Such were the chief works which rendered Babylon so famous; the greater part of them are ascribed by profane authors to Semiramis, to whose history it is now time to return.

When she had finished all these great undertakings, she thought fit to make a progress through the several parts of her empire;(995) and, wherever she came, left monuments of her magnificence by many noble structures which she erected, either for the conveniency or ornament of her cities; she was particularly careful to have water brought by aqueducts to such places as wanted it, and to make the highways easy, by cutting through mountains, and filling up valleys. In the time of Diodorus, there were still monuments to be seen in many places, with her name inscribed upon them.

The authority this queen had over her people seems very extraordinary, since we find her presence alone capable of appeasing a sedition.(996) One day, as she was dressing herself, word was brought her of a tumult in the city. Whereupon she went out immediately, with her head half dressed, and did not return till the disturbance was entirely appeased. A statue was erected in remembrance of this action, representing her in that very attitude and undress, which had not hindered her from flying to her duty.

Not satisfied with the vast extent of dominions left her by her husband, she enlarged them by the conquest of a great part of AEthiopia. Whilst she was in that country, she had the curiosity to visit the temple of Jupiter Ammon, to inquire of the oracle how long she had to live. According to Diodorus, the answer she received was, that she should not die till her son Ninyas conspired against her, and that after her death one part of Asia would pay her divine honours.

Her greatest and last expedition was against India; on this occasion she raised an innumerable army out of all the provinces of her empire, and appointed Bactra for the rendezvous. As the strength of the Indians consisted chiefly in their great number of elephants, she caused a multitude of camels to be accoutred in the form of elephants, in hopes of deceiving the enemy. It is said that Perseus long after used the same stratagem against the Romans; but neither of them succeeded in this artifice. The Indian king having notice of her approach, sent ambassadors to ask her who she was, and with what right, having never received any injury from him, she came out of wantonness to attack his dominions; adding, that her boldness should soon meet with the punishment it deserved. Tell your master (replied the queen) that in a little time I myself will let him know who I am. She advanced immediately towards the river(997) from which the country takes its name; and having prepared a sufficient number of boats, she attempted to pass it with her army. Their passage was a long time disputed, but after a bloody battle she put her enemies to flight. Above a thousand of their boats were sunk, and above a hundred thousand of their men taken prisoners. Encouraged by this success, she advanced directly into the country, leaving sixty thousand men behind to guard the bridge of boats, which she had built over the river. This was just what the king desired, who fled on purpose to bring her to an engagement in the heart of his country. As soon as he thought her far enough advanced, he faced about, and a second engagement ensued, more bloody than the first. The counterfeit elephants could not long sustain the shock of the real ones: these routed her army, crushing whatever came in their way. Semiramis did all that lay in her power to rally and encourage her troops, but in vain. The king, perceiving her engaged in the fight, advanced towards her, and wounded her in two places, but not mortally. The swiftness of her horse soon carried her beyond the reach of her enemies. As her men crowded to the bridge, to repass the river, great numbers of them perished, through the disorder and confusion unavoidable on such occasions. When those that could save themselves were safely over, she destroyed the bridge, and by that means stopt the enemy; and the king likewise, in obedience to an oracle, had given orders to his troops not to pass the river, nor pursue Semiramis any farther. The queen, having made an exchange of prisoners at Bactra, returned to her own dominions with scarce one-third of her army, which (according to Ctesias) consisted of three million foot, and five hundred thousand horse, besides the camels and chariots armed for war, of which she had a very considerable number. I have no doubt that this account is highly exaggerated, or that there is some mistake in the numeral characters. She, and Alexander after her, were the only persons that ever ventured to carry the war beyond the river Indus.

I must own, I am somewhat puzzled with a difficulty which may be raised against the extraordinary things related of Ninus and Semiramis, as they do not seem to agree with the times so near the deluge: I mean, such vast armies, such a numerous cavalry, so many chariots armed with scythes, and such immense treasures of gold and silver; all which seem to be of a later date. The same thing may likewise be said of the magnificence of the buildings, ascribed to them. It is probable, the Greek historians, who came so many ages afterwards, deceived by the similarity of names, by their ignorance in chronology, and the resemblance of one event with another, may have ascribed such things to more ancient princes, as belonged to those of a later date; or may have attributed a number of exploits and enterprises to one, which ought to be divided amongst a series of them, succeeding one another.

Semiramis, some time after her return, discovered that her son was plotting against her, and one of her principal officers had offered him his assistance. She then called to mind the oracle of Jupiter Ammon; and believing that her end approached, without inflicting any punishment on the officer, who was taken into custody, she voluntarily abdicated the throne, put the government into the hands of her son, and withdrew from the sight of men, hoping speedily to have divine honours paid to her according to the promise of the oracle. And indeed we are told, she was worshipped by the Assyrians, under the form of a dove. She lived sixty-two years, of which she reigned forty-two.

There are in the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres(998) two learned dissertations upon the Assyrian empire, and particularly on the reign and actions of Semiramis.

What Justin(999) says of Semiramis, namely, that after her husband's decease, not daring either to commit the government to her son, who was then too young, or openly to take it upon herself, she governed under the name and habit of Ninyas, and that, after having reigned in that manner above forty years, falling passionately in love with her own son, she endeavoured to induce him to comply with her criminal desires, and was slain by him: all this, I say, is so void of all appearance of truth, that to go about to confute it would be but losing time. It must however be owned, that almost all the authors who have spoken of Semiramis, give us but a disadvantageous idea of her chastity.

I do not know but that the glorious reign of this queen might partly induce Plato to maintain, in his Commonwealth,(1000) that women as well as men ought to be admitted into the management of public affairs, the conducting of armies, and the government of states; and, by necessary consequence, ought to be trained up in the same exercises as men, as well for the forming of the body as the mind. Nor does he so much as except those exercises, wherein it was customary to fight stark naked, alleging(1001) that the virtue of the sex would be a sufficient covering for them.

It is just matter of surprise to find a philosopher so judicious in other respects, openly combating the most common and most natural maxims of modesty and decency, virtues which are the principal ornament of the female sex, and insisting so strongly upon a principle, sufficiently confuted by the constant practice of all ages, and of almost all nations in the world.

Aristotle, wiser in this than his master Plato, without doing the least injustice to the real merit and essential qualities of the sex, has with great judgment marked(1002) out the different ends to which man and woman are ordained, from the different qualities of body and mind, wherewith they are endowed by the Author of nature, who has given the one strength of body and intrepidity of mind to enable him to undergo the greatest hardships, and face the most imminent dangers; whilst the other, on the contrary, is of a weak and delicate constitution, accompanied with a natural softness and modest timidity, which render her more fit for a sedentary life, and dispose her to keep within the precincts of the house, and to employ herself in the concerns of prudent and industrious economy.

Xenophon is of the same opinion with Aristotle;(1003) and in order to set off the occupation of the wife, who confines herself within her house, agreeably compares her to the mother-bee, commonly called the queen-bee, who alone governs and has the superintendence of the whole hive, who distributes all their employments, encourages their industry, presides over the building of their little cells, takes care of the nourishment and subsistence of her numerous family; regulates the quantity of honey appointed for that purpose, and at fixed and proper seasons sends abroad the new swarms in colonies, to ease and disburthen the hive of its superfluous inhabitants. He remarks, with Aristotle, the difference of constitution and inclinations, designedly made by the Author of nature between man and woman, to point out to each of them their proper and peculiar offices and functions.

This allotment, far from degrading or lessening the woman, is really for her advantage and honour, in confiding to her a kind of domestic empire and government, administered only by gentleness, reason, equity, and good nature; and in giving her frequent occasions of concealing the most valuable and excellent qualities under the inestimable veil of modesty and submission. For it must ingenuously be owned, that at all times, and in all conditions, there have been women, who by a real and solid merit have distinguished themselves above their sex; as there have been innumerable instances of men, who by their defects have dishonoured theirs. But these are only particular cases, which form no rule, and which ought not to prevail against an establishment founded in nature, and prescribed by the Creator himself.

(M158) NINYAS.(1004) This prince was in no respect like those from whom he received his birth, and to whose throne he succeeded. Wholly intent upon his pleasures, he kept himself shut up in his palace, and seldom showed himself to his people. To keep them in their duty, he had always at Nineveh a certain number of regular troops, furnished every year from the several provinces of his empire, at the expiration of which term they were succeeded by the like number of other troops on the same conditions; the king putting a commander at the head of them, on whose fidelity he could depend. He made use of this method, that the officers might not have time to gain the affections of the soldiers, and so form any conspiracies against him.

His successors for thirty generations followed his example and even surpassed him in indolence. Their history is absolutely unknown, there remaining no footsteps of it.

(M159) In Abraham's time the Scripture speaks of Amraphael, king of Shinar, the country where Babylon was situated, who with two other princes followed Chedorlaomer, king of the Elamites, whose tributary he probably was, in the war carried on by the latter against five kings of the land of Canaan.

