were in quiet possession of Pannonia in the year 432. The Visigoths in those days had nothing to do with Pannonia, and the Ostrogoths continued subject to the Hunns till the death of Attila, A.C. 454; and Valia King of the Visigoths did not reign twelve years. He began his reign in the end of the year 415, reigned three years, and was slain A.C. 419, as Idacius, Isidorus, and the Spanish manuscript Chronicles seen by Grotius testify. And Olympiodorus, who carries his history only to the year 425, sets down therein the death of Valia King of the Visigoths, and conjoins it with that of Constantius which happened A.C. 420. Wherefore the Valia of Jornandes, who reigned at the least twelve years, is some other King. And I suspect that this name hath been put by mistake for Valamir King of the Ostrogoths: for the action recorded was of the Romans and Ostrogoths driving the Hunns out of Pannonia after the death of Attila; and it is not likely that the historian would refer the history of the Ostrogoths to the years of the Visigothic Kings. This action happened in the end of the year 455, which I take to be the twelfth year of Valamir in Pannonia, and which was almost fifty years after the year 406, in which the Hunns succeeded the Vandals and Alans in Pannonia. Upon the ceasing of the line of Hunnimund the son of Hermaneric, the Ostrogoths lived without Kings of their own nation about forty years together, being subject to the Hunns. And when Alaric began to make war upon the Romans, which was in the year 444, he made Valamir, with his brothers Theodomir and Videmir the grandsons of Vinethar, captains or kings of these Ostrogoths under him. In the twelfth year of Valamir's reign dated from thence, the Hunns were driven out of Pannonia.

Yet the Hunns were not so ejected, but that they had further contests with the Romans, till the head of Denfix the son of Attila, was carried to Constantinople, A.C. 469, in the Consulship of Zeno and Marcian, as Marcellinus relates. Nor were they yet totally ejected the Empire: for besides their reliques in Pannonia, Sigonius tells us, that when the Emperors Marcian and Valentinian granted Pannonia to the Goths, which was in the year 454, they granted part of Illyricum to some of the Hunns and Sarmatians. And in the year 526, when the Lombards removing into Pannonia made war there with the Gepides, the Avares, a part of the Hunns, who had taken the name of Avares from one of their Kings, assisted the Lombards in that war; and the Lombards afterwards, when they went into Italy, left their seats in Pannonia to the Avares in recompence of their friendship. From that time the Hunns grew again very powerful; their Kings, whom they called Chagan, troubling the Empire much in the reigns of the Emperors Mauritius, Phocas, and Heraclius: and this is the original of the present kingdom of Hungary, which from these Avares and other Hunns mixed together, took the name of Hun-Avaria, and by contraction Hungary.

9. The Lombards, before they came over the Danube, were commanded by two captains, Ibor and Ayon: after whose death they had Kings, Agilmund, Lamisso, Lechu, Hildehoc, Gudehoc, Classo, Tato, Wacho, Walter, Audoin, Alboin, Cleophis, &c. Agilmund was the son of Ayon, who became their King, according to Prosper, in the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius A.C. 389, reigned thirty three years, according to Paulus Warnefridus, and was slain in battle by the Bulgarians. Prosper places his death in the Consulship of Marinianus and Asclepiodorus, A.C. 413. Lamisso routed the Bulgarians, and reigned three years, and Lechu almost forty. Gudehoc was contemporary to Odoacer King of the Heruli in Italy, and led his people from Pannonia into Rugia, a country on the north side of Noricum next beyond the Danube; from whence Odoacer then carried his people into Italy. Tato overthrew the kingdom of the Heruli beyond the Danube. Wacho conquered the Suevians, a kingdom then bounded on the east by Bavaria, on the west by France, and on the south by the Burgundians. Audoin returned into Pannonia A.C. 526, and there overcame the Gepides. Alboin A.C. 551 overthrew the kingdom of the Gepides, and slew their King Chunnimund: A.C. 563 he assisted the Greek Emperor against Totila King of the Ostrogoths in Italy; and A.C. 568 led his people out of Pannonia into Lombardy, where they reigned till the year 774.

According to Paulus Diaconus, the Lombards with many other Gothic nations came into the Empire from beyond the Danube in the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, that is, between the years 395 and 408. But they might come in a little earlier: for we are told that the Lombards, under their captains Ibor and Ayon, beat the Vandals in battle; and Prosper placeth this victory in the Consulship of Ausonius and Olybrius, that is, A.C. 379. Before this war the Vandals had remained quiet forty years in the seats granted them in Pannonia by Constantine the great. And therefore if these were the same Vandals, this war must have been in Pannonia; and might be occasioned by the coming of the Lombards over the Danube into Pannonia, a year or two before the battle; and so have put an end to that quiet which had lasted forty years. After Gratian and Theodosius had quieted the Barbarians, they might either retire over the Danube, or continue quiet under the Romans till the death of Theodosius; and then either invade the Empire anew, or throw off all subjection to it. By their wars, first with the Vandals, and then with the Bulgarians, a Scythian nation so called from the river Volga whence they came; it appears that even in those days they were a kingdom not contemptible.

10. These nine kingdoms being rent away, we are next to consider the residue of the Western Empire. While this Empire continued entire, it was the Beast itself: but the residue thereof is only a part of it. Now if this part be considered as a horn, the reign of this horn may be dated from the translation of the imperial seat from Rome to Ravenna, which was in October A.C. 408. For then the Emperor Honorius, fearing that Alaric would besiege him in Rome, if he staid there, retired to Millain, and thence to Ravenna: and the ensuing siege and sacking of Rome confirmed his residence there, so that he and his successors ever after made it their home. Accordingly Macchiavel in his Florentine history writes, that Valentinian having left Rome, translated the seat of the Empire to Ravenna.

Rhætia belonged to the Western Emperors, so long as that Empire stood; and then it descended, with Italy and the Roman Senate, to Odoacer King of the Heruli in Italy, and after him to Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths and his successors, by the grant of the Greek Emperors. Upon the death of Valentinian the second, the Alemans and Suevians invaded Rhætia A.C. 455. But I do not find they erected any settled kingdom there: for in the year 457, while they were yet depopulating Rhætia, they were attacked and beaten by Burto Master of the horse to the Emperor Majoranus; and I hear nothing more of their invading Rhætia. Clodovæus King of France, in or about the year 496, conquered a kingdom of the Alemans, and slew their last King Ermeric. But this kingdom was seated in Germany, and only bordered upon Rhætia: for its people fled from Clodovæus into the neighbouring kingdom of the Ostrogoths under Theoderic, who received them as friends, and wrote a friendly letter to Clodovæus in their behalf: and by this means they became inhabitants of Rhætia, as subjects under the dominion of the Ostrogoths.

When the Greek Emperor conquered the Ostrogoths, he succeeded them in the kingdom of Ravenna, not only by right of conquest but also by right of inheritance, the Roman Senate still going along with this kingdom. Therefore we may reckon that this kingdom continued in the Exarchate of Ravenna and Senate of Rome: for the remainder of the Western Empire went along with the Senate of Rome, by reason of the right which this Senate still retained, and at length exerted, of chusing a new Western Emperor.

I have now enumerated the ten kingdoms, into which the Western Empire became divided at its first breaking, that is, at the time of Rome's being besieged and taken by the Goths. Some of these kingdoms at length fell, and new ones arose: but whatever was their number afterwards, they are still called the Ten Kings from their first number.

Of the eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth Beast.

^[1]Now Daniel, considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another horn, before whom there were three of the first horns pluckt up by the roots; and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things,—and ^[2] his look was more stout than his fellows,—and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them: and one who stood by, and made Daniel know the interpretation of these things, told him, that ^[3] the ten horns were ten kings that should arise, and another should arise after them, and be diverse from the first, and he should subdue three kings, ^[4] and speak great words against the most High, and wear out the saints, and think to change times and laws: and that they should be given into his hands until a time and times and half a time. Kings are put for kingdoms, as above; and therefore the little horn is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth Beast, and rooted up three of his first horns; and therefore we are to look for it among the nations of the Latin Empire, after the rise of the ten horns. But it was a kingdom of a different kind from the other ten kingdoms, having a life or soul peculiar to itself, with eyes and a mouth. By its eyes it was a Seer; and by its mouth speaking great things and changing times and laws, it was a Prophet as well as a King. And such a Seer, a Prophet and a King, is the Church of Rome.

A Seer, Επισκοπος, is a Bishop in the literal sense of the word; and this Church claims the universal Bishoprick.

With his mouth he gives laws to kings and nations as an Oracle; and pretends to Infallibility, and that his dictates are binding to the whole world; which is to be a Prophet in the highest degree.

In the eighth century, by rooting up and subduing the Exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the Senate and Dukedom of Rome, he acquired Peter's Patrimony out of their dominions; and thereby rose up as a temporal Prince or King, or horn of the fourth Beast.

In a small book printed at Paris A.C. 1689, entitled, An historical dissertation upon some coins of Charles the great, Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, and their successors stamped at Rome, it is recorded, that in the days of Pope Leo X, there was remaining in the Vatican, and till those days exposed to public view, an inscription in honour of Pipin the father of Charles the great, in these words: Pipinum pium, primum fuisse qui amplificandæ Ecclesiæ Romanæ viam aperuerit, Exarchatu Ravennate, & plurimis aliis oblatis; "That Pipin the pious was the first who opened a way to the grandeur of the Church of Rome, conferring upon her the Exarchate of Ravenna and many other oblations." In and before the reign of the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius, the Bishop of Rome lived splendidly; but this was by the oblations of the Roman Ladies, as Ammianus describes. After those reigns Italy was invaded by foreign nations, and did not get rid of her troubles before the fall of the kingdom of Lombardy. It was certainly by the victory of the see of Rome over the Greek Emperor, the King of Lombardy, and the Senate of Rome, that she acquired Peter's Patrimony, and rose up to her greatness. The donation of Constantine the Great is a fiction, and so is the donation of the Alpes Cottiæ to the Pope by Aripert King of the Lombards: for the Alpes Cottiæ were a part of the Exarchate, and in the days of Aripert belonged to the Greek Emperor.

