2^0 ON THE CHRONOLOGY 



flood or inundation. The legends relating to Deo- 

 Cdlytfn, Prometheus and his cave, will appear in the 

 next diiiertation I fhall have the honour to lay before 

 the Society. 



II. Megqfthenes was a native of Perfla, and enjoyed 

 the confidence of Sibyrtius # , governor of Aracholia, 

 (now the country ol Candahar and Gazni,) on the 

 of Sehucus. Sibyrtius lent him frequently on the 

 ■embaffies to Sandrocuptos. When Seleucus invaded 

 India, Megqfthenes enjoyed alfo the confidence of that 

 monarch, who fent him, in the character of ambaiTador, 

 to the court of the king of Prachi. We may fafely 

 conclude, that Megqfthenes was a man of no ordinary 

 abilities, and as lie lpent the greatcit part of his life 

 in India, either at Candahar or in the more interior 

 parts of it ; and, as from his public character, 

 he muft have been daily converting with the moil 

 diitinguifhed periens in India, I conceive, that if the 

 Hindus, of that day, had laid claim to lb high an an- 

 tiquity, as thofe of the prefent, he certainly would 

 have been acquainted with their pretenfions, as well 

 as with thofe of the Egyptians and Chald&ans ; but, 

 on the contrary, he was aftoni/hed to find a lingular 

 conformity between the Hebrews and them in the 

 notions about the beginning of things, that is to fay, 

 of ancient hiflory. At the fame time, I believe, that 

 the Hindus, at that early period, and, perhaps, 

 long before, had contrived various aftronomical pe- 

 riods and cycles, though they had not then thought 

 of framing a civil hiflory, adapted to them. Aftro- 

 logy may have led them to fuppofe fo important and mo- 

 mentous an event as the creation muft have been con- 

 nected with particular conjunctions of the heavenly bo- 

 dies; nor have the learned in Europe been entirely free 

 from fuch notions. Having once laid down this poiition> 



* Arr'nwy B. 5, p. 203. 



they 