(M160) It was under the government of these inactive princes, that Sesostris, king of Egypt, extended his conquests so far in the East. But as his power was of a short duration, and not supported by his successors, the Assyrian empire soon returned to its former state.

(M161) Plato, a curious observer of antiquities, makes the kingdom of Troy, in the time of Priam, dependent on the Assyrian empire.(1005) And Ctesias says, that Teutamus, the twentieth king after Ninyas, sent a considerable body of troops to the assistance of the Trojans, under the conduct of Memnon, the son of Tithonus, at a time when the Assyrian empire had subsisted above a thousand years; which agrees exactly with the time, wherein I have placed the foundation of that empire. But the silence of Homer concerning so mighty a people, and one which must needs have been well known, renders this fact exceeding doubtful. And it must be owned, that whatever relates to the times of the ancient history of the Assyrians, is attended with great difficulties, into which my plan does not permit me to enter.

(M162) PUL. The Scripture informs us, that Pul, king of Assyria, being come into the land of Israel, had a thousand talents of silver given him by Menahem, king of the ten tribes, to engage him to lend him assistance, and secure him on his throne.(1006)

This Pul is supposed to be the king of Nineveh, who repented, with all his people, at the preaching of Jonah.

He is also thought to be the father of Sardanapalus, the last king of the Assyrians, called, according to the custom of the eastern nations, Sardanpul, that is to say, Sardan, the son of Pul.

(M163) SARDANAPALUS. This prince surpassed all his predecessors in effeminacy, luxury, and cowardice.(1007) He never went out of his palace, but spent all his time amongst a company of women, dressed and painted like them, and employed like them at the distaff. He placed all his happiness and glory in the possession of immense treasures, in feasting and rioting, and indulging himself in all the most infamous and criminal pleasures. He ordered two verses to be put upon his tomb, which imported, that he carried away with him all that he had eaten, and all the pleasures he had enjoyed, but left all the rest behind him.

Haec habeo quae edi, quaeque exaturata libido Hausit: at illa jacent multa et praeclara relicta.(1008)

An epitaph, says Aristotle, fit for a hog.

Arbaces, governor of Media, having found means to get into the palace, and having with his own eyes seen Sardanapalus in the midst of his infamous seraglio; enraged at such a spectacle, and not able to endure that so many brave men should be subject to a prince more soft and effeminate than the women themselves, immediately formed a conspiracy against him. Belesis, governor of Babylon, and several others, entered into it. On the first rumour of this revolt, the king hid himself in the inmost part of his palace. Being obliged afterwards to take the field with some forces which he had assembled, he at first gained three successive victories over the enemy, but was afterwards overcome, and pursued to the gates of Nineveh; wherein he shut himself, in hopes the rebels would never be able to take a city so well fortified, and stored with provisions for a considerable time: the siege proved indeed of very great length. It had been declared by an ancient oracle, that Nineveh could never be taken, unless the river became an enemy to the city. These words buoyed up Sardanapalus, because he looked upon the thing as impossible. But when he saw that the Tigris, by a violent inundation, had thrown down twenty stadia(1009) of the city wall, and by that means opened a passage to the enemy, he understood the meaning of the oracle, and thought himself lost.(M164) He resolved, however, to die in such a manner, as, according to his opinion, should cover the infamy of his scandalous and effeminate life. He ordered a pile of wood to be made in his palace, and setting fire to it, burnt himself, his eunuchs, his women, and his treasures. Athenaeus makes these treasures amount to a thousand myriads of talents of gold,(1010) and ten times as many talents of silver, which, without reckoning any thing else, is a sum that exceeds all credibility. A myriad contains ten thousand; and one single myriad of talents of silver is worth thirty millions of French money, or about one million four hundred thousand pounds sterling. A man is lost, if he attempts to sum up the whole value; which induces me to believe, that Athenaeus must have very much exaggerated in his computation; however, we may be assured, from his account, that the treasures were immensely great.

Plutarch, in his second treatise,(1011) dedicated to the praise of Alexander the Great, wherein he examines in what the true greatness of princes consists, after having shown that it can arise from nothing but their own personal merit, confirms it by two very different examples, taken from the history of the Assyrians, in which we are now engaged. Semiramis and Sardanapalus (says he) both governed the same kingdom; both had the same people, the same extent of country, the same revenues, the same forces and number of troops; but they had not the same dispositions, nor the same views. Semiramis, raising herself above her sex, built magnificent cities, equipped fleets, armed legions, subdued neighbouring nations, penetrated into Arabia and Ethiopia, and carried her victorious arms to the extremities of Asia, spreading consternation and terror everywhere. Whereas Sardanapalus, as if he had entirely renounced his sex, spent all his time in the heart of his palace, perpetually surrounded with a company of women, whose dress and even manners he had adopted, applying himself with them to the spindle and the distaff, neither understanding nor doing any other thing than spinning, eating and drinking, and wallowing in all manner of infamous pleasure. Accordingly, a statue was erected to him, after his death, which represented him in the posture of a dancer, with an inscription upon it, in which he addressed himself to the spectator in these words: Eat, drink, and be merry; every thing else is nothing: an inscription very suitable to the epitaph he himself had ordered to be put upon his monument.(1012)

Plutarch in this place judges of Semiramis, as almost all the profane historians do of the glory of conquerors. But, if we would make a true judgment of things, was the unbounded ambition of that queen much less blamable, than the dissolute effeminacy of Sardanapalus? Which of the two vices did most mischief to mankind?

We are not to wonder that the Assyrian empire should fall under such a prince; but undoubtedly it was not till after having passed through various augmentations, diminutions, and revolutions, common to all states, even to the greatest, during the course of several ages. This empire had subsisted above 1450 years.

Of the ruins of this vast empire were formed three considerable kingdoms; that of the Medes, which Arbaces, the principal head of the conspiracy, restored to its liberty; that of the Assyrians of Babylon, which was given to Belesis, governor of that city; and that of the Assyrians of Nineveh, the first king whereof took the name of Ninus the younger.

In order to understand the history of the second Assyrian empire, which is very obscure, and of which little is said by historians, it is proper, and even absolutely necessary, to compare what is said of it by profane authors with what we are informed concerning it by holy Scripture; that by the help of that double light we may have the clearer idea of the two empires of Nineveh and Babylon, which for some time were separate and distinct, and afterwards united and confounded together. I shall first treat of this second Assyrian empire, and then return to the kingdom of the Medes.



Chapter II. The Second Assyrian Empire, both of Nineveh and Babylon.

This second Assyrian empire continued two hundred and ten years, reckoning to the year in which Cyrus, who was become absolute master of the East by the death of his father Cambyses and his father-in-law Cyaxares, published the famous edict, whereby the Jews were permitted to return into their own country, after a seventy years' captivity at Babylon.

(M165) Kings of Babylon.(1013)—BELESIS. He is the same as Nabonassar, from whose reign began the famous astronomical epocha at Babylon, called from his name the AEra of Nabonassar. In the holy Scriptures he is called Baladan. He reigned but twelve years, and was succeeded by his son:

(M166) MERODACH-BALADAN. This is the prince who sent ambassadors to king Hezekiah, to congratulate him on the recovery of his health, of which we shall speak hereafter.(1014) After him there reigned several other kings of Babylon,(1015) with whose story we are entirely unacquainted. I shall therefore proceed to the kings of Nineveh.

(M167) Kings of Nineveh.—TIGLATH-PILESER. This is the name given by the holy Scripture to the king, who is supposed to be the first that reigned at Nineveh, after the destruction of the ancient Assyrian empire. He is called Thilgamus, by AElian.(1016) He is said to have taken the name of Ninus the younger, in order to honour and distinguish his reign by the name of so ancient and illustrious a prince.

Ahaz, king of Judah,(1017) whose incorrigible impiety could not be reclaimed, either by the divine favours or chastisements, finding himself attacked at the same time by the kings of Syria and Israel, robbed the temple of part of its gold and silver, and sent it to Tiglath-Pileser, to purchase his assistance; promising him besides to become his vassal, and to pay him tribute. The king of Assyria finding so favourable an opportunity of adding Syria and Palestine to his empire, readily accepted the proposal. Advancing that way with a numerous army, he beat Rezin, took Damascus, and put an end to the kingdom erected there by the Syrians, as God had foretold by his prophets Isaiah and Amos(1018). From thence he marched against Pekah, and took all that belonged to the kingdom of Israel beyond Jordan, as well as all Galilee. But he made Ahaz pay very dear for his protection, still exacting of him such exorbitant sums of money, that for the payment of them he was obliged not only to exhaust his own treasures, but to take all the gold and silver of the temple. Thus this alliance served only to drain the kingdom of Judah, and to bring into its neighbourhood the powerful kings of Nineveh; who afterwards became so many instruments in the hand of God for the chastisement of his people.

(M168) SHALMANEZER. Sabacus, the Ethiopian, whom the Scripture calls So, having made himself master of Egypt, Hoshea, king of Samaria, entered into an alliance with him, hoping by that means to shake off the Assyrian yoke.(1019) To this end he withdrew from his dependence upon Shalmanezer, refusing to pay him any further tribute, or make him the usual presents.

