PHILO, 100. CHARMIDAS (or CHARMIDES), 95. The Epicureans, ZENO of Sidon, 83. T. LUCRETIUS CARUS, the Poet, 65. Of Poets, Rhetoricians, &c. we observe MNASIAS of Patra, the Grammarian, 141. LUCIUS ACTIUS, the Tragic Poet, 139. NICANDER of Colophon, Grammarian, Poet, and Physician, 137. HERODICUS, (surnamed Crateleus) the Grammarian, 123. LUCILIUS, 1st Roman Satyrist, 116. APOLLODORUS of Athens, Mythologist and Grammarian, 115. M. ANTONIUS, Sen. Roman Orator, 113, (grandfather of the Triumvir.). LUCIUS LICINIUS CRASSUS, Roman Orator, 110. PLOTIUS GALLUS, the Grammarian, (first Latin Rhetorician), 87. QUINTUS HORTENSIUS, Roman Orator, 82. A. LICINIUS ARCHIAS, 81; and ANTIPATER, of Sidon, 80, Poets. APOLLONIUS (surnamed Molo) of Rhodes, the Rhetorician, 76. M. TARENTIUS VARRO, (surnamed the most learned of the Romans,) 70. ARISTODEMUS of Nysa, the Grammarian, 68. DIONYSIUS, (surnamed the Thracian) the Grammarian, 64. M. TULLIUS CICERO, the Orator; and his friend P. T. VARRO, (surnamed Atacinus,) the Poet, 48. VIRGIL, (or VIRGILIUS MARO) the Poet, 36.. VARIUS and Tucca, Critics, 17. C. JULIUS HYGINUS, Grammarian and Poet, 9. VERRIUS FLACCUs, the Grammarian, (supposed author of the Capitoline Marbles,) 8. Of Mathematicians and Astronomers, we notice CTESIBIUS, of Alexandria, Mathematician, inventor of the Pump, Clepsydra, and other Hydraulic instruments, 136. GEMINIUS, of Rhodes, the Astronomer and Mathematician, 77. THEODOSIUS, of Tripoli, the Mathematician, 75. L. TARUNTIUS SPURINA, the Mathematician, 61. SOSIGENES, of Alexandria, the Astronomer and Mathema tician, assisted Julius Cæsar to correct the Calendar, 46; this year was called "the year of confusion," and consisted of 15 months, or 445 days. M. VITRUVIUS POLLIO, the Architect, 15. Of Historians, L. CELIUS ANTIPATER, 121; CASTOR, of Rhodes, 120, ARTEMIDORUS, of Ephesus, the Geographer, 104. L. SISENNA, the Roman Historian, 91. ALEXANDER, (surnamed POLYHISTOR) 88. Q. VALERIUS ANTIAS, 84. C. CRISPUS SALlust, 57. TIMAGENES, of Alexandria, 54; (brought to Rome by Gabinius.) CORNELIUS NEPOS, 49. DIODORUS SICULUS, 44, TROGUS POMPEIUS, 41. ASINIUS POLLIO, 31. STRABO, the Geographer, 30. TITUS LIVIUS, 25. DIONYSIUS, of Halicarnassus, 5. ASCLEPIADES, of Bithynia, 90. DIOSCORIDES, 33, and ANTONIUS MUSA, 22, Physicians, also flourished during this period. SACRED HISTORY. "THE oldest records of time now extant, are unquestionably the Mosaical. They are much earlier than the fragments of Sanchoniatho, Berosus, and Manetho, and indeed exhibit internal evidence of a purer and remoter antiquity, free from those monstrous fictions and absurdities, under which the heathen records caricature the venerable features of primæval history. The only sure and certain pole-star, to guide our wandering steps through the mazes, the desarts, and the quick-sands of ancient and primeval Chronology, in which so many adventurers have been lost or swallowed up, by following the ignis fatuus of their own imaginations, or the treacherous glare of hypotheses, are the SACRED SCRIPTURES, well understood, and carefully and critically compared together; for otherwise, they also may be perverted into sources of error and confusion." Hale's Anal. vol. i. p. 65. "If we take the BIBLE along with us, it is a teacher that will direct us through all the obscurity and maze of things, solve every difficulty, and lead up truth to the fountain head." Ellis, quoted by Dr. Hales. "The purest, and most fruitful source of ancient history is, doubtless, to be found in the HOLY BIBLE."Bielfield, quoted by Dr. Hales. "The history recorded by Moses, appears like a bright but remote object, seen through the glass of an excellent optician, clear, distinct, and well defined; but when we look back upon the accounts transmitted concerning the Assyrians, Egyptians, Medes, and Scythians, or those of the early ages of Italy