OF TROAS

What place is meant by that Name.

Also, of the situations of Sodom, Gomorrha,
Admah, Zeboim, in the dead Sea.

TRACT X

Sir,

To your Geographical Queries, I answer as follows.

In sundry passages of the new Testament, in the Acts of the Apostles, and Epistles of S. Paul, we meet with the word Troas; how he went from Troas to Philippi in Macedonia, from thence unto Troas again: how he remained seven days in that place; from thence on foot to Assos, whither the Disciples had sailed from Troas, and there, taking him in, made their Voyage unto Cæsarea.

Now, whether this Troas be the name of a City or a certain Region seems no groundless doubt of yours: for that ’twas sometimes taken in the signification of some Country, is acknowledged by Ortelius, Stephanus and Grotius; and it is plainly set down by Strabo, that a Region of Phrygia in Asia minor was so taken in ancient times; and that, at the Trojan War, all the Territory which comprehended the nine Principalities subject unto the King of Ilium, Τροίη λεγομένη, was called by the name of Troja. And this might seem sufficiently to salve the intention of the description, when he came or went from Troas, that is, some part of that Region; and will otherwise seem strange unto many how he should be said to go or come from that City which all Writers had laid in the Ashes about a thousand years before.

All which notwithstanding, since we reade in the Text a particular abode of seven days, and such particulars as leaving of his Cloak, Books and Parchments at Troas: And that S. Luke seems to have been taken in to the Travels of S. Paul in this place, where he begins in the Acts to write in the first person, this may rather seem to have been some City or special Habitation, than any Province or Region without such limitation.

Now that such a City there was, and that of no mean note, is easily verified from historical observation. For though old Ilium was anciently destroyed, yet was there another raised by the relicts of that people, not in the same place, but about thirty Furlongs westward, as is to be learned from Strabo.

Of this place Alexander in his expedition against Darius took especial notice, endowing it with sundry Immunities, with promise of greater matters at his return from Persia; inclined hereunto from the honour he bore unto Homer, whose earnest Reader he was, and upon whose Poems, by the help of Anaxarchus and Callisthenes, he made some observations. As also much moved hereto upon the account of his cognation with the Æacides and Kings of Molossus, whereof Andromache the Wife of Hector was Queen. After the death of Alexander, Lysimachus surrounded it with a Wall, and brought the inhabitants of the neighbour Towns unto it, and so it bore the name of Alexandria; which, from Antigonus, was also called Antigonia, according to the inscription of that famous Medal in Goltsius, Colonia Troas Antigonia Alexandrea, Legio vicesima prima.

When the Romans first went into Asia against Antiochus ’twas but a Κωμόπολις and no great City; but, upon the Peace concluded, the Romans much advanced the same. Fimbria, the rebellious Roman, spoiled it in the Mithridatick War, boasting that he had subdued Troy in eleven days which the Grecians could not take in almost as many years. But it was again rebuilt and countenanced by the Romans, and became a Roman Colony, with great immunities conferred on it; and accordingly it is so set down by Ptolomy. For the Romans, deriving themselves from the Trojans, thought no favour too great for it; especially Julius Cæsar, who, both in imitation of Alexander, and for his own descent from Julus, of the posterity of Æneas, with much passion affected it, and, in a discontented humour,[273] was once in mind to translate the Roman wealth unto it; so that it became a very remarkable place, and was, in Strabo’s time, ἐλλογίμων πόλεων, one of the noble Cities of Asia.

And, if they understood the prediction of Homer in reference unto the Romans, as some expound it in Strabo, it might much promote their affection unto that place; which being a remarkable prophecy, and scarce to be parallel’d in Pagan story, made before Rome was built, and concerning the lasting Reign of the progeny of Æneas, they could not but take especial notice of it. For thus is Neptune made to speak, when he saved Æneas from the fury of Achilles.

The Roman favours were also continued unto S. Paul’s days; for Claudius,[274] producing an ancient Letter of the Romans unto King Seleucus concerning the Trojan Privileges, made a Release of their Tributes; and Nero Tacit. l. 13. elegantly pleaded for their Immunities, and remitted all Tributes unto them.

And, therefore, there being so remarkable a City in this Territory, it may seem too hard to loose the same in the general name of the Country; and since it was so eminently favoured by Emperours, enjoying so many Immunities, and full of Roman Privileges, it was probably very populous, and a fit abode for S. Paul, who being a Roman Citizen, might live more quietly himself, and have no small number of faithfull well-wishers in it.

Yet must we not conceive that this was the old Troy, or re-built in the same place with it: for Troas was placed about thirty Furlongs West, and upon the Sea shore; so that, to hold a clearer apprehension hereof than is commonly delivered in the Discourses of the Ruines of Troy, we may consider one Inland Troy or old Ilium, which was built farther within the Land, and so was removed from the Port where the Grecian Fleet lay in Homer; and another Maritime Troy, which was upon the Sea Coast placed in the Maps of Ptolomy, between Lectum and Sigæum or Port Janizam, Southwest from the old City, which was this of S. Paul, and whereunto are appliable the particular accounts of Bellonius, when, not an hundred years ago, he described the Ruines of Troy with their Baths, Aqueducts, Walls and Towers, to be seen from the Sea as he sailed between it and Tenedos; and where, upon nearer view, he observed some signs and impressions of his conversion in the ruines of Churches, Crosses, and Inscriptions upon Stones.

