A compendium of the history of all nations

Front matter

■i

r

■i ifln

Preface

THE great utility of an intimate knowledge of History is universally admitted ; to young people it is highly essential, and should be studied by every one who would attain a liberal education. By tracing back the great events and revolutions of human affairs — the rise and fall of kingdoms and states — it will tend to expand the mind, enlarge the ideas, and render conversation more agreeable, interesting and instructive.

History being the faithful repository of the actions of men in all ages, who have performed any distinguished part on the theatre of the world, adds to our own experience a rich stock of the experience of others, and furnishes innumerable instances of virtues to imitate, and vices to be avoided : Every law of morality, and every rule of conduct, is submitted to its test and examination.

The accounts of the origin and progress in population of all countries, are involved in great obscurity. — It is little more than three thousand years since the books of Moses, the most ancient and the only genuine record of what passed in the early ages of the world,

IV were written. Herodotus is the oldest of the heathen historians : he flourished a thousand years later than Moses. If we extend our enquiries beyond the aera when written history commenced, we enter upon the region of conjecture, of fable, and uncertainty.

In this publication, I have taken a progressive, brief, but comprehensive, view of the state of mankind from the earliest ages, of which we have any authentic account, to the present period ; and have attempted to delineate the origin of States and Empires, the outlines of their history, the revolutions they have undergone, and the causes which contributed to their rise and splendour, as well as those which operated to their decline and extinction. It is hoped that this work will prove an acceptable remembrancer to those already well- versed in universal history ; and be of considerable service to such youth as aspire at becoming the future Legislators and Statesmen of this country.

In compiling this work I have had recourse to some of the best authorities in the English language ; particularly the Rev. Do 'tors Mavor and Turner, and Mr. John Payne. Mr. John Crookes, of New- York, has also rendered me some valuable assistance. To these gentle, s men it is but common justice to acknowledge my warmest obligations for the aid which they have afforded me.

D. FRASER.

Contents

Pages.

The History of Mankind from the Creation to the Deluge, . 9

Of Egypt, 33

Appendix

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

HtH

Frontispiece to face the Title.

Wisdom to front page 79.

Female Captive to front page 205.

Sir William Wallace to front page 264.

AN

EPITOME

HISTORY OF ALL NATIONS.

Chapter I

The History of Mankind from the Creation to the Deluge.

Wi

E shall commence our History with a concise account of the cosmogony, according to Moses' inspired narration.

j Of the first creation of the heaven and the earth there is no particular description in the sacred volume : nor was it requisite that the inspired author of the Pentateuch should express hin self in any other terms than those which substantiate the important truth, that they were created by the immediate power of God. \

The earth, subsequent to the creation, was a dark and shapeless mass of matter ; but, at the sovereign command of the Almighty, the cheerful light appeared, the firmament expanded, to divide the upper from the lower waters; the congregated floods retired to their destined bed ; and the dry land was crowned with a rich profusion of herbage, fruits and flowers.

These great occurrences having occupied the three first days, the succeeding one was devoted to an illumination of the newly created globe : the face of heaven was accordingly decorated with myriads of stars, and the greater luminaries were disposed so as to distinguish between day and night ; and to divide the seasons of the year.

The waters were then replenished with an abundant variety of fish ; the odoriferous air was fanned by the pinions of innumerable birds ; the verdant meads were stocked with cattle ; and every part of the earth was inhabited with appropriate tribes. To contemplate, and truly to excel the whole, God created man, on the sixth day, of the dust of the ground, and infused into his body the breath of life, or immortality ; in consequence of which, man became a living soul. Woman was also formed out of the side of the man, who was cast into a profound slumber for that purpose.

{Thus,- by the creating influence of the Eternal Spirit, were the heavens and the earth finished in the space of six days, when that which at first was no other than an unformed chaos, exhibited so exquisite and beautiful a system, that the adorable Architect himself pronounced it very good, and all the sons of God shouted for joy\

God having contemplated with pleasure the work of his hands, placed the man and his wife, who were named Adam and Eve 7 in the garden of Eden (b. C. 4004) giving them instructions to dress and keep it, allowing them the free use of the fruit with which it abounded, with this single reservation, that they should abstain from the produce of a particular tree, denominated the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which if they presumed to eat, they would incur the penalty of inevitable death. This declaration was made in the most solemn manner, and our progenitors were warned by their Creator to avoid the only danger that could befal them.

Fortified with such a caution, and situated in a paradise which God himself vouchsafed to honor with his immediate presence, Adam and his beloved wife were capable of enjoying all the blessings of creation, as well as the company and converse of their beneficent Maker, who is said to have brought every living creat-

From the Creation to the Deluge. 11

art to Adam, to see what he would call it, and to have* established those names which were then imposed by his especial favorite on the various objects presented to his view.