The invocation of the dead, and veneration of their images, being gradually introduced in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, the Greek Emperor Philippicus declared against the latter, A.C. 711 or 712. And ^[5] the Emperor Leo Isaurus, to put a stop to it, called a meeting of Counsellors and Bishops in his Palace, A.C. 726; and by their advice put out an Edict against that worship, and wrote to Pope Gregory II. that a general Council might be called. But the Pope thereupon called a Council at Rome, confirmed the worship of Images, excommunicated the Greek Emperor, absolved the people from their allegiance, and forbad them to pay tribute, or otherwise be obedient to him. Then the people of Rome, Campania, Ravenna and Pentapolis, with the cities under them, revolted and laid violent hands upon their magistrates, killing the Exarch Paul at Ravenna, and laying aside Peter Duke of Rome who was become blind: and when Exhileratus Duke of Campania incited the people against the Pope, the Romans invaded Campania, and slew him with his son Hadrian. Then a new Exarch, Eutychius, coming to Naples, sent some secretly to take away the lives of the Pope and the Nobles of Rome: but the plot being discovered, the Romans revolted absolutely from the Greek Emperor, and took an oath to preserve the life of the Pope, to defend his state, and be obedient to his authority in all things. Thus Rome with its Duchy, including part of Tuscany and part of Campania, revolted in the year 726, and became a free state under the government of the Senate of this city. The authority of the Senate in civil affairs was henceforward absolute, the authority of the Pope extending hitherto no farther than to the affairs of the Church only.

At that time ^[6] the Lombards also being zealous for the worship of images, and pretending to favour the cause of the Pope, invaded the cities of the Exarchate: and at length, viz. A.C. 752, took Ravenna, and put an end to the Exarchate. And this was the first of the three kingdoms which fell before the little horn.

In the year 751 ^[7] Pope Zechary deposed Childeric, a slothful and useless King of France, and the last of the race of Merovæus; and absolving his subjects from their oath of allegiance, gave the kingdom to Pipin the major of the Palace; and thereby made a new and potent friend. His successor ^[8] Pope Stephen III, knowing better how to deal with the Greek Emperor than with the Lombards, went the next year to the King of the Lombards, to persuade him to return the Exarchate to the Emperor. But this not succeeding, he went into France, and persuaded Pipin to take the Exarchate and Pentapolis from the Lombards, and give it to St. Peter. Accordingly Pipin A.C. 754 came with an army into Italy, and made Aistulphus King of the Lombards promise the surrender: but the next year Aistulphus, on the contrary, to revenge himself on the Pope, besieged the city of Rome. Whereupon the Pope sent letters to Pipin, wherein he told him that if he came not speedily against the Lombards, pro data sibi potentia, alienandum fore à regno Dei & vita æterna, he should be excommunicated. Pipin therefore, fearing a revolt of his subjects, and being indebted to the Church of Rome, came speedily with an army into Italy, raised the siege, besieged the Lombards in Pavia, and forced them to surrender the Exarchate and region of Pentapolis to the Pope for a perpetual possession. Thus the Pope became Lord of Ravenna, and the Exarchate, some few cities excepted; and the keys were sent to Rome, and laid upon the confession of St. Peter, that is, upon his tomb at the high Altar, in signum veri perpetuique dominii, sed pietate Regis gratuita, as the inscription of a coin of Pipin hath it. This was in the year of Christ 755. And henceforward the Popes being temporal Princes, left off in their Epistles and Bulls to note the years of the Greek Emperors, as they had hitherto done.

After this ^[9] the Lombards invading the Pope's countries, Pope Adrian sent to Charles the great, the son and successor of Pipin, to come to his assistance. Accordingly Charles entered Italy with an army, invaded the Lombards, overthrew their kingdom, became master of their countries, and restored to the Pope, not only what they had taken from him, but also the rest of the Exarchate which they had promised Pipin to surrender to him, but had hitherto detained; and also gave him some cities of the Lombards, and was in return himself made Patricius by the Romans, and had the authority of confirming the elections of the Popes conferred upon him. These things were done in the years 773 and 774. This kingdom of the Lombards was the second kingdom which fell before the little horn. But Rome, which was to be the seat of his kingdom, was not yet his own.

In the year 796, ^[10] Leo III being made Pope, notified his election to Charles the great by his Legates, sending to him for a present, the golden keys of the Confession of Peter, and the Banner of the city of Rome: the first as an acknowledgment of the Pope's holding the cities of the Exarchate and Lombardy by the grant of Charles; the other as a signification that Charles should come and subdue the Senate and people of Rome, as he had done the Exarchate and the kingdom of the Lombards. For the Pope at the same time desired Charles to send some of his Princes to Rome, who might subject the Roman people to him, and bind them by oath in fide & subjectione, in fealty and subjection, as his words are recited by Sigonius. An anonymous Poet, publish'd by Boeclerus at Strasburg, expresseth it thus:

Hence arose a misunderstanding between the Pope and the city: and the Romans about two or three years after, by assistance of some of the Clergy, raised such tumults against him, as gave occasion to a new state of things in all the West. For two of the Clergy accused him of crimes, and the Romans with an armed force, seized him, stript him of his sacerdotal habit, and imprisoned him in a monastery. But by assistance of his friends he made his escape, and fled into Germany to Charles the great, to whom he complained of the Romans for acting against him out of a design to throw off all authority of the Church, and to recover their antient freedom. In his absence his accusers with their forces ravaged the possessions of the Church, and sent the accusations to Charles; who before the end of the year sent the Pope back to Rome with a large retinue. The Nobles and Bishops of France who accompanied him, examined the chief of his accusers at Rome, and sent them into France in custody. This was in the year 799. The next year Charles himself went to Rome, and upon a day appointed presided in a Council of Italian and French Bishops to hear both parties. But when the Pope's adversaries expected to be heard, the Council declared ^[11] that he who was the supreme judge of all men, was above being judged by any other than himself: whereupon he made a solemn declaration of his innocence before all the people, and by doing so was looked upon as acquitted.

Soon after, upon Christmas-day, the people of Rome, who had hitherto elected their Bishop, and reckoned that they and their Senate inherited the rights of the antient Senate and people of Rome, voted Charles their Emperor, and subjected themselves to him in such manner as the old Roman Empire and their Senate were subjected to the old Roman Emperors. The Pope crowned him, and anointed him with holy oil, and worshipped him on his knees after the manner of adoring the old Roman Emperors; as the aforesaid Poet thus relates:

The Emperor, on the other hand, took the following oath to the Pope: In nomine Christi spondeo atque polliceor, Ego Carolus Imperator coram Deo & beato Petro Apostolo, me protectorem ac defensorem fore hujus sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ in omnibus utilitatibus, quatenùs divino fultus fuero adjutorio, prout sciero poteroque. The Emperor was also made Consul of Rome, and his son Pipin crowned King of Italy: and henceforward the Emperor stiled himself: Carolus serenissimus, Augustus, à Deo coronatus, magnus, pacificus, Romæ gubernans imperium, or Imperator Romanorum; and was prayed for in the Churches of Rome. His image was henceforward put upon the coins of Rome: while the enemies of the Pope, to the number of three hundred Romans and two or three of the Clergy, were sentenced to death. The three hundred Romans were beheaded in one day in the Lateran fields: but the Clergymen at the intercession of the Pope were pardoned, and banished into France. And thus the title of Roman Emperor, which had hitherto been in the Greek Emperors, was by this act transferred in the West to the Kings of France.

After these things ^[12] Charles gave the City and Duchy of Rome to the Pope, subordinately to himself as Emperor of the Romans; spent the winter in ordering the affairs of Rome, and those of the Apostolic see, and of all Italy, both civil and ecclesiastical, and in making new laws for them; and returned the next summer into France: leaving the city under its Senate, and both under the Pope and himself. But hearing that his new laws were not observed by the judges in dictating the law, nor by the people in hearing it; and that the great men took servants from free men, and from the Churches and Monasteries, to labour in their vineyards, fields, pastures and houses, and continued to exact cattle and wine of them, and to oppress those that served the Churches: he wrote to his son Pipin to remedy these abuses, to take care of the Church, and see his laws executed.

Now the Senate and people and principality of Rome I take to be the third King the little horn overcame, and even the chief of the three. For this people elected the Pope and the Emperor; and now, by electing the Emperor and making him Consul, was acknowledged to retain the authority of the old Roman Senate and people. This city was the Metropolis of the old Roman Empire, represented in Daniel by the fourth Beast; and by subduing the Senate and people and Duchy, it became the Metropolis of the little horn of that Beast, and completed Peter's Patrimony, which was the kingdom of that horn. Besides, this victory was attended with greater consequences than those over the other two Kings. For it set up the Western Empire, which continues to this day. It set up the Pope above the judicature of the Roman Senate, and above that of a Council of Italian and French Bishops, and even above all human judicature; and gave him the supremacy over the Western Churches and their Councils in a high degree. It gave him a look more stout than his fellows; so that when this new religion began to be established in the minds of men, he grappled not only with Kings, but even with the Western Emperor himself. It is observable also, that the custom of kissing the Pope's feet, an honour superior to that of Kings and Emperors, began about this time. There are some instances of it in the ninth century: Platina tells us, that the feet of Pope Leo IV were kissed, according to antient custom, by all who came to him: and some say that Leo III began this custom, pretending that his hand was infected by the kiss of a woman. The Popes began also about this time to canonize saints, and to grant indulgences and pardons: and some represent that Leo III was the first author of all these things. It is further observable, that Charles the great, between the years 775 and 796, conquered all Germany from the Rhine and Danube northward to the Baltic sea, and eastward to the river Teis; extending his conquests also into Spain as far as the river Ebro: and by these conquests he laid the foundation of the new Empire; and at the same time propagated the Roman Catholic religion into all his conquests, obliging the Saxons and Hunns who were heathens, to receive the Roman faith, and distributing his northern conquests into Bishopricks, granting tithes to the Clergy and Peter-pence to the Pope: by all which the Church of Rome was highly enlarged, enriched, exalted, and established.

