Fasti Sacri

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Any one may see at a glance that your volume contains a mass of materials, and so evinces considerable industry; but may it not be asked, Is it operce pretium? Has not the same ground been traversed often before by other and those able writers?

I must admit that the work has not at first sight the air of novelty, but examine it closely and you will find that it possesses some peculiar characteristics. Almost all chronologers have applied themselves to the discussion of particular questions, and have made their arguments bear upon these isolated points, without reflecting that such a process must be very fallacious. To ascertain the precise date of any event the antecedent and subsequent history must be placed in juxtaposition with it. In chronology, as in other sciences, a single fact, taken by itself and left to stand separate from what precedes and follows, will be often misplaced. To arrive at the truth you must construct a series of continuous tables, and then you may hope to ascertain correctly the relative positions inter se of the several occurrences.

But has not this been done by Fynes Clinton in the Fasti Hellenici and Fasti Romani, which comprise the period from B.C. 70 to A.D. 70?

No. Fynes Clinton has directed his principal attention to the heathen world, and from the vast extent of the period embraced within his labours, he has necessarily been obliged to omit matters of detail; whereas, in these pages, the heathen world has been thrown into the background, and the Jewish and Christian history brought prominently forward. I have also not only adverted to the leading dates, but endeavoured, though only in skeleton, to produce a connected narrative. By turning, for instance, to the paragraphs which are referred to by numbers, the fortunes of countries and the succession of princes may be readily followed.

Any one may see at a glance that your volume contains a mass of materials, and so evinces considerable industry; but may it not be asked, Is it operce pretium? Has not the same ground been traversed often before by other and those able writers?I must admit that the work has not at first sight the air of novelty, but examine it closely and you will find that it possesses some peculiar characteristics. Almost all chronologers have applied themselves to the discussion of particular questions, and have made their arguments bear upon these isolated points, without reflecting that such a process must be very fallacious. To ascertain the precise date of any event the antecedent and subsequent history must be placed in juxtaposition with it. In chronology, as in other sciences, a single fact, taken by itself and left to stand separate from what precedes and follows, will be often misplaced. To arrive at the truth you must construct a series of continuous tables, and then you may hope to ascertain correctly the relative positions inter se of the several occurrences.But has not this been done by Fynes Clinton in the Fasti Hellenici and Fasti Romani, which comprise the period from B.C. 70 to A.D. 70?No. Fynes Clinton has directed his principal attention to the heathen world, and from the vast extent of the period embraced within his labours, he has necessarily been obliged to omit matters of detail; whereas, in these pages, the heathen world has been thrown into the background, and the Jewish and Christian history brought prominently forward. I have also not only adverted to the leading dates, but endeavoured, though only in skeleton, to produce a connected narrative. By turning, for instance, to the paragraphs which are referred to by numbers, the fortunes of countries and the succession of princes may be readily followed.