Their felicity, however, appears to have been but of short duration, as the woman, being deceived by the subtilty of the serpent, violated the divine injunction in her own person, and afterwards enticed her husband to a participation of her crime. At this moment innocence forsook the human bosom ; and the hapless pair, who, though naked, had hitherto lived with each other unconscious of shame, now perceived their situation with the utmost confusion, and made themselves aprons of fig-leaves to supply, in some degree, the want of raiment.

When God, at the accustomed time of the day, repeated his customary visit of love, an d was heard walking in the garden, the self convicted offenders attempted to conceal themselves among the foliage of the trees ; and, on being called from their retreat, Adam alledged his nakedness as an apology for his disappearance. An explanation now ensued, producing a full confession on the part of the culprits, and terminating in the threatened reward of disobedience. The offended Deity, in pronouncing judgment, first cursed the. serpent above all beasts, condemning him to go on his belly ; assigning dust for his food ; and decreeing that a perpetual enmity should subsist between his seed and that of the woman, till, in the fulness of time, the latter should prove completely victorious over his adversary : — Thus shadowing our redemption by a Saviour. The woman was con-^ demned to bring forth her tender offspring with excruciating pain, and to be subject to the dominion of her husband : and Adam was doomed to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, in consequence of a curse, which God imposed on the ground, for his sake, declaring that it should bring forth thorns and thistles ; and that after much fatigue and toil, he, die offender, should return to the dust from whence he was originally taken. At the conclusion of this awful sentence, the Creator, tempering judgment with mercy, clothed his fallen creature s.

and compelled them to quit the confines of paradise^ lest, by imprudently eating of the fruit of the tree of life, they might render themselves and their ruined progeny eternally wretched. To av >id the possibility of such a circumstance, and to obliterate every thought of their return to their once blissful abode, a cherubim was stationed at the eastern extremity of the garden, with a flaming sword that turned every way, to guard the passage to the tree of life.

To what part of the earth the unhappy pair removed, in consequence of this expulsion, is uncertain ; but it appears that C in, the eldest son of Adam, was born in the first year of the world ; and the second, named Abel, the year following. These persons, notwithstanding their near affinity, soon discovered symptoms of the most opposite dispositions, the oldest being gloomy and avaricious, the youngest virtuous and ingenuous : their selected employments were also of a different nature ; Cain undertaking the labours of husbandry, and Abel preferring the care of the flocks.

In process of time they brought their respective offerings to God, but with very different success ; for whilst the sacrifice of Abel, consisting of the firstlings of a flock, was graciously accepted, the fruits of the ground, presented by Cain, were disregarded. This occurrence was sufficient to rouse the native malevolence of the first-born, who was, accordingly, so transported with rage and envy, that he was unable to command his countenance on the mortifying occasion. The Deity condescended to expostulate with him upon the absurdity of his impious behaviour, demanding what reason he cculd produce in justification of his anger : and explicitly declaring that the refusal of his sacrifice resulted entirely from his own misconduct, without the slightest attempt of Abel to supplant him in the divine favour.

i Cain's heart, however, was too stubborn to brook the reproof of his maker ; and, instead of profiting by his sal- ■utarv counsel, he resolved to assassinate his brother the first convenient opportunity, and actually accom-

From the Creation to the Deluge. 13

plished his sanguinary intention, while conversing with his destined victim in the field.

After the perpetration of this horrid deed (b. C. 3875) Cain being questioned by God respecting his brother, replied, in an evasive manner, that he knew not where he was, and churlishly asked, whether he was to be considered as his brother's keeper ? But he was soon convinced of the omniscience of his holy Interrogator, who appalled his guilty soul with a full relation of his transgression, and solemnly condemned him to become a fugitive and vagabond on the earth, which, having received the martyr's blood, would henceforth withhold the blessings of her fertility from the hands of his murderer.

This sentence, though comparatively lenient, was deemed so harsh by the criminal, that, in . n agony of grief, he exclaimed, it was insupportable, and, at the same time, intimated his apprehension of perishing by the hand of some fellow creature, in consequence of the wretched condition to which the Almighty had reduced him. This fear, however, was immediately obviated by a particular mark, imprinted on his person, as a token that no one should presume to molest him, under pain of a seven-fold punishment.

Finding it impossible to obtain any other mitigation of his sentence, Cain departed from the place of his nativity, and settled with his family in the land of Nod, where he built a city, and called it after the name of his son Enoch.

