V. i

' U,/
I
^“i-, . .V
': . '; m,- .^—i- ■.,-
%
.*
J xir
nr jbvAO. lu \\\d;i"mJuV h.j'i (yyicuTi
.(O' X iivj, y 1
3
SIR,
]■ Send this Book to you, becaufe you fir ft direded me to this Defign. The Learned Gajj'endm was my 'Precedent; whom neverthelefs I have not follow’d in his Partiality ; For he, tho’ limited to a Single Perfon, yd giVeth himfelf Liberty of Enlargement, and taketh occafion from hisSubjed to make the World acquaint¬ ed with many excellent Dilquifitions of his own. Our Scope being of a greater Latitude, affords left Oppor- , tunity to favour any Particular ; whilft there is due to every one the Commendation of their Own Deferts. This Benefit I hope to have received from the variety of .the Subjed; but far more are thofe I owe to your En¬ couragement, which if I could wi£h lefs, 1 fhould Up¬ on this Occafion, that there might feem to have been expreffed fomething of Choice and Inclination in this Adion, which is now but an inconfiderable Effed of the Gratitude of
iSear Vncle^
} :
Tmr Mofl Ajfe&ionate Neph
and Humble Servant^
T H o M AS S TA N DLE ri
■ 'i ’
•- I
PREFACE
WE are entring upon a SubjeB which I confefs^ kin it felf harff)^ and exotick^ 'very unproper for our Tongue ; yet I doubt not but they will pardon thkiy who JImU conjider^ that other Phil(^-^ phies and Sciences haxe been lately well recewed by federal Nations Tranjla* ted into their own Languages^ and that thk^ as being the firfl^ contributes not a little to the under (landing of the reft.
Another difad^antage thU Subject incurs far more conjiderable : TheYe k not any thing more difficult to be retrieved out of the Ruins of Antiquities than the Learning of the Eaftern Nations^ and particularly that of the Cfialdaeans, What remains of it k chiefly tranfmitted to U6 by the Greeks^ of whom^ fime converted it to their own ufe^ intermixing it with their Philofophy^ as Pytha^ goras andPhXO) others treated exprefly of it^ but their Writings are h§J:, Of its flrft Authors nothing remains ; what others took from it^ k not diflinguijh- able from their proper Philofophy. The Greeks were firfl made acquainted with it by Ofthanes, and^^ long after ^ by Berofus ; the former living in the time^qf Xerxes, the other ^ z/nt/er Ptoloinaeus Philadelphus. Whence it may ‘be inr ferred^ that the which Democritus writ of Chaldaea, and his'
Commentary, of the Sacred Letters at Babylon, either came Jhort of thefe Sciences^ or were fo obfcurey that they conduced little to their difcovery. Neither jeems theTreatife^ entituledM^gicumyafcribed by fime^ to AvU^otl^^ by otherSy to Rhodon, but indeed written by Antifthenes^ to have confidered the Learn¬ ing and Sciences y fo much as the Hi§loryof the Profejfors, Of which kind were alfo the Writers concerning the Magi, cited y under that general Title y by Dio¬ genes Laertius.
But there wanted not thofey who further explained to the Greeks what Oft- hanes^nd Berofus had firfl communicated, HermippU9(to PYmy^ sWords'f
wrote mofl diligently of Magick, and Commented upon the Verfes of Zoroafter. About the time of Antonius Pius flouriflhed the two Julians, Father and Son^ Chaldaick Philojophers : the firfl wrote concerryng theChaldaick Rites, latter y Theurgick Oracles in Verfe, and other Secrets of that Science. Afterwards wrote Symbulus and Pallas, concerning the Magi ; and the lat¬ ter Platonick Philofophers more frequently : Amelius, 4.0 Books of Confuta¬ tion; Porphyrius 4 on the Hiftory of Julian theChaldaean;Jamblichus,i8 intituled y Of the mofl: perfect Chaldaick Theology ; and Syrianus 10 upon the Oracles.