Shalmanezer, to punish him for his presumption, marched against him with a powerful army; and after having subdued all the plain country, shut him up in Samaria, where he kept him closely besieged for three years; at the end of which he took the city, loaded Hoshea with chains, and threw him into prison for the rest of his days; carried away the people captive, and planted them in Halah and Habor, cities of the Medes. And thus was the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, destroyed, as God had often threatened by his prophets. This kingdom, from the time of its separation from that of Judah, lasted about two hundred and fifty years.

It was at this time that Tobit, with Anna his wife, and his son Tobias, was carried captive into Assyria, where he became one of the principal officers of king Shalmanezer.(1020)

Shalmanezer died, after having reigned fourteen years, and was succeeded by his son:

(M169) SENNACHERIB. He is also called Sargon in Scripture.(1021)

As soon as this prince was settled on the throne, he renewed the demand of the tribute exacted by his father from Hezekiah. Upon his refusal he declared war against him, and entered into Judea with a mighty army. Hezekiah, grieved to see his kingdom pillaged, sent ambassadors to him, to desire peace upon any terms he would prescribe. Sennacherib, seemingly mollified, entered into treaty with him, and demanded a very great sum of gold and silver. The holy king exhausted both the treasures of the temple, and his own coffers, to pay it. The Assyrian, regarding neither the sanction of oaths nor treaties, still continued the war, and pushed on his conquests more vigorously than ever. Nothing was able to withstand his power, and of all the strong places of Judah, none remained untaken but Jerusalem, which was likewise reduced to the utmost extremity. At this very juncture,(1022) Sennacherib was informed, that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, who had joined his forces with those of the king of Egypt, was coming up to succour the besieged city. Now it was contrary to the express command of God, as well as the remonstrances of Isaiah and Hezekiah, that the chief men at Jerusalem had required any foreign assistance. The Assyrian prince marched immediately to meet the approaching enemy, after having written a letter to Hezekiah, full of blasphemy against the God of Israel, whom he insolently boasted he would speedily vanquish, as he had done all the gods of the other nations round about him. In short, he discomfited the AEgyptians, and pursued them even into their own country, which he ravaged, and returned laden with spoil.

It was probably during Sennacherib's absence, which was pretty long, or at least some little time before, that Hezekiah fell sick, and was cured in a miraculous manner;(1023) and that (as a sign of God's fulfilling the promise he had made him of curing him so perfectly, that within three days he should be able to go to the temple,) the shadow of the sun went ten degrees backwards upon the dial of the palace. Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, being informed of the miraculous cure of king Hezekiah, sent ambassadors to him with letters and presents, to congratulate him upon that occasion, and to acquaint themselves with the miracle that had happened in the land at this juncture, with respect to the sun's retrogradation ten degrees. Hezekiah was extremely sensible of the honour done him by that prince, and very forward to show his ambassadors the riches and treasures he possessed, and to let them see the whole magnificence of his palace. Humanly speaking, there was nothing in this proceeding but what was allowable and commendable; but in the eyes of the supreme Judge, which are infinitely more piercing and delicate than ours, this action discovered a lurking pride, and secret vanity, with which his righteousness was offended. Accordingly, he instantly informed the king by his prophet Isaiah, that the riches and treasures which he had been showing to those ambassadors with so much ostentation, should one day be transported to Babylon; and that his children should be carried thither, to become servants in the palace of that monarch. This was then utterly improbable; for Babylon, at the time we are speaking of, was in friendship and alliance with Jerusalem, as appears by her having sent ambassadors thither: nor did Jerusalem then seem to have any thing to fear, but from Nineveh; whose power was at that time formidable, and who had entirely declared against her. But the fortune of those two cities was to change, and the word of God was literally accomplished.

But to return to Sennacherib.(1024) After he had ravaged Egypt, and taken a vast number of prisoners, he came back with his victorious army, encamped before Jerusalem, and besieged it anew. The city seemed to be inevitably lost: it was without resource, and without hope from the hands of men; but had a powerful protector in Heaven, whose jealous ears had heard the impious blasphemies uttered by the king of Nineveh against His sacred name. In one single night a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of his army perished by the sword of the destroying angel. After so terrible a blow this pretended king of kings, (for so he called himself,) this triumpher over nations, and conqueror even of gods, was obliged to return to his own country with the miserable remnant of his army, covered with shame and confusion: nor did he survive his defeat more than a few months, only to make a kind of open confession of his crime to God, whose supreme majesty he had presumed to insult, and who now, to use the Scripture terms, having "put a ring into his nose, and a bridle into his mouth," as a wild beast, made him return in that humbled, afflicted condition, through those very countries, which a little before had beheld him so haughty and imperious.

Upon his return to Nineveh, being enraged at his disgrace, he treated his subjects in the most cruel and tyrannical manner. The effects of his fury fell more heavily upon the Jews and Israelites, of whom he caused great numbers to be massacred every day, ordering their bodies to be left exposed in the streets, and suffering no man to give them burial.(1025) Tobit, to avoid his cruelty, was obliged to conceal himself for some time, and suffer all his effects to be confiscated. In short, the king's savage temper rendered him so insupportable to his own family, that his two eldest sons conspired against him, and killed him in the temple,(1026) in the presence of his god Nisroch, as he lay prostrate before him. But these two princes, being obliged after this parricide to fly into Armenia, left the kingdom to Esarhaddon, their youngest brother.

(M170) ESARHADDON. We have already observed, that after Merodach-Baladan there was a succession of kings at Babylon, of whom history has transmitted nothing but the names.(1027) The royal family becoming extinct, there was an eight years' interregnum, full of troubles and commotions. Esarhaddon, taking advantage of this juncture, made himself master of Babylon, and annexing it to his former dominions, reigned over the two united empires thirteen years.

After having reunited to the Assyrian empire Syria and Palestine, which had been rent from it in the preceding reign, he entered the land of Israel, where he took captive as many as were left there, and carried them into Assyria, except an inconsiderable number that escaped his pursuit. But that the country might not become a desert, he sent colonies of idolatrous people, taken out of the countries beyond the Euphrates, to dwell in the cities of Samaria. The prediction of Isaiah was then fulfilled;(1028) within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be no more a people. This was exactly the space of time which elapsed between the prediction and the event: and the people of Israel did then truly cease to be a visible nation, what was left of them being altogether mixed and confounded with other nations.

This prince, having possessed himself of the land of Israel, sent some of his generals with part of his army into Judea, to reduce that country likewise under his subjection.(1029) These generals defeated Manasseh, and having taken him prisoner, brought him to Esarhaddon, who put him in chains, and carried him with him to Babylon. But Manasseh, having afterwards appeased the wrath of God by a sincere and lively repentance, obtained his liberty, and returned to Jerusalem.

Meantime the colonies, that had been sent into Samaria, in the room of its ancient inhabitants, were grievously infested with lions.(1030) The king of Babylon being told that the cause of this calamity was their not worshipping the God of the country, ordered an Israelitish priest to be sent to them, from among the captives brought from that country, to teach them the worship of the God of Israel. But these idolaters did no more than admit the true God amongst their ancient divinities, and worshipped him jointly with their false deities. This corrupt worship continued afterwards, and was the primary source of the aversion entertained by the Jews against the Samaritans.

Esarhaddon, after a prosperous reign of thirty-nine years over the Assyrians, and thirteen over the Babylonians, was succeeded by his son:

(M171) SAOSDUCHINUS. This prince is called in Scripture Nabuchodonosor, which name was common to the kings of Babylon. To distinguish this from the others, he is called Nabuchodonosor the First.

Tobit was still alive at this time, and dwelt among other captives at Nineveh.(1031) Perceiving his end approaching, he foretold to his children the sudden destruction of that city; of which at that time there was not the least appearance. He advised them to quit the city, before its ruin came on, and to depart as soon as they had buried him and his wife.

"The ruin of Nineveh is at hand," says the good old man, "abide no longer here, for I perceive the wickedness of the city will occasion its destruction." These last words are very remarkable, "the wickedness of the city will occasion its destruction." Men will be apt to impute the ruin of Nineveh to any other reason, but we are taught by the Holy Ghost, that her unrighteousness was the true cause of it, as it will be with other states that imitate her crimes.

Nabuchodonosor defeated the king of the Medes in a pitched battle,(1032) fought the twelfth year of his reign, upon the plain of Ragau, took Ecbatana, the capital of his kingdom, and returned triumphant to Nineveh. When we come to treat of the history of the Medes, we shall give a more particular account of this victory.

It was immediately after this expedition, that Bethulia was besieged by Holofernes, one of Nabuchodonosor's generals; and that the famous enterprise of Judith was accomplished.