In the forementioned dissertation upon some coins of Charles the great, Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, and their successors, stamped at Rome, there is a draught of a piece of Mosaic work which Pope Leo III. caused to be made in his Palace near the Church of John Lateran, in memory of his sending the standard or banner of the city of Rome curiously wrought, to Charles the great; and which still remained there at the publishing of the said book. In the Mosaic work there appeared Peter with three keys in his lap, reaching the Pallium to the Pope with his right hand, and the banner of the city to Charles the great with his left. By the Pope was this inscription, SCISSIMUS D.N. LEO PP; by the King this, D.N. CARVLO REGI; and under the feet of Peter this, BEATE PETRE, DONA VITAM LEONI PP, ET BICTORIAM CARVLO REGI DONA. This Monument gives the title of King to Charles, and therefore was erected before he was Emperor. It was erected when Peter was reaching the Pallium to the Pope, and the Pope was sending the banner of the city to Charles, that is, A.C. 796. The words above, Sanctissimus Dominus noster Leo Papa Domino nostro Carolo Regi, relate to the message; and the words below, Beate Petre, dona vitam Leoni Papæ & victoriam Carolo regi dona, are a prayer that in this undertaking God would preserve the life of the Pope, and give victory to the King over the Romans. The three keys in the lap of Peter signify the keys of the three parts of his Patrimony, that of Rome with its Duchy, which the Pope claimed and was conquering, those of Ravenna with the Exarchate, and of the territories taken from the Lombards; both which he had newly conquered. These were the three dominions, whose keys were in the lap of St. Peter, and whose Crowns are now worn by the Pope, and by the conquest of which he became the little horn of the fourth Beast. By Peter's giving the Pallium to the Pope with his right hand, and the banner of the city to the King with his left, and by naming the Pope before the King in the inscription, may be understood that the Pope was then reckoned superior in dignity to the Kings of the earth.

After the death of Charles the great, his son and successor Ludovicus Pius, at the request of the Pope, ^[13] confirmed the donations of his grandfather and father to the see of Rome. And in the confirmation he names first Rome with its Duchy extending into Tuscany and Campania; then the Exarchate of Ravenna, with Pentapolis; and in the third place, the territories taken from the Lombards. These are his three conquests, and he was to hold them of the Emperor for the use of the Church sub integritate, entirely, without the Emperor's medling therewith, or with the jurisdiction or power of the Pope therein, unless called thereto in certain cases. This ratification the Emperor Ludovicus made under an oath: and as the King of the Ostrogoths, for acknowledging that he held his kingdom of Italy of the Greek Emperor, stamped the effigies of the Emperor on one side of his coins and his own on the reverse; so the Pope made the like acknowledgment to the Western Emperor. For the Pope began now to coin money, and the coins of Rome are henceforward found with the heads of the Emperors, Charles, Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, and their successors, on the one side, and the Pope's inscription on the reverse, for many years.

Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth Beast, to change times and laws.

In the reign of the Greek Emperor Justinian, and again in the reign of Phocas, the Bishop of Rome obtained some dominion over the Greek Churches, but of no long continuance. His standing dominion was only over the nations of the Western Empire, represented by Daniel's fourth Beast. And this jurisdiction was set up by the following Edict of the Emperors Gratian and Valentinian.—^[1] Volumus ut quicunque judicio Damasi, quod ille cum Concilio quinque vel septem habuerit Episcoporum, vel eorum qui Catholici sunt judicio vel Concilio condemnatus fuerit, si juste voluerit Ecclesiam retentare, ut qui ad sacerdotale judicium per contumeliam non ivisset: ut ab illustribus viris Præfectis Prætorio Galliæ atque Italiæ, authoritate adhibitâ, ad Episcopale judicium remittatur, sive à Consularibus vel Vicariis, ut ad Urbem Romam sub prosecutione perveniat. Aut si in longinquioribus partibus alicujus ferocitas talis emerserit, omnis ejus causæ edictio ad Metropolitæ in eadem Provincia Episcopi deduceretur examen. Vel si ipse Metropolitanus est, Romam necessariò, vel ad eos quos Romanus Episcopus judices dederit, sine delatione contendat.——Quod si vel Metropolitani Episcopi vel cujuscunque sacerdotis iniquitas est suspecta, aut gratia; ad Romanum Episcopum, vel ad Concilium quindecim finitimorum Episcoporum accersitum liceat provocare; modo ne post examen habitum, quod definitum fuerit, integretur. This Edict wanting the name of both Valens and Theodosius in the Title, was made in the time between their reigns, that is, in the end of the year 378, or the beginning of 379. It was directed to the Præfecti Prætorio Italiæ & Galliæ, and therefore was general. For the Præfectus Prætorio Italiæ governed Italy, Illyricum occidentale and Africa; and the Præfectus Prætorio Galliæ governed Gallia, Spain, and Britain.

The granting of this jurisdiction to the Pope gave several Bishops occasion to write to him for his resolutions upon doubtful cases, whereupon he answered by decretal Epistles; and henceforward he gave laws to the Western Churches by such Epistles. Himerius Bishop of Tarraco, the head city of a province in Spain, writing to Pope Damasus for his direction about certain Ecclesiastical matters, and the Letter not arriving at Rome till after the death of Damasus, A.C. 384; his successor Siricius answered the same with a legislative authority, telling him of one thing: Cum hoc fieri—missa ad Provincias à venerandæ memoriæ prædecessore meo Liberio generalia decreta, prohibeant. Of another: Noverint se ab omni ecclesiastico honore, quo indignè usi sunt, Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritate, dejectos. Of another: Scituri posthac omnium Provinciarum summi Antistites, quod si ultrò ad sacros ordines quenquam de talibus esse assumendum, & de suo & de aliorum statu, quos contra Canones & interdicta nostra provexerint, congruam ab Apostolica Sede promendam esse sententiam. And the Epistle he concludes thus: Explicuimus, ut arbitror, frater charissime, universa quæ digesta sunt in querelam; & ad singulas causas, de quibus ad Romanam Ecclesiam, utpote ad caput tui corporis, retulisti; sufficientia, quantum opinor, responsa reddidimus. Nunc fraternitatis tuæ animum ad servandos canones, & tenenda decretalia constituta, magis ac magis incitamus: ad hæc quæ ad tua consulta rescripsimus in omnium Coepiscoporum perferri facias notionem; & non solum corum, qui in tua sunt diœcesi constituti, sed etiam ad universos Carthaginenses ac Bœticos, Lusitanos atque ^[2] Gallicos, vel eos qui vicinis tibi collimitant hinc inde Provinciis, hæc quæ a nobis sunt salubri ordinatione disposita, sub literarum tuarum prosecutione mittantur. Et quanquam statuta sedis Apostolicæ vel Canonum venerabilia definita, nulli Sacerdotum Domini ignorare sit liberum: utilius tamen, atque pro antiquitate sacerdotii tui, dilectioni tuæ esse admodùm poterit gloriosum, si ea quæ ad te speciali nomine generaliter scripta sunt, per unanimitatis tuæ sollicitudinem in universorum fratrum nostrorum notitiam perferantur; quatenus & quæ à nobis non inconsultè sed providè sub nimia cautela & deliberatione sunt salubriter constituta, intemerata permaneant, & omnibus in posterum excusationibus aditus, qui jam nulli apud nos patere poterit, obstruatur. Dat. 3 Id. Febr. Arcadio & Bautone viris clarissimis Consulibus, A.C. 385. Pope Liberius in the reign of Jovian or Valentinian I. sent general Decrees to the Provinces, ordering that the Arians should not be rebaptized: and this he did in favour of the Council of Alexandria, that nothing more should be required of them than to renounce their opinions. Pope Damasus is said to have decreed in a Roman Council, that Tithes and Tenths should be paid upon pain of an Anathema; and that Glory be to the Father, &c. should be said or sung at the end of the Psalms. But the first decretal Epistle now extant is this of Siricius to Himerius; by which the Pope made Himerius his Vicar over all Spain for promulging his Decrees, and seeing them observed. The Bishop of Sevill was also the Pope's Vicar sometimes; for Simplicius wrote thus to Zeno Bishop of that place: Talibus idcirco gloriantes indiciis, congruum duximus vicariâ Sedis nostræ te auctoritate fulciri: cujus vigore munitus, Apostolicæ institutionis Decreta, vel sanctorum terminos Patrum, nullatenus transcendi permittas. And Pope Hormisda ^[3] made the Bishop of Sevill his Vicar over Bœtica and Lusitania, and the Bishop of Tarraco his Vicar over all the rest of Spain, as appears by his Epistles to them.

Pope Innocent the first, in his decretal Epistle to Victricius Bishop of Rouen in France, A.C. 404, in pursuance of the Edict of Gratian, made this Decree: Si quæ autem causæ vel contentiones inter Clericos tam superioris ordinis quam etiam inferioris fuerint exortæ; ut secundum Synodum Nicenam congregatis ejusdem Provinciæ Episcopis jurgium terminetur: nec alicui liceat, ^[4] Romanæ Ecclesiæ, cujus in omnibus causis debet reverentia custodiri, relictis his sacerdotibus, qui in eadem Provincia Dei Ecclesiam nutu Divino gubernant, ad alias convolare Provincias. Quod siquis fortè præsumpserit; & ab officio Clericatûs summotus, & injuriarum reus judicetur. Si autem majores causæ in medium fuerint devolutæ, ad Sedem Apostolicam sicut Synodus statuit, & beata consuetudo exigit, post judicium Episcopale referantur. By these Letters it seems to me that Gallia was now subject to the Pope, and had been so for some time, and that the Bishop of Rouen was then his Vicar or one of them: for the Pope directs him to refer the greater causes to the See of Rome, according to custom. But the Bishop of Arles soon after became the Pope's Vicar over all Gallia: for Pope Zosimus, A.C. 417, ordaining that none should have access to him without the credentials of his Vicars, conferred upon Patroclus the Bishop of Arles this authority over all Gallia, by the following Decree.