Nor was this onely a famous City in the days of S. Paul, but considerable long after. For, upon the Letter of Adrianus, Philostrat. in Vita Herodis Attici. Herodes Atticus, at a great charge, repaired their Baths, contrived Aqueducts and noble Water-courses in it. As is also collectible from the Medals of Caracalla, of Severus, and Crispina; with Inscriptions, Colonia Alexandria Troas, bearing on the Reverse either an Horse, a Temple, or a Woman; denoting their destruction by an Horse, their prayers for the Emperour’s safety, and, as some conjecture, the memory of Sibylla, Phrygia or Hellespontica.

Nor wanted this City the favour of Christian Princes, but was made a Bishop’s See under the Archbishop of Cyzicum; but in succeeding discords was destroyed and ruined, and the nobler Stones translated to Constantinople by the Turks to beautifie their Mosques and other Buildings.

Concerning the Dead Sea, accept of these few Remarks.

In the Map of the Dead Sea we meet with the Figure of the Cities which were destroyed: of Sodom, Gomorrha, Admah and Zeboim; but with no uniformity; men placing them variously, and, from the uncertainty of their situation, taking a fair liberty to set them where they please.

For Admah, Zeboim and Gomorrha, there is no light from the Text to define their situation. But, that Sodom could not be far from Segor which was seated under the Mountains near the side of the Lake, seems inferrible from the sudden arrival of Lot, who, coming from Sodom at day break, attained to Segor at Sun rising; and therefore Sodom is to be placed not many miles from it, not in the middle of the Lake, which against that place is about eighteen miles over, and so will leave nine miles to be gone in so small a space of time.

The Valley being large, the Lake now in length about seventy English miles, the River Jordan and divers others running over the Plain, ’tis probable the best Cities were seated upon those Streams: but how the Jordan passed or winded, or where it took in the other Streams, is a point too old for Geography to determine.

For, that the River gave the fruitfulness unto this Valley by over watring that low Region, seems plain from that expression in the Text,[275] that it was watered, sicut Paradisus et Ægyptus, like Eden and the Plains of Mesopotamia, where Euphrates yearly overfloweth; or like Ægypt where Nilus doth the like: and seems probable also from the same course of the River not far above this Valley where the Israelites passed Jordan, where ’tis said that Jordan overfloweth its Banks in the time of Harvest.

That it must have had some passage under ground in the compass of this Valley before the creation of this Lake, seems necessary from the great current of Jordan, and from the Rivers Arnon, Cedron, Zaeth, which empty into this Valley; but where to place that concurrence of Waters or place of its absorbition, there is no authentick decision.

The probablest place may be set somewhat Southward, below the Rivers that run into it on the East or Western Shore: and somewhat agreeable unto the account which Brocardus received from the Sarazens which lived near it, Jordanem ingredi Mare Mortuum et rursum egredi, sed post exiguum intervallum à Terra absorberi.

Strabo speaks naturally of this Lake, that it was first caused by Earthquakes, by sulphureous and bituminous eruptions, arising from the Earth. But the Scripture makes it plain to have been from a miraculous hand, and by a remarkable expression, pluit Dominus ignem et Sulphur à Domino. See also Deut. 29. in ardore Salis: burning the Cities and destroying all things about the Plain, destroying the vegetable nature of Plants and all living things, salting and making barren the whole Soil, and, by these fiery Showers, kindling and setting loose the body of the bituminous Mines, which shewed their lower Veins before but in some few Pits and openings, swallowing up the Foundation of their Cities; opening the bituminous Treasures below, and making a smoak like a Furnace able to be discerned by Abraham at a good distance from it.

If this little may give you satisfaction, I shall be glad, as being, Sir,

Yours, etc.

OF THE ANSWERS

of the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos to
Croesus King of Lydia.

TRACT XI

Sir,

Among the Oracles[276] of Appollo there are none more celebrated than those which he delivered unto Crœsus King of Lydia,[277] who seems of all Princes to have held the greatest dependence on them. But most considerable are his plain and intelligible replies which he made unto the same King, when he sent his Chains of Captivity unto Delphos, after his overthrow by Cyrus, with sad expostulations why he encouraged him unto that fatal War by his Oracle, saying,[278] Crœsus, if he Wars against the Persians, shall dissolve a great Empire. Why, at least, he prevented not that sad infelicity of his devoted and bountifull Servant, and whether it were fair or honourable for the Gods of Greece to be ingratefull: which being a plain and open delivery of Delphos, and scarce to be parallel’d in any ancient story, it may well deserve your farther consideration.

