y 5 's A N T 
the kail foundation;befides the many abfurdities that 
would thence follow, fuch as their begetting children at 
about fix years of age, as feme of them in that cate mu ft 
have done”, and the contraction of the whole interval be¬ 
tween the creation and the deluge to confiderably lets than 
two hundred years, even according to the larger computa¬ 
tion of the 'Septuagint. Again : Jofephus, the Jewifti hif- 
torian, and fome Chriftian divines, are of opinion, that be¬ 
fore the Hood, and tome time after, mankind in general did 
not live to fuch a remarkable age, but only a few beloved 
of God, Inch as the patriarchs mentioned by Mofes. They 
reafon in this manner: Though the hiftorian records the 
names of fome men whofe longevity was Angular, yet that 
is no proof that the reft of mankind attained to the fame 
period of life, more than that every man was then of gi¬ 
gantic fraturd, becaufe he fays, in thofe days there zvere gi¬ 
ants upon the earth. Befides, had the whole of the antedi¬ 
luvians lived fo very long, and inerealed in numbers in 
proportion to their age, before the Hood of Noah, the 
earth could not have contained its inhabitants, even fup- 
poling no part of it had been fea. And had animals lived 
fo long, and multiplied in the fame manner as they have 
done afterwards, they would have confirmed the whole 
produce of the globe, and the ftronger would have extin- 
guilhed many fpecies of the weaker. Hence they con¬ 
clude, that, for wife and good ends, God extended only 
the lives of the patriarchs, and a few beiide, to fuch an 
extraordinary length. 
But moil writers maintain the longevity of mankind in 
general in the early world, not only upqn the authority of 
fa c red, but likewife of profane, hiftory. Arid for fuch a 
cor.ftitution, the moral reafons are abundantly obvious. 
When the earth was wholly unpeopled, except by one pair, 
it was neceir&fy to endow men with a ftronger frame, and 
to allow them a longer continuance upon earth for peo¬ 
pling it with inhabitants. In the infant ftate of every me¬ 
chanical art, relating to tillage, building, clothing, &c. it 
would require many years’ experience to invent proper 
tools and inftruments to eafe men of then- labour, and by 
multiplied eftays and experiments to bring their inventions 
to any degree of maturity and perfection. Every part of 
their work muft have been exceedingly arduous from fuch 
a penury and coarfenefs of tools, and muft have required 
longer time and more ftrength of body than afterwards, 
w hen mechanical knowledge was introduced into the world. 
If parents at this period had not continued long with their 
children, to have taught them the arts of providing for 
themfelves, and have defended them from the attacks of 
wild lieatls, and from other injuries to which they were ex- 
pofed, many families would have been totally extinguifh- 
cd. But one of the beft and mod valuable ends which 
Iciwevity would anfwer was, the tranfmitting of know¬ 
ledge, particularly of religious knowledge, to mankind. 
And thus, before writing was invented, or any fuch eafy 
and durable mode of conveyance was found out, a very 
few men ferved for many generations to inftruCl their poi- 
terity, who would not be at a lofs to confuit living and 
authentic records. 
The natural caufes of this longevity are varioufly aftign- 
ed.' Some have imputed it fo the fobriety of the antedi¬ 
luvians, and the fimplicity of their diet; alleging that they 
had none of thole provocations to gluttony, which wit and 
vice have fince invented. Temperance might undoubted¬ 
ly have fome effect,' but not poflibly to fuch a degree. 
