The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Grecians (Vol. 1 of 6)

Reverend and most Learned Sir,

When I was informed by a friend who lives near you, that you were returned to Paris, I resolved to wait on you, as soon as my health would admit. After having been prevented by the gout for some time, I was in hopes at length of paying my respects to you at your house, and went thither, but found you not at home. It is incumbent on me therefore to do that in writing, which I could not in person, and to return you my acknowledgments for all the favours you have been pleased to confer upon me, of which I beg you will be assured, that I shall always retain the most grateful sense.

And indeed I esteem the books you have lately published, as presents of exceeding value, and such as do me very great honour. For I have the highest regard, most excellent Sir, both for you, and for every thing that comes from so masterly a hand as yours, in the kind of learning you treat; in which I must believe that you not only excel all other writers, but are at the same time the best master of speaking and thinking well; and I freely confess that, though I had applied some time and pains in cultivating these studies, when I read your volumes over and over again, I was instructed in things by you, of which I was not only entirely ignorant, but seemed to myself to have learnt before. You have therefore too modest an opinion of your work, when you declare it composed solely for the instruction of youth. What you write may undoubtedly be read with pleasure and improvement by persons not unacquainted with learning of the same kind. For whilst you call to mind ancient facts and things sufficiently known, you do it in such a manner, that you illustrate, you embellish them; still adding something new to the old, something entirely your own to the labours of others: by placing good pictures in a good light, you make them appear with unusual elegance and more exalted beauties, even to those who have seen and studied them most.

In your frequent correspondence with Xenophon, you have certainly extracted from him, both what you relate in many places, and every where his very manner of relating; you seem not only to have imitated, but attained the shining elegance and beautiful simplicity of that author’s style: so that had Xenophon excelled in the French language, in my judgment he would have used no other words, nor written in any other method, upon the subject you treat, than you have done.

I do not say this out of flattery, (which is far from being my vice,) but from my real sentiments and opinion. As you have enriched me with your fine presents, which I know how incapable I am of repaying either in the same or in any other kind of learning, I was willing to testify my gratitude and affection for you, and at least to make you some small, though exceedingly unequal, return.

Go on, most learned and venerable Sir, to deserve well of sound literature, which now lies universally neglected and despised. Go on, in forming the youth of France (since you will have their utility to be your sole view) upon the best precepts and examples.

Which that you may effect, may it please God to add many years to your life, and during the course of them to preserve you in health and safety. This is the earnest wish and prayer of

Your most obedient Servant, FRANCIS ROFFEN.

P.S.—Our friend, your neighbour, tells me you intend to dine with me after the holidays. When you have fixed upon the day, be pleased to let him know it. Whenever you come, you will be sure to find one so weak with age and ills as I am, at home.

December 26, 1731.

PREFACE.

The Usefulness of Profane History, especially with regard to Religion.

The study of profane history would little deserve to have a serious attention, and a considerable length of time bestowed upon it, if it were confined to the bare knowledge of ancient transactions, and an uninteresting inquiry into the æras when each of them happened. It little concerns us to know, that there were once such men as Alexander, Cæsar, Aristides, or Cato, and that they lived in this or that period; that the empire of the Assyrians made way for that of the Babylonians, and the latter for the empire of the Medes and Persians, who were themselves subjected by the Macedonians, as these were afterwards by the Romans.

But it highly concerns us to know, by what methods those empires were founded; by what steps they rose to that exalted pitch of grandeur which we so much admire; what it was that constituted their true glory and felicity; and what were the causes of their declension and fall.

It is of no less importance to study attentively the manners of different nations; their genius, laws, and customs; and especially to acquaint ourselves with the character and disposition, the talents, virtues, and even vices of those by whom they were governed; and whose good or bad qualities contributed to the grandeur or decay of the states over which they presided.

Such are the great objects which ancient history presents; causing to pass, as it were, in review before us, all the kingdoms and empires of the world; and at the same time, all the great men who were any ways conspicuous; thereby instructing us, by example rather than precept, in the arts of empire and war, the principles of government, the rules of policy, the maxims of civil society, and the conduct of life that suits all ages and conditions.

We acquire, at the same time, another knowledge, which cannot but excite the attention of all persons who have a taste and inclination for polite learning; I mean the manner in which arts and sciences were invented, cultivated, and improved. We there discover, and trace as it were with the eye, their origin and progress; and perceive, with admiration, that the nearer we approach those countries which were once inhabited by the sons of Noah, in the greater perfection we find the arts and sciences; whereas they seem to be either neglected or forgotten, in proportion to the remoteness of nations from them; so that, when men attempted to revive those arts and sciences, they were obliged to go back to the source from whence they originally flowed.

I give only a transient view of these objects, though so very important, in this place, because I have already treated them at some length elsewhere.(1)

But another object of infinitely greater importance, claims our attention. For although profane history treats only of nations who had imbibed all the absurdities of a superstitious worship; and abandoned themselves to all the irregularities of which human nature, after the fall of the first man, became capable; it nevertheless proclaims universally the greatness of the Almighty, his power, his justice, and above all, the admirable wisdom with which his providence governs the universe.

If the inherent conviction of this last truth raised, according to Cicero’s observation,(2) the Romans above all other nations; we may, in like manner, affirm, that nothing gives history a greater superiority to many other branches of literature, than to see in a manner imprinted, in almost every page of it, the precious footsteps and shining proofs of this great truth, viz. that God disposes all events as supreme Lord and Sovereign; that he alone determines the fate of kings and the duration of empires; and that he transfers the government of kingdoms from one nation to another, because of the unrighteous dealing and wickedness committed therein.(3)

We discover this important truth in going back to the most remote antiquity, and the origin of profane history; I mean, to the dispersion of the posterity of Noah into the several countries of the earth where they settled. Liberty, chance, views of interest, a love for certain countries, and similar motives, were, in outward appearance, the only causes of the different choice which men made in these various migrations. But the Scriptures inform us, that amidst the trouble and confusion that followed the sudden change in the language of Noah’s descendants, God presided invisibly over all their counsels and deliberations; that nothing was transacted but by the Almighty’s appointment; and that he alone guided(4) and settled all mankind, agreeably to the dictates of his mercy and justice: “The Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the earth.”(5)