1. His first reply was, That Crœsus suffered not for himself; but paid the transgression of his fifth predecessour, who kill’d his Master and usurp’d the dignity unto which he held no title.

Now whether Crœsus suffered upon this account or not, hereby he plainly betrayed his insufficiency to protect him; and also obliquely discovered he had a knowledge of his misfortune; for knowing that wicked act lay yet unpunished, he might well divine some of his successours might smart for it: and also understanding he was like to be the last of that race, he might justly fear and conclude this infelicity upon him.

Hereby he also acknowledged the inevitable justice of God; that though Revenge lay dormant, it would not always sleep; and consequently confessed the just hand of God punishing unto the third and fourth generation, nor suffering such iniquities to pass for ever unrevenged.

Hereby he flatteringly encouraged him in the opinion of his own merits, and that he onely suffered for other mens transgressions: mean while he concealed Crœsus his pride, elation of mind and secure conceit of his own unparallel’d felicity, together with the vanity, pride and height of luxury of the Lydian Nation, which the Spirit of Delphos knew well to be ripe and ready for destruction.

2. A Second excuse was, That it is not in the power of God to hinder the Decree of Fate. A general evasion for any falsified prediction founded upon the common opinion of Fate, which impiously subjecteth the power of Heaven unto it; widely discovering the folly of such as repair unto him concerning future events: which, according unto this rule, must go on as the Fates have ordered, beyond his power to prevent or theirs to avoid; and consequently teaching that his Oracles had onely this use to render men more miserable by foreknowing their misfortunes; whereof Crœsus himself had a sensible experience in that Dæmoniacal Dream concerning his eldest Son, That he should be killed by a Spear, which, after all care and caution, he found inevitably to befall him.

3. In his Third Apology he assured him that he endeavoured to transfer the evil Fate and to pass it upon his Children; and did however procrastinate his infelicity, and deferred the destruction of Sardis and his own Captivity three years longer than was fatally decreed upon it.

Wherein while he wipes off the stain of Ingratitude, he leaves no small doubt whether, it being out of his power to contradict or transfer the Fates of his Servants, it be not also beyond it to defer such signal events, and whereon the Fates of whole Nations do depend.

As also, whether he intended or endeavoured to bring to pass what he pretended, some question might be made. For that he should attempt or think he could translate his infelicity upon his Sons, it could not consist with his judgment, which attempts not impossibles or things beyond his power; nor with his knowledge of future things, and the Fates of succeeding Generations: for he understood that Monarchy was to expire in himself, and could particularly foretell the infelicity of his Sons, and hath also made remote predictions unto others concerning the fortunes of many succeeding descents; as appears in that answer unto Attalus,

As also unto Cypselus King of Corinth.

Now, being able to have so large a prospect of future things, and of the fate of many Generations, it might well be granted he was not ignorant of the Fate of Crœsus his Sons, and well understood it was in vain to think to translate his misery upon them.

4. In the Fourth part of his reply, he clears himself of Ingratitude which Hell it self cannot hear of; alledging that he had saved his life when he was ready to be burnt, by sending a mighty Showre, in a fair and cloudless day, to quench the Fire already kindled, which all the Servants of Cyrus could not doe. Though this Shower might well be granted, as much concerning his honour, and not beyond his power; yet whether this mercifull Showre fell not out contingently or were not contrived by an higher power, which hath often pity upon Pagans, and rewardeth their vertues sometimes with extraordinary temporal favours; also, in no unlike case, who was the authour of those few fair minutes, which, in a showry day, gave onely time enough for the burning of Sylla’s Body, some question might be made.

5. The last excuse devolveth the errour and miscarriage of the business upon Crœsus, and that he deceived himself by an inconsiderate misconstruction of his Oracle, that if he had doubted, he should not have passed it over in silence, but consulted again for an exposition of it. Besides, he had neither discussed, nor well perpended his Oracle concerning Cyrus, whereby he might have understood not to engage against him.

Wherein, to speak indifferently, the deception and miscarriage seems chiefly to lie at Crœsus his door, who, if not infatuated with confidence and security, might justly have doubted the construction: besides, he had received two Oracles before, which clearly hinted an unhappy time unto him: the first concerning Cyrus.

Herein though he understood not the Median Mule of Cyrus, that is, of his mixed descent, and from Assyrian and Median Parents, yet he could not but apprehend some misfortune from that quarter.

Though this prediction seemed a notable piece of Divination, yet did it not so highly magnifie his natural sagacity or knowledge of future events as was by many esteemed; he having no small assistance herein from the Prophecy of Daniel concerning the Persian Monarchy, and the Prophecy of Jeremiah and Isaiah, wherein he might reade the name of Cyrus who should restore the Captivity of the Jews, and must, therefore, be the great Monarch and Lord of all those Nations.

The same misfortune was also foretold when he demanded of Apollo if ever he should hear his dumb Son speak.