Shortly after the tragical scene of Cain's resentment, his afflicted parents were consoled by the birth of another son, to whom Eve gave the name of Seth, because he was appointed instead of the murdered Abel.

The sacred historian, having confined himself chiefly to the line of Seth, relates but few particulars respecting that of the fratricide : it is, however, probable in itself, and consonant with assertions of profane authors, that his posterity were extremely iniquitous, and were, on that account designated in scripture by the name of men, and the daughters of men, whilst the religious children of Seth were honoured with the appellation of the Sons of God.

After recording the births of Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared, who are all extolled by the oriental writers for their virtuous precepts and exemplary conduct, Moses presents us with the brief but interesting hisory of Enoch ; a person so truly pious, that he is said to have -walked with God for the space of three hundred years, and at the expiration of that time to have been translated to heaven, without tasting the bitter cup of death.

Adam, after having beheld a numerous posterity issue from his own loins to people the earth, was at length compelled to sink beneath the destroying angel, whom himself had introduced by transgression into the world; and he accorclingly resigned his spirit into the hands of his Maker* in the nine hundred and thirtieth year of his age — (b. C. 3074.) The place of his sepulchre is not mentioned in scripture, yet various conjectures have been formed upon the subject. Thus the oriental christians affirm that he was embalmed by four of his descendants, and deposited according to his desire, in a certain cave on the summit of a mountain : St, Jerome stations his remains in the cave of Machpelah ; and the generality of the primitive fathers suppose him to have been buried on Mount Calvary, the very spot whereon Christ, the second Adam, voluntarily suffered in behalf of his fallen creatures.

After the decease of Adam, historians inform us, that the children of Seth, abhorring the profligacy of Cain and his descendants, removed to the mountain where thebody was interred, and there devoted the greatest part of their time to the adoration of their Creator. It is also asserted by contemplation of the celestial bodies they here laid the foundation of astronomy, and engraved their inventions on two pillars, one of which was to be seen in the time of Josephus. At length, however, the integrity of these men was shaken by the enticing allurements and personal accomplishments of the daughters of Cain; and, in consequence of some intermarriages with that family, their manners gradually degenerated, till, at length, their wickedness was great in the earth, and ev*

From the Creation to the Deluge. 15*

ery imagination of their hearts was polluted with iniquity.

There were likewise in those days persons whose extraordinary strength and stature were equally remarkable with their acts of rapine and impiety i these were most probably the offspring of the murderer, both by father and mother, who tyrannised over the weak, by dint of superior power. A similar mode of conduct appears to have been adopted by some others who are adverted to in holy writ under the appellation of mighty men, or men of renown.

The wickedness of mankind now increased rapidly with the increasing population, and the earth was literally filled with violence ; yet the forbearance of God was continued towards them, and he mercifully resolved to grant them the space of one hundred and twenty years for repentance ; during which time he declared his spirit should strive with man, in order to awaken him to a sense of his depravity, and eventually to recal him to the paths of peace and virtue.

It is here proper to remark, that, notwithstanding the general corruption, one man was found perfect in his generation, and walking humbly with his God. This person was JSoah the son of Lamech, who exerted himself, on all occasions, to introduce a reformation both of worship and conduct ; and to this end undertook the laborious task of public admonition, warning his auditors of the fatal consequences that must result from their enormities. His zealous counsel was however treated with disdain, and the deluded race continued in the practice of every vice, till God is said to have been grieved at his heart for the reformation of his incorrigible creatures, and, at the end of their fruitless probation, to have decreed an universal deluge that should utterly destroy them, together with the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. From this tremendous sentence Noah and his family were excluded, having " found favour in the eyes of the Lord," and the venerable patriarch received instructions concerning a certain vessel which he was appointed to build for the preservation of his own family, and for such a quantity of animals of every species as would be sufficient to replenish the earth again, when the threatened flood should subside.

In obedience to the divine command Noah undertook the construction of this vessel, mentioned in the scrip, tures by the name of the ark. With respect to its dimensions we read, that its length was three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty. Its form was that of an oblong square with a flat bottom, and a sloping room, elevated one cubit in the middle. It consisted of three stories, each of which, excluding the thickness of the floors, might be eighteen feet high, and was divided into separate apartments. It was, in all probability, well supplied with light and air, and though it had neither sails nor rudder, it was admirably contrived for lying steadily on the surface of the water, and for thus preserving the lives of its various inhabitants.

