nomen of Camillus was Marcus, and not Lucius: Which is an evident Argument how little the ancient Greeks knew of Rome. f Pliny obferves, that Theophraftus was the first that wrote any thing, with Exactnefs, of the Romans, and that Theopompus, before whom no Author had mentioned them, only faid, that the City was taken by the Gauls; and Clitarchus, who next took any notice of it, faid only, that an Embaffy was fent from thence to Alexander; but Arrian proves that none was fent. The Affairs both of the Romans and Carthaginians, before the fecond Punick War, were but little known to the Greeks: For which Reason h Polybius found it requifite in his Two firft Books, to give an Account of the preceding State of Rome, before he entred upon the Hiftory of that War. Yet many of the Heathen Writers, as Jofephus fhews, have made famous mention of the Jews; though others have given a wrong and malicious Account of them, whom he proves to contradict one another, and fometimes themselves, Some, again, have omitted the mention of the Jews, though they had never so much occafion for it; of which he gives a remarkable Inftance in one Hieronymus, who though he were Governor of Syria, and wrote a Book of the Succeffors of Alexander, and lived at the fame time with Hecateus, both being contemporary with Alexander; yet never vouchfafed to speak of the Jews, of whom Hecateus wrote a particular Book. The general Silence in relation to the Jews, in the Hiftories of Alexander's Life which are now extant, could proceed from nothing but Envy and Ill-will; fince it is incredible, that a People fo very confiderable as the Jews, fhould be the only Nation, whom he over-looked, without requiring the leaft Submiffion from them. But Pliny, f Plin. Hift. 1. 3. c. 9. h Polyb. 1. 1. init. Arrian. de Expedit. Alex. I. to ito whom we owe divers things, omitted by the proper Historians, informs us of Alexander's being in Judæa. Demetrius Phalereus wrote an Hiftorical Account of the Kings of the Jews. The Works of Hecatæus, of Demetrius, and of many other Greek Authors, are now loft, which were written concerning the Jews, the Fragments whereof are ftill to be feen in Jofephus, Clem. Alexandrinus, Eufebius, and others. Of thofe whofe Works remain, Herodotus, relating the Victory of Pharaoh Necho, in the Battle at Megiddo, calls Jerufalem, Cadytis; by a small Variation, as Dr. Lightfoot has obferved, for Kedosba, that is, the Holy City the ufual Denomination of that City! Herodotus likewife faying, that Circumcifion was u fed by the Syrians in Palestine, muft mean the Jews: for all others there were uncircumcifed: tho' when he fays, that they acknowledged themselves to have received it from the Egyptians, this fhews, how much he was mifinformed concerning them, and how justly the Ignorance of Herodotus in things relating to the Egyptians, is by Scaliger afcribed to the Partiality of the Egyptian Priefts, from whom he had his Infor mations: for they concealed all that was difgraceful, and told him nothing, but that which was for the Glory of their own Nation. And this Obfervation may well be apply'd to other Inftances, befides that, which gave Scaliger the occafion to make it; and to other Hiftorians, befides Herodotus. It is probable, that Circumcifion was introduc'd by Jofeph into Egypt. The Colchi are thought to have received it from the Ten Tribes dispersed throughout those Countries, and the Ethiopians from the Pofterity of Abraham by 12. c. 25. i Alexandro magno res ibi (in Judea) agente. hin. Hift. lib. Scalig. Not. in Græc. Fragm. p. 11. Ketura All the Nations, of whom we have, any Account that they obferved Circumcifion, were either in the Neighbourhood of Palestine, or had fome Affinity or Communication with the Hebrews. Strabo mentions Mofer and the ancient Jews with Commendationen He fays, that many, in Honour to the Divine Majefty, I went out of Egypt with Mofes, reject-, ing the Worship of the Egyptians and other Nations, inafmuch as Mofes inftructed them, that God was not to be worshipped by any Image, and that he would reveal himself only to the Pure and Vertuous. He obferves, that Mofes had great Success in the Eftablifhment of his Government, and the reception of his Laws among the neighbouring Nations, and that his Succeffors, for fome Ages, purfued the fame Methods, being Juft, and truly Religious. Which Words, འ A Ifaac Cafaubon remarks, deferve to be written in Letters of Gold, wo Diodorus Siculus names Mofes among the chief Law-givets of ancient Times. Cadmus Milefius and Acufilaus Argivus, the two ancienteft Greek Hiftorians, lived but a while before the Perfian Expedition into Greece. We have but four Greek Hiftorians