made the Kings of their several Cities, who lived before the times of the
_Persian_ Empire, to Reign about 35 or 40 years a-piece, one with another;
which is a length so much beyond the course of nature, as is not to be
credited. For by the ordinary course of nature Kings Reign, one with
another, about eighteen or twenty years a-piece: and if in some instances
they Reign, one with another, five or six years longer, in others they
Reign as much shorter: eighteen or twenty years is a medium. So the
eighteen Kings of _Judah_ who succeeded _Solomon_, Reigned 390 years, which
is one with another 22 years a-piece. The fifteen Kings of _Israel_ after
_Solomon_, Reigned 259 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The eighteen
Kings of _Babylon_, _Nabonassar_ &c. Reigned 209 years, which is 11⅔ years
a-piece. The ten Kings of _Persia_; _Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, &c. Reigned 208
years, which is almost 21 years a piece. The sixteen Successors of
_Alexander_ the great, and of his brother and son in _Syria_; _Seleucus_,
_Antiochus Soter_, &c. Reigned 244 years, after the breaking of that
Monarchy into various Kingdoms, which is 15¼ years a-piece. The eleven
Kings of _Egypt_; _Ptolomæus Lagi_, &c. Reigned 277 years, counted from the
same Period, which is 25 years a-piece. The eight in _Macedonia_;
_Cassander_, &c. Reigned 138 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The thirty
Kings of _England_; _William_ the Conqueror, _William Rufus_, &c. Reigned
648 years, which is 21½ years a-piece. The first twenty four Kings of
_France_; _Pharamundus_, &c. Reigned 458 years, which is 19 years a-piece:
the next twenty four Kings of _France_; _Ludovicus Balbus_, &c. 451 years,
which is 18¾ years a-piece: the next fifteen, _Philip Valesius_, &c. 315
years, which is 21 years a-piece: and all the sixty three Kings of
_France_, 1224 years, which is 19½ years a-piece. Generations from father
to son, may be reckoned one with another at about 33 or 34 years a-piece,
or about three Generations to an hundred years: but if the reckoning
proceed by the eldest sons, they are shorter, so that three of them may be
reckoned at about 75 or 80 years: and the Reigns of Kings are still
shorter, because Kings are succeeded not only by their eldest sons, but
sometimes by their brothers, and sometimes they are slain or deposed; and
succeeded by others of an equal or greater age, especially in elective or
turbulent Kingdoms. In the later Ages, since Chronology hath been exact,
there is scarce an instance to be found of ten Kings Reigning any where in
continual Succession above 260 years: but _Timæus_ and his followers, and I
think also some of his Predecessors, after the example of the _Egyptians_,
have taken the Reigns of Kings for Generations, and reckoned three
Generations to an hundred, and sometimes to an hundred and twenty years;
and founded the Technical Chronology of the _Greeks_ upon this way of
reckoning. Let the reckoning be reduced to the course of nature, by putting
the Reigns of Kings one with another, at about eighteen or twenty years
a-piece: and the ten Kings of _Sparta_ by one Race, the nine by another
Race, the ten Kings of _Messene_, and the nine of _Arcadia_, above
mentioned, between the Return of the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_, and
the end of the first _Messenian_ war, will scarce take up above 180 or 190
years: whereas according to Chronologers they took up 379 years.
For confirming this reckoning, I may add another argument. _Euryleon_ the
son of _Ægeus_, [24] commanded the main body of the _Messenians_ in the
fifth year of the first _Messenian_ war, and was in the fifth Generation
from _Oiolicus_ the son _Theras_, the brother-in-law of _Aristodemus_, and
tutor to his sons _Eurysthenes_ and _Procles_, as _Pausanias_ [25] relates:
and by consequence, from the return of the _Heraclides_, which was in the
days of _Theras_, to the battle which was in the fifth year of this war,
there were six Generations, which, as I conceive, being for the most part
by the eldest sons, will scarce exceed thirty years to a Generation; and so
may amount unto 170 or 180 years. That war lasted 19 or 20 years: add the
last 15 years, and there will be about 190 years to the end of that war:
whereas the followers of _Timæus_ make it about 379 years, which is above
sixty years to a Generation.