(M172) SARACUS, otherwise called CHYNALADANUS. This prince succeeded Saosduchinus;(1033) and having rendered himself contemptible to his subjects, by his effeminacy, and the little care he took of his dominions, Nabopolassar, a Babylonian by birth, and general of his army, usurped that part of the Assyrian empire, and reigned over it one and twenty years.

(M173) NABOPOLASSAR. This prince, the better to maintain his usurped sovereignty, made an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes. With their joint forces they besieged and took Nineveh, killed Saracus, and utterly destroyed that great city. We shall speak more largely of this great event, when we come to the history of the Medes. From this time forwards the city of Babylon became the only capital of the Assyrian empire.

The Babylonians and the Medes, having destroyed Nineveh, became so formidable, that they drew upon themselves the jealousy of all their neighbours. Necho, king of Egypt, was so alarmed at their power, that to stop their progress he marched towards the Euphrates at the head of a powerful army, and made several considerable conquests. See the history of the Egyptians(1034) for what relates to this expedition, and the consequences that attended it.

Nabopolassar finding,(1035) that after the taking of Carchemish by Necho, all Syria and Palestine had revolted from him, and neither his age nor infirmities permitting him to go in person to recover them, he made his son Nabuchodonosor partner with him in the empire, and sent him with an army to reduce those countries to their former subjection.

(M174) From this time the Jews begin to reckon the years of Nabuchodonosor, viz. from the end of the third year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, or rather from the beginning of the fourth. But the Babylonians compute the reign of this prince only from the death of his father, which happened two years later.

(M175) NABUCHODONOSOR II. This prince defeated Necho's army, near the Euphrates, and retook Carchemish.(1036) From thence he marched towards Syria and Palestine, and reunited those provinces to his dominions.

He likewise entered Judea, besieged Jerusalem, and took it:(1037) he caused Jehoiakim to be put in chains, with a design to have him carried to Babylon; but being moved with his repentance and affliction, he restored him to the throne. Great numbers of the Jews, and, among the rest, some children of the royal family, were carried captive to Babylon, whither all the treasures of the king's palace, and a part of the sacred vessels of the temple, were likewise transported. Thus was the judgment which God had denounced by the prophet Isaiah to king Hezekiah accomplished. From this famous epocha, which was the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, we are to date the captivity of the Jews at Babylon, so often foretold by Jeremiah. Daniel, then but twelve years old,(1038) was carried captive among the rest; and Ezekiel some time afterwards.

Towards the end of the fifth year of Jehoiakim died Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, after having reigned one and twenty years.(1039) As soon as his son Nabuchodonosor had news of his death, he set out with all expedition for Babylon, taking the nearest way through the desert, attended only with a small retinue, leaving the bulk of his army with his generals, to be conducted to Babylon with the captives and spoils. On his arrival, he received the government from the hands of those that had carefully preserved it for him, and so succeeded to all the dominions of his father, which comprehended Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, over which, according to Ptolemy, he reigned forty-three years.

(M176) In the fourth year of his reign he had a dream,(1040) at which he was greatly terrified, though he could not call it again to mind. He thereupon consulted the wise men and soothsayers of his kingdom, requiring of them to make known to him the substance of his dream. They all answered, that it was beyond the reach of their art to discover it; and that the utmost they could do, was to give the interpretation of his dream, when he had made it known to them. As absolute princes are not accustomed to meet with opposition, but will be obeyed in all things, Nabuchodonosor, imagining they dealt insincerely with him, fell into a violent rage, and condemned them all to die. Now Daniel and his three companions were included in the sentence, as being ranked among the wise men. But Daniel, having first invoked his God, desired to be introduced to the king, to whom he revealed the whole substance of his dream. "The thing thou sawest," says he to him, "was an image of an enormous size, and a terrible countenance. The head thereof was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the feet part of iron and part of clay. And as the king was attentively looking upon that vision, behold a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and the stone smote the image upon his feet, and brake them to pieces; the whole image was ground as small as dust, and the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." When Daniel had related the dream, he gave the king likewise the interpretation thereof, showing him how it signified the three great empires, which were to succeed that of the Assyrians, namely, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman, or (according to some,) that of the successors of Alexander the Great. "After these kingdoms (continued Daniel) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and this kingdom shall not be left to other people, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand for ever." By which Daniel plainly foretold the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The king, ravished with admiration and astonishment, after having acknowledged and loudly declared, that the God of the Israelites was truly the God of gods, advanced Daniel to the highest offices in the kingdom, made him chief of the governors over all the wise men, ruler of the whole province of Babylon, and one of the principal lords of the council, that always attended the court. His three friends were also promoted to honours and dignities.

At this time Jehoiakim revolted from the king of Babylon, whose generals, that were still in Judea, marched against him, and committed all kinds of hostilities upon this country.(1041) "He slept with his fathers," is all the Scripture says of his death. Jeremiah had prophesied, that he should neither be regretted nor lamented; but should "be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem:" this was no doubt fulfilled, though it is not known in what manner.

Jechonias(1042) succeeded both to the throne and iniquity of his father. Nabuchodonosor's lieutenants continuing the blockade of Jerusalem, in three months' time he himself came at the head of his army, and made himself master of the city. He plundered both the temple and the king's palace of all their treasures, and sent them away to Babylon, together with all the golden vessels remaining, which Solomon had made for the use of the temple: he carried away likewise a vast number of captives, amongst whom was king Jechonias, his mother, his wives, with all the chief officers and great men of his kingdom. In the room of Jechonias, he set upon the throne his uncle Mattaniah, who was otherwise called Zedekiah.

This prince had as little religion and prosperity as his forefathers.(1043) Having made an alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he broke the oath of fidelity he had taken to the king of Babylon. The latter soon chastised him for it, and immediately laid siege to Jerusalem. The king of Egypt's arrival at the head of an army gave the besieged a gleam of hope; but their joy was very short-lived; the Egyptians were defeated, and the conqueror returned against Jerusalem, and renewed the siege, which lasted near a twelvemonth.(M177) At last the city was taken by storm, and a terrible slaughter ensued. Zedekiah's two sons were, by Nabuchodonosor's orders, killed before their father's face, with all the nobles and principal men of Judah. Zedekiah himself had both his eyes put out, was loaded with fetters, and carried to Babylon, where he was confined in prison as long as he lived. The city and temple were pillaged and burnt, and all their fortifications demolished.

Upon Nabuchodonosor's return to Babylon, after his successful war against Judea, he ordered a golden statue to be made,(1044) sixty(1045) cubits high, assembled all the great men of the kingdom to celebrate the dedication of it, and commanded all his subjects to worship it, threatening to cast those that should refuse into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Upon this occasion it was that the three young Hebrews, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias, who with an invincible courage refused to comply with the king's impious ordinance, were preserved after a miraculous manner in the midst of the flames. The king, himself a witness of this astonishing miracle, published an edict, whereby all persons whatsoever were forbidden, upon pain of death, to speak any thing amiss against the God of Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. He likewise promoted these three young men to the highest honours and employments.

Nabuchodonosor, in the twenty-first year of his reign, and the fourth after the destruction of Jerusalem, marched again into Syria, and besieged Tyre, at the time when Ithobal was king thereof. Tyre was a strong and opulent city, which had never been subject to any foreign power, and was then in great repute for its commerce: by which many of its citizens were become like so many princes in wealth and magnificence.(1046) It had been built by the Sidonians two hundred and forty years before the temple of Jerusalem. For Sidon being taken by the Philistines of Ascalon, many of its inhabitants made their escape in ships, and founded the city of Tyre. And for this reason we find it called in Isaiah "the daughter of Sidon."(1047) But the daughter soon surpassed the mother in grandeur, riches, and power. Accordingly, at the time we are speaking of, she was in a condition to resist, thirteen years together, a monarch, to whose yoke all the rest of the East had submitted.

It was not till after so long an interval, that Nabuchodonosor made himself master of Tyre.(1048) His troops suffered incredible hardships before it; so that, according to the prophet's expression, "every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled."(1049) Before the city was reduced to the last extremity, its inhabitants retired, with the greatest part of their effects, into a neighbouring isle, half a mile from the shore, where they built a new city; the name and glory whereof extinguished the remembrance of the old one, which from thenceforward became a mere village, retaining the name of ancient Tyre.

Nabuchodonosor and his army having undergone the utmost fatigues during so long and difficult a siege,(1050) and having found nothing in the place to requite them for the service they had rendered Almighty God (it is the expression of the prophet) in executing his vengeance upon that city, to make them amends, God was pleased to promise by the mouth of Ezekiel, that he would give them the spoils of Egypt. And indeed they soon after conquered that country, as I have more fully related in the history of the Egyptians.(1051)

When this prince had happily finished all his wars, and was in a state of perfect peace and tranquillity, he employed himself in putting the last hand to the building, or rather to the embellishing of Babylon. The reader may see in Josephus(1052) an account of the magnificent structures ascribed to this monarch by several writers. I have mentioned a great part of them in the description already given of that stately city.