Of all thefe y there s nothing extant yUnlefs (which we Jhall haveoccajion hereafter to prove) the few Oracles, difperfed among the Platonick Writers y be part of thofcy which wercy by the Greeks, (Hermippus, Julian theSoUyand othersftrmjlated out Chaldaick. Some of thefe Pletho and PkWushave
explained with a Comment yadding two brief obfcure Summaries of Chalda¬ ick OoBriney which we have endeavoured to fupply and deary by adding and digefling the few Remains of thofe Sciences which lie difperfed amongfl other Authors; taking care to^ rejeB fuchas are fuppoJitiouSy or of no credit y asinthe iJtflorkal Par^^Anhius'Viterbienlis, Clemens Romanus, and the like: in the F/6z7ayo]?Z?ica/,ti>eRabbinnicallnventions,Ti?^ic^ thd incurioujly admitted by Kircher,Gaulmin, and others )manifeflly appear to have been of later Invent
THE
Pa R T XIV.
I
HISTORY
O F T H E
CHALDAICK PHILOSOPHERS.
The Firft BOOK.
Of the Chaldeans,
PHilofbphy is generally acknowledged" even by the moft Learned of the Gre¬ dins themfelves, to have had its Ori¬ ginal in the Eaft. None of the Sa¬ ltern Nations, for Antiquity of Learning, flood in Competition with the Chalddcans and Egyp¬ tians. The JEgyptians pretended that the Cha/daans were a Colony of them, and had all their Learning and Inftitutions from themj but they who are lefs intereffed, and unprejudiced Judges of this Controverfie, aflert that a The * Tl:c Author jjagi fwho derived their Knowledge from the ofthc Trcutife^ Qja/daans) were more ancient than the JEgyp-
tedXTalrtlm ^ Ajirohgical Learning faffed from
in Proxm. the, Chaldscans to the Tj’gyptians, . and from h Jofeph. r.'8. than to the Grecians, and, in a word, that the ^ • Chald.tansvtzxf c antiquiJJimim'Dottorum genus
the moft ancient of Teachers.
'Cl}dd£a is a part of Babylonia in 4/L?, the Inhabitants termed Chafdim.^ (as if Chufdim) Irom Chus the Son of Cham. But the Philofo- phy of the Chaldaans., exceeded the Bounds of their Country, and diffufed it lelf into Terfia and Arabia^ that Border upon it ^ for which reafon the Learning of the Chaldeans Ferjians -^vAArabians is comprehended under the general Title of C H A L D A IC K.
Of thefe therefore we (hall begin with Thab from wliich the other two were derived, and’ is more properly termed ■ C H A L D iL A N, in relpeft of the Country. Intreatmgof which (as likewife of the other two ) the firft part of our Dilcourfe lhall, confider the Authors or Pro- fellbrs', and their- Se;fts j the Second their Dofilririe.
-O'. ' I ,
THE
Fourteenth Part.
"the Chaldean Philojofhers^ In^ flitntion^ and SeBs,
SECT. I.
Of the Chalddean Philofiphers,
G H A P. I.
The A/ttiquity of the Chaldatck Learning.
TH E Antiquity of the Chaldaick Learning, though fuch as other Nations cannot equal, comes far Ihort of that to which they did pretend. 'Vlhexi Alexander^ by his ViHories againft Darius , was poffefled of Babylon^ (in tbe 4383^ year of the Period) Arifio-
tle^ a curious promoter of Arts, requefted his Nephew Califlhenes^ whoaccompanied derin the Expedition, to inform him of what ^Antiquity the Learning of the might
^ with reafon be efteemed. The Chaldaans them- lelvcs pretended, that, from the time they had firft begun to obfervethe Stars until thisExpedi-' tion of Alexander into AJia.^ were 470000 years. But far beneath. this number were the Obfervations, which (as Forphyrius cited by d a In Ub. 2. * Simplicius relates) Califhencs lent to Ariftotle^ efo, p. 1 23. being out of 190^ years, prelerved to that time, which from the 4383d year of the Julian Period upward, falls upon the 2480th. And [ B b b b ] even
Cl
3
i he Chaldaich^ Pbilofophy,
ART
XIV.
