147. These particulars seem to be resumed more specifically near the end of this section. Our text has [Syriac] here, for [Syriac] I presume. I have, therefore, translated it by in sepulchres : alluding, perhaps, to the sacrificing, and otherwise destroying, of children.
148. So, in the Prep. Evang. (p. 11. C.).. [Greek] (See also Plutarch, Tom. ii. p. 409.) So also Bardesanes, who attributes this to the Medes, &c. (ib. p. 277.) [Greek] Theodoret says
on the same subject:...[Greek] (p. 615. see also p. 614.) See also Cicero. Tusc. Quaest. Lib. i. cap. xlv.
149. So Bardesanes. (Prep. Evang. p. 275. B.) [Greek] See also Viger's Note, (p. 25.) where much interesting matter, to this effect, is collected together, it. Orat. de laudd. Constant, p. 535. B.
150. This is applied to the Scythians, generally, in the Prep. Evang. (p. 11.) in these words [Greek] Bardesanes affirms that there is also a people in India, who indulge in cannibalism, (ib. p. 278. D.) [Greek]
151. This seems to be applied to the Derbices of Persia, (Prep. Evang. ib. p. 11.) and the Massagetae...[...]
152. This, according to Euseb. (l.c.) and Theodoret, (l.c.) was done by the Tibareni. Theod. [Greek]
153. Mention is made of this (Prep. Evang. ib.) in these words, [...] Lit. Nor, as formerly, do they cast over the aged with a snare (noose, &c.) A practice, perhaps, not unlike that of the Persian hunters and warriors, who threw a sort of noose, ---- called the [Arabic] Camand, ---- over the head of the animal they wished to take. [...]
154. So the Hyrcaneans and Bactrians (Prep. Evang. pp. 11, 12, and Theodoret as above.)
155. So the Caspians (Prep. Evang. ib.) and Bactrians (ib. p. 12.) Strabo Geogr. Lib. xi. p. 356. Edit. Casaubon.
156. This, according to Theodoret, (Graec. affect, curat. p. 615.) was done by the Scythians: [Greek] So Ibn Batuta tells us (Travels, p. 220,) that he saw, at the funeral of the Emperor of China, six favourite Mamluks, and four female slaves all buried alive with him! See also Prep. Evang. (ib. p. 156. C.)
157. So the Indians, as Bardesanes tells us, burned the wives, together with the dead body of the husband, on the funeral pile (Prep. Evang. p. 277. D.), just as it is the practice still in Hindustan. See also Plutarch, Tract. [Greek] Tom. ii. p. mihi 499. See also Origen contra Cels. Lib. v. p. 254. seq. as given by Celsus himself.
158. Alluding perhaps to the case of David. 1 Sam. xvii. 34----36.
159. Not unlike this Porphyr. ad Boeth. Prep. Evang. Lib. xi. cap. xxviii. p. 556. C.
160. See our author's Eccl. Hist. Lib. ix. cap. viii.
161. See Prep. Evang. Lib. vi. capp. i-iii. p. 236; where cap. iii. we have a poem from Porphyry on the conflagrations of the Temples. See also ib. Lib. III. cap. ii. p. 134. D.
162. [...] Eusebius, Prep. Evang. (p. 134. D.) This (Simson's Chron. p. 640) happened A. M. 3457; his words are, " A Pisistratidis incensum prodidit Philochorus apud Pindari Scholiastem ad Od. 7. Pyth. Non multo post ab Alcmaonidis instauratum."
163. Syr. [Syriac]. It has been affirmed by some, (Simson. Chron. A. M. 2948,) that the Amazons first built this Temple ; others deny this, and state that one Cresus, with Ephesus the son of Carter, built it: while Strabo makes Chersiphron its first builder. I have met with no account, however, of it having been destroyed by the Amazons.