Whilst nothing seemed wanting to complete this prince's happiness, a frightful dream disturbed his repose, and filled him with great anxiety.(1053) "He saw a tree in the midst of the earth, whose height was great: the tree grew, and was strong, and the height of it reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of the earth. The leaves were fair, and the fruit much; and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof; and all flesh was fed of it. Then a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven, and cried; Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's; and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men."

The king, justly terrified at this dreadful dream, consulted all his wise men and magicians, but to no purpose. He was obliged to have recourse to Daniel, who expounded the dream, and applied it to the king himself, plainly declaring to him, "That he should be driven from the company of men for seven years, should be reduced to the condition and fellowship of the beasts of the field, and feed upon grass like an ox; that his kingdom nevertheless should be preserved for him, and he should repossess his throne, when he should have learnt to know and acknowledge, that all power is from above, and cometh from Heaven. After this he exhorted him to break off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor."

All these things came to pass upon Nabuchodonosor, as the prophet had foretold. At the end of twelve months, as he was walking in his palace, and admiring the beauty and magnificence of his buildings, he said: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" Would a secret impulse of complacency and vanity in a prince, at the sight of such noble structures erected by himself, appear to us so very criminal? And yet, hardly were the words out of his mouth, when a voice came down from Heaven, and pronounced his sentence: "In the same hour his understanding went from him; he was driven from men, and did eat grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of Heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."

After the expiration of the appointed time, he recovered his senses, and the use of his understanding: "He lifted up his eyes unto Heaven (says the Scripture) and blessed the Most High; he praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:" Confessing, "That all the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing before him, and that he doeth according to his will, in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" Now he recovered his former countenance and form. His courtiers went out to seek him; he was restored to his throne, and became greater and more powerful than ever. Penetrated with the heartiest gratitude, he caused, by a solemn edict, to be published through the whole extent of his dominions, what astonishing and miraculous things God had wrought in his person.

One year after this he died, having reigned forty-three years, reckoning from the death of his father. He was one of the greatest monarchs that ever reigned in the East. He was succeeded by his son:

(M178) EVIL-MERODACH. As soon as he was settled in the throne, he released Jechonias, king of Judah, out of prison, where he had been confined near seven and thirty years.(1054)

In the reign of this Evil-Merodach, which lasted but two years, the learned place Daniel's detection of the fraud practised by the priests of Bel; the innocent artifice by which he contrived to destroy the dragon, which was worshipped as a god; and the miraculous deliverance of the same prophet out of the den of lions, where he had victuals brought him by the prophet Habakkuk.

Evil-Merodach rendered himself so odious by his debauchery and other extravagancies, that his own relations conspired against him, and put him to death.(1055)

(M179) NERIGLISSOR, his sister's husband, and one of the chief conspirators, reigned in his stead.

Immediately on his accession to the crown, he made great preparations for war against the Medes,(1056) which made Cyaxares send for Cyrus out of Persia, to his assistance. This story will be more particularly related by and by, where we shall find that this prince was slain in battle in the fourth year of his reign.

(M180) LABOROSOARCHOD, his son, succeeded to the throne. This was a very wicked prince. Being born with the most vicious inclinations, he indulged them without restraint when he came to the crown; as if he had been invested with sovereign power, only to have the privilege of committing with impunity the most infamous and barbarous actions. He reigned but nine months; his own subjects conspiring against him, put him to death. His successor was:

(M181) LABYNITUS, OR NABONIDUS. This prince had likewise other names, and in Scripture that of Belshazzar. It is on good grounds supposed that he was the son of Evil-Merodach, by his wife Nitocris, and consequently grandson to Nabuchodonosor, to whom, according to Jeremiah's prophecy, the nations of the East were to be subject, as also to his son, and his grandson after him: "All nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come."(1057)

Nitocris is that queen who raised so many noble edifices in Babylon.(1058) She caused her own monument to be placed over one of the most remarkable gates of the city, with an inscription, dissuading her successors from touching the treasures laid up in it, without the most urgent and indispensable necessity. The tomb remained closed till the reign of Darius, who, upon his breaking it open, instead of those immense treasures he had flattered himself with discovering, found nothing but the following inscription:

IF THOU HADST NOT AN INSATIABLE THIRST AFTER MONEY, AND A MOST SORDID, AVARICIOUS SOUL, THOU WOULDST NEVER HAVE BROKEN OPEN THE MONUMENTS OF THE DEAD.

In the first year of Belshazzar's reign, Daniel had the vision of the four beasts, which represented the four great monarchies, and the kingdom of the Messiah, which was to succeed them.(1059) In the third year of the same reign he had the vision of the ram and the he-goat, which prefigured the destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great, and the persecution which Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, should bring upon the Jews.(1060) I shall hereafter make some reflections upon these prophecies, and give a larger account of them.

Belshazzar, whilst his enemies were besieging Babylon, gave a great entertainment to his whole court, upon a certain festival, which was annually celebrated with great rejoicing.(1061) The joy of this feast was greatly disturbed by a vision, and still more so by the explication which Daniel gave of it to the king. The sentence written upon the wall imported, that his kingdom was taken from him, and given to the Medes and Persians. That very night the city was taken, and Belshazzar killed.

(M182) Thus ended the Babylonian empire, after having subsisted two hundred and ten years from the destruction of the great Assyrian empire.

The particular circumstances of the siege, and the taking of Babylon, shall be related in the history of Cyrus.



Chapter III. The History of the Kingdom of the Medes.

(M183) I took notice, in speaking of the destruction of the ancient Assyrian empire, that Arbaces, general of the Median army, was one of the chief authors of the conspiracy against Sardanapalus: and several writers believe, that he then immediately became sovereign master of Media and many other provinces, and assumed the title of king. Herodotus is not of this opinion. I shall relate what that celebrated historian says upon the subject.

The Assyrians, who had for many ages held the empire of Asia, began to decline in their power by the revolt of several nations.(1062) The Medes first threw off their yoke, and maintained for some time the liberty they had acquired by their valour: but that liberty degenerating into licentiousness, and their government not being well established, they fell into a kind of anarchy, worse than their former subjection. Injustice, violence, and rapine, prevailed everywhere, because there was nobody that had either power enough to restrain them, or sufficient authority to punish the offenders. But all these disorders at length induced the people to settle a form of government, which rendered the state more flourishing than ever it was before.

The nation of the Medes was then divided into six tribes. Almost all the people dwelt in villages, when Dejoces, the son of Phraortes, a Mede by birth, erected the state into a monarchy. This person, seeing the great disorders that prevailed throughout all Media, resolved to take advantage of those troubles, and make them serve to exalt him to the royal dignity. He had a great reputation in his own country, and passed for a man, not only regular in his own conduct, but possessed of all the prudence and equity necessary to govern others.

As soon as he had formed the design of obtaining the throne, he laboured to make the good qualities that had been observed in him more conspicuous than ever: he succeeded so well, that the inhabitants of the village where he lived made him their judge. In this office he acquitted himself with great prudence; and his cares had all the success that had been expected from them; for he brought the people of that village to a sober and regular life. The inhabitants of other villages, whom perpetual disorders suffered not to live in quiet, observing the good order Dejoces had introduced in the place where he presided as judge, began to apply to him, and make him arbitrator of their differences. The fame of his equity daily increasing, all such as had any affair of consequence, brought it before him, expecting to find that equity in Dejoces, which they could meet with nowhere else.

When he found himself thus far advanced in his designs, he judged it a proper time to set his last engines to work for the compassing his point. He, therefore, retired from business, pretending to be over-fatigued with the multitude of people that resorted to him from all quarters; and would not exercise the office of judge any longer, notwithstanding all the importunity of such as wished well to the public tranquillity. Whenever any persons addressed themselves to him, he told them, that his own domestic affairs would not allow him to attend to those of other people.

The licentiousness which had been for some time restrained by the judicious management of Dejoces, began to prevail more than ever, as soon as he had withdrawn himself from the administration of affairs; and the evil increased to such a degree, that the Medes were obliged to assemble, and deliberate upon the means of putting a stop to the public disorder.

There are different sorts of ambition: some violent and impetuous, carrying every thing as it were by storm, hesitating at no kind of cruelty or murder: another sort, more gentle, like that we are speaking of, puts on an appearance of moderation and justice, working under ground, (if I may use that expression,) and yet arrives at her point as surely as the other.

Dejoces, who saw things succeeding according to his wish, sent his emissaries to the assembly, after having instructed them in the part they were to act. When expedients for stopping the course of the public evils came to be proposed, these emissaries, speaking in their turn, represented, that unless the face of the republic was entirely changed, their country would become uninhabitable; that the only means to remedy the present disorders was to elect a king, who should have authority to restrain violence, and make laws for the government of the nation. Then every man could prosecute his own affairs in peace and safety; whereas the injustice that now reigned in all parts, would quickly force the people to abandon the country. This opinion was generally approved; and the whole company was convinced, that no expedient could be devised more effectual for curing the present evil, than that of converting the state into a monarchy. The only thing then to be done, was to choose a king; and about this their deliberations were not long. They all agreed there was not a man in Media so capable of governing as Dejoces; so that he was immediately with common consent elected king.

