and even so, have not been accurately recorded; the difference between the beginning or end of the same constellation, making a difference of about 2145 years in the calculation. From such observations no accurate conclusions can be drawn. HESIOD. His astronomical argument, however, for determining the time of Hesiod, and from thence supporting his assumed date of the Trojan war, deserves to be considered, because it will be found not only to militate against his system, but even to support the ancient, and to verify the Parian Chronicle in this case. 66 Hesiod," says he, " tells us, that sixty days after the winter solstice, the star Arcturus rose just at sunset: and thence it follows, that Hesiod flourished about a hundred years after the death of Solomon, (about B.C. 870, Short Chronicle) or in the generation or age next after the Trojan war, as Hesiod himself declares." P. 93. The passage to which he alludes is this: Ευτ' αν δ' ἑξακοντα μετα τροπας ηελίοιο Χειμερι εκτέλεση Ζευς ἡματα, δη ρα TOT' αστηρ "When Jove shall have completed sixty days After the winter solstice, then the star First rises achronically, all shining."—Opera et Dies, v. 564. Here" the star Arcturus" is put, by a usual metonymy, for the whole constellation Bootes, of which it is the most conspicuous: this is evident from the word Taupaivwv, " all-shining," which is inapplicable to a single star*, but corresponds with the usual phrases of the ancient astronomers respecting the risings of the constellations, either partially or totally; μeσos επιτέλλει, όλος επιτέλλει, &c.; sometimes, with the addition of the words φανερος, εκφανης. And Homer also uses αστήρ, (which properly denotes a single "star,") in the sense of σnua, a sign," or constellation; applying both to Kvv' Qoivos, "Orion's dog," or the constellation Canis. Ibid. 20. Plautus 66 A single star has no apparent or sensible diameter, and therefore rises and sets nearly at once. too applies both Stella and Signum to Arcturus, in his prologue to the Rudens. "Ita sum, ut videtis, splendens stella candida, Signum quod semper tempore exoritur suo, Hic atque in cœlo: nomen Arcturo est mihi." Virgil likewise applies sidus to Arcturus: "Arcturi sidera, Hodorumque dies servandi."-Georg. 1, 204. It does not appear from this passage of Hesiod, at what place, or in what time, the observation was originally made; whether at Ascra, the poet's residence, in Bœotia, or in a higher or lower latitude; whether in his own age, or from more ancient calendars; or whether the true or apparent rising of the constellation is meant: all which circumstances enter into, and materially affect, the result of the calculation. Let us, however, suppose that the poet speaks of the apparent Achronycal rising of the constellation, at his own country, and in his own age. In the latitude of Ascra, about 38 degrees, 30 minutes, and in the year assigned by Newton, B.C. 870, which was Bissextile, the apparent Achronycal rising of Arcturus, happened at the beginning of February 18, when the sun was in the 21st degree of Aquarius, and depressed twelve degrees below the horizon: that is, 50 entire days from the day of the winter solstice that year, including the extremes. But this falls short of the poet's observation of 60 days; which is repeated and verified both by Eudoxus and Democritus, and therefore is not liable to the suspicion of an error in the text. Let us next take the year assigned to Hesiod, by the Parian Chronicle, B.C. 944; or, for the ease of calculation, B.C. 942, which was Bissextile; and, instead of Arcturus, take the star which rises last in the constellation Bootes, and is a star of the third magnitude, marked a by Bayer, and which therefore is visible at the horizon, when the sun is depressed 14 degrees below it. This star then rose achronycally in the beginning of February 27, or the sixtieth day after the day of the winter solstice, including the extremes: a usual mode of computation, of which we find many instances in sacred and profane authors. This curious calculation, so satisfactorily verifying the Parian date of Hesiod's time, and refuting Newton's abbreviation, was made by a skilful astronomer, Doctor Joseph Atwell, and is in serted in the learned Dissertation prefixed to Robinson's excellent Variorum edition of Hesiod's works, 1737. Oxon. p. xxvii., &c. See the Editor's preface. * Newton's mistake, in lowering so much the time of Hesiod below the received chronology, may be traced to his mistake and misrepresentation of Hesiod's celebrated five ages of the world, 1. The Golden; 2. The Silver; 3. The Brazen; 4. The Heroic; and 5. The Iron: in his Opera et Dies. "Hesiod," says he, "hath told us himself that he lived in the age next after the wars of Thebes and Troy, [i. e. the Iron age.] And that this age should end when the men then living grew hoary, and dropt into the grave: and therefore it was but of an ordinary length." P. 31. And again : "Hesiod himself tells us, that he lived in the fifth age, the age next after the taking of Troy: and therefore he flourished within 30 or 35 years after it." P. 160. And further: "Hesiod, describing these four ages of the gods and demigods of Greece, [the Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Heroic ages] represents them to be four generations of men; each of which ended when the men then living grew old and dropt into the grave; and tells us, that the fourth ended with the wars of Thebes and Troy." P. 158.-"The four first ages succeeded the flood of Deucalion." P. 161.-" This flood was succeeded by four ages or generations of men :—the last of which ended with the Trojan war." P. 13. γενος, In these several passages, Newton evidently appears to have confounded yɛvos, the word uniformly used by Hesiod in describing these five ages; signifying "a race," (or peculiar cast of men, distinguished from others, by some physical or moral qualities, as is evident from the context) with yɛvɛa, a generation," or the men of a single age; three of which were equivalent to a century. And this fundamental error has deranged his entire chronology of those ages, and of the early times of Greece. 