74 



kind before the flood at present exist, it is impossible to es- 

 timate with any precision the proportion of pleasure and 

 pain it then enjoyed. 



After the flood, during the lives of Noah and of his three 

 sons, the patriarchal government must have subsisted over 

 their respective families until the dispersion, that is, during 

 537 years. Of the events that took place during that period, 

 we are almost entirely ignorant ; but it appears that great 

 harmony prevailed among men, for with a few exceptions 

 they were with some difficulty induced to separate from each 

 other. Hence the golden age is said to have existed during 

 that period. 



After the dispersion, the general patriarchal government 

 necessarily ceased, as different languages were spoken by 

 each of the families descended from the same patriarch. 

 Some remained in Chaldea, over whom xvimrod a distin- 

 guished huntsman soon obtained the sovereignty. Alany of 

 the arts and sciences before known, must have been pre- 

 served by them, since Nimrod was enabled to build Baby- 

 lon and some other cities ; others retained some imperfect 

 knowledge of the most necessary arts ; particularly those that 

 settled in Assyria, Persia and Lower Asia. 1'hese in time be- 

 came numerous ; those of the same race collecting under a 

 common chief formed tribes, whose members indefinitely in- 

 ereasing, formed new tribes, all speaking the same language, 



ui'.d 



