A N T E D I 
the ufe thereof. They "begat fons of vaft bulk and height, 
whofe names were given to the mountains on which they 
Jeized: fo from them were named mount CaJJins, Libanus, 
Ant Mb anus, and Brathys. Of thefe lad were begotten Mem- 
rumus, and Hypfuranius; but they were fo named by their 
mothers, the women of thofe times, who without fhame 
lay with any man they could light upon, lfypfuranius 
inhabited Tyre, and he invented the making of huts of 
reeds and ruflies and the papyrus. He alfo fell into en¬ 
mity with his brother Ufous, who fil'd invented a covering 
for his body out of the Ikins of the wild beads which he 
could catch. And, when violent tempefts of winds and 
rains came, the boughs in Tyre, being rubbed againft each 
other, took lire, and burnt the wood there. And Ufous, 
having taken a tree, and broke off its boughs, was fo bold 
as to venture upon it into the fea. He alfo confecrated 
two rude (tones, dr pillars, to fire and wind ; and he wor- 
fhipped them, and poured out to them the blood of fuch 
wild beads as had been caught in hunting. But, when 
thefe were dead, thofe. that remained confecrated to them 
dumps of wood and pillars, worlhipping them, and kept 
anniverfary feafts unto them. 
Many years after this generation came Agreus and Ha- 
lieus, the inventors of the arts of, hunting and filhing, 
front whom huntfmen and fifhermen are named. Of tlieie 
were begotten two brothers, tire inventors of iron and of 
the forging thereof: one of thefe, called Chroyfor, the 
•fame with Hephedus, or Vulcan, exercifed hitnfelf in 
words and charms and divinations; found out tiie hook, 
bait, and fifhing-line, and boats ilightly built; and was 
tire fird of all men that failed. Wherefore he alfo was 
worihipped after his death for a god: and they called 
him Zeus Michius, or Jupiter the engineer; and fome fay 
his brothers invented tire way of making walls of brick. 
Afterwards from this generation came two brothers ; one 
of whom was called Tcchnites , or the art id; the other, 
Gienus Autochthon, i.e. tile home-born man of the earth. 
Thefe found out to mingle dubble, or fmall twigs, with 
the brick-earth, and to dry them in the fun, and fo made 
tiling. By thefe were begotten others; of which one 
was called Agrus, field: tiie other Agroucrus, or Agrotes, 
hutbandmen, who had a datite much worfhip.ped, and a tem¬ 
ple carried about by one or more yoke of oxen, in Phoenicia, 
and among thofe of Byblus lie is eminently called tiie great- 
ejl of the gods. Thefe found out how to make courts about 
mens iioufes, and fences, and caves or cellars. Hu (band men, 
and fuch as ufe dogs in hunting, derive from thefe; and 
they are alfo called Alette and Titans. Of thefe were be¬ 
gotten Amynus end Magus, who (hewed men to confti- 
tute villages and flocks. In thefe men’s age there was one 
Eliun, which imports in Greek Hypffus, i.e. tiie mod 
high, and his wife was named Beruth, who dwelt about 
Byblus : and by him was begot Epigertis, or Autochthon, 
whom they afterwards called Uranus, i.e. heaven; fo t hat 
from him that element which is oyer us, by reafon of its 
excellent beauty, is called heaven : and lie had a (iHer of 
tiie fame parents called Ge, tiie earth ; and by reafon of 
her beauty the eartli had her name given to it. Hypfif- 
tus, the father of thefe, dying in fight witli wild beads, 
was confecrated, and his children offered facrifices and li¬ 
bations to him. But Uranus, taking the kingdom of his 
father, married his lifter Ge, and had by her four fons; 
Hus, who is called Cronus, or Saturn ; Betylus; Dagon, 
who is Siton, or the god of corn ; and Atlas : but by other 
wives Uranus had much iifue. 