By these arguments, Chronologers have lengthned the time, between the
return of the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_ and the first _Messenian_
war, adding to it about 190 years: and they have also lengthned the time,
between that war and the rise of the _Persian_ Empire. For in the Race of
the _Spartan_ Kings, descended from _Eurysthenes_; after _Polydorus_,
reigned [26] these Kings, _Eurycrates_, _Anaxander_, _Eurycratides_,
_Leon_, _Anaxandrides_, _Clomenes_, _Leonidas_, &c. And in the other Race
descended from _Procles_; after _Theopompus_, reigned [27] these,
_Anaxandrides_, _Archidemus_, _Anaxileus_, _Leutychides_, _Hippocratides_,
_Ariston_, _Demaratus_, _Leutychides_ II. &c. according to _Herodotus_.
These Kings reigned 'till the sixth year of _Xerxes_, in which _Leonidas_
was slain by the _Persians_ at _Thermopylæ_; and _Leutychides_ II. soon
after, flying from _Sparta_ to _Tegea_, died there. The seven Reigns of the
Kings of _Sparta_, which follow _Polydorus_, being added to the ten Reigns
above mentioned, which began with that of _Eurysthenes_; make up seventeen
Reigns of Kings, between the return of the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_
and the sixth year of _Xerxes_: and the eight Reigns following
_Theopompus_, being added to the nine Reigns above mentioned, which began
with that of _Procles_, make up also seventeen Reigns: and these seventeen
Reigns, at twenty years a-piece one with another, amount unto three hundred
and forty years. Count these 340 years upwards from the sixth year of
_Xerxes_, and one or two years more for the war of the _Heraclides_, and
Reign of _Aristodemus_, the father of _Eurysthenes_ and _Procles_; and they
will place the Return of the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_, 159 years
after the death of _Solomon_, and 46 years before the first Olympiad, in
which _Coræbus_ was victor. But the followers of _Timæus_ have placed this
Return two hundred and eighty years earlier. Now this being the computation
upon which the _Greeks_, as you have heard from _Diodorus_ and _Plutarch_,
have founded the Chronology of their Kingdoms, which were ancienter than
the _Persian_ Empire; that Chronology is to be rectified, by shortening the
times which preceded the death of _Cyrus_, in the proportion of almost two
to one; for the times which follow the death of _Cyrus_ are not much amiss.
The Artificial Chronologers, have made _Lycurgus_, the legislator, as old
as _Iphitus_, the restorer of the Olympiads; and _Iphitus_, an hundred and
twelve years, older than the first Olympiad: and, to help out the
Hypothesis, they have feigned twenty eight Olympiads older than the first
Olympiad, wherein _Coræbus_ was victor. But these things were feigned,
after the days of _Thucydides_ and _Plato_: for _Socrates_ died three years
after the end of the _Peloponnesian_ war, and _Plato_ [28] introduceth him
saying, that _the institutions of _Lycurgus_ were but of three hundred
years standing, or not much more_. And [29] _Thucydides_, in the reading
followed by _Stephanus_, saith, that _the _Lacedæmonians_, had from ancient
times used good laws, and been free from tyranny; and that from the time
that they had used one and the same administration of their commonwealth,
to the end of the _Peloponnesian_ war, there were three hundred years and a
few more_. Count three hundred years back from the end of the
_Peloponnesian_ war, and they will place the Legislature of _Lycurgus_ upon
the 19th Olympiad. And, according to _Socrates_, it might be upon the 22d
or 23d. _Athenæus_ [30] tells us out of ancient authors (_Hellanicus_,
_Sosimus_ and _Hieronymus_) that _Lycurgus_ the Legislator, was
contemporary to _Terpander_ the Musician; and that _Terpander_ was the
first man who got the victory in the _Carnea_, in a solemnity of music
instituted in those festivals in the 26th Olympiad. He overcame four times
in those _Pythic_ games, and therefore lived at least 'till the 29th
Olympiad: and beginning to flourish in the days of _Lycurgus_, it is not
likely that _Lycurgus_ began to flourish, much before the 18th Olympiad.
