62. The primitive church of Antioch computed almost 6000
years from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ.
Africanus, Lactantius, and the Greek church have reduced
that number to 5500, and Eusebius has contented himself with
5200 years. These calculations were formed on the
Septuagint, which was universally received during the six
first centuries. The authority of the Vulgate and of the
Hebrew text has determined the moderns, Protestants as well
as Catholics, to prefer a period of about 4000 years;
though, in the study of profane antiquity, they often find
themselves straitened by those narrow limits.