OCR Text |
Show GiifitendBeekeeper Cuargati fo dangerousfell vpon his owne Country, doth well agree bot h with thecondition 6¢ fach bufineffe as that Scythian expedition brought into thofeparts, and withthe State ofthe Chaldeanand Affyrianaffaires enfuing. The deftruion ofthis great Cityis both foretoldin the Booke of Tobit , and there fet downe as happening about thefetimes; of which booke whofocuer wasthe Aathor, he was ancient enough to know the Story of thofeages, and hath comm itted no fich errour in reckoning of times, as fhould caufe vsto diftruft him inthis. As forthe Pro- phefie of Nahum, thoughit be not limited vnto any certaine terme, yet it appearesto haue takeneffect,in the finall deftruction of Nineueby Nabuchedonoforaccording to the common opinion. For the Prophet hath mention ofa Conqueft of Egypt, foregoing to this calamity, whereofwe will {peake in due place, Somethat afcribe more authority than the reformed Churches yeeld,to the booke of Tobit, are carefull, as ina matter of neceffity, to affirme, that about thefe tithes, Nineue was taken;but theya ttribute(coniecturally) the victory ouerit to Bew Merodach:ancedlefle conieaure, if the place of Enfebius be well confjdered. Yet I holdit probable,that Nabula/far thefon of Bem Mero= dach,did feize vponit,& place a King or Vice-roytherin,aboutfitch time as the Country ofAffyria was abandoned byCyaxares , when the Scythian Warreouer- whelmed Media. For then was the Conqueft wrought out ready to his hand ; the fivelling {pirits ofthe Nineuites were allayed, & their malice to Babylonfo muchaflwaged,that it might be thoughta great fauour, if Wabula//ar,appointing vntothem apeculiarKing, 29 took him and theminto protection: though afterwards to their confufion,this vathaakfull People andtheir King rebelled againe,as thall be fhewed in the R eigne of Wabucho- donofor. Ciara8Soqil2. oftheHiloryofthe World, oe withbothGyaxares and Halyattes, But Enfebiishimfelfe refetreé all that bufinefle of the Scythian irruptioninto Paleftina, to Pfaminiticus the Father of Nechosw homhe leaues deadbeforethe Reigne of Halyattes, ThereforéI darenot relye Vpon Herodotus.in th & matter, otherwife than to beleeue him,thatfueh things were in thefeages though not in fuch ordenas: hefets:them downe. wate -Atremainies,that I collectas well'as I can,thofememoridls which I finde ofthis expe. dition feattered in diners places: a worke neceflary,forthat the greatnef le of this adhon was flich;as ought not to be omittedin a gencrall Hittoty 3 yet not cafic, theconfe nt of thofe that haue written thereof, being nothing neareto vniformity. ; Ihave noted before,thatin.the reigne ofArdys King ofLydia,the Cimmerians ouer. 1 ran that Kingdome, and were not expelled;. vatill Halyattes the Nephewof 4rdys ek " thevpper hand of them. In thefetimes therefore of Ardys, Sadtattes,and Halyattes ae wetofindethe eiglit and twenty years,whereinthe Scythiah s reigned oner Afia; Now forafmnuchias Pfaniticus the Egyptian hadfome dealings ivith the Scythians; even in the height oftheir profperity, we muft needs allow. more than one ortwo of hislaf t yeares vato this their Dominion. But the beginnin g of Halyattes his Reigne in Lydia being three and twenty yeares com pleat after the death of Plammiticus;lean es the fjpace veryfcant, either for the great yictories ofthe Scythians, neceflarilyshippofed before they could meetethe Egyptian inSyria, or for thofe many lofles, which hauereceined ere they couldbe driuen quite away. Toincreafe this 'diffidultythey. muft , the viz 20 Ctorious Reigne ofWabachodonofor in Babylon, is of 110 {mall moment wethinke it poffible, that he fhould haue aduenturedthe {trength of .For how may gainftthe Egy ptians and Iewes,had he ftoodin daily feare of lofing his Kingdome a his ownie,to a moré mighty Nation,that lay vpon his hecke: To fjpeake fimply as itappearestome: the vied tories afcribed to Cyaxares and Halyattes ouer thefe warlike people,werenot obtained a~ gainftthe whole body of their Army,but were the defeatures of fome troopes,thatinfe> fted their feuerall Kingdomes; other Princes, and amongthefe; Wabulaffar hauing the like facce(fe,when the pleafures ofAfia had mollified the conrages -ofthefe hardy Noe Seb ILI, The great expedition of the Scythians,whoruled in Afiseight and twenty yeeres. -_-__-- reas Thetime ofthis expeattion, therne Taddes, Wherefore