Accipit æternam vis profligata repulsam, Fractaque sunt validâ tela minæque manu. Cui Melite non nota tua est? atque impare nisu Conjunctum à criticis Euro Aquilonis iter? Argo quis dubitat? quis Delta in divite nescit Quà sit Jösephi fratribus aucta domus ? Monstra quot Ægypti perhibes! quæque Ira Je hovæ ! Quâm proprié in falsos arma parata deos! Dum fœdis squalet Nilus cum fœtibus amnis, Et necis est auctor queîs modo numen erat. Immeritos Danaûm casus, Priamique dolemus Funera, nec vel adhuc ossa quieta, senis? Fata Melesigenæ querimur, mentitaque facta Hectoris incertas ad Simoëntis aquas? Eruis hæc veteris scabrâ è rubigine famæ, Dasque operis vati jusque decusque sui, Magna tuis affers monumentaque clara triumphis, Cum Trojâ æternum quòd tibi nomen erit! Ah! ne te extremâ cesset coluisse senectâ, (Aspicere heu! nimiæ quem vetuere moræ,) Qui puer, atque infans prope, te sibi sensit ami cum, Eque tuis sophiæ fontibus hausit aquas! Imagis, et, puræ quæcunque aptissima vitæ Hæc pete rite seni venerando, Musa; quod Ille ON MR. BRYANT'S MONUMENT, IN CYPENHAM CHURCH. M-S JACOB BRYANT Collegii Regalis apud Cantabrigienses Olim Socii Qui in bonis quas ibi hauserat artibus excolendis consenuit. Erant in eo plurimæ literæ Sed exquisitæ quædam et reconditæ, ad illustrandam S.S veritatem adhibuit: Id quod testantur scripta ejus gravissima, tam in Historiæ sacræ primordiis eruendis quam in Gentium Mythologiâ explicandâ versata. Libris erat adeo deditus Ut iter vitæ secretum iis omnino deditum ; Præmiis honoribusque quæ illi non magis ex Patroni nobilissimi gratiâ Vitam integerrimam et verê Christianam Anno Ætatis suæ 89. PREFACE. Ναφε, και μεμασ' απιςειν αρθρα ταυτα των φρενων. EPICHARMUS. IT is my purpose, in the ensuing work, to give an account of the first ages, and of the great events which happened in the infancy of the world. In consequence of this I shall lay before the reader what the Gentile writers have said upon this subject, collaterally with the accounts given by Moses, as long as I find him engaged in the general history of mankind. By these means I shall be able to bring surprising proofs of those great occurrences, which the sacred penman has recorded. And when his history becomes more limited, and is confined to a peculiar people, and a private dispensation, |