Zosimus universis Episcopis per Gallias & septem Provincias constitutis.

Placuit Apostolicæ Sedi, ut siquis ex qualibet Galliarum parte sub quolibet ecclesiastico gradu ad nos Romæ venire contendit, vel aliò terrarum ire disponit, non aliter proficiscatur nisi Metropolitani Episcopi Formatas acceperit, quibus sacerdotium suum vel locum ecclesiasticum quem habet, scriptorum ejus adstipulatione perdoceat: quod ex gratia statuimus quia plures episcopi sive presbyteri sive ecclesiastici simulantes, quia nullum documentum Formatarum extat per quod valeant confutari, in nomen venerationis irrepunt, & indebitam reverentiam promerentur. Quisquis igitur, fratres charissimi, prætermissà supradicti Formatâ sive episcopus, sive presbyter, sive diaconus, aut deinceps inferiori gradu sit, ad nos venerit: sciat se omnino suscipi non posse. Quam auctoritatem ubique nos misisse manifestum est, ut cunctis regionibus innotescat id quod statuimus omnimodis esse servandum. Siquis autem hæc salubriter constituta temerare tentaverit sponte suâ, se a nostra noverit communione discretum. Hoc autem privilegium Formatarum sancto Patroclo fratri & coepiscopo nostro, meritorum ejus speciali contemplatione, concessimus. And that the Bishop of Arles was sometimes the Pope's Vicar over all France, is affirmed also by all the Bishops of the Diocess of Arles in their Letter to Pope Leo I. Cui id etiam honoris dignitatisque collatum est, say they, ut non tantum has Provincias potestate propriâ gubernaret; verum etiam omnes Gallias sibi Apostolicæ Sedis vice mandatas, sub omni ecclesiastica regula contineret. And Pope Pelagius I. A.C. 556, in his Epistle to Sapaudus Bishop of Arles: Majorum nostrorum, operante Dei misericordiâ, cupientes inhærere vestigiis & eorum actus divino examine in omnibus imitari: Charitati tuæ per universam Galliam, sanctæ Sedis Apostolicæ, cui divinâ gratiâ præsidemus, vices injungimus.

By the influence of the same imperial Edict, not only Spain and Gallia, but also Illyricum became subject to the Pope. Damasus made Ascholius, or Acholius, Bishop of Thessalonica the Metropolis of Oriental Illyricum, his Vicar for hearing of causes; and in the year 382, Acholius being summoned by Pope Damasus, came to a Council at Rome. Pope Siricius the successor of Damasus, decreed that no Bishop should be ordained in Illyricum without the consent of Anysius the successor of Acholius. And the following Popes gave Rufus the successor of Anysius, a power of calling Provincial Councils: for in the Collections of Holstenius there is an account of a Council of Rome convened under Pope Boniface II. in which were produced Letters of Damasus, Syricius, Innocent I. Boniface I. and Cælestine Bishops of Rome, to Ascholius, Anysius and Rufus, Bishops of Thessalonica: in which Letters they commend to them the hearing of causes in Illyricum, granted by the Lord and the holy Canons to the Apostolic See thro'out that Province. And Pope Siricius saith in his Epistle to Anysius: Etiam dudum, frater charissime, per Candidianum Episcopum, qui nos præcessit ad Dominum, hujusmodi literas dederamus, ut nulla licentia esset, sine consensu tuo in Illyrico Episcopos ordinare præsumere, quæ utrum ad te pervenerint scire non potui. Multa enim gesta sunt per contentionem ab Episcopis in ordinationibus faciendis, quod tua melius caritas novit. And a little after: Ad omnem enim hujusmodi audaciam comprimendam vigilare debet instantia tua, Spiritu in te Sancto fervente: ut vel ipse, si potes, vel quos judicaveris Episcopos idoneos, cum literis dirigas, dato consensu qui possit, in ejus locum qui defunctus vel depositus fuerit, Catholicum Episcopum vitâ & moribus probatum, secundum Nicænæ Synodi statuta vel Ecclesiæ Romanæ, Clericum de Clero meritum ordinare. And Pope Innocent I. saith in his Epistle to Anysius: Cui [Anysio] etiam anteriores tanti ac tales viri prædecessores mei Episcopi, id est, sanctæ memoriæ Damasus, Siricius, atque supra memoratus vir ita detulerunt; ut omnia quæ in omnibus illis partibus gererentur, Sanctitati tuæ, quæ plena justitiæ est, traderent cognoscenda. And in his Epistle to Rufus the successor of Anysius: Ita longis intervallis disterminatis à me ecclesiis discat consulendum; ut prudentiæ gravitatique tuæ committendam curam causasque, siquæ exoriantur, per Achaiæ, Thessaliæ, Epiri veteris, Epiri novæ, & Cretæ, Daciæ mediterraneæ, Daciæ ripensis, Mœsiæ, Dardaniæ, & Prævali ecclesias, Christo Domino annuente, censeam. Verè enim ejus sacratissimis monitis lectissimæ sinceritatis tuæ providentiæ & virtuti hanc injungimus sollicitudinem: non primitùs hæc statuentes, sed Præcessores nostros Apostolicos imitati, qui beatissimis Acholio & Anysio injungi pro meritis ista voluerunt. And Boniface I. in his decretal Epistle to Rufus and the rest of the Bishops in Illyricum: Nullus, ut frequenter dixi, alicujus ordinationem citra ejus [Episcopi Thessalonicensis] conscientiam celebrare præsumat: cui, ut supra dictum est, vice nostrâ cuncta committimus. And Pope Cælestine, in his decretal Epistle to the Bishops thro'out Illyricum, saith: Vicem nostram per vestram Provinciam noveritis [Rufo] esse commissam, ita ut ad eum, fratres carissimi, quicquid de causis agitur, referatur. Sine ejus consilio nullus ordinetur. Nullus usurpet, eodem inconscio, commissam illi Provinciam; colligere nisi cum ejus voluntate Episcopus non præsumat. And in the cause of Perigenes, in the title of his Epistle, he thus enumerates the Provinces under this Bishop: Rufo & cæteris Episcopis per Macedoniam, Achaiam, Thessaliam, Epirum veterem, Epirum novam, Prævalin, & Daciam constitutis. And Pope Xistus in a decretal Epistle to the same Bishops: Illyricanæ omnes Ecclesiæ, ut à decessoribus nostris recepimus, & nos quoque fecimus, ad curam nunc pertinent Thessalonicensis Antistitis, ut suâ sollicitudine, siquæ inter fratres nascantur, ut assolent, actiones distinguat atque definiat; & ad eum, quicquid à singulis sacerdotibus agitur, referatur. Sit Concilium, quotiens causæ fuerint, quotiens ille pro necessitatum emergentium ratione decreverit. And Pope Leo I. in his decretal Epistle to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica: Singulis autem Metropolitanis sicut potestas ista committitur, ut in suis Provinciis jus habeant ordinandi; ita eos Metropolitanos à te volumus ordinari; maturo tamen & decocto judicio.

Occidental Illyricum comprehended Pannonia prima and secunda, Savia, Dalmatia, Noricum mediterraneum, and Noricum ripense; and its Metropolis was Sirmium, till Attila destroyed this city. Afterwards Laureacum became the Metropolis of Noricum and both Pannonias, and Salona the Metropolis of Dalmatia. Now ^[5] the Bishops of Laureacum and Salona received the Pallium from the Pope: and Zosimus, in his decretal Epistle to Hesychius Bishop of Salona, directed him to denounce the Apostolic decrees as well to the Bishops of his own, as to those of the neighbouring Provinces. The subjection of these Provinces to the See of Rome seems to have begun in Anemius, who was ordained Bishop of Sirmium by Ambrose Bishop of Millain, and who in the Council of Aquileia under Pope Damasus, A.C. 381, declared his sentence in these words: Caput Illyrici non nisi civitas Sirmiensis: Ego igitur illius civitatis Episcopus sum. Eum qui non confitetur filium Dei æternum, & coeternum patri, qui est sempiternus, anathema dico. The next year Anemius and Ambrose, with Valerian Bishop of Aquileia, Acholias Bishop of Thessalonica, and many others, went to the Council of Rome, which met for overruling the Greek Church by majority of votes, and exalting the authority of the Apostolic See, as was attempted before in the Council of Sardica.

Aquileia was the second city of the Western Empire, and by some called the second Rome. It was the Metropolis of Istria, Forum Julium, and Venetia; and its subjection to the See of Rome is manifest by the decretal Epistle of Leo I. directed to Nicetas Bishop of this city; for the Pope begins his Epistle thus: Regressus ad nos filius meus Adeodatus Diaconus Sedis nostræ, dilectionem tuam poposcisse memorat, ut de his à nobis authoritatem Apostolicæ Sedis acciperes, quæ quidem magnam difficultatem dijudicationis videntur afferre. Then he sets down an answer to the questions proposed by Nicetas, and concludes thus: Hanc autem Epistolam nostram, quam ad consultationem tuæ fraternitatis emisimus, ad omnes fratres & comprovinciales tuos Episcopos facies pervenire, ut in omnium observantia, data profit authoritas. Data 1-2 Kal. Apr. Majorano Aug. Cos. A.C. 458. Gregory the great A.C. 591, ^[6] cited Severus Bishop of Aquileia to appear before him in judgment in a Council at Rome.