There have been many temperate and abfiemious perfons 
in later ages, who yet feldom have exceeded the ufual peri¬ 
od. Others have thought that the longlives of thofe inhabi¬ 
tants of the old wo rld proceeded from the ftrength of their 
/ramin a, or <ftrft principles of their bodily conftitutions : 
v. Inch might, indeed, be a concurrent, but not the foie and 
adequate, caufe of their longevity ; for Shem, who was born 
before the deluge, arid had all the virtue of the antediluvi¬ 
an confiitution^fell three hundred years fliort of the age of 
hi*; forefather?, becaufe the greater part of his life was 
paSbd after the flood. Others have imputed the longe¬ 
A N T 
vity of the antediluvians to the excellency of their fruits, 
and fome peculiar virtue in the herbs and plants of thofe 
days. But to this fuppolition it has been objected, that, 
as the earth was curfed immediately after the fall, its pro¬ 
ductions we may fuppofe gradually decreafed in their vir¬ 
tue and gooflnels tiil the flood ; arid yet we do not fee the 
length of men’s lives decreafed confiderably, if at all, du¬ 
ring tirat interval. Waving this objection, as the import 
of the curfe is varioufly interpreted, it appears certain 
that the productions of tire earth were at firft, and proba¬ 
bly continued till after the deluge, of a different nature 
from what they were in future times. Buffon fuppofes 
this difference may have continued gradually to diminifh 
for many ages fubfequent to that cataftrophe. The fur- 
face of the globe (according to his theory) was in the firft 
ages of the world lets (olid and compact; becaufe, gravity 
having only ailed for a fliort time, terreftriai bodies had 
not acquired their prefen t denfity and confidence. The 
furface being more loofe arid moift, its productions would 
of courfe be more duCtile and capable of extenfion : their 
growth, therefore, and even that of the human body, 
would require a longer time of being completed. The 
foftnefs and ductility of the bones, mufcles, &c. would 
probably remain for a longer period, becaufe every fpe¬ 
cies of food was more foft and lucculent. Hence the full 
expanfion of the human body, or when it was capable of 
generating, muft have required 120 or 130 years; and the 
duration of life would be in proportion to the time of 
growth, as is uniformly the cafe at prefent: for if we fup¬ 
pofe the age of puberty, among the firft races of men, to 
have been 130 years, as they now arrive at that age in 14- 
years, the age of the antediluvians will be in exaCt propor¬ 
tion to that of the prefent race ; linceby multiplying thefe 
two numbers by feven, for example, the. age of the prefent 
race w ill be 90, and that of the antediluvians will be 910. 
The period of man’s exiftence, therefore, may have gra¬ 
dually diminifhed in proportion as the furface of the earth 
acquired more folidity by the conftant aCtion of gravity : 
and it is probable, that the period from the creation, to 
the days of David, was fufficient to give the earth all the 
denfity it was capable of receiving from the influence of 
gravitation; arid 'corifequently that the furface of the earth 
has ever fince remained in then fame ftate, and that the 
terms of growth in the productions of the earth, as well as 
the duration of life, have been invariably fixed from that 
period. 
It lias been further fuppofed, that a principal caufe of 
the longevity under confideration was the wholefome con- 
ftitution of the antediluvian air, which, after the deluge, 
became corrupted and unwholefome, breaking, by degrees, 
the priftine crafis of the body, and lhortening men’s lives, 
in a very few ages, to n^tr the prefent ftandard. The 
temperature of the air anci feafons before that cataftrophe 
are upon very probable grounds fuppofed to have been 
conftantly uniform and mild : the burning heats of dim¬ 
mer and the feverities of winter’s cold were not then come 
forth, but fpring and autumn reigned perpetually toge¬ 
ther : and indeed, the circumftance above all others mod 
conducive to the prolongation of human life in the poft- 
diluvian world appears to be an equal and benign tempe¬ 
rature of climate; whence it feeins reafonable to infer, that 
the fame caufe might have produced the fame effect in the 
antediluvian world. 
ANTE'GO. See Anti'gua. 
ANTEJURAMEN'TUM, f. by our anceftors called 
juramentum calwnnia, an oath which anciently both a confer 
and accufed were to take before any trial or purgation. 
The accufer was to fvvear, that he would profecute the 
criminal; and the accufed }o make oath, on the day he 
was to undergo the ordeal, that he was innocent of the 
crime charged again ft him. 
ANTELA'BIA, f. E 7r f 5 % s *fr° 1T1 ^f 0 X £ ‘?,< 5 ;, 
Gr. a lip.] The extremities of the lips. 
AN'TELOPE, f in zoology. See Capra. 
ANTELU'CANj 