we may probably annexe the eightand twenty years 39 N= W that I haue fhewed what impediment was giuen bythe Affyrians and the Medes,to the Babylonians; who thereby were much difabled to performea ny action of worth vpon the Egyptians in Syria; it is time that I {peake ofthat great Scythian expedition,which grieuoufly afflicted notonly the Babylonians,butthe Medes & Lydians,with the Countries adiacent,in fuch wife,that part of the troubleredounded euen to the Egyptians themfelues. Ofthe Scythian peoplein generall, Here dots makes verylarge difcourfe, but interlaced » as of matterill knowne, with many4o Fables;ofthis expedition hetels many particulars, but illagreeing with confent oftime. Concerninghis fabulous reports, it will beneedleffe to recite them: ; for theyaretatle enoughdiftant from the bufineffe in hand. ‘The computation oftimes which byinference ouit ofhis relations, may {eeme very ftrange, needeth fomeanfw erin this place? left otherwife.I-fhould either feemeto make my felfetoo bold with an Authour, tac ting himafter a mannerdifferent fromhis ownietale ; or elfe to be too forgetful of my felfe , in bringing to act vyponthe Stage, thofe perfons , ‘which I had already buried. Eight and twenty yeares, he faith, that the Scythians reigned in Afia, before (74* ares deliucred the Country from them. Yet hee reports a warre betweene.Cyaxares and Halyattes the Lydian , as foregoing the fiege of Nineue ; the fiege ofNincue bei0g s ere the Scythians came. Andfurtherhe tels,howthe Scythians, hauing vanquifhe dthe Medes, did paffe into Syria, and were encountredin Paleftina by. Pfammiticus King © Egypt, who bygifts and entreaty procured themto depart fromhim, Thefe n2 onsof Herodotws may, eucty oneof them, be true though notin fich order of tim he hath marfhalled them. For Pfammitious was dead before Cyaxares tore and Cyzxaves had {pent halfe ofhis forty yeares,ere Haliattes was Kinebegan of Lydiasf hee could not, after thofe Lydian Warres, reigne eight and twenty yeares with the Scythians. It is true, that Ew/ebius doth alfo call P/ammisthe fonnetoge oF + rao Neco, by the name of Pfammiticus ;and this King P/ammismay, by fomet Ned conieGure, be thoughtto hae beenehe that met with the Scythians-i:for he L ofthe : Seythians tule, to as many almoft the laft of Nabulaff ars Reigne, in compafle whereof 3° their power wasat the greateft. This is all that I canfay ofthet ime,wherein-A fia {uffeted the violence oftheir oppreffors. teks What Nations they were that brake into Afia ; with the canfe oftheir lournie. "Touching the expedition it felf, Heroderus tels vs, that the Cimmerians being driuen out oftheir Country by the Scythians, inuaded and wafted fome part of Afia; and that the Scythians,not contended with hauing won the land ofthe Cimmerians,did fol, apt them,1 know not why, into farre remoued quartersof the world,fo (as it were by 4° chance) falling vpon Media and Egypt,in this purfuit of men that were gone another Wayinto Lydia, Hereby we may gather that rhe Cimmerians were an odious and bafe People; the Scythians, as mifchieuous and foolifh ; or elfe Heredetus,and {omeother of iaYonttmen, great flanderers of thofe, by whomtheir Nationhad beene beaten, a Cine once, gricuoufly ranfackt. Thegreat valour of the Cimmerians ofdiee Re 0 well known, and their many Conquefts fo well teftifiedin Hiftories "oe rd » that the malice of the Greekes is infufficientto ftainethem with the our Wetern ae ae were the pofterity of Gamer, who peopled thegreateft part of Et AIL y or d;and whofe re-flow did ouerwhelm no {mall portion of Greece & 248 Well beforeand after,as inthe age whereof we do nowentreat.. He that: would jo more [ay : t ee oie r Aeot # < imtaely informe himfelfe of their original and actions, mayperufe Gergpins Beca: ; § Ge ErePee 30f many things in which Booke, that maybe verified, whichthe €d Ortelius is faid to haue {poken, ofall Goropius his workes,that it is eafieto langh at them ‘>. Sut bard to confute them : There wefinde ité proued, by fuch arguments and autansyfot ightly tobe regarded, that the Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarma-, their dinersTt, gne wage and Nation;howfoeuer diftinguifhed in name,byreafon of ofthe Cimmer; SS,Pro eflions,or perhapsdialect of {peech. Homer indeedhath mention. metians ; whofe Country whetherheplacethinthe Weft, as nearevato the, Sg 2 Ocean |