If we reflect in the least on the first establishment of kingdoms, in any age or country whatsoever, we shall find, that the maintenance of order, and the care of the public good, was the original design of monarchy. Indeed there would be no possibility of establishing order and peace, if all men were resolved to be independent, and would not submit to an authority which takes from them a part of their liberty, in order to preserve the rest. Mankind must be perpetually at war, if they will always be striving for dominion over others, or refuse to submit to the strongest. For the sake of their own peace and safety, they must have a master, and must consent to obey him. This is the human origin of government. And the Scripture teacheth us, that the Divine Providence has not only allowed of the project, and the execution of it, but consecrated it likewise by an immediate communication of his own power.(1063)

There is nothing certainly nobler or greater than to see a private person, eminent for his merit and virtue, and fitted by his excellent talents for the highest employments, and yet through inclination and modesty preferring a life of obscurity and retirement: than to see such a man sincerely refuse the offer made to him, of reigning over a whole nation, and at last consent to undergo the toil of government, from no other motive than that of being serviceable to his fellow-citizens. His first disposition, by which he declares that he is acquainted with the duties, and consequently with the dangers annexed to a sovereign power, shows him to have a soul more elevated and great than greatness itself; or, to speak more justly, a soul superior to all ambition: nothing can show him so perfectly worthy of that important charge, as the opinion he has of his not being so, and his fears of being unequal to it. But when he generously sacrifices his own quiet and satisfaction to the welfare and tranquillity of the public, it is plain he understands what that sovereign power has in it really good, or truly valuable; which is, that it puts a man in a condition of becoming the defender of his country, of procuring it many advantages, and of redressing various evils; of causing law and justice to flourish, of bringing virtue and probity into reputation, and of establishing peace and plenty: and he comforts himself for the cares and troubles to which he is exposed, by the prospect of the many benefits resulting from them to the public. Such a governor was Numa, at Rome; and such have been some other emperors, whom the people found it necessary to compel to accept the supreme power.

It must be owned (I cannot help repeating it) that there is nothing nobler or greater than such a disposition. But to put on the mask of modesty and virtue, in order to satisfy one's ambition, as Dejoces did; to affect to appear outwardly what a man is not inwardly; to refuse for a time, and then accept with a seeming repugnancy, what a man earnestly desires, and what he has been labouring by secret, underhand practices to obtain; this double-dealing has so much meanness in it, that it necessarily lessens our opinion of the person, and extremely sullies the lustre of those good qualities, which in other respects, he possesses.

(M184) DEJOCES reigned fifty-three years.(1064) When he had ascended the throne, he endeavoured to convince the people, that they were not mistaken in the choice they had made of him, for restoring of order. At first he resolved to have his dignity of king attended with all the marks that could inspire an awe and respect for his person. He obliged his subjects to build him a magnificent palace in the place he appointed. This palace he strongly fortified, and chose out from among his people such persons as he judged fittest to be his guards, from their attachment to his interests, and his reliance on their fidelity.

After having thus provided for his own security, he applied himself to polish and civilize his subjects, who, having been accustomed to live in the country and in villages, almost without laws and without polity, had contracted the disposition and manners of savages. To this end he commanded them to build a city, marking out himself the place and circumference of the walls. This city was compassed about with seven distinct walls, all disposed in such a manner, that the outermost did not hinder the parapet of the second from being seen, nor the second that of the third, and so of all the rest. The situation of the place was extremely favourable for such a design, for it was a regular hill, whose ascent was equal on every side. Within the last and smallest enclosure stood the king's palace, with all his treasures: in the sixth, which was next to that, there were several apartments for lodging the officers of his household; and the intermediate spaces, between the other walls, were appointed for the habitation of the people: the first and largest enclosure was about the bigness of Athens. The name of this city was Ecbatana.

The prospect of it was magnificent and beautiful; for, besides the disposition of the walls, which formed a kind of amphitheatre, the different colours wherewith the several parapets were painted formed a delightful variety.

After the city was finished, and Dejoces had obliged part of the Medes to settle in it, he turned all his thoughts to composing of laws for the good of the state. But being persuaded, that the majesty of kings is most respected afar off(1065) he began to keep himself at a distance from his people; was almost inaccessible, and, as it were, invisible to his subjects, not suffering them to speak, or communicate their affairs to him, but only by petitions, and the interposition of his officers. And even those that had the privilege of approaching him, might neither laugh nor spit in his presence.

This able statesman acted in this manner, in order the better to secure to himself the possession of the crown. For, having to deal with men yet uncivilized, and no very good judges of true merit, he was afraid, that too great a familiarity with him might induce contempt, and occasion plots and conspiracies against a growing power, which is generally looked upon with invidious and discontented eyes. But by keeping himself thus concealed from the eyes of the people, and making himself known only by the wise laws he made, and the strict justice he took care to administer to every one, he acquired the respect and esteem of all his subjects.

It is said, that from the innermost part of his palace he saw every thing that was done in his dominions, by means of his emissaries, who brought him accounts, and informed him of all transactions. By this means no crime escaped either the knowledge of the prince, or the rigour of the law; and the punishment treading upon the heels of the offence, kept the wicked in awe, and stopped the course of violence and injustice.

Things might possibly pass in this manner to a certain degree during his administration: but there is nothing more obvious than the great inconveniencies necessarily resulting from the custom introduced by Dejoces, and wherein he has been imitated by the rest of the Eastern potentates; the custom, I mean, of living concealed in his palace, of governing by spies dispersed throughout his kingdom, of relying solely upon their sincerity for the truth of facts; of not suffering truth, the complaints of the oppressed, and the just reasons of innocent persons, to be conveyed to him any other way, than through foreign channels, that is, by men liable to be prejudiced or corrupted; men that stopped up all avenues to remonstrances, or the reparation of injuries, and that were capable of doing the greatest injustice themselves, with so much the more ease and assurance, as their iniquity remained undiscovered, and consequently unpunished. But besides all this, methinks, that very affectation in princes of making themselves invisible, shows them to be conscious of their slender merit, which shuns the light, and dares not stand the test of a near examination.

Dejoces was so wholly taken up in humanizing and softening the manners, and in making laws for the good government of his people, that he never engaged in any enterprise against his neighbours, though his reign was very long, for he did not die till after having reigned fifty-three years.

(M185) PHRAORTES reigned twenty-two years.(1066) After the death of Dejoces, his son Phraortes, called otherwise Aphraartes,(1067) succeeded. The affinity between these two names would alone make one believe that this is the king called in Scripture Arphaxad: but that opinion has many other substantial reasons to support it, as may be seen in father Montfaucon's learned dissertation, of which I have here made great use. The passage in Judith, That Arphaxad built a very strong city, and called it Ecbatana,(1068) has deceived most authors, and made them believe, that Arphaxad must be Dejoces, who was certainly the founder of that city. But the Greek text of Judith, which the Vulgate translation renders aedificavit, says only, That Arphaxad added new buildings to Ecbatana.(1069) And what can be more natural, than that, the father not having entirely perfected so considerable a work, the son should put the last hand to it, and make such additions as were wanting?

Phraortes, being of a very warlike temper, and not contented with the kingdom of Media, left him by his father, attacked the Persians;(1070) and defeating them in a decisive battle, brought them under subjection to his empire. Then strengthened by the accession of their troops, he attacked other neighbouring nations, one after another, till he made himself master of almost all the Upper Asia, which comprehends all that lies north of mount Taurus, from Media as far as the river Halys. Elate with this good success, he ventured to turn his arms against the Assyrians, at that time indeed weakened through the revolt of several nations, but yet very powerful in themselves. Nabuchodonosor, their king, otherwise called Saosduchinus, raised a great army in his own country, and sent ambassadors to several other nations of the East,(1071) to require their assistance. They all refused him with contempt, and ignominiously treated his ambassadors, letting him see, that they no longer dreaded that empire, which had formerly kept the greatest part of them in a slavish subjection.

The king, highly enraged at such insolent treatment, swore by his throne and his reign, that he would be revenged of all those nations, and put them every one to the sword. He then prepared for battle, with what forces he had, in the plain of Ragau. A great battle ensued there, which proved fatal to Phraortes. He was defeated, his cavalry fled, his chariots were overturned and put into disorder, and Nabuchodonosor gained a complete victory. Then taking advantage of the defeat and confusion of the Medes, he entered their country, took their cities, pushed on his conquests even to Ecbatana, forced the towers and the walls by storm, and gave the city to be pillaged by his soldiers, who plundered it, and stripped it of all its ornaments.

The unfortunate Phraortes, who had escaped into the mountains of Ragau, fell at last into the hands of Nabuchodonosor, who cruelly caused him to be shot to death with darts. After that, he returned to Nineveh with all his army, which was still very numerous, and for four months together did nothing but feast and divert himself with those that had accompanied him in this expedition.

