APPENDIX.
west, towards which it moved.
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This supposed, they observed that as it
was manifest that the head of all things, natural and artificial,
is al足
ways the best and noblest part, governing the other parts of the body, so the south, being the head of the earth, ought to be superior and nobler than either east, or west, or north ; and in accordance with this, they cited the opinion of various philosophers among the ancients, and more espe足 cially that of Ptolemy, that the stars of the southern hemisphere were larger, more resplendent, more perfect, and of course of greater virtue and efficacy than those of the northern : an error universally prevalent until disproved by modern discovery.
Hence they concluded that in this southern
hemisphere, in this head of the earth, under this purer and brighter sky, and these more potent and benignant stars, was placed the terrestrial paradise. Various ideas were entertained as to the magnitude of this blissful region.
A s Adam and all his progeny were to have lived there, had he
not sinned, and as there would have been no such thing as death to thin the number of mankind, it was inferred that the terrestrial paradise must be of great extent to contain them.
Some gave it a size equal to Europe
or Africa ; others gave it the whole southern hemisphere.
St. Augustine
supposed that as mankind multiplied, numbers would be translated without death to heaven ; the parents, perhaps, when their children had arrived at mature age ; or portions of the human race at the end of certain periods, and when the population of the terrestrial paradise had attained a certain amount.*
Others supposed that mankind, remaining in a state of primitive
innocence, would not have required so much space as at present.
Having
no need of rearing animals for subsistence, no land would have been required for pasturage ; and the earth not being cursed with sterility, there would have been no need of extensive tracts of country to permit of fallow land and the alternation of crops required in husbandry.
The
spontaneous and never-failing fruits of the garden would have been abun足 dant for the simple wants of man.
Still, that the human race might not
be crowded, but might have ample space for recreation and enjoyment, and the charms of variety and change, some allowed at least a hundred leagues of circumference to the garden. St. Basilius in his eloquent discourse on paradisef expatiates with rap-
* St. August, lib. ix. cap. 6. Sup. Genesis. t St. Basilius was called the great. all the world, even by Pagans.
His works were read and admired by
They are written in an elevated and majestic
style, with great splendor of idea, and vast erudition.