Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>They are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents\r\nwhich profess to give the history of many thousand\r\nyears, though, reckoning by the sacred writings, we find that\r\nnot 6000 years have yet passed.<a id=\"FNanchor_533_533\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_533_533\">[533]</a> And, not to spend many\r\nwords in exposing the baselessness of these documents, in<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_495\">[Pg 495]</a></span>\r\nwhich so many thousands of years are accounted for, nor\r\nin proving that their authorities are totally inadequate, let\r\nme cite only that letter which Alexander the Great wrote to\r\nhis mother Olympias,<a id=\"FNanchor_534_534\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_534_534\">[534]</a> giving her the narrative he had from\r\nan Egyptian priest, which he had extracted from their sacred\r\narchives, and which gave an account of kingdoms mentioned\r\nalso by the Greek historians. In this letter of Alexander's a\r\nterm of upwards of 5000 years is assigned to the kingdom of\r\nAssyria; while in the Greek history only 1300 years are\r\nreckoned from the reign of Bel himself, whom both Greek\r\nand Egyptian agree in counting the first king of Assyria.\r\nThen to the empire of the Persians and Macedonians this\r\nEgyptian assigned more than 8000 years, counting to the\r\ntime of Alexander, to whom he was speaking; while among\r\nthe Greeks, 485 years are assigned to the Macedonians down\r\nto the death of Alexander, and to the Persians 233 years,\r\nreckoning to the termination of his conquests. Thus these\r\ngive a much smaller number of years than the Egyptians;\r\nand indeed, though multiplied three times, the Greek chronology\r\nwould still be shorter. For the Egyptians are said to\r\nhave formerly reckoned only four months to their year;<a id=\"FNanchor_535_535\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_535_535\">[535]</a> so\r\nthat one year, according to the fuller and truer computation\r\nnow in use among them as well as among ourselves, would\r\ncomprehend three of their old years. But not even thus, as I\r\nsaid, does the Greek history correspond with the Egyptian in\r\nits chronology. And therefore the former must receive the\r\ngreater credit, because it does not exceed the true account of\r\nthe duration of the world as it is given by our documents,\r\nwhich are truly sacred. Further, if this letter of Alexander,\r\nwhich has become so famous, differs widely in this matter of\r\nchronology from the probable credible account, how much\r\nless can we believe these documents which, though full of\r\nfabulous and fictitious antiquities, they would fain oppose to\r\nthe authority of our well-known and divine books, which predicted<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_496\">[Pg 496]</a></span>\r\nthat the whole world would believe them, and which\r\nthe whole world accordingly has believed; which proved, too,\r\nthat it had truly narrated past events by its prediction of\r\nfuture events, which have so exactly come to pass!</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TWELFTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-852"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"b73c88752b02fcf163603bf0edc9e2b4d43a94338489b03027b5dc23f6ce9432","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_533_533","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_533_533","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_533_533\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_533_533\"><span class=\"label\">[533]</span></a> Augustine here follows the chronology of Eusebius, who reckons 5611 years\r\nfrom the Creation to the taking of Rome by the Goths; adopting the Septuagint\r\nversion of the patriarchal ages.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_533_533","text_sha256":"0bada1a8b6454582bc85b85f8c4a213777395806a6fd5ff2e6c9d4d1ebadf18b","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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