In Judith, we read that the king of Assyria sent Holophernes with a powerful army, to revenge himself of those that had refused him succours; the progress and cruelty of that commander, the general consternation of all the people, the courageous resolution of the Israelites to withstand him, in assurance that their God would defend them, the extremity to which Bethulia and the whole nation was reduced, the miraculous deliverance of that city by the courage and conduct of the brave Judith, and the complete overthrow of the Assyrian army, are all related in the same book.

(M186) CYAXARES I. reigned forty years.(1072) This prince succeeded to the throne immediately after his father's death. He was a very brave, enterprising prince, and knew how to make his advantage of the late overthrow of the Assyrian army. He first settled himself well in his kingdom of Media, and then conquered all Upper Asia. But what he had most at heart was, to go and attack Nineveh, to revenge the death of his father by the destruction of that great city.

The Assyrians came out to meet him, having only the remains of that great army, which was destroyed before Bethulia. A battle ensued, wherein the Assyrians were defeated, and driven back to Nineveh. Cyaxares, pursuing his victory, laid siege to the city, which was upon the point of falling inevitably into his hands, but the time was not yet come when God designed to punish that city for her crimes, and for the calamities she had brought upon his people, as well as other nations. It was delivered from its present danger in the following manner.

A formidable army of Scythians, from the neighbourhood of the Palus Maeotis, had driven the Cimmerians out of Europe, and was still marching under the conduct of king Madyes in pursuit of them. The Cimmerians had found means to escape from the Scythians, who had advanced as far as Media. Cyaxares, hearing of this irruption, raised the siege from before Nineveh, and marched with all his forces against that mighty army, which, like an impetuous torrent, was going to overrun all Asia. The two armies engaged, and the Medes were vanquished. The Barbarians, finding no other obstacle in their way, overspread not only Media, but almost all Asia. After that, they marched towards Egypt, from whence Psammiticus diverted their course by presents. They then returned into Palestine, where some of them plundered the temple of Venus at Ascalon, the most ancient of the temples dedicated to that goddess. Some of the Scythians settled at Bethshan, a city in the tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, which from them was afterwards called Scythopolis.

The Scythians for the space of twenty-eight years were masters of the Upper Asia, namely, the two Armenias, Cappadocia, Pontus, Colchis, and Iberia; during which time they spread desolation wherever they came. The Medes had no way of getting rid of them, but by a dangerous stratagem. Under pretence of cultivating and strengthening the alliance they had made together, they invited the greatest part of them to a general feast, which was made in every family. Each master of the feast made his guests drunk, and in that condition were the Scythians massacred. The Medes then repossessed themselves of the provinces they had lost, and once more extended their empire to the banks of the Halys, which was their ancient boundary westward.

The remaining Scythians, who were not at this feast, having heard of the massacre of their countrymen, fled into Lydia to king Halyattes, who received them with great humanity.(1073) This occasioned a war between the two princes. Cyaxares immediately led his troops to the frontiers of Lydia. Many battles were fought during the space of five years, with almost equal advantage on both sides. But the battle fought in the sixth year was very remarkable on account of an eclipse of the sun, which happened during the engagement, when on a sudden the day was turned into a dark night. Thales, the Milesian, had foretold this eclipse. The Medes and Lydians, who were then in the heat of the battle, equally terrified with this unforeseen event, which they looked upon as a sign of the anger of the gods, immediately retreated on both sides, and made peace. Syennesis, king of Cilicia, and Nabuchodonosor,(1074) king of Babylon, were the mediators. To render it more firm and inviolable, the two princes were willing to strengthen it by the tie of marriage, and agreed, that Halyattes should give his daughter Aryenis to Astyages, eldest son of Cyaxares.

The manner these people had of contracting an alliance with one another, is very remarkable. Besides other ceremonies, which they had in common with the Greeks, they had this in particular; the two contracting parties made incisions in their own arms, and licked one another's blood.

(M187) Cyaxares's first care, as soon as he found himself again in peace, was to resume the siege of Nineveh, which the irruption of the Scythians had obliged him to raise.(1075) Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, with whom he had lately contracted a particular alliance, joined with him in a league against the Assyrians. Having therefore united their forces, they besieged Nineveh, took it, killed Saracus the king, and utterly destroyed that mighty city.

God had foretold by his prophets above a hundred years before, that he would bring vengeance upon that impious city for the blood of his servants, wherewith the kings thereof had gorged themselves, like ravenous lions; that he himself would march at the head of the troops that should come to besiege it; that he would cause consternation and terror to go before them; that he would deliver the old men, the mothers, and their children, into the merciless hands of the soldiers; that all the treasures of the city should fall into the hands of rapacious and insatiable plunderers; and that the city itself should be so totally and utterly destroyed, that not so much as a vestige of it should be left; and that the people should ask hereafter, Where did the proud city of Nineveh stand?

But let us hear the language of the prophets themselves: Woe unto the bloody city, (cries Nahum,) it is all full of lies and robbery:(1076) he that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face.(1077) The Lord cometh to avenge the cruelties done to Jacob and to Israel. I hear already the noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots.(1078) The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear. The shield of his mighty men is made red; the valiant men are in scarlet.(1079) They shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightning. God is jealous; the Lord revengeth, and is furious.(1080) The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence: who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: I will strip thee of all thy ornaments.(1081) Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.(1082) She is empty, and void, and waste. Nineveh is destroyed; she is overthrown; she is desolate. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace(1083) shall be dissolved.(1084) And Huzzab shall be led away captive; she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves tabring upon their breasts. I see a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is no end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses.(1085) Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding places of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid: where the lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with rapine:(1086)(1087) The Lord shall destroy Assur.(1088) He shall depopulate that city, which was so beautiful, and turn it into a land where no man cometh, and into a desert. It shall be a dwelling place for wild beasts, and the birds of night shall lurk therein. Behold, shall it be said, see that proud city, which was so stately, and so exalted; which said in her heart, I am the only city, and besides me there is no other. All they that pass by her shall scoff at her, and shall insult her with hissings and contemptuous gestures.

The two armies enriched themselves with the spoils of Nineveh; and Cyaxares, prosecuting his victories, made himself master of all the cities of the kingdom of Assyria, except Babylon and Chaldea, which belonged to Nabopolassar.

After this expedition Cyaxares died, and left his dominions to his son Astyages.

ASTYAGES reigned thirty-five years. This prince is called in (M188) Scripture Ahasuerus. Though his reign was very long, no less than thirty-five years, yet have we no particulars recorded of it in history. He had two children, whose names are famous, namely, Cyaxares, by his wife Aryenis, and Mandane, by a former marriage. In his father's lifetime he married Mandane to Cambyses, the son of Achemenes, king of Persia: from this marriage sprung Cyrus, who was born but one year after the birth of his uncle Cyaxares. The latter succeeded his father in the kingdom of the Medes.

CYAXARES II. This is the prince whom the Scripture calls Darius the Mede.

Cyrus, having taken Babylon, in conjunction with his uncle Cyaxares, left it under his government. After the death of his uncle, and his father Cambyses, he united the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians into one: in the sequel, therefore, they will be considered only as one empire. I shall begin the history of that empire with the reign of Cyrus; which will include also what is known of the reigns of his two predecessors, Cyaxares and Astyages. But I shall previously give some account of the kingdom of Lydia, because Croesus, its king, has a considerable share in the events of which I am to speak.



Chapter IV. The History of the Lydians.

The kings who first reigned over the Lydians, are by Herodotus called Atyadae, that is, descendants from Atys.(1089) These, he tells us, derived their origin from Lydus, the son of Atys; and Lydus gave the name of Lydians to that people, who before this time were called Moeonians.

These Atyadae were succeeded by the Heraclidae, or descendants of Hercules, who possessed this kingdom for the space of five hundred and five years.

(M189) ARGO, great grandson of Alcaeus, son of Hercules, was the first of the Heraclidae who reigned in Lydia.

(M190) The last was CANDAULES. This prince was married to a lady of exquisite beauty; and, being infatuated by his passion for her, was perpetually boasting of her charms to others. Nothing would serve him, but that Gyges, one of his chief officers, should see, and judge of them by his own eyes; as if the husband's own knowledge of them was not sufficient for his happiness, or the beauty of his wife would have been impaired by his silence.(1090) The king to this end placed Gyges secretly in a convenient place; but notwithstanding that precaution, the queen perceived him when he retired, yet took no manner of notice of it. Judging, as the historian represents it, that the most valuable treasure of a woman is her modesty, she studied a signal revenge for the injury she had received; and, to punish the fault of her husband, committed a still greater crime. Possibly, a secret passion for Gyges had as great a share in that action, as her resentment for the dishonour done her. Be that as it will, she sent for Gyges, and obliged him to expiate his crime, either by his own death, or the king's, at his own option. After some remonstrances to no purpose, he resolved upon the latter, and by the murder of Candaules became master of his queen and his throne.(M191) By this means the kingdom passed from the family of the Heraclidae into that of the Mermnadae.