remaining, who wrote before the Reign of ffudiuesca far; and in the first of them, Herodotus, we find Pallages relating to the Jews; but Thucydides and Xetaphon confining themselves to particular Hiftories, could have no occafion to take, notice of them And Polybius's Hiftory is most of it loft, who, 6 9 Multarum ex quadam parte Gentium, & maximè que Judes Palestinaqué confines funt, que hodie popali circumciduntur, & racione Agyprite Idensi, zimmonite & Moabite, & ommis Regio Sarracenorum que habitat in folitudine cùm prater Egyptios, Idumeos, Ammonitas, & Moabitas, Hifmaelitas in folitudine commorantes, quorum, plerumque pars circumcisa eft; omnes alie Nafiones in toto orbe incircumcife fint carne. Hieron. in Hierem. ix. 25. Strab.16$Comment. in Strab. ib. Diod. Sic. 1. 1. in w in his Sixteenth Book, not only mention'd the Jews, but faid of Jerufalem, that much was to be fpoken of it, especially by reafon of the Fame of the Temple, which he deferred to another opportunity. But we fee, the next general Hiftorians, "Didocrus Siculus, and Strabo the Geographer, mention them with Honour. Trogus Pompeius feems to have been one of the first learned Romans that ever undertook to write a Latin Hiftory; for the ancient Hiftories written by Romans even of Confular Dignity, concerning Roman Affairs, were in the Greek Tongue: Trogus was the firft, at leaft, that attempted an Univerfal History in the Roman Language, and he lived but in Auguftus's time! He fays fo much Truth of the Jews, that his Mistakes are the more excufable; fince from an Epitome only of fo great a Work, it cannot be known from whence they might proceed. Hey attributes their profperous and flourishing State to a mixture of Juftice with Religion in their Government. He gives a very high Character of Jofeph, faying, that being thro' Envy fold by his Brethren to foreign Merchants, who car ried him into Egypt, he foon became very dear to the King; that he was the firft that understood the Interpretation of Dreams, that he foretold a Famine many Years before it happen'd, and preferv'd Ægypt by advising the King to provide Stores of Corn against the time of Famine; and that there had been fo much experience of the Truth of his Anfwers, that they feemed to be given rather by a God than by a Man Pliny fays, Jerufalem was the most famous City, not only of Judea, but of the whole Eaft. a Tacitus himfelf gives this Teftimony of the Jews, That they worshipped the Supreme, Eternal, Immutable Being.. b Dion. Caffius fpeaking to the fame purpose, fays, that IV Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 2. c. 3. x Juftin. Præf. Dion. Ha licar. 1. 1.5. C. 14. y Juftin. 1. 36. c. 2. a Tacit. Hift. 1. 15. z Plin. Nat. Hift. b Dio. 1. 37. many had written of the God of the Jews, and of the Worship which they paid him. But above all, Varro, the learnedeft of the Romans, much approved their way of Worship, as being free from that Idolatry which he could not but diflike in the Heathen Religion. And it is generally agreed by all, that the Religion of the Jews was receiv'd all over the World; and, as a Seneca exprefs'd it, Vieti victoribus leges dederunt. e d II. There have been always remaining divers Memorials and Remembrances of the True Religion amongst the Heathen. The Flood of Noah and the Ark were generally taken notice of by Heathen Hiftorians; and the Account of the Flood of Deucalion was plainly tranfcribed from that of Noah. * Jove is a plain depravation of the word Jehovah; and Diodorus Siculus faid, & that Mofes profefs'd, that he receiv'd his Laws from the God law, which is another variation from it, or from Jab,which is a word often used in the Old Teftament. But both the Fathers and the Modern Criticks generally derive Jao from the Terragrammaton. And this proves the Antiquity of the Heathen Tradition concerning the True God; fince the Jews of latter Times would not speak the Name themselves, much lefs communicate it to others. Apollo Clarius being confulted to know who the God Jao was; anfwer'd, That he is the Supreme God of All, (as Macrobius informs us from Cornelius Labeo :) which both fhews, that the Heathen had knowledge of the God Jehovah, and that the Oracles themselves were fometimes forced to confefs Him to be the Supreme * S. Aug. Civ. Dei, 1.4. c. 31. d Ibid. 1.6. C. II.. Jofeph. Antiq. 1.1. c. 4. Eufeb. Præp. 1. 9. C. 12. h f Lucian. de Dea Syr. & in Timon. Plut. de Solert. Animal. Mercurias, Jovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo. Enn. Epigr. g Diod. Sic. 1. 1. h Vid. Voff. de Idolatr. 1. 1. c. 32. Bochart. Hieroz. Part. I. I. 2. c. 18. Walton. Prolegom. 8. Macrob. Saturn. I. 1. c. 18. Fuller. Mifcell. 1. 2. §. 19. c. 6. |