This, if he contrived not the time and the means of his recovery, was no ordinary divination: yet how to make out the verity of the story some doubt may yet remain. For though the causes of deafness and dumbness were removed, yet since words are attained by hearing, and men speak not without instruction, how he should be able immediately to utter such apt and significant words, as Ἄνθρωπε, μὴ κτεῖνε Κροῖσον,[279] O Man slay not Crœsus, it cannot escape some doubt, since the Story also delivers, that he was deaf and dumb, that he then first began to speak, and spake all his life after.

Now, if Crœsus had consulted again for a clearer exposition of what was doubtfully delivered, whether the Oracle would have spake out the second time or afforded a clearer answer, some question might be made from the examples of his practice upon the like demands.

So when the Spartans had often fought with ill success against the Tegeates, they consulted the Oracle what God they should appease, to become victorious over them. The answer was, that they should remove the Bones of Orestes. Though the words were plain, yet the thing was obscure, and like finding out the Body of Moses. And therefore they once more demanded in what place they should find the same; unto whom he returned this answer,

Which obscure reply the wisest of Sparta could not make out, and was casually unriddled by one talking with a Smith who had found large Bones of a Man buried about his House; the Oracle importing no more than a Smith’s Forge, expressed by a Double Bellows, the Hammer and Anvil therein.

Now, why the Oracle should place such consideration upon the Bones of Orestes the Son of Agamemnon, a mad man and a murtherer, if not to promote the idolatry of the Heathens, and maintain a superstitious veneration of things of no activity, it may leave no small obscurity.

Or why, in a business so clear in his knowledge, he should affect so obscure expressions it may also be wondred; if it were not to maintain the wary and evasive method in his answers: for, speaking obscurely in things beyond doubt within his knowledge, he might be more tolerably dark in matters beyond his prescience.

Though EI were inscribed over the Gate of Delphos, yet was there no uniformity in his deliveries. Sometimes with that obscurity as argued a fearfull prophecy; sometimes so plainly as might confirm a spirit of divinity; sometimes morally, deterring from vice and villany; another time vitiously, and in the spirit of bloud and cruelty: observably modest in his civil enigma and periphrasis of that part which old Numa would plainly name,[280] and Medea would not understand, when he advised Ægeus not to draw out his foot before, untill he arriv’d upon the Athenian ground; whereas another time he seemed too literal in that unseemly epithet unto Cyanus King of Cyprus,[281] and put a beastly trouble upon all Ægypt to find out the Urine of a true Virgin. Sometimes, more beholding unto memory than invention, he delighted to express himself in the bare Verses of Homer. But that he principally affected Poetry, and that the Priest not onely or always composed his prosal raptures into Verse, seems plain from his necromantical Prophecies, whilst the dead Head in Phlegon delivers a long Prediction in Verse; and at the raising of the Ghost of Commodus unto Caracalla, when none of his Ancestours would speak, the divining Spirit versified his infelicities; corresponding herein to the apprehensions of elder times, who conceived not onely a Majesty but something of Divinity in Poetry, and as in ancient times the old Theologians delivered their inventions.

Some critical Readers might expect in his oraculous Poems a more than ordinary strain and true spirit of Apollo; not contented to find that Spirits make Verses like Men, beating upon the filling Epithet, and taking the licence of dialects and lower helps, common to humane Poetry; wherein, since Scaliger, who hath spared none of the Greeks, hath thought it wisedom to be silent, we shall make no excursion.

Others may wonder how the curiosity of elder times, having this opportunity of his Answers, omitted Natural Questions; or how the old Magicians discovered no more Philosophy; and if they had the assistance of Spirits, could rest content with the bare assertions of things, without the knowledge of their causes; whereby they had made their Acts iterable by sober hands, and a standing part of Philosophy. Many wise Divines hold a reality in the wonders of the Ægyptian Magicians, and that those magnalia which they performed before Pharaoh were not mere delusions of Sense. Rightly to understand how they made Serpents out of Rods; Froggs and Bloud of Water, were worth half Porta’s Magick.

Hermolaus Barbarus was scarce in his wits, when, upon conference with a Spirit, he would demand no other question than the explication of Aristotle’s Entelecheia. Appion the Grammarian, that would raise the Ghost of Homer to decide the Controversie of his Country, made a frivolous and pedantick use of Necromancy. Philostratus did as little, that call’d up the Ghost of Achilles for a particular of the Story of Troy. Smarter curiosities would have been at the great Elixir, the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, with other noble obscurities in Nature; but probably all in vain: in matters cognoscible and framed for our disquisition, our Industry must be our Oracle, and Reason our Apollo.

Not to know things without the Arch of our intellectuals, or what Spirits apprehend, is the imperfection of our nature not our knowledge, and rather inscience than ignorance in man. Revelation might render a great part of the Creation easie which now seems beyond the stretch of humane indagation, and welcome no doubt from good hands might be a true Almagest, and great celestial construction: a clear Systeme of the planetical Bodies of the invisible and seeming useless Stars unto us, of the many Suns in the eighth Sphere, what they are, what they contain and to what more immediately those Stupendous Bodies are serviceable. But being not hinted in the authentick Revelation of God, nor known how far their discoveries are stinted; if they should come unto us from the mouth of evil Spirits, the belief thereof might be as unsafe as the enquiry.