Archilochus, the poet, lived at this time, and, as Herodotus informs us, spoke of this adventure of Gyges in his poems.

I cannot forbear mentioning in this place what is related by Herodotus, that amongst the Lydians, and almost all other Barbarians, it was reckoned shameful and infamous even for a man to appear naked. These footsteps of modesty, which are met with amongst pagans, ought to be reckoned valuable.(1091) We are assured, that among the Romans, a son, who was come to the age of maturity, never went into the baths with his father, nor even a son-in-law with his father-in-law; and this modesty and decency were looked upon by them as enjoined by the law of nature, the violation whereof was criminal. It is astonishing, that amongst us our magistrates take no care to prevent this disorder, which, in the midst of Paris, at the season of bathing, is openly committed with impunity; a disorder so visibly contrary to the rules of common decency, so dangerous to young persons of both sexes, and so severely condemned by paganism itself.

Plato relates the story of Gyges in a different manner from Herodotus.(1092) He tells us that Gyges wore a ring, the stone of which, when turned towards him, rendered him invisible; so that he had the advantage of seeing others, without being seen himself; and that by means of this ring, with the concurrence of the queen, he deprived Candaules of his life and throne. This probably signifies, that in order to compass his criminal design, he used all the tricks and stratagems, which the world calls subtle and refined policy, which penetrates into the most secret purposes of others, without making the least discovery of its own. The story, thus explained, carries in it a greater appearance of truth, than what we read in Herodotus.

Cicero, after having related this fable of Gyges's famous ring, adds, that if a wise man had such a ring, he would not use it to any wicked purpose; because virtue considers what is honourable and just, and has no occasion for darkness.(1093)

(M192) GYGES reigned thirty-eight years.(1094) The murder of Candaules raised a sedition among the Lydians. The two parties, instead of coming to blows, agreed to refer the matter to the decision of the Delphic oracle, which declared in favour of Gyges. The king made large presents to the temple of Delphi, which undoubtedly preceded, and had no little influence upon, the oracle's answer. Among other things of value, Herodotus mentions six golden cups, weighing thirty talents, amounting to near a million of French money, which is about forty-eight thousand pounds sterling.

As soon as he was in peaceable possession of the throne, he made war against Miletus, Smyrna, and Colophon, three powerful cities belonging to the neighbouring states.

After he had reigned thirty-eight years, he died, and was succeeded by his son

ARDYS, who reigned forty-nine years.(1095) It was in the reign of(M193) this prince, that the Cimmerians, driven out of their country by the Scythae Nomades, went into Asia, and took the city of Sardis, with the exception of the citadel.

(M194) SADYATTES reigned twelve years.(1096) This prince declared war against the Milesians, and laid siege to their city. In those days the sieges, which were generally nothing more than blockades, were carried on very slowly, and lasted many years. This king died before he had finished that of Miletus, and was succeeded by his son.

(M195) HALYATTES reigned fifty-seven years.(1097) This is the prince who made war against Cyaxares, king of Media. He likewise drove the Cimmerians out of Asia. He attacked and took the cities of Smyrna and Clazomenae. He vigorously prosecuted the war against the Milesians, begun by his father; and continued the siege of their city, which had lasted six years under his father, and continued as many under him. It ended at length in the following manner: Halyattes, upon an answer he received from the Delphic oracle, had sent an ambassador into the city, to propose a truce for some months. Thrasybulus, Tyrant of Miletus, having notice of his coming, ordered all the corn, and other provisions, assembled by him and his subjects for their support, to be brought into the public market; and commanded the citizens, at the sight of a signal that should be given, to be all in a general humour of feasting and jollity. The thing was executed according to his orders. The Lydian ambassador at his arrival was in the utmost surprise to see such plenty in the market, and such cheerfulness in the city. His master, to whom he gave an account of what he had seen, concluding that his project of reducing the place by famine would never succeed, preferred peace to so apparently fruitless a war, and immediately raised the siege.

(M196) CROESUS. His very name, which is become a proverb, conveys an idea of immense riches. The wealth of this prince, to judge of it only by the presents he made to the temple of Delphi, must have been excessively great. Most of those presents were still to be seen in the time of Herodotus, and were worth several millions. We may partly account for the treasures of this prince, from certain mines that he had, situate, according to Strabo, between Pergamus and Atarna;(1098) as also from the little river Pactolus, the sand of which was gold. But in Strabo's time this river had no longer the same advantage.

What is very extraordinary, this affluence did not enervate or soften the courage of Croesus.(1099) He thought it unworthy of a prince to spend his time in idleness and pleasure. For his part, he was perpetually in arms, made several conquests, and enlarged his dominions by the addition of all the contiguous provinces, as Phrygia, Mysia, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Pamphylia, and all the country of the Carians, Ionians, Dorians, and AEolians. Herodotus observes, that he was the first conqueror of the Greeks, who till then had never been subject to a foreign power. Doubtless he must mean the Greeks settled in Asia Minor.

But what is still more extraordinary in this prince, though he was so immensely rich, and so great a warrior, yet his chief delight was in literature and the sciences. His court was the ordinary residence of those famous learned men, so revered by antiquity, and distinguished by the name of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.

Solon, one of the most celebrated amongst them, after having established new laws at Athens, thought he might absent himself for some years, and improve that time by travelling.(1100) He went to Sardis, where he was received in a manner suitable to the reputation of so great a man. The king, attended with a numerous court, appeared in all his regal pomp and splendour, dressed in the most magnificent apparel, which was all over enriched with gold, and glittered with diamonds. Notwithstanding the novelty of this spectacle to Solon, it did not appear that he was the least moved at it, nor did he utter a word which discovered the least surprise or admiration; on the contrary, people of sense might sufficiently discern from his behaviour, that he looked upon all this outward pomp, as an indication of a little mind, which knows not in what true greatness and dignity consist. This coldness and indifference in Solon's first approach, gave the king no favourable opinion of his new guest.

He afterwards ordered that all his treasures, his magnificent apartments, and costly furniture, should be showed him; as if he expected, by the multitude of his fine vessels, jewels, statues, and paintings, to conquer the philosopher's indifference. But these things were not the king; and it was the king that Solon was come to visit, and not the walls and chambers of his palace. He had no notion of making a judgment of the king, or an estimate of his worth, by these outward appendages, but by himself and his own personal qualities. Were we to judge at present by the same rule, we should find many of our great men wretchedly naked and desolate.

When Solon had seen all, he was brought back to the king. Croesus then asked him, which of mankind in all his travels he had found the most truly happy? "One Tellus," replied Solon, "a citizen of Athens, a very honest and good man, who, after having lived all his days without indigence, having always seen his country in a flourishing condition, has left children that are universally esteemed, has had the satisfaction of seeing those children's children, and at last died gloriously in fighting for his country."

Such an answer as this, in which gold and silver were accounted as nothing, seemed to Croesus to denote a strange ignorance and stupidity. However, as he flattered himself that he should be ranked at least in the second degree of happiness, he asked him, "Who, of all those he had seen, was the next in felicity to Tellus?" Solon answered, "Cleobis and Biton, of Argos, two brothers,(1101) who had left behind them a perfect pattern of fraternal affection, and of the respect due from children to their parents. Upon a solemn festival, when their mother, a priestess of Juno, was to go to the temple, the oxen that were to draw her not being ready, the two sons put themselves to the yoke, and drew their mother's chariot thither, which was above five miles distant. All the mothers of the place, ravished with admiration, congratulated the priestess on being the mother of such sons. She, in the transports of her joy and thankfulness, earnestly entreated the goddess to reward her children with the best thing that heaven can give to man. Her prayers were heard. When the sacrifice was over, her two sons fell asleep in the very temple, and there died(1102) in a soft and peaceful slumber. In honour of their piety, the people of Argos consecrated statues to them in the temple of Delphi."

"What then," says Croesus, in a tone that showed his discontent, "you do not reckon me in the number of the happy?" Solon, who was not willing either to flatter or exasperate him any further, replied calmly: "King of Lydia, besides many other advantages, the gods have given us Grecians a spirit of moderation and reserve, which has produced amongst us a plain, popular kind of philosophy, accompanied with a certain generous freedom, void of pride or ostentation, and therefore not well suited to the courts of kings: this philosophy, considering what an infinite number of vicissitudes and accidents the life of man is liable to, does not allow us either to glory in any prosperity we enjoy ourselves, or to admire happiness in others, which perhaps may prove only transient, or superficial." From hence he took occasion to represent to him further, "That the life of man seldom exceeds seventy years, which make up in all six thousand two hundred and fifty days, of which no two are exactly alike; so that the time to come is nothing but a series of various accidents, which cannot be foreseen. Therefore, in our opinion," continued he, "no man can be esteemed happy, but he whose happiness God continues to the end of his life: as for others, who are perpetually exposed to a thousand dangers, we account their happiness as uncertain as the crown is to a person that is still engaged in battle, and has not yet obtained the victory." Solon retired, when he had spoken these words,(1103) which served only to mortify Croesus, but not to reform him.