The name of _Lycurgus_ being on the Olympic Disc, _Aristotle_ concluded
thence, that _Lycurgus_ was the companion of _Iphitus_, in restoring the
Olympic games: and this argument might be the ground of the opinion of
Chronologers, that _Lycurgus_ and _Iphitus_ were contemporary. But
_Iphitus_ did not restore all the Olympic games. He [31] restored indeed
the Racing in the first Olympiad, _Coræbus_ being victor. In the 14th
Olympiad, the double _stadium_ was added, _Hypænus_ being victor. And in
the 18th Olympiad the _Quinquertium_ and Wrestling were added, _Lampus_ and
_Eurybatus_, two _Spartans_, being victors: And the Disc was one of the
games of the _Quinquertium_. [32] _Pausanias_ tells us that there were
three Discs kept in the Olympic treasury at _Altis_: these therefore having
the name of _Lycurgus_ upon them, shew that they were given by him, at the
institution of the _Quinquertium_, in the 18th Olympiad. Now _Polydectes_
King of _Sparta_, being slain before the birth of his son _Charillus_ or
_Charilaus_, left the Kingdom to _Lycurgus_ his brother; and _Lycurgus_,
upon the birth of _Charillus_, became tutor to the child; and after about
eight months travelled into _Crete_ and _Asia_, till the child grew up, and
brought back with him the poems of _Homer_; and soon after published his
laws, suppose upon the 22d or 23d Olympiad; for he was then growing old:
and _Terpander_ was a Lyric Poet, and began to flourish about this time;
for [33] he imitated _Orpheus_ and _Homer_, and sung _Homer's_ verses and
his own, and wrote the laws of _Lycurgus_ in verse, and was victor in the
_Pythic_ games in the 26th Olympiad, as above. He was the first who
distinguished the modes of Lyric music by several names. _Ardalus_ and
_Clonas_ soon after did the like for wind music: and from henceforward, by
the encouragement of the _Pythic_ games, now instituted, several eminent
Musicians and Poets flourished in _Greece_: as _Archilochus_, _Eumelus
Corinthius_, _Polymnestus_, _Thaletas_, _Xenodemus_, _Xenocritus_,
_Sacadas_, _Tyrtæus_, _Tlesilla_, _Rhianus_, _Alcman_, _Arion_,
_Stesichorus_, _Mimnermnus_, _Alcæus_, _Sappho_, _Theognis_, _Anacreon_,
_Ibycus_, _Simonides_, _Æschylus_, _Pindar_, by whom the Music and Poetry
of the _Greeks_ were brought to perfection.
_Lycurgus_, published his laws in the Reign of _Agesilaus_, the son and
successor of _Doryagus_, in the Race of the Kings of _Sparta_ descended
from _Eurysthenes_. From the Return of the _Heraclides_ into
_Peloponnesus_, to the end of the Reign of _Agesilaus_, there were six
Reigns: and from the same Return to the end of the Reign of _Polydectes_,
in the Race of the _Spartan_ Kings descended from _Procles_, there were
also six Reigns: and these Reigns, at twenty years a-piece one with
another, amount unto 120 years; besides the short Reign of _Aristodemus_,
the father of _Eurysthenes_ and _Procles_, which might amount to a year or
two: for _Aristodemus_ came to the crown, as [34] _Herodotus_ and the
_Lacedæmonians_ themselves affirmed. The times of the deaths of _Agesilaus_
and _Polydectes_ are not certainly known: but it may be presumed that
_Lycurgus_ did not meddle with the Olympic games before he came to the
Kingdom; and therefore _Polydectes_ died in the beginning of the 18th
Olympiad, or but a very little before. If it may be supposed that the 20th
Olympiad was in, or very near to the middle time between the deaths of the
two Kings _Polydectes_ and _Agesilaus_, and from thence be counted upwards
the aforesaid 120 years, and one year more for the Reign of _Aristodemus_;
the reckoning will place the Return of the _Heraclides_, about 45 years
before the beginning of the Olympiads.