h Piol. lib. 4 cap. 6. 7. c
ven this may with good Reafon be queftioned, for there is not any thing extant in theChalda- ick Aftrology more ancient than the Mvdot'Na- bomffar.^ which began but on the ^s)6jih of the Jidmi Period. By this Rtra they compute their ARronoiuical Obfervations, of which if there had been any more ancient, 'dtohmy would not have omitted tlienu b The firf of thefe is the lirlt year oi Meradach.^, c ( that feig oi'Ba- hylon who lent the Meflage to Abac concerning the Miracle or the Dial ) which was about the 2ph of NabonciJJiir. The next was in the 2%th d Lib. S./.125 ^^abomijjar. ^ d I'he third Obletvadon rs in the 1 2']th of Nnbonaj]ji}\ w'hich is the •)ih year of Nabopo/aJJar.) This indeed is beyond all cx-?’ ception •, for t^e have them confirmed by the Authority o?Ftolomy\ who (hews the Reafbns and Rules for the Obfervations. What is more than this, feems to have been only hypotheti¬ cal. And if we fliall imagine a canicular Cycle, which confilts of 1^61 years (and are 1450 natural years) to have been fuppoled by For- phyrim to make up his Hypothefis, then there vvill want but 18 years of this number.
T
a In Proem, h Obelife. Pamphil, /, c. 2. Sell. I,
r Geor. Sacr,
hi.c, i.
CHAP. IL
That there were fcveral Zoroaffers.
H E Invention of Arts among the Chaldeans is generally aferibed fB Zoroajfer. The name Zo> oafter (to omit thole who giv^e it a Oreek Etymology, from dsesv) Dinbn'.
cited by a Laert/ies Interprets Ren-
dred by hisTranllators, a Worfhipper of the • stars, b Kircher finds fiult with this Etymo¬ logy as being compounded out of two feveral Tankages, from the Greek dn-esv^ and the Chal- and therefore endeavours to deduce it nyjf from ^ tjura a figure, or d tfajar, to fafhion,
/ iSd ^ f hte, as if it were g
i ia hioning Images of hidden fire, or,
ir agreeth. Buc it hath teen
obfetved, that Mer in the Perfian Languase fignifieth a Star. The former Particle Zor. i Bo- chart US derives from the Hebrew Schur to con¬ template, and thereupon, ior drepSCrao, ertws) Redds drepQidrr.i, a conteniphtor of the Stars. But we findZ^;' ufed among other worffe (by compofition) in the name / which
we Interpret, Born at Babylon ; Zoroafter there- fore properly fignifies the Son of the Stars.
whiehdbme call Zabra- others, others Z/;- ?
from the Qialdec or Perfian Word, which the Greeks moft gene¬ rally render Zoroajier. ^
Tliat there were feveral Zoroafers (except w^nnf paradoxically maintains there none deny ^ but in reckoning hem up, there is no fmalldifagreementamongft
“p°" CJZtl
Serf J .differently mterpret; his words are
ALgus interwre ab orbe ZoroaftrestUermtppaZ affenttamur Authorr BaHrianisW illiconvemat.
k Cent. genf.
cujus Ctefias res gejlae hijioriarum exponit in prim-., A.nnenim^ Flojfanis nepos, Cf familia. psFamphdtus Cyri. / Patrjcius, m Nomdaeus , v>wl . n and others, conceive ei\di Arnobiu]
here inentjons four Zcroaflers ; the firlt a Cbal- « Pwk dyan.^ the fecond a Ba&rian.^ the third a Famphu //f/;? (named alfo Erusf) the fourth an Armenf an bon (as Kirchcr would liave it) oFHoftanes 0 Sa mafius alters the Text thus. Age nunc ve- mat^roefoper tgneamZonam Alagls interiore^ Plln.EmciU ^Mey:oroapes,Her^^^^
, > i Babin anus. Et ille conveniat^ cujus Ctefias res gefl^ hfloriarum exponit in primo^ Armenius nepos Cf famiharis Famphdus Cvti
Winch words thus altered by himfelf, implfas he pretends, but three Zoroafters, the fir tJclor dingto iome an JEthiopiani {a auntiJneTthe torrid Zone) but according to Hermippi, ^ fi.. fir tan- th fecond, Armemus., Nephew of HqR^.
