66 66 them is only feven Eclipfes of the Moon pre"ferved in Ptolomy's Syntaxis, and even thofe but very coarfly fet down, and the oldeft not much "above DCC Years before Chrift; fo that after "all the Fame of thefe Chaldeans, We may be "fure that they had not gone far in this Science : "And tho' Callisthenes be faid by Porphyry to have "brought from Babylon to Greece, Obfervations "above MDCCCC Years older than Alexander, yet the proper Authors making no mention or "ufe of any fuch, renders it juftly fufpected for a "Fable (a). What the Egyptians did in this Mat"ter is lefs evident, no one Obfervation made by "them being to be found in their Countryman "Ptolomy, excepting what was done by the Grecks "of Alexandria under CCC Years before Christ; "fo that whatever was the Learning of thefe two "ancient Nations, as to the Motions of the "Stars, it seems to have been chiefly Theoretical; "and I will not deny, but fome of them might very long fince be apprized of the Sun's being "the Centre of our System, for fuch was the Doc"trine of Pythagoras and Philolaus, and fome o"thers, who were faid to have travelled into thefe "Parts. "From hence it may appear, that the Greeks were the first practical Aftronomers, who en"deavoured in earneft to make themfelves Maflers "of the Science, and to whom we owe all the "old Obfervations of the Planets, and of the E"quinoxes and Tropics: Thales was the firft that "could predict an Eclipfe in Greece not DC Years "before Christ, and without doubt it was but a "rude Account he had of the Motions; and " 'twas Hipparchus who made the firft Catalogue (a) Callisthenes's Account may not be a Fable: The fubsequent Au thors neither mention'd nor used these Obfervations, because they avere in Truth fuch ferry ones, that no Ufe could be made of them. B 2 "of "of the fix'd Stars not above CL Years before "Chrift; without which Catalogue there could "be scarce fuch a Science as Aftronomy; and it "is to the Subtilty and Diligence of that great "Author, that the World was beholden for all "its Aftronomy for above MD Years. All that "Ptolemy did in his Syntaxis, was no more but a bare Tranfcription of the Theories of Hippar"chus, with fome little Emendation of the Perio"dical Motions, after about CCC Years Inter"val; and this Book of Ptolomy's was, without .. difpute, the utmost Perfection of the ancient "Aftronomy, nor was there any thing in any Na"tion before it comparable thereto; for which "Reafon, all the other Authors thereof were "difregarded and loft, and among them Hippar chus himfelf. Nor did Pofterity dare to alter "the Theories delivered by Ptolomy, though fuc"ceffively Albategnius and the Arabs, and after "them the Spanish Aftronomers under Alphonfus "endeavoured to mend the Errors they obferved "in their Computations. But their Labours were fruitless, whilft from the Defects of their Principles it was impoffible to reconcile the "Moon's Motion within a Degree, nor the Pla"nets Mars and Mercury, to a much greater Space," ་ 66 ' Thus we fee the Opinion of this learned and judicious Aftronomer. He very juftly fays, that Thales could give but a rude Account of the Motions, and that before Hipparchus there could be fcarce fuch a Science as Aftronomy; moft certainly therefore no fuch a nice Argumentation as our great Author offers, can be well grounded, upon (as he himself calls them) the coarse, I might fay, the conjectural and unaccountable Aftronomy of the Ancients. II. Another Argument which Sir Isaac Newton ~ffers, in order to fhew, that the ancient prophane Hiftory History is carried up higher than it ought to be, is taken from the Lengths of the Reigns of the ancient Kings. He remarks, that (b) "the E"gyptians, Greeks, and Latines, reckon'd the "Reigns of Kings equipollent to Generations of "Men, and three Generations to an hundred "Years, and accordingly they made their Kings "reign one with another thirty and three Years "a-piece and above." He would have thefe Reckonings reduced to the Courfe of Nature, and the Reigns of the ancient Kings put one with another at about eighteen or twenty Years a-piece (bb), and this, he reprefents, would correct the Error of carrrying the prophane Hiftory too far backward, and would fix the feveral Epochs of it more agreeable to true Chronology. In answer to this I would obferve, 1. The Word [yeved] Generation may either fignify a Defcent; thus Jacob was two Generations after Abraham, i. e. he was his Grandfon: or it may fignify an Age, i. e. the fpace of Time in which