P R E F A C E .

it the country. Idolatrous under the Judges, idolatrous under its Kings, until the patience of God, pushed to the limit, took away from it the good country He had given it, and abandoned it to the Kings of Assyria and Babylon. The History of a revolt so long and so pursued could not be short: Thus this third Part is as long as the other two together; that is why it has been divided into two other parts, and into various treatises, for the convenience of the Readers.

It was not possible to neglect this third Part, otherwise the history of the Religion of the Jews would have remained quite incomplete. Having once entered this vast field, there was no way to get out of it very soon. There is only one straight path, and there are hundreds and hundreds of detours that go to the right and to the left: That is why it takes more time to recount the wanderings of men than to mark the rules of their duties.

We hope that the curious will not complain about the length of this last Part: For one will find so many things there, capable of satisfying curiosity, that one will not regret the effort. It is true: it is a subject on which our scholars have exercised themselves greatly. But not all have succeeded equally well. Seldenus has given us a treatise De Diis Syris On the Syrian Gods, and Jean Gerard Vossius has left us a large work De Idololatria On Idolatry, which would be even better if its Author had judged it appropriate to unburden it of the history of Philosophy. We have tried to avoid all the defects that we have noticed in the other Authors. But above all, we have worked to seek truth and probability: we have done it with all the care we are capable of. We do not despise the labors of these scholars, whom we regard as our Fathers and our Masters. We have taken from them a great part of what they have said well: But we have believed that we were capable of pushing the discoveries further: When it comes to conjectures, the most learned are not always the most fortunate. Wit and penetration are at least as necessary there as learning: We have not neglected to learn from others, but we have often been called to conjecture anew in the places where the ancient conjectures do not appear fortunate.

There are so many of these new conjectures in our treatise on Judaic Idolatry that one can regard it as an entirely new work. Perhaps one will not find these new conjectures more fortunate than the old ones that we have neglected. But finally, the public at least will give us credit for our good intentions, In magnis voluisse sat est In great things, it is enough to have willed it: And already we have the pleasure of seeing that