As to the cudotns, policy, and other general circum- 
dances, of tiie antediluvians, we can only form conjec¬ 
tures. The only tiling we know as to their religious rites, 
is, that they offered facrifices, and that very early, botii of 
the fruits of the earth, and of animals; but whether the 
blood and fiefli of the animals, or only their milk and wool, 
were offered, is a difputed point.—Of their arts and fei- 
ences, we have not much more knowledge. The antedi¬ 
luvians feem to have fpent their time rather in luxury 
and wantonnefs, to which the abundant fertility of the firlt 
L U V I A N S. 75? 
earth invited them, than in difeoveries and improvements, 
which probably they (food much lei's in nec-d of than their 
fucceffors. The art of working metals was found out by 
tiie Jad generation of Cain’s line ; and mufic, which they 
might be fuppofed to practil'e for tiieir pleafure, was not 
brought to any perfection, if invented, before the dune 
generation. Some authors have fuppofed adronomy to 
have been cultivated by the antediluvians., though this is 
probably owing to a midake of Jofephus. As to their 
politics and civil conditutions, we have not fo much as 
any circtundances whereon to build conjecture. It is pro¬ 
bable, the patriarchal form of government, which certain¬ 
ly was tiie fifd, was fet aiide when tyranny and oppreffion 
began to take place, and much fooner among tiie race of 
Cain than tiiat of Seth. It feems alio, that tiieir commu¬ 
nities were but few, and confided of vadiy larger numbers 
of people than any formed fince tiie flood ; or rather, it is 
a quedion, whether, after the union of the two great fami¬ 
lies of Seth and Cain, there were any didinction of civil 
focieties, or diverfity of regular governments, at all. It is 
more likely, that all mankind then made but one great 
•nation, though living in a kind of anarchy, divided into- 
feveral diforderly affociations; which, as it was al mod the 
natural confequence of their having, in all probability, but 
one common language, fo it was a circumdance which: 
greatly contributed to that general corruption which 
otherwife perhaps could not have fo univerfally over- 
fpread the antediluvian world. And for this rcafba 
chiefly, as it feems, fo loon as the poderity of Noah were 
diffidently increafed, a plurality of tongues was mifiacu- 
loully introduced at Babel, in order to divide them into.- 
didinCt focieties, and thereby prevent any fuch total de¬ 
pravation for tiie future- 
Of the-condition of the antediluvians, Mr. Whitehurffg 
in his Inquiry into the original fate and formation of the earth, 
has given us the following picture: “ Under a mild and 
ferene fky, and when tiie fpontaneous productions of the 
eartli were more than diffident for the caljs of nature, 
without art or labour, mankind had no need of any other 
protection from tiie inclemency of tiie feufons, nor of 
burns for winter's bore, than tiie benevolent Author of 
nature had plentifully provided for them. Confequently, 
in a date of nature like this, there was no temptation to 
ads of violence, injudice, fraud, See. every one having 
plenty and enough, eacli equally partook of the numerous 
bleffings thus amply provided for him. Power and pro¬ 
perty being equally did'ufed, men lived together in perfect, 
peace and harmony, without law, and without fear ; there¬ 
fore it may be truly faid of tiie antediluvians, that tiicy 
flept away tiieir time in fvveet repofe on tiie ever-verdant. 
turf. Such apparently was the date of nature in. tiie firlp 
ages ol tiie world, or from the creation to the. fird convul- 
iion in nature, whereby the.world was not only univerfally 
deluged, but reduced to a heap of ruins.” But this in¬ 
genious author, whofe- Inquiry is not profelFedly repug¬ 
nant to revelation, feems here to have lob hitnfelf in a 
[dealing reverie. At lead he has. forgot to inform us, 
For what purpofe, under fetch circumdances, he fuppofes 
the deluge to have been Cent upon the earth ; and, How 
we are to underhand the account given.by Moles, who 
reprefents tiie antediluvians, not as an innocent race, qui¬ 
etly repojing on the ever-verdant turf, but as a corrupt 
generation, by whom “ tiie earth was filled with violence.” 
One of tiie mod extraordinary circumdances which oc¬ 
curs in the antediluvian hiftory, is the valt length of hu¬ 
man lives in thole fird ages, in companion with our own. 
Few perfons now arrive to eighty or an.hundred years; 
whereas, before tiie flood, they frequently lived to near a., 
thoufancV: a difproportion almoft incredible, though Im¬ 
ported by tiie joint tedimonies of facred and profane wri¬ 
ters. Some, to reconcile tiie matter with probability, 
have imagined that tiie ages of thole fird men might poll] - 
bly be computed, not by lblar years, but months; an ex¬ 
pedient which reduces tiie length of their lives rather 
to. a Ihorter period than our own. But for this there is-nat 
the- 
