Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>From this discrepancy between the Hebrew books and our\r\nown arises the well-known question as to the age of Methuselah;<a id=\"FNanchor_167_167\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_167_167\">[167]</a>\r\nfor it is computed that he lived for fourteen years\r\nafter the deluge, though Scripture relates that of all who\r\nwere then upon the earth only the eight souls in the ark\r\nescaped destruction by the flood, and of these Methuselah was\r\nnot one. For, according to our books, Methuselah, before he\r\nbegat the son whom he called Lamech, lived 167 years; then\r\nLamech himself, before his son Noah was born, lived 188\r\nyears, which together make 355 years. Add to these the\r\nage of Noah at the date of the deluge, 600 years, and this\r\ngives a total of 955 from the birth of Methuselah to the<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_67\">[Pg 67]</a></span>\r\nyear of the flood. Now all the years of the life of Methuselah\r\nare computed to be 969; for when he had lived 167\r\nyears, and had begotten his son Lamech, he then lived after\r\nthis 802 years, which makes a total, as we said, of 969\r\nyears. From this, if we deduct 955 years from the birth of\r\nMethuselah to the flood, there remain fourteen years, which\r\nhe is supposed to have lived after the flood. And therefore\r\nsome suppose that, though he was not on earth (in which it\r\nis agreed that every living thing which could not naturally\r\nlive in water perished), he was for a time with his father,\r\nwho had been translated, and that he lived there till the flood\r\nhad passed away. This hypothesis they adopt, that they may\r\nnot cast a slight on the trustworthiness of versions which the\r\nChurch has received into a position of high authority,<a id=\"FNanchor_168_168\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_168_168\">[168]</a> and\r\nbecause they believe that the Jewish <span class=\"smcap\">mss.</span> rather than our\r\nown are in error. For they do not admit that this is a mistake\r\nof the translators, but maintain that there is a falsified\r\nstatement in the original, from which, through the Greek, the\r\nScripture has been translated into our own tongue. They say\r\nthat it is not credible that the seventy translators, who simultaneously\r\nand unanimously produced one rendering, could\r\nhave erred, or, in a case in which no interest of theirs was\r\ninvolved, could have falsified their translation; but that the\r\nJews, envying us our translation of their Law and Prophets,\r\nhave made alterations in their texts so as to undermine the\r\nauthority of ours. This opinion or suspicion let each man\r\nadopt according to his own judgment. Certain it is that\r\nMethuselah did not survive the flood, but died in the very\r\nyear it occurred, if the numbers given in the Hebrew <span class=\"smcap\">mss.</span>\r\nare true. My own opinion regarding the seventy translators\r\nI will, with God's help, state more carefully in its\r\nown place, when I have come down (following the order\r\nwhich this work requires) to that period in which their\r\ntranslation was executed.<a id=\"FNanchor_169_169\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_169_169\">[169]</a> For the present question, it is\r\nenough that, according to our versions, the men of that age\r\nhad lives so long as to make it quite possible that, during\r\nthe lifetime of the first-born of the two sole parents then<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_68\">[Pg 68]</a></span>\r\non earth, the human race multiplied sufficiently to form a\r\ncommunity.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FIFTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-120"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"a1b0f63c33081428993ecc364737c42f97b92309e0e1206ae14f11991a7926ef","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_168_168","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_168_168","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_168_168\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_168_168\"><span class=\"label\">[168]</span></a> \"Quos in auctoritatem celebriorum Ecclesia suscepit.\"</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_168_168","text_sha256":"c82e9f04903392ada8edec8c2f5ea5e6f9008aefb32b9d8e29a1864b29d97d68","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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