^ ^^^^^^Stvelacoouitin the
^ifitirtes i the third namedFzrn- philus, Irtendto Cyrus, p Vrfmus from tul . t
fame readinpf the words, infers that
menti ons only two, that he manifeftly explodes the Baflrian ZoiodRQxof Hermippus, an/thatCtc- RdS confuting the fibulus Relation of Eudoxns pro^
u-f^Zorijifter to have lived in the time ^Cyfus Bur the tvords erf Armbius feem not torequlr; fuch alteration, which will appear more, ?fwe mention particularly all thofe on whom tiS mmterf ZoroafleryNds conferred The firff a ChMean, the fame ’whom q Sui das calls the Ajfynan, adding that he died bv 1 fire from Heaven -, to which Story perhaps Z nobrus alludes, or ro that otherRelation mention*
P p£Jiy?/?^^,that Zoroafer tL ^ .
Perfian (for their Stories are confounded) to the People out of a fiery Mountain , or elfe bv jkry he means the Seat of the zonedEl
ties juft ateve the Empyreal or Corporeal hS-
Doftrine of the Cbalde^ am , for I find not any where that Zoroafter was efteemed an .Ethiopian, or of m^xiouxLybia Tis Salmafius Qx^pomd^ Concerning this Z^oro~
cites Hermippus i who dsTFll.r ft //j. faith, wote in explication of the Verfet and *'
added Tables to.hitVolumet. ‘
The fecond a Baflrian - ' t 7///?;^
Zoroafires, King of BaSria contemporary"w?”h * '*
Ainmx\\Q AffynanPy whom he was lubdued and Ham , adding , He was /aid to be the firll that invented Magical Arts, andobjerved thobe-
Sf^tiinisoftheWorld,andtheAiotiom
Arnobus fdixh, u he contefied with nixms not only by feel andjrength,but iikewife bythekTi. "
the^a^ldeanlThQ
filft Rn recorded- in the
firftBook of his Ferfica-, for fo Arnobius, x^r^ ff^^ttus E ille convemat, cujus Cx^fids res ge
Jfa hfionam ekpomt m primo. The firft fiYBrv.if
otthatWorl, treated (as y P W only oryitAfjwun Hiftoiy, and paffages tot'' preceded the Affaik , ^ereup^n I
cannot affent to fhe conjefilure of who applies the citation of Ctefias to the'^Ne- p^w of Hojianes, fince Hoftanes ( as z Tlinv affirms) 1 wed under Darius. But a Diodorus\^'h^^'^‘^' ^^Bafl‘ria,'w\iOtn Ninus conque-
J ^ss. of 7uftin\t-
tefted by Ligenus) Oxyatres, others Zeorafes ;
perhaps
Pa RT XIV.
The Chaldakl^Thilofofhy.
b In Zor.
c In Procem.
pesliaps the nearnels of the Names and Times (the Chaldean living alfo under Ninus^ as (b) Sui- relates) gave occafioh to lome to confound them, and to alcribe to the Batlr 'ian what was proper to the Chaldean-^' it cannot be ima¬ gined , that the BaUrian was Inventer of thofe Arts, in which the Chaldean^ who lived contem¬ porary with him , was fo well skilled. Elich- mannus^ a Perlian Writer, affirms the Arabians and Perfians to hold, that Zoroaflc7' was not . , -
King of the BablrianSy but a Magus or Prophet •j iA^imafpian Cities^ and the Eltzian Pields are who by perfwajions having wrought upon their ]hb7'ms of Civil Governments of juft Perfons\ of' King^ fir ft introduced a nevo Portn oj Superjiiti- 1 which kinds Plato’s Coitmon-wealth. on atnottgfi whereof there are fo?ne re-\ To thefemay be added a fixth (for
mainders at this dey. fo
The third a Perfian, fo termed by c Laertius | at what time Pythagorof was carried Prilbner and others ^ the fame whom Clemens Alexandri- ! thither by CamlyfeslTh^ fame Author terms him nus ftyles a Alede^ Suidas a Perfo-Aiede •, In- \o?nnis Divini arcanum Antifiitem^ adding, that flitutor of the Magi, and Introdublor of the Chal- he was the chief Perfon Pythagoras had daick Sciences amongfl: the Perfians. Some con- ! for Alajter ^ probably, therefore, the lame with
ArjneniusyhsLt he died fuddenly in a Pulle)''’s Shop at Proconnelus, and was feen the fa^ne tme atCy zicus : his Friends coming to fetch hi's Body.^ could not find it. Seven years after he returned, ho/ne.^ and pubTifhed the Vejfes which were afterwat'ds called Arimafpian,' a Poem defcribing a happy Life, or rather an Imaginary Civil Government afterfucha manner as he conceived moltperfe8:.
