Ptolemies in Egypt, to date its commencement from the death of Alexander the Great, had continued two hundred and ninety-three years, from the year of the world 3631 to 3974.

CONCLUSION OF THE ANCIENT HISTORY.

We have seen hitherto, without speaking of the first and ancient kingdom of Egypt, and of some states separate, and in a manner entirely distinct from the rest, three great successive empires, founded on the ruin of each other, continue during a long series of ages, and at length entirely disappear; the empire of the Babylonians, the empire of the Medes and Persians, and the empire of the Macedonians and the Grecian princes, successors of Alexander the Great. A fourth empire arises, that of the Romans, which having already swallowed up most of those which have preceded it, will extend its conquests, and after having subjected all to its power by force of arms, be itself torn in a manner into different pieces, and by being so dismembered, make way for the establishment of almost all the kingdoms which now divide Europe, Asia, and Africa. We may here behold a picture of all ages; of the glory and power of all the empires of the world; in a word, of all that is splendid or admirable in human greatness! Every excellence is here presented, sublimity of genius, delicacy of taste, accompanied by solidity of judgment; the noblest efforts of eloquence, carried to the highest degree of perfection, without departing from nature and truth the glory of arms, with that of arts and sciences; valour in conquering, and ability in government. What a multitude of great men of every kind does it not present to our view! What powerful, what glorious kings! What great captains! What famous conquerors! What wise magistrates! What learned philosophers! What admirable legislators! We are transported with beholding in certain ages and countries, as if peculiar to themselves, an ardent zeal for justice, a passionate love of country, a noble disinterestedness, a generous contempt of riches, and an esteem for poverty, which astonish and amaze us, so much do they appear above human nature.

In this manner we think and judge. But while we are in admiration and ecstasy at the view of so many splendid virtues, the Supreme Judge, who alone can estimate all things, sees nothing in them but trifles, meanness, vanity, and pride; and while mankind are continually busied in perpetuating the power of their families, in founding kingdoms and eternizing themselves, if that were possible, God, from his throne on high, overthrows all their projects, and makes even their ambition the means of executing his purposes, infinitely superior to our understandings. He alone knows his operations and designs. All ages are present to him: "He seeth from everlasting to everlasting.' ." He has assigned all empires their fate and duration. In all the different revolutions, we have seen that nothing has come to pass by chance. We know, that under the image of that statue which Nabuchodonosor saw, of an enormous height and terrible countenance, with the head of gold, the breasts and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron mixed with clay, God thought fit to represent the four great empires, uniting in them, as we have seen in the course of this history, all that is glorious, grand, formidable, and powerful. And what means does the Almighty use for overthrowing this immense Colossus? "A small stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer thrashing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."t

We see with our own eyes the accomplishinent of this admirable prophecy of Daniel, at least in part. Jesus Christ who descended to clothe himself with

Eccles. xxxix. 19.

↑ Dan. ii, 34, 35.

flesh and blood in the sacred womb of the blessed virgin, without the participation of man, is the small stone that came from the mountain without human aid. The prevailing characteristics of his person, of his relations, his appear ance, his manner of teaching, his disciples, in a word, of every thing that relates to him, were simplicity, poverty, and humility; which were so extreme, that they concealed from the eyes of the proud Jews the divine lustre of his miracles, however effulgent, and from the sight of the devil himself, penetrating and attentive as he was, the evident proofs of his divinity.

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Notwithstanding that seeming weakness, and even meanness, Jesus Christ will certainly conquer the whole universe. It is under this idea a prophet represents him to us : He went forth conquering and to conquer. "His work and mission are, to set up a kingdom for his Father, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom which shall not be left to other people ;" like those which we have seen in this history; but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms; and it shall stand for ever."

The power granted to Jesus Christ, the founder of this empire, is without bounds, measure, or end. The kings, who glory so much in their power, have nothing which approaches in the least to that of Jesus Christ. They do not reign over the will of man, which is real dominion. Their subjects can think as they please independently of them. There are an infinitude of particular actions done without their order, and which escape their knowledge as well as their power. Their designs often miscarry, and come to rothing even during their own lives. But with Jesus Christ it is quite otherwise. All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth." He exercises it principally upon the hearts and minds of men. Nothing is done without his order or permission, Every thing is disposed by his wisdom and power. Every thing co-operates directly or indirectly to the accomplishment of his designs.

While all things are in motion and fluctuate upon earth; while states and empires pass away with incredible rapidity, and the human race, vainly employed in the external view of these things, are also drawn in by the same torrent, almost without perceiving it; there passes, in secret, an order and disposition of things unknown and invisible, which however determine our fate to all eternity. The duration of ages has no other end than the formation of the bodies of the elect, which augments, and tends daily toward perfection. When it shall receive its final accomplishment by the death of the last of the elect; "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power.t

* Apoc. vi. 2.

