NOTES.
(a) ZOroaster.] There were many of this Name, but 'tis generally held, that the first and most celebrated of them lived in the time of Nimrod, that he was King of the Bactrians, and that he was overcome by Ninus. They speak wonderful Things of his Knowledge, his Wisdom, and of the Prodigies which he wrote. They make him the first Author of the Persian Philosophy, which they called Magick. Plato speaks of Zo∣roaster as Inventor of that Science amongst the Persians, and observes that he was the Son of Oro∣mazes. Eubulus, cited by Porphyry, attributes the Institution of the Mysteries of the Goddess Mi∣thra to him. E••doxus and Hermippus, cited by Pliny, tells us, that he lived Six thousand Years before Plato. But Ctesias, who has written the History of Zoroaster, testifies, that he lived in the time of Cyrus. This is the reason why Arnobius distinguished the two Zoroasters. Eusebius also makes Zoroaster as old as Ninus, and St. Epipha∣nius says, that he lived in the time of Nimrod. He is called Zarades by the Persians, and by the Greeks Zoroaster. There are several Explications given of his Name: Some pretend, that it signi∣fies a Living Star; others say, that he was the Son of Aster; and lastly, others tell us, that it signi∣fies a Contemplator of the Stars. All that is re∣lated of the ancient Zoroaster is fabulous. Diodo∣rus Siculus tells us, that the King of Bactria, that fought against Ninus, was named Oxiartes, and not Zoroaster. Nevertheless there is a great deal of reason to believe, that there was a Man of this Name amongst the Persians, who taught 'em Magick. Hermippus tells us, that he made an in∣finite number of Verses. The Fragment, which Eusebius cites in the 7th Chapter of his first Book De praeparatione Evangelicâ, taken out of the Hi∣story of the Persians attributed to this Author, has so plainly explained all the Attributes of God, that it is visible, it was composed by an Author who was no Stranger to the Christian Religion. Synesius cites the Oracles of Zoroaster, upon the Dreams that are taken out of the Works of the later Platonists. These Oracles have been pub∣lish'd by Opsopaeus, and printed at Paris 1599. with the Notes of Psellus and Plato. 'Tis no dif∣ficult matter to discover, that these Writings have been forged by the Platonists, that lived since our Blessed Saviour.
(b) Sanchoniathon.] This Author was un∣known to all the Ancients. Porphyry is the first Man that cited this History, which is full of Fa∣bles and ridiculous Fictions. Whatever we there find concerning the Origine of the World, and the first Men, is taken out of Genesis. From thence he has borrowed the Word Bohu to signifie Night, and that of Colpia, which is given to the Wind; as for what he says of the Aeora, and of the First-born, it looks very like the Dreams of the Valen∣tinians. Lastly, he takes several things out of the Fables of the Greeks, which evidently shew, that the Author of this Book could not live in the time of Semiramis. [Mr. Dodwell has writ an English Discourse, to prove that this Book could not be older than Philo Byblius, who is said to Translate it out of the Phaenician Language.]
(c) Philo Byblius.] This Man was a Gram∣marian, of whom mention is made in Suidas, who lived after Nero's time, for 'tis observed, that he was 78 Years old, when Serus and Herennius were Consuls, which was A. D. 137. that is al∣most an hundred Years after the Death of Nero. According to the Testimony of the same Suidas, he wrote twelve Books, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and thirty Books, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Et de Cla∣ris viris; and one Treatise about Adrian's Em∣pire, under which he lived. Suidas does not speak of this Translation of the History of Phaenicia, Eusebius and Theodoret cite it after Porphyry. This Philo is probably the Man, of whom St. Clement of Alex∣andria speaks, lib. 1. Strom. and whom he calls Philo the Pythagorean.