The Bishops of Aquileia and Millain created one another, and therefore were of equal authority, and alike subject to the See of Rome. Pope Pelagius about the year 557, testified this in the following words: ^[7] Mos antiquus fuit, saith he, ut quia pro longinquitate vel difficultate itineris, ab Apostolico illis onerosum fuerit ordinari, ipsi se invicem Mediolanensis & Aquileiensis ordinare Episcopos debuissent. These words imply that the ordination of these two Bishops belonged to the See of Rome. When Laurentius Bishop of Millain had excommunicated Magnus, one of his Presbyters, and was dead, ^[8] Gregory the great absolved Magnus, and sent the Pallium to the new elected Bishop Constantius; whom the next year ^[9] he reprehended of partiality in judging Fortunatus, and commanded him to send Fortunatus to Rome to be judged there: four years after ^[10] he appointed the Bishops of Millain and Ravenna to hear the cause of one Maximus; and two years after, viz. A.C. 601, when Constantius was dead, and the people of Millain had elected Deusdedit his successor, and the Lombards had elected another, ^[11] Gregory wrote to the Notary, Clergy, and People of Millain, that by the authority of his Letters Deusdedit should be ordained, and that he whom the Lombards had ordained was an unworthy successor of Ambrose: whence I gather, that the Church of Millain had continued in this state of subordination to the See of Rome ever since the days of Ambrose; for Ambrose himself acknowledged the authority of that See. Ecclesia Romana, ^[12] saith he, hanc consuetudinem non habet, cujus typum in omnibus sequimur, & formam. And a little after: In omnibus cupio sequi Ecclesiam Romanam. And in his Commentary upon 1 Tim. iii. Cum totus mundus Dei sit, tamen domus ejus Ecclesia dicitur, cujus hodie rector est Damasus. In his Oration on the death of his brother Satyrus, he relates how his brother coming to a certain city of Sardinia, advocavit Episcopum loci, percontatusque est ex eo utrum cum Episcopis Catholicis hoc est cum Romana Ecclesia conveniret? And in conjunction with the Synod of Aquileia A.C. 381, in a synodical Epistle to the Emperor Gratian, he saith: Totius orbis Romani caput Romanam Ecclesiam, atque illam sacrosanctam Apostolorum fidem, ne turbari sineret, obsecranda fuit clementia vestra; inde enim in omnes venerandæ communionis jura dimanant. The Churches therefore of Aquileia and Millain were subject to the See of Rome from the days of the Emperor Gratian. Auxentius the predecessor of Ambrose was not subject to the see of Rome, and consequently the subjection of the Church of Millain began in Ambrose. This Diocese of Millain contained Liguria with Insubria, the Alpes Cottiæ and Rhætia; and was divided from the Diocese of Aquileia by the river Addua. In the year 844, the Bishop of Millain broke off from the See of Rome, and continued in this separation about 200 years, as is thus related by ^[13] Sigonius: Eodem anno Angilbertus Mediolanensis Archiepiscopus ab Ecclesia Romana parum comperta de causa descivit, tantumque exemplo in posterum valuit, ut non nisi post ducentos annos Ecclesia Mediolanensis ad Romanæ obedientiam auctoritatemque redierit.

The Bishop of Ravenna, the Metropolis of Flaminia and Æmilia, was also subject to the Pope: for Zosimus, A.C. 417, excommunicated some of the Presbyters of that Church, and wrote a commonitory Epistle about them to the Clergy of that Church as a branch of the Roman Church: In sua, saith he, hoc est, in Ecclesia nostra Romana. When those of Ravenna, having elected a new Bishop, gave notice thereof to Pope Sixtus, the Pope set him aside, and ^[14] ordained Peter Chrysologus in his room. Chrysologus in his Epistle to Eutyches, extant in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, wrote thus: Nos pro studio pacis & fidei, extra consensum Romanæ civitatis Episcopi, causas fidei audire non possumus. Pope Leo I. being consulted by Leo Bishop of Ravenna about some questions, answered him by a decretal Epistle A.C. 451. And Pope Gregory the great, ^[15] reprehending John Bishop of Ravenna about the use of the Pallium, tells him of a Precept of one of his Predecessors, Pope John, commanding that all the Privileges formerly granted to the Bishop and Church of Ravenna should be kept: to this John returned a submissive answer; and after his death Pope Gregory ordered a visitation of the Church of Ravenna, confirmed the privileges heretofore granted them, and sent his Pallium, as of antient custom, to their new Bishop Marinian. Yet this Church revolted sometimes from the Church of Rome, but returned again to its obedience.

The rest of Italy, with the Islands adjacent, containing the suburbicarian regions, or ten Provinces under the temporal Vicar of Rome, viz. ¹Campania, ²Tuscia and Umbria, ³Picenum suburbicarium, ⁴Sicily, ⁵Apulia and Calabria, ⁶Brutii and Lucania, ⁷Samnium, ⁸Sardinia, ⁹Corsica, and ¹⁰Valeria, constituted the proper Province of the Bishop of Rome. For the Council of Nice in their fifth Canon ordained that Councils should be held every spring and autumn in every Province; and according to this Canon, the Bishops of this Province met at Rome every half year. In this sense Pope Leo I. applied this Canon to Rome, in a decretal Epistle to the Bishops of Sicily, written Alippio & Ardabure Coss. A.C. 447. Quia saluberrime, saith he, à sanctis patribus constitutum est, binos in annis singulis Episcoporum debere esse conventus, terni semper ex vobis ad diem tertium Kalendarum Octobrium Romam æterno concilio sociandi occurrant. Et indissimulanter à vobis hæc consuetudo servetur, quoniam adjuvante Dei gratiâ, faciliùs poterit provideri, ut in Ecclesiis Christi nulla scandala, nulli nascantur errores; cum coram Apostolo Petro semper in communione tractatum fuerit, ut omnia Canonum Decreta apud omnes Domini sacerdotes inviolata permaneant. The Province of Rome therefore comprehended Sicily, with so much of Italy and the neighbouring Islands as sent Bishops to the annual Councils of Rome; but extended not into the Provinces of Ravenna, Aquileia, Millain, Arles, &c. those Provinces having Councils of their own. The Bishops in every Province of the Roman Empire were convened in Council by the Metropolitan or Bishop of the head city of the Province, and this Bishop presided in that Council: but the Bishop of Rome did not only preside in his own Council of the Bishops of the suburbicarian regions, but also gave Orders to the Metropolitans of all the other Provinces in the Western Empire, as their universal governor; as may be further perceived by the following instances.

Pope Zosimus A.C. 417, cited Proculus Bishop of Marseilles to appear before a Council at Rome for illegitimate Ordinations; and condemned him, as he mentions in several of his Epistles. Pope Boniface I. A.C. 419, upon a complaint of the Clergy of Valentia against Maximus a Bishop, summoned the Bishops of all Gallia and the seven Provinces to convene in a Council against him; and saith in his Epistle, that his Predecessors had done the like. Pope Leo I. called a general Council of all the Provinces of Spain to meet in Gallæcia against the Manichees and Priscillianists, as he says in his decretal Epistle to Turribius a Spanish Bishop. And in one of his decretal Epistles to Nicetas Bishop of Aquileia, he commands him to call a Council of the Bishops of that Province against the Pelagians, which might ratify all the Synodal Decrees which had been already ratified by the See of Rome against this heresy. And in his decretal Epistle to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica, he ordained that Bishop should hold two Provincial Councils every year, and refer the harder causes to the See of Rome: and if upon any extraordinary occasion it should be necessary to call a Council, he should not be troublesom to the Bishops under him, but content himself with two Bishops out of every Province, and not detain them above fifteen days. In the same Epistle he describes the form of Church-Government then set up, to consist in a subordination of all the Churches to the See of Rome: De qua forma, saith he, Episcoporum quoque est orta distinctio, & magna dispositione provisum est ne omnes sibi omnia vindicarent, sed essent in singulis Provinciis singuli quorum inter fratres haberetur prima sententia, & rursus quidam in majoribus urbibus constituti sollicitudinem sumerent ampliorem, per quos ad unam Petri Sedem universalis Ecclesiæ cura conflueret, & nihil usque à suo capite dissideret. Qui ergo scit se quibusdam esse præpositum, non moleste ferat aliquem sibi esse præpositum; sed obedientiam quam exigit etiam ipse dependat; et sicut non vult gravis oneris sarcinam ferre, ita non audeat aliis importabile pondus imponere. These words sufficiently shew the monarchical form of government then set up in the Churches of the Western Empire under the Bishop of Rome, by means of the imperial Decree of Gratian, and the appeals and decretal Epistles grounded thereupon.

The same Pope Leo, having in a Council at Rome passed sentence upon Hilary Bishop of Arles, for what he had done by a Provincial Council in Gallia, took occasion from thence to procure the following Edict from the Western Emperor Valentinian III. for the more absolute establishing the authority of his See over all the Churches of the Western Empire.

Impp. Theodosius & Valentinianus AA. Aetio Viro illustri, Comiti & Magistro utriusque militiæ & Patricio.