and Greece, we find nothing but a series of incredible and inconsistent events, and groups of strange beings, "Abortive, monstrous, and unkindly mixed Gorgons, and Harpies, and Chimeras dire." Bryant, on the Plagues of Egypt, p. 379. To this ample authority for giving SACRED HISTORY the precedence as to time, and importance, in our historical researches, and for making it the standard of comparison to the histories of heathen nations, it will be necessary only to preface the following outline of Sacred story with a few ob-. servations which may prove useful to the juvenile student or inexperienced instructor. The events happening to the ancients for "ensamples" of the truth, justice, and mercy of God, and written for our instruction," can only answer the latter purpose, through a steady application of the attention to the latent meaning of HOLY WRIT. The literal history, will generally be found to contain a spiritual signification, and it is to the latter that we must (with due reverence and sobriety) look for the benefits to be derived from an intimate acquaintance with the scriptural records. In most instances, the NEW TESTAMENT, will prove the ablest, as well as safest, expositer of the OLD. After all we can obtain in a diligent search by the lights which Chronology, Geography, and parallel history afford, much will remain of sacred mystery, John, vii. 17; 1 Cor. ii. 14. which will serve to exercise our humility, and increase our reverence towards the GREAT and INCOMPREHENSIBLE BEING, all whose counsels are "truth and equity," though "his ways are past finding out;" and however above our reason the mystery of redemption may be, still we may obtain knowledge enough of it to make our service a “reasonable service;" and this is the grand object to be aimed at in the study of Sacred History. The interval of time between the Creation of the World, and the Birth of Christ, may be divided into three grand periods, viz. 1st, The Antediluvian, containing 1656 years, reaching from the Creation of the World, B. C. 4004, to the Universal Deluge, B. C. 2348. 2d, The Patriarchal, containing 857 years, extending from the Deluge, B. C. 2348, to the Exodus, B. C. 1491. 3d, The Mosaical, containing 1491 years, from the Exodus, B. C. 1491, to the Birth of Christ. The latter period may be subdivided into four others, viz. 1st, From the Exodus, B. C. 1491, to the election of Saul to the throne, B. C. 1095, containing 396 years. It comprehends the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness, the establishment of their civil and ecclesiastical polity,their settlement in the land of promise-their seven servitudes under their heathen neighbours, and deliverances by their judges their rejection of the Theocracy and appoint ment of a temporal king. 2nd, From the election of Saul to the throne, B. C. 1095, to the desolation of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, B. C. 587, containing 508 years. It comprehends the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon; the revolt of the ten tribes, and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel in opposition to that of Judah; the parallel history of both to the dissolution of the former state by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, and the captivity of Judah, and desolation of the land, by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 3d, From the desolation of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 587, to the re-establishment of the state by the Asmonean Princes, B. C. 163, containing 424 years. It exhibits the Jews successively under the dominion of the Babylonian, Persian, and Macedonian empires, until the tyrannical impiety of the Seleucidæ exciting the resistance of Mattathias, leads to the establishment of the Asmonean dynasty in Judas Maccabeus. 4th, From the establishment of the Asmonean dynasty, |