_Iphitus_, who restored the Olympic games, [35] was descended from
_Oxylus_, the son of _Hæmon_, the son of _Thoas_, the son of _Andræmon_:
_Hercules_ and _Andræmon_ married two sisters: _Thoas_ warred at _Troy_:
_Oxylus_ returned into _Peloponnesus_ with the _Heraclides_. In this return
he commanded the body of the _Ætolians_, and recovered _Elea_; [36] from
whence his ancestor _Ætolus_, the son of _Endymion_, the son of _Aethlius_,
had been driven by _Salmoneus_ the grandson of _Hellen_. By the friendship
of the _Heraclides_, _Oxylus_ had the care of the Olympic Temple committed
to him: and the _Heraclides_, for his service done them, granted further
upon oath that the country of the _Eleans_ should be free from invasions,
and be defended by them from all armed force: And when the _Eleans_ were
thus consecrated, _Oxylus_ restored the Olympic games: and after they had
been again intermitted, _Iphitus_ their King [37] restored them, and made
them quadrennial. _Iphitus_ is by some reckoned the son of _Hæmon_, by
others the son of _Praxonidas_, the son of _Hæmon_: but _Hæmon_ being the
father of _Oxylus_, I would reckon _Iphitus_ the son of _Praxonidas_, the
son of _Oxylus_, the son of _Hæmon_. And by this reckoning the Return of
the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_ will be two Generations by the eldest
sons, or about 52 years, before the Olympiads.
_Pausanias_ [38] represents that _Melas_ the son of _Antissus_, of the
posterity of _Gonussa_ the daughter of _Sicyon_, was not above six
Generations older than _Cypselus_ King of _Corinth_; and that he was
contemporary to _Aletes_, who returned with the _Heraclides_ into
_Peloponnesus_. The Reign of _Cypselus_ began _An._ 2, Olymp. 31, according
to Chronologers; and six Generations, at about 30 years to a Generation,
amount unto 180 years. Count those years backwards from _An._ 2, Olymp. 31,
and they will place the Return of the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_ 58
years before the first Olympiad. But it might not be so early, if the Reign
of _Cypselus_ began three or four Olympiads later; for he reigned before
the _Persian_ Empire began.
_Hercules_ the _Argonaut_ was the father of _Hyllus_; the father of
_Cleodius_; the father of _Aristomachus_; the father of _Temenus_,
_Cresphontes_, and _Aristodemus_, who led the _Heraclides_ into
_Peloponnesus_ and _Eurystheus_, who was of the same age with _Hercules_,
was slain in the first attempt of the _Heraclides_ to return: _Hyllus_ was
slain in the second attempt, _Cleodius_ in the third attempt,
_Aristomachus_ in the fourth attempt, and _Aristodemus_ died as soon as
they were returned, and left the Kingdom of _Sparta_ to his sons
_Eurysthenes_ and _Procles_. Whence their Return was four Generations later
than the _Argonautic_ expedition: And these Generations were short ones,
being by the chief of the family, and suit with the reckoning of
_Thucydides_ and the Ancients, that the taking of _Troy_ was about 75 or
eighty years before the return of the _Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_; and
the _Argonautic_ expedition one Generation earlier than the taking of
_Troy_. Count therefore eighty years backward from the Return of the
_Heraclides_ into _Peloponnesus_ to the _Trojan_ war, and the taking of
_Troy_ will be about 76 years after the death of _Solomon_: And the
_Argonautic_ expedition, which was one Generation earlier, will be about 43
years after it. From the taking of _Troy_ to the Return of the
_Heraclides_, could scarce be more than eighty years, because _Orestes_ the
son of _Agamemnon_ was a youth at the taking of _Troy_, and his sons
_Penthilus_ and _Tisamenus_ lived till the Return of the _Heraclides_.