Certum est & nobis & imperio nostro unicum esse præsidium in supernæ Divinitatis favore, ad quem promerendum præcipue Christiana fides & veneranda nobis religio suffragatur. Cum igitur Sedis Apostolicæ Primatum sancti Petri meritum, qui princeps est Episcopalis coronæ & Romanæ dignitas civitatis, sacræ etiam Synodi firmavit auctoritas: ne quid præter auctoritatem Sedis istius illicitum præsumptio attemperare nitatur: tunc enim demum Ecclesiarum pax ubique servabitur, si Rectorem suum agnoscat Universitas. Hæc cum hactenus inviolabiliter suerint custodita, Hilarius Arelatensis, sicut venerabilis viri Leonis Romani Papæ fideli relatione comperimus, contumaci ausu illicita quædam præsumenda tentavit, & ideo Transalpinas Ecclesias abominabilis tumultus invasit, quod recens maximè testatur exemplum. Hilarius enim qui Episcopus Arelatensis vocatur, Ecclesiæ Romanæ urbis inconsulto Pontifice indebitas sibi ordinationes Episcoporum solâ temeritate usurpans invasit. Nam alios incompetenter removit; indecenter alios, invitis & repugnantibus civibus, ordinavit. Qui quidem, quoniam non facile ab his qui non elegerant, recipiebantur, manum sibi contrahebat armatam, & claustra murorum in hostilem morem vel obsidione cingebat, vel aggressione reserabat, & ad sedem quietis pacem prædicaturus per bella ducebat: His talibus contra Imperii majestatem, & contra reverentiam Apostolicæ Sedis admissis, per ordinem religiosi viri Urbis Papæ cognitione discussis, certa in eum, ex his quos malè ordinaverat, lata sententia est. Erat quidem ipsa sententia per Gallias etiam sine Imperiali Sanctione valitura: quid enim Pontificis auctoritate non liceret? Sed nostram quoque præceptionem hæc ratio provocavit. Nec ulterius vel Hilario, quem adhuc Episcopum nuncupare sola mansueta Præsulis permittit humanitas, nec cuiquam alteri ecclesiasticis rebus arma miscere, aut præceptis Romani Antistitis liceat obviare: ausibus enim talibus fides & reverentia nostri violatur Imperii. Nec hoc solum, quod est maximi criminis, submovemus: verum ne levis saltem inter Ecclesias turba nascatur, vel in aliquo minui religionis disciplina videatur, hoc perenni sanctione discernimus; nequid tam Episcopis Gallicanis quam aliarum Provinciarum contra consuetudinem veterem liceat, sine viri venerabilis Papæ Urbis æternæ auctoritate, tentare. Sed illis omnibusque pro lege sit, quicquid sanxit vel sanxerit Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritas: ita ut quisquis Episcoporum ad judicium Romani Antistitis evocatus venire neglexerit, per Moderatorem ejusdem Provinciæ adesse cogatur, per omnia servatis quæ Divi parentes nostri Romanæ Ecclesiæ detulerunt, Aetî pater carissime Augusti. Unde illustris & præclara magnificentia tua præsentis Edictalis Legis auctoritate faciet quæ sunt superius statuta servari, decem librarum auri multa protinus exigenda ab unoquoque Judice qui passus fuerit præcepta nostra violari. Divinitas te servet per multos annos, parens carissime. Dat. viii. Id. Jun. Romæ, Valentiniano A. vi. Consule, A.C. 445. By this Edict the Emperor Valentinian enjoined an absolute obedience to the will of the Bishop of Rome thro'out all the Churches of his Empire; and declares, that for the Bishops to attempt any thing without the Pope's authority is contrary to antient custom, and that the Bishops summoned to appear before his judicature must be carried thither by the Governor of the Province; and he ascribes these privileges of the See of Rome to the concessions of his dead Ancestors, that is, to the Edict of Gratian and Valentinian II. as above: by which reckoning this dominion of the Church of Rome was now of 66 years standing: and if in all this time it had not been sufficiently established, this new Edict was enough to settle it beyond all question thro'out the Western Empire.

Hence all the Bishops of the Province of Arles in their Letter to Pope Leo, A.C. 450, petitioning for a restitution of the privileges of their Metropolitan, say: Per beatum Petrum Apostolorum principem, sacrosancta Ecclesia Romana tenebat supra omnes totius mundi Ecclesias principatum. And Ceratius, Salonius and Veranus, three Bishops of Gallia, say, in their Epistle to the same Pope: Magna præterea & ineffabili quadam nos peculiares tui gratulatione succrescimus, quod illa specialis doctrinæ vestræ pagina ita per omnium Ecclesiarum conventicula celebratur, ut vere consona omnium sententia declaretur; merito illic principatum Sedis Apostolicæ constitutum, unde adhuc Apostolici spiritus oracula reserentur. And Leo himself, in ^[16] his Epistle to the metropolitan Bishops thro'out Illyricum: Quia per omnes Ecclesias cura nostra distenditur, exigente hoc à nobis Domino, qui Apostolicæ dignitatis beatissimo Apostolo Petro primatum, fidei sui remuneratione commisit, universalem Ecclesiam in fundamenti ipsius soliditate constituens.

While this Ecclesiastical Dominion was rising up, the northern barbarous nations invaded the Western Empire, and founded several kingdoms therein, of different religions from the Church of Rome. But these kingdoms by degrees embraced the Roman faith, and at the same time submitted to the Pope's authority. The Franks in Gaul submitted in the end of the fifth Century, the Goths in Spain in the end of the sixth; and the Lombards in Italy were conquered by Charles the great A.C. 774. Between the years 775 and 794, the same Charles extended the Pope's authority over all Germany and Hungary as far as the river Theysse and the Baltic sea; he then set him above all human judicature, and at the same time assisted him in subduing the City and Duchy of Rome. By the conversion of the ten kingdoms to the Roman religion, the Pope only enlarged his spiritual dominion, but did not yet rise up as a horn of the Beast. It was his temporal dominion which made him one of the horns: and this dominion he acquired in the latter half of the eighth century, by subduing three of the former horns as above. And now being arrived at a temporal dominion, and a power above all human judicature, he reigned ^[17] with a look more stout than his fellows, and ^[18] times and laws were henceforward given into his hands, for a time times and half a time, or three times and an half; that is, for 1260 solar years, reckoning a time for a Calendar year of 360 days, and a day for a solar year. After which ^[19] the judgment is to sit, and they shall take away his dominion, not at once, but by degrees, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. ^[20] And the kingdom and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall, by degrees, be given unto the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Of the kingdoms represented in Daniel by the Ram and He-Goat.

The second and third Empires, represented by the Bear and Leopard, are again represented by the Ram and He-Goat; but with this difference, that the Ram represents the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians from the beginning of the four Empires, and the Goat represents the kingdom of the Greeks to the end of them. By this means, under the type of the Ram and He-Goat, the times of all the four Empires are again described: I lifted up mine eyes, saith ^[1] Daniel, and saw, and behold there stood before the river [Ulai] a Ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.—And the Ram having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia: not two persons but two kingdoms, the kingdoms of Media and Persia; and the kingdom of Persia was the higher horn and came up last. The kingdom of Persia rose up, when Cyrus having newly conquered Babylon, revolted from Darius King of the Medes, and beat him at Pasargadæ, and set up the Persians above the Medes. This was the horn which came up last. And the horn which came up first was the kingdom of the Medes, from the time that Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Nineveh, and shared the Empire of the Assyrians between them. The Empires of Media and Babylon were contemporary, and rose up together by the fall of the Assyrian Empire; and the Prophecy of the four Beasts begins with one of them, and that of the Ram and He-Goat with the other. As the Ram represents the kingdom of Media and Persia from the beginning of the four Empires; so the He-Goat represents the Empire of the Greeks to the end of those Monarchies. In the reign of his great horn, and of the four horns which succeeded it, he represents this Empire during the reign of the Leopard: and in the reign of his little horn, which stood up in the latter time of the kingdom of the four, and after their fall became mighty but not by his own power, he represents it during the reign of the fourth Beast.

The rough Goat, saith Daniel, is the King of Grecia, that is, the kingdom; and the great horn between his eyes is the first King: not the first Monarch, but the first kingdom, that which lasted during the reign of Alexander the great, and his brother Aridæus and two young sons, Alexander and Hercules. ^[2] Now that [horn] being broken off, whereas four [horns] stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation [of the Greeks], but not in his [the first horn's] power. The four horns are therefore four kingdoms; and by consequence, the first great horn which they succeeded is the first great kingdom of the Greeks, that which was founded by Alexander the great, An. Nabonass. 414, and lasted till the death of his son Hercules, An. Nabonass. 441. And the four are those of Cassander, Lysimachus, Antigonus, and Ptolemy, as above.

^[3] And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a King [or new kingdom] of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up: and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. This King was the last horn of the Goat, the little horn which came up out of one of the four horns, and waxed exceeding great. The latter time of their kingdom was when the Romans began to conquer them, that is, when they conquered Perseus King of Macedonia, the fundamental kingdom of the Greeks. And at that time the transgressors came to the full: for then the High-priesthood was exposed to sale, the Vessels of the Temple were sold to pay for the purchase; and the High-priest, with some of the Jews, procured a licence from Antiochus Epiphanes to do after the ordinances of the heathen, and set up a school at Jerusalem for teaching those ordinances. Then Antiochus took Jerusalem with an armed force, slew 4000 Jews, took as many prisoners and sold them, spoiled the Temple, interdicted the worship, commanded the Law of Moses to be burnt, and set up the worship of the heathen Gods in all Judea. In the very same year, An. Nabonass. 580, the Romans conquered Macedonia, the chief of the four horns. Hitherto the Goat was mighty by its own power, but henceforward began to be under the Romans. Daniel distinguishes the times, by describing very particularly the actions of the Kings of the north and south, those two of the four horns which bordered upon Judea, until the Romans conquered Macedonia; and thenceforward only touching upon the main revolutions which happened within the compass of the nations represented by the Goat. In this latter period of time the little horn was to stand up and grow mighty, but not by his own power.

The three first of Daniel's Beasts had their dominions taken away, each of them at the rise of the next Beast; but their lives were prolonged, and they are all of them still alive. The third Beast, or Leopard, reigned in his four heads, till the rise of the fourth Beast, or Empire of the Latins; and his life was prolonged under their power. This Leopard reigning in his four heads, signifies the same thing with the He-Goat reigning in his four horns: and therefore the He-Goat reigned in his four horns till the rise of Daniel's fourth Beast, or Empire of the Latins: then its dominion was taken away by the Latins, but its life was prolonged under their power. The Latins are not comprehended among the nations represented by the He-Goat in this Prophecy: their power over the Greeks is only named in it, to distinguish the times in which the He-Goat was mighty by his own power, from the times in which he was mighty but not by his own power. He was mighty by his own power till his dominion was taken away by the Latins; after that, his life was prolonged under their dominion, and this prolonging of his life was in the days of his last horn: for in the days of this horn the Goat became mighty, but not by his own power.

Now because this horn was a horn of the Goat, we are to look for it among the nations which composed the body of the Goat. Among those nations he was to rise up and grow mighty: he grew mighty ^[4] towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the pleasant land; and therefore he was to rise up in the north-west parts of those nations, and extend his dominion towards Egypt, Syria and Judea. In the latter time of the kingdom of the four horns, it was to rise up out of one of them and subdue the rest, but not by its own power. It was to be assisted by a foreign power, a power superior to itself, the power which took away the dominion of the third Beast, the power of the fourth Beast. And such a little horn was the kingdom of Macedonia, from the time that it became subject to the Romans. This kingdom, by the victory of the Romans over Persius King of Macedonia, Anno Nabonass. 580, ceased to be one of the four horns of the Goat, and became a dominion of a new sort: not a horn of the fourth Beast, for Macedonia belonged to the body of the third; but a horn of the third Beast of a new sort, a horn of the Goat which grew mighty but not by his own power, a horn which rose up and grew potent under a foreign power, the power of the Romans.

