was
the repeated labour of Clemens of Alexandria, Theophilus, Eusebius,
Tatianus, and others. It was a point urged by them continually in their
recommendation of the Scriptures, as if priority of time were necessarily a
mark of truth. The best chronologers likewise admit these personages in
their computations; and great pains have been used to reconcile the
contradictions in their histories, and to ascertain the aera when they
flourished. These learned men acted upon a very laudable principle, but
failed in the very beginning of their process. For, as I have before taken
notice, the question should not have been about the time when these persons
lived, but whether they ever existed. The fathers proceeded upon very
precarious grounds, and brought their evidence to a wrong test. They indeed
state things very fairly, and have authorities for all that they advance.
But the traditions of the Greeks were not uniform. And if any Gentile
writer, instead of carrying the aera of Inachus and Phoroneus, or of
Dionusus and Perseus, towards the time of Moses, had extended it to the
times of the first kings in Egypt, I do not see what they could have done;
for this person, in his turn, could have produced authorities. They might
indeed have disputed the point, and have opposed evidence to evidence, but
nothing certain could have ensued.

END OF VOL. II.

W. Marchant, Printer, 3, Greville-street, Holborn.

[1] In all antient accounts of the Romans the term was expressed Poini, and
Poinicus. Poinei stipendia pendunt. Poinei sunt soliti suos sacrificare
puellos. Ennius. Annal. vii. Afterwards it was changed to Poenus, and
Punicus.

[2] Simon the Canaanite. Matth. c. 10. v 4. Also the woman of Canaan.
Matthew. c. 15. v. 22.

[3] Ausonius. Epigram. 25. Ph'Anac, the Great Lord.

[4] Apuleius. l. xi. p. 246.

[5] Zachlas adest AEgyptius, propheta primarius,--et cum dicto juvenem
quempiam linteis amiculis intectum, pedesque palmeis baxeis indutum, et
adusque deraso capite, producit in medium. Apuleius. l. 2. p. 39.

[6] Pedes ambrosios tegebant soleae, palmae victricis foliis intextae. Ibid.
l. 11. p. 241.

[7] Euripides in Ione. v. 920.

[8] Cantic. c. 7. v. 6.

[9] Psalm 93. v. 12.

[10] Plutarch Symposiac. l. 8. c. 4. Adversus pondera resurgit. Gellius. l.
3. c. 6.

[11] Pliny. Hist. Nat. l. 13. c. 4. [Greek: Hieron Heliou to phuton, ageron
te on]. Juliani Imp. Orat. v. p. 330.

[12] Revelations. c. 7. v. 9. [Greek: Peri