words. And thou Caphernaum which art lifted vp vnto heauen, shalt be brought downe to Hell, &c. which shewed the pride and greatnesse of that Citie: for it was one of the principall Cities of Decapolis, and the Metropolis of Galilee. And although there were some markes of this Cities magnificence in S. Hieromes time, as himselfe confesseth: it being then a reasonable Burge or Towne: yet those that haue since, and long since seene it, as Brochard, Breidenbech, and Saliniac affirme, that it then con∣sisted but of sixe poore Fisher-mens houses.
The Region of ten principall Cities called Decapolitana or Decapolis, is in this de∣scription often mentioned, and in S. Matthew, Marke, and Luke, also remembred; but I finde no agreement among the Cosmographers, what proper limits it had: and [unspec 10] so Plinie himselfe confesseth; for Marius Niger speaking from others, bounds it on the North by the mountaine Casius in 〈◊〉〈◊〉: and endeth it to the South at Aegypt and Arabia; by which description it imbraceth Phoenicia, a part of Coelesyria, all Palaesti∣na, and Iudaea.
Plinie also makes it large, and for the ten Cities of which it taketh name, he num∣breth foure of them to be situated towards Arabia: to wit, first these three, Damascus, Opotos, Raphana, then Philadelphia (which was first called Amana, saith Stephanus, or as I ghesse Amona rather, because it was the chiefe Citie of the Ammonites, knowne by the name of Rabbah, before Pto. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 gaue it this later and new name.) Then Scythopolis, sometime Nisa, built (as is said) by 〈◊〉〈◊〉, in memorie of his [unspec 20] Nurse, who died therein, anciently knowne by the name of Bethsan; for the sixth he setteth Gadara (not that Gadara in Coelesyria, which was also called Antioch and 〈◊〉〈◊〉:) but it is Gadara in Basan, which Plinte in this place meaneth, seated on a high hill, neere the Riuer of Hieromaix. This Riuer Ortelius takes to bee the Riuer Iaboc: which boundeth Gad and Manasseh ouer Iordan: but he mistaketh it; for Hieromaix falleth into the Sea of Galilee, betweene Hippos and Gerasa, whereas Iaboc entreth the same Sea betweene Ephron and Phanuel. For the seuenth he nameth Hippos, or Hippion, a Citie so called of a Colonie of Horsemen there garrisond by Herod, on the East side of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Sea, described hereafter in the Tribe of Manasse ouer Ior∣dan. For the eighth Pella, which is also called Butis, and Berenice, seated in the South [unspec 30] border of the Region ouer Iordan, called Peraea. For the ninth Gelasa, which Iosephus takes to be Gerasa: and Gerasa is found in Coelesyria by Iosephus, Hegesippus, and Stepha∣nus: but by Ptolomie (whom I rather follow) in Phoenicia. The tenth and last, Plinie nameth Canatha, and so doth Suetonius and Stephanus, which Volaterran calls Gamala, but Hegesippus rightly Camala, a Citie in the Region of Basan ouer Iordan, so called, because those two Hills on which it is seated, haue the shape of a Camell. But the collection of these ten Cities, whereof this Region tooke name, is better gathered out of Brochard, Breidenbach, and Saligniac, which make them to bee these; Caesaria Philippi, and Asor, before remembred, Cedes Nephtalim, Sephet, Corazin, Capharnaum, Bethsaida, Iotapata, Tiberias, and Scythopolis, or Bethsan. For all other Authors disa∣gree [unspec 40] herein and giue no reason for their opinion. One place of the Euangelist Saint Matthew makes it manifest, that this Region called Decapolitana, was all that Tract betweene Zidon, and the Sea of Galilee. For thus it is written: And he departed againe from the coasts of Tyrus and Zidon, and came vnto the Sea of Galilee, through the middest of the coasts of Decapolis: so that it was bounded by Damascus and Libanus on the North: by the Phoenician Sea, betweene Zidon and Ptolomais on the West: by the Hills of Gelbo and Bethsan on the South: and by the Mountaines Tracones, otherwise Hermon, Sanir, and Galaad, on the East: which is from East to West the whole bredth of the Holy Land: and from the North to the South, neere the same distance which may be each way fortie English miles. [unspec 50]