all thofe who were of the fame Defcent, may be fuppos'd to finish their Lives. Thus we read that Jofeph died and all his Brethren, and all that Generation (c): In this Sense the Generation did not end at Jofeph's Death, nor at the Death of the youngest of his Brethren, nor until all the Perfons who were in the fame Line of Defcent with them were gone off the Stage. A Generation in this latter Senfe, must be a much longer Space of Time, than a Generation in the former Senfe : Manaffeh and Ephraim the Sons of Jofeph were two Generations or Defcents after Jacob, for they were his Grandchildren; and yet they were born in the fame Age or Generation in which Jacob was born; for they were born before he died. But I (b) Newton's Chronology, p. 51. (bb) p. 55. (c) Exodus i, 6. B 3 confefs confefs the Word yeyed or Generation is more frequently ufed to fignify a Defcent: In this Senfe it is commonly found in Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Paufanias, in the prophane as well as in the facred Writers. But I must remark, 2. That Reigns and thefe Generations are equipollent, when the Son fucceeds at his Father's Death to his Kingdom. Thus, if a Crown defcends from Father to Son, for feven, or more, or not so many Succeffions, it is evident that as many Succeffions as there are, we may count fo many either Reigns, or Defcents, or Generations; a Reign and a Defcent here are manifeftly equipollent, for they are one and the fame Thing. But, 3. when it has happened in a Catalogue of Kings, that fometimes Sons fucceeded their Fathers, at other times Brothers their Brothers, and fometimes Ferfons of different Families obtained the Crown, then the Reigns will not be found to be equipollent to the Generations; for in fuch a Catalogue feveral of the Kings will have been of the fame Defcent with others of them, and fo there will be not fo many Defcents as Reigns, and confequently the Reigns are not one with another equipollent to the Generations: And this being the Cafe in almost all, if not in every Series of any Number of Kings that can be produced, it ought not to be faid that Reigns and Generations are in the general equipollent; for a number of Reigns will be generally fpeaking, for the Reafons above mentioned, much fhorter than a like number of Generations or Defcents. 4. When Descents or Generations proceed by the eldeft Sons only, then the Generations ought to be computed to be one with another about as many Years each, as are at a Medium the Years of the Ages of the Fathers of fuch Generations at the Births of their eldeft Sons. And thus we find from the Birth of Arphaxad (d) to the (d) Gen, xi. 11. Birth of Terab the Father of Abraham (e) are feven Generations, and 219 Years, which is 31 Years and above to a Generation: And the feven Fathers in thefe Generations had their refpective Sons; one of them at about 35 Years of Age (f), one at 34 (g), one at 32 (b), three at 30 (i), and one at 29 (k). 5. When Defcents or Generations proceed by the younger or youngest Sons, the length of fuch Generations will be according to the Time of the Father's Life in which fuch younger Sons are born, and alfo in proportion to what is the common Length or Standard of human Life in the Age which they are born in. When Men lived to about 200, and had Children after they were an hundred Years old, it is evident, that the younger Children might fupervive their Parents near 100 Years: But now, when Men rarely live beyond 70 or So Years, a Son born in the lateft Years of his Father's Life, cannot be fuppofed, in the common courfe of Things, to be alive near fo long after his Father's Death, and confequently Defcents or Generations by the younger Sons must have been far longer in the Ages of the ancient Longevity, than they can now be: And therefore, 6. Since in the Genealogies of all Families, and in the Catalogues of Kings in all Kingdoms, the Defcents and Succeffions are found to proceed, not always by the eldest Sons, but thro' frequent Accidents many times by the younger Children, it is evident, that the difference there has been in the common length of human Life in the different Ages of the World, muft have had a confiderable Effect upon the ver 12. (e) Gen. xi. 26. (f) Salah was born when Arphaxad was 35. (g) Peleg was born when Eber was 34. ver. 16. (b) Serug was born when Reu was 32. (i) Eber was born when Salah was 30. ver. 14. Reu when Peleg was 30. ver. 18, Nahor when Serug was 30. ver. 22. (k) Terah was born when Nahor was 29. ver. 24. |