This is a copious Subject; but, having exceeded the bounds of a letter, I will not, now, pursue it farther. I am

Yours, etc.

A PROPHECY

Concerning the future state of several Nations,

In a Letter written upon occasion of an old
Prophecy sent to the Authour from a Friend,
with a Request that he would consider it.

TRACT XII

Sir,

I take no pleasure in Prophecies so hardly intelligible, and pointing at future things from a pretended spirit of Divination; of which sort this seems to be which came unto your hand, and you were pleased to send unto me. And therefore, for your easier apprehension, divertisement and consideration, I present you with a very different kind of prediction: not positively or peremptorily telling you what shall come to pass; yet pointing at things not without all reason or probability of their events; not built upon fatal decrees, or inevitable designations, but upon conjectural foundations, whereby things wished may be promoted, and such as are feared, may more probably be prevented.

THE PROPHECY

THE EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHECY

When New England shall trouble New Spain.

That is, When that thriving Colony, which hath so much encreased in our days, and in the space of about fifty years, that they can, as they report, raise between twenty and thirty thousand men upon an exigency, shall in process of time be so advanced, as to be able to send forth Ships and Fleets, as to infest the American Spanish Ports and Maritime Dominions by depredations or assaults; for which attempts they are not like to be unprovided, as abounding in the Materials for Shipping, Oak and Firre. And when length of time shall so far encrease that industrious people, that the neighbouring Country will not contain them, they will range still farther and be able, in time, to set forth great Armies, seek for new possessions, or make considerable and conjoined migrations, according to the custom of swarming Northern Nations; wherein it is not likely that they will move Northward, but toward the Southern and richer Countries, which are either in the Dominions or Frontiers of the Spaniards: and may not improbably erect new Dominions in places not yet thought of, and yet, for some Centuries, beyond their power or Ambition.

When Jamaica shall be Lady of the Isles and the Main.

That is, When that advantageous Island shall be well peopled, it may become so strong and potent as to over-power the neighbouring Isles, and also a part of the main Land, especially the Maritime parts. And already in their infancy they have given testimony of their power and courage in their bold attempts upon Campeche and Santa Martha; and in that notable attempt upon Panama on the Western side of America: especially considering this Island is sufficiently large to contain a numerous people, of a Northern and warlike descent, addicted to martial affairs both by Sea and Land, and advantageously seated to infest their neighbours both of the Isles and the Continent, and like to be a receptacle for Colonies of the same originals from Barbadoes and the neighbour Isles.

When Spain shall be in America hid;
And Mexico shall prove a Madrid.

That is, When Spain, either by unexpected disasters, or continued emissions of people into America, which have already thinned the Country, shall be farther exhausted at home: or when, in process of time, their Colonies shall grow by many accessions more than their Originals, then Mexico may become a Madrid, and as considerable in people, wealth and splendour; wherein that place is already so well advanced, that accounts scarce credible are given of it. And it is so advantageously seated, that, by Acapulco and other Ports on the South Sea, they may maintain a communication and commerce with the Indian Isles and Territories, and with China and Japan, and on this side, by Porto Belo and others, hold correspondence with Europe and Africa.

When Mahomet’s Ships in the Baltick shall ride.

Of this we cannot be out of all fear; for, if the Turk should master Poland, he would be soon at this Sea. And from the odd constitution of the Polish Government, the divisions among themselves, jealousies between their Kingdom and Republick; vicinity of the Tartars, treachery of the Cossacks, and the method of Turkish Policy, to be at Peace with the Emperour of Germany when he is at War with the Poles, there may be cause to fear that this may come to pass. And then he would soon endeavour to have Ports upon that Sea, as not wanting Materials for Shipping. And, having a new acquist of stout and warlike men, may be a terrour unto the confiners on that Sea, and to Nations which now conceive themselves safe from such an Enemy.

When Africa shall no more sell out their Blacks.

That is, When African Countries shall no longer make it a common Trade to sell away the people to serve in the drudgery of American Plantations. And that may come to pass when ever they shall be well civilized, and acquainted with Arts and Affairs sufficient to employ people in their Countries: if also they should be converted to Christianity, but especially unto Mahometism; for then they would never sell those of their Religion to be Slaves unto Christians.

When Batavia the Old shall be contemn’d by the New.

When the Plantations of the Hollanders at Batavia in the East Indies, and other places in the East Indies, shall, by their conquests and advancements, become so powerfull in the Indian Territories; Then their Original Countries and States of Holland are like to be contemned by them, and obeyed onely as they please. And they seem to be in a way unto it at present by their several Plantations, new acquists and enlargements: and they have lately discovered a part of the Southern Continent, and several places which may be serviceable unto them, when ever time shall enlarge them unto such necessities.