_Æsculapius_ and _Hercules_ were _Argonauts_, and _Hippocrates_ was the
eighteenth inclusively by the father's side from _Æsculapius_, and the
nineteenth from _Hercules_ by the mother's side: and because these
Generations, being taken notice of by writers, were most probably by the
principal of the family, and so for the most part by the eldest sons; we
may reckon about 28 or at the most about 30 years to a Generation. And thus
the seventeen intervals by the father's side, and eighteen by the mother's,
will at a middle reckoning amount unto about 507 years: which counted
backwards from the beginning of the _Peloponnesian_ war, at which time
_Hippocrates_ began to flourish, will reach up to the 43d year after the
death of _Solomon_, and there place the _Argonautic_ expedition.
When the _Romans_ conquered the _Carthaginians_, the Archives of _Carthage_
came into their hands: And thence _Appian_, in his history of the _Punic_
wars, tells in round numbers that _Carthage_ stood seven hundred years: and
[39] _Solinus_ adds the odd number of years in these words: _Adrymeto atque
Carthagini author est a Tyro populus. Urbem istam, ut Cato in Oratione
Senatoria autumat; cum rex Hiarbas rerum in Libya potiretur, Elissa mulier
extruxit, domo Phœnix & Carthadam dixit, quod Phœnicum ore exprimit
civitatem novam; mox sermone verso Carthago dicta est, quæ post annos
septingentos triginta septem exciditur quam fuerat extructa_. _Elissa_ was
_Dido_, and _Carthage_ was destroyed in the Consulship of _Lentulus_ and
_Mummius_, in the year of the _Julian Period_ 4568; from whence count
backwards _737_ years, and the _Encænia_ or Dedication of the City, will
fall upon the 16th year of _Pygmalion_, the brother of _Dido_, and King of
_Tyre_. She fled in the seventh year of _Pygmalion_, but the _Æra_ of the
City began with its _Encænia_. Now _Virgil_, and his Scholiast _Servius_,
who might have some things from the archives of _Tyre_ and _Cyprus_, as
well as from those of _Carthage_, relate that _Teucer_ came from the war of
_Troy_ to _Cyprus_, in the days of _Dido_, a little before the Reign of her
brother _Pygmalion_; and, in conjunction with her father, seized _Cyprus_,
and ejected _Cinyras_: and the Marbles say that _Teucer_ came to _Cyprus_
seven years after the destruction of _Troy_, and built _Salamis_; and
_Apollodorus_, that _Cinyras_ married _Metharme_ the daughter of
_Pygmalion_, and built _Paphos_. Therefore, if the _Romans_, in the days of
_Augustus_, followed not altogether the artificial Chronology of
_Eratosthenes_, but had these things from the records of _Carthage_,
_Cyprus_, or _Tyre_; the arrival of _Teucer_ at _Cyprus_ will be in the
Reign of the predecessor of _Pygmalion_: and by consequence the destruction
of _Troy_, about 76 years later than the death of _Solomon_.
_Dionysius Halicarnassensis_ [40] tells us, that in the time of the
_Trojan_ war, _Latinus_ was King of the _Aborigines_ in _Italy_, and that
in the sixteenth Age after that war, _Romulus_ built _Rome_. By Ages he
means Reigns of Kings: for after _Latinus_ he names sixteen Kings of the
_Latines_, the last of which was _Numitor_, in whose days _Romulus_ built
_Rome_: for _Romulus_ was contemporary to _Numitor_, and after him
_Dionysius_ and others reckon six Kings more over _Rome_, to the beginning
of the Consuls. Now these twenty and two Reigns, at about 18 years to a
Reign one with another, for many of these Kings were slain, took up 396
years; which counted back from the consulship of _Junius Brutus_ and
_Valerius Publicola_, the two first Consuls, place the _Trojan_ war about
78 years after the death of _Solomon_.