This we may gather from p Cletnens Alexan- p stnm. Ih drinus.^ who laith, that the Hyperborean and
lib:
found this Zoroajier with the Chaldean both d obc!.r,ar.ph. of them (as d Kircher doth) with the Son UK 1. cap. 2. of ]\oa}\ not without a very great Anachronifm : fed. 1. for vve find the word Pcrfian no where mention¬ ed before the Prophet Ezekiel.^ neither did it come to be of note till the time of Cyrus. The occafion of which miftake feems to have been-, for that Zoroafier the Perfian.^ is by Pliny., La¬ ertius., and others, Ityled Inllitutor of Magick, • and of the Alagi., which is to be underftood no
otherwife than that he firll introduced them into eDeffid.& Pe?fia. For if acknowledgeth,
Ojirid gy j^jjlitute^ Magi a/nongjt the Chaldifans., in wii-
tat ion of whom die Perfians had theirs alfo : And f Set forth by the / Arabick Hiftory that Zaradujfit not firji
Erpcnius.
’Aff/.h'/©"* j Loc. cit.
k.Eb.
r- c.
infiituted, but ir formed., the Religion of the Per¬ fians and Alagf being divided into many SeCts.
The fourth a Pamphylian., commonly called Pr, or Erus Armcnius. That he alfo had the g Strom, lib. Name of Zoroafier., g Clement witneffeth.-T/?^ fame Author, (faith he, meaning P/^/i?) in the loth of hisPoliticksynentioneth Erus Armenius,^^ def- cent a Pamphylian., who is Zoroafter j now this h Pleading to.- Zoroafter writes thus, h ‘ This wrote J, Zoroa- A A ‘ Per Armenius, by defcent a Pamphy Han, dying in •7 , ’’ War, and being in Hades, 1 learned oj the Gods.
TFSs Zoroafier, i P/^^z/z? affirmeth to have been railed again to Life, after he had been dead ten days, and laid on the Funeral Pyle, repeated by 8. k Valerius Maximus, and / Alacrobius. To this / In fomn.scip. Zoroafier, doubtlels the latter part of Arnobi- »x’s Words, with which Interpreters arefo much perplexed, ought to be preferred, .AmmW JP?- fianis nepos Cf familiaris Pamphylius Cyri. Some conjefture he mentions two Zoroafiers -, I rather conceive the words, relate only to this one, and perhaps are corrupt, thus to bereftored and di- Ifinguiffied, Armenius Hofianis nepos Lf fami- YiarH, Pamphilius Erus : Armenius, Nephew and Difciple (in which fenfe yvdyi/.©- is ufually taken) of Hofianes, Er/ss Pamphylius.
The fifth a Proconnefian,m.QnxionQd by ?nP li¬ ny-, fitch as are more diligent (fmh. hC) place ano~ ther Zoroalter, ftanes. This Zoroafier might probably he Ari- kiiftess. Proconnejian, who, according to n Sui¬
das, lived in the time of and Crafus. He adds, that his Soul could go^out of his Body, and 0 Lib, return as often as he pleafed. o Herodotus re
lates an Inlfance hereof, not unlike that of Erus'
Zabratus, by whom r Diogenes affirms, he was a Porphy. cleanfed from the Pollutions of his Life pajl, and infiridlecl from what things Virtuous Pcrfions ought to be free -, and learn the dificourfe concern- I ing Nature (Phyfick) and what are the Princi¬ ples of the Univerfe -, the lame which Na:yira- tas the Affyrian, whom Alexander in his Book. ' of Pythagorick%mbols,affirmsto have been.Ma- Per to Pythagoras the fame whom 5/zzZ/x calls Zares Cyril, Zarn -, Plutarch, Zaratusf '
That there Ihould be fo many Zoroafier s,and fo much confufion amongp Authors that write of them, by miPaking one for another, is no¬ thing Prange ^ for, from extraordinary Perfons,
Authors of fome Publick Benefit, they who after¬ wards were Eminent in the fame kind, were ufually called by the fame name. Hence it is, that there werefo many Belus's, Sat urns, Jupi- tors and, confequently, fo much confufion in their Stories. The like may be laid of Zoroom fier the Chaldean, who being the inventer of Ma¬ gical and APronomical Scicnces,they who intro¬ duced the fame into other Countries, as Zora- fier the Perfian did, in imitation (as Plutarch laith) of the Chaldeans, and fuch likewife as were eminently skilful in thofe Sciences, as the BaUrian, the Pamphylian, and the Proconnefian, are defeibed to have been, were called by the fame Name.