Matth. xxvii. 18.

† 1 Cor. xv. 24.

THE END.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

CHRONOLOGY.

CHRONOLOGY is the knowledge of the just computation of time. It shows to what year the events related in history are to be referred. The years used for measuring the duration of time are either solar or lunar.

The solar year is that space of time between one equinox and another of the same denomination the next year; for instance, from the vernal equinox to the vernal equinox following, which contains three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, and forty-nine minutes.

The lunar year is composed of twelve lunar months, each of which consists of twenty-nine days, twelve hours, and forty-four minutes, that make in all, three hundred and fifty-four days, eight hours, and forty-eight minutes.

Both of these years are called astronomical, to distinguish them from that in common use, which is termed civil or political.

Though nations may not agree with one another in the manner of determining their years, some regulating them by the sun's motions, and others by the moon's; they however generally use the solar year in chronology. It seems at first, that as the lunar years are shorter than the solar, that inequality should produce some error in chronological calculations. But it is to be observed, that the nations who used lunar years, added a certain number of the intercalary days to make them agree with the solar; which reconciles them with each other, or at least, if there be any difference, it may be neglected, when the question is only to determine the year in which a fact happened.

In chronology there are certain times distinguished by some great event, to which all the rest are referred. These are called epochs,* from a Greek word, which signifies to stay, because we stay there to consider, as from a resting place, all that has happened before or after, and by that means to avoid anachronisms, that is to say, those errors which induce confusion of times.

The choice of the events which are to serve as epochs is arbitrary; and a writer of history may take such as best suit his plan.

When we begin to compute years from one of these points distinguished by a considerable event, the enumeration and series of such years are called eras. There are almost as many eras as there have been different nations. The principal and most used are those of the world, of Jesus Christ, of the Olympiads, and of Rome. I should have been glad to have used all the four in the chronological table at the end of my history; but the narrow compass of

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these pages obliges me to confine myself to the two most famous; that is to say, that of the world, and that of Jesus Christ.

Every body knows that the Olympiads derive their origin from the Olympic games, which were celebrated in Peloponnesus, near the city of Olympia. These games were so solemn, that Greece made them her epoch for computing her years. By Olympiad is meant the space of four years complete, which is the time that elapsed between one celebration of games and another. The first used by chronolcgers begins, according to Usher, in the summer of the year of the world 3228, before Christ 776. When the time on which an event happened is reckoned by the Olympiads, authors say the first, second, or third, &c. year of such an Olympiad; which being once known, it is easy to find the year of the world to which the same fact is to be referred; and in like manner, when the year of the world is known, it is easy to find that of the Olympiad which agrees with it.

Rome was built, accor ng to Varro's chronology, in the year of the world 3251, and the 753d befo Jesus Christ. Cato dates the foundation of that city two years later, in th ear of the world 3253, before Jesus Christ 751. I shall follow the opinion of the latter in my Roman history. The years reckoned from this epoch are called indifferently years of Rome, or years from the foundation of the city.

The Julian period is also a famous era in chronology, used principally for reckoning the years before Christ. I am going to explain wherein this period consists, and its use; but first I must give the reader an idea of the three cycles, of which it is composed.

By the word cycle, the revolution of a certain number of years is understood.

The solar cycle is a term of twenty-eight years, which includes all the variations that the Sundays and days of the week admit; that is to say, at the end of twenty-eight years, the first seven letters of the alphabet, which are used in the calendar for noting the day of the week, and which are called dominical letters, return in the same order in which they were at first. To understand what I have now said, it must be observed, that if the year had only fifty-two weeks, there would be no change in the order of the dominical letters. But as it has a day more, and two in leap year, that produces all the variations included in the space of twenty-eight years, of which the solar cycle

consists.

The lunar cycle, called also the golden number, is the revolution of nineteen years, at the end of which the moon returns, within near an hour and a half, to the same point with the sun, and begins its lunations again in the same order as at first. We are indebted for the invention of the cycle to Methon, a famous Athenian astronomer. Before the invention of the epacts, it was used for marking the days of the new moon in the calendar.

Besides these two cycles, chronologers admit of a third also, called indiction. This is a revolution of fifteen years, of which the first is called the first indiction, the second the second indiction, and so on to the fifteenth; after which they begin again to count the first indiction, &c.

The first indiction is generally supposed to have begun three years before the birth of Christ.

If these three cycles, that is to say, 28, 19, and 15, are multiplied by each other, the product will be 7980, which is what is called the Julian period.

One of the properties of this period is to give the three characteristic cycles of each year, that is to say, the current year of each of the three cycles; for example, every body knows that the vulgar era commences at the year 4714 of the Julian period. If that number be divided by 28, what remains* after the

I say what remains, and not the quotient, as some authors do; for the quotient expresses the number of cycles elapsed since the beginning of the period, and what remains after the division, shows the your of the current cycle.