And a new Drove of Tartars shall China subdue.

Which is no strange thing if we consult the Histories of China, and successive Inundations made by Tartarian Nations. For when the Invaders, in process of time, have degenerated into the effeminacy and softness of the Chineses, then they themselves have suffered a new Tartarian Conquest and Inundation. And this hath happened from time beyond our Histories: for, according to their account, the famous Wall of China, built against the irruptions of the Tartars, was begun above a hundred years before the Incarnation.

When America shall cease to send forth its treasure,
But employ it at home for American Pleasure.

That is, When America shall be better civilized, new policied and divided between great Princes, it may come to pass that they will no longer suffer their Treasure of Gold and Silver to be sent out to maintain the Luxury of Europe and other parts: but rather employ it to their own advantages, in great Exploits and Undertakings, magnificent Structures, Wars or Expeditions of their own.

When the new World shall the old invade.

That is, When America shall be so well peopled, civilized and divided into Kingdoms, they are like to have so little regard of their Originals, as to acknowledge no subjection unto them: they may also have a distinct commerce between themselves, or but independently with those of Europe, and may hostilely and pyratically assault them, even as the Greek and Roman Colonies after a long time dealt with their Original Countries.

When Men shall almost pass to Venice by Land,
Not in deep Waters but from Sand to Sand.

That is, When, in long process of time, the Silt and Sands shall so choak and shallow the Sea in and about it. And this hath considerably come to pass within these fourscore years; and is like to encrease from several causes, especially by the turning of the River Brenta, as the learned Castelli hath declared.

When Nova Zembla shall be no stay
Unto those who pass to or from Cathay.

That is, When ever that often sought for Northeast passage unto China and Japan shall be discovered; the hindrance whereof was imputed to Nova Zembla; for this was conceived to be an excursion of Land shooting out directly, and so far Northward into the Sea that it discouraged from all Navigation about it. And therefore Adventurers took in at the Southern part at a strait by Waygatz next the Tartarian Shore: and, sailing forward they found that Sea frozen and full of Ice, and so gave over the attempt. But of late years, by the diligent enquiry of some Moscovites, a better discovery is made of these parts, and a Map or Chart made of them. Thereby Nova Zembla is found to be no Island extending very far Northward; but, winding Eastward, it joineth to the Tartarian Continent, and so makes a Peninsula: and the Sea between it which they entred at Waygatz, is found to be but a large Bay, apt to be frozen by reason of the great River of Oby, and other fresh Waters, entring into it: whereas the main Sea doth not freez upon the North of Zembla except near unto Shores; so that if the Moscovites were skilfull Navigatours they might, with less difficulties, discover this passage unto China: but however the English, Dutch and Danes are now like to attempt it again.

But this is Conjecture, and not Prophecy: and so (I know) you will take it. I am,

Sir, etc.

MUSÆUM CLAUSUM

or

Bibliotheca Abscondita:

Containing some remarkable Books, Antiquities,
Pictures and Rarities of several kinds, scarce
or never seen by any man now living.

TRACT XIII

Sir,

With many thanks I return that noble Catalogue of Books, Rarities and Singularities of Art and Nature, which you were pleased to communicate unto me. There are many Collections of this kind in Europe. And, besides the printed accounts of the Musæum Aldrovandi, Calceolarianum, Moscardi, Wormianum; the Casa Abbellitta at Loretto, and Threasor of S. Dennis, the Repository of the Duke of Tuscany, that of the Duke of Saxony, and that noble one of the Emperour at Vienna, and many more are of singular note. Of what in this kind I have by me I shall make no repetition, and you having already had a view thereof, I am bold to present you with the List of a Collection, which I may justly say you have not seen before.

The Title is, as above,

Musæum Clausum, or Bibliotheca Abscondita: containing some remarkable Books, Antiquities, Pictures and Rarities of several kinds, scarce or never seen by any man now living.

1. Rare and generally unknown Books.

1. A poem of Ovidius Naso, written in the Getick Language,[282] during his exile at Tomos, found wrapt up in Wax at Sabaria, on the Frontiers of Hungary, where there remains a tradition that he died, in his return towards Rome from Tomos, either after his pardon or the death of Augustus.

2. The Letter of Quintus Cicero, which he wrote in answer to that of his Brother Marcus Tullius, desiring of him an account of Britany, wherein are described the Country, State and Manners of the Britains of that Age.

3. An Ancient British Herbal, or description of divers Plants of this Island, observed by that famous Physician Scribonius Largus, when he attended the Emperour Claudius in his expedition into Britany.

4. An exact account of the Life and Death of Avicenna confirming the account of his Death by taking nine Clysters together in a fit of the Colick; and not as Marius the Italian Poet delivereth, by being broken upon the Wheel; left with other Pieces by Benjamin Tudelensis, as he travelled from Saragossa to Jerusalem, in the hands of Abraham Jarchi, a famous Rabbi of Lunet near Montpelier, and found in a Vault when the Walls of that City were demolished by Lewis the Thirteenth.