The Romans, by the legacy of Attalus the last King of Pergamus, An. Nabonass. 615, inherited that kingdom, including all Asia Minor on this side mount Taurus. An. Nabonass. 684 and 685 they conquered Armenia, Syria and Judea; An. Nabonass. 718, they subdued Egypt. And by these conquests the little horn ^[5] waxed exceeding great towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven; and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them, that is, upon the people and great men of the Jews. ^[6] Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the Host, the Messiah, the Prince of the Jews, whom he put to death, An. Nabonass. 780. And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down, viz. in the wars which the armies of the Eastern nations under the conduct of the Romans made against Judea, when Nero and Vespasian were Emperors, An. Nabonass. 816, 817, 818. ^[7] And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered. This transgression is in the next words called the transgression of desolation; and in Dan. xi. 31. the abomination which maketh desolate; and in Matth. xxiv. 15. the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place. It may relate chiefly to the worship of Jupiter Olympius in his Temple built by the Emperor Hadrian, in the place of the Temple of the Jews, and to the revolt of the Jews under Barchochab occasioned thereby, and to the desolation of Judea which followed thereupon; all the Jews, being thenceforward banished Judea upon pain of death. Then I heard, saith ^[8] Daniel, one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Daniel's days are years; and these years may perhaps be reckoned either from the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the reign of Vespasian, or from the pollution of the Sanctuary by the worship of Jupiter Olympius, or from the desolation of Judea made in the end of the Jewish war by the banishment of all the Jews out of their own country, or from some other period which time will discover. Henceforward the last horn of the Goat continued mighty under the Romans, till the reign of Constantine the great and his sons: and then by the division of the Roman Empire between the Greek and Latin Emperors, it separated from the Latins, and became the Greek Empire alone, but yet under the dominion of a Roman family; and at present it is mighty under the dominion of the Turks.

This last horn is by some taken for Antiochus Epiphanes, but not very judiciously. A horn of a Beast is never taken for a single person: it always signifies a new kingdom, and the kingdom of Antiochus was an old one. Antiochus reigned over one of the four horns, and the little horn was a fifth under its proper kings. This horn was at first a little one, and waxed exceeding great, but so did not Antiochus. It is described great above all the former horns, and so was not Antiochus. His kingdom on the contrary was weak, and tributary to the Romans, and he did not enlarge it. The horn was a King of fierce countenance, and destroyed wonderfully, and prospered and practised; that is, he prospered in his practises against the holy people: but Antiochus was frighted out of Egypt by a mere message of the Romans, and afterwards routed and baffled by the Jews. The horn was mighty by another's power, Antiochus acted by his own. The horn stood up against the Prince of the Host of heaven, the Prince of Princes; and this is the character not of Antiochus but of Antichrist. The horn cast down the Sanctuary to the ground, and so did not Antiochus; he left it standing. The Sanctuary and Host were trampled under foot 2300 days; and in Daniel's Prophecies days are put for years: but the profanation of the Temple in the reign of Antiochus did not last so many natural days. These were to last till the time of the end, till the last end of the indignation against the Jews; and this indignation is not yet at an end. They were to last till the Sanctuary which had been cast down should be cleansed, and the Sanctuary is not yet cleansed.

This Prophecy of the Ram and He-Goat is repeated in the last Prophecy of Daniel. There the Angel tells Daniel, that ^[9] he stood up to strengthen Darius the Mede, and that there should stand up yet three kings in Persia, [Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis] and the fourth [Xerxes] should be far richer than they all; and by his wealth thro' his riches he should stir up all against the realm of Grecia. This relates to the Ram, whose two horns were the kingdoms of Media and Persia. Then he goes on to describe the horns of the Goat by the ^[10] standing up of a mighty king, which should rule with great dominion, and do according to his will; and by the breaking of his kingdom into four smaller kingdoms, and not descending to his own posterity. Then he describes the actions of two of those kingdoms which bordered on Judea, viz. Egypt and Syria, calling them the Kings of the South and North, that is, in respect of Judea; and he carries on the description till the latter end of the kingdoms of the four, and till the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, when transgressors were come to the full. In the eighth year of Antiochus, the year in which he profaned the Temple and set up the heathen Gods in all Judea, and the Romans conquered the kingdom of Macedon; the prophetic Angel leaves off describing the affairs of the kings of the South and North, and begins to describe those of the Greeks under the dominion of the Romans, in these words: ^[11] And after him Arms [the Romans] shall stand up, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength. As ממלך signifies after the king, Dan. xi. 8; so here ממנו may signify after him: and so מן־האחת may signify after one of them, Dan. viii. 9. Arms are every where in these Prophecies of Daniel put for the military power of a kingdom, and they stand up when they conquer and grow powerful. The Romans conquered Illyricum, Epirus and Macedonia, in the year of Nabonassar 580; and thirty five years after, by the last will and testament of Attalus the last King of Pergamus, they inherited that rich and flourishing kingdom, that is, all Asia on this side mount Taurus: and sixty nine years after, they conquered the kingdom of Syria, and reduced it into a Province: and thirty four years after they did the like to Egypt. By all these steps the Roman arms stood up over the Greeks. And after 95 years more, by making war upon the Jews, they polluted the sanctuary of strength, and took away the daily sacrifice, and, in its room soon after, placed the abomination which made the Land desolate: for this abomination was placed after the days of Christ, Matth. xxiv. 15. In the 16th year of the Emperor Hadrian, A. C. 132, they placed this abomination by building a Temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, where the Temple of God in Jerusalem had stood. Thereupon the Jews under the conduct of Barchochab rose up in arms against the Romans, and in that war had 50 cities demolished, 985 of their best towns destroyed, and 580000 men slain by the sword: and in the end of the war, A.C. 136, they were all banished Judea upon pain or death; and that time the land hath remained desolate of its old inhabitants.

Now that the prophetic Angel passes in this manner from the four kingdoms of the Greeks to the Romans reigning over the Greeks, is confirmed from hence, that in the next place he describes the affairs of the Christians unto the time of the end, in these words: ^[12] And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help, viz. in the reign of Constantine the great; but many shall cleave to them with dissimulation. And some of them of understanding there shall fall to try them, and to purge them from the dissemblers; and to make them white even to the time of the end. And a little after, the time of the end is said to be a time, times, and half a time: which is the duration of the reign of the last horn of Daniel's fourth Beast, and of the Woman and her Beast in the Apocalyps.

Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.

The Vision of the Image composed of four Metals was given first to Nebuchadnezzar, and then to Daniel in a dream: and Daniel began then to be celebrated for revealing of secrets, Ezek. xxviii. 3. The Vision of the four Beasts, and of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, was also given to Daniel in a dream. That of the Ram and the He-Goat appeared to him in the day time, when he was by the bank of the river Ulay; and was explained to him by the prophetic Angel Gabriel. It concerns the Prince of the host, and the Prince of Princes: and now in the first year of Darius the Mede over Babylon, the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again, and explains to him what is meant by the Son of man, by the Prince of the host, and the Prince of Princes. The Prophecy of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven relates to the second coming of Christ; that of the Prince of the host relates to his first coming: and this Prophecy of the Messiah, in explaining them, relates to both comings, and assigns the times thereof.

This Prophecy, like all the rest of Daniel's, consists of two parts, an introductory Prophecy and an explanation thereof; the whole I thus translate and interpret.

^[1] 'Seventy weeks are ^[2] cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and ^[3] to make an end of sins, to expiate iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to consummate the Vision and ^[4] the Prophet, and to anoint the most Holy.

'Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause to return and to build Jerusalem, unto ^[5] the Anointed the Prince, shall be seven weeks.

'Yet threescore and two weeks shall ^[6] it return, and the street be built and the wall; but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks, the Anointed shall be cut off, and ^[6] it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined.

'Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease: and upon a wing of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that which is determined be poured upon the desolate.'

Seventy weeks are cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, &c. Here, by putting a week for seven years, are reckoned 490 years from the time that the dispersed Jews should be re-incorporated into ^[7] a people and a holy city, until the death and resurrection of Christ; whereby transgression should be finished, and sins ended, iniquity be expiated, and everlasting righteousness brought in, and this Vision be accomplished, and the Prophet consummated, that Prophet whom the Jews expected; and whereby the most Holy should be anointed, he who is therefore in the next words called the Anointed, that is, the Messiah, or the Christ. For by joining the accomplishment of the vision with the expiation of sins, the 490 years are ended with the death of Christ. Now the dispersed Jews became a people and city when they first returned into a polity or body politick; and this was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, when Ezra returned with a body of Jews from captivity, and revived the Jewish worship; and by the King's commission created Magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, Ezra vii. 25. There were but two returns from captivity, Zerubbabel's and Ezra's; in Zerubbabel's they had only commission to build the Temple, in Ezra's they first became a polity or city by a government of their own. Now the years of this Artaxerxes began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth Olympiad; and the latter part thereof, wherein Ezra went up to Jerusalem, was in the year of the Julian Period 4257. Count the time from thence to the death of Christ, and you will find it just 490 years. If you count in Judaic years commencing in autumn, and date the reckoning from the first autumn after Ezra's coming to Jerusalem, when he put the King's decree in execution; the death of Christ will fall on the year of the Julian Period 4747, Anno Domini 34; and the weeks will be Judaic weeks, ending with sabbatical years; and this I take to be the truth: but if you had rather place the death of Christ in the year before, as is commonly done, you may take the year of Ezra's journey into the reckoning.

Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause to return and to build Jerusalem, unto the Anointed the Prince, shall be seven weeks. The former part of the Prophecy related to the first coming of Christ, being dated to his coming as a Prophet; this being dated to his coming to be Prince or King, seems to relate to his second coming. There, the Prophet was consummate, and the most holy anointed: here, he that was anointed comes to be Prince and to reign. For Daniel's Prophecies reach to the end of the world; and there is scarce a Prophecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ, which doth not in something or other relate to his second coming. If divers of the antients, as ^[8] Irenæus, ^[9] Julius Africanus, Hippolytus the martyr, and Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea, applied the half week to the times of Antichrist; why may not we, by the same liberty of interpretation, apply the seven weeks to the time when Antichrist shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming?

The Israelites in the days of the antient Prophets, when the ten Tribes were led into captivity, expected a double return; and that at the first the Jews should build a new Temple inferior to Solomon's, until the time of that age should be fulfilled; and afterwards they should return from all places of their captivity, and build Jerusalem and the Temple gloriously, Tobit xiv. 4, 5, 6: and to express the glory and excellence of this city, it is figuratively said to be built of precious stones, Tobit xiii. 16, 17, 18. Isa. liv. 11, 12. Rev. xi. and called the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City, the Lamb's Wife, the City of the Great King, the City into which the Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour. Now while such a return from captivity was the expectation of Israel, even before the times of Daniel, I know not why Daniel should omit it in his Prophecy. This part of the Prophecy being therefore not yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt a particular interpretation of it, but content myself with observing, that as the seventy and the sixty two weeks were Jewish weeks, ending with sabbatical years; so the seven weeks are the compass of a Jubilee, and begin and end with actions proper for a Jubilee, and of the highest nature for which a Jubilee can be kept: and that since the commandment to return and to build Jerusalem, precedes the Messiah the Prince 49 years; it may perhaps come forth not from the Jews themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and give occasion to it; and lastly, that this rebuilding of Jerusalem and the waste places of Judah is predicted in Micah vii. 11. Amos ix. 11, 14. Ezek. xxxvi. 33, 35, 36, 38. Isa. liv. 3, 11, 12. lv. 12. lxi. 4. lxv. 18, 21,22. and Tobit xiv. 5. and that the return from captivity and coming of the Messiah and his kingdom are described in Daniel vii. Rev. xix. Acts i. Mat. xxiv. Joel iii. Ezek. xxxvi. xxxvii. Isa. lx. lxii. lxiii. lxv. and lxvi. and many other places of scripture. The manner I know not. Let time be the Interpreter.

Yet threescore and two weeks shall it return, and the street be built and the wall, but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off, and it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, &c. Having foretold both comings of Christ, and dated the last from their returning and building Jerusalem; to prevent the applying that to the building Jerusalem by Nehemiah, he distinguishes this from that, by saying that from this period to the Anointed shall be, not seven weeks, but threescore and two weeks, and this not in prosperous but in troublesome times; and at the end of these Weeks the Messiah shall not be the Prince of the Jews, but be cut off; and Jerusalem not be his, but the city and sanctuary be destroyed. Now Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the 20th year of this same Artaxerxes, while Ezra still continued there, Nehem. xii. 36, and found the city lying waste, and the houses and wall unbuilt, Nehem. ii. 17. vii. 4, and finished the wall the 25th day of the month Elul, Nehem. vi. 15, in the 28th year of the King, that is, in September in the year of the Julian Period 4278. Count now from this year threescore and two weeks of years, that is 434 years, and the reckoning will end in September in the year of the Julian Period 4712 which is the year in which Christ was born, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Orosius, Cassiodorus, and other antients; and this was the general opinion, till Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar account, in which Christ's birth is placed two years later. If with some you reckon that Christ was born three or four years before the vulgar account, yet his birth will fall in the latter part of the last week, which is enough. How after these weeks Christ was cut off and the city and sanctuary destroyed by the Romans, is well known.

Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week. He kept it, notwithstanding his death, till the rejection of the Jews, and calling of Cornelius and the Gentiles in the seventh year after his passion.

And in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease; that is, by the war of the Romans upon the Jews: which war, after some commotions, began in the 13th year of Nero, A.D. 67, in the spring, when Vespasian with an army invaded them; and ended in the second year of Vespasian, A.D. 70, in autumn, Sept. 7, when Titus took the city, having burnt the Temple 27 days before: so that it lasted three years and an half.

And upon a wing of abominations he shall cause desolation, even until the consummation, and that which is determined be poured upon the desolate. The Prophets, in representing kingdoms by Beasts and Birds, put their wings stretcht out over any country for their armies sent out to invade and rule over that country. Hence a wing of abominations is an army of false Gods: for an abomination is often put in scripture for a false God; as where Chemosh is called ^[10] the abomination of Moab, and Molech the abomination of Ammon. The meaning therefore is, that the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the sanctuary, and abolish the daily worship of the true God, and overspread the land with an army of false gods; and by setting up their dominion and worship, cause desolation to the Jews, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. For Christ tells us, that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel was to be set up in the times of the Roman Empire, Matth. xxiv. 15.

Thus have we in this short Prophecy, a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the Messiah; the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the Jews, the duration of the Jewish war whereby he caused the city and sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second coming: and so the interpretation here given is more full and complete and adequate to the design, than if we should restrain it to his first coming only, as Interpreters usually do. We avoid also the doing violence to the language of Daniel, by taking the seven weeks and sixty two weeks for one number. Had that been Daniel's meaning, he would have said sixty and nine weeks, and not seven weeks and sixty two weeks, a way of numbring used by no nation. In our way the years are Jewish Luni-solar years, ^[11] as they ought to be; and the seventy weeks of years are Jewish weeks ending with sabbatical years, which is very remarkable. For they end either with the year of the birth of Christ, two years before the vulgar account, or with the year of his death, or with the seventh year after it: all which are sabbatical years. Others either count by Lunar years, or by weeks not Judaic: and, which is worst, they ground their interpretations on erroneous Chronology, excepting the opinion of Funccius about the seventy weeks, which is the same with ours. For they place Ezra and Nehemiah in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, and the building of the Temple in the reign of Darius Nothus, and date the weeks of Daniel from those two reigns.

The grounds of the Chronology here followed, I will now set down as briefly as I can.

The Peloponnesian war began in spring An. 1 Olymp. 87, as Diodorus, Eusebius, and all other authors agree. It began two months before Pythodorus ceased to be Archon, Thucyd. l. 2. that is, in April, two months before the end of the Olympic year. Now the years of this war are most certainly determined by the 50 years distance of its first year from the transit of Xerxes inclusively, Thucyd. l. 2. or 48 years exclusively, Eratosth. apud Clem. Alex. by the 69 years distance of its end, or 27th year, from the beginning of Alexander's reign in Greece; by the acting of the Olympic games in its 4th and 12th years, Thucyd. l. 5; and by three eclipses of the sun, and one of the moon, mentioned by Thucydides and Xenophon. Now Thucydides, an unquestionable witness, tells us, that the news of the death of Artaxerxes Longimanus was brought to Ephesus, and from thence by some Athenians to Athens, in the 7th year of this Peloponnesian war, when the winter half year was running; and therefore he died An. 4 Olymp. 88, in the end of An. J.P. 4289, suppose a month or two before midwinter; for so long the news would be in coming. Now Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned 40 years, by the consent of Diodorus, Eusebius, Jerome, Sulpitius; or 41, according to Ptol. in can. Clem. Alexand. l. 1. Strom. Chron. Alexandr. Abulpharagius, Nicephorus, including therein the reign of his successors Xerxes and Sogdian, as Abulpharagius informs us. After Artaxerxes reigned his son Xerxes two months, and Sogdian seven months; but their reign is not reckoned apart in summing up the years of the Kings, but is included in the 40 or 41 years reign of Artaxerxes: omit these nine months, and the precise reign of Artaxerxes will be thirty nine years and three months. And therefore since his reign ended in the beginning of winter An. J.P. 4289, it began between midsummer and autumn, An. J.P. 4250.

The same thing I gather also thus. Cambyses began his reign in spring An. J.P. 4185, and reigned eight years, including the five months of Smerdes; and then Darius Hystaspis began in spring An. J.P. 4193, and reigned thirty six years, by the unanimous consent of all Chronologers. The reigns of these two Kings are determined by three eclipses of the moon observed at Babylon, and recorded by Ptolemy; so that it cannot be disputed. One was in the seventh year of Cambyses, An. J.P. 4191, Jul. 16, at 11 at night; another in the 20th year of Darius, An. J.P. 4212, Nov. 19, at 11^h. 45' at night; a third in the 31st year of Darius, An. J.P. 4223, Apr. 25, at 11^h. 30 at night. By these eclipses, and the Prophecies of Haggai and Zechary compared together, it is manifest that his years began after the 24th day of the 11th Jewish month, and before the 25th day of April, and by consequence about March. Xerxes therefore began in spring An. J.P. 4229: for Darius died in the fifth year after the battle at Marathon, as Herodotus, lib. 7, and Plutarch mention; and that battle was in October An. J.P. 4224, ten years before the battle at Salamis. Xerxes therefore began within less than a year after October An. J.P. 4228, suppose in the spring following: for he spent his first five years, and something more, in preparations for his expedition against the Greeks; and this expedition was in the time of the Olympic games, An. 1 Olymp. 75, Calliade Athenis Archonte, 28 years after the Regifuge, and Consulship of the first Consul Junius Brutus, Anno Urbis conditæ 273, Fabio & Furio Coss. The passage of Xerxes's army over the Hellespont began in the end of the fourth year of the 74th Olympiad, that is, in June An. J.P. 4234, and took up one month: and in autumn, three months after, on the full moon, the 16th day of the month Munychion, was the battle at Salamis, and a little after that an eclipse of the sun, which by the calculation fell on Octob. 2. His sixth year therefore began a little before June, suppose in spring An. J.P. 4234, and his first year consequently in spring An. J.P. 4229, as above. Now he reigned almost twenty one years, by the consent of all writers. Add the 7 months of Artabanus, and the sum will be 21 years and about four or five months, which end between midsummer and autumn An. J.P. 4250. At this time therefore began the reign of his successor Artaxerxes, as was to be proved.