m IJb.‘^6.c. I.
n m
CHAP. Ill
Of the Chaldean ZoroaPer, Infiitutor cf the Chaldaick Philofophy.
THe firP of thefe Zoroafiers term’d the Chal¬ dean or Ajfyrian, is generally acknowledg¬ ed the inventer of Arts and Sciences amongP the Chaldeans, but concerning the time in which he lived, there is a vaP dilagreemenc amongp Au¬ thors.
Some of thefe err fo largely, as not to need any Confutation ^ luch are a Eudoxus, mA the a Laert.in Author of the Treatiie entituled UctyiDov-, com- Procem. monly alcibed to Ariftotlc, and fo b Pliny cites ^ 3^- c.i
it, ) who afierts he lived 50C0 years before Plato, Such likewile are Hermippus, liemodorus the Platonick, Plutarch and Gem'ifius Pletho{fo\- lowing Plutarch, ) who place him 5000 years before the dePruffion of Troy,
[ B b b b 2 ] Others
4
he Chaldaic\ Philofofhy.
ART
XIV
Gen.R in fort ditto fidei. d Rafi, e Aben Ezj’tf in Gen.
} R. Hanaffe
Others conceive Zoroajier^to be the fame wjth Chani^ the Son of J^oah ^ of which Opinion(not to mention the Ffiudo Berofiis of Annius Viter’' bienfis) were Didy mr/s of Alexandria^ Agathia^^ Scho/ajijeus, and Abenephi : Cham (faith the laft) was the Son of Noah j he firji taught the JVor- /hipping of Idols.^ and firli introduced Magical Arts into the Worlds his Name is Zurafter, he the JecondAjdris.^a perpetual fire. Hither alfbfome refer the Rabbinical Rories concerning Cham.^
. . that c by Alagick loe emafculated his father^ Cf c. ^7amuel. ^ Noah being by this means difabled jrom getting a fourth Son, Curfedthe fourth Son ef Cham j That e this Curfe (which was, that he fliould be a Servant of Servants) implied /range Service, viz* Idolatry-, That f hereupon the Fo- ficrily of Chus became Idolater sfCAxtsm himfelj be- in ^cuto fort iuot ttig the firji that made Idols, and inti educed /range Service into the World, and taught his Family thcAV orfhipping of Fire.
The greater part of Writers place him later. Epiphanius in the time of Aimrod, with whom g Simplic. agree the Obfervatiojis g faid to be fent by Ca- l/henes to Ari/otle of 1P03 years before zl- lexander s taking Babylon, for from the year of the fulian Period, in which Babylon was taken, the 1^03. upward fails on the 2480 of the fame 'Mra about which time Nimrod laid the Foundations of that City, and there fetled his Empire.
Suidas relates him contemporary with Ninus King of A/'yria -, Eufebius, with SemirarnkWEi^ of Ninus Ninus is placed by Chronologers a- bove the 3447. of the Julian Period.
(elfewhere) reckons him to have lived 500 years before the taking ofFi'oy-, Xanthus, 600 years before Xerxes's Expedition into ^ Greece. Troy,accotd.lngtoihQMarmor Arunde- lianum was taken 444 years before the firft O- lympiad. Xerxes’s Expedition was on the firif of the 75^/3 Olympiad, viz. the of the Julian Period; The Account of Suidas therefore falls on the 3030. that of Xanthus on the 3634th. of the Julian Period. The lateft of thele feem- eth to me moft Hiflorical, and agreeable to Truth.