The expedition of _Sesostris_ was one Generation earlier than the
_Argonautic_ expedition: for in his return back into _Egypt_ he left
_Æetes_ in _Colchis_, and _Æetes_ reigned there 'till the _Argonautic_
expedition; and _Prometheus_ was left by _Sesostris_ with a body of men at
_Mount Caucasus_, to guard that pass, and after thirty years was released
by _Hercules_ the _Argonaut_: and _Phlyas_ and _Eumedon_, the sons of the
great _Bacchus_, so the Poets call _Sesostris_, and of _Ariadne_ the
daughter of _Minos_, were _Argonauts_. At the return of _Sesostris_ into
_Egypt_, his brother _Danaus_ fled from him into _Greece_ with his fifty
daughters, in a long ship; after the pattern of which the ship _Argo_ was
built: and _Argus_, the son of _Danaus_, was the master-builder thereof.
_Nauplius_ the _Argonaut_ was born in _Greece_, of _Amymone_, one of the
daughters of _Danaus_, and of _Neptune_, the brother and admiral of
_Sesostris_: And two others of the daughters of _Danaus_ married
_Archander_ and _Archilites_, the sons of _Achæus_, the son of _Creusa_,
the daughter of _Erechtheus_ King of _Athens_: and therefore the daughters
of _Danaus_ were three Generations younger than _Erechtheus_; and by
consequence contemporary to _Theseus_ the son of _Ægeus_, the adopted son
of _Pandion_, the son of _Erechtheus_. _Theseus_, in the time of the
_Argonautic_ expedition, was of about 50 years of age, and so was born
about the 33d year of _Solomon_: for he stole _Helena_ [41] just before
that expedition, being then 50 years old, and she but seven, or as some say
ten. _Pirithous_ the son of _Ixion_ helped _Theseus_ to steal _Helena_, and
then [42] _Theseus_ went with _Pirithous_ to steal _Persephone_, the
daughter of _Aidoneus_, or _Orcus_, King of the _Molossians_, and was taken
in the action: and whilst he lay in prison, _Castor_ and _Pollux_ returning
from the _Argonautic_ expedition, released their sister _Helena_, and
captivated _Æthra_ the mother of _Theseus_. Now the daughters of _Danaus_
being contemporary to _Theseus_, and some of their sons being _Argonauts_,
_Danaus_ with his daughters fled from his brother _Sesostris_ into _Greece_
about one Generation before the _Argonautic_ expedition; and therefore
_Sesostris_ returned into _Egypt_ in the Reign of _Rehoboam_. He came out
of _Egypt_ in the fifth year of _Rehoboam_, [43] and spent nine years in
that expedition, against the Eastern Nations and _Greece_; and therefore
returned back into _Egypt_, in the fourteenth year of _Rehoboam_. _Sesac_
and _Sesostris_ were therefore Kings of all _Egypt_, at one and the same
time: and they agree not only in the time, but also in their actions and
conquests. God gave _Sesac_ ממלכות הארצות _the Kingdoms of the lands_, 2
Chron. xii. Where _Herodotus_ describes the expedition of _Sesostris_,
_Josephus_ [44] tells us that he described the expedition of _Sesac_, and
attributed his actions to _Sesostris_, erring only in the name of the King.
Corruptions of names are frequent in history; _Sesostris_ was otherwise
called _Sesochris_, _Sesochis_, _Sesoosis_, _Sethosis_, _Sesonchis_,
_Sesonchosis_. Take away the _Greek_ termination, and the names become
_Sesost_, _Sesoch_, _Sesoos_, _Sethos_, _Sesonch_: which names differ very
little from _Sesach_. _Sesonchis_ and _Sesach_ differ no more than
_Memphis_ and _Moph_, two names of the same city. _Josephus_ [45] tells us
also, from _Manetho_, that _Sethosis_ was the brother of _Armais_, and that
these brothers were otherwise called _Ægyptus_ and _Danaus_; and that upon
the return of _Sethosis_ or _Ægyptus_, from his great conquests into
_Egypt_, _Armais_ or _Danaus_ fled from him into _Greece_.