5. A punctual relation of Hannibal’s march out of Spain into Italy, and far more particular than that of Livy, where about he passed the River Rhodanus or Rhosne; at what place he crossed the Isura or L’isere; when he marched up toward the confluence of the Sone and the Rhone, or the place where the City Lyons was afterward built; how wisely he decided the difference between King Brancus and his Brother, at what place he passed the Alpes, what Vinegar he used, and where he obtained such quantity to break and calcine the Rocks made hot with Fire.

6. A learned Comment upon the Periplus of Hanno the Carthaginian, or his Navigation upon the Western Coast of Africa, with the several places he landed at; what Colonies he settled, what Ships were scattered from his Fleet near the Æquinoctial Line, which were not afterward heard of, and which probably fell into the Trade Winds, and were carried over into the Coast of America.

7. A particular Narration of that famous Expedition of the English into Barbary in the ninety fourth year of the Hegira, so shortly touched by Leo Africanus, whither called by the Goths they besieged, took and burnt the City of Arzilla possessed by the Mahometans, and lately the seat of Gayland; with many other exploits delivered at large in Arabick, lost in the Ship of Books and Rarities which the King of Spain took from Siddy Hamet King of Fez, whereof a great part were carried into the Escurial, and conceived to be gathered out of the relations of Hibnu Nachu, the best Historian of the African Affairs.

8. A Fragment of Pythæas that ancient Traveller of Marseille; which we suspect not to be spurious, because, in the description of the Northern Countries, we find that passage of Pythæas mentioned by Strabo, that all the Air beyond Thule is thick, condensed and gellied, looking just like Sea Lungs.

9. A Sub Marine Herbal, describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, Hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea, with many sorts of Alga, Fucus, Quercus, Polygonum, Gramens and others not yet described.

10. Some Manuscripts and Rarities brought from the Libraries of Æthiopia, by Zaga Zaba, and afterward transported to Rome, and scattered by the Souldiers of the Duke of Bourbon, when they barbarously sacked that City.

11. Some Pieces of Julius Scaliger, which he complains to have been stoln from him, sold to the Bishop of Mende in Languedock, and afterward taken away and sold in the Civil Wars under the Duke of Rohan.

12. A Comment of Dioscorides upon Hyppocrates, procured from Constantinople by Amatus Lusitanus, and left in the hands of a Jew of Ragusa.

13. Marcus Tullius Cicero his Geography; as also a part of that magnified Piece of his De Republica, very little answering the great expectation of it, and short of Pieces under the same name by Bodinus and Tholosanus.

14. King Mithridates his Oneirocritica.

Aristotle de Precationibus.

Democritus de his quæ fiunt apud Orcum, et Oceani circumnavigatio.

Epicurus de Pietate.

A Tragedy of Thyestes, and another of Medea, writ by Diogenes the Cynick.

King Alfred upon Aristotle de Plantis.

Seneca’s Epistles to S. Paul.

King Solomon de Umbris Idæarum, which Chicus Asculænus, in his Comment upon Johannes de Sacrobosco, would make us believe he saw in the Library of the Duke of Bavaria.

15. Artemidori Oneirocritici Geographia.

Pythagoras de Mari Rubro.

The Works of Confutius the famous Philosopher of China, translated into Spanish.

16. Josephus in Hebrew, written by himself.

17. The Commentaries of Sylla the Dictatour.

18. A Commentary of Galen upon the Plague of Athens described by Thucydides.

19. Duo Cæsaris Anti-Catones, or the two notable Books writ by Julius Cæsar against Cato; mentioned by Livy, Salustius and Juvenal; which the Cardinal of Liege told Ludovicus Vives were in an old Library of that City.

Mazhapha Einok, or, the Prophecy of Enoch, which Ægidius Lochiensis, a learned Eastern Traveller, told Peireschius that he had found in an old Library at Alexandria containing eight thousand Volumes.

20. A Collection of Hebrew Epistles, which passed between the two learned Women of our age Maria Molinea of Sedan, and Maria Schurman of Utrecht.

A wondrous Collection of some Writings of Ludovica Saracenica, Daughter of Philibertus Saracenicus a Physician of Lyons, who at eight years of age had made a good progress in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Tongues.

2. Rarities in Pictures.

1. A picture of the three remarkable Steeples or Towers in Europe built purposely awry and so as they seem falling. Torre Pisana at Pisa, Torre Garisenda in Bononia, and that other in the City of Colein.

2. A Draught of all sorts of Sistrums, Crotaloes, Cymbals, Tympans, etc. in use among the Ancients.

3. Large Submarine Pieces, well delineating the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the Prerie or large Sea-meadow upon the Coast of Provence, the Coral Fishing, the gathering of Sponges, the Mountains, Valleys and Desarts, the Subterraneous Vents and Passages at the bottom of that Sea. Together with a lively Draught of Cola Pesce, or the famous Sicilian Swimmer, diving into the Voragos and broken Rocks by Charybdis, to fetch up the Golden Cup, which Frederick, King of Sicily, had purposely thrown into that Sea.