The appointed time of vengeance being come, and the ark completed, Noah went on board, in the year of the world sixteen hundred and fifty- six, with his wife, his sons and his daughters-in-law, taking with him all kinds of birds, beasts and reptiles, by pairs and by sevens, as he was expressly commanded ; while the rest of mankind, regardless of his repeated warnings, continued to indulge in luxury and dissipation, till the flood came and overwhelmed them with a swift destruction ; for, in the self same day, were the fountains of the great deep broken up, the windows of heaven were opened, and the inundation began to fall, which descended without intermission forty days and forty nights. The waters also increased gradually during the space of five months, when they rose to the elevation of twenty-seven feet above the summits of the highest mountains.

Towards the end of the ensuing month, Noah opened one of the windows of the ark, and sent forth a raven, which flew to and fro till the earth was dry, but afforded him no satisfactory intelligence; he therefore let out a dove three successive times, allowing seven days to elapse between each excursion. The first time she returned quickly, having found no place suffiU

From the Creation to the Deluge. 17

ciently firm to afford a resting place ; the second time she came back in die evening, bringing an olive leaf in her mouth, as a proof that the flood had greatly abated ; and the third time she returned no more.

On the first day of the first month, or the twenty-third of October, the patriarch, who was now in the six hundred and first year of his age, removed the covering of his vessel, in order to take a view of the surrounding scenery, and discovered that the surface of the earth was perfectly free from water ; he continued, however, in the ark till the twenty-seventh of the second month, or the eighteenth of December, when he came forth, in pursuance of the Divine Command, together with his wife, his family, and every living creature which had been intrusted to his care for one year and ten days, according to the antideluvian computation, or during the space of three hundred and sixty- five of our present time.

Having thus given a concise account of the universal deluge, with a strict regard to the word of God, we feel it our duty to lay such particulars before our readers as, being gathered from profane authors, may afford collateral evidence of this dreadful catastrophe.

The Chaldeans supposed this event to have happened in the reign of Xisthrus, who being warned in a dream that mankind should be destroyed by a flood, built a vessel of extraordinary dimensions, and by that means preserved himself and his family from ruin, besides a variety of fowls and quadrupeds that were recommended by Saturn to his protection. This vessel rested on a mountain, after being 365 days on the water. Xisthrus came out with all his companions, and raised an altar, whereupon he sacrificed to the gods.

The Egyptians were no strangers to this general destruction by water. The history of Osiris and I'yphon mentions the very day when Osiris was shut up in the ark ; the name of Typhon signifies a deluge, in consequence of which the Egyptian Priests gave that name to the sea. The inhabitants of Heliopolis in Syria are said

c to have shewn a chasm in the earth in the temple of Juno, Which swallowed up the waters of the deluge.

The classical writers had evidently some traditionary account of a general deluge, from which, according to Ovid, Deucalion and Pyrrha alone were saved.

The Chinese also have some notions of the flood, and of the providential escape of a single family from its destroying effects. The American Aborigines are said to acknowledge its reality.

Chapter II

The General History jrom the Deluge to the Confusion of Tongues at Babel, b. C. 2347.

IMPRESSED with the most lively gratitude to the Author of his existence, Noah, immediately upon his landing, erected an altar, and offered a burnt sacrifice of every clean beast and of every clean fowl. This act of piety proved highly acceptable to God, who graciously affirmed, that he would no more curse the earth for man's sake ; but, on the contrary, it should retain all its privileges, and enjoy an uninterrupted succession of seasons, till the period of its final dissolution. The patriarch was also honored with the divine blessing, and received permission to appropriate all living creatures to his own use, and to eat of them as freely as of the fruits and herbs of the earth : he was, however, strictly commanded to abstain from the blood of animals, and to avoid shedding that of man.

God likewise vouchsafed, on this memorable day, to make a solemn covenant with his favorite mortals, respecting the future safety of the habitable globe ; and promised, as a sacred token of his inviolable decree, to set his bow in the clouds when it rained, that the posterity of Adam might look on it, and contemplate the effects of his sovereign mercy.

Having received the warmest blessings and the most inestimable marks of affection from his appeased Creator, Noah descended from the mountain, applied himself to husbandry, and planted a vineyard. At the time of the vintage he became inebriated with the juice of the grape, and lay carelessly uncovered within his tent. In this situation he was discovered by his son Ham, who immediately hastened to inform his brothers of the circumstance, and invited them to behold the disgraceful situation of their parent.

Shem and Japhet were, however, too modest in themselves, and too tender of the patriarch's honour, to comply with such a request; and, therefore, having provided themselves with a garment, they went backward, and covered their father with filial decorum : in return for which they were remunerated with an ample blessing, whilst the posterity of Ham were loaded with the most dreadful curses.