66 To rescue this curious and important period of ancient chronology from the uncertainty and perplexity under which it has so long laboured, which Newton, his predecessors, and successors, have all failed to explain and clear up; however hazardous, and even presumptuous, may be the attempt, at present, respecting a subject so very obscure and intricate, and so much disputed * Ovid reckons only four ages, including the Heroic in the Brazen age. by the ablest critics and antiquaries, I will proceed to examine carefully the account given by Hesiod himself; and by comparing it with sacred history and primitive tradition, hope to offer at least a more rational and consistent account of Hesiod's Ages of the World, than has hitherto appeared, which I will preface in his own language: Ει δ' εθέλεις, ἑτερον τοι εγω λογον εκκορυφώσω Εν και επισταμένως συ δ' ενι φρεσι βαλλεο σησιν. Opera et Dies, v. 106. HESIOD'S Ages of the World. 1. His Golden Age bears no relation at all to Grecian History. It is evidently an imperfect tradition of the primeval times, before and after the fall; including the paradisaical state of our first parents, and also the purer state of Seth's line, until his descendants, "the sons of God," as they were styled in Scripture for their superior piety, about the age of the righteous Enoch, the seventh from Adam, began to be corrupted by their promiscuous inter-marriages with the fair, but frail," daughters of men" of the apostate Cainite race. Gen. vi. 1, 2; iv. 25; Jude 14. To this period, Hesiod's account bears a remarkable analogy: “When Saturn reigned, and men lived like gods, free from cares, without labour and sorrow, and the infirmities of age; rich in sheep*, dear to the happy gods, enjoying the spontaneous fruits of the earth in great abundance, and all manner of good things; and dying without pain, as if overcome by sleep. After death they became demons (or good angels) and were admitted to the council of Jove, and were appointed guardians of mankind. They went to and fro throughout the earth, observing the righteous or unrighteous deeds of men, dispensers of wealth. Such was their royal reward." Vers. 108-126. Josephus also cites Hesiod (though no where extant in his present works) among the authors who recorded that the "first men lived a thousand years." Ant. i. 3, 9. 2. The Silver age seems to have succeeded the general deluget. * Mnλots: I have rendered it " sheep," as it is afterwards understood, vers. 163; rather than "fruits," with the Latin translation, pomis; because the pastoral state is thereby distinguished from the agricultural. Gen. iv. 2. †The learned and ingenious Mr. Mitford supposes that the first two ages preceded At that time the original standard of longevity ending with Noah, was shortened by successive reductions, from 600 years, the age of Shem, to 400, 200, &c. years. Still, however, the mean length of generations to the days of Abraham, was a hundred years and upwards, according to the longer Greek computation of the Septuagint and Josephus, supported by the Samaritan text. This age probably reached from the deluge to the colonization of the earth, in the days of Peleg, or fifth from Shem. Gen. xi. 1-32. It seems to be thus described by Hesiod:"This was a race much inferior indeed; like the Golden, neither in body nor mind. Still at a hundred years of age they were boys, bred up with their careful mothers in simplicity at home. But their term of manhood was short, and they died early, suffering for their folly, because they could not abstain from injury to each other, and from impiety to the gods, whose lawful and customary sacrifices they would not offer; wherefore Jove, in his wrath, removed them, because they gave not due honours to the happy gods." And the following remarkable exception seems to relate to the first and purest patriarchs of this age," who after their deaths were called the second happy mortals, for still honour attended even these." V. 140-143. 3. The three ensuing ages seem to have been peculiar, in a great measure, to the region of Greece, the poet's country. His description of the Brazen Age seems to relate to the early state of Greece, during its successive colonizations or settlements, by the various wandering tribes of Asia, Phoenicia, and Egypt; the Deluge; that the Golden age only represented the state of man in Paradise, before the fall; and the Silver, that which succeeded it. Hist. Greece, Vol. I. p. 63, 155. This cannot be for Hesiod's description of the Golden age evidently extended beyond the paradisaical state, in which Adam and Eve had no children; and includes that period in which "men began to multiply on the face of the earth." 2. His account of the diminution of the standard of human life in the Silver age, does not agree to the Antediluvian times, but agrees remarkably well to the patriarchal generations after the Deluge. Besides Mitford's hypothesis excludes the righteous Noah and his sons from any of the ages; as the three last refer entirely to Greece, in his opinion, which seems to be well founded. Sir Isaac Newton's opinion, that the Golden and Silver ages, or races, relate particularly to Greece, as well as the Brazen, the Heroic, and the Iron, he justly rejects, as "wholly unwarranted." Hesiod, under the preceding fable of the formation of the fair Pandora, who with her box of evils deceived Epimetheus, when nothing was left behind but Hope, (vers. 60—99) seems to have allegorized the history of the creation of Eve, of the fall, and of the hope of redemption through "the seed of the woman." |