4. A Moon Piece, describing that notable Battel between Axalla, General of Tamerlane, and Camares the Persian, fought by the light of the Moon.

5. Another remarkable Fight of Inghimmi the Florentine with the Turkish Galleys by Moon-light, who being for three hours grappled with the Basha Galley, concluded with a signal Victory.

6. A delineation of the great Fair of Almachara in Arabia, which, to avoid the great heat of the Sun, is kept in the Night, and by the light of the Moon.

7. A Snow Piece, of Land and Trees covered with Snow and Ice, and Mountains of Ice floating in the Sea, with Bears, Seals, Foxes, and variety of rare Fowls upon them.

8. An Ice Piece describing the notable Battel between the Jaziges and the Romans, fought upon the frozen Danubius, the Romans settling one foot upon their Targets to hinder them from slipping, their fighting with the Jaziges when they were fallen, and their advantages therein by their art in volutation and rolling contention or wrastling, according to the description of Dion.

9. Socia, or a Draught of three persons notably resembling each other. Of King Henry the Fourth of France, and a Miller of Languedock; of Sforza Duke of Milain and a Souldier; of Malatesta Duke of Rimini and Marchesinus the Jester.

10. A Picture of the great Fire which happened at Constantinople in the Reign of Sultan Achmet. The Janizaries in the mean time plundring the best Houses, Nassa Bassa the Vizier riding about with a Cimetre in one hand and a Janizary’s Head in the other to deter them; and the Priests attempting to quench the Fire, by Pieces of Mahomet’s Shirt dipped in holy Water and thrown into it.

11. A Night Piece of the dismal Supper and strange Entertain of the Senatours by Domitian, according to the description of Dion.

12. A Vestal Sinner in the Cave with a Table and a Candle.

13. An Elephant dancing upon the Ropes with a Negro Dwarf upon his Back.

14. Another describing the mighty Stone falling from the Clouds into Ægospotamos or the Goats River in Greece, which Antiquity could believe that Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year before.

15. Three noble Pieces; of Vercingetorix the Gaul submitting his person unto Julius Cæsar; of Tigranes King of Armenia humbly presenting himself unto Pompey; and of Tamerlane ascending his Horse from the Neck of Bajazet.

16. Draughts of three passionate Looks; of Thyestes when he was told at the Table that he had eaten a piece of his own Son; of Bajazet when he went into the Iron Cage; of Oedipus when he first came to know that he had killed his Father, and married his own Mother.

17. Of the Cymbrian Mother in Plutarch who, after the overthrow by Marius, hanged her self and her two Children at her feet.

18. Some Pieces delineating singular inhumanities in Tortures. The Scaphismus of the Persians. The living truncation of the Turks. The hanging Sport at the Feasts of the Thracians. The exact method of flaying men alive, beginning between the Shoulders, according to the description of Thomas Minadoi, in his Persian War. Together with the studied tortures of the French Traitours at Pappa in Hungaria: as also the wild and enormous torment invented by Tiberius, designed according unto the description of Suetonius. Excogitaverunt inter genera cruciatûs, ut largâ meri potione per fallaciam oneratos repentè veretris deligatis fidicularum simul urinæque tormento distenderet.

19. A Picture describing how Hannibal forced his passage over the River Rhosne with his Elephants, Baggage and mixed Army; with the Army of the Gauls opposing him on the contrary Shore, and Hanno passing over with his Horse much above to fall upon the Rere of the Gauls.

20. A neat Piece describing the Sack of Fundi by the Fleet and Souldiers of Barbarossa the Turkish Admiral, the confusion of the people and their flying up to the Mountains, and Julia Gonzaga the beauty of Italy flying away with her Ladies half naked on Horseback over the Hills.

21. A noble Head of Franciscus Gonzaga, who, being imprisoned for Treason, grew grey in one night, with this Inscription,

O nox quam longa est quæ facit una senem.

22. A large Picture describing the Siege of Vienna by Solyman the Magnificent, and at the same time the Siege of Florence by the Emperour Charles the Fifth and Pope Clement the Seventh, with this Subscription,

Tum vacui capitis populum Phæaca putares?

23. An exquisite Piece properly delineating the first course of Metellus his Pontificial Supper, according to the description of Macrobius; together with a Dish of Pisces Fossiles, garnished about with the little Eels taken out of the backs of Cods and Perches; as also with the Shell Fishes found in Stones about Ancona.

24. A Picture of the noble Entertain and Feast of the Duke of Chausue at the Treaty of Collen, 1673, when in a very large Room, with all the Windows open, and at a very large Table he sate himself, with many great persons and Ladies; next about the Table stood a row of Waiters, then a row of Musicians, then a row of Musketiers.

25. Miltiades, who overthrew the Persians at the Battel of Marathon and delivered Greece, looking out of a Prison Grate in Athens, wherein he died, with this Inscription,