Subsequent to the recital of these particulars, Moses informs us that the patriarch paid the debt of nature in the nine hundred and fiftieth year of his age ; and the eastern nations have a tradition that he was buried in Mesopotamia, where they shew his sepulchre, in a castle near Dair Abunah, or " the monastery of our Father."

Japhet, the eldest son of Noah, (b. C. 1998) was particularly blessed by that patriarch, for his pious behaviour, in these terms : — " God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant." This appears to have been spoken in the spirit of prophecy, and has been fully accomplished in the great possessions which fell to the posterity of Japhet in different parts of the world : in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire by the Medes, in conjunction with the Babylonians ; and, finally, in the subjugation of the Canaanites, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, and other descendants of Ham, to the children of his eldest brother.

Of the children of Shem there is little more to be collected from scripture than their names and the ages of the patriarchs in the line of Peleg, till we come to Tera* the father of Abraham ; we must therefore have occasional recourse to the conjectures and tradition of Jewish and christian writers, where we shall find some particulars worthy of attention.

The birth of Shcm must have happened in the year of the vvorld 1558, as, at the birth of A;phaxad, two years al.er the deluge, he was one hundred years old. The only action ol his life recorded by Moses, is that which he performed with his brother Japhet, and for which he obtained the blessing of his father. He is said to have lived fi e hundred and two j ears after the flood, and to have died in the six hundredth 3 ear of his age, leaving behind him live sons ; viz. Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram ; the second of whom became the founder of the Assyrian kingdom, according to this express declaration of Moses — " Out of the land (Shinaar) went forth Ashur, and built Nineveh and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah, the same is a great city."

Elam may probably have been intended by the more modern Persian historians, when they asserted that their first king Caumarras, was a son of Shem, and this idea is strictly consonant to the Mosaic accounts.

Arphaxad had once considerable advantage above his brethren, in having the patriarchal line continued in him. Many authors derive both the name and nation of the Chaldeans from this person ; and Josephus concurring in the same opinion, assures us, that he was the prince of the Arphaxadeans, at present called Chaldeans. It has been already observed, that he was born in the year of the world 1658, and it appears from the sacred records that he lived to the age of four hundred and thirty-eight years.

As we find no circumstance related in scripture respecting the other sons, viz. Lud and Aram, we shall dismiss our remarks en his family, and return to that of Noah, whose youngest son, Ham, now demands our attention. When Noah was acquainted with the indelicacy of his son's conduct, he pronounced a heavy curse, not indeed against the offender himself, but against a branch of his posterity — " Cursed," says the patriarch, " be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Thisj;curse falling upon a son of Ham rather than upon himself, has occasioned many conjectures among the learned. Some have supposed that Noah expressed himself in this manner to avoid cursing Ham, whom God had so recently blessed on his quitting the ark ; others are for extending the curse both to Ham and his descendants, whom they therefore consider as the progenitors of the blacks ! and a third class imagine, with a greater appearance of truth, that Moses \ by reciting his prediction, designed to raise and invigorate the spirits of the Israelites, who were appointed to engage and finally vanquish the children of Canaan, previous to their complete possession of the promised land.

Ham, in consequence of his undutiful behaviour on an occasion which should rather have excited his compassion than his ridicule, has been considered by the generality of authors a? the first introducer of irr.riety after the deluge ; and the infamous character attached to his name in their writing, is perfectly consistent with Sanchoniatho''s account of Gronus, who is supposed to . have been the same person.

Canaan, whom, according to scripture, we may suppose to have been the fourth son of Ham, is believed to have lived and died in the country distinguished by his name, where his tomb was formerly shewn in a cave of the mountain of Leopa; ds, at a small distance from Jerusalem. We are equally at a loss to ascertain the time of his birth, and the length of his life, neither of these circumstances being mentioned by Moses. Some writers, however, have ventured to affirm, that he was born in the ark, and that being the fruit of unseasonable incontinence, he was himself a profligate man. That part of Noah's curse, which foretold the humiliation of Canaan, as becoming a servant of servants to his brethren, seems to have been wholly accomplished in him, without extending to the rest of his brethren ; with respect to Shem, it was fulfilled in the memorable victories of the Israelites, and the subsequent achievements of the

Assyrians and Persians ; and with regard to Japhet, we see a completion of the prophecy in the successive conquests of the Canaanites by the Greeks and Romans, in Palestine and Phenicia, but more especially by the total subjugation of the once haughty and flourishing sons of Carthage.

Canaan seems to have been known to the ancient heathens, Sanchoniatho gives the name of Chna to the first man who was called a Phenician.