Of his Birth, Life, and Death, there is little to be founds and even that uncertain, whether appliable to him, oitofmcFerfian. FlatoBylts Zoroa/er the Son of Oromafes •, but Oromafes (as Flutarch and others fliew) was a Name given to God by Zoroa/er the Ferfian,and his Followers.- whence I conceive that Flato is to be underftood of the Perfian Zoroa/er, who perhaps in regard of his extraordinary knowledge, was either Al» legorically ftyled,or fabuloufly reported to be the Son of God, or of fome good Genius, as Fythagors, Flato, and many other Excellent Per- foils were*
h L7b.76.cnp.i. PA>T 1‘^Ports, that Zoroa/er (notparti-i ‘ ^ ‘ ' cularizing which of them Jlaughed the fame day he
was born-, and that his Brain did beat fo hard that it heaved up the hand, laid upon it, a prefage of his future Science -, and that he lived in the De¬ farts twenty years upon Cheefe fo tempered, as that it became not old. The AJfyrian Zoroalfer, (HmhSuidas) prayed he might die by fire from Heaven, and advifed the A/yrians to preferve hk Afhes,ajfuring them that as long as they kept "’em, their Kingdom fhould never fail -, but Cedrenus attributes the fame to the Ferfian.
I.
Of Writings attibuted to him, are mentioned', i Verjes, tiw Millions, upon which Ilermip- j rim. lib. 36, pus wrote a Comment, and added Tables to them. cap.
Oracles, perhaps part of the forelaid Verfes ^ upon thefe.^/'W/yj wrote a Comment in twelve Books.
Of Agriculture,os,Mechanicks-, FH'ny alledg- eth a Rule for Sowings and the Author of the Geoponicks, many Experiments under his name but this was either Ipurious, or written by fbme other Zoroa/er.
Revelations-, fuppofititious alfo, forged (as Forphyrius profelfeth) by fome Gno/icks.
To thefe add, cited by the Arabians, a Trea- life of Magick-, and of Dreams,and their
Interpret ations,C\X.A by Gelaldin frequently • In¬ ventions ddubtlefs of latter times.
Some aferibe the Treatifes of the Perfian Zoroa/er to the Chaldaan-, but of tltofe here¬ after.
CHAP. IV.
Of Belus, another reputed Inventer of Sciences among/ the Chaldeans. '
i
SOme there are who aferibe the Invention of Aflronomy to Belus, of which Name there vyere two Perfons, one a Tyrian, the other an AJfyrian, who Reigned in Babylonia next after the Arabians, about the 2682 year of the World according to the accompt of Africanus -, for whofe Inventions th.o''Babylonians honoured him as a God. There is yet fianding, (faith a Fli- a Lih ny) the Temple of Jupiter Belus j he was the bi¬ venter of the Sciences of the Stars, and b Dio- ^ dorus, fpeakingof tho JTgyptians , They affirm that afterwards many Colonies went out oj .ffigypt, and were difperfed over the Earth, and that Be¬ lus reputed to be SonofNo^tmiQ and hyhm, car¬ ried one to BAylon', and making choice of the River Euphrates, to fettle it,in/ituted Frie/s af¬ ter the manner of thofe in Mgy^t,exempt from all publick Charges and Duties, which the Babyloni¬ ans cdl Chaldtzans-, thefe obferved the Stars, imi¬ tating the JEgyptian Frie/s, Naturali/s and A- (Irologers. Thus Diodorus. But that Belus was Son of. Neptune and Lybia, is nothing but Greek Mythology ; that he brought a Colony out of dEgypt into Babylon, is Fabulous. For the Mgyp- tians had not any Correfpondence with Foreign¬ ers for .a long time after. But to confirm that he was skilful in thofe Sciences, c Milan gives this Relation.
Xerxes Son ment of ancient FCExs, found an Urn ofGlafs,in, which his dead Body lay in Oyl-, But the Urn was not full, it wanted a hand-breadth of the top ; next the Urn there was a little Fillar, on which it was written. That whofoever fhould open the Se- pulcrc, and did not fill up the Urn, fhould. have ill Fortune, which-'KexxQS reading grew afraid, and commanded that they fhould pour Oyl into it with all Speed-, notwith/anding it teas not filled-. Then he.commdndedto pour'inlo it a fecond time -, hut neither did~ it increafe at all thereby. So that at laji failing of Succejs, he gave over- -, and [hutting up the Alonument, departed very fad. Ncr did
the
c Vox . Hpu