164. Syr. [Syriac] Strabo, however, Lib. xiv. p. 440, tells us, that it was Herostratus, who, to secure fame to himself, burnt it the second time. See also Valerius Maximus, Lib. viii. cap. xiv. Extern. 5. This was the Temple in which the image that fell down from Jupiter (Acts xix. 35.) was said to be preserved: which image, according to Pliny, was made of ebony by one Canitia. (Lib. xix. cap. iv.) So the authors of the Universal History, and, after them apparently Rees's Encyclopedia, Art. Diana. But, I can find no such thing in Pliny, nor any statuary of the name of Canitia. The words of Pliny are (Lib. xvi. 79), "De ipso simulacro Dea? ambigitur: ceteri ex ebeno esse tradunt. Mucianus ter consul, ex his qui proxime viso scripsere, vitigineum, et nunquam mutatum septies restituto templo."
165. So Thucydides, Lib. iv. 133; not unlike this too, Pausanias Descript. Gr. Lib. vii. cap. v. This happened (Simson's Chronicon. p. 769.) A. M. 3582----which see.
166. This Temple was, according to Herodotus, very rich, and more ancient than that of Delphos, and was burnt by the Medes in conjunction with the Thessalians, Lib. vni. 33. Eusebius, however, speaks of an invasion and burning by the Thebans which was, perhaps, on another occasion. See also Pausanias, Graec. Descript. Lib. x. cap. xxxv. This happened A. M. 3658. (Sims. Chron. p. 905.)
167. This was, according to Strabo, (Lib. viii. p. mihi 244.) one of the finest works of Phidias. It was made of ivory, in a sitting posture, and so large, that if standing the Temple could not have contained it, its height would have been so great. See also Pausanias, Lib. i. cap. xviii. This Temple was once destroyed by an inundation of the sea. Pausan. Lib. in. cap. ix. I can find no account of the destruction of this statue by lightning. See Prep. Evang. p. 135. A.
168. An account of this is found in Herodian, as happening in the times of Commodus, (Lib. i. 14.) He first tells us, that the Temple of Peace suffered by lightning after many prodigies had appeared in the heavens, with pestilences, &c. on the earth. [Greek] " Maximum autem nefas cum in praesens dolorem attulit, tum in futurum pessimo augurio universos conterruit. Nam cum neque imbres ulli neque nubes, tantumque exiguus terrae motus antecessisset, seu nocturni casu fulminis, sive igni aliquo in ipso terrarum motu velut extrito, totum de improviso Pacis templum consumptum incendio est: quod unum scilicet opus cunctorum tota urbo maximum fuit atque pulcherrimum: idem templorum omnium opulentissimum...inter qua; etiam Vestae templum, sic ut Palladium quoque conspiceretur: quod inprimis colunt atque in arcano habent Romani, Troja (ut perhibent) avectum." See also Xiphilinus near the end of Commodus. The Temple of Fortune at Rome is said, by Zosimus, to have been burnt in like manner. (Lib. ii. Constantinus et Licinius.) The Temple of Vesta was also burnt in the first Punic wars. See Dion. Hallicarn. Lib. ii. p. 94. Edit. 1546, where this Palladium is also spoken of. See also Clemens. Alexand. Admon. ad Gentes. p. 30-85. seq. and Pausan. Lib. v.
169. [...] Xiphilinus tells us in his Epitome of Dion, that in the times of Titus, the Temples of Serapis and Isis; the Septa; the Temple of Neptune; the Baths of Agrippa; the Pantheon ; the Diribitorium; the Theatre of Balbus; the Scena of Pompey ; the houses of Octavius, with the books; the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, with the adjoining Temples, were all destroyed by fire, which the Historian thinks were Divine, rather than human, occurrences. (Edit. Sylburg. Ed. 1590. p. 827.) See also Prep. Evang. Lib. in. cap ii. p. 134. D. seq. It. Simsoni de Sibyl. Vaticin. disquis. col. 1712.
170. [...] This happened in the times of Domitian, of which Suetonius (Lib. xi. cap. xv.) gives the following account. [...] &c. We are told in the next chapter, that on consulting a German soothsayer concerning this lightning, he was told that it portended a change of things. Which harmonizes well with the general expectations those times. The soothsayer, however, appears to have lost his life, on account of this answer. Comp. Tacit. Hist. Lib. iv. 54, and Simson, Chron. Cathol. pars. vii. p. 1674. The Capitol was also burnt in the year before Christ, 80, together with the Chapel and Sybilline books. Simson, Chron. A. M. 3923.